KEY POINTS

  • Dan Hibiki is the first new character introduced for the final season of "Street Fighter V"
  • Starting off as a parody of characters from "Art of Fighting," Dan has become popular himself
  • Rose, Oro and Akira will join the "Street Fighter V" roster in 2021

A character that started as a joke is on his way to “Street Fighter V: Champion Edition” later this year.

Dan Hibiki, an infamously weak character who began as a parody of other video game characters, is featured in a new video shared by Capcom as part of the Tokyo Game Show 2020 festivities over the weekend.

The video shows Dan in his familiar pink martial arts gi, showing off some moves against another Dan who is clad in orange.

Debuting in 1995’s “Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams,” Dan began as a hidden boss character in that title together with heavy-hitters M. Bison and Akuma. Unlike those two, however, Dan was considerably weaker and known more for flailing and screaming rather than being a powerhouse.

With him establishing his own Saikyo-ryu (or “strongest style”) fighting style and with clothes and a fighting stance similar to lead characters Ryu and Ken, players initially thought that Dan would be as strong if not stronger than those two and their fireball tossing ways.

Instead, Dan proved to be significantly weaker. The reason for this is his roots as a parody of another character. When SNK released its own fighting game, “Art of Fighting” in 1992, it was easy to see lead character Ryo Sakazaki as a ripoff of Ryu from “Street Fighter.”

Although Ryo had a weaker dragon punch and a short-range fireball, the gi looked enough like Ryu’s for the Capcom team to take offense. In another “Art of Fighting” character, Robert Garcia, they found a ponytail and smirk to merge with Ryo and create someone their own characters would habitually beat up.

Dan would always display arrogance and hyperactivity, something the Capcom team apparently took from Ryo’s sister, Yuri Sakazaki. The resulting character is as famous for his empty taunts as his ineffectiveness but remains popular enough among the “Street Fighter” audience.

Together with his knock-off “Gadouken” and “Koryuken” special moves and his taunts, Dan is arriving this winter as the first character for the final season of “Street Fighter v: Champions Edition,” VG 24/7 reported. Other characters, including Rose, Oro and Akira, are set to join the roster in summer 2021.

“Street Fighter V” joined “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” as free games on PlayStation Plus until Oct. 5.

Street Fighter 5
Ryu from "Street Fighter V" Capcom
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