Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Ryu/Introduction

Introduction

Traveling the world to become a true warrior, Ryu continues his search for strong opponents and fierce battles.

Still your classic all around Shoto, he brings the classic trio of Hadoken, Tatsumaki, and Shoryuken to the table with Joudan Sokutou Geri (Donkey Kick) as a new special move. Ryu plays neutral well and, with a bit of meter, punishes mistakes with huge damage. Though all his supers are viable at the highest level of play, his SAIII turns Ryu into a set play bully that churns out stuns like nobody's business.

Super Arts

SAI (Shinkuu Hadoken)

An upgraded Hadoken, this super lets you play the stereotypical versatile and well rounded Ryu. It easily slots into many combos for added damage and a Hard Knock Down. Two long bars mean you'll have lots of meter for EX Donkey Kick and EX Hadoken.

SAII (Shin Shoryuken)

A devastating "True" Shoryuken. If the first hit connects, the move does a huge amount of damage and sends your opponent flying into the air. If it does not, the move turns into a low-damage, multi-hit Shoryuken. The one long bar makes spending EX a harder decision, but holy cow does it feel good to send your opponent to the moon (with a followup juggle). It's hard to comeback in a round where Ryu hits you with this. This Ryu looks to strike fear into opponents and turn openings small and large into game winning blows.

SAIII (Denjin Hadoken)

One of the strongest supers in the game, Denjin Hadoken is an unblockable and must be parried (though you still get a mixup on the opponent if they do). Ryu can charge up an electric fireball for a maximum of 3 seconds if the punch button was held. The fastest Denjin Hadoken fireball may come out in 75 frames assuming perfect motion inputs. The most unorthodox but generally agreed to be strongest super out of the three. Ryu turns into a setplay character with the ability to steal games like candy. An extremely deep super with complex mind games attached. However, Denjin Hadoken is held back by its extremely short bar that limits available EX Moves to ONE.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Versatile Shoto Kit: Great normals all around for poking, anti airing, pressure and general use; Specials have consistent damage, corner carry, and/or oki; movement is solid with a great dash to boot Great Metered Options: A great kit of EX moves and supers that offer damage or utility Versatile Super Selection: Three excellent and fun supers that offer a different way to play Ryu with Denjin Hadoken in particular sticking out with the oppressive sequences it can set up Post-Parry Damage: Ryu hits like a freight train in punish scenarios with moves like EX Donkey Kick or his supers

No Catch-All Super: No super to satisfy all of Ryu's needs Meterless Confirms: Without Meter, a Parry, a clear punish, or jump-in, Ryu sometimes struggles to confirm into his most rewarding enders in neutral