The Great Videogame Versus – Ryu vs Liu Kang
Ryu vs Liu Kang
The second match in our ongoing series, “The Great Videogame Versus”, pits the might of the foremost characters in two of the most influential fighting games against each other. We hope you’ll join us in finding out who emerges victorious!
Read the full article after the jump!
Ryu vs Liu Kang
Why the fight?
They’re both sort of your stock beginning character, and they have red bandannas… it’s on!
Vital Statistics:
Ryu
Height: 5ft 7 inches
Weight: 150lbs
Training: Both Ryu and Ken were trained in the lethal martial art or Ansatsuken specifically created for assassination called Shun Goku Satsu although both fighters practice a variation on the style that is non-lethal. Ryu’s more deliberate fighting style is slower but he is capable of doing more damage per hit, he is also widely renowned for the awesome power of his “wave fist,” or Hadouken technique.
Special Moves: Hadouken (wave motion fist is a powerful Ki projectile attack), Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (tornado whirlwind feet is a powerful ki based attack which creates a miniature tornado beneath the attacker, lifting him off the ground and toward his opponent), Shoryuken (rising dragon fist is a powerful uppercut in which the attacker raises himself off the ground to increase the impact of the punch)
Misc: Ryu is a wandering warrior, “just a Japanese fighter passing through”, who has spent his whole life in the pursuit of physical, spiritual and mental perfection. Ryu’s strength of will and discipline are in a never ending battle against the Satsui no Hadou, an dark, death dealing form of the martial art he practices, a battle he has lost only once, during his first streetfighter tournament in which he defeated the muy thai warrior known as Sagat.
Upcoming Games: Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
Liu Kang
Height: 5ft 10 inches
Weight: 185 lbs
Training: Proficient in Jun Fan, Pao Chui, Jeet Kune Do, Choy Lay Fut, Monkey and Dragon fighting styles, but uses mainly Jun Fan and occasionally Pao Chui, which loosely translates to “Cannon Fist”.
Special moves: Bicycle Kick (Kang launches across the screen, burying his moving feet into his opponents chest with animalistic ferocity), Fireball (Liu Kang creates an energy build up, which he fires in the direction of an opponent), Dragon fatality ( Kang transforms into a dragon, and consumes his opponents upper body).
Misc: Former follower of the shaolin White Lotus Society, he became earths greatest champion in the battle against Outworld, finally falling to a deceptive sneak attack by Shang Tsung, who broke his neck and swallowed his soul. His body would live again however, in the the form of his mysteriously re-animated corpse, and his spirit was freed from Tsung’s demonic grip by the thunder god Raiden.
The Outcome:
This is a tough one. On the one hand Liu Kang has defeated a startling number of mythical beasts in his time, coming back from dead and even becoming the undisputed champion of Mortal Kombat, he’s also got that nifty ability to turn into a flesh eating dragon. On the other hand, Ryu was an absolute badass in the Japanese version of Streetfighter II: The Animated Movie, he’s a dedicated fighter and one of the most spiritually and mentally sound characters in all videogamedom. Both abhor murder, but they’ll do the deed if push comes to shove. I’m a Streetfighter fan, my heart wants Ryu to win so bad, but my brain knows Liu Kang wins this one. Kang emerges victorious!
Once again, we hope you enjoyed this Versus article, if you missed the first Versus, between Solid Snake and Sam Fisher, you ought to check it out. Below you’ll find a list of upcoming versus article we’ve got lined up (not in this particular order necessarily). We’re actively taking your suggestions for interesting versus battles, so feel free to let us know what showdown’s you’d like to see. On that note, we’ve had second thoughts about our Dante vs Pikachu showdown (what were we thinking?) so if you’ve got any suggestions on who should go up against Dante, feel free to say so, off the top of my head I’d say Vincent from Final Fantasy VII, but maybe we’ve got too many FF characters in there already?
UPCOMING BATTLES
-Samus Aran vs The Master Chief
-Mario vs Sonic
-Ratchet vs Fox
-Hotsuma vs Ryu Hayabusa
-Samanosuke vs Jube
–Dante vs Pikachu – Suggestions anyone?
-Simon Belmont vs Alucard
-Kratos vs Riddick
-Link vs Cloud Strife
-Max Payne vs Agent 47
-Lara Croft vs The Prince of Persia
-Auron vs Sephiroth
-Raziel vs Kain