[ KOFXIII ] Ryo Sakazaki

Classic Fighting Games King of Fighters XIII
1

From the SRK KOFXIII Strategy Guide:

"In a nutshell
Art of Fighting protagonist, KOF regular, and the original Ryu clone that caused Capcom to create Dan in parody. Ryo has a moveset that should be somewhat familiar to a ‘shoto’ player, though Ryo cannot play a full zoning game but makes up for it with his close-range tools. Ryo has a strong set of fundamental normals with plenty of hard-hitting, cancelable pokes that beef up his grounded game. Although an executionally simple character, Ryo can deal solid damage with meter while controling both the neutral and close ranges. As such, Ryo makes for a viable character for any level of play."

Although not my favorite version of Ryo, which is Ryo KOFXI version, in this game he is still very solid, even without some mainstay specials.

Will add more stuff later but here are a couple of fun Ryo videos:

[media=youtube]g9VQNxSR-pY[/media]

[media=youtube]akvi3hB57ro[/media]

2

Ryo is a pretty solid char IMO. Good mid range pressure, great combos, good dp, 3f cr.C, guardbreak potential is high etc. I guess i can post his BnBs to start of the thread:

(note, all combos can be started with cr.B, cr.C for a low starter as well)

0 bar 0 drive - Midscreen:

st.D, qcf.C - 136
st.D, hcb.B - 153

0 bar 0 drive - Corner:

st.D, qcf.A, hcb.B - 200
st.D, qcf.A, dp.C - 231

1 bar 0 drive - Midscreen:

st.D, f.A, qcf,hcb.C - 317
st.D, hcb.BD, dp.C - 321

0 bar 1 drive - Corner:

st.D, qcf.A/C, dp.A DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C - 415/429

1 bar 1 drive - Midscreen:

st.D, hcb.BD, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.C - 470 (end with qcb.B instead of dp.C if youre not in the corner after hcb.D)

1 bar 1 drive - Corner:

st.D, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C - 515 (also works if you start with qcf.A, however then you need to delay the dp.AC a little.

HD combos - Midscreen:

1 bars: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, hcb.BD, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D,dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A - 701

2 bars: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, hcb.BD, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D,dp.C DC f,b,f.AC, f,b,f.A - 812

3 bars: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, hcb.BD, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D,dp.C DC qcf qcf AC - 898

4 bars: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, hcb.BD, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D,dp.C DC f,b,f.AC, qcf,hcb.AC - 956

(Note: All of these work fullscreen. if you do them outside of the corner, all you have to do is delay the dp.C after hcb.BD a tiny bit)

HD combos - Corner:

If you start in the corner, you can add a little damage by doing:

st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D, dp.C DC into ender of choice.

1 bar: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A - 739

2 bar: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D, dp.C DC f,b,f.AC, f,b,f.A - 850

3 bar: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D, dp.C DC qcf, qcf.AC - 936

4 bars: st.D, f.A BC, st.D, f.A, qcf.C, dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A DC hcb.D, dp.C DC f,b,f.AC, qcf,hcb.AC - 994

3

Nice Magunito…but i prefer close D, f+A, Haoh Ken Super. That is an easier combo since you already have forward input from the f+A, so just half circle forward A for the super finisher.

Its nice you can finally free cancel after forward+A.

I use to always leave Ryo for third since first playing KOF but in this game i have him in 2nd, and it works out great.

4

wat

You can only supercancel f.A. Also landing a SC ranbu from Kouken is much better due to the damage and positioning advantage (most Haoh Shokoukens feel really negative on hit, especially in the corner).

Finally, Ryo’s pretty much optimized for being on point due to his crazy normals and frametraps, godly corner game, actually complete arsenal of anti-airs, and decent meter build. You could run him second or anchor, but there’s plenty of other characters that can start HD from overheads, better cross-ups, command grabs, and easier cr.B chain confirms (plus more efficient damage output in HD). So basically someone like Karate can burn meter in more ways than Ryo and easily land Drive Cancels from numerous setups, but Ryo excels in that he can get most of his damage from singular hits, especially from qcf+A in the corner which nets a free hcb+B. It’s not much damage and he can’t burn meter to link any fancier followups, so the juggle is going to be small but that’s what pushes him towards being an optimal point character. Other characters can eke out bigger conversions with meter, but not so many can get as much from such safe options.

5

Eh he can convert to big damage after qcf.A in the corner no problem as long as he has one drive one bar stocked.

st.D, qcf.A, dp.C DC hcb.D, dp.A is 353 iirc for 1 drive.
st.D, qcf.A, delay dp.AC DC qcf.A, hcb.D, dp.C is 501 for 1 bar 1 drive (pretty sick from a nice pressure string that is ±0 on block ;))

Also updated the first post with damage numbers for all combos and a few minor edits.

6

dp+C only works from hella deep, so it’s not fully reliable since from Kouken’s max range (which is where it’s most effective for corner control) it’ll whiff and you’ll die. You can’t even really jump in and be deep enough to get the DP+C to hit in the corner, so it’s pretty rare to land that combo aside from HD.

7

It defenitly works of a jumpin. Sure it does not work if you are too far from the corner, but i would hardly call the situation rare.

8

Was confused about the f+A. Im waiting on a new Qanba stick so havent touched the game recently, but i dont remember ever super canceling command moves? Any other examples of this?

Also, Could you eloborate On complete arsenal of anti-airs? I think theres dp, down C, Kou’ken, Haoh Ken A version super and maybe Zanretsuken.

And i defintely dont think its rare to get the fierce dp after corner kou’ken , i find it to be pretty reliable.

9

Updated with a better 0 bar 1 drive combo courtesy of MezzoForte