The Street Fighter series is seminal to the fighting game as it is known today. Many tropes, mechanics, and various other aspects that enjoy wide usage today originate in Street Fighter and Street Fighter 2. But sometimes certain tropes feel most utilized within the game itself. One such example is the "shotokan" or "shoto" characters. Rooted in the incorrect naming of the ansatsuken (the assassin's fist, eventually confirmed to be the actual name of the fighting style) that Capcom USA provided, it has since been used as a term for well-rounded characters and remains a popular archetype.
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In the case of Street Fighter, the shotokans can range from complete jokes to absolute monsters in their own right. This list seeks to rank the strength of each individual shoto that has appeared throughout the series.
8 Dan Hibiki
Seeing Him In Action Is A Joke
It's hard for something to become influential without at least a few people riding coattails. In-universe and out, Dan Hibiki serves as a perfect example of this. Conceived as a parody of Art of Fighting's Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia (who seem more than a little influenced by Ryu and Ken), it's hard to become more of a joke shoto than Dan. He debuted as a secret character in Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams, later being given an oddly tragic backstory in its sequel, involving his father being killed by Sagat.
Once a student of Gouken, Ryu and Ken's master, Dan was rejected by his peace-loving teacher for seeking to use his training for revenge. Making use of what little he knew of the ansatsuken, Dan retooled these skills to become the ironically named Saikyo-ryu style. Dan's moves tend to be either re-iterations of the typical shoto fare stemming either from Street Fighter or Art of Fighting. A lot of his moves are also mere taunts, as a show of his expressive and flashy nature.
In spite of his lack of talent, Dan, like many a shoto, is a fairly visible character, even in spin-off games. Most notably, he is something of a staple in Capcom's crossovers with SNK (the company that created Art of Fighting) and tends to have special interactions when he engages in battle with Ryo. It is worth noting that, despite his continual humiliation, Dan has some level of skill as a fighter. Most of his opponents in the Street Fighter series are just out of his league.
7 Sean Matsuda
He's Not Dan... But He Sure Can Feel Like It
Ken's student, Sean is conceivably similar to Dan. This is a fact referenced in multiple games in the Street Fighter 3 trilogy as a source of irritation for him. Like Dan, Sean's "shoto" techniques are weaker offshoots, in this case, attempting to copy Ken. Unlike Dan, however, Sean is less of an outright joke.
He is still fairly weak as a fighter, albeit capable of pulling off moves similar to Ken's, most often in his super arts. That said, his training is shown to be insufficient, with the skill gap between him and his counterparts emphasized in his endings throughout the Street Fighter 3 trilogy. Sean's appearances are fairly limited outside the trilogy.
Most recently, he appeared as a lore character in Street Fighter 5, where his older sister Laura is playable instead. However, his appearance in 5 confirms he has gotten stronger. Notably, Laura's confirmed canon ending in the Street Fighter 3 segment of the arcade mode, shows Sean winning a tournament. This was something he previously failed to do in his ending in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
6 Sakura Kasugano
An Ascended Fangirl
A massive fan of Ryu, Sakura often fights with the goal of meeting and learning directly from her idol. Although she has yet to achieve this goal, she nonetheless has Ryu's respect for her efforts. Despite several preoccupations, including schooling and her part-time gig as an arcade manager, Sakura still isn't half bad as a fighter. She first appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2, notably forming a friendship with her fellow shoto, Dan.
Her attacks tend to be relatively unorthodox. Examples include her hadokens, which tend to have much less range than Ryu and Ken's, as well as her shouoken, a shoryuken that emphasizes running. Unlike Sean and Dan, Sakura has never been treated as a joke, and can actually be an extremely difficult opponent if given the opportunity to pull off a combo. Even so, her current skill level is far from the peak of a shotokan.
5 Ken Masters
Premier Part-Timer
When it comes to shoto, Ken is definitely one of the stronger ones in the series. He debuted with Ryu in the original Street Fighter, with the pair remaining the only consistent fixtures on the roster throughout the mainline games. He was trained by Gouken alongside Ryu and managed to both learn and modify his own ansatsuken techniques. Among his modifications is the fiery shinryuken, a shoryuken that lands multiple hits on an opponent.
Similar to Sakura, Ken's life tends to get in the way of his fighting. In addition to running the family business, he also wishes to look after his family. However, his own continued dedication to the craft makes him a highly skilled fighter, rivaling and at times even defeating his lifelong friend, Ryu. That said, Ryu is often hinted at being the superior fighter, primarily because he's more focused on his training.
4 Kage/Evil Ryu
An Inferior Evil
A fairly interesting shoto, Evil Ryu and Kage both exist as a manifestation of the darkness within Ryu. The pair are extensions of the Satsui No Hado, a dark energy present in martial arts studied with the intent of killing, such as the ansatsuken. Most of their techniques are comparable to Ryu's, although much more in the vein of Akuma.
Evil Ryu is a non-canonical character, first appearing in Street Fighter Alpha 2, showing what would happen if Ryu were to succumb to the Satsui No Hado. Kage on the other hand is a canon character, appearing in Street Fighter 5, who is instead a literal manifestation of Ryu's Satsui No Hado, born from him rejecting it. Its strength is presumably comparable to Ryu's, but due to his conscious decision not to let it control him, it is clearly weaker than Ryu.
3 Ryu
The Definitive Shoto
Ryu is the embodiment of a beginner-friendly shotokan. His iconic moves are very easy to execute and powerful to boot. This leads him to be categorized by certain players as "boring, but practical." But this in no way makes him a slouch when it comes to a fight. He is capable of holding his own against some of the strongest antagonists in the series, including the likes of M. Bison and Akuma.
Ryu is much more single-minded in his approach to fighting and training than Ken, structuring his life around them. He is considered a very strong fighter, even beating out his own dark half. However, he maintains the belief that he has yet to reach his maximum potential as a fighter.
2 Gouken
The Thinking Man's Shoto
Gouken is Ryu's foster father, who trained both him and Ken in the ansatsuken fighting style. However, due to their own time and effort spent cultivating the technique, Gouken currently views the pair as rivals rather than students. Fans believe him to be based on the initially nonexistent Sheng Long mentioned in Ryu's win quote in Street Fighter 2. He was presumed dead after a fight with his younger brother, Akuma, but resurfaced in Street Fighter 4, both as a hidden boss and playable character.
Well into his old age, he nonetheless maintains his muscular build and physical strength. He is generally able to hold his own against most of the very same fighters Ryu has. However, he is shown to be a cut above. This is in part due to his re-invention of the ansatsuken, which focused far more on his own philosophy of self-defense.
Even so, he can still be a brutally devastating opponent, with his powerful shin shoryuken being able to remove a significant chunk of an opponent's health. He is also one of the few shoto to have a powerful unplayable form, appearing as a secret boss with stronger moves in Street Fighter 4. His expertise is also communicated in refining techniques in Street Fighter 4 that Ryu wouldn't come to learn until later in the series (chronologically speaking), such as his chargeable denjin hadoken.
1 Akuma
The Worst-Kept Secret
Perhaps the most definitively powerful shotokan in Street Fighter overall, Akuma is, true to his name, an absolutely monstrous opponent. Initially, the first-ever secret boss in the series, appearing in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Akuma continued to exist throughout the series largely in the same capacity. Unlike the majority of shotokan fighters who either reject or don't tap into the Satsui No Hado, Akuma embraces it. He seeks to use his power to fight opponents he deems worthy of killing, like Goutetsu and Gouken—even those who fail to impress him, like Ryu and Kage.
What speaks volumes about his strength is that his strongest version cannot be played. The player-controlled version of Akuma holds back against most opponents, using weaker attacks and less stamina, so each fight is more exciting for him. Even in this limited capacity, he still remains a monster with numerous offensive attacks to control the ground and the air. In addition to modifications of standard shoto attacks, his signature move, the raging demon, is capable of almost singlehandedly ending a fight.
His "final form", Shin Akuma, is even more powerful. He becomes a much faster foe, with far less time needed to recover in between moves. It is implied that even this version of Akuma does not possess his full savagery, with Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition introducing a possible future version of Akuma that loses his remaining humanity to the Satsui No Hado, becoming the frightening Oni, who also has a stronger secret boss counterpart. The extent to which his ability is communicated, as well as the fact that few seem worthy of even facing him, let alone defeating him at his peak, proves that Akuma is the strongest shotokan in Street Fighter.
Street Fighter 6
- Platform(s)
- PS5 , PS4 , PC , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
- Released
- June 2, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
