Ryu

From Capcom Database Wiki

Ryu
Ryu. Art by Jo Chen
Profile
Full Name	Ryu
Birthdate	July 21, 1964
Birthplace	Japan
Height	175cm (5'10")
Weight	68 kg (170 lbs.)
Blood Type	O
Likes	Grapes, mizuyokan, pushups
Dislikes	Spiders (he once woke up with one in his mouth), materialistic people, ridiculous stuff
Measurements (Bust, Waist, Hip)	112cm (44"), 81cm (31"), 85cm (33")
Fighting Style	Martial art based on Karate rooted as an assassination art

Ryu 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 fighters.

[edit] History

Ryu is a Japanese stock character, the 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.

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 a mysterious and dangerous nameless martial art. Gouken would later get the bratty son of his best friend, Ken Masters, not only as a sparring partner for Ryu, but to also 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.

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. In this version of the battle, Sagat nearly beats Ryu into unconsciousness. So sure is he that he had won the fight that he offers the reeling Ryu a hand to his feet. 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 it 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.

In Street Fighter Alpha, 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.

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 results in the creation of the persona known as Evil Ryu.

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.

During the World Warrior tournament, Ryu enters to test his skills, and easily defeats many of the new warriors, one of them being Dhalsim. It is widely believed that he lost to Ken in this tournament as Ken stated he wouldn't marry Eliza until he won a decisive victory over Ryu. Ken marries Eliza after winning the fight.

Years later, in Street Fighter III, Ryu enters the third Street Fighter tournament to further advance his fighting abilities. He defeats Hugo, but with a considerable amount of difficulty. The seemingly unstoppable Hugo puts on a grand fight and even withstands a direct Shin Shoryuken. Ryu loses to Oro, but the hermit was so impressed that he takes an interest in Ryu and begins to train the warrior. During the events of "Third Strike", Ryu and Ken have another sparring match and Ryu comes out as the victor. Ryu was then challenged by Alex who won the SF3 tournament. Ryu won and said that he would want to fight him again.

[edit] Fighting Style

Both Ryu and Ken are practitioners of a nameless martial art, 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 taught to him 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, although Ken's is still much stronger since he follows the Shoryuu principle. Ryu can dodge projectiles at the start of his Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku maneuver and knocks an opponent down with one hit.

Ryu focuses more on the Hadou principle of his fighting style, 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 Akuma can match and/or surpass Ryu's Hadouken in both gauge and concentrate in certain instances. Ryu is the warrior of his fighting style 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 duality is comparable with 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. In Japan, the martial art style of Ryu and Ken is never given a name. The original form of the style used by Akuma has been referred as an ansatsuken or "assassination fist". This is a general Japanese colloquialism that can be applied to any martial art developed for assassination is not really the name of Ryu and Ken's fighting style per se. Gen's unrelated martial art style has also referred as an ansatsuken.

[edit] Trivia

Ryu had a little-known cameo appearance in the game Varth: Operation Thunderstorm.

In the Street Fighter Alpha movie, there was a boy named Shun who claimed to be his little brother.

Ryu's likeness appears in the game We Love Golf! as an unlockable cosplay outfit for Tony.

[edit] Other Appearances

[edit] Gallery

Street Fighter	Street Fighter II	Hadouken from Street Fighter II	Street Fighter II by Shoei
Street Fighter II	Street Fighter II: Champion Edition by Kinu Nishimura	Street Fighter II Turbo	Super Street Fighter II by Bengus
Super Street Fighter II	Super Street Fighter II	Super Street Fighter II Turbo	Akuma and Young Ryu
Street Fighter Alpha	Street Fighter Alpha 2	X-Men vs. Street Fighter	Street Fighter Alpha 3
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo	Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter	Street Fighter III: New Generation	Street Fighter III: New Generation
Street Fighter III: New Generation	Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix by Edayan	Street Fighter III 2nd Impact	Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike by Daigo Ikeno	Capcom vs. SNK by Shinkiro	Capcom vs. SNK	Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes	Capcom vs. SNK 2	Capcom vs. SNK 2 by Kinu Nishimura	Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX
Capcom Fighting Evolution	Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival	Namco x Capcom	SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos by Nona
UDON Comics	Street Fighter IV	Street Fighter IV	Street Fighter IV
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom	Tatsunoko vs. Capcom	Super Street Fighter IV

Create a new article Upload a new image
Recent changes Help	Random page Special pages Recent changes Random page

Ryu