You’ll want to mix up Ryu and Ken as soon as possible, really, since they are somewhat samey in their overall scheme and therefore makes you predictable. I would suggest learning some stuff with them then, as you move onto other characters, keeping one in place as a familiar anchor while you learn another.
As for other characters, it largely depends on what you are going for. No one beats Ryu or Ken because they have specials that are specifically made to teach you various aspects: Hadokens for farther back, Shoryukens for anti-air and wake up reversals, and Spinny Kicks for tag combos. After playing with them you’ll realize “I like to play offense with Ken’s kicks,” or “sitting back with Hadokens and letting the opponent come to me is nice,” or even “these characters are too boring! I wanna style!” Now I’ll list a few characters who I feel not only are relatively easy to learn the basics, but also serve to teach various playing styles and aspects about SFxT. If I use any terms you are unfamiliar with, you can look them up or ask and I’ll tell you.
Guile: A very strong defensive character with only two special moves and a host of unique attacks. Guile plays rather turtley, allowing him to throw Sonic Booms at an opponent and flashkicking them if they jump. Because he has such few special moves, his regular attacks are quite strong and have great range. This is true for most any charge character. Do not be afraid to try charge characters because they are different! Possess a reversal.
Strategies learned with Guile: Defense/Zoning, charge specials, reading opponent, “footsies.”
Hwaorang: His bag of tricks showcases what many Tekken characters bring to the table and is a good way to learn them for yourself. He has many standing attacks that hit mid, which must be blocked high, allowing for “mix up,” forcing your opponents to change their style of blocking often to prevent damage. He possesses a divekick and a Special Step that bypasses fireballs to make it easy to approach, and his Hunting Hawk is like Ryu’s Spinkick in that it is easy to tag from. All the while he possesses a Shoryuken reversal, which many Tekken characters lack.
Strategies learned: Pressure, mixing up, stance changes, blockstrings.
Hugo: Hugo deals massive damage and does so rather easily with high power normals and easy combos. His moves have strong range given his size and many tools that help him through his weight around. For instance, some of his moves have armor, which means being hit once will not stop the move, and his body splash is great for “crossing up.” Hugo has a hard time approaching characters, however: he is the quintiessential Anchor.
Strategies learned: Crossing up, Armor moves, command grabs, having to get creative in your approach.
Nina: Like Hugo, Nina can deal very high damage with relatively easy combos. Unlike Hugo, she possesses better speed and great “pokes” and “footsies,” allowing her to get into the damage well enough on her own. She also possesses a wealth of “Tekken Strings,” if you press certain buttons in a particular order her moves will change. This is important because they are a kind of canned combo you can rely on and they all have different uses, either mixing the opponent up, making you safe from punishment, and all the while being very unpredictable. She’s a well balanced character no beginner should fail to try, and the first one I got serious with.
2 more on the way.
