Ryu (Street Fighter) the development team, was meant to let viewers know he was "a karate master at first sight". In an interview with "Game On!", Capcom Research and Development head Noritaka Funamizu stated that of the series' characters, Ryu was one of the most popular characters with American audiences, alongside Zangief and Guile. For "Street Fighter IV", Kyle Hebert was cast as Ryu in preparation of the return of his "Evil Ryu" persona. In an interview with Gamereactor, Ansah talked about Ryu and Ken's story from "Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist" and said "a good analogy with Ryu is that he's not actually
Ryu Hayabusa 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, who had refused beforehand to carry out an order to terminate him. In "" (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"