I think what you need to do is simplify the game to very few select things that can give you a success feeling that it seems like you need.
I would setup a training regiment in training mode for a set amount of time each day to practice the following things.
1. Cleaner execution of Specials
Its quite important that you are in control of your character and the most important area is being able to translate your mental thought into action on the playfield and in the simplist form that is doing Special Moves.
Do a set amount of Hadoken’s & Tatsu’s on each side of the screen (left & right) this number is something you can set your self, when i started i did 50 each day until i could do them without making a mistake. (do not repeat this endlessly each day, keep to your set amount but dont stop doing it as the first thing you do each day until you can do it without error)
*Note, you cannot throw a second Hadoken until the first one is gone from the screen.
2. Propper execution of Anti Air specials.
This is very important, because this is where people start to spam (getting unclean inputs)
Set a Ken dummy to record these actions (Press a normal button, Neutral jump, then forward jump with HK, then hold down back so your down blocking with the dummy after, then wait for 2 seconds and end the recording)
This isnt an excercise at getting better at anti airs by simulating a real situation like you would see others setup, where you record a ton of different actions to throw you off (thus simulating a real match feeling) you need to first learn how to get your inputs out constantly in an easy situation before thats something you would benifit from.
Practice of Ryu’s two main Anti Airs: (Turn your Attack Data: ON)
- Medium Shoryuken anti air: This is done by “Down Forward, Down, Down Back, Down, Down Forward + Medium Punch” this is called a shortcut input, put into the game to make the moves easier to do but we take advantage of it in Anti Air sitiuations because it puts your character into a crouching animation thus giving you more time until you are hit by the jumping attack.
Now you need to judge weather or not you did it right or wrong.
1.) Wrong nr.1: You hit the Ken and do 60 damage to him: This happens because you did the Shoryuken when the Ken was to high on the screen.
2.) Wrong nr.2: You get hit before the Shoryuken comes out: This happens because you did the Shoryuken to late.
3.) Right: You hit the jumping Ken and do 120+ Damage.
*note: When executing special moves, do not assume you know the speed of witch is supposed to be preformed at, continue to experiment in the start until you find the sweet spot of how fast you need to do the motions without resorting to overspamming the directions to such a extent that it becomes unclean (this can lead to unintentional supers, thats a bad habbit to develop and its very hard to break)
- Crouching Hard Punch.
Crouching Hard Punch is an easy anti air that stuffs alot of moves and is easy to do when your not sure if you can get a Shoryuken out in time but it it can loose to different moves, allthough practicing this seems dumb, what we are doing through practice is automation, makeing something go from taking mental resources into being automatic, thus freeing up your mental capacity into doing other stuff.
Practice these two anti airs each day for a set amount of time or reps. Again do not over do this, keep to your set amount you set for you self and dont be to hard on your self with the results.
3. Offense [Though the air]
Then we need to chose two different strings thats going to be your offensive arsenal to begin your journey from being mauled, into mauling some fools online.
I’ve chosen two different jumping strings & one punish string that is quite easy to do, build on what your allready training and can lead into more offensive options when you improve your game.
String nr1: Jumping Medium Kick, standing Medium Punch, Standing Medium Punch canceled into Hard Punch Hadoken (if you have meter, then spend it here on EX Hadoken)
*Input note: Jump Forward Medium Kick, Let stick go to Neutral, Medium Punch, Medium Punch, Down, Down Forward, Forward Hard Punch
Setup a Ken dummy to stand with blocking options to: After First Hit.
- If a move is blocked it happens because you input it to late
- If a normal or special dosnt come out when you press a button or do the special, it happens because you input the move or special code to early (or the wrong special code)
This will be your go to string if the jumping attack was blocked, this might be hard to judge or react to in the beginning so just do your best to eighter guess or react to what you see, the reason i’ve chosen this string is that even if you mess up the timing of your two standing medium punches, it will work as a frame trap (99% of the time) so if someone presses a button while blocking they will get caught be the last standing medium punch into hadoken, the second reason for this string is that it will eventualy become your first way of comboing into super further down the line as it is absoutly the easiest way of doing a clean super combo with Ryu.
String nr2: Jumping Medium Kick, standing Medium Punch, crouching Hard Punch, Hard Punch Shoryuken.
Input note: Jump Forward Medium Kick, Let stick go to Neutral, Medium Punch, Down Forward Hard Punch, Down, Down Back, Down, Down Forward Hard Punch [from the crouch Hard Punch into the shoryuken needs to be fast, but prop not as fast as you would think, play with it abit until you get the feel of it]
Setup a Ken dummy to stand with blocking options to: After First Hit.
- If a move is blocked it happens because you input it to late
- If a normal or special dosnt come out when you press a button or do the special, it happens because you input the move or special code to early (or the wrong special code)
This will be your go to string when the jumping Hard Kick hits, it does solid damage, it will eventualy be something you can develop into extended V-Trigger Combo’s and Super Cancels, this is a very important combo to learn.
String nr3: standing Hard Kick, crouching Hard Punch, Hard Punch Shoryuken
Input note, Leave your stick in neutral or forward position, Hard Kick, Down Forward Hard Punch, Down, Down Back, Down, Down Forward Hard Punch
Setup a Ken dummy to stand with blocking options to: After First Hit and COUNTER HIT: ON
- If a move is blocked it happens because you input it to late
- If a normal or special dosnt come out when you press a button or do the special, it happens because you input the move or special code to early (or the wrong special code)
This will be your punish string for people that throw out uppercuts that you block, its the very basic Crush Counter punish combo (it isnt optimal but its a good idea to have this early, as it will give you a sense of acomplishment when hitting it, it builds on top of what you allready train and its easy to do).
*note: setup a training regiment each day consisting of these things for a set amount of time or reps and do this each day before you go online, it will take time, it might become boring but its going to help in both the short term and long term.
4. Taking what you learned online:
As for playing other people, most would tell you to utilize spacing, normals and blablabla… thats way to early to worry about when you have enough on your plate, we are dealing with the very basics, so we are going to stick to that.
Starting off the round: take a step backwards (do not throw a fireball) and watch what your oponent is doing.
From here you have two different sets of options to you, depening on what you feel like doing and what your oponent is doing in the game.
1.) Defensive playstyle: Your aim here is anti airs & fireballs.
Its a very good idea to talk to your self (out loud) while playing.
Your process is very simple: Throw a single fireball (look at your oponent while doing it) then wait and tell your self “be ready to anti air”, if no jump are comming then move abit around the screen and repeat the same action again.
If they ever close the gap on the ground, then try to hit them with a standing Medium Kick (only one) then down block, wait and tell your self “be ready to anti air & counter sweep if they try to sweep you”. The same process is going to apply to everything do you while in a defensive mind set, you can also try to hit them with sweeps if you want to, but try to avoid crouching medium kick for now (as it is a move thats way inside sweep range and requires spacing)
If they ever get on top of you, then do crouching light kick, crouching light punch, crouching medium kick canceld into hadoken and then wait, tell your self "be ready to anti air & counter sweep if they try to sweep you"
For now forget about teching throws, if they ever start throwing you then do a reversal uppercut from the ground… do not spend any mental resources on it right now, as your going to spread your mind to thin and start cracking.
So to sum it up: Defensive play style is 100% reactive: your not going to do anything twice, if you want to throw fireballs, its one then wait… if you want to poke them with standing medium kick or sweep, its one then wait… if you want them to get off you while on top of you, its crouching light kick, crouching light punch, crouching medium kick canceled into hadoken then wait… Your goal is to react.
2.) Offensive playstyle: Your aim here is to damage with the combos your practicing in training mode through the air.
The easiest way to earn damage with any character in fighting games is through the air and thats where we are going to take our offense, when you feel like going on the offense, your aim is to hit them with Jumping medium kick and then go into your two damaging options, if you feel like you can react to it hitting for not… then chose, if you feel like you cant then go with the safer option of s.MP, s.MP xx Hadoken.
When you get them knocked down you have three options you should consider:
1.) Throw them when they wake up.
2.) Neutral jump with Hard Kick and then go back into your one of your two combo strings
3.) Take a step back and downblock (this is what you want to do when you think they will wake up with a uppercut) and this is when you use your crush counter combo to punish them for it.
And that should be your game plan, it should be this simple when you start out.
