Ken Masters
Ken Masters is a male video game character who features in Street Fighter.
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Biography
Ken Masters (Japanese: リュウ, Hepburn: Ryū) was the son of a rich hotel tycoon owner who had attained a vast fortune as a result of his business endeavours. When Ken was 12 years old, his father wanted his child to learn discipline as he felt that his son could grow up to become a spoilt brat that leeched the family fortune. Thus, he sent his boy to Japan to train under his best friend which was a mysterious karate master known as Gouken. Initially, Ken did not want to learn from Gouken and instead wanted to return home in the United States but over time he came to respect his tutor. During this time, he met his master's adopted son Ryu and enjoyed his company with him pulling pranks on him with this often getting Ken into a lot of trouble. Ken and Ryu over time came to be the best of friends and each others rival in their training in the martial arts. When Ryu was 23 years old, Gouken had decided that both his students had grown to be fine fighters and that their training was complete which meant they could finally leave the dojo. With their training complete, Ken would ask Ryu which one of them was going to be the most famous martial artist fist. Masters would end up going to the United States whilst Ryu went to Thailand in order to face the Emperor of Muay Thai Sagat who was said to be the the strongest martial artist. Meanwhile, Ken had competed in numerous martial art tournaments in the United States where he won most of them.
Ken fought in and won the premiere U.S. Martial Arts tournament that had been previously won by Charlie Nash, as well as meeting a very attractive girl named Eliza, who became his girlfriend. Six months later, the heroic story that Ryu defeated the Emperor of Muay Thai reached his ears. Ken put his physical and Qigong training to the side so he could fly back to Japan to fight his friend. When Ken finds Ryu, he asks Ken what it means to be a true fighter, he wonders if he should use the same fist he used to defeat Sagat or the one Akuma uses to murder people. Ken sees that Ryu's gone back to his usual bad habit of overthinking things and fights him as an attempt to wake him up. After defeating Ryu, Ken realizes he has been deeply troubled since his last victory over Sagat. He reminds Ryu to keep fighting in order to find the answer and gives him his red hairband and that whenever he feels lost, he should use it as a reminder of their fight and to keep fighting to find the answer. Ryu happily takes the headband and they both go their separate ways. Ken returns home and, with Eliza's support, begins training harder, knowing even with his recent feelings, that Ryu is always stronger than he looks. Ken begins to wonder about his own life. Ryu seemed to be on the right track again but wondered about his own actions. Along the road to proving himself again, he encounters Karin, who tells him she has followed his career and is trying to best her rival Sakura to prove she is superior. Ken advises her it's good to have a rival, not for supremacy, but to keep on training harder and focusing. With this, Ken finds himself again and was focused once more.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Ken Masters was a male human with neck-length blond hair who had black or dark brown eyebrows.
This saw him as being the complete opposite of Ryu where he tended to be stylish, unorthodox and unpredictable. He was also shown as being much more violent and aggressive than Ryu. As an alpha male, he had a giant ego and liked to constantly reminds his opponents about his greatness. Thus, he tended to be seen at times as being brash, egotistical and arrogant. Despite that, his heart was pure with him being generally kind, friendly, a good person and very easygoing.
Ryu is Ken's best friend from his childhood, as the two have trained in the same art of Ansatsuken for a long time. They share a very close bond with each other and will help out each other no matter the cost. Both of them have also trained together under Gouken. One can see that they care for each other and never quarrel. Ken’s able to notice when Ryu was not in the right state of mind as shown in the Alpha series, where Ken gave him his red headband in order for Ryu to stay focused and not lose his way.
Whilst participating in martial art tournaments, he encountered Eliza (イライザ) where she came to be his girlfriend. The couple later came to get married where she took the name Eliza Masters (イライザ・マスターズ Iraiza Masutāzu?). The couple later had a daughter together who was named Mel Masters (メル・マスターズ Meru Masutāzu?).
Through his wife, Ken was Guile's brother-in-law because his wife, Eliza, was the younger sister of Guile's wife, Julia. He may or may not be aware that Guile has reservations about certain aspects of his personality, but this did not prevent them from getting along.
Powers and abilities
Ken Masters was born an ordinary human being with no special abilities. However, from a young age, he came to be trained in the martial arts under his sensei Gouken. This led to him being trained in the martial arts techniques of the Shotokan (松濤館 Shōtōkan?).
Ken's entire moveset would continue to develop around the Shoryuken and multi-hit combos as the series progressed. His overall style of gameplay revolves around a rushdown strategy that executes powerful combos off of quick hit-confirms while maintaining mobility; Ken's moves generally come out fast, and can be used fluidly to create several such combos. However, this requires him to stay dangerously close to his opponents; in addition to having limited ranged tools, many of his moves can also leave him open for an easy counter if properly defended. This also ties into a weakness he shares with Ryu, which tends to be his mediocre physical range that causes him to rely more on zoning with his Hadoken as opposed to playing footsies in the neutral game; though unlike Ryu, most of Ken's moves are geared towards multi-hits as aforementioned, which on top of his mix-ups make him much more geared towards safe pressure and being able to get in.
Among the techniques known to him included:
- Hadoken (波動拳 Hadōken?, "Surge Fist" or "Wave Motion Fist") :
- Shakunetsu Hadoken (灼熱波動拳 Shakunetsu Hadōken?, "Scorching Heat Surge Fist") :
- Shoryuken (昇龍拳 Shōryūken?, "Rising Dragon Fist") :
- Tatsumaki (竜巻? "Tornado") :
- Kama Barai Geri (鎌払い蹴り "Sickle Sweeping Kick"?) :
- Reppū Hadōshū (烈風波動蹴, Gale Surge Kick) :
Notes
- Ken Masters featured in the setting of the Street Fighter universe.
- When Akiman draws Ken, he uses Benny Urquidez’s appearance in the Square Jungle (Shikakui Jungle, 四角いジャングル) as inspiration. The manga was written by Ikki Kajiwara the same author who made Karate Baka Ichidai (Karate Master) where Ryu and Sagat’s origins reside.
In other media
Television
- In Street Fighter, Ken Masters appeared in the setting of the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Scott McNeil.
Films
- In Street Fighter, Ken Masters appeared in the setting of the 1994 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Damian Chapa.
- In Street Fighter II: The Movie, Ken Masters appeared in the setting of the anime film where he was voiced by actor Eddie Frierson.
Video games
Comics
Appearances
- Street Fighter: (1987)
External Links
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