| Dan Hibiki | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Series |
Street Fighter |
|
Debut |
Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (1995) |
|
Console of origin |
Arcade |
|
Species |
Human |
|
Gender |
Male |
Dan (ダン, Dan) also known by his full name, Dan Hibiki (火引弾, Hibiki Dan), is a character from Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. Dan is consistently portrayed as an arrogant, overconfident and utterly feeble character in many of the games he is featured in and he is widely considered to be the comic relief of the series because of his over-the-top poses, battle cries, and overall weak moveset. In essence, Dan is considered to be a joke character. In his most recent appearance in the home versions of Street Fighter IV, however, his moves have been slightly upgraded in order to be balanced with other characters.
Description[]
Dan has a similar outfit to Ryu and Ken, wearing a traditional Karate gi. Dan also wears a black undershirt like Ryo. His head and face closely resembles Robert from Art of Fighting, while his outfit is bright pink, reminiscent of Ryo's orange outfit in Art of Fighting. Coincidentally, orange is one of Dan's primary alternate colors.
His fighting stance is similar to Ken and Ryu's (being how he was simply a palette-swap of those two); in later games, it is more "loose" and animated. As seen below, his appearance in Capcom VS. SNK 2 is more distinct in that he's lighter on his feet and his arms are positioned differently. In Street Fighter IV series he forgoes bouncing around in his stance in favor of hand and arm movements reminiscent of Tai Chi movements. Many of his mannerisms directly mirror those of Yuri Sakazaki.
History[]
Background[]
According to the Super Street Fighter IV blog, Dan was born on November 25. Dan's father, Go, was a mixed martial artist and a rival of Sagat. Go gouged out Sagat's right eye and Sagat beat him to death in retaliation. Because of this, Dan sought revenge on Sagat, training to become a fighter, but was expelled from Gouken's dojo when his motivations were learned. Dan thus developed his own style of Gouken's martial art merged with Muay Thai elements and called it Saikyō-ryū, or "Strongest style," despite the complete weakness of his techniques. He set on a quest to find Sagat and take vengeance for his father's death.
Street Fighter Alpha 2[]
In Street Fighter Alpha 2, Dan finds Sagat to avenge his father's death. During Dan's travels, he encounters Guy, who calls his moves cute. Guy then explains he is looking to challenge fighters. Dan accepts his challenge and fights Guy. He eventually encounters Sagat. When Dan taunts him on wanting to make the left eye match the right, Sagat comments that the man who took out his right eye paid with his life. Angered, Dan brands Sagat a murderer, knowing the man was his father. Sagat then comments that Dan should join his father, which then led to their fight. Dan's story is canonical; after their fight, Dan wins, although he doesn't know Sagat let him win, realizing how anger makes people do things they will regret. Satisfied that he finally avenged his father's death, Dan returns to Hong Kong and sets up his Saikyō-ryū Dojo.
Street Fighter Alpha 3[]
In Street Fighter Alpha 3 Dan travels the world, promoting Saikyō-ryū, until Chun-Li comes and questions him and asks if he is involved with Shadaloo. Dan fights her, wins and flees. While back in Thailand, he fights Sagat, hoping to take him under his wing, but refuses. After winning, he meets M. Bison, leader of Shadaloo and Sagat's employer, Dan remembers his fight with Chun-Li, blames him for it, then Bison orders Balrog to fight him. He wins, then fights Bison, after that, he finishes Bison off with his Hisshou Buraiken. He then turns the Psycho Drive Plant into his Saikyō Thailand dojo, where he and his friend Blanka, who he correctly refers to as Jimmy, learn Rolling Attack. Later, Charlie, who arrived late, comes with a flight squad and bombs the base, and Dan and Blanka escape. In an unknown time, he takes Sakura, the number one fan of his former master's student (Ryu) under his wing. However, while Sakura doesn't seem to mind Dan, he is unaware that she's using him to
Street Fighter IV[]
In Street Fighter IV, Dan is shown to be annoyed that he wasn't told of the second World Warrior Tournament, asking Blanka whether the crowds were bored to tears without a star like him to provide real action; in reality, Blanka tried to get in contact with him about the tournament, but couldn't, as Dan hadn't paid his phone bill and his phone was disconnected. Sakura also asks Dan whether he's heard anything about Ryu lately, since Dan has claimed that Ryu was an apprentice of his. To keep up this appearance, Dan says that Ken is rumored to be entering the next World Tournament, which makes it likely that Ryu will also show up.
Dan enters the new tournament to spread the popularity of his Saikyō style, barely getting enough points to qualify as a last-minute entry. At the end of the tournament, Dan is seen at the S.I.N. base, bumping into Blanka before an explosion threatens to engulf them both. They are saved by Ryu and Sakura, at which point Dan tells them to be more careful, as "even with [his] awesome powers" they may not survive the next wave. He then makes his exit to the amazement of all.
Super Street Fighter IV[]
In an effort to capitalize on his association with great fighters, he broadcasts a commercial advertising the Saikyō-ryū dojo, telling people to drop in to enroll (his phone is still disconnected). However, when no-one turns up, Sakura points out that the ad didn't contain the dojo's address, whereupon Dan realizes his mistake and screams.
Personality[]
Although this might be due to overestimating opponents or just sheer stupidity, Dan never shows any cowardice when fighting an opponent. He ignored Birdie's muscular build that towered over his and even tried to fight him after being wounded days before by Vega in the Alpha movie. He also even stood up to Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series in the story promo of Street Fighter X Tekken, only to be brutally beaten twice.
Although weak, Dan seems to still be somewhat intelligent, usually giving the player tips on how to beat other fighters and revealing their weaknesses and teaching them game mechanics in certain games. He also possess some knowledge of fighting styles (despite his mutilation of the martial art rooted from Ansatsuken); he acknowledges in Super Street Fighter IV that E. Honda uses moves that wouldn't actually be considered Sumo, for instance.
Despite being portrayed as arrogant and cocky, Dan surprisingly seems to act very kindly towards certain characters and even some of the antagonists of the series. When winning a fight against T. Hawk in Super Street Fighter IV, he says that he can relate to being homeless and "totally feels his pain" (despite T.Hawk not minding).
Gameplay[]
Due to his somewhat clumsy, slow and short moves, Dan is widely regarded as a joke character, not recommended to be used for any serious competition. He is also popular as a handicap to skilled players, as his weakness makes winning matches more difficult when against notably powerful characters such as Ryu, Ken and Charlie. As such, selecting Dan can in itself be seen as a taunt, since doing so implies high confidence that a player is superior in skill to his or her opponent. Strangely enough, the sheer comedy value made Dan a campy fan favorite of sorts.
Although generally inferior to Ryu and Ken, in some areas he is slightly stronger. For instance his Dankukyaku can not be ducked under like Ryu and Ken's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku can. His taunt jump allows him to jump higher than Ryu and Ken normally and it can interrupt in-air attacks. Each taunt also increases his super bar whereas Ryu and Ken's do not. He is difficult to use but he can be better than some of the other characters if used properly.
Although generally inferior to Ryu and Ken, in some areas he is slightly stronger. For instance his Dankukyaku can not be ducked under like Ryu and Ken's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku can. His taunt jump allows him to jump higher than Ryu and Ken normally and it can interrupt in-air attacks. Each taunt also increases his super bar whereas Ryu and Ken's do not. He is difficult to use but he can be better than some of the other characters if used properly.
Techniques[]
In the games he appears in, Dan is distinguished from Ryu and Ken by his ineffective special moves, such as Gadoken (or Self-Taught Fist), a projectile with a comically short range, and Dankukyaku, a triple-hitting flying kick that is easy to block; both are reminiscent of special attacks in Art of Fighting (if one had no Spirit Power in that game, special attacks become useless). Dan also possesses Koryuken, an anti-air uppercut (initially different, but eventually mimicking Ryu and Ken's Shoryuken) with very little horizontal range, during which he sometimes flashes and becomes completely invincible. He can also perform Premium Sign, where he autographs a portrait and flings it at the opponent.
Dan has a move known as the Hissho Buraiken, which is a standing parody of Ryo's flying Desperation move, the Ryuuko Ranbu. Dan also possesses a "Shoryureppa" type move called the Koryu Rekka, which was borrowed from the double uppercut at the end of Ryo's MAX Ryuuko Ranbu (he even imitates Ryo's "Kyokugen-Ryuu Ōgi!"/"Kyokugen-style secret!" yell that is used at the beginning of Ryuuko Ranbu, instead declaring "Saikyō-ryū Ōgi!"). Both moves have little to no range at all, and leave Dan wide open for attack if the moves are blocked.
This seems to tie in to his appearance in Street Fighter IV, when he appears to be more serious, and his moves have been slightly upgraded in order to be balanced with other characters. He gains the new and quite powerful Haoh Gadoken Ultra Combo in Super Street Fighter IV, which is much similar to Ryo's super fireball, Haoh Shoukou Ken. Dan's other Ultra in the Street Fighter IV series is Shisso Buraiken, which is basically his Hissho Buraiken, but he runs towards the opponent to connect. Similarly to the Haoh Gadoken, one can combo into the Shisso Buraiken with the Legendary Taunt.
Taunts[]
A running gag in all games that Dan appears in is his ability to taunt. In games where the player is limited to only one taunt, Dan is able to do an unlimited amount. Each Taunt also adds to his Super bar, generally (it varies by game) by a healthy amount. In Street Fighter IV, he is also able to perform a special Super Combo: the infamous "Super Taunt" (Chohatsu Dentetsu), which is simply a taunt dragged out for several seconds. It does absolutely no damage, and Dan is vulnerable throughout the entire escapade. It takes a whole Super Combo Gauge to perform.
This attack is often seen as the ultimate insult, as it shows the player's confidence in victory enough to make him waste a chance at using a super move in favor of this, and performing it under any situation other than total victory is suicide. The interesting thing about this move is that Dan can perform his Ultra during the taunt, and, by starting this combo with the Gadoken, is the easiest way to hit with his Ultra.
Dan is one of only two characters in the Street Fighter series that has a super taunt, along with Sagat: Chouhatsu Densetsu (Legendary Taunt) and Chouhatsu Shinwa (Mythical Taunt).
Parody Attacks[]
In addition to his normal moveset, which parodies the moves used by "shoto"-style fighters, Dan has a move in some games known as the Otoko Michi (Way of the Man), which parodies Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu. The Otoko Michi is performed by doing the command for the Shun Goku Satsu in reverse. Depending on the game, the Otoko Michi can be as powerful as the Shun Goku Satsu, which can take off more than half of the opponent's lifebar, or it takes off a minimal amount of life from the opponent. In most versions, it leaves Dan with only 1% of his own life. Due to its slow speed and high costs, this move is considered highly unreliable and only used when absolute victory is certain. In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, it is the strongest single Hyper Combo in the game, even greater than the Shun Goku Satsu. In SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, it not only does a considerable amount of damage when used, but he loses no life from performing it: this is due to the fact that it is his Exceed attack, all of which can only be done once per match and need a low amount of life remaining to become usable to begin with.
Ironically, Dan parodies even more Kyokugen-style attacks in the SNK-produced games of the SNK vs. Capcom series. He gains the Gadou Shoukouken (a Gadoken-ranged version of the Haoh Shoukou Ken) in both SNK-produced games (as a Level 2 version of Shinku Gadoken in The Match of the Millennium, and a regular special move in SVC Chaos). In SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos:, he also gains a parody version of Ryo's Tenchi Haoh Ken called Kyuukyoku Tenchi Gadou Zuki that is able to block any attack during the charge-up period, even normally unblockable moves, but does not do much damage and has an extremely long recovery time since Dan punches the opponent so hard that he breaks the bones in his hand, and needs some time to tend to it.
In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, one can input a code just before the start of the match, in which Dan falls onto the ground, creating a comically huge explosion, instead of his normal entrance. He then gets up and the fight starts. This has absolutely no effect on gameplay.