Ryu

Ryu
File:Ryu TvC.jpg Official artwork of Ryu from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.
Universe	Street Fighter
Debut	Street Fighter (1987)
Smash Bros. appearances	SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Street Fighter V (2016)
Console/platform of origin	Arcade
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Japan
English voice actor	Kyle Hebert
Japanese voice actor	Hiroki Takahashi
Article on Wikipedia	Ryu (Street Fighter)

Ryu (リュウ, Ryū) is the main character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games by Capcom, and one of that company's most famous mascots alongside Mega Man. He was first leaked as a downloadable content character for Super Smash Bros. 4 through datamining of the 1.0.6 update, and was confirmed on June 14, 2015.

Character description

Ryu is considered to be the "main character" of the Street Fighter series. Appearing in all Street Fighter games, Ryu's moveset is designed to be simple and beginner friendly, with a projectile and an anti-air move. Over the years, due to his simple playstyle, he has received many clones, including Ken and Akuma.

Orphaned at a young age, Ryu was raised and trained by master Gouken. Gouken would later take on a second pupil, Ken Masters. Ryu and Ken became best friends and rivals as they trained together and eventually left Gouken's dojo. After leaving, Ryu entered the first World Warrior tournament, hosted by Sagat, the self-proclaimed King of Muay Thai. Ryu advanced through the tournament, and eventually came face to face with Sagat himself. The older Sagat nearly bested Ryu, but was defeated when Ryu was overcome with the desire to win, and thus opened himself to the Satsui no Hadou (the Surge of Murderous Intent). This gave Ryu a second wind, and he took Sagat out with a powered up Shoryuken, which would leave a large scar across Sagat's chest.

Around this time, Gouken was murdered by his brother, Akuma. Learning of the murder, Ryu traveled the world to search for Akuma. Upon confronting each other on a Japanese island, Akuma tried to persuade Ryu to give into the Satsui no Hadou as he had done. Ryu refused, and Akuma destroyed the island, leaving Ryu stranded. Ryu then sparred with Ken, who realized that his friend was not himself, and gave Ryu his red headband as a reminder to stay focused. Ryu was also approached by a young fan of his named Sakura Kasugano, who asked him to take her on as a pupil. Ryu declined, believing he had much to learn himself. Ryu also had a rematch with Sagat, which he quietly threw, since Sagat had still not fully recovered from their last fight. When Sagat learned this, he vowed to fight Ryu again.

Two years later, Ryu was kidnapped by M. Bison of the Shadaloo syndicate. Bison wished to learn the secret of the Satsui no Hadou, and brainwashed Ryu. Ken, Sakura, and Sagat arrived to rescue Ryu, and Sagat fought him once again. Sagat managed to restore Ryu to his senses, and he defeated Bison.

Ryu entered the second World Warrior tournament, this time hosted by a revived M. Bison and his Shadaloo henchmen Balrog, Vega, and Sagat, in order to test his strength against new challengers: Chun-Li, Guile, E. Honda, Zangief, Dhalsim, Blanka, Cammy, Fei-Long, T. Hawk, and Dee Jay. It is not known how far Ryu advanced in the tournament, but his ending shows him winning the tournament, and quietly leaving before the awards ceremony in order to get back to training. Later Street Fighter II editions also feature Ryu visiting Gouken's grave in his ending. Adaptations in other media depict Ryu advancing to the end of the tournament, but his fight with Bison is interrupted by the arrival of Akuma, who kills Bison and challenges Ryu to another duel.

A year or so after, Seth, the CEO of a mysterious weapons organization known as S.I.N (later revealed to be the weapons division of Shadaloo), theorizes that harnessing the energy of the Satsui no Hadou will allow Seth to complete the BLECE project, a bio-weapon being researched and built by S.I.N at the time. He makes multiple attempts to lure Ryu out, many involving his subordinate Crimson Viper (who is an actually an undercover CIA agent), but the power of the Hadou proves to be too strong for Seth and the machines, even as Ryu attempts to contain it. Seth then announces another fighting tournament in the hopes of bringing out the Satsui no Hadou by other means; however, this was revealed to be all part of a plan set out by Shadaloo and its leader, a revived M. Bison, and M. Bison proceeds to take out Seth and takeover S.I.N once again; this allows Ryu and Sakura to help destroy what's left of the S.I.N laboratories.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

As a playable character

Ryu as he appears in Super Smash Bros. 4

Ryu appears as downloadable content in Super Smash Bros. 4, being the first newcomer and third-party character with that distinction. He is also the second Capcom character to be introduced to Smash, the other being Mega Man. His design is based on his appearance in Capcom's upcoming entry, Street Fighter V. Ryu possesses unique mechanics that emulate controls in his home series, such as tapping the attack button for weak attacks and holding it down for strong attacks, along with special directional inputs he can use to power up his signature special moves, Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, and Shoryuken. Finally, his down special Focus Attack allows him to negate a single attack and retaliate with a crippling blow, leaving opponents open for counterattacks, or cancel the move into movement options.

Ryu is ranked 4th on the first Smash 4 tier list, placing him at the top of the A tier. While he lacks in approach options and grab combos, his tier position is mostly due to the Street Fighter controls benefiting Ryu immensely, granting him true combos into his finishers that many other fighters lack, along with a resilient recovery using three of his four special moves.

Trophies

Ryu

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!

Ryu makes his Super Smash Bros. debut! His fighting style is based on a form of karate, but he's mixed in some other martial arts to make his own unique style. Here his attacks can be weak or strong depending on whether you press or hold the buttons. Each of his specials have 3 levels of power using the same method.

Ryu (Alt.)

Ryu’s Focus Attack move lets him withstand a blow and then counterattack.The longer you hold it, the longer your enemies will be stunned if you hit them. If it hits a standing enemy, the enemy will become defenseless. When that happens, cancel your Focus Attack and unleash a sick combo!

Ryu's down special, Focus Attack, allows him to withstand a single attack and then unleash a counter. The longer you hold the button, the longer a standing enemy will be stunned if you hit them. An enemy in the air will fall slowly, defenceless. When that happens, cancel the Focus Attack and go for the knock-out!

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  Classic (3DS)

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  Classic (Wii U)

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  Alt. (3DS)

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  Alt. (Wii U)

Trivia

• With Ryu's release, Capcom is the first third party to have more than one playable character in Smash, the first Capcom character being Mega Man. This would later be followed by Sega, with Sonic and Bayonetta.
• Coincidentally, the release date of Ryu in SSB4, June 14th, is the birthday of his English voice actor, Kyle Hebert.
• Ryu is the first Smash Bros. character to originate from a traditional 2D fighting game, as well as any other kind of fighting game apart from the Super Smash Bros. series.
• Super Smash Bros. 4 is Ryu's fifth appearance in a crossover fighting game series after the Marvel vs. Capcom series, the SNK vs. Capcom series, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Street Fighter X Tekken.
• Ryu's English voice actor, Kyle Hebert, previously portrayed Wario in the Super Smash Bros. based web series, There Will Be Brawl.
• Ryu has had a number of crossover appearances alongside other characters appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series, both before and after his inclusion in SSB4:
  • He regularly appears together with characters from the Mega Man universe, including Mega Man and his variants, in Capcom's crossover games such as its Vs. series.
  • He appears alongside Pac-Man in Street Fighter x Tekken (along with a parody version of Mega Man).
  • He cameos along with Bowser, Sonic, and Pac-Man in the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph.
  • He appears in the "Worlds Unite" comic book crossover series which stars Mega Man and Sonic.
  • He appears as a playable unit alongside X, Zero, Chrom, Lucina and Fiora in Project X Zone 2.