Street Fighter 5's Dan battle costume looks like Mr. Karate from Art of Fighting

Street Fighter’s Dan Hibiki has a very interesting history. Back when Capcom and SNK were going head-to-head in development of arcade fighting games, Capcom felt the SNK’s Art of Fighting came a little too close to copying what they were doing with Street Fighter. As a result, word is that Dan was conceived as a direct shot at the Art of Fighting series and its characters. Years later, even as a joke character, Dan has come into his own to become a fan-favorite of the Street Fighter roster, but one of his new costumes in his Street Fighter 5 seems to imply Capcom hasn’t forgotten where Dan came from.

We got a bigger look at Dan Hibiki (and his February 22, 2021 launch date) during the Street Fighter 5 Winter Update livestream where Capcom showed off our first look at Rose in SFV as well. Dan Hibiki is the next character launching as DLC for Season 5 of SFV, so along with another demonstration of his previously shown moves, we got to see his battle costume. We’d argue it looks an awful lot like Art of Fighting’s Takuma Sakazaki in his Mr. Karate disguise.

Left is Takuma's Art of Fighting Mr. Karate appearance, middle is his Art of Fighting 2 appearance, and right is Dan Hibiki's Street Fighter 5 battle costume, which kind of looks like it blends the two.

Now, of course, anyone could just slap on a Tengu mask and be explained away as just looking cool, but the fact that it’s Dan Hibiki in this particular outfit gives us pause. Is it just a coincidence? Maybe, but for those who have followed the history of Capcom, Street Fighter, and SNK, it seems a little cheeky. Dan is looking like a pretty fun and quality character in this latest outing of Street Fighter 5 and has since we first saw his introduction and moves. That said, we wouldn’t put it past Capcom to look back at its history and maybe bring back a little bit of the inspiration that brought Dan into existence in the first place. If it’s just sheer coincidence, we’d have to say it’s a pretty funny one.

Mr. Karate or not, Dan’s launches on February 22, 2021 for Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition Season 5. Stay tuned for further coverage, including further details on Rose and Rival Schools guest character Akira Kazama.