Pre-Street Fighter

Ryu was an orphaned child, with no knowledge of who his parents were or if they are still alive. When Ryu was a young child, he was adopted by Gouken and began living with him as well as learning the mysterious and dangerous martial art known as Nin-Ansatsuken. Gouken later trained his best friend's bratty son, Ken Masters, who served not only as a sparring partner for Ryu, but also to give Ryu some company since Gouken was the only person Ryu had seen in a long time due to the seclusion of Gouken's dojo. Ryu looked up to Gouken as a father figure during his early years and Ken as a best friend .When Ryu was about 23 years old, Gouken thought that Ryu was ready to travel the world in order to test his skills against the best fighters in the world. With this, Ryu left Gouken to fight in the first World Warrior tournament.

Street Fighter

With the blessing of his master Gouken, Ryu entered the World Warrior Tournament. Thanks to his great skill and tutelage at the hands of master Gouken, Ryu was able to defeat every other fighter in the tournament. With his wins over all the other competitors, Ryu was qualified for the final championship fight, in which he would have to face Sagat, The Emperor of Muay Thai and the host of the tournament. The odds were not in his favor since Sagat, with his imposing figure, was the best Muay Thai fighter in the world and a national hero in his native Thailand. As the battle begun, Sagat quickly took advantage of his sheer strength coming close to beating Ryu many times. Nevertheless, Ryu was able to embrace his dark side, delivering a devastating Mestsu Shoryuken which left a permanent and clearly visible scar on Sagat's chest. With this powerful attack and his subsequent Hadouken, Ryu was able to defeat Sagat and was crowned the World Warrior Tournament Champion. After the battle, Sagat swore revenge on Ryu.

Street Fighter Alpha

After wining the World Warrior Tournament, Ryu went back home to Gouken's dojo. Ryu finds Gouken dead and finds out that Akuma (who is actually Ryu's biological father and Gouken's brother) had fought Gouken and killed him. After learning this, Ryu began to search for Akuma to avenge his master's death. Ryu finally finds Akuma on an island and attempts to fight him. Akuma, realizing that Ryu has many of the same abilities that he has, tells Ryu of the powerful fighting method called Satsui no Hadou which lets a fighter embrace his dark side and makes a fighter's desire to win so great that he is willing to kill his opponent. After telling Ryu this, Akuma punches the island and smashes it, leaving Ryu stranded.

Ryu eventually gets off the island and encounters Ken which had returned to visit him. Ryu and Ken start a friendly battle and Ken easily comes out on top. After the battle, Ken sensed that Ryu was not quite himself anymore and gives him his red hair band, urging him to stay focused.

After his encounter with Ken, Ryu was approached by a young girl named Sakura who idolizes him and wished to be trained by him. Ryu politely waves Sakura off telling her that he is not ready to teach because he himself has a lot to learn. Sakura swears that one day she will be his apprentice.

Two years passed after that and Ryu is still haunted by Akuma's words. Ryu meets Rose a tarot card reader who warns him that Doomsday is coming and the only way to stop it was to fight the evil M. Bison, leader of Shadoloo crime organization. Rose also warns Ryu, telling him that if he ever tries to fight Bison he will lose his soul. When Ryu finally confronts Bison, he is beaten to a semi-conscious state, which allows Bison to brainwash him. Under the effects of the brainwash, Ryu embraces his Satsui no Hado side and turns into Evil Ryu. Soon after this, Ken, Sakura, and Sagat all barge into the room, having had searched for Ryu all for different reason; Ken because he was worried about not having heard from Ryu, Sakura still seeking to be Ryu's apprentice, and Sagat for his revenge. Ken and Sakura start fighting Bison, while Sagat is given the chance to finally fight Ryu for his revenge. Sagat fights Ryu but notices that Ryu has turned much more aggressive. Realizing that Ryu is not fighting as himself, Sagat urges Ryu to snap out of this brainwashed state. With Sagat's words Ryu was able to snap out of it and quickly help Ken and Sakura who were in a heap of trouble fighting Bison. The group then finally forces Bison to retreat.

Street Fighter II and Beyond

Ryu again enters the World Warriors Tournament to fine-tune his skills and it is unclear how far he went. During the third World Warrior Tournament Ryu battles Ken and defeats him. He finally loses to an elderly fighter by the name of Oro.

Video game appearances

• Street Fighter (first appearance)

• Street Fighter II

• Street Fighter II Champion Edition

• Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting

• Super Street Fighter II

• Super Street Fighter II Turbo

• Super Street Fighter II Revival

• Street Fighter III: New Generation

• Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact

• Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
  
• Street Fighter IV

• Street Fighter Alpha

• Street Fighter Alpha 2

• Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold

• Street Fighter Alpha 3

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

• Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

• Street Fighter EX

• Street Fighter EX

• Street Fighter EX Alpha

• Street Fighter EX 2

• Street Fighter EX 2

• Street Fighter EX 3

• X-Men vs Street Fighter

• Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter

• Marvel vs Capcom

• Marvel vs Capcom 2

• Capcom vs SNK

• Capcom vs SNK Pro

• Capcom vs SNK 2

• SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium

• SNK vs Capcom: Chaos

• Capcom Fighting Evolution

• Pocket Fighter

• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo