Ryu


 * For fighter info, see Ryu (SSBWU/3DS).

Ryu (リュウ or 隆) is the lead protagonist and one of the main characters of the Street Fighter series of fighting games. Ryu has been playable in every Street Fighter game, as well as in almost every crossover fighting game to feature Capcom characters.

Ryu is voiced by Katashi Ishizuka or Toshiyuki Morikawa in many of the games he appears in. In the first two Street Fighter III games, he is voiced by Wataru Takagi. In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, his voice is that of Toru Ohkawa. His voice actor 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. His English voice actor for Street Fighter IV, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken is Kyle Hebert (who also voiced Ryu in his cameo in the film Wreck-It Ralph,) while his Japanese voice in said games is Hiroki Takahashi, who also voiced Ryu in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Asura's Wrath.

Ryu has arguably become the most famous character in the fighting game genre, debuting in the original Street Fighter, before becoming popular in Street Fighter II, where he was considered a "basic" character. He, along with Mega Man, is considered one of Capcom's unofficial "mascots".

He is the 5th third party character in the Super Smash Bros. series, and is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U via downloadable content.

Character Description
Ryu is the poster boy and main character of the Street Fighter series, and is typically entangled in whatever plots take place behind the scenes of most of the games, spurring from villains interested in Ryu's innate power.

Throughout the series, Ryu continues the wander the Earth in search of new challenges and further self-improvement as a warrior. He is usually a silent, friendly and humble warrior, who finds enjoyment in battle and seeks a good fair fight with others, usually imploring them to improve as well. He does not care for rewards and material possessions, as seen in his ending in Street Fighter II where he does not show for the award ceremony, instead immediately heading out to find a new challenge elsewhere, stating that "the fight is all." Ryu's search for a good fun fight even seems to extends to the world of pro wrestling. In one of Hugo's random endings in Second Impact, he chooses Ryu as his tag team partner, who expresses excitement about their opponents, and in Hugo's Third Strike ending, Ryu seems to enjoy being a pink shirt-clad part of Hugo's independent wrestling association, much to Ken's shock.

Despite this, however, there is a darker side to Ryu. He continues to struggle with a dark inner energy within his soul called the Satsui no Hado (殺意の波動), a force that grants immense power to the user but erodes their sense of morality and humanity. Ryu's nemesis, Akuma, continuously attempts to force Ryu to succumb to it so as to have a worthy rival to fight to the death with. In most games, this manifests in an alternate playable form of Ryu called "Evil Ryu", who typically sports a darker colour scheme or character design to his normal counterpart and uses some of Akuma's moves including the "Shun Goku Satsu" killing technique. Canonically, Ryu has only succumbed to the Satsui no Hadou once, in his first fight against Sagat. Evil Ryu made his playable debut in the US version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 and sporadically made appearances in crossover games, more recently appearing in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Ultra Street Fighter IV.

Ryu was an orphan, found and trained by the Ansatsuken martial arts master Gouken. During his training Ryu also fought alongside and became friends with an American student, Ken Masters, who was sent to Gouken's dojo by his father to learn humility and discipline. Ryu and Ken became firm friends and frequent rivals as well.

Eventually, the two came of age and took part in the first World Warrior fighting tournament, the setting of the first Street Fighter game. Ryu defeated all challengers that came his way, eventually coming face to face with the tournament's champion Sagat, the "King of Muay Thai." Sagat's power proves too much for Ryu, who briefly succumbs to the power of Satsui no Hado and scars Sagat's chest with a Shoryuken, securing the win but earning him Sagat's hatred for a long time to come.

in the Alpha series (Zero series in Japan), Ryu returns home to find his master Gouken seemingly murdered. Learning that Gouken's supposed killer was his own brother Akuma (known as "Gouki" in the Japanese version,) Ryu searches for him, eventually confronting Akuma on the island of Gokuentou. Akuma tells Ryu of the Satsui no Hadou within him and escapes.

Ryu reunites with Ken and spars with him, but Ryu is still troubled by his encounter with Akuma. Sensing this, Ken gives Ryu his red headband as a reminder to stay focused, an act which Ryu is grateful to, eventually donning the headband. Ryu also meets a young schoolgirl, Sakura Kasugano, who wants to train under him. Ryu refuses, as he feels he still has far too much to learn yet, though he takes a photo with Sakura as a memento. He also has a rematch with Sagat, who he lets win feeling that Sagat was still not fully recovered from their last battle. Though victorious, Sagat realizes that Ryu held back.

Unfortunately, Ryu is later targeted by the insane Shadaloo warlord M. Bison ("Vega" in Japan) who seeks to use Ryu's Satsui potential to amplify his own Psycho Power and thus help him conquer the world. Though Ryu is warned of Bison by the mysterious Italian fortune teller Rose, he is unable to avoid confrontation with him and Bison brainwashes Ryu into his mindless slave, though he is eventually freed by the combined efforts of Ken, Sakura and Sagat. Ryu temporarily defeats and destroys Bison, though the latter transfers his soul into Rose and later into a spare body.

Ryu also takes part in the second World Warrior tournament seen in Street Fighter II where he battles Ken once more. Although its not known how far Ryu got into the tournament, it is implied that he lost to Ken.

Ryu's journey continues in the next canon installment, Street Fighter IV. He once more reunites with Ken and Sakura as well as Sagat, who's hatred for Ryu has almost completely vanished and given way to a more friendly rivalry than before. However, he is once again the target of a villain's interest, the villain this time being Seth, the new tournament's host and head of the organization S.I.N. (Shadaloo Intimidation Network.) Seth seeks to harness Ryu's Satsui no Hado potential to empower his BLECE weapon, although this fails and Ryu destroys the BLECE machine.

Ryu is still hounded by Akuma however who still seeks to corrupt Ryu. More surprising though is Ryu's reunion with his long thought dead master Gouken, who survived Akuma's "Shun Goku Satsu" attack. Gouken uses the "Power of Nothingness" to seal away the Satsui no Hado within Ryu, although this rouses Akuma into anger, challenging Gouken to a death duel over who gets Ryu. Ryu remains pure in later canon scenes implying that Gouken was victorious.

Street Fighter III still has Ryu travel the world improving his skills, meeting many new fighters along the way including the gigantic German wrestler Hugo, Ken's Brazilian student Sean Matsuda and the wizened old master Oro, who thus takes Ryu under his wing. Ryu also meets the American wrestler Alex, defeating him in a friendly battle and encouraging him to get stronger.

Ryu is set to appear in the upcoming installment, Street Fighter V.

As a playable character
Ryu makes his first appearance in the Smash Bros. series as a playable character. He was released as a downloadable character on June 14th, 2015 alongside Lucas and Roy. Ryu has a different type of moveset, being able to change between weak and strong versions of his tilts, and can power up his specials by using the original inputs from Street Fighter.

Trophy Info

 * Ryu visits from the Street Fighter series! Ryu’s fighting style is based on karate, but he’s mixed in some other martial arts to make his own unique style. In Smash, he will perform either weak or strong attacks depending on if you press or hold down the buttons. His special attacks also have three power levels!

Trivia

 * Ryu, alongside Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Link, Little Mac, Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog and Pac-Man, is one of the only characters in the Super Smash Bros. series that has appeared in other fighting games. Ryu is a staple in the Street Fighter series and has made an appearance in almost every single crossover involving Capcom characters.
 * Ryu's headband was originally white in color, as seen in the first Street Fighter as well as the Street Fighter Alpha series. His now iconic red headband was a gift from Ken, given to him during one of their sparring matches.