Ryu's story should be moving beyond his struggle with the Satsui no Hado in Street Fighter 6
Fans have plenty of reasons to suspect that Street Fighter 6 is being developed. At the conclusion of Street Fighter 5's main story mode, A Shadow Falls, M. Bison effectively died following his defeat to Ryu. This could inevitably result in a reduced presence for the Shadaloo dictator in Street Fighter 6.
Of course, M. Bison wasn't the only character to go through some sort of change during the events of A Shadow Falls. Going forward, we'll probably see Ryu's story go in a different direction compared to what has happened to Street Fighter's most iconic character up to this point.
More than likely, Ryu will still be focused on improving his fighting technique throughout his journey. However, he'll no longer be plagued by something that's been part of Ryu's character since the first Street Fighter title.
At the conclusion of the first World Warrior Tournament, Ryu was seemingly defeated by Sagat. The experience awakened a surge of murderous intent — better known as the Satsui no Hado — within Ryu. Sagat's scarred chest will forever serve as a reminder of what followed.
Should Ryu ever be fully consumed by the Satsui no Hado, then he would become Evil Ryu. While the character's appearance in Ultra Street Fighter 4 is considered to be non-canonical, players were given the opportunity to see what that would've been like in that game.
Ryu's struggle between self-improvement and giving in to the Satsui no Hado has been a centralized theme for the character for years. It was even an important story element in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite as it managed to catch the attention of Thanos himself.
In many ways, Ryu's struggle is something that can be related to by many fighting game players. A player can either accept a loss and learn from it, or give in to gamer rage.
However, Ryu was finally able to conquer the Satsui no Hado in A Shadow Falls.
Later, Ryu would find himself defeated by Akuma, a fighter who has fully embraced the Satsui no Hado. Akuma would inevitably find himself puzzled at Ryu smiling.
This shows that Ryu has not reverted his growth seen Street Fighter 5. Previously, Ryu might've exhibited symptoms of the Satsui no Hado beginning to take control.
Ryu's rejected temptations of the Satsui no Hado has since manifested itself into the sentient being known as Kage. Once more, Ryu resisted Kage's influence and demonstrated that Ryu had no need of the Satsui no Hado.
As such, Ryu's entire arc will become undone if Street Fighter 6 shows a Ryu that has relapsed into these temptations. At this point, it's time that Ryu's story went in a new direction.
Of course, the journey for self-improvement will always be a central theme for Ryu's character, but he no longer needs the Satsui no Hado for this purpose. It's time to move on from this tired trope for this Shoto.
