“The ultimate strength, however, is strong in a way they can't even fathom. It can't be put into words, and no one can analyze it. Only those who have attained that level of strength know its secret. Therein lies the godlike strength that inspires the masses and makes the crowd go wild.”

- Daigo Umehara, The Will to Keep Winning

Street Fighter. Tekken. Any virtual pugilist or online warrior worth their salt has heard these two names thrown around in conversations regarding the greatest or most influential fighting game franchises of all time, and it's hard to question their legacies as such. In their own unique ways, each has revolutionized the genre as a whole: the former for establishing the fundamentals which are still adhered to this day by many, and the latter for being the definitive breakthrough hit into the third dimension that fighters needed during the mark of the millennium.

Despite occupying different spaces within the fighting game community, the sheer magnitude of each series’ impact in the larger world of gaming has caused many a debate over which brawler was and still is, the better choice among the competition. The conflict over which side had the superior mechanics, presentation, music, roster and more is still contested to this day, and for next episode of Death Battle, the focus shifts onto one single question: which of their poster boys would kick the other’s ass in a fight to the death?

Ryu, the Eternally Wandering World Warrior from Street Fighter. Jin Kazama, the Pitch Black-Winged Devil of Tekken. On the Fourth of July, sparks and fists will fly and inner darknesses collide when these two legendary icons clash one more time, as a born and bred warrior who has dedicated his life to seeking enlightenment through the art of fighting is pit against a cursed rebel who goes against his tainted bloodline by harnessing the very power it has given him in arguably the most anticipated fighting game dream match on the show thus far.

Both are no strangers to each other, having crossed fates previously as allies and rivals in equal measure several times over the past decade. Now, they each find themselves an obstacle in the other’s path to becoming the undisputed king of fighters, and their dueling claims to the throne can only be settled by the one thing both have known to be real from the moment they were born. Will the Master of the Hado achieve retribution in his return to the stage of history, or shall the Child of Destiny teach him the true meaning of fear itself with a swift and merciless end?

Note: While they he isn’t contributing a verdict, we want to give thanks to NocturnBros for helping out with the research for this blog.

Also, since this is the first time we’re analyzing a Tekken character…

A Heads Up From Ya Bois

This section is here to address one sticking point most casual readers of our blog (and casual VS debaters in general) may point out - and rightfully should, so to be clear:

This guy…

...is not the same as this guy.

To elaborate: while Akuma in Tekken 7 looks, fights and acts like his original Street Fighter counterpart, he never makes any lore nods or implications towards SF canon, and official Tekken 7 promotional material - like his page on the website - do not reference his home series’ lore either. As such, we cannot assume that everything about him survived the transition to Tekken; for example, the Shun Goku Satsu’s soul-destroying properties may not technically apply to that version.

That’s not just us assuming that out of nowhere, either. Back when building up to the release of Tekken 7’s Fated Retribution update, interviews with Bandai Namco developers have all clarified that Akuma being canon to Tekken does not mean that it and Street Fighter share the same universe. For more information about this, here’s a translated Famitsu interview done with Street Fighter and Tekken’s directors, Yoshinori Ono and Katsuhiro Harada.

Not only that, but this also makes us consistent with a notice we put in our Sora vs. Pit blog (please read that and SEND US PRESENTS) where we pointed out that the Final Fantasy characters Sora fights are separate incarnations from the ones seen in their home games.

Following this line of thought, the feats that Tekken!Akuma accomplishes do not apply to SF!Akuma or anyone whose scaling is connected to him, and vice versa; trying to do so only raises a lot more questions that we honestly won’t have all the answers to. For all intents and purposes, assume that these two incarnations are completely separate individuals who just so happen to look very, very similar to each other.

Background

Ryu

"This is the path of my destiny!"

As a child, Ryu was found abandoned in front of a dojo with no memories or indicators of his parents. The dojo’s owner, Gouken, found the young boy and raised him as his disciple and foster son while training him in seclusion. For much of his early years, Ryu was taught the principles of Ansatsuken, a dangerous martial art rooted in assassination techniques which Gouken had refined as a means of self-defense instead of being a tool of murder. Through it all, he had the support of another student: Ken Masters, a spoiled and cocky but ultimately well-meaning American whose father asked Gouken to train him as a form of discipline; their upbringing together became the start of a life-long friendship which continues to this day.

When Ryu and Ken were of age, Gouken allowed his pupils to leave and pursue their own paths in life. However, he was soon found dead following an encounter with his brother Akuma, a sadistic fighter harnessing an evil energy called the Satsui no Hado. By the time his students returned and paid their final respects, they each went their separate ways. Ryu chose the life of a nomad, travelling the world with nothing but his training bag to face off against other strong fighters of different disciplines. In doing so, he became a recurring participant in the World Warrior tournament, where he tested his strength against other combatants like Ken, Interpol detective Chun-Li, Delta Red operative Cammy, the hulking Russian Zangief, and much more.

Through his battles to become the ultimate warrior, Ryu has also faced off against foes with more sinister and malevolent intentions than his normal competition. He has repeatedly battled the likes of M. Bison, the leader of the international crime organization known as Shadaloo who sought to use Ryu as a vessel for his Psycho Power, and Akuma, who has singled Ryu out as a worthy opponent and seeks out a battle to the death with him at all costs, even if it means driving him to use the Satsui no Hado as well. Having struggled many times to contain his own inner evils, Ryu found clarity through another meeting with his apparently alive master, who taught him how to control it through an alternate source of power.

By channeling the Power of Nothingness Gouken taught him, Ryu was able to seal away the Satsui no Hado eating away at his soul. This new source of strength empowered him enough to confront his old enemies, resulting in the final defeat of Bison and Shadaloo as it existed. Now older and wiser, he has since resumed his wandering of the world and facing the greatest masters of combat over and over again while refining his technique. Having dedicated his entire life to finding his place in the world through this one path, Ryu has sworn to himself that for as long as strong warriors and exciting battles exist and he can still push his body and mind to its limits, then he will continue fighting to find the answers he seeks.

Jin Kazama

“Fear the wrath of God.”

Jin Kazama was born as the only child of Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama, two individuals whose attraction to each other flew in the face of their very natures as people. Kazuya was a power-hungry brawler who sought dominance regardless of whatever cost he or others would have to pay, while Jun was a serene peace-keeper with a pure heart. After giving birth to Jin, she trained him in her family’s unique style of self-defense and raised him as best she could by herself, but soon believed that her time with him was going to end in a matter of years. Those words proved true, as Jun went missing after a clash with the Aztec God of Fighting, Ogre. Per her last wishes, a vengeful Jin sought out his paternal grandfather, Heihachi Mishima.

As the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, a multi-million dollar business empire, Heihachi was more than capable of providing for his grandson, and even trained him in the Mishima clan’s specialized version of Karate. However, he had his own malevolent reasons for doing so; he was aware that Jin had inherited an enormous source of power from Kazuya called the Devil Gene, and desired it for himself. Until the fateful day when the Devil Gene would awaken within his grandson, Heihachi had to bide his time. In his teens, Jin was free to juggle his dual roles as a student with close friend Ling Xiaoyu, and a part-time street fighter, during which he would develop a one-sided rivalry with the Taekwondo practitioner, Hwoarang.

Eventually, Jin was given the opportunity to exact his revenge on Ogre by participating in the third King of Iron Fist tournament and subsequently defeating the greatest fighters the world had to offer en route to killing the deity himself and becoming champion. Despite his victory, Heihachi betrayed him by sending a Tekken Force unit to capture him for experimentation; Jin fled after awakening to his Devil powers for the first time. Now harboring a fierce hatred of his Mishima blood, he swore to bring down Heihachi and the recently-resurfaced Kazuya - both of whom still intended on stealing the Devil Gene from his body for their own lust for power - for all the chaos they have been responsible for, even if it meant dying in the process.

While as an active participant of the King of Iron Fist tournament, Jin won three consecutive iterations; his victory over his great-grandfather Jinpachi granted him control of the Mishima Zaibatsu, which he used to wage war on the world in order to not only rid himself of his enemies but also awaken the demon Azazel and rid the world of the Devil Gene by killing it in a suicidal battle. Despite his attempts to kill himself in the ensuing encounter, Jin survived and was placed in a coma as his father and grandfather continued their own ongoing rivalry. With Kazuya’s triumph over Heihachi, it now falls back to Jin to finish his mission and eliminate his father and the remnants of the Mishima bloodline before the world pays the price of their conflict.

Fighting Styles

Ryu

Ansatsuken

The term “Ansatsuken” is a neologism used to refer to almost any fictional martial art created with the express purpose of killing one’s opponent; hence its literal translation - “Assassin’s Fist.” Official Street Fighter IV reference material mainly refers to this specific variant as “martial arts rooted in assassination”, mainly to differentiate it from the one used by the Chinese assassin Gen as they share almost little in common.

The actual history of the specific fighting style used by Ryu and other characters similar to him dates back several decades before the first Street Fighter to Goutetsu, the master responsible for training both Akuma and Gouken in their youth. While his pupils showed great promise, both had different ideas on what to do with their new skills. Gouken sought peaceful uses for his training, whereas Akuma was tempted by an evil energy called the Satsui no Hado, fueling his desire to win at all costs.

This later lead him to murder Goutetsu in a fight before departing; as such, Gouken refined his use of Ansatsuken to focus more on its use as a tool for self-defense, placing more emphasis on its connection to the user’s ki and its similarities to other East Asian martial arts. As such, it shares the same base foundations with them, such as the long-reaching kicks of Taekwondo, the grappling skills and defensive counter stances of Judo and Aikido, and the precise and powerful blows of Karate and Kenpo.

Unlike those aforementioned martial arts, practitioners of Ansatsuken use their ki to perform superhuman feats, such as energy attacks like the Hadoken or harnessing the elements like fire and lightning to enhance their skills. How those aforementioned practitioners use it varies, owing a lot to the style’s sheer versatility. For example, Ken and Akuma favor more aggressive attacks and the like while Sakura Kasugano’s own imitation allowed her to copy less-effective but more unpredictable reinventions of those moves. Other users have included Ken’s pupil Sean Matsuda, whose rough variant makes him similar to Sakura in terms of improvisation, and Dan Hibiki, an ex-pupil of Gouken’s who bastardized it to form his hilariously weak Saikyo style.

In Ryu’s case, his focus to refine those very fundamentals have granted him a very well-balanced fighting style that can adapt to any opponent. He has different variants of all three of Ansatsuken’s signature moves - the Hadoken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku - that he can pull out for any situation. Coupled with his hard-hitting strikes that often knock down foes in one strike and a near-uncanny ability to anticipate retaliatory attacks, his take on the Ansatsuken may be simple, but nonetheless deadly and effective in his capable hands.

Collarbone Breaker: An overhead punch primarily meant to break the guard of crouching opponents.
Solar Plexus Punch: A crushing blow to the enemy’s midsection.
Hadoken: An energy projectile created from Ryu’s willpower. Those hit by it feel the force of a staggering kick with lingering pain.
Shoryuken: A jumping, spinning uppercut, perfect for attacking jumping opponents or as a reversal.
Tatsumaki Senpukyaku: A jumping kick in which Ryu rotates his legs in a hurricane-like formation. His version only deals a single, powerful hit as opposed to the multi-hitting version other users often have.
Joudan Sokutogeri: A slow yet hard-hitting forward-stepping side kick. More powerful versions of this move can send opponents flying off walls, giving Ryu opportunities to start up combos.
Shakunetsu Hadoken: A Hadoken imbued with the power of fire. Acts as a separate move in SFII and Alpha, and as Ryu’s EX Hadoken from the III series onward.
Mind’s Eye: Ryu’s V-Skill, based on the parry mechanic from Street Fighter III and the Hanagashi move given to him in USFIV’s Omega Mode. Ryu enters a stance, during which he can parry an incoming attack, giving him an opportunity to retaliate quickly.
Denjin Renki: Ryu’s first V-Trigger. All of Ryu’s moves, in particular the Hadoken and Shoryuken, gain electric properties. Ryu can charge up his Hadoken to break through an opponent’s defenses, and his Shinkuu Hadoken is automatically upgraded to the Denjin Hadoken in this state, although performing it ends the V-Trigger.
Kakko Fubatsu: Ryu’s second V-Trigger. He gains access to a counterattack called Isshin, which forces opponents into a crumple state and leaves them open to follow-up attacks.
Shinku Hadoken: A powerful, multi-hitting Hadoken which can beat out smaller or weaker projectiles (for example, when it beat Sagat’s Tiger Shot.)
Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku: An upgraded, stationary Tatsumaki Senpukyaku with an added vacuum effect, allowing Ryu to suck in nearby opponents and hit them multiple times. While it was a Super Combo in the Alpha games and tends to be treated as such in crossovers, it currently serves as the EX version of his regular Tatsumaki.
Shin Shoryuken: Ryu dashes forward with a midsection blow before finishing his foe off with a crushing 2-hit Shoryuken.
Denjin Hadoken: A chargeable, electrified version of the Shinku Hadoken. Those hit with a fully-charged blast are stunned, giving Ryu another opening to attack.

Jin

Kazama Style Traditional Martial Arts

Previously known as Kazama Style Self-Defense, this fighting style was passed on to Jin by his mother, Jun Kazama. As the name states, this is primarily used by other members of the Kazama family; aside from Jun herself, her niece and Jin’s first cousin Asuka are the only other known practitioners who have participated in a King of Iron Fist tournament.

Most of this martial art’s fundamentals are shared with different schools of Jujutsu. Developed during the Sengoku period to provide samurai with a way to engage in unarmed combat, Jujutsu is a form of self-defense which requires using an opponent’s force against them. This is usually done through reversals, parries and counter attacks, making them effective even against foes armed with blades or other melee weapons. When an attacker is caught, the user often retaliates with throws to the ground, submission holds to debilitate limbs or strikes to wear down weak spots like pressure points.

Jin’s specific take on it lacks most of the counters and limb locks his mother and cousin have, instead focusing more on various strikes to specific body parts. He can still evade attacks with a well-timed parry, and a few of his signature throws like a reverse over-the-shoulder toss are reminiscent of their moves as well. As the first martial art he ever learned, Jin has used this to supplement his two other primary fighting styles, giving him a great amount of versatility.

Kazama Style 5-Hit Combo: A quick combo in which Jin performs a high left punch, a roundhouse kick, a midsection blow and two kicks to his enemy’s legs. Jin can also add in a sixth starting hit by performing a left axe kick to start the combo, or a Right Roundhouse Punch to end it, as seen in Devil Within.
Special Step: A dash which allows Jin to evade attacks and projectiles.
Parry: Jin performs a well-timed block or evasive maneuver which sets him up for a quick counterattack.
Corpse Thrust: A crouching, thrust punch with knockdown properties.
Demon’s Paw: A dashing midsection strike.

Advanced Mishima Style Fighting Karate

The Mishima Style of Karate was first founded by Jinpachi Mishima several decades before the events of the first Tekken. As of now, the only users of this martial art have all hailed from within the clan itself; these include his son Heihachi and his wife Kazumi, their son Kazuya, the adopted Lee Chaolan (as a supplement to his Jeet Kwon Do) and eventually, Jin himself, who was taught by Heihachi after Jun’s disappearance.

Despite being fictional, the Mishima style is reflective of different sub-branches of Karate itself, with each current user providing their own take on it while sharing the fundamentals as seen below. In Jin’s first appearance, his version contained moves shared with Kazuya and Jun, which he combined together to create a variant seemingly based on Shito-Ryu Karate.

Shito-Ryu is defined as a combination style, meant to bring together the different schools of Karate into one unified discipline. Aside from the powerful open-handed stance attacks of Goju-Ryu (used by Heihachi’s variant) and the powerful one-hit strikes of Shotokan (from Kazuya), it places a heavy emphasis on speed and defensive techniques, like blocking, eight-way movement, evasive maneuvers and counter-attacking, making it a perfect complement to Jin’s Kazama Style.

Following the events of Tekken 3 in which he was betrayed by Heihachi, Jin unlearned the Mishima style out of hatred towards his paternal heritage. While he primarily uses traditional Karate in more recent appearances, he has not been able to fully expel it from his memory, as his Devil Jin form primarily uses it with no restraint.

Electric Wind God Fist: A dashing right uppercut imbued with electricity.
Dragon Uppercut: A jumping uppercut which can take out airborne foes. A longer but unblockable version of this move is called the Lightning Screw Uppercut.
Flash Punch Combo: A quick three-hit combo consisting of two left punches followed by a right-handed finisher.
Demon Slayer: A left-right two-part punching combination which is finished by a spinning right-handed backfist.
Demon Backhand Spin: A variant of the Demon Slayer, performed without the initial left punch.
Left/Right Splits Kick: An overhead axe kick.
Tsunami Kick: A combination of a rising front kick and an axe kick.
Spinning Demon: A series of spinning low kicks that have a variety of follow-ups, like a Dragon Uppercut or a Tsunami Kick.
Demon Scissors: A forward somersault kick.
Stonehead: A grab attack wherein Jin knocks his foe down with a headbutt.
Rising Sun: A aerial spinning kick which can transition into a Spinning Demon.
Mishima Style 10 Hit Combo: Jin performs a Demon Slayer-esque punch combination, followed by a flurry of kicks and uppercuts, and finishes it off with a Dragon Uppercut.

Kyokushin Karate

Simply referred to as “Traditional Karate” from Tekken 4 onwards, Kyokushin is a sub-group descended from the Goju-Ryu and Shotokan branches in 1964. Its name, which means “the ultimate truth”, is tied in with the concept of Bushido in mind; the focus is for the practitioner to improve their character through battle and training. Jin picked up this style after the third King of Iron Fist Tournament by learning it from a dojo instructor in Brisbane.

Kyokushin focuses on three main elements: kihon - the basics, kata - self-training and forms, and kumite - sparring. These all contribute to a well-balanced mode of combat that acts as an intermediary between the aggression and defensive prowess of Jin’s Mishima and Kazama training, respectively.

Right Roundhouse Punch: A quick but powerful dash strike done out of Jin’s Special Step.
Low Lunging Roundhouse Kick (L.L.R.K.): A sweeping kick that can knock down an opponent, which can be followed up by a Spinning Flare Kick.
Median Line Destruction: A series of three chamber punches.
Shun Musatsu: A mid-level body strike followed with a palm strike to the enemy’s chin.
Savage Sword: Jin performs two quick strikes to the opponent’s body and head, followed by a knee to blast his foe away.
Mental Awareness: A special stance which can be canceled into different moves and is an important part of Jin’s combo game. An alternate version can also temporarily supercharge his next attack, giving him an added bit of power.
Spinning Flare Kick: Jin performs a side roll in mid-air, using his heel to hit his foe in the head.
Power Stance: Jin enters a stance in which he temporarily repels any attack done to him, while buffing his next attack.
Omen: Jin assumes Heihachi’s fighting stance as his hidden third eye reveals itself. This causes him to temporarily revert back to his Tekken 3 Mishima-styled movelist.
Avenger: An unblockable charged punch.
Rage Drive: Jin performs a Right Roundhouse Punch, a Thrusting Uppercut, an Omen Blade Kick and a Corpse Thrust in rapid succession.
10 Hit Combo: Jin performs a right punch, followed by three left side kicks through the opponents’ body, a series of punches into a front kick, a Low Lunging Roundhouse Kick and a Right Roundhouse Punch.
Rage Art: Jin launches a hook punch that stuns the opponent, and proceeds to deliver 15 rapid-fire blows to their body, finishing it off with one last haymaker to blast them away.

Transformations

Ryu

Satsui no Hado - Evil Ryu

Also known as the Surge of Murderous Intent, the Satsui no Hado is ki rooted in the darker aspects of Ansatsuken, which represent the most negative qualities of human nature like rage, hatred, destruction and violence. This is the source of power that Akuma has tapped into, having become a stronger warrior while losing much of what had made him human at all.

To tap into it, a person must be willing to do whatever it takes to win a fight, even if it means killing their opponent to do so. Ryu’s first experience with this evil power was at the end of the first World Warrior tournament, where he lost to its host Sagat in a decisive battle. Angered by the outcome, Ryu’s inner darkness lashed out and caused him to scar Sagat’s chest with a Metsu Shoryuken. Since then, he has tried to contain himself from succumbing to its influence, although Akuma has since made it his goal to have him bring this power out in order to finally become a so-called “worthy” opponent.

Ryu can safely tap into small portions of the Satsui no Hado to provide boosts to his attack power as in the case of his Metsu Hadoken or the aforementioned Metsu Shoryuken, but if he indulges in it for far too long, he becomes overwhelmed by its influence and transforms into the aptly-named Evil Ryu, causing his skin and gi to take on a darker shade, his eyes turn to yellow and his body being engulfed by a fiery aura.

Evil Ryu fights much like his normal self, but gains access to several new moves other similarly powered individuals like Akuma can do, such teleporting around with the Ashura Senku, or using deadlier versions of his signature moves. Most importantly, he can perform the Satsui no Hado’s forbidden technique: the Shun Goku Satsu, which targets and utterly destroys his victim's very soul.

Despite being a recurring character in his own right through his appearances in the Alpha and Street Fighter IV games, Evil Ryu’s actual canon presence tends to be very subdued. Ryu himself dislikes using the Satsui no Hado to win fights, and at best this side of him only really comes out in short bursts; Evil Ryu’s existence is merely to provide a possible “what-if” scenario in which he is consumed by its influence completely.

During the events of Street Fighter V, Ryu’s struggles with the Satsui no Hado end when he fully embraces the Power of Nothingness, resulting in the expulsion of the former from his body and with it, the likelihood of turning into Evil Ryu once again. That said, we’ve still chosen to include this form in the event the episode proper chooses to highlight it.

Metsu Hadoken: A variant of the Shinku Hadouken done with the Satsui no Hado. Ryu can perform this without transforming, but still retains this as Evil Ryu.
Metsu Shoryuken: A Dark Hado-enhanced Shoryuken, where Ryu punches the opponent in their gut before connecting with a brutal Shoryuken to their chin. As with the previous move, Ryu can use this safely without transforming.
Ashura Senku: After glowing red, Evil Ryu glides across the battlefield while being temporarily invulnerable, which in practice makes this move akin to teleporting.
Ryusokyaku: An overhead axe kick.
Messatsu Goshoryu: A series of three consecutive Shoryukens. If the final hit connects, Evil Ryu harnesses more of the Satsui no Hado’s power to slam the opponent’s head into the ground.
Shun Goku Satsu: Also known as the Raging Demon, this is the Satsui no Hado’s ultimate and most dangerous technique. After warping towards his opponent, Evil Ryu grabs them and proceeds to launch 16 strikes that not only cripples their body, but their soul as well. This is due to the Satsui no Hado using the victim’s own sins against them; as Akuma puts it, the more sins they have committed, the more powerful the move is overall.

Mu no Ken

The Mu no Ken, or the Power of Nothingness, is the spiritual antithesis of the Satsui no Hado. Whereas its counterpart is based on the negative qualities of humanity, this source of power is based on enlightenment and the ability to act without restraining one’s self to their emotions or thoughts, similar to the teachings of Buddhism. As such, only those with a pure heart and mind can fully tap into this force, or at the very least utilize it properly.

It first made an appearance in Street Fighter IV under the use of Gouken, who had mastered its use while he still trained alongside Akuma. Both Ryu and Ken have manifested it to different extents, although only the former had considered trying to find ways to harness it further to defeat the Satsui no Hado’s influence. Ryu would spend much of Street Fighter IV and V to accomplish this task, only fully doing so in a fight with the soul-devouring warrior, Necalli.

Under the Power of Nothingness, Ryu is surrounded by a light blue aura with little to no changes to his appearance save for a pair of glowing white eyes. Its power is potentially limitless or at the very least unquantifiable, as S.I.N.’s measurement tools were unable to analyze Ryu’s strength during his battle with Seth at the end of Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind. It also allows Ryu to defend himself against attacks which target his soul; this is how he was able to defeat Necalli and how Gouken was able to survive being hit by Akuma’s Shun Goku Satsu in the past.

Shin Ryu

During the events of UDON’s Street Fighter Unlimited comic run, Ryu had somehow managed to unify both the Satsui no Hado and Power of Nothingness, resulting in this new form which he had used to beat Gill, leader of the Illuminati. This is often credited as the product of his training under Oro, who had taught Ryu to learn how to harness the Satsui no Hado without letting it fully consume him and keeping it balanced with the positive ki emitted from the Power of Nothingness.

As Shin Ryu, his power exceeds that of his previous forms while giving him access to moves can do in either. Exclusive in this form is an attack called Fudoshin, a large earthquake. He also seems to be capable of teleportation, best seen when he transports himself from the hidden Illuminati island in the Mediterranean to Australia to fight Oni.

We do want to note however that Shin Ryu is currently exclusive to the comics, as in the games, the Satsui no Hado and Mu no Ken are directly incompatible with each other and cannot co-exist; recall again that in Street Fighter V, Ryu’s mastery of the latter cost him the former. As such, it is debatable or very unlikely that this could show up in the episode proper as Shin Ryu’s source of power is inconsistent with the games’ lore; given that UDON comics had been used to analyze past Street Fighter combatants on the show before, one could argue that this form could have a shot.

Jin

Devil Gene Awakening - Devil Jin

The Devil Gene is a mysterious source of power which seemingly originates from ancient Egypt; specifically, from the demon known as Azazel, the “Rectifier of All Things” created from mankind’s sins and destined to one day destroy them. The gene entered the Mishima family with Heihachi’s marriage to Kazumi Hachijo, who had secretly hailed from a family of assassins tasked with eliminating threats to the world; it would later be passed down to her son Kazuya and grandson Jin.

Those who bear the Devil Gene, save for Azazel himself, are forced into contact with a “devil”, who can provide the user with enhanced physical abilities while attempting to possess them at the same time. While these manifest as feats of superhuman strength, toughness and speed, those who succumb to its power physically transform into a devil themselves. In Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Alisa Bosconovitch states that the Devil Gene strengthens the user’s cellular compounds to be 10 times greater than a normal person.

Jin’s first encounter with the Devil Gene occurred while he was still inside Jun’s womb. When Heihachi had defeated Kazuya and threw his body in a volcano, the “devil” was split into two - one half remained with Kazuya while the other was sent to the then-unborn Jin. However, Jun had been able to stave it off thanks to her Kazama blood, whose pureness was able to counteract it. Jin would be free of it until he turned 15, at which point it had resurfaced based on the tattoo on his left arm.

His first actual transformation had come when he had nearly died at the hands of a Tekken Force squad sent by Heihachi to subdue him; he recovered from his wounds in mere seconds and retaliated before fleeing. Since then, Devil Jin had become a recurring part of Jin’s identity, having resurfaced in almost every game he has been in, and eventually becoming a playable character in his own right come Tekken 5, where he fights using the Mishima training Jin had supposedly unlearned prior.

Devil Jin usually manifests subconsciously, usually in the presence of other sources of evil like Kazuya, Heihachi, Jin’s grandfather Jinpachi and Azazel. However, transformations can eventually become controllable, and while Jin hated using his Devil form to fight in the past, he has since been able to harness its power more consistently without fully submitting himself to it; by the end of Tekken 7, he seems to have mastered control over it much like Kazuya, seemingly able to fight with its power without the full transformation associated with it.

Much like his father and to a lesser extent his grandmother, Devil Jin can shoot blindly-fast lasers from his hidden third eye and fly around the battlefield with his wings in addition to getting more powerful by further harnessing the Devil Gene’s strength. The transformation also grants him a healing factor which allows him to survive near-mortal wounds; aside from Jin’s initial transformation, it seems to also be a reason behind Kazuya’s survival after he was tossed into an active volcano by Heihachi near the canonical end of Tekken 2.

Unique to Devil Jin is the ability to use some form of telekinesis, although such showings are limited. One of his win poses in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection has him lift his defeated opponent telekinetically, Hwoarang’s ending in the same game shows Devil Jin destroying his rival’s motorcycle before it comes into contact with him, and in the end of Tekken 6’s Scenario Campaign mode, the Devil Gene creates a forcefield allowing Jin to nullify lasers shot by Gold Azazel. He also seems to be able to absorb the powers of fallen enemies, such as in his Tekken 5 ending where he does this to Jinpachi, although this ability has not been seen since.

Penetrating Fist: Jin harnesses the Devil Gene to launch a stationary fireball somewhere in front of him.
Hisou: Devil Jin uses his wings to perform two flying side kicks.
Samsara: A launcher which can be used to transition into various flying attacks.
Laser Cannon: A three-hit punch combo based on Jin’s Evil Intent string.
Obliteration: Devil Jin grabs his opponent, tosses them into the air and juggles them with his lasers.
Rage Drive: Devil Jin performs a Spinning Demon kick to trip the opponent, before transition towards a drilling dive kick.
Devil Beam: Jin’s Super Art from Street Fighter X Tekken has him perform multiple Penetrating Fists, forcing the opponent into a crumple state. He then transforms into Devil Jin, who flies into the air and fires a laser to finish the attack off.
Devil Laser Cannon: Devil Jin’s Rage Art, based on the Critical Edge available to those who use his moveset in Soulcalibur V. After launching his foe into the air, Devil Jin performs multiple flying attacks from every conceivable direction before finishing with a laser blast which drags his foe across the floor.

Primal Devil Jin

In Tekken: Blood Vengeance, Jin can tap into two more Devil forms by further submitting himself to the Devil Gene’s power. This first beastly form is what he transforms into in order to fight an enhanced version of Devil Kazuya in the film’s final battle.

Primal Devil Jin is a rabid, out-of-control monster lacking Jin’s rational mind, and is bulked up to a near-inhuman and borderline monstrous appearance. As such, while Jin cannot control his actions, he exchanges it for raw power, capable of leveling entire buildings with his strikes and laser blasts.

True Devil Jin

After finally getting the Devil Gene under his control and using all of its power, Jin can enter this final form, which resembles a more human-like version of his Primal transformation. Here, Devil Jin’s physical prowess is boosted greatly again, allowing him to fly faster than the eye can see, slice giant beasts with his lasers and fight off both True Devil Kazuya and a Mokujin-powered Heihachi in quick succession.

While both of these newer forms are very impressive, they come with a caveat. Blood Vengeance’s story is non-canon; despite supposedly taking place between the events of Tekken 5 and 6, several events in the story contradict the lore presented in the games, although series director Katsuhiro Harada has gone on record to say the film is at least “half-canon”, where some but not all of the events of it are canonical. As such, it is highly likely that both Primal and True Devil Jin may not be included in the actual episode.

Feats

Ryu

Durability

Jin

Overall

Won three consecutive King of Iron Fist Tournaments. (3, 4 and 5)
Defeated Ogre and his powered-up form True Ogre, after the latter absorbed Heihachi’s powers.
Obtained the Mishima Zaibatsu after defeating Jinpachi.
Defeated Kazuya and Heihachi back-to-back in Hon-Maru.
Defeated Jinpachi Mishima.
Fought Kazuya and Heihachi at once and won.
Killed Azazel, the source of the Devil Gene.
Used the Mishima Zaibatsu to start World War III.
Well-versed in fighting multiple opponents at once.
Through the events of Devil Within, he defeated a modified Gun Jack unit, multiple Heihachi clones and Ogre's true form, Monstrous Ogre.
With the help of Kazuya, Heihachi and Xiaoyu, defeated Angel-empowered versions of Nina, Anna, Panda, Paul and Yoshimitsu.

Power

Capable of launching Azazel, who towers over the majority of the Tekken roster. He also one-shot his upgraded form, Gold Azazel.
Completely obliterated a helicopter as Devil Jin.
A punch clash between Jin, Kazuya and Heihachi creates a massive shockwave that destroys part of Kyoto Castle.
Punches Heihachi hard enough to shatter multiple stone walls.
Kazuya and Jin’s punches create a large shockwave that destroys all the glass in the building.
Throws Heihachi through a stone wall in his Devil Jin mode.
Kicks Kazuya so hard that it breaks a wooden pillar..
Despite Heihachi surviving this, Jin is still capable of harming him.
Able to pick up grizzly bears like Kuma and lift them up with one hand. Kuma and Panda are officially listed to be nearly 500 pounds.
Can punch through a mass-produced Alisa unit.
Scales to Raven, who threw, blocked and sliced through NANCY-MI847J and dodged point-blank gunfire from it.
Physically comparable to his uncle Lars Alexandersson, who can punch out missiles in-flight and survive being caught in a point-blank explosion.
Created a large explosion after clashing with Angel.

Speed

Avoids attacks from a giant monster.
Faster than Gun Jack who can react to a satellite laser. (Using the average heights of satellites, this can put in the range of Mach 2K to Mach 8K.)
Drives a motorcycle directly into gunfire and missiles and manages to dodge all of them despite them being directly pointed at him.
Flew to the atmosphere in a few seconds.
Most Devil Gene users can fire lasers at Sub-Relativistic speeds. (Kazuya’s laser came to Mach 17,918.36735 after being calced.)
In Blood Vengeance, he flies at such a high speed he appears in front of Kazuya despite being a large distance away from him in second.
Drove his motorcycle fast enough that it would board a moving train.
Comparable to Heihachi, who can casually catch bullets with his bare teeth.
Has superior or comparable speed to the rest of the Tekken cast, most of whom are casual bullet timers.
Dodges bullets from Arab soldiers.

Durability

Durability scales to Kazuya, who survived being thrown into an active volcano as a child. (likely double digit megatons) and a satellite laser strike from Heihachi.
Durability also scales to Heihachi, who survived the self-destruction of a group of Jack-4 units and a Shun Goku Satsu from the Tekken version of Akuma.
Somehow managed to survive his own suicide attack against Azazel.
Survived the explosion of a helicopter from within.
In Asuka’s Tekken 5 ending, Jin gets punched into a boulder and is merely disorientated. (Likely non-canon.)
Gets shot several times by the Tekken Force and Heihachi.
Superior durability to Gun Jack which survived the explosion of a satellite laser (3.7 megatons)
Takes this beating from Kazuya.

Weaknesses

Ryu

Ryu may be the face of Street Fighter itself, but his actual win-loss record within the series is spotty when compared to other major fighting game protagonists. He’s tasted defeat against the likes of M.Bison, Oro, Ken, Sagat, Akuma and Necalli in previous games, although most of those losses have been avenged as of late given his more prominent role in the story.

While he has access to two incredible sources of power, he has yet to actually display true control over either the Satsui no Hado or the Power of Nothingness in the same way Akuma and Gouken have in the games’ canon; this may explain why as Evil Ryu, he is often portrayed as a ruthless berserker with no rational thought save for killing whereas Akuma isn’t depicted similarly, regardless of what level of power he is using.

Even the Shun Goku Satsu itself has failed at being the dreaded one-hit kill it has long been touted as. For example, individuals who have no souls remain relatively unaffected; Gen and Gouken had survived by emptying their bodies of their souls in time, while Seth lacks a soul to begin with.

It’s also worth pointing out that Ryu himself has rarely connected with the move in almost every major canon he has been in. Evil Ryu had his attempt at a Raging Demon blocked by Shin Akuma’s own in his Alpha 3 final battle, and in the Street Fighter Alpha manga, Guy had used his superior speed and training in fighting multiple foes to parry every single hit of it before handily beating Ryu.

Jin

Jin possesses a great amount of control over his Devil powers, and while he can keep himself in check while transformed, there is still a chance he can lose himself and go insane as Devil Jin. The Devil Gene is also the main source of his strength beyond the near-insane superhuman stats his Mishima bloodline alone grants him, and managing to suppress it could weaken Jin greatly. That said, the ways to achieve this within the series are rather limited.

For one, those of the Kazama bloodline can seemingly counteract Devil transformations due to their purity, although as Jin himself is part of it, it mainly serves to keep the Devil Gene under control and prevent him from submitting to its influence fully. Asuka’s non-canon Tekken 5 ending shows that she can unknowingly dispel her cousin’s powers. Special chains that suppress the Gene have also been synthesized by the Mishima Zaibatsu to capture Jin during the events of Tekken 4, although they have not been seen since. The being called Angel is also stated to be the only one capable of removing it, yet no record of her succeeding exists.

In comparison to other fighting game protagonists, not helped by Tekken’s muddy canon, Jin is also pretty lacking in direct feats when it comes to confirmed story events. His status as a member of his universe’s top-tier fighters mainly comes through scaling through the people he has beaten, like his relatives.

Summary

Ryu

"The power humans possess -- that is the source of and destination for all of life. The power you're after is the opposite of this. It can only destroy that which is good, to seek it invites your own demise. That is why I fight! I fight to rid the world of such diabolical power!"

Advantages:

Has more access to status-buffing moves and transformations, like his V-Triggers and Evil Ryu.
As Jin does not have much in terms of soul hax defense, the Shun Goku Satsu is likely going to be an instant kill if Ryu lands it.
Got to become Iron Fist.
Is in Smash Bros.

Disadvantages:

Unlikely to find any way to suppress the Devil Gene.
Slower, which could affect his ability to land critical hits on Jin.
Likely loses the other areas of the stat trinity too.
Jin’s telekinesis may force him out of an effective range for attacking.
Projectiles are nullified by Jin’s forcefields.
Hadokens and other projectiles are slower than Devil Jin’s lasers.
Power of Nothingness’ defense against soul hax is useless against Jin, who doesn’t have any.
Has a spottier win/loss record than Jin.
Is very vulnerable to scientist hax.

Jin

"Hatred can be suppressed with reason -- but you must give into it at times, or it will eat you alive... I will be challenged again someday, there's no doubt. It could be by someone more powerful, or it can even be you. Either way, I'll be waiting for it."

Advantages:

Has a better win/loss record against opponents from his series than Ryu’s equivalent.
Devil Gene’s barriers can nullify Ryu’s projectiles.
Faster than Ryu.
Arguably stronger and tougher.
Lasers are faster than Ryu’s Hadokens, and Ryu himself in general.
Devil Jin’s flight gives him more mobility options as opposed to Evil Ryu’s Ashura Senku.
Telekinesis forms his barriers and can prevent Ryu from physically touching him.
The chances for Ryu to shut down the Devil Gene and his powers are slim to none.
Has yet to participate in the Mishima clan’s ritual of “The Cliff Throw”. (Yet.)

Disadvantages:

Has no feasible way to escape the Shun Goku Satsu if he is caught in it, likely resulting in his death.
Tekken X Street Fighter will never exist. (“Don’t ask me for shit.” - Katsuhiro Harada, 2018)
Is not in Smash Bros. (Yet.)

Verdicts

RocketTrashPanda

(STRAP YOURSELVES IN, LADIES AND GENTS, FOR THE UNINTENTIONALLY LONGEST VERDICT OUR BLOG HAS EVER HAD. PROBABLY THE MOST INCORRECT TOO, BUT WHO CARES? STREET FIGHTER X TEKKEN - LET’S GO.)

Am I part of the 1% of people who still like Street Fighter X Tekken? Yes. Yes, I am. Does this fill me with shame? Probably. That intro is still godlike though and anyone who thinks otherwise is (*censored string of expletives*).

Oh, right. Speaking of that… TEKKEN. IN DEATH BATTLE. FINALLY.

Always nice to see some synergy with EV--- wait, what do you mean EVO’s in August now? Oh, right. CEO’s the weekend before this fight. Thanks, Jebailey! (Also our Lord, savior, Best Bout Machine, brand new IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Mayor of Metro City, Kenny Omega.)

I mean, it’s pretty dope that this season alone, we got JoJo, Fist of the North Star, Crash, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts, Kid Icarus, Resident Evil, Dead Rising and now, Tekken. Now, we can complain about some other series not getting into DB, like Persona.

...is Atlus going to never not stop milking Persona 4? Pretty sure I’ll be old enough to see my great-grandkids go to college and they’ll still be talking about Super Ultra Persona 4' Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX + α Cross Tag Golden Q Dancing Arena Ultimax Battle Night - featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series & Knuckles. (That title will admittedly be longer - if any of you are going to be alive for the next century, get back to me on that with the possibility of Persona 5 and Kylo Ren Mama Mia maybe being that cash cow instead.)

Back to Ryu vs. Jin - probably the match 3-year old me would have been flipping his shit over the most. I mean, 3-year old me wouldn’t have been forced into Taekwondo classes if he didn’t play too many fighting games as a kid and butchered pronouncing things like “Hwoarang” and “Tatsumaki Senpukyaku”. (Don’t ask me how exactly; I’m not proud of it.)

On one hand, this is probably going to extend the hilariously long losing streak Street Fighter is still going through, not to mention Ryu dies twice, which is awful. On the other, Filipinos are by and large Tekken people. This isn’t much of a contest in terms of who’d I like to see win. That said, this fight is really close.

(I’m starting to realize how much I use that specific phrase or any re-wording of it a lot lately. Not sure if it’s because I’m very unsure and insecure of the verdicts I make or the fights are legitimately close.)

Let me at least get this out of the way: I want Jin to win this, and by most accounts I think he should. However, the gap in power between him and Ryu isn’t that big enough to for me to automatically call a winner since the latter has a few tools which could reasonably net him a successful runback nor can I call it a big stomp towards either side.

Trinity time! I’ll admit that from the outset, Ryu and Jin have roughly equal stats. Most VS debaters agree that both of them are within the same range of speed (massively hypersonic +), durability and destructive capability (city level). Jin’s a lot more likely to edge out advantages here, but those are to different extents.

First, let’s examine feats both of them accomplish that aren’t reliant on scaling. No Ken, Akuma, Gouken, Kazuya, Heihachi or anyone else here - these are things they’ve accomplished on their own. For one, both of them are casual bullet timers, but Jin’s speed feats are a lot more obvious, like the entirety of his motorcycle chase in the opening of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, so he gets the nod here. DC and durability also go to him for destroying an entire forest in T5, which beats out Ryu lifting the 30-ton boulder and Oro at the same time.

That’s all well and good, but now let’s start with scaling them, since none of the feats they accomplish by themselves really hammer home how strong either side is, and also because it’d be less fun.

In terms of speed, they seem equal in terms of feats that put them in the MHS+ range. However, Jin could scale to Kazuya’s lasers, which are at sub-relativistic speeds - far faster than anything Ryu has ever reacted to, much less moved at. The process of scaling could be a bit wonky, but as Jin not only possesses Kazuya’s stupid powerful Mishima genes and half of his Devil Gene in addition to being repeatedly proven as better than his elders, it could very well check out. At the very least, even if Jin himself isn’t sub-rel, he still has access to long-ranged attacks Ryu would have a hard time dodging.

With the other two categories, let’s compare both of them to two of their rivals: Akuma and Kazuya. The latter survived being dropped into an active volcano, which runs into a double-digit megaton value - much higher than the former splitting Gokuentou Isle with one hit, which is stuck at 6 megatons. Again, no contest. You could say that Ryu should scale to Oni causing a volcanic eruption by himself in his USFIV ending to even this out, but the very concept of Oni himself is questionable within the games’ lore. (If you’re raising an eyebrow at that phrase, don’t worry. We’ll get to that.) Also, Oni curb-stomping Ryu forms the basis of why Evil Ryu exists during the IV era, and Ryu hasn’t been able to avenge that loss as of yet.

If you don’t buy Jin’s advantages here, and think that Ryu shitstomps, you’d be ignoring the fact that this is probably the most sane conclusion I could come up with all of the material we’ve gotten so far in canon, and with them the edges go to Jin for no other reason beyond being better than Ryu’s own. At best, Jin takes the trinity by the skin of his teeth; at worst, they’re just equal. Either way, stats by themselves are not enough to find a decisive winner, so we have to move on to their transformations and powers to see how they counter each other.

Let’s start by addressing the Shun Goku Satsu. We can’t just say that Jin could theoretically survive it given that he’s tougher than a guy who once got hit by it and lived. As we noted above, we can’t be sure if the Akuma we see in Tekken 7 adheres to all of the same rules he does in Street Fighter, so it’s very much possible that the one he performs on Heihachi isn’t capable of the same soul-destroying bullshit the move normally possesses. It’d heavily shift the balance of this match against Ryu a lot more if that was the case, but it’s too baseless a call to make.

Jin also has no defensive soul-related hax of his own to counter if Evil Ryu manages to get him in it. A lot of assumptions have to be made to say that the purity of the Kazama bloodline could ward it off, so we can’t go with that, and the other notable example of trying to prove a counter in his Tekken 4 ending won’t work, as Kazuya is more or less exploiting the shared Devil Gene they have instead of trying to rip out his boy’s soul. Thus, assume that if he’s caught…

That said, the Shun Goku Satsu is only going to work if Evil Ryu manages to get his hands on Jin at all, and trying to do that won’t be easy. Devil Jin’s flight, blindingly fast lasers, telekinesis and healing factor all work together to ensure that it’ll be hard for him to get tagged properly.

By taking to the air, he has a lot more mobility to evade and attack Ryu with much more than the Ashura Senku can do, and gives him a good opportunity to spam lasers which - again - are at speeds Ryu’s never dealt with. If Ryu tries to go for any of his Hadoken variants, Jin’s forcefields null those if he doesn’t dodge or sidestep them, and he can choke Ryu from a distance before he tries to go up-close. Plus, the Devil Gene’s limited healing properties should at least keep Jin patched up while neither of Ryu’s transformations are shown to be capable of the same thing.

It’s also highly unlikely that Ryu would opt to go straight for the Shun Goku Satsu to begin with. Remember, he hates the Satsui no Hado and would much prefer the Power of Nothingness if he can help it. Speaking of that pearly white magic, it’s also highly unlikely that it alone would turn the tides against Devil Jin. We’ve only seen Ryu tap into its power twice to beat Seth and M. Bison, but by and large, those don’t really do much; Seth is relatively feat-less himself and Ryu was only able to beat Bison after he was weakened by Nash’s “suicide” attack.

Even trying to argue that the Power of Nothingness could theoretically nullify the Devil Gene and remove a lot of Jin’s power is also pushing things a bit too far. You can point to Gouken using it to suppress the Satsui no Hado within Ryu and Ryu himself eventually doing the same in SFV, but the Devil Gene itself is literally a part of Jin’s biology and his being, unlike the Dark Hado being an external force in comparison among its many differences with the Gene. This is all without considering any devil-possessing related shenanigans or noting that unlike Evil Ryu, Jin can control his devil form.

Let’s also put it this way: a Power of Nothingness-infused Ryu fights base form Akuma in the latter’s story mode in SFV and loses, and there’s no mention at all of him ever attempting to shut down the Satsui no Hado with his power while fighting in the same way Gouken did; that showing doesn’t bode well at all for him trying to hypothetically do the same to Jin, who - and this bears repeating - can control the Devil Gene more than Ryu can do with either of his transformations. Again, point is that Ryu himself hasn’t been able to nullify evil power with the Power of Nothingness, so the odds of him doing it to Devil Jin are low.

So up to this point, Jin has counters to most of Ryu’s stuff and a rough stat advantage. This case should be closed, but…

“WHAT ABOUT MY UDON”

“NOT THAT UDON”

Oh, right. The UDON comics. (Fuck, I gotta eat lunch soon. Also, ramen > udon.)

You’ve noticed that I’ve yet to bring up anything from the comics at all, including Shin Ryu, which myself and others here had initially thought would be some crazy instant-win condition for said boi because it looks pretty freakin’ broken. Why would I ignore or neglect mentioning anything from them when Death Battle has used them before to analyze past Street Fighter characters? Good question, observant reader. Treat yourself to a cookie.

See, the thing is that UDON’s own take on Street Fighter canon diverges a lot from what the games themselves present, and Shin Ryu is a prime example of it considering that it’s a form combining two power sources that the games - which bears repeating, is the primary canon - have repeatedly stated are incompatible with each other. On those grounds alone, I’d disqualify it, but let’s cover all of our bases and go for the other scenarios where we include other sources that fly in the face of established lore and what not. (Except those live-action movies. Save for Raul Julia as Bison in the first Street Fighter movie, never speak of those.)

Assume that Shin Ryu gets in, and that’s all well and good because that’s what Ryu uses to curbstomp the hell out of Gill and Oni. However, the feats both of them have in those comics don’t really surpass anything either of them (more on Oni’s end) had done in the games; yes, even the feat where Gill busts a meteor, unless you decide to highball it to unreasonably high figures that wouldn’t make sense for either Street Fighter or Tekken to have. The only true feasible benefit Shin Ryu gets is a crazy AOE earthquake, which Jin can counter with AOE lasers and the fact that turning into Devil Jin alone can wipe out an entire forest. Plus, flying. Pretty sure you can avoid earthquakes by not being on unstable ground to begin with.

Also, Shin Ryu beating Gill in the context of that fight is a bit less impressive when you consider that Gill wasn’t in his own body, but possessing Alex’s - who still continued fighting from within, and it’d also be a stretch to assume that he could pull of that same level of strength, even more so when Gill in his original body had curbstomped both Evil Ryu and Oni easy enough that he had forced them to revert back into being Ryu and Akuma without breaking a sweat, and needed the power of a device capable of wiping out billions of people - a level of power no single Street Fighter character alone can unleash - to destroy said original body.

In addition, there’s the fact that you’d also have to give Jin his Primal and True Devil forms from Blood Vengeance since it also falls under the same category as Shin Ryu: a non-canon transformation that, outside of a few feats that further enforce similar power levels with their in-game counterparts, don’t do anything too game-breaking for either side.

There’s also the slippery slope of trying to add in even more non-canon stuff to the debate. Let’s assume for the moment that we’ll composite as much for both sides as reasonably possible without using crossovers or guest appearances. With that in mind, Ryu’s boosted to FTL-level speeds by scaling to Cracker Jack’s Home Run King Meteor Combo from Street Fighter EX; Jin doesn’t get any upgrades in that area, which makes one-shotting him with the Raging Demon a possibility. However, Jack-6’s meteor-busting feat in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 bumps Jin to continent-level DC and durability; that gap in terms of power is much larger than Ryu’s lead in speed, so Jin still edges out by being able to one-shot him in base before anything happens.

(Just to clarify: you’d need to pull from Street Fighter EX, UDON, the various ‘90s and 2000s-era manga and anime based on SFII, III and Alpha, the live-action SF series on Machinima, Blood Vengeance, Tekken Tag Tournament, the various Tekken comics and the old ‘90s anime OVA film. We have to stop the buck there before we delve into crossover territory.)

That said, the more we stay down this path, the bigger the headache this farce will become because of all the feats everyone will absolutely have to pull out of their asses to prove their point, or we all say that Ryu and Jin get multiversal MFTL+ stats from Project X Zone and be done with it when they t-- wait, wouldn’t Ryu win because he’s fought too many people in all the crossovers he’s been in? (By the way, play the PXZ games. They’re stupid fun - emphasis on both. If you have a PS2 and can get a copy of Namco X Capcom, even better.)

With our brief foray into non-canon wonderland over, I want to add on one last detail that should conclude my case: their win-loss records. We’ve noted that Ryu hasn’t had the best of them given that he has lost a fair amount of times, and many of those big-name victories he’s gotten come with caveats. For example, aside from Charlie helping Ryu beat Bison, most of those wins come after he’s needed to transform or tap into more power. He’s also yet to avenge losses to the likes of Oro and Akuma, regardless of whether the latter holds back or not.

Jin’s never needed that for the most part. He’s earned his status as a Tekken top-tier by literally beating his stupidly powerful father and grandfather almost every time they’ve fought and other god-like beings that can be comparable to them if not outright stronger, like Ogre and Azazel, without turning into Devil Jin. From our research, Jin’s only canonically “lost” fights to Hwoarang, which he avenges by going Devil and blowing up his bike, and Lars, which he threw just to gun straight for one-shotting Azazel. Gary Stu-ish of him? Yes. Absolutely helps his chances? Yes.

With all that’s covered, we’ve already gotten to a point where I can personally say that Jin’s victory is all but assured, given that this analysis has gone through every scenario possible. Canon but no scaling? Jin. Canon with scaling? Jin. Every sort-of-canonical non-crossover appearance they’ve possibly made? Jin. All of this was done with giving Ryu every single reasonable benefit of the doubt, and even with those factored in, nothing he has is quite enough to put Jin down for good.

This all brings me back to my original point: while this fight is close, Jin possesses the stats and tools needed to counter everything his opponent can throw at him and more, which should be enough to clinch a hard-earned and decisive win, as well as a good start for Tekken on the show… even if it means that Street Fighter ends up losing 8 fights in a row. Oh, and Ryu ends up dying twice. (And that’s terrible.)

When it comes down to it, Jin is fated to win this fight, and the retribution Ryu seeks isn’t going to come just yet.

...admittedly, that’s one of the weaker jokes I’ve made, but reading the ones Death Battle used for the previews was so physically painful to do, I think it made the part of my brain that processes and appreciates puns dumber. I’m not sure if I’ll get those lost cells back.

Also, with how long this verdict is, I’m going to look pretty stupid if Jin loses. In my defense…

Not much of a defense, is it? Eh, I’ll bite the bullet in that case since SF’s streak finally ends. Anyway, point being: happy advanced Fourth of July to y’all, and…

The Gaming News Guy

(Everyone loves Yakuza and this song is very fitting considering Ryu’s name. Also JoJo Part 5 Confirmed..YESSSS)

I do admit, this not the fight i would have wanted for Jin Kazama (i was a Jin vs Iori fan) but i do admit, i am really looking forward to this fight considering that is it’s animated by Torrian and going to feature music from Omega Sparx and Omega Spark is always good. It’s also good to finally get Tekken in DEATH BATTLE - man this really has been the season for new franchises. Anyway let’s get to the details.

I could go into the stat trinity and talk about who wins in those areas but i know my cohorts who are far more knowledgeable than i am will probably do a better job at me when determine who has the stat lead when it comes to this fight. Instead i would like to answer a couple of concerns issues that the casual vs debater may have concerning this fight. This questions aren’t in ordered in terms of importance - just the questions i see the most brought up about this fight.

Question 1 - Will Shin Ryu from the Udon Comics be used in the DEATH BATTLE?

Using the Udon Comics for Street Fighter DEATH BATTLEs have always been a point of discussion and sometimes disagreement considering that Udon comics are non canonical with the main series (as the Udon comics have several events that contradict the games) and are a alternate universe. But usually DEATH BATTLEs involving SF characters have used Udon comics for feats in the past. So the question is - why not use the new form that Ryu gets in Street Fighter: Unlimited - Shin Ryu which basically combines the Power of Nothingness and the Satou No Hadou. Well quite simply it has been stated in canon by both Gouken and Akuma that the Satou No Hadou and the Power of Nothingness cannot co-coexist and there has been nothing in the games to dispute that claim. I mean there is a possibility that we could see Shin Ryu in a future game but since we haven’t see it in any mainline SF Game and all indication in SFV is the Power of Nothing has more or less replaced the Satou no Hadou plus DEATH BATTLE are against using forms that are more less treated as non canonical - for example they didn’t use Over Heaven Jotaro when they did Jotaro vs Kenshiro nor Violent Ken for Ken vs Terry. So overall i would say that they won’t use Shin Ryu. Speaking of forms that are more or less considered non canonical…

Question 2 - Will the Upper Devil Forms be used in the DEATH BATTLE?

Honestly while i do think there is more evidence that the Upper Devil Jin Forms (aka Primal and True Devil Jin) could be used in the DEATH BATTLE - i have my own doubts if either will use. Harada - the series’s director as openly stated that Blood Vengeance is semi-canonical - which is basically him saying some bits/scenes are canonical while others aren’t. If i would have a guess i would say that Primal/True Devil Jin are non canonical because it has been shown that as of Tekken 7 that Jin hasn’t used Primal or True Devil Jin in the games as of 2018, plus there has been no mention of the battle between Jin and Kazuya which happens at the end of Blood Vengeance. Overall while i do think that there is a possibility we will see the upper forms in the DEATH BATTLE - i do think it’s more likely they will be ignored and not used in the DEATH BATTLE.

Question 3 - Does Jin have a way to get around Ryu’s Projectiles?

One of the key arguments that i have seen regarding Ryu is that in order for Jin to be his most effective, he needs to get in close - and Ryu can simply just zone him out with his projectiles. This argument is flawed because Jin has ways of getting around Ryu’s ranged attacks - first there’s his special step which allows Jin to duck beneath projectiles and get in close that it’s debated canonicity (the time where the move was most used was in Street Fighter X Tekken) means there is a possibility that DEATH BATTLE won’t include but Jin has other ways in order for hm to get past his projectiles. During his final fight against Azrael - Azrael fired several lasers at Jin and using his Devil Gene - Jin completely neutralised it and literally ran forward and punched Azrael so why couldn’t Jin simply do the same thing to Ryu projectiles. He can simply neutralise or redirect them and then get in close. Plus there’s Devil Jin which gives Jin the ability to simply just fly as well as dodge Ryu’s projectiles to get in close. While Ryu does have the more ranged moves in this fight - ultimately it will not matter as Jin has several ways of getting in close and hitting where it hurts.

Question 4/5 - Could the Raging Demon kill Jin instantly and does Jin have a way to avoid/ counter it?

The answer to the first question is yes. Jin has no counters to the Raging Demon that would prevent Evil Ryu from killing him when that move is used. So if Evil Ryu lands the hit then Jin is dead. However, there’s also that second question - does Jin have a way to avoid it - the answer is yes. There has been instances in Street Fighter Media where people have avoided the Raging Demon as well as countered it,for example - in one Street Fighter comic - Guy manages to not be affected by the Raging Demon due to his sheer speed meaning if Jin has a significant speed edge (which he does) he should be able to avoid it. Plus there’s the fact that Devil Jin has wings and can just avoid it by flying upwards and Evil Ryu can’t do anything to stop this as he isn’t as fast nor can do the Raging Demon in the air. There’s also the fact that Devil Jin can simply use telekinesis to stop Evil Ryu before the Raging Demon hits him so overall while Raging Demon can kill Jin, i don’t think Evil Ryu will be able to use it before Devil Jin kills him.

Question 6 - Could the Power of Nothingness neutralise the Devil Gene?

Hmm, this is a tricky one. When arguing this matchup i have seen many people argue that Power of Nothingness can beat Devil Jin considering it was able to defeat and neutralise the Satou no Hadou and is arguably Evil Ryu without any of the drawbacks (minus the raging demon) and considering he defeated one of the top tiers of the Street Fighter Verse - that being M.Bison - couldn’t Ryu just use the Power of Nothingness to neutralise the Devil Gene inside Jin? Well in my personal opinion based on the research into this argument - i would say no. The main reason being that the Power of Nothingness while did counter Psycho Power and the Satou no Hadou - both Psycho Power and the Satou no Hadou are energy based powers that are not gene dependant or transferred through bloodline (both are external meaning anyone can learn the Psycho Power and the Satou no Hadou with enough training).The Devil Gene is not an external energy - rather it is a gene passed through the bloodline of the Hachijo Bloodline from Kazumi Mishima to Kazuya Mishima and later to his son Jin (Tekken 4 basically confirms that the Devil Gene is genetic).Unless you are a member of the Hachijo Bloodline or related to it then you cannot gain the Devil Gene. If it was an external energy then maybe that Power of Nothingness could neutralise it but since it’s not i would say that Ryu would not be able to use the Power of Nothingness to neutralise Jin’s Devil Gene.

Final Thoughts:

These were the 6 questions i wanted to answer that people may be wondering about this matchup. Now as my own thoughts on who i think wins this fight. If it hadn’t made it obvious - i think that Jin Kazama is going to win. His stats are higher than Ryu’s in terms of strength,speed and durability. He has a perfect counter in terms of Ryu’s ranged projectiles through using his Devil Gene to neutralise them - he generally the more versatile and skilled hand to hand combatant with several different fighting styles that make for a very good moveset for fighting at close range. In terms of their Evil Forms - i would say that Devil Jin easily eases out Evil Ryu - having more dangerous attacks, a much better healing factor as well as telekinesis meaning that even if Evil Ryu wants to fight at a distance - Devil Jin can bring him right back to him. Even the Power of Nothingness while boosting Ryu - really won’t cause the gap between the two in power to close. Ryu’s best best is using the Raging Demon and even then - Jin being the faster character as well as flight could very easily avoid it so that in the end even the Raging Demon won’t be a problem for him.Jin simply has the superior stats, superior attacks,better healing factor to win this fight. Overall Ryu is going to wish he wasn’t fighting against the Devil in the pale moonlight.

Brobuscus

RIP. Never go with bias unless it rightfully wins. So much for that ide-

Ryu VS Jin is next

…………….It. Is. About! TIME!

So ok, Tekken has finally made it’s DB debut after 7 and a half years. And who better to debut the series than Jin Kazama?

I mean, I guess Heihachi VS Geese & Kazuya VS Wesker exist, but Jin’s the main character, so it makes sense he’s in first.

So anyways, I’m just gonna cut straight to the chase and not drag this out. These two are extremely skilled and strong fighters, masters of their craft and are the iconic main character poster-boys for a reason. But unfortunately, Street Fighter isn’t getting their long awaited W this time.

Time to go over why.

In terms of strength, Ryu scales to Akuma’s Island destroying punch, whereas Jin scales to JACK robots and managed to hurt Kazuya, who survived falling into a volcano. It sounds like Ryu is stronger, however, Akuma destroying an island isn’t as impressive as it may seem. The actual destruction only comes out to about 6 megatons, enough to destroy a city. Meanwhile, Kaz surviving a volcano raches double digit megatons. And yeah, Kazuya died from this and was brought back by G Corporation, but his body survived.

Winner: Jin

In terms of speed, Ryu can dodge gunfire, and keep up with Eagle, who can move at Mach 1.6K. Impressive, but dodging gunfire is something fodder tiers in Tekken can do and Jin has flown to the atmosphere in seconds. It seems pretty clear to me.

Winner: Jin

In terms of durability, Ryu has taken hits from essentially everyone in SF, including, but not limited to, Ken, Bison, Akuma, Dhalsim, Balrog, Cody, Necalli, Fei Long, etc. whereas Jin has taken hits from JACK robots, Lars, Kazuya, Heihachi, etc. Ranging from Town Level for Ryu to City Level for Jin.

Winner: Jin

So, Jin takes the stat trinity, so let’s get into smaller stuff.

First off, there actually is one thing Ryu can do that can kill Jin. Hit him with the Raging Demon. Jin has no counter to it’s soul destroying properties. Now, you may be thinking that Jin has resisted soul hax in the past, with him resisting Kazuya draining his Devil Gene powers. Well, here’s the thing. It was more of a blood bond than anything else, Kazuya wasn’t draining Jin’s soul, he was draining the Devil Gene. Not really the same thing. So we can’t assume that this would allow Jin to survive the Raging Demon.

So, if Jin can be killed by the Raging Demon, then what’s to stop Ryu from using that on Jin and ending the fight there? Simple: Jin’s mobility. His flight and greater speed should be enough to avoid the Raging Demon. This is how people like Guy have avoided it.

Not to mention, Ryu has little-no experience using this move anyway. He’s no Akuma, it’s not something he just straight up wants to do.

It’s also worth noting that Ryu canonically no longer possesses the Satsui no Hado. No, I’m not referring to when Thanos stole it in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, I’m referring to him dispelling it after essentially mastering the Mu no Ken in Street Fighter V. Now, obviously we’ve chosen to include it anyway due to the theme of this fight and since it doesn’t affect the results, but still, it’s just something to note.

Just know that it is possible that Evil Ryu will not be taken into account, for the same reasons Frank didn’t get his Zombie form. Just a possible warning for the future.

Overall, Ryu’s one way to kill Jin is countered by Jin’s mobility & speed, and Jin has better physicality, which is all he really needs here to win.

Sorry Ryu, you may hold the title of my favorite SF character, but you’re chances of victory are gonna be Tekken away from you……

….and with that, I have reached my pun quota for this blog, I’ll stop now.

Overall, Jin wins. Enough said.

The Black Shulk

(Geese is supreme. In Tekken or in CVS2.)

First off I’d like to say thanks to the G1 Blog team for letting me help out with this fight. Second of all I give my condolences to all MVC fans after what Capcom’s FG Division did with the latest entry and hopefully you can find some solace in how the rest of Capcom seems to have their head straight.

Anyhow I don’t think this fight is as ridiculously stompy as its made out to be. From a stats perspective Ryu and Jin aren’t too far off from each other with both Jin and Ryu being in the City level and MHS+ range, albeit Jin has slightly higher values for both being in the double digit megatons and Mach 2K while Ryu is only single digit megatons and Mach 1K. Jin’s lasers might be potentially sub-relativistic but actual reaction speed is unlikely to apply with nothing suggesting at the moment anyone has dodged them.

That’s where abilities and powers come in and in that regard Jin has Ryu outclassed. Devil Jin’s powers simply give him more options to end the fight, especially his TK which could be a major problem for Ryu. Ryu’s best bet is to become Evil Ryu and pull off a Raging Demon on Jin, as he has no recordings of resistance to soul fuckery. Jin resisting Kaz trying to rip out his Devil Gene is clear cut blood related, and Heihachi surviving the Raging Demon has already been addressed as being a seperate Akuma with no evidence of possessing the same abilities as SF Akuma. That being said the possibility of this happening is pretty low considering how Jin has several ways to avoid this. He can choke Ryu with TK, dodge it by simply flying away or Devil Beam him from a distance. It doesn’t help that Ryu constantly fights against the SNH and is more than likely not going to whip out Evil Ryu unless he’s desperate. Power of Nothingness has resistance to soul hax via emptying the soul out the body, but not only has Ryu never shown the ability to perform this, but Jin has no soul related attacks to begin with. The theory of Ryu shutting down the Devil Gene is also a stretch as well as the SNH and Devil Gene operate too differently to even consider that a possibility.

Lastly I want to cover some things regarding canocity as both Tekken and SF have various mediums they appear in and DB isn’t averse to using non canon material. Tekken Tag Tournament is often a source of usage within VS, with the feat of Jack 6 breaking the meteor, netting 21 petatons. With that being said I am against using TTT as a whole due to many contradictions in canon, the most glaring in my opinion being Ogre who is supposed to be dead, yet is still trotting along post T3 in the TTT timeline. UDON comics are another source that has been used in DB. While I could see them pulling from said comic, I do not believe the newest form Shin Ryu should be used. Shin Ryu’s existence alone contradicts the events of SFV where he suppresses the SNH in favor of the Power of Nothingness. Even if we take into account the SNH there’s no evidence to suggest the SNH or PON can fuse together. Even the usage of UDON itself can be seen as very iffy considering the contradictions in the mainline timeline, such as when Charlie Nash’s origin in UDON coming from Gill when its revealed in SFV that Urien was responsible for the resurrection.

With all this taken into account I can safely say that Jin Kazama should take this battle with mid difficulty.

(Geese still bodies both of these fuckers)

DJTiki

This honestly should surprise me more than it has. Jin VS Ryu was always on the radar for future DEATH BATTLES— and with Ben essentially confirming that the top requests are being taken into consideration for Season 5, MightyRaccoon bringing the fight into stardom, Tekken 7 releasing, and Street Fighter V hitting its stride more than ever, it was less of an “if” and more of a “when.” While I much rather Heihachi VS Geese, this is a basic battle to warm up DEATH BATTLE to Tekken. Maybe we might get it in the future, who knows?

Long live the “Tekken never” meme.

I take it that if you clicked on this and read this entire thread thoroughly, you are somewhat to absolutely intrigued by the VS community. I won’t sugarcoat it. As you may know, this is Jin’s dub. Straight up. Attack Potency, Speed, and Durability: the holy stat trinity. All his. It’s comparing a damn wall to a tennis ball. If everyone else’s verdicts didn’t paint the already clear picture then let me put it into layman’s terms:

Ryu is fucked.

He’s done.

It’s a wrap.

No chance.

Revenge sex status.

It is not indeed God’s Plan.

Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

But this file is labeled “DEATH BATTLE Predictions”, emphasis on the DEATH BATTLE part. You didn’t come here to hear(read?) my opinion on how this would go down on VBW. You came here to hear how I think the DB’s going down. And it’s imperative to make the distinction because the rules of Death Battle are going to inevitably make Tekken and Street Fighter fans pissed off. Mainly because you can go ahead and toss most scaling out the window.

For the most part. Barring scaling to foes the combatants had actually fought— go ahead and put scaling out of your mind. Tekken Tag is likely not going to be used. Shin Ryu isn’t happening. Planet Tekken is nope. Small Planet scaling to Shin Akuma, hell no. As braindead as this sound, most of what you need to know about this battle is comparing which series has the flashier feats.

Ryu dodged bullets. Jin drove into the heat of bullet, tank fire, and missiles, dodging all of it.

Ryu is more durable than Birdie and Balrog which clocks to 186 kilotons. Jin is more durable than JACK’s satellite feat, which is 3.7 megatons.

Ryu compares to the 6 Megaton Island punch with Satsui no Hado. Devil Jin’s forest clearing reaches into double digit megatons (supposedly).

Ryu defeated M. Bison, Sagat, and Akuma? That was when he was soup’d up with power buffs. Jin has defeated the Mishima family making very infrequent uses of his latent abilities.

Ryu can destroy souls. Jin can absorb them.

Ryu can create projectiles. Jin has the mobility and defensive options with wings and shields.

Ryu has MHS reaction speed? Jin could potentially scale to FTL lasers at his most powerful.

You see where this is going?

Exactly. Even by DEATH BATTLE standards, you’d have to be literally blind to skip over such a blatant visual disconnect.

(basically)

https://youtu.be/WO23WBji_Z0

When it comes to comparing win-cons, Ryu’s sole claim to fame is that his Raging Demon, which if he lands it, could very well kill Jin. It’s not like Jin has anything that could counter it. Though, he has shown abilities in Tekken 4’s ending which people had interpreted as soul hax resist. I wouldn’t put it past anyone to include this as the hard counter. But remember… I said if. Devil Jin could always… dodge it.

Power of Nothingness is also pretty damn useless when Jin could power through it like he did when he ran up on Golden Azazel’s spot to one shot him. Doesn’t help that Ryu’s major victories stemmed from alternative forms or people holding back on him. Jin has only canonically lost once to Hwoarang (Jin held back) and tied to Lars. The other times were wins. Between Tekken 3 and 5 had been Jin’s victories in the tournament. And in 6, he was the final boss.

Compare a man who occasionally fight demons to a man that not only battles demons but starts World War III for shits and giggles.

EZ MONEY.

Ryu’s Time of Death: July 2, 2018 at 1:00 PM

But if Ryu won in one thing… it’d definitely be English skills.

7 comments:

Spicygaming30 June 2018 at 11:01
10 out of 10-

> Brobuscus: "Kazuya VS Wesker"
> implying Kazuya VS Wesker should happen

9/10
wayne60941 July 2018 at 15:57
Coming from someone not familiar with either franchise (don't hate me) this was an interesting blog. Look forward to the fight.

By the way, what do you guys think of this match up?

Lancer VS. Kyoko (Fate VS. Madoka Magica)
Unknown1 July 2018 at 22:36
Hold on, hold on.
You're missing a few things.
First of all, in the bad ending to Street Fighter Alpha 3, Bison uses RYU'S power to nuke an entire city, and if that's not enough for you, that Akuma island punch is definitely NOT 6 megatons. The island he destroyed had several mountains on it, and the most accurate calculation of the blow is 1.28 GIGAtons. Even if Jin scales to that volcano feat (which, btw, does not equal double digit megatons if he was just tossed into it, not slammed hard enough into it for it to erupt), Ryu's power would shatter Jin's durability.
In terms of speed, the aforementioned city nuke was a laser that moves around mach 300. Sure, Jin is STILL faster due to lasers and shit, but it still makes the speed difference smaller.
Ryu can deal and take hits to and from Akuma, as well as Bison, Jin can fight Heihachi and Azazel, however it just turns into this: Jin holds an advantage in speed and technique, however Ryu is strong enough and durable and experienced enough to take down Jin. Plus Ryu has hadokens to snipe Jin. That's all.
Asmodeus27 March 2020 at 11:58
This was one of the most frustrating DBs to watch. Jin should have taken Ryu easily, but for some reason (probably pitty) they gave it to Ryu. Ryu is awesome! I love SF lore! But he is clearly lesser when compared to Jin.
The Grandmaster18 November 2021 at 03:10
One of the worst Death Battles in terms of research. Ryu should have lost

Saturday, 30 June 2018

Death Battle Predictions: Ryu VS Jin

Background

Ryu

Jin Kazama

Fighting Styles

Ryu

Ansatsuken

Jin

Kazama Style Traditional Martial Arts

Advanced Mishima Style Fighting Karate

Kyokushin Karate

Transformations

Ryu

Satsui no Hado - Evil Ryu

Mu no Ken

Shin Ryu

Jin

Devil Gene Awakening - Devil Jin

Primal Devil Jin

True Devil Jin

Feats

Ryu

Overall

Power

Speed

Durability

Jin

Overall

Power

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses

Ryu

Jin

Summary

Ryu

Jin

Verdicts

RocketTrashPanda

The Gaming News Guy

Brobuscus

The Black Shulk

DJTiki

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