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A common trope seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, where two or more characters are given equal or similar abilities and moves. They may look similar, and in older games will likely be HeadSwap or PaletteSwap of one another, but this is not required; indeed, in SoulCalibur, one human character has similar moves to a bear. Generally, if the characters aren't exactly alike, one such character will be faster, another will be stronger, and a third may have more endurance. DivergentCharacterEvolution may serve to further differentiate such characters in sequels.
This is often [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the game's backstory ([[ExcusePlot if it has any]]) by the characters being family members or having trained in the same school.
Compare CosmeticallyDifferentSides. Contrast {{Ditto Fighter}}, where a character copies ''every'' character he fights against. ShotoClone is a subtrope, if these clones appear in the same game.
Named after two main characters from StreetFighter. Not to be confused with Ryu and Ken from NinjaGaiden, or Ken and Ryu from FistOfTheNorthStar (neither of which is an example of this trope), nor with Ryu and Ken of the FiveManBand in ScienceNinjaTeam.
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!!Examples:
* The FightingGame {{Ur Example}}s are the identical fighters from ''VideoGame/KarateChamp''. Completely identical fighting styles, and they even wore a white and red gi.
* The trope codifiers and trope namers, [[TropeNamer obviously]], are Ryu and Ken from Capcom's ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' franchise, having appeared in every game in the series to date. At first, they started off as clones of one another, having the exact same movesets and being merely head-swaps of one another (because the original ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' had no scope for [[MirrorMatch mirror matches]], so they needed two identical characters for two-player competition play). During the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' games, their stats, moves, and strategies began to differentiate, albeit little by little each new iteration (by ''Super Turbo'' the duo had different normal attacks and supers, whereas in ''The World Warrior'', literally the only difference is Ken's kick throw spins an extra time), but by the time the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series started they had distinct backstories and extremely similar, but not identical, abilities. Naturally, the series also includes the Sakura, Akuma, and Dan-types as well (unsurprisingly, the characters with those names).
** Though Sakura and Karin look like they would be Ryu and Ken reincarnated as teenage girls, Karin has an entirely different fighting style from her rival.
** Yun and Yang originally had the same move set and even shared the same character select slot in ''New Generation'', but Yang eventually learned his own techniques from ''2nd Impact'' and onward. Urien and Gill are similar, but Urien is a charge-type character and [[SNKBoss not as brokenly overpowered.]]
** Akuma and Gouken in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''. They're actually brothers.
** Zangief got Darun from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterEX''. Haggar could count as well, but they have never been fighters in the same game so far (although Haggar did get his own unique Special Moves in ''Ring of Destruction'' to set him apart from Zangief). Ryu and Ken also have Allen and Kairi from ''EX''
** Cammy has Juni and Juli, Bison's bodyguards, in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3''.
** Charlie was originally brought in as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute stand-in]] for Guile during the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series, but plays this trope straight when Guile was put back in the roster for the console versions of ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', (and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'') where they both have identical special moves but different Super Combos. Chronologically speaking, the ''Alpha'' series is set before ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' and Charlie was the one who taught Guile all of his special moves according to his back-story.
* SNK's AlternateCompanyEquivalent, ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', has Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami. Their movesets were originally somewhat similar (justified in that their ancestors created their respective fightig styles together), with several shared moves; Currently, however, they only have one move in common. Kyo's flames are red, and Iori's are purple due to the [[DeadlyUpgrade Curse of the Blood Riot]]. Iori is much more sadistic, [[AntiHero although not an outright villain]] (even though he likes to break into {{evil laugh}}ter from time to time). Kyo is also the Ryu to Benimaru Nikado's Ken, and the Ken to his father Saisyu's Ryu.
** Non-protagonist examples from the same series are Ralf and Clark, and Mature and Vice. Ralf and Clark, the PaletteSwap heroes of ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'', started out as head swaps with differing intros, winposes, throws, knockdown moves, effects on one of their shared attacks, and desperation moves. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine these two were ever that similar. Mature and Vice, on the other hand, shared outfits, normal moves, throws, and one special move (a command throw) in their ''[='96=]'' debut. Like the Ikari Warriors, their ''[='98=]'' return had them undergo DivergentCharacterEvolution such that all that remained the same were their weak punches and throws.
** They are all predated, of course, by Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia in the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series (which also has its own equivalents of Sakura and Akuma, in Yuri and Takuma/Mr. Karate, respectively).
** [[GenerationXerox Kim's sons]], [[PlayingWithFire Kim Jae Hoon]] and [[ShockAndAwe Kim Dong Hwan]], however, play very similarly to each other and to their father in ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Garou: Mark of the Wolves]]''.
** Shingo may not have flames, but his fighting style is similar enough to be the Sakura/Dan to Kyo and Iori, though his new twists to the moves make him [[LethalJokeCharacter more than]] just a carbon copy of Kyo. The fact that his moves are fairly weak in comparison to other characters means he skews more towards Dan, though he tends to be much more viable.
** Predating even ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'''s Ryo and Robert are the three-man RyuAndKen [[AndZoidberg And Ren? Kyu?]] team of Terry, Andy and Joe in the original ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' only. They each had a fireball, a dashing attack, and a flying attack with the potential to hit multiple times, with only their fourth special and the ranges on their normal attacks being functionally different (and even that fourth move was incredibly similar for Terry and Andy). ''Fatal Fury 2'' added more and more varied normal attacks, tweaked the properties of their specials to help differentiate them, and gave them each a completely unique [[LimitBreak Desperation Move.]] Nowadays, their gameplay styles are nothing alike.
** ''The King of Fighters XIII'' brings back an older, almost-forgotten example: friendly rivals Joe Higashi and Hwa Jai (from the first ''VideoGame/FatalFury''). They share many a move, but there is a difference functionality-wise.
* Hanzo and Fuuma from ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'', a FightingGame with characters loosely based on historical figures. Japanese legend depicts Fuuma Kotaro and Hattori Hanzo as lifelong enemies, until the former ultimately killed the latter (though history actually records Hanzo dying of natural causes).
* Urs and Marco Van De Land from ''VideoGame/BattleFantasia'', who also happen to be brothers. It's a weird case as 9-year-old Marco is the Ryu to 17-year-old Urs' Ken. And they manage to do this and come off as amazingly different at the same time, partly because of Urs' ImpossiblyCoolWeapon.
** Another example from the same game is Olivia and Odile, who look similar, have similar weapons, and it turns out that [[spoiler: Dokurod cloned Olivia to create Odile]].
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series, there is the Mishima family (Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin and Devil & Angel (although not related to the Mishimas by bloodline, the later actually use Mishima Style karate). Jin, however, changed his style to a more traditional form of karate starting with ''Tekken 4'', getting himself out of the equation, [[spoiler:and then [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Devil Jin]] appeared in ''Tekken 5'', sporting the same moves the old Jin had, along with some Devil/Angel ones]]. Also, most of these characters started off as virtual clones of one another, until DivergentCharacterEvolution kicked in in later games:
** Nina and Anna Williams.
** Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu.
** King and Armor King.
** Roger and Alex (also related to the Kings, fighting style wise).
** Jack and P.Jack.
** Eddy Gordo and both Tiger Jackson (in ''3'') and Christie (''4'' and onwards)
** Kuma and Panda.
** Baek and Hwoarang, atleast since ''5''.
*** But their case in particular is noteworthy for Hwoarang in ''3'' actually being just a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Baek from ''2'', with only one or two moves in common (the others being fairly similar, but not entirely identical to the originals) until they were reunited in ''5'' where the amount of identical moves they shared was increased quite a bit.
** Marshall Law/Forest Law and Mokujin/Combot would count too, albeit they were never together in one game (besides ''Tag 2'').
** Julia and Michelle, although, again, they haven't been together in any game besides the ''Tag'' ones ([[spoiler:however, one might argue that Jaycee is "different" from Julia - but just like Jin did in ''4'', as Jaycee in ''Tag 2'' she uses a different fighting style]]).
** Jun and her "offsprings", Asuka and, [[spoiler:as of ''Tag 2'', Unknown]].
** In ''Tag 2'' there are more newcomers: Lili and Sebastian, and also Lee and Violet (actually meant to be the same guy, but they do have slight differences in their movelist too).
* Eiji Shinjo and Kayin Amoh from ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''. Eiji's lost brother Sho qualifies as an Akuma -- he has all of both Kayin and Eiji's moves, but he hits harder, and he shoots two fireballs when using Rekku Zan.
* Sub-Zero and Scorpion from ''MortalKombat'' are about the closest thing the franchise has to a Ryu and Ken. They share the same PaletteSwap in the original game, and they are quite bitter rivals in canon (Scorpion being the RedOni and Sub-Zero being literally Blue), but their movesets are quite different, with Sub-Zero favoring ice attacks and Scorpion favoring spears, teleporting and fire.
** Frost is closer to a Sakura for Sub-Zero, due to her being much more of a FragileSpeedster with much quicker but weaker attacks and special moves.
** (Human) Smoke's moveset ''is'' Scorpion's, save for not doing Scorp's "Get over here!"/"Come here!" yell when he connects with the spear. They are also rivals, as Smoke belongs to the Lin Kuei, the same organization that gave rise to Sub-Zero.
** Kano and Jarek, although this is another case of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute meant to replace the former; they weren't playable in the same game until ''Armageddon''.
** Superman and Captain Marvel in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'' play this. A stranger version is LexLuthor and [[MortalKombat Sektor]], who don't appear in the same game, but Luthor plays similarly to Sektor, even blatantly using similar special moves.
* In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'', Ryu and Ken, except this time Ken is Ken the Eagle from ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''.
** With the addition of [[TheLancer Joe the Condor]] in the ''Ultimate All Stars'', along with Jun acting as the Sakura, the three Gatchamen play this trope straight among themselves.
** Likewise with Tekkaman and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''Ultimate All Stars'': The Tekkamen have many shared/similar techniques, but their executions are noticeably distinct. Tekkaman (the Ryu) is a MightyGlacier (and might have the highest damage output in the game outside of the Giant characters), while Blade (the Ken) trades in some power for a good deal of speed, possibly making him just shy of being a LightningBruiser.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Melee'', in addition to standard secret characters, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Falco Lombardi, Young Link, Pichu and Roy are Kens to the Ryus of the character they are adjacent to (respectively, Mario, Captain Falcon, Fox [=McCloud=], Link, Pikachu, and Marth).
** Luigi is also largely a Ken of Mario's Ryu (or a Sakura to his brother if you toss in Dr. Mario), though there are some differences in their move sets (see below).
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', Lucas acts as this to Ness.
** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', more differences were introduced between Fox and Falco (Falco, for instance, can kick his Reflector shield at enemies as an attack), and a third Ken, Wolf O'Donnell was introduced, though he has even more move differences (in fact, none of his A moves are similiar to the other two space furries), is harder to control, and is more of a MightyGlacier. The rest of the Kens were also changed to be different or removed.
*** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link and Toon Link. Ganondorf]] and Captain Falcon are still close (the former still feels like a MightyGlacier version of the latter), everyone else is more notably different but no one is similar as the characters were in Melee.
* ''GodHand'', a throwback to old-school {{Fighting Game}}s, nods to it with Gene and Azel. There's also several nods to the ''actual'' Ryu, including a karate outfit as an alternate costume and a Shoryuken as one of Gene's juggle moves. Capcom owned Clover, who made God Hand.
* ''[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur III]]'' and ''IV'' seem to be taking this route with Siegfried and Nightmare. Only fair since they ''literally'' [[EnemyWithout started out the same character]].
** The Alexandra sisters (Sophitia and Cassandra) have developed along these lines as well since the latter showed up in ''[=SCII=]'' (Though the latter was originally intended as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute until popular demand brought back the former for the console version of ''[=SCII=]'' and subsequent sequels).
** Hwang and Mitsurugi started out like this.
** [[DropTheHammer Rock]] and [[AnAxeToGrind Astaroth]].
** Raphael and Amy.
** Kilik and Seong-Mina also shared a lot of moves in ''Soul Calibur'' in spite of their [[SimpleStaff different]] [[BladeOnAStick weapons]], but have differentiated more and more with each subsequent sequel. Seong-Mina's moves are straightforward and have changed the least, while Kilik now focuses on range and punishing opponents' mistakes.
* Galford and Hanzo of ''SamuraiShodown''. Originally being little more than palette/head swaps of one another, they eventually became more and more different with the addition of Hanzo's fire-based specials and Galford's ability to set his dog Poppy against opponents.
** We also have Nakoruru and Rimururu. In the third and fourth game, the latter was a headswap of the former. They were quickly given different outfits in the later games. Nakoruru fights with a bird, Rimururu fights with a floating NatureSpirit crystal [[AnIcePerson of ice]].
*** Some of the Shura (Slash) and Rasetsu (Bust) mode pairs are like this in ''III'' and ''IV'', while others are way different.
* In the ''VideoGame/NarutoClashOfNinja'' series, Iruka and Mizuki are this (in Mizuki's first appearance, the two ''shared character slots''). Also, Kisame and Zabuza, both Swordsmen of the Mist, have similar movesets (more obvious in the Japanese games where they're both playable; Zabuza does not appear in the internationally-released ''Clash of Ninja Revolution'' games, while [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Kisame does]]).
** Hinata and Neji have similar movelists, but many of Hinata's moves are original to the games (for example, instead of using Eight Trigrams 64 Palms, she repeatedly attacks an opponent with Gentle Fist palm strikes, then finishes with a burst of chakra), due to limited information on her fighting style. In the ''Ultimate Ninja'' series, Hanabi (Hinata's younger sister) follows a similar principle.
** The game-exclusive characters in ''Revolution 2'' count. Komachi is similar to Haku and Kagura is like Kimimaro. Towa and Bando, this troper is unsure of.
* Biff Slamkovich and Gunloc in the ''VideoGame/SaturdayNightSlamMasters'' series. Like Ryu and Ken, they have similar but not identical moves; The real differences come out in their grapples.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' features Heart and Saki, two friends with slightly different outfits who share a few normal attacks and both feature a dash attack, an anti-air attack, and a mid-air stomp attack. However, Heart's attacks are punch-based and use quarter-circle type inputs, while Saki's are kick-based and use charge motions.
* In ''{{Ehrgeiz}}'', the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' characters are generally clones of other characters and have very similar movesets. Yuffie matches up with Sasuke, Vincent with Godhand, and (to some extent) Sephiroth with Cloud.
** SecretCharacter Zack is very much a Ken to Cloud's Ryu, sharing a similiar move set.
* Billy and Jimmy Lee naturally filled this role in the NeoGeo ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' FightingGame, as well as in ''Double Dragon V'' for the [=SNES=] and Genesis.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' has Morrigan the succubus and Demitri the vampire. They both have the standard "fireball" and "dragon punch"-style moves. Dmitri's moves are slower, and his uppercut flies straight up.
** Lilith is the Sakura, having weaker specials than Morrigan, but a more diverse moveset.
** Another set would be Bishamon and Oboro Bishamon in 'Vampire Savior''.
* Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''. Unusual in that Sol (the main character) plays closer to Ken, while Ky (who is TheRival) plays like Ryu.
* ''CastlevaniaJudgment'' has an interesting case with Simon and Trevor. Both Belmonts use the Vampire Killer whip and have several similar moves (including at least one identical special), but Simon specilizes in quick, wide sweeps, while Trevor mixes it up with several jabs and slower, more powerful attacks.
* ''MeltyBlood'' has a handful of characters with a {{Doppelganger}} equivalent that serve as a MirrorMatch, and so have some very similar movesets, natch.
* ''VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo'' has [[TheHero Yuka Takeuchi]] and [[{{Ninja}} Chiho Masuda]] as its primary set; the second game introduced [[AscendedFangirl Tamao Mitsurugi]], a hybrid Ken/Sakura-type and the main character of that game.
* In the {{SNES}} version of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'', Leonardo is the Ryu-type while Michelangelo is the Ken-type with faster, multi-hitting attacks (as well as being a Charge Character).
* ''Battle K-Road'',an arcade-only fighting game released by Psikyo in 1994, features an entire character roster consisting of head/palette swaps. There are two karatekas, two boxers, two Thai kickboxers, two Jujitsu girls, two sumo wrestlers, two commandos and even two Terminator-like cyborgs. The only character without a head-swap is naturally the final boss himself.
* Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, the sequel to StarGladiator, more than doubled the roster of the original game by adding 14 new characters. Most of them mirrored one of the characters in the original cast, having similar weapons and movesets.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with [[RobotGirl Labrys]] and [[ShadowArchetype Shadow Labrys]] in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4 Arena}}''. They have nearly identical non-Persona attacks (only that Shadow Labrys' is weaker but faster), but wildly different Persona attacks, leading to different combos and overall different playstyles.
* Jotaro and Dio in Capcom's ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fighter have similar movesets, with the main differences being in their super combos (Jotaro's are souped-up versions of his specials, whereas Dio has more variety in his). Interestingly for this trope, despite being the main characters (or rather, the main character and main villain), their learning curves are among the more difficult in the game.
!!Outside of {{Fighting Game}}s:
* ''KingdomHearts'':
** Riku and Sora from ''KingdomHearts'', until Riku gets lured to the side of darkness and becomes a RivalTurnedEvil.
** And in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]'', Roxas and Xion play identical to each other, with the exception of Roxas's dual-wield ability.
* Cloud and Zack from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', since [[spoiler: Cloud has mannerisms, memories, and parts of his personality "borrowed" from Zack, for traumatic reasons.]] This is a key point in [[spoiler: numerous key points in the game, including his migraines, voices in his head, why Aerith is initially attracted to him, why Sephiroth can control him, etc. etc. etc.]].
* Tails from ''SonicTheHedgehog'' started out as a Ken to Sonic's Ryu, in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Since then, Sega did try to slowly differate him, by letting the player actually take advange of his flying ability.
** Similarly, ''Sonic Adventure 2'' gives three sets of Ryus and Kens (Shadow to Sonic, Eggman to Tails and Rouge to Knuckles)
*** ''Sonic Heroes'' kind of went overboard. With Team Sonic as The Ryu, Team Dark as The Ken, Team Rose as the Sakura and Team Chaotix as The Dan
* Bub and Bob, from ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. Later games in the series did give them ([[CanonDiscontinuity their descendants?]]) different abilities and personalities, as well as a female-duo BetaCouple in one game.
* Luigi has often been the Ken to Mario's Ryu throughout the ''SuperMarioBros.'' games, though whatever rivalry is there is questionable. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'', they even have the same moves; Luigi gains one unique special and some different normal moves for the sequel (probably so they wouldn't have Luigi, Mario, and Dr. Mario all on the same moveset), but still plays a lot like his brother.
** In both versions of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' (the Japanese one known as ''The Lost Levels'' outside Japan), Luigi is slightly faster, slightly weaker, and jumps higher than Mario.
*** Ditto for [[spoiler: ''Super Mario Galaxy''.]]
** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' for SNES had no less than FOUR Ryu/Ken pairs. Mario and Luigi once again played Ryu and Ken to each other (as well as being JackOfAllStats), but Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser (best top speed), Yoshi and The Princess (best acceleration), and Koopa and Toad (best handling) also formed their own Ryu/Ken pairs.
*** The following ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' games have continued this tradition, with ''Double Dash!!'' taking it to somewhat ridiculous levels.
** Daisy is also a Ken to Peach in her first few apperances in spin off games. She quickly diverged into being diffrent but games like Mario Party and Mario Kart Double dash the two play exactly the same.
* Similar to the ''Mario Kart'' example, characters in ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'' were paired up by skill: Crash and Cortex ({{The Mario}}s), Coco and N.Gin (best acceleration), Tiny and Dingodile (best top speed) and Pura and Polar (best handling).
* Kratos Aurion and Zelos Wilder from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' use the same weapon types, and have similar stats and identical special moves. With the exception of one single dungeon, however, only one will ever be in the party at a time.
** Worth noting that the differences between them are more pronounced in the Playstation 2 remake, especially in special moves. Even in the GC version, Kratos has [[spoiler:Judgement, an angel technique, that Zelos can't get (in that version, anyway).]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
** For the brief time he is playable in Majora's Mask, Kafei has identical animations to Link, from walking to flinching. This was done to easily incorporate his playability into the engine.
* [[TheHero Luke]] and [[SixthRanger Asch]] from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', whose move sets [[spoiler:and physical appearances]] are identical apart from Asch having a few [[MagicKnight offensive spells]] that Luke doesn't. This is explained as being due to their having learned to fight from the same teacher. [[spoiler: Plus Luke is a clone of Asch, which helps. It's also lampshaded in one sidequest where Luke effectively gives this as a reason for them to be MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers.]]
* Folka Albark and Fernando Albark in ''SuperRobotWarsCompact3''. Even their mechs were originally palette swaps... before they get upgraded.
* ''[[VideoGame/GalaxyAngel Galaxy Angel II]]'' combines this with {{Expy}}. Apricot, Milfeulle's younger sister, is JackOfAllStats, just like Milfie was, but for most of the first game, Milfie is retired from the military and is now a BarrierMaiden and DistressedDamsel. [[spoiler:In the end of that game, when she's freed, she and the Moon Angels join up with the Rune Angels and you can control both at the same time.]]
* Every ''FireEmblem'' game has one of these, known as the Red and Green Knights. They're both Cavaliers (or axe fighters) who's only difference is stats.
** FireEmblemAkaneia: Cain and Abel
** FireEmblemJugdral: Alec and Noish, Othin and Halvan (though they're not Cavaliers, but Axe Fighters)
** FireEmblemElibe: Lance and Allen, Wade and Lott (again, Axe Fighters); Kent and Sain, to a degree Dorcas and Bartre (Axe fighters version)
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones: Forde and Kyle
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius: Arguably, Oscar and Kieran
** VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening: Stalh and Sully (the latter being the first ever female member of the duo) fill the Cavalier role again, but this is the first game in the series to apply this trope to the ''mages''. Miriel and Ricken are the Ryu-Ken pair for regular Mages (Miriel being a straight-up SquishyWizard with Ricken, [[AdorablyPrecociousChild oddly enough]] being more of a StoneWall), Tharja and Henry are the Dark Mage duo. (Tharja being a GlassCannon with poor accuracy, Henry leaning more towards JackOfAllStats)
* In ''DungeonsAndDragons: Shadow Over Mystara'', the Cleric and Magic User classes have slightly different spells in addition to different sprites for player 1 and player 2.
* As mentioned previously, the ''IkariWarriors'' Ralf and Clark (renamed "Paul" and "Vince") started out as this.
* Bill Rizer and Lance Bean in the initial three ''{{Contra}}'' games (including the console ports of the first two). Later installments would have other "Ken's" for Bill's "Ryu".
* VideoGame/MegaMan and Proto Man.
** With Bass as the Akuma.
*** Ironically, while Bass ''is'' statistically the stronger robot, it is his overconfidence that prevents him from defeating Mega Man.
** Depending on the game (for example, the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series), Roll functions as some combo of the Dan/Sakura. Other times, Capcom has her go the [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]] route by making her a physically-oriented fighter.
* Ryu and Ken Hayabusa (son and father, respectively) from the ''NinjaGaiden'' arcade game (or not; no one's really sure. In the arcade game, they're supposed to be nameless)
* Many consider Fox [=McCloud=] and Falco Lombardi from the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' games to be this (as noted in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' related entries).
* [[IncrediblyLamePun "Polly and Gon"]] from ''BakuBakuAnimal''
* [[GanbareGoemon Goemon]] and Ebisumaru (indeed, in "TheLegendOfTheMysticalNinja" they were renamed "Kid Ying" and "Dr. Yang" respectively)
* [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall and Seifer]], both being practitioners of ExoticWeaponSupremacy [[spoiler: (and also being raised together)]] use similar moves, although with wildy different applications. In fact, these over-similarities are what kept Seifer out of ''DissidiaFinalFantasy''.
* ''SoulNomad'' has Ido/Dio and Yodo/Odie. Storywise, Yodo is Dan to Ido's Ryu, but gameplay makes him Ken. He also cry "Dark Plasma" when doing Thunderbuster, a copy of Ido's Dark Plasma.
* The original 2 sides from ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', Swadia and Vaegir, are such, [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Swadians sharing]] [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Vaegirs a troop tree]] progression. Swadian ranged units use crossbows while the Vaegir's use bows, Swadian infantry uses sword and board and heavy armor while Vaegirs use 2 handed weapons and lighter armor (for quicker speed) and their cavalry shares the defense/power trade off. The stand alone expansion introduces the Sarranids [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade:_Warband/Sarranids also]] share a troop tree, who are more focused on speed, making them Sakura type.
* ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'' has a few examples. Most are of the appearance kind. For particularly notable examples:
** Plusle and Minun, who are basically Pichu with plus signs and minus signs respectively for their ears and tails. They also share a type and have slightly differing base stats. They even act as the main partner Pokémon in one of the ''Ranger'' games!
** Latios and Latias, among a few other opposite gender twins, have similar stat distributions (but not the same - Latias has 20 more special defense and 10 more defense, while Latios has 20 more special attack and 10 more attack), and quite similar appearance.
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Pokémon Black and White Versions]]'' have given us the legendary Kami trio: Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. They all look similar, have similar base stats (Tornadus and Thundurus LITERALLY have the same base stats - Landorus has 20 extra defense points, 10 less special attack points and 10 more attack points,) and they all are at least part Flying-type.
*** The elemental monkeys also play this straight in three: Pansage, Pansear and Panpour as well as Simisage, Simisear and Simipour, their respective evolutions. Among the group of three, they have the exact same stats and their only difference are their elemental type and their [[ElementalBaggage move pools]] associated with them.
** Charizard and Typhlosion. Exact same base stats, both fire type starters (of regions right next to each other and sharing a Pokémon League, no less) the only difference between the two is that Charizard is part flying type and slightly different movepools.
* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series, particularly the prequel (third) game, has the brothers Dante and Vergil.
** Actually, the trope holds up better in the first game, where [[BlackKnight Nelo]] [[WorthyOpponent Angelo]] (aka [[spoiler:BrainwashedAndCrazy!Vergil]]) fights [[MirrorBoss using the exact same style as Dante]], only while Dante is a more of a LightningBruiser, Nelo Angelo is a MightyGlacier with a {{BFS}} who uses [[FlashStep a translocation technique]] to move around the battlefield.
** Also, to a degree, Dante and Nero in ''[=DMC4=]''.
* [[LadyOfWar Valeria]] and [[TheTease Anita]] in ''SuikodenII''. Similar fighting styles and stats, and both own a Falcon Rune. They're also rivals.
* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} has SpaceMarines and [[FaceHeelTurn Chaos Space Marines]]. Chaos Marines are often derisively thought of as mere "spiky marines", due to the fact that they still use largely human weapons, tactics, units, statlines, and even STCs. The trade-off is that "Loyalist" Marines get [[GeniusBruiser superior technology]] ([[AntiMagic Psychic Hoods]], [[DropTheHammer Thunder Hammers]], [[FlyingCar Land Speeders]], [[ItsRainingMen Drop Pods]]...), while Chaos Marines get [[DealWithTheDevil daemonic pacts]] (Cult Marines[[hottip:*:[[MagiTek Thousand Sons]], [[AxCrazy Khorne Berserkers]], [[MightyGlacier Plague Marines]], and [[ThePowerOfRock Noise Marines]], one for each major daemonic patron]], Icons of Chaos, [[AWizardDidIt sorcerous powers]], [[EldritchAbomination Daemon allies]], [[OurMonstersAreWeird mutant specialists]]...)
* In the first ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' game, Matsu used Kenshin's weapons moveset. Kasuga as well for Sasuke. In later games however Matsu and Kasuga got their own unique moves, the former using a [[BladeOnAStick naginata]] while the latter used RazorWire attached to kunai. Similarly, quite a few polearm-using characters used Toshiie or Shingen's movesets before getting their own.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Strider}} 2'', Strider Hiryu and Strider Hien. Both use the same techniques, but Hiryu is mostly close-and-personal, while Hien uses [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang throwing weapons]].
* Out of the four playable characters in ''VideoGame/PanzerBandit'', [[KidHero Kou]] and [[ActionGirl Kasumi]] have a similar set of skills and attacks, though Kasumi is slighty faster and combo-oriented. There's also [[TheRival Jin]], who fights [[MirrorBoss identical to Kou]].
* ''VideoGame/GIJoe'' subverts this, Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes and Roadblock all look very differently, but play exactly the same.
* In VideoGame/ApeEscape is Spike and Jimmy.
* The Qiao Sisters, [[YamatoNadeshiko Da Qiao]] and [[TomboyPrincess Xiao Qiao]] from {{Dynasty Warriors}}.
* [[FireIceLightning Rin Rin, Fei Rin, and Ai Rin]] from ''AnarchyReigns'' all share the same moveset, except for their Killer Weapons.
** The same for [[spoiler: Garuda and SecretCharacter Gargoyle]]
* In ''WarriorsLegendsOfTroy'', there is Achilles and Patroklos on the Greek side as well as Hector and Aeneas for the Trojans.
* Gunstars Red and Blue are this in Gunstar Heroes series. In the first game, their difference are merely some frames and the fact one has to stand still to shoot and the other only stops moving to shoot when hanging to something. In the sequel, however, both could move and shoot, lock aim or lock movement, but what made them different is that one had a machine gun and the other a laser gun. Well, that and some visual differences as well.
** And Gunstar Green is the Akuma.
*** If Gunstar Green is the Akuma, then Smash Daisaku is the Dan and Golden Silver is Shin Akuma.
!!In other media:
[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' also loves this trope. Examples:
** Loran and Gym having the Moonlight Butterfly.
** Amuro and Char having the Psycoframe and funnels.
** [[spoiler: Heero and Zechs having the Zero System and Transforming Mechs]].
** Domon and Master Asia has the same fighting style, but is better defined as Ryu and Akuma.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has Kallen and Suzaku. Their mechs look similar, [[spoiler:and later have the same wings.]]
* MazingerZ and GreatMazinger could actualy be one of the earliest example. Both have exact same kind of weapon, the difference come with Mazinger Z having more ranged based and have less variety of weapons and Great Mazinger has more weapon variety and more melee based weapon than Mazinger Z.
** Mazinger Z's long range weapon is more developed than Great Mazinger, such as the corrosive [[BlowYouAway Rust Tornado]], posession of [[EyeBeam Koshiryoku Beam]] and [[FreezeRay Reitou Beam]] and its detachable wing also function as Throwing Weapon. Later on its upgrade focus on enchancing this by giving the RocketPunch a power boost or spinning it before launching the attack.
** Great Mazinger's Great Typhoon lacks the corrosive property of Mazinger Z, and lacks Koshiryoku Beam. In return, it has several melee oriented weapons, and most of them are [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter physical]] such as a pair of Mazinger Sword, Great Boomerang, and Knee spikes and Curved Blade on front of its leg. To make up for this, Great Mazinger also have [[ShockAndAwe Thunder Break]] for long range weapon and his FinishingMove, and Tetsuya makes it up by using his weapon creatively, such as throwing his swords or using Breast Burn to cover his body. His upgrades gives him better capability on both side, since Great Booster function as long range weapon, and gives increase on speed.
** Both {{Grendizer}} and {{Mazinkaiser}} serves as the Akuma, both combines the aspect of two machines and put them on one mecha. Grendizer is more simmilar to Great, while Mazinkaiser is more simmilar to Z.
** Ironically, in VideoGame/SuperRobotWars, Z become more of a mellee based unit while Great become a better sniper unit thanks to his multitude of long range weapons, while Grendizer become JackOfAllTrades and Mazinkaiser become LightningBruiser of the group.
* [[Manga/DragonBall Goku and Vegeta]]. Both are full blood Saiyans with similar fighting styles and equivalent attacks, (Kamehameha versus Galik Gun) conflicting personalities and a [[TheRival strong but respectful rivalry]], and they're always close in power level, constantly competing with each other. Their similarities even let them [[FusionDance fuse together]] at one point. Their sons, Goten and Trunks, also show even more shades of this, complete with the fusion part and inheriting their fathers' moves.
* [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and Ryoga]] - Eternal rivals, evenly matched, and even fit the personalities. Ryoga is a stoic chivalrous wanderer like Ryu, whereas Ranma is an arrogant, happy-go-lucky, egomaniac like Ken. The difference being that Ryoga is more powerful, durable, and straightforward, whereas Ranma is swifter, more acrobatic and strategical.
** While many characters see Ranma as their rival, Ryoga is the only one Ranma considers such, they also share an attack (which is their strongest), Ryoga is the strongest character in the series besides Ranma, Happosai and the ocasional Big Bad, they learned their respective second strongest attack from the same teacher (Shampoo's grandmother), Ryoga has beaten Ranma more times than any other character (including Haposai who's supossedly the strongest charater in the series) and he's the only one Ranma trusts enough to willingly fight alongside with.
* ''ZatchBell'' features this for two of the strongest characters in the series; the eponymous ShockAndAwe-based character and his EvilTwin ([[spoiler:prior to his manga-only HeelFaceTurn]]), and GravityMaster Brago and Zofis, his first main foe. The latter's spells are based on explosions.
[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* {{Superman}} and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] have shades of this when they appear together. Since the latter was originally a CaptainErsatz of the former, it's not surprising.
** {{Supergirl}} typically acts as the Sakura to Superman when the two appear together.
** There's also Supergirl and Powergirl.
* Other DC examples include PlasticMan and ElongatedMan who are both [[RubberMan Rubber Men]].
* ComicBook/{{X-Men}}: Banshee and his daughter Siryn; both are quite adept at [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic attacks]]. Siryn's twist is that she also has a CompellingVoice.
** {{X-23}} is the Sakura to {{Wolverine}} in both the comics and VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3.
* {{Spider-Man}} and ComicBook/ScarletSpider could count. Justified in that Scarlet Spider is a clone of Spider-Man. Kaine would be the 'Akuma' as he has their powers dialed UpToEleven. Spider-Girl(Mayday) would arguably be the 'Sakura'
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Peter and Sylar on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* '''Ken'''dra in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is another slayer roughly Buffy's height, age, and weight with moves similar to Buffy's.
** Later on, Buffy and Faith, Faith getting a [[IncrediblyLamePun Faith]] [[FaceHeelTurn Heel Turn]].
** Several characters seem to go through this. Spike and Angel are initially presented as virtual mirrors of one another, but by the end of the series their fighting styles are presented in deliberate contrast.
*** Only if you ignore the fact that Angel has about 50lbs on Spike and yeah he is also 5 inches taller.
[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]
* TheUndertaker and Wrestler/{{Kane}}. They use the same moves, are {{Kayfabe}} brothers of similar size and general appearance and, at various times, have been the two top guys in the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF/E]] - most especially when Kane first debuted. They also have fairly similar movesets; both being fond of using the chokeslam and tombstone.
* [[MattHardy Matt]] and JeffHardy are another pair in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Jeff has more daredevil high-flying moves, while Matt is the more solid wrestler, but on the whole, their styles are extremely similar, and they have an on-again, off-again case of SiblingRivalry writ-large. Jeff even uses Matt's FinishingMove, the Twist of Fate, as one of his own signature moves.
* HulkHogan and The UltimateWarrior -- both tall, tanned, musclebound, [[PopularityPower insanely-popular-and-powerful]] brawler/power wrestlers hailing from the southwestern United States (OK, Warrior's from PartsUnknown, but the man behind the gimmick's from Arizona) with a bodyslam-heavy arsenal and the ability to [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya hulk up]] in '80s/early-'90s [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]]. Of course, the fans just ''had'' to see them battle each other at ''{{Wrestlemania}} VI''.
** And considering the two involved, the resulting match was more awesome than it had any right to be.
*** Could Macho Man RandySavage be a Sakura? Similar style, slightly different moves but same general idea?
* BrockLesnar and {{Goldberg}} -- both were [[LightningBruiser big, fast and strong]] {{Showy Invincible Hero}}es of their respective brands during the Brand Extension era. The two finally met at ''Wrestlemania XX'', but unfortunately, unlike Hogan and Warrior above, the match was an EpicFail.
* BookerT and [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. Somewhat justified due to them being the AlternateCompanyEquivalent of each other.
* Recently Wrestling/CMPunk and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] are this due to being former RingOfHonor main eventers who now main event WWE. They are both very technical wrestler who, due to them having short haircuts, beards, wrestling trunks and t-shirts, look like [[PaletteSwap palette swaps]] of each other.
!!'''RealLife examples:'''
* Lions and Tigers. Both are big cats of a similar size that kill prey with a bite to the back of the neck. In fiction where the hero is confronted by a big cat, lions and tigers are interchangeable. In Asia, Tigers are also associated with the same [[AnimalStereotypes characteristics that Lions represent]] (Pride, leadership, honour etc). And in case of Asia, there once were a sizable population of lions (specifically, in India), making the population overlap each other.
** Don't forget Jaguars and Leopards.
* Hawks and Eagles.
* Lennon and [=McCartney=].
* JackieChan and JetLi. Back in the 80s, Jackie and ChuckNorris also had this kind of relationship, both training under BruceLee.
** Jackie is the [[RedOniBlueOni Blue Oni]] to Norris' Red Oni, but Red Oni to TheStoic JetLi.
* Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith. Equally skilled, worked for the same rodeo show for a number of years, and were frequently rivals, until Smith embarrassed herself in front of the Queen of England during an international show and largely retired from active performing soon afterwards.
* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' superchampions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings are the two highest scoring human contestants in the show's history, each having won over $3 million, while no other human contestant has ever won even $1 million (or anywhere close). Their encyclopedic knowledge and lightning fast reflexes meant they were only ever a challenge for each other and a supercomputer (Brad only ever lost to the IBM supercomputer Watson, and Ken's loss in regular play occurred because he made a mistake, mistakes being a principal reason for losing, in his 75th match. The beneficiary of said mistake proceeded to lose the next match as a one-time champion.)
* New York City and Los Angeles for the USA cities.
* Professional footballers, Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Both play on the right wing, both are quick, both are English, and both play for a North London Club. (Tottenham Hotspur for Lennon, Arsenal for Walcott) As an added bonus, Lennon plays in white and Walcott plays in Red.
* Anacondas and Pythons.
* TupacShakur and NotoriousBIG.
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shotoclone_9291.JPG]]]]
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A common trope seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, where two or more characters are given equal or similar abilities and moves. They may look similar, and in older games will likely be HeadSwap or PaletteSwap of one another, but this is not required; indeed, in SoulCalibur, one human character has similar moves to a bear. Generally, if the characters aren't exactly alike, one such character will be faster, another will be stronger, and a third may have more endurance. DivergentCharacterEvolution may serve to further differentiate such characters in sequels.
This is often [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the game's backstory ([[ExcusePlot if it has any]]) by the characters being family members or having trained in the same school.
Compare CosmeticallyDifferentSides. Contrast {{Ditto Fighter}}, where a character copies ''every'' character he fights against. ShotoClone is a subtrope, if these clones appear in the same game.
Named after two main characters from StreetFighter. Not to be confused with Ryu and Ken from NinjaGaiden, or Ken and Ryu from FistOfTheNorthStar (neither of which is an example of this trope), nor with Ryu and Ken of the FiveManBand in ScienceNinjaTeam.
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!!Examples:
* The FightingGame {{Ur Example}}s are the identical fighters from ''VideoGame/KarateChamp''. Completely identical fighting styles, and they even wore a white and red gi.
* The trope codifiers and trope namers, [[TropeNamer obviously]], are Ryu and Ken from Capcom's ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' franchise, having appeared in every game in the series to date. At first, they started off as clones of one another, having the exact same movesets and being merely head-swaps of one another (because the original ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' had no scope for [[MirrorMatch mirror matches]], so they needed two identical characters for two-player competition play). During the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' games, their stats, moves, and strategies began to differentiate, albeit little by little each new iteration (by ''Super Turbo'' the duo had different normal attacks and supers, whereas in ''The World Warrior'', literally the only difference is Ken's kick throw spins an extra time), but by the time the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series started they had distinct backstories and extremely similar, but not identical, abilities. Naturally, the series also includes the Sakura, Akuma, and Dan-types as well (unsurprisingly, the characters with those names).
** Though Sakura and Karin look like they would be Ryu and Ken reincarnated as teenage girls, Karin has an entirely different fighting style from her rival.
** Yun and Yang originally had the same move set and even shared the same character select slot in ''New Generation'', but Yang eventually learned his own techniques from ''2nd Impact'' and onward. Urien and Gill are similar, but Urien is a charge-type character and [[SNKBoss not as brokenly overpowered.]]
** Akuma and Gouken in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''. They're actually brothers.
** Zangief got Darun from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterEX''. Haggar could count as well, but they have never been fighters in the same game so far (although Haggar did get his own unique Special Moves in ''Ring of Destruction'' to set him apart from Zangief). Ryu and Ken also have Allen and Kairi from ''EX''
** Cammy has Juni and Juli, Bison's bodyguards, in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3''.
** Charlie was originally brought in as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute stand-in]] for Guile during the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series, but plays this trope straight when Guile was put back in the roster for the console versions of ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', (and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'') where they both have identical special moves but different Super Combos. Chronologically speaking, the ''Alpha'' series is set before ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' and Charlie was the one who taught Guile all of his special moves according to his back-story.
* SNK's AlternateCompanyEquivalent, ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', has Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami. Their movesets were originally somewhat similar (justified in that their ancestors created their respective fightig styles together), with several shared moves; Currently, however, they only have one move in common. Kyo's flames are red, and Iori's are purple due to the [[DeadlyUpgrade Curse of the Blood Riot]]. Iori is much more sadistic, [[AntiHero although not an outright villain]] (even though he likes to break into {{evil laugh}}ter from time to time). Kyo is also the Ryu to Benimaru Nikado's Ken, and the Ken to his father Saisyu's Ryu.
** Non-protagonist examples from the same series are Ralf and Clark, and Mature and Vice. Ralf and Clark, the PaletteSwap heroes of ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'', started out as head swaps with differing intros, winposes, throws, knockdown moves, effects on one of their shared attacks, and desperation moves. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine these two were ever that similar. Mature and Vice, on the other hand, shared outfits, normal moves, throws, and one special move (a command throw) in their ''[='96=]'' debut. Like the Ikari Warriors, their ''[='98=]'' return had them undergo DivergentCharacterEvolution such that all that remained the same were their weak punches and throws.
** They are all predated, of course, by Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia in the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series (which also has its own equivalents of Sakura and Akuma, in Yuri and Takuma/Mr. Karate, respectively).
** [[GenerationXerox Kim's sons]], [[PlayingWithFire Kim Jae Hoon]] and [[ShockAndAwe Kim Dong Hwan]], however, play very similarly to each other and to their father in ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Garou: Mark of the Wolves]]''.
** Shingo may not have flames, but his fighting style is similar enough to be the Sakura/Dan to Kyo and Iori, though his new twists to the moves make him [[LethalJokeCharacter more than]] just a carbon copy of Kyo. The fact that his moves are fairly weak in comparison to other characters means he skews more towards Dan, though he tends to be much more viable.
** Predating even ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'''s Ryo and Robert are the three-man RyuAndKen [[AndZoidberg And Ren? Kyu?]] team of Terry, Andy and Joe in the original ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' only. They each had a fireball, a dashing attack, and a flying attack with the potential to hit multiple times, with only their fourth special and the ranges on their normal attacks being functionally different (and even that fourth move was incredibly similar for Terry and Andy). ''Fatal Fury 2'' added more and more varied normal attacks, tweaked the properties of their specials to help differentiate them, and gave them each a completely unique [[LimitBreak Desperation Move.]] Nowadays, their gameplay styles are nothing alike.
** ''The King of Fighters XIII'' brings back an older, almost-forgotten example: friendly rivals Joe Higashi and Hwa Jai (from the first ''VideoGame/FatalFury''). They share many a move, but there is a difference functionality-wise.
* Hanzo and Fuuma from ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'', a FightingGame with characters loosely based on historical figures. Japanese legend depicts Fuuma Kotaro and Hattori Hanzo as lifelong enemies, until the former ultimately killed the latter (though history actually records Hanzo dying of natural causes).
* Urs and Marco Van De Land from ''VideoGame/BattleFantasia'', who also happen to be brothers. It's a weird case as 9-year-old Marco is the Ryu to 17-year-old Urs' Ken. And they manage to do this and come off as amazingly different at the same time, partly because of Urs' ImpossiblyCoolWeapon.
** Another example from the same game is Olivia and Odile, who look similar, have similar weapons, and it turns out that [[spoiler: Dokurod cloned Olivia to create Odile]].
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series, there is the Mishima family (Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin and Devil & Angel (although not related to the Mishimas by bloodline, the later actually use Mishima Style karate). Jin, however, changed his style to a more traditional form of karate starting with ''Tekken 4'', getting himself out of the equation, [[spoiler:and then [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Devil Jin]] appeared in ''Tekken 5'', sporting the same moves the old Jin had, along with some Devil/Angel ones]]. Also, most of these characters started off as virtual clones of one another, until DivergentCharacterEvolution kicked in in later games:
** Nina and Anna Williams.
** Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu.
** King and Armor King.
** Roger and Alex (also related to the Kings, fighting style wise).
** Jack and P.Jack.
** Eddy Gordo and both Tiger Jackson (in ''3'') and Christie (''4'' and onwards)
** Kuma and Panda.
** Baek and Hwoarang, atleast since ''5''.
*** But their case in particular is noteworthy for Hwoarang in ''3'' actually being just a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Baek from ''2'', with only one or two moves in common (the others being fairly similar, but not entirely identical to the originals) until they were reunited in ''5'' where the amount of identical moves they shared was increased quite a bit.
** Marshall Law/Forest Law and Mokujin/Combot would count too, albeit they were never together in one game (besides ''Tag 2'').
** Julia and Michelle, although, again, they haven't been together in any game besides the ''Tag'' ones ([[spoiler:however, one might argue that Jaycee is "different" from Julia - but just like Jin did in ''4'', as Jaycee in ''Tag 2'' she uses a different fighting style]]).
** Jun and her "offsprings", Asuka and, [[spoiler:as of ''Tag 2'', Unknown]].
** In ''Tag 2'' there are more newcomers: Lili and Sebastian, and also Lee and Violet (actually meant to be the same guy, but they do have slight differences in their movelist too).
* Eiji Shinjo and Kayin Amoh from ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''. Eiji's lost brother Sho qualifies as an Akuma -- he has all of both Kayin and Eiji's moves, but he hits harder, and he shoots two fireballs when using Rekku Zan.
* Sub-Zero and Scorpion from ''MortalKombat'' are about the closest thing the franchise has to a Ryu and Ken. They share the same PaletteSwap in the original game, and they are quite bitter rivals in canon (Scorpion being the RedOni and Sub-Zero being literally Blue), but their movesets are quite different, with Sub-Zero favoring ice attacks and Scorpion favoring spears, teleporting and fire.
** Frost is closer to a Sakura for Sub-Zero, due to her being much more of a FragileSpeedster with much quicker but weaker attacks and special moves.
** (Human) Smoke's moveset ''is'' Scorpion's, save for not doing Scorp's "Get over here!"/"Come here!" yell when he connects with the spear. They are also rivals, as Smoke belongs to the Lin Kuei, the same organization that gave rise to Sub-Zero.
** Kano and Jarek, although this is another case of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute meant to replace the former; they weren't playable in the same game until ''Armageddon''.
** Superman and Captain Marvel in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'' play this. A stranger version is LexLuthor and [[MortalKombat Sektor]], who don't appear in the same game, but Luthor plays similarly to Sektor, even blatantly using similar special moves.
* In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'', Ryu and Ken, except this time Ken is Ken the Eagle from ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''.
** With the addition of [[TheLancer Joe the Condor]] in the ''Ultimate All Stars'', along with Jun acting as the Sakura, the three Gatchamen play this trope straight among themselves.
** Likewise with Tekkaman and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''Ultimate All Stars'': The Tekkamen have many shared/similar techniques, but their executions are noticeably distinct. Tekkaman (the Ryu) is a MightyGlacier (and might have the highest damage output in the game outside of the Giant characters), while Blade (the Ken) trades in some power for a good deal of speed, possibly making him just shy of being a LightningBruiser.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Melee'', in addition to standard secret characters, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Falco Lombardi, Young Link, Pichu and Roy are Kens to the Ryus of the character they are adjacent to (respectively, Mario, Captain Falcon, Fox [=McCloud=], Link, Pikachu, and Marth).
** Luigi is also largely a Ken of Mario's Ryu (or a Sakura to his brother if you toss in Dr. Mario), though there are some differences in their move sets (see below).
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', Lucas acts as this to Ness.
** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', more differences were introduced between Fox and Falco (Falco, for instance, can kick his Reflector shield at enemies as an attack), and a third Ken, Wolf O'Donnell was introduced, though he has even more move differences (in fact, none of his A moves are similiar to the other two space furries), is harder to control, and is more of a MightyGlacier. The rest of the Kens were also changed to be different or removed.
*** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link and Toon Link. Ganondorf]] and Captain Falcon are still close (the former still feels like a MightyGlacier version of the latter), everyone else is more notably different but no one is similar as the characters were in Melee.
* ''GodHand'', a throwback to old-school {{Fighting Game}}s, nods to it with Gene and Azel. There's also several nods to the ''actual'' Ryu, including a karate outfit as an alternate costume and a Shoryuken as one of Gene's juggle moves. Capcom owned Clover, who made God Hand.
* ''[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur III]]'' and ''IV'' seem to be taking this route with Siegfried and Nightmare. Only fair since they ''literally'' [[EnemyWithout started out the same character]].
** The Alexandra sisters (Sophitia and Cassandra) have developed along these lines as well since the latter showed up in ''[=SCII=]'' (Though the latter was originally intended as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute until popular demand brought back the former for the console version of ''[=SCII=]'' and subsequent sequels).
** Hwang and Mitsurugi started out like this.
** [[DropTheHammer Rock]] and [[AnAxeToGrind Astaroth]].
** Raphael and Amy.
** Kilik and Seong-Mina also shared a lot of moves in ''Soul Calibur'' in spite of their [[SimpleStaff different]] [[BladeOnAStick weapons]], but have differentiated more and more with each subsequent sequel. Seong-Mina's moves are straightforward and have changed the least, while Kilik now focuses on range and punishing opponents' mistakes.
* Galford and Hanzo of ''SamuraiShodown''. Originally being little more than palette/head swaps of one another, they eventually became more and more different with the addition of Hanzo's fire-based specials and Galford's ability to set his dog Poppy against opponents.
** We also have Nakoruru and Rimururu. In the third and fourth game, the latter was a headswap of the former. They were quickly given different outfits in the later games. Nakoruru fights with a bird, Rimururu fights with a floating NatureSpirit crystal [[AnIcePerson of ice]].
*** Some of the Shura (Slash) and Rasetsu (Bust) mode pairs are like this in ''III'' and ''IV'', while others are way different.
* In the ''VideoGame/NarutoClashOfNinja'' series, Iruka and Mizuki are this (in Mizuki's first appearance, the two ''shared character slots''). Also, Kisame and Zabuza, both Swordsmen of the Mist, have similar movesets (more obvious in the Japanese games where they're both playable; Zabuza does not appear in the internationally-released ''Clash of Ninja Revolution'' games, while [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Kisame does]]).
** Hinata and Neji have similar movelists, but many of Hinata's moves are original to the games (for example, instead of using Eight Trigrams 64 Palms, she repeatedly attacks an opponent with Gentle Fist palm strikes, then finishes with a burst of chakra), due to limited information on her fighting style. In the ''Ultimate Ninja'' series, Hanabi (Hinata's younger sister) follows a similar principle.
** The game-exclusive characters in ''Revolution 2'' count. Komachi is similar to Haku and Kagura is like Kimimaro. Towa and Bando, this troper is unsure of.
* Biff Slamkovich and Gunloc in the ''VideoGame/SaturdayNightSlamMasters'' series. Like Ryu and Ken, they have similar but not identical moves; The real differences come out in their grapples.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' features Heart and Saki, two friends with slightly different outfits who share a few normal attacks and both feature a dash attack, an anti-air attack, and a mid-air stomp attack. However, Heart's attacks are punch-based and use quarter-circle type inputs, while Saki's are kick-based and use charge motions.
* In ''{{Ehrgeiz}}'', the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' characters are generally clones of other characters and have very similar movesets. Yuffie matches up with Sasuke, Vincent with Godhand, and (to some extent) Sephiroth with Cloud.
** SecretCharacter Zack is very much a Ken to Cloud's Ryu, sharing a similiar move set.
* Billy and Jimmy Lee naturally filled this role in the NeoGeo ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' FightingGame, as well as in ''Double Dragon V'' for the [=SNES=] and Genesis.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' has Morrigan the succubus and Demitri the vampire. They both have the standard "fireball" and "dragon punch"-style moves. Dmitri's moves are slower, and his uppercut flies straight up.
** Lilith is the Sakura, having weaker specials than Morrigan, but a more diverse moveset.
** Another set would be Bishamon and Oboro Bishamon in 'Vampire Savior''.
* Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''. Unusual in that Sol (the main character) plays closer to Ken, while Ky (who is TheRival) plays like Ryu.
* ''CastlevaniaJudgment'' has an interesting case with Simon and Trevor. Both Belmonts use the Vampire Killer whip and have several similar moves (including at least one identical special), but Simon specilizes in quick, wide sweeps, while Trevor mixes it up with several jabs and slower, more powerful attacks.
* ''MeltyBlood'' has a handful of characters with a {{Doppelganger}} equivalent that serve as a MirrorMatch, and so have some very similar movesets, natch.
* ''VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo'' has [[TheHero Yuka Takeuchi]] and [[{{Ninja}} Chiho Masuda]] as its primary set; the second game introduced [[AscendedFangirl Tamao Mitsurugi]], a hybrid Ken/Sakura-type and the main character of that game.
* In the {{SNES}} version of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'', Leonardo is the Ryu-type while Michelangelo is the Ken-type with faster, multi-hitting attacks (as well as being a Charge Character).
* ''Battle K-Road'',an arcade-only fighting game released by Psikyo in 1994, features an entire character roster consisting of head/palette swaps. There are two karatekas, two boxers, two Thai kickboxers, two Jujitsu girls, two sumo wrestlers, two commandos and even two Terminator-like cyborgs. The only character without a head-swap is naturally the final boss himself.
* Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, the sequel to StarGladiator, more than doubled the roster of the original game by adding 14 new characters. Most of them mirrored one of the characters in the original cast, having similar weapons and movesets.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with [[RobotGirl Labrys]] and [[ShadowArchetype Shadow Labrys]] in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4 Arena}}''. They have nearly identical non-Persona attacks (only that Shadow Labrys' is weaker but faster), but wildly different Persona attacks, leading to different combos and overall different playstyles.
* Jotaro and Dio in Capcom's ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fighter have similar movesets, with the main differences being in their super combos (Jotaro's are souped-up versions of his specials, whereas Dio has more variety in his). Interestingly for this trope, despite being the main characters (or rather, the main character and main villain), their learning curves are among the more difficult in the game.
!!Outside of {{Fighting Game}}s:
* ''KingdomHearts'':
** Riku and Sora from ''KingdomHearts'', until Riku gets lured to the side of darkness and becomes a RivalTurnedEvil.
** And in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]'', Roxas and Xion play identical to each other, with the exception of Roxas's dual-wield ability.
* Cloud and Zack from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', since [[spoiler: Cloud has mannerisms, memories, and parts of his personality "borrowed" from Zack, for traumatic reasons.]] This is a key point in [[spoiler: numerous key points in the game, including his migraines, voices in his head, why Aerith is initially attracted to him, why Sephiroth can control him, etc. etc. etc.]].
* Tails from ''SonicTheHedgehog'' started out as a Ken to Sonic's Ryu, in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Since then, Sega did try to slowly differate him, by letting the player actually take advange of his flying ability.
** Similarly, ''Sonic Adventure 2'' gives three sets of Ryus and Kens (Shadow to Sonic, Eggman to Tails and Rouge to Knuckles)
*** ''Sonic Heroes'' kind of went overboard. With Team Sonic as The Ryu, Team Dark as The Ken, Team Rose as the Sakura and Team Chaotix as The Dan
* Bub and Bob, from ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. Later games in the series did give them ([[CanonDiscontinuity their descendants?]]) different abilities and personalities, as well as a female-duo BetaCouple in one game.
* Luigi has often been the Ken to Mario's Ryu throughout the ''SuperMarioBros.'' games, though whatever rivalry is there is questionable. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'', they even have the same moves; Luigi gains one unique special and some different normal moves for the sequel (probably so they wouldn't have Luigi, Mario, and Dr. Mario all on the same moveset), but still plays a lot like his brother.
** In both versions of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' (the Japanese one known as ''The Lost Levels'' outside Japan), Luigi is slightly faster, slightly weaker, and jumps higher than Mario.
*** Ditto for [[spoiler: ''Super Mario Galaxy''.]]
** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' for SNES had no less than FOUR Ryu/Ken pairs. Mario and Luigi once again played Ryu and Ken to each other (as well as being JackOfAllStats), but Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser (best top speed), Yoshi and The Princess (best acceleration), and Koopa and Toad (best handling) also formed their own Ryu/Ken pairs.
*** The following ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' games have continued this tradition, with ''Double Dash!!'' taking it to somewhat ridiculous levels.
** Daisy is also a Ken to Peach in her first few apperances in spin off games. She quickly diverged into being diffrent but games like Mario Party and Mario Kart Double dash the two play exactly the same.
* Similar to the ''Mario Kart'' example, characters in ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'' were paired up by skill: Crash and Cortex ({{The Mario}}s), Coco and N.Gin (best acceleration), Tiny and Dingodile (best top speed) and Pura and Polar (best handling).
* Kratos Aurion and Zelos Wilder from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' use the same weapon types, and have similar stats and identical special moves. With the exception of one single dungeon, however, only one will ever be in the party at a time.
** Worth noting that the differences between them are more pronounced in the Playstation 2 remake, especially in special moves. Even in the GC version, Kratos has [[spoiler:Judgement, an angel technique, that Zelos can't get (in that version, anyway).]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
** For the brief time he is playable in Majora's Mask, Kafei has identical animations to Link, from walking to flinching. This was done to easily incorporate his playability into the engine.
* [[TheHero Luke]] and [[SixthRanger Asch]] from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', whose move sets [[spoiler:and physical appearances]] are identical apart from Asch having a few [[MagicKnight offensive spells]] that Luke doesn't. This is explained as being due to their having learned to fight from the same teacher. [[spoiler: Plus Luke is a clone of Asch, which helps. It's also lampshaded in one sidequest where Luke effectively gives this as a reason for them to be MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers.]]
* Folka Albark and Fernando Albark in ''SuperRobotWarsCompact3''. Even their mechs were originally palette swaps... before they get upgraded.
* ''[[VideoGame/GalaxyAngel Galaxy Angel II]]'' combines this with {{Expy}}. Apricot, Milfeulle's younger sister, is JackOfAllStats, just like Milfie was, but for most of the first game, Milfie is retired from the military and is now a BarrierMaiden and DistressedDamsel. [[spoiler:In the end of that game, when she's freed, she and the Moon Angels join up with the Rune Angels and you can control both at the same time.]]
* Every ''FireEmblem'' game has one of these, known as the Red and Green Knights. They're both Cavaliers (or axe fighters) who's only difference is stats.
** FireEmblemAkaneia: Cain and Abel
** FireEmblemJugdral: Alec and Noish, Othin and Halvan (though they're not Cavaliers, but Axe Fighters)
** FireEmblemElibe: Lance and Allen, Wade and Lott (again, Axe Fighters); Kent and Sain, to a degree Dorcas and Bartre (Axe fighters version)
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones: Forde and Kyle
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius: Arguably, Oscar and Kieran
** VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening: Stalh and Sully (the latter being the first ever female member of the duo) fill the Cavalier role again, but this is the first game in the series to apply this trope to the ''mages''. Miriel and Ricken are the Ryu-Ken pair for regular Mages (Miriel being a straight-up SquishyWizard with Ricken, [[AdorablyPrecociousChild oddly enough]] being more of a StoneWall), Tharja and Henry are the Dark Mage duo. (Tharja being a GlassCannon with poor accuracy, Henry leaning more towards JackOfAllStats)
* In ''DungeonsAndDragons: Shadow Over Mystara'', the Cleric and Magic User classes have slightly different spells in addition to different sprites for player 1 and player 2.
* As mentioned previously, the ''IkariWarriors'' Ralf and Clark (renamed "Paul" and "Vince") started out as this.
* Bill Rizer and Lance Bean in the initial three ''{{Contra}}'' games (including the console ports of the first two). Later installments would have other "Ken's" for Bill's "Ryu".
* VideoGame/MegaMan and Proto Man.
** With Bass as the Akuma.
*** Ironically, while Bass ''is'' statistically the stronger robot, it is his overconfidence that prevents him from defeating Mega Man.
** Depending on the game (for example, the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series), Roll functions as some combo of the Dan/Sakura. Other times, Capcom has her go the [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]] route by making her a physically-oriented fighter.
* Ryu and Ken Hayabusa (son and father, respectively) from the ''NinjaGaiden'' arcade game (or not; no one's really sure. In the arcade game, they're supposed to be nameless)
* Many consider Fox [=McCloud=] and Falco Lombardi from the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' games to be this (as noted in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' related entries).
* [[IncrediblyLamePun "Polly and Gon"]] from ''BakuBakuAnimal''
* [[GanbareGoemon Goemon]] and Ebisumaru (indeed, in "TheLegendOfTheMysticalNinja" they were renamed "Kid Ying" and "Dr. Yang" respectively)
* [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall and Seifer]], both being practitioners of ExoticWeaponSupremacy [[spoiler: (and also being raised together)]] use similar moves, although with wildy different applications. In fact, these over-similarities are what kept Seifer out of ''DissidiaFinalFantasy''.
* ''SoulNomad'' has Ido/Dio and Yodo/Odie. Storywise, Yodo is Dan to Ido's Ryu, but gameplay makes him Ken. He also cry "Dark Plasma" when doing Thunderbuster, a copy of Ido's Dark Plasma.
* The original 2 sides from ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', Swadia and Vaegir, are such, [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Swadians sharing]] [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Vaegirs a troop tree]] progression. Swadian ranged units use crossbows while the Vaegir's use bows, Swadian infantry uses sword and board and heavy armor while Vaegirs use 2 handed weapons and lighter armor (for quicker speed) and their cavalry shares the defense/power trade off. The stand alone expansion introduces the Sarranids [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade:_Warband/Sarranids also]] share a troop tree, who are more focused on speed, making them Sakura type.
* ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'' has a few examples. Most are of the appearance kind. For particularly notable examples:
** Plusle and Minun, who are basically Pichu with plus signs and minus signs respectively for their ears and tails. They also share a type and have slightly differing base stats. They even act as the main partner Pokémon in one of the ''Ranger'' games!
** Latios and Latias, among a few other opposite gender twins, have similar stat distributions (but not the same - Latias has 20 more special defense and 10 more defense, while Latios has 20 more special attack and 10 more attack), and quite similar appearance.
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Pokémon Black and White Versions]]'' have given us the legendary Kami trio: Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. They all look similar, have similar base stats (Tornadus and Thundurus LITERALLY have the same base stats - Landorus has 20 extra defense points, 10 less special attack points and 10 more attack points,) and they all are at least part Flying-type.
*** The elemental monkeys also play this straight in three: Pansage, Pansear and Panpour as well as Simisage, Simisear and Simipour, their respective evolutions. Among the group of three, they have the exact same stats and their only difference are their elemental type and their [[ElementalBaggage move pools]] associated with them.
** Charizard and Typhlosion. Exact same base stats, both fire type starters (of regions right next to each other and sharing a Pokémon League, no less) the only difference between the two is that Charizard is part flying type and slightly different movepools.
* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series, particularly the prequel (third) game, has the brothers Dante and Vergil.
** Actually, the trope holds up better in the first game, where [[BlackKnight Nelo]] [[WorthyOpponent Angelo]] (aka [[spoiler:BrainwashedAndCrazy!Vergil]]) fights [[MirrorBoss using the exact same style as Dante]], only while Dante is a more of a LightningBruiser, Nelo Angelo is a MightyGlacier with a {{BFS}} who uses [[FlashStep a translocation technique]] to move around the battlefield.
** Also, to a degree, Dante and Nero in ''[=DMC4=]''.
* [[LadyOfWar Valeria]] and [[TheTease Anita]] in ''SuikodenII''. Similar fighting styles and stats, and both own a Falcon Rune. They're also rivals.
* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} has SpaceMarines and [[FaceHeelTurn Chaos Space Marines]]. Chaos Marines are often derisively thought of as mere "spiky marines", due to the fact that they still use largely human weapons, tactics, units, statlines, and even STCs. The trade-off is that "Loyalist" Marines get [[GeniusBruiser superior technology]] ([[AntiMagic Psychic Hoods]], [[DropTheHammer Thunder Hammers]], [[FlyingCar Land Speeders]], [[ItsRainingMen Drop Pods]]...), while Chaos Marines get [[DealWithTheDevil daemonic pacts]] (Cult Marines[[hottip:*:[[MagiTek Thousand Sons]], [[AxCrazy Khorne Berserkers]], [[MightyGlacier Plague Marines]], and [[ThePowerOfRock Noise Marines]], one for each major daemonic patron]], Icons of Chaos, [[AWizardDidIt sorcerous powers]], [[EldritchAbomination Daemon allies]], [[OurMonstersAreWeird mutant specialists]]...)
* In the first ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' game, Matsu used Kenshin's weapons moveset. Kasuga as well for Sasuke. In later games however Matsu and Kasuga got their own unique moves, the former using a [[BladeOnAStick naginata]] while the latter used RazorWire attached to kunai. Similarly, quite a few polearm-using characters used Toshiie or Shingen's movesets before getting their own.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Strider}} 2'', Strider Hiryu and Strider Hien. Both use the same techniques, but Hiryu is mostly close-and-personal, while Hien uses [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang throwing weapons]].
* Out of the four playable characters in ''VideoGame/PanzerBandit'', [[KidHero Kou]] and [[ActionGirl Kasumi]] have a similar set of skills and attacks, though Kasumi is slighty faster and combo-oriented. There's also [[TheRival Jin]], who fights [[MirrorBoss identical to Kou]].
* ''VideoGame/GIJoe'' subverts this, Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes and Roadblock all look very differently, but play exactly the same.
* In VideoGame/ApeEscape is Spike and Jimmy.
* The Qiao Sisters, [[YamatoNadeshiko Da Qiao]] and [[TomboyPrincess Xiao Qiao]] from {{Dynasty Warriors}}.
* [[FireIceLightning Rin Rin, Fei Rin, and Ai Rin]] from ''AnarchyReigns'' all share the same moveset, except for their Killer Weapons.
** The same for [[spoiler: Garuda and SecretCharacter Gargoyle]]
* In ''WarriorsLegendsOfTroy'', there is Achilles and Patroklos on the Greek side as well as Hector and Aeneas for the Trojans.
* Gunstars Red and Blue are this in Gunstar Heroes series. In the first game, their difference are merely some frames and the fact one has to stand still to shoot and the other only stops moving to shoot when hanging to something. In the sequel, however, both could move and shoot, lock aim or lock movement, but what made them different is that one had a machine gun and the other a laser gun. Well, that and some visual differences as well.
** And Gunstar Green is the Akuma.
*** If Gunstar Green is the Akuma, then Smash Daisaku is the Dan and Golden Silver is Shin Akuma.
!!In other media:
[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' also loves this trope. Examples:
** Loran and Gym having the Moonlight Butterfly.
** Amuro and Char having the Psycoframe and funnels.
** [[spoiler: Heero and Zechs having the Zero System and Transforming Mechs]].
** Domon and Master Asia has the same fighting style, but is better defined as Ryu and Akuma.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has Kallen and Suzaku. Their mechs look similar, [[spoiler:and later have the same wings.]]
* MazingerZ and GreatMazinger could actualy be one of the earliest example. Both have exact same kind of weapon, the difference come with Mazinger Z having more ranged based and have less variety of weapons and Great Mazinger has more weapon variety and more melee based weapon than Mazinger Z.
** Mazinger Z's long range weapon is more developed than Great Mazinger, such as the corrosive [[BlowYouAway Rust Tornado]], posession of [[EyeBeam Koshiryoku Beam]] and [[FreezeRay Reitou Beam]] and its detachable wing also function as Throwing Weapon. Later on its upgrade focus on enchancing this by giving the RocketPunch a power boost or spinning it before launching the attack.
** Great Mazinger's Great Typhoon lacks the corrosive property of Mazinger Z, and lacks Koshiryoku Beam. In return, it has several melee oriented weapons, and most of them are [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter physical]] such as a pair of Mazinger Sword, Great Boomerang, and Knee spikes and Curved Blade on front of its leg. To make up for this, Great Mazinger also have [[ShockAndAwe Thunder Break]] for long range weapon and his FinishingMove, and Tetsuya makes it up by using his weapon creatively, such as throwing his swords or using Breast Burn to cover his body. His upgrades gives him better capability on both side, since Great Booster function as long range weapon, and gives increase on speed.
** Both {{Grendizer}} and {{Mazinkaiser}} serves as the Akuma, both combines the aspect of two machines and put them on one mecha. Grendizer is more simmilar to Great, while Mazinkaiser is more simmilar to Z.
** Ironically, in VideoGame/SuperRobotWars, Z become more of a mellee based unit while Great become a better sniper unit thanks to his multitude of long range weapons, while Grendizer become JackOfAllTrades and Mazinkaiser become LightningBruiser of the group.
* [[Manga/DragonBall Goku and Vegeta]]. Both are full blood Saiyans with similar fighting styles and equivalent attacks, (Kamehameha versus Galik Gun) conflicting personalities and a [[TheRival strong but respectful rivalry]], and they're always close in power level, constantly competing with each other. Their similarities even let them [[FusionDance fuse together]] at one point. Their sons, Goten and Trunks, also show even more shades of this, complete with the fusion part and inheriting their fathers' moves.
* [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and Ryoga]] - Eternal rivals, evenly matched, and even fit the personalities. Ryoga is a stoic chivalrous wanderer like Ryu, whereas Ranma is an arrogant, happy-go-lucky, egomaniac like Ken. The difference being that Ryoga is more powerful, durable, and straightforward, whereas Ranma is swifter, more acrobatic and strategical.
** While many characters see Ranma as their rival, Ryoga is the only one Ranma considers such, they also share an attack (which is their strongest), Ryoga is the strongest character in the series besides Ranma, Happosai and the ocasional Big Bad, they learned their respective second strongest attack from the same teacher (Shampoo's grandmother), Ryoga has beaten Ranma more times than any other character (including Haposai who's supossedly the strongest charater in the series) and he's the only one Ranma trusts enough to willingly fight alongside with.
* ''ZatchBell'' features this for two of the strongest characters in the series; the eponymous ShockAndAwe-based character and his EvilTwin ([[spoiler:prior to his manga-only HeelFaceTurn]]), and GravityMaster Brago and Zofis, his first main foe. The latter's spells are based on explosions.
[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* {{Superman}} and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] have shades of this when they appear together. Since the latter was originally a CaptainErsatz of the former, it's not surprising.
** {{Supergirl}} typically acts as the Sakura to Superman when the two appear together.
** There's also Supergirl and Powergirl.
* Other DC examples include PlasticMan and ElongatedMan who are both [[RubberMan Rubber Men]].
* ComicBook/{{X-Men}}: Banshee and his daughter Siryn; both are quite adept at [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic attacks]]. Siryn's twist is that she also has a CompellingVoice.
** {{X-23}} is the Sakura to {{Wolverine}} in both the comics and VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3.
* {{Spider-Man}} and ComicBook/ScarletSpider could count. Justified in that Scarlet Spider is a clone of Spider-Man. Kaine would be the 'Akuma' as he has their powers dialed UpToEleven. Spider-Girl(Mayday) would arguably be the 'Sakura'
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Peter and Sylar on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* '''Ken'''dra in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is another slayer roughly Buffy's height, age, and weight with moves similar to Buffy's.
** Later on, Buffy and Faith, Faith getting a [[IncrediblyLamePun Faith]] [[FaceHeelTurn Heel Turn]].
** Several characters seem to go through this. Spike and Angel are initially presented as virtual mirrors of one another, but by the end of the series their fighting styles are presented in deliberate contrast.
*** Only if you ignore the fact that Angel has about 50lbs on Spike and yeah he is also 5 inches taller.
[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]
* TheUndertaker and Wrestler/{{Kane}}. They use the same moves, are {{Kayfabe}} brothers of similar size and general appearance and, at various times, have been the two top guys in the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF/E]] - most especially when Kane first debuted. They also have fairly similar movesets; both being fond of using the chokeslam and tombstone.
* [[MattHardy Matt]] and JeffHardy are another pair in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Jeff has more daredevil high-flying moves, while Matt is the more solid wrestler, but on the whole, their styles are extremely similar, and they have an on-again, off-again case of SiblingRivalry writ-large. Jeff even uses Matt's FinishingMove, the Twist of Fate, as one of his own signature moves.
* HulkHogan and The UltimateWarrior -- both tall, tanned, musclebound, [[PopularityPower insanely-popular-and-powerful]] brawler/power wrestlers hailing from the southwestern United States (OK, Warrior's from PartsUnknown, but the man behind the gimmick's from Arizona) with a bodyslam-heavy arsenal and the ability to [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya hulk up]] in '80s/early-'90s [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]]. Of course, the fans just ''had'' to see them battle each other at ''{{Wrestlemania}} VI''.
** And considering the two involved, the resulting match was more awesome than it had any right to be.
*** Could Macho Man RandySavage be a Sakura? Similar style, slightly different moves but same general idea?
* BrockLesnar and {{Goldberg}} -- both were [[LightningBruiser big, fast and strong]] {{Showy Invincible Hero}}es of their respective brands during the Brand Extension era. The two finally met at ''Wrestlemania XX'', but unfortunately, unlike Hogan and Warrior above, the match was an EpicFail.
* BookerT and [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. Somewhat justified due to them being the AlternateCompanyEquivalent of each other.
* Recently Wrestling/CMPunk and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] are this due to being former RingOfHonor main eventers who now main event WWE. They are both very technical wrestler who, due to them having short haircuts, beards, wrestling trunks and t-shirts, look like [[PaletteSwap palette swaps]] of each other.
!!'''RealLife examples:'''
* Lions and Tigers. Both are big cats of a similar size that kill prey with a bite to the back of the neck. In fiction where the hero is confronted by a big cat, lions and tigers are interchangeable. In Asia, Tigers are also associated with the same [[AnimalStereotypes characteristics that Lions represent]] (Pride, leadership, honour etc). And in case of Asia, there once were a sizable population of lions (specifically, in India), making the population overlap each other.
** Don't forget Jaguars and Leopards.
* Hawks and Eagles.
* Lennon and [=McCartney=].
* JackieChan and JetLi. Back in the 80s, Jackie and ChuckNorris also had this kind of relationship, both training under BruceLee.
** Jackie is the [[RedOniBlueOni Blue Oni]] to Norris' Red Oni, but Red Oni to TheStoic JetLi.
* Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith. Equally skilled, worked for the same rodeo show for a number of years, and were frequently rivals, until Smith embarrassed herself in front of the Queen of England during an international show and largely retired from active performing soon afterwards.
* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' superchampions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings are the two highest scoring human contestants in the show's history, each having won over $3 million, while no other human contestant has ever won even $1 million (or anywhere close). Their encyclopedic knowledge and lightning fast reflexes meant they were only ever a challenge for each other and a supercomputer (Brad only ever lost to the IBM supercomputer Watson, and Ken's loss in regular play occurred because he made a mistake, mistakes being a principal reason for losing, in his 75th match. The beneficiary of said mistake proceeded to lose the next match as a one-time champion.)
* New York City and Los Angeles for the USA cities.
* Professional footballers, Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Both play on the right wing, both are quick, both are English, and both play for a North London Club. (Tottenham Hotspur for Lennon, Arsenal for Walcott) As an added bonus, Lennon plays in white and Walcott plays in Red.
* Anacondas and Pythons.
* TupacShakur and NotoriousBIG.
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shotoclone_9291.JPG]]]]
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A common trope seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, where two or more characters are given equal or similar abilities and moves. They may look similar, and in older games will likely be HeadSwap or PaletteSwap of one another, but this is not required; indeed, in SoulCalibur, one human character has similar moves to a bear. Generally, if the characters aren't exactly alike, one such character will be faster, another will be stronger, and a third may have more endurance. DivergentCharacterEvolution may serve to further differentiate such characters in sequels.
This is often [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the game's backstory ([[ExcusePlot if it has any]]) by the characters being family members or having trained in the same school.
Compare CosmeticallyDifferentSides. Contrast {{Ditto Fighter}}, where a character copies ''every'' character he fights against. ShotoClone is a subtrope, if these clones appear in the same game.
Named after two main characters from StreetFighter. Not to be confused with Ryu and Ken from NinjaGaiden, or Ken and Ryu from FistOfTheNorthStar (neither of which is an example of this trope), nor with Ryu and Ken of the FiveManBand in ScienceNinjaTeam.
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!!Examples:
* The FightingGame {{Ur Example}}s are the identical fighters from ''VideoGame/KarateChamp''. Completely identical fighting styles, and they even wore a white and red gi.
* The trope codifiers and trope namers, [[TropeNamer obviously]], are Ryu and Ken from Capcom's ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' franchise, having appeared in every game in the series to date. At first, they started off as clones of one another, having the exact same movesets and being merely head-swaps of one another (because the original ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' had no scope for [[MirrorMatch mirror matches]], so they needed two identical characters for two-player competition play). During the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' games, their stats, moves, and strategies began to differentiate, albeit little by little each new iteration (by ''Super Turbo'' the duo had different normal attacks and supers, whereas in ''The World Warrior'', literally the only difference is Ken's kick throw spins an extra time), but by the time the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series started they had distinct backstories and extremely similar, but not identical, abilities. Naturally, the series also includes the Sakura, Akuma, and Dan-types as well (unsurprisingly, the characters with those names).
** Though Sakura and Karin look like they would be Ryu and Ken reincarnated as teenage girls, Karin has an entirely different fighting style from her rival.
** Yun and Yang originally had the same move set and even shared the same character select slot in ''New Generation'', but Yang eventually learned his own techniques from ''2nd Impact'' and onward. Urien and Gill are similar, but Urien is a charge-type character and [[SNKBoss not as brokenly overpowered.]]
** Akuma and Gouken in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''. They're actually brothers.
** Zangief got Darun from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterEX''. Haggar could count as well, but they have never been fighters in the same game so far (although Haggar did get his own unique Special Moves in ''Ring of Destruction'' to set him apart from Zangief). Ryu and Ken also have Allen and Kairi from ''EX''
** Cammy has Juni and Juli, Bison's bodyguards, in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 3''.
** Charlie was originally brought in as a [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute stand-in]] for Guile during the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series, but plays this trope straight when Guile was put back in the roster for the console versions of ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', (and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'') where they both have identical special moves but different Super Combos. Chronologically speaking, the ''Alpha'' series is set before ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' and Charlie was the one who taught Guile all of his special moves according to his back-story.
* SNK's AlternateCompanyEquivalent, ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', has Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami. Their movesets were originally somewhat similar (justified in that their ancestors created their respective fightig styles together), with several shared moves; Currently, however, they only have one move in common. Kyo's flames are red, and Iori's are purple due to the [[DeadlyUpgrade Curse of the Blood Riot]]. Iori is much more sadistic, [[AntiHero although not an outright villain]] (even though he likes to break into {{evil laugh}}ter from time to time). Kyo is also the Ryu to Benimaru Nikado's Ken, and the Ken to his father Saisyu's Ryu.
** Non-protagonist examples from the same series are Ralf and Clark, and Mature and Vice. Ralf and Clark, the PaletteSwap heroes of ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'', started out as head swaps with differing intros, winposes, throws, knockdown moves, effects on one of their shared attacks, and desperation moves. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine these two were ever that similar. Mature and Vice, on the other hand, shared outfits, normal moves, throws, and one special move (a command throw) in their ''[='96=]'' debut. Like the Ikari Warriors, their ''[='98=]'' return had them undergo DivergentCharacterEvolution such that all that remained the same were their weak punches and throws.
** They are all predated, of course, by Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia in the ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' series (which also has its own equivalents of Sakura and Akuma, in Yuri and Takuma/Mr. Karate, respectively).
** [[GenerationXerox Kim's sons]], [[PlayingWithFire Kim Jae Hoon]] and [[ShockAndAwe Kim Dong Hwan]], however, play very similarly to each other and to their father in ''[[VideoGame/FatalFury Garou: Mark of the Wolves]]''.
** Shingo may not have flames, but his fighting style is similar enough to be the Sakura/Dan to Kyo and Iori, though his new twists to the moves make him [[LethalJokeCharacter more than]] just a carbon copy of Kyo. The fact that his moves are fairly weak in comparison to other characters means he skews more towards Dan, though he tends to be much more viable.
** Predating even ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'''s Ryo and Robert are the three-man RyuAndKen [[AndZoidberg And Ren? Kyu?]] team of Terry, Andy and Joe in the original ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' only. They each had a fireball, a dashing attack, and a flying attack with the potential to hit multiple times, with only their fourth special and the ranges on their normal attacks being functionally different (and even that fourth move was incredibly similar for Terry and Andy). ''Fatal Fury 2'' added more and more varied normal attacks, tweaked the properties of their specials to help differentiate them, and gave them each a completely unique [[LimitBreak Desperation Move.]] Nowadays, their gameplay styles are nothing alike.
** ''The King of Fighters XIII'' brings back an older, almost-forgotten example: friendly rivals Joe Higashi and Hwa Jai (from the first ''VideoGame/FatalFury''). They share many a move, but there is a difference functionality-wise.
* Hanzo and Fuuma from ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'', a FightingGame with characters loosely based on historical figures. Japanese legend depicts Fuuma Kotaro and Hattori Hanzo as lifelong enemies, until the former ultimately killed the latter (though history actually records Hanzo dying of natural causes).
* Urs and Marco Van De Land from ''VideoGame/BattleFantasia'', who also happen to be brothers. It's a weird case as 9-year-old Marco is the Ryu to 17-year-old Urs' Ken. And they manage to do this and come off as amazingly different at the same time, partly because of Urs' ImpossiblyCoolWeapon.
** Another example from the same game is Olivia and Odile, who look similar, have similar weapons, and it turns out that [[spoiler: Dokurod cloned Olivia to create Odile]].
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series, there is the Mishima family (Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin and Devil & Angel (although not related to the Mishimas by bloodline, the later actually use Mishima Style karate). Jin, however, changed his style to a more traditional form of karate starting with ''Tekken 4'', getting himself out of the equation, [[spoiler:and then [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Devil Jin]] appeared in ''Tekken 5'', sporting the same moves the old Jin had, along with some Devil/Angel ones]]. Also, most of these characters started off as virtual clones of one another, until DivergentCharacterEvolution kicked in in later games:
** Nina and Anna Williams.
** Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu.
** King and Armor King.
** Roger and Alex (also related to the Kings, fighting style wise).
** Jack and P.Jack.
** Eddy Gordo and both Tiger Jackson (in ''3'') and Christie (''4'' and onwards)
** Kuma and Panda.
** Baek and Hwoarang, atleast since ''5''.
*** But their case in particular is noteworthy for Hwoarang in ''3'' actually being just a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Baek from ''2'', with only one or two moves in common (the others being fairly similar, but not entirely identical to the originals) until they were reunited in ''5'' where the amount of identical moves they shared was increased quite a bit.
** Marshall Law/Forest Law and Mokujin/Combot would count too, albeit they were never together in one game (besides ''Tag 2'').
** Julia and Michelle, although, again, they haven't been together in any game besides the ''Tag'' ones ([[spoiler:however, one might argue that Jaycee is "different" from Julia - but just like Jin did in ''4'', as Jaycee in ''Tag 2'' she uses a different fighting style]]).
** Jun and her "offsprings", Asuka and, [[spoiler:as of ''Tag 2'', Unknown]].
** In ''Tag 2'' there are more newcomers: Lili and Sebastian, and also Lee and Violet (actually meant to be the same guy, but they do have slight differences in their movelist too).
* Eiji Shinjo and Kayin Amoh from ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''. Eiji's lost brother Sho qualifies as an Akuma -- he has all of both Kayin and Eiji's moves, but he hits harder, and he shoots two fireballs when using Rekku Zan.
* Sub-Zero and Scorpion from ''MortalKombat'' are about the closest thing the franchise has to a Ryu and Ken. They share the same PaletteSwap in the original game, and they are quite bitter rivals in canon (Scorpion being the RedOni and Sub-Zero being literally Blue), but their movesets are quite different, with Sub-Zero favoring ice attacks and Scorpion favoring spears, teleporting and fire.
** Frost is closer to a Sakura for Sub-Zero, due to her being much more of a FragileSpeedster with much quicker but weaker attacks and special moves.
** (Human) Smoke's moveset ''is'' Scorpion's, save for not doing Scorp's "Get over here!"/"Come here!" yell when he connects with the spear. They are also rivals, as Smoke belongs to the Lin Kuei, the same organization that gave rise to Sub-Zero.
** Kano and Jarek, although this is another case of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute meant to replace the former; they weren't playable in the same game until ''Armageddon''.
** Superman and Captain Marvel in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'' play this. A stranger version is LexLuthor and [[MortalKombat Sektor]], who don't appear in the same game, but Luthor plays similarly to Sektor, even blatantly using similar special moves.
* In ''VideoGame/TatsunokoVsCapcom'', Ryu and Ken, except this time Ken is Ken the Eagle from ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''.
** With the addition of [[TheLancer Joe the Condor]] in the ''Ultimate All Stars'', along with Jun acting as the Sakura, the three Gatchamen play this trope straight among themselves.
** Likewise with Tekkaman and Anime/TekkamanBlade in ''Ultimate All Stars'': The Tekkamen have many shared/similar techniques, but their executions are noticeably distinct. Tekkaman (the Ryu) is a MightyGlacier (and might have the highest damage output in the game outside of the Giant characters), while Blade (the Ken) trades in some power for a good deal of speed, possibly making him just shy of being a LightningBruiser.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Melee'', in addition to standard secret characters, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Falco Lombardi, Young Link, Pichu and Roy are Kens to the Ryus of the character they are adjacent to (respectively, Mario, Captain Falcon, Fox [=McCloud=], Link, Pikachu, and Marth).
** Luigi is also largely a Ken of Mario's Ryu (or a Sakura to his brother if you toss in Dr. Mario), though there are some differences in their move sets (see below).
** In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', Lucas acts as this to Ness.
** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros. Brawl'', more differences were introduced between Fox and Falco (Falco, for instance, can kick his Reflector shield at enemies as an attack), and a third Ken, Wolf O'Donnell was introduced, though he has even more move differences (in fact, none of his A moves are similiar to the other two space furries), is harder to control, and is more of a MightyGlacier. The rest of the Kens were also changed to be different or removed.
*** [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link and Toon Link. Ganondorf]] and Captain Falcon are still close (the former still feels like a MightyGlacier version of the latter), everyone else is more notably different but no one is similar as the characters were in Melee.
* ''GodHand'', a throwback to old-school {{Fighting Game}}s, nods to it with Gene and Azel. There's also several nods to the ''actual'' Ryu, including a karate outfit as an alternate costume and a Shoryuken as one of Gene's juggle moves. Capcom owned Clover, who made God Hand.
* ''[[SoulSeries Soul Calibur III]]'' and ''IV'' seem to be taking this route with Siegfried and Nightmare. Only fair since they ''literally'' [[EnemyWithout started out the same character]].
** The Alexandra sisters (Sophitia and Cassandra) have developed along these lines as well since the latter showed up in ''[=SCII=]'' (Though the latter was originally intended as a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute until popular demand brought back the former for the console version of ''[=SCII=]'' and subsequent sequels).
** Hwang and Mitsurugi started out like this.
** [[DropTheHammer Rock]] and [[AnAxeToGrind Astaroth]].
** Raphael and Amy.
** Kilik and Seong-Mina also shared a lot of moves in ''Soul Calibur'' in spite of their [[SimpleStaff different]] [[BladeOnAStick weapons]], but have differentiated more and more with each subsequent sequel. Seong-Mina's moves are straightforward and have changed the least, while Kilik now focuses on range and punishing opponents' mistakes.
* Galford and Hanzo of ''SamuraiShodown''. Originally being little more than palette/head swaps of one another, they eventually became more and more different with the addition of Hanzo's fire-based specials and Galford's ability to set his dog Poppy against opponents.
** We also have Nakoruru and Rimururu. In the third and fourth game, the latter was a headswap of the former. They were quickly given different outfits in the later games. Nakoruru fights with a bird, Rimururu fights with a floating NatureSpirit crystal [[AnIcePerson of ice]].
*** Some of the Shura (Slash) and Rasetsu (Bust) mode pairs are like this in ''III'' and ''IV'', while others are way different.
* In the ''VideoGame/NarutoClashOfNinja'' series, Iruka and Mizuki are this (in Mizuki's first appearance, the two ''shared character slots''). Also, Kisame and Zabuza, both Swordsmen of the Mist, have similar movesets (more obvious in the Japanese games where they're both playable; Zabuza does not appear in the internationally-released ''Clash of Ninja Revolution'' games, while [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Kisame does]]).
** Hinata and Neji have similar movelists, but many of Hinata's moves are original to the games (for example, instead of using Eight Trigrams 64 Palms, she repeatedly attacks an opponent with Gentle Fist palm strikes, then finishes with a burst of chakra), due to limited information on her fighting style. In the ''Ultimate Ninja'' series, Hanabi (Hinata's younger sister) follows a similar principle.
** The game-exclusive characters in ''Revolution 2'' count. Komachi is similar to Haku and Kagura is like Kimimaro. Towa and Bando, this troper is unsure of.
* Biff Slamkovich and Gunloc in the ''VideoGame/SaturdayNightSlamMasters'' series. Like Ryu and Ken, they have similar but not identical moves; The real differences come out in their grapples.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' features Heart and Saki, two friends with slightly different outfits who share a few normal attacks and both feature a dash attack, an anti-air attack, and a mid-air stomp attack. However, Heart's attacks are punch-based and use quarter-circle type inputs, while Saki's are kick-based and use charge motions.
* In ''{{Ehrgeiz}}'', the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' characters are generally clones of other characters and have very similar movesets. Yuffie matches up with Sasuke, Vincent with Godhand, and (to some extent) Sephiroth with Cloud.
** SecretCharacter Zack is very much a Ken to Cloud's Ryu, sharing a similiar move set.
* Billy and Jimmy Lee naturally filled this role in the NeoGeo ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' FightingGame, as well as in ''Double Dragon V'' for the [=SNES=] and Genesis.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' has Morrigan the succubus and Demitri the vampire. They both have the standard "fireball" and "dragon punch"-style moves. Dmitri's moves are slower, and his uppercut flies straight up.
** Lilith is the Sakura, having weaker specials than Morrigan, but a more diverse moveset.
** Another set would be Bishamon and Oboro Bishamon in 'Vampire Savior''.
* Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear''. Unusual in that Sol (the main character) plays closer to Ken, while Ky (who is TheRival) plays like Ryu.
* ''CastlevaniaJudgment'' has an interesting case with Simon and Trevor. Both Belmonts use the Vampire Killer whip and have several similar moves (including at least one identical special), but Simon specilizes in quick, wide sweeps, while Trevor mixes it up with several jabs and slower, more powerful attacks.
* ''MeltyBlood'' has a handful of characters with a {{Doppelganger}} equivalent that serve as a MirrorMatch, and so have some very similar movesets, natch.
* ''VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo'' has [[TheHero Yuka Takeuchi]] and [[{{Ninja}} Chiho Masuda]] as its primary set; the second game introduced [[AscendedFangirl Tamao Mitsurugi]], a hybrid Ken/Sakura-type and the main character of that game.
* In the {{SNES}} version of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTournamentFighters'', Leonardo is the Ryu-type while Michelangelo is the Ken-type with faster, multi-hitting attacks (as well as being a Charge Character).
* ''Battle K-Road'',an arcade-only fighting game released by Psikyo in 1994, features an entire character roster consisting of head/palette swaps. There are two karatekas, two boxers, two Thai kickboxers, two Jujitsu girls, two sumo wrestlers, two commandos and even two Terminator-like cyborgs. The only character without a head-swap is naturally the final boss himself.
* Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, the sequel to StarGladiator, more than doubled the roster of the original game by adding 14 new characters. Most of them mirrored one of the characters in the original cast, having similar weapons and movesets.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with [[RobotGirl Labrys]] and [[ShadowArchetype Shadow Labrys]] in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4 Arena}}''. They have nearly identical non-Persona attacks (only that Shadow Labrys' is weaker but faster), but wildly different Persona attacks, leading to different combos and overall different playstyles.
* Jotaro and Dio in Capcom's ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fighter have similar movesets, with the main differences being in their super combos (Jotaro's are souped-up versions of his specials, whereas Dio has more variety in his). Interestingly for this trope, despite being the main characters (or rather, the main character and main villain), their learning curves are among the more difficult in the game.
!!Outside of {{Fighting Game}}s:
* ''KingdomHearts'':
** Riku and Sora from ''KingdomHearts'', until Riku gets lured to the side of darkness and becomes a RivalTurnedEvil.
** And in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days]]'', Roxas and Xion play identical to each other, with the exception of Roxas's dual-wield ability.
* Cloud and Zack from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', since [[spoiler: Cloud has mannerisms, memories, and parts of his personality "borrowed" from Zack, for traumatic reasons.]] This is a key point in [[spoiler: numerous key points in the game, including his migraines, voices in his head, why Aerith is initially attracted to him, why Sephiroth can control him, etc. etc. etc.]].
* Tails from ''SonicTheHedgehog'' started out as a Ken to Sonic's Ryu, in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Since then, Sega did try to slowly differate him, by letting the player actually take advange of his flying ability.
** Similarly, ''Sonic Adventure 2'' gives three sets of Ryus and Kens (Shadow to Sonic, Eggman to Tails and Rouge to Knuckles)
*** ''Sonic Heroes'' kind of went overboard. With Team Sonic as The Ryu, Team Dark as The Ken, Team Rose as the Sakura and Team Chaotix as The Dan
* Bub and Bob, from ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble''. Later games in the series did give them ([[CanonDiscontinuity their descendants?]]) different abilities and personalities, as well as a female-duo BetaCouple in one game.
* Luigi has often been the Ken to Mario's Ryu throughout the ''SuperMarioBros.'' games, though whatever rivalry is there is questionable. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros.'', they even have the same moves; Luigi gains one unique special and some different normal moves for the sequel (probably so they wouldn't have Luigi, Mario, and Dr. Mario all on the same moveset), but still plays a lot like his brother.
** In both versions of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' (the Japanese one known as ''The Lost Levels'' outside Japan), Luigi is slightly faster, slightly weaker, and jumps higher than Mario.
*** Ditto for [[spoiler: ''Super Mario Galaxy''.]]
** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' for SNES had no less than FOUR Ryu/Ken pairs. Mario and Luigi once again played Ryu and Ken to each other (as well as being JackOfAllStats), but Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser (best top speed), Yoshi and The Princess (best acceleration), and Koopa and Toad (best handling) also formed their own Ryu/Ken pairs.
*** The following ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' games have continued this tradition, with ''Double Dash!!'' taking it to somewhat ridiculous levels.
** Daisy is also a Ken to Peach in her first few apperances in spin off games. She quickly diverged into being diffrent but games like Mario Party and Mario Kart Double dash the two play exactly the same.
* Similar to the ''Mario Kart'' example, characters in ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'' were paired up by skill: Crash and Cortex ({{The Mario}}s), Coco and N.Gin (best acceleration), Tiny and Dingodile (best top speed) and Pura and Polar (best handling).
* Kratos Aurion and Zelos Wilder from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' use the same weapon types, and have similar stats and identical special moves. With the exception of one single dungeon, however, only one will ever be in the party at a time.
** Worth noting that the differences between them are more pronounced in the Playstation 2 remake, especially in special moves. Even in the GC version, Kratos has [[spoiler:Judgement, an angel technique, that Zelos can't get (in that version, anyway).]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
** For the brief time he is playable in Majora's Mask, Kafei has identical animations to Link, from walking to flinching. This was done to easily incorporate his playability into the engine.
* [[TheHero Luke]] and [[SixthRanger Asch]] from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', whose move sets [[spoiler:and physical appearances]] are identical apart from Asch having a few [[MagicKnight offensive spells]] that Luke doesn't. This is explained as being due to their having learned to fight from the same teacher. [[spoiler: Plus Luke is a clone of Asch, which helps. It's also lampshaded in one sidequest where Luke effectively gives this as a reason for them to be MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers.]]
* Folka Albark and Fernando Albark in ''SuperRobotWarsCompact3''. Even their mechs were originally palette swaps... before they get upgraded.
* ''[[VideoGame/GalaxyAngel Galaxy Angel II]]'' combines this with {{Expy}}. Apricot, Milfeulle's younger sister, is JackOfAllStats, just like Milfie was, but for most of the first game, Milfie is retired from the military and is now a BarrierMaiden and DistressedDamsel. [[spoiler:In the end of that game, when she's freed, she and the Moon Angels join up with the Rune Angels and you can control both at the same time.]]
* Every ''FireEmblem'' game has one of these, known as the Red and Green Knights. They're both Cavaliers (or axe fighters) who's only difference is stats.
** FireEmblemAkaneia: Cain and Abel
** FireEmblemJugdral: Alec and Noish, Othin and Halvan (though they're not Cavaliers, but Axe Fighters)
** FireEmblemElibe: Lance and Allen, Wade and Lott (again, Axe Fighters); Kent and Sain, to a degree Dorcas and Bartre (Axe fighters version)
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones: Forde and Kyle
** VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius: Arguably, Oscar and Kieran
** VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening: Stalh and Sully (the latter being the first ever female member of the duo) fill the Cavalier role again, but this is the first game in the series to apply this trope to the ''mages''. Miriel and Ricken are the Ryu-Ken pair for regular Mages (Miriel being a straight-up SquishyWizard with Ricken, [[AdorablyPrecociousChild oddly enough]] being more of a StoneWall), Tharja and Henry are the Dark Mage duo. (Tharja being a GlassCannon with poor accuracy, Henry leaning more towards JackOfAllStats)
* In ''DungeonsAndDragons: Shadow Over Mystara'', the Cleric and Magic User classes have slightly different spells in addition to different sprites for player 1 and player 2.
* As mentioned previously, the ''IkariWarriors'' Ralf and Clark (renamed "Paul" and "Vince") started out as this.
* Bill Rizer and Lance Bean in the initial three ''{{Contra}}'' games (including the console ports of the first two). Later installments would have other "Ken's" for Bill's "Ryu".
* VideoGame/MegaMan and Proto Man.
** With Bass as the Akuma.
*** Ironically, while Bass ''is'' statistically the stronger robot, it is his overconfidence that prevents him from defeating Mega Man.
** Depending on the game (for example, the ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' series), Roll functions as some combo of the Dan/Sakura. Other times, Capcom has her go the [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]] route by making her a physically-oriented fighter.
* Ryu and Ken Hayabusa (son and father, respectively) from the ''NinjaGaiden'' arcade game (or not; no one's really sure. In the arcade game, they're supposed to be nameless)
* Many consider Fox [=McCloud=] and Falco Lombardi from the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' games to be this (as noted in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' related entries).
* [[IncrediblyLamePun "Polly and Gon"]] from ''BakuBakuAnimal''
* [[GanbareGoemon Goemon]] and Ebisumaru (indeed, in "TheLegendOfTheMysticalNinja" they were renamed "Kid Ying" and "Dr. Yang" respectively)
* [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall and Seifer]], both being practitioners of ExoticWeaponSupremacy [[spoiler: (and also being raised together)]] use similar moves, although with wildy different applications. In fact, these over-similarities are what kept Seifer out of ''DissidiaFinalFantasy''.
* ''SoulNomad'' has Ido/Dio and Yodo/Odie. Storywise, Yodo is Dan to Ido's Ryu, but gameplay makes him Ken. He also cry "Dark Plasma" when doing Thunderbuster, a copy of Ido's Dark Plasma.
* The original 2 sides from ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', Swadia and Vaegir, are such, [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Swadians sharing]] [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade/Vaegirs a troop tree]] progression. Swadian ranged units use crossbows while the Vaegir's use bows, Swadian infantry uses sword and board and heavy armor while Vaegirs use 2 handed weapons and lighter armor (for quicker speed) and their cavalry shares the defense/power trade off. The stand alone expansion introduces the Sarranids [[http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Mount%26Blade:_Warband/Sarranids also]] share a troop tree, who are more focused on speed, making them Sakura type.
* ''[[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]]'' has a few examples. Most are of the appearance kind. For particularly notable examples:
** Plusle and Minun, who are basically Pichu with plus signs and minus signs respectively for their ears and tails. They also share a type and have slightly differing base stats. They even act as the main partner Pokémon in one of the ''Ranger'' games!
** Latios and Latias, among a few other opposite gender twins, have similar stat distributions (but not the same - Latias has 20 more special defense and 10 more defense, while Latios has 20 more special attack and 10 more attack), and quite similar appearance.
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Pokémon Black and White Versions]]'' have given us the legendary Kami trio: Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. They all look similar, have similar base stats (Tornadus and Thundurus LITERALLY have the same base stats - Landorus has 20 extra defense points, 10 less special attack points and 10 more attack points,) and they all are at least part Flying-type.
*** The elemental monkeys also play this straight in three: Pansage, Pansear and Panpour as well as Simisage, Simisear and Simipour, their respective evolutions. Among the group of three, they have the exact same stats and their only difference are their elemental type and their [[ElementalBaggage move pools]] associated with them.
** Charizard and Typhlosion. Exact same base stats, both fire type starters (of regions right next to each other and sharing a Pokémon League, no less) the only difference between the two is that Charizard is part flying type and slightly different movepools.
* The ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series, particularly the prequel (third) game, has the brothers Dante and Vergil.
** Actually, the trope holds up better in the first game, where [[BlackKnight Nelo]] [[WorthyOpponent Angelo]] (aka [[spoiler:BrainwashedAndCrazy!Vergil]]) fights [[MirrorBoss using the exact same style as Dante]], only while Dante is a more of a LightningBruiser, Nelo Angelo is a MightyGlacier with a {{BFS}} who uses [[FlashStep a translocation technique]] to move around the battlefield.
** Also, to a degree, Dante and Nero in ''[=DMC4=]''.
* [[LadyOfWar Valeria]] and [[TheTease Anita]] in ''SuikodenII''. Similar fighting styles and stats, and both own a Falcon Rune. They're also rivals.
* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} has SpaceMarines and [[FaceHeelTurn Chaos Space Marines]]. Chaos Marines are often derisively thought of as mere "spiky marines", due to the fact that they still use largely human weapons, tactics, units, statlines, and even STCs. The trade-off is that "Loyalist" Marines get [[GeniusBruiser superior technology]] ([[AntiMagic Psychic Hoods]], [[DropTheHammer Thunder Hammers]], [[FlyingCar Land Speeders]], [[ItsRainingMen Drop Pods]]...), while Chaos Marines get [[DealWithTheDevil daemonic pacts]] (Cult Marines[[hottip:*:[[MagiTek Thousand Sons]], [[AxCrazy Khorne Berserkers]], [[MightyGlacier Plague Marines]], and [[ThePowerOfRock Noise Marines]], one for each major daemonic patron]], Icons of Chaos, [[AWizardDidIt sorcerous powers]], [[EldritchAbomination Daemon allies]], [[OurMonstersAreWeird mutant specialists]]...)
* In the first ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' game, Matsu used Kenshin's weapons moveset. Kasuga as well for Sasuke. In later games however Matsu and Kasuga got their own unique moves, the former using a [[BladeOnAStick naginata]] while the latter used RazorWire attached to kunai. Similarly, quite a few polearm-using characters used Toshiie or Shingen's movesets before getting their own.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Strider}} 2'', Strider Hiryu and Strider Hien. Both use the same techniques, but Hiryu is mostly close-and-personal, while Hien uses [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang throwing weapons]].
* Out of the four playable characters in ''VideoGame/PanzerBandit'', [[KidHero Kou]] and [[ActionGirl Kasumi]] have a similar set of skills and attacks, though Kasumi is slighty faster and combo-oriented. There's also [[TheRival Jin]], who fights [[MirrorBoss identical to Kou]].
* ''VideoGame/GIJoe'' subverts this, Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes and Roadblock all look very differently, but play exactly the same.
* In VideoGame/ApeEscape is Spike and Jimmy.
* The Qiao Sisters, [[YamatoNadeshiko Da Qiao]] and [[TomboyPrincess Xiao Qiao]] from {{Dynasty Warriors}}.
* [[FireIceLightning Rin Rin, Fei Rin, and Ai Rin]] from ''AnarchyReigns'' all share the same moveset, except for their Killer Weapons.
** The same for [[spoiler: Garuda and SecretCharacter Gargoyle]]
* In ''WarriorsLegendsOfTroy'', there is Achilles and Patroklos on the Greek side as well as Hector and Aeneas for the Trojans.
* Gunstars Red and Blue are this in Gunstar Heroes series. In the first game, their difference are merely some frames and the fact one has to stand still to shoot and the other only stops moving to shoot when hanging to something. In the sequel, however, both could move and shoot, lock aim or lock movement, but what made them different is that one had a machine gun and the other a laser gun. Well, that and some visual differences as well.
** And Gunstar Green is the Akuma.
*** If Gunstar Green is the Akuma, then Smash Daisaku is the Dan and Golden Silver is Shin Akuma.
!!In other media:
[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' also loves this trope. Examples:
** Loran and Gym having the Moonlight Butterfly.
** Amuro and Char having the Psycoframe and funnels.
** [[spoiler: Heero and Zechs having the Zero System and Transforming Mechs]].
** Domon and Master Asia has the same fighting style, but is better defined as Ryu and Akuma.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has Kallen and Suzaku. Their mechs look similar, [[spoiler:and later have the same wings.]]
* MazingerZ and GreatMazinger could actualy be one of the earliest example. Both have exact same kind of weapon, the difference come with Mazinger Z having more ranged based and have less variety of weapons and Great Mazinger has more weapon variety and more melee based weapon than Mazinger Z.
** Mazinger Z's long range weapon is more developed than Great Mazinger, such as the corrosive [[BlowYouAway Rust Tornado]], posession of [[EyeBeam Koshiryoku Beam]] and [[FreezeRay Reitou Beam]] and its detachable wing also function as Throwing Weapon. Later on its upgrade focus on enchancing this by giving the RocketPunch a power boost or spinning it before launching the attack.
** Great Mazinger's Great Typhoon lacks the corrosive property of Mazinger Z, and lacks Koshiryoku Beam. In return, it has several melee oriented weapons, and most of them are [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter physical]] such as a pair of Mazinger Sword, Great Boomerang, and Knee spikes and Curved Blade on front of its leg. To make up for this, Great Mazinger also have [[ShockAndAwe Thunder Break]] for long range weapon and his FinishingMove, and Tetsuya makes it up by using his weapon creatively, such as throwing his swords or using Breast Burn to cover his body. His upgrades gives him better capability on both side, since Great Booster function as long range weapon, and gives increase on speed.
** Both {{Grendizer}} and {{Mazinkaiser}} serves as the Akuma, both combines the aspect of two machines and put them on one mecha. Grendizer is more simmilar to Great, while Mazinkaiser is more simmilar to Z.
** Ironically, in VideoGame/SuperRobotWars, Z become more of a mellee based unit while Great become a better sniper unit thanks to his multitude of long range weapons, while Grendizer become JackOfAllTrades and Mazinkaiser become LightningBruiser of the group.
* [[Manga/DragonBall Goku and Vegeta]]. Both are full blood Saiyans with similar fighting styles and equivalent attacks, (Kamehameha versus Galik Gun) conflicting personalities and a [[TheRival strong but respectful rivalry]], and they're always close in power level, constantly competing with each other. Their similarities even let them [[FusionDance fuse together]] at one point. Their sons, Goten and Trunks, also show even more shades of this, complete with the fusion part and inheriting their fathers' moves.
* [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma and Ryoga]] - Eternal rivals, evenly matched, and even fit the personalities. Ryoga is a stoic chivalrous wanderer like Ryu, whereas Ranma is an arrogant, happy-go-lucky, egomaniac like Ken. The difference being that Ryoga is more powerful, durable, and straightforward, whereas Ranma is swifter, more acrobatic and strategical.
** While many characters see Ranma as their rival, Ryoga is the only one Ranma considers such, they also share an attack (which is their strongest), Ryoga is the strongest character in the series besides Ranma, Happosai and the ocasional Big Bad, they learned their respective second strongest attack from the same teacher (Shampoo's grandmother), Ryoga has beaten Ranma more times than any other character (including Haposai who's supossedly the strongest charater in the series) and he's the only one Ranma trusts enough to willingly fight alongside with.
* ''ZatchBell'' features this for two of the strongest characters in the series; the eponymous ShockAndAwe-based character and his EvilTwin ([[spoiler:prior to his manga-only HeelFaceTurn]]), and GravityMaster Brago and Zofis, his first main foe. The latter's spells are based on explosions.
[[AC:{{Comics}}]]
* {{Superman}} and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] have shades of this when they appear together. Since the latter was originally a CaptainErsatz of the former, it's not surprising.
** {{Supergirl}} typically acts as the Sakura to Superman when the two appear together.
** There's also Supergirl and Powergirl.
* Other DC examples include PlasticMan and ElongatedMan who are both [[RubberMan Rubber Men]].
* ComicBook/{{X-Men}}: Banshee and his daughter Siryn; both are quite adept at [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic attacks]]. Siryn's twist is that she also has a CompellingVoice.
** {{X-23}} is the Sakura to {{Wolverine}} in both the comics and VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3.
* {{Spider-Man}} and ComicBook/ScarletSpider could count. Justified in that Scarlet Spider is a clone of Spider-Man. Kaine would be the 'Akuma' as he has their powers dialed UpToEleven. Spider-Girl(Mayday) would arguably be the 'Sakura'
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Peter and Sylar on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* '''Ken'''dra in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is another slayer roughly Buffy's height, age, and weight with moves similar to Buffy's.
** Later on, Buffy and Faith, Faith getting a [[IncrediblyLamePun Faith]] [[FaceHeelTurn Heel Turn]].
** Several characters seem to go through this. Spike and Angel are initially presented as virtual mirrors of one another, but by the end of the series their fighting styles are presented in deliberate contrast.
*** Only if you ignore the fact that Angel has about 50lbs on Spike and yeah he is also 5 inches taller.
[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]
* TheUndertaker and Wrestler/{{Kane}}. They use the same moves, are {{Kayfabe}} brothers of similar size and general appearance and, at various times, have been the two top guys in the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF/E]] - most especially when Kane first debuted. They also have fairly similar movesets; both being fond of using the chokeslam and tombstone.
* [[MattHardy Matt]] and JeffHardy are another pair in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Jeff has more daredevil high-flying moves, while Matt is the more solid wrestler, but on the whole, their styles are extremely similar, and they have an on-again, off-again case of SiblingRivalry writ-large. Jeff even uses Matt's FinishingMove, the Twist of Fate, as one of his own signature moves.
* HulkHogan and The UltimateWarrior -- both tall, tanned, musclebound, [[PopularityPower insanely-popular-and-powerful]] brawler/power wrestlers hailing from the southwestern United States (OK, Warrior's from PartsUnknown, but the man behind the gimmick's from Arizona) with a bodyslam-heavy arsenal and the ability to [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya hulk up]] in '80s/early-'90s [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} WWF]]. Of course, the fans just ''had'' to see them battle each other at ''{{Wrestlemania}} VI''.
** And considering the two involved, the resulting match was more awesome than it had any right to be.
*** Could Macho Man RandySavage be a Sakura? Similar style, slightly different moves but same general idea?
* BrockLesnar and {{Goldberg}} -- both were [[LightningBruiser big, fast and strong]] {{Showy Invincible Hero}}es of their respective brands during the Brand Extension era. The two finally met at ''Wrestlemania XX'', but unfortunately, unlike Hogan and Warrior above, the match was an EpicFail.
* BookerT and [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]]. Somewhat justified due to them being the AlternateCompanyEquivalent of each other.
* Recently Wrestling/CMPunk and [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] are this due to being former RingOfHonor main eventers who now main event WWE. They are both very technical wrestler who, due to them having short haircuts, beards, wrestling trunks and t-shirts, look like [[PaletteSwap palette swaps]] of each other.
!!'''RealLife examples:'''
* Lions and Tigers. Both are big cats of a similar size that kill prey with a bite to the back of the neck. In fiction where the hero is confronted by a big cat, lions and tigers are interchangeable. In Asia, Tigers are also associated with the same [[AnimalStereotypes characteristics that Lions represent]] (Pride, leadership, honour etc). And in case of Asia, there once were a sizable population of lions (specifically, in India), making the population overlap each other.
** Don't forget Jaguars and Leopards.
* Hawks and Eagles.
* Lennon and [=McCartney=].
* JackieChan and JetLi. Back in the 80s, Jackie and ChuckNorris also had this kind of relationship, both training under BruceLee.
** Jackie is the [[RedOniBlueOni Blue Oni]] to Norris' Red Oni, but Red Oni to TheStoic JetLi.
* Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith. Equally skilled, worked for the same rodeo show for a number of years, and were frequently rivals, until Smith embarrassed herself in front of the Queen of England during an international show and largely retired from active performing soon afterwards.
* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' superchampions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings are the two highest scoring human contestants in the show's history, each having won over $3 million, while no other human contestant has ever won even $1 million (or anywhere close). Their encyclopedic knowledge and lightning fast reflexes meant they were only ever a challenge for each other and a supercomputer (Brad only ever lost to the IBM supercomputer Watson, and Ken's loss in regular play occurred because he made a mistake, mistakes being a principal reason for losing, in his 75th match. The beneficiary of said mistake proceeded to lose the next match as a one-time champion.)
* New York City and Los Angeles for the USA cities.
* Professional footballers, Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott. Both play on the right wing, both are quick, both are English, and both play for a North London Club. (Tottenham Hotspur for Lennon, Arsenal for Walcott) As an added bonus, Lennon plays in white and Walcott plays in Red.
* Anacondas and Pythons.
* TupacShakur and NotoriousBIG.
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* In TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime and [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
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* In TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
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* In TheLegendOfZeldaOcarina of time and [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
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* In TheLegendOfZeldaOcarina of time TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime and [[TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]], Redeads and gibdos, the latter of which is essentially the former wrapped up as a mummy.
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* Jotaro and Dio in Capcom's ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' fighter have similar movesets, with the main differences being in their super combos (Jotaro's are souped-up versions of his specials, whereas Dio has more variety in his). Interestingly for this trope, despite being the main characters (or rather, the main character and main villain), their learning curves are among the more difficult in the game.
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Named after two main characters from StreetFighter. Not to be confused with Ryu and Ken from NinjaGaiden, or Ken and Ryu from FistOfTheNorthStar (neither of which is an example of this trope), nor with Ryu and Ken of the FiveManBand in ScienceNinjaTeam.
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A common trope seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, where two characters are given equal or similar abilities/appearances, and often wind up as being the main characters for the series. In some cases, the two characters may have an implicit [[TheRival rivalry]], if not outright hatred for one another. However, sometimes [[FriendlyRivalry their competitive spirits don't stop them from being friends]]. They usually are colour coded to represent RedOniBlueOni scheme.
If both characters are playable, both may be JackOfAllStats. Even if they have the same movesets, they can't be considered {{Ditto Fighter}}s, since they only emulate one other character.
In many cases, a game's Ryu And Ken are {{Shotoclone}}s; however, this is not always the case, and not every {{Shotoclone}} is a Ryu And Ken.
The Ken might later be subject to DivergentCharacterEvolution to differentiate him from the Ryu.
'''Some games will even expand the concept further with other character types: '''
* The ''Sakura'' is also similar to Ryu and Ken, but is overall smaller (usually a kid or teenager), weaker, and usually has less effective attacks. They may add new twists to the attacks to compensate, however, such as [[FragileSpeedster being faster]] or having moves that the Ryu and Ken do not. They will often be female (typically presented as the smaller but faster female counterpart to the male Ryu and Ken), though this is not a universal rule.
* The ''Akuma'' is basically the same character type upgraded to a GameBreaker. He has the same moves, but he will move faster, hit harder, and more often than not has much higher priority for his moves ''plus'' nasty little tricks and variations added to them. They will usually be the FinalBoss or BonusBoss of the game before they are playable, and will be [[SNKBoss hard as hell to beat]].
* The ''Dan Hibiki'' is the JokeCharacter or LethalJokeCharacter version. Expect weak yet hilarious attacks.
If both characters are playable, both may be JackOfAllStats. Even if they have the same movesets, they can't be considered {{Ditto Fighter}}s, since they only emulate one other character.
In many cases, a game's Ryu And Ken are {{Shotoclone}}s; however, this is not always the case, and not every {{Shotoclone}} is a Ryu And Ken.
The Ken might later be subject to DivergentCharacterEvolution to differentiate him from the Ryu.
'''Some games will even expand the concept further with other character types: '''
* The ''Sakura'' is also similar to Ryu and Ken, but is overall smaller (usually a kid or teenager), weaker, and usually has less effective attacks. They may add new twists to the attacks to compensate, however, such as [[FragileSpeedster being faster]] or having moves that the Ryu and Ken do not. They will often be female (typically presented as the smaller but faster female counterpart to the male Ryu and Ken), though this is not a universal rule.
* The ''Akuma'' is basically the same character type upgraded to a GameBreaker. He has the same moves, but he will move faster, hit harder, and more often than not has much higher priority for his moves ''plus'' nasty little tricks and variations added to them. They will usually be the FinalBoss or BonusBoss of the game before they are playable, and will be [[SNKBoss hard as hell to beat]].
* The ''Dan Hibiki'' is the JokeCharacter or LethalJokeCharacter version. Expect weak yet hilarious attacks.
to:
A common trope seen in {{Fighting Game}}s, where two or more characters are given equal or similar abilities/appearances, abilities and often wind up as being the main characters for the series. In some cases, the two characters may have an implicit [[TheRival rivalry]], if not outright hatred for one another. However, sometimes [[FriendlyRivalry their competitive spirits don't stop them from being friends]]. moves. They usually are colour coded to represent RedOniBlueOni scheme.
If both characters are playable, bothmay look similar, and in older games will likely be JackOfAllStats. Even if they have the same movesets, they can't be considered {{Ditto Fighter}}s, since they only emulate HeadSwap or PaletteSwap of one other character.
In many cases, a game's Ryu And Ken are {{Shotoclone}}s; however,another, but this is not always required; indeed, in SoulCalibur, one human character has similar moves to a bear. Generally, if the case, characters aren't exactly alike, one such character will be faster, another will be stronger, and not every {{Shotoclone}} is a Ryu And Ken.
The Ken might later be subject tothird may have more endurance. DivergentCharacterEvolution may serve to further differentiate him from such characters in sequels.
This is often [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in theRyu.
'''Some games will even expandgame's backstory ([[ExcusePlot if it has any]]) by the concept further with other characters being family members or having trained in the same school.
Compare CosmeticallyDifferentSides. Contrast {{Ditto Fighter}}, where a charactertypes: '''
* The ''Sakura'' is also similar to Ryu and Ken, but is overall smaller (usually a kid or teenager), weaker, and usually has less effective attacks. They may add new twists to the attacks to compensate, however, such as [[FragileSpeedster being faster]] or having moves that the Ryu and Ken do not. They will often be female (typically presented as the smaller but faster female counterpart to the male Ryu and Ken), though this is not a universal rule.
* The ''Akuma'' is basically the samecopies ''every'' character type upgraded to he fights against. ShotoClone is a GameBreaker. He has subtrope, if these clones appear in the same moves, but he will move faster, hit harder, and more often than not has much higher priority for his moves ''plus'' nasty little tricks and variations added to them. They will usually be the FinalBoss or BonusBoss of the game before they are playable, and will be [[SNKBoss hard as hell to beat]].
* The ''Dan Hibiki'' is the JokeCharacter or LethalJokeCharacter version. Expect weak yet hilarious attacks.
game.
If both characters are playable, both
In many cases, a game's Ryu And Ken are {{Shotoclone}}s; however,
The Ken might later be subject to
This is often [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the
'''Some games will even expand
Compare CosmeticallyDifferentSides. Contrast {{Ditto Fighter}}, where a character
* The ''Sakura'' is also similar to Ryu and Ken, but is overall smaller (usually a kid or teenager), weaker, and usually has less effective attacks. They may add new twists to the attacks to compensate, however, such as [[FragileSpeedster being faster]] or having moves that the Ryu and Ken do not. They will often be female (typically presented as the smaller but faster female counterpart to the male Ryu and Ken), though this is not a universal rule.
* The ''Akuma'' is basically the same
* The ''Dan Hibiki'' is the JokeCharacter or LethalJokeCharacter version. Expect weak yet hilarious attacks.
