Ken

“*Attack me if you dare, I will crush you*”
— Ken,   *Street Fighter II*
*Note:Introduction taken from Wikipedia*

***Ken*** (ケン・マスターズ Ken Masutāzu), originally spelled in Japanese as 拳 (Ken), is a character in Capcom's ***Street Fighter*** series. Ken is Ryu's best friend and rival, and like Ryu, he has appeared in all Street Fighter games. Like Ryu, Ken's goal is to test his power against many different fighters, and strives to become stronger.

## Appearances

Ken made his first appearance in the original Street Fighter released in 1987, and is the only other playable character in the game aside from Ryu. He is characterized as the former sparring partner, best friend and rival of the main character, Ryu, who trained under the same master (a character whose identity would later be fleshed out as Gouken). The single-player tournament can only be played with Ken after the second player defeats the first player in a two-player match. Ken was also named one of the best fighters in the game.

Ken and Ryu, along with former final boss Sagat, would be the only characters from the original Street Fighter to return in the game's true sequel, Street Fighter II, first released in 1991. In ***Street Fighter II***, Ken is invited to participate in the World Warrior tournament by Ryu, with Ken having already moved away from Japan to live in America. In Ken's ending, he ends up marrying his girlfriend Eliza. Street Fighter II was a breakaway hit for Capcom, leading to the production of revised editions of the same game which included Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting in 1992, Super Street Fighter II in 1993 and Super Turbo in 1994, which all follow the same plot.

Numerous spinoff products were made as well during the game's popularity: when Capcom licensed Hasbro to produce a line of action figures, Ken was given the surname "Masters". The full name Ken Masters would be used in the animated Street Fighter II movie and in the Street Fighter II V series before being canonized in the video games with Street Fighter Alpha 2.

An all-new Street Fighter game would not be released until 1995, when Street Fighter Alpha was released. Plotwise, the game was a prequel to the Street Fighter II games which fleshed out the established Street Fighter II characters, as well as reintroduced characters from the original Street Fighter and the beat-em-up game Final Fight. Alpha features a younger Ken, who is searching for Ryu, having recently won the first "World Warrior" tournament in the events of the original Street Fighter. In Ken's ending in the original ***Street Fighter Alpha***, he defeats Ryu and heads back to America, where he meets Eliza.

***Street Fighter Alpha*** would be followed by its own line of sequels: ***Street Fighter Alpha 2***, which follows the same plot as in the original Alpha (with a revised ending for Ken); and Street Fighter Alpha 3, which takes place after the events in the first two games. In Alpha 3, Ken is featured in the numerous characters' storylines within the game.

Ken's following appearance is in the Street Fighter III in which he has a son (Mel) and his own student (Sean).

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