is a fictional character and the protagonist of Koei Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden action game series, debuting in two 1988 video games for the arcade games and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Ryu is a human-dragon hybrid who wields an ancestral weapon called the Dragon Sword, and is the leader of the Hayabusa Ninja Clan. Ryu was created by Hideo Yoshizawa and designed by Masato Kato who wanted to create an action game where the player uses an unique take on the concept of ninja based on how the Western audience saw the concept behind them as superheroes. In 2004, game designer Tomonobu Itagaki created a new Ninja Gaiden where Ryu carries the same characterization but with a more modern appearance in 3D environments. He has also appeared in multiple spin-offs and an original video animation adaptation.
Outside Ninja Gaiden, Ryu has also appeared as a player character in the Dead or Alive fighting game franchise by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja where he serves as the protagonist in Dead or Alive 2 and one of the staple characters of the series, having appeared in every main series entry. Ryu is featured on official series merchandise as well as in the feature film DOA: Dead or Alive, and has made many crossover appearances in other games.
He has received favorable reception from critics and audiences, and is considered to be one of the most iconic examples of a ninja character in video games as handful of critics have ranked him as the most iconic ninja in gaming. The character received negative response for his weaker traits seen in Ninja Gaiden 3 as well as his lack of screetime in the latest installment, Ninja Gaiden 4, where the new character Yakumo takes the role of protagonist.
Conception and design
According to developer Masato Kato, the term "ninja" was gaining popularity in North America, prompting Tecmo to develop a ninja-related game for the NES at the same time the arcade version of Ninja Gaiden was being developed.Signature Series: Ninja Gaiden". Retro Gamer. No. 92. Bournemouth: Imagine Publishing. July 2011. pp. 78–81. ISSN 1742-3155. OCLC 489477015. Ryu was created by game designer Hideo Yoshizawa who was influenced by multiple Castlevania when creating Ninja Gaiden. The concept of Ryu was " ninja shouldering his own destiny, charging forward in the face of immense evil". Since both arcade and Famicon had a game with the same title, Yoshizawa wanted to make Ryu cooler on the Famicon. Yoshizawa noticed that in the making of the game, ninjas were associated with superheroes. As a result, he wanted to stay away from such concept when creating Ryu. However, creating a ninja game in modern times felt contradictory by Ryu since the idea of the protagonist killing the final boss did not fit the setting.
In designing the protagonist Ryu Hayabusa, the development team wanted him to be unique from other ninjas. They designed him with a ninja vest to place emphasis on his muscles, and they furnished him with a cowl that arched outward. They originally wanted to equip Ryu with sensors and a helmet with an inside monitor to check his surroundings, but that idea was scrapped. According to Kato, they used specific locations and environments to justify the need for having a ninja for a main character. Ryu Hayabusa is equipped with a katana-like Dragon Sword, shurikens, and ninpo techniques such as fire wheels.
Inclusion in Dead or Alive During Tecmo's development of the first Dead or Alive fighting game, lead developer Tomonobu Itagaki initially planned to include a male ninja named "Kamui". Another developer proposed they include Ryu instead as it was already a developed character under Tecmo's corporate banner, and Itagaki received permission to include the character from the company's then-CEO. Itagaki however was unfamiliar with what sort of character Ryu was, and in an interview with Famitsu explained to learn more about the character he located and assembled a Ninja Gaiden arcade cabinet from the company's warehouse to play. To illustrate a distinction between Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, the former's development team chose to refer to the character as "Hayabusa" within the games themselves, in contrast to how he is referred to by his first name more in the latter. As later Ninja Gaiden games were released, his outfit from those games was included to better tie the franchises together.
While the development team wanted to add gymnastic attacks to the character in Dead or Alive, the development process made that too difficult at the time, so Itagaki added moves such as a throat cut against opponents to try and "bring out the image of Hayabusa". Additionally he envisioned Ryu as a grappling-type character that used throws, but did not want him to feel too similar to the wrestling move-based character Tina Armstrong. To achieve this he limited the character's throwing attacks so Ryu would feel distinct from the "grappler" archetype in fighting games. Later games in the series focused on his hand motions to help design strikes that felt suited for the characters. Some attacks such as a handstand were removed from later titles as they felt inconsistent with character's portrayal in Ninja Gaiden.
Transition to 3D Ninja Gaiden games
In 2004, Ryu became the protagonist of a series of Ninja Gaiden games made in 3D. Tomonobu Itagaki believed that creating extra player characters might distract his team from focusing on Ryu's development, despite this, Rachel is a playable character in the Sigma version. Ninja Gaiden provides a backstory to Ryu's appearance and character as seen in the Dead or Alive series, being set two years before the first DOA game. When asked in 2008 if he would ever explore a "stealth aspect" of Ryu in a future series title, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword designer Itagaki replied, "The kind [of ninja] I like are the ones that go out and kill a bunch of enemies all at once." The Nintendo DS-exclusive game was designed to cut enemies stylishly. One of Itagaki's goals with Ninja Gaiden DS is to create a game that can be played by all gamers everywhere, saying that his other titles "have traditionally targeted men above the age 18 and Westerners." An example of this is that the characters that are traced to perform ninpo magic, were originally kanji; this was changed to the more "culture-neutral" Sanskrit to make things fairer for non-Japanese audiences.
Starting with Ninja Gaiden II, the series' graphic violence greatly increases as Ryu is able to defeat opponents by decapitation or dismemberment. In a 2011 interview with PlayStation.blog, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi described the character's development in Ninja Gaiden 3 he wanted to explore the protagonist's sensitive side by showing how murders he has committed affected him even if the narrative takes place in a fantasy world. He commented on the gameplay itself "we have to have the players feel like Ryu is a superhero, the Ryu Hayabusa they know, to make them emphasize with the consequences ... as the game progresses."
For Ninja Gaiden 4, the developers from Platinum Games said that one of the requests they had was keeping Ryu identical which led to few changes. With the handling of the new character Yakumo, Ryu instead comes across a more powered veteran fighter. Developers believed Ryu managed to capture people's ideal type of ninja since the 2D games and that by Ninja Gaiden 4 he is "the pinnacle of what it is to be a ninja".
Appearances Ninja Gaiden series (1988-1992) Ryu Hayabusa makes his official debut in the original 1988 Ninja Gaiden arcade game. He searches for his missing father. Ken had instructed Ryu in a letter beforehand to travel to the United States to find his friend Dr. Walter Smith, but Ryu encounters Bloody Malth, who had defeated Ken in battle and then subjected him to a brainwashing that causes him to attack his own son, a spell that Ryu manages to break.Ryu: Father's eyes... they show he is controlled like a puppet. If I break the control... However, Ken is slain by Malth's superior, an evil sorcerer known as the Jaquio, whom Ryu then kills. Ryu later enters into a relationship with CIA agent Irene Lew.
In Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (1990), Ryu foils the Jaquio's demonic master Ashtar's attempt at world domination. In retaliation, Ashtar kidnaps Irene in order to lure Ryu to his home dimension. Ryu defeats Ashtar a second time, but before he can rescue Irene, she is then captured by the Jaquio, who now bears the Dark Sword, the antithesis to Ryu's signature "Dragon Sword" weapon. Having then been killed by Ryu once again, the Jaquio is revived by his blood flowing into his sword, with which he stabs Irene. Her own blood further empowers his sword and conjures a creature known as the Demon; Ryu kills it and Jaquio's Dark Sword is destroyed in the process, but Irene dies from her wounds. She is then brought back to life by ancestral powers flowing through Ryu's Dragon Sword.
1991's Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom sees Ryu accused of murdering Irene, but she actually survives the attack, while the culprit is revealed to be a superhuman clone of Ryu, created by Irene's superior and corrupt CIA director, Foster. After Ryu defeats the double, Foster is killed by H.P. Clancy, who had instructed Ryu to locate a ruin called the "Castle Rock Fortress", which was the base of Foster's Bio-Noid experimentation and has also secretly housed an interdimensional warship that Clancy intends to use for global dominance. Ryu kills Clancy in battle.
The 1991 Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden scraps the entire narrative of the original series timeline, where someone is trying to steal his dragon sword. He travels to four parts of the world to defeat the demon Shiragane and prevent World War III from starting. The 1992 Master System version of Ninja Gaiden also eludes the original series timeline, featuring Ryu as a high-ranking member of his ninja clan whose village is massacred while an artifact called the "Sacred Scroll of Bushido" has been stolen. His mission is to regain the scroll from the hands of the evil Shogun of Darkness and his minions.
Ninja Gaiden series (2004-present) In Ninja Gaiden, the Hayabusa Village is annihilated and a sword known as the "Dark Dragon Blade" is stolen by the evil Doku. Ryu searches for the stolen sword while hoping to avenge his clan. He defeats Doku and then his overlord, the Holy Emperor Vigoor, and recovers the blade. In the end, Ryu and his newest accomplice, a fiend-hunter named Rachel, encounter the mysterious "Dark Disciple", who is actually Ryu's traitorous uncle. Following his final fight, Ryu destroys the sword. The plot of 2008's Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword has Ryu find seven Dark Dragonstones, defeating several bosses along the way. At the climax, Doku's former servant Ishtaros steals the stones and defeats Ryu in battle. However, when Kureha—Momiji's sister and a childhood friend of Ryu from the previous game who had died in the village attack—fuses with an object called the Dragon Eye, the stones transform into the Dragon Sword. Ryu defeats Ishtaros and her sister, frees Momiji and returns her home where they begin training together.