Is Street Fighter's Ryu coming to Super Smash Bros.?

One of Capcom's most famous fighters, Street Fighter's Ryu, could be coming to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, according to unconfirmed details culled from the game's latest update.

In a post on Reddit, user "shinyquagsire23" posted alleged decrypted files from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS' latest patch, version 1.06. Nintendo released the software update for Smash early this morning, which adds "new functionality for purchasing DLC" and adjustments to the game's balance, according to Nintendo's brief patch notes.

But shinyquagsire23 said the update also includes some hidden file references to characters that aren't currently featured in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: EarthBound's Lucas, Fire Emblem's Roy and Street Fighter's Ryu. Lucas, who previously appeared in Brawl, was recently confirmed as an upcoming downloadable character.

Roy from Fire Emblem hasn't been announced, but four other Fire Emblem characters are playable in the game: Marth, Ike, Robin and Lucina.

The data pointing to Ryu includes a pair of sound files: a victory theme and the theme music for Ryu's stage from Street Fighter 2. The audio sounds like a direct copy of the arcade game's music, which fits with other guest characters: Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog both have stage music pulled from their debut games.

You can hear the alleged sound files in the video below, compiled by The Geek Critique.

In an email to Polygon, shinyquagsire23 said that the sound files are legitimate, adding, "although it's unfortunately difficult to prove its legitimacy when you only have sound files to work with. I certainly don't blame the scene for questioning the legitimacy of the leak though given what happened with the Rayman leak." Rayman was part of an elaborate Smash Bros. hoax created earlier this year.

According to shinyquagsire23's findings, he said he decrypted the previous update, version 1.05, and that file had no previous traces of Lucas, Roy or Ryu.

"Unfortunately though, digging in the actual game data shows no other references of Ryu, Roy, or Lucas, so the only clue is the sound files," he said. On Reddit, shinyquagsire23 — who is a pretty active hacker of Nintendo handhelds and prolific on the GBAtemp.net community — concedes that the file references to Ryu and Roy "could also be scrap files, no guarantees on anything yet."

Nintendo seems ready and willing to add more characters to the new Super Smash Bros., however. The company opened up the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot last week, an online form which allows fans to submit request for new characters, even if they aren't from a Nintendo-published game.

We've reached out to Capcom and Nintendo for comment on the rumored leak.