Seriously, good Ryus are a nightmare for my Guile. I personally feel that matchup is 7-3, 6-4 at best, and I can’t do ANYTHING to win. I try to play smart, to play solid, but he has too many tools to get in and a lot of okizeme once you’re in the ground. He has c.MP counter-hit setups, F+HP, fast sweep, EX Hadoken, crossup tatsu, fast focus attack, and you can’t jump on him because the SRK. Once he is in the ground the only thing you can do is throw a Sonic Boom and try to catch him with F+HK or far HP, but obviously good Ryus aren’t gonna eat that day 1 Guile setup.
I really need some advice for this specific matchup.
Ryu / Guile is actually even or just slightly in Guiles favor but when you fight a superior player they will make you feel like it’s impossible. I always play with a friend who bodies me for free with Ryu because he reads me like a book and takes educated guesses against my habits. It comes down to the fact that the Ryu has to guess to get in and take more risks than you do to keep him out. Spacing is extremely important as it can mean the difference between punishing his fireballs and jumps or eating his guessed jump-in’s and tatsus. You say that good Ryu’s aren’t gonna eat that day 1 guile setup… oh they will… you just need to be in the right space to pull it off. Outside of Ryu’s c.mk range but within your back-fist range is a golden spot where you clearly have the advantage but it’s difficult to stay there.
Remember the wise words of Chris Hu:
“Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom whole day… you throw fireball: forward-fierce… you jump… down-fierce… you don’t jump: Sonic Boom… what can you do eh? what can you do?”
Remember to hk flash his sweeps as a counter hit after you block.
Learn his hadou recover time for jump ins. Don’t eat an anti air shoryu.
Follow your mid screen lp booms with crouch mk, St HP, St hk, and backfist(stay out of cr mk range).
Predict the tatsu. Throw HP booms wisely.
Buffer u2 in mid screen fire fights. Learn patterns.
lure for unsafe cr.mk + haduken
use forward mk to counter cr.mk abuse
no use playing zoning with ryu imo, focus on normals to beat crap out of him
avoid performing unsafe jmp in for free DP + ultra (not worth the risks when ultra is ready, too painful)
back fist whenever haduken meets lp.sb in close combat
if you have better footsies than ryu, he’ll be in a corner in no time. and make him stay in the corner with AAs pokes and SBs.
I have a hard time in that matchup because of Ryu’s mixups. The match is under control till my first hard knockdow. Anyone has something to say about those mixups? Wich setups must be blocked forward or backward?
After his throw, watch for a sweep immediately after. That is telegraphing ryu’s safe jump. You can’t do anything but block or you’re gonna eat it.
Use dashes wisely and don’t abuse them after his jump in. They can sweep or tatsu on reaction.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to not do anything but block. People get bodied when they panic and push buttons. Fishing for a throw is pretty common during the mix up game. Remember go crouch tech or upside down kick combo. This isn’t always safe. If ryu has 2 bars he’s gonna shoryu-ultra.
I find staying midrange is more manageable and easier to dictate the flow of the fight. Far st.mk is best as Anti Air for Shotos. You’re far enough to react to any random ex fireballs and can backhand any fireballs thrown out. Keep an eye out for sudden tatsu’s to counter your booms aka don’t make a pattern of your booms. If your reaction is really good find that spacing where the Ryu whiffs cr.mk. You can use the overhead to counter those cr.mk’s. (If your reaction is good enough). Forward mk (sobat kick) whiffs over Ryu too much or too randomly to use consistently.
Remember, that overhead is faster than people see it to be.
Correction: Guile’s overhead reaches further than Ryu’s cr.mk.
@ATron9000, thanks for the tips, man. A question: is it safe to use UDK during that pressure (the one in wich Ryus keep trying to bait a throw to frame trap)? Good Ryus tend to walk forward and apply normals in my defense hoping I’ ll press buttoms.
@Nemesys_Syndrome, you have a quite different way to play this matchup. I’ll try to learn with the things you said. Mainly the part of st. MP. Because of Ryu’s j. MK, I find it difficult to anti-air with cr. HP. It must be done quite fast. It requires good reaction or anticipating…
I honestly think we’re at the same skill level. But you will be a lot more than me stronger if you learn to whiff punish crouching attacks.
It’s not that hard as many people think. I started out by using setups to bait in order to get used to the correct timing e.g max range Guile f.mk on block in the vid. By using setups, we’re training our reaction or more or less forcing ourselves to look out for it. It’s a lot easier with setups than trying to punish a moving opponent’s whiff. Trying it out in casuals are the best way to improve on it for me. Just try again if you get punished for failed attempts. After all, that’s what casuals are for, improving general gameplay. When I was comfortable doing it from setups, I moved on to moving opponents and I still fail a lot of attempts nowadays. You can start with sweeping Guile’s c.mk in mirrors if you find Ryu too hard.
Guile’s sweep is actually pretty good for a low roundhouse aside from the 2nd hit. It extends to max range pretty fast if I’m correct, almost comparable to Akuma’s sweep.
I think you should start with it and bring yourself as a player to a higher level. It makes the game a lot more fun, aside from running players who mash reversals all day. I used to join tournaments but now I just play online casuals cos there’s just too much easily-earned safe knockdown bullshit that makes ‘playing properly’ not fun in most matchups for me. I had planned on attending EVO like 3 yrs ago but couldn’t go cos of my work. Maybe next year I might attend if I have the time and friends to go along with me. Hope we can have a match someday.
If you can, put Ryu in the corner. His options to get out are pretty unsafe and at best he has to lose a lot of health to get out.
Always punish tatsu with c.HP
With Ryu having meter its harder to win bc he can keep you in block stun and start crossing you up,throwing you etc…then you lose.
One problem I have is anti airing him when he does his normals early in the air…if that makes sense. I can’t throw him out and its hard to c.HP on reaction to it.
