Promotion and merchandise As part of an official partnership between SNK and Akiba, Ryo has appeared on an Akiba beer bottle label for one of their craft beers alongside other characters from
Art of Fighting 3 and
Fatal Fury 3. In a cutscene from the first
Art of Fighting game, Ryo says while he is driving a bike in his fighting clothes. According to
PR Times, this became an
internet meme based on how hilarious it is that a man is driving while wearing a karate gi. This became popular in some Internet communities, regardless of the excitement it generated among individuals. It then spread to the Westerns and has become one of the classic internet memes in the fighting game world, Ryo's birthday was parodied by SNK using marketing that also includes his bike meme. Several Japanese writers for multiple websites played the game specifically to enjoy such meme. Merchandise such as clothing based on it was developed. SNK artist
Falcoon was caught by surprise when a friend showed him wearing a shirt featuring such a meme. For
Netmarble's
The King of Fighters All Star mobile game, the original
Art of Fighting meme involving Ryo was used. Developers behind
All Star wondered if it was okay to use such a meme but and ended up okay to go along with celebrating the first anniversary of the game. As a result, they decided to go with "a bang". The two were often compared to the
Street Fighter protagonists Ryu and Ken Masters due to physical similarities and moves, eventually leading Capcom to create their joke character
Dan Hibiki from the
Street Fighter. Dan was meant to be a joke about both Ryo and Robert as SNK "stole the talent" from their own company when they started making their own
Street Fighter sequels.
IGN also compared Ryo with
Dragon Ball characters based on the type of fighting techniques as well as designs with the former being noted to inspire
Marvel vs. Capcom.
TheGamer said that despite the character's original popularity, if shown to a random viewer they would be confused with who he is and still believe he was a
Dragon Ball character due to his design. While
AnimeOnDVD enjoyed the contrast between Ryo and Robert in the
Art of Fighting original video animation,
HardCoreGaming felt Ryo was unfaithful to the original game and "awful".
Futaman Fubanet said that while both protagonists come across as strong characters, in the TV special they are more comical with
Tetsuya Bessho providing a strong voice acting to the character. In "Os reis da luta: representações do karate nos jogos digitais", Tiago Oviedo Frosi from the
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul wrote that
Gichin Funakoshi's "
Shōtōkan" is the most practiced style of Karate in the world, this was the style chosen to characterize most of the
Street Fighter characters. The Kyokugenryu Ryo uses in
Art of Fighting instead comes across as a fantasy version of the "knockout"
Kyokushinkaikan created by
Mas Oyama who serves as an influence for both Ryu's and Takuma's characters. The writer noted that the character Ryo was a creation of SNK to openly oppose the
Street Fighter series and Ryu. Ryo's style is noted to be influenced by
Gōgen Yamaguchi which contrasts Ryu's Mas Oyama when they are put in crossover games. Capcom also had complaints about Ryo's and Terry Bogard's projectile technique Ko-Ou Ken and Power Wave, respectively, were executed with the same imput as Ryu and Ken's
Hadoken.
Game Software Magazine said Ryo's attire clearly identifies him as a karate master. Like Ryu and Ken, Ryo always wears his unchanging karate uniform to face challenge after challenge. As a Japanese man, his blond hair was highly suspicious, raising doubts about his foreign ancestry. Overall, Ryo is a rather rough and carefree man, very particular about space. He also comes across as charming thanks to his relationship with his sister as he raised her. Still, he complained about the lack of development of his and King's relationship, hoping their situation would not end as hopeless as Terry Bogard's. The character has also been popular for his crossover appeal in
Fatal Fury and
The King of Fighters.
Rolling Stone said Ryo's popularity in
Fatal Fury Special was so famous that it inspired the concept of
The King of Fighters whereas the
Capcom VS. SNK was also popular for making the
Art of Fighting duo be able to face their own parody, Dan Hibiki.
Den of Geek regarded his debut in
Fatal Fury Special as the "first real fighting game crossover". Gabriel Keene Von Koenig from
Centro Universitário de Brasília Soares notes that Ryo's inclusion in the
Fatal Fury Special was iconic due to the iconic music SNK put in the game when Ryo appeared as a hidden boss. Souya Shinsuke from
Futabanet drew parallels between Ryo and
Akuma from
Super Street Fighter II Turbo due to their iconic hidden inclusions which were made nearly the same time and both were the first fighting games to include such option. Both Ryo and Akuma stand out for giving the player a notable challenge to unlock but the writer still found them enjoyable to find despite admitting he also did not meet requirements. Ryo becoming a middle-aged fighter in
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition was noted to be more fitting to the story by
Hardcore Gaming as it fits with the series' chronology more than
Fatal Fury Special which had his adult persona. The site
Hobby Consolas noted that Ryo debuted in ''The King of Fighters '94
and surprised fans due to the crossover appeal. Atomix'' found Ryo's inclusion in Team Mexico confusing for the game since the character happens to be Japanese-American in contrast to Mexican fighters.
Den of Geek criticized Ryo's
KOF characterization as one of the worst-developed characters due to how he plays the role of the "straight man". His victory quote from ''
The King of Fighters '98'' "Absolute karate. That's Kyokugen. And don't forget it, dweebenheimer" has become known as one of SNK's weirdest localization as dweebenheimer has no meaning. In regards to the character's relationship with King,
Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games lamented the two were portrayed as ambiguous towards each other despite Yuri's attempt to make their dinner in
The King of Fighters XI be romantic. Tiago Oviedo Frosi said the handling of Mr. Karate's ego by Ryo and Takuma is noted to be influenced by the religion
Shintoism, which inspired the mask of the
Tengu creature that Takuma and Ryo often wear. In retrospect,
Gamer TW said that when explored in
The King of Fighters Chinese comics, Ryo was one of the weakest character when compared with Kyo Kusanagi and Terry Bogard despite being a protagonist. With the introduction of
K', Ryo was at the same level of the new
The King of Fighters protagonist as both were was poorly received due to lacking the appeal of other heroes. ==References==