Lol. The undeserved hype Ryu gets. In my personal opinion, I think he's mid tier 3.
Not being funny, but you're saying Ryu, who can pull off insanely powerful combos and kill extremely early should be tier 3? Just watch this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BYqkKsOywQ. Just look at the first kill he gets! Combo'd ZSS to death at 57%... jeez.
well this is funny, look back at the voting on tier 3 and people were asking why ryu should move up and i was arguing for how good ryu is but now...
well i now know how i will use my second vote(ill edit my vote into my original post later):
-1
while i think he is a VERY good character, i think tier one is pushing it a bit too much; people say sonic isnt tier one material because he loses to camping/defensive play and shield... well funnily enough the same applies to ryu, i think he struggles even more against defensive play and zoning than sonic does (but then again i dont think sonic actually struggles vs defensive play all that much tbh, but thats a different matter) and whilst he does have good shield breaking potential especially with collarbone breaker(or w/e its called) it is often pretty obvious and i see it mainly being used as a mixup(albeit an extreemely good and potent one) on a shield happy opponent, but ryus throw game is rather... meh, he doesnt have a kill or a combo throw afaik(as always, please correct me if im wrong) so while i dont think his ability to deal with shields is bad, if its used as an argument against sonic, who has a decent kill throw and the mobility to easily get the grab, then i think it can just as well be used against ryu. talking about mobility, its another reason why ryu can struggle with good zoning and dont forget, this isnt sf, he cant just throw out hadokens to camp out his opponent. another thing to remember is his recovery, its far from being the worst recovery, yes, but that doesnt change the fact that its rather linear and, depending on which recovery he choses, theres a way to deal with it(though shoryu is VERY scary to intercept bc if u mess up its gg).
now before anyone misunderstands, i dont think hes bad, i dont think he should go down to tier 3 but i do think there are better characters in tier 2 than ryu(sonic, mario & diddy). while i do think he has amazing strengths, that doesnt mean that we should overlook his weaknesses :/
You make some fair points in this, but what you said about Ryu losing to camping and defensive play is rather wrong. Ryu doesn't lose to defensive play or shields at all. He has plenty of safe options for shields, with his Fair being a good example. Comes out 1 frame later than Sheik's, and does over 3x as much damage, causing great shield stun. In fact, the shield changes in the recent patch have helped Ryu arguably one of the best, as he has even more shieldbreaking capability. Other than Collarbone Breaker (which is a guaranteed shield break now btw), he can lock people in shields now to a break, with things like Nair to true Shoryuken and Nair to Dtilt to Strong Shoryuken. These will break full shields. Also, his Focus Attach does great shield damage anyway, can now also break weakened shields, so if you hit a Fair on a shield and the opponent still shields, you can actually break a shield with a Focus Attack. Camping characters such as Link or Toon Link for example aren't a huge problem for Ryu; he has good mobility, with a above average dashing speed, and one of the best air speeds in the game, tied in with a great short hop and fast fall, meaning he has plenty of room to make a safe approach. Remember Focus Attack can be cancelled into a direction at any moment before it strikes, and absorbs an attack. Not only does this give Ryu yet another approach option, it also gives him a way to get in on an opponent and get a combo started, even tank a gimp off stage to help recover, or help move in for a grab etc. About Throws, Down Throw can combo into an aerial until mid percents, which is when Ryu can start comboing into a kill. He doesn't have a kill throw that kills reliably (I say this because Back Throw and Forward Throw can kill at the ledge when Ryu has a bit of rage), and though having one would be nice, he doesn't need one, as most of the time Ryu can combo the opponent into an early kill. If Ryu couldn't kill until high percents, then yes I see not having a kill throw would be a problem, but when you can effectively finish an opponent off at an average of about 50%, I don't think that's needed. Forward Throw can also lead into a spike at mid percents off stage. Speaking of spikes, he can also combo into his spike at any percent above about 40% at the edge.
You are correct about his Hadoken, it is not the best projectile, but Ryu's aim isn't to use his projectile to camp people out in this game. Use it to force the opponent to make a reaction, such as a hasty apporach, which Ryu thrives off. Or, use it to force a shield, which as explained above isn't the best option to do against him. Speaking of which, Ryu has a good shield game too, meaning the opponent attacking Ryu's shield is very unsafe.
His recovery is not as predictable as people make out. Having a moving hitbox with his side Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (side special) is helpful for recovery, and remember true Shoryuken has invincibility on it, as well as granting an improved distance. Yeah, if Ryu decides to recover low with his side B, it can be a bit easier to get him, but if he uses it while up in the air, thats when things get interesting. He can get closer to the stage, then use a Focus Attack to tank a hit while going downwards, then do true Shoryuken to recover to the ledge. You know that video I shared earlier where you asked about phantom hits? Go check that out. At some point in the video, you see an example of this. Ryu tanks a hit with Focus Attack where if he didn't he would have clearly been killed.
Don't worry, I am not antagonising or picking fault with you, and I respect your opinion of you thinking Ryu is tier 2. However, from where I stand, I can see Ryu potentially in the top tier. If not, he certainly is better than the likes of Mario and Sonic.
Edit: Also for clarity, I have no connection to Ryu at all. Not a character I play, so no main bias. I have never played Street Fighter before, so there is no hype for that game. All this is literally just pure facts for Smash 4, experiences (my friend actually dual mains Ryu), and reading opinions/scribes of top level players.
