Cloud Strife, Ryu, Mega Man … the real birthdays of some of the biggest video game characters

Most of our video game heroes are timeless, but we actually know the exact ages of a few them. In fact, thanks to cutscenes, manuals, and even ads, we know the birthdays of some of the our most beloved icons.

Recently, a Reddit post pointed out the 50th birthday of a certain bandanna-wearing fighter. That inspired us, so we decided to dig around and list the other notable gaming birth dates that we could find for you here. Get your calendars out. You don’t want to forget to send them a card.

Ryu (Street Fighter series)

Birthday: July 21, 1964
Age: 50

Above: He fights pretty will for 50.

Image Credit: Reddit

How do we know? You can actually see the above profile card for Ryu and all the other characters while playing Street Fighter II, so we know for sure exactly when Ryu was born. This is also how we know that he recently turned 50, which seems surprisingly old for the spry fighter. Of course, Capcom came up with this birthday when Street Fighter II came out in 1991. They probably didn’t think they’d have to worry about creating a timeless character back then.

Mega Man (Mega Man series)

Birthday: December 17, 1986
Age: 27

Above: Born in 1986, but who knows how long that was before 20XX.

Image Credit: Vintage Computing

How do we know? As you can see above, we actually got a glimpse of Mega Man’s driver license in an ad for Mega Man Battle & Chase, a game that never even came out in the U.S. The date it lists for his birthday is actually exactly one year before the original Mega Man came out for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Of course, the whole series takes place in the fictional future date of 20XX, so who knows how to really put the math together.

Booker DeWitt (Bioshock Infinite)

Birthday: April 19, 1874
Age: 140

Above: He’s more than old enough to be your father.

Image Credit: Reddit

How do we know? We can see documentation detailing Booker’s birthday pretty early into Bioshock Infinite. Of course, time itself is a confusing matter in Infinite, so it becomes a mess when you try to figure out his actual age.

Ezio Auditore (Assassin’s Creed II)

Birthday: June 24, 1459
Age: 555

Above: Here’s Ezio, fresh from the oven.

Image Credit: Assassin's Creed Wiki

How do we know?: We actually see Ezio’s birth in an early cutscene in Assassin’s Creed II, so we don’t have to look far for this one. In fact, thanks to subsequent Assassin’s Creed entries Brotherhood and Revelations, we pretty much get to see most of Ezio’s life.

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)

Birthday: August 19, 1986
Age: 27

How do we know?: The manual for Final Fantasy VII actually gave us the birthdays for every party member, including Cloud. However, the Japanese book Final Fantasy VII: Ultimania Omega lists the date as Aug. 11, 1986 instead. Of course, Final Fantasy VII takes place in a fictional world with its own timeline. Still, if 1986 εуλ (I don’t know what it means, either) is anything like 1986 A.D., then Cloud is 27 today.