Ryu Hayabusa

Back… in black… Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series izuna drops once again into the Rivals of Aether Workshop! As part of the VVizard’s Final Frenzy 2, this new take on the Legendary Ninja brings completely new tools to the battlefield, like his Flying Swallow, Steel on Bone, powerful Ninpo Abilities and his deadly Ultimate Techniques!

On Ryu’s HUD you’ll notice a small meter, this meter shows your current amount of Ki! Ki is used to cast Ninpo via Down Special, perform the Flying Swallow Barrage and your Shield Special, Cicada Surge!

This is the only way to refill your Ki, whenever your Ki Meter isn’t at max, opponents will have a random chance of dropping Essence Orbs on hit, they can drop Smaller Essence (fills 1/4 or your full bar) or Bigger Essence (fills 1/2 of your full bar). Keep in mind that landing Strongs and Specials has a higher chance of dropping bigger Essence Orbs. You can also use Essence to charge your Ultimate Techniques faster…

All 3 of Ryu’s Strongs can be charged normally, indicated by a Blue Aura, however when they reach Max Charge (indicated by an Orange Aura), Ryu will be able to unleash his Ultimate Techniques! These UTs are extremely deadly and powerful, each of them having their own strengths. Whenever there’s an Essence Orb on the field, you can start charging any of your Strongs to absorb the Essence, doing so will actually charge the Strong itself, smaller orbs charging half way and bigger orbs fully charging your Strongs, this is known as Essence Charge! Keep in mind, absorbing the Essence like this won’t give you any Ki…

Ryu can hold Shield while charging his Strongs to prevent Essence absorption, this allows him to charge Ultimate Techniques normally without accidentally consuming nearby Essence Orbs.

When using Neutral Special, Ryu simply throws a Shuriken forward, this shuriken deals a small amount of damage and no knockback or hitstun, at first…
If Ryu is close to another player, he’ll automatically target them when throwing his Shuriken, indicated by a visual target but that’s not all, this Shuriken is a Polite Hitbox meaning, the Shuriken only deals Hitstun if the Opponent is already in Hitstun! Allowing for crazy combos and follow-ups.

With Forward Special on the Ground, Ryu quickly dashes forward, trying to stab anyone in his path, if he manages to connect this attack with another player, they will be momentarily stunned, before Ryu slashes them violently, leaving them wide open for potential attacks! Ryu can cancel out of the slashing hit of this attack with a jump or another attack!

In the air, Forward Special takes a different form, that being the versatile Flying Swallow! A fast diagonal dash, slashing away at anyone caught in the attack, you can use this attack as a fast movement option or a way to either initiate or close out combos. Keep in mind that this attack has a stronger swing hitbox at the end of the move, careful when attempting it off-stage though, since it leaves you wide open if you miss it.
At the cost of 1/5 of your max Ki Meter, you can input Forward Special in the opposite direction to use the attack again! To a maximum of 3 times (and only on hit).

One of the most iconic moves in all of gaming, the Izuna Drop speaks for itself, Ryu jumps upwards, attempting to grab anyone in his path. If he succeeds it, Ryu will grab his opponent, ascend and then start descending with them with tremendous force! Keep in mind, the longer the fall, the stronger the final hit…

By using Down Special, Ryu will bring up 4 Scroll Icons around himself, each direction corresponds to a different scroll, a different Ninpo with unique properties:
– Art of The Fire Wheels (1/3 Meter): After a small fiery explosion around himself, Ryu summons a circle of fire, which orbitates around himself and, not only damages enemies nearby, but also destroys projectiles on contact with it! It lasts for a total of 6 seconds;
– Art of The Wind Blades (1/2 Meter): Ryu summons deadly sharp wind blades around himself, these blades circle around their initial position, covering that area while dealing multiple hits to anyone caught in said blunder!
– Art of The Inazuma (2/3 Meter): Electricity circles around Ryu, before he jumps and shoots that charged eletricity forward as a charged lightning projectile! When it comes into contact with a surface or another players, it creates a thunder strike, stunning anyone caught in the blast for potential follow-ups!
– Art of The Piercing Void (Full Meter): Ryu’s strongest Ninpo attack, after a long charge, Ryu shoots a fast and deadly miniature black hole forward, traveling at lighting speeds and dealing incredible damage and knockback to anyone unlucky enough to be on the way.

Yes, at the cost of 1/4 of your full Ki Meter, by pressing Shield/Parry + Special at the same time, Ryu will perform his Cicada Surge! If Ryu manages to connect this special parry, instead of just parrying his opponent as usual, Ryu will also teleport behind his opponent immediately, ideal for really catching your opponents off-guard.

Instead of a regular Wall Jump, Ryu can instead dash over the wall, just keep holding the button and Ryu will start dashing towards the top of the wall, jumping off of it or even towards it if he manages to reach the top.

This Up Tilt has two versions, by tapping the button Ryu performs the swing as normal, but by holding down the attack button, Ryu will jump while performing the swing!

A sliding attack. Auto-canceled during active frames if Ryu slides off a ledge.
No, we didn’t just reuse this same attack 3 times in a row lol

This is a powerful stall and fall attack, being able to spike opponents with its initial hitbox. Try using it after the second hit of FAir to really spike your opponents on the bottom blastzone.

True to the essence of the Ninja Gaiden series, you can turn on Ryu’s "Gore Toggle" on his Character Select Screen, doing so will make it all of his sword moves and his Izuna Drop randomly trigger a bloody visual with a matching sound effect, really driving home the brutality of being on the other end of the Dragon Sword!

His Gore implementation was made using Mr Frog’s gore logic, please check out their page so you can adjust your character’s compatibility, including their blood color as well as if they should be "goreable" to begin with.

BeetleUD – Spriting, Moveset Design
VVizard – Coding, Moveset Design

ViviVinya – CPU AI Coding
Nightshade, Delta Parallax and Nyazure Dreams – VFX Assistance
Guilty Gaming – Sound Design Assistance
GrimmReaper – Preview Image