Ken (SSBU)

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Ken in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Street Fighter
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken

“	Ken Turns Up the Heat!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Ken (ケン, Ken) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed as a playable character alongside Incineroar and Piranha Plant on November 1, 2018. He is an Echo Fighter of Ryu. In the English version, Ken is voiced by Reuben Langdon, who has been voicing him since Street Fighter IV.

Differences from Ryu

NOTE: SmashWiki is not speculative. Please refrain from adding detailed data values derived from pre-release gameplay footage, such as the E3 demo. Such data (damage values, launch trajectories, frame data, etc.) are subject to change before the official release.

Aesthetics

• Ken's Hadoken contains an image of his hands, as it does in the original Street Fighter II.
• Ken's Focus Attack uses his legs rather than his arms, as it does in Street Fighter IV.
• Ken's Shoryuken produces flames when the heavy input is used.
• Ken has a taunt where he smiles and brings his hand out with a thumbs up, a reference to his Street Fighter II win animation.
• Additionally, Ken has another unique taunt where he punches his hands together once and extends a fist out with a smile.
• Ken's last taunt has him flicking his fingers towards him to say "come on," a reference to his Street Fighter Alpha intro animation.

Attributes

• Ken's grounded movement speed is faster than Ryu's.

Ground Attacks

• Ken has his Nata Otoshi Geri and Oosoto Mawashi Geri move from Super Street Fighter II Turbo, where he kicks in different ways via command inputs. He can cancel the startup of the move and change it into his Inazuma Kick, a double-hitting axe kick much like Ryu's up throw.
• Ken's forward smash is based off of his standing heavy kick introduced in Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Aerial Attacks

• Ken's neutral aerial is based off of his diagonal jumping medium kick in SFII, as opposed to Ryu's diagonal jumping light kick.

Throws

• Ken's back throw, Hell Wheel, has him roll backwards twice, allowing him to cover more distance and move closer to the edge of stages from farther away.

Special moves

• Ken's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku hits multiple times, as opposed to Ryu's single hit. Whether or not this results in more damage remains to be seen.
• Ken's heavy Shoryuken also hits multiple times, as opposed to Ryu's single hit.
• Ken has two unique Final Smashes, Shinryuken and Shippu Jinraikyaku. Shinryuken produces a giant pillar of fire with immense vertical range, while Shippu Jinryaikyaku has Ken furiously kicking opponents before ending in a devastating series of hurricane kicks. Shippu Jinraikyaku occurs when Ken initiates his final smash near an opponent, otherwise he uses Shinryuken.

Reveal trailer

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Gallery

• 

  Ken on Coliseum.

• 

  With King K. Rool, Diddy Kong, and Donkey Kong on Tortimer's Island.

• 

  Alongside Koume on Gerudo Valley.

• 

  Using Focus Attack on Wario on Onett.

• 

  Using Hadoken on Luigi on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Unleashing Shinryuken on Final Destination.

Character showcase video

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Trivia

• Ken's attack on Wario's motorcycle in the character showcase video is a reference to the car smashing mini-game from the Street Fighter II games.
• Ken's inclusion makes Street Fighter the second third-party universe to have more than one representative, after Castlevania.
  • Ken is also the second third-party Echo Fighter.
    • Additionally, Ken is the first Echo Fighter based on a third-party veteran, as Richter debuted alongside Simon.
• Ken is the second newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to be from a franchise that had its first character introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4, and the only one to be from a DLC-introduced franchise. His inclusion also makes Street Fighter the second franchise with a single character in Smash 4 to receive another playable character, the other being Animal Crossing.
• Ken is the first character revealed for Ultimate to share a reveal trailer with a character not from the same franchise, having been revealed in the same trailer as Incineroar.
• Ken is the first echo fighter revealed for Ultimate to be revealed in a trailer.
  • This also makes Ken the first echo fighter to have a unique reveal tagline.