Jab's He-Builds: Beast Man, Trap Jaw, Two-Bad, Bow

[BARON]

I was 13 when it got cancelled. I actually cried.

[luketheduke86]

Bill Watterson ruined nearly all other comic strips for me.

That is so #$*%ing true it's not even funny. Watterson's cast such a huge shadow over the entire industry that everything else just feels weak- even the GOOD strips! But he did manage to inspire an entire generation of strip artists & writers- pretty much every single person born in the '70s or '80s appears to worship him as a God.

Oh yea, his influence was enormous and pretty long lasting. Hell, I've seen webcomics that have referenced him or mentioned that he was an influence, and it's been nearly 16 years.

I was 13 when it got cancelled. I actually cried.

I was 9 and was bummed every time I flipped to the comics section and didn't see it there. If it wasn't for getting the compilation books as gifts, I may never have recovered.

[The Ilethryl Knight]

Once upon a time, I wanted to name my dog Hobbes, but the woman in my life at the time didn't care for the idea, so we chose a different name. Ever since then, I've always sensed Calvin and Hobbes was more a guy thing. Every guy I know who's read it loved it, but most girls seem somewhat indifferent to it. Has anyone else gotten this impression? Any female fans of Calvin and Hobbes out there?

[JoshuaDunlow]

You beat me to the punch. lol.. I may still trying doing my own 2E version of this.

[Jabroniville]

Once upon a time, I wanted to name my dog Hobbes, but the woman in my life at the time didn't care for the idea, so we chose a different name. Ever since then, I've always sensed Calvin and Hobbes was more a guy thing. Every guy I know who's read it loved it, but most girls seem somewhat indifferent to it. Has anyone else gotten this impression? Any female fans of Calvin and Hobbes out there?

If anything, my mom was a bigger fan of Calvin & Hobbes than I was. When I was a kid, she used to joke that Bill Watterson was just hiding outside our house, taking my life and attitude to put into his strip. I was... a handful, energy-wise, especially at school . She still says she misses reading it every day. C&H probably goes down as the single-greatest thing EVER- no show, movie, comic book or literature even comes close to the brilliance Watterson brought to the world.

[Jabroniville]

"Round ONE... FIGHT!"

STREET FIGHTER

Gotta love Street Fighter II, man... that was THE game as far as many kids were concerned, and it's probably one of the two most-copied games ever. You've got Mario for platformers, and Street Fighter for fighting games... nothing else comes close, as far as I'm concerned (mainly because the exact origins of RPGs and First-Person Shooters go really far back, and most had successors that were far more popular and influential).

And it all came from "Street Fighter", a silly little game in 1987 that was totally forgotten. You played Ryu or his head-swap Ken, two gi-wearing Karate dudes, up against a stretch of other guys. One-noters like Birdie, Eagle, Mike & Lee would fall by the wayside, and you'd challenge the super-huge Sagat, the Emperor of Muay Thai. The game was never translated to most systems, and to this day, I've met no one who actually played it. Four years later (an ETERNITY for sequels by today's standards) and we had "Street Fighter II: The World Warrior" in 1991. Ryu & Ken were back, and Sagat was now a sub-boss, consumed by revenge, and the ENTIRE rest of the "SF I" cast was removed. You had twelve fighters now, going up against 4 bosses, and everyone was from all corners of the globe (though Canada, Africa & Australia always got the shaft). And the character designs were PHENOMENAL. You want to talk influence and creativity? How may quipao-wearing chinese girls do we have in video games? Thank Chun-Li. The Shotoclones (copies of Ken, Ryu & Sagat's movesets) ended up in almost every single fighting game to ever come out, especially Capcom's own (Cyclops, Dmitri, Morrigan) and SNK's (Ryo, Terry, Kyo, K', etc.). All the fighting game guys doing wrestling moves worship at the altar of the Red Cyclone. You had Sumo, Fireballs, Uppercuts, a stretchy guy, etc. Most of these character designs are unchanged to this very day, proving their strength.

And SF II was a SENSATION. So much so that it got about a bajillion (rough estimate) sequels, all of which tweaked a rule or two in certain ways. "Champion Edition" gave you the ability to *gasp!* PLAY AS SAME CHARACTER (vs) SAME CHARACTER!! Truly bizarre. "Turbo" boosted the speed, and every single game added some abilities, fixed bugs (or put them into actual gamplay, like Ryu's "Red Fireball" glitch), and altered who was the best character in each game. The brilliant thing about Street Fighter games is that the depth is so immense that kids can play it and have fun, adults can play it and win, and EXPERTS can play it on some obscene "count the frames of invincibility" type of level that require hours and hours of devotion. Now THAT is a game.

"Super Street Fighter II" came out, furthering the jokes about Capcom needing to watch some "Sesame Street" and learn how to count to "3" (this gave the name to the Trope "Capcom Sequel Stagnation"). This game added the Four New Challengers, though Capcom & Japan didn't give a crap about any of them except the thong-wearing teenager (go fig), better known as Cammy. I had this game for the Super NES, and loved the crap out of it- especially it's little mini-tournament thing. Super SFII Turbo KEPT the joke going, and gave us the big Secret Boss (a rip-off of Mortal Kombat's idea) Akuma, providing us with another Shotoclone, as well as finally introducing SNK's concept of "Super Moves" (basically super-versions of regular offense).

And things settled down for a while, but Capcom came roaring back with... a PREQUEL! Nope, not SF III you sillies, this was "Street Fighter Alpha" (called "Zero" in Japan), coming out in 1995 and featuring anime-styled upgraded graphics (more along the lines of the Dark Stalkers & X-Men fighting games Capcom had tried out it's new hardware on first), a more in-depth story, and some AWESOME new character designs (Sagat was now anime-styled and friggin' HUGE). Old guard like Birdie & Gen came back, and we eventually got most of the SF II crew back into things. Of course, they never explained why everyone LOST power (everyone had tons of specials and new weapons) as they got older, but SF Alpha 3 was basically supposed to "replace" SF II in official continuity anyways (more on Capcom's storytelling later).

"Street Fighter EX" came out for the Next-Gen systems in 1996 (oh god that's fifteen years ago god i am old), and was a mostly-OK (I never played it) polygon fighting game. It came out with "EX 2" and "EX 3", so they obviously did quite well. Some of the character designs were really great, but it had a LOT of filler characters, and the graphics, like most Next-Gen systems of the late 90s, fail to hold up to a ridiculous extent. Odd how SNES graphics look way better than PX-X & Saturn graphics ever do nowadays.

"Here Come Some New Challengers!":
In the meantime, countless challengers had presented themselves. "The Art of Fighting" was created by SNK, with some guys who left Capcom (never got the whole story behind that), and it was basically a riff on SFII, ripping off most of the concept, and had two guys, Ryo & Robert, go up against a bunch of other challengers, SFI-style. The game was known for being decent, and had EASILY the best fighting game graphics ever for it's time, and wouldn't be surpassed by Capcom's stuff until "Dark Stalkers". Unfortunately, the game had balance issues, the character designs were mostly rip-offs from Capcom's own stuff the guys had done (Ryo is embarassingly-similar to Ken- I can't even take him seriously. Another dude is just like Guile), and this was always held against the game. "Fatal Fury" had a much better rep, and had way better character designs, but it too faltered under the Neo*Geo arcade system. "King of Fighters" came out later, providing us with yearly-installments of awesome, hyper-impossible SNK Boss-using gameplay, and it maintained a loyal (but way smaller) fanbase. Personally, I dig these games, but most of their characters are way too much alike (everyone wears stylish clothing and there are WAY too many Shotoclones), and they're too difficult at high levels to really get into. SNK would eventually go out of business, and the games were liscensed out. Consider Capcom having won that battle by a LONG ways.

Other changes game- "Mortal Kombat" was a SMASH in North America, and instantly changed video games forever (along with "Night Trap" and some other gory games). It was like the 1990s' love of violence super-charged into one form. The games did VERY well for a while (and had much more in-depth plots than most fighters, as nearly every character had a role to play- be it as a rival, a hunter, or a defender of the world), but after "MK I" and "MK II" being sensational hits (especially MK II, which REALLY popularized the concept of "Secret Characters" and other stuff that MK I only really touched on), "Mortal Kombat 3" came in with a whimper, as gamers realized all at once that the MK series, while having a flashy story and some great ideas, was a really mediocre bunch of games with balance issues (certain characters were MUCH more useful and cheap, and there were no penalties for using the same attack over and over again in every edition), every character using the same attacks (no differences in high or low punches between anybody), and the graphics quickly became mediocre in the era of polygons. A few more MK games would be crapped out as they screwed the story all over the place, most of which are considered quite awful (3-D was NOT Mortal Kombat's friend), but the modern MK game seems to be quite well-liked. Capcom won this battle as well after a shaky beginning (MK REALLY made SF redundant for a good while).

3-D Polygon-based fighters came in and did VERY well, with "Virtua Fighter", "Toshinden" (itself an MK-like series that peaked early and was considered BY FAR the best, but eventually everyone realized it was mediocre, and it quickly vanished) and "Tekken" threatening to make SF redundant. And it kinda worked- SF games went from being THE GAMES to just being one of many successful fighting game series out there. Capcom took a shot at 3-D with the "EX" series, but mostly gave up on it after a point. The death of the arcade industry also took place during this time, as nearly every good arcade either died or got infested by asinine "Dance" games, and so the SF series is no longer king of the mountain.

The Modern Era:
And THEN we finally got "Street Fighter III"!! **** YEAH!! AT LAST!... Except that it was disappointing. Oh sure, it has it's devoted fanbase. And it's got the best graphics of almost any 2-D fighting game ever. But... the characters just SUCKED in this! They pulled an "SF II" and took out all the recognizable people but Ken & Ryu (and they only included THOSE guys because the fans revolted when NONE of the originals were coming back!), which fails to take into account that the SF I characters blew, and the SF II ones were great. Alex was cool, and some guys looked neat, but many guys just look terrible. What's worse- most of them were just rip-offs of other Capcom characters, and replaced cool character designs with bad ones. Dudley is a boxer like Balrog (a different kind but still), Necro is a stretchy guy like Dhalsim, etc. Hugo has this great concept (huge giant dude) and a link to "Final Fight" and it's awesomeness, but his character design just doesn't hold up AT ALL to me in this era. Oro was the single-worst character ever made in the SF business, too- if this were a comic book I'd call him a Mary Sue Pet Character. He looks stupid, his moves are lame, and he's actually a Power Geek fantasy because he fights one-armed to "challenge himself", and he BEAT RYU IN THE CANON!

The series has some fans, but mostly people crapped on it, and it did NOT do that well. Two more iterations of it came out, and there were a BILLION "Capcom (vs)" games coming out in this time period to keep things going, but you can tell how well-liked this series was by "Street Fighter IV" coming out... and ignoring SF III except for a few characters. They basically threw all of SF II (aka the popular game), a few good SF III guys, and then made up some new guys. Now, I don't like the polygonal goofy-mouthed look of SF IV, but it's mostly a return to form, so that's cool.

The Story:
Generally speaking, the SF series has a wafer-thin plot, which is just kinda how most fighting games are, and includes some of the Flattest Flat Characters to ever be Flat. Bison wants to take over the world... by gathering martial artists for some reason. Guile & Chun-Li have solid motivations (revenge against Bison for killing their loved ones), Sagat is GREAT (a proud warrior humbled by a "boy" who wants to prove himself again, and he later gets real character development), and a few other characters have some good stuff, but most of them are just Flat Characters. E.Honda wants to "prove sumo wrestling" (and Hakan has the same deal with Turkish wrestling), and Zangief wants to "prove Mother Russia". Dee Jay wants to fight for... his music? And El Fuerte fights for cooking. Stuff like that. Nobody's here for the big character stories, though (most of those don't even get any resolution). They're just here for great character designs and awesome gameplay.

[Jabroniville]

There used to be an unstated rule that all video game art had to either suck, or be silly.

Regarding The Stats:
Street Fighter characters can be a little tricky to stat in a game like Mutants & Masterminds. The White Wolf "Street Fighter" RPG was actually a VERY good (if totally unrealistic) fighting system, which involved high-Init guys interrupting slower guys' attacks with moves, each of which was keyed to a certain speed (so not every attack was the same speed for each guy), and a quite varied score for damage effects. But for a system that needs to be more broad (because in includes martial artists, animals, super-heroes, Gods and soldiers), you need a different approach- a system that has a man's punch and a God's Hammer Strike in the same damage range is gonna have more "log-jamming" in it's categories. Basically, most Street Fighter characters are going to have Strength & Damage scores within the upper-levels of human norms (between Strength 3 and 5), with their Special Moves doing a bit more damage (but not overly-much- a Fierce Punch doesn't do way less damage than a Dragon Punch does, for example).

Most of the characters will be within the same range- I see some of the main World Warriors as being PL 10s, so that they can brawl with Shang-Chi, The Iron Fist, Daredevil and Wolverine on an even keel. Lower-level guys will probably be PL 9- they're still great fighters, but nobody would believe Dudley or Balrog defeating the mighty Ryu one-on-one most of the time (or even half the time). PL 9 is still pretty good with the way I stat guys, anyways (many solid Avengers were around that level). The PL 10 status means that the accuracy is high-end: they do +3-5 damage, with +15-+17 being the accuracy. Quite reasonable for guys who are ONLY martial artists, and are the greatest in their world.

Special Maneuvers are less accurate, as anyone who plays the game will tell you- they're harder to pull off compared to a Jab. And going by the fluff (comics, movies), they're also probably less accurate, since most require some "charge time" or the target to be a bit tired/dazed, since otherwise everyone would be ONLY doing their Special Moves. Speaking of which... SF guys have six different basic attacks to choose from, going from the fast, light punches (Jab) to powerful but slow kicks (Roundhouse). This means they have both Accurate and Power Attack.

Special Moves are tricky, and often leave you completely open, but with occasional accurate bursts- this is All-Out Attack. Most of them are merely "Strength Damage +2" (Enhanced Strength- Limited to Striking- I keep the same Attack Bonus as Unarmed Damage, since these are all unarmed attacks still) attacks with Inaccurate thrown on (balancing them out with their unarmed attacks, PL-wise). Every SF fighter can grab, Crits easily in melee, and Block to absorb the damage from punches (but usually none from Special Moves)- this to me is a picture-perfect reflection of the Withstand Damage Advantage from "Mecha & Manga" in 2nd Edition- you give up some Defense for higher Toughness.

As such, every Street Fighter character features the following Advantage set-up for 12 points:

"World Warrior Fighting Style": Accurate Attack (Jab), All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Fast Grab (Grab), Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2 (note: Weapon-users like Vega & Eagle will be lower), Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack (Roundhouse), Takedown, Withstand Damage (Block)

After Super SFII Turbo, every character developed the ability to do Super Moves, which are basically high-energy versions of regular attacks thrown into combos, with shadow-energy following the guy. These can only be done once or twice in a fight, and are generally just more power. Other moves are just your special moves, but more of them. Both of these are essentially Hero Point-playing for Extra Effort or the like. As such, no Super Moves will be accounted for- it's rare HP-playing to do push yourself to do more damage, nothing more- if I were to stat them, they'd essentially be higher damage, Multiattack, Inaccurate, and probably the Tiring Flaw.

Some other notes:
-The Strength rules for M&M can be a bit quirky, and some guys who should be doing more damage than +3 or +4 can't really lift 800-1,600 lbs., and as a result, those guys will have Strength-Damage +1 "Power Punch" moves in their "Powers" section. This is basically Enhanced Strength (Limited to Punching), which I write as Strength-Damage +1, because it looks neater on the page.

-Many Street Fighters use projectile attacks, such as the Fireball or Sonic Boom. These attacks do about as much damage as a medium-to-strong punch (+4 to +6 usually), but are less accurate than melee attacks. Similarly, these Blasts are hampered by Diminished Range, meaning that their long range is 50 feet, and medium range is 25 feet. Therefore, attacks from "across screen" (25 feet) have worse accuracy, just like the game.

-Most Street Fighters are much better at their Parry than their Dodge- Ranged Attacks tend to have less accuracy anyways.

-Most Street Fighters are evened-out with their Parry/Toughness and Attack/Damage. Since Stronger guys tend to have an advantage in the law of averages in M&M, a few Strength-based fighters may be lesser in their Accuracy, to keep the balance.

-Most guys have some form of Expertise (Martial Artist). This is a catch-all for knowledge of fighting styles (avoids Surprise and stuff like that), countries from which they come, and a general who's-who of everyone in the Street Fighter world, and things related to Shadowloo (gonna use that spelling- "Shadaloo" looks ugly)- since Bison is mixed-in with everything "Martial Arts", most skilled fighters have run into his representatives.

-Most multi-hitting types of moves have the Multiattack Extra on their unarmed damage, and the Distracting Flaw. This showcases that they can hit many times (doing more damage), but are also forced to kinda stand there and be easier to hit at the same time (Distracting leaves you Vulnerable)- since all SF guys have Defensive Roll, this also diminishes their Toughness.

-Generally, characters will be statted based off of their fluff personae, rather than based directly off of the games. If you want, you can easily just add some points to Attack & Defense to even out the characters to the same PL.

-In "Street Fighter" games, Spamming out attacks like a cheese-meister can be effective, but is highly-predictable, and leaves you open for coutner-attacks. And in M&M, certain attacks are more effective math-wise (Special Moves and their higher power, especially when boosted by Accurate, All-Out or Power Attack). As such, every fighter will include the complication "Weakness (Predictability)- Ryu, like all Street Fighters, cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time he tries the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, he will be at -2 to Accuracy, AND to his Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done." This will prevent Spamming, and keep people honest.

The Full Roster of Street Fighters:

"Street Fighter"
1) Ryu (gi-wearing generic dude)
2) Ken (head swap, outgoing rich guy)
3) Geki (ninja)
4) Adon (Sagat's student)
5) Lee (generic Chinese guy)
6) Gen (generic Chinese guy, later becomes a master of various kung-fu styles)
7) Eagle (English butler with knightsticks)
8) Birdie (big chubby punker, first white, then turns black)
9) Mike (generic black boxer)
10) Joe (generic white American dude)
11) Retsu (generic Japanese dude)
12) Sagat (Giant kickboxer, later becomes obsessed with beating Ryu)

"Street Fighter II"
13) M. Bison (mad dictator)
14) Vega (clawed psychopath)
15) Balrog (ugly dumb boxer)
16) Dhalsim (elongating Indian mystic)
17) Zangief (proud Russian wrestler)
18) E. Honda (Sumo)
19) Chun-Li (Chinese government agent, after Bison)
20) Guile (American Soldier, after Bison)
21) Blanka (Brazilian man-monster)

"Super Street Fighter II"
22) Cammy (brainwashed British agent)
23) Thunder Hawk (stereotypical Indian wanting his land back)
24) Fei Long (Bruce Lee Clone)
25) Dee Jay (American-created Jamaican Billy Blanks knock-off)

"Super Street Fighter II Turbo"
26) Akuma (super-secret boss, head-swap of Ken & Ryu)

"Street Fighter Alpha 1"
27) Guy (Final Fight hero)
28) Sodom (Final Fight mid-boss)
29) Rose (the Anti-Bison)
30) Charlie (Guile's old murdered partner)
31) Dan (joke character, head-swap of Ken & Ryu)

"Street Fighter Alpha 2"
32) Sakura (standard Japanese schoolgirl)
33) Rolento (another Final Fight boss, a military goon wanting an army)

"Street Fighter Alpha 3"
34) R. Mika (boob-baring Zangief wannabe)
35) Karin (Sakura's rival)
36) Cody (Final Fight hero turned ruffian)
37) Juli (Cammy Clone)
37) Juni (Cammy Clone)

"Console Versions"
38) Maki (Final Fight 2 hero, Guy's sister)
39) Ingrid (Mary Sue character, controls Psycho Power)

"Street Fighter III"
40) Elena (African princess)
41) Alex (original main hero, wrestler)
42) Dudley (English, black gentleman boxer)
43) Necro (stretchy bio-altered kid)
44) Ibuki (cute ninja girl)
45) Sean (Ken's student)
46) Oro (old hermit, binds one arm to hide full power)
47) Yun (Chinese kung fu teen)
48) Yang (Chinese kung fu teen, head-swap of Yun)
49) Gill (boss, conspiracy head)

"Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact"
50) Hugo (Final Fight recurring character, Alex's rival)
51) Urien (Gill's brother)

"Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike"
52) Makoto (generic Japanese karate girl)
53) Q (mysterious masked man)
54) Twelve (Shapeshifting creature, after Necro)
55) Remy (SNK-looking guy, fights like Guile)

"Street Fighter IV"
56) Abel (MMA Frenchman, amnesiac)
57) Crimson Viper (American spy using super-suit)
58) Rufus (fat goofy guy, after Ken)
59) El Feurte (Luchadore, chef)
60) Seth (move-copying Shadowloo boss)
61) Gouken (Ken & Ryu's mentor, revealed to be alive)

"Super Street Fighter IV"
62) Juri (Korean TKD girl, acts like a slut)
63) Hakan (Turkish oil wrestler)

"Honorary Guy"
64) Mike Haggar (not in any SF games, but I just have to build the mayor of Metro City if I'm including Guy, Cody & Maki)

[Murkglow]

Awww man ragging on SF3 characters...

Maybe it's because I've never play the games nor was I ever into them back when SF2 actually was big but I personally like the SF3 characters ok. I liked Guile and Dhalsim better then Remy and Necro but I'd gladly take Dudley over Balrog (or M. Bison as he should be called ). *Shrug*

Oro is pretty bad though I'll agree there (though Rufus is my least fave character in the series, at least that I know about. Maybe reading your builds will give me a new least favorite ).

[Jabroniville]

Like I said, some of them were O.K. Dudley has his own unique style that I appreciate, but many designs and characters just fall flat. You can kinda tell what the impressions of the game were, when they ignored most of it for SF IV and made a prequel.

I would be remiss in not pointing out the AWESOME "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie" here. It was magnificent- everything a fighting game movie needs to be- just tons of kick-ass fight scenes, brutal beat-downs, and appropriately cool moments from some guys who weren't focused on (though Dee Jay got the shaft big-time). It was like the microcosm of everything that teenage boys (the deliberate core audience of the franchise back then) love- fighting, blood, naked chicks (Chun-Li's famous shower scene- with BEWBS!!), and an enormous amount of swearing (characters would drop S-Bombs like crazy, seemingly for no other reason than to be swearing). Chun-Li/Vega and Ryu/Fei Long were EPIC fights, too. The first "Mortal Kombat" movie is on a similar line, but that one was much funnier.

I saw a few episodes of "Street Figher II V", which was mostly mediocre mid-90s TV-based anime stuff. It DID have a hilarious moment when Young Ryu and Young Ken get off of an airplane and just... stare longingly into each others eyes for a good solid minute. Seriously, it was like they came right out and said "THESE TWO ARE IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER AND ARE TOTALLY DOING IT IN THE BUM". My best friend and I laughed our asses off for a solid five minutes because of that one scene.

[Murkglow]

Like I said, some of them were O.K. Dudley has his own unique style that I appreciate, but many designs and characters just fall flat. You can kinda tell what the impressions of the game were, when they ignored most of it for SF IV and made a prequel.

Nah they just got ignored because SF4 is really just SF2 remade (you know how capcom likes to beat that horse and I guess even they felt Super Duper Street Fighter 2 Turbo Deluxe Special Edition in 3D! was a bit much) and there's no reason for them to be there.

[Jabroniville]

Truth be told, I think a couple of SF IV's characters are pretty dumb, and I like a fair amount of SF III characters- I just like how IV brought back the old-school crowd (even poor, neglected Dee Jay!). It's a lot easier to forget about guys like Rufus when you have the entire Sagat/Vega/Zangief crowd back and in command.

Also, I tend to hate a few of the "Alpha" characters. But then, I'm kind of a hard-to-please cranky-pants sometimes.

[Jabroniville]

Ryu's Stage Theme- HD Remix

RYU
Created By: Manabu Takemura
First Appearance: Street Fighter (1987)
Home Country: Japan
Role: The Ryu (Trope Namer), aka All-Around Guy, Battle-Seeker, The Wandering Warrior, Captain Potential
Vague Martial Art Basis: Karate (Kyokushinkai-style) & Judo
PL 10 (153)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Acrobatics 7 (+12)
Athletics 9 (+13)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 7 (+16)
Expertise (Travelling Martial Artist) 11 (+12)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 6 (+7)
Perception 7 (+11)
Ranged Combat (Fireball) 9 (+13)
Treatment 2 (+3)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Assessment, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Fearless, Follow-Up Strike, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Fireballs) 3, Improved Critical (Dragon Punch) 2, Improved Critical (Hurricane Kick), Last Stand, Ranged Attack 4

"World Warrior" Fighting Style: Accurate Attack (Jab), All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab (Grab), Improved Critical (Unarmed) 4, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack (Roundhouse), Takedown, Withstand Damage (Block)

Powers:
"Martial Arts Strike" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Jumpy Moves" Leaping 1 [1]

"Special Moves"
"Flaming Fireball" Blast 6 (Extras: Secondary Effect 4) (Flaws: Distracting) (Diminished Range -1, Inaccurate -1) (7) -- [10]

AE: "Fireball" Blast 5 (Flaws: Distracting) (Diminished Range -1) (4)
AE: "Dragon Punch" Strength-Damage +2 (Inaccurate -1) (1)
AE: "Hurricane Kick" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Multiattack 4) (Flaws: Distracting) & Enhanced Advantage: Takedown (3)

Offense:
Unarmed +16 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Special Moves +14 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Fireball +13 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Flaming Fireball +11 (+6 Ranged Damage & +4 Sec.Effect, DC 21 & 19)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +15 (DC 25), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +12

Complications:
Motivation (The Battle)- Ryu seeks to perfect himself physically and mentally, and travels the world to do so. This will be accomplished by beating the $#!& out of people.
Relationship (Ken)- The two trained together as young men, and grew very close. Ryu is more placid and noble, while Ken is energetic and boisterous. Despite their differences (and an intense rivalry), they are as close as brothers.
Relationship (Gouken)- The boys are both very devoted to their master, Gouken, and fought to avenge his "death". Even now that he is alive, but worship him as a mentor-figure, despite his insistence that both are grown men, and must live their own lives.
Enemy (Akuma)- Akuma seeks to pervert Ryu's power for his own means, and unlock The Dark Hadou within him. Ryu is too noble for this, however.
Responsibility/Involuntary Transformation (The Dark Hadou)- Ryu can become overtaken by "The Killing Intent" of his martial arts style, and he grows more and more vicious.
Weakness (Predictability)- Ryu, like all Street Fighters, cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time he tries the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, he will be at -2 to Accuracy, AND to his Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 62--31 / Advantages: 18 + 15 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 27 (153)

-Ryu is of course the famous "hero" of the Street Fighter Universe, coming out in the very first game as the player character up against all the Jobbers. He's since been transformed into a kind of "Wandering the Earth" warrior who somehow has to attain perfection by beating the sh** out of people. He's influential beyond almost every other character in the history of video games (I would imagine a certain plumber is #1, and the only one above him), as not only is "The Generic Guy" in fighting games always a Ryu-type "Middle of the Road" warrior, but almost all of them possess his standard "Uppercut Move/Energy Blast/Across Screen Attack" combo. Just look at the SNK series- "Art of Fighting" (done by the same creative team) ripped him off to an embarassing degree with "Ryo", but then you had the similar Bogard Brothers in "Fatal Fury", and even Kyo in "King of Fighters" mimics his style. And don't even get me started on KYO's various "KoF" clones. Ryu is basically the launcher of a thousand video game characters.

-Ryu was the main character in the awesome "Street Fighter: The Animated Movie", oddly not doing the "fighting my dark inner side" thing that he's been doing in every game since, but just travelling around the world, beating the $#!& out of people. Gotta love it. He took out Fei Long in the movie's best fight scene, but got the snot beat out of him by his buddy Ken (though Ryu was playing defensive the whole time). Stats-wise, he's pretty much a just like Ken, minus all the Presence-based stuff, and with a focus on the Fireball as opposed to the Dragon Punch (does anyone else find it funny that Ryu focuses on the Fireball, instead of the move that WON him the original tournament?). Speaking of that last tournament, Capcom's continuity is so weird and half-assed (as opposed to SNK's, which is incredibly precise- they always state flat-out who won the last tournament) that though Ryu should technically be the world champion, nobody refers to him as such ever.

-Fighting Style: Ryu is the "Average Guy" of the "Street Fighter" series, and is so influential that his particular archetype is referred to as "The Ryu". He averages out his speed, strength and ability scores, and fights a direct, average style, not too focused on throws, strikes or projectiles- he can do a little bit of everything. His versatility is his strength, though most opponents will better him in at least one category. He & Ken both have 4 full ranks of Improved Critical- this is why they're the elites.

-For people who want Super Moves and the like, you could probably just make Tiring versions of his regular moves that do more damage. Either fits into the array at around the same cost, which is why I think playing Hero Points for extra Alt-Effects works best for them. If Ryu shifts to "Dark Ryu" or whatever, he gains some serious power, probably becoming a PL 11-12 character.

[Jabroniville]

"Listen BUFFALO or whatever you're called- you're full of crap!"
-Ken, to Bison

KEN MASTERS
Created By: Manabu Takemura
First Appearance: Street Fighter (1987)
Home Country: The United States
Role: The Rival, All-Around Guy, The Rich Boy, Not Too Foreign (Half-Japanese)
Vague Martial Art Basis: Karate (Kyokushinkai-style) & Judo
PL 10 (155)
STRENGTH 3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+13)
Athletics 8 (+12)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 7 (+16)
Expertise (Pop Culture) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Martial Arts) 7 (+8)
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 1 (+5)
Perception 5 (+7)
Persuasion 2 (+6)
Ranged Combat (Fireball) 8 (+12)
Treatment 2 (+3)
Vehicles 6 (+6)

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Benefit 2 (Wealth), Defensive Attack, Diehard, Evasion, Follow-Up Strike, Improved Critical (Fireball), Improved Critical (Dragon Punch) 3, Improved Critical (Hurricane Kick) 2, Instant Up, Grab Finesse, Great Endurance, Ranged Attack 4

"World Warrior" Fighting Style: Accurate Attack (Jab), All-Out Attack, Defensive Roll, Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab (Grab), Improved Critical (Unarmed) 4, Improved Defense, Improved Hold, Improved Trip (Throw), Power Attack (Roundhouse), Takedown, Withstand Damage (Block)

Powers:
"Martial Arts Strike" Strength-Damage +1 [1]
"Jumpy Moves" Leaping 1 [1]

"Special Moves"
"Fireball" Blast 5 (Flaws: Distracting) (Diminished Range -1) (4) -- [7]

AE: "Hurricane Kick" Strength-Damage +1 (Extras: Multiattack 5) (Flaws: Distracting) & Enhanced Advantage: Takedown (4)
AE: "Dragon Punch" Strength-Damage +2 (Inaccurate -1) (1)
AE: "Flaming Dragon Punch" Strength-Damage +3 (Inaccurate -1) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +16 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Dragon Punch +14 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Flaming Dragon Punch +13 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Hurricane Kick +14 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Fireball +12 (+5 Ranged Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +13 (DC 23), Parry +15 (DC 25), Toughness +4 (+5 D.Roll), Fortitude +8, Will +9

Complications:
Motivation (The Challenge)- Ken often seeks out challenges, especially against Ryu, his closest rival. This will be accomplished by beating the $#!& out of people.
Relationship (Ryu)- The two trained together as young men, and grew very close. Ryu is more placid and noble, while Ken is energetic and boisterous. Despite their differences (and an intense rivalry), they are as close as brothers.
Relationship (Eliza)- Despite being a born fighter, Ken is also a devoted husband and father.
Relationship (Gouken)- The boys are both very devoted to their master, Gouken, and fought to avenge his "death". Even now that he is alive, but worship him as a mentor-figure, despite his insistence that both are grown men, and must live their own lives.
Weakness (Predictability)- Ken, like all Street Fighters, cannot simply "spam" out the same attack over and over again, as the opponent will expect the attacks, and be ready for them (and a counterattack). The third time he tries the same technique (or same combo of techniques) in a short span, he will be at -2 to Accuracy, AND to his Active Defenses in that round. All will decrease by 2 every successive round the same move is done.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 58--29 / Advantages: 21 + 14 / Powers: 9 / Defenses: 25 (155)

-Ken is of course the eternal rival of Ryu, and the first "Head Swap" Fighting Game character. They combined to create the entire "Shotoclone" concept, initially just being the same dude. Later "SF" games started changing them up a bit, as their special moves got slight variations over time. Of course, they still have the exact same three moves, but still.

-Ken was a mix of asskicker and jobber in the SF Movie, demolishing T.Hawk with no difficulty whatsoever, and handing Ryu his ass for a good while, but Bison made an embarassing mess of him in their first battle, and Ryu was really only losing because he didn't want to fight back. But Ken was cleary a heavy-hitter, teaming up to take out Bison in the end. His stats are more-or-less a variant of Guile & Dee Jay's, being a 'regular' type build in a game with lots of extremes. Am I the only one who found it weird that KEN was the one who ended up using the super version of the Dragon Punch, whereas Ryu (the guy with the famous move that burned Sagat's chest) got the improved Fireball?

-Ken basically fights just like Ryu does, except that he is the CHEAPEST BASTARD WHO WAS EVER CHEAP. Seriously, Ryu would fight like a MAN, and beat the snot out of you with sheer technique and ability, but KEN? Ken would just spam out all his moves endlessly. "Tasumaki-Senpukyaku! Shoryuken! Tasumaki-Senpukyaku! Shoryuken! Tasumaki-Senpukyaku! Shoryuken!" ENDLESSLY, I TELL YOU!! His build is more or less like Ryu's, plus more Presence and related Skills, his Wealth, and some changes to athleticism (he's more Acrobatic since he's typically faster in-game without necessarily being more accurate in the more logjammed M&M stats) and certain attacks. His Hurricane Kick spins faster, doing more damage, and his Flaming Dragon Punch is the most damaging attack of the pair of Original Shotoclones, but his Fireball is slower than Ryu's, and he lacks the Flaming version.

-Fighting Style: Ken is pretty much just like Ryu in fighting style, with a couple modifications to his moves. All-around average, but he likes the All-Out Attack/Spamming variety of moves a little bit more. Expect him to throw out Special Moves with a much higher regularity than Ryu would. In fights between them, they are near-equals- virtually no medium has an outright victor, even though Ken is almost NEVER the central character. Ryu is the main hero of the franchise, and Ken is merely "Ryu's partner/rival", but he's still respected well enough that he stands a fair shot against any other fighter.

[Murkglow]

You might want to go through Ken's Complications again. One is a copy and paste error ("The Battle" refers to Ryu) and the one dealing with Eliza is cut off.

On a totally different note you might be happy to know that at least in SF3 Ryu has the best Dragon Punch (in one of his possible power combos). He also has his Blast of course but the Punch is the epic one. Ken on the other hand has a kick routine kinda like Chun-Li but with a hurricane kick at the end. Then SF4 came and Ryu is back to his Blast and Ken is back to his punch... *Shrug*

Also, do you really think Ryu is that big? Second only to Mario? Surely Sonic is up there (only hindered by the fact that he hasn't had a good game in ages) and then there is Mega Man and various RPG characters and so on. Ryu is at least easily #1 from a fighter game stand point but... It's always hard to tell these things.

[Kreuzritter]

i also disagree with your assessment regarding the movie. ryu vs fei long was good, but it pales before the chun-li/vega throwdown