Why does everyone use Ryu,Ken,Akuma,and Oni?

[klutzykostas]

Whats so good about these characters that everyone seems to use? Genuine question fairly new to sf4

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

The shoto style of play has, by and large, remained unchanged since 1991. People play what they know.

[klutzykostas]

Two Bears の投稿を引用：

The shoto style of play has, by and large, remained unchanged since 1991. People play what they know.

Ok thank you just wondering.

[Scrub]

They have a lot of the basic tools that Street Fighter is built around. Learning Ryu or Ken really teaches you 80% of what Street Fighter has to offer.

Akuma and Oni are variations on this standard move-set and so are to be treated pretty differently from Ryu/Ken.

But they are just simple (not easy) characters to pick up and start doing some learning; they also have been playing about the same for 20+ years, so a lot of people are just comfortable using them.

[klutzykostas]

doc の投稿を引用：

They have a lot of the basic tools that Street Fighter is built around. Learning Ryu or Ken really teaches you 80% of what Street Fighter has to offer.

Akuma and Oni are variations on this standard move-set and so are to be treated pretty differently from Ryu/Ken.

But they are just simple (not easy) characters to pick up and start doing some learning; they also have been playing about the same for 20+ years, so a lot of people are just comfortable using them.

Thank you very much for the nice answer. I understand now. Personally I dont find them very fun but hey in the end its about having fun haha.

[Scrub]

Oh yeah, it's common to actually pick a character "against the grain" when first starting - because EVERYONE uses Ryu/Ken/etc.

I started trying to learn the game using Hakan! Not recommended!

Once you're comfortable I would suggest trying to pick up one of these characters however, as they do have just about every tool you will need to succeed - and knowing what your opponent has is half the battle in Street Fighter.

[klutzykostas]

doc の投稿を引用：

Oh yeah, it's common to actually pick a character "against the grain" when first starting - because EVERYONE uses Ryu/Ken/etc.

I started trying to learn the game using Hakan! Not recommended!

Once you're comfortable I would suggest trying to pick up one of these characters however, as they do have just about every tool you will need to succeed - and knowing what your opponent has is half the battle in Street Fighter.

Hakan hes awesome! I am trying to learn how to use Abel, and all the ryus and kens make it kinda hard for me you know?

[LDvergil]

Getting Bodied I presume by a classic shoto character while trying to learn someone? Don't worry, we've all been there, you're not alone.

[klutzykostas]

Vergil の投稿を引用：

Getting Bodied I presume by a classic shoto character while trying to learn someone? Don't worry, We've all been there, you're not alone.

Exactly!!

[Miggoh]

I started playing this online on Friday and literally 9 out of 10 matches are versus shoto characters. And the tenth match is usually Cammy. This is pretty bad game for a beginner to start as the enemies with "same skill level" tend to have 2000 Battle Points.

[Scrub]

Yes you hit the nail on the head. Fighting games are very hard to start playing day 1. Your best bet is to find someone who is closer to your skill levels and just have fun getting used to the mechanics.

Do not be afraid of losing a TON though - if you really want to play Street Fighter you will have to learn how to win, and the fastest way to learn how to win is to figure out how you're losing.

"I never hit them" = "I need to work on finding good pokes"
"I can't do combos" = "I need to work on hit confirms"
"They only run away!" or "They wont get off me!" = "I need to work on my spacing and zone control"

[Miggoh]

I do have some "They won't get off me!" problems with Gen and Ibuki. No idea really how to deal with them. Luckily I only see them once in a day max. Usually end up losing, but loss against them is actually more entertaining than a win against Akuma.

[ANDY]

They are simply well balanced and have pretty much all the tools needed to contend
no matter the match-up or situation.

Ryu has strong fundamentals and excells at defensive play and footsies,
Ken is faster and, with his multi-hit normals, makes for a flashier, offense-based alternative.
Akuma ups the raw strength and excells at creating vortex-situations off a hard-knockdown,
however, his health is low and players have to learn his vortex to play effectively which makes him slightly less adaptable to bad situations than the other shotos.

The reason you see so many Ryus in particular is that he makes for both a great starting character as well as a solid choice for intermediate players due to his adaptability when used with strong fundamentals.

[Cipher Esteria]

Miggoh | No meatbuns, No life の投稿を引用：

I do have some "They won't get off me!" problems with Gen and Ibuki. No idea really how to deal with them. Luckily I only see them once in a day max. Usually end up losing, but loss against them is actually more entertaining than a win against Akuma.

I feel your pain bro last Saturday 20 Matches,18 Shoto matches and 12 Akumas!
And every Day you play 90% against them!
I really don't like the Shotos,cause they are offten really boring opponents.Akumas play ever Keepaway,Ryu plays ever Keepaway and Ken plays:"I can spam DP."Thx to the Netcode,hard to punish.

Ryu and Ken are often use because,theire basics are very easy.
Esepecaly theire combos are very easy to link,Ryu can link 3x Lp into his Sweep.
Same with Ken and Oni is an "automatic"Charakter cause of his Targetcombos.
Its like Ibuki 1 hit then the Targetcombo and Special finish.

[Gao Li]

I noticed that too. My main is Sakura, someone you don't see that often, and a lot of players really choose Akuma, Oni, or Ryu. Sakura's fireballs aren't so good, as they have a longer charge time than others, but the playing style is a nice variation from the other shotokan characters.

[Midnight Meows]

New players may not be familiar with the language used here, like "footsies" and "vortex", so it's probably best to avoid them or to explain them..

These characters (Ryu, so on) are higher tier characters. They're easier to win with. Good defensive options or good offensive options, and a lot of tools to use. They help players feel strong or successful in the game, and they tend to have easy combos into ultras or otherwise into big damage.

Oni has instant recovery on at least some of his moves, namely his dragon punch (rising punch). This allows players to basically "spam" the move because it's more difficult to punish him for doing it. Especially online since Internet latency may make it more or less impossible. He also deals a lot of damage very quickly with fairly easy-to-execute combos, looks flashy, and has a few gimmicks that can force you to guess which way to block. His trade off tends to be his very low health and he has fewer FADC options.

Punish: Just means that your opponent does an attack that leaves them open and you take the opportunity to land your own attacks.

FADC: Focus Attack Dash Cancel.. Do a quick Medium punch + Medium kick + Dash to safely jump out of an attack, like a dragon punch.

Ryu has pretty easy combos into his ultra, both in the corner and out of the corner. His normal attacks (aka pokes) have decent priority to them and also tend to allow for combos into fireballs or his spinning kick. Ryu is also the character that Capcom traditionally balances the rest of the cast against.

Ken is basically like Ryu but with a few different options. He's faster and generally lands more hits per attack, and he has an easier kara throw. Kara throw means that he begins a normal attack, which moves him forward a good distance, then suddenly stops the attack and grabs the opponent for a throw. This allows Ken to quickly travel a distance between him and an opponent and go for a grab (you'll see his knee lift when he does this). Many characters have this option (though not all), and Ken's is pretty solid.

Trivia: "kara" means "empty", as in Kara Te (empty hand, usually written "karate" of course).

Akuma has a keep-away game with his ability to teleport (slide) side-to-side, and his air fireball can make it difficult to close the gap. He also has an easy armor breaking attack that he can execute by jumping in on you, and the choice to go for a throw with his jump-in style attack instead of the armor break. This provides him a 50 / 50 game where you the defender have to guess which attack he's using. That's in addition to his high damage easy combos. The trade off is that Akuma does not combo into ultra quite as easily and he has lower health, but he's a very powerful character to use.

Armor break: Your FA (medium punch + medium kick) is broken with a single attack. Multi-hit attacks will also break amor, obviously..

Akuma is also a vortex character. "Vortex" basically just means that you get sucked into a series of 50 / 50 guessing games mixed with other possible attacks. Which way do you block? Which counter attack do you use? Are they going for a throw? A vortex is performed with air attacks more often than not.

Cammy & Ibuki: These are two vortex heavy characters. Ibuki relies almost entirely on it with her jump-in Kunai (dagger) which makes you guess which way to block, her combos, and neck breaker (the slide where she rolls up, spins around your head & throws you). She also tosses in other attacks to mix things up a bit, but you'll be guessing a lot with her. Ibuki also has the EX slide from across the screen which Internet latency can make very difficult to block.

Cammy is presently the most powerful character in the game and is also a vortex character. She relies heavily on her dive-kick but can execute it from various heights and trick you into blocking in the wrong direction. Her combos are fairly easy to pull off and deal massive damage very quickly - a single combo can easily eat about 40% of your character's health, give or take depending on how much health your character has to begin with. She can also stun you fairly quickly.

Coincidently, Sakura is another very powerful character. She's similar in description to Cammy, but Sakura has no dive kick. Her attacks are generally "safe" (you can't punish them immediately, like her EX spinning kick is safe) and her combos do huge damage. I don't see Sakura very often for some reason, but when you do, you're probably in for a ride as you wait for her combos to finish.

All of these characters have easy anti-air options and tend to have more than one anti-air option to choose from (dragon punch and single button normal attacks that work as good anti-airs).

Ryu & Ken are basically your training wheels characters, and Ryu, Ken, and Oni can capitalize on lag.

v2012 essentially revolves around the vortex game, at least in the intermediate & higher levels of play.

edit: This is not meant as a "guide", just an explanation of why these characters are so commonly used.