Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Via the top secret, highly advanced technique of ripping sprites out of roms, we've created a timeline showing off our heroes' evolution. Using this chart, you can pick apart the tiniest differences, such as that the position of their right hands is about the same in Street Fighter II and SVC Chaos, but nowhere else. Now we're fanboys!

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Namco x Capcom - 2005
In their most Anime'd out, Ken and Ryu appear in Namco X Capcom, a strategic RPG fighter featuring a slew characters from both publishers. While the game was only released in Japan, there has been talk of a fan made translation in the works.

Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight - 1990
Jumping all the way back to 1990, we come to possibly the strangest game we've included. Street Fighter 2010 is not actually a Street Fighter game, and this isn't actually Ken. In Japan, the main character was Kevin Striker, but when brought to the US, Capcom decided to rename him Ken in the hope of cashing-in on the Street Fighter franchise.

The story goes:
"Ken had no interest in the Frontier, until his partner Troy was killed. Someone had broken into their lab, stolen their invention, and left Troy as a mere puddle of jelly on the floor. Even though it's been 25 years since Ken was king of the street fighting circuit, it's nothing a few good bionics can't fix."
Actually, know what? That never happened. Shut the hell up, you crappy NES game.
Fighter's History - 1993
This is not a Street Fighter game either. Created by Data East (ironically, the same company responsible for Karate Champ), Fighter's History is generally considered to be a rough clone of Street Fighter. Capcom was not happy, sued, and lost. Judge for yourself, are these characters rip-offs of Ken and Ryu?

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - 1999

Match of the Millennium is a quant Neo Geo Pocket Color game, and the first game to mash up SNK and Capcom characters. Don't let the simple art fool you, this is one of the most feature rich and popular handheld fighting games ever made.
The characters look a bit similar to the Karate Champ inspiration we mentioned in reference to the original Street Fighter.

Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 - 2001

While the sprites in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 are ripped from Alpha, Capcom redrew Ken and Ryu for Capcom vs. SNK 2, and the resulting appearance is something like a combination of Alpha, SF II, and SF III. They are slightly thinner than their Alpha and SF III counterparts, and have slightly more twisted torsos in their ready stances. There's also a bit more muscle definition, and Ryu's hair is back to brown.

Trivia: Mark of the Millennium 2001 is known as "Millionaire Fighting 2001" in Japan. Why? Hell if we know.

SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom - 2003

SVC Chaos was not received particularly well by the media, but what interests us is that it was developed by SNK instead of Capcom, meaning Ryu and Ken take on a never-before-seen style. The characters are darker, leaner, and haven't ironed their uniforms in some time.

SVC Chaos is also known for its strange dialogue, possibly as the result of poor translation.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

X-Men vs. Street Fighter - 1996

The trend of matching Capcom characters against those of other publishers would not be short lived. In this case, Ken and Ryu battle the X-Men heroes in their Alpha forms. While the actual character sprites aren't new, the visual grandness of their special moves have been upped to match the mutants' powers.

Above: A very large fireball

While the stories in crossover games are not part of the official Street Fighter canon, they generally stay true to the characters. Ryu is thanked by Cyclops before wandering away, you guessed it, in search of another challenge. Ken can be found with his son playing none other than X-men vs. Street Fighter.

Trivia: X-Men vs. Street Fighter is the first game to include Street Fighter characters alongside "tag-team" gameplay. The PlayStation port, however, does not feature tag-team gameplay due to memory limitations. Instead, the alternate character only appears during special attacks. The Saturn version (only released in Japan), however, is a true arcade port.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes - 1998

While the art style of the character portraits is still pretty "Alpha-ish," the characters are in their post-Alpha garb. Marvel vs. Capcom is one of the only games in which Ryu appears without Ken along side him as a playable character. But wait - down, back, medium punch and...

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - 2000

Ken returns as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, though he is only available after unlocking. The characters are back to their pre-SF II look (Ryu with a white headband). The character art is oddly boyish - are these prepubescent versions of Ken and Ryu?

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter The Movie - 1995
Oh my God. Not only is this arcade game worse than the original Street Fighter, it is perhaps one of the worst fighting games ever created. If anything, it may be slightly better than the movie it's based on.
The console port was somewhat improved in that it directly utilized the Street Fighter II engine. That doesn't, however, negate the incredulous cheesiness.
The character sprites are actual images of the actors, giving us an entirely new look at Ryu and Ken.

This depiction of Ryu is the most disappointing. It chews up, digests, and vomits out all of our wild conceptions about this legendary warrior, destroying his mystique and replacing it with Byron Mann, a California lawyer.

This guy's only resemblance to Ken is his red uniform, and even that fails to be the right shade of red. Shameful.
Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (AKA Pocket Fighter) - 1997
Gem Fighter, which features characters from multiple Capcom franchises, was released on the CPS-2 arcade board, and ported to multiple consoles. The story of these "super deformed" versions of Ken and Ryu is rather straight forward.
Ryu wishes to see a lady named Tessa. He has heard much about her during his journeys.

Ken ends up on a forced shopping trip with Morrigan and apparently gets an eye infection... And is confronted by Eliza! What a player. All he wanted was to have tea with some pretty girl. That scamp.

Gem Fighter's characters are just about identical to the characters in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (below), except that the Puzzle Fighter versions exist within the pre-Street Fighter II era, giving Ryu a white headband and Ken long hair.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter EX - 1996
The EX series was developed by Arika, not Capcom. The games were the first 3D versions of Street Fighter, but were criticized for essentially being 2D fighting games with polygonal graphics. Ken and Ryu appear roughly as they do in Street Fighter II, only they're made of ugly, ugly polygons.

Street Fighter EX 2 - 1998
Better technology (Namco's System 12 arcade board) gives EX 2 smoother textures and more polygons, but in the end, it's still an ugly early 3D fighter, and Ken and Ryu are still chunky messes of characters.

Street Fighter EX 3 - 2000
But wait! EX 3 was released two years later on the next generation of hardware, ported to the PS2, and massive graphical improvement ensued. Well, massive is a pretty hefty word - the models look much nicer than in the previous EX games, but in comparison to other PS2 games of its time, EX 3 was not quite up to par. Critics described the characters as "blocky," and "high-res PS1," and much was said about the slow character response time.
Some, however, found EX 3 to be a complete success - especially those who were fans of the previous EX games. Critical reception aside, Ken and Ryu are looking their most... 3Dish in EX 3, but are otherwise unaltered.

Trivia: On the Street Fighter EX 2 Plus arcade machine, Garuda, Shadow Geist, and Kairi become available when the machine has been running for a long period of time.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter III: The New Generation - 1997

Street Fighter III is a direct sequel to Street Fighter II, pitting Ken and Ryu against a host of brand new characters. But it might not have been that way - rumor has it that Ryu and Ken were originally going to be shut out of the game. Capcom did, in fact, cast Alex as the main character, but our infamous heroes returned regardless, if without the spotlight.

SF III was released on Capcom's new CPS-3 arcade board, meaning that the graphics are significantly improved over Alpha and Super SF II. Ryu's hair is now black - something we'll explore further later. Ken's hair has returned to its Street Fighter II length, as his ribbon was handed over to Ryu in the Alpha series.
Ryu's ending involves his typical quest to continue his training and fight more battles. Ken returns to his wife, Eliza, and child, who promptly punches him in the nuts. No, even Street Fighter can't escape the nut punch gag.

Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack - 1997
The unfortunately named 2nd Impact: Giant Attack features a couple of new characters and a few gameplay tweaks. Like Alpha 2's relationship to Alpha, 2nd Impact isn't a sequel to The New Generation, just an update.

Street Fighter III Third Strike: Fight for the Future - 1999
Third Strike, the third of the three Street Fighter III games (say that three times fast), is a continuation of the story in the first two Street Fighter III games. Ryu is maintaining his wandering warrior schtick, this time on a trek through America in search of Ken, who is in the process of winning his third US championship in a row. In Alex's ending, he is defeated by the oh-so-powerful Ryu, but vows that "the show has just begun."

A sprite comparison between Street Fighter III and Alpha 3 shows off the refined animations and upgraded graphical capability of the CPS-3 games. The costume pallet swap in the SF III screen is in place merely to provide contrast.

The "ready" sprites maintain the "front-facing" pose of the Alpha series, with a little more bulk in the chest and arms. The below comparison makes the transition clear - the Street Fighter II sprite is much more forward oriented than the Alpha and SF III sprites. Also note the bent knees in Street Fighter are knocked the other way in Street Fighter II, and are then straightened out in Alpha and III.

Back on the subject of Ryu's hair color - if we trace it all the way back to the original Street Fighter, there is the appearance that it was originally dyed red and has since faded to black.
While it would be a stretch to assume that this was an intentional decision by Capcom, we've created a comparison (left) for fun, in chronological order as dictated by the storyline. Note that we've also seen Ryu with black hair in concept art for Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which further leads us to believe that his hair color has been generally assigned for aesthetic reasons rather than story reasons.
Trivia: Q, a bizarre character introduced in 3rd Strike, was voiced by Len Carlson, who also voiced Ganon in the animated Legend of Zelda series, which aired in 1989.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Alpha Series

Street Fighter Alpha Warriors' Dreams - 1995

The Street Fighter Alpha series takes place before Street Fighter II, and after Street Fighter. Ryu and Ken return in the Alpha series, redone in the series' signature Anime style. Ryu is sporting a white headband, as in the original Street Fighter. Ken's hair is significantly longer, and contains a red ribbon.

We can see the "cell shaded" look of the sprites in the below screen. Ryu's hair, while still brown, has become slightly more red than it was in Street Fighter II. Ryu's uniform is whiter, and his torn sleeves and legs more jagged. Also notice that Ken's stance is more front-facing than in SF II.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 - 1996

Alpha 2 is not a continuation of the story in Alpha - it is an update of the game, and what Capcom had intended Alpha, which was rushed to release, to be. The only new character created for the game is Sakura (right), a spunky schoolgirl who's obsessed with Ryu. There has to be one of them in every series, doesn't there?
The story of Alpha and Alpha 2 (as well as a variety of films and comics) sets up most of Street Fighter's back story. Earlier in the series, Ken and Ryu began as students of Gouken, Ryu's adoptive father. Ken came to Japan as an undisciplined American to study under the master.

The Alpha series sees Ryu return home to discover that Gouken has been murdered by Akuma. He confronts, but does not defeat, Akuma on an island, which Akuma smashes after revealing the hidden power of Satsui no Hadou ("Evil Intent"), which is buried within Ryu.

Ken returns to America after the death of Gouken, where he becomes a famous actor and eventually marries his girlfriend, Eliza. Ken's Alpha 2 story ends with him defeating Ryu, who he claims "wasn't in it." Ken gives Ryu the red ribbon in his hair, which Ryu presumably wears from Street Fighter II forward, explaining the white to red headband transition.

In this scene from M. Bison's ending, we see Ryu being brainwashed, which allows Bison to discover that Ryu's Satsui no Hadou is not unlike his Psycho Power. We're pretty sure Ryu is wearing a white Speedo here, and is not, in fact, a Ken doll.

Trivia: The SNES version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold lacks the hidden characters, the Venezuela stage, and generally sucks.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 - 1998

Alpha 3 is an actual sequel to Alpha and Alpha 2, and is a fully redesigned game. The anime style of the character art is a bit more pronounced, as apparent in the screen below.

In Ken's ending, he defeats M. Bison using Ryu's Shoryuken. Ryu's ending sees him struggle between Bison's mind control and Satsui no Hadou.

Also notable in the Alpha series is the introduction of "Evil Ryu," a version of Ryu who has succumb to his "Evil Intent" (below). This character is a "what if" scenario - Ryu doesn't actually give in to Satsui no Hadou, excepting during his battle with Sagat in the original Street Fighter.

Trivia: There is no one correct way to spell "Hadouken" in English. Not even official game manuals have been consistent, and we've seen various sources refer to the attack as "Hadouken," "Hadoken," "Hado ken," and "Hado-ken." We're most familiar with the "Hadouken" spelling, which is why we use it in this article.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter II - 1991:

Defying their humble beginnings in Street Fighter, the duo exploded into the mainstream in 1991 with the release of Street Fighter II. The Soviet Union was collapsing, Desert Storm was underway, and the World Wide Web was on the verge of realization - meanwhile, the kids were perfecting combos in the arcades. Street Fighter II made the fighting genre, with Ken and Ryu as its stars.
The first Street Fighter II game (of many) included eight playable characters. Ken and Ryu were initially the only playable characters carried over from the original Street Fighter.

Ryu's striking red hair is shifted to a muted brown, and his white headband replaced with a red one. Ken appears roughly the same as he did in Street Fighter, give or take a drunk character artist with an affinity for massive oval-shaped eyes and ridiculous snarls.

Street Fighter II Championship Edition (right) sees a redraw of our hero which features a much less passive expression, more refined hair, and even a puff of uber manly facial hair, possibly not seen since.
Super Street Fighter II (below), released on Capcom's next generation of arcade boards (CPS-2), represents a major conceptual jump for the characters. Ryu appears much more disgruntled, and his eyebrows have been toned down to match his hair. Ken gets a complete redraw - his spaghetti hair is now flattened and refined, his grimace modeled into a devious grin, and his giant black eyebrows are now giant and brown.

Each game in the Street Fighter II series represents incremental changes as Capcom attempted to perfect the game. Player feedback and time constrictions molded each of the updates, the most drastic being the jump from Street Fighter II to Super Street Fighter II, which introduced four new characters.

Above: Ryu and Ken spar in Street Fighter II Championship Edition

The story of SF II simply involves another tournament, but our heroes' back stories are truly fleshed out in the next series we'll explore - Alpha

Trivia: M. Bison is not M. Bison! Capcom shifted the boss names around for the US version because they felt that M. Bison (who was renamed Balrog in the US) too closely resembled Mike Tyson and was thus a liability. In Japan, M. Bison was in fact meant to resemble Tyson - the 'M' stands for "Mike."