Difference Between Ryu and Ken

Ryu vs Ken

Ryu is a character in the street fighter video game series. Ryu premiered in the first street fighter game appearing as the lead character in the game together with his best friend Ken taking part in the street fighter tournament. As the game series progress, Ryu becomes more focused on training with ambitions of becoming as strong as he could manage. But in doing that, his power and strength earns him several criminal characters who want to use his strength to their own criminal good. Since the first game, Ryu has been the lead character of the street fighter series, appearing in crossovers in which the franchise is involved. Ryu’s character design in the first street fighter game portrays him as red haired, wearing tattered white Japanese martial arts attire completed with a white headband known as ‘hachimaki’ in Japanese, and red gloves. As the series progress starting with street fighter II, Ryu appears older with brown hair and a red ‘hachimaki’, fighting barefooted. In the street fighter III game Ryu visibly appears much older with a black hair and facial stubble to show his aging.

Ken is Ryu’s best friend as well as rival and a major character in the game since its commencement in 1987. Like his friend Ken, his major goal is to become as strong a fighter as he can and test his prowess against other fighters. His character in the series is that of a former sparring partner, best friend and rival of Ryu, the lead character. The two trained under the same master who was later revealed as Gouken. In the actual game, Ken is for all purposes a clone of Ryu, who during competitive matches is controlled by the second player. Here, the only differentiating features are that Ken wears red martial arts attire called ‘keikogi’, has blonde hair and fights barefoot while Ryu has red shoes in the original game.

The two characters follow the same martial arts discipline but clearly have different attacking styles, with Ryu focusing on the technique while Ken goes for stylish unpredictability. Ryu’s ‘rising dragon fist’ has only one hit, easily taking out air bone opponents. Ryu’s style is focused on the ‘hadou’ principle and he has the most concentrated ‘Hadoken’ or ‘surge fist’. Ryu has special moves in different games, for instance the ‘high side kick’, which is only available to him in the street fighter III iterations.

Summary:
1.Ryu is a lead character in the first street fighter game while Ken is not a lead character but his friend.
2.Ryu is red haired (originally) while Ken has blonde hair.
3.Ryu wears red shoes whereas Ken fights barefoot in the original game.
4.Ryu’s attacking style is more technique focused while Ken’s attacking is unpredictable and stylish.

Sharing is caring!