He noted, Ryu and Ken are the "so-called standard characters in the SFII world, and since they were coming from SFI, we could have the other characters be weirdos." As a result, the duo was redesigned to have a stoic feel. Shoei Okano recalled they were originally going to be Y.S.'s characters in early stages of development. Ryu and Ken were mainly handled by Shoei, who had clear memories of designing the Hadoken and Shoryuken. They later decided not to do so, but a mistake resulted in Ryu become the weaker character. This was because Capcom had wanted to add a weak point to their Shoryukens. Although Ryu and Ken had the same moves, Yoshiki Okamoto said Ryu was the weaker of the two. Ryu's Shoryuken was noted to be highly difficult to execute, something which the team wanted to fix. In an interview with Game On!, Capcom Research and Development head Noritaka Funamizu said that of the series' characters, Ryu was one of the most popular with American audiences, alongside Zangief and Guile. Because Ryu was the only playable character in the original Street Fighter game, his designer Manabu Takemura wanted him to be easy for players to relate to. His other two techniques from the first Street Fighter game, Shoryuken ( 昇龍拳, Shōryūken) and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku ( 竜巻旋風脚) were inspired by actual martial arts moves, which were exaggerated for the character.
#Super street fighter 2 ryu series
In addition, Ryu's Hadouken ( 波動拳, hadōken) energy attack was based on the wave motion gun from the titular spacecraft in the sci-fi anime series Space Battleship Yamato, which Nishiyama watched during the seventies. Ryu's name was based on Nishiyama's name because the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese pronunciation) of the character "Takashi" is "Ryū" ( Mandarin: Lóng, 隆).
Whereas Ryu was based on Oyama, his rival Sagat was also influenced by the protagonist's rivalry with a bald Muay Thai martial artist from the series. Nishiyama was impressed by Oyama's martial arts skill and philosophies, and this inspired him to create the first Street Fighter game. Nishiyama grew up watching Ichidai's animated series, which was influenced by Oyama's life. Takashi Nishiyama's inspiration for Ryu was Mas Oyama, a character who first appeared in the kung fu series Karate Master by Ikki Kajiwara. Ryu has become one of gaming's most iconic fighting game characters, but his evil persona has been criticized for retaining most of his regular form's moves. He is also featured in manga and anime adaptations and the 1994 live-action film. Capcom series, Project X Zone and the Super Smash Bros. Ryu has been the lead character of the Street Fighter series since the first game and has appeared as a playable character in several crossover games involving the franchise, including the Marvel vs. Multiple actors have voiced him both in Japanese and in English. For the next titles, Ryu's fighting style was modified, so he had different skills with Evil Ryu and Kage possessing more diverse moves. However, because of issues in the making of Street Fighter II he possessed a major weakness within the cast.
For his second appearance, Ryu's design changed from that of a young fighter to a skilled Karate practitioner. Nishiyama's inspiration was the martial artist Mas Oyama. He was created by Manabu Takemura and Takashi Nishiyama. "Ryu with the surge of murderous intent awakened", abbreviated Satsui Ryu in Street Fighter Alpha 3), and Kage-naru mono ( 影ナル者, lit. Unable to control his dark nature, Ryu developed two alter egos: Evil Ryu ( 殺意の波動に目覚めたリュウ, Satsui no Hadō ni Mezameta Ryū, lit. Other games in the series show Ryu to be highly focused on his training, aiming to become the strongest he can. He is the longest running fighting game character. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the game's lead character alongside his best friend Ken Masters. Ryu ( Japanese: リュウ, Hepburn: Ryū) is a fictional Japanese fighting character and the main protagonist of Capcom's Street Fighter series.