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Ken Masters is a prominent character the Street Fighter series by Capcom. He is a longtime best friend and main rival of Ryu, having the same goals and aspirations as him.

Ken debuted in X-Men vs. Street Fighter and reappeared in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. Ken is an NPC Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.

Profile[]

Appearance[]

Ken’s most notable appearance is a long blonde haired man who wears sleeveless red karate gi, gloves and black belt.

Ken's previous appearance in 2D era Marvel vs. Capcom games (excluding Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes) was based on his younger design in the Street Fighter Alpha series. He has longer-length blond hair tied in a ponytail. He wears a red karate gi with torn sleeves, yellow gloves, and a black belt.

In Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and 3D era Marvel vs. Capcom games (such as Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite), he begin to sport his well-known classic appearance from Street Fighter II up to Street Fighter IV, such as having a short-length long hair, a sleeveless karate gi and brown gloves, while retaining his black belt.

Story[]

X-Men vs. Street Fighter[]

Ken is defeated by his son, Mel on a video game. Eliza calls the boys to dinner.

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter[]

Ryu wakes Ken to inform him that Gouken is calling them for training and that the latter's gaming with Mel was but a dream.

Gameplay[]

Ken mainly focuses on the Shoryuken move, to the point where his Shoryukens set the opponent on fire. Ken's Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku does not allow him to dodge projectiles at the start of the spin, but spins faster, allows him to hit his opponent up to five times. Ken's Hadouken attacks are less concentrated than Ryu's, but Ken's Shoryuken has more range and does more damage than Ryu's.

Special Attacks[]

  • Hadoken: Back in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Ken's projectile is small but is in long range. But in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, his projectile won't travel a full-screen's distance, and the Hard version goes further than Light Punch. This also applies in Ken's air version of his attack that comes out at a diagonally down-towards angle just like Akuma's Zanku Hadoken.
  • Shoryuken: A fierce rising uppercut in a spiraling motion with some horizontal movement in which Ken rockets upwards whilst performing a spinning uppercut that knocks his opponent to the ground. Ken can do this in the air, so you can actually use it as a jump in attack, but it's best used as an anti-air move. The hard punch version has more range and does more damage. One of Ken's best moves.
  • Tatsumaki Senpukyaku: Back in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Ken's technique works the same as Ryu but can inflict multiple hits just like from Akuma's. But in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, his move flies at a diagonally up-towards angle, so it can actually be used as an anti air move. He hits multiple times very fast, and the hard kick version has more range and takes off more health.
  • Barrel Roll: Ken quickly rolls along the ground, very similar to his roll move in Street Fighter Alpha 2. If you use this from close range and your opponent isn't in the corner, you can get to their other side. Usually used to escape when your opponent traps you on a corner.

Assist Attacks[]

Assist Attacks
Set Type Assist Counter Cross-Over
α Anti-Air Shoryuken Shoryuken Shinryuken
β Projectile Hadoken Hadoken Shoryu-Reppa
γ Expansion Tatsumaki Senpukyaku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku Shoryu-Reppa

Hyper Combos[]

  • Shoryu-Reppa (Level 1): Ken's signature super attack, he performs a series of three Shoryukens that progressively cause more and more damage to an opponent each time they are hit.
  • Shinryuken (Level 1): This attack was developed by Ken and he is the only user of this move. It is a powerful Shoryuken that corkscrews vertically into the air, causing a vacuum effect that sucks in the opponent and strikes him multiple times. Tapping the kick buttons will add more hits and damage.
  • Shippu Jinraikyaku (Level 1): Ken does a bunch of kicks with his feet on fire and ends with an Hurricane Kick. Additional hits and damage can be added if you mash the kick buttons.
  • Shinkuu Hadouken: This move is only available in X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter when Ryu is his tag partner and perform the Crossover Combination.

Tag Partner[]

Theme Song[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Ken is referenced in Ryu's ending in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds as when you see Ryu going up to fight Iron Fist in the second picture you see on a board in the background "Up Next: Ken vs. Mr X", the latter being a Marvel villain whose main power is using telepathy to predict his opponent's next move and counter it accordingly. During the Dark Reign year-long storyline, Mr. X was a member of Norman Osborn's second team of Thunderbolts. At a first glance, Mr. X could be mistaken for a character with the same name from Mega Man 6, though this Mr. X was actually Dr. Wily in disguise.
  • He is the actual rival of Cyclops.
  • In both X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, pairing up Ryu and Ken together allows them to perform a Double Shinkuu Hadouken as their Crossover Combination. This is a likely homage to the finale of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, where the two combined their Hadoukens as a finishing move to defeat M. Bison.
  • To somewhat compensate for Ken's absence in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Ryu can alternate into a "Ken" mode where he gets faster, his Shoryuken causes multi-hits and has flaming properties (without the supreme invincibility Ken's had in the preceding Vs. game), and he uses Ken's Hyper Combos instead of his own (sans flames in the Shippu Jinrai Kyaku). In addition, one of Ryu's alternate colors in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (another game from which Ken is absent) is patterned after Ken: red gi, blond hair and yellow gloves.
  • His English voice actor in Street Fighter IV up to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Reuben Langdon who also voiced Devil May Cry series original protagonist Dante (excluding a spin-off alternate universe game developed by Ninja Theory).

External links[]

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