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RyuRyū (リュウ, also written as 隆) is a video game character created by Capcom, and is the main character in the Street Fighter series. Ryu is the archetypical fighting game protagonist, and he has provided the basis for many other fighting game characters. Ryu has appeared in every Street Fighter game and vs/crossover games produced in part with Capcom.

Appearance

Ryu's basic appearance throughout the series, as shown in Street Fighter II, has him with brown hair, a red headband, a white gi (with the sleeves ripped off at the shoulders) and a black belt. He is also barefoot. When Ryu first appeared in the original Street Fighter, Ryu still had his gi, but he wore a white headband, had red hair, grey eyes and wore red slippers. In the Street Fighter Alpha series, Ryu now has auburn hair, but still has the white headband, which harkens back to his appearance in the first Street Fighter. Canonically, Ryu would not receive the red headband until after a sparring session with his best friend and rival Ken Masters. It was originally used by Ken as a hairtie during the Alpha series. In Street Fighter III, Ryu now has black hair, brown eyes, and an abundance of facial stubble. Ryu's gi is also tattered and torn on the sleeves and pant ends, indicating years of wear and tear.

Ryu also carries around a duffel bag containing important items such as plane tickets, passports, and the currency of the country he is in.

In some official Street Fighter II artwork, Ryu's belt has four kanji emblazoned upon it: kaze (風 wind), hayashi (林 woods), hi (火 fire) and yama (山 mountain); these four kanji make up the furinkazan, the motto of Takeda Shingen, a warlord in feudal Japan. The same four kanji can be seen on a sign on the left-hand side of Ryu's stage in Street Fighter II. The four words are based on chapter seven of Sun Tzu's Art of War, which dictates how one should conduct battle. Essentially, the fuurinkazan can be summarized in the phrase "Swift as the Wind, Silent as a Forest, Fierce as Fire and Immovable as a Mountain."

Personality

Ryu is a classical example of a wandering warrior: a person whose life is entirely devoted to spiritual perfection through the art of the fist. He does not care about winning or losing so much as the moment of the fight and the opportunity for spiritual advancement.

Story

Pre-Street Fighter

Ryu was an orphaned child, with no knowledge of who his parents were or if they are still alive. When Ryu was a young child, he was adopted by a man named Gouken and began living with him as well as learning the mysterious and dangerous martial art known as Ansatsuken. Gouken would later train his best friend's bratty son, Ken Masters, who served not only as a sparring partner for Ryu, but also to give Ryu some company since Gouken was the only person Ryu had seen in a long time due to the seclusion of Gouken's dojo. Ryu looked up to Gouken as a father figure during his early years and Ken as a best friend and surrogate brother, which is how their relationship remains to this day. When Ryu was about 23 years old, Gouken thought that Ryu was ready to travel the world in order to test his skills against the best fighters in the world. With this, Ryu left Gouken and Ken, and headed to fight in the first World Warrior tournament.

Street Fighter

In Street Fighter, Ryu is one of the participants of the World Warrior tournament. After defeating all challengers, his skills earn him the right to fight its host, Sagat. Despite nearly losing against the "Emperor of Muay Thai," Ryu secures a difficult victory, and is crowned champion.

Later games elaborate on the final battle between Ryu and Sagat.Originally,as stated in the Street Fighter 2 home manuals,Ryu defeated Sagat by using a regular Shoryuken and leaving a great mark on his chest.Ever since Street Fighter Alpha was released,Capcom changed the details of the fight between Ryu and Sagat.In Street Fighter Alpha version of the battle, Sagat nearly beats Ryu into unconsciousness. Ryu, however, having such a strong desire to win, allows himself to be engulfed by the Satsui no Hadou and he strikes Sagat with a nearly-fatal Metsu Shoryuken that not only knocks Sagat unconscious but also marks his chest with a great scar. After regaining consciousness and discovering what had happened, Sagat swears vengeance on Ryu.

Street Fighter Alpha

In the Street Fighter Alpha series, Ryu leaves Sagat behind and returns to his home only to find that Gouken, his master and adoptive father, has been murdered. Learning that Akuma had fought and killed his adopted father, Ryu began to travel the world to find this man.

He encounters and fights Akuma on a secluded island known as Gokuentou, but Akuma was only testing him. He senses that Ryu has the same powers as he does, and tells Ryu about the Satsui no Hadou - a power that consumes the practitioners of their shared fighting style, driving them to win even when it means killing the opponent. Ryu refuses to unleash this power within, and Akuma uses his fist to smash the island, leaving Ryu stranded.

Sometime after escaping the island, Ryu battles Ken and loses. Ken realizes Ryu is not himself and has been deeply troubled since his last victory over Sagat. He gives him his red hairband as a reminder to stay focused, which Ryu was sincerely grateful for. Soon thereafter, a fan of his, named Sakura, comes up and expresses her desire to train under him. Ryu replies that he himself still has much to learn, but allows Sakura to take a picture of him. She swears to make him accept her eventually.

Two years later, Ryu continues to be troubled by what Akuma had told him, compounded by his encounter with Rose, who has intricate ties to M. Bison. She tells him that he cannot defeat Bison unless he fights him at the cost of his soul. True to form, when Ryu confronts Bison, he is defeated despite putting up a valiant fight. Bison takes the semi-conscious Ryu and begins brainwashing him, using the revelation that the Satsui no Hadou - the dark power Ryu struggles to avoid using - is akin to Bison's own Psycho Power.

This scene is interrupted by the entrance of Sagat, Ken, and Sakura, each of them having followed Ryu for their own reasons. While Ken and Sakura distract Bison, Sagat challenges the brainwashed Ryu (different versions of this story coexist; in one version, Sagat is offered this battle as an enticement to stay with Shadoloo.) Sagat quickly notices the effects Bison's brainwashing have had on Ryu, and, at Sagat's urging, Ryu comes to his senses and helps Ken and Sakura force Bison to retreat.

Street Fighter II to III

During the World Warrior tournament, Ryu enters to test his skills, and defeats many of the new warriors. It is unknown how far Ryu progressed through the tournament.

Years later, Ryu enters the third World Warrior tournament to further advance his fighting abilities. He was then defeated by Oro. During the events of "Third Strike", Ryu and Ken have another match in which Ryu emerges the victor. Later, he faces Alex and emerges victorious. Sometime during these games, he defeats Hugo.

Evil Ryu

In the Street Fighter Alpha series, there is a selectable version of Ryu called Evil Ryu known in Japan as Satsui no Hadou ni Mezameta Ryū (殺意の波動に目覚めたリュウ, lit. "The surge of murderous intent awakened in Ryu"). He was originally introduced in a Street Fighter Zero manga series authored by Masahiko Nakahira and later adapted in the Street Fighter canon by Capcom. He is the version of Ryu should he succumb to Satsui no Hadou, and depicts Ryu's struggle to resist the urge. Gameplay-wise, Evil Ryu has more powerful attacks than the original, strikes faster and possesses some of the attacks of Akuma (such as the Shun Goku Satsu). The only time Evil Ryu actually appears in Street Fighter canon is at the end of the first World Warrior tournament. According to the Street Fighter Alpha series, Sagat, the defending champion, crushed Ryu, and then extended his hand to help Ryu up after thinking that he had won. Ryu was so consumed with the desire to win that he gave into the Satsui no Hadou ("Evil Intent" in the American version) and executed a Metsu Shoryuken, scarring Sagat's chest and his pride.

Since then, Evil Ryu has occasionally appeared in various Capcom games featuring Ryu. Nevertheless, Evil Ryu does not exist as a separate character and is only an alternate, "what if" version of Ryu. Despite the brief brush and/or temptation from the Satsui no Hadou, canonically, Ryu rejected the Satsui no Hadou, and has made mass innovations to Gouken's style which helped him bring Gouken-Ryuu Ansatsuken up to par with Evil Ryu by Street Fighter III.

Like Akuma, Evil Ryu has a signature symbol that appears when he performs the Shun Goku Satsu. Evil Ryu has had two different symbols: In Alpha 3, his symbol was Satsu, for "Murder" (殺) , though it only appears in his ending, not during gameplay, and in Capcom vs SNK 2, the symbol was Metsu (滅) for "Destruction."

Alternate stories

Street Fighter motion picture

In the live action movie adaptation of the games, Ryu, (with the last name of Hoshi) along with Ken, are two con artists who love to take money from rich crime lords through their schemes. This time, however, they unwittingly become entangled in the war to free the country of Shadaloo. Col. William F. Guile approaches Ryu and Ken shortly after they get caught and arrested in an Allied Nations internment camp and offers a plan that would ensure both men's freedom and safety out of the country.

The plan was to stage a jailbreak in order to gain the trust of Sagat (who was also in the camp and was in fact arrested along with Ryu, Ken, and Vega). The plan was to also "kill" Guile in order to make M. Bison think he won the war. While the plan works at first, suspicions about Ryu and Ken's loyalty to either side puts a damper on the plans. Ryu and Ken eventually help Guile and the Allied Nations to overthrow M. Bison and free the country, but decide that they would be better off staying in Shadaloo until they help get the nation back on its feet.

Street Fighter TV series

Ryu also appears in the American animated TV series Street Fighter. His story in this TV series is basically a loose combination of the two stories in the games and in the live-action film. Ryu, once again given the last name of Hoshi, is still a con man, as well as Ken, but despite this, he is still dedicated to his training. He is a member of the group "Street Fighter", a group of international crime fighters, once again led by Colonel William Guile. He also clashes with Akuma in one episode and both he and Ken were involved in an episode loosely based on the video game Final Fight.

Street Fighter II The Animated Movie

This animated feature film is loosely based off of the events of the very first Street Fighter game as well as some elements of the Alpha series. In this, Ryu is still a wandering fighter, journeying to various parts of the world to find new challenges. During the events of the film, he is being pursued by Bison for an unknown purpose. Presumably to convert him into a brainwashed soldier as is done to Cammy White, who briefly appeared in the film in such a capacity, and to Ken, whom Bison uses against Ryu. Ryu encounters only three other fighters in the film aside from Ken and Bison. Guile, E. Honda, and Fei Long. The movie incorporated elements of both Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, and ends with Bison attempting to run Ryu down with a truck. The film begins with the battle between Ryu and Sagat. No actual tournament as recognized in the game series itself takes place, though there are three exhibition fights in the film, only one of which, against Fei Long, features Ryu.

Street Fighter II V TV series

Here, Ryu appears as a 17 year old and is not travelling alone. He is accompanied by Ken for the early part of the series, and has not learned the Hadoken as part of his original fighting style. He and Ken, after being trounced in a bar fight with Guile, decide to travel the world and, teaming up with Chun Li, make appearances in some of the countries seen in the game. Again, Ryu comes to the attention of Bison, this time after learning to perform the Hadoken. (In this series it is learned from Dhalsim, a notable departure from game canon) Ryu and Ken battle notable members of the Street Fighter cast, including Vega, Guile, Fei Long, Chun Li after she is brainwashed by Bison, and of course, Bison himself. Ryu is depicted as a fairly capable fighter, but not yet at the level at which he is shown in the games. His encounter with Sagat also goes differently as the two form a friendship when both are wrongfully imprisoned in Thailand. Sagat is the one to point Ryu and Ken towards Dhalsim's direction in order for them to learn to use Hado, (and thus the Hadoken and Shoryuken.) Although Ryu is a master of fighting, he often comes across in the series as somewhat naive in some respects, having lived in a very small island town somewhere in Japan prior to the start of the series. By the series end, Bison is defeated and Ryu and Ken decide to continue to better themselves as fighters. Whether or not the events depicted in the games comes to pass at all is unknown, as Street Fighter II V seems to be its own separate continuity with no real ties to the in-game series of events at all, save for the names of key characters and the execution of certain moves or certain appearances of the characters resembling those of their in-game counterparts.

Fighting style

Both Ryu and Ken are practitioners of an extremely violent martial art known as ansatsuken (Japanese: 暗殺拳 murderous/assassin's fist), which incorporated the most violent techniques from a blend of four styles of martial arts, alongside a mysterious sure-killing technique called Shun Goku Satsu. Both Ryu and Ken learned their art from Gouken, who vowed to teach a less violent variation of the art created by his master Goutetsu which does not include the discipline's life-threatening techniques such as the Shun Goku Satsu.

While Ryu and Ken follow the same martial arts discipline, as the Street Fighter series evolved, the differences between the two characters was portrayed by their attacks: Ryu focused on technique while Ken opted for stylish unpredictability.

Ryu's normal attacks are slightly slower than Ken's, albeit straightforward. His special moves are more focused; Ryu inflicts damage with individual strikes rather than combinations. His Shoryuken does only one hit, so Ryu can effectively use this move at full power against airborne opponents. Ryu can dodge projectiles at the start of his Shoryuken maneuver and knocks an opponent down with one hit.

Ryu focuses more on the Hadou principle of Goutetsu-style Ansatsuken, which translates to him being very skilled with his usage of ki - Ryu has the most concentrated Hadouken amongst all "non-lethal" Goutetsu-style Asatsuken users, and only the "lethal style" Goutetsu-style Ansatsuken user, Akuma, can match and/or surpass Ryu's Hadouken in both gauge and concentrate in certain instances. Ryu is the only student of Gouken's style of Goutetsu-style Ansatsuken capable of using the Shakunetsu Hadouken with the greatest of care—ensuring that the surge still burns bright with flames, but won't result in immolation.

Ryu and Ken's have a comparable duality with Akuma. There are two real-life philosophical approaches to karate, and Japanese martial arts in general. Do and Jutsu, or The path/way, and method/technique. One is more for personal development (see judo) and the other is more for practical application (see jujutsu).

Capcom USA originally referred to Ryu's fighting style as "Shotokan" despite bearing little resemblance to the discipline. Because of this, Ryu and other characters who use similar styles (such as Ken and Akuma) are still called "Shoto clones" or "shotos" by fans. Although as the Ryu character is based on the real life events of Yoshiji Soeno, who was a practitioner of kyokushinkai karate under Mas Oyama, the traditional kyokushinkai techniques can be clearly seen in the character's fighting style, as with Makoto, who's fighting style and techniques are based off shotokan karate.

Gameplay

Ryu is the quintessential "basic" character in fighting games with an intuitive array of punches and kicks, and very basic special moves. This simplicity makes Ryu a favorite for beginner and intermediate players. Ryu is available in every single Street Fighter game, allowing players familiar with previous Street Fighter games to begin playing immediately, without having to worry about learning how to use a new character, however, there are a few tweaks in his moveset which vary depending on the game.

Techniques

Ryu's techniques are the "Hadouken" which has become a staple projectile among fighting referred to as the "Fireball", the "shoryuken" which is a favorite among many players to use, referred to as a "Dragon Punch" and is an uppercut maneuver that hits once, and the "Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" or "Hurricane Kick" as most refer it to. In early versions of Street Fighter 2, Ryu could only use all attacks on the ground, however in later versions, he is able to perform the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku in the air. Also he has the ability to use a more powerful version of the hadouken known as the "Shakunetsu Hadouken" where the hadouken is a variation of fire and deals more damage. In the alpha series, he has a tactic known as the "Hadou no Kamae" which is a tactic of trickery, fooling the opponent into a potential counter. More variations of Ryu's attacks came in the form of his medium punch, kick, and heavy punch moves where holding foward and pressing any of the 2 punch buttons enables different attacks which deals two hits but has a delayed start. In Alpha, The Medium Kick action performs a weaker version of the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku, which deals less damage but is quicker to perform. In the 'Street Fighter 3 series, Ryu gains one new special move called the "Joudan Sokutou Geri" which is a powerful side kick that shoves opponents away with great force. In the Street Fighter EX Series, his TatsuMaki Senpuu Kyaku is replaced with a flying kick attack which can be done in succession by inputting the same command twice or three times.

Super Attacks

Many of Ryu's Super attacks are more powerful versions of his normal moves. The "Shinkuu Hadouken" Delivers up to five hits on one fireball, The "Shin Shoryuken" is a close range move that acts like a normal Shoryuken unless it connects and delivers two more punches, and the "Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku" is a multi-hitting "Hurricane Kick" that stays in one spot in the air. This was replaced in SF3 with the "Denjin Hadouken" which is an alternative of the Shinkuu Hadouken, where the player must "charge" the fireball. The longer the move is charged, the more damage, hits and "stun" it deals. Exclusive to Super Gem Fighter, he has a move called the "Reppuu Jinrai Shoryu" which is a multihitting punch attack that ends in the same fashion as a Shin Shoryuken.

Ryu has a unique ability in Marvel vs. Capcom, where he is able to change his fighting style (and outfit), to those of Ken and Akuma (to compensate for the lack of the two characters in the game). When giving his quote at the end of the fight, however, they are the same no matter which "mode" he's in.

Legacy

Given with the name of Ryu's fighting style, any character that contains any two or three of Ryu's basic special attacks are considered "shotos" by fans, signifying that they are easy to use characters. In the Street Fighter series, usually most "shotos" in the games sport a gi of a different color (with the exception being Sakura) and are referred to as "shoto clones". Ryu's attacks have been passed on to Ken Masters and Akuma with some alterations to the mechanics, while Dan Hibiki and Sean Matsuda have different styles yet very similar to the originals.

In other games, such as Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury, characters such as Ryo Sakazaki and Terry Bogard have similar attributes to the "shoto" style with a projectile (in Terry's case, a ground wave) and Dragon Punch and special kicks which are quite different from Ryu's but have similar properties and in some cases, have the same inputs as Ryu's attacks. Many fighting games in the future have certain characters that operate in this function but always have varying differences to make them stand out from Ryu as well. To this day, shoto characters can be found in a huge majority of 2D fighting games.

Future game appearances

Ryu was confirmed as a playable character for Street Fighter IV on December 6, 2007, and depicted in an in-game screenshot as well.

Actors

Ryu is voiced by Katashi Ishizuka or Toshiyuki Morikawa in many of the games he appears in. In some of the Alpha games and in the first two Street Fighter III games, he is voiced by Wataru Takagi. In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, his voice is done by Toru Ohkawa. His voice in the Street Fighter Alpha anime was Kane Kosugi, and Kojiro Shimizu in the Street Fighter II anime movie. In Street Fighter II V, he is voiced by Kōji Tsujitani. He was portrayed by Byron Mann in the 1994 movie adaptation of the game.

References

1. Street Fighter IV preview, 1Up.com

External links

• Ryu's SF2, SFA, SF3, SFEX, and MvC entries at StrategyWiki.org

Template:Major Street Fighter Characters

• Street Fighter characters
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• Fictional martial artists
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