Tatsumaki/Pop Culture

The Tatsumaki, along with the Hadoken and Shoryuken, has been referenced many times in pop culture ever since its introduction in the original Street Fighter.

Capcom Games

• In the 3D beat 'em up action game Asura's Wrath, Asura uses a move (which is similar to Sean's Tornado) against Ryu.

• In Devil May Cry 3, Dante appears to possess a variation of the Tatsumaki, called "Tornado" (though it differs from Sean's version) as one of his Crazy Combos when equipped with the Beowulf. It acts as a follow-up to a Shin Shoryuken-inspired move called "Real Impact" that involves stopping in mid-air twice while ascending.

• In Mega Man X8, with the K-Knuckle equipped, Zero performs a dark-elemental Tatsumaki, simply called "Senpuukyaku" (as with the "Shouryuuken", Zero will call out the full name of the attack), which is a variation of the Rasetsusen technique that Zero receives from the boss Dark Mantis. This move can be elevated up or downwards in one direction. However, this move, along with the "Rasetsusen", is subjected to a glitch: if the player presses the down button while holding the up button, Zero will move straight up instead of going down, making it possible to reach high areas and even go beyond the stage's limits. This was later fixed with the later re-release as part of Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2.

• Hideo Shimazu from Rival Schools possess a similar version of the Tatsumaki, dubbed as "Shinen Kyaku" ("True Circling Leg"). The only difference from Ryu's is that Hideo's version can be done only on the ground, and has a slower spin rate. Depending on the kick button pressed for this move's button combination, Hideo may do one or three kicks.
  • Another Rival Schools character, Hinata Wakaba, has a move called "Embukyaku" ("Fiery Dance Kick"), which is similar to Sean's Tornado, where she kicks her opponents in flames with two to three hits. When she uses this in mid-air it resembles Sakura's Shimpu-kyaku. Her burning vigor move, "Rasen Embukyaku" ("Spiralling Fiery Dance Kick") resembles a fiery version of Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki.

Other Games

• In Battle Arena Toshinden 3, both Abel and Veil have a powerful special attack similar to the Tatsumaki, called "Hell's Cyclone".

• In Double Dragon Neo Geo, the Lee brothers, Billy and Jimmy possess a closely resembled version of the Tatsumaki dubbed as "Ryubi Sen" (also known as "Ryubi Sempukyaku"). Jimmy's variation of the Tatsumaki however can hit the opponents in one hit similar to Akuma's Tatsumaki while Billy's can hit the opponents in three hits.

• In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, Scott's special move is similar to Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.

• In the Tekken series, the Mishima Style Karate practitioners - Kazuya Mishima, Heihachi Mishima and Jin Kazama (and his devil form) - possess two variations of this move similar to Sean's Tornado, dubbed as the "Spinning Demon", which can be performed on the ground, and the "Rising Sun", which works in mid-air.

• In Square's fighting game Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring, Ken "Godhand" Mishima (who is inspired by the Mishima fighters from Tekken) can use two moves similar to the Spinning Demon and Rising Sun.

• In Konami's Suikoden II, the character Wakaba, after firing two projectiles, can attack her opponent with a Tatsumaki-like move, similar to Ryu's Shinku Tatsumaki, after activating her White Tiger Rune.

• Nintendo character Kirby's Fighter ability has a whirlwind spin kick as part of its movelist which strongly resembles the Tatsumaki as well as other moves strongly resembling Ryu's Hadouken and Shoryuken.

• The final boss for Kazuma Kiryu in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth: Masataka Ebina can perform the Wheel of Samsara in his unarmed phase. A similar animation to Ryu's signature move although he's only spinning his body from an obscure side with purple flames but the execution of the move takes two hits in a scatter damage to all enemies.

Anime and Manga

• In School Rumble, Kenji Harima is implied to possess this move as somewhat as a finisher, dubbed as "Hurricane Kick". On a funnier note, the attack itself is a pun to Harima's name HARI (ma) KEN (ji), which parodies Kamen Rider's "Rider Kick".

• In the first episode of Lucky Star, Konata explains to Kagami on how she had befriended Tsukasa, claiming that she had saved her from a foreigner who had tried to kidnap her. The scene then cuts to a Street Fighter II parody, showing Konata beating up the foreigner, who bears an intentionally uncanny resemblance to Guile, with punches and a Tatsumaki. Also worth noting is that the background is a clear reference to Suzaku Castle.

• In the Pretty Cure anime, both Cure Aqua and Cure March somehow perform a spinning kick that looks similar to the Tatsumaki.

Movies

• In the Filipino film The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin, Benjamin "Benjie" Santos VIII (who is portrayed by Filipino comedian Vice Ganda) parodies Ryu's Tatsumaki and uses it to knock Jan Jaranjan (who is portrayed by actor Tom Rodriguez) with three kicks to his face as the final blow to defeat him.

• In Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther uses a variation of the Tatsumaki closely resembling Sean's Tornado against Captain America.

Television

• In the Family Guy episode Tiegs for Two, a parody fight of Street Fighter II is escalated between Peter and Mr. Washee Washee. Peter performs the Tatsumaki. Peter even goes as far as to imitate the shouting of the name in the same garbled fashion as seen in the game. He goes on to use the other two Ansatsuken techniques as well.

• In the 18th Japanese Super Sentai series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and its American counterpart Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (season 3), Super Kakure Daishogun/Ninja MegaFalconzord performs this move. While unnamed in Power Rangers, it is called Flying Kick in the Kakuranger version.

• In Kamen Rider W, the titular Rider's FangJoker form's Fang Streiser Maximum Drive finisher resembles the Tatsumaki.

Web Animation

• In the Homestar Runner cartoon, dangeresque 3, a character being portrayed by Homestar uses the move, incorrectly pronouncing it as "The pipes are broken!"

• A cartoon by Egoraptor, Blanka Makes Pound Cake, shows Blanka asking a variety of Street Fighter characters if they'd like pound cake he just made. Ryu answers with a Tatsumaki in the background, but pronouncing it as "I'd like some pound cake!".