BST|Daigo “The Beast” Umehara has pulled off many impressive Street Fighter feats with many Street Fighter characters, but after two EVO wins with the franchise poster boy back in the early days of Street Fighter 4 the community has found a particularly sentimental spot for Daigo’s Ryu.
Daigo, who’s been using Ken since SF6 dropped, was recently spotted on his stream playing Ryu shortly after Capcom buffed him notably in the recent Street Fighter 6 patch. We’ve got a few standout clips from this session that show off just how much fun Daigo is having with his old main, and, for lack of a better way of saying it, there’s a good bit of Street Fighter magic sprinkled about them.
Ryu hasn’t been all that powerful in Street Fighter since the first season of Street Fighter 5 back in 2016, and while we’re not exactly sure where he’ll end up with the aforementioned buffs in SF6, there’s a chance he could become a good bit more tournament viable. As a result, Daigo seems to be giving the wandering shoto another shot and grinding to Master and beyond with him.
There’s a kind of aura about these two icons of fighting games, almost as though one represents the other in certain ways. It’s surely a hard concept to hammer down and articulate properly, but it’s something you can feel through the contagious fun Daigo has while playing.
Here’s a quick sequence wherein he out-footsies a Juri opponent using Ryu’s standing medium kick. If this move hits as a Punish Counter and thus garners an extra four frames of advantage, it’s possible to combo into the character’s Super 1. Here’s how things go down:
LOOOOOL I think Daigo missed playing Ryu pic.twitter.com/ekIaFdhHJl
— Emezie Okorafor (@emezie) March 1, 2024
The Beast’s ability to hone in on foes’ patterns and exploit them in beautifully simplistic ways is unmatched, and gets put on full display here as he and Ryu click together perfectly to take out a poor Jamie:
RYU pic.twitter.com/HdeWkLwNdP
— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) March 1, 2024
Though the pair is looking good here whether or not Daigo will continue playing Ryu into the next tournament season remains to be seen. Do you hope The Beast switches over to a new main, or do you think he should stick with the likes of Ken to try to get the job done?
Share your favorite Daigo moment in the comments below. If you’re interested in watching the Daigo’s full stream VOD, the matches against Juri start around 1:49:33 and the bout with Jamie begins around 4:48:30.
