YouTube video
this answers all your questions.
Originally posted by ScreamPasteone thing about the ninja gaiden games is that most of the feats that are possible for the character are also playable, and thats what makes it such a hard game.
Not in the same way, because games are played =P Games have limited space, limits on what's feasible to code, limits on what's plot related, and rarely have the time between plot advancement to let the character show off.
Edit: but i do give it to ryu he is just way to fast for cloud (also depends on the materia cloud has)
how do you figure that clouds skills are better? he is almost definitely stronger, but when has he demostrated his skill? ryu has devoted his life to the life of a ninja, cloud was an infantry man that got really strong thats it he has no more skill than any other infantry man apart from the experience he gets after the first encounter with sephiroth, so like 5 years of fighting experience vs entire life devoted to one thing, yeah id say ryu is a lot more skilled than cloud