[4] When creating his design and others for Street Fighter II, Akiman leaned heavily into the concepts of caricature and stereotypes to emphasize the contrast between the characters but also make them instantly recognizable, stating in an interview with Steve Hendershot "subconsciously, I was adding elements with the idea that they could go viral.

"[5] Standing 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) tall,[2] 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.

[7] 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.

[1] 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.

"[8] 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.

Sodom, obsessed with both Japanese culture and trying to revive Mad Gear, attempts to recruit sumo wrestlers, citing them as strong warriors.

[16] Honda returns for Street Fighter IV, which is set shortly after the events of the second World Warrior Tournament.

Prior to open his restaurant outside Japan, Honda had a small friendly sumo match with Ryu, and have since been keeping in touch with him.

In the 1994 motion picture based on the Street Fighter franchise, the role of Honda is played by Peter "Navy" Tuiasosopo.

In the movie, Honda is portrayed as a close associate of Chun Li, serving as her news crew technician and programmer, while aiding her on her quest to avenge her father's death alongside Balrog.

His personality is rather laid back compared to his video game counterpart and is shown to have a near immunity to pain when one of Bison's goons attempts to torture him, something he attributes to his discipline in sumo when Balrog asks about it.

[22] The character's legs could be squeezed together to have the upper body bend down in a headbutt motion and was jointed to allow kids to recreate his Hundred Hand Slap move.

[21] Another action figure was released in 2008 as part of SOTA's Revolutions Series 1, with a limited edition variant using his Street Fighter II Turbo colors.

[26] Sergio Sánchez Trujillo of RetroManiac stated that while Honda is a sumo wrestler, he felt some of his moves were taken from Judo, and compared his aggressive fighting style to that of actor Bud Spencer, both factors that encouraged him to become a better player when using the character and his fondness for him.

"[27] Comic Book Resources briefly cited him as an example of body positivity within the franchise, in light of another series character, Rufus.

[28] Paste further elaborated on this point, stating "The joy of Edmund Honda can often be highly personal; he's the one overweight character in the series who doesn't feel like a joke," and added "His moderate size and the way his muscle accentuates his weight instead of undermining it (see Rufus for an example of what we mean) give him an air of respectability."

Coupled with his Hundred Hand Slap which tied his sumo technique "into the exotic atmospheres of other nations", she felt these aspects were done to help establish Ryu as the "'regular, everyday Japanese' fighter, reassuring the player of normalcy in the crazy world of Yasuda's imagination" in contrast to Honda.

[31] In Nicholas Ware's paper "You Must Defeat Shen Long To Stand a Chance": Street Fighter, Race, Play, and Player, he cited a more direction connection between sumo and kabuki theater made by other scholars, and that his design was composed of multiple cultural signifiers to the Japanese: national sport, traditional theater, and everyday Japanese life.

He further described Honda's image as cartoonish, noting his constant use of a deep stance, even when moving, despite sumo matches usually at most only lasting a short period of time.