Ryu's Shin Shoryuken

While Ryu's Hadouken is better than Ken's -- Ken's Shoryuken is better than Ryu's. Ken was the first of the two to use a Shoryuken-based super-attack. Ken's first Shoryuken-based super was his Shoryuu Reppa and later added the Shinryuken. Ryu instead focused his energies on improving his Hadouken such as the birth of the Shinkuu Hadouken (which Ken could perform in a duo with Ryu in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter) and the Denjin Hadouken (from the Street Fighter III series). The Street Fighter III series also introduced Ryu's first Shoryuken-based Super Move in the Shin Shoryuken. Shin Shoryuken would translate as True Rising Dragon Fist while Shinryuken would translate as True Dragon Fist. 

Ryu's Shin Shoryuken was introduced in the Street Fighter III arcade games - a game series that didn't enter until the sixth-generation consoles. The variations did appear in several other games such as the Street Fighter EX series and non-canon spin-offs such as later entries of the Marvel vs. Capcom series. I find the Marvel vs. Capcom series version to be a trip. In Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter -- the move only required one level. Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes would do tremendous damage but not as much. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 onwards gave it the Level 3 only treatment due to how much damage it did. 

Perhaps the most irritating incarnation of the Shin Shoryuken was in Street Fighter Alpha 3. The move had to be timed rather perfectly in a long-distance, it had to be in Level 3, AND if you don't get it right - you only do the much less damaging Metsu Shoryuken (which gave Sagat his chest scar). Granted, the Street Fighter Alpha series was the prequel before the first Street Fighter game - I guess that was the point. I really didn't like doing the Shin Shoryuken in Street Fighter Alpha 3 for that reason. I guess it was because I was already able to do that move in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom with better ease.

For me, the best incarnation of the Shin Shoryuken was in Pocket Fighter. The reason had to be that Ryu starts off with a punch combo and ends it with a devastating uppercut. Sure, it doesn't have the damage of a Level 3 combo but the ease and flashiness were the factor. I always wondered why Capcom just never gave it that kind of execution in the default Street Fighter games and the crossovers? Instead, they opted for the Level 3 rising super move. I guess Capcom wanted to make it more challenging and worth it in later incarnations.