Designed by Daigo Ikeno for Capcom's development team, he first appeared in the arcade version of Street Fighter IV and later in related promotions and media for the title.

A very large, overweight martial artist, Rufus seeks to defeat Ken Masters, angered by his claim of being the "number one fighter in America".

[7] Designed by Daigo Ikeno,[1] Rufus was initially intended to be a bald slender black male wearing a gi named "King Cobra", meant to be a more acrobatic counterpart to series characters Ryu and Ken and voiced by Wataru Hatano.

[8] His fighting style was intended to be "breakung-fu", mixing elements of Chinese martial arts with breakdancing, which they perceived as a fad in the United States at the time, and Ikeno developed the character's concept around it.

[7] In an interview, Ono noted they made Rufus intentionally silly, adding that he could be called an "American Dan" in terms of being a joke character in the game's roster.

His clothing consists of a yellow and black sleeveless jumpsuit with padded shoulders, with the closing straps left open due to his girth and exposing the center of his torso and lower abdominal hair.

[25] For Super Street Fighter IV, a third outfit intended to resemble the Chinese jiangshi was included, consisting of a long Chinese robe, black hat with his ponytail extruding from the top, yellow and black striped pants, and a yellow strip of paper meant to represent a sealing charm extending from the front of the hat and over his face.

[29] In the game's conclusion, Rufus is shown pushing his broken down motorcycle uphill with Candy on board, using it as training and blaming Ken for the predicament.

[35] Rufus was purposefully made faster than his outward appearance would indicate and given the ability to string his attacks together more readily, in order to "[defy] expectations based on what he looks like", and to contrast against other large characters in fighting games.

After considering his design, they decided to allow his movements to be quick and strengthened by the inertia of his body fat, accompanied by martial artist yells and shouts.

[37] His Ultra Combo, Space Opera Symphony, is a barrage of attacks that requires close proximity to the opponent, dealing several blows and ending in a final upwards blast.

[38] In Super Street Fighter IV, a second Ultra Combo named "Big Bang Typhoon" was added, consisting of Rufus spinning his body with arms outward in a tornado-inspired fashion.

Rufus, enraged and feeling mocked, demands a match to determine the third place winner, only to be quickly knocked out, while the psycho drive is damaged and begins leaking energy.

[47][48] Worldwide restaurants Wan Zhu Ji and Benitora Gyoza Bo offered four Street Fighter IV–themed meals, which included a nimono meat dish named after the character.

[49][50] At organized events, Capcom distributed a limited series of Street Fighter IV cards to promote the arcade title, one of which features Rufus in a fighting stance.

Comic writer Aubrey Sitterson described him as one of her favorite characters in the entire franchise, due to "his insufferable narcissism, his Bruce Lee homage jumpsuit and his...questionable self-taught martial arts techniques".

"[53] Describing him as a "personal favorite", Brian Bowers Stars and Stripes noted the level of detail in Rufus's animations and movements, saying "blubber undulates as he hefts his immense bulk back and forth, up and down in a gravity-defying display of power.

[54] Den of Geek described him as an "obnoxious delight", adding that the character didn't really come into his own until Street Fighter x Tekken due to his friendship with Zangief, calling their ending in the game "surprisingly inspiring (if you get to the post-credits narration)".

[63] In another paper, Nicholas added that Rufus was "the exception to the rule" of a character's appearance correlating to fighting style, and was Capcom's chance to bring something unexpected to their audience.