About

Shoryuken (昇龍拳, "Rising Dragon Fist") is an iconic special move of the Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken. This move is performed are generally performed by inputting forward-down-down foward + punch which will cause the character to do a rising uppercut.

Common nicknames for it are "Shoryu", "Dragon Punch", and "DP". Variations of this move exist in several other games besides Street Fighter and in general a dragon punch is a common feature for many fighting game characters. The forward-down-down forward motion is also typically called a "dp motion" even when the move it executes is not a dragon punch.

Hadouken (波動拳,"Surge Fist", also "Wave Motion Fist") also has a large amount of derivatives and is often parodied in media. The move is performed by inputting quarter circle forward + punch. It is more or less a fireball attack.

Both moves are commonly referenced to in a wide variety of media and is well known even to people who do not play fighting games. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (竜巻旋風脚, "Tornado Whirlwind Leg") is also somewhat famous, but Hadouken and Shoryuken are the most commonly parodied.

Origin

Street Fighter is an iconic franchise of the gaming company Capcom. The first game was released in 1987. However, the game did not get it's current popularity until Street Fighter II was released for the Super Nintendo in 1991. The Street Fighter franchise has a lot of games, including the most recent Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition.

Shoryuken.com

Shoryuken.com (commonly known as SRK) is a large fighting game fansite that primarily caters to Capcom games. It both serves as a news site as well as an information board. On the forums, players exchange information and have discussions about several different fighting games such as Street Fighter 4:AE and Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom 3.

Media Exposure

Both Shoryuken and Hadouken have had wide media exposure. Most of the references are linked to gaming.

Here is a few of them taken from the Street Fighter Wiki.^[1]

• Megaman X at some point gets both Shoryuken and Hadouken moves. The boss in Megaman X4, Magma Dragoon, also has Shoryuken attacks.
• The Marvel Comics character, Deadpool, uses a Shoryuken on Shadowcat when he asks her if she has played Street Fighter (who was unable to phase through it as she didn't see it coming). He now has the move in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as his launcher.
• In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic's Werehog form possesses an attack called 'Sho-Hog-Ken' as well as an attack called 'Sho-Claw-Ken'.
• In Devil May Cry 3 and Devil May Cry 4 , Dante possesses both the Shin Shoryuken and Shinryuken (listed as Real Impact & Rising Dragon, respectively). A normal Shoryuken is used if Rising Dragon isn't charged enough.
• In Scott Pilgrim comic and movie, Scott does a Shoryuken on Matthew Patel, Ramona's first evil ex-boyfriend.
• In the movie Aliens in the Attic, the grandmother is seen using the Shoryuken while being brain controlled.^[3]
• In the sprite comic 8-Bit Theater, Fighter uses Shoryuken accidentally while trying to perform the Hadouken, saying he "messed up the buttons". Black Mage also does a giant Hadouken attack at one point of the comic.
• Luigi from the Smash Bros. series also has his own "Shoryuken" much resembling Ken's, referred as the "Super Jump Punch", but without the 360° spin. Mario possesses the same move, though without the fire effects, and multi-hitting properties instead; the move is somewhat based on his jumping pose in the Mario series. This may also be a nod to Mario being the "Ryu" of the Smash Bros. series.
• In Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, Dr. Nefarious is playing a game where he uses a parody of the Shoryuken.
• In Kirby Super Star, Kirby's "Fighter" ability's "Rising Break" bears a striking resemblance to this move, particularly Ken's version. It also has a Hadouken move.
• In Final Fantasy VI one of Sabin's Blitz "Aura Cannon" has the same button commands as the hadoken and they are both ranged attacks.
• The Angry Video Game Nerd uses the Shoryuken in the middle of beating up Bugs Bunny in his review of "Bug's Bunny's Birthday Blowout". He also does Hadoukens several times against the Nostalgia Critic.
• In the MMORPG Runescape, the Attack Cape of the Capes of Accomplishment allows you to perform an emote strongly resembling the Shoryuken.
• In the anime and manga of Hokuto No Ken (Fist Of the North Star), the Main Character, Kenshiro once used a Ki blast called the Tenha Kassatsu (Heaven's Kill Break) , as well as a flying uppercut, Hokuto Ujou Mosho Ha (North Star Flying Merciful Slash) in the same episode. This may have inspired the Hadouken and Shoryuken respectively.
• In the game Blazblue: Continuum Shift, the character Makoto Nanaya's Corona Upper and Particle Flare attacks both resemble Shoryukens.
• In the Fall 2011 anime series Mirai Nikki, a parody of Street Fighter 4 appears where Ryu does Metsu Shoryuken on Chun Li.
• An episode of Family Guy does a parody of Street Fighter II where Peter acts as Ryu and Mr. Washee Washee acts as E. Honda.

Notable Derivatives

I Want Some Pound Cake

This video is a parody of Ryu and Ken's move Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. The joke is that when the move was used in Street Fighter II, no one could really understand what Ryu was saying. Many people heard "TEPREPREPRUKEN", though this interpretation of Ryu actually saying "I'D LIKE SOME POUND CAKE!" is very popular.

This video was part of a Street Fighter Collab video on Newgrounds and was posted on May 18th 2009. This portion of the video was re-uploaded onto Youtube by egoraptor on December 6, 2010 and has over 2 million views.

Good Morning, Mister Masters

This video is closely related to Flowchart Ken. This was posted by EmpyreanAria on Oct 27, 2009. It is mostly a joking commentary on how many low level players viewed spamming Ken's fierce Shoryuken as a viable tactic to win online in Street Fighter 4.

Hadouken! (the band)

Hadouken! is an English grime, electronica, dance band that formed in Leeds in October 2006. It is named after the Street Fighter move Hadouken and is fairly popular both in and outside of the UK.

Search Interest

The term Shoryuken has gained a lot of popularity since 2009 which is when Street Fighter IV was released. The huge spike in Hadouken's search interest happened shortly after 2006, around the same time that the UK band Hadouken! was formed.

External References

^[1] The Street Fighter Wiki – Shoryuken

^[2] The Street Figghter Wiki – Hadouken

^[3] Joystiq – Shoryuken see Everybody Loves Raymond's mom drop a shoryuken