Mega Man X Legacy Collection: How To Unlock Ryu's Hadoken & Ken's Shoryuken

[Get more daily gaming guides and walkthroughs. Subscribe to Guideranx on YouTube!]

In all of gaming history, this is still one of the greatest Easter eggs. We’re talking about Ryu’s Hadoken, an unlockable fireball ability you can unlock in Mega Man X. Not only is it insanely powerful, it’s also absolutely insanely weird to unlock. You can’t just go through the level and grab it — oh no, you have to die and replay the level five times, then a random drop in a random location will actually give you the fireball ability.

It’s Easter eggs like this that caused a generation to spread rumors about Akuma in Resident Evil 2, or saving Aeris in Final Fantasy 7. It made us think that if we completed the game enough times, repeated the same actions over and over, something might change — replaying a level five times in Mega Man X helps you unlock a secret Ryu (of Street Fighter fame) fireball! Anything could be possible.

Here, we’re revisiting that secret and going into another secret you might know a little bit less about — Ken’s Shoryuken uppercut in Mega Man X2. Here’s how to get both of these cool moves.

More Mega Man X Legacy Collection guides on Gameranx:

How To Unlock Ryu’s Hadoken & Ken’s Shoryuken | Secret Moves Guide

The Mega Man X Legacy Collection retains two of the best secrets in gaming — you can unlock special power-ups for Mega Man that (more than) resemble powers from another huge Capcom franchise — Street Fighter! You can get a fireball Hadoken, one of Ryu’s signature moves, in Mega Man X1. Even better, you can get Ken’s Shoryuken, a cool burning uppercut, in Mega Man X2. Here’s how to do it.

Ryu’s Hadoken in Mega Man X
1. Before you can unlock the Hadoken fireball attack, you need to find every Armor Upgrade, Boss Weapon, Heart Tank, and Energy Tank.
2. Go to Armored Armadillo’s stage and ride the minecart to the end of the level. At the last jump, wall-jump up the wall on the far end. At the top, you’ll find a large Energy power-up.
3. Collect the power-up, then drop into the pit and die. Repeat the previous step five times. Yes, seriously.
4. On the last repeated attempt, you’ll find a Dr. Light capsule at the end. Step inside and you’ll get the unstoppable Ryu Hadoken ability!

The Hadoken is a powerful fireball attack that basically crushes everything in the game. You can only get it after you’ve done basically everything, so it’s useless at this point. But this secret is so weird, it deserves a spotlight. Now let’s move on to the next major Street Fighter Easter egg — Ken’s Shoryuken.

Ken’s Shoryuken in Mega Man X2
1. Like the previous secret, you need to collect every Armor Upgrade, Boss Weapon, Heart Tank and Energy Tank. You also need to be at full health, or the capsule will not appear.
2. The capsule for Ken’s Shoryuken only appears in the Agile’s X-Hunter stage. This is the third X-Hunter stage.
3. Use the Crystal Hunter Sub-Weapon to freeze the bats around a ladder so you can reach it. From here, follow this optional path and take the lower passage. Go left, and if you’re full health, a Dr. Light passage will appear.

Now you can perform a cool uppercut! This is a little less weird than the previous method, you don’t need to repeat any steps, but you do need to reach the third X-Hunter level, which is the one difficult part of this. It’s still a cool find, and well worth seeking out if you’re a Mega Man X completionist.