Ryu: The 2nd Capcom Rep? And first matchup

[TMNTSSB4]

Now that Ryu has been confirmed/leaked, does he deserve to be in Smash, and is he really Capcom's 2nd rep? Also, who would you have fight as Ryu for the first time? Mine's Mario and Pit(Battle of the Upperdash and Shoryken HYPE!)?

 

[Ryan.]

I'll probably just choose random computer for Ryu's first opponent. I think he deserves to be in Smash, personally.

 

[DonkaFjord]

Street Fighter started the boom of fighting games in the early 90's so it probably influenced Smash Bros which originally developed as an original IP with original characters. He is also an iconic video game character even to the casual audience, His series is important to the Industry, and his iconic status matches Pac-Man, Mega Man, Sonic, and Mario. I really hope that if a 3rd party company can get a second playable character in smash then they will be from different series and match the other characters in terms of impact to the industry and iconicness.

 

[Opossum]

Basically that. ^

Ryu's a legend, not just to Nintendo, but to games in general. I really don't want to see Sega and Namco get a second character "just for the sake of it." Every 3rd Party in Smash so far has been able to stand on their own as legendary, Snake and Ryu included. It's just that Capcom happened to have two very "legendary" IPs (well, three, really, but I can tell you right now that Resident Evil won't happen due to Sakurai's stance on firearms. ).

tl;dr: Ryu is hype and he's earned it, and I couldn't be happier.

 

[S_B]

I'm generally neutral on it, leaning toward glad for it (he definitely wasn't a character I was hoping would NOT be included, and he'll hopefully get some SF fans interested in SSB).

He'll be an interesting addition to the cast, but his inclusion gets the conspiracy theorist in me wondering if there will be any special announcements related to SF at E3.

I mean, Namco is developing the game, ergo I would've expected to see a 2nd Namco character first (Lloyd Irving from the GC-exclusive Tales comes to mind) or a Gundam pilot, since Banco makes all of those games in Japan and they're stupidly popular.

But why Capcom? Konami once had representation in SSB but doesn't any longer (Bomberman is pretty damn iconic as well, for example). Or Square, who's Final Fantasy franchise was birthed on the NES (Terra from FFVI would make a good inclusion and she was iconic to everyone I know who owned an SNES...).

I guess we'll see come E3, but I wouldn't be surprised if another shoe dropped between Nintendo and Capcom...

 

[TMNTSSB4]

Basically that. ^

Ryu's a legend, not just to Nintendo, but to games in general. I really don't want to see Sega and Namco get a second character "just for the sake of it." Every 3rd Party in Smash so far has been able to stand on their own as legendary, Snake and Ryu included. It's just that Capcom happened to have two very "legendary" IPs (well, three, really, but I can tell you right now that Resident Evil won't happen due to Sakurai's stance on firearms. ).

tl;dr: Ryu is hype and he's earned it, and I couldn't be happier.

The day Chris or Jill make it in Smash is the day Ridley and Chrom are in.

I guess we'll see come E3, but I wouldn't be surprised if another shoe dropped between Nintendo and Capcom...

Who knows, maybe Capcom announces Street Fighter V on Wii U and a new Megaman exclusive to Wii U and 3DS.

 

[Khao]

I never bought into the whole "one char per company" ****. If a series is iconic enough, it's iconic enough.

Street Fighter getting into Smash has nothing to do with getting more Capcom characters, it's about bringing in the most iconic fighting series of all time.

If SEGA and Namco had an equally iconic series, they should be here. But they don't.

Seriously, Street Fighter is a monster, stuff like the Hadoken, or Shoryuken are famous even outside of gaming. Not many series can claim the same.

So yah forget about companies for a moment and just look at these as the separate franchise they actually are.

 

[TMNTSSB4]

I never bought into the whole "one char per company" ****. If a series is iconic enough, it's iconic enough.

Street Fighter getting into Smash has nothing to do with getting more Capcom characters, it's about bringing in the most iconic fighting series of all time.

If SEGA and Namco had an equally iconic series, they should be here. But they don't.

Seriously, Street Fighter is a monster, stuff like the Hadoken, or Shoryuken are famous even outside of gaming. Not many series can claim the same.

So yah forget about companies for a moment and just look at these as the separate franchise they actually are.

You would make a great motivational speaker for video games. The only characters I could think of that Sega and Namco would allow are Amy/Eggman and Goku(iconic but not a video game character)/some character from Tekken(maybe the Irish girl spy who looks like Samus or whoever the main character).

 

[Kenith]

Basically that. ^

Ryu's a legend, not just to Nintendo, but to games in general. I really don't want to see Sega and Namco get a second character "just for the sake of it." Every 3rd Party in Smash so far has been able to stand on their own as legendary, Snake and Ryu included. It's just that Capcom happened to have two very "legendary" IPs (well, three, really, but I can tell you right now that Resident Evil won't happen due to Sakurai's stance on firearms. ).
tl;dr: Ryu is hype and he's earned it, and I couldn't be happier.

I agree with this. Nobody would know who Nights and Heihachi are compared to Ryu and Mega Man.
And he looks cool as **** in this game, so that's a plus.

 

[ADAPT Chance]

Haven't decided all I know is......

Capcom boys, lets go!

 

[Gawain]

I'm surprised that characters like Snake got in before him to be honest. There is no way to beat around this fact; Street Fighter(and more totally Capcom) saved fighting games from falling into nothingness TWICE. Tournaments like Evo wouldn't even be half as big without Street Fighter IV, which breathed new life into the genre which was dying out pretty quick. Now we have lots of new fighters that we probably would never have gotten without it. The same thing happened in the late 90s. Ryu deserves his spot more than the present third parties if you ask me. He's a huge icon.

 

[Funkermonster]

Not to mention, Ryu's character just fits fairly well in Smash. The wandering warrior who'll take on all sorts of opponents in all sorts of ways, he just goes wherever his path takes him and its passed to and through:

• The world's other warriors
• The rest of the Capcom universe, one time with puzzles and while being in chibi form!
• Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains
• Tastunoko Stars
• SNK's warriors
• The worlds of Namco and SEGA, especially with Tekken!

And now... said path is taking him to bout with the world of Nintendo with its cute (and no-so cute) stars, this journey of his is a long one...

 

[TMNTSSB4]

Not to mention, Ryu's character just fits fairly well in Smash. The wandering warrior who'll take on all sorts of opponents in all sorts of ways, he just goes wherever his path takes him and its passed to and through:

• The world's other warriors
• The rest of the Capcom universe, one time with puzzles and while being in chibi form!
• Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains
• Tastunoko Stars
• SNK's warriors
• The worlds of Namco and SEGA, especially with Tekken!

And now... said path is taking him to bout with the world of Nintendo with its cute (and no-so cute) stars, this journey of his is a long one...

I bet Wario and Ganondorf are one of the not so cute ones, while Pit and Lucas are.

 

[DonkaFjord]

I'm surprised that characters like Snake got in before him to be honest. There is no way to beat around this fact; Street Fighter(and more totally Capcom) saved fighting games from falling into nothingness TWICE. Tournaments like Evo wouldn't even be half as big without Street Fighter IV, which breathed new life into the genre which was dying out pretty quick. Now we have lots of new fighters that we probably would never have gotten without it. The same thing happened in the late 90s. Ryu deserves his spot more than the present third parties if you ask me. He's a huge icon.

Snake is not only more popular of a character in Japan, but he was a personal favor between friends (Sakurai and Kojima.) Pac-Man was also more influential on the video game industry as a whole and not just a single genre, and Sega/Sonic are very important to Nintendo's Video Game history and the industry as well starting the "console wars" and the whole company-mascot era. I feel out of the third parties Megaman did the least for the industry as a whole, but he still is iconic for Nintendo. I am just really glad the threshold for 3rd parties is high because we are getting the cream of the crop of the Video Game world.

 

[Gawain]

Snake is not only more popular of a character in Japan, but he was a personal favor between friends (Sakurai and Kojima.) Pac-Man was also more influential on the video game industry as a whole and not just a single genre, and Sega/Sonic are very important to Nintendo's Video Game history and the industry as well starting the "console wars" and the whole company-mascot era. I feel out of the third parties Megaman did the least for the industry as a whole, but he still is iconic for Nintendo. I am just really glad the threshold for 3rd parties is high because we are getting the cream of the crop of the Video Game world.

I agree that Pac-man was influential, but not at all in recent years. He hasn't had staying power, which Street Fighter has had in spades. Very much agreed on your last point though.

Is Snake really more popular overall in Japan than Ryu? I guess it depends on if Street Fighter or Metal Gear is more popular. Metal Gear probably gets more sales these days but I doubt people play it as long as Street Fighter, which gets played for decades. People still play SF II in tournament lol. I don't know much about Metal Gear though if I'm being honest.

 

[DonkaFjord]

I agree that Pac-man was influential, but not at all in recent years. He hasn't had staying power, which Street Fighter has had in spades. Very much agreed on your last point though.

Is Snake really more popular overall in Japan than Ryu? I guess it depends on if Street Fighter or Metal Gear is more popular. Metal Gear probably gets more sales these days but I doubt people play it as long as Street Fighter, which gets played for decades. People still play SF II in tournament lol. I don't know much about Metal Gear though if I'm being honest.

Just look at polls by Famitsu and what not. Snake, Slimes, Cloud Strife, Sora, and Nintendo characters usually grace the top 10. Ryu is usually around Bayonetta and such at around 15-25. I feel like a Square Enix character is almost inevitable for the next Smash if it ever happens.
Pac-Man still gets around especially on mobile nowadays (which is pretty significant if you know how casual mobile gamers operate.) He even has passed Mario during Polls of non gamers asked to name a video game character and the day the Pac Man Google Doodle went live it was calculated to have cost the economy 120 million dollars from loss of workers productivity. Pac fever was a pop culture phenomenon that was probably similar to Pokemania and it was one of the first games to try and cater to a wider demographic including women and children (Most arcade machines were in bars at this time.) It started the long road of video games becoming a popular media and a socially acceptable media as well. I feel like Ryu is also not as popular as his Arcade Hay-days but his franchise has had more recent and popular releases than Pac.

Namco seems to be trying to get the younger generation hooked on him again.

 

[VioletSmashfan]

I agree with this. Nobody would know who Nights and Heihachi are compared to Ryu and Mega Man.
And he looks cool as **** in this game, so that's a plus.

NiGHTS and Heihachi aren't really well known I'll give ya that, but people who played them in the mid-to-late 90s know them fairly well and still do to this day, and with Ryu now in this pretty much puts Akira (who is Vitrua Fighter's mascot) as the frontrunner for Sega's 2nd rep over NiGHTS (since Akira's series has a few more games than NiGHTS does and the beloved Nightmaren only has 2 games in the series and is Sega's most neglected franchise of all time, yet they keep putting the poor guy in needless crossovers with Sonic, which kinda helps him to stay in the spotlight, but he needs a new game), Heihachi is 10x more known than NiGHTS is and used to be Tekken's mascot before Jin took that spot, but yet if Namco gets a 2nd rep, it's going to be Heihachi easily, plus seeing him and Ryu both in Smash (alongside Akira) would be 1 for the ages, the Mii costumes are a sign that they are coming (they'll probably come either later this summer or near the end of the year as the last DLC characters).

As for Ryu, I'm going to have to my bro train me a bit, since he knows the commands moreso than me (plus I used to watch him play SF II alot back in the 90s, but never played a single game in the series).

 

[S_B]

I never bought into the whole "one char per company" ****. If a series is iconic enough, it's iconic enough.

I don't think a character being "iconic" means jack squat to Sakurai. In fact, Sakurai sometimes goes out of his way to include characters just because no one knows or likes them.

That's why I wouldn't be surprised to see something between Capcom and Nintendo announced at E3.

I'm surprised that characters like Snake got in before him to be honest

Snake got in for the same reason I'm surprised that Ryu got in: Sakurai.

He was friends with Kojima (who whined about getting Snake in SSB, even though he hates Nintendo...).

So again, saying there was any kind of guarantee that Ryu would be included is completely contrary to what we've seen from Sakurai up until now, a man who loves to pluck characters from the depths of obscurity.

I really like how Ryu plays. All I'm saying is that he was by no means guaranteed or anything of the sort.

And frankly, given that Namco is making this game, I'd have been less surprised to see Mitsurugi or another Soul Caliber character before Ryu.

 

[DonkaFjord]

I don't think a character being "iconic" means jack squat to Sakurai. In fact, Sakurai sometimes goes out of his way to include characters just because no one knows or likes them.

They were specifically talking about third parties which Sakurai has stated have to be 'Special cases' and so far they have only been the most iconic of iconic Video game characters of all time. Ryu is definitely not an obscure character in the slightest. Snake is also a very, very, very popular video game character (Especially in Japan where he sometimes is ranked #1 in polls even above Mario, Pikachu, Cloud, etc.) and his friend Kojima asking for him to be put in definitely helped.