, more commonly known simply as
Dan, is a character from
Capcomis a leading international developer and publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines...
's
Street Fighter series of
fighting gameFighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in one-on-one close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena...
s. Dan is consistently portrayed as an arrogant, overconfident, yet utterly weak character in many of the games in which he is featured. He is widely considered to be the Joke character of the series because of his over-the-top poses and battle cries.
Concept and creation
Shortly after the release of
Street Fighter IIis a series in Capcom's Street Fighter saga of head-to-head fighting games, originally released as coin-operated arcade games. The Street Fighter II series started with the Street Fighter II game itself, released in as a sequel to Capcoms fighting game Street Fighter.Street Fighter II improved...
, rival video game company
SNKSNK Playmore is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of Shin Nihon Kikaku , Japanese for "New Japan Project", which was SNK's original name...
finished development on, and subsequently released, their own fighting game,
Art of Fightingis a trilogy of competitive fighting game titles that were released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s. It was the second fighting game franchise created by SNK, following the Fatal Fury series and is set in the same fictional universe...
. The principal character of this series,
Ryo Sakazakiis a video game character developed for the fighting game Art of Fighting from SNK Playmore . His name is most often written in kana, however, in some games kanji is used to write parts of his name. In the series, Ryo is a martial artist that practices his family's fighting style, the Kyokugenryu...
, bore a resemblance in appearance and name to
Ryuis a video game character created by Capcom, from the Street Fighter series. Premiering in the first Street Fighter, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken participating in the Street Fighter tournament. Further games from the series show Ryu to be highly...
, as well as other aesthetic similarities to Ken, wearing an orange gi and sporting blonde hair.
In humorous retaliation,
Street Fighter II co-designer
Akimanis a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pen name "Akiman".-Career:...
drew an artwork of
SagatSágat is a Sámi newspaper written in Norwegian that is published in the county of Finnmark in Norway with a circulation of 2,717 ...
holding a defeated opponent by the head during the release of
Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition. The defeated opponent wore an attire similar to Ryo's: an orange karate gi with a torn black shirt underneath and
getaGeta are a form of traditional Japanese footwear that resembles both clogs and flip-flops. They are a kind of sandal with an elevated wooden base held onto the foot with a fabric thong to keep the foot well above the ground. They are worn with traditional Japanese clothing such as kimono or...
sandals; but had long dark hair tied to a ponytail like Robert Garcia, another character from the
Art of Fighting series. This character design would become the basis of Dan, who was introduced as a
secret characterA secret character can be a player character or a non-player character in a video game that must be unlocked by completing a goal within the game...
in
Street Fighter Alpha until finally becoming a selectable character on the game's sequel,
Street Fighter Alpha 2Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia, South America and Spain, is a fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a sequel to the previous years Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter II...
. His fireball is telling: instead of using both hands to unleash his
Gadōken, as Ryu and Ken do for the
Hadōken, he propels it with one hand, like Ryo, Robert and
Yuriis a video game character from SNK Playmore's Art of Fighting series. She first appears in the original Art of Fighting being kidnapped by Mr. Big, a criminal from the fictional city of Southtown. The players, Yuri's brother Ryo and his friend Robert Garcia spend the game searching for her...
do for the
Kooh-ken (though Dan's Gadōken has pathetically short range and only gains better range when you use the super version of the move, the
Shinkū Gadōken). Dan can also taunt infinitely like the
Art of Fighting games, unlike his fellow
Street Fighter Alpha characters who can only taunt once per round in the Alpha series.
When developing
Street Fighter IV, executive producer Yoshinori Ono emphasized Dan as a character he strongly wanted to have appear in the game, stating that while the character's personality and actions earned him the label of a joke character, he felt Dan was a very technical fighting game character that could be used well and bring something unique to the game. In a later interview, he emphasized his desire to have Dan in the game again, citing the then-unveiled inclusion of
Sakura Kasugano, commonly known simply as Sakura, is a video game character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games. She is a Japanese schoolgirl and is 16 years old during the Street Fighter Alpha series...
in home versions as added incentive.
As a parody
In
Street Fighter Alpha 2, Dan is Ken's secret challenger (reached by finishing several fights in a row with super combos) and they exchange dialog, one line of which is Ken asking Dan if he knows the "art of fighting". This is a reference to the
Art of Fighting series by SNK.
In Dan's ending in
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street FighterMarvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter is the fourth Marvel Comics-licensed fighting game produced by Capcom . It is a sequel to X-Men vs. Street Fighter which replaces most of the X-Men characters with characters from Marvel Super Heroes...
, Dan's sister appears to prevent him finishing off
Cyber-AkumaAkuma known in Japan as , is a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss. In the storyline of the Street Fighter video games, he is the younger brother of Ryu and Ken's sensei...
saying "Don't you know who he is? He's our..." parodying the ending of the original
Art of Fighting where Ryo was about to kill Mr. Karate before being told he is their father by Yuri (Dan's sister even looks like her). Also, Dan is the only character in the game to have a super taunt as one of his super combos.
One of Dan's win quotes in
Street Fighter Alpha 3Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as in Japan and Asia, is a fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2...
is "I hate the art of fighting, but I wanna be the king of fighters!" This is a direct reference to the
Art of Fighting and
King of Fighters series by SNK.
Also Dan's fighting style, the Saikyō-ryū, is a parody of Kyokugen-ryū, the fighting style used by Ryo and Robert. To further the parody, Saikyō-ryū means "Strongest style" while Kyokugen-ryū means "Extreme style". Not only that, but he's a Japanese immigrant who came to Hong Kong to change his nationality for reasons unknown.
In the
SNK vs. Capcom series (more specifically in
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos), there is a
running gagA running gag is a literary device which often takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
where Dan is often mistaken for Ryo or Robert, even by himself in a mirror match (Kasumi Todoh is one example: even after Dan tells her he is not Robert, she still does not believe him). In these games, Dan parodies even more of Ryo's attacks. He also mistook Mr. Karate for his father's ghost (though, in his ending in
Neo Geo PocketThe Neo Geo Pocket was SNK's first hand held video game system, released in Japan in late 1998; however, lower than expected sales resulted in its discontinuation in 1999, and was immediately succeeded by the Neo Geo Pocket Color...
's
SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millenniumis a fighting game for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. It features a total of 26 characters from SNK and Capcom, eight of which are hidden. Play options includes 2-fighter tag teams, 3-fighter queue teams, and of course, one-on-one...
, he seems to acknowledge that Takuma and Go are different people). In Ryo's ending for
Capcom vs. SNK 2Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, known as Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, is a sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. This game was released on NAOMI hardware in the arcade. It was later released for the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, with the GameCube and Xbox receiving...
, it is hinted that Dan came to the Sakazaki's Kyokugen-ryū Karate school to sign up. In
Pocket FighterSuper Gem Fighter Mini Mix, released in Japan as , is a fighting game released by Capcom in September 1997 for the CPS II arcade system. It was ported to the PlayStation , Sega Saturn, and WonderSwan, as well as PlayStation 2 as part of the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology.The game uses the same...
, Dan can call on the ghost of his father, whose face resembles the same tengu mask as Mr. Karate. This is mirrored in Capcom's official artwork for
Street Fighter Alpha; earlier works featured Dan's father as wearing a tengu mask, while later ones show that the long nose was indeed a feature of Go Hibiki. All other instances of Go Hibiki's face are obscured.
Character design
Dan has a similar outfit to Ryu and Ken, wearing a traditional
KarategiKarategi is the Japanese name for the karate training uniform.A karategi is somewhat similar to a judogi as it shares a common origin, however the material and cut of the uniform is generally much lighter and looser fitting...
. Dan also wears a black undershirt like Ryo. His head and face closely resembles Robert from
Art of Fighting, while his outfit is bright
pinkPink is a pale red color; the use of the word for the color was first recorded in the late 17th century, describing the flowers of pinks, flowering plants in the genus Dianthus. Pink itself is a combination of red and white...
, reminiscent of Ryo's orange outfit in
Art of Fighting.
Though his fighting stance is similar to Ken and Ryu's, it is more "loose" and animated. Many of his mannerisms directly mirror those of Yuri Sakazaki.
In
Street Fighter IVStreet Fighter IV is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom for the arcades since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008 with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
, he can be seen with the kanji 最強流 (Saikyō-ryū) on his lapel. During some moves, the kanji 父 (father) or 弾 (bullet, pronounced 'Dan') appears on his back, similar to Akuma.
In the Street Fighter series
Dan's father, Gou Hibiki, was a rival of
SagatSágat is a Sámi newspaper written in Norwegian that is published in the county of Finnmark in Norway with a circulation of 2,717 ...
. Gou gouged out Sagat's eye and Sagat beat him to death in retaliation. Because of this, Dan sought revenge on Sagat, training to become a fighter, but was expelled from
Goukenis a fictional character in the Street Fighter series. He is the martial arts master who trained Ryu and Ken, as well as the elder brother and former training partner of Akuma. Gouken is usually depicted as a bearded man who wears Mala prayer beads on his neck and a karate gi with the kanji mu , or...
's
dojoA is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjō were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to conduct...
when his motivations were learned. Dan thus developed his own fighting style called
Saikyō-ryū, "The Strongest Style", despite the considerable lack of power in his techniques.
After the events of
Street Fighter Alpha and
Street Fighter Alpha 2Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia, South America and Spain, is a fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a sequel to the previous years Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter II...
, Dan believed he had achieved his revenge by defeating Sagat (who had actually thrown the fight), and his motivation switched to promoting and expanding his Saikyo-style school, even to the point of offering exercise videos and correspondence courses. He has seemingly had some limited success promoting Saikyo-style.
In
Alpha 3, he was
Sakura Kasugano, commonly known simply as Sakura, is a video game character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games. She is a Japanese schoolgirl and is 16 years old during the Street Fighter Alpha series...
's supposed
sensei' is a Japanese title used to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authorityThe word is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill:...
, who followed him around in order to meet
Ryuis a video game character created by Capcom, from the Street Fighter series. Premiering in the first Street Fighter, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken participating in the Street Fighter tournament. Further games from the series show Ryu to be highly...
. He's also good friends with
Blankais a video game character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Blanka is depicted as a feral savage, with green skin and long orange hair, resembling a monster more than a human...
too, since Blanka saved Dan during the events of
Sakura Ganbaru! manga.
Dan also appears in
Street Fighter IVStreet Fighter IV is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom for the arcades since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008 with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
, entering the tournament and just barely qualifying (as seen in Seth's intro movie) in an effort to make his Saikyo-style more popular. He mentions offhand he was not allowed in the last tournament, (
Street Fighter IIis a series in Capcom's Street Fighter saga of head-to-head fighting games, originally released as coin-operated arcade games. The Street Fighter II series started with the Street Fighter II game itself, released in as a sequel to Capcoms fighting game Street Fighter.Street Fighter II improved...
) although Blanka mentions he tried to call him about the tournament, only to find that Dan hadn't paid his phone bill. He also appears as Sakura's mentor and fights her as a rival in the penultimate fight of his Arcade mode. Dan is used as the dummy opponent for the Challenge Mode in the home versions.
In other games
In the parody game
Pocket FighterSuper Gem Fighter Mini Mix, released in Japan as , is a fighting game released by Capcom in September 1997 for the CPS II arcade system. It was ported to the PlayStation , Sega Saturn, and WonderSwan, as well as PlayStation 2 as part of the Street Fighter Alpha Anthology.The game uses the same...
, Dan's story begins with himself looking to expand his Saikyo-ryuu school, and subsequently chooses Sakura as his student. Upon meeting Sakura, he offers to teach her his style, and she accepts after Dan defeats her in a fight. Sakura masters the entire Saikyo-ryuu style, and chooses to forget the entire style three days after mastering it, humiliating Dan.
His stance as a "weak" character is emphasized in the puzzle game
Super Puzzle Fighter II, in which Dan is a hidden character who drops only red counter gems, making him extremely easy to beat.
Promotion and reception
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
ranked Dan at number twelve in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, noting his role as a "fan favorite" despite his status as a joke character.
GameDailyis a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 with the name Gigex, the site was acquired by AOL on August 16, 2006. The site offers articles on different video game topics, with a lot of lists where games are ranked....
listed Dan at number eighteen in their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article and at number two in their "Top 25 Most Bizarre Fighting Characters" article, stating that despite the character's handicaps "...Dan is fun". In the January 30, 1997 issue of
Gamest magazine in Japan, Dan ranked at the top from the poll Top 50 Characters of 1996.
External links