In the series, Ryo is a skilled martial artist who practices his family's fighting style, Kyokugenryu Karate (極限流空手, lit.

Ryo served as a model for the development of Dan Hibiki, a joke character in the Street Fighter series due to similar designs.

[1] SNK staff member Youichiro Soeda said that Ryo and Robert's debut was unique to other games based on the company because the story did not focus on fighting tournaments but instead on the duo's quest to save Yuri Sakazaki.

[12] In the planning stage of Fatal Fury Special, another SNK fighting game, Hattori Hanzo of World Heroes was being considered as a hidden boss.

[15] Writer Akihiko Ureshino originally aimed to give Ryo a bigger role in the Fatal Fury series where he would fight a revived Geese Howard but was rejected by Shinseisha.

[17] In several games, the Kyokugen style is depicted as a struggling family business, funded almost entirely by prize money earned from KOF and Robert's vast wealth.

[18] By the time of Garou: Mark of the Wolves about a quarter century after the era of Art of Fighting Ryo is still in his position as the head of Kyokugen-ryu karate, and he retreats to the mountains to train.

As a result, Ureshino describes Ryo as a man who will find it difficult in modern society and never marry his love interest King.

[19] The developers added that The King of Fighters '94 was created with the idea of having Ryo fighting against Terry Bogard, the lead character of the Fatal Fury series.

[23] Takakura believes his role as Ryo is important because the character appeared on multiple generations of consoles and he wanted to keep its traditional style despite having a different voice.

[28] Ryo's redesign in his middle-aged persona was created by SNK artist Hiroaki Hashimoto who oversaw the character designs in Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition and Buriki One as he disliked the original look.

[35] For The King of Fighters XIII, the team wanted to distance Ryo's style from those of Robert Garcia and Takuma Sakazaki since both employ the same techniques.

"Flying Swallow Hurricane Leg"), the punch Kokouken, and Ryuuko Ranbu, but he uses them in his own unique way, such as derivatively performing the move after getting into a stance in order to fit the realistic setting.

[39] In the first Art of Fighting, Ryo and his best friend Robert Garcia go on a mission to save the former's sister, Yuri, kidnapped by Mr. Big, a local criminal mastermind.

[43] In Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior, Ryo acts as a supporting character to Robert, where the game is more focused as he and Yuri travel around the world to find their missing friend and ultimately approve of their apparent relationship in his ending.

[46] Although he has appeared in no other unrelated games, he is often referenced indirectly in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, he has his own student, Marco Rodriguez (formerly Khushnood Butt in Western version prior to 2022).

It then spread to the Westerns and has become one of the classic internet memes in the fighting game world,[80] such as marketing for the visual novel The King of Fighters For Girls.

[80] In regards to how the media saw the character, Wesley Yin-Poole of Videogamer.com commented that Ryo and Robert are "two double-hard bastards":[86] The two were compared by VentureBeat to the Street Fighter protagonists Ryu and Ken Masters due to physical similarities and moves; However, their morals and bonds were praised.

[89][90] Meristation noted that Ryo is famous within fans as he connects Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting by facing Geese before the events of the latter's original franchise.

The Kyokugenryu Ryo uses in Art of Fighting instead comes across as a fantasy version of the "knockout" Kyokushinkaikan created by Mas Oyama who serves as an influence for both Ryu's and Takuma's characters.

Den of Geek regarded his debut in Fatal Fury Special as the "first real fighting game crossover" as people who also disliked the character were given the first chance to properly beat him up.

Although Ryo is not playable in the Fatal Fury sequel Garou: Mark of the Wolves, him being the teacher of the character Khushnood Butt was the subject of fame.

[100] Souya Shinsuke from Futabanet drew parallels between Ryo and Akuma from Super Street Fighter II Turbo due to their iconic hidden inclusions which were made nearly the same time and both were the first the first fighting games to include such option.

[101] The site Hobby Consolas noted that Ryo debuted in The King of Fighters '94 and surprised fans due to the crossover appeal.

[103] Den of Geek criticized Ryo's KOF characterization as one of the worst developed characters due to how he plays the role of the "straight man".

[104] From The King of Fighters '96 onwards, Tiago Oviedo Frosi noted Ryo imitates Oyama's fighting pose while also borrowing elements from the Wadō-ryū karate created by Hironori Ōtsuka who was inspired by the Shotokan as well as the Jujutsu.

[105][106] The Gamer noted that while Ryo and Robert kept standing out as Ryu and Ken, his appearance in The King of Fighters XV for looking far bigger than usual, abandoning his slim figure from previous games in favor of his original Art of Fighting look.

[109][110][111] Tiago Oviedo Frosi said the handling of Mr. Karate's ego by Ryo and Takuma is noted to be influenced by Shintoism, the "indigenous religion" of Japan.

[112][113] Dan was meant to be a joke about both Ryo and Robert as SNK stole the talent from their own company when they started making their own Street Fighter sequels.

[115][116] These similarities are addressed in the crossover game SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos through comical interactions between Ryo, Dan and Takuma,[117] while a special intro is provided when Ryo is fighting Ryu as in the Capcom vs SNK series, as each player jumps back from the center of the screen to create distance as a tribute to the first Art of Fighting.