Look, I say this question only has one answer. Ken has way cooler hair, he has a better Dragon Punch, and he’s a loose cannon squandering all that raw potential. Would you rather play as that character or the guy meditating underneath a waterfall?
But it seems as though there are people in this universe who still prefer Ryu. They’ll pick Ryu, they’ll fight as Ryu, despite the fact that a way cooler version of Ryu is but a character selection tap away.
Let’s settle this monkey business once and for all with a vote: Ryu or Ken. I have a horse in this race, clearly, but I’m keen to hear what you guys and girls think. Let us know your reasoning in the comments below.
Comments
87 responses to “The Big Question: Ryu Or Ken?”
I always gravitated towards Ryu. Not sure why Ryu – maybe because in the beginning there was almost no difference between them. And playing the not-American guy was my first choice. Although as the series developed, there’s a lot more difference. I think Ken generally has the cooler supers/ultras though, and Ken’s Dragon Punch is just beast.
My overall preference was always Akuma, followed by Evil Ryu if available.
I’m with ya buddy. U know what? I reckon if ur not a fighting gamer, you would pick ken. That’s why when sf4 first came out, all the scrubs and plebs picked and played “flowchart ken”. If you’re actually semi serious about the game, you gravitate towards Ryu.
you sir are correct… There is only one answer to this question. Ken is the only choice.
Someone should use this as a job interview test…. as clearly anyone who chooses Ryu is not a suitable candidate to work in society
RYU FOR LIFE!
Ok tea break over, back to work guarding these nuclear launch codes dee de dee doo do do.
Ryu is the man. He’s all about winning through solid fundamentals. Ken is too flashy and too brash. He’s too busy making his moves all firey and shit to get the job done.
If they were wrestlers, Ken would be a complete spot-monkey.
The answer is; I pick characters at random, button mash, and proceed to win.
*throws dice*
I picked Ken and I won.
The first time I played the original SFII after spending like 20 minutes watching other people play with Guile, Ryu or Ken, I picked Dhalsim because I assumed his stretchy-limb attacks gave him an unsurmountable advantage and couldn’t figure out why no one else had realised this.
I got wrecked pretty badly.
Yeah, Dhalsim was so hard to play with. I remember years later, learning through Kotaku or somewhere that Dhalsim was one of the main characters that the pros play with. Blew my mind.
Should be a poll 🙂 I like the Ryu character better but I find Ken a bit easier to play as so I will tend select Ken between the two.
I like the flash Ken brings to the table. I really used to love pulling off his special Dragon Punch during the awesome X-Men vs. Street Fighter days.
Ryu seems more like Superman, and Superman is boring.
you sir a man after my own heart.
YES! Ken is the awesomest flashy mofo.
and YES!
how f’ing awesome is X-men vs Street Fighter and why isnt there a bloody sequel?!?!?
There is. It’s called marvel vs Street fighter. Lol
Yeah. And then Marvel vs Capcom 1, 2, 3, Ultimate 3. All in the same series!
nope. definitely not a sequel in my eyes.
i consider the marvel vs capcom games to be separate.
Haha you would be in denial if you don’t think of them as sequels.
spiritual successors maybe. but i loved just having the two factions. not people from every corner of each side. i get they have the same game mechanics, but i never enjoyed the marvel vs capcom games as much as i did xmen vs streetfigter.
Lol well…a spiritual successor is like comparing the megaman series to mighty number 9.
but the VS series is like comparing original megaman to megaman X. Definite sequel. But I get what you’re saying though
Dan.
He has a ponytail, therefore is cool.
lol i love how badly they nerfed Dan in Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo!
He had awesome music though! One of the best tunes of the bunch.
I play Dan because he is obviously the strongest character! Dan’s the man, you can’t beat Dan.
I always pick Ryu first
Seems like the kinda guy you would hang out with, Ken might get annoying after awhile
now Chun-Li ….
dem thighs 😛
I have always played as Ryu. At one stage he had a better Hadoken. Plus his level/music was always better then kens. And finally HEADBAND!!!!!
SCORPION
Sub-Zero
Johnny Cage
Liu Kang
Reptile
BARAKA
Donkey!
YOSHIMITSU FTW
C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!
Ken!!!! always loved the fire shoryuken, and in the later parts of the series, chining his moveset to specials was so fluid.
if i were to have chosen between a third character, Akuma, he would be my choice. Combining the best of both characters, and introducing some additional techniques… oh, and who doesnt love the raging demon!
LP,LP->LK,HP FTW!
unless you’re of course talking about xmen vs sf, or mv vs capcom. then Ryu FTW!
Akuma kicked ass in x-men vs street fighter too. Man I loved that game.
so many afternoons spent ditching school and walking 1km to a milkbar to waste a dollar, (beat the game 2 times with that dollar!)
We would hang out at Timezone, schooling fools careless enough to wander in and try their luck.
Good times.
had it on the PS1, me and a mate played it so much that we new how each other played and basically had to win by wearing each others health down in block damage.
still my favourite PS1 game.
Though in MvC2, Ken’s Shoryuken assist is invincible ALLLLLLLL the way to the top… too good
blanka
I hated ryu and ken because everyone chose them and they seemed too generic
Agreed.
I’d tell everyone who I normally use but you probably haven’t heard of them….
Ryu ever since the original Street Fighter. The pure awesomeness of trying for 3 hours to get one move to work, and then your opponent blocking it… ahh those where the days.
This gentleman doesn’t prefer blondes. That is literally the only reason I prefer Ryu to Ken.
I’ve never really understood why Capcom decided to include 2 virtually identical characters in SF2.
Even now about 25 years and about 30 games later, there is little that separates them gameplay wise. Yes, they have both evolved to be slightly different now, but they are still so similar you could basically remove one and the game wouldn’t be losing anything.
The movesets of characters like Sagat and Akuma also borrow heavily from Ryu/Ken, although they also have other points of difference that make them unique.
It’s because Ryu was the playable character in Street Fighter and Ken was the palette swap version for player 2.
They’ve since changed a lot about the characters and there are massive gameplay differences if you’re doing more than just button mashing. Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Sakura and even Dan are considered Shotos but just because they’ve got the same basic moves (dragon punch, fireball and hurricane kick) doesn’t mean all that much.
You definitely could not remove Ryu or Ken without losing anything. At the very least, you’re taking out one of the iconic SF2 characters. On top of that, Ken plays a much faster, combo orientated game while Ryu is more about zoning.
RYU. No question, stuff that rich pansy boy Ken and his surfer dude hair.
Guile…. sonic….sonic…..SONIC BOOM!!
Marry Ryu
Sleep with Ken
Kill Akuma
Akuma.. But I guess Ryu otherwise. Ken being the American version of Ryu did not appeal.
Has there been a Ryu Wins edition of SF? No?
Ken Wins.
It really depends which version of Street Fighter you’re playing.
vs Marvel games? Ryu.
Everything else? Ken.
Want to humiliate your opponent? Dan.
Want to win convincingly because of a larger move-set? Akuma.
Want to crush your opponent like a bug? Sagat.
ha ha, so true.
how funny is it beating pe0ple with Dan, and pulling off his level 3 super taunt in the alpha series. ahh, memories.
Ryu. Ken has always come across as the “cheese” option with big, flashy moves that appeal to the general public but against someone competent will only put you at a disadvantage every time. Ryu is like a handgun that can get a few shots off but has vulnerable periods while Ken is more like a panzerfaust where you have power but it’s really easy to leave yourself wide open between shots.
Sakura.
At least out of the shotos anyway.
Dudley, Elena and ‘Geif for life.
You seen Xian’s Elena?? It’s redonkulous!!!
Been a Ken player since I was a kid. Best SF Character ever. Street Fighter 3 Ken rules!
Neither as coming across either online was the result of me storming out of my apartment and sending my snapped SF4 disc down the garbage chute 16 floors its death!
Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken, Haduken
FFFFFFFUUUUUU!!!!!
Ken but it has been so long since i have played one i probably used Ryu.
Although Zangieff would be my choice now just because of this.
Kazuya Mishima
Ryu because I prefer the character with the one strong hit over the multi-hit little hits. It’s awesome to do combos, but in SF it has never been about the high hit–count combos.
In other words, Shin Shoryuken over Shoryureppa.
I prefer Ryu.
I think Ryu is better because his moves aren’t so combo orientated. For example, in order for Ken to do full damage with one of his techniques, he must hit the enemy with every single hit of the combo (his hurricane kick, dragon punch etc). Ryu on the other hand only needs to hit the opponent once to do full damage and to knock them down.
For me I think it’s a case of function versus style. Ryu is more function, Ken seems to be more style.
To each their own.
Always went for Ryu.
…last name Masters, married to Eliza, drives a sports car. So many reasons to choose Ken!
Been playing Ken since ’92. Not gonna stop now.
REPRESENT!
same here!
Then you must be an awesome dude.
We must battle.
Real men use Ken.
I have that tattooed.
If Ryu is good enough for Daigo, he’s good enough for me.
Fiery Shoryuuken > Fiery Hadoken, and everything else that Ryu brings to the table.
Ryu…enough said
Chun Liiiiiiii! <3
Ken has always had a special place in my heart since the original Street Fighter 2, i don’t know why but other than his AMAZING level music he’s just the right mix of fighter for me, balanced speed and strength and a variety of attacks. While Ryu is all well and good, there’s a reason there is no Evil Ken =P
There technically was an Evil Ken (called Violent Ken) in SvC Chaos, and he was pretty great. Nothing in a Capcom developed game though, although I’d love to see it in Street Fighter V.
I was not prepared for just how many people are so wrong here.
I mean, Ryu’s just obvious, but really? People willingly choose Ken instead of being forced to because they were born too late compared to their siblings? The mind boggles.
I’m going to assume that this result is just people who had to rationalize their virtual buyer’s remorse after the trauma of being forced to use Ken too many times.
Ryu. Hands down. The man put a HUGE FUCKING SCAR on the man-mountain Sagat’s chest from a single dragon punch. Ken’s flair, and the stupid fire on his shoryu, is redundant. Even Bison and Akuma saw the potential power in Ryu. Ken is a chump!
Oh no you di’int! Ryu is the original Street Fighter. He is Street Fighter. Ryu is the protagonist (IMO). The Dragon. The World Warrior. The ever training, spiritual soul of martial arts. Ken is and always will be the number two. The imposter. The bad student. Sure his moves do look cool, from his rolling sacrifice throw to his single minded mastery of the dragon uppercut. Ryu is a much more balanced, fire ball throwing, all round better choice. HADOUKEN!!!
For me, it’s Ken. His hurricane kick hits multiple times as opposed to the one with Ryu, and his dragon punch travels further (sideways I mean.)
chun-li for sure. she’s my go-to when someone else is on a winning streak and needs to be schooled.
Ken. Not sure why, maybe because I liked the colour red rather than white at the time I first played it.
Fun fact: Ken is actually a blonde dyed ginger.
It’s always been Ken. I think a big part of it is from SFII, when Ken’s throw had the double somersault, whereas Ryu just lay on his back. I thought Ken was so cool back then, you could reach across the stage and throw them into the barrels or crates on the other side. So rad.
Since then, always him. The speed, the better Tatsumaki Senpuukyakus in the Marvel series, the flaming Shouryuukens.
Ryu or Ken?
Hmm…
…
Eddy Gordo.
Afaik ando remember from trying this in street fighter 2 when we took snes to sixth form to play this, Ken could evade alot of special moves doing a hurricane kick threw them, whilst ryu could by doing the uppercut special (heidokun?), thus ken was alot easier to use to avoid moves with thus in turn imo is the better fighter, unless ur super skilled with timing.
SF2? Ryu.
Alpha series? Both (Ryu for his forward+MK Senpuu Kyaku for pressure and Metsu Shouryuken, and Ken for his his Crazy Kicks and his fun but kinda buggy Tatsus).
SF3? Ken.
SF4? Ken (despite Daigo making Ryu oh so appealing).
Marvel series? Ryu.
X Tekken? Ha.
Puzzle Fighter? Dan. Always Dan.
Better hadoukens? eh…
MOTHERFUCKING FIRE SHORYUKEN THO?!?!?
Ken fo’ life
Ken forever.
He flows in and out of combos way better.
His dragon punch has more reach and hits multiple times.
His hurricane kick brings them in and multi hits instead of knocking them away and ruining combo potential.
His forward + MK Axe kick shits all over Ryu’s forward + MP Collarbone breaker.
He isn’t a completely boring empty vessel.
Ryu. No question. Classic character who took the in-game story seriously.