Ryu Hayabusa Infiltrates Smash!
Ryu Hayabusa would have two costumes – his modern black bodysuit (which would be his default) and
his blue ninja garb from the NES games. For his bodysuit, the palette swaps could be based on the outfits for Kasumi (blue with white highlights), Ayane (purple with dark blue highlights), and Momiji (white with red highlights) – I chose those three because they’re also playable in the Ninja Gaiden games. His NES-era outfit could have more traditional Smash palette swaps with red and green outfits; the red outfit could do double duty by referencing his father Jo, from the intro to the original NES game. The last palette swap would be light purple, to reference his sprites in the NES game.
For a series logo, I’m going to go with
a falcon head, which is in Ninja Gaiden 3’s upgrade menu where it’s used for Ryu’s unlockable costumes. I could use a shuriken, but I’m not sure if that would be too generic. (then again, Mega Man used a gear, so being generic might not be an issue) From what I’ve seen, Ryu’s associated with both dragons and falcons, so a series logo could go any number of ways, but the falcon is a symbol used in NG3’s menus to represent Ryu (other characters have different symbols for their unlockable costumes, like a flower for Kasumi), so that’s what I’ll pick.
For a stage, I’m not overly familiar with the environments of Ninja Gaiden, given my inexperience with the series. One place that comes to mind, however, is Hayabusa Village. A traditional Japanese village seems very different from what we’ve gotten in Smash so far in terms of stages, with the sloped hills and wooden houses making for some unusual fighting terrain. If the stage has hazards (most of the DLC stages don’t, but Mementos had the trains), I could see falcons flying in to smack fighters out of the air, or members of the Black Spider Ninja clan showing up to attack the village and the fighters. If they’re limited to being background elements, maybe the Black Spider Ninjas could still show up, only to have Ayane fighting them off in the background.
Ryu starts out already on the stage, invisible (though it’s Predator-style invisibility, so he can faintly be seen) before fully appearing and drawing his sword. For his idle animations, Ryu looks at his sword or spins it around in a dramatic flourish.
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This is largely going to be based on Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, as that’s the main game that I’ve played. I’m not sure how different it is from the other games in the series in terms of combat, and I haven’t played a Dead or Alive game, so I’m not sure how Ryu fights there (I wound up looking up his throws when I got to that section, but I figured I should stick to one type of fighting style for the sake of consistency and simplicity). I’m using Ryu’s sword moves from Razor’s Edge as a reference, so I’ll include the commands from the original where they apply.
A-->AA-->AAA: Slant/Crescent/Lotus Slash. Ryu uses his basic light-light-light sword combo – a downwards swing, followed by a vertical swing, followed by a heavier downwards swing.
Forward A: Violent Wind/Gale. Ryu swings the sword twice horizontally, shouting on the second swing. (light attack while moving)
Up A: Ryu kicks his opponents into the air, based on one of his finishing moves on dismembered opponents.
Down A: Ryu uses a sliding kick, based on his slide dodge.
Forward Smash: Annihilating Demon. Ryu lunges forward, swinging the sword diagonally like when he charges a heavy attack.
Up Smash: Scarlet Dragon. Ryu swings his sword upwards, which works as a launcher attack. (light-hold heavy) At max charge, Ryu will leap up after the opponent (Azure Dragon; light-tap heavy)
Down Smash: Dragon Ring Slash. Ryu spins around, slashing his sword horizontally at head level, chest level, and finishing at his opponent’s feet if the attack is fully charged. (heavy-heavy-heavy) If it’s not charged, he’ll only use the foot attack, while if it’s partially charged, he’ll aim at the chest and feet. The blow to the head does more damage, but the blow to the feet is what sends the enemy flying.
Neutral Air: Ryu flips in midair while slashing with his sword, like his upgraded midair attack from the NES game.
Forward Air: Ryu swings his sword forward, like his regular air attack from the NES game.
Back Air: Falling Falcon. Ryu turns around, swinging his sword downwards. (running jump light attack)
Up Air: Flip Kick. Ryu flips to kick above himself; based on the flip that he does at the end of an upwards wall run.
Down Air: Helmet Splitter. Ryu stabs straight downwards, impaling whoever’s below him (air heavy attack)
Dash Attack: Piercing Wind. Ryu stabs forwards as he skids along the ground. (running heavy)
Wake-Up Attack: Crouching Crane. Ryu spins around with his sword outstretched, knocking enemies away from him. (360 motion + heavy)
Climb Attack: Ryu leaps back on stage, stabbing his sword in front of him. (this is based on what happens to whatever unfortunate enemy is standing by a ledge when you’re climbing up the wall beneath him)
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Grab: Ryu grabs the opponent with one hand, keeping the other on his sword.
Pummel: Ryu knees the opponent.
Forward Throw: Guillotine Throw. Ryu jumps over his opponent, grabbing them by the head before flipping to throw them a great distance.
Back Throw: Ryu stabs his sword into the enemy before flinging them behind him; based on one of his finishing moves on dismembered opponents. (along with some of the Steel on Bone attacks)
Up Throw: Izuna Drop. I feel like it has to be this. Grabbing the opponent, Ryu leaps into the air, spinning around like a drill before flipping around, falling back down, and slamming them into the ground head-first.
Down Throw: Ryu throws the opponent to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke. He appears above the opponent, and lands on top of them with his arms crossed as his scarf billows dramatically. I looked into his throws in Dead or Alive while trying to come up with his down throw; DOA has a much larger amount of throws than I expected, but it’s based loosely on
this team throw.
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Up Taunt: sheathing his sword, Ryu clasps his hands together with his index fingers held up in a stock ninja pose before drawing his sword again.
Side Taunt: Ryu holds out his arm, and a falcon lands on it before flying off.
Down Taunt: Ryu places a fist on the ground, meditating. In Razor’s Edge, this gains him health, though it does nothing in Smash.
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B: Shuriken. A staple tool for a ninja, though this move can be charged. If it’s tapped, Ryu throws out an ordinary throwing star; it’s quick, making it easy to catch an opponent off-guard from a distance, but it barely does any damage. Holding down the button until Ryu has a faint purple aura (which doesn’t take long) and releasing it causes Ryu to throw a windmill shuriken, which is much larger, more damaging, and returns to Ryu like a boomerang. Much like in the NES game, Ryu can jump over it to make it go back and forth, though it’s tricky to do this multiple times in a row. Holding the button longer, until Ryu gains a red and orange aura, and releasing causes Ryu to throw out flames, which are much faster than the shurikens, more damaging, and can travel a longer distance before they disappear.
Up B: Wind Blades/Falcon Dive. Concentrating, Ryu glows blue before creating a tornado around himself, which launches him upwards and damages nearby enemies. Once he reaches the peak of his jump, he transitions into a Falcon Dive to launch himself forwards. He glides through the air, though he has no control over the speed of his glide, making his movement fairly predictable and leaving him open to attack. The glide can be cancelled by dodging in midair or pressing B – pressing B will cause Ryu to dash forward slightly, and if he makes contact with an opponent, he uses a command grab where he stands on the opponent’s shoulders before leaping off of them, spiking whoever he hits and getting some more horizontal distance. However, canceling it with either of these methods will put Ryu into a helpless state afterwards.
Side B: Bow. Taking a bow off of his back, Ryu fires an arrow at his opponent. If the B button is held, the angle that Ryu fires at can be changed by moving the control stick, making it effective at keeping the enemy from returning to the stage. However, it has a relatively lengthy cooldown after firing compared to the Shuriken.
Down B: Fire Wheel. Three fire balls spin around Ryu, similar to Mega Man’s Leaf Shield. Unlike Leaf Shield, this doesn’t block projectiles; however, it does much more damage than the Leaf Shield to enemies that come near Ryu. If an enemy touches a fireball, the fireball disappears, and Ryu can move while it's active. Pressing down B again while the Fire Wheel is active causes Ryu to use Art of the Inferno, which causes the fireballs to merge into a larger fireball above Ryu’s head before being flung to the ground in front of Ryu. Upon landing, or getting far enough from Ryu, they create a large explosion. The wheel will disappear after a while.
Final Smash:
Art of the True Inferno. Ryu chants as fire gathers around his hands, before drawing his arms back. As he thrusts his arms forwards, a flaming serpentine dragon flies out of the flames, spinning around the stage before stopping to roar and flying straight into the air.
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For one victory pose, a straw dummy is sitting on the victory screen before Ryu slashes its side with a kunai, leaving him crouched on the ground near the camera with his kunai held out. In another victory pose, Ryu and a ninja wearing gray leap at each other, slashing before they hit the ground. The gray ninja collapses as Ryu stands up straight, in a reference to the original game’s opening cutscene. For a third victory screen, he stands with his back to the camera, before he glances over his shoulder as the camera zooms in on his face. This is partially based on
the ending to the original arcade game, but I thought the concept would look cool.
For a victory theme, a remix of
the Act Start jingle from the NES game seems like it would fit.
If Kirby absorbs Ryu, he gains Ryu’s modern mask and scarf. He also gets Ryu’s shuriken special, along with the charged variants.
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