A Shotoclone is a fighting game character with a moveset based loosely on Ryu of Street Fighter. Ken could be considered the first shotoclone since he was a copy of Ryu in everything but appearance. Perhaps due to the success of Street Fighter, many 2D fighting games have their protagonist as a shotoclone. Their easy usage and familiarity of control enables new players to get interested in the game.

A shotoclones usually refers to a character that possesses the following types of attack:

• A fireball projectile attack made by the quarter-circle-front motion, inspired by Ryu's Hadouken.
• A dragon punch attack made with the Foward-Down-DownFoward+Punch motion.
• An attack with the quarter-circle-back+Kick motion, the motion for the Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku.

Notable shotoclones:

• Kyo Kusanagi
• Iori Yagami
• K'
• Terry Bogard
• Ryo Sakazaki
• Morrigan Aensland
• Ky Kiske
• Kaede
• Cyclops in the MvS series.
• Haohmaru