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Ryu's worst matchups

Ryu's worst matchups

Game Versions
Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
What's up everybody. I'm here to give you a run down of Ryu's 10 worst matchups. It took me a while to compile this list due to having to do a good amount of research and also ask the opinions of several smash players. To make this list I used observation of tournament matches, players' opinions(including my own), and a rating system where I rated characters on a scale of 1-5 in 7 areas of their ability to: Approach Ryu, space out Ryu, survive against Ryu(weight), exploit Ryu's recovery,kill Ryu, handle Focus attack, and deal with Hadoken. I then added up the ratings to get a total score and that's how I determined his worst matchups. I did not do this for every character in the game because some characters are just obviously not optimal against Ryu. In total there were 19 candidates for this list. Now without further or do, Ryu's 10 worst matchups.(PS, its from least worst to most worst out of 10 if that makes sense lol)


10. Fox

Fox makes it in at number 10 on this list for a few reasons. Fox's approach is amazing with his fast ground speed and he can easily approach and pressure Ryu. Also his lasers can force Ryu to approach which isn't Ryu's strong suit. Shine being a reflector is an effective means of dealing with Hadoken and Fox has 3 multihit moves to deal with Focus Attack: Fair, Uair, and Dair. Fair can beat out Focus attack and even drag Ryu downward offstage. Uair is one of Fox's most potent kill moves and with one of Focus attack's main uses being to land uair defeats that use. Also dair can set up into an usmash kill. However Fox is only at number 10 because of his inability to keep Ryu away as well as his light weight. Fox also doesn't have that strong of an offstage game to exploit Ryu's recovery. And with Fox being the fastest faller in the game escaping weak utilts is nearly impossible.


9. Diddy Kong

Diddy kong gets number 9 on this list because of his ability to both approach and space out Ryu as well as him having two multihit smash attacks with an amazing kill power. Also monkey flip can grab Ryu out of his Focus attack. However Diddy kong's weight isn't the best against Ryu and Diddy kong has no really effective way to deal with Hadoken. Also Diddy kong's offstage game is hindered by his unreliable recovery.


8. Zero suit samus

The aerial queen herself. Zero suit samus boasts great movement speed giving her a strong approach and she can space Ryu out well. With her having 3 means of recovery she can exploit Ryu's recovery and she posses two multihit smash attacks and her up b boost kick. What really makes her good against Ryu is her ability to kill him. She can chain together uairs into an up b and kill Ryu early, preventing him from getting rage. Despite this Zero suit samus' weight makes her die early and she has no effective means of dealing with Hadoken. Also with her laggy grab one missed grab could lead to a true shoryuken kill.


7. Mewtwo

Ever since he has been buffed Mewtwo has been becoming more of a viable character, even against Ryu. He has great tools to keep Ryu away in dtilt and shadowball and has the speed to approach Ryu if need be. His movement offstage is floaty but he is able to go far out for edgeguards making him decent for gimping Ryu. He posses 3 means of dealing with Focus attack: Nair, confusion, and usmash. Nair can lead into a footstool into a disable setup, confusion can set up shadowball resets and aerials, and usmash is one of Mewtwo's best killing options. Also confusion is a good reflector to deal with hadoken. With that said Mewtwo can't survive long against Ryu with him being extremely light. Also while he has two kill throws in up throw and back throw, they aren't strong enough to kill Ryu before he is able to get rage and with Mewtwo being so tall and light he is an easy and frail target.


6. Meta knight

Meta knight claims number 6 on this list with his multitude of moves to deal with Focus attack. Mach tornado, drill, shuttle loop, bair, fair, fury attack, and ftilt. All have deadly uses. Also with Meta knight having 5 jumps he can easily edgeguard Ryu to death. Speaking of death, while nerfed, multiple uairs into shuttle loop is still very possible allowing Meta knight to kill Ryu extremely early. However Meta knights approach is average against Ryu with him not having many ways to deal with hadoken other than shielding and jumping over it. Also Meta knight dies early against Ryu.


5. Rosalina

Rosalina makes this list due to her ability to keep Ryu away with Luma as well as her having nearly all multihit moves when Luma is with her. Rosalina can easily deal with hadoken with gravitational pull and she can kill Ryu with nearly any of her smash attacks and her uair if Luma is with her. The reason Rosalina isn't higher on this list is because of her need for Luma to do well in this matchup. Without Luma she only has two decent multihit moves in fair and bair and she can't keep Ryu out as well. Also in the 13 seconds Luma is gone Ryu can easily kill Rosalina due to her being light.


4. Lucas

People are probably gonna be upset about me placing Lucas over Rosalina, but, here's why. Lucas has zair and pk fire to keep Ryu away and he also has decent movement offstage to exploit his recovery. Nair, dair, and Pk thunder 2( when he hits himself with it) are all multihit so they are good for handling Focus attack. Also Lucas posses a reflector in fsmash and an absorb in psi magnet making his handling of hadoken much better than most other characters. However Lucas can still die early to Ryu and his throws are strong but can't kill Ryu early without rage.


3. Pikachu

Pikachu is great against Ryu. His approach is arguably the best in the game. He can space Ryu out well. And fair, bair, dsmash, and quick attack are all multihit. Also quick attack can easily maneuver around hadoken as well as around Ryu. And Pikachu's offstage game is deadly, he can easily end Ryu offstage. But Pikachu being so light can die from one mistake and outside of edgegiarding he can't reliably kill Ryu.


2. Pit/Dark pit

These are characters people probably didn't expect to be on this list. But the Pits have great tools to deal with Ryu. They have decent ground speed to approach Ryu and with their disjoints and arrows keeping Ryu out is a great game plan. They can easily exploit Ryu's recovery with their 3 jumps and extremely far recovery. They also possess 3 multihit aerials in fair, nair,and uair. And two multihit smash attacks in usmash and fsmash. They also have two reflectors to deal with hadoken. However the Pits aren't heavy so dying early to Ryu is a constant fear and they don't have the raw power or setups to kill Ryu early.


1. Yoshi

And Ryu's worst matchup is...a dinosaur. Yoshi has decent ground speed to approach Ryu and has Egg throw to keep Ryu out. Yoshi is a heavyweight, even heavier than Ryu so he can survive well against him. Yoshi can easily exploit Ryu's recovery and also has the kill power to kill Ryu reliably. And dair and bair are great multihit moves to deal with Focus attack. Also egg throw is great for handling Focus attack. The move has two hits, the impact of the egg and then the explosion. They happen very fast so it appears as one hit. Because of this Yoshi can challenge Focus attack safely and even use the eggs to setup into kills. Yoshi also has a command grab in egg lay to beat out Focus attack. However Yoshi lacks a means to deal with hadoken outside of shielding and jumping.

Well guys there ya have it, Ryu's 10 worst matchups. I hope this was helpful and please feel free to disagree and put your opinions in the comments. Here are all 19 candidates that were in this process: Rosalina, yoshi, meta knight, pikachu, pit/dark pit, lucas, diddy kong, mewtwo, fox, zero suit samus, villager, sonic, toon link, bowser, rob, dr.mario, falco, duck hunt, and sheik.

Thanks for reading guys. Keep Ryuing xd #Shoryuken
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Author
Kid Alchemy
Views
1,328
First release
Last update
Rating
3.83 star(s) 6 ratings

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Regardless of what players may think of who is or is not the worst MUs for Ryu, this guide still has some really solid thoughts on these 10 matchups. Thanks!
I feel that you got a good amount of characters that Ryu struggle with. However some characters you chose such as dark pit/pit are much easier to deal with as oppose to Villager and Megaman. So while it wasn't a bad list I feel that you didn't consider every character seeing as you missed out on two characters that most all Ryus struggle with.
Good and helpful information. Lol i thought i was the only person who thunks lucas is really good
Kid Alchemy
Kid Alchemy
Lucas is very good xd heck every character is viable to be honest lol
completely incorrect reasoning from a competitive aspect and you list characters that ryu BEATS as some of his worst matchups (fox, metaknight are the most prominent).
Kid Alchemy
Kid Alchemy
Could you explain your reasoning please? I'm open to different opinions. And trust me, I'm not saying Ryu can't beat these characters or that these characters can't lose to Ryu. I'm simply saying these characters have the tools and attributes to handle alot of Ryu's best tools
Nice review!
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