text: Standing 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) tall, early designs turned in resembled a regular sumo wrestler too closely and producer Akira Nishitani suggested they make him look more "oriental", resulting in the additions of his yukata and kabuki face paint. Nakamura chose the latter in response to Akiman stating that his "face was lacking", feeling the makeup would illustrate his pride for Japan, and even considered making him "a hero for justice" when fleshing out the concept. However, this caused some controversy after the game was released, as some outlets banned imagery of Honda due to some organizers feeling his facepaint was "sacrilege to the Japanese national sport." Meanwhile, the yukata was intended to give him more of a distinctive look over just a traditional sumo wrestler's belt, a detail Nakamura attributed to Akiman's suggestion. While he has had a wide variety of secondary outfits in the later installments of the series, his appearance from Street Fighter II has served as the basis for his primary outfit in each title, with only occasional minimal changes.
  Akiman's idea for Honda's gameplay revolved around the idea of him rushing at his opponent, stating, "I wanted the fat characters like Honda to come charging at you—for some reason. I feel that fat characters have a duty to charge." Nakamura took this concept and gave him his horizontal flying headbutt attack. Named "Super Zutsuki" in the notes she was given, she considered what made it super, and reasoned he had to fly. The concept completely surprised both Akiman and Nishanti, who saw it for the first time in game. Other attacks such as his Hundred Hand Slap, in which he attacks with a rapid flow of palm strikes, were fleshed out by the pixel artists on the team, and then drawn on paper by Nakamura.
  Appearances
  As introduced in Street Fighter II, Honda is focused on becoming the greatest sumo wrestler of all time, and teaches sumo to several students. However, upon learning that the world outside of Japan did not consider sumo a true sport, he left his dojo and entered the martial arts tournament to prove that sumo wrestlers rank among the greatest fighters in the world.