From this point forward, you can expect weekly updates to follow a relatively regular schedule. Since i’m not sure where to start, i’ll do what everyone else does and pick Ryu first. It’s about time i provided a writeup for the SF? Ryu Exhibition (Evo2k9+OHN8) combo video released in July, so here’s the first of three installments.

0:12 / SF3:2I In this version, Ryu’s HP Shoryuken hits twice and the first hit doesn’t knock down. Also his SA3 maxes out at two stocks instead of one, which allows Ryu to execute two Denjin Hadokens in one combo. Those two Taunts are used to build meter for the EX Shoryuken, but also to establish that there will be Taunts used in the video so that people with allergies know what to expect. Dudley’s reversal is another Cross Counter, which gets hit because it has a few frames of startup. The Hurricane Kick was done to establish spacing for the next combo, but more importantly to knock over Ryu’s bag.

0:25 / SF2CE For reasons unknown, 1P Ryu can only perform this combo facing right. It’s not that hard to do once you know to pick Guile as the opponent and use vertical j.HK as the crossup, but it’s incredibly rare to avoid dizzying Guile with the first hit of HP Shoryuken. Ryu’s j.LK works as a crossup because Guile’s dizzy animation leans into it, but Ryu lands a step away from Guile so he does far s.LK before Guile gets pulled toward him. That’s why he’s able to do far s.LK followed by close s.LK, and the last part is a c.LK -> s.MP CPS1 chain.

 

0:34 / MvSF Mephisto creates a meaty setup for the air fireball by crouching under it for a moment, which gives the second LP fireball time to catch up. Unlike the XSF version, MSF Ryu’s dash starts moving instantly so he can cover a lot of ground by dashing inbetween links. Even though none of this is practical and Ryu has always been bottom tier in the Marvel series, Capcom decided to play it safe by toning down the frame advantage on a lot of his attacks in later appearances.

0:48 / HSFA Chain canceling is a feature of Green S-Ism so Ryu gets to do air combos here. Since j.MK hits high from the front, T.Hawk leans back and gets hit by j.HP as a deep crossup. Ryu’s far s.HP isn’t cancelable into specials or supers, but you can chain it into HK then kara-cancel HK. This combo was shown in Training Mode because T.Hawk’s dizzy resistance had to be raised a little bit because otherwise he’d get dizzy after the second air chain.

0:55 / CvS In this version, Shin Shoryuken juggles after any one-hit knockdown, or in this case, non-knockdown air reel caused by j.HP. Both the startup and recovery time of Ryu’s Hadoken are terrible in this game, so the spacing must be perfect for the second combo. The third one takes advantage of M.Bison’s LP+LK roll invincibility to create a meaty setup for DB+HK.

1:03 / HSF2 Fei Long jumps after landing from his Shien Kyaku, so Ryu’s s.LP catches him in a prejump frame, which is why the s.MP knocks him into the air and the LK Hurricane Kick whiffs. However, Ryu’s s.MK does not connect as a meaty attack because you can clearly see Fei Long recover and walk forward before he gets hit. Even though that s.MK to s.HK link is performed by ST O.Ryu, it’s actually impossible to do in ST because SSF2 Fei Long’s hitbox is slightly fatter. The last combo shows O.Ryu linking a medium fireball and a fast fireball just to spite CvS Ryu, who not only has tons of recovery on his fireball animation, but doesn’t even have the buttons necessary to perform a medium fireball.

1:12 / MvC2 Wavedashing might be my favorite thing about the entire Marvel series. Servbot’s c.HK slides under Ryu’s LP air Hadoken, then gets hit by s.HK xx Snapback which knocks him right into the LP FB and Ryu recovers in time to tack on another LP air FB xx air Shinkuu Hadoken. That second LP FB causes Flying Screen when it connects, at which point the beam disappears. The second combo involves Servbot suki-canceling c.LP repeatedly to interrupt Ryu’s air Hadoken recovery, so that he can throw them faster. After the third c.LP, Servbot tags out and Colossus eats the combo. The fireball pattern has to be LP-HP-LP-HP, because it keeps Colossus lower to the ground than four LP fireballs would.

1:28 / SFA3 Air blocking Ryu’s j.LK allows Gen to Ground Recovery roll through Ryu’s lvl1 Shinkuu Hadoken and use PPP-stance c.LK to interrupt its recovery. Then Ryu jumps straight up as Gen’s LK Ouga tries to reach the opposite wall. When Ryu’s vertical j.HK connects simultaneously with the lvl1 super FB, the game kinda freaks out and adds a couple of extra j.HK hits to the count. Three j.HK hits, one s.HP and one LK Hurricane Kick are enough to dizzy Gen. (You can easily recreate this phenomenon yourself by doing Rolento’s Steel Rain super and hitting the opponent with far s.HP as the knives fall. SFA3 has a lot of bizarre quirks.) Ryu’s lvl1 Shinkuu Hadoken connects after Ryu jumps, he crouch cancels after the j.HP and j.MP, and the last hit of Ryu’s Shinkuu Tatsumaki Senpukyaku is untechable so this entire combo is inescapable.

1:39 / SF2WW Part of the inspiration for this clip was wanting to somehow incorporate all three of Ryu’s iconic special moves into one quick sequence. Neither Ryu nor Ken’s Shoryuken cause knockdown in the original version of Street Fighter II. When Blanka reaches into Ryu’s LP Shoryuken, he gets pushed back into the LP Hadoken behind him. Blanka’s unusual hitstun hitbox is very convenient for setups where you want a character to lean backwards into an attack. The second combo is fairly straightforward: an s.LK -> c.MP CPS1 chain linked into c.HK.

1:45 / SF1 Check out how close to the bottom of the screen the fighters are positioned. Jumping was pretty much the only way to mask that transition, because nothing else lines up with where SF1 Ryu is standing. Since very few people have actually played SF1, i figured it’d be a good idea to have Ryu and Ken do a little shadow boxing to show off their attacks. Everyone’s invincible during hitstun in SF1, so there are no legitimate combos anyway. You can mash jab and they’ll always be able to block the second one. Actually the second one usually whiffs and they block the third one. The only exception is the Dragon Punch, which can hit multiple times against someone who’s doing a special move, because for some reason they don’t get knocked away instantly like they’re supposed to. You can make one DP hit Sagat’s Tiger Knee three times. Instant death. But i couldn’t kill anyone in this video so Ryu does a double against Ken.