It was a tough road for Ryu users in Street Fighter 5. Although Ryu was considered a serious competitor in season 1 of Street Fighter 5, the nerves he suffered from season 2 led to the fact that Ryu in Street Fighter 5 is the bottom of the jokes. for about four years now. Looking back, Ryu was for the most part only a higher level in season 1, thanks to the existence of the now-removed throwing loop, the anti-air jab and the Dragon Fists without a meter, completely invincible – tools that no character should to have them in Street Fighter 5 point.
For the most part, it felt like Ryu was designed differently from the rest of the cast. “Ryu is balanced, but he exists in a broken world,” was the universal analysis of Ryu. I felt that Ryu was suffering from some major design issues that had been actively ignored for years. To my amazement, Capcom apparently addressed almost every issue I had with Ryu in Street Fighter 5 with the latest balance update.
My biggest complaint about Ryu in Street Fighter 5 was his inability to hit squatting opponents with certain moves. In previous versions of Street Fighter 5, Ryu Hurricane Kick’s meterless specialties and target combo would have been scary against a squatting character.
Of course, the reaction to the enemy crouching or standing during your combo tended to be a staple of previous Street Fighter entries, but it seemed that only Ryu was struck by this philosophy. design in Street Fighter 5.
Even other “Shoto” characters, such as Ken and Akuma, were suddenly endowed with Hurricane Kick specialties, who didn’t care if the opponent was standing or squatting. Ryu was “unique” in that he did not get this benefit.
While Ryu might instead choose to end his combo with Joudan Sokutogeri – also known as “Donkey Kick” – instead, Hurricane Kick was naturally better at maintaining Okizeme pressure for Ryu.
Players could simply solve this shortcoming and easily react to the opponent, either standing or squatting, but the question remained: “Why bother?”
There were a lot of fighters who were simply better than the Street Fighter poster, who didn’t have to think extra about the status of the enemy standing or squatting when running their combos.
Allowing Ryu to hit squatting opponents with Hurricane Kick and use a variant of his target combo, which also works against squatting, not only makes Ryu easier to play, but allows him to mount Okizeme pressure more safely – an absolute must for any character to see any kind of competitive success in Street Fighter 5.
Another big change for Ryu was the added advantage of the block frame for his average standing fist. It went from being +1 per block to +2 per block.
Against certain characters, Ryu failed to frame the trap using his average standing fist, despite being +1 in the block. Instead, he should use the squat fist.
At first, it might seem like a fair trade-off, as Ryu’s average fist only needed 5 starting frames, but again this didn’t compare very well with characters like Ibuki or Necalli who had 5 medium frame buttons. which were +2 block.
The patch also made a considerable effort to undo the damage caused to Ryu’s mid-season game in Season 2, when his squat average shot and squat heavy shot both received an additional starting frame. Capcom even took a step further, eventually making a particularly unstoppable standing punch off the V-Trigger 1.
Ryu’s V-Triggers have also seen considerable buffs that make them both useful in different ways. The V-Trigger 1 gives his fists extra hitstun frames, while the V-Trigger 2 allows him to apply extra damage at the end of the specials for the cost of the V-Gauge. Prior to this patch, Ryu’s V-Trigger 1 offered only niche benefits, while the V-Trigger 2 was almost useless for competitive gaming.
The only thing about Ryu that went awry in my mind is how he still has one of the worst light fists with 3 frames in the game. Since Ryu doesn’t bother to fully extend his arm, he has awful coverage. However, with all these crazy amateurs, I can’t help but think that this minor thing might not matter.
It’s still very early in the new update, but I can’t help but feel very optimistic about Ryu’s potential. Finally, Capcom gave exactly what the Street Fighter boy needed to be a competitive competitor in the high-level game Street Fighter 5. First, I look forward to (hopefully) seeing players compete with Ryu .