Ryu

Once upon a time, a master of martial arts, named Gouken, found an abandoned child. Gouken took this boy into his dojo and raised him as his own. This means teaching the child powerful fighting techniques that allow controlling the mind with the body and therefore follow the spiritual path of self-improvement and self-knowledge. The name of this boy is Ryu, and he is one of the most iconic characters in the Street Fighter Universe.

Ryu doesn’t remember his parents. His whole life is filled with training. He’s been training since the earliest days - first watching Gouken with his master Goutetsu and brother Akuma. Then Ryu started learning various attacks and special moves. His first sparring partner was Ken Masters, a son of Gouken’s best friend. Quite soon, Ryu and Ken become best friends themselves - and guys treasure such relationship throughout the years, in multiple installments of the Street Fighter game series

At the age of 23, Ryu starts his travels across the globe. His master Gouken sends Ryu to face the best fighters and thus break all the limitations of his fighting skills. Participating in the World Warrior tournament is part of this journey.

During the first tournament, Ryu defeats mighty opponents from all over the world to fight the main boos - Sagat from Thailand. Ryu has to win battles against many Muay Thai to attract the attention of the best among them. However confident Sagat was, Ryu defeats him and leaves a huge scar across the chest. For Sagat, this loss is a reason to seek revenge. 

The power that helped Ryu get that victory is the dark energy Satsui no Hado. It’s so dangerous that the kind nature of Ryu disappears and the guy becomes ready to kill his opponents. Such a transformation scares Ryu, and he avoids Satsui no Hado at any cost.

But Akuma, the brother of Gouken, thinks differently. Satsui no Hado for him is the best tool to gain power. Akuma also is traveling the world, looking for a decent opponent. He believes Ryu can become one and regularly tries to convince the guy. Once, Akuma fights Ryu and almost allows him to win - only to prove the real power of Satsui no Hado that destroys the whole island. To get Ryu as his disciple, Akuma fights Gouken a few times, but his attempts fail in one way or another.

Another Street Fighter character also wants to use Ryu for his purposes - M. Bison. Ryu plans to defeat the evil dictator but gets caught. M. Bison tries to brainwash Ryu and only the sudden appearance of Ken, Sagat, and Sakura destroys this plan. Ryu remembers everything and defeats M. Bison.

Sagat wants to avenge Ryu. Once he wins a fight against Eternal Wanderer, but later Sagat realizes that Ryu did not want to win. Soon, Sagat’s feelings towards Ryu change - the internal fight against Satsui no Hado evokes compassion.

Ryu is a role model for Sakura. This Japanese girl even wants to learn martial arts from Ryu, but the guy doesn’t feel ready to teach anyone.

The fight against M. Bison continues in the second World Warrior tournament. This time, Ryu partners with other characters: Guile, Chun-Li, and Cammy. It seems like the deep evil can’t be defeated forever and ever - at least not this time.

An even more powerful battle for Ryu is his struggle to not fall into the power of Satsui no Hado. This dark energy takes the guy under control and makes him kill many people, bad guys from S.I.N., the evil organization Shadaloo Intimidation Network. They made Ryu possessed and they paid for this. Seth was a leader of Shadaloo for that period and he tried to convince Ryu to chase power. But Ryu defeats Seth and returns to his usual path of honesty and fair fights. Gouken seals Satsui no Hado inside the guy but the seal is not ultimate, so the fight against Evil Ryu continues for Ryu.And the fighting spiritual journey of Ryu continues as well. He meets Dhalsim to talk about the dark power inside. He fights Necalli who tries to steal fighters' souls. With Ken, Chun-Li, and Karin, Ryu battles Shadaloo. These experiences help Eternal Wanderer to grow and be prepared for new challenges.