[13] According to GameSpot, Ryu's attacks in DOA4 "are difficult, [but] the bulk of them are actually fairly easy to pull off, and he's quite fast to boot, making him an excellent choice of character for new players.

In the Nintendo Entertainment System home edition released the same year, taking place in the retro-futuristic version of 1988, he is given a backstory of searching for his missing father who had disappeared to partake in a life-or-death fight.

In Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (1990), Ryu foils the Jaquio's demonic master Ashtar's attempt at world domination.

The 1991 Sega Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden scraps the entire narrative of the original series timeline, where someone is trying to steal his dragon sword.

In Ninja Gaiden II (2008), set six months after the events of Dragon Sword, a CIA agent named Sonia warns Ryu of a plot of the Greater Fiends, whose queen, Elizébet, attempts to steal an artifact called the Demon Statue, which is hidden in the Hayabusa ninja village and what she desires in order to resurrect the Archfiend Vazdah, the game's final boss.

After he succeeds in terminating the group, he destroys another final boss character bent on global destruction and returns the child safely to her mother before disappearing into the shadows.

[19] In Ninja Gaiden 4, the veteran Ryu Hayabusa serves as a "major challenge and growth milestone" for the protagonist Yakumo, while also being playable throughout the story, utilizing similar moveset and tools to his earlier appearances.

[20] Ryu is additionally a player character in the Dead or Alive games, which take place chronologically years after the Ninja Gaiden series.

Ryu with the help from Irene, rescues Kasumi from the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee's (DOATEC) Germany facility, where she was being used as a test subject for the organization's Super Human Development project.

Ryu later comes across his lost friend Hayate, now an amnesiac calling himself "Ein", who was also previously kidnapped and unwillingly use as a test subject in DOATEC's Epsilon project.

He later helps Hayate to fully recover his memories by fighting his own sister Kasumi, then found out together that Genra, Ayane’s foster father became a traitor like Raidou was, such as joining Victor Donovan’s DOATEC anti-Douglas faction, explaining the company’s faction involvement on kidnapping and cloning Kasumi for their Alpha clone project and implanting Hayate with “Epsilon”.

In Dead or Alive 4 (2005), Ryu joins fellow clansmen Hayate, Ayane, Kasumi, and other members of the Mugen Tenshin clan to stop the corruption within DOATEC by assaulting and detonating their "Tritower" headquarters.

Victor Donovan's hired assassin Christie attempts to stop them, until she is distracted by Helena Douglas, allowing the ninjas to succeed in destroying the building.

[21][22] The 2007 Xbox 360 game Halo 3 features an unlockable "Hayabusa" armor set, while players are awarded an in-game unusable replica of Ryu's Dragon Sword upon reaching a specific gamerscore objective.

[24] In the company's 2011 hack and slash title Warriors Orochi 3, Ryu, Ayane, Rachel, Momiji and Kasumi appear in another dimension and assist the game's playable characters.

In the 1991 Japan-exclusive OVA film Ninja Ryūkenden, an original adventure loosely based on the early games, Ryu was voiced by Keiichi Nanba, and he was given a red and purple palette as opposed to his solid blue in the NES series, while he is unmasked.

He in turn is investigated by a reporter named Sarah, who soon discovers that he is conducting biotechnological experiments on live humans, which possibly involves the power of the Evil Gods, whom Ryu had defeated in the past.

This is compounded by the abduction of Irene—the only other returning character from the games, but identified therein only as Sarah's friend[27]—in turn forcing Ryu to become the Dragon Ninja once again and defeat this new enemy and save her.

He serves as the love interest of Kasumi after he informs her of Hayate's supposed death, and his fight scenes consist of him defeating a fighter during the tournament, and later stopping Victor Donovan's hired assassin Bayman from stealing the prize money.

[31] A limited-edition figurine of Ryu battling enemy character Regent of the Mask was included along with an art book and soundtrack in the 2012 collector's-edition release of Ninja Gaiden 3.

[32] In 2015, a 13" resin statue of Ryu was released by Multiverse Studios, available in variations of either his Ninja Gaiden III or classic series costumes and the base adorned with LED lights.

Epoch Co. distributed a Japan-exclusive action figure,[35] while Koei Tecmo released a keychain[36] and a three-dimensional poster in 2013 featuring Ryu and the Dead or Alive 5 Plus cast.

[37] Since his 1988 debut, Ryu Hayabusa has been both critically and publicly received as a popular character in general video gaming when it comes Nintendo and Xbox audiences.

[43] Eurogamer said that Ryu Hayabusa became a more notable character thanks to the presentation of the first NES Ninja Gaiden as its cutscenes elaborated more on him like links to a father figure and villains the hero often has to fight.

[52] In contrast, Siliconera saw the altered Ryu from the remake Razor's Edge as more violence than in the original Ninja Gaiden 3 which the writer noted to have ended on failure with one of the reasons being the protagonist's personality.

[53] Dual Shockers and GamesRadar praised how Razor's Edge no longer questions the character's moral and instead give the player freedom in regards to what Ryu can do to the enemies at the cost of removing several scenes involving such state of the protagonist.

[57] Red Bull regarded Dead or Alive as one of the best crossover games ever mainly because the writer favorited Ryu Hayabusa, referring him as the best ninja in fiction, and playing as him was rewarding.

[58] Ryu's inclusion in Warrior's Orochi was praised by PlayStation Blog due to how his continuous guest appearances in several games made him an icon in Koei Tecmo.