Ryu's Fundamentals Part 4

Ryu's Special Moves:

Before you guys read this write up, understand the graph below called a #PAD NOTATION:

Shoryuken / Rising Dragon Punch:

  Alright, we all know that the Shoryuken is Ryu's best anti-air (AA) tool, but ever since was SSF4 released, his SRK has been nerfed by invincibility and damage. It forced the Ryu player to use the MP version instead of HP because it has more invincibility compared to other versions. However, even though when using the MP version, I am sure a lot of you realized it tends to trade often. The timing is different from Vanilla and here is the trick in case you guys don't know about it:

  Have Ryu in crouching mode before you actually want to AA. Doing so decreases the size of Ryu’s hitbox and allows your opponent's attack to hit you LATER but able to AA with the full 2 hits and beats it clean. This is how I input the command... holding 1 (down-back) so that I am still at the blocking direction, then 6-2-3 (srk motion). Nothing special here to be honest, I am sure most of you guys know how to do this. To take this to even more extreme, you can input crouching medium kick to get your hit box even lower before the SRK. This can buy you an extra few frames you need to properly execute the SRK.

  Ok, so I have received a lot of emails and messages of people asking how I do my anti-cross-up AA srks. (I was rated having the best anti cross-up srk with Ryu when I was in Japan, no BS!) So this is how I do it. So suppose you are knocked down on the 2P side relative to your opponent. So when your opponent crosses up you are going to end up in the 1P side. When you are down, hold down 3, then right before the cross-up attack is going to connect, input 6-3 and punch to auto-correct srk. This is a short cut of srk because since I had 3 held down, the game automatically read the 2 command. And yes, even if they cross you up, you do the opposite side of where you wake up because of the auto-correct feature. (doesn't make sense but that's how the game works).

  NOTE: Timing is very difficult and it differs by different normals and characters. Practice and trial and error makes perfect.

Ex Version: Second hit is cancelable like vanilla's fierce version. And best to use to finish off someone with the chip damage or AA (100% no trade) and it has a better range and faster startup and recovery. You can hit the opponents from a juggle state as well (i.e. AA Light

Punch SRK, j.MP)

Hadouken / Fireball:

  Hadouken -- Ryu's signature move. However, every single Hadouken you throw is a gamble. To be honest, I have no real strategies on teaching how you guys can throw fireballs “properly.” I think this is the hardest things to learn and something that you can never master. But as promised, I will share and explain HOW I throw them and why.

First, it requires some reading skills (born with)...so I start by throwing a few just to see how they react. If they do jump in within the first few ones, you can assume he will jump more, therefore be careful with your fireballs. Usually I throw them rapidly when they have no meters just so that they can't land any crazy combos on me. Another situation where I throw them is when they're in the lead and I have 2 meters + ultra. That way, you can bait them into incorrectly jumping over and you can nail them with SRK xx fadc xx Ultra. Besides reading skills, knowledge is key. Knowing the character you are fighting, know his/her longest ranged jump in attack, this allows you to distance yourself then throw them comfortably. (E.g Ryu vs Ryu, his longest jump in attack is J.HK ..so here I would throw fireballs though his tip of the J.HK might hit me, but he cannot sweep after hit because it's too far.)

  In addition, sometimes in videos you guys might see me spamming them, but there are indeed delays after each fireball. I do mix up different versions when I throw them just to make it harder for them to jump over and especially when I am in a fireball war. (This causes them to mess up their timing when they throw projectiles.) Also, if your opponent ever focus backdash your first fireball, don't hesitate to throw a fierce fireball. They are forced to jump or block.

Ex version: On hit, it creates a juggle state on the opponent on its own as well. So for instance, you can connect with crouching medium kick > EX hadouken > FADC Ultra from anywhere on screen. If the opponent is in the corner, if you can hit them with EX Hadouken and then immediately hit them with Ultra from as far as 3/4 of the screen away. It’s also a really good to get out of pressure and applying pressure.

*I do know that you are paranoid when you throw a fireball, but remember, your opponent is also paranoid whenever they make a decision to jump.*

Tatsumaki senpuu kyaku / Hurricane Kick:

To gain the positional advantage, I always finish combos off with Tatsu just so that I can push my opponent in the corner quickly. This special move goes through most of the projectiles and has great priorities.

In the air, this is a great tool to get out of the corner and will allow Ryu to fly out and reposition in the middle of the stage. Do do this, do a tiger-knee motion tatsu - 2-1-4-9 + kick. Also note that this is a very good air to air and it will create a juggle state which can allow you to connect ryu’s super and even his ultra (in the corner).

Ex version: Best tool to use as frame trap and also good to end combos because it does some good damage. You cannot throw the startup frames of the EX Tatsu, so there you can set up a mind game and mixup. Your opponent thinks you’ll grab them so they will try to tech, but you can EX Tatsu instead. Allows you to create a juggle state on hit in the corner, much like EX Hadouken does. Again, this is important in both cases because it allows you can combo into ultra with just one stock of EX meter.

Super - Shinkuu Hadouken:

  My signature move -- super when they focus backdash my fireball, even at full screen it will hit specific characters. Note that there are three versions of Ryu’s super based on which button you press, with light punch being the slowest and hard punch being the fastest. I also use this to combo or to punish where SRK can't reach. One thing to note is that you can connect with the hard punch version of the Super from anywhere on the screen as long as you hit your cancelable normal move into it. For instance, I’m sure many of you have seen Daigo fishing crouching hard punch/light punch srk against Dhalsim’s long limbs and then canceling into super for the full hits. Also remember you can cross-up Tatsu xx Super as well.

Ultra - Metsu Hadouken:

  Everybody knows how to use this, right? One of the reasons why Ryu is strong because has so many ways of connecting his ultra. SRK > FADC > ULTRA, light punch AA SRK > ULTRA, air to air jumping medium punch >> ULTRA, and trading/going through opponent’s normal projectiles within range. Remember, Ryu has some invincibility in the startup frames. So if you are in a fireball war (i.e. Ryu vs Ryu), and are within the correct range you can ultra through their fireball and nail them with the full ultra without getting hit. However, if you do get hit with the fireball you’ll get hit out of the ultra recovery animation and you can hard kick Tatsu to follow up the ultra. Meh, you guys know, won't bother explaining more :).

Ultra 2 - NOT WORTH MENTIONING