Violent Ken

Violent Ken, known as Brainwashed Ken (洗脳されたケン) in Japan, is an alternate, evil version of Ken that first appeared playable in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. This form initially appeared in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, as Ken was brainwashed and controlled by M. Bison's Psycho Power.

Violent Ken's chronogical appearance in the main games was in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where he was refered only as "Ken", pitted against Ryu during the latter's sub-boss battle against Ken. Violent Ken makes his playable Street Fighter game debut in Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Though it is not Violent Ken's full appearance, he only appeared as normal Ken if the player plays as Ryu in Arcade Mode during his sub-boss fight against Ken, as seen sub-boss intro dialogues.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
During Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Ken is captured, brainwashed, and sent to fight against Ryu, keeping them preoccupied while Bison tracks down Guile. When Ryu undoes the brainwashing, Bison tries to use his Psycho Power on Ken before turning his attention to Ryu, who defends himself against Bison, initially with little success. Fortunately, Ken uses his master's teachings to mend his body, and joins the fight.

SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos
In SVC Chaos, Ken was being controlled by Shadaloo with Psycho Power. He easily fell to its influence due to his mind getting weaker when he began feeling jealous and impatient to become a better fighter like Ryu, who was surpassing him. Now full of hatred, the Psycho Power-enhanced Violent Ken seeks his rival to determine which of them is the strongest, his flaming attacks gaining a purple color. However, when he saw the red headband he gave to Ryu, Ken returned to his normal self. Regular Ken, while fighting against his Violent form in the SVC Chaos, wonders if deep down, he desires this.

Both Ken and Violent Ken's ending in the game are almost the same. However, in the beginning of Violent Ken's ending, after the last battle, the evil power that was plaguing Ken lost it's hold on him, returning him back to normal. However, after being returned back home, Ken no longer remembers what happened to him, or what he had done during the duration of his Arcade Mode story, and then the rest of Ken's ending plays from there.

Project X Zone 2
Brainwashed Ken briefly appears in the Capcom, Sega and Namco crossover game Project X Zone 2, where he served as an enemy/rival when Ryu and Ken's Pair Selection is locked. The appearance is the same as Ken's normal design, except for the purple flames and red eyes. Ryu manages to snap him back to normal with a Shin Shoryuken, in a direct parallel to Ken doing the same to Evil Ryu with a Shin Shoryuken in Namco X Capcom.

Gameplay
Violent Ken is a more ruthless, aggressive, valiant, daring, fearless, and cutthroat version of Ken. He gains the Rasetsu Kyaku, a special dash like teleport that can close distance with a faster startup and recovery than the Ashura Senku, and he is much more brutal with his special attacks, with more hits in his Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Unlike Evil Ryu however, who requires careful reservations of space and control of strength to ensure his somewhat slow speed doesn't leave him open, Violent Ken does not have much variability in his movesets, and requires a lot of control of pace to properly win, including knowing when to strike and to pull off combos; his Supers and Exceed are reflective of Violent Ken's erratic and unstable berserker-like nature, using up more energy than he can coherently realize and leaving him dangerously close to "burning out".

Violent Ken's Ansatsuken style uses purple flames instead of regular ones in his Shoryuken, which is a feature of Akuma's Hadokens and Shoryukens from the Marvel vs. Capcom series, and a pillar of deathly energy appears at the end of his Exceed move, which is a feature of Rugal's DMs in The King of Fighters. He seems to speak with a calm sinister voice, while combining it with incoherent screams similar to Riot of the Blood Iori.

Comics
In the eight volume comic adaptation of SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, Ken was covinced by Red Arremer to join him, and was forced to undergo a brain-changing operation (despite reconsidering after thinking of Eliza and his son Mel), which turned him into Violent Ken. He lost to Ryu within the later volumes, and was returned to normal.

In Street Fighter II Turbo, Ken and other fighters were brainwashed to work for Shadaloo, but they return to normal when the Psycho Drive is destroyed.

Sprites
Main article: Violent Ken/Sprites