Dave's Place The internet home of David Hinkle, a guy who plays way too many video games

Values from Video Games: Ryu

In an attempt to get more content here on my personal blog (I can't just write Quick 'n Dirty Reviews forever now, can I?), I've decided to get a bit personal with Values from Video Games, a semi-regular feature on the games and characters that helped shape me as a person. In the first edition, I'll be talking about Capcom's Ryu and how the fictional man taught me to be a real one.

I don't mean this post to be any slight against my own father -- he worked almost 14 hours a day when I was younger to get enough scratch together (not to discount my mom's efforts, which included taking care of us and working) so he could get our family out of Philly and afford us with opportunities he never had. As such, I never had many male role models around me much when I was a kid -- just my evil, manipulative and selfish brother - but I sure as hell had a lot of video games!

While it would've been easy to take lessons from, say, Mortal Kombat (violence solves everything -- a lesson that Starship Troopers also teaches us) or Flashback (do what's right, no matter how insurmountable the odds seem) or even Symphony of the Night (one should never feel hindered because of their lineage or blood -- be who you want to be), the game (well, series, really) that most struck me at my core when I was younger was undoubtedly Street Fighter II and the games that followed it.

It seems so silly that a 2D fighting game could affect my values and beliefs so much, but Street Fighter II really did -- specifically, Ryu. All of the characters in the game had their own look and appeal (and stereotypes), but Ryu spoke volumes to me. He was a man seeking the great challenge, traveling the world to test his own limits and realize his own inner greatness. He was a man who cared not for material possessions and wished to transcend this world for a plane of existence with far more worth. There was just something so romantic about that; the freedom to shrug off one's surroundings and seek one's destiny is definitely something my younger self strongly identified with, especially being trapped in what I then considered to be hell.

This inner greatness was also something I strongly felt a kinship with. Riding the Septa to school every day was one of the worst experiences, as I traveled to my HUGE school where I was one of a handful of white kids (George Wharton Pepper Middle School, if you must know) was isolating and made me feel different, yet rather than try to fit in or do my best to establish a place in it all, I retreated inward and became more and more solitary. I didn't keep much company and I mostly worked at perfecting the craft I was sure would be my livelihood one day: illustration.

But I digress. It's really a wonderful thing that such a seemingly violent experience could cultivate something so positive and instill some of the strongest values I could have ever hoped to attain.

Already seeking the next challenge, ceremony means nothing to him. The fight is everything.

Related posts:

1. In Pursuit of Super Street Fighter IV Skills: Fei Long
2. Thoughts: Street Fighter IV
3. Video walkthrough of the new Nintendo Channel on Wii