Month: June 2015

Street Fighter’s Shoryuken is one of the most iconic attacks in the fighting genre, and perhaps gaming as a whole. No one could have known when the rising dragon fist first hit arcades back in 1987 that it would leave such a lasting impression on the world–well, except maybe Sagat.

Since its creation, the Shoryuken–or some variation thereof–has become the signature attack for a slew of characters in the Street Fighter universe, and has shown up in a host of other fighting titles as well. Guilty Gear’s Sol Badguy, King of Fighters’ Kula, and Smash’s Mario all sport a rising uppercut-style attack, and they’re just the first few characters that come to mind; there are plenty more fighters from across the genre who round out their arsenal with an uppercut of some variety or another.

Being so well-known, the move has also seen its share of the spotlight in various pop culture outlets over the years, but, strange as it may sound, Ryu wasn’t the first animated character to curl his fingers into a fist before slamming it into his opponent’s chin while leaping into the air.

In a 1935 episode of Popeye the Sailor Man titled “The Spinach Overture,” we see the man himself inhale a can of spinach and pound out an impressive number on a nearby piano (even using his feet and pipe to play) before spinning up to Brutus to deliver a blow that sends him flying across the room. All that’s missing is the yelling of the attack’s name as Popeye unleashes it.

It’s impossible to know whose idea it was to have Popeye deliver this style of attack, as the series employed a handful of animators, not all of whom were involved in each episode of the show. This particular episode credits Seymour Kneitel and Roland Crandall for bringing the sailor to life, so they could have had a hand in the creation of this attack, or it could have all come from the mind of series director Dave Fleischer. At any rate, Popeye seems to have beaten Ryu to the punch.

You’ll find the full Popeye episode below, cued up to the moment in question.

Source: James Flynn, special thanks to UncleSamPatriot for pointing this out to us.