He isn’t canon. He is indeed a “what-if” scenario. The character is “what if Ryu ever fully succumbed to the Satsui No Hado”
Ryu losing control for a moment and letting the SNH take over isn’t quite the same as Evil Ryu who is supposed to be fully controlled by the SNH at that point. However I do think that both Oni and Evil Ryu are worth putting on the list. Same with Ingrid who is also not really canon yet (only appearances have been considered non-canon. Specifically her appearance in SFA3 on the PSP and SFxT.)
Evil Ryu is a force constantly battling Ryu, and that Ryu has to keep in check. He let it take over when he was about to lose to Sagat. Akuma is constantly trying to bring it out of him so he becomes E. Ryu permanently.
Oni is kind of a what if…perhaps it is a sign of things in the distant future, where Akuma finally loses all essence of his humanity. However Akuma is still Akuma in 3s.
My guess is (judging by the shared red faced trait seen in Naruto, Tekken, ect) that this is a fairly common “powering up past the point your body is actually capable of” trope in anime. When Makoto first had it in 3S she loses the ability to block. It seems like the idea is that the person who does this in some form causes harm to themselves by pushing themselves beyond what they are actually capable of.
My gut instinct tells me that Makoto is sort of like Sakura in that she is a fighting prodigy who while weakish NOW has great potential. So right now she might be only around Yun/Yang level in 10 years she could be around Ken/Ryu level.
When you do the Oni fight with him in arcade mode, Oni tells him that he might survive the fight if he doesn’t hold back.
If Cody takes the fight he says that it was the most fun fight ever.
Pretty sure this implies that Cody is a fucking beast and just holds his powers back.
Also I found no sources about Cody being a black belt.
All I’ve found is that Cody in fact is the only one in the whole Street Fighter cast, that is actually street fighting, lol.
Also Ryu is kinda the main character in the whole series, and probably gives everyone a beatdown when the story calls for it.
I admit that I looked for the place that these sites are getting this information and came up empty. I’ve seen it appear on a number of sites profile for Cody but never had a citation as to where they got that info so I’d take it with a grain of salt now. However Cody’s profile in Final Fight itself says quote “He is a martial arts expert. He is especially good with knives.”
One thing I will say is that Oni implying Cody might’ve lived doesn’t put serious Cody on God Tier status or anything. All it implies is that he isn’t fighting at full strength/potential, which is true of a ton of characters anyway.
Makoto, Gen, Akuma, Ryu, Oro, Urien, Bison, Rose, Juri, Cody come to mind off the top of my head as characters with variable levels of inner power used throughout the series. If we go down that road it will be a shitstorm…
Non-cancer Gen vs. motivated Cody vs. Evil Ryu vs. Shin Akuma vs. full psycho power Bison vs. red Makoto etc etc etc etc
“O, that way madness lies; let me shun that;
No more of that.”
Yeah, “god tier” status for sure is too high even for serious Cody. I just put him a bit above regular Ryu and a bit below SnH Ryu IMO.
Remember three factors:
Guy is the leader of one of the oldest and most powerful ninja clans around. (Hell the Kanji on his outfit means “Warrior God”) in the SFZero manga he easily beats Claw and subdues Ryu who is under the effects of SNH
Non-serious Cody can CASUALLY break through 50cm (1.6feet) of solid concrete and walk out of prison with little effort. As well as walk back in without alerting anyone so he can take a nap.
Guy and Cody are training partners and both have taught each other techniques. Cody apparently usually wins matches between the two.
Also, in SF4 Cody finds the fight with Shin Akuma to be disappointing, expecting Akuma to be stronger.
Udon Comics currently holds the only canon with real continuity. If we are talking about game canon then you can kind of go everywhere.
I think the comic canon should be the deciding factor. The reason for this is because if you go by the game the endings at times contradict each other since the endings are usually in favor of whatever character you are playing as.
I can live with these facts. But truth is, we need True Dhalsim. We know there is one regardless of anorexia and lack of pupils.
Though what about this new character? With all the excitement; I surely hope this one lives up to expectations… Hmhmhm, the lore will be interesting then.