SSF4 AE Ryu Match-up Thread

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Various pages:
Other matchup page can be found HERE
Ask AKS216 can be found HERE
Matchup Videos can be found HERE
Huge shoutouts to Air for being so willing to help me out with this.Also some of this information is coming straight from Air’s blog which can be found right HERE.I highly recommend that all Ryu players check out this blog,and watch his cross counter guide below.

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Well I have decided to consolidate all of the info on all of the Ryu matchups into one tight space…so here it goes:

Abel

Spoiler

Ryu vs Abel

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TG564Ahm0MA/TSQJ1y7nIpI/AAAAAAAAAF4/wBDxS1ovfAU/s400/385111-bigthumbnail.jpg

[FONT=Times New Roman]Abel[/FONT]

**Matchup: **

Though the majority of the people would say this is an even match up, I personally think it’s slightly in Abel’s favour due to the option selects and mixups he can do on Ryu. This match is somewhat similar to Ryu vs Zangief. I say similar to Zangief in that you don’t want to be knocked down and want to stay out of Abel’s stepkick/poke range

Ground Games:

Far Range: Abels would try to build meter at this range and probably trying to make you go over to him. Either throw fireball to stop him from building or slowly walk forward to push him near the corner and Abel will eventually try to get out of the corner by rolling out. Make sure you don’t throw predictable fireballs and ready to bait his roll.

Mid Range: The most dangerous range in this match up. Avoid being hit by Abel’s spiritual move: his step kick. Getting hit or even getting it blocked can lead to a mind game that is in Abel’s favour. Use Ryu’s max distance low forward to keep him out. A well timed low strong or even mashing stand jab can beat his step kick and getting in.

Close Range: Beware of Abel’s standing short which basically stops everything of Ryu’s except SRK. A command string of Abel’s would be doing a hella stand short then tries to pressure you by connecting the step kick. So you can either block the whole shit, MASH on SRK or backdash and GET THE FUCK OUT.

On Ryu’s Wakeup:

Abel’s probably has one of the scariest wake up game. Variety of setups needed to be worried like untechable command throw, a front or crossup rolled attack, a low attack, an over head or even just do nothing and bait. Every Abel has their own setups, therefore it’s really hard to guess what they’re going to do. Therefore I am sorry, there is really not much advises but NEVER SIT STILL, do something…mash srk…mash on jab…backdash…jump…you have to make your opponent think and hesitate on their decisions.

Counter:

Rekka: Usually this is really hard to react to…so block the first hit of the rekka then punish with SRK.

Ex Version: Same as normal version, just remember this move absorbs one hit so becareful with your slow recovery normals and throwing those fireballs.

Roll: Can hit him on his start up and right where he lands but best to counter with a throw.

Ex Roll: Can only counter with throw.

Wheel Kick: Anything as long as before the kick hits you.

Ex Wheel Kick: Perfectly timed normals that hit high, though best to use SRK to counter.

Against Ultra 1: Uhhh…pretty obvious…don’t throw fireball or air escape tatsu…it is punishable. Other than that Abel can’t land this on you without landing his low fierce.

Against Ultra 2: It really depends where Abel launches this ultra.
[LIST]
[]Close Range: Tatsu to break his armor. If he releases it instantly it will go through your tatsu.
[]Mid Range: Keep jumping back, air escape tatsu go behind him or HK tatsu. (They can cancel their U2 if they are able to react to it.
[*]Far Range: Keep jumping back. HK tatsu not recommended
[/LIST]
Mind games and Option Select:

After an untechable knockdown Ryu can do safe jump OS to cut down his wakeup options.
Ex Roll:
[LIST]
[]Safe jump attack OS throw or empty jump throw/throw on wakeup
[/LIST]
Backdash:
[LIST]
[]Safe jump attack OS tatsu or sweep/on ground OS sweep/Tatsu
[/LIST]
Ex Rekka:

There are no option selects against this move but these are the things you can do to counter this move
[LIST]
[]Empty jump thro w/throw on wakeup
[]Jump strong
[]Safe jump attack (allows you to block Rekka in time)
[]Tatsu on wakeup
[/LIST]
Ex Tornado throw:

No safe jump OS works against this move (Well a timed safe jump OS does beat this move…but timing is strict and it looks pretty obvious that you are trying to bait the Ex TT.)
[LIST]
[]Empty Jump Throw
[]Throw on wake up
[]A late jump in attack / crossup attack
[*]Tatsu / Ex Tatsu
[/LIST]
It’s just pure mind games for Ryu using which OS to land on Abel’s wakeup. However it is possible to predict Abel’s next move through his meters.

Things to be aware of:

The only way to read an Abel player is mainly from how much meters he has. Abel doesn’t have much mix ups if a combo is ended by Rekka. On top of that, if an Abel player has less than 2 gauges, he can’t combo off Rekka into the air grab which means he has a risk to land the combo (No gauges to FADC), therefore a very high chance that he would try and land a command grab or bait.
In a life lead situation, Abels are usually really desperate for a comeback……here you should watch out for a low fierce on your wakeup. If it happens to be a command throw its ok, take it and let the situation reset.
Furthermore, if Abel knocks you down in the corner, he cannot land a combo into Ultra 1 unless he has 2 or more meters. If you do think he’s going to try landing an ultra, he will have to roll behind to (facing outside the corner) low fierce > ultra, so beware.
Hmmm…also…if Abel tends to do reset combos on you, don’t be afraid to mash SRK mainly because the Abel player is trying to land more damage that’s why he’s resetting, otherwise he the reset combo is worthless (but of course don’t rely on mashing).

Adon

Spoiler

Ryu vs Adon

[**

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**](‘http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TG564Ahm0MA/TMbMmEnIQrI/AAAAAAAAABk/fumZLtNlTCQ/s1600/adon.jpg’)

[SIZE=5]Adon[/SIZE]

Matchup:

**This is one of the new character’s matchup I hate the most as a Ryu player and i am sure all the Ryu players think the same. When a character that can spam safe on blocked moves (jaguar kick and off the wall kick) are pain in the ass. They’re hard to counter and they can do free chip damage + push you in the wall for free, on top of these, those moves deal great amount of damage on Ryu. This matchup is a 6:4 Adon’s favour if he uses ultra 1 and 5.5:4.5 Adon’s favour when it comes to Ultra 2. Adon is such a good character because he has really really good tools on ground, through fireballs, anti air and a special 6frame faster wakeup than anybody in the cast. He’s a character that gives no room for his opponent to pull any scrubby game play that forces you to play your best! **

Anti Air:

Adon doesn’t have any special jump in normals, so if he ever jumps in to you with any normals, don’t need to hesitate to use your srk or low fierce to anti air. Like El Fuerte, Adon has to rely on his special moves to get in Ryu which are also mainly off the ground, therefore excellent anti air is required in this matchup.

Ground Game:

**Far Range: This distance is safe to throw fireball, yet, Adon’s off the wall kick can go through fireball full screen, however in order for Adon to land this attack on you full screen, he has to do an early off the wall kick before you even throw the fireball. **

Mid Range: Adon’s low strong and standing roundhouse is his main tools for footsies. Adon’s low strong its a pretty fast but not far normal, usually Adon players tend to connects it after a low jab then into jaugar kick for some chip damage + continuing his offense ( this is a good chance to counter his move if you look for it and have fast enough reactions :P). Against Adon focus ( i just learned this North American term instead of using saving <- Jap term) attack is not recommended because Adon’s standing roundhouse has 2 hits that can armor break easily (Far st.Fierce can counter Adon’s st. roundhouse if timed correctly). His special moves such as off the wall kick and ground jaguar kick also armor breakable. Whiffed standing roundhouse can be punished by Ryu’s low strong (TIMING IS STRICT)
**Adon doesn’t really have an answer to Ryu’s low forward at this range, so don’t fear to use his normal more to pressure him. **

Close Range: Adon has some safe and far poke strings and a farely far kara throw. On the other hand, Adon doesn’t have a really good or deadly frame trap, so don’t be afraid to mash on low jabs while you are guarding his poke strings.

Mind games and Option Select:

**Pain in the ass! This is the only character in the whole cast that you can’t do any safe jumps or vortex on because of his BROKEN ASS 6f faster wakeup! So does that mean Ryu players should not even try to do anything on his wakeup? The answer is NO!, luckily to the readers i do have some strategies to share on what to do on his wakeup that usually works ( for me… ). After you land a SRK, if the Adon players do a tech wakeup, Ryu can do an immediate low forward into fireball which usually hits. Why?! Majority of the Adon players are not aware of their fast wakeup, therefore usually after a tech wakeup they just hold back so they can get out of everything situation. In this case your low forward hits. **
**Another thing you can do is, forward throw hold up forward jump right away and follow up with a foward kick, if it’s done right ( this allows you to catch up on his 6f wakeup ), this should be really hard for the Adon player to do a properly uppercut. **
Option select…i think sweep OS is the only OS you can do on Adon right now…

On My Wakup:

Backdash is probably the safest thing to do if you don’t want to do any risky moves. Using srk to AA Adon’s vortexes is pretty risky since smart Adons can bait your Srk with an air jaguar kick on your wakeup. On top of that, Adon’s neutral jump roundhouse seems to be a safe jump ( sometimes i can get a trade srk…never clean…and it does not worth to lose those life )

Counters:

**Jaguar kick: This is the one of the hardest move to punish in the game IMO. Even if you are fast enough to react to it, sometimes it tends to trade with your normals or SRK and it can deal a chunk of your life. Answer to this move is fast reflex with perfect timed SRK ( DUH!!! )…yah…and an early far standing fierce and standing roundhouse can also stop this move. **
**Against this move…suprisingly, backdash can get out of his HK version Jaguar kick and allows u to punish with low forward > whatever. **

Air Jaguar kick: This move has lesser priority than the ground version one. Srk and low fierce can beat this move perfectly. Moreover, YES!!! Focus attack works against this move! ( Air version is not armor breakable )

Ex Jaguar kick: Ex version can go through fireball clean, armor breakable PLUS it’s an overhead ( WTF!!! BROKEN!!! ) To counter the ex version, tools you use are exactly the same as the normal version but you do need a bit faster reflexes…

Jaguar Tooth: For Adon, this move is safe on block, so there’s nothing much you can do if you blocked this move. To counter this move, once you see him jump off the wall, just whiff out a jab srk and it can beat it clean. Even if he uses other versions of Jaguar tooth and you whiffed your srk, don’t worry, he has to land and won’t be able to harm you

**Ex Jaguar Tooth: Same thing, but fasterr, nothing scary. **

Once you see him climb off the wall, do Ultra 1, whichever version of Jaguar kick will get hit by it. Free chance to land ultra

**Against Ultra 1: **

This ultra can go through fireballs full screen like Chun li’s but not a charged move ( BROKEN!!! ). So beware of his ultra gauge and make sure you don’t throw those reckless fireballs

Against Ultra 2:

This is an AA ultra that Adon can combo off from his uppercut. So yah…uhhh…don’t jump or get hit then you can avoid being hit by this ultra…

Things to be aware of:

Adon’s Jaguar kick is the most scary and dangerous move. Adon players tend to abuse this move the most since it’s hard to punish and it can do pretty good damage. According to my own experience, most of the Adons will use Jaguar kick after the following situations.

When they are under pressure by fireball when he has no ex meters and by low forward, Adon would usually use this move to try to get out of pressure.

Another situation is when Adon does a standing roundhouse and you happen to block it, they will try to use Jaguar kick to get closer and apply pressure again.

THIS SITUATION HAPPEN THE MOST!! After a tech throw…they will use roundhouse version Jaguar kick…trust me…they will. Right after a tech throw, you can mash on far st.fierce or st.roundhouse, whichever you prefer.

**When you are in the corner, jumping backward roundhouse can be a good escape + punish sometimes when Adon has no ex meters. Even though if he has no meters, can’t rely jumping backwards all the time. **

P.S. Any version of Jaguar kick in any situation, Ryu’s Ultra 1 is the BEST punish. Make sure Ryu players out there don’t forget to use it.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Akuma (Gouki)

[details=Spoiler]
Ryu vs Akuma

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Akuma(Gouki)
No doubt this is an even matchup, and there’s nothing scary about Akuma unless you get knocked down. When you are down, that’s when you need to fear about Akuma’s deadly vortex. Therefore, against Akuma, say this to yourself “Don’t get knocked down, don’t get knocked down…”. Other then that, just worry about how to keep Akuma out and land whatever damage you can.
Ground Game
Far Range: Like any other characters, don’t hesitate to throw fireballs to build meters and make your opponents move. Though, if Akuma has a meter, his Ex Demon Flip setups do go full screen, so throw fireballs wisely and try to bait his Ex Demon Flips.
Mid Range: THIS RANGE IS DANGEROUS! All Akumas would spam sweep at this range whether it hits or not. Akumas are pretty desperate for that knock down. Generally Akuma does have better footsies than Ryu…so it’s not really smart to try and outplay Akuma with footsies. Though as a counter of Akuma’s sweep, you can do a level 2 focus attack or focus through his sweep and punish. *Do remember if Akuma has ultra he can sweep cancel into Raging Demon which can kills you focus"
Another strong normal Akuma usually uses is his far standing roundhouse that consist of 2 hits. However if this normal hits you from too close, the 2nd hif of the roundhouse whiffs if you are in crouching position. Ryu can punish with whatever after whiff, but beware, Akumas can cancel the 2hit into Raging Demon. In my opinion, the safest punish is to use MP version SRK that can also beat Akuma’s ultra clean.
Close Range: Nothing too good of Akuma at this range…however he does have a pretty far KARA throw. On top of that, Akumas with 2 or more meters would usually frame trap with a HP SRK, so beware of that as well.
Counter:
Air Fireball: Super/Ultra/Ex SRK or dash forward sweep for a trade.
Ex version: Same as normal version except you can block the first fireball and at the last moment where Akuma is dropping down, you can do a MP SRK to go through the 2nd fireball + hitting Akuma.(Timing and spacing is strict!!)
Fireball: Hurricane kick, super and Ultra.
Ex Version: Same as normal version.
Red Fireball: Hurricane kick. For super and ultra wise, the Red Fireball has to be about to hit you b4 you can counter it because of it’s three hits.
Ex Version: Same as normal version
Shoryuken: Non of Ryu’s normal version SRK beats Akuma’s. As a result, only EX SRK can beat Akuma’s normal SRKs.
Ex Version: Sadly, nothing of Ryu’s can win against this move.
Hurricane Kick: Anything but fireballs.
Ex Version: Same as normal version (Punishable with sweep by walking forward abit or Super)
Demon Flip Dive Kick: SRK trades , Ex SRK can beat it clean. Best counter is hit him air to air or low fierce.
Ex Version: Same as normal version
Demon Flip Splash/Throw: Same as the dive kick except normal version SRK can beat it clean.
Ex Version: Same as the normal one
Super: His super is like Raging Demon except it’s stronger. Also normal cancelable plus hits you instantly. Therefore you have to jump out BEFORE the super comes out, by all means…you have to guess when your opponent is going to land this move.
Against Ultra 1: Do not randomly jump or use focus attacks assuming your opponent is ready to land this on you at any situations. When Raging Demon misses you, best is to jump back and punish with low forward > combo. Punishing this move with SRK does work nevertheless there is still a sight risk of getting grabbed by it unless you are using the ex SRK.
Against Ultra 2: No experience against this Ultra yet.
On Ryu’s Wakeup:
If you are having trouble blocking or getting away from his mixups, read this section carefully
Akuma needs a certain setups in order to land certain mixups. Below I will make a list of his mixups that I know of. (Take the list as a reference, nothing is guarateed because each Akuma has their own setups and playstyle. Please don’t come to me telling me that whoever you played did not land the mixup like i listed)
Crossup Hurricane Kicks
· Usually after a sweep.
· After you get thrown by Demon Flip Grab, Akuma will dash forward twice
· After a forward throw, Akuma dashes forward tiwce
You can use Ryu’s low forward to lower his body making this move to whiff.
Crossup Air Fireball
· After a Demon Flip Grab/Splash, following a TK air fireball.
· This usually doesn’t crossup even though it looks like one. Have yourself crouching block the air fireball which makes the fireball harder to crossup (Works the same against Ibuki’s Kunai). You can also focus dash out of the air fireball with risk if you don’t want to block (Same goes with Ibuki’s Kunai.)
Demon Flip Grab/Splash
· After a sweep, a delayed demon flip > splash/grab.
· After you get hit by demon splash or grab, backdash > immediately another demon flip
· Untechable knocked down in the corner, whiffs a standing fierce punch, demon flip
· Backthrow, delayed demon flip
· Sweep, delayed demon flip
Demon Flip Dive Kick:
· After a sweep, immediate Demon flip dive kick (in this setup, you can trade with a MP SRK or beats it with EX SRK)
· Any combo into LP SRK > FADC > 3 hits Red Fireball > (Ryu quickwakeup) Demon Flip Dive kick (this will beat any of your wakeup moves
· Backthrow, instant Demon Flip Dive Kick (Will beat all of your wakeup moves but however you can forward dash to get out on wakeup.Akuma can OS sweep)
· Forward throw, dash forward Demon Flip Dive kick (tradable with MP SRK)
· Demon Flip Dive Kick right after a Demon grab or splash are also tradable with MP SRK.
Normal Dive Kick:
· Usuallly after a sweep
· When you are cornered to make a fake crossup.
Corner Neutral Jump Air fireball mixups:
Akuma can do this after any kinds of knock downs in the corner. They then will throw an air fireball which Ryu is forced to block,(Nothing can hit Akuma at this point…ex SRK will be blocked) and these are mixups Akuma can do.
· Forward Jump Short that’s an ambitgious crossup (never crosses up)
· Forward Jump Forward (crosses up)
· Empty Jump landing in FRONT hitting low into combo
· Empty Jump landing behind you hitting low into combo

Unblockable Setup:
When Ryu is in or near the corner, forward throw with Akuma. Immediately dash forward twice and do crossup jump forward = an unblockable kick. (This setup only works on Ryu, Ken and Akuma I believe…)

Mind games and Option Select:
Option Selects that Ryu can do on Akuma is limited due to his teleport and SRK. Mixup wise…an overhead…a crossup tatsu…that’s it…i think…? OS wise…after a knock down, you can do a jump in attack OS roundhouse TATSU…when the last hit hits, follow up with a fierce SRK. And uhhh…ummmm…OS sweep…and the Fireball OS against teleport on ground. (Read fundamental part 5)
Things to be aware of:
When Akuma is being pressured by Hadokens, he will keep trying to move around like throwing air fireballs hoping those will hit you so that they can reposition himself…or they would do demon flips trying to go over your fireballs…or simply just jump in on you. Basically that’s the strategy when it comes to Ryu vs Akuma. Pressure him, make him move and try to counter everything he does. On the other hand, if an Akuma is pressing you by zoning you out, you can jump at him trying to land combo once or twice just to give a message to your opponent that YOU would actually jump. This message will then forces him to hesitate on his fireballs and this is when YOU start to zone.
Also, a couple more things to keep in mind that when you are in a huge lead on life…don’t jump in! One Raging Demon can probably cost you the game! And last but not least, don’t try to uppercut all his jump ins due to possibility of bait tatsu or change of whiffing your SRK against Demon Flip Dive kicks. As mentioned above earlier, use low fierce at these situations.
[SIZE=4][/details][/SIZE]

Blanka

Spoiler

Ryu vs Blanka

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[SIZE=5][SIZE=5]Blanka[/SIZE][/SIZE]

This used to be slightly in Blanka’s favor, but when it came to AE, I think it’s an even match up due to Blanka’s range nerfed on blocked “Blanka Ball”. In this match up, simple strategies such as turtling until time over with minimal mistakes or put Blanka in the corner and slowly grind your opponent’s health. It’s not a hard match up, but I personally think it’s really boring/annoying to play against. Anyhow, I will share what I know about this match up.

Ground Game:

Far Range: Blanka doesn’t have much he can do but to build meters with electricity. As Ryu, either you can build meter full screen for super meter if you decide to turtle, otherwise, throw “jab” version fireballs to interrupt his meter management and slowly walk him in the corner.

Mid Range: Blanka at this range uses his low fierce a lot, and it is punishable on block with sweep (unless Blanka performs it at max distance) or super (any distance). Blanka’s other strong pokes such as his low strong is only whiff punishable, however it is not scary at all because it does little damage plus not a cancelable move. His sweep of course is his main footsie tool, but again it is punishable on block with low strong or low forward and no need to mention, super.

Make sure you don’t forget and respect Blanka’s slide, though most of the slides should be guesses so sometimes taking risks throwing “fierce” version fireball to make it harder to react. Whenever you block a slide, the best punish would be low forward > hurricane kick for most damage and pushes your opponent into the corner.

Close Range: Ryu has nothing fear at this range but make sure you have no gaps in between your poke strings to get up balled and let Blanka gets away.

Counter:

Blanka Ball: Any normals or special attacks as long as you time it right excluding hurricane kick. (In AE version, Ryu can also punish with sweep on block.)

Ex Version: Any timed punches, SRK or EX SRK

Electricity: SRK

Ex Version: Same as normal version

Rainbow Ball: Any normal attacks before it hit you. (Best to use low fierce to counter)

Ex Version: Same as normal version

Up ball: Mp SRK or EX SRK

Ex Version: Nothing can beat it. You can only punish this move on whiff or block.

Against Ultra 1: This ultra is extremely scary because of its damage output. Whenever he has ultra meter, you might want to hesitate your attack on his wake up because it will beat all of your options except EX SRK. Another thing Ryu players need to be cautious about is when Blanka using this as a mix up on YOUR wake up making you guess which way is the correct way to block. However, thanks to me, you guys can now block this mix up correctly without guessing, and this is how you tell! Basically Blanak can’t perform this mix up only if he lands a forward throw. Take your time and carefully look at your foot, if Blanka is stepping on your foot then the ultra will be a crossup, if not then it’s not, simple as that.

Against Ultra 2: Treat this move like Chun Li’s ultra 1, don’t fireball unless you are sure that Blanka has no charge. It is now not punishable on block due to Ryu’s nerfed air hurricane kick.

On Ryu’s wake up:

Blanka’s mix up games relies on his hop to confuse his opponent to block correctly or even throws causing you to hesitate either to block or to tech. Besides the hop, Blanka can do a safe jump on Ryu after landing a forward throw then follow up with a timed cross up MK, be sure to block instead of going for some crazy counter/reversal because it is not GOING TO WORK!

There is also an ambiguous cross up Electricity once you get knocked down in the corner. Blanka does it by any knock down move and then whiffs a Blanka ball ending up on either side and starts electrocuting or whatever attack they want. I am sorry I have no advice on how to deal with this mix up but to concentrate……I usually can tell which one they end up.

Some Blankas also use this trick to finish you off when you don’t have enough life to take another Blanka Ball. If I didn’t remember wrong, they do it off a forward throw, than delays a HP version Blanka Ball on your wake up making it a cross up attack.

Mind games and Option select:

I think this is one of the match up that I have the least Option Selects and mix ups because of Blanka’s EX “UP” ball. So basically there aren’t much option selects you can do on Blanka besides catching his back dashes when Blanka sits meter-less. Ryu players can use the “BnB” (Bread N Butter) OS to catch back dashes like against most of the characters, BUT there is a pretty neat OS against Blanka and its OS into the dash punch (f.hp). Though it doesn’t catch Blanka’s back dashes but it’s a force block (gives you a counter hit if Blanka presses any buttons after his back dashes), and this allows you to put your opponent in the corner faster. Once you put Blanka in the corner, you must use OS low fierce on Blanka’s wakeup (watch out for his Ultra tho :S) to beat his Ex Rainbow Ball, keeping him away from escaping. Any other reversal he does are punishable on hit, therefore it might be worth taking the hit.

Things to be aware of:

In Super, whenever you see Ex Rainbow Ball, Ryu can just simply counter it with a low fierce. Now switching to AE, it works when Blanka is trying to escape in the corner, but if its mid screen wise, pay closely attention if it’s reaching over your head before you throw out the punch. Blanka can now control his Ex Rainbow Ball like Bison’s Devil Reverse, therefore Blanka can throw you out of your whiffed low fierce.

Even though there’s not much mix ups you can do on Blanka’s wake up when he has meters, but you can do empty jump ins to bait and block his EX Up Ball then punish with Ultra 1. (Note You have to stand block the Ex Up Ball in order to punish with Ultra 1, and the ultra has to be a reversal)

Throw wise fireballs which means throw it when Blanka has no charge. Of course, be careful of the slides which are not hard to bait. Always have yourself ready to block low and sometimes if you predict a slide, focus level 2 for a free combo. Blanka has nothing scary when he has no charge and doesn’t have much answer against a level 2 focus. He can throw you where you can just back dash out of it, and on top of that, Blanka has to get close to you to land damage. This match up is only frustrating when you can’t get close in my opinion.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Balrog

Spoiler

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ryu vs Balrog

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[SIZE=5]Balrog(Boxer)[/SIZE]

I kind of switched up my layout a little bit for this matchup. Make sure you read the counter part of his special moves otherwise it might be confusing in the “Mind game and OS section”
This is a popular matchup! As Justin Wong said, it’s kind of a counterpick against Ryu. I would say 5.8-4.2 in Balrog’s favour, and probably 6-4 if you ever happen to fight a Balrog who just sits whole day and can do perfect anti-airs. Balrog has some of the best normals in this game in my opinion. Either him or Chun-Li have the best normals, but i would probably say Chun Li just because I am Chinese! (BIASSS!!!) Chun-Li has faster ones I would say, but I’ll get to that matchup in the future.
Balrog has more control on the ground when it comes to Ryu. Especially when Balrog has EX-meter, because Ryu players have to be cautious to not to get swept by Balrog, but also have to be wary of his armored EX-rush punches. For Ryu, good zoning is the key to winning. Otherwise, it’s going to be way too tough. One thing to note is that Balrog has a pretty weird hitbox and if anybody ever realizes how he looks big, but his hitbox is actually smaller than it looks. However, hopefully you readers can learn something reading this. So here it goes:
**Ground Games: **
Far Range/Full Screen: Zone him out, Balrog’s jump is short and lands slower than most of the players. If Balrog ever wants to get in, his options are jump, turn around punch which can be reacted and countered easily (at least for me it is) or doing random Ex-rush punches when he has meters, but that can also be countered.
Mid Range: This is Balrog’s best range. You have to be careful of his sweep, because it is far and fast. And yes, all Balrogs abuse this normal like no freakin’ tomorrow. (Imagine Ryu’s sweep is like Balrog’s droolz ) Ok, enough dreaming. Whenever you can sense that YOUR sweep range can touch him, that is also where his sweep can touch you. So don’t try and recklessly do low forward that won’t hit, if you whiff you will get punished by his sweep. As I mentioned above about his weird hit box, when you try to land a low forward against him, don’t be afraid to walk a bit more forward then do it. You will see better result than your usual low forward range.
Also this is a range where allows you to throw random fireballs that is hard for Balrog to react in time. But beware, if Balrog is crouching, he might have charged headbutt which will go through your fireball. Look to throw your fireball when he’s walking forward when he has no charge. Though he can jump as well… …just be careful… :).
Close Range: This range is pretty dangerous as well since Balrog has a 3f jab which basically beats everything of Ryu’s except SRK. Being stuffed by his jab leaves you not much options but GUARD or mash on SRK which probably won’t do much since there is a big risk if you miss :(. ( Not recommended! ) Majority of the boxers would follow up by rush punches to apply more pressure and chip damage or lead to a throw ( I find Balrog’s throw pretty hard to tech maybe because he walks fast and has a 3f jab which is the same frame as throw that screw up your timing. )
Be sure to watch out not to get hit by an EX overhead rush punch which can cost you a lot of life
On Ryu’s Wakeup:
Balrog has a little trick after a head butt knock down. They whiff a forward jump roundhouse to land as a crossup or front and then land a meaty jab which you have to block or do a srk to punish. (You can tech, don’t even try). Back dash on wakeup is also not recommended because Balrog does have an option select sweep. So ya…um…block please. That is your best option.
**Counters: **
Dash Straight Punch: This is Boxer’s fastest rush punch. An early straight jump attack, early low forward or focus attack level 2 allows you to land combos. (If this you are close enough when you blocked this move, you can punish with fierce Srk, jab into combo or super)
Dash Straight Low Punch: Same as straight punch but slower. And can punish with sweep on block.
Over Head Punch: This is the slowest rush punch out of all his rush punches. Can counter like the rest of the rush punches except focus attack since its armor breakable. On block you can punish with jab into combo, a fierce srk or super(make sure Balrog doesn’t fadc back dash after you block it)
Straight Uppercut Punch: This punch whiffs if you block low and not armor breakable. As it named, uppercut punch, can hit you in the air!
Dash Low Uppercut Punch: Another armor breakable rush punches with decent speed. Depends on range, usually can be swept on block.
EX-Rush Punches: All ex rush punches can be countered by low forward xx srk (best counter), throws (you can only grab ex straight punch if he’s close enough, the punch sticks out too fast) and hurricane kick/EX-hurricane kick.
Turn around punch: Goes through fireball and almost hits full screen. To counter this move the trick is to look at his body closely. Whenever he starts turning around, have you SRK ready to counter it. This move is not punishable on block.
Head Butt: Normal version is a lot slower than the ex version one which is not a good move to use on wake up. Ryu can usually beat it with a meaty attack or block in time if he ever does it on his wake up. Ryu’s low forward makes this move whiffs.
**Against Ultra 1: **
This ultra can go through fireball and has a pretty wide range, its like Chun-Li’s ultra startup which is pretty fast. However if Balrog ever does use ultra 1 to go through hadouken full screen ANYWHERE or mid range in MID SCREEN, the last part of the ultra never hits. Therefore if you ever have enough life to take those damage and wants to finish him off with a SRK > FADC > Ultra, this is also an option :). But other then that, don’t throw reckless fireball, make sure he has no charge.
**Against Ultra 2: **
I actually never bumped into ONE Balrog who uses this ultra…nothing much to comment since I have ZERO experience. But I guess…when he has ultra meter treat him like Zangief?
**Mind games and Option Selects: **
In a Balrog matchup, reading your opponent can make the match less tough. Balrog has a pretty far and fast backdash that only Ryu’s OS hurricane kick/super/ultra can hit. A close jump in attack OS sweep does hit sometimes, but why not do Hurricane kick when it’s going to catch his back dash 100%? Ground OS there aren’t much cause OS sweep doesn’t hit. As a result only option is OS fireball that doesn’t do a lot of damage ( better than nothing I guess? ) However, whenever you do a jump in OS attack, make sure your jump in is a safe jump in order to block any of his wakeup moves if he doesn’t back dashes.
When Balrog has meter, Ryu’s safest thing to do on his wake up is low forward or ex-hurricane kick that beats everything of Balrog’s. Even if he back dashes your low forward would hit him out of the air. Most of the Balrogs tend to do an EX-straight rush punch on wakeup since its safe and beats all of Ryu’s attack. As I mentioned above, reading skills do apply in this matchup, therefore if you can read your opponent correctly, throw him or do an ex hurricane kick when you think he is going to do an EX rush punch on wake up. Mix up it with a safe jumped OS and an empty jump throw just to make your opponent think.
All charge-based characters are afraid of crossups, not just Balrog. It forces them to block in the other direction and lose their charge. Option selects are useful, but don’t leave crossup attacks out. Especially when you have a super meter, doing a crossup hurricane kick into super can make a huge lead or a big come back.
Other things to be aware of:
Most Ryus follow up with fireball 2-in-1 after a low forward as a habit. In this matchup, you have to make sure your low forward > fireball is at a combo range. All of Balrog’s special moves can go through fireball and if they assume you will throw a fireball after the low forward, most likely they will do an EX-rush punch or headbutt into ultra.
After a low forward fireball that is in combo range, Balrogs tend to do a reversal rush punch just to get in + free damage that forces you to block. In this case, right after your fireball, whiff a low forward OS hurricane kick ( you can do fireball if you want ) to counter his rush punch. But do be cautious that smart Balrogs ( especially the ones I fight in Japan ) will wait for your low forward then punish with a sweep. It’s all about who has the better reading skills :).
Many Balrogs will try to jumping fierce over fireballs without fear of being punished. BUT THAT IS WRONG! Ryu can punish his whiffed jump fierce with a jab ( Daigo uses jab ) or a fierce punch ( I use fierce punch cause it beats it clean, and I don’t see the risk if I whiff ). Also roundhouse kick works too, but it’s a trade.
Last but not least, a little secret when Balrog has Ryu down to one chip damage of life left, they will often do an ex-headbutt on your wake up to finish you off. BUTTTT there is an escape! Whiffing low forward on wake up with Ryu can evade his headbutt ( I swear I was the first one who discovered this ). This reduces Ryu’s hitbox dramatically to where Balrog will sail right over. This also works on Balrog’s focus attack. If people ever charges to level 2/3, whiff a low forward, the focus attack can’t hit you.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Cammy

Cody

Spoiler

Ryu vs Cody

January 19, 2012 in Match Up

http://www.airryu.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/cody-ssf4-header.jpg

Cody
I have heard a lot of Ryu players struggle in this match up since AE, and I was no exceptional. In the beginning when I had trouble in this match up was when I approached Sasaki’s Cody when I was training AE in Japan. I lost horribly against him and for once I thought this was a bad match up. However, the more I played him the more I realized the match up experience I lack and the things I was doing wrong. The problem I got the most against Cody was that I am getting hit by his low short way too much and once he got in I was pressing too many buttons trying to get out of the poke strings/frame traps.
Ground Game
Far Range: This is the range where you want to be at when playing defensive against Cody. I wouldn’t say you should always be in this range just because he can easily walk you in the corner and that’s where Ryu loses in this match up. I usually take advantage at this range and spam fireballs which will eventually force him to jump over them (no way he is going to walk and block trying to get close to you). Wisely use this chance to build meter while controlling where you want him to be.
Mid Range: Whenever I get into this range I will mash out my best poke (low forward) to keep him out. I can’t say Cody has no footsies, but he doesn’t have much scary pokes at this range. His 3f low short can play a solid ground game against Ryu’s low forward, however, it does barely any damage unless the Cody player can hit confirm into Ruffian kick or Criminal Uppercut which is nearly impossible to react to. (Remember that both Criminal Uppercut and Ruffian Kick are punishable on block *READ **Counter *section
Other strong pokes Cody might use at this distance would be his standing roundhouse and standing medium kick. They both have a long reach and high priority, however, the roundhouse can be beat by Ryu’s standing strong (MP) or jab while the standing medium kick loses to Ryu’s low strong.
It somewhat sounds like whatever pokes Ryu use at this range is safe, but I have to warn you….SWEEP is not safe and punishable on block by Cody’s MK Ruffian Kick.
Close Range: Cody’s best range due to his high priority and high block stun normals can completely lock down a blocking Ryu.
Counters
Bad Stone: The jab version has a very fast recovery time, however all three versions have a slow start up. It can be countered by chucking a faster projectile or simply attack him before the rocks are released.
Ex Bad Stone: This comes out as a faster projectile than the fierce version. Therefore you can counter it the same as the normal version.
Criminal Upper: NOTE this move is not safe on block, the fastest recovery for it is -5f which means any version can be punished with a sweep or anything faster. For counter wise, any attacks before it hits you.
Ex Criminal Upper: The ex version has a much faster start up and priority; however, as a return it has a slower recovery. It can be punished or counter exactly like the normal Criminal Upper.
Ruffian Kick: Three different version aims at three different directions. The LK hits low, MK hits mid and HK goes upward as an AA. They look like they have a fast start up, but in fact they don’t, which makes it easy to beat it. Any attack can beat this move and the Ruffian kick has a very slow recovery time allowing Ryu to do high damage combos.
Ex Ruffian Kick: This is a faster version of the LK Ruffian kick that goes through projectiles; it can be countered and punished the same as the normal version.
Zonk Knuckle: A turn around punch that has invincibility start up
Ex Zonk Knuckle: A version with much more invincibility and faster start up that contains 2 hits rather than one. This move can’t be countered since all the moves will lose to the Ex Zonk except SRK, but both the SRK and Zonk will whiff while allowing Cody to have a free punish before Ryu’s recovery.
Bad Spray: This command move can only be used as a wake up reversal with 2 hits allowing him to FADC into Ultra or other moves.
On Ryu’s Wake Up
Cody has a lot of tricks up his sleeves, but he doesn’t have much against Ryu due to his 3f SRK allowing Ryu to prevent from safe jumps. Alright, you know what, I lied, he does have one but Ryu has to be in mid screen or near mid screen in order for the safe jump setup to work since it has to be spaced currently by Cody. Anyways, this is the setup:
Cody has to start this combo up close to Ryu, then low jab x 2 > low MP > ex Ruffian Kick (there are two ways to do it), immediately whiff low short > stand short OR do fake stone > neutral jump MK
However, this setup is not useful in an actual battle because Ryu can just back dash out of it, if the Cody player follows up with option select, it defeats the safe jump.
Aside from this useless safe jump, he does have several gimmicky mix ups which are quite dangerous and scary.
First, just make sure you guys do understand that Cody really frame trap/throw based character and that’s what makes his mix ups work. Now I have stated that, let me carry on with the guide. There are several ways for Cody to start his mix ups, after a forward throw, a back throw and after a HP Criminal Upper. These will be his options after those knock downs
-Empty jump to bait.
-Empty jump EX Zonk to beat your entire wake up options.
After you got used to those and start doing delay techs, smart Cody player would quickly adjust to it and might start doing this
-Empty jump delayed St.Fierce for frame trap
-Empty low short > combo
And then after you start blocking those, he might start doing an actual jump in attack on your wake up. It’s just pure mind games, they’re all 50/50 situation, a very good match up to practice your mind games.
Alright, I don’t want to make him sound like he’s an Abel like character when he’s not since he has some dirty setups once he has Ryu in the corner, and here they are.
-forward throw Ryu in, walk back a little then cross up with J.MK makes it an unblockable on Ryu.
-have Ryu in the corner, any combo (actually I am not sure about the any combo part…)into Ex Ruffian Kick, forward dash twice and cross up with J.HP is an ambiguous cross up while a cross up J.MK is a real cross up. However, if you have your stick in neutral (not holding any direction) this move will whiff FYI, but of course your opponent should know this and might mix it up with other jump in attacks or just simply throw.
Mind Games and Option Select
There isn’t really a need to OS anything on Cody’s wake up since his back dash doesn’t go anywhere, therefore you can easily react and punish with a low forward > tatsu. Another reason why OS isn’t necessary is because Cody has no wake up reversal that can beat a jump in attack. However, even though in words I am saying that OS is not necessary, I still OS sweep on every jump in or ground attack just to make sure I can get another hard knock down if Cody does back dash.
As I mentioned above, Cody doesn’t really have any wake up options, therefore majority of the scenario, he is forced to block on wake up. In this case, a mixture of safe jump OS and a crossup J.Mk forces Cody to block on wake up, which makes this mix up very effective and make sure you take advantage of it. If you want to make it more ambiguous, trying crossing Cody up with jump LK, might be threatening to your opponent.
Things to be aware of
DON’T RANDOMLY PRESS BUTTONS when you have a comfortable life lead. One frame trap into combo can cost you at least 30% of your health. People usually keep blocking when they are in a life lead which is not recommended against Cody in my opinion. Instead of having you guessing whether it’s a throw or a frame trap, I would back dash out of the block string taking the advantage of Cody’s slow walk speed.
I tend to use a lot of F.HP to break Cody’s focus attack, however if he blocks it and uses low short (3f), all of your normals will be countered unless you use SRK or EX Tatsu.
Always beware of Cody’s Zonk which as I mentioned above that it goes under projectiles, it is one of his main weapon to get in against Shotos. Test out the maximum range of Zonk in order to space yourself correctly before throwing each fireball. Other thing that most of shotos might get hit by Zonk is when they follow up a fireball after a low forward, doesn’t matter if you are a Ken, Ryu, or an Akuma player, it is a common poke string (rather say habit) being used in a match. As long as you are not in a “true combo string” distance when performing low forward> hadoken, there is a gap in between for Zonk to get through, stay cautious.
Cody’s over head is also commonly use, a lot of high level Cody players like to do something like fake stone > overhead just to make you focus on the fake stone during wake up and once you start blocking they might mixing it up with something like fake stone > dash throw……or fake stone > low short > combo (I use this a lot since it’s 3f they have to guess and not possible to react to it), there possibly much more options that I can’t think out of my head right now.

Chun-Li

Spoiler

Ryu vs Chun Li

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TG564Ahm0MA/TP5HLTq8oYI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/KPhXvqEii9Y/s400/chunli-ssf4-header.jpg

Chun Li

[SIZE=3]Matchup[/SIZE]
I personally find this match up pretty fun though it’s a farely tough and annoying match up. In the beginning it’s a fair match up…but once Chun Li gets Ultra 1…and starts turtling like a bitch with perfect anti air……6:4 match up Chun’s favour. This match up is somewhat similar to Guile’s. Whoever gets the lead and able to hold it wins.
Ground Game:

Far Range: Ryu players can ignore Chun Li at this range only if she has U1. Use this chance to build meter and throw fireballs to push Chun Li near the corner. (Watch out for Chun Li focusing a fireball then dash forward and going over your fireball with her Hazanshu)

Mid Range: This is Chun Li’s best range and Ryu players have to respect it due to her standing strong, sweep and Hazanshu. Chun Li can control/ outplay Ryu at this range with her amazing pokes. Her st.strong can beat Ryu’s low forward and fast enough to stop Ryu from throwing a fireball. Not to forget mentioning about her sweep that can do the same or better job, it’s fast startup + fast recovery + knockdown. Treat her sweep like Balrog’s and Akuma’s. Most of the Chun Lis tend to follow it after low jabs. In this range, you have to fear to throw fireballs because of Chun Li’s Hazanshu which goes over fireball and it is not hard to react. The best solution for Ryu is to use his low strong instead of low forward (of course you don’t NOT want to use your low forward because it’s Ryu’s best normal for footsies, use it when you can hit with max distance). Ryu’s low strong can beat Chun Li’s st.strong, sweep and Hazanshu.

Close Range: This is the range where Ryu wants to be in. A chance to land big damage and basically Chun Li can’t do much but block. However, Chun Li can also be very scary at this range after she knocks you down. With her fast low jabs and shorts into Ex Lightning kicks that deals decent damage and on top of that, also be aware of her FAR throw range.

On Ryu’s Wake Up:

Nothing scary except what I mentioned above about her with low jabs/shorts into throw mixups.
Counter:

Hazanshu**:** Best to use focus level 2 attacks to crumple for big damage, though it also works focusing the Hazanshu and dash forward to punish, however, timing is strict plus decent reactions are required. If you have sick reactions, react to the move and SRK.

Ex Version: Same as normal.
KiKoken: Can counter this move with early Super, ex fireball and hurricane kick.
Ex Version: Same as normal.
**Spinning Bird Kick:**Chun Li will not use this move aside from combos.

Ex Version: Can beat it with SRK, Super and Ultra.

Lightning Kick: Chun Li will not use this move only if it’s into combos. Can punish with sweep or fierce SRK on block.

Ex Version: Same as normal version

Against Ultra 1: When Chun has ultra meter, by all means…NO fireball unless she is walking forward. Don’t forget about her dash forward ultra…so make sure you watch her motion carefully. Moreover, don’t sweep recklessly because IT IS reversal punishable on block.

Against Ultra 2: Nothing too scary about this Ultra when it comes to this match up. Just don’t get combo into ultra J

Mind Games and Option Select:

Alright, in this match up you have to guess which option select to use on her wakeup. Obvious situation like when she has no meter after you knock her down, use hurricane kick as an option select following with a jump in attack. Once she has meters, you might want to choose between safe jump OS hurricane kick which allows u to block her ex SBK or jump in attack OS strong SRK/SUPER/ULTRA to beat the move. OS strong SRK does beat backdash but it depends how close you when you jump in.
Mixing jump in OS with crossup jump ins, empty jumps hitting low or throw to be unpredictable. Don’t forget to use Ryu’s ex hurricane kick as a frame trap which works extremely well against Chun Li.
Things to be aware of:

Majority of the Chun Li would try to keep you out with stand strong which gives her + frame on blocked. They would usually follow with another stand strong /standing roundhouse/ Hazanshu or Kikoken to force Ryu to sit in his place. However they are all counter-able if you can read or react to your opponent correctly. Also beware of her standing roundhouse kick which has great range but counter-able with standing fierce or sweep and punishable with super on whiff.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you should not jump to her at all when you are leading in life. All you should do is turtle and make minimal mistakes. She can easily anti air or beats Ryu in the air. If you can keep her out properly, her only option is random Hazanshu (don’t forget to expect).
Usually after Chun Li gets out of trouble with a backdash, they would do a Hazanshu or a sweep just to keep you out.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

E. Honda

Ryu Matchup Thread

Tip number 1 for dealing with Honda: Remember that he sucks in Street Fighter 4.

If you feel like you can’t get ahead in a round, remind yourself that E.Honda just doesn’t have that many TOOLS (everyone’s favorite word) in Street Fighter 4 and take advantage of that.

Unlike Bison and Blanka, because E.Honda’s name does not start with a B he doesn’t get an EX attack that rolls through fireballs. Therefore, your basic fireball patterns will work wonders on him.

Look to piss off your opponent and cause him to jump at you where you can proceed to ultra him back across the screen. His butt splash is risky as well because if they do it too deep you can punish after you block it.

Once in a while do a cross up but be careful that you don’t screw it up and get his command throw.

Be patient and remember that its Ryu’s match to lose and that a zoning Ryu can shut down just about everything E. Honda has.

The only time you need to worry is when E.Honda has an Ultra because (I THINK, can’t remember) he can Ultra through your fireballs and smash you good. When he gets the Ultra, just chill out and dragon his attempts to get in.

Ryu Matchup Thread

C. MK is your friend in this match up. and you dont want to jump at him too much.

if you do trip him, make sure your crossups are solid. his ex headbut is a great anti-air that will get you

All honda players will want to get in on you so they can get off the ochio throw and mix you up with butt stomps.

so keep him out with fireballs and c.mk, and punish his jump ins if the opportunity arises

Ryu Matchup Thread

if he full screen head butts (ANY version) you can beat it out w/ cr. mp.
if he whores out butt stomps, block 1rst hit and focus the 2nd. punish accordingly.
his j. hp is RETARDED priority. (neutral jump hp) I’ve seen it beat out ryu s.hk, cr. fierce.

he’s gonna hate fireballs so whore them out (safely) from a good distance where he has to react quick, or block. ( you want the chip, or him trying to focus back dash) The more he goes towards his corner, the easier it will be to punish his headbutts because he can’t recover from a good distance away, he’s in corner.
bait out his ultra/super so he cant punish your fireballs, most scrubs will wake up ultra, wake up super… after a knock down, get close to him (but out of throw range) and walk back and forth quickly to scare him into thinking your going to do something. hopefully he wake’s up ultra, but watch out because he can go straight into super after ultra for free… just block both and throw fireballs once again.

gl to you and your matches against honda.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Also remember: Honda can’t go through fireballs hardly at all.

You can zone the crap out of him and make him work really hard to close the distance.

If you can put on a good defense and get a healty life lead (30% or so), you can run away the rest of the match and drive him CRAZY with frustration that you aren’t falling for his nonsense trap.

This is the same thing as ELF players spamming the press back and forth…its a gimmick, it works some of the time…so once you learn how to evade them, watch their game turn to junk (most of the time).

Ryu Matchup Thread

Fireball spam AT THE RIGHT DISTANCE is really good.

Do not become predictable at the range where he can jump over and get a combo if he predicts your fireball correctly. A lot of your SRKs will trade his jump-ins, be prepared for this and make sure you EX fireball all trades, the extra damage is well needed in this match.

At footsies range, watch for his walk-up f.rh, it hits low. Try to catch him at this range with a sweep. You can’t throw them out recklessly, you have to think and make sure that at the very least it’ll connect for a block. If he jumps your sweep your recovery is really bad so you’ll eat another huge combo or at the least an oicho throw.

After you catch him with a sweep or a throw make him your bitch with cross-ups. Tick throws are pretty bad against him when he has meter because he can get out of your pressure games with EX-headbutt.

If you’re really good with timing you can try to cr.jab/cr.mp him out of the air during his mid-screen headbutts, but it’s risky.

So yeah, all I can think of for now.

Ryu Matchup Thread

If you are trading when he jumps at you just FA dash back, then instant air tatsumaki if you are cornered. You have to run away a bit, until like you say, you have meter, then you can go for the trade and the ex hadouken or ultra. Dash back beats everything but slaps, so don’t get to predictable, use a lot of c.mk hadouken, your pokes are faster, but not longer, so once you are in c.mk range he will either jump (FA), if he doesnt have a charge (poke away, c.mk hadouken) if he does have a charge, throw the c.mk and watch out for the butt splash.

And don’t get knocked down, LOL. Seriously your best bet is to not get knockdown.

honda vs. ryu

honda’s options:

stop sign - honda’s jump straight up fierce punch. this stuffs practically all of ryu’s jump-ins.

headbutt - works great as anti air and also as poke.

HHS combo - +6 on block, +10 on hit can combo, honda has a lot of options after this.

s.hk - great ground poke.

don’t be afraid to fireball honda. honda cannot pass through fireball except if he has ultra or super. don’t make them predictable, gain meter(important) for DP trades(ex fireball followup) and FADC.

keep honda away. honda will probably stop sign over your fireballs. this is ok, you are gaining meter, it’s ok. eventually, honda will want to close distance and attack. don’t be predictable, stick to your ground game. honda’s s.hk is great poke and you need to block this on reaction. honda’s that abuse stop sign will get owned by ryu’s s.hk. you HAVE to know stop sign distances or your s.hk will get beat by stop sign. honda can control is stop sign movement by going backwards or forwards and he will probably go backwards. this is why you need to walk in. if you aren’t too careful, honda will s.hk you on ground for walking in too close, block on reaction or early.

honda’s jumpin will trade with dp sometimes so you need to ex fireball right after or you will lose the trade.

don’t make jump-ins predictable. stop sign STUFFS jumpins. hondas can stop sign randomly and be safe so honda’s will semi-abuse this. walk in, block s.hk if he throws it out, if he stop signs, walk close and s.hk.

headbutts can’t be punished by ryu, unless you have super. against headbutt abusers, make distance, jump back and create space, if he headbutts, dp when you land. if not, fireball and play the zoning game. if it looks like you won’t make it to the ground in time, hk on your way down from back jump and 50/50 hit or miss.

halfscreen distance to full screen, if you see charge. tap df, df, df, buffer shortcut DP, if he throws headbutt, DP --> FADC–> ultra if you got it. fireballs can be throw from this distance.

buttslam is unpunishable - block it, don’t attack after, second one can follow if you try to attack and can beat you jumping back. watch for ochio tick guessing game. buttslam can whiff, punish if it does. try to regain space.

honda has very good ochio guessing game with s.lp. can follow s.lp with HHS or ochio.

after HHS is guessing game too.

don’t leave gaps in strings. honda can ex headbutt to disrupt string safely.

crossing up honda isn’t safe, buttslam works well against crossup.

El Fuerte

Ryu Matchup Thread

Ok, well first off the first thing you have to watch out for is when El Fuerte does his Habanero Dash he has 4 options of attacks.
First if he is dashing towards you then he has the choice of a Sweep, a combo linking kick, or a jumping body slam. Most likely will be a Body slam or sweep. I rarely see El Fuerte’s use a kick. Second off, if you manage to knock him down or he reverses his dash just in time and fakes you he has the choice of another Jumping Body Slam.
If he retreats all the way to the corner of the screen he most likely will be jumping off the wall and heading towards you with yet another body slam… these body slams can all be countered by a simple Shoryuken.
But please be aware of the fact that they might miss the wall jump body slam on purpose to lure you in and get you in a reversal dash body slam.

So… just in case you managed to get knocked down by El Fuerte you might want to do a quick get up followed by a H.Tatsumaki to get distance.
because he will most likely try to keep crossing you up with the body slam everytime you get up. Which can lead to massive amounts of damage and of course this is El Fuerte’s most known technique.

Basically in this game use your zoning game and Shoyuken game.
Use your Hadouken to lure him into you or send him cornering and he will most likely do a body slam off the wall and you can counter with a shoryuken.

Also, use caution when Fuerte has a Ultra or Super because he can catch you right out of the tatsumaki. So limit that move when he has those Bars.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Depending on the gimmicks. If a decent Elf (where are they?) starts running silly, they will do probably splash, slide, or mix up a throw. If your timing is good, c.mk can knock him out of a run, unless he ex’s it. Jump back rh (sort of like Wall-Dive counters) should get you out of it.

If Elf is wall jumping and being a clown, I assume he’s holding a kick button for the s.fp -> bomb combo. l.dp when he flies towards you. Also, his bomb has a strange start up which can throw your timing off, so watch out.

When he has Ultra, don’t whiff a dp, ever.

Edit: Good Elf’s can dance around fireballs all day long. With fast reflexes on dp’s you should be able to pressure him close. He’s very weak and is a push over until he has ultra, where he will wait for a simple mistake, probably while poking out c.jabs

Ryu Matchup Thread

lol do you play on xbox live? i’m at about 7k bp right now and there are 2 fuerte’s that loop like madmen that shit is crazy, The matchup is a lot of guessing and trying to abuse your risk reward. Biggest problem imo is SRK loses to his dashing FP throw thing and LP shoryu is absolutely worthless as it only beats the slide.
Learn to defend against his shit is really all you can do.

If you expect the body slam i reccomend FADC’ing and treating it like vega’s walldive, but the throw isn’t guaranteed so train them with throw and mix in SRK cancel ultra.

The throw still is giving me troubles as i haven’t found anything i can do to punish the shit jump straight up and he recovers before you land and i think can even punish you with his anti-air thingy. Your best option is to try and backdash punish it or just jump the hell out of there and try and keep him off you.

If he jumps off the wall just srk him …

Be careful with fireballs use them but sparingly and not when he’s within half or so screen, his body slam actually i think doesn’t have a hit box at the beginning of the move, as i’ve seen him literally jump through a fireball with it but not entirely sure.

@LuCieD (fuerte match up)i’ve found that moving around and not standing in one spot made it difficult for fuerte to “home in” on my position to land his “moves”. fuerte likes to get in close to execute is “throw-type-moves”, bodysplash, or slide. i try to play him at a distance so if he jumps off the wall to get in close, it is easy to see it coming for an easy DP. to execute some of furetes more damaging ‘moves’ fuerte has to do his “running” move first so in order for him to get in close and do lets say a ‘bodysplash’ he has to run at you. if you don’t stay in one spot its harder for fuerte to time when to execute his bodysplash. i also like to throw in a few tatsu when he’s running towards me that ususually brakes things up and keeps him on his toes. watch out for his crossups/mixup they are very good, doing a quick standup when knocked down and tatsu out of there could help…

i am no expert, but just wanted to contribute what i’ve experienced, since i’ve learned so much from people like mickey d, kuma, aks216, etc… thanks again guys, my ryu is coming along nicely, slowly but surely…

Fei Long

Ryu Matchup Thread

This is very true, and it doesn’t help that his flame kick has great priority as well.

For me, I feel playing footsies and conditioning with full screen hadou zoning is the best way to go. You can’t afford to whiff anything against a good Fei player cause his Rekka has insane speed, so playing it safe is your best bet. There isn’t much he can do to you if you turtle.

With that said. c.mk xx hadou is your best friend.

From full screen: From this distance you should zone Fei as hard as possible for as long as possible using your fireballs.

From mid screen: From this distance Fei’s chickenwing becomes a threat, but since it has such slow startup Fei has to anticipate your fireballs to use it effectively. With this knowledge you can bait him to use it and then punish him.

Fei has strong anti-air - do not jump in on him unless it is a deep crossup.

Once Fei gets in to the edge of poke range he has the advantage because of his superior speed. You can anticipate his attacks with cr.MK xx fireball or run away to a safer distance.

Up close: The safest option up close is to play defensively, wait for an opening and then punish.

Once you have a knock down you can run away, bait a reversal flame kick, or do a meaty cross-up (must be deep to beat his flame kick). Remember that his EX flame kick will beat a crossup.

Ryu Matchup Thread

just been thinking about this. Personally, I’m not sure there’s a lot of point in zoning Fei, his jump is awesome and he’ll just FADC through it. That means youre giving him ultra metre. Fireballs are important, but I think they just need to be thrown randomly for poking and to bait.

Also, be VERY wary of his FA. Its so damn quick its unreal. I had a Fei pretty much murder me with just FA and pokes yesterday. Not sure what to do about it though.

Can definately cross him up a lot, even if he has EX. EX takes 5 frames of start-up, I think its invincible though (someone confirrm that please?) but if you bait it you obviously get a massive opening into ultra.

Thing to realise here is that Fei Long has a very solid game, and his pokes are better than Ryu’s. Up close, defence is definately the main game. I guess its a case of being patient.

BTW; is Fei Long actually low tier? i’ve seen him rated both high and low. Personally, I think he’s a great character, but that might just be cause he’s good against Ryu. Maybe he sucks against other characters.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Fei’s flamekicks all have 5 frames of startup with invincibility. EX flamekick has one extra frame of invincibility on his first active frame, so if your crossup is truly meaty then he should be hitting you while he’s still invincible. I’ll have to test it out when I get home tonight, but I haven’t had much luck in the past (perhaps my timing or spacing was just dodgy).

It’s a good point you make about his FAs. Particularly when it comes to our favourite cr.MK xx fireball since we tend to rely very heavily on it, and everybody knows it.

A favourite trick of Fei players (which is even written up in their matchup thread) is to walk in looking for cr.MK xx fireball and block the cr.MK, focus the fireball and then punish. It’s often worthwhile mixing up your pokes with things like:
cr.MK xx EX fireball
cr.MK, backdash
cr.MK, FA

As for Fei’s actual tier listing it’s very hard to find anything concrete since most lists only contain the arcade roster. :arazz:

Ryu Matchup Thread

i think the trick is to make fei earn every inch of property with fireball > backdash when necessary… also this will allow you to bait chickenwings, try to duck or neutral jump them, if the cw hits you then it’s 0 frame punish. This makes it very important that CW doesnt touch you (Even on block).

Otherwise it’s footies and ability to ultra.

P.S. Don’t jump towards fei, ever. lol

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Gen

Ryu Matchup Thread

Gen vs. Ryu
Learn to look for his jump … he wants to jump bad. However, Ryu’s FP shoryuken eats his jumps. Cr. Mk lets you ground zone him all day as his pokes suck. just frustrate him into jumping with safe hadoukens and cr. Mk and punish with shoryu ultra. Gen doesn’t have many good options against ryu just his jump is very very good and hard to reactively dp consistantly.

Ryu Matchup Thread

you can punish any of his off the wall dive kicks w/ srk.
his cr. short (the one that pops you to the air) is punishable, rape him if he does it.
i believe he has a hard time getting ppl off of him on wake up.
i also believe he cant do anything on wake up.
practice block strings and try to mix up a throw in between to catch him off guard.
if he’s starting to tech your mix ups, repeat that mix up, but instead of throw put a srk-fadc-ultra. (i catch them all the time w/ this b/c they are always trying to mash either tech-throw/jab to beat your throw)

throws opens them up to doing something. punish that opportunity when he gives it to you. gl

Ryu Matchup Thread

I not sure whether you mean is wall jump or his regular jump. For his wall jump, its really just a case of watching his angles, SRKing if possible or sometimes just jumping up with mk or fk…

if you mean his regular jump cross-up. Gens jumps are a bitch. They pretty muc make it unsafe to FB from any distance except full screen, so bear that in mind. You can definately counter his cross-ups, but I personally prefer just to block. Use a solid ground game against him, your basic pokes and shit. Gen’s great when youre throwing FB’s, jumping and trying to be all aggressive, but if you limit your attacks to ground moves, never jump, and dont FB from anywhere except full screen, you should find that Gen really neds to work for his hits, and you can counter, and throw some basic pokes and shit out. All in all, Gen is a counter character - he wants you to attack so he can dive over, or cross you up, or whatever, but if you just stand head-to-head with him, the advantage will be all yours.

Gouken

Ryu Matchup Thread

Ryu vs Gouken

This matchup isn’t really that bad maybe even in ryu’s favor.

Do not jump … except as a rare mixup. cr. FP will beat any and all jump in attempts.

He has better fireball recovery but at full screen you can actually kind of keep up with him. I know it’s odd, but i think it’s because he can’t throw another one until the first one dissapears.

Midscreen don’t throw fireball unless you are throwing one in response to him throwing one, as he’ll EX dash through it and that shit hurts. It’s good to do this though as it builds meter and that’s important to ryu.

To get in just Focus through the fireballs and mix up sweeps (or cr. MK), releasing the focus, supering through fireball, SRK FADC and throwing to get in. Remember you can hit his out stretched arm during a fireball for a crumple combo with a focus attack. You can’t evade his fireballs with hurricane kick.

Really once you get inside cr. MK range the matchup is really in your favor. If you can get him cornered he can EX Demon, but you can dp him (deep don’t do it early or you’ll go through him) through the kick but watch for the parry which you can punish when he lands.

If he tries to poke into fireball you mix in focus attacks to crush him, and SRK FADC. If you block a dp you can shoryu FADC it.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Gouken isn’t bad he’s like sagat but without the scary ass anti-air options. Need a 3s mindset when jumping though. Respect the parry but unlike 3s … You can punish him for attempting it.

If he plays zoning gouken (the only type imo) I reccomend trying to build a bit of ultra meter before approaching him, really made me see the matchup a lot differently as his fireballs aren’t like Sagat’s as he doesn’t have a 2 hit fireball and his fireballs are slow. Approaching him with a half powered ultra without taking any real dmg isn’t good for gouken.

Fireball from 3/4th’s + of the screen or else eat a DP from him. Other option is fireball his fireball on reaction to build meter safely, if he tries to dp you’ll block in time.

Getting in is the tough part as his sonic boom like recovery makes it hard to get in. You need to learn how he’s going to anti-air you when you jump. He wants to use cr. FP as it’s his most reliable anti-air, but if jumped correctly you can beat it with j. FP or FK as it comes out kinda slow (if it does come out though your going to lose). If he gets stuffed he’ll probably attempt a counter or try a more situational anti-air like cr. MK or st. MK. These are kinda mind gamey as j. FP and FK can win based on spacing against the MK’s, and empty jump allows a good punish of the counter (i recommend land immediate dp cancel).

A way to get in besides that is EX Fireballs (if he ever EX fireballs do yours for a knockdown, his ex fireballs are terrible), right outside of where his fireball appears can be done on reaction to get a knockdown (and this is your ultimate goal as after a knockdown you own the match). FA’ing Fireballs you have to be careful as if you dash forward at certain ranges he can actually punish the dash with a sweep … ya i was very frustrated when i found that out. But if your closer you can FA it than dash forward dp cancel, sweep, or cr. MKxxfireball (ex if the cr. MK hits cuz you WANT a knockdown).

Really once you get a knockdown if you can corner gouken, the matchup is very in your favor. He’s forced to guess his way out of the corner, he can’t jump out as you have dp ultra waiting, he can’t poke you very well as cr. MK is his daddy. closeup pressure really his only anwser is guess counter which if done incorrectly means lots of dmg done to him and resetting him into the same scenario.’

If he demon flips just j. attack him in some way than since you recover first upon landing mix him up (if he parries you still recover first it’s funny i know).

Ryu Matchup Thread

Gouken is kinda wierd, but i believe you can do it…
cross up’s aren’t always the best thing to do after knock downs. try getting in his face after a knock down, so he can get pressured into doing something stupid. (like wake up throw, which you can punish)

bait his ex counter, by an late empty cross up into throw, or bait his counter.

Add throws into the mix up so it opens him up for attacks.
example: cross over mk - cr. lp - cr. lp - walk throw
cross over mk - cr. lp - walk throw
empty cross up - cr. lp - throw
empty cross up - throw

sooner or later he’s gonna think that your going to throw him, at that time dp - fadc - ultra and punish him for thinking that. get back to me if you need more help.

Ryu Matchup Thread

1. Don’t just mindlessly jump in. Time your jumps when he is expecting something else, and then DO NOT just jump in with an attack…A good Gouken will perform high parry…so mixup between an empty jump -> throw, and empty jump -> low attack.

2. Ryu can out fireball him…if he is going to turtle and just hurl fireballs…show him why its not in his best interest…absorb his fireballs to build your Ultra…that is a good deterrant.

3. Bait his dashing elbow attack with a jump straight up, punish when he whiffs.

4. If you can get right in his face, he has very little answer for that except a parry (which is just guesswork…so mix up your attacks) or his Ultra…do NOT get in his face when he has his Ultra.

5. Jumping tatsu, performed on the rise of the jump will carry you over his 45 deg fireball.

Ryu Matchup Thread

First calm down, and just know that Ryu has all the necessary tools to beat Gouken, pretty handily I might add.

First off you should never be jumping in on a shoto period, unless its a cross up or proven-safe scenario. (Gouken is a pseudo shoto IMO) Make use of your dash and simply walk forward. If you bulldog him there’s little he’s likely to do. Your hadou’s will always beat his, especially when they’re considering to go into a fireball war with you. Which brings me to my next point: Zoning with hadou’s at long range.

This should always be an option when encountering a new character type. Gouken’s palm strike (his version of the DP that moves horizontally) will often be their means to get through your fireballs. If you block or if it wiffs its VERY punishable, so do that. Same with his flying tatsu.

At close range, work your block strings and always be handy to tech. Getting thrown by a Gouken is a perfect way into his EX tatsu or even ultra.

Be patient. With meter your fireball zoning will be dangerous, and there’s really NOTHING he can do to you if he doesn’t approach you. Frustrate him, make him come to you. He will make a mistake, and your job is to punish.

Good luck.

Guile

When you trade projectiles, you can SRK FADC his poke and fuck him up. If you miss oh well, he can’t do shit.

Just whore out your risk/reward factors but be smart about it. He can’t guess correctly for long.

edit: Focus absorb a sonic boom and dash up and mix him up with grab or shoryu FADC ultra.

Quick note on guile - if you block the first hit of his c.hk, and are at anywhere but his max range, you can sweep him before the second hit. It’s not hard to do this on reaction, and you can completely discourage guile from sweeping. The timing is pretty tight though, so it’s worth getting a feel for.

Hurricane kick is a pretty bad answer vs. Guile. His recovery is so fast on his booms that you have to be SUPER psychic for it to actually connect. More often than not you are going to be punished.

Unfortunately if you’re playing a good Guile it’s going to be VERY hard to get in on him. You can throw hadou’s faster than he can throw booms. Do that. Patience is very important.

Huricane kick is good only if you see your opponment throwin FP sonic.
You can t punish the LP sonic with huricane kick. strong guile player know this so …

just as every one say. it s a patience game just hado to try to make cheap damage.
you can punish his sweep on guard between the first and second hit with shoryu ( fadc ultra…)

you can also try to pressur him till geting him to the corner and then ex hado to counter his sonic boum( then ultra)

it s an hard fight but ryu have some tools.
guile game will be to avoid cheap damage, ex sonic boum to make you cheap damage and punsh you when you are impatient.
he can sonic boum at mid distance and punish you with a FP if you hado at the same moment due o recorvery. so be smart at mid distance( ex hado, or fa dash bach.)

I would not rely on a hurricane kick for guile. Be patient and poke the heck out of him. Use the tried and true low medium kick firefall cancel. He will block but, you will be serving chip damage. Ive always done better with this while keeping guile out of the corner. If he stays there you cannot cross him up and you can really only attack in one direction, you can’t jump because you will get punished.

The player will get frustrated and if the pressure is good and heavy will wiff a flip kick. Then you can punish. Always use safe jumps!!!

If you cross him up pretty deep he can’t Flash Kick on wakeup. Well, he can but he gets stuffed clean, that’s one of Guile’s big weaknesses in this game.

Old School SFII logic says anybody sweeping with Guile enough for you to notice isn’t playing him right. He should be using more low forward as the sweep is SO PUNISHABLE and always has been. In the old games you can block and sweep him back, you might also be able to backdash and do something if you anticipate it.

As far as the matchup in general, try to get a lead and make him come to you. Any random SRK you can hit is free damage into Ultra or Super. Also remember that Guile charges in down back a lot so you can overhead him more than most characters. (If he’s not expecting it/not charged for Flash Kick after a boom etc)

It depends on your style. I play turtle style so I would just match and hop his booms, get super and try to bait him.

Ryu Matchup Thread

As for Guile. Like another poster said ALWAYS punish his cr. hk. Block the first one, then in between the 2 hits you can pretty much do whatever you want. I usually just HP SRK in the face, or if I have meters I’ll SRK, FADC, Ultra. Getting the knockdown allows for your crossup game to take over. Don’t ever jump in on him unless it’s for a crossup. All Guile players spend the whole time just waiting for you to jump so they can flash kick. Don’t do it. Make him come to you. If he wants to stay back and throw booms just have a fireball war. Guile can’t win a fireball war with Ryu. When you are up close he will pretty much always be crouching so that his attacks are charged. Collarbone breakers work very well as a mix up to hit him while he’s crouch blocking. It’s safer than trying to get close enough to throw because you will get hit before you get that close, but forward + mp has pretty good range that can catch him off guard. Good luck.

Ken

If he’s spamming DPs like crazy then the match-up should be extremely easy . You probably need to improve your reaction time. If he’s spamming reversal DPs, there are three main things you can do:

1. On knockdown, bait DPs by standing next to him (but outside of his throw range).

2. Time your cross-ups so Ken’s DP’s whiff if he attempts a reversal. It results in a free grab or combo every time.

3. Hold d/b or back, and time your attacks so if he does decide to reversal, you’ll be blocking, and if he doesn’t your attack will come out.

ken is a really easy match
all that you should be worried about is his kara throw mixups
but outside of his jab range your winning this match

Yeah the best option is to just zone with hadouken and force him to jump into a Shoryuken.
Poke him with the Cr.Mid kick into Ex hadouken…
Then when you have him set to jump Lp.Shoryuken him in the air and break into a Ultra.

Ryu Matchup Thread

On ryu vs ken…

Don’t be afraid to block. Most kens know that the fierce shoryuken is a monster and will want to land it. Quite often they’ll try to do reversal fierce SRKs on wakeup or while you’re comboing them (in case you slip on the combo)

First, you need a combo to punish the srk each and every time. Just pick a combo you like well and can do consistently and make that your “whiffed SRK punishment combo.” I like j.rh > c.mk xx mk hurricane kick; it does decent damage and hitting them with the hurricane kick pushes them back. (If you have godly timing you can do some ridiculous linking shit like j.rh > c.mp > c.mp > c.mk xx hp hadouken. I am not good enough to get off that crazy 2 frame link shit consistently. Failure to link when you meant to often means you will eat a random DP reversal, so it’s important to be CONSISTENT!)

A lot of kens seem to have trouble with safe jumping… a lot of the time if you safe jump them on their wakeup they will take the bait and reversal fierce srk. (or even ultra!) Bait it, block it, punish it, repeat.

I don’t suggest using meaty attacks against them, except for maybe fireballs, as they’ll almost always make you eat some part of a fierce srk for trying it.

If they’re a good Ken they’ll be mixing in kara throws and not taking the bait and fierce srking every 10 seconds… then it gets interesting. Ken’s game is up-close so make sure you keep him at bay by using your fireballs well. Try to predict when his throws are coming and either tech, or if you’re feeling really sure (or really cocky) make him eat a DP.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

M. Bison (Vega/Dictator)

With M. Bison it is possible to FADC his head press and catch him with a SRK + EX Fireball or Ultra. If you get hit with the Splash more than likely he’s going to follow up with a crouching kick. You can also catch his Psycho crusher with a shoryuken. Once you get the knock down it’s a good idea to cross him up and go for the combo.

You shouldn’t be losing to head stomp spam. Neutral jump FP takes care of it and does a nice chunk of damage. If they are across the screen, get ready for a neutral jump. If you jump and swing and they devil reverse, get ready to FP shoryu. Don’t throw it out like a madman of course, but if they come in for you, be rocking the controller in that uppercut motion. Soon as you are sure they are coming in, tag that FP and let them taste the dragon.

This doesn’t give you a free pass on bison as his ground game is incredible as well, but it’s a start. Another thing you can do for head stomp is a backdash. He’ll land on the floor and you can punish him severely. Backdash and focus attack, then follow up with a nasty combo. If you can land a couple backdash-combos on him, he’ll think twice before headstomping again. Though he’ll still be free to devil’s reverse at whim and collect super meter at full screen.

I’m a bison player, and here’s a few tidbits:

bison’s air game is absolutely horrible against ryu. Walking, neutral j.hk, and FADC backwards all beat head stomp clean. Note I said FADC, not FA and then eat the skull diver follow-up. Worse comes to worst, a last second lp srk trades with stomp. Devil’s reverse mix ups can be srk’ed on reaction. Once ryu has ultra meter, bison basically can’t jump anymore in fear of eating srk -> ultra.

bison doesn’t have a real answer for ryu’s c.mk. It out-prioritizes and/or out-ranges all of bison’s normal pokes except for s.mk, which has to be spaced EXTREMELY well. Bison can’t pressure ryu that hard either because of reversal lp srk, which takes a big chunk out of his game, as he’s obviously a pressure character.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Ok here is a super secret tip on how to deal with Bison headstomp. Keep the information secret! ;):nunchuck:

When Bison does his headstomp, simply do a vertical jump and FP. Thats it. Don’t bother jumping back because you may trade, don’t jump forward cause you’ll lose, don’t Shoryuken cause you will get beat out, don’t do any other type of anti air move.

Simple vertical jump and FP and thats game. Try it, you’ll be amazed. You’ll shut him down completely when he does the headstomp.

The reason why it works so well is because the hitbox for the headstomp is Bison’s feat. If you hit his feet with a jump RH or Shoryuken you’ll lose out. The veritcal jumping FP hit box is high enough that it will hit Bison’s face and not his legs which is key. Best of all, Ryu’s arm is long enough that you’ll keep him at bay before he can touch you.

Ryu Matchup Thread

I’ve got a very helpful tip that I’ve been using against Bison players to discourage them from using his head stomp. It also works out that you can block the devil’s reverse.

Fullscreen-(Mickey D’s range of 5 and 4) Headstomp/Devil’s Reverse : You’ll want to throw out the [COLOR=magenta][f.HP] Solar Plexus Strike and you’ll make Ryu’s attack whiff. But his body will move forward and make his head stomp whiff as well. You’ll recover faster and be able to throw out your favorite BnB.

Midscreen- (Mickey D’s range of 3, 2, and 1) Headstomp/Devil’s Reverse : You’ll want to throw out the [f.MP] Collar Bone Breaker because it recovers faster (If you do decide to throw out SPS, you’ll want to block but at least you won’t take chip/get hit)

Proven tactic, messes up Bison’s back charge, and it can EASILY change the swing of the match.

BTW, both of these can recover fast enough to block the Devil’s Reverse.

:rock:

against headstomp, just dash back. you get free combo. or neutral jump up hk. j. hk is generally the better idea of the 2 because most people don’t really go for the stomp. they go for the fake stomp. and if they come back at you with the followup, you can lp dp. but if they run away, then don’t dp.

against scissorkick, s.mp stuffs it. so like if you do c.mk into fireball, and they like to scissor kick you after, s.mp after your fireball should stuff it almost everytime depending on range. for most ranges, i believe it should stuff it, it worked for me? make them afraid to scissor kick you after your fireball, that way you can pressure them easier.

i’m not gonna go into more detailed stuff unless someone asks for it.

Rose

Her soul spirals havea min’ of -4 and a max of -8 frame adv. on block. You can throw a poke out after blocking it, but you need to be fast. If youre facing that samecombo a lot, it might be worth using a neutral jump to stuff, or try psyche DPs - though they are risky, of course.

Her throws come out at 3 frames - the same as Ryu’s.

I usually wait to counter the soul spiral when it hits deep (I think that’s the right terminology), what I mean to say is that she doesn’t just barely hit you with it and you are fairly close to her when she finishes her move. Crossing her up also works well and she has a worse fireball than Ryu, so you should be able to force her to move by using those.

Rufus

Ryu Matchup Thread

1rst is that when your in corner, your always in threat of ez ultra. so try and block more until he pushes himself out of range to do anything.

if he’s not “meaty-ing” the cross up, you can focus-back-dash out of it for saftey

watch if he does the cross up early or late, early you can dp out of it. Late gives him frame advantage and he can do anything he wants after, BUT he know puts himself in corner for you to put pressure on him.

i almost ALWAYS try to build 2meters for an occasion where i will have to wake up srk-fadc for safe wake up purposes. If the dp srk hits, i can ultra, if not, then i can safely wake up.

hope i helped you, gl to ryu’s!

Ryu Matchup Thread

My experience with Rufus’ is they love to spam Falcon Kick a lot which you can punish with a DP. If your reflexes are good you can also interrupt the final hit of the Messiah Kick with a DP, great for FADC into Ultra if you have it. Other then that, maybe watch that GameStop tourney vid between Daigo and Justin. Daigo pretty much plays a perfect match against Justin’s Rufus, which is the best Rufus I have seen yet.

From afar you should zone, build meter, and occasionally land chip dmg with fireballs. Rufus will either jump over them (neutral or forward into dive, baiting DP) or do a MP Snake Strike over them to get some meter. From around midscreen you should be careful with fireballs, cause Galactic Tornado will punish you (if he does it on reaction to your FB and from around its max range, you will often be recovered to meet it with a DP). Also, be aware that his J.HP has quite good reach. I like to play this from midscreen: poking, while watching and baiting for dives and Messiah’s.
Shutting down the dive kick practically cancels Rufus’ game. He has 2 main ways to get in: the dive and the roll (this can’t go under fireballs, btw). The roll is safe on block, but can be DP’ed on reaction. You can usually also DP after blocking it, because Rufus will go for a throw, triangle-jump dive or a blockstring in 99% of the situations after a roll. Unless you condition him to block after it with a few DPs. The dive kick is his main weapon. Watch for it, anticipate it. Good Rufus players WILL bait DP’s a lot with neutral jumps, late dives on the way down or close to the ground triangle dives. Varying the height of the dive in order to bait is one of his main mind game tricks. So in certain distances you will want to buffer the DP but only commit (press the punch button) if you see him diving from the high spot towards you. You should also understand his options after a blocked dive. He will either through, do another dive (usually very fast triangle dive), especially if you are conditioned into teching, or go for a block string. So you might want to through the occasional DP after blocking a dive kick in order to shatter his confidence. The high dive kick can also cross (but will not combo afterwards, except in certain situations when you are crouching).
Rufus is especially dangerous in the corner, where his dive mix-up game is at his best. The best you can do is to get out of there at the first possibility. He can also connect ultra in the corner from anything - Tornado, Snake Strike, Messiah, f+HP.
If you score a knockdown, you can pretty much cross-up at will if he does not have meter. Rufus has a great reversal - the EX Messiah Kick, but it is hard to land more than one hit of it (20 dmg, so it is a good trade - you are hit for 20, but they lose 1 EX) when being crossed. So considering this risk/reward factor I often cross even if he has EX. Generally, try to bait the EX Messiah on their wake up, to waste their meter. That will not be hard, cause it is his main wake-up / panic move.
From around midscreen you can also occasionally jump with HK at him (don’t overuse it), aiming for a hit with the tip of the leg. Don’t do this if he has EX. EX Snake Strike is a GREAT anti-air, good traectory, invincibility and does 270 dmg. His other main anti-airs: S. HP and Cr.MP are situational, and not quite fast.
Once Rufus gains ultra you should be even more careful. He can land it from a ton of setups (even more than Ryu’s) and he WILL be looking to land it as it is quite a lot of dmg (515 when full). These include: - EX (or LK) Messiah, LK follow-up, FADC, Ultra (so watch out when mixing him up after a KD or when poking, moreso if he has 3 EX) - air to air J.HK, land, ultra (you will notice Rufus players jumping in a lot with HK, looking to meet you in the air, once they have ultra) - target combo (LK-HK, 4 frames startup), Ultra (most often as a punish or after a dive hits you) - S.HK, Ultra (kinda hard to land on aware opponents, but still watch out for it) - the setups in the corner mentioned above (you should not be there, anyway) So it is up to you to be aware of these.
Some other notes: - if you block a Messiah Kick (including EX), you can DP before the followup (or simply punish if there is no followup). The only followup that combos from a hitting Messiah is the LK, the others can be DPed. - his main dmg (and punish) combo is s.HP-HP Tornado (260 dmg). You will often encounter it in the form Dive, LK, HP xx HP Tornado if they don’t have ultra (otherwise it is Dive, LK-HK, ultra; btw, the HK won’t connect if you are crouching). Note that LK, HP is one frame link, so you can attempt a DP after the LK - if you are being hit, you will reversal out of it if they screw it up. Also, if you block the HP, you will usually be out of block stun and you can DP before the HP Tornado (unless it is a perfect cancel, and considering you are not pushed too far away from blocking the start of the combo). Even if it is a perfect cancel, you can still try to reversal, you will not be hit by the Tornado as you will still be in blockstun.

very nice writeup scourge. you pretty much covered almost everything. i will add that in ryu vs. rufus, watch out for ex messiah more often than not. it’s rufus’s best desperation move and it WILL hit if you aren’t lookin out for it. just watch out for dive kick. lp dp is generally the way to go to punish if you aren’t 100% sure they are doing dive kick on you from a jump, because rufus can bait by jumping back and doing dive kick fast, fp dp allows more time for rufus to land big damage combo on whiff and lp won’t trade(from my experience it doesn’t trade).

rufus just has a lot of mixups coming from his dive kick. it really IS just guessing after he does a dive kick. so try to eliminate that option if possible. and if he DOES start his divekick shenanigans, then try to guess right? i’m sorry if you were looking for a better answer than “guess” right, but that really IS what you have to do.

but scourge’s writeup is pretty much the bible against rufus.

as far as character matchups are concerned, there’s so many different ways to fight the character, but you should try to fight the player. all these tips are simply “guidelines”, the rest of the matchup, you should try to read the player, find habits, etc and exploit it and adapt.

sorry i’ve been away for a while, i’m gonna come back with some videos for you guys soon and some more writeups with some really good stuff.

Ryu[/COLOR]

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Sagat

This is kind of interesting, I see that a lot of people are having trouble with Sagat matchups, however I don’t feel as if I have had trouble with this match since the beginning of the game. All in all, I could go into detail with things, but I’ll just write my main ideas concerning this matchup.

From full screen, terracotta nailed it on the head. It’s a fireball war until someone gets impatient and tries to advance. Don’t let this be you. Neutral jump over low tigers, and crouch under high tigers. The occasional SA to eat a shot is pretty good too. Make sure you don’t eat 2 in a row, mainly because you don’t want to even risk losing 3 shots worth of life when you didn’t have to. The reason why SA’ing 1 shot is good is because it kinda fucks with the opponent’s mind. It gives him the impression that YOU are capitalizing from something that HE is doing. Other than that, wait it out, and let Sagat come to you. He moves like a sack of bricks and has to do some pretty unsafe things to close distance to you (jump is slow, whiff tiger knee can be punished with a c.hk, dash is to slow, etc.). Point of the matter is, do NOT get into a fireball war with Sagat. Build meter by jumping back and whiffing hurricane kick, and avoid his tiger shots, get the opponent in the mindset that what he is doing is NOT working.

From mid screen, it can get kind of messy, whoever can conquer the mid screen battle, gets the knockdown. At this point Sagat is just WAITING to try and tiger knee you at a safe distance so that he can get in on you and pressure you. Personally, I keep my guard up from this range mainly because I don’t want to give him any chance to get in my face. Sending out a poke with Ryu is risking a situation where Sagat can knockdown, so I would suggest poking VERY rarely and conservatively. If I were to send any poke, it would be an EX fireball…this is a good move mainly because if Sagat blocks it, it pushes him away from you, so you get more breathing room. If it hits, well you get the knockdown. Lastly, a very nicely timed jump at this range can mean great things right here. Sagat is not a patient character, especially at this range, he’s either looking to poke into a string, or he’s looking to close the distance on you. When he’s in this mindset, its your turn to jump…do it when you are at c.mk range so that Sagat doesn’t have much time to think about anti airing you.

Close up…if Sagat does get in on you, the best suggestion that I could give is to just block. Block everything that Sagat has to give. I would MUCH rather take an overhead or throw then to be comboed for a lot of damage. You are going to want to make the Sagat player think that you are VERY firm on blocking his strings…at this point, he knows that his only option is to throw…so just keep an eye out for it and be ready to tech. Try not to get crossed up from close ranges too (example: c.lk, c.lk, jump over with lk, land repeat). Learn how to look for it, and when it happens, jump back hk him in his face. The point of the matter is that you KNOW that Sagat is going for mad pressure at this range…he’s going to be trying to lock you down no matter what. So take that option away from him, and remain blocking…watch for throw attempts and tech. Once Sagat locks you down for a while, I’m sure that there will be patterns or even mistakes in between the strings, learn to look for these and choose a safe way to stop the string…the safest being SRK, SADC.

I disagree in spamming fireballs vs Sagat.

You can always advance on a Sagat player.

A high fire baller you will need to just duck and advance, a low fire baller use the hurricane kick to advance.

On the ground and at mid distance, Ryu has the advantage. In fact, Ryu’s sweep is longer range than Sagat’s just by a bit. At mid distance if your timing and luck are just about right it’s a 50/50 against his fireball as you decide to duck low to avoid then retaliate with your own fast hadoken or if it is low and you retaliate with a mid hurricane kick.

Play defensive cause most will try to follow up with a tiger knee if you decide to advance more.

Knowing your sweep distance vs. Sagats is important. You should try to avoid jumping in against Sagat as he has the advantage there.

It’s all about zoning so just remember that while Sagat looks bigger and logically should have better reach with his limbs, it’s just not true on low ground and this is your biggest advantage.

Sagat vs Ryu: Hard match-up for Ryu or anyone for that matter. Just have to get in on him and don’t get caught in the fire ball war because Sagat WILL win that.

Ryu Matchup Thread

okay… in a nutshell, i really hate this match. that’s pretty much the reason i started this thread. this is pretty much my impression of the match at the moment. hopefully someone can point out a really obvious tactic i’ve managed to overlook.

long range
in my experience fighting Sagat isn’t so bad from afar as it is up close, because up close is when he has 6 billion ways to link into Ultra. fighting from afar, however, means fighting the fireball war, which Sagat is easily better equipped for. some notes:

• Sagat simply throws fireballs out at a greater rate, so Ryu will have to jump eventually. it’s inevitable, but it’s not a loss. Ryu should be jumping straight up, or forward then immediately back, just to reset the pace.
• some players just instinctively jump when they see Sagat crouch and yell “Tiger!” - only to realize it was a slow tiger shot and fall right into it. short air hurricane kick was great in previous games for dodging these but it doesn’t change Ryu’s jump trajectory very much, so Ryu can’t rely on it.
• haven’t tested thoroughly but short hurricane kick goes through low tiger shots; not sure if it’s just the startup or the whole thing.

point is Ryu can dodge projectiles reasonably well from full screen away, at least much more easily than Sagat can. Sagat’s jump is low, his dash is short, and he doesn’t walk all that fast; for the most part he has to jump over fireballs. to get close to Ryu with f+HK xx tiger knee, the screen has to be clear of projectiles.

the game seems to be one of building a solid lead over Sagat and staying the fuck away from him and that damned Ultra. he will pelt Ryu with tiger shots, to which Ryu must respond with fireball / block / jump / FADC in various combinations. Ryu can block, but imho he should be dodging these high/low slow/fast tiger shots by keeping his eyes peeled; first to preserve Ryu’s lead, and second to show Sagat you’re not gonna just sit and take block damage, which should persuade him to come and get you.

midscreen
"is he gonna jump or fireball?" guessing game - obviously it’s about jumping him when he throws a fireball, and faking fireballs to DP his jump. it’s also about hitting whiffed limbs. this sub-game is old as SF2, but EX fireballs, FADC and Ryu’s awesome c.MK create subtle little differences (and unlike ST/HF, SF4 Ryu can’t cancel c.HK).

Ryu NEEDS to be able to WALK UP c.MK xx hadoken without a hitch in this match. this can be a challenge for people who haven’t practiced it because walk up c.MK xx hadoken can easily result in walk up c.MK xx shoryuken. the trick is to hold the down position a little before attempting the qcf motion; thankfully c.MK is much more lenient in this game (seems to have more cancellable frames). Sagat’s anti-air game is very strong, so this is one of Ryu’s few ways in. Ryu also needs to be able to DP every jump, but that goes without saying.

• Sagat will occassionally FA from far in anticipation of your jump (or just to bait a reaction), but Ryu can hit with the tip of c.MK without risk (into hadoken to break armor). hurricane kick breaks armor, but forget about it.

• Sagat can jump over the hadoken if Ryu tries c.MK xx hadoken from max c.MK range; if you see Sagat likes to do this, hit c.MK and don’t fireball, then uppercut when he jumps.

• i noticed that if Sagat tries to jump over a fireball late from 3/4 screen away, and Ryu walks up to try to c.MK him when he lands, Sagat’s j.HK doesn’t seem to reach Ryu - actually the j.HK seems to remove Sagat’s trip guard, causing him to eat the c.MK xx hadoken.

• i find jumping straight up can mess with a Sagat player’s head, simply because it’s harder to tell what comes next (in comparison to a Ryu that sits down and whiffs jab all the time). Ryu’s vertical jumping roundhouse is great air-to-air against Sagat too.

again i’d say it’s all about building a lead over Sagat, then playing it safe - i don’t mean getting a 20% lead midscreen then suddenly running away, but Ryu shouldn’t be taking any unnecessary risks. but that means not giving anything away either - a lead isn’t a reason to suddenly block or FADC Sagat’s jump ins when you DPed his jumps 3/3 times before.

Ryu Matchup Thread

This is my be the match up I have the more palyed in this game
Plus against some good sagat( master grade or more…)
I was basically alway loosing against strong and solid sagt player. I had no way to win then I hade two things

first one, 3/4 screen I do some random huricane kick at the start of the mach when I feel it s gona be a low tiger shot( do it at the start of the mach, not onc they can tigger uppercut sa ultra…)

if it s a low tiger shot then you will punish if it s hight then you will make him fell like don t shoot low tiger shot.

then one He get afraid and start doing hight tiger shot I just go under and then close the distance and lend an hado just as soon as the tiger shot pass up my head. If he jum forward you have time to shoryu. if he doesn t jump then you just make him feel like he is gona loose at this game because you touch him in gard and he can t touch you or he have o lend low tiger shot…

With just this you kind of breack is way of playing And he might try sonme jump or do some mistake.

He he still do low tiger shot, you can randomly huricane kick as damage frone huricane kick are may be 2 or 3 time mre than tiger shot and plus if you touch then you can capitalyse the wake up game to make some more damage.

that not a lot but for me that changed all the game and now even againt master grade I m no more affraid of this mach up…

Ryu Matchup Thread

Ryu NEEDS to be able to WALK UP c.MK xx hadoken without a hitch in this match. this can be a challenge for people who haven’t practiced it because walk up c.MK xx hadoken can easily result in walk up c.MK xx shoryuken. the trick is to hold the down position a little before attempting the qcf motion; thankfully c.MK is much more lenient in this game (seems to have more cancellable frames)."

Ryu Matchup Thread

i was watching this Ryu who literally learned to fight Sagat in the space of ~10 games. some things he did:

• he stayed just outside tiger knee range. Sagat can almost poke with tiger knee, so if you can bait it by sitting outside that range you can punish with c.MK xx EX hadoken. outside tiger knee range is also the range where Sagat’s less reluctant to throw shots because Ryu is just one jump away. at the same time Ryu’s much, much more mobile - he can walk up to Sagat faster than Sagat can retreat (e.g. to poke with low forward) and he can “hover” in and out of Sagat’s tiger knee range, whereas Sagat’s (lack of) walking speed hinders him a bit.

• when Sagat starts his c.LK c.LK c.LK hit confirms (to go into c.MK xx tiger knee or tiger upper), you can FADC the c.MK or just back dash (tap db db). on blocking the tiger knee, for most sensible follow ups Sagat has (c.MK xx tiger knee, c.MK xx low tiger), Ryu can FADC into back dash to make room.

• low fierce for anti-air. i don’t completely agree with it, but i thought about it… and it did several things. (1) it hammers into Sagat’s head that he can’t jump on you, simply because you won’t be screwing up some DP motion. this can be good or bad, e.g. give me 2 stocks and i’d prefer Sagat to jump. (2) when you’re resolved to hit low fierce instead of a DP, you can concentrate more on finding opportunities (to jump) instead of looking for threats (checking to see if they’re jumping).

Ryu Matchup Thread

lol ryu’s super punishes almost anything negative on block. It punishes all sweep kicks. It’s easily the best super in the game, now it just should deal enough dmg that i would prefer super over ultra and srk cancels.

Sagat match
Things i’ve found
Fullscreen
If he’s doing low tigers the fireball war is pretty even just jump every now and than to reset it and you can do this all day. However, probably want to be a bit more productive so make sure to absorb 1 or 2 tigers (if i absorb 2 i turtle until i get the life back, only throwing hadoukens on reaction to his own to i don’t get hit by a random EX). Having an ultra without losing much life really makes this matchup easier so most sagat’s will try to move within at least the mid-range or right outside it so they can pressure you better to prevent this.
High Tigers just recover far faster than your fireballs and will quickly end any concept of fighting a fireball war as to keep up you’ll have to burn meter and if he EX’s you risk getting knocked down and pressured.
Midscreen
This is where the matchups start getting interesting. Firstly, your goal here should be to abuse walking cr. MK as it’s your ONLY weapon against st. HK and even than it’s inconsistant. I like to mix in some hadoukens if i notice he’s not interested in jumping, if he is i keep to using cr. MK.
St. LK is another poke you have to worry about at this range as it’s not punishable on whiff (on reaction), and has as much if not more range than your cr. MK and results in you eating an EX tiger afterwards to just throw you across the screen and force you to play a fireball game war that if you have less life you really have to play.

cr. MK and his st. HK have the same startup though so if you get hit by it randomly just remember it’s not u messing up the move’s just f’ing retarded. (venting)

Tigerknee isn’t a huge issue as the ONLY pokes you should use at this range are fireball and cr. MK and unless you get one of those freak scenarios where his knee goes over your fireball (it happens when he uses the RH at certain times) than it shouldn’t hit you. cr. MK will actually go under it and allow you to punish with cr. FPxxFP ShoryuxxFADC>Ultra, or cr. MP, cr. FPxx Tatsu or Shoryu
Close Range Defense
I actually like upclose sagat compared to mid-range sagat as even though this is where he has his big dmg combo’s simply having good reaction times and playing smart does a lot here.
He’ll use a lot of cr. LK … Tigerknee, this is actually one of the few instances where your not just done for. cr. MK even on startup will go under Tigerknee if cancelled from a st. LK. Also a Shoryu after blocking a st. LK will hit him or trade with any followup he cancels into.
This is also if he doesn’t have ultra and you do it is probably worth sometimes trying to SRK between his lights if you have confidance in buffering your DP quickly.
Most of the time you just want to sit there and block. Learn when tigerknee is advantage and when it’s disadvantage and fight back accordingly and punish it if it’s ever done incorrectly.
His throws deal more dmg than the rest of the casts (why did they do this???) but a lot less than an ultra combo.
Wakeup backdashing will get you out of his lights and any wakeup throw (if you get out of a throw you can actually immediately srkxxultra to punish).

Close Range Offense
I don’t like this as I feel this is just to dangerous against Sagat. You mess up ONE time and you will lose 70% of your life and most likely the round. I normally just try to bait a lot unless i feel he isn’t very uppercut happy. One thing you can do to make it more difficult for you to be uppercutted is do a lot of cr. Jab and cr. FP (linked so there are holes during block stun but not if they hit, so he doesn’t have many frames to actually buffer the dp. Not surefire but it makes it harder). Also if he tries to throw or mash anything there should only be 1 to 2 frame gaps in between so he’ll get beat out.

The risk reward here if he has ultra just isn’t in your favor, so bait a lot if you want to play this way when he has ultra.

Air game
Srkxxultra him he gets hurt
he srkxxultra’s u, and you lose the damn round
moral don’t jump unless you just are SURE your getting that combo or your baiting the uppercut.
He’s still going to jump though as his stam and dmg in comparison to your dmg make the risk worth it for him, though it’s still very very risky and not in his favor.
Jumping forward sucks sooooo much in SFIV.

Learn to bait uppercut with crossup tatsu’s.

On wakeup i don’t reccomend going for the crossup unless your sure your safe jumping, and he has ultra just don’t do it. It’s not worth it.

Nuetral jumping is good though if he can’t hit you with an aerial as jumping HK will beat anything he jumps at you with. If he dashes forward you can normally hit him, and it just all around fucks with his head.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Sakura

Seth

[details=Spoiler]

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Ryu vs Seth

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X8eS5geUN0w/TWEXMf9shoI/AAAAAAAAAJk/bgOjM9XLye4/s400/385093-bigthumbnail.jpg

[SIZE=6]Seth:[/SIZE]

This can be a real hard matchup if you have no idea about what Seth can do on Ryu. I would say this matchup is a 6:4 in Seth’s favor due to the following reasons: safe jump on Ryu, command grab, better SRK, better zoning tools and his Ultra 1 locking Ryu’s fireball. However, Seth cannot make mistakes because of his incredibly low health and low stun stamina. On top of that, since there are not much Seth users, this makes people harder/not have the chance to learn the matchup, but it’s actually not that hard to beat Seth once you
know what can be punished/counter with certain tools. And this is what this guide is about….

Ground Games:

Far Range: Seth has a full screen off the wall jump like El Fuerte’s, Dhalsim’s limbs and Sonic Boom to zone you out at this range. As Ryu you have to carefully throw your fireball and get ready to punish Seth’s moves.

[LIST]
[]· Off the wall attack, use SRK to counter
[]· Sweep to punish his whiffed limbs (his limb is slower than Dhalsim’s, therefore it’s not as hard to punish)
[*]· Forward jump Air Tatsu when Seth throws Sonic Boom
[/LIST]

Mid Range: Seth footsies are not strong due to his slow walking speed. However, he does have couple strong pokes like cr.mk (cancelable), st.mk which has far range/fast startup and his st.rh is good but can be
punished if whiffed.

Close Range: This range is scary because of Seth’s mixup options. For example, safe poke strings into SPD/normal grab…or frame trap with SRK and much more.

Counter:

Sonic Boom: Forward jump Air Tatsu/Super

Ex Version: Same as normal version

Shoryuken: Ex SRK

Ex Version: Nothing can beat his move of Ryu’s

Spin Kicks: Mp SRK

Ex Version: MP SRK (sometimes trade or loses to it if not timed correctly) / EX SRK

Tanden Engine: The only way to punish this move is to hit him before he sucks you in. Any normal or jump in attack works.

Ex Version: Same as normal version. (The difference between Ex and normal version is that Ex allows Seth to continue to combo)

Spinning Pile Drive: Anything can beat this move as long as you hit Seth before SPD’s start up.

Ex Version: Any moves fail to beat

Against Ultra 1: Don’t throw fireball! Seth player tends to use this on wakeup since nothing of Ryu’s can beat his U1 plus he’s safe on block unless blocked point blank and do a reversal super (his U1 also pushes his opponent back to a safe range).
Ryu’s EX SRK can make Seth’s U1 whiffs, but Ryu will end up behind Seth and Seth recovers faster than
Ryu…so never do it!

Against Ultra 2: This is usually used into combos, however when this move sucks you in or when you are blocking…don’t try to punish….wait until the ultra is completely gone then start your punish.

On Ryu’s Wakeup:

Seth cannot perform any mixups or safe jumps on Ryu unless grabbed by a back throw, SPD or a sweep. Not to mislead anybody, but Seth can do one bread n butter mixup after a hitting you with his spin kick, he can throw a sonic boom and mix it by teleporting behind you before the sonic boom hits you. To block this move, you always block away from the direction where Seth is going to end up, his fireball can never cross up. As long as you don’t quick wake up after being hit by the Spin Kick, this trick never works”
He does have a safe jump after Spin kicks…but it only works if you quick wake up. If you don’t quick wake up, Seth can dash forward twice then perform a safe jump. (Both of these mixups Seth has to do it early…he cannot react to your quick / non quick wake up.)
Now back to talking about his mixups and safe jumps on Ryu’s wake up. It’s better to try and block because it’s hard to tell when it’s a safe jump or when it’s a mixup…on top of that, Ryu’s SRK loses to Seth’s dive kick (trade at best). Seth’s mixups contains empty jump into SPD, safe jumps, crossup and dive kicks…they’re all extremely hard to react to, therefore SORRY I don’t have a guide for this…only way is to analyze your opponent and read/remember their habits.

Mind games and Option Selects:

There’s really not much OS you can do on Seth because of his SRK and EX SPD. But OS you can do is jump in OS hurricane kick to counter his teleport. Mind game wise, Seth players are really scared of being thrown, mix that up with frame traps. Crossup tatsu on Seth wakeup is rather safe and effective, however the bad thing about this is that you hit Seth too far and got to work your way in again.
Building Super meter is extremely important in this matchup, so many ways to use it…punishing/countering Seth’s moves…crossup tatsu into super gives you a great chunk of damage.

Things to be aware of:

Tanden Engine is count as a “grab” so when he sucks you in while u are blocking really close you can never press any normals otherwise Seth gets a free combo. Also, blocking Seth’s limbs in mid screen can be punished with sweep (if in range) or Super. There are also other things that can be punished when blocked like if Seth ever does his low forward into Sonic Boom…you can punish with super, if close enough, sweep.

If ever blocked Seth’s Spin Kicks, best punish is Ryu’s F.fierce > combo (Yes, you have more than enough time to do so)

Seth’s dive kick reset is pretty deadly, sometimes mashing on SRK can make your opponent hesitate on his mixups/scared to do his mixups, of course…and again…never rely on mashing!
When Seth is running away, it gives such a hard time for Ryu to get in. Seth’s sonic boom jump fierce trap is broken if done perfectly…Ryu can never jump over the sonic boom without getting hit. But Ryu can actually hit his limbs if Ryu does an instant jump strong. If hits, it also allows you to connect super or ultra! Not forget to mention, Ryu’s low fierce and standing fierce are great tools hitting Seth’s whiffed air limbs. Try it out!

*When punishing Seth, make sure you use the most damaging combo that you can do [/details]

Vega (Balrog/Claw)

no srks

focus the slash dash in and sweep
c.hp when he’s near it’ll beat out the slash and stop a grab (best option)
nj.hk
block

you basically have to pressure vega this whole match, fireball from full screen to make him wall dive. if he tries to dive at you instead of faking, you have a bunch of options. if you knock him down cross him up all day. if he tries to flip away tatsu or ex ball to punish
watch out for his kara throw

Use Focus Attack Against Vega’s wall dive. be ready to dash out of it if he was faking one.

Same principle with Bison’s headstomp…

Good luck

Ryu Matchup Thread

Against Vega’s wall dive, it can be a bit tougher.

Ryu Matchup Thread

Crouching Fierce works but you have time it right. I’ve also seen jump back roundhouse work too. Jab shoryuken should also work and if you have an ultra you can use it afterwards. The problem with some of these options is that vega can steer his wall dive to cross up and to go slightly upwards, so if you mistime your anti air wrong, he could izuna drop you instead after you whiff.

Also against the wall dive, you could charge a focus attack to absorb the hit, and release to do a level 2 FA. If he happens to cross you up with it, just absorb the hit and dash backwards (towards him) to throw.

Zangief

Spoiler

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Ryu vs Zangief

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qiLaGG-Je8w/TW42PwOC9BI/AAAAAAAAAJo/daAvLpbkwkk/s400/zangief-ssf4-header.jpg
[SIZE=5]Zangief[/SIZE]

In order to win this match up, the goal is to keep Zangief out successfully. I am sure everybody knows what kind of strategy to use in this match up, but I realized that a lot of people do have trouble in this match up (a reason why this match up was voted in the poll).
Ground Game:

Far Range: Throw fireball to make Zangief move and build meter by whiffing SRK.
Mid Range: Throwing fireball at this range is extremely risky regardless Zangief with or without meter. Zangief can hit you with his forward jump fierce (REALLY GOOD RANGE) when you throw fireball. With meter…I don’t think I need to say it…HIS EX GREEN HAND CAN GO THROUGH YOUR FIREBALL AND LEADS TO AN KNOCKDOWN, BEWARE.
Ryu’s low forward fireball works extremely well at this range (confirm with yourself that your low forward fireball is close enough that there’s no gap in between to let Zangief’s EX green hand to go through).** Standing** far roundhouse is also a good tool against Zangief. However, Zangief’s standing forward has a better range than Ryu’s low forward. Therefore you can punish his with sweep after he whiffs his kick or counter it with Ryu’s low strong. NOTE Ryu’s low strong beats most of Zangief’s normals, don’t be afraid to spam this.
Close Range: 4 words. [S]GET THE FUCK OUT!!![/S]
Counters:

Spinning PileDrive (SPD): SRK and EX Tatsu
Ex Version: Same as normal version except you have to use EX SRK. (EX SPD beats normal any version’s normal SRK)
Banishing Flat (Green Hand): Anything except fireball, and can be punished with anything on block.
Ex Version: JAB SRK beats this move. The other version of SRK will whiff and get ready to get punished!! Ex tatsu also beats this move clean.
Lariat: EX SRK. Best solution is to block and punish this move
Atomic Suplex: Any version of SRK and low jab.
Ex Version: EX SRK
Against Ultra 1: Make sure when you are attacking, you use your safe poke strings + back dash to bait this move or at least not get hit by it. There’s really no “special” strategy to not get hit by this move, as long as you are not at the range then you don’t get hit. As easy as it sounds……one thing I want to remind you guys is that when you are in a huge lead, Zangief’s biggest comeback move has to be his U1, which means whenever he can get close or about to get close, he’s going to try and land it. JUMP BACK AT ALL TIME even if he’s hitting you with weird pokes.
Against Ultra 2: This ultra is pretty unique. It can grab whatever you do, as long as you are off the ground. Therefore when Zangief jumps at you when he is sitting on ultra meter, it’s better to use normals to AA him instead of SRK since it is not safe to do so. His U2 can grab you out of your SRK.
On Ryu’s Wakeup:

Just in case people don’t know, there is actually a technique called “DELAYED QUICK WAKE UP”. Let me explain. Basically it looks like a normal quick wake up, but you actually delayed 5f if you input this correctly. So this is how you do it: right when you land on the ground, then you press buttons (Whatever you usually do to quick wake up), there is only one timing and if you did it properly you will notice a slight slower wake up than usual. If failed, you won’t be able to quick wake up at all…it’s hard to explain the timing L. Anyways, so what’s good about this? Since it 5f delayed, therefore when Zangief jumps over you to cross up, when you wake up, he’s already on the other side, this allows you to AA with SRK instead of having your SRK beat by Zangief’s SLAM.
Always back dash on wake up if Zangief is not close enough to cross you up. He has no option select to punish your back dash (I believe…).
Mind games and Option Select:

There are not much mind games or OS against Zangief, I mean even if there is any…it’s probably not a good idea to do so. In this matchup you might want to stay away from him at all times unless you really need to make something happen in order make a comeback. However, there IS a safe jump against Zangief after an un-techable knockdown. Same timing against any 5f wakeup, but it loses to wake up EX SPD.
When you are trying to make a comeback, after a knock down, you can take the risk and throw, it usually works because the Zangief player is in a huge lead and probably wouldn’t want take any unnecessary to lose life. After a throw, they might want to back dash on their wakeup (which might be the safest thing in their mind) THEN here you input OS sweep…just play around with their minds and think as if you are the Zangief player at that situation and what will you do yourself to hold the lead. Jump back fierce beats his Lariat on his wakeup and it’s 100% safe even if he doesn’t do Lariat on wake up. And not to forget to use EX Tatsu on wakeup which is usually safe as well.
Things to be aware of:

The most common mix up Zangief uses on Ryu is that after a knock down, cross you up with a jump short, then immediately grabs you with Atomic Suplex which it seems like a combo. However, you are getting hit by it because you are trying to tech, therefore in this case, you would probably want to try and mash on low jab to stop Atomic Suplex from grabbing you. Of course, smart Zangiefs would mix this up with a low short into Lariat just to play around with your mind. There’s nothing really you can do when you get knocked down, it’s all guessing and I do not have any more tips to give out. It’s all depends on your own anticipation and reading skills.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Characters from Super/AE begin here.

Yun

Spoiler

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Ryu vs Yun

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iKqaCqCLqaA/Tl27Ue60TbI/AAAAAAAAAQU/dSUIbPaRaYc/s400/Yun1.jpg
[SIZE=5]Yun[/SIZE]

In arcade edition, though Yun is a really strong character (some might call him broken) and Ryu has been nerfed a lot, but this is actually one of the better match up for Ryu to put up against. A lot of people came to me for tips about this match up and telling me that they are getting bodied by Yuns. I can’t say this is an even match up right now…I would say 5.5:4.5 in Yun’s favor due to his damage output and various tools that can go through projectiles, however, I guarantee that this will be an even or maybe a match up in Ryu’s favor once 2012 hits. In this guide, it will cover little things that Ryu players might not know, and I am sure this will help you with this match up! Here we GO!!
Ground games:

Far Range: It’s free to throw fireball and all Yuns at this range usually build meters with his palm. Aside from building meters with Ryu, make sure you throw different versions of Hadokens to make Yun having difficulties to cancel the projectile with his palm. You can also walk close, NOT too close but right outside of the Palm range, once it whiffs punish Yun with sweep. Don’t forget that Yun has this move called the Lunge punch which reaches from full screen, however, the regular version if SRK reversal-able at this range while Ex version is not. So beware, Yun players with meter might try to get in for free with this tool (it actually not a really fast move, I would say almost same as ex psycho crusher, therefore it’s not too hard to react to)
**Mid Range: **I personally do believe that Yun has better footises than Ryu. Yun’s low forward (Cr.mk) is better than or as good as Ryu’s as a poke and his far target combo (strong > fierce > back fierce) has great range and the first two hit is safe on block unless Ryu has super. Yun players would usually dive kick in at this range since it is hard to counter SRK his kick (Yuns dive kick has to be reacted quick, otherwise it stuffs any of your moves). Always be ready to anti-air, however, it is not possible to react to his moves every moment (I mean it is……but not for me at least…), therefore, substitute your SRK with stand jab or stand short as anti-air tools. I personally prefer standing short because of several reasons; first the hit box extends upward, second it beats Yun’s target combo and lastly it makes Yun’s low forward whiffs. As for standing jab, I would only use it when I am in the corner mainly because I can mash it hoping it will hit something, since it’s too hard for me to react to Yun’s dive kick at this situation.
**Close Range: **At this range, it really limits Ryu’s options. Yun has a 3f low jab which takes control of the whole range leaving Ryu 2 options, which are block or mash on low jab/SRK. Yun doesn’t have much frame trap, but he has a command grab, therefore I would recommend Ryu players to mash on low jab while blocking his poke strings. Worst comes to worst, you get ex command grabbed out of it, but at least you burnt one of Yun’s meter. I don’t think I need to explain why mashing on SRK is a bad idea….just mash it on your own risk.
Counter:

Lunge Punch: Any attack before it hits you. It is also punishable with SRK on block except the lunge punch it performed in max distance, than it is only punishable with SUPER.
Ex Version: Any attack can either beats it or make it trade. MP/EX SRK can beat it clean and THIS MOVE is not punishable on block.
Palm: This special move is like an invisible projectile with little range and can only be countered with MP/EX SRK and ultra.
Ex Version: The ex version gives invincibility on start up, but it still can be beat with MP/EX SRK.
Dragon Kick (Up Kick): Different version of his Up kick has different invincibility and priorities. His round kick version has the most invincibility which makes MP SRK trades (EX SRK beats it clean), however, the other two versions completely lose to MP SRK.
Ex Version: EX SRK only
Shoulder: Any attack including focus attack. It can be reversal SRK on block.
Ex Version: Same as ex version except it breaks guard because it contains 2 hits. This version is also SRK punishable on block.
Flip Grab (Command Grab): Any attack
Ex Version: This move is extremely broken…it beats any of your moves and grabs except SRK/SUPER/ULTRA.
**Against Ultra 1: **This ultra is usually used to connect into combos and doesn’t really do much damage.
Against Ultra 2: There’s nothing scary about this ultra at all. It does have good range through projectiles when performed, but other than that there’s nothing much you need to worry about. DON’T THROW FIREBALLS RECKLESSLY!

On Ryu’s Wakeup:

As scary as Yun sounds…he actually doesn’t have much mix ups against Ryu. The most common mix up he has is an instant cross up dive kick after Yun hits you with a round house version Up Kick. You can avoid this by not quick waking up or just simply quick wake up and perform jab SRK for a trade or an mp SRK. This mix up is the most often used, but however, Ryu player has to be careful that this mix up can also bait wake up SRKs but delaying his jump and using HK dive kick instead of LK (crossup). Going back to topic, at least from what I know of, Yun’s only mix ups are dive kick front and back to confuse their opponents which can be easily (to me at least) figure out which side they land.
Other mix ups that Yun can do on Ryu would be a frame trap with low strong alternating with command throw. In this case, I would usually just back dash on wake up if I see Yun on the ground, worst scenario is getting hit by an OS lunge punch which can’t be lead to any scary mix ups and it’s totally worth it to take the hit (only if you have enough life to take it).
Mind games and Option Select:

Sadly, there aren’t much OS you can do on Yun due to his round house Up kick, but gladly you can perform safe jump! After a knock down, jump forward HK immediately to make a perfectly timed safe jump and only OS you can follow is sweep or EX SRK (any other attacks lose to his HK Up kick). You can mix the safe jump with cross up hurricane kick like any other characters that have wake up reversals. And of course, without a doubt, on the ground, same OS, sweep.
Since there is only one timing to perform the safe jump, it leaves no extra time for Ryu to perform any threatening jump in mix ups, therefore, other simple mix up becomes handy such as over head.
Tips and TricksNEW

If you guys have ever watched my dvd tutorial or read most of my guides, you should know my on ground hurricane kick mix ups and one of it works against Yun. I will post it here one more time in case some of you don’t know; back throw > forward dash X 2 > HK hurricane kick.
After a knock down, as long as the Yun player quick get up, doing a meaty standing fierce OR standing roundhouse can cover two things.

[LIST=1]
[]Hits him out of his back dash
[]Trades with any version of his UP kicks (except EX version)
[/LIST]
It’s a really useful trick because the trade UP kick does barely any damage to you and worst comes to worst, you eat an ex version UP kick trading your life with one of his meter not allowing him to save up for SUPER meter.
NOTE when you do a meaty standing fierce, making sure you cancel into fireball for the following reasons
.
-If Yun does an UP kick, the fireball never releases
-If Yun ever blocks your standing fierce, you will never be punished because you canceled into Hadoken
-If Yun back dashes, fireball never comes out
Also you can do this trick now thanks to EX Tatsu’s buff in AE. Forward throw > jump forward (there’s only one range, so try it out in training mode) and do an Ex Air Tatsu. It beats any version of his up kick CLEAN and also allowing you to connect with ultra 1 (Yun will fly really high compared to the ground ex tatsu, therefore a half screen U1 is possible). Why is this useful? As I mentioned above that a safe jump is very hard on Yun, timing is strict. If he is knocked down by a sweep, it does the timing for you, but after a forward throw, it’s all muscle memory and I don’t think it’s 100% possible to perform it every time. With this fact, your opponent wouldn’t know if that timing would be a real safe jump, therefore they might take a chance to UP Kick hoping it will hit. It’s just a very neat option in AE that you can try, and on top of that, even if your EX Air Tatsu whiffs, you land without recovery!

Things to be aware of:

Zoning with fireball is a key to win this battle. Maybe to a lot of Ryu players it’s really risky to throw fireballs, but in fact, you do need to throw fireballs (smart ones, not predictable ones) to make Yun move. He basically has to work his way in which is not that easy unless he has ex meters (you can also throw fireball where his ex shoulder only lands 1 hit). Yun either has to get in with shoulder/ex shoulder, far dive kick or regular jump in. With good zoning, either of these 3 can be easily baited and it can be very rewarding.
When a Yun player is down by life, majority of the Yuns will be very desperate and might try to do reset combos with cross up LP shoulder during Genei Jin or command grab on your wake up or during poke strings. Jumping back during poke strings is the only way out against an ex command grab since it has great range and as I said before, I do not recommend mashing on SRK.
***Incase any of you guys don’t know, cross up LP shoulder can only be done if Yun hits you air to air, and then LP shoulder once he lands, it will be a cross up. So with this info, make sure you block the correct direction. **

[mkiking]

Dudley matchup?

[alphaqsilly]

No Guy tips? This is still the worst character forum on SRK I see.

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

sorry havent gotten to the matchups yet guys.

[miak]

first 2 links are dead. third is not actual. replace http://www.sf4tube.com/

[ad1swiss]

can i srk yun’s ex elbow after block? sorry i have no idea about the new matchups. just started playing again after a long break lol

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

Do you mean his move that goes under fireballs? If so,yes you can I think as I am fairly certain you can punish all of them except for LP version

[smashingme]

I really need some help against Deejay. This matchup is to hard!

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

I really need some help against Deejay. This matchup is to hard!

I am soon starting work on the new characters that arent listed here so soon man. haha

[ZOMBIEGUTS_TZA]

okay guys I posted a new matchup,Yun,check it out and tell me what you think.Also sadly I think I may have to Start a new matchup thread to have room for all the new Characters I will be adding.Also updated the Zangief matchup

[ad1swiss]

I uploaded some videos of me playing against evo 64 ryu and a really good ken. any advices would be great. we need ibuki covered!