Evil Ryu hits Japanese arcades this week

Famitsu's confirmed that the previously rumoured Evil Ryu is not only a real thing, but will release in the Japanese arcade version of Street Fighter IV this week.

As reported by 1UP, the blue-clad "murderous rage" version of Ryu will his Japanese arcades on March 25.

Said Famitsu: "Each skill on Evil Ryu launches more slowly than regular Ryu, but tends to have more force. The control feel is nearly the same as Ryu, but the basic attacks that get used the most, like crouching medium or heavy kicks, launch more slowly as well.

"On the other hand, the opening after firing a hadouken is smaller, which seemed to make him pretty strong in projectile combat. Like Akuma, he doesn't have much energy, so fighting with him using the same style as Ryu will get you defeated pretty quickly."

The character was first rumoured to be coming to the game in January.

Series producer Yoshi Ono has been cryptic about the game's arcade edition coming to consoles up to now.