Street Fighter: 10 Things About Ryu That Make No Sense

Few, if any, characters are more closely associated with the Street Fighter franchise than Ryu. Alongside Ken, he has been there since day one, when the first game debuted in 1987. And he’s been there in one form or another ever since.

Unlike many of his associates, Ryu hasn’t really undergone a lot of physical changes over the years. He maintains the same essential look he always has. Well, excluding Hot Ryu, of course. But it’s that point of consistency that makes him so key to Street Fighter as a whole. Still, there are a few things about the guy that just don’t make sense.

10 Wandering Martial Artist

Fighting for a living is difficult, especially if you’re not involved in something like UFC or WWE. And even they frown on throwing fireballs at people during matches. That being said, WWE would probably appreciate the theatrics Ryu brings to the table.

Ryu is obsessed with being the best fighter in the world. As such, his job is often listed as a wandering martial artist. How he gets paid for that job is confusing at best. Based on that title, it seems like he just roams the countryside, picking fights with people.

9 Hair Color

For a guy who puts no value on material possessions, Ryu sure enjoys changing his hair color. Maybe it’s because he was feeling jaunty one day, but there has been a surprising amount of variation over the years.

He seems to stick in a range of red, brown, dark brown, and black. It’s not like Ryu is going to show up to a fight with Zangief with bright pink hair but some of the changes are quite stark. And this is coming from the guy who wears the same gi every day.

8 Wolverine

The number of friends Ryu has made over the years greatly outweighs his enemies. But the people he hates he hates deeply. Naturally, his closest friend is Ken as they grew up together. Other fighters like Chun-Li and Guile are certainly high up that list, as well.

Surprisingly, Wolverine is also on that list. The two got to know each other through the inter-reality fighting tournaments that pitted the Marvel Universe against the Street Fighter universe. Their healthy professional respect for each other was the basis for a friendship, even if other aspects of their personalities don’t quite match up.

7 Born in 1964

One of the best parts of being a fictional character is agelessness. Growing old is completely off the table, and the passage of time is negligible at best. For someone like Ryu who spends his time fighting people and training to fight people, this is quite useful.

According to his bio, Ryu was born on July 21, 1964. This makes sense in the first game released in 1987 as Ryu would have been 23. But in modern games, the guy is 56. He’s still winning tournaments but he has to be sore after.

6 Sagat

The relationship between Ryu and Sagat is perplexing at best. Originally, Ryu defeated Sagat in their first meeting and was responsible for the huge scar on Sagat’s chest. As always, new games make changes to the backstory.

Ryu and Sagat’s first meeting was retconned to make Sagat the winner in their fight. This caused Ryu to submit to his Hulk-like emotional issues, and release Evil Ryu. These days, Ryu and Sagat have a healthy, mutual, respect that’s almost a friendship. It’s an odd arc.

5 No shoes

Ryu has a lot of dislikes but a big one is materialism. Keeping mind that he lives the life of an ascetic wandering martial artist, there really isn’t much room for a nice bedroom set or a basement full of Funko figures.

Still, it seems like Ryu should probably invest in a decent pair of shoes. If he wants to fight barefoot, that’s perfectly fine. Plenty of combat sports athletes fight without shoes. But when he’s wandering the road, a nice pair of Nikes would seem like a good idea.

4 He Talks A Lot

As consistently one of the top warriors in the Street Fighter universe, Ryu is known for his incredible skills in combat. This is due to an almost literal lifetime of training, during which he honed himself into being an unstoppable weapon.

But it’s also important to note that the guy never shuts up for some reason. Ryu delivers a lot of philosophical monologues about fighting and life. Honestly, it feels like he talks more than he fights. Supervillains spend less time on rambling monologues than him.

3 Main Weakness Is Meatloaf

When it comes to martial arts, Ryu’s game is pretty tight. There are not a lot of vulnerabilities in his figurative armor, which is why he’s one of the best around. His non-stop nattering can be a little diverting, but that’s at least usually between matches.

Oddly enough, Ryu has turned out to be a pretty food motivated guy. He’s often distracted by food and is reputed to absolutely adore a nice meatloaf. If that’s true, setting a plate with a mighty slab of mom’s classic recipe beside the ring might distract him enough to defeat him.

2 Perfectionist

Ryu has been driven throughout his life to be the greatest martial artist in the world. Taking that to the next step, Ryu seeks nothing short of perfection in his style and technique. That path is dangerous at best, and not just because people are constantly trying to kick him in the face.

His perfectionism and virtually unwavering focus on fighting are a large part of the conditions that produced Evil Ryu. Even after battling his own dark side and its physical manifestations for so long, Ryu still hasn’t given up on his dangerously obsessive focus on fighting.

1 Kind Of Boring

The world of Street Fighter is filled with incredibly colorful and engaging characters. Individuals like Blanka, E. Honda, Chun-Li, Zangief, and Dhalsim all have unique looks and interesting backstories. Then, there’s Ryu.

Despite being an incredibly popular character, Ryu’s isn’t particularly interesting or unique and his similarities to Ken make it odd that he’s been able to stand out as effectively as he has.