KEN MASTERS

Appearances:

Street Fighter, Street Fighter-The World Warrior Street Fighter II-Champion Edition, Street Fighter II-Turbo Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II-New Challengers, Super Street Fighter II Turbo-Grand Masters Challenge, Street Fighter-The Movie, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter EX, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, Street Fighter III-New Generation, Street Fighter III-Second Impact.

Also look for Ken in: X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Gem Fighter and is supposedly the hero of the old game named Street Fighter 2010: The Final Battle. Also look for him in the Street Fighter anime and the Street Fighter II V anime series (well, if there's Street Fighter, then Ken has to be there almost by law).

Ken is the only son of a wealthy American family, the Masters family. Ever since he was young, Ken was surrounded by tremendous riches, but , was very undisciplined, since he was a spoiled brat, a kid who didn't have enough attention from his parents who where too busy to attend him. So, Ken began to do what he wanted to do: not attend to school, hang out with his friends, having a lot of girlfriends, buying things out of control, among other things. Ken's father knew he couldn't do anything for him since he didn't have the time to fix him up,so he did the next best thing: he decided to send him to Japan. Ken chewed it and accepted, but his father knew better: there was a certain man named Gouken whom Ken's father knew about, and knew that if he sendt him to Gouken, he would certainly straighten things up for him, even for the worst.

When Ken reached Gouken's dojo, he notice one thing: this wasn't his home anymore. Gouken submitted Ken to strict rules, and Ken felt for first time the iron hand of a superior. Ken had to train very hard, and did not slack off like he did in the U.S., or he would be punished for that. However, Ken found a friend. A friend that was different from his other friends back in the U.S.. This guy was silent, not to fond of words, but very expressive, and very generous, sort of like the real friend anybody should have. His name was Ryu, and he had been in the dojo long before Ken arrived, but Ken soon caught up. However, Ryu had that certain something that distinguished him from Ken, maybe his greater fighting spirit, but otherwise, Ken and Ryu's abilities were considered almost equal.

As a test of their abiliies, Ken and Ryu entered the first "King of Street Fighters" tournament held by Sagat. Both were unexperienced, and would face many fighters who have already fought for quite some time. However, Ken and Ryu had unexplaiable powers, and a will to keep them on, despite the odds. They trusted everything on their abilities, and they showed a great sense of competition. Ken, however, wasted more time bragging about his abilities, and showing off to the crowd rather than concentrating on the tournament. This lead him to think that he was the best fighter in the world, but Ryu proved him wrong, as he was the one who defeated Sagat at the end, and Ken saw this as an insult to his abilities. He didn't hate Ryu, he couldn't understand why he couldn't overpass him.

After that, Ken trained very hard on his own to overcome Ryu the next time they would fight. He promised to Ryu that he would defeat him next time and steal his title, which Ryu gladly accepted. Ken had to surpass his own limits, and thus, learned how to truly channel his true abilities. During his training time, he met a woman who would later change his life for the best: a daughter of another rich family named Eliza which he met during a party. After some years, Ken and Ryu finally faced off. Ryu was sort of troubled ever since he fought Sagat, since Ken felt that Ryu wasn't concentrating really on the fight. Ken declared the fight suspended, and gave a present to Ryu: his ribbon which tied his long hair, which would remind him of the fight. Ken knew that if Ryu dedicated himself more to the fight, he would have certainly been defeated, so he resumed his training. However, he didn't last too long, and once again the luxiours life of a rich man got the best of him, and decided to slack off at the beach with Eliza rather than keep perfecting his skills. Ken thought that since it would be a long time before him and Ryu get to fight again, he decided to take a break meanwhile.

Years later, Ken received a challenge. It was Ryu. He hadn't forgotten the fight, and challenged once again to prove himself. Revived and with more inspiration than before, Ken trained harder, and perfected the art of Shotokan Karate, especially his best weapon, the super powerful Shoryuken. Ken now faced new opponents in this new battle, but he ended up joining up with Ryu instead of fighting against him, since both had to fight against two main evils: the evil dictator with a wish to conquer the world, the leader of Shadoloo, M.Bison, and the killer of their master, Akuma. Ken demostrated his advances and was a base to defeat the evil forces of the world. Afterwards, Ken took a break to marry Eliza, but he didn't slack off this time, but trained more regularly.

During the course of the years, Ken had a son, which he named Mel, and was offered to be the master of a young man called Sean. However, Ken was more focused towards his rematch with Ryu. After all, he was restricted as well, since Eliza obligated him only to particpate in tournaments where Ryu would fight. Ken now seeks the rematch with Ryu, and now feels prepared and ready for his and Ryu's next Challenge...perhaps the last?

Note: "Ken" actually means "inner spirit", and Masters is his last name approved by Capcom Japan.