Ken overview & gameplay guide
Character specification
Season 1
Character Trivia
A veteran Metro City street fighter who sets his sights on South Town, seeking closure for an incident to which he was wrongfully tied. Burning with determination and a fiery arsenal of unmatched offense, this former US National Fighting Champion eventually crosses paths with the Legendary Wolf himself—and with that, the wheels of fate are set in motion.
Difficulty
EASY star
Fighting Style
Ansatsuken-based martial arts
Ken Gameplay Trailer
PDF Command List
Gameplay Overview
Ken is more than just a guest character; he is one of the biggest faces of fighting games. Coming over from Street Fighter, Ken’s fiery, well-rounded moveset consisting of a projectile, uppercut and hurricane kick is a tried-and-true blueprint that many a character have followed since his and Ryu’s introductions close to 40 years ago, and he’s arrived in Fatal Fury with several more tricks and moves he’s acquired over the years.
The Ken we have in CotW, though close to his SF6 self on paper, is really a blend of all of his appearances in his home franchise, sporting Quick Dash and follow-ups, crazy kicks, Dragonlash, and strong, dominant poking normals. Much of his offense and combos work like Street Fighter as well, with generous links, long-reaching cancel options, and strong punishment; he can even cancel into his supers from REV specials, a callback to his SFIII: 3rd Strike glory days. And of course, it wouldn’t be Ken without his famous Shoryukens, which are enormous in this game and lead to some of the highest anti-air damage he’s ever had.
Ken’s biggest downfall in this game is that he is perhaps a little too faithful to his roots. Coming from a slower game, Ken not only lacks a 4-frame normal in this game, but he can only cancel the startup of his dash, unlike most characters with a forward dash. This leaves him feeling quite slow compared to the vast majority of the roster, forcing him to rely on his reach, fireball and Quick Dash special, all of which have some degree of commitment. Every move Ken makes is a decision, and every decision has counterplay, but Ken’s long list of moves mean the strength of one move covers the weakness of another.
For the new players who came from Street Fighter, welcome; though if you want a more defensive character, Chun-Li is also here. For the SNK veterans, Ken may feel strange at first, but if you ever wonder if you can master this rushdown shoto with so many tools in his kit… the answer is simply “SHORYUKEN!”
Pros & Cons
thumb_up PROS
- ShoryuKEN: Unsurprisingly, Ken's DP's are obscene; 623A is very active, fast, with a lot of range, making it a very good reversal. 623C/AC are the game's only two-hit DP brakes, which makes them good for both pressure and anti-airing on top of their great hitboxes. Additionally, Ken's Quick Dash Shoryuken can quickly cover about half the screen and catch unaware opponents off guard for jumping in neutral.
- Abnormal Normals: Ken's kit includes just about all of his normals that he has in Street Fighter, some of which are insanely strong in the context of City of The Wolves, such as a special-cancellable low poke with good range, or long range pokes he can start pressure or combos off of. On top of that, Ken doesn't have proximity normals, letting him use his unique buttons from any range he wants.
- Heels.. over-head?: Ken has access to a whopping 4 grounded overheads with distinct utility. Properly using each can force an opening against defensive opponents, and make them more vulnerable to Ken's powerful stagger pressure and strike/throw game on account of Jinrai and his generally good frame data.
- Combo God: Literally all of Ken's cancellable normals can be converted into a combo, no matter if they're at peak range or a jump button. Said combos also tend to reward with him with incredible corner carry, and occasionally very high damage, meaning his powerful neutral tools cannot be taken lightly.
thumb_down CONS
- Slow Normals: In exchange for the game's fastest special move and a literal novel's worth of good normals, Ken has no access to a 4 frame jab, which forces him to take significant risks to get out of offense, denies him punishes that other characters can do, and makes it harder for him to start offense from being +1.
- Committal Dash: While it is a very fast dash and the startup can be cancelled into jumps and attacks, Ken can't act in its recovery frames, making him slightly less maneuverable than the rest of the cast. This denies him the ability to dashblock fireballs, and forces him to forego dashing on offense for the most part. He's also unable to effectively OS or chase many soft knockdowns, so he either has to return to neutral or spend resources to secure oki.