Introduction
Ryoko is an oddball. Coming in dead last in regards to tiers, she doesn't have a solid way to deal with fireballs and other seemingly basic situations. She is also short, has small attack range and has a weakness on her head. Why play Ryoko? One word. Damage. Ryoko is a high risk high reward ride that is full of trying to set up situations in where you can fire wheel for HUGE damage. Underplayed, she is still a rewarding and fun character. Just don't expect to win any big matches with her.
Moves List
Normal Moves
Light Punch
Standing (Far) - Bufferable and quick, you can interrupt opponents' attacks with this.
Standing (Close) - Gangster shit. Same as standing far.
Crouching - Same as the 2 above, but crouching OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Jumping - Excellent attack, this and jump in light kick will help you score ticks. High priority, stays out till she lands.
Jumping (Neutral) - Same as jumping.
Strong Punch
Standing (Far) - Great priority, quick and with decent range (for Ryoko that is), this attack is a staple for combos. Works as an anti air against some. Bufferable. Good after a knockdown.
Standing (Close) - Everytime you get a dizzy, you will use this to combo into Fire Wheel for spectacular damage. This move has great damage.
Crouching - Works as a trip, fairly quick. Good to spam on block to move you to a safe distance from your opponent. Has more range than her crouching hard kick!
Crouching (Neutral) A solid anti air akin to Samchay's C.N.HP
Jumping - Not bad for landing deep hits, but generally not as effective as her jumping hard kick.
Jumping (Neutral) - I really don't see anyone using this attack
Light Kick
Standing (Far) - Same as below.
Standing (Close) - Quick innocuous looking move... THAT TRIPS!! This can certainly catch people who just block all day off guard.
Crouching - I personally use this a lot into Fire Wheel or rolls. It's quick, but don't expect your poking game to incorporate this move...
Jumping - Great for ticks with high priority, stays out for an eternity.
Jumping (Neutral) - Sometimes I'll do this on an opponent's wake up to combo into Ippon Seio
Strong Kick
Standing (Far) - A solid anti air that also is bufferable.
Standing (Close) - Great for meaties, this hits twice and is bufferable.
Crouching - It's a trip, but with crummy range. Use it as a meaty sparingly.
Jumping - Great for deep jump ins into Ippon Seio, this has good priority and stays out a fairly good amount of time.
Jumping (Neutral) - Neutral jumping attacks are wierd in this game. I personally don't use it much because j.(n)lk has higher priority.
Throws
Special Moves
Submission Hold(Throw)
- Down, Down + Punch
DAMAGE. if they don't mash out of this, it will hit HARD.
Mountain Storm
- Half Circle Back + Punch
- Must be done directly next to opponent
This is the one fellas. HEAVY damage. You will be looking for every opportunity plus some to score this move.
Rolling Body Attack
- Charge Back, Forward + Kick
Odd attack. Light version safer, so use it instead of Hard. Great anti air. If you use it as a reversal sometimes you will roll the other way! Ryoko faces backwards during part of her knockdown recovery animation, so make sure you time correctly according to your situation.
Ippon Seoi
- Half Circle Back + Punch
- Must be done near opponent. If too close Mountain Storm will come out instead.
Midair Ippon Seoi
- (In Air)Half Circle Back + Punch
Super Move
KataGuruma
- Forward, Up-Forward, Up, Up-Back, Back + Punch
- Must be done directly next to opponent.
You can air throw after this. Some people whiff an air move then start a combo on a crossed up/under opponent! I personally think you're better off using Fire Wheel...
The Basics
You should always be looking for options to fire wheel or knockdowns. Should you score a knockdown you have a few good options...
1) Meaty Standing hard kick. If it hits, HCB+p for yet another knockdown.
2) Crouching light kick. Upon hit, Fire Wheel
3) Standing hard punch. Risky, but you can repeat these until you are poked to a safe distance upon block.
4) Walk up throw / Fire Wheel. This is the riskiest option but the most rewarding in terms of damage.
Fireball characters are hard to deal with. Punish fireball predictability with rolls. Learn the timing of roll under fireball. This will be key to defeating characters like Ray and Samchay who have solid anti air and fireball options. Beware though, if they change up the speed of the fireball you have to adjust your roll timing as well!
Familiarize yourself with the range of her slide grab. It may not do much damage but it gives your opponent something to think about. Damage is damage, and with Ryoko you'll need to take advantage of every single opportunity to give it.
Smart opponents are going to use quick, long range pokes like Zazie's s.lk in order to disrupt your spacing. Knowing Ryoko's damage, they will turtle like crazy. It's critical that you be familiar with the recovery on characters' strongest pokes so you might be able to capitalize on a whiff or blocked move.
Advanced Strategy
Learn when you can cross *UNDER* an opponent for a mixup that will usually result in a free fire wheel.
Wrong rolling may seem useless and a mistake but it has a great advantage in a particular situation. When an opponent attempts to cross you up on wakeup, wrong roll. The Roll is a great anti air and will most likely beat or at the very least trade with their crossup! This takes some practice because there aren't many frames she faces backwards. Just keep at it and you'll eventually get it.
Match-ups
Vs. Clown:
Clown will standing light punch (AND HARD PUNCH) his little heart out and throw fireballs. His trip has very good range to add insult to your inability to jump in. Hope for a blocked ball to get closer to Clown.
Vs. Jean Pierre:
This is one of her worst (despite her having no good matchups)... NEVER jump in. Do rolls under fireball (hope you can time those well)... there's really not much you can do because Jean will undoubtedly turtle and you will more than likely lose.
Vs. Kano Ryoko (self):
Standing Hard Punch is the game breaker here. You will use this as your primary poke: it'll hit Ryoko's weakness and let you combo.
Vs. Karnov:
Ryoko's best matchup! If Karnov is rushdown happy you can punish him getting too close with his kicks by a nicely placed Fire Wheel. If he balloons, get him at the beginning or wait for it to end then crouching hard punch him out of the air (Thanks to the GGPO FHD crew for pointing this out to me!)
Vs. Lee Diendo:
I bet you're expecting this by now, but this match is about as bad as Ray. Lee has excellent priority and speed, and you have no way to jump in. I am unsure as to how to deal with zetsu aside from just spamming s.lp and hoping for the best... I hope you like to lose :(
Vs. Liu Feilin:
One of her best matchups! Don't get too excited... You cannot jump in deep due to Fei's standing hard punch. She will trade sometimes, but you will not be able to come on top of the trade. Look for situations in which you can cross her up while she is standing and her hard punch cannot hit you. You can sometimes jump over fireballs and then get in a combo, but beware. If her fireball animation is nearly done she may DP you!
Vs. Liu Yungmie:
Yungmie can mash low and high punches / kicks all day and outprioritize ANYTHING you do. It's really that bad. There's not much you can do here...
Vs. Marstorius:
Really bad. I hope you can throw faster than Marstorius, because his Double German has more range than your Fire Wheel. He also has many more solid poking options to score combos... I hope you're ready for yet another uphill battle :/
Vs. Matlock Jade:
This could be a lot worse. Your standing hard punch is great in this matchup. Slide tackle on a blocked overhead kick. Don't be too shy about jumping in because his only real wakeup reversal can be traded with.
Vs. Mizoguchi Makoto:
If you can bait a fireball, you'll get a free Fire Wheel. Make sure you punish rdp's with Fire Wheels and slide tackles. His most dangerous move against you is his repeatable kicks. If a sequence of these hits, you'll dizzy then undoubtedly die from his high damage dizzy combo(s).
Vs. Ray McDougal:
Ray will throw fireballs the entire match and trip you on jump in. If you jump in from close, he'll wheel kick you. Try to force Ray to misjudge a wheel kick distance in order to score a free Fire Wheel. Her hardest matchup by far. You can't do much in this uphill battle, but I've seen it won. Good luck!
Vs. Samchay Tomyamgun:
Do not get hit by Samchay's standing hard kick. It will lead to a free dizzy, and it hits your weak spot. Samchay's good moves hit your weak spot dead on because of your height. Look for standing hard punch openings and fish him into doing a close tiger knee that will result in a Fire Wheel. You can jump in with more liberty than many other matches because his crouching hard punch is slow, but conversely his DP is EXCELLENT (But hard to pull off, don't expect them to do it all the time...). This match will boil down to you having superior spacing and patience.
Vs. Zazie Muhaba:
This definitely isn't so hot for Ryoko. NERD FIRE makes it incredibly hard for you to get close, but you can sometimes slide throw him afterwards. Watch out for his standing light kick from hell: it hits you from a mile away. If Ryoko gets dizzied, it's curtains due to Zazie's high damage output (he hits her weak spot with his best move....)
