Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken

Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Ken using Shippu Jinraikyaku and Shinryuken respectively.
User	Ken
Universe	Street Fighter

As with Ryu, Ken has two completely unique Final Smashes, depending on how far he is from his opponent. Ken's Final Smashes are named Shippu Jinraikyaku (疾風迅雷脚, Hurricane Swift Thunder Leg), a rapid series of kicks, and Shinryuken (神龍拳, God Dragon Fist), a powerful uppercut.

Overview

Shippu Jinraikyaku

If Ken uses his Final Smash while near an opponent, he will declare, "Gotcha!" and use the Shippu Jinraikyaku (疾風迅雷脚, Hurricane Swift Thunder Leg). Ken kicks his opponent on the ground several times, announcing the attack while kicking, before beginning to carry them upward with a rapid helicopter kick. The move ends with one final intense kick to the opponent. Similar to Shin Shoryuken, if the move has enough knockback to KO the opponent, an intense orange background from Street Fighter IV will cover the entire screen, while the final kick causes black ink to surround the opponent while violent action lines focus on the Final Smash's victim.

This move will ignore edges entirely, continuing past them even during the grounded section. Since neither the activation hitbox nor the first 4 kicks trap the opponent into the move, although the 4 kicks use the position vector function to control opponents' knockback, it is possible for opponents to drop out of or be knocked out of the move before the fifth hit. If the fifth hit does not connect, the attack fails.

The final hit is comparatively weak for a Final Smash, to compensate for Ken's significant forward movement during the move; however on larger stages this results in the move being less effective overall. If multiple opponents are hit by the move, the KO effects will be dependent on the front opponent. The move can also occasionally KO the front opponent without the KO effects occurring.

If the move connects very close to a blast zone, Ken will still move forwards along with his victim, which can cause him to KO his victim and then himself since the move will physically move both fighters into the blast zone. However, if the opponent is KO'd by the blast zone during the first five kicks, Ken will automatically cancel the rest of the move, which will prevent him from KOing himself.

Shinryuken

If Ken is not close enough to any opponents, he uses the Shinryuken (神龍拳, God Dragon Fist). Upon inputting the command, Ken shouts, "Take this! Shinryuken!" and jumps up into the air with a powerful uppercut, causing a large geyser of fire to erupt around him. Any fighter caught in the geyser will be hit multiple times, before being launched away with great force. Mashing the attack or special button causes more damage to be done as a reference to an identical mechanic present in the Street Fighter series.

Canceling

Thanks to his special move canceling mechanic, Ken can cancel many of his moves into Shippu Jinraikyaku. By pressing the special button after connecting with one of his standard attacks or most special moves (i.e. all except Focus Attack) Ken will cancel the endlag of an attack straight into a Shippu Jinraikyaku. It is impossible to cancel attacks into Shinryuken, as it can only be activated when opponents are outside of attack range.

Instructional quote

Move List

Ken twirls and rises up with a Shinryuken, dealing damage to foes and tossing them into the air. If a foe is close to Ken, the attack becomes a Shippu Jinraikyaku, instead unleashing a flurry of kicks.

Origin

Similar to Ryu, Ken's usage of two Final Smashes resembles a similar mechanic in Ultra Street Fighter IV, where two Ultra Combos can be used at the cost of damage. The change in animation based on proximity also matches the way certain Ultra Combos functioned if landed with the initial hitbox. Ironically, Ken's Shinryuken in Street Fighter IV had a proximity variant that led to several kicks, similar to its appearance alongside Shippu Jinraikyaku in Ultimate.

Shippu Jinraikyaku

Ken performing Shippu Jinraikyaku as seen in the Street Fighter III series.

The Shippu Jinraikyaku is a series of rapid kicks, finishing with an airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. It was first introduced as the third of his Super Arts in the Street Fighter III series, and has since appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 3, Ultra Street Fighter IV OMEGA Mode, Street Fighter X Tekken, the Capcom vs. SNK series, and the Marvel vs. Capcom series. In some of these games, it is Ken's strongest technique, requiring most or all of his available meter to perform.

It was perhaps made most famous by Street Fighter player Daigo Umehara in his EVO 2004 matchup against Justin Wong, a Chun-Li user; in the final match of the 1-1 set, Daigo, with mere pixels of health, parried Justin's Hoyokusen perfectly, and won the match by countering with Shippu Jinraikyaku. This moment, colloquially referred to as "Evo Moment 37", was even referenced in Ken's reveal trailer, where Ken perfect shields Little Mac's attack and then follows up with Shippu Jinraikyaku. This is further referenced by his pose when initiating the move, which resembles the pose for parrying in Street Fighter III, as well as the lightning bolt effect at the beginning of the move, which is taken from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Shinryuken

Ken performing Shinryuken as seen in the Marvel Vs. Capcom series.

The Shinryuken is a rapid vertical Shoryuken created and used exclusively by Ken. It debuts as one of his Super Combos in the Street Fighter Alpha series, and has since appeared quite frequently, being an attack in every mainline Street Fighter game.

It also appears as his second Super Art in the Street Fighter III series, and his first Ultra Combo in Street Fighter IV. The move also appears as one of Violent Ken's Hyper Combos in the SNK vs. Capcom series. In Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, the attack is Ken's second V-Trigger. Masahiro Sakurai states that the move's inspiration draws from that of Marvel vs. Capcom. The ability to increase the damage dealt by mashing buttons references the Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III series, where this became possible.

Gallery

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  Shippu Jinraikyaku as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	疾風迅雷脚 / 神龍拳
English	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
French	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
German	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Spanish	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Italian	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Chinese	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Korean	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Dutch	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken
Russian	Сиппу Дзинрайкяку / Синрюкен

Trivia

• In the original Marvel vs. Capcom, the Shippu Jinraikyaku and Shinryuken techniques were actually performed by Ryu. This is due to a mechanic that lets him switch his moveset to Ken or Akuma's during the match. With Ken's moveset also comes the iconic flaming Shoryuken.
• The intense orange background used when Shippu Jinraikyaku KO's an opponent is directly taken from Street Fighter IV, a game in which the Shippu Jinraikyaku doesn't normally appear.
• The aerial kick segment of Shippu Jinraikyauku is done in a similar way to Guren Enjinkyaku, Ken's Critical Art from Street Fighter V.
• There is a rare glitch where, if the announcer announces "GAME!" right when the last hit of Shippu Jinraikyaku unleashes in a stamina match, the victory screen's background will be entirely black. It is unknown if Shin Shoryuken can achieve the same effect and it is also unknown if this glitch has been fixed.
• Shippu Jinraikyaku will never activate on the partner Ice Climber; instead, Ken will use Shinryuken, even when they are right next to Ken.

Ken's special moves

Neutral special	Hadoken
Side special	Tatsumaki Senpukyaku
Up special	Shoryuken
Down special	Focus Attack
Final Smash	Shippu Jinraikyaku / Shinryuken