Ken Masters

Ken Masters (Japanese: ケン・マスターズ, Hepburn: Ken Masutāzu) is a character in Capcom's Street Fighter fighting game series. The character was first introduced in the 1987 title Street Fighter as an alternate fighter to Ryu. While Ryu is devoted to testing his power, Ken instead focuses on developing a family with his wife Elisa. Ken becomes a mainstay in the following Street Fighter games. An alternate brainwashed version of him, Violent Ken (暴力的なケン), has also been featured in a few of his appearances. Ken's presence is in several sequels to the Street Fighter series in addition to its related media. He has also made crossover appearances in Namco × Capcom, Project X Zone, and Super Smash Bros. Capcom designer Takashi Nishiyama created Ken when developing the first Street Fighter game. However, due to budget problems, Ken could only use Ryu's moves, which later resulted in their characterization as friendly rivals and fellow students of Gouken. Shoei Okano eventually redesigned the character in later games. Seeking to make the character more unique, Capcom redesigned Ken's red gi in Street Fighter V and Street Fighter 6, though the latter resulted in changing his entire character depicting his life as less stable. Despite being recognized as a clone of Ryu, Ken develops a more social life rather than devoting his life to his training like Ryu. Their similarities inspired the term Shotokans in other fighting games besides Street Fighter. The evolution of his gameplay and design has been popular among gamers for becoming more unique. However, some critics were critical of his role in Street Fighter 6, which was significantly changed due to the sudden increase in depression resulting from losing his family.