Introduction: Ryu: How to Dress the Part of the World Warrior (On a Budget)

By Raelyn Sweanor
About: Raelyn is my name, gaming is, well, my game.

Have you ever needed to dress as Ryu for a video game costume party or a big convention coming up and had to do it on a budget? Have no fear, because I know what kind of position you're in. With $30 worth of supplies, you can easily dress the dress the part of the famous World Warrior with ease. Don't believe me? Let's start the end result. Are you ready? Let's jam. 

Step 1: Supplies

The Ryu cosplay is extremely simple, even if you don't have the money to spend on the licensed costume, or can't buy a legitimate karate gi. What I used  was:

- Grey Track Pants ($8) 
- Long Sleeve Grey Shirt (Preferably of the same color as the pants) ($5)
- A black t-shirt ($5, or you can just as easily use some old hand-me-downs. We are using this for extra material.)

An Optional item:
-MMA Gloves ($20- $50)

I also used a pair of scissors. To help with some of the cuts, which I will cover in the upcoming steps.

There is no black t-shirt in the image as I have already used it earlier. 

Step 2: Cutting the Pants

I decided to start with the pants first. As Ryu's pants don't have a lot going for them, all you need to do is cut them to make them look tattered at the legs. All you need to do is simply cut in a crisscross pattern all around each leg. They don not need to be evenly matching.  

Step 3: Cutting Off the Arms

For the arms, it is recommended that you cut the sleeves off just as you did with the pants, but if you want to, you can also rip the sleeves off. For this example, we did both, ripping the right sleeve off by making a small cut and tearing, and for the left sleeve, we cut it just as we did with the pants.  

Step 4: Cutting in the Chest Area

Next up is the last cut we will need to make. We need to make an incision into the chest area to replicate Ryu's opening in his gi. It's very simple, just cut a nice deep V into the shirt. Again, since theses are supposed to look like ragged old fighting clothes, it's okay if they are not even on each side.

Step 5: Etc: Additional Props and Items

Taking a look at Ryu, you'll notice he has some notable accessories. A black belt, a headband, and mixed martial arts gloves. MMA gloves can be hard to find, but with an old black t-shirt, you can simply cut it into stripes, and use those as a makeshift black belt and headband. In Ryu's repertoire, he has worn a solid black, solid red and solid white headband at different occasions, so the color of the headband can vary. For myself, I actually used Ryu's black belt that came included with the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary bundle. I highly recommend the bundle to any Street Fighter fan, but that's another story.  The MMA gloves can also vary, from brown, to black, or to red. Ryu has worn all of these colors as well. 

Step 6: Put It All Together!

And you're finished! It may not be the best quality, but you now have a decent Ryu cosstume for a reasonable price. Hey, at least its enough for most casual gamers to recognize, in my experience. Just look at all the attention you'll get!