Bison, the ruthless leader of the international terrorist organization Shadowlaw, has been desperately searching for the greatest fighter on the planet for years. He finds it in Ryu, a young wanderer who never stays in one place long enough for Bison to find him. He does, however, get a fix on Ken Masters, an American martial arts champion who studied with Ryu as a child under the same master. Meanwhile, Major Guile of the United States Army is forced to team up with Chun Li from China in hopes of apprehending Bison and putting a stop his international ring of crime.
Increasingly disturbed by the dark energies building within him, Ryu is confronted by Shun, a boy claiming to be the brother he never knew. But before Ryu can consider whether Shun's timely appearance might be more than coincidental, Shun is kidnapped by Shadowlaw. To recover Shun, Ryu must undertake the ultimate journey of self-discovery and learn to control the power threatening to consume him.
When Ryu returns to pay homage to his deceased mentor, Gouken, he is tormented by disturbing memories of his master's killer (Gouki). In a quest to become a true martial arts master, he sets out to hone his street fighting skills and deliver himself from the haunting legacy of the dark hadou.
After the fall of Shadaloo, things went quiet and everyone continued with their daily routine. However a new evil is lurking on the horizon and the fighters that battled against Shadaloo must take up arms once again. Meanwhile a mysterious detective, whose motives are unknown, is going to any extent to find the lonesome wanderer Ryu, who appears to play a big part in the scheme of this new evil.
Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li are invited by E. Honda to see his new special move, but are all transported back to Fujiwara, the ancient capital of Japan. Ken finds Ryu and gives him a crash course on history and time travel and set off to find Chun-Li and Honda while giving random tidbits about the city.
In Round One - FIGHT!: Ryu and Ken find themselves setting out to investigate the murder of their martial arts master. Their search for answers takes them to Japan where M. Bison and his assorted minions including Cammy, Vega, and Sagat keep a close eye on Ryu for reasons unknown.
Legendary fighter Ryu begins his journey around the world, Cammy's quest to discover her past takes a number of turns, and Chun-Li's investigation into Shadaloo takes her from the Hong Kong underworld to the jungles of Brazil.
