Ryu (SSB18)

**Ryu** (リュウ, *Ryū*) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. OC 2018. Ryu is the third third-party character in the game. Ryu is actually a *special* character in the game, this is because he's equipped with a special mechanic based off from his home series.

## Attributes

Ryu is an average sized heavyweight with below average mobility and recovery, but possesses a mix of combo-based moves and finishing moves with very high knockback. Apart from these, some of his traits are similar to Mario's, such as his dashing speed and the individual damage output of his attacks. This owes to the fact that Ryu, like Mario, is an "all-rounder" in his home series. Despite his balanced attributes, however, Ryu has low jumping force and the single slowest air acceleration in the game. This makes his aerial approach somewhat difficult, while his walking speed (the third slowest in the game) can make his grounded approach difficult outside of dashing.

Ryu's controls are unique in the Super Smash Bros. series and attempt to emulate the control scheme of his home series. The strength of his attacks depend on how long the attack button is pressed; tapping the button initiates a weak attack, whereas holding the button initiates a strong attack. Additionally, his neutral, side and up special moves can be inputted using half-circle and quarter-circle motions plus either attack button for stronger variations. Generally, his tapped tilts are good at chaining with one another due to their low knockback and high speed, which gives him a unique combo-based damage-racking playstyle. This works by keeping opponents in hitstun before launching them away by ending any combo chain with a finisher (typically a held tilt attack or inputted special move), similar to the combos in his home series. Additionally, almost all of Ryu's special attacks (sans Focus Attack) gain benefits from using his unique button inputs, as they do more damage and knockback or have additional effects when done with inputs compared to just with the special button, making mastery of his button inputs imperative if the player wishes to deal higher damage and knockback at all times, especially since they can also be used as a reliable finisher for his tilt combo chains. Effectively, this means Ryu is the only character to have true combos from almost any tilt, allowing him to immediately and effectively switch from damage racking to a finisher instantaneously.

However, Ryu has some weaknesses, one of which is his recovery. Despite being very long-distanced overall, it is very short if many extendable elements, such as Focus Attack and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, are not utilized due to Shoryuken's recovery being almost strictly vertical while also having high aerial lag and thus completely stops his momentum until he is helpless. This property is exacerbated by his very slow air acceleration. While his specials offer him a decent horizontal recovery, his vertical recovery is largely reliant on Shoryuken, leaving him vulnerable to gimping and meteor smashes.

Ryu's neutral game is also held back by several issues. He has a very slow walking speed, which hinders the otherwise great utility of his tilt attacks. While his tapped tilts and neutral aerial are very quick and useful for pressuring shields, they have short range, especially for his tall stature. His only projectile, Hadoken, is slow, short-distanced, and laggy, making it telegraphed and punishable, and giving him a difficult time against opposing camping, and he has no real way of forcing approaches. Aside from the speed and combo ability of his neutral aerial and Focus Attack's mix-up potential, Ryu's aerial approach is comparatively poor. Despite having above average air speed, his aerial acceleration, which is the slowest in the game, prevents him from maneuvering effectively in midair. Furthermore, the advantages offered by Focus Attack are match-up dependent; it is relatively ineffective against characters with several multiple hitting moves, most notably Fox. As Focus Attack is also Ryu's main method of escaping combos against such characters, Ryu's high weight and rather fast falling speed leave him susceptible to combos and juggles, and unlike most other fighters, his fast falling speed increases his normal falling speed by 40%, rather than 60%, giving him occasional difficulty landing.

Ryu's grab game is mediocre at best, aside from its high damage output and quick pummel. Due to its high knockback scaling, down throw has poor combo potential past lower percents. His other throws have high base knockback, giving them little to no follow-up potential, while their weak knockback scaling makes them unreliable for KOing. Another weakness Ryu has is the inability to "force" KOs. While Ryu does possess some powerful moves such as his sweetspotted forward smash and his input Shoryuken, those moves mostly require setups, and most of his other moves have low knockback scaling, such as his forward aerial, which KOs well beyond 100% despite dealing as much as 15%. Without reads or proper setup and with opponent's great SDI, Ryu can have a difficult time taking stocks from opponents. His unique button inputs can be a double-edged sword, as his normal specials have lower power without traditionally inputting them and it is possible for a simple slip of the hand to cause Ryu to use the wrong move at an essential time. Ryu's combos can also be hard to start outside of reads, precise punishing, or Focus Attack.

## Moveset

### On-screen appearance

* Calmly walks onto the stage from some mist in the background.

### Taunts

* Up: Turns away from the screen and tightens his headband, while stating "Come on!" (かかってこい!, Come at me!) This is one of his taunts from Street Fighter IV.
* Side: Holds his fist forwards, and declares "Talk is cheap!" (拳で語り合おう!, Let your fists talk!) This is also one of his taunts from Street Fighter IV.
* Down: Stomps on the ground and grunts, which is taken from his taunts in most Vs. Capcom series games. While this also appears to be similar to his single taunt from Street Fighter III, it more closely resembles the stance commonly displayed by fellow Street Fighter character Akuma (and by proxy, has also be used as a tag-in calling animation in many of the Marvel vs. Capcom games).

### Idle poses

* Adjusts his gloves.
* Wriggles the fingers on both hands, then crosses his arms and pumps them.

### Victory poses

* Winds back and does a pose with his right fist while facing the screen, saying "Give it your all!" (必殺のタイミングを計れ!, Gauge the timing of your sure-kill!). This victory animation is directly taken from his victory pose in Street Fighter IV, with the same quote being one of several optional victory quotes that Ryu is able to communicate.
* Slings his duffel bag over his shoulder while declaring "The journey... has just begun." (旅はまだ…始まったばかりだ, Yet the journey... has just begun.).
* Punches two times before doing a victorious uppercut, while saying "Your range is one fist short." (その間合いじゃ、拳半分届かない!, That range of yours doesn't reach half a fist!). The uppercut pose is a reference to one of his more recurring victory poses, where he lifts a fist in the air triumphantly.