There was something special for the fighting game community about Father’s Day, and the official Street Fighter account decided to go through the trouble of wishing a happy Father’s Day to the many Fathers of the franchise. With all the wholesome vibes emanating from this tweet, it referenced Ken, Dhalsim, Guile, Terry Bogard, and every pixelated father out there. But, being the internet, replies traded from confused to enraged to pure chaos.
First of all, the biggest question: Does Dhalsim have a kid?! Apparently, yes. That was the reaction of so many players; they either forgot or simply never knew their stretchy yoga master had a family. Dhalsim and his daughter seem to have existed well in the lore since the days of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, so considering that his daughter appeared in one of his endings, yeah, the guy might be busy throwing fireballs and meditating, but his other life probably involves changing diapers, at least if there are any Street Fighter parenting sims.
On the inclusion of the shoutout for the Fatal Fury legend, the issue was the replies all had different views indeed: Was it a “Wait, Terry’s a dad?” from some players, while others immediately corrected: “Rock Howard is his adopted son, you casuals!” For those not extremely familiar with SNK lore, Rock is the son of Geese Howard (Terry’s arch-nemesis), but Terry took him in and raised him after- well, let’s just say Geese had an inconvenient “falling out” with gravity. Classic fighting-game-drama.
Guile and Ken? Oh, that is obvious. Guile’s whole go-home-to-my-family ethos has been the realm since the 90s while Ken’s son Mel has forever been in the lore. However, one player threw shade, saying, “Ken is a bad dad,” which… okay, fair. Dude did get framed for terrorism and went on the run, leaving his family behind. Not exactly Father of the Year stuff there.
The wildest attribute goes to asking if Akuma is Ryu’s dad. Like… What? That theory has been floating around for years, but Capcom has never confirmed it. Still, the thought of Akuma being a deadbeat dad who just shows up to punch his son in the face every couple of years is just hilarious.
Then came the jokes. An unfortunate soul Photoshopped Ryu receiving a Father’s Day card from Li-Fen (that little street-smart kid from Street Fighter 6), with Ryu looking absolutely confused. Another just posted *”The Family Men,”* which should honestly be the title of the Street Fighter sitcom spin-off.
So yeah, as zen as it was to put out a simple *”Happy Father’s Day”* tweet, the replies exploded into full-blown lore arguments. Classic fighting game community-unabated.
Before we go one last thing: No, Capcom didn’t put out *Violent Ken* or *Evil Ryu* for *SF6*. But hey, maybe next year.
In the meantime, shoutout to all the fighting game dads out there-whether throwing Hadoukens, raising adopted sons, or just stretching their way through parenthood.
