RRRRRRRRRR YYYY YYYY UUUU UUUU RRRR RRRR YYYY YYYY UUUU UUUU RRRR RRRR YYYY YYYY UUUU UUUU Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: RRRRRRRRRR YYYYYYY UUUU UUUU FAQ RRRR RRRR YYYYY UUUU UUUU New Age of Heroes RRRR RRRR YYYYY UUUUUUUUUUU RRRR RRRR YYYYY UUUUUUUUU @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@@@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@ written by ReCharredSigh e-mail me at peesigh@hotmail.com (and title all your messages as "MVC2 Ryu FAQ comments", else i will ignore them) version 1.9 (currently this is a MASSIVE 222 KB FAQ; goes to show just how much I wrote; or bulls****ed :D ) August 17, 2001 Copyright 2000,2001 ReCharredSigh First of all, lemme sum the legal mumbo jumbo regarding this FAQ in the simplest terms, please don't be like those snobby lawyers that twist every word to their own benefit, it's really degrading of you: =================================================================================== 1. I am not responsible for harm to you due to something in this FAQ, whether it was in the computer sense(i.e. your computer crashed while you tried to save this FAQ) or in the arcade playing sense(lost/won and got beat up due to some technique in this FAQ). 2. This FAQ is free. Plain and simple. You can find it free at the websites I listed. 3. Give me credit if you want to use anything from this FAQ, you don't need to quote me on everything, just give me credit at the beginning/end of your work, and I will have no beefs against you. If you want to post this FAQ on your website, please e-mail me first asking permission, else I will be pissed off. 4. And lastly, if you don't want to obey the above, please just ignore this FAQ, and read some other. 5. What characters Marvel has created, is of their entire copyright. And what characters Capcom has created, is of their entire copyright. I have in no effort tried to take one of their works as my own. 6. You can find this FAQ at the following sites: Gamefaqs.com, Fighters.net, http://www.gameadvice.com, http://www.neoseeker.com If you didn't find it there, chances are it isn't in the latest version. =================================================================================== With all that aside, keep in mind this is my first and possibly only FAQ I will write, so some things may look botched. WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS FAQ 0.CREDITS I.INTRO A.Storyline of Ryu B.Why choose Ryu C.What's the reasons to read this FAQ II.MOVE COMMANDS A.General Move Commands B.Ryu's Normal Attacks C.Ryu's Special Attacks D.Ryu's Super Combos III.ASSISTS A.What and how assists help Ryu B.Ryu's assists IV.TRIOS A.How to partner Ryu up well. B.The speedsters C.The power characters D.The keep away people V.COMBOS A.Intro to Ryu's Combos B.Breaking down Ryu's funky air combo C.Essential Combos D.Various Combos E.The Smell of the Shotokan Foot F.You Now Have the Floor VI.STRATS A.General Strategy a.Defense b.Offense c.Openings d.Mashing e.Guard Crush B.Computer Strategy a.General Patterns b.Abyss' 1st form c.Abyss' 2nd form d.Abyss' 3rd form e.Ending C.Arcade Challengers Strategy 1.Akuma 2.Amingo 3.Anakaris 4.B.B.Hood 5.Blackheart 6.Cable 7.Cammy 8.Captain America 9.Captain Commando 10.Charlie 11.Chun-Li 12.Colossus 13.Cyclops 14.Dan 15.Dhalsim 16.Doctor Doom 17.Felicia 18.Gambit 19.Guile 20.Hayato 21.Hulk 22.Iceman 23.Iron Man 24.Jill 25.Jin 26.Juggernaut 27.Ken 28.Magneto 29.Marrow 30.M.Bison 31.Megaman 32.Morrigan 33.Omega Red 34.Psylocke 35.Rogue 36.Roll 37.Ruby Heart 38.Ryu 39.Sabretooth 40.Sakura 41.Sentinel 42.Servbot 43.Shuma-Gorath 44.Silver Samurai 45.Sonson 46.Spider-Man 47.Spiral 48.Storm 49.Strider-Hiryu 50.Thanos 51.Tron Bonne 52.Venom 53.War Machine 54.Wolverine(Metal) 55.Wolverine(Bone) 56.Zangief VII.REVISIONS VIII.IN CLOSING *********************************************** | 000 CCC RRRR EEEEE DDDD III TTT SSSS | |0 00 C C R R E D D I T SSS S| |0 0 0 C RRRR EEE D D I T SS | |00 0 C C R R E D D I T S SSS| | 000 o CCC R R EEEEE DDDD III T SSSS | *********************************************** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Capcom (www.capcom.com) -For making such a fun 2D fighting game. Shoryuken.com -For being such a great site for SFers. And providing a huge article on avoiding and performing Guard Crushes. And their article on mashing. Fighters.net -For providing the mikeZ combo movie that reminded me that Ryu does have long combos. Gamefaqs.com -For providing a place to put this FAQ. James Chen(www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/6645) -Providing the awesome combo notation, the awesome XvsSF combo FAQ and the awesome combo movies. He is America's Capcom Combomaster, no doubt about it! Migs Rustia(www.geocities.com/mvcthesite/) -For simplifying James Chen's combo notation and creating one of the best Capcom Crossovers sites. I learned how to play Vs. games through his great sites. DJ JellyBean(bellybutton21@hotmail.com) -For creating awesome Capcom FAQs. And I mean EXTENSIVELY LONG ones. Also learned how to play Vs. games through his work. JChristopher(sirlordjoseph@icqmail.com) -Man! If it weren't for him, I'd never be convinced that you could use Ryu WITHOUT specials! Thanks man! And also for his MASSIVE MVC2 Ryu FAQ, which I must credit ALOT of items in this FAQ to. Beta(beta@nettaxi.com) -For the ever-so-useful Projectile Cross-Up Strat from his Spidey FAQ. Ryugeta -For hints on how to do the massive Ryu corner combos. Also a registered Shoryuken.com message board member. Robert Iu(http://members.aol.com/robertsmac/) -I needed his FAQ to help name what assists were in the game, so massive thanks to him and his works. Chris MacDonald(i.am/kao) -Writes massive movelist FAQs, and I had to borrow some stuff from his FAQ mainly the assist names to complete mine. The KiD(Oodzume@hotmail.com) -Had to borrow some of the Ryu combos from his MASSIVE combo FAQ. Silent J(silent_j_@hotmail.com) -The guy who talks online to me about MVC2 more than anyone else. He's also written a very good Iceman FAQ and given me a ton of cool Ryu combos, check em out! Blue Panther(culasice99@hotmail.com) -He gave me this tip on what taunting can do, check it out in the "General Moves" section! Stephen Yasunaga(StephenY@hawaii.rr.com) -He gave me another cool-looking Ryu combo, and also gave a "confusion" tactic, check both out! n817azn(That's his Shoryuken.com forum name) -I took what he said about the hurricane kick glitch air combo, well, some stuff, and put it in. Of course, check it out in the "You Now Have the Floor" section. Patrick Cauthen(CPUGaruda@excite.com) -For correcting me on Ryu's storyline. Siege(siege_tf@hotmail.com) -Of all things, he gives me a new way to grasp the joystick, check it out! \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ************************************ | 11 III NN N TTT RRRR OOO | | 1 I NNN N T R R O O | | 1 I N NN N T RRRR O O | | 1 I N NNN T R R O O | | 111o III N NN T R R OOO | ************************************ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ =========== A.Storyline =========== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's the ever-so-useless Capcom based Ryu storyline! Ryu was an orphaned Japanese boy, and he was adopted by Gouken, a shotokan master. Growing up under him, he was taught the Shotokan Karate by Gouken, alongside with an American boy named Ken. For 10 years, both trained, and became best friends. Ryu constantly was able to beat Ken, because he fought while calculating everything, remaining cool, calm, and precise. After 10 years, Gouken took the two up onto a cliff and prepared to teach them the advanced and possibly deadly ways of the Shotokan Karate. But before he could do that, Akuma, Gouken's evil brother appeared and the two fought, the battle ending when Akuma threw Gouken over a cliff, thus killing him. Ryu and Ken being still inexperienced couldn't save Gouken, and later swore that if they saw Akuma again, they would avenge their master. Gouken's body was never found. Ryu and Ken departed, Ken for the U.S., where he eventually became the U.S. Karate Champ, and Ryu with his red sweatband from Ken and duffel bag, set out to challenge whoever could give him a good fight in Asia. When the Street Fighting Tournament came around, Ryu was able to defeat the champion(Sagat) with the Shoryuken, his most powerful attack, leaving a huge scar in his chest. This humiliating act caused Sagat to seek to kill Ryu in order to reclaim his title. Ryu's entire life is committed to the "way of the warrior," by which he travels around the world seeking the best and only using what techniques he has learned by fighting. After Sagat met Ryu for the 2nd time, he was ambitious to reclaim his Street Fighting champion title and the two clashed, but Ryu could see that Sagat was fighting for the wrong reasons and quit fighting. This act humiliated Sagat, and from then on, Sagat would pay more close attention to the "meaning of the fight" as Ryu had. Ryu later confronted Akuma on an island and fought him, defeating him. Akuma stated that when he managed to tap into his evil potential, he would challenge Ryu again, this time to the death. The island began to collapse into the water, carrying Akuma with it, and leaving Ryu with an evil feeling. Over time, Ryu's short temper would constantly tempt him to become evil, but his will power was able to resist it. But eventually he came across M.Bison. M.Bison had constantly been looking for Ryu sensing that if he could augment him with his Psycho Power and mind-control him, he would have the most powerful Shadowloo soldier ever. He attempted to force his Psycho Power into Ryu, and Ryu could no longer resist his evil side, and thus his evil intent was brought out. However, his strong will kept him from bending to the will of M.Bison and so Ryu escaped. Later Ryu would enter the 2nd Street Fighting tournament and won against M.Bison. He refused to take part in the winning ceremony and walked off. Ryu would later shake out of his evil intent when he was able to withstand his short temper, and continued to travel around the world, challenging any good fighter. Occasionally his anger would overtake him, and then he would become Evil Ryu for a short time. He's recently been followed by Sakura, who wants to be like him and sometimes Sean, Ken's student who wants to defeat Ryu. In the CvS storyline, he gains a new rival, Kyo. According to the Capcom storyline, Ryu has lost only about once or twice, and could possibly be the strongest fighter if he taps into his full potential. He is 2nd to Gen the only person who can challenge the immortal Akuma(and possibly Shin Akuma). He has helped defeat Apocalypse(In reality, Cable beat Apocalypse by himself, but hey this IS after all the Capcom storyline), Cyber Akuma, and Onslaught, and his strength is needed once again to defeat Abyss. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================ B.Why Choose Ryu ================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryu appears to have no apparent weakness. I personally think that while he isn't exactly overpowered, thus making his learning curve harder than people think, he is potentially the most dominant opponent in this game. He's one of the top tier characters not because of some attribute, but because he's possibly the most well rounded person in the game. Actually, that's what I used to say. But in MVC2, insane keepaway traps, rushdown, block damage and combos that take off 90+% damage determine who's good. Ryu is actually a middle-tier character in this game. Which kinda sucks, but at the very least, there's still a reason to play as Ryu, and that's his insanely good combobility in this game, you can do some pretty ludicrous stuff with him. I'm saying this stuff in advance so you don't think I'm a scrub when you read the strats and stuff below in the FAQ. Anyways, here's his attributes. SPEED-Ryu's is average. Many people say, "But he's slow." But you're comparing him to the speedsters, like Spidey, Akuma, etc. He does have a good dash, and his jabs and shorts do come out fast. And did I mention? Ryu's combobility has been beefed from MVC to MVC2. POWER-Ryu's is above average. He doesn't really put the hurt on with a fierce here and there, but his "two-hit into super combo" ground combos are remeniscent of the power characters, and his super combos do a nice huge amount of damage. PRIORITY-Ryu's is average. Depending on who he fights, his priority is better, or worse. His launcher is kinda slow, but his jabs and shorts are fast, so Ryu's priority is often determined by how close Ryu is to his opponent, but to compensate his air fierce punch and 2/3rds of his super combos have incredible priority. VITALITY-Ryu's is SLIGHTLY above average. He has the most lifebar of all the shotos, and Ken has the average lifebar of them, so yes, Ryu is above average. This gives you a TINY amount of error space against opponents. OFFENSE-Ryu's offense depends on how he is used. Because he has no real weakness, Ryu has a potential above-average offense. The key is NOT how good someone can combo with Ryu, but rather how good one can mix up Ryu's normal attacks. DEFENSE-Ryu is above-average in defense, but only if you mix up your methods of countering. He has many quirks here and there that give him potential. RANGE-Ryu has above-average range. That Shinkuu Hadoken of his enables him to compete even against beamers. It's also the main reason NOT to screw up against Ryu. AIR DOMINANCE-He's no Cammy or Omega Red, but Ryu hold his own in the air. His fierce punch has incredible high priority and in many cases, he'll either beat his opponents out or trade hits with them. His Shinkuu Hadoken doesn't have that much priority, but it gives him huge range in the air too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ===================================== C.What's the reasons to read this FAQ ===================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why did I bother go to the trouble of writing such a massive FAQ combinining ideas from everyone from GameFAQs.com to Shoryuken.com? To be able to teach or at least aid you, the reader in order to master Ryu to a certain degree of kick-@$$ness. Once you are done reading this FAQ, you will; -Know how to pull off all of Ryu's moves -Know how to use assists well to aid Ryu -Know how to partner him up well -Know how to pull some of the most kick@$$ combos that Ryu has(Yes, he does have some!) and if you're a newbie, how to pull off combos at all -Know how you should beat all opponents(emphasize on the "should" part), special thanks to JChristopher -And be able to do it all without throwing a single special attack per match (that's right) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ******************************************* | 222 MM MM OOO V V EEEEE SSSS | | 2 22 M M M O O VV VV E SS S| | 22 M M M O O VV VV EEEEE SS | | 22 M M M O O VVVV E S SS| | 22222o M M M OOO VV EEEEE SSSS | ******************************************* /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ======================= A.General Move Commands ======================= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dash: (Tap for, for)/(Tap both punches)or(Tap back, back)/(Tap back+both punches) Notes: Ryu's dash is very fast, and covers a good deal of distance, learn to use it a lot, and work it into combos. Super Jump: Tap any direction down, then tap any direction up Notes: Another staple general move, learn to use it, if you haven't so far. Useful for elusive purposes, and jumping in. Push Block: Tap both punches while blocking Notes: A must learn to help your defensive game, it helps reduce block damage by shoving your opponent to the opposite side of the screen. Taunt: Press Start (Hold Light Kick, Press Start for the DC) Notes: Ryu just tightens his sweatband. You can be hit during this move. Not very useful, since Ryu doesn't damage his opponent. But thanks to Blue Panther (culasice99@hotmail.com), he's told us that yes, you can earn a higher score against the computer if you taunt them! He told me that after a match and finding that his 3 characters had so little life, he was amazed to see that he still had such an extremely high score, quite unusual. It turns out he had taunted the opponents like heck. So, yes, Ryu's taunt is useful, if you want a higher score. Assist 1: Press Assist 1, duh :) Notes: Your 1st partner jumps in, does a certain move, taunts and leaves. They take extra damage when acting as an assist, so be careful when you use this. Assist 2: Press Assist 2, duh :) Notes: Your 2nd partner jumps in, does a certain move, taunts and leaves. They take extra damage when acting as an assist, so be careful when you use this. Tech Roll: Motion back, down/back, down+any punch when knocked down Notes: When you get hit, you fall to the ground, and quickly roll past your opponent to get back up. You can avoid many OTG combos with this, but beware, you don't have "waking priority" when you do this, so any hits you take getting up will hit even if you block. Your initial rolling though is invincible. Switch Out: Tap both Light/Heavy buttons Notes: Depending on what you pressed, that partner will come out. The "light" switch switches in your 1st partner, heavy for 2nd. Your partner will come in with an attack knocking the opponent high into the air, then taunt. You can combo if the attack hits cleanly. If it doesn't...pray you don't get punished. Snapback: Motion down,down/for,for+Assist 1/2 Notes: A light effect occurs, then Ryu does his Overhead Punch which must be blocked high. If it connects, the opponent gets knocked out, and either his/her 1st/2nd Partner comes in. Assist 1 results in Partner 1 coming in, 2 for 2. The opponent which was knocked out can't return for a few seconds. Don't abuse Ryu's version, since his isn't comboable. Uses 1 hyper meter. Team Counter: Motion back, down/back, down+Assist 1/2 Notes: While blocking an attack, this causes either your 1st partner(if you pressed Assist 1) or your 2nd partner(if you pressed Assist 2) to jump in, do their Variable Counter special attack, then you switch. It uses 1 level of hyper meter, but it's your best bet to safe switching. It also counters most attacks. Variable Combo: Tap both Assist buttons Notes: All of your buddies jump in and perform a super combo. Ouch! However, this is limited based on the number of hyper bars you have in stock, and the number of partners you have alive at the moment. Unlike the past, YOU DON'T switch after. Wavedash: Tap both punches, then tap down, and repeat. Notes: I gotta give props to the Shoryuken.com forums, else I wouldn't have found out about this. Similar to TTT, what you are doing is dashing, then cancelling your dash, only to dash again! It basically if done right helps control your dash better and makes it longer! Since the slide to a halt after your dash is slower than the startup, this also makes your dash much faster! Learn this, this is probably more useful than just regular dashing towards your opponent. Practice different timings of when to cancel the dash to make it optimal for your use. Last notes: You can now cancel special attacks into super combos(known as an EX cancel), and performing a super combo for Partner 1 while you are doing your own causes you to jump out, and your next Partner to jump in and do his/her super combo(known as a DHC)! Impressive, just realize that each super combo that comes after results in 25% less damage. Don't forget that you can tech hit universal throws by performing a throw of your own as you are being grappled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ====================== B.Ryu's Normal Attacks ====================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because of the new configuration of MVC2, to get a middle strength attack to come out, press the corresponding light attack as the 2nd hit of a combo. Ryu's normal attacks are, in general, meant to be used like the way they are. -----Light Punch----- Standing: Ryu does the typical standing jab. Good priority and speed, low range. Don't use it too much, since many people can duck it. Use it as a combo starter at the beginning of the round. Also use it to play mind games, so that you set up a low kick string. Crouching: Ryu does the typical crouching jab. Like the standing jab, only this time it should be used to confuse the opponent into trying to block low your overhead. Air: Its only use should be as the 1st hit in your air combo. Occasionally, useful as a multi-jump-in combo starter, but the Light Kick is generally better. ----Medium Punch---- Standing: Ryu does a side uppercut. Useful only in combos, you generally won't use this a lot, except in doing long combos, which you won't get much chances during a serious fight. Crouching: Ryu does a low straight punch. Useful only in combos, but occasionally a good follow-up as a poke after your crouching Light Kick. Air: Ryu does a 2-hit uppercut. You will only use this inside of Ryu's air combo, and then you MUST learn how to cancel the 2nd hit in order to add more stuff, or the opponent will get knocked away. You can cancel Ryu's AC finishers from this attack. -----Heavy Punch----- Standing: Ryu does a standing straight punch. Besides doing good damage, you can combo Ryu's Shinkuu Hadoken after this. Somewhat slow, so learn to set it up using a light attack. Crouching: Ryu does a slow uppercut that launches the opponent. It starts your air combo, so learn to string this after his crouching Light Kick. Beating jumping opponents with this move is tricky, you need to hit the opponent with the tip of Ryu's fist for max priority. Watch the recovery of this move! Air: Ryu's all-around most useful normal attack. First of all, it has high priority, does good damage, and is MUCH, MUCH more useful for charging your hyper bar than that Hadoken. Do this by super jumping a lot and hitting fierce a lot. Also use it many times in air-to-air battles. And lastly, as a jump-in, you can combo ANY command attack that Ryu has afterward-yes, even the Shin Shoryuken. Hold For+Heavy Punch(Standing): Ryu rears back, then punches downward, hitting twice. This is Ryu's overhead. Slow on startup and possibly on recovery, it is easily seen, but does good damage and must be blocked high. Don't abuse this move, though. Mask the startup with an assist, if you want to use it hit turtles. Throw: Ryu slams the opponent over his shoulder into the ground. Does good damage, but Ryu can't follow up, and doesn't have good range, so don't use this at all. The air version tosses the opponent to the other side, making it a good AC finisher. -----Light Kick----- Standing: Ryu does a knee into the average person's groin(ugh). It comes out slower than a Light Punch, but can hit low, enabling you more advantage in combo games. Not too sure if you MUST block low against this attack. It still has good priority, like the Light Punch. Crouching: Ryu does a crouching short ranged kick. Ryu's most useful poke, since the crouching medium kick only comes out in combos now. It also comes out fast, has good priority and speed. The best follow-ups are either the launcher or sweep into Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. Air: More useful than the Light Punch as a jump-in, since it has more priority, so if you like multi-hit jump-ins, start with this, you may even be able to use this for cross-ups, other than that, use it as another combo filler in Ryu's air combo. ----Medium Kick---- Standing: Ryu does a 2-hit kick, hitting first upward with a high groin kick, then downward with an axe kick. Pretty much useless outside of comboing it into something else. Crouching: Ryu does a long-ranged low kick that has a semi-slow recovery. It used to be used to combo into the Hadoken, but in this game, where Ryu's combo strength has been beefed, I prefer stringing it into the sweep and then canceling into the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. Air: Ryu does a flying kick. It used to be used for Ryu's cross-up attempts, but not anymore. A good filler for a multi-hit jump in, and a good filler for your air combo, but I have yet to combo a Shinkuu Hadoken after this. Hold Up+Medium Kick(Air): Ryu does a really high groin kick. It becomes really useful during your air combo(you can't really apply it elsewhere), because combined with your Air Medium Punch, you lift and stun the airborne opponent to the right height to pull off ANY AC finisher. -----Heavy Kick----- Standing: Ryu does a roundhouse kick. Really useless, since your combo basically stops here, if you attempted one. Crouching: Ryu does a sweep kick. Outside of being able to combo into a Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, I dunno what else you can do. What you can do, is if your opponent gets so used to rolling after this, you pull off a Shinkuu Hadoken to catch them as they recover. Air: Ryu does what looks like his Medium Kick, but with more power. It is in reality more useful as an AC finisher than a jump-in, but you can make do with both. As a jump-in, it is useful when your Heavy Punch can't reach the opponent, and you can tag on a Shinkuu Hadoken afterwards for cheesy damage. It is good as an AC finisher, but actually, the upward version serves you better. Hold Up+Heavy Kick(Air): Ryu does a 1-hit non-moving Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku that knocks the opponent to the far end of the screen while doing good damage. It also comes out faster, so this is better as an AC finisher. Hold For+Heavy Kick(Standing): Ryu hops forward and does a 1-hit Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku that doesn't knock the opponent away. It used to be able to be tagged after a Light Kick, and then, cancelled into the Shin Shoryuken, but I dunno if that can be done in this game. However, don't brush this move off. It has deceptively slow startup and recovery, but actually recovers faster than thought. Use it to beat offensive rushes, as Ryu can hurdle over low kicks while this move is done. It also moves Ryu closer to the opponent. Don't abuse it, but don't forget it. Throw: Ryu leg tosses the opponent to the other side of the screen, whether he is in the air or on the ground. Much more useful than the Punch throw because it spaces you and the opponent and does the same amount of damage, but give it a pass due to the cheapness, the low range, and no follow-ups. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================= C.Ryu's Special Attacks ======================= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryu's Specials all do good damage, have good priority, and can combo into and out. Don't use em please, cause I'm gonna teach you how you can fight without em. I just put em here so you know how to do them. ****Hadoken AKA Fireball**** Motion down, down/for, for+any punch Ryu rears back, shouts "Hadoken" then thrusts his palms forward and throws a fireball. The projectile itself is quite good. Good speed, damage, size, and goes the entire screen, unlike most average-person-sized fireballs(Ken, ahem). It makes for a good AC finisher, pushing the opponent to the full screen distance, and as a EX filler, it is good-up close, ALL your super combos combo after, and in the air in the corner, your Shinkuu Hadoken tagged afterward WILL combo! Ok, enough praise. The fact is, most people have built their strats around destroying Ryu through THIS single move. If you want respect and advantage to you, simply don't use this move at all. This also makes people try to find ways to destroy your Ryu through the fireball, but since you never use it, you'll gain advantage for a few seconds. I dunno if Ryu still has a fake fireball in this game. If you like projectiles, pick a beamer and their projectile assist. If you really don't mind using this move, it's best to use it to cover your assist when they taunt, or when you think you can't combo into a super combo and have it connect. ****Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku AKA Hurricane Kick**** Motion down, down/back, back+any kick Ryu spins toward his opponent, shouting the ancient words written above. If he connects, the attack acts like a strike, knocking the opponent full screen. It can be used as an AC finisher, and besides being able to combo into the Shinkuu Hadoken, the Heavy Kick version hits twice in the corner. It has good priority and good damage, and can be done in the air, plus, its properties change in the air, as it follows the arc of his jump. Never, never pull this move off full screen. That's what scrubs do. I would NEVER pull off this move, only once per round in my air combo, and only once on the ground in the corner, thus making it hit twice, and then usually I would add a Shinkuu Hadoken and DHC afterward. I have found out, recently, though, that this move can lead to insanely high damaging air combos for Ryu. You should then only use the hurricane kick for that(see the "You have the floor" section). ****Shoryuken AKA Dragon Punch**** Motion for, down, down/for+any punch Ryu performs a spinning jumping uppercut that screams of PRIORITY, not invulnerability. Besides doing the most damage of his specials, it knocks the opponent high into the air and away from you, allowing NOTHING to follow up. Never use this move at all. While it is good for beating high-prioritized jump-ins, you usually have a good anti-air assist, and so you can usually use that instead. But if both your teammates are dead, then by all means, only use the jab version. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ==================== D.Ryu's Super Combos ==================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ever play Street Fighter 3, where Ryu could EX his moves? I like to think of Ryu's super combos like that, in that you should use these moves INSTEAD of his specials. Overall, they all pack good damage, high priority, and great combobility. ****Shinkuu Hadoken**** Motion down, down/for, for+both punches Ryu rears back like he is going to throw a hadoken, but an electric ball gathers in his hands, and he shouts "Shinkuu....Hadoken" then thrusts his hands forward to shoot a huge blue beam. THE Ground Beam Super Combo, and possibly THE most useful super combo of MVC2. (Remember, Cable fans, that the Air Hyper Viper Beam IS air-based, even if you can pull if off from the ground, not to mention when you pull it off in a VC, Cable does the ground version) It starts up fast, ends fast, does good damage, gives even more if you mash, covers the length of the screen instantly, is combo friendly, and can be done in the air. This is the main reason you should always have a level of hyper meter ready to go as Ryu, because so many attacks in the game push you to full screen, but leave the opponent in recovery lag. In short, use it and abuse it. Two notes-the air version of the Shinkuu Hadoken has a HUGE recovery, so don't pull it off if you are close to the ground and you think it will get blocked. And don't abuse this in close range if the opponent isn't recovering from a move, because Ryu isn't invincible during startup. ****Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku**** Motion down, down/back, back+both kicks Ryu twists his body, then shouts "Shinkuu...Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku" and does what appears to be a multitude of stationary hurricane kicks really fast. This move screams of damage. It takes just as much as the Shinkuu Hadoken mashed. This super combo can too be mashed, but just not as well. This super combo hits from both sides, and has a vacuum property, not to mention Ryu swirls around his opponent during the move, so both push blocking is 50/50 or impossible if the opponent is cornered, and rolling when Ryu is corner-trapped isn't good. It can combo off of Ryu's sweep(if you are fast, otherwise, stick to using it as a counter or a move to pull outta nowhere when your opponent is up close), and does good block damage too. Two last notes- this move has incredible priority. It beats a LOT of super combos, mainly dash super combos and many dash attacks. And to some extent, you can counter jump-ins with this. Just don't try your luck against beams. Also, this is the cornerstone move to Ryu's long combos-more on this in the combos section. ****Shin Shoryuken**** Motion for, down, down/for+both punches First and foremost, you now need 3 levels to perform this attack, not too bad, since it increases in damage too. Ryu appears to do his shoryuken, but instead, he shouts "Shoryuuuuuuuken" and does one of two things- If Ryu doesn't succeed in connecting against the opponent on the ground, he jumps and does a 7-hit Shoryuken. This alone is very comboable, off of his launcher, and deals around 40% damage-the ammount of a mashed Shinkuu Hadoken. Sadly, two notes-it isn't worth 3 levels of hyper meter to do this, and unlike the past, where Ryu could continue his combo AFTER the Shin Shoryuken, he can't do it in this game. However, if Ryu attempts the Shin Shoryuken, and connects it on the ground... Ryu does a powerful uppercut that electrifies the opponent, then does a 2-hit Shoryuken that takes about 50+% of the opponent's life away! Ouch! This move starts up fast, but has little horizontal range, so your best bet is to connect this attack as a DHC, a good assist, or off of a jump-in. This move also has invincibility to EVERYTHING at startup! So all in all, it is Ryu's best counterattack to dashing super combos and jump-ins if you are close enough. In fact, it is the ONLY level 3 super combo that can be used in such a way! This attack is also THE DHC finisher, because of all the level 3 DHCs, Ryu's does the most damage WITHOUT side effects, even when damage buffered. Plus, with Ruby Heart's power-up, Ryu's Shin Shoryuken can take 80+% life. Two last notes-While this super combo is really useful, don't abuse it that much. Besides wasting 3 hyper levels, Ryu is left high in the air unable to block if he screws up. This is mainly used for counterattacking; it is really hard to combo this off of a ground string. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ *********************************************** |333333 AAA SSS SSS III SSS TTT SSS | | 33 A A SS S SS S I SS S T SS S| | 33 AAAAA SS SS I SS T SS | |33 33 A A S SS S SS I S SS T S SS| | 3333 o A A SSS SSS III SSS T SSS | *********************************************** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ =============================== A.What and how assists help Ryu =============================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MVC2 is a game full of assists. Even as Ryu, you should utilize assists to your advantage. There are 3 main ways to implement assists- *setting up combos *stopping offense-based attacks *distracting the opponent(so you can hammer em while they try to hammer your bud) Here are the complete list of different types of assists in MVC2: 1)Capturing Attack Type Description: Your partner jumps in, throws an unreliable projectile out, then taunts and jumps out. The difference between this and the projectile assist is that when your projectile hits, the opponent is left stunned, wrapped in whatever was thrown. Implementation: THE combo starter and lengthener. Attacks that usually don't combo without quirky startups can now combo off of these attacks(Shin Shoryuken), this also helps set up Ryu's insane corner combos! Get it to connect by the projectile crossup technique(see shooting type). More useful offensively by helping you set up your combos rather than defensive tactics preventing offensive rushes. You can also start a ground combo string, and call out this assist so that just when you hit the opponent with the standing fierce, the opponent is captured. Just remember, only one assist to one combo. Best version: Magneto's holds the opponent the longest for those attacks that seem impossible to combo, but Spiderman's is the easiest augmented, since it is most closest to a good projectile. 2)Ground Attack Type Description: Your partner jumps in, performs his/her special attack that is stationed from the ground, and doesn't move anywhere. Sort of imagine a projectile attack from the ground that doesn't move anywhere.(Yoga Flame, for instance) Implementation: Not much to say, not many people have these attacks. Just have good judgement as to whether this assist will set up a combo(multi-hitting), stuff an offensive rush(good distance in attack/good startup), or just distract the opponent. Best version: After some reevaluation, I have come to the conclusion that Sentinel has the best Ground Assist, and it is really good! Why? It tracks your opponent, does great block damage, requires 3 hits to stop the entire swarm, aids in dashing in, and it is possible to combo after this! And did I mention Sentinel's super armor makes it that much harder to stop this assist? A very useful assist, make due with it! 3)Moving Attack Type Description: This is known in American arcades as the Expansion Type. Basically, your partner moves slightly forward while attacking. They then taunt, and then move off the screen. Like a dash type, except with less speed moving forward. Implementation: More used as an offensive tool, in setting up super combos. There are many varieties, though, so realize which one is best. Best version: Akuma's Hurricane Kick is the best Moving Attack Type. His hurricane kick not only has high priority, it does great damage, and holds the opponent very long, so that many of your attacks will combo! Be very creative, and either launch after his attack into an air combo, or use this to set up Ryu's insane corner combos! 4)Rushing Attack Type Description: Known as the Dash Type in American arcades, your character jumps in, and does a rushing attack that in most cases, has high priority. They then taunt, then jump out. Implementation: A great substitute for the shooting type, this assist is great offensively and defensively. Many dash types can nullify projectiles, so it becomes great for stuffing offensive rushes. And in many cases, the opponent gets jacked into the air, enabling Ryu a free shot at a Shinkuu Hadoken! Best version: Captain America definitely has the best rushing type. His goes full screen like Cammy's, but can also absorb projectiles like the Hulk! That means he is a great assist! He can also hit people trying to cross up Ryu, and this attack easily sets up Ryu's Shinkuu Hadoken! Sakura also has a great version, except it does less damage, but enables Ryu to combo easier afterward. Also, Juggernaut has an insanely great assist here, you won't believe the stuff you can beat with it. 5)Launcher Attack Type Description: Your buddy jumps in, and does their launcher. They then taunt, and then jump out. Implementation: Useful for turning defense into offense, or confusing. Many launchers are good for anti-air, with less range, so back up while calling out your character. If the opponent gets hit, follow up with an air combo. Just remember that you must press down, up instead of just up. Best version: I would guess Magneto has the best version. His launcher has really good priority and range. 6)Anti-Air Attack Type Description: Your buddy jumps in, does an attack that has great priority and has good vertical range, but so-so horizontal range. They then taunt, and then jump out. Implementation: Perhaps your all time best defensive assist. This attack prevents your opponent from becoming too aggressive with jump-ins. Throw one out every time you think Ryu's launcher won't come out in time to snuff the jumper. To a certain extent, they are also good for stuffing dashers, just wait until the opponent is really close. Best version: Captain Commando has a great anti-air assist, as it comes out lightning quick, and immediately hits ground to top! Blackheart also has a really great assist, it's like Captain Commando's, but TRACKS your opponent in place for some speed. Dr. Doom has arguably THE assist in the game, cause it will work for anyone at all! Does insane block damage, acts as a shield AND a keepaway tool(also good for covering jump-ins and dashes), and even mini-launches for a "manual" air combo! I have to add more: Jin! He has THE anti-air assist, it has insane priority, and knocks the opponent back, no matter what! If you like comboing after your assists, Cyclops and Psylocke are really good for that matter. Ken and Cammy also both have really good assists here, they are totally invincible going up. 7)Throw Assistance Type Description: Your partner does a special attack that is usually unblockable(exceptions to Omega Red) and then taunts and jumps out. Implementation: Anti-turtler assist. In most cases, these types of assists allow no follow ups, and sometimes they are easily seen, but these attacks are great against the turtlers. Start a ground chain, and when you do your middle attack, call in the assist, then continue hammering away to not arouse suspicion. After your opponent throws the opponent, you may have a chance(slim as it is) to combo with a Shinkuu Hadoken. Best version: Zangief of course! The master of throws must use this assist to really enhance Ryu's game! Even better, change into Mega Zangief before you try his assist, then see if they can't stop him then! 8)Ability Assistance Type Description: There are many types of assist names for this type, including Power, Defense, Speed, etc. Your partner jumps in and presents to you an item that boosts your attributes in some way. After you receive the item, there will be green letters on Ryu's karate gi that say "*name of power-up*- up." Implementation: This assist is most useful in helping Ryu when you need it. Obviously, use your common sense. Depending on what increase of strength you get, you should use it that way. In most cases, go offensive whenever you get one of these power-ups, since all of them help Ryu's offensive game. Best version: I would have to say that I think Ruby Heart has the best ability type. Her power-up gives Ryu so much, his Shin Shoryuken gets a 30% power boost! Amingo's is also really good, it halves the damage that Ryu takes! 9)Recovery Assistance Type Description: Known as the life assist, it basically works like the ability assistance type except that you gain some of your red life back, and on Ryu's gi it will say "Life Up." Implementation: Very, very useful. If you have one of these assists, you MUST keep using the assist during the entire match to almost double Ryu's lifebar! Just play offensively, and while the opponent is blocking Ryu's attacks, pull out the assist. Basically, keep poking at your opponent. This also adds a bonus; because you are throwing out attacks, you will gain hyper meter fast, too! Best version: Probably Jill. The fact is, sometimes she will present you with a green AND red herb, which adds even more life than just her green herb!(RE herb mixing, anyone?) 10)Shooting Type Description: Known as the projectile type, your buddy jumps in and does his/her projectile attack. They then taunt, and then leave. Implementation: By far what I consider THE most useful assist in MVC2! Defensively, they stuff offensive rushes! Call in your projectile while blocking a pixie's rushes, and then combo off of the hit stun! If anyone wants to play a projectile war with you, call out your assist while they shoot their projectiles(don't try this on Cable, you WILL regret it) and immediately follow up with a Shinkuu Hadoken! Offensively, you can think of them as the Sonic Boom, but pumped up! Call them out while hammering the opponent to cover Ryu's recovery on his heavy attacks! There is also a Projectile Cross-Up tactic that I learned off of Beta's Spidey FAQ, and it goes like this: Call your projectile assist while jumping to the other side of your opponent, then block. Your opponent can't block because you aren't attacking, so they only escape if they jump. Of course, if the projectile hits, combo away! Best version: While Cable is the king of keep-away, I owe respects to Iceman's assist as the best one!(You can't arc Cable's projectile assist at will) The block damage is like taking a standing heavy punch from Ryu, not to mention it hits multiple times, a lot more than Cable's, though Cable's is great too. It also starts up just slightly slower than Cyclops' Optic Blast! The fact that it hits the most times for a projectile assist gives you ample time to combo! Other ones that are good are Iron Man, Spiral(although you kinda have to decide if you want to scrap the Hyper Metamorphose, which is an excellant level 1 super combo) and Storm. 11)Balance Type Description: It's also sometimes called Variety Type. This one really varies with the character. It is "balanced" as the name suggests by one of two ways: Depending where your opponent is, your assist comes out differently(ie Charlie does a sonic boom if his foe is grounded, but a flash kick it they are in the air) or the Variable Counter and assist aren't the same(Guile does a sonic boom as an assist, but counters with a flash kick) Implementation: Well, read the above assists, and decide how to use it. Best version: Probably Charlie's. You usually want to do a projectile if the opponent is grounded, and an anti-air attack if the opponent is jumping, and you get two in one when you pick Charlie. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =============== B.Ryu's assists =============== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryu has harder-to-implement assists. They don't suck, but you're better using Ryu as a main character. **************************************ANTI-AIR************************************ Assist: High Dragon Punch This is probably Ryu's best assist. It stops jumpers, plain and simple. While it lacks the massive punch of other anti-air attacks, it gets the job done. Be forewarned, that the horizontal range is below average, so only pull this off if your opponent jumps right on top of you. Variable Counter: High Dragon Punch A superb counter! Again, mainly used for jumpers. You can't hypercancel into the Shinkuu Hadoken and connect it, but its invulnerability makes it a good counter. Variable Combo: Shinkuu Hadoken Great super combo! This complements any other super combo because it covers mistakes and is the fastest variable combo beam!(Remember that you can't do Cable's AHVB as his Variable Combo) A prime mistake punisher, but the main reason why this is so good is that Ryu can combo this EASILY. *************************************PROJECTILE*********************************** Assist: Fast Hadoken While not as effective as the Ice Beam, it can be treated like a better sonic boom and that's what matters. Use it offensively by using the projectile cross-up technique that I wrote in the section above, this sets up a free combo. It is useful defensively against comboers who are so preoccupied with hammering that they don't notice Ryu coming in to hit them, and of course, combo off of it! Variable Counter: Fast Hadoken Even better than the dragon punch as a counter! Block the comboer's launch attempts, then pull off the counter, and then, get this...EX cancel into a Shinkuu Hadoken! Defense to offense in 40% damage flat! Ouch! Variable Combo: Shinkuu Hadoken See Anti-Air's VC section. A great VC. *************************************EXPANSION************************************ Assist: Long-Ranged Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Not as useful as the other assists, but not to be ignored. This stuffs dashers who try to combo upon a dash. Pull this off. Because Ryu has high priority, this can win out a lot. It also strikes the opponent far across the screen, and you can combo off of it, but usually only with a beam. If it connects in the corner, it behaves just like Akuma's hurricane kick, in that the opponent gets hit multi times! Pull off that super combo when that happens! Variable Counter: Long-Ranged Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Use it just like stuffing dashers, and then, of course...tag on a Shinkuu Hadoken! The most useful variable counter for Ryu, IMO! Variable Combo: Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku This super combo is useful in that you hold your opponent in place, so more hits can be done! It is most useful as a VC starter because of the high priority, and the fact that you can combo off of it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ******************************** | 4 TTT RRR III OOO SSS | | 44 T R R I O O SS S| |4 4 T RRR I O O SS | |4444 T R R I O O S SS| | 4 o T R R III OOO SSS | ******************************** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ============================ A.How to partner Ryu up well ============================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ryu, actually, is better as an active character than an assist character. He in actuality partners up with ANYONE very well. However, you may either want to partner him up with another top-tier character, good assists to back Ryu up, or simply good super combos so a devastating DHC or VC can connect. The best way I can think to partner Ryu up goes like this: Ryu should not be the lead character. Make him your 2nd reserve character. Sure, I know he can take on any person by himself. But this is MVC2, where traps are more abundant than ever. Ryu has a hard time escaping traps. He can take on any person in the game, but he has more trouble handling 2 people at once. Your best bet now, is to have a really good point character who can avoid cheese and dominate. When the opposing team loses 1 or 2 teammates, then switch Ryu in. Besides, then your other two characters can build up meter for Ryu to use, and Ryu will be able to start out with 5 levels to go. Then your 1st partner and lead should each be one of the following; Speedster-being able to combo like mad, and thus having better priority than Ryu, these guys should in most cases have low vitality, balanced out by Ryu's, Power character-being able to play a more passive game, with better vitality than Ryu, but lacking some speed, and the Keep-Away character, being able to assist Ryu or to kill the assists that your opponent summons. Only have 1 type of character for each team you have. For instance, if your 1st partner is a speedster, then your 2nd partner should either be a power character or a Keep-Away character, not a speedster. Note that many times the lines between each are blurred, so it doesn't have to always go like this. For instance, Magneto is a speedster and keep-away-er, so think a little. In most cases, you want a good set of assists to help Ryu, in most cases you want 1 assist that can help Ryu offensively(Capture, Expansion, Dash, Throw, Ability, Recovery, Projectile, Variety) and 1 assist that helps Ryu in dealing with the jumpers(Anti-Air). Usually a combination like this can help you lots. And place the assist character who you will use the most(usually an offensive type) as your third character, so that it's less likely you lose that chunk of red life if they take damage as an assist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================ B.The speedsters ================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are ALL the speedsters. I think ALL can partner up with Ryu effectively. Note that because I didn't want to create another category, I counted a speedster as someone who could do long lengthy combos, not just the people who can move fast and such. +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | Name of speedster | Main Pro | Best Assist | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | AKUMA | Best offense | Expansion | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | AMINGO | Unpredictability | Defense | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | B.B.HOOD | Extremely Small | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CAMMY | Fastest character | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CHARLIE | Well-Rounded | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CHUN LI | Great Air Dominance | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | FELICIA | Good Dialer | Expansion | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | HAYATO | Long Reach | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | JILL | Good Versatility | Heal | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | KEN | Easily comboed SCs | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | MAGNETO |Most Powerful Air Combos| Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | MARROW | Good Versatility | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | MORRIGAN | Great Speed | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | PSYLOCKE | Great Maneuverability | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | ROLL | Extremely Small | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | RUBY HEART | Unpredictable | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SABRETOOTH | Easy Air Combos | Expansion | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SAKURA | 2 Different Styles | Dash | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SERVBOT | Smallest Person | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SHUMA-GORATH | Great Pixie/Grappler | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SONSON | Unpredictable | Heal | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SPIDER-MAN | Great Air Combos | Capture | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | STRIDER-HIRYU | Excellent Offense | Variety | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | WOLVERINE(METAL) | Masher-Friendly | Expansion | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | WOLVERINE (BONE) | Stronger Wolvie | Variety | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ====================== C.The power characters ====================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I count the basic power character as someone who does a lot a damage hit for hit. They in general have high lifebars, and you should team these guys up with Ryu so that Ryu lasts a lot longer than usual. +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | Name of power character | Main Pro | Best Assist | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | ANAKARIS | Unpredictability | Throw | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | BLACKHEART | Powerful | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CAPTAIN AMERICA | 2nd best Versatility | Dash | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | COLOSSUS | Best Hyper Armor | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | DAN | Most Powerful SC | Variety | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | GUILE | Great Versatility | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | HULK | Great Range | Dash | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | JIN | Super Armor "comeback" | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | JUGGERNAUT | Extremely Powerful | Dash | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | M.BISON | Underestimated | Variety | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | OMEGA RED | Great Versatility | Throw | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | ROGUE | Versatility by Kissing | Anti-Air/Throw | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SENTINEL | Longest Lifebar | Ground | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SILVER SAMURAI |Versatility thanks to SC| Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | THANOS | Powerful SCs | Capture | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | TRON BONNE | Unpredictable | Throw | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | VENOM |Great Defensive Fighter | Expansion | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | ZANGIEF | Best Grappler | Throw | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ====================== D.The keep away people ====================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These people have really good projectile assists to aid Ryu while he's a main character, or they are great as a point character, for doing cheese damage. +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | Name of keep away person | Main Pro | Best Assist | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CABLE | Best At Keep Away | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CAPTAIN COMMANDO | Powerful Ground Combos | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | CYCLOPS | Good Versatility | Anti-Air/Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | DHALSIM | Different style of K-A | Ground | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | DR. DOOM | Great Air Projectile | Anti-Air | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | GAMBIT | Good OTG Combos | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | ICEMAN | No Block Damage | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | IRON MAN | Good Versatility | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | MEGAMAN | Easiest Keep Away Game | Balance | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | SPIRAL | Versatile Swords | Ground/Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | STORM |Good Air Keep Away Game | Projectile/Variety | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ | WAR MACHINE | Iron Man w/1 Extra SC | Projectile | +--------------------------+------------------------+----------------------------+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ****************************************** |5555 CCC OOO MM MM BBB OOO SSS | |5 C C O O M M M B B O O SS S| |555 C O O M M M BBB O O SS | | 55 C C O O M M M B B O O S SS| |555 o CCC OOO M M M BBB OOO SSS | ****************************************** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ======================= A.Intro to Ryu's combos ======================= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright! Welcome to the Ryu combos section! It has always erked me that most people who use Ryu not only do only the fireball, shoryuken routine, but their most longest combo is a Jumping Heavy Kick, Crouching Heavy Kick. Hello! This is MVC2, not Street Fighter 2! I also never see anybody who uses Ryu do his air combo correctly. Either they screw up trying to do the whole chain, or they can never connect a Shinkuu Hadoken in it. Then there are those who simply don't use Ryu because they thought that Capcom took away all long combos that distinguished Ryu from the other characters. While Ryu doesn't have his XvSF insane JChensor infinite stun corner combo, or his triple Air Shin Shoryuken into air combo combo anymore, he is still one heck of a dominant force, because he still remains one of the few that can tag on a super combo in any combo he does; ground, super jumping, or jump-in! So it has grown on me to write a FAQ that specifically aids those in kicking mega @$$ with Ryu through that that little quirk of fighting games we call combos. Ryu, as a combo character, is extremely dangerous because he can do simple two hit strings into a super combo, which is a guarenteed 40% damage. His combobility has also been slightly increased from the MVC to MVC2, in that they gave his Shinkuu Hadoken more combobility. It now comes out more easily after a Standing Heavy Punch, or in an air combo. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Before you dive into the combos section, if you are a newbie, then read this little tidbit of information to help you pull off combos right. Know how to use all 6 buttons and the joystick well to your advantage. Here is the methods I will suggest you hold the joystick to further enhance your game, in other words, pick one: 1)THUMB AND FINGERTIPS Very much the same as you would hold an eyedropper. It gives somewhat firm control for the diagonal movements. Good response for taps in any direction using thumb or fingertips. Recommended technique. 2)ENGULFING The ball on the stick is completely grasped into a fist. This is not recommended though some have found this technique comfortable for the motions. Usually only mashers will grasp the joystick like this, and by doing so also ruins your ease of tapping the joystick. 3)IN-BETWEEN The stick is in-between the middle finger and the ring finger with palm facing upwards. Great control over up, down, forward and back motions but lends poor control over diagonal taps. But since Capcom games almost never use diagonal taps like Namco, or Sega, I personally prefer this the best. You might have problems with dashing like I do, though. 4)OVER THE TOP This one's submitted from Siege(siege_tf@hotmail.com). Basically he says: "Place your hand palm down over the stick, grasp the controller with only your thumb, index, middle, and ring finger. Using your wrist alone to controll movement. It is similar to using your thumb and index finger, however it gives slightly more controll and you won't ever have the stick slide out of your grasp, as your fingers and thumb should be evenly spaced out. While holding the stick like this you will have to experiment to see how high you want your hand, I do not have my palm touching the top of the stick, because I have large hands, someone younger may want to though." Wow, that's cool, I guess maybe I should try that sometime. 5)SITUATIONAL Use a combination of the three above techniques to suit your needs. Enough said. As for the buttons, here's how I would cover the buttons: Light Punch:Index finger Light Kick:Index finger(Ground Combo) or Left side of thumb(Air Combo) Medium Punch:Index finger Medium Kick:Left side of thumb Heavy Punch:Middle finger Heavy Kick:Middle finger or Left side of thumb(to switch) Assist 1:Ring finger Assist 2:Ring finger or Left side of thumb(to perform a VC) &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Here's the legend that I will use in my combos. It's James Chen's combo notation, modified slightly by Migs Rustia to make it easier to read. , is used to indicate normal move chaining --> indicates Special Move cancellation /\ indicates that you cancel the current move with a Super Jump \/ indicates that you land after the last move and continue on the ground S. stands for standing C. stands for crouching DN. stands for holding down on the controller while attacking during a jump UP. stands for holding up on the controller while attacking during a jump T. stands for holding towards on the controller (direction you are facing) J. stands for jumping SJ. stands for Super Jumping D. stands for Dashing before performing the move AD. stands for Air Dashing F. stands for Flying (OTG) means this will hit opponent off the ground (FS) means that the move you just did initiated the Flying Screen AC - Air Combo AC Finisher - A move that will end an air combo by initiating the FS [air] This move can be done on the ground or in the air [air only] This move can be done only while jumping] P any punch can be used Jab the light punch button must be used Strong the light punch button must be used again Fierce the heavy punch button must be used Short the light kick button must be used Forward the light kick button must be used again Roundhouse the heavy kick button must be used 2P both punch buttons must be used 2K both kick buttons must be pushed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ===================================== B.Breaking down Ryu's funky air combo ===================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ah, yes. The air combo. In most fighting games, it's a series of attacks done on an airborne opponent. The air combos of Capcom, however, are like ground combos, except they are about twice the length and thus allow more hits and more flashiness. If you are pretty much used to Capcom's crossover games, you almost don't need to read this. Most characters have a 5 hit chain for their air combo, and the conventional air combo usually goes like this; C.Short,Launcher/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.Forward-->AC Finisher resulting in 7 hits. Since Ryu isn't a power character, his air combo should be easy to pull off, right? However, upon trying Ryu's air combo, you will notice that many things go terribly, terribly wrong. The first problem is mainly one stated in JChensor's XvSF FAQ. A lot of times you rush in to poke at your opponent into C.Fierce, but it doesn't connect. Then, on those rare occasions that you connect your launcher, you are unprepared, thinking that they were blocking it, then when you jump after them, they have already recovered, and so your air combo ends there. However, this problem is easily corrected. The solution is to never assume that your launcher was going to miss. Connect your C.Fierce, blocking or not, and immediately jump up. If your launcher didn't connect, then the automatic super jump won't occur, and all you need to do is release up. The second problem you will notice is that upon jumping up, Ryu will not connect all of his attacks on the opponent. This is because most characters in the game do not have massive range of their light attacks, and so, your remedy is to always super jump forward, unless if 1)you corner trapped your opponent, by which you jump straight up, or 2)if you are up close to your opponent to begin with. The third problem you will encounter is the Air Fireball Problem. Because Ryu has a C.Fierce as his launcher, when you launch, then press up/for and SJ.Jab, you will get an Air Fireball. Why? Well, Capcom's move commands have gotten more and more lenient as more Capcom games come out. So what happens is that you roll down to up/for, and the computer thinks you intended to super jump while doing a fireball, hence, you get a fireball. There are a couple of remedies for this. 1)When Ryu still is performing his launch animation, immediately hold up/for. This causes it so that the fireball command is gone by the time you jump. 2)When you launch, be more careful with pressing up/for. Instead of going through for, make sure you let the joystick go through the center first. 3)When you launch, perform the super jump command slightly slower, so that you don't accidently throw a fireball, or 4)Hold down/back when you are pressing Fierce for the launcher. This is the method that I use, and it works the best, since it enables you to be a tad sloppy. Basically, it does the "Sonic Boom super jump problem," as I call it, that you end up accidently throwing out a back,for move. But since Ryu doesn't have any, instead he super jumps forward after the opponent! The fourth and most common problem among the air comboers is the air combo itself. Many people simply can't time the button presses right to hit all 4 hits and finish off with a super combo. You see, at first most people dial out Ryu's 4-hit air combo, only to find out they did 5 hits in total(7 hits is the average air combo). So apparently they dialed the buttons too fast, because usually what happens is that Ryu's air combo attacks don't "stick," so you have to wait until the animations end to continue the air combo otherwise Ryu simply skips the middle attacks. So the solution is to hit extremely slow, right? However, 2 problems arise when you do this with Ryu. By hitting extremely slow, Ryu's SJ.Strong hits twice, which knocks the opponent high away from Ryu, enabling NO AC finishers to connect! Also, if you were lucky enough to get the SJ.Forward to connect, it comes out extremely slow, and Ryu can't tag on a Shinkuu Hadoken before the animation ends, the same time the opponent recovers! So apparently it appears that Ryu needs to time his air combo with a mixture of timings, otherwise, it just won't work. Actually, this applies to all of the shotokans, but since Ryu is the slowest of the convention ones(Ken, Akuma, Ryu) obviously it most affects him. Here's how I would do it; Press SJ.Jab, SJ.Short with as much delay between them, like almost a half second. Then hold up on the joystick, and string the SJ.Strong after the SJ.Short with about at the same speed of the first string, but a little faster. Then chain a SJ.UP.Forward after that, with a even faster timing, and then cancel lightning quick into whatever AC finisher you choose. So, Ryu's air combo's timing is broken down like this; C.Short .. C.Fierce .. SJ.Jab ..... SJ.Short .... SJ.UP.Strong .. SJ.UP.Forward . AC Finisher Make sure you hold down/back while doing the two-hit string into launch, then hold up/for during the air combo. The great part about Ryu's air combos are their versatility! This setup enables Ryu to even combo his Air Throw after this, since the way that an air throw counts in an air combo is that the opponent and Ryu must be leveled horizontally. Of course, also remember to take your opponent's size, height, weight into account. Heavier characters fall faster, but are larger, so chain the attacks faster. Lighter characters fall slower, but are smaller, so chain the attacks slower. Last notes; make sure you have this combo set in your mind before you do it, otherwise, you'll end up mashing, not pulling off the combo. And keep calm, that always helps you pull off the combo well. Have fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================== C.Essential Combos ================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I listed these 3 combos as the most bare-bones, must learn for any Ryu player to become dangerous in MVC2. All of them are fairly simplistic, and all involve super combos. 2 notes; some of you may be saying, "Duh! They're damaging because of the super combos! And they only involve 2-6 hits before doing them! I wanna know some really long combos without super combos!" To that I reply, well, let's put it this way; start off on some easy, damaging combos before you learn the long combos, because more hits in a combo basically means less damage for the succeeding hits. And another thing; Ryu's biggest strength is being able to combo his super combos in a simple ground combo. You may think that it's not a big deal but lemme put it this way; how many oppurtunities do you think you can open your opponent up to a Shinkuu Hadoken if you don't rely on combos? With that aside, here are the three most valuable combos for Ryu. As a last note; you can skip the Jump-In combos; I placed them there for flashiness. 1)J.Jab,J.Fierce\/D.C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku or Expansion Variable Combo(OTG) Ryu's classical OTG vs. series combo! The time to cancel into the super combo keeps getting shorter and shorter, you need to chain really fast overall when doing this combo! If you do it right, you should finish all the manual commands of this combo before Ryu even does his sweep, and when you do see it, he'll immediately cancel. You can substitute the jump in for a J.Short,J.Forward, or skip the J.Jab for more priority. As for the combo itself...massive damage if you connect it! It is fairly simplistic, and although the timing must be really fast, the Shinkuu Hadoken combos aren't exactly any slower in timing either! Just watch out for roll attempts! DHCs are like a dream with this setup, and it is hard to roll if Ryu is corner trapped, and hard to push block if Ryu has corner trapped his opponent! This is a must learn for Ryu, and this should be your first combo learned! 2)J.Fierce\/D.S.Short,S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken or Anti-Air/Projectile Variable Combo Ryu's most dangerous ground combo! You must cancel fast into the Shinkuu Hadoken, and even if you do, the opponent will ALMOST have recovered from the Fierce's stun so that should give you an idea of how fast to cancel. You can opt to once again, use J.Short,J.Forward for flashiness, or skip the jump-in altogether. This does massive damage, even more than the 1st combo if you mash enough. It is also lacking of any "holes," so if you pull the combo off, the opponent can't do anything to escape it. As for DHCs after this, you can only opt for long-range super combos, but if you have corner trapped the opponent, anything is fair game! This is your bread and butter combo, and should be used as much as possible! 3)J.Short,J.Forward\/D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP.Forward -->Shinkuu Hadoken Ryu's most versatile combo, if you master this, you are already too dangerous with Ryu! If you don't know how to perform this combo right, look into the section that I wrote specifically on this topic. You'll know if you pulled off the super combo so that it connected because you will see the combometer at 6 hits(if you omitted the jump-in)when you pull off the super combo and the opponent will be at Ryu's height, plus, the announcer will not say "Air Combo" until after the super combo fully connects. This combo not only gives off semi-flash to flash depending on your audience, but you can also opt to finish the opponent with many other attacks! Here are a list of what else you can substitute the Shinkuu Hadoken in the air combo for; SJ.Fierce(What beginners should be concentrating on) SJ.Roundhouse SJ.UP.Roundhouse(A better substitute for the Roundhouse, since it knocks the opponent far away from Ryu) Hadoken(Don't you EVER use this one,but it behaves like the UP.Roundhouse) Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(Good damage, but only knocks the opponent halfway away) Fierce/Roundhouse Air Throw(You must be really good to get this off) In addition, this combo can be mashed to increase the damage! While the super combo is buffered down, the overall damage still matches the other 2 combos. Last notes; this combo once again lets you alter the jump-ins or neglect them altogether, depending on what you can do, and one last note; the Shinkuu Hadoken will not knock the opponent across the screen, but rather knocks them directly down, while keeping Ryu in the air as he slowly recovers from the Shinkuu Hadoken. The screen will remain on Ryu, so when you recover from the super combo, try to cross the opponent up as you come down into another combo. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================ D.Various Combos ================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These combos are here for at least 1 of these reasons: 1)They involve specials, and so I personally would not use them that much. If you feel the same way like I do, then only use Various Combos from 1 to 3 and then maybe 4 once in a while. You can also use combos 12 to 14, cause those are combos you can only do after the opponent is KOed! 2)They are somewhat quirky, in that they have things you couldn't really do that often as an intermediate player.(i.e. EX cancel in an air combo) 3)They waste your hyper meter, because they don't do much damage. 4)They are really stupid, because you will look at it and go, duh! Here they are, in order of greatest to least preference by me: 1)J.Fierce\/Shin Shoryuken Actually, I would have placed this as one of Ryu's most essential combos, since it involves no special attacks, but it's not likely you'll connect a jump-in that much with Ryu, since these days people are assist-happy. Otherwise, kiss half of your opponent's lifebar goodbye. Probably the only way to combo Ryu's level 3 super combo aside from funky ways. 2)D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.Forward,SJ.Fierce, SJ.Roundhouse Taken from the KiD's MVC2 combo FAQ, you must corner the opponent and perform a regular SJ.Forward, then wait until the retracting animation completely ends, then quickly chain the fierce into roundhouse. Could you OTG after this? I have yet to find out. Somewhat flashy. Try it everytime you can corner the opponent, since it does do more damage than adding a special attack. 3)D.C.Short,C.Fierce-->Shin Shoryuken Easy to pull off and does about 40%, but I wouldn't use it because you waste 3 levels. You can't even follow up after it anymore! Again, would have placed it in the essential combos, but this one is sorta worthless. Just try this one out if you aren't that good at combos, since it really is easy to get off. Once you can pull this off with ease, then proceed to learn the essential combos. 4)J.Short,J.Fierce\/D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.Forward--> Fierce Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken Taken straight off of Hiryu.net, you must corner the opponent and EX cancel extremely quickly in the air combo, else the opponent will be knocked away from you via the flying screen. Ok to use, cause it does take more skill than your average EX combo. 5)J.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Hadoken Cheap! With this cheesy combo, you don't even need to be on top of your opponent to get this to connect! Make sure you make the J.Roundhouse hit at max range for maximum priority, then cancel. This is just so friggin cheap, cause it is so skill-less! 6)J.Jab,J.Fierce\/Hadoken-->Shin Shoryuken Only applicable if the opponent is cornered, or if you are up close and cancel lightning fast. From the KiD's combo FAQ. It does do massive damage, the only catch is to cancel at the right time, like either as soon as the hadoken is thrown, or just before the opponent finishes reeling. 7)J.Jab,J.Fierce\/D.S.Short,S.Forward-->Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku-->Shinkuu Hadoken Very flashy, it's seen at Shoryuken.com, and ok to use once in a while. I wouldn't use it too much, since the recovery of the super combo is slow. I might use it if the opponent is cornered, so that the hurricane kick hits twice for more flash, in addition to the Forward hitting twice. If you do do this when the opponent is cornered, make sure that you do DHC out of the super combo, otherwise you will get nailed. 8)J.Jab,J.Fierce\/Hadoken-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Only applicable if the opponent is cornered, or if you are up close and cancel lightning fast. Also from the Shoryuken.com video. If you don't want your opponent to roll from the Hyper Hurricane Kick, maybe you should use this combo. But then, you could always use an assist to help you, right? Right???? 9)J.Short,J.Roundhouse\/D.S.Jab,S.Fierce-->Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken I saw this one on Shoryuken.com in one of the message boards. Kinda reminds me of Akuma's level 2 ground combo. 10)J.Roundhouse\/D.C.Short,C.Forward-->Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken The ol' skool shoto fireball combo, with the Shinkuu Hadoken tagged on the end. I wouldn't use it because it involves a fireball, but it's quirky enough that I'll somewhat accept it, given it's the only way to combo a Shinkuu Hadoken off of a C.Forward. 11)D.S.Short,S.Fierce-->Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken Again, one I heard of in Shoryuken.com. Like the essential combo, except slightly easier to pull off, but I wouldn't use it because you should neglect fireballs. 12)Taunt,J.Fierce\/J.Jab,J.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken This one's only applicable if your 3 opponents are dead. 13)Taunt,C.Short-->Shinkuu Hadoken Again, only applicable if you have finished all 3 of your opponents. 14)Taunt,J.Short\/C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,Shinkuu Hadoken Again, a combo only applicable if you have KOed your opponents. Let the SJ.Strong hit twice, then pull off the super combo. Doubtful you will finish the combo before the screen changes to the win screen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ================================ E.The Smell of the Shotokan Foot ================================ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For a lack of another name for this section, this section tells you how to tap unlocked combo potential that Ryu has. I'll give some background; For those of you that don't know, Ryu's Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku has HUGE combo possibilities! I already said you could cancel into it, but you can actually juggle the opponent before they touch the ground after it finishes! And it looks like it too! If you were to perform the Super Combo with both you and your opponent grounded, you will notice that the opponent gets knocked behind Ryu, then in front, then behind, etc, ending with him being knocked far away from Ryu and landing the same time as Ryu while rolling backward to immediately stand up. So at first glance, you will see that you can't really do anything, outside of DHCing. Or can you? After I saw the MVC2 MikeZ combo movie #7, I began thinking that it wasn't possible to do the combo! Somehow, you needed to do a glitch or something! Right? No. In fact, try Ryu's Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku against an airborne opponent, and you will see that the opponent DOES NOT get knocked around the same way that he usually does if he is grounded. Instead, the opponent gets knocked behind Ryu, then in front, behind, front, etc, all the time SLOWLY RISING until he is slightly above Ryu, then gets tossed up and behind Ryu. In this case, Ryu WILL LAND FIRST, and the opponent can't do anything until he touches the ground, by which he will automatically roll! So what does this mean? It means you could potentially juggle Ryu's opponent to kingdom come! While the opponent usually gets knocked way too far for Ryu to do anything after(except maybe a possible Shinkuu Hadoken), if Ryu is corner trapped when he does the Hyper Hurricane Kick, you could set the opponent up for what could be some of the most powerful combos of this game! The only trick is being able to hit the opponent out of the air. At first, I thought the only way to do it was mostly a part of massive error on the opponent's part. However, after some thoughts, here are some methods of setting it up! 1)With Ryu corner trapped(not necessarily touching the corner) Combo into(or perform) an assist that leaves the opponent slightly above ground, then perform the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku so that it combos off of it. Ok to be relied on, the trick is not to get your assist stuffed, and to make sure your assist will do the job. Magneto, Cable, Psylocke, Rogue, as well as some others can do the job. 2)With Ryu corner trapped(not necessarily touching the corner) Catch the opponent out of a jump-in with the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. The trick is to make sure your opponent is not expecting a counter from his jump ins. Usually will work when your opponent thinks their character's jump-in priority is extremely high, like Strider-Hiryu or Spider-Man. 3)With Ryu's opponent near the corner by about less than half a full screen Switch in Ryu using the Switch Out, then quickly dash until you end up in the corner before the opponent hits the ground, and perform the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Tough to implement, because you may have to dash really quickly and multiple times, but done right, has no flaws to it, in that it's also a combo. A great way to refresh your team partner and put some mega hurtin' on your opponent. 4)With Ryu corner trapped(not necessarily touching the corner) do this; C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG) Now you understand why I rated this combo as the 1st one you should master! The fact is, because of the insanely fast time you must cancel to OTG, this actually helps you more than it doesn't! You actually catch the opponent BEFORE they touch the ground, so technically, you hit them out of the air! THE technique to rely on, since even if they roll, they still have to take the super combo(although in that case you won't be able to follow up). With that in mind, here are some phat kick ass combos based on the awesome Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, in order of easiest to hardest: 1)D.C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),Switch Out Easiest one to start out with, the only restriction is that Ryu is cornered so that after the super combo, the opponent gets flung into the corner, by which your incoming partner will jack em into the air, setting up a devastating combo! Useful if you are a beginner to these types of combos or know a devastating combo for your partners. Potentially you don't even need to be in the corner for this only to work. 2)D.C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),Shinkuu Hadoken or Anti-Air/Projectile Variable Combo You DON'T even need to be in the corner for this one to work, I truly believe, I think! You can remove as much life as the Shin Shoryuken with this simple combo! This one's a little more theoretical than the others, since it is unknown whether the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku could last long enough to launch the opponent into the air if Ryu isn't in the corner. In that case, mash hard just to be sure that you knock the opponent high enough. If you're going for the VC, make sure you use an instant long-range super combo to complement Ryu(usually beams or projectiles), but wave types are poor in quality. This combo is probably extremely easy to pull off, and makes you look like a combo pro already! 3)C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,Shinkuu Hadoken or Anti-Air/Projectile Variable Combo Ryu must be cornered with his back touching the corner for this to work. The 2nd Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku will hurl the opponent out of the corner, so catch them with the Shinkuu Hadoken as early as possible before they touch the ground! 4)D.C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),D.S.Short -->Shin Shoryuken Ryu must be slightly out of the corner for this one to work. Immediately after recovering from the 1st super combo, dash into the corner, and pull off the Shin Shoryuken immediately after the S.Short juggles. Massive damage once again. I love this combo, and would personally try this one as much as possible! Why? Because you can finally combo your Shin Shoryuken into a ground combo without DHCs or assists, special attacks, or jump-ins! Isn't that great? 5)C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),T.S.Jab, T.S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,Shin Shoryuken or Expansion Variable Combo A little tougher than the previous combos, but slightly more pleasing to look at. Move forward after the 1st super combo, cancel immediately into the super combo after the S.Strong. If you want the Variable Combo, then choose Assist Types that are stationary, so that you get maximum damage from the VC. 6)Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(catches opponent out of air),T.S.Jab,T.S.Strong--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku-->Shinkuu Hadoken The combo seen at Fighters.net, Ryu must be cornered and catch the opponent out of the air for this to work. Again, you must cancel immediately after each S.Strong into the super combo else it won't connect. And again, move slightly out of the corner after the 1st super combo. 7)C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),T.S.Jab, T.S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,C.Fierce/\ SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP.Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken Same restrictions as before; move forward after 1st super combo, cancel immediately from S.Strong to super combo. Like combo #6, with more flash. 8)C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),T.S.Jab, T.S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong, SJ.UP.Forward,Air Throw Once again, same restrictions as before(move forward after 1st super combo, cancel S.Strong into super combo fast). Slightly less flash than the previous combos, but possibly much higher in damage. 9)C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),T.S.Jab, T.S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,S.Jab,S.Strong--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,D.D.C.Jab,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong, SJ.Forward,SJ.Fierce,SJ.UP.Roundhouse Ouch, ouch, ouch! Ryu must be corner trapped and touching the corner when he starts this combo. The only real catch to this devastating combo is like before; that you must move forward slightly after the first Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, then cancel the S.Strong REALLY QUICKLY into the super combo again. After the 5th super combo you must dash out of the corner then quickly cancel the dash with another dash into the corner so that now you are cornering the opponent, and the rest of the combo should flow easily! Almost ALL of your opponent's lifebar is gone if you get this to connect! Possibly Ryu's most longest and powerful combo! I skipped the jump-in possibilities, but if you're that good, try to add cross-up attempts or multi-hit jump-ins to start the combo! There is NOTHING like the feeling of finishing your last human opponent's character with this combo, so try it! As a side note, I have this tiny thought in my mind that maybe you could continue to add air attacks after that SJ.UP.Roundhouse, since it recovers faster than the SJ.Roundhouse, so if that's so, maybe you could do a Stronger kick chain on the way down from the air combo, call your assist in, and relaunch into another air combo! I realize this is only the tip of the iceberg of what the heck you could potentially do after the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. I leave it up to you to find what other devastating combos you can find from this. Of course, if you have a really good combo, you can send it to me, and I'll put it up and give you credit for it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ======================== F.You Now Have the Floor ======================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No FAQ is complete without the readers contributing their part to it, so I created this section so that those of you which have discovered some awesome Ryu combo on your part not found in this FAQ may e-mail it to me and I will place it here and give you credit! Enough said. Here are the only restrictions; -Write some type of comment alongside the combo you sent, so I can understand why people should try it.(i.e. looks cool, does a lotta damage, has a theme to it) -Write any doubts that you have about the combo itself, if there are any. Other than that, anything is fair game. I'd like it if someone features a long combo that starts with a Variable Counter. Character-specific assists in combos are fine too, if they drastically lengthen Ryu's chain. DHCs are also fine. If the combo does require a glitch, please state this at the beginning. Here's Ryu's Magic Series, or his combobility of his normal attacks, to help you get started; Ground Magic:Stronger -Ryu can chain up to 3 hits on the ground, made up of a Light, Medium, Heavy attack in that order, and can be any combination of crouching or standing attacks. Notice I said UP TO, so you could do a Light, Heavy or a Light, Medium but not a Medium, Heavy. Just take note that some attacks push the opponent too far away, others have slow startups. Air Magic:Stronger -Ryu can chain up to 3 hits in a regular jump, made up of a Light, Medium, Heavy attack in that order, but usually you'll only get a max of 2, unless if you are comboing Juggernaut or Sentinel. Notice I said UP TO, so you could do a Light, Heavy or a Light, Medium but not a Medium, Heavy. Super Jump Magic:ZigZag -Ryu can chain up to 6 hits in a regular jump, made up of a Light Punch, Light Kick, Medium Punch, Medium Kick, Heavy Punch, Heavy Kick in that order, but you usually get only 5 hits unless if you are air comboing the opponent in the corner. Notice I said UP TO, so you could do "Stronger" series instead. Launcher:C.Fierce -Basically knocks the opponent into the air, setting up an automatic super jump from Ryu if you tap any direction up immediately after it connects. Sets up your air combo. Knockdowns:C.Roundhouse -The name pretty much sums it up. Floors the opponent. Strikes:None -Ryu doesn't have any normal attacks that cause a Flying Screen on the ground. AC Finishers:Fierce, Roundhouse, UP.Roundhouse, Air Throw, Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, Shinkuu Hadoken -Basically, any attack that can be done at the end of an Air Combo to safely end the combo while knocking the opponent to the ground and away from Ryu. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Here's an example: EX)Team of Ryu, Ken, Akuma, with the opponent cornered J.Short,J.Forward\/S.Short,S.Forward(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (2 hits),Akuma Expansion Assist(1 hit)-->Short Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(let Akuma's Hurricane Kick finish),Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku-->Shippu Jinrai Kyaku--> Messatsu Gou Rasen Yeah, the reason why I put this in here is because you could call it "The Smell of the Shotokan Foot" because it only involves kicks and looks hecka cool involving a grand total of 6 hurricane kicks! The only doubt is that is the Short Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku theoretical or possible? Now here's the good stuff: 1)Ryu's Hurricane Kick Glitch? D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (3 hits) Thanks to Silent J(a.aguirrejr@worldnet.att.net) for this combo. Here's what he says: "We both know how Ken and Akuma can abuse that Hurriane kick glitch in an air combo, but why can't Ryu? Doesn't it seem strange that all but but 1 of the shoto's can abuse it? Have you ever noticed how Ryu's M Punch hit's twice (I know you have), but Ken and Akuma's do not? Well, Ryu's M Punch is the secret to his "glitch"! Restrictions on this combo: -> The M Punch MUST hit twice -> You have to wait about 1/4 a sec. before performing the tastu-maki -> The Tastumaki' has to be done on the way down, and with the H Kick button -> Seems to work better if you hold forward -> If you're quick you can add a Shinkuu Hadoken at the end If you did it right, the tastu-maki will hit 3 times!! If you can manage to add a Shinkuu Hadoken at the end it will do about 60% damage on Zangief." Wow! Thanks Silent J! Being able to do a Shinkuu Hadoken combo that takes off more than half of the opponent's life sounds phat! 2)Silent J's Shin Shoryuken combo Corner the opponent, then do: D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (3 hits)\/S.Jab-->Hadoken-->Shin Shoryuken Thanks again to Silent J(a.aguirrejr@worldnet.att.net) for this combo. Here's what he says: "Restrictions on this combo: -> The M Punch MUST hit twice -> You have to wait about 1/4 a sec. before performing the tastu-maki -> The Tastumaki' has to be done on the way down, and with the H Kick button -> Timing is Everything. The tastu-maki, and the S.Jab have to be timed almost perfectly -> The Hadoken (of course) must be canceled If you did it right, the tastu-maki will hit 3 times!! This does about 90% damage on Zangief!! Also, you could substitute the Shin-Shoryuken for a Shinkuu Tastu-maki, if you don't have the bars for a Shin-Shoryuken" Oh, damn, that's one heck of a combo! I'm just amazed, that's all! Great combo 3)The Ryu multiple jab air combo D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits),SJ.Jab,SJ Strong(2 hits)-->Hadoken/ Shinkuu Hadouken This one's from Stephen Yasunaga(StephenY@hawaii.rr.com), and it's a fairly nice combo to look at. Here's what he says: "Well, here's a combo for Ryu that isn't terribly useful, but it is tough to pull off and does look somewhat cool. Timing is critical to this combo, and it slightly resembles Captain America's 3 jab air combo, as well as Cammy's muliple jab air combo. I'm not sure what else can be added to the end, since most of the time when I was testing this out I just attached either a Hadouken or a Shinkuu Hadouken to the end. However, if the enemy is close to either side of the area, you can try to do a Hadouken and cancel it into a S. Hadouken -- the flying screen makes this difficult. If it works, they (should) fly into the S. Hadouken for a few more hits and a unsubstantial amount of damage... I've done this on Ruby Heart and Zangief, Zangief being an easier, heavier target who is easier to nail with the sequence." Nice. I'm just amazed, that's all. Although you won't get a lot of Ruby Heart or Zangief users at the arcade, if there's a bunch of kids sticking around watching you play against the computer, this would be nice to do. 4)The Ryu "confusion" air combo D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab-->Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadouken This one's again from Stephen Yasunaga(StephenY@hawaii.rr.com), and he gives an unusual explaination for this: "If you're not close to the side of the screen and pull off the Hadouken into S. Hadouken, Ryu will most likely throw his Shinkuu out while the enemy falls down and hits the floor -- and Ryu dashes in a second afterward. It's hard to explain in words; it looks rather confusing because you don't expect to see Ryu dashing into the scene after throwing out an air Shinkuu Hadouken(with its terrible lag). Maybe it'd be a flashy confusion tactic?" Wow. Hmmm, it'd blow a meter, but if you really don't care about it, and want to safely switch, I think it might be a good idea. If your opponent thinks they can super jump after you to punish you during the recovery of the move, then you'd immediately land on the ground while they're still in the air and then you can safely switch to your next teammate. 5)Ryu's Double Fireball! Jab Hadoken(D,DF,F+LP)-->Fierce Hadoken(D,DF,F,UF+HP) Silent J(a.aguirrejr@worldnet.att.net) is just amazing. How does he discover this stuff? "Hey, I was just playin' around on MvC2 when I dicovered this awesome glitch! Heard of Ryu's double ground fireball? Goes like this: Have Ryu stand all the way accross the screen. This is kind of hard to explain. Fire off a LP hadoken, then immediatley after that, try to perform a ground to air HP hadoken, while the LP hadoken is still traveling accross the screen. If you did it right, Ryu will fire off a double-ground fireball! You'll usually get a 2 hit combo off this. Can also be done in the air! Cool, 'eh? About that double ground fireball: Ryu is not supposed to go into the air." Hmmm, well, Ryu isn't supposed to be unstoppable in keep-away, but I do admit, having a double fireball is more useful than a single fireball. Ways to use it as far as I am concerned is to do more block damage(against any character other than Cable, calling out a projectile-like assist that does good block damage, doing two hadokens up close and cancelling into the Shinkuu Hadoken is a nice way to yield some block damage), make it easier to abort/connect your S.Short, S.Fierce-->Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken combo depending on the opponent, stall in the air while in a super jump longer, or to cover space on the screen(since Ryu's fireball is already pretty huge, this means against characters having no effective way to deal against fireballs to have to super jump, which gives you the oppurtunity to switch characters if you need to). 6)n817azn's Shin Shoryuken combo D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (3 hits)\/Shin Shoryuken Restrictions on this combo: -> The Middle Punch MUST hit twice -> You have to wait about 1/4 a sec. before performing the Hurricane Kick -> The Hurricane Kick has to be done on the way down -> Timing is Everything. If you did it right, the tatsumaki will hit 3 times!! This is based off of what n817azn said. He said that one doesn't need to be in corner to get the Shin Shoryuken to combo off of the hurricane kick glitch air combo, but it is harder. Like way harder I believe. I'm pretty sure the victim's weight plays a big effect here. 7)Ryu's infinite combo Corner the opponent, then do D.C.Short,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku (3 hits)\/S.Jab,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(3 hits)\/(go back to S.Jab part) Yeah, believe it or not, I'm pretty sure Ryu has an infinite! So I put it down here. Restrictions on this combo: -> The Middle Punch MUST hit twice -> You have to wait about 1/4 a sec. before performing the Hurricane Kick -> The Hurricane Kick has to be done on the way down -> Timing is Everything. The H-Kick, and the S.Jab have to be timed almost perfectly If you did it right, the tastu-maki will hit 3 times!! I think this just rocks. After some tentative thinking, I believe Ryu does in fact have an infinite in MVC2, and this is what it should be! This actually IMO makes Ryu that much more competitive in MVC2, given how most top tiers in MVC2 have some type of infinite or cheese damage sequence. Best part about this combo? It easily gets set up by a guard break from the Cyclops anti-air assist! Now that's great. 8)Comboing AFTER a jab DP Corner the opponent, then do 1-hit Projectile Assist,Jab Shoryuken,(assist hits),combo of your choice(or another dragon punch to make it look like a cool combo) Yet ANOTHER combo from Silent J(a.aguirrejr@worldnet.att.net)! Pretty much no restrictions here, just make sure the dragon punch hits first before the assist. This is mainly used for flashy purposes, nothing else. 9)Ryu beatdown! Make sure Ryu is cornered, then do C.Short,C.Forward,C.Roundhouse-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(OTG),T.S.Jab, T.S.Strong-->Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku,D.D.S.Jab,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab, SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(3 hits)\/S.Jab,C.Fierce/\ SJ.Jab,SJ.Strong(2 hits)-->Roundhouse Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku(3 hits)\/ S.Jab,C.Fierce/\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.Forward-->Fierce Hadoken--> Shinkuu Hadoken A damn flashy combo, involving almost pretty much every single quirky combo aspect of Ryu, right in this combo! Of course, if you read every combo in this FAQ, you'd realize you could add a lot more Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyakus, or substitute some stuff for others, but then again, that's the beauty of comboing in a vs. series game. Restrictions: -> The D.D.S.Jab is not a typo, you need to wavedash, out of the corner while the opponent is airborne, only to cancel the dash into another dash into the corner so Ryu faces the opposite direction. -> Look up the 1st combo in this section to figure out how to do the hurricane kick air combo glitch. -> Of course, timing is critical in comboing the S.Jab off of the 3-hit air hurricane kick. -> Look up the 4th combo in the Various Combos section to figure out how to do the Hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken air combo. Of course, this is NOT the ultimate Ryu combo; a lotta stuff can be substituted and added in this combo, but get this combo out, and your opponent's life is probably gonna be gone. This combo will probably get everyone's jaw to drop to the ground, because this is a damn pleasing, flashy, AND damaging combo. I recommend you're comboing your opponent's last character; it would damn suck to land this combo, only to die a few seconds later from eating a 3xAHVB combo. Realize I only did 2 of each semi-infinite/infinite combo's "loop"(the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku and hurricane kick glitch air combo, respectively) because then your opponent would know you could've killed them right there, but decided to be stylish. 10)Un-assist combo Call out assist,assist hits,D.C.Short...(finish the combo as you like) Silent J(silent_j_@hotmail.com) basically gave me a combo theory in MVC2. Here's what he says: "I've found this new tactic in MvC2 that allows you to stop your opponent from going into move stun from one of your assists. If you hit your opponent immediately after your assist hits, the move stun will be canceled. This especially helps the shotos. Let's just say for example, you have Ken, with Ryu's expansion assist. If Ryu's assist hits, you can follow up with an Lp to cancel the stun of the first hit, then hit again, so that Ryu's assist will hit three times. Try this (As Ken): *Call Assist* dash - S.Lp, C.Hp, J.Lp HK - Hurricane kick After Ryu's assist hits two, or three times, for some good damage, you can launch your opponent into the air, for Ken's glitch. This combo takes off about 80% damage on Cable." That's neat(oops, gave you guys a Ken combo, but that's ok, it's using Ryu's assist). Anyways, if that's possible, then I guess you can combo off of your assist even if it knocks the opponent away. Stuff that would be cool is wavedashing in after Sakura's assist to combo into a super combo. Gee, thanks, Silent J. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ *************************************** | 666 SSS TTT RRR AAA TTT SSS | |6 SS S T R R A A T SS S| |6666 SS T RRR AAAAA T SS | |6 6 S SS T R R A A T S SS| | 666 o SSS T R R A A T SSS | *************************************** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ================== A.General Strategy ================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright, welcome to my massive Strat section. I'd figure I'd start out by telling you the bare bones way you should use Ryu to gain you some respect, and some wins too. Massive thanks to JChristopher, who created the MVC2 Ryu FAQ. I used a TON of strats from his guide, mainly the offense, openings, and character-specific sections. I added some stuff too, but mainly those parts belong to his work. -Don't throw more than twice per round. Pretty much a simple one to follow, most people agree this is sorta cheap, unless you are Zangief. -Don't ever use Ryu's specials. It's the only way to go to win respect. Besides, you can always call in your assists. Well, ok, I mainly meant going easy on the specials. Try not to use them if you can still win without them, in other words, if your assists can handle the job. Throw hadokens to cover assists or to abort a ground combo into super combo(if you know the super combo will not combo). Tatsumaki Senpuukyakus should only be used in air combos. Shoryukens should only be used to beat out jump ins, if you don't have any assists that can do that and you know you can't beat them out with your launcher or can't do a Shin Shoryuken. -Play a mixed-up game. If you like extreme turtling, pick Iceman or Cable. If you like extreme comboing, pick Akuma. Ryu relies on a little of each strat, and if you want to play extremely one-sided, he's not the one to choose. Plus, the way to using Ryu is to use variety in anything he does. Don't always start your offense with a dashing low kick into launch. -Never throw out the super combos AT RANDOM. It is stupid, period. Combo ALL of them, or pull 'em off if the opponent is recovering from an attack. -Never Guard Crush. Read the last General Tactics section for more on this. -Last, but not least, please don't, don't finish your opponent's last guy with block damage from anything, it's really unfair. Oh, and that goes ditto for Ryu's throws, unless if they were stuck in an air combo. It shows you'd rather win than give your opponent a fair chance. Chip if you like, but let off if he has only 1 character left and you're leading by 2 characters. The main idea is not to hit them if they could block the attack and die by the block damage. Well, that's about it, enjoy! I use Migs-Rustia-modified James Chen combo notation for the flowcharts, so if you don't know what the symbols are like, go to the Combos section to see what they mean. *********** *a.Defense* *********** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Most people would rather cover the Offense first than the Defense, so, I figured, let's go the opposite. Not many people think Ryu can hold his own on defense, but I prefer to think otherwise. I consider defense as the act of well, preventing your opponent from offensively attacking you. With Ryu, it's less his attributes that make his defense great, but more on how you use all his attacks. There are 2 different types of offensive opponents, mainly. Sure, they mix up throws sometimes, and sometimes use assists, but it mainly comes down to: will they jump in with an attack, or will they dash in? Let's cover the dashers first. Against dashers, most opponents will do one of two things; They either attempt a low light kick, and if it connects, follow up into a long air combo, or a super combo. If the low light kick is blocked they will continue the combo string and end it with a special attack that does block damage and pushes them to a safe distance. Here's what you can do. 1)--> /\SJ.Fierce,SJ.Fierce,etc,\/ /\SJ.Fierce,SJ.Fierce,etc,etc. If you have any doubts at all about what to do against your opponent, this works like a charm. Seriously. You buy time to think about what to do, while charging up your hyper meter much faster than throwing Hadokens all day. I might add this works a lot better at keep-away, since if they try following you, they usually end up getting smacked by the Heavy Punch's high priority. Just make sure you jump AWAY from your opponent while doing this. 1.1)--> Push Block-->Air Shinkuu Hadoken Useful if your opponent thinks he/she can super jump after you and perform some type of counterattack, like an AHVB. Only use the Shinkuu Hadoken if you know that you can nail your opponent before he/she recovers. 2)--> Push Block Yep. When in doubt, go for this. If they attempt an attack, and you think Ryu's priority won't beat them out, then push them back to square one. 2.1)--> Shinkuu Hadoken I'm still considering whether Ryu can cancel his push blocking animation with a super combo. If possible, then you can catch the opponent while they're still recovering, but if not, if you have a beam assist, you may be able to beam them as they fly backwards, and then tag on your Shinkuu Hadoken then! If not, maybe they'll dash back in, and then your Shinkuu Hadoken will connect there! 2.2)--> Projectile Assist-->Shinkuu Hadoken Read the 2.1 section for more on this. Probably only useful if you have a beamer as your assist. 2.3)--> D.C.Short Change your defense to offense! Yep, now skip to the Offense section to see what you can do. 3)--> J.Something Is your dashing opponent getting too predictable? Nail 'em with this and proceed with your combo! You can even call in an assist while jumping, or use that cross-up projectile technique I have been talking about this entire FAQ! 4)--> Assist Try this one while blocking. Then proceed with your combos. Just remember; an anti-air assist is much safer, but usually allows no follow-ups, while a projectile assist is much riskier, but allows a Shinkuu Hadoken. 5)--> D.C.Short If you have impeccable timing, and you know that Ryu's low light kick will out- prioritize your opponents', they by all means go for this! Now skip to the Offense or Combos section to see what you can follow up with. 6)--> T.Roundhouse This causes Ryu to do his Senpuu Kyaku, otherwise known as his Spin Kick! Remember how I told you that sometimes you could use this to stuff comboers? Well, put it to good use! Starts off sorta slower compared to the other stuff you could pull off, but try to use it if you are good at timing. Only used against the low kickers. 6.1)--> Assist-->Shinkuu Hadoken It's only natural that you call an assist while hammering the opponent and proceed to lengthen the damage already caused! 7)--> Ground-to-Air Shinkuu Hadoken (Motion down, down/for, for, up/for+both punches) Never mind the funky name, it's basically doing the Air Shinkuu Hadoken from the ground. Ryu will super jump and then cancel it with a Shinkuu Hadoken. As of its effectiveness...really good if you use it well! Think of this as like your Senpuu Kyaku, but starts up faster, and does a lot more damage! You could potentially avoid ALL low kick combo attempts with this attack, depending how you time the move command! Just remember, don't abuse this too much, since you are usually still prime for punches and that the Air Shinkuu Hadoken recovers incredibly slow. 8)--> Shinkuu Hadoken Lemme sum it up when I quote Migs Rustia in saying "Always have the Shinkuu Hadoken ready to go!" because you'll be surprised just how many times your opponent thinks he/she can chip Ryu's life with a high-lag move, and pull it off. So many moves in this game make the opponent vulnerable at recovery, and Ryu should use this super combo for countering close to anything! Well, almost. Mainly used for countering long range high-lag moves, or if you can super jump behind your opponent while they're firing something and you can't land a Shin Shoryuken. 9)--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku In many cases, much more useful for countering moves than the Shinkuu Hadoken. This is mainly for up-close opponents. Missed switch hits, high-recovery super combos placing the opponent next to Ryu also allow a shot with this. Even more useful in the corner, since the opponent can't push block. 10)--> Shin Shoryuken If your dashing opponent becomes so stuck up and thinks he/she has ultimate priority over Ryu, skool em with this! Try to reserve it to countering dashes that place the opponent right next to Ryu, or super combos that dash at you. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Alright, now the jumpers. Usually the jumping offensive opponents try one of two things. Will they do a J.Jab,J.Fierce combo and proceed? Or will they do a J.Roundhouse combo? This usually causes you to screw up, and a good confuser will really blend the two jump-ins, plus add a few assists into the picture, so your best bet is to stop them right at the beginning, unlike the dashers. Here's what you can do. 1)--> /\SJ.Fierce,SJ.Fierce,etc,\/ /\SJ.Fierce,SJ.Fierce,etc,etc. If you have any doubts at all about what to do against your opponent, this works like a charm. Seriously. You buy time to think about what to do, while charging up your hyper meter much faster than throwing Hadokens all day. I might add this works a lot better at keep-away, since if they try following you, they usually end up getting smacked by the Heavy Punch's high priority. Just make sure you jump AWAY from your opponent while doing this. And if you detect a projectile cross-up technique coming your way, this pretty much stuffs it too. 1.1)--> Push Block-->Air Shinkuu Hadoken Useful if your opponent thinks he/she can super jump after you and perform some type of counterattack, like an AHVB. Only use the Shinkuu Hadoken if you know that you can nail your opponent before he/she recovers. 2)--> Push Block Yep. When in doubt, go for this. If they attempt an attack, and you think Ryu's priority won't beat them out, then push them back to square one. 2.1)--> Shinkuu Hadoken I'm still considering whether Ryu can cancel his push blocking animation with a super combo. If possible, then you can catch the opponent while they're still recovering, but if not, if you have a beam assist, you may be able to beam them as they fly backwards, and then tag on your Shinkuu Hadoken then! If not, maybe they'll dash back in, and then your Shinkuu Hadoken will connect there! 2.2)--> Projectile Assist-->Shinkuu Hadoken Read the 2.1 section for more on this. Probably only useful if you have a beamer as your assist. 2.3)--> D.C.Short Change your defense to offense! Yep, now skip to the Offense section to see what you can do. 3)--> Assist Try this one while blocking. Then proceed with your combos. This time you MUST use an Anti-Air assist; anything else screws you. 4)--> Walk under jumping opponent, then throw. Cheesy yes? True, true. But it's an effective old skool SF technique that works. Useful if your opponent's jump carries them right above you. Try not to do this more than twice per round, it screams of cheapness. 5)--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Well, heck, I think this is your best counterattack to jumpers, seriously! You aren't left vulnerable if the opponent blocks, and you even have some edge even if they try to push block! It has higher priority than even the highest priority jump-ins! Very useful; try to execute it at the close to last moment so that Ryu's beginning frames are overlapped by the opponent's jumping sprite. I've done it before, so try it yourself, too! Make yourself look vulnerable by holding down/back while your opponent is jumping so they are goaded even more to attack you. 6)--> Shin Shoryuken If your jumping opponent becomes so stuck up, then skool em with this! Similar to the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, pull if off at the LAST MOMENT. The main difference between this and the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku is that while the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku has high priority, the Shin Shoryuken has invincibility and incredible power. Ryu will actually go right through the opponent's frames and hit them! And make yourself look vulnerable by holding down/back while the opponent is jumping towards you. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *********** *b.Offense* *********** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ah yes, what better way to kill your opponent than to, er, kill them! Ryu's got a good offense in the game that doesn't involve cheesiness if implemented properly. Let's get started. I didn't put every possible scenario, because it's pretty darn obvious you have many other things to do if your C.Short connects, but this is how you play the mixed-up game with Ryu. Remember that with Ryu, you shouldn't always go with a combo, sometimes you should confuse them into blocking the wrong way. 0)--> D.C.Short In most cases, you MUST begin with this. Like stated at the beginning, Ryu's best poke, it also hits low enough to catch ANYONE. The only exceptions where you might want to omit this is when you want to trick the opponent into blocking your throw or blocking low your overhead punch. 1)--> C.Fierce Did your opponent get nailed by the Short? Good! Launch em, now here's what you can do. 1.1)--> /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken Duh, obviously you should air combo em, right? If you don't know how to do this, read the combos section. 1.2)--> D.C.Fierce,(D.C.Fierce),(C.Fierce), /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken JChristopher's "D+HP mix-up strategies," as he calls it! Basically, if your opponent is a dope, pull this off! Not a real combo, but you can cross up your opponent pretty good with this one! What happens is that after launching, you run under the opponent and relaunch, then over again, etc, so while it's not a combo, it is quite frustrating for a napping opponent! Just don't pull it off too much, or your opponent will get the hang of which way to block. Be wise, and sometimes omit different parts that I put in parenthesis to further confuse. 1.3)--> Shin Shoryuken Not to be relied on too much, as you basically waste 3 levels of hyper meter. But if your combo skills are, shall we say, not up to par, try this. 1.4)--> D.Projectile Assist,D.C.Short,C.Fierce I thought about this one, and it does in fact work! Inspired by JChristopher's mix-up strats, it basically crosses up your opponent, and leaves em vulnerable to a good beaming! Just run under your opponent and do nothing after calling your assist, and they'll have to JUMP or teleport to avoid the whole thing! Then follow up with the low kick into launch, and skip back to step 1.1 and finish the combo, or do step 1.2 omitting the air combo, and when you see the words "Assist OK" repeat this step again! Eek! Massive cheese if you implement this strat with extremely good timing and variation! Can potentially KILL your opponent unless if they've got a teleport or double jump up their sleeve. Don't pull off the low kick until the opponent actually gets hit by the projectile, otherwise it doesn't work! 2)--> C.Forward Blocking or not, you can pull this one off. Nothing special, just watch out for assist attempts while doing this. Reaches a little longer, but recovers a little slower. Always try to follow off of this. 2.1)--> C.Roundhouse--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Only do it if they got hit or he is corner-trapped. You can add stuff if YOU are corner-trapped and the opponent got hit. (See Combos section for more on this) Also applicable if your opponent can't roll too well. 2.2)--> T.Fierce Ryu's Overhead Punch. You may want to call out an assist to mask the start-up lag. But if it chains perfectly from your C.Forward, feel free to do it without the assist. 2.3)--> Any throw If they keep blocking, then pull this off. The Punch throw lands them right next to you but you can't follow up, and the Kick throw hurls them to the other side of the screen. Refrain from throwing more than twice per round, since this is another sign of a cheapass. 2.4)--> D.C.Short This should only be used if the C.Forward was blocked. In that case, pull this off, and return to step 0. 3)--> T.Fierce In this case, skip step 0, and go directly to the overhead punch, if they get the hang of your strat. Make sure you cover yourself, if the opponent is wide awake. 4)--> Walk forward Gets the opponent anticipating, then you must follow up with either... 4.1)--> Any throw If they keep blocking, then pull this off, and of course, refrain from throwing more than twice per round. 4.2)--> C.Short If your opponent is prepared to tech hit or counter a throw, then do this and return to step 0. Make sure you add this, cause it'll really confuse them a lot. 5)--> Assist If they push blocked you, then do this, because they usually change their defense into offense. Hopefully your assist stuns them long enough to allow a follow up with a Shinkuu Hadoken. 6)--> S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken How could I forget? The most effective Ryu old Vs. series combo! Kiss 40% of your opponent's life away if you see the C.Short hit, follow up with this and mash! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ************ *c.Openings* ************ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Believe it or not, the very beginning of a round of MVC2 is VERY important. It could determine whether you end up losing half of your life before even beginning! So here's a flowchart(once again, MASSIVE thanks to JChristopher) for you to follow up with! Just remember, walk toward your opponent while the announcer says "READY" to give your opponents that uneasy feeling. Here's a hint for landing the light attacks at the very start; When the announcer says "FIGHT!", count to yourself, "One-thousand one," then land your light punch/kick. 1)--> S.Jab Sense that your opponent is gonna jump? Pull this off! High priority too, I might add. 1.1)--> S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken There goes 40% of their life! Probably only useful IF they get nailed by the jab. 1.2)--> C.Fierce Only follow up with this if you sense that the jab hit, because the launcher has slow recovery. 1.2a)--> /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken 1.2b)--> D.C.Fierce Will confuse him into blocking the wrong way when he falls back to the ground. Proceed with JChristopher's D+HP mix-up strategies, or mine. 1.3)--> Projectile Assist Did the opponent block your jab? That's ok, that's what this is for. Just keep an eye out if you can land a low light attack or an overhead while they block. 1.4)--> Anti-Air Assist Only if he jumps. Will nail the jumping opponent if you time the Anti-Air assist to hit at almost the last moment. 2)--> S.Short Even more useful than the S.Jab, because this one is aimed against the scrubs who try a Super Combo at the start! 2.1)--> S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken There goes 40% of their life! Probably only useful IF they get nailed by the kick. 2.1a)--> S.Forward-->S.Roundhouse-->Projectile Assist Did the opponent block your kick? That's ok, that's what this is for. Just keep an eye out if you can land a low light attack or an overhead while they block. 2.1b)--> S.Forward-->S.Roundhouse-->Anti-air Assist Only if he doesn't block. You end up knocking the opponent into the air, so while you aren't guarenteed any air combos, you can confuse them into blocking the wrong way when they come down. 2.2)--> Projectile Assist Did the opponent block your kick? That's ok, that's what this is for. Just keep an eye out if you can land a low light attack or an overhead while they block. 2.3)--> Anti-air Assist Only if he jumps. Will nail the jumping opponent if you time the Anti-Air assist to hit at almost the last moment. 3)--> C.Short The one starter to rely on, because you can stuff even the most highly-prioritized comboers with this one, and this one's aimed for the comboers! 3.1)--> S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken There goes 40% of their life! Probably only useful IF they get nailed by the kick. 3.2)--> C.Fierce The famous Ryu bread and butter combo in the crossover series. Launches the opponent in mid-air. 3.2a)--> /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken 3.2b)--> C.Fierce Will confuse him into blocking the wrong way when he falls back to the ground. Proceed with JChristopher's D+HP mix-up strategies, or mine. 3.3)--> Projectile Assist Did the opponent block your kick? That's ok, that's what this is for. Just keep an eye out if you can land a low light attack or an overhead while they block. 3.4)--> Anti-air Assist Only if he jumps. Will nail the jumping opponent if you time the Anti-Air assist to hit at almost the last moment. 3.5)--> C.Forward Blocking or not, you can pull this one off. Nothing special, just watch out for assist attempts while doing this. Reaches a little longer, but recovers a little slower. Always try to follow off of this. 3.6)--> T.Fierce May be done after or as a replacement to the C.Forward to further confuse. It's an overhead done to confuse your opponents while blocking low. 4)--> Jump This one also stops the comboers who try to start off with a low light kick. Just watch out for high jabs. 4.1)--> J.Fierce\/D.S.Short,S.Fierce-->Shinkuu Hadoken 40% damage done easily. Nothing special here, except you've half-won the battle. 4.2)--> J.Fierce\/D.S.Short,C.Fierce Launches the opponent in mid-air. 4.2a)--> /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken 4.2b)--> D.C.Fierce Will confuse him into blocking the wrong way when he falls back to the ground. Proceed with JChristopher's D+HP mix-up strategies, or mine. 4.3)--> Assist Any ATTACKING assist will do, it'll surely stuff any of the opponent's combo attempts. Note: this must be done AS Ryu is jumping, otherwise it won't work. You might even still be able to combo a J.Fierce off of the assist! 5)--> Block Sounds lame, but wait till you hear what you can do next... 5.1)--> C.Fierce Due to the slow start-up, will only work against those who expect something else, in which surprise adds to your priority. 5.1a)--> /\SJ.Jab,SJ.Short,SJ.Strong,SJ.UP Forward-->Shinkuu Hadoken 5.1b)--> D.C.Fierce Will confuse him into blocking the wrong way when he falls back to the ground. Proceed with JChristopher's D+HP mix-up strategies, or mine. 5.2)--> Push Block Only when he tries to combo you. 5.2a)--> D.C.Short Now it's your turn to attack. Finish this off with any combo of your choice. But make sure it's linked to a super combo, ok? 5.2b)--> Shinkuu Hadoken Only if he tries to dash back at you. Remember that you can't block while dashing, so advantage to you. You might want to pull off the Ground-to-Air version, if your opponent has an incredibly long and fast dash and high priority, long reaching low light kicks. 5.2c)--> Projectile Assist Done if he either blocks or dashes back at you. His only escape would be to jump. But you know what to do then... 5.2d)--> Anti-Air Assist Yup, if he jumps, nail him back to the ground or even higher in mid-air with this type of assist. Also recommended if he dashes back at you since anti-airs pretty much stuff dash-in combos. Just know the horizontal range of the anti-air assist you are using. 5.3)--> Projectile Assist The difference between this and step 5.2c is that you are in this case BLOCKING his re-attempts to combo you when you pull out the assist. Since you are blocking, and he's attacking, even if he tries to block, he'll get hit, and open the combos to you. 5.4)--> Anti-Air Assist Like step 5.3, but the anti-air assist covers him/herself while nailing the opponent. Too bad you usually won't be able to follow up on it. This may be better in terms of safety. 6)--> Ground-to-Air Shinkuu Hadoken Risky? Oh yes. But if you sense the opponent attempting a low kick at the start, this stuffs em like you wouldn't believe. Has some pluses and some cons over executing this over the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. Mainly faster start-up, but much slower recovery. 7)--> Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku Probably your hardest to pull off, since Ryu ISN'T invincible. Space yourself so that you aren't exactly on top of your opponent when you do this. Mainly used to counter Super Comboers and comboers alike. But if you get past the initial start-up, you will have killed 40% of your opponent's life. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *********** *d.Mashing* *********** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Oh, laugh if you want. But the truth is, mashing, or the art of getting as many "inputs" from the joystick and the buttons into the machine remains an essential part of offense and defense(no, I never really spazzed with Wolverine). Here's my reasons. Offensively, Ryu has two multi-hit super combos that don't always do a set amount of hits and damage. The Shinkuu Hadoken does about 20 hits and 33% damage, and the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku does about 14 hits and 33% damage. Mashing during the super combo when Ryu is hitting the opponent ups the damage on both super combos to a potential of 40%, 30 hits for the Shinkuu Hadoken, and 40+%, 18 hits for the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku! So obviously, that extra 7% of damage could come in handy when you least expect it! I've heard that even 30 hits and 18 hits isn't the stopping point for both, respectively! I've gotten 48 hits for the Shinkuu Hadoken once, and heard that 30+ hits is possible for the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku! Ouch! But defensively, mashing shows its beauty the most. It speeds up recovery from dizzies, holds, super combos that initiate the "Pseudo Flying Screen," and capture type attacks! Here are a list of what you can avoid by mashing! Attacks that capture the opponent and can be broken out of prematurely: Magneto's Hyper Grav Spiderman's Web Ball Thanos' Death Sphere Blackheart's Demons Cable's Electrotrap Ruby Heart's Fierce Chain Attacks that cause the Pseudo Flying Screen and can be mashed to stand up faster: Captain Commando's Captain Storm Hulk's Gamma Crush Shuma Gorath's Chaos Dimension Anakaris' Pharoah Magic Holds that can be mashed, if not tech-hitted, to reduce the damage: Spiral's fierce grab Captain Commando's roundhouse grab Ken's roundhouse grab Shuma Gorath's roundhouse grab Wolverine(metal and bone), both fierce & roundhouse grabs Felicia's fierce grab Jin's roundhouse grab Evil Sakura's fierce grab Omega Red's coil Throws that can be mashed to break out of prematurely: Magneto's fierce throw Iceman's fierce throw Venom's fierce throw So how should you mash? There are many ways, but what the way I suggest is a way that allows the most inputs while doing the least amount of damage TO THE JOYSTICK because hey, if you don't own a Dreamcast, you're gonna be playing at the same machine. Wouldn't be nice if you tried to block and found out the joystick was stuck. Here's how I would do it: With your right palm, cover ALL 6 attack buttons. With your left hand, grasp the joystick rather loosely in a fist. Now slide your right palm back and forth really quickly, like you were spazzing your hand. With your left hand, roll the joystick from left, to up, to right, to up, to left, repeatedly, really fast. This is probably your best way to do it because you avoid accidently pulling off a DHC when you don't want to, and you end up pressing the most buttons. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *************** *e.Guard Crush* *************** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Some of you don't know what the heck this is. Well, a special case. It involves performing an attack that gets rid of your opponent's block, leaving any followups that you perform after unblockable! I can't explain it too well, so I'll just quote Derek Daniels, Dan Thompson and John Choi from their Shoryuken.com article on Guard Crushes. "When you do a super jump, you are allowed to do a multiple number of ‘actions’ such as special, super, and to go in and out of blockstun. But when you do a normal jump, you are allowed to do only one ‘action’ per normal jump, with an ‘action’ being defined as one of the following: Chain Combo,Blocking,Special Move,Super Move Once your action ends, you can’t do anything else for the rest of the normal jump, with two exceptions. First of all, Double/Triple jumping, flying, and airdashing do not apply to this. You can jump, whiff a move, and fall unable to do the remainder of things, and still be able to Double Jump or airdash out of the way of your opponent’s attack. The second exception is special/super moves; regardless of what else you’ve done in the jump, as long as you haven’t done a special/super yet , you can do one of them (and only one). This explains why there is no special into super canceling on normal jumps in MVC2. There are 3 situations in which your character is considered to be in a Normal Jump, as opposed to a Super Jump. The first and most obvious is when you simply do a normal jump. The second is when you ‘fall in’ from the side of the screen – this happens when your previous character either died, and you are coming in as the new point man, or the previous character was hit with a snapback, which would result in a new point man coming in as well. Note that a normal switch in does not result in your character coming in blocking, they come in attacking. The last situation in which you are considered in a normal jump stems from when you have a character that can fly. If you start flying, you are in a normal jump. This is demonstrated by the fact that you can throw assists, and if you activate flying command again so that you can block in the air, you fall down in a normal jump situation. The most important thing to recognize from the above is that you can only do an action once, and one of the actions listed is block. That’s right- once you have blocked once during a normal jump, you cannot block again until you land. Of course, if something hits multiple times (such as Ryu’s super fireball, or a blocked air chain) – you can block all the hits of the attack. If the opponent is able to attack you after the first blockstun has ended, however, you are not able to block that next attack. So, to properly Guard Break someone, you want to have the opponent airblock a move during their normal jump situation, wait a split second until they come out of blockstun, and then attack them before they touch the ground and can block again. You want to try and make the opponent block a move at the peak of their jump to maximize the time between the point where their guard "breaks" and when they touch the ground. You can do this with any attack in the game. This includes physical attacks, projectiles, and even assists! For instance, you can call Commando’s anti air assist with good timing so that he connects with the opponent at the peak of their jump then proceed and nail them after their guard breaks. So far, we’ve explained that there are 3 situations in which a normal jump occurs –normal jumping, falling in and de-activation of flying. Falling in is by far the easiest and best opportunity to take advantage of Guard Break, but lets discuss normal jumps also. You have to be careful attempting Guard Breaks on normal jumpers, because they can call assists at any point during the jump, but of course not during blockstun. So what CAN happen is that you do a jumping Jab on the opponent, which they block, then you land first and try to launch, but during that pause inbetween blocking the Jab and being launched, the opponent can call an assist and hit you before your attack hits. Note however that this is extremely hard to time, and you must also have the right assist for all this to work. Another thing to note is that when a character does a normal jump, such as away from or towards the opponent, they go up to a fixed height, then usually flip before they start their downward descent. If you force the opponent to block before they reach the apex of their jump, they’ll drop down towards the ground from that height immediately, practically eliminating your chance to break their guard." Yipes. So does Ryu have a guard crush? Yep. Shoryuken.com suggests 1 of 2 ways; -Cyclops/Captain Commando anti-air assist(early),C.Fierce into air combo -J.Jab(peak),assist,proceed into combo Decide for yourself whether you'll Guard Crush the computer, since you may need that extra help, but concerning human opponents, I suggest this: DON'T EVER GUARD CRUSH. It is in short, cheap. Why? You're not giving your opponent a fair chance at fighting you. In short, it is like saying getting snapbacked means losing 40% of your life. And imagine if your opponent had 3 characters with 40% life each, and you had 4 hyper levels with Ryu. Starting to get the picture? As for avoiding Guard Crushes, ANYBODY can pull em off now, considering that there is a article about this on Shoryuken.com right now. Ryu has 1 of 2 ways to counter them; -Air Shinkuu Hadoken-->DHC into a super combo leaving the character safe -Push Block the air attack(only if the proceeding attack can't hit from far away) Watch out for these Guard Crushes: All: Cyclops/Commando anti air assist,launcher J.Jab,assist Cable: J.Fierce,Air Hyper Viper Beam J.Backward Jab(peak),Air Hyper Viper Beam Electrap,Air Hyper Viper Beam C.Commando: (corner)Commando Strike(Genity),S.Jab,S.Strong,S.Roundhouse Dr. Doom: (corner)J.Jab(peak),Air Photon Array (corner)J.Jab(peak),D.T.Roundhouse Iron Man: J.UP.Roundhouse\/J.Jab,J.Strong,J.Forward,J.UP.Fierce Jill: (corner)Bird,C.Fierce Juggernaut: (corner)J.Roundhouse(peak),J.Headcrush Ken: J.Hurricane Kick\/S.Jab,S.Strong-->ShinRyuKen Magneto: SJ.Jab,AD.D.T.Short,S.Short,C.Fierce Mega Man: (corner)J.Fierce,S.Roundhouse Spiral: Dancing Sword,C.Roundhouse Storm: (corner)SJ.Jab(peak),AD.Strong-->Lightning Attack-->Lighting Storm Strider Hiryu: (corner)Bird,S.Jab,C.Fierce Ruby Heart: J.Jab,Flan Mer Venom: J.Roundhouse\/D.T.Fierce ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =================== B.Computer Strategy =================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Abyss remains the easiest Vs. Series Boss(Apocalypse really doesn't count). Ok, generally, the computer does one of four things; ******************** *a.General Patterns* ******************** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ TOTAL OFFENSE MODE: Will keep dashing into you, relaunching until an air combo oppurtunity presents itself, then will proceed with the air combo, and repeat. Counter: Push Block, dash in, and proceed with Ryu's combos. TOTAL SPECIAL ATTACKS MODE: Will keep performing special attacks, such as the projectiles(VERY evident with Omega Red). Counter: Either keep away with your Hadoken(only use it again the computer, NEVER against the human opponents, and then, sparingly)while firing assists and Shinkuu Hadokens, or carefully jump in. TOTAL HYPER COMBO MODE: Will save hyper meter, not using it until there is one man standing, then basically standing in place, not doing anything, and countering all your attacks with Super Combos. Counter: Super Jump behind them, taunt, and then do your Shin Shoryuken if close up or your Shinkuu Hadoken if far away. TOTAL OFFENSIVE MODE: Will jump toward Ryu, and perform either a double jump or an air dash, then try to hit you(could be a jumping attack, or a ground attack). If you block it, will repeat the entire process again in less than 1 whole second. Counter: Push block(if you are THAT good) or do your Variable Combo. Oh, and two more things: The computer is a complete sucker for projectiles. 80% of the Hadokens Ryu throws at the computer will be taken in, or blocked. And another thing: Have fun! The computer is meant for you to practice your combos, or your strats! Just remember to keep an eye out for the assists while jumping or dashing in, the computer has a lousy tendency of calling them out when you don't want them to come out! If you are a beginner, and really can't consistently beat the computer, choose a beam assist, it just handles the computer so easily. You fight about 6 trios of computer characters, and then you fight... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ******************* *b.Abyss' 1st form* ******************* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Abyss must be the most pushovered boss ever created. Although he has hyper armor, his attacks can be seen coming EASILY. His first form is reminiscent of Onslaught in his 1st form. Abyss'll form together much like the way Sentinel used to form himself in X-COTA. Just do a D.C.Jab,C.Strong after every attack he does and then block, or push block. You can super jump his imitation of a hyper grav, his trident, and his Big Bang Laser Super Combo. Otherwise, just take the block damage from his Abyss Headcrush and the Acid Rain Super Combo. Not too hard; the key is to not lose your patience. Use this form to gain your hyper meter to MAX level. After killing Abyss, he'll drop to the ground slowly. The pedestals in the background topple while Abyss remains lying down. The background changes into a greenish cloudy area and Abyss sinks into the now oozy green ground, and resurfaces, now looking almost the size of Ryu, and this time looking like a greenish ooze of a person. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ******************* *c.Abyss' 2nd form* ******************* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you can't kill this guy after what you did with Abyss' 1st form, you must be pretty sucky at fighting games. Just follow my Defensive Strat step 1 and then pull off a Shinkuu Hadoken and mash. Then block whatever he does and do it one to two more times(don't do this when he summons the bubbles, they are unblockable). Because of the hyper armor trait, Abyss will take almost twice the damage from your Shinkuu Hadoken. Simply WAAAY too easy. Leave yourself with about 2-3 hyper levels before you fight round 3. Abyss then disappears into the ground again, the background changes to a red color and then Abyss resurfaces, this time looking like a huge Red Venom on all fours. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ******************* *d.Abyss' 3rd form* ******************* ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ An imitation of Onslaught's 2nd form, but he doesn't interrupt your attacks with a beam. He'll try to chip you using numerous ground and air flames. Keep in mind that you can smack that obscure black ball floating in the air and still hit him. Again, a piece of cake. You should have 4 levels of hyper meter ready to go, so just use them all doing Air Shinkuu Hadokens to his face. Then just block after each Shinkuu Hadoken until he reappears. You should see Ryu standing in the middle, with his 1st and 2nd partners to the right and left of him, with that strange ball you saw fighting Abyss swirling above you. It will expand, and the screen brightens... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ********** *e.Ending* ********** ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You get a Thank-You message and a scroll of the credits. Has Capcom underfunded their endings??!? Maybe it's just the memory of the arcade machines, so I can't blame them. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================= C.Arcade Challengers Strategy ============================= ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To understand the general way to play against these guys, first read my General Strats section, then practice those strats against the computer. Remember that you should always treat any opponent you play equally. Remember; it's not the character that defines which way the match goes; it's the skill. Against all 56 characters, Ryu doesn't have an extremely difficult time with any of them. Just remember; because of his well-roundness, Ryu's strength is the opponent's weakness, and the Opponent's strength is Ryu's weakness. Note:About 90% of whatever I wrote below in this section can be found in JChristopher's Ryu MVC2 FAQ at GameFaqs.com. Again I must owe him mega thanks. ********* *1.Akuma* ********* What's this Dark Shoto got that Ryu doesn't? Hmmm...speed, priority, air dominance. This guy's may possibly have the best offense in the game. Not too bad, considering that Ryu has a lot more lifebar and has more strength. There are mainly two different types of Akuma opponents: the scrub will hurl air fireball after air fireball after etc. Extremely easy match, since all you need to do is throw a Shinkuu Hadoken. He'll also attempt to connect his special attacks up close. No prob, your Shin Shoryuken handles that nicely. Then we have the master, which knows Akuma's weakness and thus will stay in Ryu's face, and try to capitalize on the slowness. All I can say for this opponent is that it will come down to who can confuse the other better. Just keep your hyper meter charged and you won't have a problem. ********** *2.Amingo* ********** One of the more better opponents, despite his er, wackiness. His attacks either go horizontally fast, or vertically fast, and his helpers are unblockable, his air combos are good, his super combos are combo-friendly. What have you got? Your air fierce punch. Abuse that to charge your hyper meter, then punish him whenever he does a cactus plant. Keep your Shin Shoryuken ready for that "Dashing Onion" and jump-ins, and lastly, Shinkuu Hadoken his vertical plant super combo and his cactus plants. ************ *3.Anakaris* ************ The most underestimated character in this game, make sure you're not one that does that. He's got incredible unpredictability, and power. You've got the lifebar and better speed by a mile. Make sure you never stay still, he's got ways to put a turtler in its place AKA unblockable special throws. He's also got that projectile that turns you into a straw doll, in that case, DON'T push any buttons and super jump like mad. Mash after his Pharoah Magic to avoid potential OTGs. His super combos do start out lightning fast and kill your assists, so don't pull those out too often. Stay in the air charging your hyper meter until you think you can quickly run in and combo. ************ *4.B.B.Hood* ************ What's this girl got mainly has to do with her small size, good keep-away games, and good combos. You've got the overhead punch, and a longer lifebar. Watch out if she overabuses her size to throw you like mad. Her air heavy punch has high priority, watch out. The best way to play is to use a mixed-up offensive game, make sure you include that overhead punch, since most experianced with her will crouch. ************** *5.Blackheart* ************** This guy's got power, keep-away, and a roundhouse that charges up his hyper meter like wow. You've got the longer lifebar, better speed. He'll probably cheese you to death, since his heavy attacks either hold you down for a super combo, or charge him up. Stick close to him and watch out for his fierce Inferno, it's become his most powerful weapon. Speaking of which, when your opponent uses Blackheart as an assist, chances are he'll abuse that Anti-Air assist. So learn to get close to your opponent, then backdash when Blackheart starts throwing that Inferno and punish away! ********* *6.Cable* ********* Either you will think of this guy as the cheesiest opponent in this game(due to his uncanny ability to play a near-skill-less keep-away game) or as the number one assist killer. If you thought Cyclops or Iceman was prime in keep-away, think again, because this guy can arc his beams. Anyways, he's got the best beam super combo and the best beam in the game, he's also powerful. You've got faster speed, priority, and better up-close skills. Two types of opponents here: the scrubs will use only three things: S.Fierce, Viper Beam, Hyper Viper Beam. Usually these guys also can't play a good fighting game, so super jump so you are less than half screen up close, and use your confusing skills to win out. Also capitalize on the recovery lag and startup lag of most of Cable's special and super attacks. Note: you can duck all three of the moves that I wrote!(the Viper Beam and HVB you need to be up close) Now the master. The master will reserve his keep-away and whenever you make a mistake, you can kiss about pretty much almost your lifebar gone since he'll do a cheesy-but-hard-to-do triple air-based Hyper Viper Beam combo! He'll also mix it up with his special attacks. To beat this guy, NEVER pull out your assists, and stay up close. In general, you play a mixed-up offensive game against this guy. Cable can play offensive or stay-away, but he has problems defending against dashing and jumping people, so stick next to this guy like glue. He's also got a poor mixed-up game, so you should be able to find out pretty quickly what your opponent's gonna do. Also look out for his slower recovering attacks, Cable's got many of 'em. ********* *7.Cammy* ********* What's Shadowloo's assassin got against Ryu? Speed, anti-turtling abilities, air priority, and combobility that screams ouch. You've got a much larger lifebar, range, and strength. Most of Cammy's special attacks either start up slow or recover slow. Capitalize on this and pull off your Shin Shoryuken. And always avoid the Hooligan Combo by dashing away and super jumping! Two last notes: always roll after ALL the super combos or you can kiss 80% of your life good-bye, and always tech-hit or roll out of ALL of Cammy's throws, they set up combos too. ******************* *8.Captain America* ******************* What's America's hero got? Versatility, priority, power, and range, plus a lifebar. But when he throws away his shield, he can now combo and run with the best of them. Ryu's got speed when Cap's equiped, then power and priority when he's not. NEVER super jump first, cause Ryu will be canned by Cap's air fierce. And even if you jump later, he can still hit you, cause he's got that double jump of his. Fight him on the ground and confuse him with a dash,backdash so that he whiffs his S.Fierce, by which you counter with the Shinkuu Hadoken. Play a confusing game, and make sure you stop any of his super combos with your Shin Shoryuken. ******************** *9.Captain Commando* ******************** CapCom's got speed, power, nasty keep-away skills with a devastating Anti-Air to go with it, a devastating throw-hold, and oh yes, how could I forget his Captain Storm, Captain Sword combo? Good thing his dash is less than stellar, and that Ryu's got a much longer lifebar to use too. Captain Commando's moves ALWAYS leave him vulnerable, so you must super jump toward him and trick him into trying either the Captain Sword or the Captain Corridor, by which you counter with your Shinkuu Hadoken after a block. Don't try to confuse this guy, cause he's got the best anti-air(special versions, ok?) and can use it to beat out whatever you try. One last thing; if you do get hit by the Captain Storm, mash! You will stand up faster and avoid a low kick. Also do ditto for his throws. ************ *10.Charlie* ************ This guy is NOT like Guile, hear me out. That's like saying Ryu and Ken are equal. Anyways, this guy's pretty balanced and has almost no weakness, but his air game isn't as good as Ryu's. Watch out for air throws placed in combos, if you don't tech hit, you will be caught in a semi-infinite combo. If you detect that Sonic Break coming, backdash and pull off your Shinkuu Hadoken. Play against him like he was an average character, since he doesn't have any traits that really stand out like Ryu. ************ *11.Chun-Li* ************ They toned her down so much, it's kinda sad. She's got the speed, air dominance, triple jump, and throws that rival Wolvie's range. You've got the range, the power, and the lifebar. Try not to use jump-ins against her, you will eat her highly prioritized roundhouse and her massively damaging triple-jump air combos. So don't super jump first, and if you do, press fierce like no tommorrow. The other thing to watch out is her Setretsu Kyaku, which despite the loss of the fierce stun, can still be comboed in. So use your low kick into Shinkuu Hadoken to match hers. ************* *12.Colossus* ************* This guy's got the lifebar, power, and let's not forget his unique hyper armor! You've got speed, and combobility. Capitalize on his recovery lags, and always try to play a confuser's offense game with him until he decides to use his hyper armor, by which, I suggest, you stay away and fire off Shinkuu Hadokens one after the other. Just don't underestimate him. He can almost take away 50% life in an air combo that doesn't have his super combo. ************ *13.Cyclops* ************ Has pretty much everything. Your only strength against him is that his recovery on his special attacks are less than stellar. You are also in some cases faster, and then in other cases, you are stronger. You must play an up-close game against him, and mix it up well. You don't have to worry too much about his super combos, since the start-up can be seen coming, by which you counter with your Shin Shoryuken! Just don't try to play distance with him. Also has below- average defense in dealing with jumpers and dashers, so you should stick next to this guy often. Just remember; up close he has poor mixed-up games, but far away, he has the fastest recovering and start-up-ing beam in the game. ******** *14.Dan* ******** Is actually quite a powerful opponent, and these days, pretty much ANYONE uses him. If he's your opponent's first character, generally the person using him is a newbie. Nothing to worry much here. If he's a reserve, and the other two characters are more common "overpowered" characters, plus he only pulls Dan in to taunt or super taunt, you're facing a scrub. In this case, rub it in by first killing his other two characters, then Dan, then turn to him and smile. However, if you notice that your opponent mixes up his game well with Dan, you are against a master of Dan.(like me, heh heh, i luv using Dan!) In this case, get serious. Play the confuser's game, so that he does a special attack that whiffs(you can duck the Dankuukyaku, and easily counter the Gadoken, Sign and Koryuken) you counter after the attack. When he's low on life, be ready to tech hit, because at this time Dan will be trying to kill you with his Raging Demon. Lastly, don't make yourself look like a snob by immediately hitting the VC when your opponent tries the Super Taunt and he doesn't have another level by which to DHC; let him continue the taunt until he does the last taunt, all the while you taunt yourself, then jab him into a launch. And when your opponent does the Super Taunt, keep an eye on his hyper meter. He may just be setting you up for another Super Combo. And while he's really predictable, he's really powerful, so make sure you never get caught in a combo ending in his super combos. Also watch out that you don't get caught in his nasty corner combos! ************ *15.Dhalsim* ************ What Dhalsim has is incredible keep-away skills due to his long limbs, fast dash, teleport, and slow Yoga Fire. His Yoga Strike is also unblockable. Also has one heck of a corner combo, but it's hard as heck to pull off. Ok, what Ryu mainly has is speed, and better projectiles. What Dhalsim will mainly go for is using his slow Yoga Fire and long limbs to play an enhanced Guile-like keep-away zoning game. This if implemented well can slowly cheese away life. The way to avoiding this is to push block often, and to use dash-in combos with some assists here and there to even the score. **************** *16.Doctor Doom* **************** Dr. Doom has one heck of an air keep-away game, and has really good combos. He even does well as an assist. Well, Ryu's got more speed, and faster projectiles. Against the projectile-lobbing scrubs who only use Doom's Air Photon Shot and Air Photon Array, you just want to get under real close and pull off a Shin Shoryuken, or backdash, super jump into Air Shinkuu Hadoken. If close enough to the ground, you can also opt for a launcher into an air combo ending with a Shinkuu Hadoken. The masters will actually try to combo you, so in that case, engage in a confuser's game, you mainly want to capitalize on Doom's recovery of his launcher. One last thing: as an assist, just backdash into Shinkuu Hadoken. ************ *17.Felicia* ************ Felicia's got fast attacks, can combo like the dialers, and has attacks that cover huge distance, closing her on opponents really quickly. You have range, power, and a longer lifebar. The best way to play is to do the offensive mixed up game, keeping her on defense. With her erratic attacks, they'll confuse you, so you should try to face her in the air, and call your assists in when she is landing. Oh, and never get hit by the Please, Help Me! in the corner; you'll pay for it; badly. *********** *18.Gambit* *********** Plays much like before, being the king of OTGing, having good range, power, great throws, and powerful super combos. You have better recovery on your attacks. Gambit's limited to doing low attacks on you no matter how confusing he can be. So engage in a confuser's game, and just be ready to roll or tech hit whenever. If he tries throwing Kinetic Cards from the air, then dash, super jump and Shinkuu Hadoken. ********** *19.Guile* ********** One of MVC2's top tiers, this guy has no apparent weakness, being extremely well rounded and playing well at any distance. Well, Ryu can capitalize on the fact that Guile can't play as well in the air as he can. Ryu does seem to have slightly faster speed, and some better range skills. On the ground, watch out for Guile's low kicks as the range is INCREDIBLY far, and he can cancel em into the Somersault Strike. As for the sweep, don't get cocky and try to immediately pull off a counterattack; Guile can cancel it into his Sonic Hurricane; so instead push block the 1st sweep, then Shinkuu Hadoken, or block the 1st sweep, then Shin Shoryuken. As for countering his super combos, push block the Sonic Hurricane, then Shinkuu Hadoken, if it's the Somersault Strike, just wait until the last Somersault Kick, then Shin Shoryuken, and against the Crossfire Blitz, just block and Shinkuu Hadoken. Lastly, learn to tech hit ALL of Guile's throws; he can combo after ALL of em, and always roll out of the sweep; don't want to get caught in Guile's massive JChensor corner combos now, would we? *********** *20.Hayato* *********** NOT a Strider; that's for sure. This guy's got the unique Plasma Combos, incredible range due to his sword, an "infinite-hyper-meter" super combo, great air combos, and lastly, a parry. Ok, nuf bout that. Ryu can capitalize on his smaller range, and the fact that Hayato has tons of normal attacks that leave him vulnerable, as well as the fact that Ryu is slightly faster and has a longer lifebar. Good thing his B.Hayato is blockable. Realize that ALL of Hayato's Plasma Combos end with a slow overhead, so when you see him jump into the air, pull off your Shin Shoryuken there. Other than that, avoid that Plasma Field super combo, and you'll be fine. Don't play defensive with him; remember that up close Hayato is at Ryu's mercy because Ryu's priority up-close IS better. Lastly, most people using him think he's Strider, so they try to pull off massive combo strings that all end in bad recovery. Know what to do now? ********* *21.Hulk* ********* Obviously, Hulk's got better priority, better normal attacking range, more power, more lifebar, and the infamous super armor, and yes, normal attacks cause block damage. You on the other hand, have better range, and are much faster. Engage in a confuser's game with Hulk, this time, your intent is to get Hulk to attack you when you are blocking; then capitalize on his recovery with a Shinkuu Hadoken after a short, fierce. Or proceed with your two-hit into launch into air combo, which works too. Keep all your super combos ready to go; they'll do a lot of damage for you. One last thing; if you get hit by the initial upward rush of the Gamma Crush, mash, mash, mash! You will stand up way faster than normal. Now pull off a Shin Shoryuken as Hulk is coming down at you! *********** *22.Iceman* *********** Ok, Iceman's got incredible cheese damage and speed on his Ice Beam, no block damage features that makes even Cable players complain, a fast dash, a great throw that stuns the opponent, and lastly, an incredibly combo-friendly Arctic Attack. Ryu's also got many advantages over this guy; power, lifebar, priority. Stick to fighting this guy up close, since Iceman's priority is actually a lot lower than the norm. If you ever get hit by the Avalance, then immediately roll up and combo away. If you block the Arctic Attack, follow up on the recovery with a Shinkuu Hadoken. And if you ever get caught in the ground throw, mash like crazy. Tech hit to avoid it. The best way to deal with this guy is to stay up close and to confuse the heck outta him. One last note; this guy takes so much damage as a balance to his no-damage blocks, one Shinkuu Hadoken can remove 50% of his life. ************* *23.Iron Man* ************* Easier or harder to deal against when comparing him to War Machine, depending on how you look at the picture. For the most part, Iron Man has keep-away skills, air dominance, strength, oh, and a comboable slow super combo. You in many cases have better recovery and speed on your attacks, not to mention your beams come out way faster. Since he has no overheads, just concentrate on blocking low to avoid some nasty air dash air combos and his small launcher that sets up his Proton Cannon. Do C.Shorts to avoid his nasty throw combinations, and you can stuff his air Smart Bombs with either a D.J.Fierce or the Air Shinkuu Hadoken. He can also connect his Proton Cannon after an assist, so make sure to never get hit there. Just don't get overconfident over his version, cause it starts much faster than his friend's. If you do detect it, super jump and punish away. And of course, if you're stumped cause your opponent doesn't do all that, then use Defensive Strat step 1. ********* *24.Jill* ********* The S.T.A.R.S. elite has good combobility rivaling Spidey himself, and good cheese strats involving the undead animals, as well as combo oppurtunities opened by the zombies. You have better lifebar, more power, and better recovery. If Jill ever pulls off special attacks, the weapon ones or the charging one will leave her vulnerable, so combo as a counter. As for the undead animals/zombies, just either Shinkuu Hadoken, or dash to Shin Shoryuken. She can combo, so your best bet is to block low all the time, and to try to use your defensive strats that put some distance between you and her to even the score. And if you ever get caught in the Tyrant super combo, attempt a roll, then mash, mash! Otherwise, you can expect an OTG attempt into Charging Elbow super combo. And lastly, when she pulls out the zombies, don't go on a mad offensive rush, she'll just push block you into the zombies. ******** *25.Jin* ******** Sorta like Hulk, you can expect a powerful, durable, character that even has super armor come out as a comeback when near dead. You obviously have your speed, but you can also cheese better!(Why, oh why did I say that?) Anyways, Jin is a character that must play up close, because he's devoid of long range attacks leaving him safe if blocked. He also can't cheese well. Always lure your opponent into trying attacks leaving himself vulnerable, then punish with your ground strings into super combos(preferably your Shinkuu Hadoken). Play a confuser game to lure him into trying bad recovering attacks, then combo away! Lastly, watch out for his Great Cyclone super combo when jumping. It has a nasty tendency to cross you up and beat pretty much anything thrown at it out, not to mention you end up losing about half of your life in the process. *************** *26.Juggernaut* *************** He's got all the traits of Hulk, only this time, he's waaay bigger, and has massive recovery, whereas Hulk's was bad, but not that bad. You've got the same advantages, this is mainly the same idea, so read my Hulk tactics. Just one note, you can play cheese by assists and Shinkuu Hadokens, just watch out for his Juggernaut Headcrush, cause while its recovery is worse than bad, its priority and power are immense. It's so fast, I'm not even sure you could time your Shin Shoryuken to come out to counter it well enough!(Not saying that it can't be done, just that the Headcrush comes out so fast and covers ground so fast, you'd have to execute the super combo at pretty much the same time) ******** *27.Ken* ******** Ken's faster, has more comboability, has better anti-airs, and has that nasty hurricane glitch. Ryu's got range, power, lifebar, better dashes, oh, and did I mention, Ryu's super combos in general leave him really safe if they are blocked( exceptions to the Shin Shoryuken). So if your opponent starts throwing fireballs one after the other, then suddenly screams, "WTF?" you are against an old skool SF Ken luv'r. Nothing special here, just beat the crap outta him. But I can't say who'll win if it's a Ken user who stays up in your face and doesn't really pull off any really stupid tricks. What you want to do is capitalize on ALL of Ken's specials and super combos(Shinkuu Hadoken his fireball, Shin Shoryuken his blocked hurricane kick and blocked dragon punch, or Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku those if you're corner trapped, as well as ALL his super combos), and play a confuser's game with him, making him either pull off one of his specials/super combos that leaves him vulnerable, or you can stop his super combos dead in their tracks(with some timing of course) with your Shin Shoryuken. Recently, I have found out that you should beware if you're corner trapped. Ken can OTG after his Shoryureppa, Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku and Shippu Jinrai Kyaku if he corners you, so always be ready to roll after them. And be sure your opponent doesn't connect the Shinryuken against you in the corner, cause that combos into his infinite! Lastly, this guy is really devoid of range; he really needs to stay in your face to win, so while that isn't an excuse to fire off hadoken after hadoken, that means you can turtle far away a bit to tempt Ken into making a mistake. ************ *28.Magneto* ************ Another top-tier. You simply can't ignore the fact that Magneto has priority, speed, air dominance, power, combobility, great throws, and has beams. Ryu's main strength lies in Magneto's short lifebar and his long recovery of his more stronger attacks. Your defensive move commands and tricks will be put to the test against this guy; you must learn to roll after every sweep, because he'll try one of his super combos, both which garner huge damage. You must also learn to tech hit, because both his throws open the opponent up for combos. And lastly, you must learn to mash after every Hyper Grav, or you can just kiss Ryu good-bye. Magneto is the only character in the game who can kill an opponent from one single air combo because he can link a Hyper Grav-->Magnetic Tempest after every air dash air combo string he does, then do it all over again. You MUST learn to mash, you'll thank me for it. If you learn all of this, then Magneto is pretty much a pushover(ok, not really, but it'll seem like it). Just either keep in the air, charging your meter, while avoiding his high-priority launcher or trick him into a slow recovering attack. See a Shin Shoryuken coming? If you sense the Hyper Grav-->Magnetic Tempest, mash until you hear "Tempest", push block, then from far range, try your Shinkuu Hadoken. Other than that, also watch out if Magneto's using his Hyper Gravs as an assist. *********** *29.Marrow* *********** Hmmm... has some good zoning/keep away skills thanks to her Bonerang and Towering Spine, and can play up close and combo away too, with good speed. Ok, Ryu mainly has the extreme range strat as an advantage, and while she can combo you hard, Ryu does more damage in his combos. Don't worry about the Bonerang; it doesn't cover the entire screen, and you can see it coming, block it and not take much damage. Against someone who doesn't try to combo you, you're ok, just play like you were gonna use mixed-up offensive games. If Marrow is combo-happy though, then concentrate on using your assists alongside your confusing skills. ************ *30.M.Bison* ************ Bison has power, cheese damage. Surprised that I didn't list too many advantages? Don't be! Bison is more of an expert character. Ryu has tonsa advantages, such as speed, priority, and more useful super combos. His air combos must involve his Psycho Crusher to do good damage, but surprisingly, it gets jacked really easily and gets damage buffered a lot when used that way. His super combos can be seen coming, especially the Knee Press Nightmare, while cheesing well, leaves him open to a nice Shin Shoryuken. If not used in a combo, the Psycho Crusher also gets jacked. His ground attacks are kinda slow too. And hey, if you detect where the teleport is gonna land Bison, catch him outta it with a Shinkuu Hadoken! Watch his traps, and utilize your assists. Not too hard of a match. Just use your offensive confusing skills to win out. Watch out for the Psycho Explosion, cause it kinda starts up fast, and opens Bison to some corner combos, and that he can use his Psycho Field like a Sonic Boom, but you can nullify it with the Shinkuu Hadoken. ************ *31.Megaman* ************ Many people who use Megaman have some fettish with his Mega Buster, cause it gives him near skill-less keep-away, as well as good damaging combos. Ryu's actually faster, stronger, and has a longer lifebar, not to mention his super combos recover faster. Lemme tell you right now that the scrub will use only Megaman's Mega Buster, nothing else. So either expect a long string of Mega Busters, by which you hurdle them all and start a jump-in combo. Or expect a high-low pattern, and so rush the high one, block the low one. Once close enough, start your confusing skills, or if he jumps away, try to catch him outta the air with your launching strats. The comboers will charge his Mega Buster, then try to combo you into it. No prob, dash, backdash, etc so he lets his heavy punch go and then backdash to Shinkuu Hadoken. Finally, if he slide kicks you, there are those which will summon his dash assist at the same time too. So in this case, block both the slide and the assist, then punish away. And last, his super combos start up slow and recover slow. You know what to do. Just keep a look out for his leaf shield. In that case, you must capitalize on the slow start-up. ************* *32.Morrigan* ************* Capcom basically made Morrigan have the speed of Ken, with the projectiles of Ryu, and some good confusing skills. A good combo, I might add. However, Ryu is the better confuser and has a longer lifebar, not to mention, does a lot more damage. Morrigan's confusing skills leads to low attacks and Vector Drains, so you can afford to play offensively mixed-up. Watch out if she ever tries to combo in her super combos. And if you see the air fireball barrages, then dash under, and pull off the Shin Shoryuken, or use the launcher mix up strats. ************** *33.Omega Red* ************** This guy has priority, power, keep-away abilities, air dominance, lifebar. Sounds like a lot right? The main thing you have going for you is that Omega Red can't combo his super combos, and that you are slightly faster in movement. Beware of his poking priority, and his roundhouse coils, which can hit you from anywhere on the screen. His Omega Strike actually becomes much more useful than thought, since Omega Red can retreat them just as they hit or chip, giving him a ton of cheese power while charging his meter like heck. But if you anticipate it, just pull off your Shinkuu Hadoken or your Shin Shoryuken. Stay in the air with your super jumps while charging your meter, but beware that his Omega Destroyer doesn't kill by you landing on or beside him. Learn to balance your offense with your defense. The main way to hit him is to anticipate his special attacks and counter WHILE he's still doing them. As for his Omega Destroyer, it starts up slow, so catch it coming from long range with your Air Shinkuu Hadoken. As for his Omega Smasher, it has high priority and the damage increases the farther up he is, so never pull off anything ridiculous to counterattack it, cause he recovers fast anyhow. If he pulls if off close to the ground though, outprioritize him with your Shin Shoryuken. ************* *34.Psylocke* ************* Psylocke is a good offensive character, with great manuverability, combobility, and a Psi-Blast that is actually cheesy. You've got better recovery, more power, and a longer lifebar. The scrubs will stay in the air, hurling down Psi-Blasts at you, because of the fast recovery. Counter this much like Dr. Doom's Photon Shots; dash into Shin Shoryuken, or dash to mixed-up launcher strats, or backdash into super jumping Shinkuu Hadoken. The other Psylocke player is the one who uses Psylocke's combobility to whip out ground string attempts into a triple jumping air combo into a super combo, which does hurt. If the player is dumb, she'll stop the string if blocked, and because of Psylocke's slow recovery, you are free to punish. If not, she'll either Psi-Thrust in reverse to get away, you counter with a Shinkuu Hadoken, or she'll teleport; detect and punish. Or she'll do her slide attacks, so learn where the heck they go. ********** *35.Rogue* ********** Has good combobility and ok speed, plus, a versatile super combo and awesome anti-turtle power. Also can mimic your trait(Power). Ryu can play range, and has less cheesy ways of attacking. First and foremost, your opponent probably knows of the Kiss, which besides being unblockable and extremely combo-friendly, can give Rogue Ryu's power to further enhance her strength in comboing. Never play extreme turtling for this main reason, but also watch out for low ground strings into her GoodNight Sugah, since it is extremely combo-friendly. Her dive kicks also make for a good confuser's game, so it's your job to play balanced, playing a mixed-up game consisting of offense and defense, and counter the dive kicks and kisses with backjumps into push blocks, super combos, or assists. ********* *36.Roll* ********* *Sigh* they just had to make Roll even worse, didn't they? Oh well, at least she has size going for her, and a double jump. You have power, speed, lifebar going for you. Play her like Megaman, but you can actually interrupt her Mega Buster, since it comes out slow. You can also block the rockets coming from the Hyper Roll and not get hit. *************** *37.Ruby Heart* *************** Ruby Heart has unpredictability on her side, she combos well. Also has the Sublimation which can stop dashers. Her ghosts can drain your Hyper Meter well, or take a ton of your life too. Ryu mainly can play long range a lot better. But in reality, she's just like many in the game; good combobility, unpredictability, the such. Just engage in a good offensive/defensive mixed up game. Oh, and watch out for the Sublimation when she's an assist. ******** *38.Ryu* ******** To be very honest with you, this should be an easy match for you. Why? Most people can't utilize Ryu correctly. But I hope you, after reading this FAQ, will know how to. Probably you will be facing the shoto-scrub, who never tries to combo Ryu's super combos, but just pulls stuff outta nowhere, mainly the specials. It's so easy to counter this strat; just charge up your meter, then Shinkuu Hadoken whenever he hurls one at you. To counter his Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, you must push block at the very start of the super combo, otherwise you'll probably get crossed up, and never try this if you're corner-trapped. And of course, trick him into whiffing his Shin Shoryuken, and counter with yours. But if your mirror image doesn't do this, he's probably a master who'll only pull off specials within a combo and will combo his super combos. In this case, I can only quote JChristopher in saying, "May the best confuser win!" *************** *39.Sabretooth* *************** Sabretooth still remains a threat because of his trait in the first vs. series that he had; easy, damaging air combos. He's also fast in movement, and has damaging super combos, and good range. Good thing he lacks a good dash, something that Ryu has been blessed with, as well as better range. Thank goodness they took away his air combo into throw into Weapon X, as that thing raped you kinda like the way Magneto's air combos do now, but now you still have to beware of his air combos, since everyone's damage has been beefed up. But he has to rely even more on his sidekick Birdie in this game, so if you see him snapping his fingers, counter with your Shinkuu Hadoken. As an assist, he can set you up for many uncomboable super combos, but he can't hit high, so stay in the air and hit fierce. Defensive strat 1 still proves useful, but watch out for his Air Roundhouse, it may be the only attack that can beat out yours. *********** *40.Sakura* *********** Stop thinking that she sucks, because of her speed, and evil-switching, can prove to become one of the most versatile characters in the game. She'll either have good defensive stopping power in her normal mode, or power and awesome offense in her evil mode. Mainly, you've got power, range, and lifebar going for you, and that's good, because these are Ryu's strongest traits anyways. In her normal mode, charge your meter, then trick her into thinking you are doing a Hadoken, so she'll attempt a Dragon Punch. You can now do a Shin Shoryuken, or a Shinkuu Hadoken. Other than that, play a good mixed-up game. As for her dark side, she's got more offensive power, and better anti-turtle abilities, but now lacks the lifebar, and has no invulnerability in her ground Dragon Punch. Just remember; her fireball is basically crap in this mode; it's like Ken's. In general, you want to play a good mixed-up game against Sakura, and don't get caught in her Dragon Punch, because it gives her so much time to cancel into her super combos. And one last thing; the mode switch takes up 3 levels, so take advantage of that, and the fact that if your opponent keeps switching back and forth, he's probably not very good. ************* *41.Sentinel* ************* Well, this guy's got super armor, takes the least damage, deals the most, has incredible range and priority, and in fact has insanely long corner combos. His worst enemy would actually be Servbot, but since Ryu is a regular sized opponent, you're main strength is supposedly your faster ground movement. Keep your meter charged; your Shinkuu Hadoken can easily hit this guy and you'll need it too. Try it after the Sentinel Force, the Rocket Punch, and before any of his super combos. But what I recommend is to use your assists to help rip away that super armor of his leaving him open to your combos. And one last thing; don't get caught in the corner. Sentinel has a nasty semi-infinite involving his Rocket Punch, his Fierce, and his Hyper Sentinel Force. But then again, if you were reading my combos, then you'd realize some of Ryu's strongest combos involve him stuck in the corner! Just don't get too cocky about pulling them off. ************ *42.Servbot* ************ Alright, don't think this guy is as useless as it seems. He's got size going for him, a good Servbot assist(not as an assist, I'm talking about the Servbot that runs out and grabs Ryu by the crotch, ouch), and massive cheese damage. You've got the lifebar(by the tenfold, I might add), power(again by a landslide), and much better range. One thing to note, is that only your crouching kicks will hit this guy and your assists, as well as your level 1 super combos. Your Shin Shoryuken will miss(I think)if he's on the ground. Just engage in a good mixed-up game. The only thing is not to underestimate your opponent. If he chooses the projectile type, then don't try to hit Servbot out of his Lunch Rush, because even if you hit him, his fellows still stream out and whack you, ending your super combos short. Chances are they'll choose the Legion Lunch Rush, so I'd advise you to either super jump or get hit by it! No, not joking(unless if he did a triple VC) because it actually cheeses more than it hits. His launcher actually starts up fast, beware of that. ***************** *43.Shuma-Gorath* ***************** He actually has traits of the pixie, as this guy not only runs fast and combos hard, but he has anti-turtling properties and can regain life by throwing. Ryu has range, strength, and lifebar going for him again. If he ever shoots the eyes at you, beware, because after ten seconds, it'll explode, knocking you outta your block and leaving you open to anything, even a triple VC. Get rid of 'em by hitting Shuma or switching out. Instead of his Spawning super combo, which proved quite worthless, he now has his Hyper Mystic Smash. If you super jump it, he's at your mercy. His life-sucking throw can be mashed to lessen the damage. And you can do ditto with the Chaos Dimension to avoid being air comboed after it connects. As for playing against him, do it with respect to the amount of hyper meter he has in stock; if it's 2 or below, engage in a confuser's game. If it's 3 or above, balance your offense and your defense. ******************* *44.Silver Samurai* ******************* Supposedly one of the better characters, because of his power, lifebar, and cheese damage, but also for his versatility of his "power swords." In the end, Ryu has better speed, and better range. You'll have to capitalize on his slow recoveries by playing a mixed-up game and then capitalize over his blocked attacks. If he does change his style, remember that the lightning sword gives him more speed, but also less power, probably his most dangerous mode. His fire sword gives him insane power, but can potentially give him the lowest lifebar in the game, even less than Servbot. And his ice sword can make him get hyper armor, but also lowers his speed. *********** *45.Sonson* *********** Well, has unpredictability, and can be one heck of a comboer, as well as being able to do well with her Hyper Gorilla super combo. You've got a longer lifebar, and your range, and power. She does have invulnerability during her Hyper Gorilla, but the trick is to block during the duration, then backdash into Shinkuu Hadoken when you know she's no longer invincible(it's a few seconds AFTER it ends). If she tries to combo the Pass Through Heaven and Earth super combo, by OTG, then you'll have to roll obviously. Otherwise, wait until she raises her hands up, then rush forward to Shin Shoryuken. She plays like a small Gambit, so rely on offensive mixed-up strats to win. *************** *46.Spider-Man* *************** What else can we expect from the master dialer; like Ryu, he hasn't changed! He's got speed, priority, air dominance, combobility. You've got range, power, lifebar. First and foremost, let's tackle his super combos. You can counter his Max Spider and Crawler Assault by your Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku even if it's in progress, otherwise, you can also block them and Shinkuu Hadoken afterwards. His Ultimate Web Throw can counter your Hurricane Kick super combo, but its slow start-up is easily seen, not to mention Spidey needs to be on top of Ryu to execute it. Keep rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, to avoid his Crawler Assault OTGs. BTW, many scrubs who use Spidey get impatient if you block too long and thus try a throw. Beware. Sometimes, Spidey players will end their air combos with a fierce instead of a roundhouse, thus starting up cross-up strats by landing behind you. Just pull off a Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku in retaliation. Lastly, beware of his Capture Type assist, and mash if you get caught in it. *********** *47.Spiral* *********** Simply one of the more annoying offensive opponents due to her speed and power ups, teleports, and most of all, her dancing swords. Ryu's got speed, life, and range. Spiral complemented with a good assist can cheese Ryu's life to death with her swords even better than Iceman and Cable could do. You'll have to think really hard about this one. The best way to handle Spiral is either to dash up close, but not jump if you detect an assist coming. Then counter the assist with an air combo, but don't get too fancy because Spiral does have that Metamorphasis and teleport. Otherwise, stay on the ground, and either extremely up close, or extremely far away when she gathers her swords. If up close, then time your Shin Shoryuken to beat her out, or from far away, Air Shinkuu Hadoken if you detect a sword coming. Also use your assists often. In many cases, stick as far up close next to Spiral as possible to avoid being cheesed. Just beware of the cheesy Speed-Up infinite which can dizzy Ryu and lead to a Metamorphasis. A good tip handling her, since it's so easy to think of the word "trap" when Spiral comes to mind, is to "sandwich" her with an assist(Dr. Doom's a great choice) at the very beginning of the match. ********** *48.Storm* ********** Rules the air like the X-Men she is, having air cheese tactics, speed, and combobility. You have range, power, and lifebar. You can jump the Typhoon, and combo away. If you sense a Storm who takes to the air and attempts to cheese with multiple vertical Typhoons, dash a moment after hearing "Typhoon," and you'll end up close to Storm. You can also super jump the Lightning Storm and still land with enough time to counter, and the Hail Storm starts up slow. Just remember to keep your Shinkuu Hadoken handy to outprioritize many projectiles. And hey; just don't get caught in the nasty air combos. ****************** *49.Strider-Hiryu* ****************** This ninja's still as tough as the pixies come, having speed, priority, air dominance, range, teleports, power, and throws. Good thing he still dies fast, not to mention Ryu's got even more range. Don't try to outprioritize his jump-ins with your launcher; he will beat you out. But instead, use a Shin Shoryuken, or an assist into Shinkuu Hadoken. His recovery of his special attacks are pretty slow, so take advantage of that. Super jump whenever you see the Ouroburos coming, while hitting Fierce, and have in mind that he isn't invincible anymore during that super combo, so you could retaliate with a Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. Also keep in mind that his Legion and Ragnarok starts up slow, and both recover even slower than before, so take advantage there too. But if the ninja's devoid of all that, then just engage in a good confuser's game. *********** *50.Thanos* *********** Thanos is a power character that has tons of power, great versatility in his super combos, and surprisingly can run and pull off combos like no tommorrow. You have your speed, range, and hopefully, your mashing skills. As an assist, Thanos can help combo with his Capture Type, so beware of that. As a fighter, you want to super jump, use your assists, and block lots. All of his super combos either cover huge range, do huge damage, can be comboed, and/or can rejuvenate his life. Learn to mash, or his infinite involving his Death Sphere will kill you. In short, you want to play a more defensive type of mixed-up game. *************** *51.Tron Bonne* *************** She's got power, and lifebar. Also unpredictability. You've got faster speed, and some better range. Her attacks are either slow in start up, or recovery, not to mention are slow in execution. You should mainly play a game of retaliation. If an attack is slow in recovery, block and Shinkuu Hadoken. If the attack is slow in execution, then super jump behind and Shinkuu Hadoken. Simple. ********** *52.Venom* ********** First of all, he has the traits of a power character; strength, and lifebar, plus great range thanks to his size. But he also is the best in defense, being able to stop offensive rushes and jump-ins EASILY, and being able to counter the beamers just as easily too. Did I mention? His dash is fast, and low to the ground, going under projectiles like your Hadoken, and his air combos and ground combos hurt. But Ryu is faster, recovers faster, and can or will win out if he plays the most EXTREMES of long range beaming. The idea is to either play this guy by crossing him up with your J.Fierce, so it outprioritizes anything he throws out so you continue the combo into a Shinkuu Hadoken whether he blocks it or not, or to play the most extreme of keep away, doing Defensive Strat 1 from full screen. But if he doesn't get duped by all of this and can block, proceed to play a mixed-up game. Just beware of his web ball throw, which leads to his combos, and if you see it, then mash. Also remember that since he's remeniscent of a power character, a lot of his attacks have slow recovery. **************** *53.War Machine* **************** Easier or harder to deal against when comparing him to Iron Man, depending on how you look at the picture. For the most part, War Machine has keep-away skills, air dominance, strength, oh, and two comboable super combos, one which is slow but deals huge damage, the other which is semi-slow, and deals great damage. You in many cases have better recovery and speed on your attacks, not to mention your beams come out way faster. Since he has no overheads, just concentrate on blocking low to avoid some nasty air dash air combos and his Repulsor Blast that sets up his Proton Cannon, or his launcher that sets up his War Destroyer. Do C.Shorts to avoid his nasty throw combinations, and you can stuff his air Smart Bombs with either a D.J.Fierce or the Air Shinkuu Hadoken. He can also connect his Proton Cannon after an assist, so make sure to never get hit there. Just don't get intimidated over his War Destroyer. When it starts, wait until all its missiles are shot, then dash to Shin Shoryuken. If you do detect the Proton Cannon, super jump and punish away. And of course, if you're stumped cause your opponent doesn't do all that, then use Defensive Strat step 1. ********************* *54.Wolverine(Metal)* ********************* They toned him down as a result of too many skill-less wins by people in the past, and added another one of him so that Wolverine players would be torn between the two. The Metal version plays like the MVC version, having speed, priority, throw range, and takes better damage than the Bone version, not to mention having the Fatal Claw and Berzerker Rage. However, he not only does incredibly weak damage compared to the other, he also dies incredibly fast, like Strider, plus, Ryu has more range and power and lifebar to match. Basically, you have to counter his offensive attempts to combo in a super combo. Either expect a lot of head stomps for jump ins, or dash in like crazy for a combo. Counter the jumper with an air fierce, or dash assist into Shinkuu Hadoken. You can try any anti-air attack, including your launcher, but time it accordingly. Push block his dashing combo attempts, and combo him if he tries to throw. If he still dashes in like crazy, abuse your Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku, it was meant to knock down the Wolverine types. And lastly, keep an eye out for when he does a slow recovering attack; he has tons of 'em. ******************** *55.Wolverine(Bone)* ******************** They put the XvSF version of Wolverine back in the game, giving him longer claws that are bare boned and supposedly a better healing factor. He losses two of his super combos(his most powerful one and the one which boosts his speed), however, don't brush this Wolvie aside; he still has the priority, speed, and throw range of the Metal version. Instead, this guy does more damage, hit for hit, and he has his repeatable Strong punches that made his air combos so friggin powerful! Good thing he actually is tied for Akuma for lifebar, and his dive kicks now are screwed up for real, and once again, Ryu has lifebar, power, and range. Basically, the strat for dealing with this guy is pretty much the same, just be more wary of the dashing combos, since his dive kicks are diagonal and thus are harder to combo in. Combo his throws to counter, and push block otherwise. And yes, don't forget your Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku; it handles this Wolverine easily too if he abuses his dash. ************ *56.Zangief* ************ Ok, almost any SFer who's even known this game basically knows this guy is the master of the throw. Besides having a ton of unblockable attacks, he's got power, lifebar, and surprisingly good combobility, not to mention a Hyper Armored Zangief mode that handles the pixies easily. Good thing Ryu's got speed, and range, which will definitely help him here. Not to mention that Ryu's beam can tear up Hyper Armored Zangief if he changes. If he tries to combo you, push block him, because he can just cancel into his SPD, or his PowerBomb if he feels like it, not to mention his FAB. Also make sure you use Defensive Strat 1 again, to keep him away and keep your Shinkuu Hadoken ready. Expect him to block a lot. The main method you handle Zangief is to play a offensive mixed-up game. I consider that if you can whip a great Zangief player with your Ryu without his fireball, then you are really good at Ryu, because you need to successfully land many hits from your mixed-up game on him to win. You can also opt to cause block damage from your Shinkuu Hadoken and assists if you're at MAX level and can't land a good combo. Anyone who tries to change into Hyper Armored Zangief to whip Ryu is asking for trouble IF Ryu is at MAX level. Not only does the transformation take forever, this Zangief takes double the damage from energy beam-based super combos! So if you see him changing, backdash to Shinkuu Hadoken, and mash! Against this Zangief, forget my tips! Just pull out your projectile assist from far away repeatedly, and if he decides to jump it, super jump away from him and land your Shinkuu Hadoken! Otherwise, wait until he lands far away from you and then Shinkuu Hadoken there! Keep your meter near MAX against Zangief, and you'll never go wrong! I also want to remind you to watch out that you don't get hit with the Siberian Blizzard when stuck in the corner; a theoretical Final Atomic Buster could combo right after. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ************************************************************ |777777 RRR EEE V V III SSS III OOO N N SSS | | 77 R R E V V I SS S I O O NN N SS S| | 7 RRR EEE V V I SS I O O N NN SSS | | 7 R R E V V I S SS I O O N N S SS| | 7 o R R EEE V III SSS III OOO N N SSS | ************************************************************ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Version 0.1 July 27, 2000. Started writing this FAQ. Added the Credits, Finished up the Intro. Also added Table of Contents. Started the General Moves. Version 0.2 August 5, 2000 Finished the General Moves. Started the Normal Moves. Version 0.3 August 12, 2000 Finished the Normal Moves. Started writing the Special Attacks. Version 0.4 August 19, 2000 Finished the Special Attacks. Started writing the Assists. Version 0.5 September 26, 2000 Finished the Assists. Started writing the Trios section. Version 0.6 September 2, 2000 Finished the Trios. Started writing the Strats section. Version 0.7 September 12, 2000 Started writing the Revisions section. So forgive me; some dates may not be accurate here. I am positive about starting this FAQ on July 27, though. Version 0.8 September 13, 2000 Added more Strats. Version 0.9 September 14, 2000 Touched up the Strats. No, wait, finished them! Yay! Finally! Version 1.0 September 16, 2000 Started on the combos! Alright! Here's the fun part! Version 1.1 September 18, 2000 For the most part, the combos are finished! Whew! Version 1.2 September 19, 2000 Added Magic Series. Added In Closing. Version 1.3 September 23, 2000 Touched up a few things here and there. For the most part, this is the version of the FAQ I will put on the web. Version 1.4 September 30, 2000 Thanks to Videogame Strategies who e-mailed me about permission to place my FAQ on their website, so now I know where it will end up! Version 1.5 October 14, 2000 Ok, lesse here. Added some more strats to: Cable, Cyclops, Dan, Ken, Magneto, M.Bison, Zangief. From now on, if I myself am including a combo that requires a partner, I will put it in the "You now have the floor" section. Added stuff to the Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku description. Thanks to Peter Judson from Neoseeker.com for e-mailing me for permission to use my FAQ. Version 1.6 February 22, 2001 Props to Silent J, my online MVC2 chatting buddy! He's brought 2 extremely useful Ryu combos to our "You now have the floor" section! I also added something extra to the Taunt command, check it out in the General Moves section, thanks to Blue Panther! And finally, thanks to Silent J, I changed how you should partner up Ryu and strats for Spiral! I also changed my mind about not using Ryu's specials, but the only place in this FAQ that you'll see me talk about that is in the beginning of the general strategy section. You'll have to figure out how to incorporate that info into the flowcharts yourself. ;) Version 1.7 April 1, 2001 Thanks, Stephen! He gave me another cool-looking Ryu combo(in the "You now have the floor" section again). And he also elaborated on the air combo ending into the hadoken-->Shinkuu Hadoken in another combo. I also discovered a new tactic that you can use with Ryu, it's called the wavedash! You can find out more about it by checking the General Moves Section. Version 1.8 May 9, 2001 Damn, Silent J(a.aguirrejr@worldnet.att.net) gives us again useful info for Ryu! This time, he brings us a double fireball combo! That's right, your eyes weren't blurred, Ryu can throw 2 horizontal hadokens one right after the other! Check it out in the "You now have the floor" section. He also added another combo, so check that one out too! Also updated the "How to partner Ryu up well" section by moving Magneto and changing some of what I thought were people's best assists. Also changed what I thought was the best Ground Assist. And also another combo based off of what Shoryuken.com forum member n817azn said, and one of my own! Version 1.9 August 17, 2001 I had to change the storyline, after I realized some of the stuff I put in was wrong. Plus, I added a new way to grasp the joystick after someone gave me input. And, I added another combo. Updated the assists. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ ********************************************************* | 888 III N N CCC L OOO SSS III N N GGG | | 8 8 I NN N C C L O O SS S I NN N G | | 888 I N NN C L O O SS I N NN G GG| | 8 8 I N N C C L O O S SS I N N G G| | 888 o III N N CCC LLL OOO SSS III N N GGG | ********************************************************* /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Ok, this section is kinda negative, as I unload some steam on some people (not specifically anyone) on typical arcade goers/fans of MVC2 that piss me off. If you're easily offended and don't want to be, simply don't continue. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. To those who think Ryu sucks and (insert your favorite character here) is the best and that all the underdog characters suck, or basically anybody but your favorite trio sucks. (also applies to those who copy whatever they saw in that latest MVC2 tournament that they attended) -Let's be honest. It's not the traits of the character that determine how good one is gonna be when they play. It's HOW they play them. ALL of you have at least 1 favorite character whom you do best at, or want to master. Someone who has incredible skill could wipe your @$$ with Dan, or Zangief, ok? I may like using Ryu, but I do have other favs that I like to use, like Dan, Servbot, as well as some pixies and power characters and beamers here and there. And another thing; I didn't diss any character in this FAQ, and had no intention to. For the tournament goers, so what if the winner of the tourney was using characters X, Y, and Z? Does that mean that the remaining 53 characters are punching bags? Of course not! So don't base your characters upon what was seen in the tournament. Now maybe you're just pissed that I think that Ryu is potentially the best, but he's not very overpowered in any area, ok? To those who think that they can just place FAQs on some internet website I have not even heard of, without giving the authors some notice.(May not apply to my FAQ yet) -Lemme ask you. Was it that hard to just give people e-mails requesting that you use FAQs on your website? Sheech, seriously. And some of you even have the ballz to change the FAQs to say that they can be found on your websites! Damn you. Then there are the few of you that think that you can profit on something that is totally free! What are you, poor fags? To those who still abuse the hadoken/shoryuken game with the shotos, or repeat the darned some old move with a specific character. -*Sigh* This is a vs. series game, not SF2! Learn some new tactic, like dial combos that most intermediate players are so fond of pulling off! In fact, if you read this FAQ, expecting some tips on hadoken block damage, then that's pathetic. You're probably the same people that only jam Heavy Punch when playing as Megaman. I know, some people state that keep-away is the basis of tournament play, which it is, in fact. Well, 1)it doesn't work with Ryu, 2)if your idea of entertainment is doing the same old move with the same ol' character over and over with no variation every time that you take a trip to the same ol arcade in your neighborhood, get a friggin life, and 3) winning isn't everything, you know. If I so desperately wanted to win I'd cheese my opponents with a Spiral, Blackheart, and Cable trio, or I'd reach over and press my opponent's taunt button and then do a triple VC, get the point? To those of you who have no respect for other people's skill at the arcades. -You know who you guys are...those Mega-Buster blastin, Photon Shot abusin, Ice Beamer usin freaks(I have nothing against the characters themselves, it's the people that abuse em that I have things against)! You think you're so cool when you beat your challengers, then laugh in their face. I hope someone comes along picks Dan, Servbot, and Roll and lays the smack down on you. Get an attitude adjustment. To those of you who think that I am some novice who probably sucks at playing against others. -I'll put it this way; I'm no James Chen or Duc Do, but then again, I'm not the player who plays like the typical 10-year old who repeats the same move. I'm an average to above-average player who just wanted to pass some information about how to play as Ryu to you. To those of you who use underdog characters well, use Ryu without abusing his specials and combo and confuse with him effectively, have written some awesome FAQs, or don't plagerize, and respects whoever you play at the arcade, and in the real life. -You rock. Simple as that. To those of you who want to e-mail me. -I need feedback, plain and simple! Please do that! Anything's helpful, from criticisms(if you're polite about it) to tips, I'll accept it! And of course, bring on the combos! If you contribute a combo, I'll either put it in the contributed combos section, or if it's really good, I'll put it in the other sections, and give you credit, no matter where I put it! \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Hey kid, take my advice, you don't wanna step into a big pile of $*** -Limp Bizkit