Ryu

As a very young child, Ryu was orphaned and left with no memories about his parents, and whether they were still alive. He was found and adopted by a man named Gouken who raised Ryu in his secluded dojo and trained Ryu in the ways of his martial arts. Shortly afterwards, Gouken would later train his best friend’s spoiled son, Ken Masters. Ken served not only as a sparring partner, but also gave Ryu a friend in the form of a boy his own age. Ryu looked up to Gouken as a father figure, and regards Ken as his best friend and surrogate brother, a relationship which remains to this day. When Ryu was 23 years old, Gouken believed that Ryu was ready to travel the world in order to test and hone his martial skills against the best fighters from around the world. With this, Ryu left Gouken’s dojo, and headed to fight in the World Warrior tournament.

Ryu is one of the participants of the World Warrior tournament. After defeating all challengers, Ryu’s skills earn him the right to fight its host, Sagat. Sagat nearly beats Ryu into unconsciousness and, thinking he had won, drops his guard to help Ryu up. 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 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.

Ryu leaves Sagat behind and returns to his home only to find that Gouken, his master and adoptive father, has apparently been murdered. Learning thatAkuma had fought and supposedly 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.

Two years later, 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 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 Shadaloo). 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 defeats many of the new warriors. It is unknown how far Ryu progressed through the tournament.

Sometime after the second World Warrior tournament, Ryu enters into a new tournmament to further master his skills as well as reunite with his longtime friend Ken for another rematch. During his journey he meets up with Sakura whom he encourages to train harder. Meanwhile Ryu also meets up with a former rival Sagat and remembers the promised rematch as they fought. During the final round with the final boss Seth, he defeats him in the S.I.N. headquarters. During and after this battle the building fell around them as Ryu unleashed Satsui no Hadou on the BLECE machine, a weapon of mass destruction developed by S.I.N. that harnessed the energy in the human body; Sakura comes to his aide and they leave the building together, the weapon destroyed. He also learns that Gouken has in fact survived his last battle with Akuma, and they spar in a match in which Gouken wins. During their bout Gouken seals off the residual Satsui no Hadou within him, killing Akuma’s dream of fighting Ryu in that state.

Years later, Ryu enters the third World Warrior tournament to further advance his fighting abilities. He was then defeated by Oro. Later, he and Ken have another match in which Ryu emerges the victor. He then faced Alex and emerges victorious. Sometime during these games, he defeats Hugo.