Mirror matches tend to be problematic in fighting games, because both players have the same exact general objective, often without sufficient versatility to properly impede that objective. Either they devolve into complete turtlefests (ST Guile vs Guile), mindless rushdown (ST Vega vs Vega), or blind guessing (ST Honda vs Honda).
Somehow Ryu vs Ryu is always exempt. It’s always a good matchup, even in games which are competitively subpar otherwise. By contrast, most characters only get worthwhile mirror matches in one or two games, e.g., CvS2 Guile, 3S Chun Li, and SFA2 Akuma.
On a fundamental design level, Ryu is arguably the most fleshed out character in Street Fighter. He has answers for everything, but executing them requires planning and risk. While there are dominant areas in Ryu’s arsenal, he has almost nothing that would be considered “free.” For instance, there are countless situations where Guile can safely throw Sonic Booms, whereas one careless Hadoken is all it takes for Ryu to lose the match. Even his famous fireball traps are only guaranteed for two or three reps at maximum; the rest are mindgames.
Since Ryu has a direct answer for every telegraphed angle of attack, everything in this mirror match has to be earned the hard way. There are no shortcuts, and establishing the upper hand in the ground game is worth a lot. All of the wonderful fundamental nuances of zoning and footsies take center stage here.
Ryu vs Ryu is an awesome learning tool. Even minor mistakes committed during the course of a round become immediately evident, because there are no instant comeback shenanigans to mask them. Of course, the term “minor” is absolutely relative. There’s nothing like the shock of getting demolished by a seasoned veteran for errors you never bothered correcting because you never thought they were punishable. That’s the beauty of the matchup: it’ll go as deep as you want to take it.
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