Introduction

A student of the Shotokan school of karate, Ryu has devoted his entire life to perfecting the true way of the warrior through mastery of the fireball. Now Ryu must stand tall against revitalized rivals.

The main character. Ryu is a top-4 character in Alpha 2. Ryu is the definition of solid, being able to effectively zone, rush, or turtle. He and Ken have -slight- differences, but they are in the same spot tier-wise. Ryu is a very good beginner or expert character.

Pros:

Great anti-airs
Many good normals
Very good (if basic) supers and relatively easy, high-damaging CCs.
Excellent zoning with fireballs.

Cons:

No serious drawbacks, although almost anyone you play will know the Ryu matchup.

Moves List

Normal Moves

STANDING

- Quick jab, with small frames advantage, you can walk and do these on any opponent that can’t crouch them.

- Quick one arm uppercut, good anti-air and cancelable to a special move.

- Straight punch which can be used as anti-air in some instances, and stop hurricane kicks etc. Not cancelable.

- Good ranged kick to the shin, cancelable, good priority and range.

- Ugly axe kick which can be used as a anti-crossup.

- A roundhouse kick to the face. Good meaty to whoever cant crouch it, gives hella frame advantage, but despite look isnt a anti-air.

CROUCHING

cr.- Little jab to the shin, not really all that great range wise.

cr.- A straight punch with good priority and frame advantage, cancelable.

cr.- Uppercut, probably one of the best normal anti-airs in the game. Also this is a super meaty, allowing link after ward.

cr.- Quick kick to the foot, combo starter, cancelable

cr.- A good reaching low kick, probably overall bset poke, gives frame advantage, awesome meaty, and cancelable.

cr.- A really good sweep with good range, usually a poke string ender. Note that if not cancelled its a free cc on you, and if you cancel into a hadouken, free cc on you if your opponent has a lvl 3.

JUMPING Jumping (Neutral jump)

nj.-

Jumping (Diagonal jump)

dj.-

dj.- A two-hit upward punch in the air, use to juggle after a connecting air hurricane kick on a grounded opponent.

dj.- A fist to the face. Good jump in with good priority, especially when done early.

dj.-

dj.- His cross-up, self-explanatory.

dj.- Best when used when jumping from far away, good priority.

Command Moves

Sakatsu Wari + - A overhead with very good range, safe on block.

Senpu Kyaku + - Hop kick. Good for maintaining corner pressure, or to zone in closer due to recovering faster than a LK Tatsu

Normal Throws

/+ -

Same damage for both throws

Alpha Counters

+- shoryuken, used vs jump-ins and when opponent is extremely close. Does have a tendency to whiff vs deep jump ins.

+- A fast cr. with good recovery. Use on the ground, his best ac, since even if blocked its safe.

Special Moves

Hadoken + - A fireball. His best poke, good release speed and damage. Throw a hell of alot of these but be smart with it. Throwing smart fireballs will annoy your opponent, just tossing them out will get you killed.

Shakunetsu Hadoken

+ - This will cause knockdown to your opponent when up close to them. This move can be cancelled into.

Hitbox Data -------> Maximum Range ------>

Shoryuken + - His invincible anti-air. Lp version seem to have no lower invincibility. At best you might trade with a low hit, which Ive only done with Ken. Lp Dp’s on the ground tend to suck in A2 and this being multi-hit isnt reliable, best bet is to used as a anti-air or wake-up when opponent is right on you. Hp does a good chunk of damage and beats anything non super pretty much. Like in Super Turbo, Ryu can also do what is known as a "Ume (pronounced Ooo-May)DP." By performing a close light, medium, or heavy DP towards the other person while they're blocking will hit them twice instead of once, which does more chip damage.

Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku + - Used for mobility and to punish fireballers, use lk version to pass fireballs when you cant use hk version to hit opponent. Can be done in the air and has annoyingly great priority, also if connected against a grounded opponent allows for a j.mp juggle. 1 hit and knockdowns.

Can also be performed in the air:

Fake Hadoken + Taunt - Ryu will use his fireball animation where nothing comes out, but it has very fast recovery and can catch foes off-guard during a fireball war. Not used often due to the placement of the start button can vary depending on your controller setup, and a inputting it incorrectly will give you a regular taunt instead, which can be dangerous.

Super Moves

Shinku Hadoken + - Only real use is to blow thru fireballs, sucks as a AA at any lvl other than 1, and you have better choices anyway. Can combo off light attacks. Lvl 1 does does not knock down, and if to close can be hit.

Shinku Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku + - Probably the best wake-up super in the game, best used defensively than offensively. Completely safe on block, good chip damage, and good damage. Good anti-cross up when knocked down.

The Basics

I like to zone with ryu, fireball away, build meter, cc for chip whatever. Ryu is scary cause its hard to rush him when he has meter, after a few eaten ccs your opponent wont rush you so much. This is in you favor since his fireball is so good. Main goal is to force the opponent to make mistakes by zoning with fireballs, then anti-airing them if they jump. His HP fb knocks down and has great release speed, so Ryu can really get annoying fast.

Advanced Strategy

Well if within or a little outside sweep range go for his cc:

c.rh xx lk hurricane xN, fp dp

UPDATED: Better Customs at lvl 3

c.rh xx lk hurricane x3, fp dp x2 c.rh xx lk hurricane x2, lp dp, lp dp, hp dp c.rh xx lk hurricane x3, hp fireball x4, hp dp c.rh xx hp dp, hp dp, lp dp, hp dp. Note in CC mode E. Ryu’s specials are like regular Ryu’s.

Tired of people jumping on you, well then just anti-air cc. Shoto’s have probably the best AA ccs. If no cc is available, used c.fp or s.mp (cancel into hurricane to move close or hadouken to push back). S.mk works as a anti-cross up.

Activate, s.mp xx lk hurricane xN, fp dp

Now if they jump from afar…

Activate, s.fp xx rh hurricane, fp dp

Congrats! You just made you opponent think twice about jumping on you which leads to more hadouken and cc mix-up fun! This is just a quick overview if you have any in depth question feel free to ask.

Also vs fireballers, if you hit a air hurricane kick…

immeadiately jump activate, j.mp xx hurricane, land, continue hurricane kick juggle, end with fp dp.

- - - Hadouken Knockdown

After a c.mk xx fireball knockdown, hold uf, j.lk at the last second. Its a safe jump in and if it hits go into c.lk x2 fireball. Alot of times they try to throw which leads to c.lk x2 xx fireball another knockdown into the same situation. Repeat til j.lk and c.lk is blocked.

From the blocked c.lk, go for throw, or c.mk xx fireball if you think they expected your throw attempt. If they jump at you when you have meter, cc them with s.mp/c.mp xx lk hurricanes xN, end with hp dp. If they jump from afar, actiavte, s.fp xx hk hurricane into lk hurricanes, end with dp.

C.fp is one of the best meaties and if it hits you can link a c.mk or sweep, if blocked walk forward and throw, or go for a counter hit. S.mk is a really good anti cross up, hitting instantly above his head.

Combos

Cr.LK x2,s.LK ,HP HDK or S.HDK

Cr.HP,HP SRK

Corner j.HP,cr.HP,Lvl 1 S.TSK,Lvl1 S.HDK

Custom Combos

Lv1:

[CC]c.HK,HP HDKx4,HP SRK[/CC]

[CC]c.HK,LK TSKx2,HP SRK[/CC]

Lv3:

[CC]c.HK,LK TSKx6,HP SRK[/CC]

[CC]c.HK,LP SRKx2,HP SRKx2[/CC]

[CC]s.HK,LP HDKxN,c.HK,HP SRK[/CC]

Ryu: any lvl- c.rh xx lk hurricane xN, Hp dp ender

aa cc- c.mp/c.mp into above cc

Match-ups

Vs. Adon:

Vs. Akuma:

Vs. Birdie:

Vs. Charlie:

Vs. Chun-Li: quite tricky. S.lk beats out chuns low fwd and I think this is applied to ryu\ken\akuma. Not quite sure about dan\sakura. You read the opponent for low fwd patterns and interupt her with s.lk, KD FB.

ryus hcf+fp is KD @ perfect ranges to counter chuns normal game. Its really effective because KD’s give you time to set her up for something.

if someone is getting fireball happy w\in the proper FB range, you pacman her FB with a shinku. She’ll stop zoning less with fb’s and you can work yours.

for the most part, ryu can’t really out footsie chun. However, his fwd+mk will go over low fwd which counts for something but its not safe from certain ranges. I’ve noticed that if you decide to turtle it up, shell walk in and out of her low fwd range to bait you to do something. Most players have patterns when they start doing this and you can time when they walk fwd and catch them with c.mk, FB. Its not great life but it is footsie and you can catch her frequently with this till they stop walking around. Chuns walk speed is too good and seems to be a staple point of her footsie mind game.

I’ve noticed that once chun has established her dominant footsie game, she’ll get in close so she can force easy pressure with her normals. This is the only time when you can try to out footsie her and get her with something. c.lk x2 super, low fwd into KD FB etc…

and the best strategy is to just use the fucking clock. Take off time. See if the other guy can actually maintain the proper moves through out the entire course of the match. I’ve noticed that some chun players are really gimmicky and when you use the clock, you’ll be able to see that gimmick more and more and you’ll eventually think of a counter. Even when you use the clock vs a smart chun, you establish the mental game and you’ll be able to work options to land hits.

a big problem with chun isn’t her normals but rather her damn CC. Its chunky life and from what i’ve seen, it can be done with 1 button lol. Its important to win the first round. Its crucial. When the 2nd round comes up, try to gain the life lead and force the chun player to burn up his CC so when the 3rd round comes aroud, you have bar, she doesn’t and you can pick her off with your CC then fight it out. Thats probably the best strat i’ve managed to come up with so far.

Vs. Dan:

Vs. Dhalsim:

Vs. Gen:

Vs. Guy:

Vs. Ken:

Vs. M. Bison (dictator):

Vs. Rolento:

Vs. Rose:

Vs. Ryu (self):

Vs. Sagat:

Vs. Sakura:

Vs. Sodom: