In an announcement at San Diego Comic Con which many have expected, the master of the flaming Shoryuken and fellow Shotokan karate master, Ken Masters has returned to duke it out in Street Fighter V. This incarnation of Ken looks a lot different to previous ones, swapping the red gi for a skintight black and red t-shirt, along with a much longer hairstyle than usual. He seems a lot older in this installment and in his current form, the new Street Fighter artstyle is not kind to the American combatant. Hopefully this will be improved but in his current form, Ken looks like his hair is made of play-dough and he has been hit in the face with too many Shin Shoryukens.
As for his fighting style, he does keep some shoto-clone traits like the hadouken, the flaming shoryuken and the hurricane kick but he isn’t just red Ryu as he has been in previous Street Fighters. His moveset seems to predominantly revolve around kicks and rushing the opponent down, as seen by his V-Skill Quick Step which allows him to run for a short period and close the gap between him and the enemy. As for his V-Trigger, it’s called Heat Rush and augments many of his moves to give them a fiery boost. Expect to see plenty of flaming uppercuts, hurricane and step kicks when Heat Rush is activated. It seems that Capcom are really trying to make the shoto-clones that were in previous Street Fighters have their own identity now, as seen with Ken’s ultra rushdown playstyle which rewards aggressive play with very flashy combos.
Along with the reveal of Ken, we got a very short glimpse of another fighter coming to Street Fighter V. This yellow eyed, pale skinned man has got many people speculating over who it could possibly be. Some say Akuma, others say E. Honda with his hair down while some suggest that it is finally a new character to the Street Fighter franchise. We may find out sooner than you think, with there being the possibility of another character announcement next week during EVO 2015.
What do you think of Ken’s new look? Who do you think this mysterious fighter is? Make sure to watch the reveal trailer below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
