Daigo Umehara Made A Return To Ryu - But For How Long?
By Jeff Kotuby ·
There was some initial excitement when Daigo briefly returned on his Street Fighter legendary main, Ryu. but the grim reality is setting in about the future of the pairing and Ryu's future in Street Fighter V.
Longtime fighting game community members were thrilled to see video of Daigo returning to Ryu in the latest season of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. Early in Season 2, Daigo switched from Ryu to Guile, another character he’s had some history with, because of the latter’s strength, and the former’s lack thereof. Ryu purists were discouraged but persisted on without their leader, understanding that Daigo needed to what was necessary to win tournaments. We all held out hope that our champion would return back to Ryu in Season 3, especially because we knew the underpowered Ryu would receive some much-needed upgrades.
Season 3 brought Ryu some much-needed improvements to his normal attacks, special moves, and gave him a new V-Trigger as well as another special move, his “donkey kick” from Third Strike. At first, things seemed great - we were treated to hours of gameplay featuring Daigo using Ryu online. The community was delighted to see the pair back together, almost like two divorced parents getting back together for the kids.
One Reddit user said, “Daigo's spacing is so beautiful, I really hope he goes back to Ryu.” Even esports team Echo Fox's Justin Wong, a longtime rival of Daigo, expressed his joy in seeing Daigo using Ryu again to Twin Galaxies.
“I really think it’s awesome to see Daigo touch Ryu again in Season 3,” Wong said. “It’s one of those things that you can’t replace. That’s your number one waifu. Can never not try that character you love so much in any game.”
However, Wong offered some additional words that set the precedent for the beginning of the end of our hopes and dreams.
“Because of how strong the scene is now for Street Fighter V, I don’t see Daigo maining Ryu again. I can see Daigo use Ryu for specific match-ups but overall he will be using Guile as his main tournament character."
Then came the worst news of all, straight from the Beast’s mouth: Daigo would not be leaving Guile for Ryu after all.
but even toying with the idea of playing Ryu seems to make the storm clouds start gathering again to the point that it affects my personal life, so I’m thinking I’d better not use him, even just for fun.
Remember the scene from Talladega Nights when Ricky Bobby’s family gets back together and takes that trip to Applebee’s? This feels like the moment Reese Bobby screams at the waitress and walks out of the restaurant and into the night. Suffice to say, this tweet ripped apart Reddit, Twitter, and Ryu fan Discord servers. Soon after Daigo posted the above tweet, one user said, “The dream is dead guys.”
But Ryu players who love Daigo have taken detours like this in the past, both recently and in the distant, before. Remember, Daigo mained Ken in Third Strike. If you do, how could you forget? If not? You’ve got to see it.
Not to mention we’ve also dealt with this fairly recently, when Daigo switched from Ryu to the all-powerful Yun in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, after saying it was “over” for fireball characters.
Ryu players are a resilient bunch, and will continue to support the guy, even when the most famous player isn’t on the scene. All we can do is sit back, root for Daigo, and hope one day he’ll return. At least we’ll always have some cool videos to watch as we pine for the golden days of Daigo and Ryu.