Ryu (Street Fighter) Wiki

You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance.
--Ryu, American version of Street Fighter II
Mistranslation of the win quote, 昇龍拳を破らぬ限り、お前に勝ち目はない! (lit. "If you cannot overcome the Shouryuuken, you don't stand a chance!)

Ryu is the main character and protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Ryu has made an appearance in every Street Fighter game, as well as in every crossover game with Capcom characters in it. Ryu has become a very famous character in the fighting genre, and is the star of the original Street Fighter.

As a very young child, Ryu was orphaned and left with no memories about his parents, and whether they were still alive. He was found and adopted by a man named Gouken who raised Ryu in his secluded dojo and trained Ryu in the ways of his martial arts. Shortly afterwards, Gouken would later train his best friend's spoiled son, Ken Masters. Ken served not only as a sparring partner, but also gave Ryu a friend in the form of a boy his own age.

Ryu looked up to Gouken as a father figure, and regards Ken as his best friend and surrogate brother, a relationship which remains to this day. When Ryu was 23 years old, Gouken believed that Ryu was ready to travel the world in order to test and hone his martial skills against the best fighters from around the world. With this, Ryu left Gouken's dojo, and headed to fight in the World Warrior tournament.

In most of his appearances, Ryu has short dark brown hair (sometimes depicted as black instead) tied with a red headband. He wears a white dougi with torn sleeves and red fingerless gloves, and is usually barefoot. In his appearance in Street Fighter 6, he has grown a beard and forgone the upper portion of his dougi for a reddish-brown sash.