The Original Joke Character

[@tireiron3452]

I really like Dan because he's gradually becoming better over the games. One of my fav tropes for Dan is that the attacks he copies from Ryu and Ken being ass, but the attacks he has unique to himself are actually pretty good, which is a nod to how his fighting style may be a quite deadly one, but he handicaps himself by trying to be Ryu.

[@megapussi]

small correction but he isnt trying to be ryu. He's trying to be Gouken, the guy who trained ryu ken and dan. Thats why dan throws one handed fireballs, he's actually trying to do a technique that far exceeds the difficulty of what ryu does, he skipped learning the basics. If dan mastered what he is trying to do he wouldnt be a knockoff ryu, he would be on a similar power level to akuma.

[@k96man]

At the end of the day Dan's greatest enemy is himself

[@pigglesgoomshby7249]

It’d be pretty funny imo if his lvl 3 super art in a new game has him shoot out a regular hadoken like it’s his ultimate attack

[@GumshoeClassic]

Didn't he also almost perform a Raging Demon once?

[@tireiron3452]

@GumshoeClassic yes, but he was stopped by an unmoving force, and an unstoppable wall. A highschooler's backpack.

[@SingerOfW]

Dan Hibiki: the man who got nerfed by getting buffed.

[@1inimilian567]

One of the greatest balance changes of all time

[@Giefgrabber]

Red fireball is a buff for players who can’t do infinite combo

[@leithaziz2716]

MvC3 Wolverine: first time?

[@Steve.Matheus]

​@@leithaziz2716swiss cheese 😔

[@joezar33]

Hope Dan makes it in future Capcom Crossover both Marvel and SNK

[@_fakeies]

dan my beloved with his 1/8 chance of having an actual reversal

[@sigurdtheblue]

Learning that makes his Street Fighter V nerf feel less creative because it basically is an update to that concept.

[@Arkouchie]

​@@sigurdtheblueyeah but the SF5 nerf is still really cool since it's still an example of a character being nerfed by adding a move.

[@sehtuk3953]

I love that at some point, Dan stopped being an insult to SNK and moreso became a love letter to them and their games. Like, there wouldn't be any reason to make sure Dan references more and more of Ryo (his idle stances, his supers, etc) when the basic joke would've sufficed. Even just "his fireballs are bad because he has no spirit meter" is more thought put into a joke than most people would think of. I also find the inclusion of an EWGF interesting. An interesting direction with Dan might be to make him a parody of other fighting games in general by including other random series moves on him (like imagine him sliding along the ground and doing a surprise uppercut like Sol's Ground Viper but there's a chance he just forgets to do the latter part), but his laser focus on being an SNK parody is good too.

[@SPZ-gv2on]

I need dan with fafnir now. Capcom make it happen.

[@corryjamieson3909]

Bro I swear, they're gonna give him a grab like Beowulf from Skullgirls.

[@Keirnoth]

@@corryjamieson3909 Omega Dan had a command grab already, 360 + K.. shoulda ported that over lol

[@thesalinator3557]

GIVE 👏 DAN 👏 A 👏 SUPER 👏 DASH 👏

[@carlosaugusto9821]

I didn't get the logic of the part about him "becoming a love letter to SNK and their games". But ok.

[@TallenHeist]

One fascinating detail is Dan is one of the rare Street Fighter characters able to launch a Hadoken with one hand, when being able to do so is a sign of great mastery that neither Ryu nor Ken can do. Sure, it is pathetic in range, but the fact that he CAN do it in the first place is a sign that Dan really HAS the potential to be a great fighter on his own right (in fact, his fireballs in SFV deal MORE damage than Ryu's and Ken's do!) It really feels like some kind of meta joke/encouragement from Capcom to SNK: "Stop trying to copy us, because you'll only come up short (fireball has pathetic range and shoryuken has no I-frames). Find the other things you are good at, because those will make you stand out better (Dan's knees, Retsuken and his taunt-cancels)."

[@Ky-uq8th]

Retsuken is also a reference to Ryo and Takuma’s Zanretsuken technique, so even his good stuff was a rip off

[@misterbadguy7325]

In lore, the explanation for this is that Dan was trained by Gouken, the same master as Ryu and Ken. The reason for why Dan is the way he is, is that Gouken saw that Dan wanted to use Ansatsuken to get revenge on Sagat, and realized that the art when used for vengeance could fall into evil. So he told Dan to leave, and Dan interpreted that as "I've taught you everything I know" rather than "get out of my house." Basically, Dan's style is a smattering of whatever Gouken taught him over that brief period, combined with his father's own techniques and a bit of Muay Thai. So the reason Dan's Gadoken is so weak is that he's copying Gouken without realizing he lacks the discipline to do so.

[@hyliandoctor]

Also, HE CAN DO PROPER HADOKENS Remember that Sagat killed Go Hibiki; when Dan managed to meet Sagat to fight him, Sagat let him win. But that's not the important part. Sagat was going through his redemption arc at this point, apologized to Dan, and basically sad, "yeah, fair enough. Feel free to kill me." At that point, Dan charged an actual Hadoken, opting to drop it at the last moment and leave, knowing that killing Sagat would change nothing. (Side note: he did do a Raging Demon once, but tripped on a rock and fell)

[@MagmaMKII]

The point of Dan is that he has great potential, but because he deluded himself into thinking he is already a master, and thus he believes he doesn't need to train anymore because he's already the best, he cannot ever improve. Most characters basically either ignore his existence or treat him as a clown, and the ones who don't (Sakura and Blanka) just play along with his madness.

[@mantraki]

@@hyliandoctor My theory for why dan doesnt do proper hadokens goes like this: Dan was so pissed at gouken for not training him and ryu and ken for constantly mocking him he decided to use the most complex form of hadoken to show he is better than all of them, at some point he learnt how to do a proper hadoken but those came out as boring and non original so he sticked to his old "reliable" gadoukens

[@RUNTCH]

Dan was also notable in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo because while every other character will send junk tiles of various colours to the opponent's screen, Dan only sends junk of one colour.

[@ZachkTV]

also, 4:47 its not only BM because of how 'useless it is', but also the handsign he's using essentially means 'fuck you'; so the multi 'fuck you' is even more hilarious

[@kazueglassheardt7185]

If Dan's upward trend continues, he'll probably be a top 1 character in street fighter 8

[@LordTyph]

He'll probably be garbage if you don't play him right, though.

[@kazueglassheardt7185]

@@LordTyph well I mean, that's true for most fighting game characters.

[@LordTyph]

@kazueglassheardt7185 I mean ESPECIALLY so in this case.

[@MagmaMKII]

Making Dan legitimately good would miss the whole point of his character.

[@nyurgh1139]

@@MagmaMKII Personally, I want to see more of the SF5 fireball RNG mechanics incorporated into Dan. The idea that Dan accidentally performs a proper fireball, but when he does it actually hurts his combos is great. Give him more just frames and random moves. With luck and perfect play, Dan should be tier 1. Otherwise he's Tier 4. Then retire the character because the joke has run its course.

[@SoulForce69]

8:43 SF4 Dan main here. EX Dan kicks is one of the fastest and best armor breaking moves in the game. Medium and Heavy dan kicks were safe on block while ALSO being armor breakers.

[@GemmaBee14]

it’s really amusing that Dan kicks is genuinely one of the best special moves in SF4 lol. It’s just, on Dan.

[@pupkins000]

Light Dankukyakus are +3f on the most crouching characters in SF4-SSF4 as far as I remember and dodge the most reversal DPs as well, so you can loop close st.mp xx lk.Dankukyaku, as long as they keep crouching. If you have the read on an opponent you can clip them with low cr.lk xx EX.Dankukyaku during the loop and it's safe with -1f on block.

[@kturbioo]

I love corner koryuken FADC, air ex dan kicks -> ultra 2

[@Millenia3D]

also as a Dan main I would posit one of his great strenghts is how unfamiliar the vast majority of people are with the matchup, i've absolutely clowned on people ranked much higher than me because they didn't know how to shut my BS down

[@Skatemafia4lyfe2K6]

I had the great misfortune of fighting the #2 Dan at one point in Ultra, and it was a body. He's not great, but he definitely doesn't suck. If I recall correctly, isn't Koryuken one of the best DPs in the game?

[@giorninho2193]

one funny thing about svc dan mr. mixtape forgot to mention. he's better than bison. truly an exemplary game

[@The1SunshineFeeler]

I love how joke characters like Dan serve the functional purpose of being who you play as when you’re playing against someone less skilled at the game to make the fight more fair XD

[@astralguardian5930]

Or bring just to "sandbag" on players, trolling them and sometimes taking wins. It just stains you with the momentary thought of "I lost to DAN!?!? Of all the fighters I lost to DAN!!!!"

[@LloydTheZephyrian]

Also, that random red fireball change is ONLY a nerf in the context of the infinite. In any other situation, it's mostly a buff due to the red fireball having the knockdown.

[@hyliandoctor]

Yep, it lets him set up meaty L kicks, charged Gadoken, whatever. The nature of its randomness means your opponent doesn't know if the combo will keep you standing for basic block pressure or knock you down forcing you into the corner making you hold even stronger pressure.

[@SDhotline]

Not just a knockdown but a free juggle state

[@hyliandoctor]

@@SDhotline Oh yeah, it launches for juggle combos... I forgot about that.

[@TacticalOmelette]

One thing that wasn't mentioned was that SFV gave dan the absolute best version of his taunt. Well, best is subjective. Instead of just spending a super on a taunt with a crazy input, while dan is preforming the taunt, he also gives the opponent a full meter as well. And to put the icing on the cake, the longer the taunt goes on for, the more damage he'll take whenever he's inevitability smacked down (probably by scaling down his defense/health) resulting in easy TOD's by everyone else in the cast. But if you're able to TOD him like that, it means you ate a full Legendary Taunt from Dan Hibiki himself, so who's the real loser? I mean, Dan is. But not in spirit. And that's what matters.

[@orpheus9098]

Touch of death? Nah that's more of a glance of death. A passing stare of death. A gentle brushing of death on the street

[@qYdS_6650]

You know Dan is a joke character when he has an infinite and yet he's still considerably low tier

[@RandomGuy-bu5pn]

I don't think he is a low tier in SFV I dare say.

[@qYdS_6650]

@@RandomGuy-bu5pn then what is??

[@Jardonius]

Gief lmao ​@@qYdS_6650

[@no64256]

I kinda like Dan's face and portrait in Alpha 1. He looks like an actually serious character, a new secret 4th shoto, which makes the contrast with his dogshit moveset arguably funnier Also, his taunt super can give his opponent full meter in SvC Chaos if it finishes, and I think that's great

[@maninredhelm]

It's an important part of the story to note that Ryo and Robert were created by the designers of the original Street Fighter game who used to work at Capcom. So it's really the Street Fighter Alpha devs having a go at the Street Fighter 1 devs. Art of Fighting was really much more like the expanded version of Street Fighter 1 they originally wanted to make at Capcom rather than a copy of Street Fighter 2. Also, Dan is technically the original _playable_ joke character. Prior to Dan, the fighting game Galaxy Fight had a mid-boss named Bonus-kun who was a white punching bag with a red headband who uses Ryu's special moves, but he wasn't playable until the game was ported to the Sega Saturn a few months after Dan showed up.

[@bluerie._.3021]

"Taunt super" is terrifying. Throwing a whole meter just to rub it in is an act of hubris worthy of greek myth.

[@drachma1651]

Dan slowly getting better every game is just Dan having his training arc. It's him practicing his heart out to finally become a real fighter, even if slowly. I like him slowly becoming a real character.

[@vksasdgaming9472]

I think emphasis on his poor monetary skill adds character. I would love if he had similar super mode like Necalli had. It is basically Dan going to same rage and focus he had when he defeated Sagat.

[@Dinker27]

​@@vksasdgaming9472Bro gets kinda swole in later comics, too. And he looks good with it.

[@vksasdgaming9472]

@@Dinker27 All men (and some women) in SF are swole. Period. I personally liked chunkier physique he had in SF5. Not as chunky as Birdie and E. Honda, but still not chiseled oily abs either.

[@Dinker27]

@@vksasdgaming9472 I suppose that's fair, but I mean there's a section in the comics where Dan is looking well-toned, sort of like Akuma or Ken with a hammer.

[@vksasdgaming9472]

@@Dinker27 Those comics are not that reliable source as they are very sloppily written and artists have wildly varying styles as well. Dan definitely has muscle, but he should not have exaggeratedly chiseled physique. Getting such appearance demands very specific dieting, training, dehydrating and oiling to emphasize musculature. All of those are above Dan's general level of wealth. Even Dan's ethnic background is suspect. My personal view is that he is of European and Far-Eastern descent. In setting where practically superpowered individuals are common Dan has trained, studied and fought himself to their league. He might be at bottom of that league, but he still competes way above his weight class and has not fallen out.

[@kirathestowaway2538]

I always love when games make a technical buff that ends up being a contextual nerf - hearthstone had that happen a year or two ago when they buffed cataclysm into making it unviable since it wouldn’t discard your whole hand anymore. Take care!!!

[@BrolyLSSJ01]

Dan may be a joke character in the grand scheme of things, but that is also arguably one of his greatest strengths. The fact that he’s viewed as a “weak” or “bad” character may cause your opponent to underestimate you if you pick him, and if you’re skilled enough with Dan, you can mix in some taunts to your play style to get in your opponent’s head and anger them, thereby making them play less strategically. And as someone who mains Dan in every game where he is playable, I can name a couple of times where I could tell my opponent was getting frustrated or flat out just rage quit against me because I was beating them with the “joke character”. It did genuinely warm my heart that they tried to buff him a tiny bit in SFIV and SFV.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

I feel like the most interesting way to develop Dan at this point would be to give him an equivalent to Evil Ryu/Kage and create a version of him that is just an absurd glass cannon who absolutely doesn't fight fair (like maybe he has moves that involve throwing sand in people's eyes to blind them and break their combo, or he has a move that can summon a random weapon to be thrown from off screen that can be picked up for a bunch of enhanced moves, but can accidentally knock him out cold if it hits him in the head). Come on, Capcom: give us Dirty Dan!

[@mengo329]

I think it's also important to note that Taunting is a big part of Art of Fighting. It'll let you take a good chunk out of the opponent's Spirit Meter Danretsuken is also a riff on Ryo's Zanretsuken, one of my FAVORITE specials to hit opponents with

[@bobtomia]

Fighting games will never get a joke character ever again. Thank you, E-sports.

[@Burrn-z]

My personal opinion on what a joke character is is a character that makes you think why the fuck are you here

[@carlosaugusto9821]

Too vague to work decently

[@mantraki]

@@carlosaugusto9821 Maybe characters that make your opponent think, they beat me with "insert clown", im leaving the fgc.

[@Jackrost01]

Starting from KOF 96, Ryo become more close fighter, droping his fireball game. Instead, he is using his short "hadouken" to dash on opponent. Maybe he learn something from Dan.

[@MaybeeBizarreSummer]

I think it’s worth noting that Ryo and Robert were designed by the same people who designed Ryu and Ken

[@carlosaugusto9821]

And Ryo and Robert were meant to be a double reference, influenced also by Hokuto no Ken. Like their lightning punch and kick were inspired by Kenshiro's Hyakuretsuken. But the SF fanboys made it look like it was nothing but a ripoff.

[@CoralCopperHead]

@@carlosaugusto9821 I always thought they looked more distinct than people said they did, and now that I know they were HnK tributes, I understand why.

[@iceman-kr33]

@@carlosaugusto9821 they also resembles me of John Kreese and Terry Silver, from Karate Kid.

[@meganinten0078]

Useless trivia about Dan Hibiki In the Rival Schools series, there is a character known as Chairperson (Iinchō in the japanese version). She is a joke character. It is revealed that the she actually learned karate by mail from the infamous Saikyo Style branch, Dan Hibiki's personal fighting style 😆

[@microblast3700]

Dan is never the worst character in any game he is in and that is crazy

[@SleepmodeFGC]

SFV Dan was a turning point for the “joke character” concept imo, because over his various appearances he had undergone a transformation from being a joke character to being a character that was just funny

[@billyboleson2830]

Pet shop is a joke character cause his balancing is a sick joke. The idea of playing him in a tourney is also a hilarious joke, playing him against friends is also funny. Pet shot is inherently funny because of the way he plays, looks, acts, how busted he is, and he’s a big f u to anyone playing against him

[@elgordobondiola]

Spinny funni combos

[@LuwiigiMaster]

I recall reading that Pet Shop was originally a console exclusive addition to Jojo's Venture, and he was exceptionally weak in that game. Capcom wanted to make him viable for Heritage, but went a little too overboard. As much as Capcom loved Jojo, it's clear Capcom wasn't given enough resources or time for the games.

[@KerranJast1337]

This wasn't mentioned in the video, but Dan's super taunt in SFV actually increases the damage he'll take on a punish the longer it goes on. So I'm pretty sure it's possible to ToD him with a single hit if you let the entire thing run, so you get a win at the cost of letting Dan get the mental victory

[@zachataxxii7126]

RNG on whether your have DP invincibility is peak gaming, why aren't they all like that lol

[@jordanguelbert7754]

Asuka has rng over whether he has a dp, and you can beat his ass so hard he won't have enough mana to dp on wake up.

[@crazydiamond3403]

​@@jordanguelbert7754 Asuka?

[@jordanguelbert7754]

@@crazydiamond3403 gg strive character with a biblically accurate moveset

[@crazydiamond3403]

@@jordanguelbert7754 ah I thought the Tekken Asuka

[@Monhamd1000]

The biggest irony that Dan became a fan favorite overtime.

[@scivoid]

The red fireball is additionally funny since it's a reference to how in the CPS1 SF2 games a graphical glitch caused Ken and Ryu's fireballs to come out with a red palette instead of the blue one. This is what would later inspire them to give Ryu a red fireball done with a half circle forward input which knocks down on close hit. It's like they took the randomness element of the original glitch with the functionality of the red fireball. Could also be them poking fun at themselves because of the input overlap causing you to get a red or blue fireball accidentally in Turbo.

[@RadRedBomber]

5:38 In Alpha 3 Dan has a pushblock solely in V-Ism and he's still trash.

[@Cassapphic]

I wish you'd mentioned the detail that at least in sfv idk about the other games, if Dan does the super taunt, his opponent is encouraged to let the entire taunt play out because your first hit on him deals double damage if you do it at the end of the super taunt.

[@spiderdued0423]

Dan my main since the day I met him and hoping for him and Q in sf6

[@pigglesgoomshby7249]

I’m eagerly awaiting the day he gets revealed as DLC, like World Tour even has an easter egg that Dan’s opening a new dojo in Metro City, like he HAS to be coming eventually

[@spiderdued0423]

@@pigglesgoomshby7249 all I’m saying for world tour if capcom is listening make him go threw the same arc as ryu but instead mastering the Saikyō-ryū to (comedy) perfection

[@absentcoder4552]

Counterpoint. In WT, your character wants to get stronger for basically no reason. You cobble together a bunch of random moves into your fighting style to look cool. With the amount of in-universe time spent with the various Masters you probably only know the basics and moves rather than their application. You’re basically *playing* as Dan already.

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

@@absentcoder4552 the one problem with that mindset is while Dan is a poor man's Shoto, the avatar character is just a full on blue mage who is able to actually win tourneys legit. I doubt Dan would be able to earn Akuma's respect.

[@soundtea4939]

The funny thing is that Ryo also had the first angled Air Fireball from a shoto. Which Akuma would later yoink for himself in SSF2T.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

And SNK took the basic 2d fg mold from Capcom, but Capcom then took a ton of mechanics and features from SNK. But the fgc works in such a way that it only points and makes a case about that 1st occurrence, not the 2nd one, because the difference of popularity level between Capcom and SNK. It's so many that it's hard to make a full list. At least for a trivial KZbin comment in a random video that I just came across.

[@SuperLlama42]

Dan is like if Wimp Lo from Kung Pow suddenly got decent at fighting despite himself

[@BingBangPoe]

Dan is my favorite Street Fighter character ever, since the first Alpha. It always fascinated me the whole joke character status and how it created an entirely new archetype for fighting games. I really like how in SFV all his animations have a lot of flair and personality; you can see the team had a lot of care and respect for the character. I really hope to see him being added as a DLC in SFVI.

[@theSparkyDub]

The noise I made when you said "Dan-finite" needs scientific research to be understood

[@datlotad234]

I heard that since Dan had no way to combo to ultra in vanilla SF4 using the taunt super to combo into it was the only way. I've heard this be called the Fucking Awful Dan Cancel or FADC for short.

[@duo317]

Yep, his actual fadc didn't work, but you could spend 4 bars to cancel into his super taunt, then into his ultra

[@7associationfaust]

In sfv, dans legendary taunt also refills the opponents meter to full. If you hit him during the last taunt in the super, he takes crazy amounts of damage: a simple bnb or raw super will kill him. But the thing is, you have to let Dan finish the taunt before you get the meter or the extra damage. So to win the free round, you have to let Dan taunt you first. Godlike.

[@FrederykStrife]

Something I'd like to see in an MvC or the like is an "Extreme Dan", a Dan who has actually mastered his moves and is on the same level as Akuma

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

Do you remember Kage in SF5? Weird demon thing that was Ryu's evil side, sort of, that had a mastery of the most brutal parts of their martial art? Check his moves again and then check Dan's. The short uppercut, the one handed Hadoken that barely travels...

[@washbucket]

As the proclaimed Saikyo man and IRL Dan I have to point out a mistake Dan's pushblock actually came from Alpha 3 and Dan can combo into Ultra 1 with Ex Gadoken FADC Anyways, good video

[@Thomas-ye7jk]

I really hope Dan comes back for sf6. The drive rush would severely buff his neutral and, combine that with his taunts, his pressure would be insane.

[@yexe9129]

Look, as long as he doesn't get something as ridiculous as Dee Jay's DR distance, go for it.

[@Thomas-ye7jk]

@yexe9129 Oh yeah, I live dan but realistically, he would probably not have a good dr

[@Keirnoth]

I'm a longtime KOF player. The reason why I played Dan was he felt very... KOF-like because of his funny frametraps off the QCB + LK in SF4. Also, a lot of his moves are parodies off of KOF moves. I mained Ryo in KOF 2002, so transitioning to Dan in SSF4 was pretty straightforward for me. I didn't just play him to screw with others, I just liked him because he felt "right" to me. For Omega mode there's a lot of tributes to KOF moves: Danretsuken (QCB + K) is a tribute to Ryo and Takuma's Zanretsuken. The command grab (360 + P) uses an animation similar to Takuma's HP/C button throw (slams you on the ground then hits you one more time). The Gadouken having bad range is similar to Ryo's Ko ouken being the same. The Koryuken break is most likely a reference to a Mark of the Wolves mechanic that allows Marco Rodriguez/Kushnood Butt (the black karate dude with the afro) to "break" his dp + P. That one can be done intentionally by pressing A+B (LP + LK). KOF 13 had Mr. Karate who could also break his DP and it made him busted af (juggle combos). His close HP had the animation changed as well. He does this gut punch with the hand that's facing the screen. It's super fast too. This is a direct copy of Ryo's close C/HP in KOF. They also gave him an awkward overhead, his f + HP which is a copy of Ryo's one, though not as good. Dan's version uses the hand facing away from the screen, has crazy long startup, and it has less range. It also appears to be incredibly unsafe on block, whereas with Ryo you can use his overhead chop (f + A or LP) and you can space it and be neutral on block. I see they gave a better ranged one to him in SFV lol HIs Ultra 2 is a tribute to the entire Kyokugen team's signature move, the Haoh Sho Koh Ken. Except his has no range lol. The ex air Dankicks is similar to Robert Garcia's (same team as Ryo and Takuma Sakazaki) air QCB + K. It's a single hit used to space the guy and vary the timing of your jumps to hit them if they try to tripguard you. Same angle, opposite foot. His normal ground Dankicks going at an arc is a copy of Ryo, Robert, and Yuri Sakazaki's hurricane kicks (Hien Shippu Kyaku) going at an arc as well. It can also be a throwback to his Alpha series Dankicks that went at an arc too. Oh, his Hisshou Buraiken (QCF x 2 + P) also was tweaked in Omega mode to be more KOF-like. KOF has these things called "rush" DMs (Desperation Moves, aka Super Moves). With rush DMs, if the first hit hits, all of the hits are guaranteed to hit. In regular SF4, one of the biggest problems with Hisshou Buraiken was it had this tendency to hit a few times then completely whiff the rest. The Omega Mode version of this gives the super a vacuum effect, and as soon as the opponent gets hit by any of the hits (i.e. they try to stick a limb out to stop it), they get sucked in and eat the rest of the hits. The Hisshou Buraiken doing chip damage and still going even if it's blocked is similar to the way rush DMs worked in KOF 98. In KOF 98, Kim Kaphwan, Robert Garcia, and Ryo Sakazaki had Rush DMs that kept going even if it was blocked and it could be used as chip damage to finish someone. However, in KOF the first hit *has* to be blocked in order for the rest to chip. The cancellable dash into normals is also another KOF mechanic. In KOF you can run and interrupt your run with a normal. In other words, someone on the Capcom staff is a massive KOF fan and basically threw as many KOF mechanics onto Dan. And it makes him really fun.

[@KKHell]

Glad to know i'm not the only one who plays Dan because his attempts at mocking SNK backfired.

[@playmaker7910]

The bizarre Reason for Petshop being called a joke character I believe comes from multiple corporate gaming channels calling him one. Presumably the people making those had never seen Jojo so they didn't know Petshop was a serious threat and just look at it the same way of you can play as a bear in Tekken or you can play as a car in Fighters Megamix. Anything that is not a standard human fighter is considered a joke to outsiders.

[@input-latency2684]

I request to see another such high-quality video detailing the history of Shingo Yabuki, who as a kid I always thought was SNK’s cheeky response to Dan.

[@hambor12]

the actual cheeky response is actually Yuri Sakazaki, Ryo's sister who starting in KOF 96 (released one year after Dan's debut in SF Alpha), started receiving moves highly similar to that of various Street Fighter characters, like Sakura's Shunpuu Kyaku, Shoryuu Reppa, Shin Shoryuken, etc. Yuri (being far, far below her brother in rank and only taught the white/yellow belt equivalent of Kyokugenryu Karate) copying (mostly super) moves from Ryu, Ken, and Sakura, is probably meant to say that even the most base-level Kyokugenryu practicioner can do ansatsuken techniques easily.

[@MagmaMKII]

@@hambor12 Dan just half-assed his training and called himself a master. Yuri, on the other hand, was only taught the bare essentials and had to improvise, which is why her moveset changes so frequently as she's always adding and dropping moves to her repertoire. Yuri tries to improve to compensate for her shortcomings. Dan never improves because he doesn't think he needs to.

[@CyberTiamat]

Like 666 les goooo I love Dan unironically, he is so fun just being a shitter with

[@Jadriam]

one very minor note: MVC2's Otoko Michi out-prioritizes Raging Demon if they clash, for that extra lil' bit of 'what even is going on' factor. It also does high enough damage to be a credible threat if anyone's just not paying attention or too busy laughing at Dan to actually press buttons. You still reduce Dan to a pixel, but if you eliminate one of their actual team members with DAN, you win the mental game anyway.

[@coffeebird2857]

One of my favorite things about the Dan Red Fireball (if intentional or not), was that it could be a reference to vanilla sf2 where Ryu and ken have a 1 and 100 chance of having a red fireball

[@Jackrost01]

So Dan in many ways try to copy Ryo moves. Not only "hadouken"-like move and DP. Tatsu is almost same as Ryo Tatsu when he does few kinks, expect he can just jump using only knees. His super when do multiple kicks and punches is Ryo super. But in SF4 this Dan super (it's ultra) is more similar to Ryo, when he is actually cross his hands and jump on you, but if Dan miss he will slip and flop on his face. His Ultra 2 is another Ryo super ("Haoh Sho Kyo Ken" I think it's name) were Ryo wave his hand and throw massive wave, but Dan wave don't travel much and even blow up in his hands. Omega gives Dan special move with multiple punches. This another Ryo move that he have from start. It's nothing special. Ryo (and Takuma) end this move with rising punch, and Dan don't. In SF5 version this move evolved and he can even launch opponent if you use EX version. SF5 Dan V Trigger 1 not only just wave for combo. It's also can be charged. If it's fully charged it become multihitting projectile that breaks block and on hit it launch opponent to wall to make him bounce to you later. Fully charged V Trigger is very scary think. Crush counter sweep can lead to setup with big damage on block or on hit if opponent don't have any resource left to have invincible reversal. And last funny thing. When Dan performing his super in SF5 he dash at you doing same pose as Kim's Kaphwan super from Fatal Fury / KOF.

[@Eaetudobom]

2:21 bro, try throwing a fireball made of vital energy, it's kinda difficult.

[@rouge-ish324]

You learn when you live in New York

[@Lumbambino]

Slight nitpick, but SF2 and Fatal Fury (sequel series to art of Fighting) were made during the same time, with both series being created by the same director. I don't recall his name, but the director for SFI went to SNK after developing that and immediately started production on his vision of a sequel to SF. I know AoF came way after Fatal Fury, but the guy said he was doing his own thing, and not necessarily "trying to capitalize" on SFII's popularity. I think on one of the interviews he explained that he wanted to have Ryu as a lead character for his series, but couldn't use it, because the character he created now belonged to Capcom. Ryo is very similar to Ryu for that reason. The way you put it in the video kinda makes it seem like SNK was just stealing the concept of the primordial shoto, when the story goes deeper than what it seems on the surface. Not saying you are doing anything out of malice, but it's just kind of not what really happened.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

Takashi Nishiyama is who created SF1 and FF and AOF. Then SF2 was made by Akira Nishitani, who left Capcom and founded Arika and SF EX and FEXL. And Nishiyama, after the death of SNK in 00-01, became the president of Dimps, the company that made SF4 for Capcom. And AOF actually released right at the following year after FF. Because that's how SNK's productivity was in the beginning... 91 - FF1. 92 - FF2, AOF1 (new franchise). 93 - FFS, SS1 (3rd franchise). 94 - AOF2, SS2, KOF94 (4th franchise). 95 - SS3, FF3, RBFF1, KOF 95, SR (5th franchise). A bit different from Capcom's fg run in the early to mid 90s.

[@carlosaugusto9821]

The thing that matters is that Capcom abandoned the genre in the 00s, despite the prestige and quality of MvC2 and CvS1-2 in 00-01, their last true new fgs. And their fg staff was so incompetent at 3d that projects Capcom Fighting All Stars was cancelled. Also there were plans to make CvS3 in 3d in the 00s, but it was cancelled. And the all mighty and savior title SF4 was made by Dimps, a company full of former SNK devs, instead of Capcom themselves. And the SF4 gameplay designer is Yasuyuki Oda, the guy responsible for SNK fgs since KOF 14. He left Dimps after working in SF4 and went to SNK during the PS4 gen. Oda is a former og SNK dev whose major achievement is being the mastermind behind Garou MOTW. Main dev involved in story, the time skip theme, gameplay, etc. The 2d fg genre was more precisely saved by that bunch of guys... Coincidentally working for Capcom. Ono only managed to convince Capcom to revive SF through an outsourced project, because the company lacked qualified staff to work in 3d/2.5d fgs. The games that started being made by Capcom were SF5 (co developed with Dimps) and MvCI (Capcom only).

[@Lumbambino]

@@carlosaugusto9821 Yeah, I never said Nishiyama was involved with SFII's development, I said he was in the original team for SF1. FF released in Japan at around the same time SFII did, and it got reviewers and players saying it was a clone, when it clearly was not the case. I believe AoF's story, setting and characters was decided during FF's development, or drafted alongside it. You listing release dates for KOF didn't do much to dissuade my initial point, and I don't get why you did it. Edit: I didn't say Nishiyama's name in my original comment, because I forgot. I'm not good with names, and I didn't want to say the wrong name

[@freshporkbun]

I'll never forget how i learned to not crouchblock against sf4 dan kicks. I was getting btfo in by a friend and eventually they told me not to crouchblock the attack.

[@Seoul_Soldier]

If Dan mastered the basics, he'd be one of the deadliest characters in Street Fighter. The fact that he can fire a one-handed hadouken is proof of that, and I love that he gets better in every iteration.

[@jam227]

Love how his fireball being one-handed became a reference to gouken in sf4, meaning he saw gouken throw a one-handed fireball and HAD to copy him despite it sucking due to his amateurism

[@mordestar5777]

My favorite part about Dan is that in the mobile edition of Street Fighter IV, they added in a taunt button specifically for him.

[@DrunkenCoward1]

I remember back when I consistently played Street Fighter 4 (before SF5 was released, I fell off the fighting game wagon) I mained first Sakura, then Dan. Since I was awful at fighting games, playing Dan made my losses easier to take and my victories even more momentous.

[@butterccm]

Can’t wait to see Dan in like 4 years as a SF6 dlc

[@Malao558]

Id like to believe the folks at SNK really like Dan. It's nice to see rival companies poking fun at each other in a way that doesn't feel mean, and creating beloved characters in the process.

[@werh227]

0:17 this reminds me of OutsideXbox's definition... Almost exclusively birds

[@OldManHan]

TWO of my mains in a row I am eating

[@PoojaMan64]

I can’t wait for sf6 Dan😭I need the Dan loops to come back

[@GhengisJohn]

To be fair, Fatal Fury's development wasn't started in response to street fighter 2's success. It had been in development at the same time as SF 2.

[@NighstarLayla]

16:50 fun fact, this is actually not the first time they do this specifically, thats how the fire hadoken was introduced as an actual move, Ryu in SupeSF2 got a red fireball that activated on proximity as a way to remove a loop/infinite or something like thar

[@felman87]

I love the meta commentary regarding Dan. You covered how he gradually improved over games (particularly in SF4 in its various versions and SF5) but it's also reflected in the Story of the SF series. Going from wanting revenge in Alpha, where Dan is at his worst), to training Sakura and Blanka in later on and abandoning his quest for revenge on Sagat. That change in story, going from revenge to training others, is reflected in how Dan also improves his moves. His personal growth is shown in his increased viability as a character in these games.

[@stevemeters3090]

Love the channel, dude. Thank you. Makes the insomnia way easier to deal with. Plus, the last fighting game i played was Eternal Champions, so you know your videos are extra dope.

[@ahmedalkadhim9806]

Loved getting this look at Dan! My only point to mention is glossing over the autograph move he had exclusively in his Marvel vs. apperances😅

[@kenkoopa7903]

It is still a rare video that actually explains _why_ a lot of Dan revolved around taunts.

[@legoc-3po845]

I like the fact that Dan is genuinely developing from a joke character meant to be awful to a solid character I would like to see him in SF6 or another game since he is very fun to play with and his Saikyo style has the potential of being one of the strongest

[@LuwiigiMaster]

To me, it makes sense that Dan's style is aptly named "the strongest style". The damage his moves inflict is pretty high, but are hamstrung by their range.

[@dyrr836]

The thing people seem to forget when they talk about Ryo and Robert being "copies" of Ryu and Ken is that the old SF1 staff were the SNK staff at the time. Like almost all of the exact same people. And vice versa because those companies basically traded employees like Pokemon cards in the 90s. On that note, I'd argue Dan was actually an essential pick for the SNK vs Capcom games. NOT having him would be weird!

[@kamekakarot]

I love Dan. Used to kick everybody's butt with him.

[@Jac735]

Dayuum

[@DevManner]

We are so up

[@OpoumConsumer]

It's worth noting that SvC Dan has actual art of fighting moves like his own Haoh-shokoken and Tenchi Kaoh-ken

[@mcdowlaz7050]

Ah Dan Hibiki. I appreciate that snk love him too they have such a good sense of humor

[@NeutralDrow]

Fun fact about Dan's Raging Demon (Otoko Michi). The video shows that it did crap damage in Marvel Super Heroes...but in MvC2, it's buffed into the strongest super in the game. Both of them still reduce Dan to 1hp, regardless.

[@Brosef44]

A thing I find hilarious about Dan in SVC Chaos is that he does get a couple additional moves from The Art of Fighting series. He gets armor while performing them, but the fire ball has poor range (of corse), and the second move, a single powerful punch, hurts his hand.

[@Barquevious_Jackson]

We dunk on Dan but him being able to shoot anything out of his hands and do any of those moves makes him better than any fighter on planet earth.

[@bahoomahoo]

Notable things about Dan's appearances in gem games : he can only receive Red gems from his moves from opponents, which boosts Gadoken. His giving red gems to opponents in Puzzle Fighter means he gets bodied by loading trash on opponents.

[@danthemancushecan]

Dan did get a new move in MVSF. He signs an autograph and throws it at you!!😂

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

probably my favorite detail of his V incarnation is the end result of letting his CA taunt go all the way through. If the taunt finishes, Dan WILL die in ONE SOLID CONFIRM. They gave the opponent a legit reason to respect the Dan taunt outside of being a good sport which I feel just completes the joke.

[@melvinbrewer2267]

I didn't realize he was a joke character until I played as him on alpha 2 on super Nintendo.

[@aboreddudebrowsingyt]

The funny thing is that while Dan is completely incompetent at most things he is at the same time one of the few street fighter characters that can do a one-handed hadouken which just fits perfectly in my opinion.

[@evilyoshimaster]

I generally take the TV Tropes definition as accurate a charecter who's silly and garbage is a Joke Charecter a charecters who's silly and deadly despite that is a Lethal Joke Charecter

[@_l0unce_]

Dan had a pushblock in sf4 omega because in SFA3 VISM dan could use a pushblock, which was a mega busted move since pressure was a big part of sfa3 game play, he could even escape unblockable combos or custom combos with it. It's also why it appears in SF5 but instead as an evasive roll

[@conradojavier7547]

If Dan is playable in SF6, They should have a Banana Peel & Sneeze Move used by Pheonix Wright.

[@gamma_dc8289]

Omega dan having an electric is legitimately insane

[@Nerevaar]

A few corrections In SF4 Dan was able to combo with EX Fireball and in SF5 the Danfinite was actually not easy to pull off since it took frame perfect micro walks in between the hits

[@MrMegaman1417]

Okay you sold me on it. Dan for SF6 dlc

[@meganinten0078]

These days joke characters in fighting games are becoming extinct Now many franchise wants every character on the roster to be viable in competitive play. What a shame really 😞 One of my favorite joke characters is Hyena from The King of Fighters Maximum Impact 2/Regulation A

[@Kiki-lc3ng]

Totally missing from your video is how Dan's "Saikyo style" martial arts are more Muay Thai moves than "shoto". Major missed opportunity there.

[@rogueone5711]

I want a game where he realizes he's handicapping himself trying to be ryu, because his style is canonically one of if not the most powerful styles of fighting in sf and let him be an actually competitively viable character. I love dan for the joke he is but you can only tell a joke so many times before it becomes unfunny. Can we let dan be an actual character now?

[@hambor12]

They can still also have a Dan-related joke character even if he becomes good, since they can import another character from Rival Schools into Street Fighter specifically, The Chairperson, who learned Saikyo-style Karate via correspondence class who is dogwater as a combatant aside from her assist being the only one to provide both health and meter they could definitely add in a bit about how Kyosuke, as mentioned, is somehow worse than Dan in CvS2 by having her crib some of Kyosuke's moves

[@nathanl8622]

I mean, being a joke is kind of the entire point. That could be fun for one entry, where him being strong is the joke now, but a Dan who lives up to his potential is a Dan that's lost his charm imo.

[@MagmaMKII]

Making Dan serious would miss the whole point of his character.

[@theobserver4214]

About Dan Koryuken in SFA1: it’s not really a normal one, it falls out of combos unlike Ryu and Ken’s, and it’s only fully invincible on the first few frames before losing them when rising up (unlike Ryu and Ken’s DPs), so it’s still worse. Dan actually isn’t even that bad in SFA1 because most of his (non unique) normals are as good as the other shotos, aside from reduced stun, his supers are pretty good, and his Dan Kicks are actually godlike in combos or raw, the issue is that Ken and Akuma are godtier in comparison and it’s a struggle to get in.

[@IDoubleJ]

He's a joke character. But that is what makes him memorable. I love joke characters in Marvel vs Capcom and other Capcom vs games. It makes the game more fun. And it makes me stop taking the game too seriously just enjoying it

[@vksasdgaming9472]

He is also joke character who barrels through The Raging Demon and beats Akuma real hard. Inside game he is one of three who have beaten Sagat and he actually learned something from it.

[@lrgogo1517]

ends intro paragraph with mYsTeRiOuS shadow-cloaked game footage 2 seconds of blackness begins next scene with the literal same clip but unobfuscated

[@RadikAlice]

The Godouken thing got me, referencing red fireballs in early SF2 with Dan of all characters is pure genius

[@giantdinoboy8264]

Dan is actually a mid tier in Alpha 1 because every other shoto is at least a high tier so a shitty version of a meta defining archetype is still pretty good.

[@giantdinoboy8264]

If anyone reading this wants to know the meta characters of Alpha 1 they are Akuma, Ken, and Guy. Just don't pick Sagat(Tiger Knee is inconsistent leading to getting punished on hit and both of his fireballs can be blocked standing or crouching), Birdie (Slow, not very good post Command grab mixups nor particularly rewarding), Chun Li (normals push her out a lot and her selection of mix ups aren't very rewarding and still risky), or Adon (hard to space tools that aren't that rewarding, similar to Chun-li).

[@giantdinoboy8264]

I just checked the tier lists, and I guess they simplified them because Dan was between mid and low tier and Ryu was between mid tier and high tier. But I do think that it is important to note the unlike the other characters below him, Dan does have consistent conversations which really helps him out in the meta. Edit: It also helps that Akuma was the template for half of his normals, but you know...

[@hambor12]

So, basically the same principle as New Kakyoin and Rubber Soul worse versions of Kakyoin... who is far and away the best character in the game and is otherwise banned

[@giantdinoboy8264]

@@hambor12 Yeah, pretty much. That's part of the reason why I play Rubber. The other reason is New Kakyoin is very hard and I'm not ready for that kind of investment.

[@Toomnyusernae]

- Alpha 2 Kouryuken (flash) works wth the 23rd "action" followed by the 15th according to my notes. - Since his debut, Rose can naturally deflect / reflect his super fireballs in the alpha series. - Alpha 2 his multi attack super has a different phrase when used against Sagat - Puzzle Fighter / Pocket Fighter his handicap was dropping red gems only. Funnily, he had the strongest super that cost 2 bars but is strangely absent in the recent Fighting collection. - SFIV (vanilla) his ultra didn't break focus so people could punish him quite cruelly. They later made it armour breaking though. - SFV Dan's super taunt is clever as it builds both player's super and v-gauge meters if allowed to continue. It also leaves Dan open to a huge penalty where damage done to him could easily instant kill. One of the more subtle properties he received was in his V-trigger 1. Fully charged makes it the 2nd most durable projectiles in the game and it absolutely destroys others even if the other player had multiple uses against it.