Ryu (SSBU)

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Ryu in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Street Fighter
Other playable appearance	in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Shin Shoryuken / Shinku Hadoken

“	Ryu is a special character—you can use directional command inputs to trigger his special moves. Executing moves like his Hadoken and Shoryuken using the command inputs from the original game will raise their power. You can even use a Shakunetsu Hadoken by inputting ←↙↓↘→ then tapping the attack button while facing right!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Ryu (リュウ, Ryū) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Ryu is classified as fighter #60.

Ryu is once again voiced by Kyle Hebert in the English version and Hiroki Takahashi in the Japanese version, albeit with recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Ryu being the 13th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Yoshi or anyone in his unlock tree, being the third character unlocked after Marth.
• Have Ryu join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Ryu must then be defeated on Battlefield.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Aesthetics

• As with all veterans returning from SSB4, Ryu's model features a more subdued color scheme. His muscles and other physical features are more pronounced, and his hair is spikier. These changes make him appear virtually identical to his appearance in Street Fighter V.
• Ryu's up taunt no longer has him turn around when tightening his headband, now more closely resembling the taunt it is based on from Street Fighter IV.
• The victory pose where Ryu strikes a hook is slightly modified. He now closes his eyes and crosses his arms before winding the hook, with the camera coming in from the left, making the victory pose more resemble his Street Fighter IV pose.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Ryu's jumpsquat animation now takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
• Being able to dash cancel his tilts greatly improves his approach, letting him threaten the opponent with his tapped tilts for combos, or space his smash attacks more safely.
• Ryu's double jump gains slightly more height.
• Ryu's walking, dashing and air speed were all unchanged, however, since most other characters had a speed increase in those areas, Ryu's overall speed is much slower relative to the cast.
• In 1-on-1 matches, Ryu will always face his opponent, similar to how he behaves in his origin series.
  • This makes it harder to be hit from behind by Shulk's Back Slash or affected fully by Robin's Nosferatu.
  • This makes it difficult to attack things behind Ryu, such as Luma, and makes him easier to be hit with Mewtwo's Disable.
  • If one wishes to use back air in an edgeguard, one must perform a reverse aerial rush, which takes longer to perform as Ryu as he will only pivot around as part of his turnaround, and not in a dash dance. Without performing a reverse aerial rush it is impossible to jump offstage while facing towards it if the opponent is offstage.
  • This changes the application of his dashdance, as his initial dash does not turn him the opposite direction. Instead, he performs a backdash similar to his home series, allowing him to perform an evasive "shimmy" to keep within an effective range while still facing the opponent. This potentially improves his punishes.
  • This makes his command inputs easier to perform. For instance, it is now not possible to accidentally perform a Hadoken backwards when attempting to perform a Tatsumaki.
  • This makes it harder for Ryu to be reversed by Mario's Cape on the ground, as Ryu will almost immediately turn back around. Aerial caping still works as usual.

Ground attacks

• Ryu now has proximity normals that change depending on his distance from the opponent. Tapped forward tilt changes from his standing medium kick to a new attack based off his Street Fighter II close medium punch, a right hook inwards. Held neutral attack changes from his Street Fighter II standing heavy kick to his close heavy punch, which is functionally identical to his held up tilt. Both attacks can be special-cancelled on hit similar to his held down tilt.
• Tapped neutral attack can now jab reset.
  • Ryu can now special-cancel the second hit of his neutral attack.
  • First and second hit of neutral attack have reduced hitlag.
• Tapped forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 24).
  • Held forward tilt has more startup (frame 14/16 → 16/18) and ending lag (FAF 35 → 39).
  • Held down tilt has fewer frames of startup lag (6 frames → 5 frames).
• Up tilt's light and heavy versions have smaller hitboxes.
• Forward smash deals more knockback.
• Up smash deals more knockback.
• Down smash deals slightly more knockback, although it is still one of the weakest down smashes in the game.
• Down smash has less range.

Aerial attacks

• Ryu can cancel all of his aerial attacks into special attacks in the same way he can cancel some of his ground attacks.
• All aerials all have less landing lag.
• Neutral aerial's weak hitbox has more active hitbox frames.
  • Neutral aerial has more endlag (FAF 28 → 36), making it much more difficult to start combos with it while airborne.
  • Neutral aerial's weak hitbox can be used to jab reset prone opponents.
• Forward aerial has more startup (frame 6 → 8) and the clean hit's sweetspot deals less damage (15% → 14%).
• Forward aerial's sweetspot deals significantly increased knockback, boosting its KO potential.
• Back aerial deals more knockback.
• Up aerial now has intangibility on Ryu's arm.

Throws

• Down throw deals slightly less knockback, improving its combo potential.

Special Moves

• All versions of Hadoken deal more damage.
• Tatsumaki Senpukyaku's weak hitbox deals more damage and knockback.
• Shoryuken deals less knockback and has more endlag.
• Shoryuken has a shorter window of time in which Ryu can snap to the ledge when recovering with it.
• Focus Attack's first stage of charge is harder to combo off of.
• During Ryu's Shin Shoryuken, the opposing fighter has been given new animations while getting hit, somewhat inspired by animations from Street Fighter IV for the Metsu Shoryuken.
• Ryu can cancel several standard attacks and any special move excluding Focus Attack into Shin Shoryuken. This does not hold true for Shinku Hadoken.

Classic Mode: Seeking a Challenge

Ryu's opponents are all references to characters that appear in Street Fighter II and are stamina battles with all of the stages being in Ω form. The Bonus Stage also comes earlier, similar to the car mini-game from said title. The final boss fight also includes Ken as a teammate. His song in the credits is "Ryu Stage".

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music
1	Ken	Suzaku Castle (Ω form)	Ken Stage Type A
2	Zero Suit Samus	Onett (Ω form)	Chun-Li Stage Type A
3	Incineroar	Boxing Ring (Ω form)	Zangief Stage Type A
4	Donkey Kong	Kongo Falls (Ω form)	Blanka Stage Type A
Bonus Stage
5	Giant Little Mac	Boxing Ring (Ω form)	Balrog Stage Type A
6	Meta Knight	Arena Ferox (Ω form)	Vega Stage Type A
Final	Master Hand and Crazy Hand	Final Destination	M. Bison Stage Type A

Note: All of the matches play music from Street Fighter II regardless of the stage.

Role in World of Light

Although Ryu does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Ryu only appears after the player clears a world map sub-area reminiscent of Street Fighter II by beating every spirit.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Ryu's fighter card.

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  Taunting on Kongo Falls.

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  Charging his Focus Attack on Wily Castle.

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  Ryu using his forward aerial on a bike-riding Wario on Suzaku Castle.

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  With Knuckle Joe on Princess Peach's Castle.

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  Ryu charging his Shinku Hadoken.

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  Failing to perform a Hadoken on Tortimer Island, with Pichu laughing.

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  Fighting Greninja on Suzaku Castle.

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  Ryu getting attacked by Ike on Boxing Ring.

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  Ryu using his forward aerial on Mr. Game & Watch on Suzaku Castle.

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  Ryu getting launched by Villager's neutral finisher on Coliseum.

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  Performing a Hadoken near Sukapon on Wrecking Crew.

• RyuDuckHuntFinalDestinationUltimateBattleReady.jpg

  Ryu and Duck Hunt on Final Destination.

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• Ryu and Wii Fit Trainer are the only two characters (so far) whose full renders are not on the official Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website. In this case, the picture stops around his ankles.
• Ryu's artwork pose resembles a pose from his official artwork for Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.
• Ryu is the only fighter who was introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4 to have an Echo Fighter, that being Ken.
  • He is also the only third-party veteran to have an Echo Fighter, as Simon and Richter are both newcomers.
• Ryu is one of three veterans from Super Smash Bros. 4 to have their Boxing Ring alias changed in Ultimate, the others being Mega Man and Link.
• Ryu's classic mode has numerous references to Street Fighter II:
  • Each stage represents an opponent from the franchise: Zero Suit Samus (Chun-Li), Incineroar (Zangief), Green Donkey Kong (Blanka), Giant Little Mac (Boxer/Balrog), Meta Knight (Vega/Claw). Each character's theme plays during these fights on stages that resemble their Street Fighter 2 home stages.
  • Ryu's bonus stage is in the middle, referencing Street Fighter's tendency to have bonus stages as midway points.
  • The final two bosses before the final boss is a reference to the "Four Heavenly Kings" who must be fought as the last fighters before Bison, in this case Balrog and Vega (minus Sagat) with Bison being the fourth king.
  • Ryu's final stage in Classic Mode is a reference to the artwork used for Street Fighter II': Champion Edition, which features a giant M. Bison towering over Ryu (represented in the game as both Master Hand and Crazy Hand) and the finale of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, where Ryu and Ken double team against M. Bison. Additionally, M. Bison's theme plays in the background during the final battle.