Hey out of boredom I’ve been playing this game on my DC sometimes and the only character I really felt comftorable with is Ryu. Now keep in mind I have very little idea of how to play this game competitively, so I’ll ask some basic questions. From reading here it seems people prefer say Ken, Chun Li, Yun, Makoto, Urien. Does Ryu stand ANY chance at all in this game!? Or is it just worthless and I should pick like Ken or someone. (For some reason in the SF3 series I only feel comfy with the shotos) What’s like a good strategy to use to win with him, or in this game in general?? What are his good pokes or basic moves? It seems his low forward and standing roundhouse are real good pokes. His standing RH seems to anti-air a lot of stuff too. And does it matter what super to use with him? I like Shinkuu Hadoken cause it’s fast, you get 2, and seems to be like a good mistake punisher. It seems I can catch some wiffed moves with this… Are they any like important or extraordinary combos essential for him? I just do basic like low forward into hadoken, fierce into hurricane kick, or combo into low forward cancel in Shinkuu Hadoken. Sorry if these are extreme noob questions, but thats what I am when it comes to this game. big thanks to anyone who wants to help out.
I would be interested to know what meaty moves Ryu has.
If you can master proper distancing and spacing vs each character with Ryu, then you are halfway there, spacing is just sooo important for Ryu. Ken doesn’t have to worry about it as much since he has far more safer options at different ranges. You can win alot of matches just by utilising OG spacing games and then incorporating the dash for unexpected offense and retreat.
hey, slow down. he only wants basic stuff. So basic stuff is what he gets.
Ryu is a pretty good character once you learn his strenghs and weaknesses and how to deal with him against other characters. If you want play competitively, you cant just be comfortable with shotos, you have to be able to know pretty much all characters. If you know you opponents character, youll be able to pick out their basic weaknesses and strengths, and play more affectively.
Good pokes and basic moves. (You asked for it)
-Crouching Mk is one of his best pokes due to its speed, far reach, and ability to hit low. Not to mention that it can cancel to other moves, like the Hadouken, and Hurricane kick.
-Crouching Lk is good due its ability to link into Super Arts (SA). Use to the Light kick 2x to and link to SAs, like the Shinku-Hadouken, and Shin shoryuken. Since you can link two lks before you can combine it with an SA, it kind of gives you time to see whether the rest of your combo will connect from that point on. For example, If you attempt a crouching Lk x2 into a SA, and the your opponent blocks the lks, you can tell that the rest of your combo wouldnt work, and pull back safely before you recover from your initial attack.
Medium punch and kick are quick mid-level up-close normals, mp can combine with Hadouken, Hurricane kick, High Blade leg kick (lk), and SA such as Shin-Shoryuken and Shinku Hadouken. Safe when blocked.
Medium kick when not up-close can go over crouching attacks and beat out almost any poke attempt. Safe on block. This allows you make space between you and your enemy, hit or blocked.
Crouching hk has good range but is fairly slow at recovery.
I suggest you learn to use Kara-throw before fully attempting his up-close ground game and mix-ups in a real match. A Kara-throw is a technique used to slightly extend the range of a normal throw. You can perform this by cancelling a normal that moves your character forward, into lp+lk. Ryus kara-throw range is pretty good. A good and easy kara-throw command for Ryu is forward+mp, cancel to lp+lk. Learn its reach, and how to stay within its range for up-close games.
All of these, combined with his Sas, are used best when in mix-up games, trying to fish-out big damage. Mix-ups are just a way to vary your attacks (mainly on hit-levels) and throws in order to create an opening in your opponents defence. Once you find an opening, you get the chance to land big-damage with combos/SAs on your opponent.
Super art selection can effect the way you play mix-ups when playing as Ryu.
Shin-Shoryuken is real damaging, but it can only hit on close quarters. Shinku hadouken is pretty useless when done at far range. These are some of the reasons why Ryu is most affective up-close. They are also the reasons why mixing up with Ryu is important. You can use mix-ups to try and find an opening in your opponents defence so can land a combo/SA.
For example, lets say you want to get your opponent open for an up-close mp into a Shin-Shoryuken combo. A way to create an opening for that situation is to get them to block low, since mp hits crouching enemies. You can do this by mixing up crouching low attacks. After a while, your opponent might suspect another low-range attack, and block low. This leaves them vulnerable to an mp, Shin-Shoryuken combo, allowing you to successfully do major damage. Get me?
The trick here is getting your opponent to think that youre blocking low, opportunities like that varies from player to player. There are dozens of other mix-up opportunities to land big-damage though.
EX moves play a decent role in his ground game as well. Ryus EX hadouken is is faster, hits twice and safe on block. Its way better than Ryus normal hadouken.
Since it reaches so far, you punish attacks that misses right in front of you, or bait your enemy to start poking so you can counter with an EX hadouken. But certain attacks are so fast, they can hit you before your EX comes hadouken comes out, making you waste a portion of your SA bar.
EX High blade leg kick makes an enemy bounce off a nearby wall, creating a juggle situation, giving you a chance to do extra damage before the enemy falls to the floor. Its faster on start up, and reaches as far as the hk version.
EX Shoryuken reaches a little bit further and hits twice.
EX Hurricane kick hits more times, but loses its travelling ability. Its slightly faster and can juggle in the air.
Like I said before, SA selection can affect how to play.
-Shin Shoryuken is used when you want to be up-close, mixing up for big damage. But you might not want to use EX moves. Instead, you might want to keep your SA stocked and ready to go when you see an opening for big damage.
-Shinku Hadouken is used when you want to be flexible with EX moves and use your Sas too.
-Denjin Hadouken is does its best damage when fully-charged. It also stuns the opponent for free extra damage. I personally dont eaaly find the art usefull. I just cant find a way to use it affectively in a match yet. So Ill leave this space to some other smart-ass who knows.
As for the match-ups, you can look in Ryus match up thread.
Yeah, what he said.
-Ryu’s standing mk is good making space at semi-close range. Standing mk can reaches out to beat most poke attempts and goes over low range attacks. It’s also safe when blocked.
-Ryu’s EX hadouken is fairly fast, and when used correctly, players can never know when to expect one to come out. This makes players play at a farther range than usual so they can defend against any possible EX hadouken attempt. Also is safe on block.
Well thanks both of you.