Ryo Sakazaki (XI)

[dobiqwolf]

you shouldnt try to parry everything, I use the parry when i dont want to be in a blocking situation (guard stunt), for example against a fb happy kensou, at mid range i will parry fb so if kensou try something after the fb I will be able to punish. another use i found is against opponent doing the same set of move in a precise situation, like i was playing against a kyo who was running then B>c.C>ect.. after the third time I did punished him with a low parry> dpC>LDM.
like i said in a previous post ryo's move are about when to use them.
That what I like with ryo this year, he is effective if you know what to do when, spamming a move doesnt work with him , he isnt cheap;).

[christensenray]

Derrick managed to parry me when I did the full Duck King ranbu DM to him the other day. Was rather funny actually. You'd think having so much time between each hit the parry would stop, but it didn't. Ryo kept flashing white on each hit too... V. strange. Quite amusing...

[Derrace]

Derrick managed to parry me when I did the full Duck King ranbu DM to him the other day. Was rather funny actually. You'd think having so much time between each hit the parry would stop, but it didn't. Ryo kept flashing white on each hit too... V. strange. Quite amusing...

the flashing happens when you "cancel" the parry into another parry.

LOL I was bored the other day and well thought I give it a go. Like the others mentioned, Ryo still takes damage. meh....

[AcidicEnema]

Leader Ryo has got a pretty easy 100% combo with Oswald:

(Ryo) j.C> s.C > LDM> (push to corner)> j.C> s.C> f+A> (QS Oswald)> j.C> +A> +B> +A> +B> +E.

2 stock, 1 skill.

I'm sure there are other variations, but I think this is the easiest (read: least likely to screw up in a match) by far. Yay (or meh, depending on POV) to combos that bypass scaling.

[Blastrezz]

You actually parried the entire animation of Magaki's LDM?! Wow, how many times did you have to parry, or did it simply autoguard the entire move?

Well I'm very honest so I admit it's not very hard to ryo-parry multi-hit moves at the same hit height. As Magaki's LDM can be guarded high or low (it's full-screen anyway) you can also ryo-parry it high or low. I actually high parried with f+B kept holding forward and pushed (slightly mashed) B in rapid succession. He flashes white for each hit and that's it then.

@dobiqwolf:
no of course you shouldn't parry everything if you don't have to. That's the same for SF3:Third Strike or Garou:MotW or any other game with Just Defend or Parry but if you parry/jd a projectile or something you HAVE to parry it completely, right?
I admire you if you have the eye for Ryo's Parries like you said. I don't and I also don't think this is my playstyle.

Thanks for the praise about my server by the way.

--Blast

[Tel]

Thanks for the information. I didn't know the parry can now be canceled into itself. Not that I'm going to actually try it too much, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Makashi_Menace]

You guys may disagree, but I find that XI Ryo's A-version Uppercut to be lacking in range, compared to the Uppercuts from previous Kofs.
The same to be said about his Dwn C as an anti-air. I used to be able to use it very accurately in previous Kofs, but in XI, whenever an opponent jumps at me and I do Dwn C, it seems to miss!

Then again, it might be due to the fact that the XI has a wider playing-field, thus making things seem nearer than they really are.

[Iie-Kyo]

Then again, it might be due to the fact that the XI has a wider playing-field, thus making things seem nearer than they really are.

Your problem is probably this more than anything else. His + A and C are just as good. It still has a pretty big hitbox and if it even GRAZES something that isn't ultra high priority (i.e. Clarks close C) it'll still do its classic "wtf, you hit my toe" hit.

And yeah, Ryo's parries are overrated. They're impractical in most situations because of the reasons AE stated above. But if the situation arises for you to parry a multihit move (such as Ash's cheezball), by all means, parry that shit, for everything else, use his normals or his + P or LDM. You'll get more mileage out of it, guaranteed.

[Makashi_Menace]

And yeah, Ryo's parries are overrated. They're impractical in most situations because of the reasons AE stated above. But if the situation arises for you to parry a multihit move (such as Ash's cheezball), by all means, parry that shit, for everything else, use his normals or his + P or LDM. You'll get more mileage out of it, guaranteed.

Especially with KofXi faster gameplay, opponents can serve a really delicious mix-up of fireballs, normal-throws, command-throws & multi-hitting moves to screw up a parry-happy Ryo.

For me, Ryo doesn't really need his parry, unless you want to score style points like parrying Magaki's full-screen LDM.

If the opponent fires a projectile, you can use Dp Kick to leap over and hit the opponent.
If the opponent pokes you from near, smash him with Dp A, or Dwn C, or the Fwd-Bk-Fwd C move. Or you can poke the opponent back with Ryo's Stand B.

In a nutshell, I'd rather go for moves to outprioritise and damage the opponent (which Ryo has), rather than a riskly move that'll risk my Ryo screwing up and eating a big QS combo for lunch.

[Tel]

crouching C isn't different from previous years, but +A got a bit of nerfing in terms of priority. I noticed it trades a lot more often in XI than before, it's still fast as ever though.

[Iie-Kyo]

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.

[AcidicEnema]

Some stuff I'd like to add:

- Stand D is anti-hop poke. You stick it out whenever you think the opponent is going to hop. Its got good range, comes out decent fast and is pretty safe on whiff. Important against matches where you can't and shouldn't be trying to uppercut all hops. Against Duck King, this move is the difference between victory and defeat. Stand A is also a great good anti-hop poke- fast, safe.

- f+A is his most important attack to QS from. Bread and butter QS combo is jump in> s.C> f+A> QS. When used alone it allows you to do big damage off an overhead. f+A> QS Leader> LDM combo.

Learn the distance of the f+A. It's safest when zoned at the tip of the chop.

- Ryo has been termed 'Kula-2' in some circles for 3 reasons. 1) High priority uppercut. 2) Excellent hop game. 3) Good poke game. His hop game is *very* strong this year. Hop D is the move of choice in general. Fast, big hitbox, crosses up well. Hop E is a great air poke. Very good against Gato, since if you hop E at its max range when you have the frame advantage, there's nothing he can do except block or waste a meter on a palm super which will trade.

- +A against low hitting pokes. +C against everything else. Don't try to Oswald's d.D from max range. You'll lose everytime.

- LDM is slow this year, but still can be used for its invincibility. For e.g., against Oswald blocked strings ending in a +B, do the LDM just as he starts the +B. LDM is the only LDM in the game which can be QSed from. If you want to combo with someone else after the LDM connects, either QS off the LDM or j.C>s.C> f+A> QS. If you simply try to do a normal shift, the opponent can shake out of the dizzy.

- Combo of choice from the LDM is a very basic j.C> s.C> Zanretsuken. Last hit can be QSed from for 1 more juggled hit. Typically, people will hit with a move that sets up more juggles

- IMO 4:6 against Gato, 3:7 against Kula and 5:5 (possibly) 6:4against Oswald.

[AcidicEnema]

Ryo's close stand D has some really funky mid-body invulnerability, similar to Kim's stand C. Meaty stand Ds against Gato wake up Palm super will WIN (not trade) everytime as his palm goes right through you.

Late jump attacks will go right through you and your stand D will hit them just as they hit the ground. To see what I mean try getting the Gato dummy to use hop Ds against you and stand D at the last minute. Sounds more useful than it really is though, since no one ever does jump attacks that late, especially not against Ryo who doesn't have a good anti-air crouch B.