Shoryuken

Shoryuken
Shoryuken in Ultimate.
Users	Ryu Ken
Universe	Street Fighter

Shoryuken (昇龍拳, Rising Dragon Fist) is the up special move shared by Ryu and his Echo Fighter, Ken.

Overview[edit]

Shoryuken hitting an opponent.

Ryu attacks using a powerful uppercut of the same name while announcing "SHORYUKEN!!". A successful hit causes a visual effect resembling a spray of white ink around the opponent. The move is very fast at frame 6, making it incredibly difficult to predict, but has severe ending lag if it misses, making it a high risk, high reward move. Similar to Ryu's other special moves, the damage dealt and height gained by the move increases if the button is held as opposed to just tapped: the tapped version deals 13% and KOs at 160%, while the held version deals 15% and KOs at 110% and is a powerful vertical kill option at high percentages. The knockback and damage dealt by the move decrease over its animation, meaning it is most powerful during the first few attack frames. As it gives Ryu a height boost, it is his primary vertical recovery move, especially the fully-held version.

Ryu technically becomes helpless only after he travels the same distance downwards as he has jumped. However, due to this move's massive end lag, he cannot do anything — not even maneuver in the air — between the end of the upwards animation and the beginning of helplessness.

While Ken's Shoryuken sends at a more diagonal angle and has comparatively lower knockback, it remains powerful throughout the entire attack as opposed to the later hits of Ryu's, deals more damage on a full connect, travels more horizontally, and has noticeably lower landing lag, making it a useful anti-air option and a more reliable KO move overall. His medium Shoryuken hits twice instead of only once. Ken can also perform a Heavy Shoryuken (強昇龍拳, Strong Rising Dragon Fist) when using the fully-held version of the move, which has a flame effect and hits thrice.

Both variations of Shoryuken can be confirmed into in multiple ways, such as through the characters' respective medium jabs, heavy up tilts, and light down tilts. This makes them each effective combo finishers (especially Ken's) and among their users' primary KO options.

Input Shoryuken[edit]

As with all of Ryu's special moves excluding his down special, performing the move's original arcade input (→ ↓ ↘ + attack/special) increases its power, to 15% and 18% for the tapped and held version respectively. When the player successfully performs an Input Shoryuken, Ryu's fist will flash at the peak of his jump, the attack gains a white ink-like trail, and he announces the attack's name in a fiercer voice. Additionally, the Input Shoryuken gains 6 frames of intangibility (instead of the 3 frames of the default version), and halved landing lag is given as a bonus. Since the input version's intangibility starts on frame 1 (as opposed to frame 3 for the default version), it is a potent combo breaker. In Ultimate, Ryu has only 3 frames of intangibility (versus just one frame for the default version), which doesn't start until frame 4, although his fist remains intangible for the move's entire duration if inputted.

The heavy Input Shoryuken is Ryu's strongest move outside of a charged Smash Attack, capable of KOing as early as 60% on lighter opponents with Rage. However, the jagged diagonal pattern required makes it quite complicated to perform even compared to Ryu's other Input specials, as wrongly moving the control stick will penalize the player with either an accidental dash attack, Focus Attack or Input Hadoken. It is common for players to miss the input (especially offstage, which can cause an accidental SD) or use it too late as an attack despite its incredible power. Generally, the easiest way to perform it is when standing still, running towards the opponent, or after a tapped tilt attack.

If the Shoryuken is input on the negative edge, i.e. by holding the attack button and releasing after performing the input — the weakest input Shoryuken will be performed, dealing 15%.

Canceling[edit]

Both Ryu and Ken can perform a Shoryuken out of some normal attacks due to their special move canceling mechanic. By pressing the special button or doing the command input after connecting with a normal attack, Ryu and Ken will cancel the endlag of the normal attack and perform a Shoryuken. The normal attacks that can be canceled include the first two hits of neutral attack, tapped and held down-tilt, tapped up-tilt, and proximity forward-tilt and held neutral attack (in Ultimate), to name a few. This allows them to deal extra damage in combos, improving their punish game.

In Ultimate, the command variant of Shoryuken can itself be cancelled into their user's Final Smash if close enough to an opponent.

Instructional quotes[edit]

Move List		Jumps with a powerful uppercut, which is strongest at the start. Power and speed increased if held.
		Ascends with a flaming uppercut when holding the button. Has more attack and horizontal-launch power than Ryu's.

Customization[edit]

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

1. Shoryuken
" An ultra-powerful jumping uppercut. Move the Circle Pad as shown to power it up. (Pad icon: Front, down diagonal, and front) An ultra-powerful jumping uppercut. Move the L Stick as shown to power it up. (Stick icon: Front, down diagonal, and front) A powerful jumping uppercut. Press forward, down, forward-down and press the button to power it up."

1. Shoryuken: Default

Like the other DLC characters, Ryu lacks custom move variations.

Origin[edit]

Ryu executes a Shoryuken on Ken in the PlayStation version of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition

The Shoryuken (known colloquially as the "Dragon Punch" or "DP", which comes from the SNES version of Street Fighter II^[1]) is one of the special moves used by Ryu, Ken, and various other characters in the Street Fighter series. It is a rising uppercut, involving the user jumping off the floor with a fist raised and a full-body spin. The move is typically performed with → ↓ ↘ + light/medium/heavy punch. The move's distance traveled, invincibility, and recovery time increases the more powerful button is pressed. Ryu's Shoryuken hits only once and knocks the opponent down. Though it possesses invincibility across its many incarnations, it is very unsafe on whiff and block at higher strengths, leaving the user vulnerable during its recovery.

Since Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, Ken has had the ability to perform a fire-based Shoryuken with the Heavy Punch button, something that is incorporated into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The name of Ken's advanced Shoryuken in Ultimate, Heavy Shoryuken, refers to the original method of executing it with the Heavy attack button.

This is one of the more codifying moves in fighting games, as a high number of characters, even in other series, possess similar attacks (that is, an upward rising attack with starting invincibility), with these moves often being dubbed as "Dragon Punch"-type moves; the Smash Bros. series itself is no exception, considering its many recovery-type up special moves (such as Mario's and Luigi's Super Jump Punch). However, it also codifies the archetype of special moves that are meant to be used as anti-airs; other characters in games with this kind of move may be able to perform their versions in midair, something Ryu and Ken cannot do in most Street Fighter titles.

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Shoryuken's preview icon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

• 

  Ryu using Shoryuken as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

• 

  Ken using Shoryuken as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name
Japanese	昇龍拳
English	Shoryuken
French	Shoryuken
German	Shoryuken
Spanish	Shoryuken
Italian	Shoryuken
Chinese	Shoryuken
Korean	Shoryuken
Dutch	Shoryuken
Russian	Сёрюкен

Trivia[edit]

• The in-game tip for Shoryuken uses wordplay, as the final three words in the tip, "SURE YOU CAN!", sound like Shoryuken when spoken quickly. This is also referenced in Ryu's Palutena's Guidance in Ultimate and is a common pun among fans of the series.
• Ken's original Super Combo, "Shoryureppa", was also originally named Shoryuken in Super Street Fighter II Turbo since no Super Combo was originally named on-screen prior to Street Fighter Alpha (much like the case with the Shinku Hadoken being called the Hadoken in that game).
• In Masahiro Sakurai's On Making Games YouTube series, Sakurai states that he originally wanted Shoryuken's command input version to be stronger, to reflect the push-pull of using such an attack. However, to reduce the gap between skilled and casual players, he decided against it.^[2]

References[edit]