Ryu vs Fei Long

Fei Long:

This is one of the hardest and least favorite match up for me that I personally think it’s a 7:3 match up in Fei Long’s favor. This is a match up where in a footsie game you lose and character that is awfully hard to zone. When I was at Canada Cup, Mago himself also told me that he thinks it’s a 7:3 match up in Fei Long’s favor and Daigo also told me that he thinks it is Ryu’s hardest match up, but he didn’t give me an exact number. Anyways, here is what I know about this match up….

Ground Game:

Far Range: I guess I can say this is the only safe range where you can throw Hadokens without thinking. Meter management is extremely important in this match up especially having full Super meter can be extremely threatening to Fei Long. Whenever you have a chance where you are safe, don’t hesitate to build some meter by throwing fireballs, whiffing jab SRK or doing air tatsu.

Mid Range: The best thing you can do at this range is to block and punish whiffs and mistakes made by your opponent or sometimes random level 2 focus attack can give you some surprises. On top of that, Fei Long does not have a really good answer to neutral jump attacks @ this range. I usually do a lot of random neutral jump MK in case I dodged a random Rekka so that I can immediately punish with a combo.

Close Range: Fei Long has a very long safe poke string @ close range, so don’t mash on SRK after you block two low shorts otherwise it’s going to be blocked or whiff by the time Fei Long ends his poke strings.  Fei Long also has really good frame traps to mix up with his throw and even his command throw, therefore sometimes instead of throw tech, mashing on low jab can get you out of that bad situation.

Counter:

Rekka: Standing jab, SRK or early low forward.

Ex Version: Same as normal version.

Flame Kick: Ex SRK (MP SRK seems to trade)

Ex Version: Ex SRK

Chicken Wing: Any standing attack (including any version of SRK) and can also counter last hit with focus. 

Ex Version: Same as normal version

Command Throw: Any attack

Ex Version: Any version of SRK, low short and ultra.

Against Ultra 1: Fei Long’s Ultra 1 does go through projectiles, doesn’t have great range, but however, it still can go through in between Ryu’s max distance low forward into fireball. Therefore, think twice before throwing HADOKEN!

Against Ultra 2: DON’T ATTACK HIM ON WAKE UP! You can empty jump after a knock down and mix up with block or throw.

On Ryu’s Wake Up:

Getting knocked down by Fei Long can be terrifying to deal with because of his varieties of mix up games including safe jumps, cross ups, frame traps, over head and even command throw. I will not mention about simple wake up games like cross ups, over head because it’s not hard to see/react to.

Some command mix ups would be his standing strong/Flame kick frame traps into combo mixing up with throws/command throws and low short into Rekka combo. This simple but yet dangerous mix up is extremely effective especially when you are trapped in the corner and the short list below explains why.

• ·         Mashing on any normals would lose to standing strong/Flame kick/Ex Command throw
• ·         Crouch tech loses to frame traps but beats command throws
• ·         Stand tech loses to low short into Rekka combo and frame traps but beats normal command throw.
• ·         Not pressing anything would lose to normal throws/command throws
• ·         Back dashing loses to Option Select Rekka/Ultra.

Sometimes you can determine you decision by how much meters they have and how much life they have. For example, they would most likely do a flame kick frame traps when they have 2 meters. Another example…hmm…when Fei Long is in a comfortable life lead he would probably use standing strong frame trap to keep applying pressure and not wasting his meter incase he needs to make a comeback.   Speaking about come back, Fei Long would probably try to command throw you because it’s the most risky thing to do but a highest reward due to the option of landing a high damaging combo.

Besides his strong mix ups, Fei Long also has safe jumps against Ryu. I am sure about one of the safe jumps but not too sure about the other one, however I will write down both for you guys.

• ·         Back throw, walk back a little, whiff standing jab and jump MP. This is the setup that I am 100% it’s a safe jump on Ryu.
• ·         This one I am not too sure, but whenever Mago does it on Daigo, he never uppercuts….and I think it only works in the corner. Knocked down by Rekka, (ONLY IF RYU QUICK WAKE UP) jump short.
• ·         Not sure about this one as well…knocked down by sweep then cross up with jump MK.

Mind games and Option Select:

Luckily, Fei Long has a 5f (if I am not mistaken) uppercut (Flame Kick), therefore in return, Ryu can also safe jump against him. However, Ryu cannot do safe jump OS sweep like most of the characters due to Fei Long’s “free out of jail move” chicken wing, therefore what suck is that on wake up you still have to guess which is somewhat not  in your favor and I will explain why.

First, inputting OS sweep makes chicken wing whiffs but Ryu does not have enough time to punish because of his slow recovery after a sweep. It is the safest thing to do but you lose a chance to do damage…so what should Ryu do?

Fei Long’s chicken wing works like Rufus’ Ex Messiah kick, which means, doing low jab can make it whiff and you have enough time to punish. Alright…I know this might sound a little too complicated, I am going to make a list like I did in several guides to make things easier.

·         Safe jump in attack OS low jab makes Chicken wing whiffs and you can punish by walking towards Fei Long and sweep. Other options you can do are HK tatsu once it whiffs, or a bigger punishes which is harder to do, ULTRA 1! However, this OS fails to punish Fei Long’s wake up back dash

·         On the ground leaves you not much choice of OS….low jab to make Chicken wing whiffs and also be able to punish, yet you have to worry about his Flame Kick and also cannot counter his back dash. OS sweep also makes CW whiffs, though you can counter Fei Long’s back dash, but fail to punish his CW and on top of that you still have to worry about his Flame kick.

·         You can also do OS low fierce which beats CW clean, but again, loses to Flame kick and whiffs on back dashes PLUS Fei Long can punish your whiffed low fierce with Rekka. (ARGGGGG!!!!)

Anyways, Ryu does have other strengths allowing him to land damage to this Kung Fu dude! After a knock down, cross up jump LK can be pretty ambiguous, and on top of that, it beats Fei Long’s Flame Kick and sometimes his Chicken Wing (sometimes it misses). Other than jump short, cross up Tatsu, as always it’s a very good and safe tool to use as an attack.

Things to be aware of:

Fei Long’s Rekka is way too far and fast to react to. In this match, you have to be very patient and always have yourself in blocking mode incase of random Rekkas. Sometimes whiffing random standing jabs or shorts can give you some surprise counters to Rekka without much risk. Punishing Fei Long’s whiffed normals is one of the main key to win in this match up. Besides his normals, also pay careful attention to the Rekkas you blocked, because some of them you might be able to punish with fierce SRK and of course, SUPER (YOU NEED SUPER METER IN THIS MATCH UP). When you are analyzing Fei Long’s Rekka, if he has half of his arm on Ryu (I don’t really know how to express this, lol) then it is reversal fierce SRK punishable.

There is one more PRETTY ANONYING trick about Rekka, and it’s HIS delayed second hit and third hit of Rekka. Most of the time you should just keep blocking after you blocked the first Rekka unless you are sure it is punishable with a SRK. If under any circumstances, you blocked Fei Long's second Rekka, don't hesitate to mash HP SRK for a 100% safe reversal.

Applying fireball pressure is important and its usually the best way to "force" Fei Long to get in with his Ex CW. I would say at almost full screen, always been prepared to counter Fei Long's CW...though it seems fast, but to be honest, there's more than enough time for you to react to it. However, I do understand the fact that some people do have slow reactions....therefore another way to counter this move is to lower your body with low forward (cr.mk) right before it hits you (This is much easier because you have your character already in blocking mode, all you do is press MK) . This allows you to make EX Chicken Wing whiffs plus having enough time to punish Fei Long.

I am done about this guide and to remind you guys, I don’t know this match up too well and I always lose to this character. Again, let me know if I am missing anything so I can learn this match up better myself, and leave your comments below or to my facebook page.

Ah…one more thing I forgot to mention, majority of the Fei Longs would do an instant Rekka after they back dash and a lot of them would do an instant jab Rekka after a tech throw. Cheers~