Ryu: The Origin Of Street Fighter’s Most Famous Character Part 1

Ryu is the iconic hadoken-wielding face of the Street Fighter franchise. His attacks and likeness have been remade and reimagined in literally almost every single fighting game franchise. Through the years of technological and cultural change, Ryu has shown his face in every main series of Street Fighter games and many other games as well. Today, we are going to take a look back at Ryu’s beginnings within the story of the game. Let’s go back to 1987 to understand the origins of the fighting game genre’s most iconic character.

Street Fighter 1 Pioneers a New Genre of Games

Fans first met Ryu in the 1987 arcade game Street Fighter. This game, while a predecessor to all of the other entries in the franchise, is known to be lacking features. Most notably, the game only has two playable characters. Even those two characters were just palette-swapped versions of the same character. Capcom would find a way to spin this into the story narrative later. Back in 1987, fighting games were an unexplored genre.

The game features very little story, but other entries in the Street Fighter franchise have filled in the events that take place. With only two playable characters in Street Fighter 1, it was explained to players that the other fighter was Ken Masters, a fighter who was taught by the same master and fights with the same style. These two fighters would become lifelong friends and rivals within the story and always fight with a ‘nearly the same’ fighting style for the rest of the Street Fighter series.

Ryu’s First Tournament – The Events of Street Fighter 1

At 23 years old, the famous fighter is sent out to travel the world by Gouken, his master and also an expert in the fictional martial arts style Ansatsuken. Gouken sends his pupils, Ken Masters and Ryu, to the world to train and hone their martial arts skills. Ryu goes to Thailand seeking a challenge from the self-proclaimed emperor of Muay Thai, Sagat. Ryu fights 20 martial arts masters to prove himself worthy of challenging Sagat.

Although the game only has 10 stages in which Ryu fights a different martial artist. In the final fight, both in-game and in story, you fight Sagat. Ryu is soundly defeated, and Sagat offers his hand in respect to the fallen hero when something incomprehensible happens. Something dark awakens within Ryu, his eyes glow red, and the power awakens inside him called the Satsui-no Hado.

Instead of taking Sagat’s hand, he rises from the ground with a malicious uppercut, striking Sagat across the chest with a Shoryuken. Ryu is left stunned and confused by what had overtaken him in that moment. When Sagat recovers from his injuries, he is left with a huge scar across his chest and a grudge, vowing to get revenge on him.

Setting the Groundwork for an All-Time Classic Game

Fans can still play Street Fighter 1 through Capcom’s regular anthology releases like Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection. However, what would come next in the franchise would be the entry that would truly change the gaming world forever. Capcom would bring back Ryu and Ken, along with Sagat and a whole cast of playable characters, three years later in Street Fighter 2. Check out the next article in this series as we travel through the entire history of the original Street Fighter.