Shinryuken

Ken using Shinryuken against Blanka in Street Fighter V.

• SFIV
• SFV
• SSBU

"Take this! Ora ora ora ora ora! Shinryuken! (喰らえ！オラ, オラ, オラ, オラ, オラ！神龍拳！, Kurae! Ora ora ora ora ora! Shinryuuken!^?)"

—Ken (Street Fighter IV)

"Get lost! Shinryuken! Gotcha!"

—Ken (Street Fighter V)

"Take this! Shinryuken!"

—Ken (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

"Sometimes it's more important to have a stylish victory than a quick one!"

—Ken's win-quote in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact

The Shinryuken (神龍拳, Shinryuuken^?, "Divine Dragon Fist") is a special attack used by Ken. It debuts as one of his Super Combos in the Street Fighter Alpha series; the attack was created to honor Gouken, believed dead at the time.

It also appears as his second Super Art in the Street Fighter III series and his first Ultra Combo in Street Fighter IV. The move also appears as one of Violent Ken's Hyper Combos in the SNK vs. Capcom series. In Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, the attack is Ken's second V-Trigger.

Appearance	Input	Function
Street Fighter Alpha series	Super Combo	+ ( or for more hits)
Street Fighter III series	Super Art II	+ ( for more hits)
Street Fighter IV series	Ultra Combo I	+
SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom	Hyper Combo (as Violent Ken)	+
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition	V-Trigger II	+ ( to change properties)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Final Smash	(opponent must be far)

Damage

Ken	500

Description

"Ken twirls and rises up with a Shinryuken, dealing damage to foes and tossing them into the air."

—Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Ken kneels and readies himself to perform a powerful spinning Shoryuken that vertically ascends straight up high for a nonstop multi hitting attack. Depending on the game, the Shinryuken is also engulfed in flames when it executes.

Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III series

Executed by performing two quarter-circle motions and pressing kick, the number of hits can be increased by tapping kick (or punch in the III series).

Street Fighter IV series

Ken preparing the final Shinryuken hit in SFIV.

Executed by performing two quarter-circle forward motions and pressing all three punch buttons, Ken draws downwards in an uppercut motion and then performs a Shoryuken.

If the initial uppercut lands, the full animated version of the move is trigerred, where Ken follows up with a flying kick, three more kicks (similar to those of Shippu Jinraikyaku) aimed at the legs, chest and head. He then throws another kick to the chest before landing a jumping kick to foul the opponent's balance, and finishes the combo by turning and performing an alternate-hand Shinryuken that transitions into the familiar spiral of flames. The attack is a 17-hit combo if landed in this way.

Should the initial uppercut miss or gets blocked, Ken will simply perform the move as he did in previous games (though it cannot be done in midair).

Slow motion glitch

In the original Street Fighter IV, there was a glitch (shown below) that causes Ken to perform the full animated version of the Shinryuken in slow motion, with the screen still darkened. To perform it, Ken will have to perform a light Hadoken, FADC it, then perform either the Airborne Tatsumaki Senpukyaku in order to jump over his Hadoken or the EX Tatsumaki Senpukyaku as it travels faster than the Hadoken. The other player will have to quickly move back, usually by jumping backward constantly to keep themselves from getting hit by Ken's Hadoken.

Once Ken comes close enough to his opponent, he must then perform his Shinryuken. The opponent will get hit by his Ultra Combo, then his Hadoken, giving them a brief window to act. The opponent should then performs their Super Combo, and if done correctly, the first hit should land, and Ken performs the Ultra Combo in slow motion.

Since Ken's slow motion Shinryuken lasts about four minutes, the round would eventually end if this is performed in a timed match. The glitch has been fixed as of Super Street Fighter IV, since a player getting hit by Shinryuken prevents them from being hit by the Hadoken and it is also impossible to perform the glitch in Ultra Street Fighter IV when selecting SFIV Ken via Edition Select.

Tactics

The Shinryuken can be used as an anti-air move to punish a predictable jump-in. It also has a small vacuum effect when it starts, allowing it to draw in an unsuspecting opponent for a devastating surprise.

Street Fighter IV series

Like all Ultra Combos, the Shinryuken can be landed after a Focus Attack crumple. The player can perform a Hadoken and Focus Attack Dash Cancel into the Ultra Combo. Like with Ryu's Metsu Hadoken, the opponent can be caught with the Shinryuken after a Focus Attack Dash Canceled Shoryuken, although the full animation of the Ultra Combo won't occur unless the initial Shoryuken was a counter hit. It is also possible to land the Ultra Combo after an airborne EX Tatsumaki.

Street Fighter V

As Ken's second V-Trigger, Shinryuken exchanges the enhanced properties of Heat Rush with a more direct application. Its two-bar length allows for V-Reversals and V-Shifts to be used more freely, and Ken does not need to sacrifice as much health to use it. Unlike previous incarnations, Shinryuken is rather poor for a reversal. Instead, it is far stronger as a fireball punish, as its deceptively long range and invincibility can lead to a devastating punish.

Shinryuken has three levels determined by mashing the punch button, with each level taking more timer from the V-Gauge. Ken can either use the entire Shinryuken on the initial activation, or simply use an initial Level 1 Shinryuken and then the Level 3 version later, which applies significantly less scaling on the attack itself. After landing either version, Ken can follow up with his Critical Art, or some of his special moves. It is overall more efficient to use four Level 1 Shinryukens, but Ken can use higher versions if he desires.

Gallery

Sprites

Ken

Violent Ken

Screenshots

The combo's first Shoryuken hits Guile in Street Fighter IV.

Ken prepares his Ultra.

Ken prepares his Super Art (Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike).

Shinryuken initial hit.

Shinryuken 2nd hit.

Shinryuken as it appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trivia

• In the Devil May Cry series, Dante can perform a similar spinning uppercut called the Divine Dragon, a partial translation of the Shinryuken in English. Coincidentally, Dante only has this move in games in which he is voiced by Reuben Langdon, Ken's English voice actor.
• In Mega Man X8, X can perform a spinning uppercut when equipped with the Ultimate Armor. The move is referred to as the Shoryuken in game, but is visually identical to the Shinryuken.

Video

Super Street Fighter 4 - Ken Ultra 1 Shinryuken

Shinryuken in SSFIV (Japanese voices).

Street Fighter 4 ken ultra glitch addendum

The Shinryuken Glitch in Street Fighter IV.