Ken Masters

is a character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' fighting game series. The character was first introduced in the 1987 title ''Street Fighter'' as an alternate fighter to Ryu. While Ken and Ryu are devoted to testing their power, Ken instead focuses on developing a family with his spouse Elisa. Ken becomes a mainstay in the following ''Street Fighter'' games. An alternate brainwashed version of him, , has also been featured in a few of his appearances. Ken's presence is in several sequels to the ''Street Fighter'' series in addition to its related media. He has also made crossover appearances in ''Namco × Capcom'', ''Project X Zone'', and ''Super Smash Bros.''

Capcom designer Takashi Nishiyama created Ken when developing the first ''Street Fighter'' game. However, due to budget problems, Ken could only use Ryu's moves, which later resulted in their characterization as friendly rivals and fellow students of Gouken. Shoei Okano eventually redesigned the character in later games. Seeking to make the character more unique, Capcom redesigned Ken's red gi in ''Street Fighter V'' and ''Street Fighter 6'', though the latter resulted in changing his entire character depicting his life as less stable.

Despite being recognized as a clone of Ryu, Ken develops a more social life rather than devoting his life to his training like Ryu. Their similarities inspired the term Shotokans in other fighting games besides ''Street Fighter''. The evolution of his gameplay and design has been popular among gamers for becoming more unique. However, some critics were critical of his role in ''Street Fighter 6'', which was significantly changed due to the sudden increase in depression resulting from losing his family. Provided by Wikipedia