Capcom Explain's Ken's Bizarre New Street Fighter V Look

[Steven Bogos]

Capcom Explain's Ken's Bizarre New Street Fighter V Look

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Capcom wants there to be a lot more distinction between Ryu and Ken.

IGN [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/street%20fighter?os=%20street%20fighter], Capcom sheds some light on why Ken was changed.

"[The new] Ken looks fine [laughs]," said Capcom brand manager Mike Lunn. "People say he looks a little bit different. He looks a little bit different, his hair is a little bit different; he now has that kind of sporty shirt on as well."

Lunn explains that the differences go beyond cosmetics, and that Street Fighter V's Ken actually plays a bit more differently this time around, and changing up his outfit helps differentiate him from his rival. "So I think the team wanted to separate the two a little more, so it wasn't a 'white ninja dude, red ninja dude,'" said Lunn.

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"Clone" characters (characters that have the exact same moveset of another character but with minor tweaks) are certainly a thing that fighting games sometimes struggle with. Ken was probably one of the original "clone" characters, and while he has changed a bit over the years he still played fairly similarly to Ryu until now.

What do you think of the new Ken? Personally, I still prefer his classic look, but maybe he will grow on me?

Source: IGN [http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/01/31/street-fighter-v-capcom-explains-free-story-mode-update-ign-access]

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[chozo_hybrid]

Bizarre is going a bit far, just different would do. I think it looks cool, and he'll stand out more now.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Well, if you think from going to 90s representation of american fighters to guys who surfs and plays volleyball is not weird.....then I think that you're very bizarre.

 

[Kekkonen1]

I like the "old" Ken so It'll be hard to win me over, but I guess I'll give the "new" Ken a fair shot.

I do think the new one looks absolutely horrible though, but that's just my personal opinion.

 

[FPLOON]

Oh... I thought it was for story-related reasons... I guess it's more technical than that...

Other than that, right now, they should have kept his old attire... except the hair because I'm kinda digging it...

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I hate the hair. It makes him look like an action figure with a bad paint scheme. I mean it looks like it's glowing. It kinda burns my eyes.
I don't mind the change, though, hair aside, and the reason is actually believable.

 

[WonkyWarmaiden]

I've never been a huge fan of Street Fighter but even I can tell the difference between Ken and Ryu. Ken's bright red Gi and blond hair makes it pretty easy. All they did for this new outfit is darken it and give him a muscle shirt underneath.

I dunno, it looks like Capcom's trying to do one of those dark re-imaginings of a character's design like comic books are so obsessed with doing. Here's hoping they aren't pulling a Penance and that it's just his outfit that's changing.

 

[Worgen]

Weren't Ryu and Ken pretty much the most generic characters in street fighter?

 

[LazyAza]

Only thing I don't like about it is the hair, feel like the style just doesn't suit ken at all. I've always pictured him as a life long mop-head.

 

[DarklordKyo]

I've never been a huge fan of Street Fighter but even I can tell the difference between Ken and Ryu. Ken's bright red Gi and blond hair makes it pretty easy. All they did for this new outfit is darken it and give him a muscle shirt underneath.

I dunno, it looks like Capcom's trying to do one of those dark re-imaginings of a character's design like comic books are so obsessed with doing. Here's hoping they aren't pulling a Penance and that it's just his outfit that's changing.

We'll see, he seems to be the same Ken personality wise.

 

[voidraz]

I really like that they're trying to progress characters' looks a little bit. I like the idea of Ken looking so much more casual and sporty here compared to just wearing Ryu's clothes painted red. It's good for the series if you ask me.

...That being said that is some unnatural looking hair. It looks like his face is framed in bananas. I'm filing this redesign in my "close but no cigar" bin.

 

[Zhukov]

What the flying fuck is that?

I understand them wanting to differentiate him mechanically. Sure. Cool.

But that design is hideous. The hair and the colour scheme and the mismatched eyebrows. Yeesh.

 

[Casual Shinji]

To echo everyone's sentiment... It's the hair colour.

He doesn't look bizarre, his hair simply looks like it was painted in a car factory. It doesn't look blond, it looks greenish yellow, like a banana. Just change it to actual blond and the problem is solved.

 

[zidine100]

Im in the camp of that looks freaking awesome in a sorta 90's sorta way.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

At a glance the main pic for the article makes it look like he's wearing pigtails. Otherwise the outfit seems fine to me.

 

[Lufia Erim]

It's the hair. The hair is the problem. It's looks like he is wearing a wig made out of banana peels.

But other than that ken is awesome.

 

[KenAri]

Hair quality is really goofy; looks like something I made from play-dough as a kid and accidentally stepped in. Not sure why his hair and eyebrows are totally different colours, either.

Cool that they're trying to give a unique identity to one of their most popular characters, though. From a clone to now his own, almost as if he's 'earned' a slot among the other, fuller characters.

Don't think they needed such a drastic change in appearance; a change in skeleton and basic animations probably would've done fine. But at least they're giving some communication on it!

 

[RJ 17]

I just wish they didn't...you know...make his hair look like it was made out of a solid chunk of bright yellow plastic...

 

[Scy Anide]

So trombone guard in the 9th picture is going to be a character too right? He seems pretty into it and I'm going to assume the fire is actually from his trombone.

 

[Erttheking]

Why do I keep thinking about Dio Brando when looking at that hair?