The difference between Ryu and Ken in EVERY Street Fighter Game!!

Today we're doing something fun! We're running through the differences between Ryu and Ken in EVERY SINGLE Street Fighter game! These characters play very similarly, but as the years went on, Capcom made them more and more different, eventually evolving them into diverse characters with completely different playstyles. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane!

[doublep]

Fun Fact: both Ryu and Ken are actually inspired by real-life Karatekas.
Ryu was inspired by Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate. Like Ryu, he also spend time on a reclusive mountain, training for 18 months and then travelled all over Japan, challenging famous Karate champions and Masters to full-contact sparring matches.He was known for wearing an old, wore down white Gi just like Ryu in these matches.The dude is a legend, who influenced even Bruce Lee (both believed in full-contact sparring under real conditions) and there are a shitload of movies, books and even mangas based on his life.
And Ken is based on Joe Lewis, the legendary US full-contact Karate and Kickbox champion. The guy was a former Marine who learned Karate while serving in Okinawa, where he earned his black belt in 7 months!
Undefeated champion, friend of Bruce Lee and he had a rivalry with Chuck Norris going on.(Chuck actually chickened out when Joe challenged him to a full-contact fight) He was known for wearing a red Karate Gi like Ken.
Oh and Sagat is also based on a real-life, legendary Muay Thai champion, Sagat Petchyindee is his name. He's retired now and runs a Muay Thai academy in Thailand, where he trains young fighters.

[umarudoma]

A lot of people think that Ken is an English name. It's actually means "Fist" in Japanese and Ryu means "Dragon". That's why they share the same move with their names in it " Sho -RyuKen " The Dragon Fist

[iqumigt]

BRO. I love how Ryu and Ken do a fist bump before fighting in the older games

[Naregnemyes]

We always preferred Ken when we were kids because his moves felt flashier. Capcom took that difference and ran with it, increasing the separation between the two characters to where Ryu was generally selected by people with a balanced or defensive playstyle and Ken was chosen for aggressive/rush-down play.

[catisreckless]

Too bad they don't have the characters physically interact anymore during the intro sequences. It would be nice to have Ken put Ryu in a headlock again. It was a good way to show both their differences in personality, and the brotherly bond that they have.

[okisemporium]

Ryu sleeps in a racecar bed, Ken sleeps in a big bed with his wife.

[stargazers]

Ryu is living the life he wants
Ken is living the life he wants
Both of them are cool

[henrysimmons]

RYU always felt stronger and slower to me where as Ken always felt faster with better agility. Even the way they move around feels felt that way for me from the start.

[Jimalcoatl]

I've always wondered why Capcom pushed Ryu as the fireball guy and Ken as the dragon punch guy and not the other way around. In lore, Ryu's dragon punch was a huge deal in SF1 and the first iterations of SF2. He won the first tournament by hitting Sagat with a dragon punch (causing Sagat's chest scar) and his win quote even references the dragon punch.

[JanJanNik]

7:44 I mastered that technique in real life

[gon]

People disrespecting Ryu in the comments yes some see ken as more “successful” but Ryu has dedicated his life to self improvement and self discovery. Gotta respect him.

[jahnelss]

I've always personally like Ken more. Has a swag to him. They eventually gave him his own fighting style which is dope.

[TheSBleeder]

Ken has a girlfriend and a bunch of fans on a yacht cheering him on.

Ryu lives alone in a dojo in the mountains eating Ramen Noodles and watching anime.

[Dwayne]

Fun fact Ken and Guiles wives are sisters making them brothers in law

[jameshook]

I thought, historically speaking, Ryu has the strength advantage while Ken has the advantage of speed.

[ssvegeta]

When they took away Ken's roundhouse kick I was devastated, it was one of my favorite to use against jumpers to knock them back along with a dragon punch

[vegitoboi]

I’ve always believed that Ken was faster and Ryu was stronger. Over time, Ryu focused on his Hadoken while Ken focused on his Shoryuken.

[joaoguilhermebastos]

it really looks like as they get older and more experient they start to add and remove techs from their styles. they are two masters of ansatsuken building their own branches of the art

[Aggrofool]

Ken is the 1% while Ryu has to pay off his satsui student loans

[robertjohnson]

I have always noticed Ryu is stronger, but Ken has way more of the technique and flashier moves as the series progress.