There are more than one versions of Ryo that appear in Digimon. In Digimon Tamers, he appears as the legendary Digimon champion who even beat Ruki - the Digimon Queen. He ends up in the Digital World just like the others, however, his mission is unknown. His partner is Cyberdramon - an out-of-control digimon who is extremely powerful. Ryo seems to be the only one even able to handle Cyberdramon's power. Yet this is only a hint of what Ryo can really do...
Ryo is a mysterious character and very little is known about him. He is the hero of many of the WonderSwan games in Japan. Digimon 02 episode 23, Genesis of Evil, was his anime debut. Ryo also appeared in Our War Game. He is connected to Ken somehow. For example, in the Tag Tamers (don't ask - has to do with the D-3 video game) Ken and Ryo are friends and work together. Ryo is involved with Ken's past. From what I know, Ryo was the first person Ken met in the Digiworld two years before 02. They defeated the mega digimon Milleniumon, but before Milleniumon was defeated, he dispersed its Dark Seeds. Ken pushed Ryo out of the path of one, and thus a dark spore was planted in Ken's neck. Afterwards Ryo just disappeared, no one knows where to or why. In Tag Tamers he is said to live with a father and mother, and his hobbies include chatting online and playing games. According to several sources concerning Tag Tamers, Ryo and Ken saw the battle of Omegamon vs. Diablomon in 'Bokura no Wargame', and shortly afterwards they were visited by a V-mon and told that their help was needed in the Digital World. Thus begins Tag Tamers. Although he is a mystery, Ryo is still an important character. Ryo appears in episodes 23 and 43 of Digimon 02, the "Tag Tamers" game, with Ken Ichijouji, "Another Tamer" game, with Taichi, "Network Tamers" game, probably with Takato, and in "Our War Game," the second Digimon movie.
