The Hadoken (波動拳, hadouken, "Surge Fist", a Japanese neologism, also "Wave Motion Fist"), also sometimes spelled as "Hadouken" is a special attack that originated in the classic Capcom fighting video game series, Street Fighter. The practitioner thrusts his or her palms forward, sending a surge of spirit energy (or ki) flying towards the opponent.

The Hadoken is considered the series' most famous attack alongside Shoryuken, and has received a large amount of parodies and references in media. The Hadoken itself is often featured in the intros of various Street Fighter games, usually at the end, the trend starting from as early as Super Street Fighter II to the recent Super Street Fighter IV.

TriviaEdit

• Oddly enough, in the Street Fighter series, a Shinku Hadoken is depicted as one projectile that deals multiple hits. However, in the Street Fighter Alpha animated movie and the Marvel vs. Capcom series, they are shown as a beam of chi energy.
• The sprites for the Hadoken in the 2D games vary wildly from character to character, with Ryu and Sakura mostly using newer sprites (Until MvC1 where Ryu merely used the sprites for Ken's Hadoken), Akuma using a variant of is Alpha sprites and in Ken's case for X-Men vs Street Fighter only, his Hadoken sprites were taken from Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior-Street Fighter Alpha 3 and coloured light green. In the next game, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Ken's Hadoken sprites were changed to a unique, larger appearence.
• The VS series is currently the only game where Ken can perform Akuma's Zanku Hadoken special. It wouldn't be the last time Ken woudl imitate another shotoclone's moves as in Namco X Capcom he can perform a Shin Shoryuken.