Ryo Sakazaki (Arcade Version)

[bigvador]

in more ways then 1 i hate how basic he is almost like ryu but he do take some real skill to use

[Saitsuofleaves]

in more ways then 1 i hate how basic he is almost like ryu but he do take some real skill to use

I wouldn't really call Ryo basic.  Honestly I'd call King more basic than Ryo.

[bigvador]

in more ways then 1 i hate how basic he is almost like ryu but he do take some real skill to use

I wouldn't really call Ryo basic.  Honestly I'd call King more basic than Ryo.

i dont know but i would have to say his "basic" move are really unique back then king took work now shes kinda watered down alot

[Saitsuofleaves]

in more ways then 1 i hate how basic he is almost like ryu but he do take some real skill to use

I wouldn't really call Ryo basic.  Honestly I'd call King more basic than Ryo.

i dont know but i would have to say his "basic" move are really unique back then king took work now shes kinda watered down alot

They did, but idk, I kind of like this version of King.  Reminds me a lot of Rose from SF, and she was my main in the games she was in (though I suck at the SFA games), and they're similar in the way they're basic, relying on fundamentals and spacing to win, the ability to switch from a decent spacing defense to a hit and run offense, and hell, King's main DM is called Surprise Rose.

Ryo though, other than the DP and the gi (and his first name), he's not much like Ryu.  He's more like Dan (which is obvious considering Dan's moveset was modeled to mimic Ryo's) but yeah, he's plenty unique.  Won't stop people from mashing dat DP though.

[SAB-CA]

There's really nothing boring about this Ryo... if anything, I'd say his old forms with more moves were more boring. How could this be so, you ask?

Most of the people I fought in the past always relied JUST on those moves. The leaping chop, The autoguard dash punch thing... They rarely ever seemed to actually use the protective properties of his Kohoken right, and of course, they could DP. Or they spammed Air fireballs like he was some reject Akuma. It never really felt that right for KoF, relying on obtuse keep-away and move priority, rather than actually learning the full character. I think it kinda held Ryo back.

The XIII Ryo, however, is a nice twist on the classic "Shoto" archetype. He has all the KoF-fitting reasons to get in and do some real attacks, and while he has elements of the traditional "control space, with Horizontal projectiles, and vertial DPs" game going on, his style of moves force him to get in much closer, more in-your-face, and his Autoguard attacks (his Parries) take more skill to use. I get the feeling that everything he does has weight behind it, and I rather like how his very serious-in-battle stance and moves now balance VS the other Kyokugen (Robert's more Sly, Yuri is goofier, and Takuma is the master, with the move cache to prove it).

While I can see why people who know the AoF team through KoF are a little annoyed with these new versions of the characters, I have to say, as one who liked them more from the AoF games, I like XIII's versions a lot. Robert used to be a favorite of mine, but all the odd changes he got over the KoF years made him such a mess... I like change in my characters, but some of the stuff just seemed un-needed and lacking in focus. Why did he get a flash kick, while having had a dragonpunch too? Changing from charge-motion fireballs to command motions, from power spheres to disk waves... and what the heck with a charge motion command-unblockable "throw"?

TL;DR - The previous KoF AoF styles were getting kinda messy. I'm glad to see them re-focused now. I think it actually, in an odd way, makes them more interesting!

[Aenthin]

They rarely ever seemed to actually use the protective properties of his Kohoken right

Kohoken in previous games was vastly different though. It was more similar to Yuri's version, albeit having a shorter range and slightly faster but it was still not as fast as the current one. It didn't have much use against airborne opponents since it didn't have a big vertical hitbox. Recovery time is longer too, thus making it less safe to use compared to other moves. Basically, what Ryo could do with the Kohoken in XIII, you couldn't do it in previous games.

I do agree with much of your statements, on the other hand.

Robert getting a charge moveset was a jab at Guile. A charge move for an unblockable was ridiculous though. I always end up doing a punch jumping upwards. Curious as to why they did that. It was better in 99 when it *wasn't* a short-ranged unblockable.

[Nagare_Ryouma]

The leaping chop, The autoguard dash punch thing...

I miss those moves!!!!
I used them a lot, specially the karate chop.
Anyway, I agree partially with your statement. Personally, I think his previous stance was cooler because everytime I saw him it was like "wow, this guy is using some serious super special technique". His actual stance is more common for a fighter. I think he looks absolutelly bad-ass, but I would have prefer to see his previous stance with the current visual style.
Bottom line, I am a Ryo player and I CAN´T wait to kick ass with him. Since the game got released I always though he was underrated. You didn´t see too many fancy combos so nobody paid too much attention to him, but the GUY IS A BEAST.

[BioBooster]

The leaping chop, The autoguard dash punch thing...

I miss those moves!!!!
I used them a lot, specially the karate chop.
Anyway, I agree partially with your statement. Personally, I think his previous stance was cooler because everytime I saw him it was like "wow, this guy is using some serious super special technique". His actual stance is more common for a fighter. I think he looks absolutelly bad-ass, but I would have prefer to see his previous stance with the current visual style.
Bottom line, I am a Ryo player and I CAN´T wait to kick ass with him. Since the game got released I always though he was underrated. You didn´t see too many fancy combos so nobody paid too much attention to him, but the GUY IS A BEAST.

Yeah I'm a Ryo player too. With his new parry properties and enhanced EX hien-shippu-kyaku, he's quite possibly going to a pretty decent destroyer. I also miss the Raijin-setsu chop by the way. That move had good recovery/priority and played an important role, so if he was going to get a move back I'd want it to be that one.
(the new stuff in XI he got I could do without). If I could be greedy I would want  / back as well - made his gameplay interesting.

I'm a little upset that Ryo didn't get his air cross-up kick he had in AoF like Robert did (not to mention all the tools Robert has by comparison) - but SNK being in Osaka broke off a bit more love to Kansai-Robert haha.

so now ryo's parry is waaay better now, after playing with him at Evo I noticed his parry recovers faster, and according to No.17 gives you frame advantage as oppose to you just  being Invincible and trying to interrupt a move with a special. I parried a stand A from leona, and punished with a hcb D. I also parried a jump in and punished with a hcb D, I tested that out it appeared to be Height dependent so you can't always do it.

Well I really wanted to be good with the parry (like I was in other KOFs), never saw it as worth the risk in XIII until now. Metaphysics - sounds like you were really feeling the potential in it from EVO. I'm happy with the frame advantage and startup time, are you able to comment on the window? Did the parryable window feel longer to you?

I'll start loading up my parries like  for the eventual       

[Rex Dart]

I'm personally hoping SNK (eventually) makes Ryo into something closer to AOF2 Ryo.

Hell, AOF almost invented EX moves. EX Kohoken should be a full-screen projectile.    That would surprise people so damn much. Maybe give him back his air fireball. And then, of course, a special that allows him to charge his power gauge.

Sorry, way off-topic. My point is that I like XIII Ryo and how SNK has updated Ryo.

[BioBooster]

I'm personally hoping SNK (eventually) makes Ryo into something closer to AOF2 Ryo.

Hell, AOF almost invented EX moves. EX Kohoken should be a full-screen projectile.    That would surprise people so damn much. Maybe give him back his air fireball. And then, of course, a special that allows him to charge his power gauge.

Sorry, way off-topic. My point is that I like XIII Ryo and how SNK has updated Ryo.

Yeah that air fireball was kool. Would be pretty neat if they gave him that ground punish fireball from AoF 3 as well (don't think there are any ground attacks in XIII). XIII Ryo just plain looks like a badass - like what they did with him.

Agree with all of that. I'm a little dissapointed that Ryo and Robert can't charge meter with their taunt - C'mon! the animation is there! Would have been a nice touch.

[Kane317]

First page has been updated with console changes.

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- Ryo travels more forward when doing his Ko’ouken.
* Ryo’s parries�" the Joudannuke (f+B) and Gedannuke (df+B) are faster (shorter overall frames). Gedannuke in particular is very fast and it can even be used for strings. (by canceling normals)
* Fierce Zanretsuken (f~b~f+C) recovers faster on a hit. It can be comboed to a weak Kohken (qcf A) in the corner.
* Standalone f +A Hyouchuuwari (meaning, not from a cancel) comes out faster.
- Weak Koho’s (dp+P) rising time/hit detection time has been reduced. But the move itself is faster, so it can be used for more various occasions.
* Weak Koho can be drive canceled and allows for juggling.
- Haou Shoukouken (f~hcf+P) comes out faster. It can be comboed from a normal fierce, or even be used as an anti-projectile.

Producer Yamamoto says:
We’ve mainly buffed up his defense, and it brings justice to his nickname “The invincible dragon”. Ryo’s unique moves, the Joudannuke and Gedannuke, have been dramatically changed. His Gedannuke is especially fast, and aside from using it for defense, it can also be used to reduce his recovery on attacks. His Weak Koho’s motion is also faster than before, and it can be used in HD combos.

[BioBooster]

Amongst other things, I think I will immediately explore what can be done with Ryo's geddanuke cancel of normals. I looked into it one time at the arcade, experimenting with cancels of his slower moves such as c.D and CD.

Now there should certainly be some merit to doing the same for surprise tactics as in the 10/20 blog vid. If I find a really good list of applications, I'll post that here. I'll have to check whether stand alone f+A can be cancelled like CD when I get a chance.

Also, greater distance on his Ko-ohken is key. That should shore up is strong attack block strings. I'll also be checking out frame related stuff on zanretsuken's startup and attack as I'd like to incorporate that signature move into more combos. I'm wondering if the change to zanretsuken has plugged the gap between EX and C versions - will check up on properties there as well. Would be interesting if EX had a guard point as was done in the past, but that will be unlikely...

[The Fluke]

I'll also be checking out frame related stuff on zanretsuken's startup and attack as I'd like to incorporate that signature move into more combos. I'm wondering if the change to zanretsuken has plugged the gap between EX and C versions - will check up on properties there as well. Would be interesting if EX had a guard point as was done in the past, but that will be unlikely...

I don't know if things have changed much from xii on the zanretsuken front but in xii you can combo into it off of jabs wich gives Ryo his most damaging combo off of jabs (as far as i know) and you can finish corner combos with it for juicy damage. Pretty much nullifies his need for supers except for midscreen stuff ofcourse. I hope it will be possible to use as the final move in corner combos for good meterless damage in xiii aswell because it is such a great move to land. Even better if it can be followed up upon.

Sadly though i think zanretsuken takes too much time to be good in hd mode as it will probably waste meter you may want to spend in other ways.. Either that or it works out anyways because of scaling or something. Who knows.

[BioBooster]

Yeah, your right that weak zanretsuken is a good meterless finisher. It still connects off of jabs as well and does more damage than strong.

The sad thing about strong zanretsuken is the only thing I can seem to drive cancel with is weak haoh-shokoken and the damage is PITIFUL for one meter and one HD... Just about everything else whiffs like ranbu and so on, so think we need strong hienshippukyaku to carry the opponent into the corner (think last hit of hienshippukyaku hits), but strong zanretsu only combos off of strong attacks so you have to be hell close...

Oh yeah, if you haven't seen the DDTC Zanretsuken video check it out.
Think he has done our homework for us :D

KOF XIII: Ryo Sakazaki Zanretsuken tutorial.

Well, there's plenty of HD used, but it's hell contrived - he burns all meters each time. Guess we can surmise there won't be any death combos with zanretsuken in the mix in the arcade ^_^

[marchefelix]

So I did some experimenting with Ryo today. Specifically, I trying to see if you could cancel from his zanretsuken into his NeoMax. My conclusion is no.

I was looking over his changes in the console version, and I was sad to see that this wasn't one of them.