By Mark Rodriguez
Just when you thought Capcom was done with rehashing new versions of Street Fighter II, especially since they have already moved on to SF III, SF IV and SF V, the Nintendo Switch came out with Ultra Street Fighter II The Final Challengers. Similar to Hyper SF II Remix that came out years before, you can choose to play with the classic arcade graphics, or the Udon comic style HD redrawn sprites. The main selling point for the Switch version was the inclusion of Evil Ryu (who first appeared in the Alpha games) and surprisingly enough, Violent Ken, who first appeared in SVC Chaos! A crossover game with SNK.
So Free Comic Book Day 2018 had a free comic based on this game from the good people of Udon comics, and it featured Violent Ken and Evil Ryu fighting it out on the cover. Of course I had to get it.
The comic explains that during a crossover with Darkstalkers, the Street Fighter crew fought against Lord Raptor and his legion of zombies. Ken was bit and this turned him into Violent Ken. Even though the World Warriors were sent back home and Lord Raptor was defeated, Ken couldn't shake his violent persona.
"History of Violence" starts with Ken having trouble sleeping and wondering if he had this dark side inside him all along. We flash forward to Brazil, where Violent Ken fights Ryu (the hot shirtless bearded version, no joke, this incarnation is called Hot Ryu). Ken says he sees the truth to everything and things like the Satsui No Hado and Pyscho Power are all the same, the path to true power.
Ryu says the true path is to achieve peace with oneself and he used that to recover when his own inner evil once took over. He hits Ken with a Sho Ryu Ken that snaps Violent Ken back to his normal form.
Ryu takes Ken back to Gouken's dojo in Japan to help him learn to meditate, something Ken was never good at. Sakura and Dan show up, having tend to the dojo for a while. Ryu says they can help him regain his senses. Ken asks how and Dan says he has to force his hidden enemy to show itself. He then grabs and tosses Ken away. Dan and Sakura attack him, telling him how they overcame their own brushes with the Satsui No Hado.
Sakura is afraid that they might gone too far, but Violent Ken makes his appearance. Ryu tells him to overcome his feelings. Ken says this is his true self and he is a demon to be feared. He attacks Sakura, Dan and Ryu, until Ryu finally managed to blast him with a Ha Do Ken in his face. Ken turns back to normal. However, his darkness is only hiding and not truly gone.
Ryu says Ken should return home and search for the one thing that can keep him grounded. Ken asks what that is and Ryu tells him that it's something only Ken will know. As he heads off, someone is watching him.
Ken returns to San Francisco and Sean helps with his luggage. Just then Rufus appears from under Ken's car and sends it flying. He's been stalking Ken to get a rematch. Rufus flies in with his Big Bang Typhoon, and Ken catches his wrists. He is not happy that Rufus stalked him to his home, where his wife and kid are, and turns to his Violent form.
Violent Ken send Rufus flying with a Sho Ryu Ken and then attacks him savagely. Even after Rufus was beaten bloody, Ken says it's not enough, he must take his life. Just then, his wife, Eliza calls out for him to stop. Ken snaps out of it and finally understands.
A week later, Ken and his son Mel train together as Eliza and Sean watch. Ken now knows that he has his family to keep him in check, and he will strive to better himself for them.
My Opinions
It was a pretty good story, I mean, at least it's free and you get to see some of your favorite Street Fighters fight it out with crazy art. I like the bizzare mix of games. Ken himself looks like his regular SF2 self, fights Abel who is his kinda/sorta SF4 rival and fights wearing his SF5 outfit on the last page. I guess it kinda makes sense since Capcom wants to say SF2, 4 and 5 all happened close to each other.
It's kinda weird to say a zombie bite made Ken into his Violent incarnation. Wouldn't that just turn him into a zombie outright? Or is it a case of Darkstalkers zombies work different? Also I wonder if those that bought the Darkstalkers/Street Fighter crossover knew that this was going to be a little epilogue.
Violent Ken is non-canon to the games, he's a what if character, so we can't really argue too much oh his origins. But a zombie bite? Wouldn't that forever linger inside him?
Also, false advertising. Ryu never loses it and turns into Evil Ryu. C'mon guys. They both could have lost it and beat the heck out of each other until something stops it from going too far. Instead Violent Ken beats up joke character Rufus that can't really fight back. It's hard to complain since this was free, but c'mon! Or maybe an all out fight between Violent Ken and Evil Ryu would have been too epic to give away for free.
I love Street Fighter and the Udon comics, but it could have been so much more if the story followed through with what the cover was depicting.
Just when you thought Capcom was done with rehashing new versions of Street Fighter II, especially since they have already moved on to SF III, SF IV and SF V, the Nintendo Switch came out with Ultra Street Fighter II The Final Challengers. Similar to Hyper SF II Remix that came out years before, you can choose to play with the classic arcade graphics, or the Udon comic style HD redrawn sprites. The main selling point for the Switch version was the inclusion of Evil Ryu (who first appeared in the Alpha games) and surprisingly enough, Violent Ken, who first appeared in SVC Chaos! A crossover game with SNK.
So Free Comic Book Day 2018 had a free comic based on this game from the good people of Udon comics, and it featured Violent Ken and Evil Ryu fighting it out on the cover. Of course I had to get it.
The comic explains that during a crossover with Darkstalkers, the Street Fighter crew fought against Lord Raptor and his legion of zombies. Ken was bit and this turned him into Violent Ken. Even though the World Warriors were sent back home and Lord Raptor was defeated, Ken couldn't shake his violent persona.
"History of Violence" starts with Ken having trouble sleeping and wondering if he had this dark side inside him all along. We flash forward to Brazil, where Violent Ken fights Ryu (the hot shirtless bearded version, no joke, this incarnation is called Hot Ryu). Ken says he sees the truth to everything and things like the Satsui No Hado and Pyscho Power are all the same, the path to true power.
Ryu says the true path is to achieve peace with oneself and he used that to recover when his own inner evil once took over. He hits Ken with a Sho Ryu Ken that snaps Violent Ken back to his normal form.
Ryu takes Ken back to Gouken's dojo in Japan to help him learn to meditate, something Ken was never good at. Sakura and Dan show up, having tend to the dojo for a while. Ryu says they can help him regain his senses. Ken asks how and Dan says he has to force his hidden enemy to show itself. He then grabs and tosses Ken away. Dan and Sakura attack him, telling him how they overcame their own brushes with the Satsui No Hado.
Sakura is afraid that they might gone too far, but Violent Ken makes his appearance. Ryu tells him to overcome his feelings. Ken says this is his true self and he is a demon to be feared. He attacks Sakura, Dan and Ryu, until Ryu finally managed to blast him with a Ha Do Ken in his face. Ken turns back to normal. However, his darkness is only hiding and not truly gone.
Ryu says Ken should return home and search for the one thing that can keep him grounded. Ken asks what that is and Ryu tells him that it's something only Ken will know. As he heads off, someone is watching him.
Ken returns to San Francisco and Sean helps with his luggage. Just then Rufus appears from under Ken's car and sends it flying. He's been stalking Ken to get a rematch. Rufus flies in with his Big Bang Typhoon, and Ken catches his wrists. He is not happy that Rufus stalked him to his home, where his wife and kid are, and turns to his Violent form.
Violent Ken send Rufus flying with a Sho Ryu Ken and then attacks him savagely. Even after Rufus was beaten bloody, Ken says it's not enough, he must take his life. Just then, his wife, Eliza calls out for him to stop. Ken snaps out of it and finally understands.
A week later, Ken and his son Mel train together as Eliza and Sean watch. Ken now knows that he has his family to keep him in check, and he will strive to better himself for them.
My Opinions
It was a pretty good story, I mean, at least it's free and you get to see some of your favorite Street Fighters fight it out with crazy art. I like the bizzare mix of games. Ken himself looks like his regular SF2 self, fights Abel who is his kinda/sorta SF4 rival and fights wearing his SF5 outfit on the last page. I guess it kinda makes sense since Capcom wants to say SF2, 4 and 5 all happened close to each other.
It's kinda weird to say a zombie bite made Ken into his Violent incarnation. Wouldn't that just turn him into a zombie outright? Or is it a case of Darkstalkers zombies work different? Also I wonder if those that bought the Darkstalkers/Street Fighter crossover knew that this was going to be a little epilogue.
Violent Ken is non-canon to the games, he's a what if character, so we can't really argue too much oh his origins. But a zombie bite? Wouldn't that forever linger inside him?
Also, false advertising. Ryu never loses it and turns into Evil Ryu. C'mon guys. They both could have lost it and beat the heck out of each other until something stops it from going too far. Instead Violent Ken beats up joke character Rufus that can't really fight back. It's hard to complain since this was free, but c'mon! Or maybe an all out fight between Violent Ken and Evil Ryu would have been too epic to give away for free.
I love Street Fighter and the Udon comics, but it could have been so much more if the story followed through with what the cover was depicting.
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