Shira
4
Gief tears through any character that is slow, especially Hugo. Just sayin’.
As far as Kuma goes I cannot do anything about Rufus. It’s rediculous.
Shira
5
Today I learned that Vega has a real tough time against Kuma.
I don’t know the name of his air attack, where he swoops down on you for the grab or ambiguous crossup, but regardless the break-dance attack Kuma has in Hunting Stance beats everything clean. Completely removes that as an option for him and you have plenty of time to do it. Also keeping pressure on him is pretty easy, you just have to leave openings for him to try to reversal out or tag. So far it’s the only matchup that doesn’t feel like an uphill battle.
Zeeth
6
I have a tough time with cammy, any fireball character seems like a cakewalk though.
Josh_P
7
Im pretty sure dhalsim is close to a no-win matchup for kuma, unless some neato strategies are found.
well you can wait for sim to throw a yoga fire, roll through it and headbutt i think. sim’s yoga fire recovery is still ass i believe
Shira
9
Raw launcher works well if you make a good read. Lower body invincibility and all that. Don’t miss though, or you’re getting hit pretty hard. Other than that you have to play like any other non-fireball SF character. Really, really lame and safe 
THIS!!
omg PEOPLE please respect the fundamental stuff. Raw lanchers, back dash, and effective use of ex make Kuma defensive much more respectable.
Edit:Alright after reading where the teir list is going, im seeing people are undermining Kuma alot. While he still no BS character his still has tools to counter most of the top teir character. RYU/ken/ and raven struggle with good kuma. And I doubt them learning his match up will change because in the end his moves nullity most projectile tactics. Of course their other strategies to be consider but is safe to assume kuma will have more opening on those thus making the risk and reward acceptable in kuma favor.
Brahma
11
For what it’s worth, HBS ducks Zangief’s lariat. This makes it pretty much obsolete on wakeup. The best damage option HBS f+HP > c.MP > QCF+HP,HP_LP for 290 damage meterless or c.MP > Super. This tends to make players either get up and block low or SPD reversal. Usually Zangief players go for the SPD since Kuma is in stance. You can jump directly from stance, so baiting out an SPD whiff then landing on them with j.HP gives you about 470 for a meterless BnB, 617 for Super. If they blocked low then they can react to the jump and lariat, which depending on the timing of things, sometimes lariat wins, sometimes it’s a trade which gives Zangief positioning, and I’ve also had a couple instances of j.Hp beating lariat clean. You can also go into HBS then crossup jump to beat reversal SPD and lariat both. Break’n then hold B makes you just barely avoid the SPD, You can also HBS backdash and b+MP punish.
Just some stuff I was toying around with. I feel like Kuma is going to need to be creative in order to put pressure on Zangief for wakeup.
I bet money that Ryu tears up Kuma for free. If this were a 1v1 game, I’d imagine it’d easily be 6-4 and probably in actuality be much worse.
Shouta
13
I would say Kuma’s worst match-ups involve good pokers and fast jabbers on the whole. Most of his attacks are short (stupid bear limbs) and aren’t as fast as others so if someone gets in your face or keeps you out, it gets a little nasty. Characters with those kinds of attacks generally give me more trouble than the others.
I bet otherwise. While I’mm not going to say kuma wlaks over Ryu for free, the match up is much more stable than others. Ryu most reliable assesst is his projectile. With out that he offensive game is weak. Also since his Dp his nerf this time around, him being knockdown isn’t so good and Kuma have scary options on knockdown.
Only reason I would even agree with your 6-4 match up is that kuma needs tag cancels to make him safe. Ryu on the other hand doesn’t need to.
@Shouta- This I’ll have to agree with. Kuma for the most part can out turtle them if patience and force them to come to him.(play battery style)
I’m not going to claim to be a Kuma expert because I’ve only played the game a few times due to having tests every other week. However, judging by the options I’ve seen by both characters, it looks bad for Kuma. Kuma has ways around fireballs, but they’re limited. A smart Ryu player won’t throw fireballs at the range where Kuma can react to it easily. They’ll either throw it from far or RIGHT in your face so that you have to block it. If you predict the fireball and jump, a smart Ryu player will DP you every single time. And once Ryus figure out the timing of their DPs so it doesn’t trade, it’ll be even worse for Kuma. On the same note, I bet safe jump OS DP/tatsu will still be a problem for a character like Kuma. He can’t reversal and if he rolls, he will probably only get out of danger without being able to punish. Tatsu OS might even catch him. The BIGGEST problem I see is that Kuma is a grappler and Ryu can just rush him down with his 3 frame st. jab. He can just walk forward and pressure Kuma with it and once Kuma blocks one, he can’t really do anything about it since he’ll be at frame disadvantage. If something goes wrong, Ryu cancels into donkey kick which puts him at further advantage. So Kuma takes damage from afar to get in. Ryu is safe at mid range if he doesn’t do anything. Kuma is at a disadvantage at close range (and he’s a grappler)- and Ryu is MUCH safer at this range. That’s why I think Ryu beats Kuma easily.
Brahma
16
You mean from full screen ? Because that’s how far rolling bear goes. As for up close pressure, s.lp and s.lk both have really small hurt boxes on them that allow you to beat out jab frame traps with the right spacing.
Hugo’s been eating my kuma alive. I’m a total loss on what to do with that matchup. Everything I try against him seems to get stuffed… and I’m dead after 2 juggles and a couple low kicks.
Heihachi has been a real headache too.
A player using a projectile character that can also teleport to other side of screen quickly is a bloody nightmare (such as Raven).
A Ryu player who knows the basics of spacing, footsie, safe poke and fireball game seems to get (?easy?) victory against Kuma. I get gimmick wins against average Ryu if the player hasn’t played against him before. But once the Ryu player gets a few Kuma matches under his belt, I found my win percentage against him falls off a cliff. Your mileage may vary (if anyone out there is beating good Ryu players and sustaining their win ratios against those same Ryu players… I’d love to know the secrets).
Guile/Vega/Bison/Balrog are limited by Kuma.
Megaton removes their anti-airs and flying attacks, because if they crouch against Kuma they’re gonna eat an overhead sandwich.
For the Raven-haters…: I´ve tested you can heavily punish the double-retarded-teleport-sweep, with f-HP>MegatonHP>whatever you like… The range of the bear smash is godlike¡¡¡¡
Shira
20
I always used G-clef… good to know. Thanks man!
I usually play vs a good gief player (in sf4ae mostly) who now also uses hugo. I must say that when using kuma I have much more trouble vs his hugo too… the pressure that char puts on you, added to his range and armored moves. it is tough. but i found out you can grab hugo when he is running at you with the armored clothesline while in Bear stance! heh, just have to react to that fast enough without being hit=p
against gief, the major prob is spd beats in range any of kuma’s command grabs. but if you can input them earlier, you win. (both L versions of kuma and gief have same start.up). it all comes down to speed, don’t be out ranged though.
fast pokers are still the worst match up I think, it’s hard to get out of the pressure without meter.
Shira
22
Hugo vs. Kuma is free. Kuma beats out Hugo in so many ways.
Just f.hp him on his wakeup. Do it all day and just piss him off. He can’t do anything if you time it right except block, because it hits twice and therefore beats out lariat. As long as you time it right he can’t reversal EX grab either. All he can do is block and then you can walk up and circus him. Almost every Hugo I’ve fought got really, really upset fighting my Kuma. Just play smart and always anti air him and the matchup is completely in your favor.
plus he can do crouching charges because fear of the megaton claw overhead.
really Kuma fucks up all the charge characters because all of the charge moves are 1 hitters and aren’t exactly hard to see coming, bear stance when far away, pelt them with attacks up close.
