It’s one of those properly big questions. Who would you rather play as? Ryu or Ken?
This is important stuff people.
Throughout my Street Fighting life, I’ve always been a Ken guy, for a number of reasons. Firstly — his Dragon Punch was on FIRE in Street Fighter 2. Secondly, his throw had two rolls instead of your basic boring throw. Thirdly red is a better colour than white.
When I was ten years old, this was sound reasoning.
If you had to choose between the two, who would you go for? Let us know in the comments below.
And vote!
Comments
42 responses to “The Big Question: Ryu Or Ken?”
Neither
Ryu 100%
Marry Ryu, have sex with Ken, kill Akuma…
Ken, just because he’s all flashy and sh*t.
my 10 year old self also saw this as sound reasoning.
my 30 year old self still sees that as sound reasoning.
Ha ha, yeah I just didn’t want to come off as a 10year old in a 30 year olds body….
Only my GF knows thatRyu always seemed portrayed as the better character
Ken… i like red better… lol
Chun-Li
That’s not how you spell Blanka.
As long as you both pronounce it ‘Dhalsim’, it’s all good.
(E. Honda would also be acceptable)That would be my second-choice.
Ken.
At first, back in regular Street Fighter II days, two people couldn’t be Ryu, so as younger brother, it meant I was forced to be ‘someone else’.
Later games in the series, when they began to differ more (Alpha, EX, 3, 4) I came to appreciate how Ken’s attacks (shoryuken and tatsumaki) did multiple hits, and didn’t have knockback, allowing for more, simple, comboing.
You were a better younger brother than me. We were never very good at SF2 (because we only played it at friend’s houses), so it was Blanka all the way for me so that I could do the “smash punch to go all zappy” move and become “invincible” to my brother’s attacks. Fireballs are easy enough to avoid from the other side of the arena.
Ryu: his fireballs are better to zone with, he’s more durable, you don’t really need more powerful dragon punches (it’s just an anti-air tool) and I always found the combos off the ultimate fireball infinitely easier.
Also Ken’s a bit of a prat
Dan.
What about http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/02/the-big-question-ryu-or-ken/ ? We obviously didn’t “settle this monkey business once and for all with a vote” after all! You lied!
Nor, for that matter, back in 2011 when I am fairly sure that I did settle it quite conclusively.
EDIT: Screw you, moderation!
Nice call out! That’s a triple article recycle…I hear the Halo announcer in my head…
Recycle.
Double Recycle!
Triple recycle!!
OVER RECYCLE!
Recycleminjaro!
Ah, excellent, I can recycle my unfathomably unpopular comment from there!
ill back you up if you answer like you did back in 2011
Ken 5eva
Jigglypuff
Akuma
Ryu. because from a gameplay perspective he is the template that all other fighting game games are based on.
Ever since SFII, every fighting game has a Ryu-type character its roster, usually as the main character, so players can learn the new mechanics of the game through the lens of the Ryu archetype.
Ken is great and all, but he is based on the Ryu archetype too, so Ryu wins.
Ken main in Street Fighter IV, will probably main him in V as well.
I know where my allegiance lies.
hands down….RYU.
It’s HadouKEN, not HadouRYU.
Yeah but Ryu beats Ken in ShoRYUKEN. Ken all day though 😉
Japanese read right to left, so clearly Ken is winning there too. 😛
I’m going to give the same answers as I did to this last time…
SF2? Ryu.
Alpha series? Both (Ryu for his forward+MK Senpuu Kyaku for pressure and Metsu/Shin Shouryuken, and Ken for his Crazy Kicks and his fun but kinda buggy Tatsus).
SF3? Ken.
SF4? Ken (despite Daigo making Ryu oh so appealing).
SF5? Probably Ken (I’m loving his changes).
Marvel series? Ryu.
X Tekken? Ha.
Puzzle Fighter? Dan. Always Dan.
I really hate this kind of question. I’ve been a Ken player since forever but I say ‘pick the one you like’.
You can even main both! Crazy I know!
SF2 – Ryu – because he was my first.
SSF2 – Ken – because fire reasons.
?? vs SF – Ken – because nailing his Shin-Ryu-Ken made bitches cry.
SF3 – Ryu – because nailing his Shin-Sho-Ryu-Ken made bitches cry.
Sakura.
Player 1 Ryu, Player 2 Ken
Ryu, because Ken’s hair is silly.
Ken, because his hair is bananas.
there was a while there where i was faithful to fei long, sagat and Adon. but Ken was always my go to when i got sick of people’s shit.
i had a friend with street fighter 2 and i always had to be ken, but i grew to love and cherish him like a real man
Thought you were better than this recycling shit, Mark!
Cammy
Tough call. I prefer Ryu, but not by a lot. Ken is also fun. Looking forward to seeing how they differ in SFV as well.
even as a 10 year old I saw them as the same. So I’ll take a different route and tell you who I like playing AGAINST when controlled by the CPU. Ken. Because his stage had a badass soundtrack, and he always does three shoryukens in a row, first low, then medium then hard! Easier to beat!