Personal Opinion: Ryu is one of Street Fighter's Least Interesting Characters

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

I have been thinking about Street Fighter recently and i have come to a sort of realisation - Ryu despite being the main protagonist of the series is one of the least interesting characters in the series and is honestly quite boring. I understand the whole direction with Ryu's plot-line being don't give into the power of violence and anger but it's quite cliche in that sort of story has been done numerous times in other fighting games - with much better success than Ryu.

I have also noticed that despite being the main protagonist of Street Fighter he is often not the focus with the only game where he plays the most important role in SF1. In SF2 it could be argued that Guile and Chun-Li are the main protagonist, In SF3 Alex is the main protagonist. In SF4 - Abel and Juri are the main protagonists and while Ryu does have an fairly important role at the end - the real protagonists of SF5 are Rashid and Nash. This also extends to the spin-offs with the Alpha games focusing on Nash and Cammy.

To me it seems like Capcom knows that Ryu is not that interesting as a character and keep focusing on more interesting charters (plus he doesn't really have that much connection to the main plot-line of the series which is Shadollo compared to Guile and Chun) because it's extremely hard to change up both Ryu in terms of personality and move-set but what do you guys think - do you think that Ryu is a boring character like me or do you think he is more interesting than i give him credit for.

 

[Woozies]

I mean, yeah.

He's wandering fight guy.


But without the interesting enough past to color all of his interactions significantly.

Nor the personality to make his multiple encounters noteworthy.

 

[Jimnymebob]

I think he's fairly plain by design.
He's by far the most interesting of that type of protagonist though. So the likes of Ryo, Akira etc.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

I mean, yeah.

He's wandering fight guy.


But without the interesting enough past to color all of his interactions significantly.

Nor the personality to make his multiple encounters noteworthy.

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He suffers the same problem as a lot of 90s fighting game protagonist like Liu Kang and Jago have. They are vastly less interesting than a lot of the cast. There's a reason NR basically ditched Liu Kang as the protagonist of the MK Series

 

[Spinky]

He's super boring, but he's an icon so he gets by.

 

[DrMoguera]

Ryu's simplicity is what makes him appealing

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Ryu's simplicity is what makes him appealing

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True but simplicity can only get you so far. Charcters like Jin,Kazuya,Scorpion have evolved as charcters since the 90s while Ryu sadly hasn't

 

[Your Cousin Vinny]

I suppose you're not wrong.

Ryu has three things that weigh him down - his bland personality and appearance, his lack of meaningful attachment to the plot, and his overly simplistic move set which makes him less appealing to use competitively.

I suppose what keeps him going is nostalgia and the fact that he is an archetypal character type. The term "shotoclone" exists because of him, after all.

 

[Aniki]

He's always prominently featured in the marketing material. He's the face of SF. But yeah he doesn't always play the most important role. Still, online he and Ken are the most popular characters.

 

[Deleted member 442]

Alpha 3 was pretty focused on Ryu since he was a focus of Bison's plan.

Alpha 2 centered on Ryu's relationship to Akuma.

SF4 and SFV I'll give you. Where they were able to do something with his ascetic lifestyle in earlier titles since 3S he's fallen away from a story perspective.

SF2 is a difficult one because outside of stuff you'd see in manuals and character endings there really wasn't much of a story outside of a basic understanding of who the characters were.

So yeah I agree with you to an extent, Ryu has been left as a bit of a blank slate outside of his struggle with the darker side of his potential power, as of SFV that seems to have run its course. At times it seems a bit like they don't really know what to do with him from a story or design perspective.

He's a blank slate because he's the immediately understandable character, he's a karate dude. You could say the same thing of Mega Man in his main series.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

I suppose you're not wrong.

Ryu has three things that weigh him down - his bland personality and appearance, his lack of meaningful attachment to the plot, and his overly simplistic move set which makes him less appealing to use competitively.

I suppose what keeps him going is nostalgia and the fact that he is an archetypal character type. The term "shotoclone" exists because of him, after all.

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I completly agree with you - personally i do think the most intresting charcters in SF are the less straight forward charcters like Juri and Cody.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Alpha 3 was pretty focused on Ryu since he was a focus of Bison's plan.

Alpha 2 centered on Ryu's relationship to Akuma.

SF4 and SFV I'll give you. Where they were able to do something with his ascetic lifestyle in earlier titles since 3S he's fallen away from a story perspective.

SF2 is a difficult one because outside of stuff you'd see in manuals and character endings there really wasn't much of a story outside of a basic understanding of who the characters were.

So yeah I agree with you to an extent, Ryu has been left as a bit of a blank slate outside of his struggle with the darker side of his potential power, as of SFV that seems to have run its course. At times it seems a bit like they don't really know what to do with him from a story or design perspective.

He's a blank slate because he's the immediately understandable character, he's a karate dude. You could say the same thing of Mega Man in his main series.

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True but i would argue that Mega Man has also been expanded from his original story especially in the Archie Comics which did a great job. Ryu even in the Udon comics hasn't gotten the same treatment sadly

 

[Dog]

Not a fan of the bum.

 

[Woozies]

Alpha 3 was pretty focused on Ryu since he was a focus of Bison's plan.

Alpha 2 centered on Ryu's relationship to Akuma.

SF4 and SFV I'll give you. Where they were able to do something with his ascetic lifestyle in earlier titles since 3S he's fallen away from a story perspective.

SF2 is a difficult one because outside of stuff you'd see in manuals and character endings there really wasn't much of a story outside of a basic understanding of who the characters were.

So yeah I agree with you to an extent, Ryu has been left as a bit of a blank slate outside of his struggle with the darker side of his potential power, as of SFV that seems to have run its course. At times it seems a bit like they don't really know what to do with him from a story or design perspective.

He's a blank slate because he's the immediately understandable character, he's a karate dude. You could say the same thing of Mega Man in his main series.

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No you couldn't X or Classic

Now if you wanna argue those games don't put the narrative at the forefront, sure. But Classic Megaman got a hell of a lot mire going on that Ryu.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

Ryu is bland, but I think he's a popular pick because of it; basically a blank slate to just play the game with.

Also, Ryu does kind of exist for all the other characters to orbit around with their more colorful backstories and plots. He's almost a straight man to Street Fighter's goofy world.

That said, Street Fighter's storytelling is usually not interesting or clever. Due to this, they've missed a lot of opportunities to make use of Ryu's basic "live to fight" persona. For example, he could have interactions with other characters in which he challenges them with a simple philosophy that causes them to doubt the overwrought drama they involve themselves in.

Just because Ryu is simple and generic doesn't mean he can't have thoughts or opinions on what other characters are doing, but Capcom rarely gets into that.

 

[danmaku]

He has a basic toolkit and a basic design, makes sense. I'm not a fan either, but I get why he's there.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

While i don't think they should take the Liu Kang or Kazuya (aka subverting the charcter by making him an antagonist) i do think there are ways to make Ryu more interesting.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

I wouldn't mind the fact that he's so dry personality-wise if he wasn't the one to always beat the final boss and save the day.

 

[Slacker247]

True but simplicity can only get you so far. Charcters like Jin,Kazuya,Scorpion have evolved as charcters since the 90s while Ryu sadly hasn't

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Kazuya always had more story, off the bat, being a Mishima. That transfers down to Jin, too, so it's not really an apple to apple comparison.

Ryu is pure, simple, for the fight. I like that. Then they added some extra depth with the satsui no hadou, which is fine, too. I don't need the extra fluff, like they have tried with the Alpha anime with Shun. Sometimes just being an orphan with no special parentage/familial ties is fine. I like his relationship with Gouken and Ken, too. It's all quite basic compared many other characters, but sometimes that's all you really need. From his story, to his "basic" fighting, to even his plain clothes, he's a simple guy, just taking in a fight and Ryu is his name.


^In terms of canon, he isn't always the one that saves day! It's clear as day Guile, Charlie, Chun-Li have very large roles, and arguably do more "saving". For an iconic character, Ryu is mostly "just there", actually.

 

[mindsale]

I've always considered Chun Li the face of the franchise, beginning with 2. If my SNES box art memory holds up, she's kicking Blanka.

 

[Arta]

Street Fighter has no interesting characters, just iconic designs.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Street Fighter has no interesting characters, just iconic designs.

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I would argue Cammy,Cody are interesting charcters

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

I wouldn't mind the fact that he's so dry personality-wise if he wasn't the one to always beat the final boss and save the day.

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Seriously, why was he the one to beat Bison when Bison's rivalry was with Nash

 

[Kufkah]

Ryu's whole shtick is being a plain design, so yea!

 

[mrmickfran]

Of course he is.

You have characters like Chun-li, Balrog, Guile, Zangief, etc.

He is just the barefoot challenging guy

 

[fourfourfun]

Everybody loves to hadoken, nobody likes Ken's hair.

 

[Vault]

He's no Terry Bogard

 

[HardRojo]

Someone's gonna have to update that "Ryu has fought..." picture with some Power Rangers and new characters he'll be facing off in Smash.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

He's no Terry Bogard

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Terry is a great example of a fighting game protag done right. He has a simplistic fighting style but is way more enjoyable in terms of personality and development

 

[gcwy]

Not an interesting character as in not having an interesting story or something related to gameplay? You should watch the Street Fighter animated movie regardless.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Not an interesting character as in not having an interesting story or something related to gameplay? You should watch the Street Fighter animated movie regardless.

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More in terms of story and personality.

 

[enzo_gt]

I mean, he's the Everyman you're supposed to project yourself onto, so there are inevitably less details in some places.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Seriously, why was he the one to beat Bison when Bison's rivalry was with Nash

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Because Nash sucks so much that the world's most incompetent villain can beat him twice.

 

[Melubas]

He's pretty much the quiet but noble fighting nomad caricature, so I can see where you're coming from. Some of my favourite characters in the series is Gen and Vega. Gen is kind of a cliché visual design but I really like his backstory with the old, super powerful assassin being forced to cope with leukemia. He's one of the only characters to have survived taking Akumas raging demon head on. Plus he just looks badass :) Vega is also really cool; a psycho bullfighter ninja assassin with major narcissistic personality disorder.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Because Nash sucks so much that the world's most incompetent villain can beat him twice.

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When you think about it - Shadollo sucks as a criminal organsation. They did get slightly better in SFV with Fang but they are still incompetent

 

[Melkezadek]

I felt this way until "hot Ryu" in SFV. Now he's one of my favorites.

 

[Skronk]

People like boring/safe characters.

 

[Beartruck]

Next you're going to tell me Mario is pretty average. That's by design.

 

[Rickenslacker]

Yeah, he's pretty lame. Made lamer by the fact that since SF4 they've been pivoting his character arc as some internal struggle against an evil within himself.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Next you're going to tell me Mario is pretty average. That's by design.

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The thing is that Mario can be a fun and intresting charcter - the RPG spin-offs show that. Ryu even my opinion has never been that intresting

 

[Dog]

Anyway, Dictator is clearly the best :D

 

[Optimator]

Next you're going to tell me Mario is pretty average. That's by design.

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I was actually going to post this. Nice to see someone else thinking the same.

 

[Jazzem]

I err wish I had a cogent argument in defense of Ryu, I just think he's cool as hell :D

Of course though, we'll all agree m'boy Honda had the most personality right from the off with this astonishingly charismatic line:

Yeah, he's pretty lame. Made lamer by the fact that since SF4 they've been pivoting his character arc as some internal struggle against an evil within himself.

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That's been a thing since Alpha though right? Dark hado et al

 

[ShinySunny]

Well yeah.

Everyone knows that.
Ryu fights for the fight, and some inner demon BS.
While everyone and their moms are doing mystic/black ops/coup de-tat conquest/human evolution experiment stuff behind Ryu's back.

 

[Deleted member 442]

Here's the other thing with Ryu. They tend to just add other character archetypes to his template and treat them as a new character. On that basis I'd argue that he is defined more by his peers than himself.

Sakura is a younger, female Ryu. Where Ryu is quiet and reserved Sakura is outgoing and extroverted. She doesn't have his confidence or skill but she does get the opportunity to grow and mature as the series goes on.

Akuma was the evil Ryu before Evil Ryu. He's not compassionate but he retains that same desire to fight stronger opponents. His fighting style has changed from where he was originally in ST into SFV whereas Ryu has largely remained the same since 3S.

Gouken is the wise, old Ryu. He's a master of his art and is seemingly at peace with his place in the world, whereas Ryu is often unsure and not at-ease with his strength and potential.

Ken is the hot-headed, fast and extravagant Ryu. He has a family and seemingly lives a life outside of fighting whereas Ryu lives the lifestyle of a traveling wanderer.

 

[Woozies]

Like all of the shotos are basically just built off his template, but twist it and create more interesting characters.


Akuma's just ryu but basically with no restraint and a fucked sense of morality. So you kinda wonder how low is he going to sink?


Ken is Ryu but bound by responsibility abd family. So his desire to fight and train is accentuated by his need to run a business and protect his wife and son.


Sakura has no real training so her shoto is inherently fucked. But ger desire to meet ryu has led her to so many unrelated interesting adventures and frinedship she's basically unrecognizable as a standard shoto.

Sean has less talent than the others but genuine ingenuity and passion that's further emphasozed cause he's surrounded by a talented family doing martial arts he's not interested in.

 

[Doctrine Dark]

When it comes to Ryu and Bison, that showdown was foreshadowed as far back as Alpha 3. Rose basically predicted he'd be the only one capable of defeating Bison in the future. That's why he was the one who fought him in SFV. Guile and the others wanted revenge, but Bison and Ryu's connection wasn't about any of that. Having said that, Ryu doing his secret training and defeating Necalli was cool. I wasn't a fan of how the final match with Bison was done. Ryu just sorta showed up with the others and fought him. No actual build-up.

Overall, I like Ryu. He's not that interesting in terms of personality, but most of his words (usually through win quotes) often have that motivational message that could easily apply to real life.

 

[Auron Kale]

While I like a good number of characters from the series (both new and old), Ryu's simplicity is why he's actually my favorite. Guy who travels around to fight, simply works for me.

I think the fact that he's so interconnected with a number of characters is oddly fascinating.

 

[TheGamingNewsGuy]

Here's the other thing with Ryu. They tend to just add other character archetypes to his template and treat them as a new character. On that basis I'd argue that he is defined more by his peers than himself.

Sakura is a younger, female Ryu. Where Ryu is quiet and reserved Sakura is outgoing and extroverted. She doesn't have his confidence or skill but she does get the opportunity to grow and mature as the series goes on.

Akuma was the evil Ryu before Evil Ryu. He's not compassionate but he retains that same desire to fight stronger opponents. His fighting style has changed from where he was originally in ST into SFV whereas Ryu has largely remained the same since 3S.

Gouken is the wise, old Ryu. He's a master of his art and is seemingly at peace with his place in the world, whereas Ryu is often unsure and not at-ease with his strength and potential.

Ken is the hot-headed, fast and extravagant Ryu. He has a family and seemingly lives a life outside of fighting whereas Ryu lives the lifestyle of a traveling wanderer.

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Yeah, i honestly prefer most of the other Shoto clones than Ryu

 

[Rickenslacker]

I err wish I had a cogent argument in defense of Ryu, I just think he's cool as hell :D

That's been a thing since Alpha though right? Dark hado et al

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The console port added Evil Ryu but Alpha 3 turned into a weird melting pot of character additions with every successive port anyway.