Stages: Ryu

Note: the title should be read as a parody of David Bowie's "Changes" (i.e Staaa aages)

We now reach the last stage of the original (selectable) characters of Street Fighter II. Like Honda's bathhouse Ryu's stage is set in Japan, not in modern neon Tokyo but in a more traditional setting. Japan is widely known for the juxtaposition of old and new, Ryu's stage has no juxtaposition its simply a rooftop in traditional Japan, where it can as easily be 1889 instead of 1989.

The stage doesn't say much about Japan in the late 80's, it is the only stage that is way more interested in representing it's character than its country. The twilight, the moon, the religious buildings all reek of transcendental meditation and all other spiritual mumbo jumbo that Ryu is known for.

I've always thought that making Ryu so focused on fighting and training (as opposed to, you know, women, booze and fast cars) was a bit annoying. Sure he can be all about having a good fight but come on! he has to be interested in other things. This quest to be "the best" has to take a backseat sometimes but apparently it doesn't. Honestly it makes Ryu looks pretentious and this stage does not help dissuade this thought one bit.

But like I've mentioned in other posts this is a necessity in a fighting game, Ryu might have been the first one and he remains the best. Truthfully we already have a more laid back, more relaxed Ryu and his name is Ken.

Getting back to the Ryu stage: I always thought that the shinto rooftop had a couple of cannons crossing it and for the longest time had a completely wrong idea of Japan. This type of house or shrine can be found throughout Japan so it works. It's not flashy or nationalistic but neither is Ryu so I suppose it works. Like I mentioned in the Honda post the game producers were able to go deeper into Japan than into any other country therefore the stages that emerged were not as stereotypical nor exaggerated here. Of course this also doesn't leave much room for our type of analysis.

Well this was it for the first eight but it's not the end of Stages. Shit, its barely the half way point. Next up will be the four Shadaloo bosses (one of which fights in my favourite stage) and afterwards its off to the new challengers. After that there's still a bit more planned. But that's still a few months away so no worries.

Finally I should mention that I got most of my screen shots (and blog pictures) from Moby Games. I assume its a great site, I'll add a link in appreciation.