Street Fighter Week: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

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Two of gaming's most iconic fighters are dissected, game by game

Table of Contents
Street Fighter|Street Fighter II|Alpha series|Street Fighter III|EX series|SF: The Movie and Gem Fighter|Marvel vs. Capcom series|SNK vs. Capcom series|Misc. games|Sprite comparison|SSFIITHDR and Street Fighter IV|Comics, films, and more

Namco x Capcom - 2005

Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight - 1990

Jumping all the way back to 1990, we come to possibly the strangest game we've included. Street Fighter 2010 is not actually a Street Fighter game, and this isn't actually Ken. In Japan, the main character was Kevin Striker, but when brought to the US, Capcom decided to rename him Ken in the hope of cashing-in on the Street Fighter franchise.

The story goes:

"Ken had no interest in the Frontier, until his partner Troy was killed. Someone had broken into their lab, stolen their invention, and left Troy as a mere puddle of jelly on the floor. Even though it's been 25 years since Ken was king of the street fighting circuit, it's nothing a few good bionics can't fix."

Actually, know what? That never happened. Shut the hell up, you crappy NES game.

Fighter's History - 1993

This is not a Street Fighter game either. Created by Data East (ironically, the same company responsible for Karate Champ), Fighter's History is generally considered to be a rough clone of Street Fighter. Capcom was not happy, sued, and lost. Judge for yourself, are these characters rip-offs of Ken and Ryu?


Above: "HADOOOUK - wait, I mean, AYAHHHH!"

GamesRadarTylerWilde
GamesRadarTylerWilde
Associate Editor, Digital at PC Gamer