, originally spelled in Japanese as (
Ken), is a video game character created by
Capcomis a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. As a main character, he has appeared in all of the
Street Fighter, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
games along with his best friend and rival,
Ryuis a video game player character created by Capcom, the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken Masters participating in the Street Fighter tournament...
. Like Ryu, Ken's goal is to test his power against many different fighters and strive to become stronger.
Street Fighter games
Ken made his first appearance in the original
Street Fighteris a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series...
released in
1987-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
. Ken is three-quarters Japanese. He is characterized as the former sparring partner, rival and best friend of the main character,
Ryuis a video game player character created by Capcom, the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken Masters participating in the Street Fighter tournament...
, who trained under the same master (a character whose identity would later be fleshed out as
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...
). He wears a red
keikogior dōgi is a uniform for training, used in martial arts derived from Japan, or budō. . The prototype for the modern keikogi emerged in the late 19th century. The keikogi was developed by judo founder Kano Jigoro...
, has dyed blond hair and fights
barefootBarefoot is the state of not wearing any footwear. Being barefoot is regarded as a human's natural state, though for functional, fashion and social reasons footwear is worn, at least on some occasions...
(in the original game, Ryu wears red shoes). The single-player tournament can only be played with Ken after the second player defeats the first player in a two-player match. Ken was also named one of the best fighters in the game.
Ken and Ryu, along with former final boss Sagat, would be the only characters from the original
Street Fighter to return in the game's true sequel,
Street Fighter IIis a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
, first released in
1991-Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s....
. In
Street Fighter II, Ken is invited to participate in the World Warrior tournament by Ryu, with Ken having already moved away from Japan to live in America. In Ken's ending, he ends up marrying his girlfriend Eliza.
Street Fighter II was a breakaway hit for Capcom, leading to the production of revised editions of the same game which included
Champion Edition and
Hyper Fighting in
1992-Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe....
,
Super Street Fighter IIis a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting...
in
1993-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
and
Super Turbo in
1994-Events:*Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".*Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.*"Project...
, which all follow the same plot. Numerous spinoff products were made as well during the game's popularity: when Capcom licensed
HasbroHasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
to produce a line of
action figureAn action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s, Ken was given the surname "Masters". The full name Ken Masters would be used in the animated
Street Fighter IIStreet Fighter II: The Animated Movie, known as in Japan and Australia, is a 1994 Japanese animated film adaptation of the Street Fighter II fighting games written by Kenichi Imai, directed by Gisaburō Sugii and animated by Group TAC. The film, originally released in Japan on August 8, 1994, has...
movie and in the
Street Fighter II V, is an anime series based on the fighting game Street Fighter II. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii , the series first aired in Japan in 1995, from April 10 to November 27, on YTV...
series before being canonized in the video games with
Street Fighter Alpha 2.
An all-new
Street Fighter game would not be released until
1995-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California...
, when
Street Fighter Alpha was released. Plotwise, the game was a prequel to the
Street Fighter II games which fleshed out the established
Street Fighter II characters, as well as reintroduced characters from the original
Street Fighter and the beat-em-up
Final Fightis a side-scrolling beat-'em-up game originally released by Capcom as a coin-operated video game in . It was the seventh game released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware...
.
Alpha features a younger Ken, who is searching for Ryu, having recently won the first "World Warrior" tournament in the events of the original
Street Fighter. In Ken's ending in the original
Street Fighter Alpha, he defeats Ryu and heads back to America, where he meets Eliza.
Street Fighter Alpha would be followed by its own line of sequels:
Street Fighter Alpha 2Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia and South America, is a fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is both a sequel and a remake to the previous years Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter...
, which follows the same plot as in the original
Alpha (with a revised ending for Ken); and
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...
, which takes place after the events in the first two games. In
Alpha 3, Ken is featured in the numerous characters' storylines within the game.
Ken's following appearance is in the
Street Fighter IIIis a fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as coin-operated arcade game in . Street Fighter III was produced for the CD-ROM-based CP System III hardware, which allowed for more elaborate 2D graphics than the CPS II-based Street Fighter Alpha games , while revamping...
where he has a son and his own student. In
Street Fighter IVis a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
, Ken enters into the world tournament while waiting for the birth of his son.
Other games
In
1990-Notable releases:*Bonk's Adventure is released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and is the first US appearance of Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGrafx-16.*February 12 — Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America...
, Capcom produced an action game for the
Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
titled
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight . The Japanese version of the game starred an original character named
Kevin Straker, a cyborg policeman who fought against alien creatures in the future. When Capcom released
2010 in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the main character's identity was changed from Kevin to Ken, with the game's story rewritten to imply that he was the same Ken from the original
Street Fighter. He also was a scientist in the future, implying a genius level intellect. Other than that, the game has little or no plot ties to the original
Street Fighter and its part in the
canonicalIn the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
Street Fighter series is disputed.
Outside the mainstream
Street Fighter games, Ken appears in 3D form in the
Street Fighter EXStreet Fighter EX is a head-to-head fighting game with 3D graphics, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN hardware in . It is a spin-off of the Street Fighter series co-produced by Capcom with Arika and was the first game in the series to feature polygon graphics...
games, in in
X-Men vs. Street FighterX-Men vs. Street Fighter is a fighting game originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in . It is Capcom's third fighting game to feature Marvel Comics characters and the first game to match them against their own, with characters from Marvel's X-Men franchise being matched against the cast...
, and the
Capcom vs. SNK series. Ken has appeared in every
Marvel vs. Capcom game except
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worldsis a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom. It features Capcom's own characters and characters from American comic book company Marvel Comics. It is the fifth installment of the Marvel vs...
and
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom. It is an updated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. After the events of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disrupted the development schedule for downloadable content for the original game, the additional content was made into a...
. He also appears in the arcade game
Street Fighter: The MovieStreet Fighter: The Movie may refer to:* Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, a 1994 Japanese animated film...
produced by
Incredible TechnologiesIncredible Technologies , based in Arlington Heights, Illinois is a US-based designer and manufacturer of coin-operated video games. Some of their games include Silver Strike Bowling, Power Putt, Target Toss Pro: Bags/Lawn Darts, and Golden Tee Golf...
, as well as in the
The MovieStreet Fighter: The Movie, released in Japan as , is a head-to-head fighting game released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The game is based on the 1994 live-action Street Fighter movie and uses digitized images of the films cast posing as the characters in the game...
, in
SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos by
SNK PlaymoreSNK Playmore Corporation is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. SNK is an acronym of , which was SNK's original name. The company's legal and trading name became SNK in 1986....
, where he has an alter-ego named , and in
Namco x Capcomis an action RPG/tactical RPG hybrid game for the PlayStation 2 console, developed by Monolith Soft and featuring characters from games produced by companies Namco and Capcom.- Storyline :...
. Ken Masters will be in the upcoming crossover fighting game,
Street Fighter X Tekkenis an upcoming crossover fighting game being developed by Capcom. The game was announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International by Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono. The game is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Vita sometime in March 2012. The game...
.
Character design
Since the original
Street Fighter, Ken has been consistently depicted with neck-length blond hair, black eyebrows and wears a red sleeveless
keikogior dōgi is a uniform for training, used in martial arts derived from Japan, or budō. . The prototype for the modern keikogi emerged in the late 19th century. The keikogi was developed by judo founder Kano Jigoro...
with a black belt. In the original
Street Fighter, Ken fought barefooted (unlike his rival Ryu, who originally wore red slippers and began fighting barefooted in subsequent games) and wore yellow arm bands instead of gloves.
In
Street Fighter II his appearance remained mostly unchanged from the original, with his yellow arm bands replaced by brown gloves. The
Street Fighter Alpha prequel series features a younger Ken than depicted in
Street Fighter II and other games. He wears yellow gloves, similar to the yellow arm bands he wore in the first game, but has much longer hair, which he holds together with a red ribbon as a ponytail.
Animation
He was voiced by
Scott McNeilScott McNeil is a Canadian actor and voice actor. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
in the
Street Fighter animated series. In
Street Fighter II V, is an anime series based on the fighting game Street Fighter II. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii , the series first aired in Japan in 1995, from April 10 to November 27, on YTV...
, he was voiced by
Jimmy TheodoreJimmy Theodore is a voice actor who is also known as Rudy Luzion and Stephen Platt.-Anime roles:* Battle Athletes Victory - Satellite Operator* El Hazard: Wanderers - Additional Voices* Macross Plus - Additional Voices...
in the Animaze dub and
Jason DouglasJason Douglas is an American stage and film actor who is gaining increasing visibility of late by breaking into mainstream film and television work. He is also a known anime voice actor who works for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000.-Anime Voices:* A.D...
in the ADV Films dub and in
Street Fighter II: The MovieStreet Fighter II: The Animated Movie, known as in Japan and Australia, is a 1994 Japanese animated film adaptation of the Street Fighter II fighting games written by Kenichi Imai, directed by Gisaburō Sugii and animated by Group TAC. The film, originally released in Japan on August 8, 1994, has...
, he was voiced by
Eddie FriersonEdward Davies "Eddie" Frierson is an American voice actor and stage actor who is also known as Christy Mathewson, Ted Richards, and Eric Frierson Edward Davies "Eddie" Frierson (born November 22, 1959) is an American voice actor and stage actor who is also known as Christy Mathewson, Ted Richards,...
. He was voiced by
Kazuya Ichijois a seiyū. He is married to fellow seiyuu Minami Hokuto.-Notable voice roles:*Fao Lafine in B't X*Kahyul in Crest of the Stars*Gurumet, Keisuke Kusanagi, Meteor in Gear Fighter Dendoh*Hokuto Umeda in the Hana-Kimi drama CDs*Kōichirō Kisaragi in Hell Girl...
in Japanese and
Steven BlumSteven Jay Blum is an American voice actor known primarily for his work in anime dubs and video games, using his distinctive deep voice. Among his credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Mugen of the anime series Samurai Champloo...
in the dub for the
Street Fighter Alpha movie. In
Street Fighter II V and the
Street Fighter II animated movie, Ken is depicted with reddish hair.
Live Action
Damian ChapaDamian Robert Chapa is a Mexican-American actor, film director and film producer.Chapa was born in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was briefly married to Natasha Henstridge. Among his earlier notable film roles are one of the leads in Taylor Hackford's Blood In Blood Out and the part of Ken in the film...
portrayed Ken in the 1994
Street Fighter movieA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, where he is a con artist alongside Ryu. After the two unsuccessfully try to scam Shadaloo Tong leader Sagat, they are arrested by Allied Nations forces. Guile offers them their freedom in exchange for infiltrating Bison's base (to whom Sagat runs guns) and revealing its location so that the AN can make a military strike and free the hostages captured earlier in the film.
When Guile eventually infiltrates Sagat's base and chaos ensues Ryu and Ken try to help free the hostages but split up when the AN forces arrive (according to Ken the soldiers get paid and that they should not risk their lives). Ken later comes to Ryu's aid when he is ambushed by Vega and Sagat. While Ryu defeats Vega, Ken defeats Sagat.
Christian Howard played Ken in
Street Fighter: LegacyStreet Fighter: Legacy is a live-action short fan film based on Capcom's popular fighting game series Street Fighter.The film is a Streetlight Films production, co-directed by Joey Ansah and Owen Trevor, produced by Jacqueline Quella and stars Jon Foo as Ryu, Christian Howard as Ken, and Ansah...
which was co-directed by
Joey AnsahJoey Ansah is a British actor and martial artist.-Early life:Joey Ansah was born in London, England of mixed ethnicity, the second son of celebrated Ghanaian fashion designer Kofi and his Devon-born wife Nicola. He lived in London for the first 10 years of his life before emigrating with his...
and Owen Trevor.
Promotion and reception
Ken has often been recognized as one of the best
Street Fighter characters.
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
ranked Ken at number six in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, noting his contrast to Ryu while subsequently questioning his lesser appeal, and stating "he's just as indispensable to the series as Ryu is. After all, could you imagine a Street Fighter game without him? Perhaps, but it probably still wouldn't be the same."
GameDailyGameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
listed him at number six on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, noting the contrast between himself and Ryu. The same site ranked him sixth along with Ryu in the Top 25 Capcom Characters of All Time with editor Robert Workman saying "It was just impossible to choose between one of these world warriors". Another feature, "Top 25 Gaming Hunks", situated Ken eighteenth, stating it was hard deciding between him and Ryu. In the February 1992 issue of
Gamest magazine in Japan, Ken ranked at ninth along with Blanka as Best Characters of 1991. In the January 30, 1997 issue, Ken ranked at number 49 in Top 50 Characters of 1996. In 2009
GameProGamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
ranked Ryu and Ken as number nine in their list of the best palette-swapped video game characters, adding: "While some may have argued that Street Fighter 2's depiction of Ryu and Ken utilized palette swapping, a true palette swapping aficionado would know that only the original Street Fighter exploited the swapping of palettes."
GamesRadarGamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
writer Tyler Wilde published an article focusing on Ken's and Ryu's development across the franchise under the title of "The evolution of Ken and Ryu." While comparing these two characters, IGN's Jesse Schedeen stated that Ken could "easily suffer from
Luigiis a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series,...
Syndrome" for his resemblance with Ryu, but thanks to the sequels, Ken gained his own fighting style separated from Ryu's.
Some sites have commented on Ken's techniques due to being relatively overpowered.
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
recommended Ken alongside Ryu for beginners in
Street Fighter IV with Ken being better at close-up fights as a result of his powerful uppercutts. In a humor article by
GameSpyGameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
, the
Super Street Fighter II TurboSuper Street Fighter II Turbo, released in Japan as , is a competitive fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in . It is the fifth arcade installment in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Super Street Fighter II...
version of Ken was mentioned to have become unbalanced to the point he was the strongest character from the cast. In
Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Ken was also noted to be one of the three more powerful characters from the game alongside Chun-Li and Yun. Similarly,
Dave CookDave Cook is an award-winning video game journalist and former PR consultant from Edinburgh, Scotland, now living in Bournemouth, England. Dave has written game reviews and features for a range of online and print publications, his previous work includes writing for gaming magazine, GamesTM, online...
from Now Gamer called him and
Tekkenis an arcade fighting game franchise created and developed by Namco. Beginning with the original Tekken arcade game released in 1994, the series has received several sequels, as well as various home conversions and spin-off titles released for consoles...
s
Eddy Gordois an Afro-Brazilian video game character in the Tekken fighting game series by Namco. He made his debut in the arcade version of Tekken 3 in 1997 and his first console appearance was in the 1998 PlayStation port of the title...
one of the most hated characters from their franchises due to their overpowered moves. In another article, Cook listed a fight between Ken and Eddy Gordo as one of the fights he wished to see in
Street Fighter X Tekkenis an upcoming crossover fighting game being developed by Capcom. The game was announced at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International by Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono. The game is set to release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Vita sometime in March 2012. The game...
calling it the "ultimate battle of super cheapness." UGO Networks placed Ken at #4 on their list of Top 50 Street Fighter Characters", stating "If you're a fan of dragon punches, you play Ken.".
Ken artwork was featured on an officially licenced Nubytech/
UDONUDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...
joypad for the
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, and a
Mad CatzMad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...
joypad for the
PlayStation 3The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
.