Agreed. Ryu just exuded genuine badass in everything he did. The story was honestly ridiculous, but it still managed to make the nonsense look awesome with every turn. I've sadly yet to play Ninja Gaiden 2, but the combat is without a doubt the best I've seen. It made you feel like a real over the top ninja. The fights could often end up looking like things were to hectic for the player to be in control, but not so. It never got you stuck in irritating end of move animations, and the enemies had none of the strange politeness seen in so many other games. They simply go at you all at once, and the game says to you "deal with it". Staying alive took literal split second reactions, but when you really got into it, it all became natural. When I played Dynasty Warriors for the first time after having played Ninja Gaiden it just felt wrong. Why is everyone just standing there letting me kill them? Why can't I evade that slow strike I saw coming a whole half second ago.
Also, the Ryu in the craptacular Dead or Alive movie, should be shot like the pussy he is. (...or more fairly, the director.)
