The first ever Street Fighter game was released back in 1987 and featured only two playable characters: Ryu and Ken. Those who walked up to the machine in arcades were able to pick between one Shoto or the other and engage in 1v1 combat, making Ryu vs. Ken the very first Street Fighter match up ever that could be played between two human players.
Here almost 40 years later now, that iconic and classic match up is still being played in the franchise’s latest installment, Street Fighter 6. A recent set between two of the best players in the world right now, Tokido and EndingWalker, brings us the gift of not only being an incredible set between two titans, but also show us what that old school, legendary bout looks like at the highest of levels in the latest game.
This killer first-to-three set was uploaded to YouTube by fighting game replay channel YogaFlame24. When it comes to Street Fighter, it just does not get any more traditional than Ryu vs. Ken, and with EndingWalker and Tokido at the helm of both respectively, you know this match is an absolute barn-burner.
It quickly becomes clear after watching a few rounds of this bout that EndingWalker has an exceptional amount of knowledge about the Ken match up. So many of the little things that Ken players tend to like to do that appear safe, but actually aren’t, get punished here by the Ryu player consistently.
We even see some very slick counters to common, but effective Ken tactics like his running overhead for oki pressure. Knowing the spacing and the timing, we see EndingWalker actually answer back and interrupt with Ryu’s crouching heavy punch into a full combo before the overhead kick from Ken can find its mark.
That said, Tokido’s overall knowledge of the game is also incredibly strong, and the patience and reads he makes throughout this set are exactly on par with what you’d expect from one of the Japanese gods of fighting games.
Start to finish, this is a fantastic set, and the match up really has changed a lot since 1987. No more do we see what is essentially two clones of each other hitting single strikes and tossing out a special move every now and then.
Today, the Ken vs. Ryu match up has evolved into an intricate, fast-paced chess match that revolves around Ryu aiming to stop Ken’s advances with well-timed checks for Drive Rush and his command run in neutral with some fireball zoning mixed in, while Ken looks for a hit confirm to push Ryu to the corner and maintain offensive pressure.