Game director Masahiro Sakurai updated his “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games” YouTube series with a new video on October 27. With the video being about the Shoryuken/Dragon punch, Sakurai performs one himself, and users have already taken to analyzing the frame data to figure out the specifics of Sakurai’s Shoryuken.

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series, started up the “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games” YouTube channel In August 2022. On the channel, he explains game mechanics, specifications, and behind-the-scenes game dev stories in video format.

On October 27, Sakurai uploaded a video titled “The Shoryuken Command [Game Essence],” where he discusses the Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) command that appears throughout the Street Fighter series. In the video, he throws a Shoryuken and Hadouken of his own, imitating the in-game motions. In response to this, a Reddit user swiftly performed an analysis of the video, offering the frame data for Sakurai’s Shoryuken.

Sakurai Frame Data Analysis
byu/Ikei_ inSmashBrosUltimate

Ikei_, who conducted the analysis, calculated 1 second as 60 frames, the same as in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Based on this, they offer the durations of the basic three elements that make up the attack action – the startup (how quickly the attack comes out), active frames, and the recovery time (time during which character can’t move) of Sakurai’s attack. Sakurai’s Shoryuken is estimated to have a startup of 55 frames, active time of 21 frames and a recovery lasting 50 frames.

Now, if we compare this data to the data of Ryu’s Shoryuken in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Street Fighter, Sakurai’s Shoryuken seems a tad more sluggish. According to player-submitted data from Ultimate Frame Data, Ryu’s Shoryuken has a startup time of 6 frames and total active time of 14 frames in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Then, if we have a look at official Street Fighter 6 frame data released by Capcom, the frame counts vary depending on whether the attack is Light, Medium, Heavy or OD, but the startup is generally about 6 frames, and the active time continues for about 10 frames, after which about 30 frames of recovery time ensues. It seems that compared to Ryu, Sakurai’s Shoryuken is slower to come out, lasts longer and also has a longer recovery.

On the other hand, Sakurai’s Shoryuken may also differ in specs depending on whether its light, medium, heavy, single button etc., so we can’t deny the possibility that he may have a faster one in store as well. However, from what we’ve been able to confirm, it has a rather sluggish swing to it, so unlike the original Shoryuken, it wouldn’t prove very effective as an anti-air attack. On the other hand, it may perform well in a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate context, to inflict heavy damage with one powerful strike, like the Falcon Punch or Warlock Punch.

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-10-29 10:38 JST)