Ken Masters, from champ to chump in Street Fighter 6

Ken Masters is a video game icon. He’s not only known in the fighting game community, but across the entire gaming landscape. Ken was the US equivalent to Ryu in the very first Street Fighter way back in 1987. I clearly remember the shaggy haired guy with the red gi when I was pounding the giant foam buttons on the original cabinet. The leaked design for Ken in SF6 was met with mixed reactions from the community. Most of them were negative. The very first take was that the redesign was poaching the same thing that developers Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games and Dotemu for Streets of Rage 4 did with the character Axel Stone. In short Capcom aged the character of Ken Masters, gave him a beard stubble and overcoat. Making him look like a washed-up version of his earlier self.

The thing is that this would not be the first time a Japanese developed did the same thing for the blonde-haired western character in a fighting game. Terry Bogard from SNK’s Fatal Fury series, and Paul Phoenix from Namco’s Tekken games had similar makeovers. Terry’s was handled slightly better, as it was a big time jump from the events of the original Fatal Fury. In Garou Mark of the Wolves he was already a seasoned master, and mentor to Rock Howard who was now seen as the star of the franchise. A lot of SF fans lamented that the son of Ken had not been inserted in his place in similar fashion.

There’s not much I want to say about Ken’s new look. It’s sad, and uninspired. I’ve talked about the importance of color on this blog. Hopefully you know how important the assignment of bright primary colors, and complimentary secondary colors has been to the creation of memorable characters. With Ken the designers are throwing away the classic look. A blue shirt, brown jacket, brown gloves, and brown boots clashed badly with his primary red outfit. If Ken had given up on his purpose then I don’t understand why he would even be wearing red gi pants, as they don’t usually contain pockets, not to mention his black belt. The level of disrespect to his form of karate, to himself, his master, and Ryu is off the chart. It would have made more sense if he was presented in street clothes, or even a suit. This half classic Ken, and homeless Ken doesn’t make much sense. This is especially bad considering how much good will the company had created with the character.

Ken was born into privilege, he didn’t have to work hard, but he did. He is considered to be on par, if not better than Ryu. He considers Ryu his brother. Through the series we got to see both grow up. Ken did a tremendous amount of personal growth when compared to Ryu. We saw his long-time girlfriend Eliza become his wife across several games. We saw them build a life together. They got to travel the globe while Ken racked up tournament victories. They set the standard of the perfect partnership. They seemed to have a better life than any other married couple in gaming. Then it got better. Ken became a father to Mel.

We got to see the baby be born, play games with his dad, throw his first punches. He idolized his old man, thought of Ryu as his uncle. Both Mel, and Eliza celebrated every victory with Ken. We saw all of this, and more character building in the game series, as well as in various manga, and comic book adaptations. Having him appear washed up, and “over” his life as a fighter doesn’t make any sense. Saying that Rose, and Menat predicted this path in a couple of lines in SFV feels like a cop-out. Capcom has not been sprinkling any clues that Ken, and his family were not happy with their lifestyle. Not one drop of apathy, or detachment to the fighting arts, or his own family over 35+ years. In fact the character did nothing but portray the opposite of that. Ryu was not the only one to continue climbing the mountain. Ken continually pushed himself to learn, and grow as well. His attacks became stronger throughout the series. His Shouryuu Reppa, Shinryuu Ken, and Shippuu Jinrai Kyaku were distinct variations of the legendary Dragon Punch, and Hurricane Kick that Ryu couldn’t do, or didn’t know how to do. These were techniques that canonically took him decades to develop. Why then would he suddenly stop doing everything?

Did Ken back away from everything because something happened with Mel, or Eliza? Did they get hurt, or are they dead? If that is the case then it would make sense that Ken was presented as a changed man in SF6. At the same time it would be a sad development for the franchise. Eliza, and Mel were fun characters. They gave Ken so much dimension. They connected Chun-Li, and some of the other characters together. I think it’s too ambitious if Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama wanted to create a come-back story for Ken, especially in one game. Street Fighter has always juggled multiple balls at the same time. We got to find out what happened to each, and every character in the tournament through their own cut scenes, and endings. Sometimes the scenes were comedic, others tragic, and some heroic. Some endings tied two characters closer together, or even pushed them apart.

In any case we could always count on Ken, and Ryu always choosing the right path. They were trusted protagonists that moved the series forward. For the company to suddenly change Ken’s appearance, and motivation off screen was a disservice to the character. I have more faith in Mr. Nakayama, Mr. Tsuchiya, and Mr. Hashimoto than I had in Mr. Ono when it comes to the direction of the series. If there is one saving grace about the leaked designs, it is that the producer, director, and designer can gauge the audience reaction, and make changes accordingly. I hope they consider adjusting the look, and motivation of Ken. They have enough time to do so. What do you think of the leaked Ken redesign? Do you like the character or no? What would you have done different, if anything? I’d like to hear about it in the comments section. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!