Ken is Ryu's best friend and training partner. Heir to the Master's family, Ken comes from a lot of wealth and power. He was rowdy and energetic throughout his youth, and loved to get into fights. To ensure his son didn't become too much of a hassle, his father sent him to train with an old friend named Gouken. There, he met Ryu, and the two became rivals as they learned to master the arts of shotokan karate.
Ken joins the Street Fighter tournament for the same reason as Ryu, hoping to fight highly skilled opponents from around the world.
Introduction
Ken is the second in the duo that the community commonly calls "shotos". In the original Street Fighter 1, Ken was simply a player 2 alt with no differences to Ryu. SF1MR adds minor differences, usually just small frame data changes. These aren't notable enough to radically change how the characters play in comparison to eachother, as they still share all of their moves, but they can weigh on your choice of which one to play in which matchup.
In comparison to Ryu, Ken is generally faster but lacks the same frame advantage. His 6236P Shoryuken is incredible, being active on the first frame and going incredibly high. These make amazing reversals and defensive tools, but still maintain the same high risk. His 214K Tatsumaki Senpukyaku is faster overall, and allows for some stronger corner combos, alongside only being 0 on block unlike Ryu's -3 version. Ken's 236P Hadouken fireball is a frame faster, but unfortunately is also a frame slower on recovery, and lacks the same frame advantage that Ryu has from his.
The two have a large difference in their supers. Ken has 236236P Shoryureppa, an easy to confirm combo ending super, and 236236K Shinryuken, a stellar anti-air/reversal super with some amazing combo potential in the corner with Ken's Shinryuken loops. Overall, Ken has better anti-airs and more potential damage, plus better defense. However, he lacks Ryu's stable zoning, powerful super, and better frame advantage.
Playstyle
Pros
Cons
Reversals: Ken sports some amazing defensive reversals, from his immediately active Shoryuken to his lightning fast supers
Simple: Like Ryu, Ken is a fairly simple character to understand at a glance
Damage Potential: If Ken gets the right hit, he can clear a lot of health with a confirm to Shoryureppa, and in the corner any Tatsu or anti-air hit can lead into high damage Shinryuken loops
Frame Advantage: Ken struggles to push any plus on block moves, usually ending with a simple cancel to Hadouken for a small amount of plus frames that he can struggle to capitalize on. As a mixless character, this can make proper comebacks hard
Situational Damage: While Shinryuken loops and Shoryureppa confirms are damaging, they can't always be done. Shinryuken loops usually require hitting a Tatsu in the corner, a notoriously inconsistent special, and Shoryureppa can drop hits at range or after a 2D launch
236236P - Shoryureppa: Extremely high damage combo ender
236236K - Shinryuken: Reversal, anti-air, and corner combo super
Unique Attacks
nj.B, nj.D
Stats & Vitals
Attack Rating = 100
Armor Rating = 100
Forward Walk Speed = 2.5
Backward Walk Speed = -2.3
Taunt = 30f
Quick Combo Reference
Basic BNBs:
2A > 2C, 2B > 2D
2A > 2C > 214D
2C, 2C, 2D
Normals
Standing Normals
Stand Light Punch 5A
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
27
Mid
2
3
3
-
+7
2
Cancels to 5C, Specials, and Supers on hit or block.
Stand Light Kick 5B
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
27
Mid
4
5
4
-
+2
-3
Cancels to 5D, Specials, and Supers on hit or block.
The classic shoto light kick. Somewhat useful as an anti-air or to evade low pokes, but Shoryuken is a much better anti-air overall. Still, without the usual crouch fierce, this is one of Ken's better normal anti-airs alongside 5D.
Stand Heavy Punch 5C
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
97
Mid
15
12
8
-
+6
-3
Cancels to nothing
Stand Heavy Kick 5D
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
87
Mid
13
7
13
-
-5
-4
Cancels to nothing.
Crouching Normals
Crouch Light Punch 2A
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
23
Mid
3
3
3
-
+5
+3
Cancels to 2B, 2C, or 2D on hit or block.
Crouch Light Kick 2B
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
23
Low
2
4
2
-
+7
-3
Cancels to 2D, Specials, and Supers on hit or block.
Crouch Heavy Punch 2C
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
62
Mid
6
6
6
-
+10
+11
Cancels to Specials and Supers on hit and block.
Crouch Heavy Kick 2D
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
78
Low
5
8
10
-
KD
-2
Cancels to Specials and Supers on hit or block
Jumping Normals
Jump Light Punch j.A
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
27
High
2
Until Landing
2
-
Varies
Varies
Very active and hits near his head.
Ken sticks out a fist that has a lingering hitbox till he lands. Can be an air interrupt, but not much else.
Jump Light Kick j.B
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
24
High
2
Until Landing
2
-
Varies
Varies
Very active and hits below him, good for safejumps.
Ken sticks out his leg and lets the hitbox linger for the full jump like j.A. More useful as a jump-in, especially since the long active frames can catch a lot of bad anti-airs. Jumping on top of a knocked down opponent with this can actually make a surprising mixup, or even a safejump depending on the character.
Jump Heavy Punch j.C
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
70
High
2
8
2
-
Varies
Varies
High damage air-to-air.
Ken punches out in front of him. Fairly high damage, but the hitbox is pretty high up, so you'll mostly stick to j.D as a heavy jump-in. Can snipe people air-to-air however.
Jump Heavy Kick j.D
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
70
High
3
11
2
-
Varies
Varies
Long and low hitbox with good damage.
The main jump-in normal to use in most situations. Great forward range, fast startup, lots of active frames, and high damage and hitstun make it a very consistent normal.
Taunt
Taunt A+B
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
-
-
1
-
30
-
-
-
Taunt builds 1 bar of meter instantly, regardless of if Ryu is hit out of it or not, hence the 1 frame startup.
Ken's taunt is fairly fast, allowing him to use it relatively safely in neutral or after any knockdown without giving up much space.
Unique Attacks
Neutral Jump Light Kick nj.B
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
90
High
3
10
2
-
Varies
Varies
Sweeping hitbox to catch multiple angles.
A great neutral jump air-to-air with very high damage. Outside of air-to-air however, it doesn't have much use, as nj.D covers the high damage neutral jump starter role much better. However, in midscreen, it has less pushback than nj.D, allowing for higher damage followups.
Neutral Jump Heavy Kick nj.D
Damage
Guard
Startup
Active
Recovery
Cancels
Adv on Hit
Adv on Block
90
High
4
7
2
-
Varies
Varies
Very high hitstun and pushback, comparable to a j.CD from the KOF series.
A spinning kick with massive hitstun and pushback. In the corner, this can connect and still allow for a 2C, 2C, 2D, making for a massive damage starter. It can also be a good air-to-air, but nj.B is a bit better thanks to the faster startup and higher active frames. In midscreen, pushback with this can be a bit too strong to get much more than a 2D after.
