Ryu (left) performs a Hadouken against Ken in Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (SNES version).

Hadouken (波動拳, hadōken^?, IPA: [hadoːkẽꜜɴ], a Japanese neologism, literally "wave motion fist"), also written Hadoken, is a special attack from the Street Fighter video game series, which is used by the characters Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Akuma (Gouki in Japan), and Gouken. The move is achieved by the character thrusting their palms forward, sending a surge of spirit energy (or ki) flying towards the opponent (see chi blast). It is normally performed by the player moving the joystick or D-pad a quarter circle forward towards the opponent from the down position, then pressing a punch button (so, for example, a character facing to the right would execute the move by pressing ↓, ↘, →, and then "punch" in a smooth motion).

Most fighting games of the sprite-based era used projectile special moves, and while the actual type of projectile launched varies from game to game and character to character, the execution and behavior of these attacks are often rather similar to the Hadouken. These moves are sometimes informally referred to as a "hadouken", or fireball. The Hadouken can usually be performed in three different degrees depending on which type punch is used; these will affect its speed, damage caused on impact, amount of recovery frames, and sometimes its range. The Hadouken itself has many variations depending on the character in question that the move is associated with. For example, both Ryu and Akuma have used a fire-based variant of the move called the Shakunetsu Hadouken (灼熱波動拳) or "Blazing Surge Fist", which briefly engulfs its target in flames.

Later titles in the series that use super combo moves ramp up the power of the hadouken, evolving it into the Shinkuu Hadouken (真空波動拳 - Vacuum Surge Fist). This takes one of two forms depending on the game: an outsized fireball, or a blast of constant energy. Street Fighter III introduced the Denjin Hadouken (電刃波動拳), an unblockable, electrified version which could be 'stored' by holding down the punch key, for timing purposes. In the Capcom vs. SNK series, Satsui no Hadou Ryu used a more powerful version called Metsu Hadouken (滅波動拳), which acted similar to Denjin Hadouken, being unblockable and stunning the opponent. The latest game in the series, Street Fighter IV, brought back the Metsu Hadouken, though it instead acts simply like a more powerful variant of the Shinkuu Hadouken.

Street Fighter characters that use the Hadouken are Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Gouken and Akuma. Others in the Street Fighter series use similar moves, but have their own names for it - Kairi and Allen Snyder both have such a move, the latter calling it Fire Force. Dhalsim spits fire (his "Yoga Fire"), and Chun-Li eventually gained a projectile move she calls the Kikouken (気功拳). Dan Hibiki utilizes a single-handed projectile called the Gadouken (我道拳, Self-Taught Fist), which has barely any range or power. In Street Fighter III, Sean has no routine Hadouken, but can employ a similar super-move, named the "Hadou Burst".

[edit] Appearances in popular culture

From left to right, charge and release

• The Hadouken has been seen several times in the Capcom platformer Mega Man X series. It was a hidden Easter egg ability in the first game (Mega Man X) and its remake (Mega Man Maverick Hunter X). In Mega Man X4, Magma Dragoon uses the move (the copy of Magma Dragoon also uses the move in Mega Man X5). It was also available to the player in the Mega Man Xtreme games. The Tails Clan, a group of secret bosses in Mega Man X: Command Mission, use a move called "Annihilator Hadouken".^{[citation needed]}

• Black Mage of the webcomic 8-Bit Theater also uses the move, although it is spelled Hadoken. There are several parody Hadouken moves in the comic, including "Fighterdoken" (where Fighter is thrown at a group of enemies in the style of a Fastball Special), "me-doken" (like the Fighterdoken, only without Black Mage to throw him), "Boatdoken" (using the Hadoken to propel the ship the party is on like a rocket booster) and "Hadouyastopthis" (Red Mage mimicking the move after being hit with it, despite not fully understanding his new powers). It is eventually revealed that the Hadouken spell in the comic is literally powered by love, in that every time it is cast, the overall divorce rate in the universe increases. Red Mage's term for the technique, Unda Pugneus, is roughly Latin for "Wave Fist".

• In the limited edition PC fighting game Lucky Star Chronicle from PS2 Lucky Star, Konata can use the Hadouken.^{[citation needed]}

• The grindie/dance-punk band Hadouken! from Leeds, West Yorkshire, take their name from the Street Fighter move.

• In Team Fortress 2, a move similar to the Hadouken is one of the taunts of the Pyro class; in the PC version, the taunt immediately kills any foe within its extremely short range. (Note: it is speculated that the Pyro can be heard mumbling either "Kamehameha" or "Shinkuu Hadouken" when performing the taunt.)

• In All New World of Lemmings, The Shadow Tribe Lemmings can perform the Hadouken. As described in the manual: "this is a fighting device - a weapon from an ancient Lemming Martial Art, Lemdo. Since it is magically empowered, it will throw out a fireball when used. This won't hurt other Lemmings because they are the good guys and kill all the creatures because they are the Bad Guys."

• In Fallout 2, the boxers in New Reno's gym will sometimes shout "Hadouken!" while fighting.^{[citation needed]}

• In the Metal Slug series, some prisoners you save during missions will fight alongside with you, some using moves resembling Hadoukens, and melee attacks.

• In the Looking for Group comic, Richard is seen performing Hadouken while trying to escape from the plane where he is trapped along with his familiar. ^[1]

• On David Firth's website fat-pie.com, Jerry Jackson's Super Mario Brothers parody features Sonic the Hedgehog using the move.

• Kenny Omega, A Canadian professional wrestler, uses the Hadouken as one of his signature moves.

• In episode 320 (Cold Snap) of NBC's science-fiction drama Heroes Ando Masahashi is shown using his power to incapacitate an attacker in a manner similar to a hadouken or the signature move of the Dragon Ball series' main character Son Goku: the Kamehameha.

• In dubstep artist, Plastician's "Wake Up Call 2008 & 2009" mixes he uses the "hadouken" sound sample repeatedly.

• In the Worms series of video games, the "dragon ball" weapon appears to be based on the Hadouken.^[2]

[edit] See also

• Combo (gaming)
• Turtle (gaming)
• Hadouken - TV Street Fighter News

[edit] References