Character Profile: Dan Hibiki

The Street Fighter game series is known for its excellent gameplay, perfect controls and awesome characters. Ryu, Chun Li, Sagat, M. Bison and Akuma are just some of the cool and popular characters you can play as. But there’s one character almost no one ever chooses. I’m talking of course about Dan Hibiki.

Dan is probably the cockiest, most overconfident warrior in the world, but is also the weakest. Capcom made sure Dan sucked big time because he is meant to be a parody of Ryo Sakasaki and Robert Garcia from the Art of Fighting series. You see, Ryo looks way too similar to Ken, with the karate gi and even special moves, and the name Ryo is almost like Ryu. So, in a funny retaliation to SNK’s imitation, Capcom made Dan, the weakest, lamest fighter ever. He has Ryo’s clothes and Robert’s face, complete with the pony tail. He was given the color pink because there really isn’t a gayest color for a fighter.

His story is almost as pathetic as he is. Many years ago Dan’s father, Go Hibiki, fought Sagat and managed to gouge his eye. Sagat killed Go for this and Dan has been searching for him ever since. Dan trained with Gouken, Ryu and Ken’s master, but was expelled from his dojo when he learned of Dan’s vengeful motivations for fighting. Dan had no choice but to create his own martial arts style called Saikyo-ryuu, meaning “the strongest style”.

Dan’s attacks are a joke and his special attacks, although inspired by Ryu and Ken’s, are a waste of time and effort. His projectile attack, the Gadouken, doesn’t travel farther than two inches from his first. It’s super lame! His answer to the Hurricane Kick, the Dankukyaku is awkward and easily blocked. His Koryuken, similar to the Shoryuken, is less crappy but not nearly as effective and just looks lame. He has an extra original move where he autographs on a portrait and flings it at his opponent. His super moves are all equally pathetic.

It is rumored that when Dan finally met Sagat and challenged him to a deathmatch, Sagat felt pity for him and threw the fight. Dan felt complete and changed his focus to perfecting the Saikyo style and opening his own dojo. He is good friends with Blanka and trained Sakura during the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3.

I hated Dan at first because he didn’t fit well with the other world warriors introduced in Street Fighter Alpha, but he’s just so ridiculous there was no way of resisting his charms. The ultimate satisfaction you can accomplish is playing as Dan and beating your friends while they play as Shin Akuma, or any other tough character. You get extra bragging rights if you manage to pull off his level 3 super taunt and still win the fight. By the way, that move leaves you vulnerable for about 5 seconds, so it shouldn’t be done, ever, but it is hilarious.