Right guys, The Real Marz came up with this idea a few weeks back and i thought he had something so im going to attempt to implement it here. I know we already have a match up thread however i think Marz’s idea of having a thread for each character match up is actually pretty good because it makes profiling easier and each character discussion would stay separate and focused. Another good reason to do this is to add any new changes that came with Ultra SF. please feel free to contribute whatever you know about the character being discussed so that the thread can be as informative as possible for beginners as well as more seasoned players.
Now lets get down to business
Ryu:
Most people consider this an even match up 5/5. I personally think its more 6/4 in Ryu’s favor (i thought this even before the TS nerf) the main reason for this is the fact that Ryu can abuse Gat with his stronger footsie game.
General approach: An experienced Ryu will always try to bulldog his way in by walking and blocking your tigershots until he is within cr mk range then he would start mixing it up with overheads cr mk pokes into fireballs etc. Your main objective would be to make him pay as much as possible before he could get close to you. throw low tigershots and fake low ts by pumping downback so it looks like you are about to throw a ts, if he bites the bait and jumps, TU him out of the air. if he keeps walking and blocking, then TS him for chip damage.
When he gets into Cr mk range, be prepared to block. you could also punish cr mk with a standing lk on block if not spaced at the tip. Try not to stay within the mid range for too long because he is at an advantage there. You would be better off dashing in and applying pressure with cr lk links into ts or TU.
Focus is useful in this matchup. Be prepared to focus when he does his cr mk pokes and sweeps and you could get a crumple depending on how close you are to Ryu. If he does a sweep from too far then the focus tends to whiff. Also be prepared to focus backdash cancel if you see him going for the solar plexus punch. thats the one where he steps forward and double punches you in the gut.
Ultra 2 is the recommended ultra for this matchup as it shuts down Ryu’s fireball game. However I personally prefer the damage output of ultra 1. If you can get a good read on the Ryu you are facing’s fireball patterns then I suggest learning how to kara TU on reaction to an oncoming fireball for the best looking move in the game bar none…all 17 feet of sagat dive under ryu’s fireball and bop Ryu’s head back with a vengeance! Do this enough times and most Ryus will think twice before chucking fireballs.
There are so many things to go over but im tired now so i leave it up to you to flesh this thread out. Feel free to add any relevant info or questions or corrections if any are needed.
can you pull this off consistently Ander? and if so, do you do it on raw reaction or is there a specific animation or tell that you look for? Reason i ask is that i cant pull it off consistently on practice mode (timing seems pretty strict) and a lot of the time the kara gets blocked.
How to deal with Ryu’s solar plexus punch (the double gut punch).
Block and immediately cr lp buffered into low tiger shot. if he tries any normal to follow up, he gets hit with a two hit combo. Only way he could beat you is buy following up with a DP and if he does, get a read on that and block the dp to punish severely.
I’ve been messing around with fadc fireball cancels a lot and if you can fadc a fireball reliably, then what you could do
is hit cr lp, low ts, fadc, cr mp, TU for decent damage off a counter poke.
I turn off personal action so I can use f.HK~HK+HP to make the kara TU punish frame-perfect. You could also plink with other buttons but I just prefer to use the HP since I’m going to be hitting it anyway for the TU. If you do this it makes landing that punish a whole hell of a lot easier
So you’re plinking heavy kick and fierce punch after you press forward HK and doing DP motion? Interesting…I normally dont have much of an issue getting the kara TU out when i need it as an anti air, but when blocking the sweep, i guess the block stun throws me off a bit and i either input the motion too early or too late off the block stun sometimes.
Here’s another useful one. A lot of ryus try to do cross up hurricane kicks on Sagat due to his being tall etc. A good punish for that is close standing medium punch as an anti Air. This also works if ryu tries to cross you up when he is standing close to you. Shoutouts to Ander for this one.
this might be something everybody already knows, but i found out a couple of days ago that cr mp could be used as an anti air fairly reliably vs Ryu. Not sure if it works vs other shotos, but if Ryu jumps in from the front and its too late to hit a TU. you could stay crouched and hit mp and you can beat him clean out of the air…unless he hits jumping fierce early, then it can hit you on your head.
He also has to be relatively close to you, if he jumps across the screen where only his leg is sticking out and making contact then i think he beats you clean.
TU is still the best option, but i found this to be a nice little fail safe in certain situations. you could also follow him with a lk tiger knee as he is resetting from the cr mp to keep pressure up and turn the tide.
Mastering the low step kick into crouching lp into Tigershot is very helpful. This not only surprises most ryus, if the kick connects, you get a 3 hit combo. If it doesnt, a lot of Ryus try to do somethign after the kick is blocked, which means the cr lp will connect and so will the following tigershot. If they remain blocking, good…thats what we want…some space…not try to walk out of that corner.
Once again, if you are one for FADC ing tigershots, then you can fadc the tigershot and follow up with cr mk into tiger uppercut.
if you get good on reacting to counter hits, you can hit an easy link in to cr lp x TU if the step kick is counter hit. If they press a button that is 5f or more, you can counter hit the cr lk for a cr mp x TU follow up. Or just go for the cr. lk xx LTS for consistent pretty safe pressure/damage.
I gotta train more on counter hit reactions on frame traps
on another note just for general strategy, most ryus wanna play super conservative spacing footsie game. I have extra life to play with, I think its worth it to take some gutsy reads and rush down if you get the chance (especially before ryu gets meter), you can break em pretty easy if you show that you are going to force them to wakeup dp with your pressure. you get a life lead, then you can start the patient zoning game.
I think in general, getting a life lead is super important to make them play the game sagat has an advantage on.
That’s pretty interesting hellbox…I was aware that you could substitute the cr lp with cr mp if the low step kick is a counter hit, but i didnt know about using cr lk to link after a low step kick counter hit.
Don’t have to much to contribute to Ryu. Its annoying how he can walk us down to the corner with his cr.mk and his jump roundhouse hits from like full screen I swear.
