Dan

"You can't keep a real man down! A real man fights back! That was my old man's 115th rule of familyness! This is for you Dad, this meathead is going down!"

- Dan (Street Fighter X Tekken)

"I hope you're ready for a beating! (おっしゃ いくぞコラァ！)"

- Dan (Street Fighter IV series)

Dan Hibiki (火引 弾) is a video game character from the Street Fighter series, first appearing in Street Fighter Alpha. He is an arrogant, overconfident, and feeble self-taught martial artist that runs a failing dojo.

Appearance
Dan has a similar outfit to Ryu and Ken, wearing a traditional karate gi with a black undershirt much like SNK fighter Ryo Sakazaki's. His head and face closely resembles Robert Garcia from SNK's Art of Fighting, while his outfit is bright pink as a parallel to Ryo's usual orange.

His fighting stance is similar to Ken and Ryu's, due to originating as 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: Mark of the Millennium 2001 is more distinct in that he's lighter on his feet and his arms are positioned differently. In the Street Fighter IV series he abandons the traditional shoto stance entirely, instead slowly performing exaggerated mawashi-uke motions before transitioning to a parody of the stance used by Ryo Sakazaki in The King of Fighters '97 onward (a low shiko-dachi with outstretched arms). Many of his mannerisms directly mirror those of Yuri Sakazaki.

In Street Fighter V, Dan has his gi worn loose like Ken Masters' and he is shown wearing a black short sleeve shirt with a white kanji at the left; his gi pants have a single tear on the left leg.

Personality
Dan can be best described as being his own worst enemy. Dan refuses to back down from any fight, usually due to overconfidence, though this easily turns to arrogance or sheer stupidity. Although weak, Dan seems to still be somewhat intelligent, possessing some knowledge of fighting styles; he acknowledges in Super Street Fighter IV that E. Honda uses moves that wouldn't actually be considered Sumo. Several games (e.g. Street Fighter IV Volt and Street Fighter X Tekken) has Dan instruct the player basic gameplay and give tips on how to beat certain characters.

Despite his miserable record of losses, Dan still believes himself to be the superior fighter; his ego is so bloated that he even sometimes tries to steal credit for other people's actions. For instance, in Street Fighter IV, when being rescued by Ryu and Sakura from an engulfing explosion, Dan announces that it was his "awesome power" that saved everyone from perishing. Regardless, Dan strives to live up to his father's good name despite falling short of it.

Despite being portrayed as arrogant and cocky, Dan is ultimately good-natured; as an example, he says in his Super Street Fighter IV win quote against T. Hawk that he can relate to being homeless and "totally feels his pain" (despite T. Hawk not minding). Dan sees himself as a fatherly figure and mentor to his friend Sakura, constantly advising her on fighting techniques, though Sakura doesn't take his 'expertise' seriously, seeing him simply as a humorous and fun guy to be with. He also tends to lecture Blanka, his other friend, about "real manhood" and the Saikyo arts, much to Blanka's bemusement; both are close friends, strangely enough.

Dan has a deep dislike of Ryu and Ken, mostly on the grounds of them being the more revered fighters and Ken's "ladies man" persona. He has also been shown to be quite unpopular with the other characters, usually because they tend to have little patience for his antics.

Concept
Not long after Street Fighter II was released, rival video game company SNK released a fighting game, called Art of Fighting, starring Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia. Ryo bore a marked similarity in appearance, fighting style, and name to Ryu, and had the same hair color as Ken. In humorous retaliation, Capcom included Dan as a secret character in Street Fighter Alpha, and many of his characteristics in the series and later appearances were developed to reflect those of certain other SNK characters.

As mentioned above, Dan's pink clothing is based off Ryo's orange attire, while his hairstyle and facial features is based off Robert's; he also taunts similarly to Art of Fighting character Yuri Sakazaki. Dan's second costume color for his original costume is orange, a reference to Ryo Sakazaki's default costume. Dan can also taunt infinitely like the Art of Fighting games, whereas other characters in the Alpha games could only taunt once per round. In addition, he has four unique taunts - one when he stands up, one crouching down, a short one when jumping, and a taunt exclusive to one of his special moves, Roll Taunt. Each taunt slightly fills up his Super Gauge in his appearances.

Dan's fighting style, the Saikyō-ryū, is a parody of Kyokugen-Ryuu, the fighting style used by Ryo and Robert. To further the parody, Saikyō-ryū means "Strongest style", based off Kyokugen-Ryuu's "Extreme Style." Instead of using both hands to unleash his Gadoken as most characters do for the Hadoken; he propels it with one hand, like Ryo, Robert and Yuri do for their equivalent technique, the Ko-ou Ken (Ryuu-Geki Ken in Robert's case).

In Street Fighter Alpha 2, Dan is Ken's secret challenger (unlocked by finishing several fights in a row with Super Combos) and they exchange dialog, one line of which is Ken asking Dan if he knows the "art of fighting". One of Dan's win quotes in Street Fighter Alpha 3 is "I hate the art of fighting, but I want to be the king of fighters!", referencing both SNK series.

In Dan's ending in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Dan's sister appears to prevent him finishing off Cyber-Akuma saying "Don't you know who he is? He's our...", parodying the ending of the original Art of Fighting where Ryo was about to kill Mr. Karate before being told he is their father by Yuri (who Dan's sister was designed after).

In the SNK vs. Capcom series (more specifically in SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom), Dan's moveset borrows even more from Ryo's, and there is a running gag where Dan is often mistaken for Ryo or Robert, even by himself in a mirror match. He also mistook Mr. Karate for his father's ghost; however, in his ending in Neo Geo Pocket's SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, he seems to acknowledge that Takuma and Go are different people. In Ryo's ending for Capcom vs. SNK 2, it is hinted that Dan came to the Sakazaki's Kyokugenryu Karate school to sign up, which serves as the subject of a few comedic illustrations. Dan's fighting stance in Street Fighter IV bears resemblance to Ryo Sakazaki's stance in The King of Fighters series.



Outside of his SNK parody origins, Dan's design could have also been inspired by a official Street Fighter II artwork of Sagat holding a defeated opponent's head; this man wears a karate gi similar to Ryu and Ken, and has a hairstyle like Dan's.

Relationships
According to Dan-specific win quotes in SFIV and SSFIV, most characters find Dan "entertaining", while others "can't stand him" or believe he is "all talk". Abel in particular even thanks him for the laughs.

Blanka
Blanka is Dan's only true friend, with the plausible exception of Sakura. Its unknown how long they have known each other but Dan was saved by Blanka at some point before the latter's mutation. Dan always addresses Blanka by his true name, "Jimmy".

Sakura
Dan's only "student" and only other friend beside Blanka. Sakura has talent vastly superior to Dan's but Dan is convinced he is the only one who can bring it to fruition.

Ryu
Ryu is one of the fighters Dan despises the most, due to Ryu's popularity and reverence among others. Despite being clearly inferior, Dan believes himself greatly superior to Ryu. However Ryu does consider Dan a friend.

Ken
Dan is jealous of Ken for many reasons; his unending supply of money, his good fortune with females, his superior fighting ability and constant good luck. Dan believes Ken to be a spoon fed rich boy and that real men are hard workers like him. Unlike Ryu, Ken has no true problem beating Dan up for the fun of it. Ken's family has little patience for Dan as well (Eliza Masters, for example, believes him to be an "obnoxious idiot").

Gouken
Dan's second teacher after his father and his last. Gouken kicked Dan out when Dan planned to use the Anatsuken arts for revenge. Sadly, Gouken believes Dan a hopeless man who has no business learning the martial arts, much less teaching them. However, he does show a little concern that he too may be tempted by the Satsui no Hado, despite his lack of skill or talent.

Chun-Li
Like most other characters, Chun-Li has no patience for Dan and will gladly knock him out without a moments hesitation if he interferes in anyone's business. It's also clear that Dan has no strong like of Chun-Li either. In his SFA3 post-rival fight against her, Chun-Li wonders how she was "beaten by such a pathetic style" after she tries to interrogate Dan.

Dee Jay
Dee Jay considers Dan a "Cool Cat". Dan however thinks his music sucks but wants a free CD.

Makoto
Dan sympathizes with Makoto, as both have trouble maintaining their respective dojos.

Sagat
Dan's one-sided mortal enemy. Although Sagat greatly regrets Go's death, he doesn't deny that his son is a nuisance.

Sean
It is not exactly known how Sean knows Dan (or if they have even met each other) but Sean has openly stated that he considers Dan the epitome of weakness and hates being compared to him.

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 leads to their fight. 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
"Dan finally defeated the man who killed his father... He made his own fighting style called Saikyō, or "strongest". But his ambitions will not rest until he achieves perfection..."

- Dan's Street Fighter Alpha 3 Profile

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 and blames Bison for it, who then orders Balrog to fight him. He defeats Balrog before fighting Bison himself, emerging victorious and finishing the villain off with his Hisshou Buraiken.

In the ending, Dan turns the Psycho Drive Plant into his Saikyō Thailand dojo, where he and his friend Blanka, whom 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 Ryu under his wing. However, while Sakura doesn't seem to mind Dan, he is unaware that she's using him to get to Ryu.

Street Fighter IV series
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.

During 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, which is a point that Poison makes in her winquote to him.

Street Fighter V
While Dan himself does not appear in Street Fighter V, a message from him under the name "IamSaiKyo" appears on Rashid's phone during the latter's prologue story, with Dan expressing excitement about finally paying his phone bill. He also gives summaries of each DLC fighter available in the shop, as well as alternate outfits and stages. He sometimes breaks the fourth wall in these summaries, such as referencing Street Fighter III in the summary for Alex.

Dan also appears as one of the simulation fighters in Alex's prologue story, along with E. Honda and Hakan.

Marvel vs. Capcom series
Dan appeared in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 as a playable character. In Dan's ending, he prepares to finish Cyber-Akuma when he is interruped by the appearance of his sister. Dan also appears in Akuma's ending, wearing some remains of Apocalypse's armor with the claim that it has changed him, seemingly challenging Akuma directly. Not amused by this, Akuma solidly defeats Dan with a single Goshoryuken while Dan yelps in pain.

Though Dan didn't appear in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, he briefly make a cameo appearance in Apocalypse's stage. He was apparently captured by Apocalypse, along with Psylocke.

Dan also appears in Sentinel's ending from Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Dan appeared in Puzzle Fighter II as a hidden character. If certain conditions are met during an arcade mode playthrough using a different character, Dan will be caught off guard by Akuma from behind using the Raging Demon, sending him rolling backwards away from the screen as a reference to his secret boss fight in the first Street Fighter Alpha, and then the player will be challenged by Akuma himself.

Pocket Fighter
In the unofficial events of Pocket Fighter, Dan's story begins with himself looking to expand his Saikyō-ryū school, and subsequently chooses Sakura as his student. Upon meeting Sakura, he offers to teach her his style, and she accepts after Dan defeats her in a fight. Sakura masters the entire Saikyō-ryū style, after which writing a letter to Dan commenting on how she has purposely forgotten the entire Saikyō-ryū style, calling his moves "retarded", thus humiliating Dan.

SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
Dan appeared as one of the playable characters in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. He is the only person in the roster to not be transformed by the Red Arremer due to his lack of power.

Street Fighter X Tekken
In the debut trailer of the crossover game, Street Fighter X Tekken, Dan is badly beaten by Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series, during which he elaborates on events regarding the plot. He then gets back up in sheer determination to beat Kazuya. This results in Kazuya hurling Dan across a room and him hitting a wall, thus being defeated once again. However, he makes a non-playable appearance as the training mode instructor.

He is also shown to be trapped in Pandora in Sakura and Blanka's ending. Tekken character Lei Wulong has also Dan's outfit as his Swap Costume.

Street Fighter × Mega Man
Dan is one of the characters that appears in Street Fighter × Mega Man. He is the only Street Fighter character in the game that does not appear as an enemy; instead, he shows up as a practice target every time Mega Man gains a new weapon. This "tutorial" takes place in an area similar to the Street Fighter IV games' Training Stage, which Dan enters while performing many of his signature taunts. Mega Man then demonstrates the power of his new weapon on him, damaging Dan and causing him to flee the same way he entered.

Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation
In Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, Dan is seen fighting Vega, as well as Birdie in another scene. Dan loses and is brutally defeated in both battles.

Street Fighter IV Volt
Dan isn't playable in the iOS version of Street Fighter IV, but he gives the player tips before the start of a multiplayer battle.

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist
Dan was mentioned in the Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist third episode "Satsui No Hado" with his name appearing on a board of previous students of Ansatsuken. Ryu and Ken are unfamiliar with the name, with Ken asking; "Who the hell is Dan?". In a deleted scene, Gouken explains who Dan is, stating that he was his first pupil after Sagat killed his father, but Gouken never finished his training since Dan's motives were for revenge.

Sakura Ganbaru!
Dan is introduced in the manga as the self-proclaimed teacher for Sakura, showing her the basics for using chi attacks. In contrast with the usual ineptness and weakness shown in other media, he is depicted as being a quite competent and tough fighter, managing to score a series of victories during a street fighting tournament held by Karin Kanzuki before losing against Ken (who was nonetheless impressed by his resilience). In the second volume, Dan goes with Sakura searching for Ryu, but when they reach Thailand and meet Sagat, he challenges him and Sagat accepts, over Sakura's objections; the outcome of the match is however not revealed.

UDON
Dan plays an important role throughout UDONs Street Fighter series, he wanted to learn about Ansatsuken from Gouken in order to avenge his father, but because of the dark nature of the Dark Hado and the negative effects that it has on people, he had no choice but to reject his wish.

Dan created his own art that was a mixture between Ansatsuken and Muay Thai, he eventually goes to Makoto and her dojo as way to help his dojo grow in popularality.

In Street Fighter Legends: Sakura, Dan gets possessed by the Satsui no Hado for a moment accidentally. While dueling Sakura, he gets consumed by this power and kanji for "father" (父) appears on his back as he tries to deliver an attack reminiscent of Shun Goku Satsu. In a typical Dan manner, while dashing towards Sakura, he trips on her school bag (turning back to his normal senses) allowing the girl to make short work of him. Later on in the UDON SFIV comic, Seth kidnaps Dan for the purposes of BLECE project which harnesses the power of the Satsui no Hado. In the Street Fighter II Turbo comic, Dan attempts to enter the finals of said tournament by stealing Guy's invitation. Guy lets him get away with it but Dan is unable to make good use of it as he is beaten by Sakura, after believing he was a contender by default.

Fighting Style
Dan uses the Saikyo Style (サイキョー流), an "ultimate" fighting style that he created by mixing several techniques, mainly his father's fighting style, unprofessional Ansatsuken that he learned during his short training with Gouken, and colorful taunts of his own. By using multiple provocations to show off, Dan can manipulate opponents to break their pace and lower their guard, giving him the opportunity to land "powerful" attacks. Dan appears to to be a jack-of-all-trades with knowledge in multiple fields, but the lack of a specialization (other than his taunts) and his overconfidence makes him weak compared to other fighters such as Ryu, Ken, and Sakura. Dan may have inherited some of his father's moves to use as his own as both of their various attacks are greatly similar to each (for example, Dan's Dankukyaku and the kick Go used to gouge out Sagat's eye).

Moveset
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, the wide arc his Dankukyaku does makes it very difficult to duck 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.

Though Dan is a joke character, he is typically not the weakest in physical strength/normal attack power in the games he appears in. In Street Fighter IV, however, although his comical mannerisms remain intact, Dan appears to be somewhat more serious, and his moves have been notably upgraded to do equal damage to the those of the other mid-weight characters. His buffs and updates to his moves in the more recent games have actually allowed Dan to become a legitimate choice in the tournament setting, to the point that players say that Dan's greatest strength is the illusion that he's supposed to be bad.

In the patch for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Capcom has again improved Dan, albeit mildly on a basis of comparison to other characters. Capcom stated: "In a lot of ways, we are aiming to make this the strongest version of Dan ever in a Street Fighter Series, so we have changed many things". Despite this, he is considered to be the worst character in the game mentioned. However, because his fireball still has a short range and rapid recovery, he can essentially fire it repeatedly to gain meter on the ground much faster than any other projectile users like Ryu, Akuma, Sagat, and so forth. Only Dan has this benefit, but it has no practical use other than building meter for Dan to use.

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's Gadoken range has noticeably increased since his last canonical appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 3; it is much more reliable, but at the cost of him having a much slower release. The animation is also different: he extends his arm forward while launching the projectile.

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.

Despite being the lowest tier amongst the main characters, Dan is still an above-average martial artist when compared to typical fighters. In the first volume of the manga Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru!, Dan enters a street fighting competition and is shown doing rather well (though he admitted to using underhanded tactics, as he would "do anything to win"), only losing to Ken, who later went on to win the entire competition.

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, which continues the running gag of parodying Art of Fighting (in that game taunts would remove part of an enemy's Spirit Gauge). 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. With fast reflexes, it becomes a bait move for other players to drop their guard, as long as the player has sharp reflexes to pull off an Ultra before he gets hit out of the taunt.

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).

Using Dan's crouching and air taunt in SSFIV against an opponent allows him to attack, but not cause any harm to his opponent. Despite this, certain characters with counters will register them as "attacks". Additionally, using his air taunt as soon the jump animation starts increases his jumping height, making possible for him to dodge attacks such as a strong Shoryuken from Ryu, Ken, or Akuma.

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 needs to be at almost 45% or less 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.

Other games
In the parody puzzle game Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Dan's joke status continues. The gameplay in Puzzle Fighter revolves around setting up large blocks of "gems" to be broken, which will then drop countering gems on opponents in complex patterns in order to fill up their screens. Usually these attack gems fall in complex patterns designed to make it harder for opponents to successfully break them up. However, in Dan's case, every single gem dropped is red. This makes it comically easy for an opponent to break them all at once and create a massive counterattack that usually buries the Dan player completely. Perhaps even more so than in his traditional games, choosing Dan is considered the ultimate "sneer" to the opponent, since the amount of skill required to successfully play or beat someone else as Dan is so high that it is considered that no player of sound ability should ever lose to someone else playing as Dan.

Pop Culture
Dan/Pop Culture

Trivia

 * The Dan is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in traditional fine arts and martial arts.
 * His last name, Hibiki, means "Echo" in Japanese which is a pun on him being the "echo" of Ryu and Ken.


 * Although Dan's face was originally designed to resemble Robert Garcia from Art of Fighting, his more recent portraits indicate that he may also be a spoof at Steven Seagal.


 * According to a few of his in-game win quotes in SSFIV, Dan is unemployed, despite being able to pay for an infomercial that airs at 3 A.M, which should actually cost more than a phone bill (especially considering the cost of filming the infomercial in the first place), thus saying Dan does not set priority on his own account.


 * It is possible that Sakura based her Focus Attack on Dan's LP Dankukyaku.


 * Dan's second alternate costume in Super Street Fighter IV might be a reference to what tribes in South America wear. Similarly, Blanka's second alternate costume is Dan's gi and outfit. These costumes are references to Dan and Blanka's friendship.


 * Dan is one of the two characters in the Street Fighter IV to be able to cancel a Super Combo into an Ultra Combo. The other one is Dee Jay.
 * Additionally, he is also one of the two characters in said series to have two Super Combos. The other one being Gen.
 * Dan is also one of the few characters to have only one rival (in his case, Sakura) throughout the whole game series.


 * In Street Fighter IV when Dan wins against Sagat in arcade mode he says "Now I can finally visit my father's grave without being ashamed". This is a reference to Guile's quote when he wins against M. Bison in arcade mode he says "Now I can finally visit Charlie's grave without being ashamed".

Quotes
See: Dan Hibiki/Quotes

Gallery
Dan/Gallery

Sprites
Dan/Sprites