The How to Master Ryu, Ryu Guide for SF3!!! By Eric Chou Email: scuddman@uclink4.berkeley.edu scuddman@aol.com
Last Updated: 6/ 18/ 1998
Table of Contents: Part 1... Ryu's Story Part 2... Universal Commands and the Basics Part 3... Ryu's Standard Attacks Part 4... Special Moves Part 5... Supers Part 6... Learning Ryu / Ryu's Biggest Flaws a Ryu's Greatest Flaws b Learning to Play Winning Ryu c Standing Game d Crouching Game e Air Game f Anti-air Game Part 7... Combos Part 8... A Typical Round Against a Master Yun Player Part 9... Must-Learn Combos and Techniques
Part 1: The Official Street Fighter 3 Story for Ryu:
With his lifelong rival now happily married, Ryu has become even more desperate in his quest for a strong fighter. (loser) Likely the star of the game again, (actually, Alex is) this ageless fighter is expected to have some powerful punches and kicks at his disposal. (Triple Uppercut) Ryu's style is solid and intense,(if painfully slow) unlike his friend and rival Ken's style, which is flashy. How will his tried and tested techniques fare against the new opponents?
This is a guide for both beginner and advanced players of the game Street Fighter III. Ryu's popularity stems from the fact that he's been around since the beginning, thus players find playing Ryu easy. The fact is, though, he's really hard to play effectively...
All these commands are assuming Ryu is facing to the right. When he's facing to the left, just reverse them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2: The Basics:
Forward Dash : Ryu dashes forward fairly fast. It's actually not that fast, because the faster characters can dash forward and backwards farther in less time. Still, because Ryu streaks forward really fast a short distance, you can dash into range of a certain attack. - o, - o
Back Dash : Ryu doesn't exactly dash back because he doesn't go very far back, but this move is still handy. Instead of rolling, I sometimes use this dash to avoid long range attacks. o -, o -
High Jump : A pretty worthless move except when trying to hit someone in the air. | o o |
F.Long Jump : This is useful for covering a lot of distance really fast. The reverse command of this makes him jump backwards really far. / o o /
Roll : Sort of useful, but takes practice to do. It's useful sometimes, though. Do it when you are knocked down. Use this if you are afraid of follow up attacks after you are knock down. Don't use this move if you are in the corner. | o
Overhead : Ryu does a little hop and attacks the enemy. It hits opponents that are crouch blocking. This is a must learn for Ryu, especially because it combos and does good damage. Also, you can use it as a fake. Often, opponents that anticipate an overhead will use a move that will knock Ryu out of his overhead. If that happens, do the overhead with a little more distance between Ryu and your opponent, then go into your super. Another cruel trick to get past tight defenses. | | + P o o
Throw: Using Punch: Ryu will grab his opponent and dump them unceremoniously near his feet. -O + Fierce or Strong Punch
Throw: Using Kick: Ryu will grab his opponent and then flip them a good distance. Should he flip them into a corner, Ryu will move a good distance away from his opponent. -O + Roundhouse or Forward Kick
Parrying :
Parry high attacks: Do this at the moment of impact. You cannot parry some low attacks with a high parry. -o
Parry low attacks: Do this at the moment of impact. In Street Fighter 3, any attack that will hit you low you can parry low. This isn't true in Second Impact though, so don't get into the habit of down parrying everything that comes your way. You cannot low parry an overhead attack. | o
Air Parrying:
Press F to parry high attacks,at the moment of impact,lands far from opp. Press D to parry low attacks,at the moment of impact,lands near opp.
3 Parrying opportunites :
Do a Shoryuken motion with no button,then slide back to DB, although I do it in a different way. This is a stupid way to parry imho, because this doesn't always work in Second Impact. In second impact, a low attack must be blocked low, a high attack high. Which means no more low parrying everything that happens.
2nd Way for 3 Parrying oppurtunities :
Tap D,F,D,F,D,F....,but the parries must have a one sec. delay after every parry. I can see why you might want to do this...but I don't recommend it.
3rd Way Tap F, F, F! That's the way I do it! (and I can parry the denjin hadoken...all 5 hits) Timing takes some practice. That's true, because timing on every move that you parry takes practice. -o -o -o (hehehe) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 3: The Basic Attacks
Standing: 1: Well, it's a jab. I barely use this basic attack. Ryu throws a quick punch, or elbow if near enough. I basically only use it for combos. 2: He stands a throws a punch. It's fairly fast and charges the super meter a bit. It's useful as a counter attack for people who love air parrying way too much. 3: Close he throws an uppercut, far he throws a swinging punch. You can use this as an anti-air attack, and the uppercut combos well. A fairly good damaging attack. 4: He does a little kick towards the shins. It hits people who are ducking and is fairly fast, so it's actually useful. On top of that, it combos well. However, it doesn't do a lot of damage. 5: Close up he does a knee, far away he does a straight kick. Good range, but slow. It's a good dink attack and can hit ducking people. 6: Ryu does a big spinning kick into the air. It's f-f-f-f-ast for a heavy damaging basic attack, and is good as an anti-air, a dink, for charging the super meter,and for hitting ducking people. Don't abuse it, though, because it is parry bait, and everybody who has played Ryu before expects it.
-O + 5: Ryu does a double hitting downward punch. Used as an overhead. Must be blocked high.
Ducking: 1: It's a ducking jab. It's pitiful. I think it's only useful in combos because the ducking 4 does pretty much the same thing but has more range. 2: That ducking strong punch he has is actually pretty useful. It's fast, charges the meter, is good for counter attacks, but does pitiful damage. Also, it doesn't have a lot of range. This is another attack useful for combos. 3: Ryu does his old ducking uppercut. I don't use this much except for combos because I find Ryu's roundhouse better, since his roundhouse has more speed and range. Nevertheless, Ryu's ducking 3 will hit crouched opponents where sometimes Ryu's standing roundhouse won't. 4: Ducking short, which is good for a fast dink and for combos. I use this more playing Ken (I can hear a groan for all those people who I have run up, dinked with the short and went right into my super) 5: Ryu's ducking forward. It's a lot like the ducking 2, except slower but with more range and damage. Once again, it's good for counter attacks, combos, and dinks. 6: Ryu's new sweep kick is a piece of crud. Not only is it slow as heck, but it's recovery is so bad that it's prime material for getting eaten by supers. That, and it's absolute parry bait. Worse, basically every ducking basic attack has priority over it. Argh! Stupid Ibuki! Now I don't dare use the ducking roundhouse on anyone! Actually, it has good priority, but the move is just too slow. Exercise caution when using this move.
Jumping: 1: Straight up it's an elbow, with good anti-air priority. Forward and it's a double hit just like the strong punch. Terrible damage, but has juggling properties I wasn't aware of until recently. 2: Straight up Ryu sticks his arm out (it looks really weird), with good anti-air priority. Forward and it's a double hit. However, for a jump-in you have to press the button early, so it's usually a dead give-away. The idea is that the double hit makes it hard to parry, but it doesn't work all that well. 3: Straight up Ryu sticks his arm out (it looks really weird), with good anti-air priority. Forward and Ryu punches downward with a 45 degree angle. Good damage, great for combos. 4: Ryu sticks out his knee. It has good priority, but the damage is pathetic. Once again, it is possible to juggle this move. 5: Straight up Ryu does a weird looking kick that has good anti-air priority. Forward and Ryu does his trademark jumpkick. This one does less damage than the roundhouse, but has more priority. 6: Like 5, except it does more damage, knocks back farther, and has less priority. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 4: The Special Moves: HADOU-KEN: Ryu throws a fireball. The speed of the ball depends on the punch button. Unfortunately, it's really easy to parry. It also does very little damage and barely charges the super meter. Fortunately, you can combo any of Ryu's supers after the fireball. | \ - o + Any punch. o o
SHORYU-KEN: Ryu jumps up with a rising uppercut. Only Ryu's FIST is invulnerable, so you can still Dragon Punch through a fireball, or through anything, but you have to time it right. The Dragon Punch does very little in the air, but a lot on the ground. (And I mean a lot!) It raises both the stun meter and the super meter very fast. The different punch buttons determines height and strength. Ryu's fierce dragon punch is a double- hitter. Ryu's jab dragon punch does more damage than his strong.
Some notes about buffering a super from the dragon punch. You can buffer a super from a dragon punch as long as you hit your opponent while Ryu is on the ground. That includes opponents that are still in the air. Once Ryu's fist has risen all the way, you can't cancel it. - o | \ + Any punch o o
TATSUMAKI-SENPUU-KYAKU: Ryu's hurricane kick, now a one hit knockdown. You can use it as an anti-air for very bad jump-ins, or as a finishing attack in a combo. This move, although it doesn't look as useful as Ken's hurricane kick,is actually very useful because it does so much damage. Ryu will fly over crouching opponents with this move. | / o - + Any kick o o
JOUDAN-SOKUTOU-GERI: Ryu steps forward and kicks really hard. Another good combo and juggle finisher. I have a hard time using this move, because it's really slow and easy to recognize. One thing you can do with this move is do the Geri kick with short, and when the opponent tries to counter-attack, go into your super. In other words, because it seems like such an obvious move, it makes a good fake! Use sparingly.
o - / | \ - o + Any Kick o o o --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 5: Super Arts:
I. SHINKUU-HADOU-KEN: Ryu throws a 5 hit 'vacuum' fireball. It doesn't do all that much damage for a super, especially if you combo into it. I have a lot of trouble with this super, because I have to combo to use it effectively, and I find that it does so little damage for a super that it seems to be more of a pain than an asset. On top of that, almost everybody I play against nowadays can parry all five hits anyways... You can also juggle opponents with this super after hitting them out of the air with a basic move. | \ - o | \ - o + Any Punch o o o o
II. SHIN-SHORYU-KEN: Ryu does a really nasty Dragon Punch. Close up, Ryu does three very damaging hits. On top of that, you can follow with a juggle after that! As an anti-air, it does pitful damage and hits up to five times. It's a lot like the Dragon-Punch (hey, it's even supposed to be the true one, since that's what shin means in Japanese.) Ouch, it does do a lot.
Just so that you know: If the first hit of the shir-shoryu-ken hits, Ryu will do his three hit version. Otherwise, Ryu will do his anti-air version. | \ - o | \ - o + Any Punch o o o o
III. DENJIN-HADOU-KEN: Ryu does an unblockable fireball. Holding punch charges it up to 5 hits. I haven't figured out how to use this effectively, and it seems nobody else has either. The best is in a combo, but it does very little damage, and if you do it in a combo, you can't charge it, so it's like nothing at all. The most obvious way is to do it after a knockdown, then charge it. As your opponent gets up, let it off! Unfortunately, everybody I play against nowadays can parry all five hits... (Or jump over it, go under it...etc) It's only advantage is that it is unblockable. However, if your opponent is parrying all 5 hits and you can dash up and attack him, do so! | \ - o | \ - o + Hold Punch to charge. Release punch to fire. o o o o --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Part 6: Learning how to play Ryu, also, Ryu's Biggest Flaws: a: Ryu's Biggest Flaws. Before learning how to play Ryu, remember that Ryu's really slow compared to some of the characters. Ryu's not the same person as he was in Street Fighter 2 and X-men Versus Street Fighter. That means you can't throw fireballs like crazy anymore.
Ryu's number one reason for losing a match is badly timed fireballs. Everybody now has many ways of getting around the fireball. So number one when you first learn how to play Ryu...Don't throw any fireballs! Not a single one! Fireballs do very little damage, barely charge the meter, are ver easy to parry, and leave Ryu completely open to counter attack. All of the characters can parry, jump over, or block then retaliate the fireball. Dudley can go through, Ibuki/Yun/Yang can go under, and on and on and on. There are uses for the fireball...but those are under certain conditions that aren't too obvious when you first start learning to play Ryu.
Ryu's number two reason for losing a match is badly timed Dragon Punch. The Dragon Punch isn't the super weapon it was in Street Fighter 2. Only the FIST is invulnerable now, and so you sometimes trade hits against a jump-in attack. On top of that, if you miss a dragon punch...that's it, you've practically lost the match! Super combos can really hurt in this game, and a simple mistake such as a missed Dragon Punch can mean a loss.
Ryu's number three reason for losing a match is being way too darn predictable. Let's face it...it's really easy to parry in this game, and if all you know how to do is jump in combo a sweep, everybody who knows how to play the game can kick your bottom. You've gotta mix it up! Never do the same thing on a jump-in more than twice. Vary your ground attacks...sometimes add an extra short kick, other times, pause before the next attack. If your opponent can parry your attack, you need to change tactics.
b: Learning to Play Ryu. Let's say you have never played Street Fighter 3 before. What's the first thing you do? This method is expensive, but effective. Well, first you learn all the basic attacks and what they do. Try out each attack once. Don't worry about special attacks yet. Just start off by using nothing except basic attacks. Why? The reason is simple: if you don't learn bad habits in the beginning, you don't have to break them later. Also, this way you don't abuse the special attacks, such as the ever so worthless fireball and the ever so vulnerable hurricane kick.
On top of that, you will learn how to use each basic attack effectively. Even more important, you will learn how to play stellar defense. Don't forget, this includes Ryu's overhead, his roll, and parrying.
Next, learn each special move one at a time. Put in your fifty cents, and use nothing except that special move and your basic attacks. You'll learn it's weaknesses soon enough, but you'll also learn it's strengths. When you feel you have mastered that move, (You've mastered a special attack such as the Dragon Punch when you can do a move offensively, consistly, and without putting yourself in a situation where you will face retaliation.), move on to the next special move. Do this with each and every stinking special move there is. Then you have to finally learn to mix it all up. You're not done yet: next, after you can do all the special moves, regular moves, and defenses without problems, then you get to learn your super. Learn a super at a time, and find out what it can and can't do. And last, but not least, then you learn combos. That's right...combos are LOWEST priority. The fact is, I once got rocked something like 5 straight times by a Ryu player that knew zero combos, he just used fierce and roundhouse for meaty attacks (Well, I guess fierce -> roundhouse counts as a combo). To become a master player, you need to know combos, but learn them LAST. If you successfully do this, you may feel like you can't beat anybody but the computer. Be patient, eventually you'll learn how to adjust to different playing styles.
One last important thing: Learn to throw. You can't be competitive unless you know how to throw, because it's very useful defensively. If you hold -o to throw, he'll be thrown that way. Likewise, if you hold o-, you'll throw him the reverse direction. Punch unceremoniously dumps your opponent right in front of you. Kicks chuck him a big distance.
c: Ryu's Standing Game. When both players are standing, what do you do? This is important at the beginning of a match and when a player escapes a trap. You can walk/dash forward/backward, turtle by blocking, or continually attacking. What do I suggest? All of those! I find if you do everything cautiously, you keep your opponent on your toes. Ryu players, especially when starting, tend to back up way too much. That's no good. Yes, Ryu is a good counter- attacker, but you'll never win against people if you never attack. However, that doesn't mean attack stupidly! If you throw a fireball, make sure he doesn't have a way to retaliate! Some anticipation is needed in this department, obviously. If your opponent is trying to parry whatever you throw at him, dash forward and throw him. If your opponent is madly attacking, parry. Or, dash forward and do a low attack, preferably something you can combo out of and doesn't leave you open to attack. Dash forward and try to throw. Back up, and charge your meter by throwing roundhouses when he's too far away to do anything about it. Stand and parry anything he throws at you.
d: The Crouching Game. (also known as footsie) This happens a lot, especially after a knockdown. The most common scenario is when both players are near one another and crouching. What to do? What people used to always do, back when street fighter came out, was short kick like crazy, or try to trip with the roundhouse. Nope, doesn't work anymore. Next time you're in this situation, try different things. Ryu's ducking strong has a lot of priority, so you can use it to stop many slow attacks. His forward kick combos well and does good damage. You can tack on short kicks at strange intervals inbetween everything you do, just to increase the pressure. Or, do one of Ryu's two overhead attacks.
The next scenario is when you get knocked down and your opponent is doing something. This is a tough position to be in, but's usually easy to escape. Your opponent can: 1. Do nothing, and try to parry. 2. Do an overhead attack. 3. Do a low attack. 4. Try to throw. 5. Do his super as you get up. 6. Back up, in which it start the standing game again. Once again anticipation is necessary. If you expect 2 or 4, and sometimes 5, you can do a wake-up Dragon Punch. If he does 3, you need to parry, block, counter-throw, or attack with a higher priority attack. 5 is a hard call, that you have to learn from experience, since everybody has a different type of a super. Not surprisingly, though, almost all of the supers are very similar to 1, 2, 3, or 4.
The last scenario is when the opponent is getting up. When you first play Ryu, you will either always attack an opponent getting up, or always back away. Once again, you need to mix it up. Notice the 6 things bove...well, do all 6. You'll be surprised how effective it is. An overhead has to blocked high, a low attack low. How does your opponent know which you're going to do? Maybe you won't do either! Maybe you'll throw! Don't make it easy for your opponent, but be careful. Remember, don't become too repetitive. I note though, since I always try to low forward kick people into a fireball than a super, I usually get my overhead attack in. By the way...Ryu's overhead will combo into his super...hehehehe. That's right, his little hopping punch combos right into his super.
Better yet, fake something and do another. With some good distance, do an overhead that looks like it might hit your opponent, and then do your super. Ryu's supers freeze animation when they start up, so you often get to see your opponent in the middle of a move right before Ryu starts thrashing them.
e: The Air Game. This is where both you and your opponent are in the air, or you jump-in. Hmm. Ryu has a terrible air game. Once again, it doesn't help that he's slow. The good part, is that Ryu's jump-in attacks combo well and are very damaging. Okay, they're actually not that damaging. My opinion is don't jump, since my experience is that I jump way too much, and pay for it. Still, sometimes you can only punish a badly time fireball by jumping over it. Ryu has very little air priority, but I find that any basic attack in the air generally does the same thing, except that certain attacks have either more or less priority and damage. A neat trick to do though, when jumping, is not to attack, but air parry. You can catch people who dragon punch too much for their own good this way. Also, since Ryu doesn't have a lot of priority, this is also a good way to avoid taking damage while in the air. One thing you can do, to confuse your opponent, is jump in, but way in front of your opponent. Opponents that parry too much will walk forward when they tap forward, right into your waiting hands.
f: The Anti-Air Game. Somebody jumps in at you. What do you do? Many things: 1. Parry 2. Use a basic attack with high priority such as roundhouse or strong to stop them. 3. Dragon Punch. Remember that only his FIST is invulnerable. But hey, you can crunch through almost all special and basic attacks if you time it right. (And even some supers) 4. Throw someone as they land if they mis-timed their jump. Also do this against hopping overhead attacks. 5. Block (Dumb, because you'll find that if you block, a good opponent will follow up, and how do you know to block high, low, or whatever after that?) 6. Let him hit you! (just kidding) 7. Jump up and use a basic attack to knock him our of the air.
Obviously, Ryu's got a very strong anti-air game. There are at least 4 different things you can do if someone jumps in. Unfortunately, that's true for everybody else in the game too, so watch when you jump. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 7: Combos: Do you know how to buffer? I hope so... Here's a flow chart. Remember that you can do a super after any fireball or dragon punch. You can use any button for a jump in. On top of that, all the combos in the flow chart work without a jump in, though some such as fierce -> hurricane kick would take lots of practice to perfect.
any fireball in flowchart -> S any ground dragon punch (anything not a juggle) in flow chart -> S
These also work without the jumpin. Any jumpin -> 1 -> 1, 4, 6, specials, S | | ----> specials, S -> 2 -> specials, S -> 3 -> specials, S, 6 (if 3 was not close) -> 4 -> specials, S -> 5 -> specials, S -> 6 -> ducking 1 -> ducking 1, ducking 4, specials, S | | ------------> specials, S -> ducking 2 -> specials, S -> ducking 3 -> specials, S -> ducking 4 -> ducking 1, ducking 4, specials, S | | ------------> specials, S -> ducking 5 -> specials, S -> ducking 6
SHIN-SHORYU-KEN -> dashing dragon punch, fireball, hurricane kick (in corner), geri kick (in corner), dashing basic attack, any jump-in attack, but you have to use the high jump. You can follow the jump-in attack with a dashing dragon punch (in corner), hurricane kick (in corner), geri kick (in corner), or a dashing basic attack (in corner).
hurricane kick -> short kick (tough to do, note that you can do short kick into hurricane kick in the above flow chart...infinite. Don't waste time and money practicing that stupid infinite though, it's really, really hard to do, and it's not supposed to work in second impact.)
Universal overhead -> any super (Another tough one to do...but it's very useful. Surprise, surprise, turtle players.)
Another unusual one I discovered recently that works if you're near the corner.
Against opponent in the air near the corner: Jumping 4 -> 6 A most unusual juggle.
I'll admit that jumping fierce, fierce, into hurricane kick is tough to combo, but believe me, you can do it. Also, this flowchart doesn't tell you about distances needed for combos. Doing jumpin -> 1 -> 1 -> fireball -> S can only be done in the corner because the fireball pushes back too much. (But you can still do it.)
For those who like getting lots of numbers in their combos, this is the best that I have ever done. With opponent in corner: Jumpin double hit strong -> ducking jab -> ducking jab -> dragon punch -> shin-shoryu-ken -> jumping strong double hit juggle -> standing roundhouse juggle. Dizzy. Jumpin double hit strong -> dragon punch. 14 hit super art combo. Would have been 15, except the last dragon punch killed him. Of course, beating up the computer in the beginning is really easy, and no way would I do this much flashy stuff playing a player.
By the way, do you guys think I should write a buffering/combo guide for Ryu? I've noticed beginning players don't know a thing about that. Another thing: Ken's close strong combos into his close fierce which combos into Ken's specials and supers. Is this true for Ryu? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 8: A Round Against Yun. Why the heck would I write something like this? Well, it will give you an idea of how I play Street Fighter III, and perhaps show you the things you need to do to win. I'm going to talk about two rounds...one in which I win, and the other in which I lose.
The losing round: The round begins. Because I have a hard time attacking Yun players that parry really well, I start off by backing up and charging my super with standing roundhouses. The Yun player tests me by doing Yun's rolling move, and I promptly triple uppercut him out of it. He knew better than to do something stupid like that, but honestly, you can catch people who aren't careful while they charge their super. I walk up to follow up the attack, but the Yun player rolls out of the way. I charge foward and do ducking short, ducking short, ducking strong, ducking forward, which he blocks. I pause for a second, and then do a fireball, which he parrys. He then sweeps me. I try to ducking forward kick him as I get up and he hits me with Yun's strong -> fierce -> stun palm combo. (Should have rolled.)
And this is where I hate really good Yun/Yang players. He fakes an overhead and sweeps me. He then does a meaty stun palm to push me into the corner. (that is, he does the move as I get up so I have to block or parry, but it's difficult to parry as you get up.) He does Yun's move in which he jumps up and flies down diagonally, and I move forward to parry. Unfortunately, my opponent had done the move with short, so he fell way in front of me and I walked into a ducking foward -> strong -> fierce -> stun palm combo. He tries to do Yun's overhead, but I dragon punch him. He rolls, I dash forward, he does the stun palm combo again, which I block. Then he does the diagonal fake again, and I don't buy it. He fakes two times before doing the move with forward, and I block it and wind up in the corner again. He does a sweep, then does the diagonal flying move again and this time I didn't block it. I eat raigeki (The diagonal flying jumpin move) -> ducking forward -> strong -> fierce -> stun palm -> Super: Tenshin Sekyutai. 12 hit combo. Does a little more damage than the triple uppercut. He does a meaty stun palm again, and while trying to parry I mess up and eat it. I then do a wake-up dragon punch as I get up, which he anticipated and parried. I really ate it on my way down from my dragon punch. End of Round.
Well, so I lost. Not that interesting, right? Well, actually, it is. The Yun player spend so much time pressuring me, that eventually I screwed up. I spent so much time trying to avoid his attacks, that I find I can't really get a good attack in. Yun's fast, but he doesn't do a lot of damage. However, a really good Yun player that plays like this and is extremely good at parrying and playing unpredictably can crush a lot of players. So what did I do wrong? The first thing was I didn't attack enough. Ryu doesn't have a combo that player's can't retaliate against like Yun's strong -> fierce -> stun palm combo, but Ryu's basic attacks can substitute easily because he does so much damage. Pressure players near you by throwing standing and croucing strong punches, forward kicks, and standing roundhouses. Eventually, if I'm patient, I'll get an opening, and Ryu's combos can easily do as much as Yun's super. Sometimes more.
The second thing is, I'm not anticipating properly. I'm letting the Yun player play his game if I keep blocking and letting him fake. Instead, I needed to parry the Raigeki and retaliate when he wasn't faking. If I take that weapon away from Yun, he suddenly becomes an inferior character to a master Ryu player.
The winning round: So what's a typical winning round like? Well, in a close one that goes down to the wire, it usually comes down to who messes up first. Amazingly, the second round went really fast.
I started by jumping in, and the Yun player parried and hit me with strong, but since I was still in the air he couldn't do the combo. When he tried to sweep me I hit him with ducking forward -> fierce dragon punch, which is a nasty three hit combo. Range, power, and priority, baby! He didn't roll, and I did my most annoying sequence: overhead (block high), standing strong (block high), crouching forward (block low), ducking short (block low), ducking strong (doesn't matter, but has priority over a lot of moves). To keep the opponent guessing I just shuffle the order I do these moves. He finally gets out of it by sweeping Ryu off his feet, and I don't roll. He walks up to do his typical combo but I parry the strong punch and do dragon punch -> shin-shoryu-ken -> jumping fierce. He had 40 % of his health left when I did that. Didn't matter. The combo killed him. Of course, I lost the third round when I tried to jump in twice and ate it. But, there you have it. A typical winning round with Ryu sometimes is like that because Ryu can do so much damage.
I guess this also can give you some insight into how to beat a Yun player, or any other player. Stave off Yun's diagonal flying kick, his sweep, and his 'robot' combo (strong -> fierce -> stun palm) and suddenly Yun is a very vulnerable character. But then, I also give a lot of insight as to the main weaknesses of Ryu. Oh, one last thing. Just how many fireballs did I throw in this round? My average is something like one or two fireballs a round. This time I just didn't happen to get the opportunity to use the fireball.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 9: Must-Learn Combos and Techniques. Also known as: the techniques of Ryu master players. In my combo chart Ryu has tons of combos. Generally, most of them aren't worth learning. But which ones are? And why?
Ducking 5 -> fireball. A good damage basic combo. The ducking 5 has to be blocked low, or else the fireball hits. If the combo is blocked, the opponent gets pushed back. The bad part is the fireball, because the fireball doesn't push back enough to prevent certain characters from retaliating against this combo. Also, if the opponent doesn't have any place to be pushed back, this combo creates instant death for Ryu. The trick is to learn how to do the fireball only if the ducking 5 hits. Even so, use caution with this combo. Also learn how to do your super after doing this combo.
| Press 5 \ -O Press a punch button if the ducking 5 hit. O o
Ducking 5 -> dragon punch with 1. The dragon punch leaves you vulnerable if the combo is blocked, but if it hits, the dragon punch will knock the opponent down. Once again, learn how to do this only if the ducking 5 hits. Also learn how to do you super after doing this combo. - o | Press 5 \ - o Press 1 o o
or
| Press 5 \ - o \ | \ -o Press 1 (How fast are your hands?) o o o o o
Triple Uppercut. 3 -> dragon punch with 3. A combo to be used only if it is a sure hit. Use after the opponent whiffs or out of a parry. Heavy, heavy damage.
Press 3 -O | \ - o Press 3. o o
Or
- o \ | Press and hold 3 \ - o release 3 o o o
Parry -> dragon punch. Also learn how to do your super after doing the dragon punch. This is very key in defeating players who try to tick you with their super or multi-hit moves. Stuff Ibuki's Hashin Sho with this and impress people.
- o (parry) \ | \ - o Press a punch button o o o
Parry -> ducking 5 -> fireball/dragon punch super. Same idea as above except using a down parry instead. Once again, also learn how to do your super after doing this technique.
ducking short/jab -> super. I'm not kidding. Very, very useful. If you can pull it off whenever an opening presents itself, people are going to fear you. Even more threatening: parry -> ducking jab -> super
| press 1 or 4 \ - o | \ - o press punch o o o o
or
| \ - o | press and hold 1 \ - o release 1 o o o o
or same as above except press 4 then press punch instead of holding and releasing.
Jumpin -> super. You could do something else after the jumpin, but you generally don't want to because the more hits you add to a combo, the less damage the super will do. To get the most out of your super, jumpin with 3 and then do your super.
