Ryu

*This article is about the Street Fighter character. For the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden, see Ryu Hayabusa.*

**Ryu** is the main protagonist of the *Street Fighter* series. He fought Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star in episode 2 of Mini Rumble Season 2 , appeared in the end of Ken vs Sub-Zero in the same season, fought Kazuya Mishima from Tekken and Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat in episodes 1 and 4 of Season 3.

## Description

Orphaned at a young age and left with no memory of his parents, Ryu was found and raised by the martial artist Gouken. Throughout most of his life, he lived at his dojo, training with Gouken, alongside his sparring partner Ken Masters. At age 23, he left the dojo and has since then continually wandered across the globe, always seeking to improve himself and wanting to meet and fight new people.

## Trivia

* Ryu and Chun-Li have made the most crossover appearances out of the entire *Street Fighter* roster, Ryu appearing in all crossover fighting game to date involving the series (not including guest appearances by *Street Fighter* characters in non-crossover projects).
	+ Ryu and Ken, conversely, are the only two characters who have been in every *Street Fighter* installment.
	+ Ryu actually makes a small comical jab at his multiple crossover appearances throughout the years in his introduction in the first "Lost Episode" of *Asura's Wrath*, saying that it's "not the first time [he's] been sent to a strange land".
* Although initially easily subjected to M. Bison's will, Ryu is one of only two people to deal him a defeat in one on one direct combat (the other being Charlie Nash).
* According to some of his *Street Fighter IV* win quotes, Ryu can afford shoes, but prefers walking barefoot (possibly for comfort).
	+ In UDON's comics, while tutoring and helping Sakura, Ryu brushes upon this matter as well, saying that traveling barefoot is helpful in building one's character.
	+ Furthermore, in the English version of *Street Fighter X Tekken*, his win quote against Guy reveals that he considers the idea of rethinking his stance on shoes.
* Ryu references the original *Street Fighter* game in one of his win quotes in *Capcom vs. SNK 2* ("*What strength! I won't forget that there are many like you all over the world!*").
* Ryu is one of three characters whose stage doesn't have an audience until the *Alpha* series (along with Akuma and Evil Ryu).
* Ryu & Ken's fighting style have gone through many changes over the course of the series. In the original *Street Fighter*, Ryu & Ken were genius martial artists who learned martial arts from an early age and created their own martial arts style. This would carry over to *SFA3* where Ryu adopts various techniques from karate, jūdō and taekwondo to create his own style.However, in Ryu's *SFIII* bio it states that he uses martial arts based on karate.It wasn't until *SFIV* where Ryu & Ken's fighting style became a "martial art rooted as an art of assassination".
* Ryu cut off the sleeves of his dōgi to better throw punches, and because he remembered how inconvenient it was when he was grabbed there.
* Ryu's 6th color in *Street Fighter IV* bears a resemblance to his attire in the *Alpha* series.
* In the Japanese version of the Capcom arcade quiz game *Quiz and Dragons*, Ryu's full name is given as **Ryu Takegami** (武神 隆 *Takegami Ryū***?**), though this has never been referenced in any other media and it is unlikely Capcom considers this his full name officially.
* Ryu shares the same birthday as T. Hawk.
	+ Ryu also shares the same birthday (and year, shown in the SNES manual for *SFII*) with former Capcom artist, Akira (Akiman) Yasuda.
* In the *SFIII* Q&A from Gamest's *SFIII* Fanbook, when asked what type of woman he likes, Ryu's response is *"Women who look good in spring in Japan"*
	+ The book also states that the rucksack he carries contains spare clothes he can change into. And that Ryu is 33 years old as *SFIII* takes place in 1997.
* Evil Ryu's win quote to Rose in *Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition* is almost the same as Ryu's win quote to her in *Street Fighter IV*.
* In the original *Street Fighter*, there's unused audio in the game files for a "Fire Kick", along with unused graphics that suggest Ryu and Ken were planned to have a fourth special move. Had it been implemented, it would have been a standard jump kick with fire covering the user's foot, similar to the Senpukyaku or Tenmakujinkyaku.
* According to Yoshinori Ono, Ryu suffers from arachnophobia (fear of spiders), a subject matter emphasized in his introduction quote against Spider-Man in *Marvel vs. Capcom 3* and its updated version.
* In *Street Fighter: Resurrection*, Ryu's date of birth is listed as "Unknown" when his official birthdate is July 21, 1964.
* His premium school costume in *Street Fighter V* has a minor resemblance to Daigo's outfit from his wild form in the *Rival Schools* series.
* Ryu has the most character connections out of anybody, making allies and enemies than any fighter which makes Ryu the most well known from allies and enemies alike.
* According to his win quote against El Fuerte, Ryu has no food preferences when he's hungry. He will eat whatever is available to him.
* The end of the story *A Shadow Falls* possibly marks the first time chronologically in the games that Ryu is not seen with his red headband since he first got it.

* In artwork for Capcom Friendly Club, Ryu can be seen reading Masutatsu Ōyama's book called *“Mas Ōyama’s straight punch attack” (マス大山の正拳一撃 Mas Ōyama no seiken ichigeki)*. It was the last work of Ōyama published in April 1994, the same month of his death.
* If you pair Ryu & Ken with Leon S Kennedy in Project X Zone 2, Ken will ask Leon to take fighting more seriously which leads to Leon trying to perform a Hadoken and Shoryuken. Ryu thought that Leon was really going to fire a real Hadoken. This is a nod to the fact that Ryu was voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa who currently voices Leon.
	+ Dante from Devil May Cry is not only voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa but also has access to Ryu's moves when equiped with Beowulf, Gilgamesh & Balrog.
* Ryu’s Power Ranger form from *Power Rangers Legacy Wars*, Ryu Ranger, is similar in name to Ryo’s Ranger form from *Gosei Sentai Dairanger*. The Ranger costume design is a mashup of the White Ranger, parts of Ryu’s regular outfit, the Green Ranger, and Red Hawk (who also goes under the name Ryu) from *Choujin Sentai Jetman*.
* Ryu's Battle Costume (Hot Ryu) was inspired by an early prototype *Street Fighter V* design of Ryu.

### XVX

* Ryu's the first video game character to appear in Mini Rumble Season 2.