Shoryuken

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Shoryuken (Kanji: 昇龍拳; properly pronounced as three syllables, "sho-ryu-ken") roughly translates as "Rising Dragon Fist" ("Sho"=Rising, "Ryu"=Dragon, "Ken"=Fist or Punch). Shoryuken is a fictional special move in the video game series Street Fighter which is, according to the current storyline, developed by one of the story characters named Goutetsu, the creator of the fictional martial art branch Ansatsuken.

In the Goutetsu style of Ansatsuken, the Shoryuken was meant to kill anyone in one stroke. However in the Ansatsuken style of Gouken, the mentor of Street Fighter's main character Ryu, the Shoryuken was meant to bring defeat in one move, even without the Shoryuken's "initial killing touch" (hence its original billing as a "sure killing technique"). It is colloquially referred to as the "Dragon Punch".

Up until Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the Shoryuken was invincible all the way up, and was only vulnerable on the way down. Since then, the properties of the Shoryuken differ from game to game, but most of them have substantial invincibility at the very beginning of the move.

1 How to perform Shoryuken
2 Variations of Shoryuken
3 Users (canon)
4 Other users
5 Trivia
6 See also

[edit] How to perform Shoryuken

Storyline-wise, the Shoryuken is performed when the practitioner concentrates all of his "ki" in his legs and striking fist and jumps into the air fist first in an upward spiraling motion. It is very destructive to the opponent when ascending, but practitioner is vulnerable when descending. It was originally a move designed to kill an opponent when it is well-placed, but Gouken later on tailored the Shoryuken to be a potent move without the killing touch. The Shoryuken has the best effect when the fist is still rising.

In video game terms, it is performed by a combination of directional buttons/joystick, followed by any punch button. The strength of the punch decides the height, damage and in some cases the invincibility of the Shoruyken. The correct sequence is forward, down, down-forward and punch (a sequence commonly termed as the "dragon punch motion" when used for other unrelated moves). Most variations of the Shoryuken have invincibility on start up, meaning they cannot be hit or beaten out of it until it has finished its peak. Unfortunately its invincibility is traded off with extreme vulnerability once the character starts to descend. They can be hit with almost anything on their descent or as soon as they touch the ground. Meaning, although it is an extremely useful move, it can just as easily backfire when used inappropriately.

[edit] Variations of Shoryuken

Shoryuken (Rising Dragon Fist) - a spiraling punch moving at an upward arc-type motion. The Shoryuken is invincible while the fist is rising, but the practitioner is vulnerable to counterattack when descending. When Gouken founded a non-violent variation of Ansatsuken, he was able to tone down the killing nature of this move, therefore it starts out strong in the ground and ends weak in the air. This Shoryuken is based on Gouken's non-violent beliefs.

Shouryuu Reppa (Violent Rising Dragon Wave) - a series of two or three Shoryukens that progressively causes more and more damage to an opponent each time he is hit. Not as lethal as the Messatsu Gou Shouryuu, but still a potent move.

Shinryuuken (Dragon God Fist) - a Shoryuken that moves vertically into the air causing a vacuum effect, which sucks in the opponent and strikes him multiple times. Of all the Gouken-style Shoryukens, this is the second most potent without the killing "touch", it was self-discovered by Ken, the only user of this move.

Shin Shoryuken (True Rising Dragon Fist) - the "true" Shoryuken in which the practitioner will strike the opponent very hard with one fist (elbow in Alpha 3), and then perform a high-damage Shoryuken with the other fist. If he misses with the first strike then he will just perform a normal multi-hitting Shoryuken. Of all the Gouken-style Shoryukens, this is the most potent Shoryuken without the killing "touch", apart from the Shinryuuken. Since Ryu was the practitioner who discovered this Shoryuken, he is the only one capable of using it as it is known. Ken uses this move in Namco x Capcom, but since Namco x Capcom isn't canon to either series, this is not considered canon.

Gou Shoryuken (Strong Rising Dragon Fist) - the original Shoryuken which is a more powerful variation of the regular Shoryuken. While this was a "bench" Shoryuken at the time the art was founded, the lethality of the move increases when the practitioner embraces the Satsui No Hadou. This Shoryuken knocks the foe high into the air and slices its foe as the fist is rising up. A well-placed Gou Shoryuken can be extremely fatal to an opponent—it has the ability to kill anyone in one stroke if the practitioner is good enough.

Metsu Shoryuken (Destroying Rising Dragon Fist) - A legendary version of the move only seen once in the Street Fighter story, when Ryu was near defeat during the first Street Fighter tournament. Consumed with the desire to win, he tapped into the power of the Satsui no Hadou for this move, a very powerful version of the Shoryuken with the capacity to scar. Afterwards, the move was never used, although it was seen during the Psycho Drive story arc.

Messatsu Gou Shouryuu (Magnificent Rising Dragon Destructor) - A stronger version of the Shouryuu Reppa. While this move does not scorch the opponent, a well-placed Messatsu Gou Shouryuu can instantly kill an opponent with the least amount of effort.

[edit] Users (canon)

Ryu
- Shoryuken - As his style evolved, Ryu focused on making his Shoryukens hard, usually hitting in one blow and knocking the opponent on his back; as such, it tends to be more useful in midrange than Ken's version.
- Shin Shoryuken - Ryu's signature move which is said to knock out all opponents in one attack; only Hugo has been struck by this move without being incapacitated. He was seen to be developing this move as early as the Street Fighter Alpha series. The technique begins with a strong punch to the opponent's stomach, following up with multiple blows to the foe's upperbody with Ryu's left hand as he completes the Shoryuken.
- Metsu Shoryuken - An extremely powerful Shoryuken similar in appearance to a normal Shoryuken. Gameplay-wise, the move only appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 3 when a Shin Shoryuken was properly distanced.

Ken Masters
- Shoryuken - Ken has focused on this move in order to distinguish himself from his training partner; his version can strike at several points during the move, and in its stronger forms his fist will burst into flame, burning the opponent with its power. It is best used after the opponent is already vulnerable to attack.
- Shoryu Reppa - A very simple and straightforward desperation attack. It involves a set of progressively higher shoryukens performed one after the other. Ken has had this move since Super Street Fighter II: Turbo.
- Shinryuken - Ken seems to prefer this move to finish opponents, as it is a stylish and graceful way to win the match. During the Shinryuken, Ken rises from the ground in a single Shoryuken that hits multiple times with a vacuum effect. Unlike his normal Shoryuken, this attack does not curve.
- Shin Shoryuken - Ken only uses this in Namco x Capcom, so it isn't considered canon.

Akuma/Gouki
- Gou Shoryuken - Like Ken, Akuma's version of the Shoryuken can strike at multiple points; however, he focuses a balanced amount of energy on each hit, making it a dangerous move regardless of at what point it hits.
- Messatsu Gou Shoryu - By the time of Street Fighter III, this attack has considerable more initial thrust than the Shoryu Reppa, making it a preferred counterattack.

[edit] Other users

The Shoryuken has been seen numerous times in the Mega Man X series. X could perform it in Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X8, and Zero would do it instead of the Hyouryuushou (Avalanche Yeti's technique) in "Mega Man X8" with the K Knuckle equipped. Magma Dragoon in Mega Man X4 also performed it, although the move did not look very much like the standard Shoryuken. Also in X4, X could perform Magma Dragoon's variant when charging his weapon, Rising Fire. The technique also made an appearance when X used the charged version of Pegacion's weapon in X5. It also made an appearance in the Mega Man: The Power Battle series as Mega Man's special charge move.
Dan Hibiki, another Street Fighter character, utilizes a variation of the Shoryuken called the Koryuken. It resembles the standard Shoryuken but has little horizontal range and leaves Dan vulnerable during startup. However, Dan will sometimes flash while executing the move, making him invincible during startup (though this only happens either randomly or after a specific number of Koryukens have been performed).
Sakura Kasugano uses a self-taught dashing Shoryuken.
Sean Matsuda has been known to use two variations of the Shoryuken. Known in both incarnations as the "Dragon Smash", it was first performed by launching the opponent into the air with a rising uppercut. During the spinning motion, Sean would then 'smash' the opponent back to the ground with a downward punch. It had low horizontal range at the start, but Sean moved forward a considerable distance in mid-air. In 3rd Strike, Capcom redesigned the move as a double-handed rising punch, with next to no horizontal range. His "Shoryu Cannon" super art, is a variation of Ken's Shoryu Reppa, that deals more damage depending on how rapidly the punch button is pressed, another variation on how the Shinryuken could increase in damage.
In the Worms series of games, the Worms can use attacks known as the Fire Punch (a Shoryuken) and the Dragon Ball (a Hadouken). The worms will put on Ryu's signature red headband when preparing to perform the attacks.

Deadpool goes Street Fighter on Kitty

In Kirby Super Star, whenever Kirby used the Fighter power, he would also wear Ryu's red headband, and one of the attacks he could perform was a Shoryuken variant called Rising Break, a multi-hitting Shoryuken.
After an unsuccessful attempt to rouse Wolverine into a fight, Deadpool asks Kitty Pryde if she ever played Street Fighter and proceedes to give her an uppercut while screaming out "Shoryuken!", knocking her out and enraging Wolverine.
In the first Christmas comic of Ctrl+Alt+Del, The Grinch breaks into Ethan's apartment, attempting to steal everything from beneath his tree. Ethan runs in and delivers a Shoryuken, knocking the Grinch out, and threatening him if he bleeds on the gifts, saying, "We're going to perform the Nutcracker...and I'm not talking about the ballet."
Professional wrestlers Player Uno and Human Tornado uses a real life Shoryuken during matches.
Dante is able to perform the move with the 'Beowulf Gauntlets' in Devil May Cry 3; the move is renamed the "Rising Dragon" which is also featured in the move "Real Impact", which bears more resemblance to a Shin Shoryuken.
Jeremy from Pure Pwnage uses the shoryuken in episode 4, " Pwn or be Pwned".
Fighter, from the webcomic 8-Bit Theater uses a Shoryuken on Black Mage by accident when he got 'the buttons mixed up' whist trying to copy Black Mage's hadoken spell

[edit] Trivia

When Street Fighter II was first released it was Ryu who scarred Sagat with a Shoryuken. After the release of the Street Fighter Alpha series, it was later retconned that after being brutally defeated by Sagat, Ryu was instantly possessed by the Satsui No Hadou for a split second; and because he wanted to win so bad, he attacked Sagat with the nearly fatal move known as the Metsu Shoryuken. After this devastating attack, Sagat received his signature scar.
It was also said that Sagat created the "Tiger Uppercut" to match Ryu's Shoryuken in earlier versions of the SF Story.
In the American version of the original Street Fighter, Ryu would say "Dragon Punch" instead of "Shouryuken" while performing the movement. The Japanese versions retained the "Shouryuken" quote.
An Internet website, Shoryuken.com, is also an homage to the move. The website itself is a fighting game-oriented website, where players can discuss fighting game tactics as well as plan tournaments and get-togethers. Most fighting game fans simply refer to the site as SRK. SRK is also the main sponsor of the Evolution Fighting game tournament, which has garnered major turnouts each year since its inception in 2001, cementing itself as one of the elite tournaments in the world.