Ryu is worse than you guys think

[K33n3r]

Everyone seems to think that Ryu is a mid tier character in this game, but nothing can be further from the truth. He is possibly the worst character in this game. Here are a few stats to back my claim:

At Evo, the top Ryu player placed 129th. That is lower than any other character at the event. Of the top 96, only Ryu and Honda did not place.

Within the top 100 in ranked matches, Ryu only makes one appearance. In the top 500, Ryu is placed 8 times. Both are lower than any other character in the game.

If you assume these stats are skewed based on player representation, you would be incorrect. Ryu is the 3rd most played character across all ranks, and also 3rd amongst players ranked platinum and higher.

His weaknesses are too numerous to name. Why exactly do people think this character is any good at all?

[ShadowSplit]

I thought it's the players, not the characters

[Scrub]

He's not bad, he's just not exciting. Nobody wants to put in the effort with Ryu because even though he's not garbage and can compete, there's a big question of why struggle so hard?

Even "worse" characters like Lily or Zangeif are more fun to struggle with because their gameplay really rewards the big reads and big wins.

Ryu though. I dunno, he throw hadook and does a shoryook - we've seen these things for 36 years and denjin charge is cool but it's not really remaking the character.

He's just too ordinary of a guy. I don't think he's BAD though, just real bad for the work you have to put in.

[bigsapling]

"When I play and win, it's because of my skill; when you play me and win, it's because your character is broken; when I play you and lose, it's because my character is bad."

Back to topic: Ryu is probably not terribly good. Why not play Ken?

[K33n3r]

Originally posted by Zahramar:

I know, trust me I know.

I still play him though, he really is one of the weakest.

The low tier life can be rough, man

[Everchosen]

Hasn't Ryu been super mid for a while?

The only shotos I think he's been consistently better than post SF 4 are what... Dan and maybe Sakura?

When Akuma drops there will be yet another reason to not play Ryu.

[Spooky7.62]

Originally posted by Everchosen:

Hasn't Ryu been super mid for a while?

The only shotos I think he's been consistently better than post SF 4 are what... Dan and maybe Sakura?

When Akuma drops there will be yet another reason to not play Ryu.

unless he some how happens to be much worse

[Danny DeVito with a Gun]

From playing him, I think he's a mid-low tier character. Imo his MU spread isn't awful. He goes even with most of the cast. Problem is that characters he does beat like Jamie aren't big threats in the meta either. And yeah characters like Dee Jay and JP are rough for him.

Worse than actually being low tier though is that he's unfortunately just irrelevant. He has the tools to compete but what's good about him is mostly outclassed by Luke, Ken, and Guile; all three of which are pretty set in top tier. His damage is actually really good, but Luke outclasses it. His buttons are all pretty solid and similar to Ken, but Ken gets way more reward. His fireball isn't bad at all, but Guile is still the top fireball zoner.

I fully believe it's possible to put in the work with Ryu and do well with him in tournament. For notable Ryus that have gotten good results outside of Evo, there's Ending Walker and Teiga. But if you're trying to compete, the only reason you could justify playing Ryu is if you REALLY like the character. Otherwise, Luke, Ken and Guile are all there depending on what your playstyle is

If you're following the design philosophy of balancing the cast around Ryu, it unfortunately becomes inevitable that he's going to become irrelevant. I do have a lot of buff ideas for Ryu but Idk if they'd be enough to really shoot him up the meta. At the very least, I think they'd give him more of an edge

3S is probably my favorite iteration of Ryu because even if he still was worse than Ken, he had a distinct gameplan revolving around SA3 that separated him from Ken and Akuma while still being strong overall

[Danny DeVito with a Gun]

Originally posted by Everchosen:

Hasn't Ryu been super mid for a while?

The only shotos I think he's been consistently better than post SF 4 are what... Dan and maybe Sakura?

When Akuma drops there will be yet another reason to not play Ryu.

Sakura's debatable but Ryu was definitely better than Kage by the end of SFV

[Samvega]

Originally posted by Danny DeVito with a Gun:

3S is probably my favorite iteration of Ryu because even if he still was worse than Ken, he had a distinct gameplan revolving around SA3 that separated him from Ken and Akuma while still being strong overall

I think this is a really good design philosophy for Ryu. The balanced shoto we expect with something that makes him stand out, so there's a real reason to play him that isn't just "but he's the long-standing face of the series".

If he's just a "bland & not as good as the other shotos shoto", he won't feel very good to play.