Reception
Ryo has been well received by gamers, ranking high in several popularity polls. In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Ryo was voted as the staff's twenty-fourth favorite character. He shared the spot with Sie Kensou and Toru Kurosawa, a character from the game series Last Bronx. In the January 30, 1995 issue, Ryo ranked at no. 24 in Top 50 Characters of 1994. In a 2005 poll made by SNK-Playmore USA, he was voted as the fifth fan favorite character with a total of 193 votes.
Reviewers from video games and other media have provided praise and criticism on Ryo's character. Wesley Yin-Poole from Videogamer.com commented that Ryo and Robert are "two double-hard bastards" and complained about the "wicked" designs from Ryo. Eurogamer reviewer Spanner Spencer mentioned that Ryo "seems to model himself after Ken from SFII" due to the similarities within their designs. David Simpson from AceGamez also noted the similarities between Ryo and Ken, and jokingly commented it could not be avoided to note them. However, William Usher from Cinemablend noted Ryo and Robert's relationship to be unique as they never attempt to kill each other. He also noted Ryo to be one of the main responsibles for the creation of The King of Fighters series, praising his development in the series. Despite noting his similarities from Street Fighter characters to the point they considered him a "clone", ScrewAttack still praised Ryo's character in Art of Fighting. Simon Wigham from consoleob.com agreed on this commenting he "planted the seeds for the future KOF series". He additionally noted that his introduction in Fatal Fury Special was "token hard old guy". Greg Kasavin from GameSpot listed his "Haohshokohken" move from Art of Fighting as one of the most influential fireball moves in fighting games' history.
The character of Dan Hibiki from the Street Fighter series is deemed as a parody of Ryo's similarities with Ryu and Ken. However, his design is more similar to Robert's while showing mannerism from Yuri Sakazaki.
Read more about this topic: Ryo Sakazaki
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)