HOW TO PLAY RYO
The Moves
f + A (overhead)
f + B (high/mid parry)
+ B (low parry)
+ P (hadouken)
+ P (shoryuken)
+ K (hurricane kick)
+ P (ghetto burn knuckle)
, f + K (D version guard crushes)
f, b, f + P (your new B&B multihit punch)
,
+ P (Ryuuko Ranbu rush DM)
f,
+ P (Haoh Sho Kohken)
x 2 + P (Leader, ICHIGEKI HISSATSU)
Best pokes: far B, far D,
+ A,
+ B,
+ A
B&B (outside corner): std C, f, b, f + C OR
+ A OR
+ K
B&B (opponent cornered): std C,
+ A or f, b, f + C into QS
Low combo: dB, dC,
+ A or
+ B
Best jumpin: j. D
Best air to air: low hyper hop E, early j. D, j. B
Best anti-air:
+ p,
+ C
Best quickshifting move: Ryuuko Ranbu or f, b, f + C
High-low mixup on opponent's wakeup: f + A;
B,
C; early hop j. D, d. D
Abuse:
+ A,
+ B, f + A,
+ B
Basic strategy - Ryo is the pinnacle of a balanced character, a solid B rank in almost every KoF he's ever been in, and for good raeson. He has good defense, a decent offense, good power, good priority, his only real weakness is that he LACKS any true strengths.
Your goal as a Ryo player is to control the speed of the match. If the opponent is rushing down too much, use Ryo's priority to stop him dead in his tracks, if the opponent is turtling, go on the offensive and abuse your simple mixup games with his f + A and
B,
C links to keep them guessing. On wakeup you have two options,
+ C, or don't. That alone turns what could be an okizeme game for your opponent into a 50/50 gamble against you. Use this to your advantage. Opponents will attempt to bait
+ Ps from you to try to get an easy combo in. If this happens (and you know it's going to happen), go on the offensive as soon as you get up.
Once you've got the pace down to a respectable level (read: a "medium" pace where you're in and out of the opponent's face), start throwing pokes at him with the moves stated above. Even his f + A can be a good poke because of its huge forward movement. Stick out random
+ As,
+ Bs and whatnot to keep your opponent offguard, and most importantly, once you have the opponent cornered, keep them about a character's length away from you. This is where Ryo will shine - he doesn't cornerfuck like Kyo does, but he more or less can "turtle" you from that position by waiting for YOU to mess up and using your attempts at escaping the corner against you.
Don't forget to whiff out empty moves too. Keep them from wanting to rush you down, and at the same time keep a steady pace by wavering between rushdown and defensive tactics.