Ryo Sakazaki (Console)

[The Fluke]

No worries, you have a good point. I've had it happen aswell, hitting at that sweetspot range that gets cl.C to whiff. Since that range isn't random it could be wise to use your starter for midrange confirms. Close and far, i think a regular delayed confirm would net more damage and as i said, would leave more room to reconfirm in case you have a bad twitch activation.

There are some other fun confirms you can do btw, as an aside. Ryos s.D can be used after a d.B for example to delay activate HD. Kims far C is superior to his far D in its consistency at beating lows, and can be delay activated off of aswell. Mais s.D works aswell, although that normal has less reason to hit in a way that will give you a combo.

I haven't cared to look into other characters, but i'm sure that there are lots of tools that can be used to greater effect than we usually see.

[ottomatic]

I feel this game has a few unexplored ideas but I haven't had human opponents in a bit. I can't test if this works as well as it did in 2002um, but sweep BC overhead was nasty for some characters in that game. Practice mode doesn't really work for those types of setup tests. Yuri's still looks about as good as it was back then but it was and still is corner only (for followup purposes), Ryo's was great back then but now it looks a little easier to react to. The big issue with using HD for mixups here is much more risk for about the same reward. I wouldn't mind doing it for Ryo in the corner where he can continue to try for guard break if blocked, but unless it has good success rate overall I wouldn't try it elsewhere. If someone with regular human opponents would be willing to experiment in casuals I'd appreciate hearing it's viability.

[The Fluke]

What does BC mean?

I get the feeling that what you want is something along the lines of activating HD to get a mixup somehow and i honestly haven't fiddled much with that because HD and drive is so very valuable. However i think doing stuff like overhead/low HD overhead/low could work well if the opponent isn't mashing b.C/D.

[ottomatic]

BC is Max Mode activation, which is kinda like HD but cost super meter instead, 1 on it's own and 2 if canceling a normal. The idea in there is pretty much what you though, low xx overhead into combo. Some characters still have the options like they did in 2002um but they seem less usable due to HD meter being so precious a resource. But if it still gets results it can be added as a gimmicky tool for whoever has access to it. Kinda like how an early ghetto Goro setup was C/D HD ... DP + D xx super xx neomax.

But now I'm getting off the topic of Ryo. Any use for F, B, F + C? I can't find any reason to go for it over his other options.

[The Fluke]

Strongest meterless corner combo = s.D f.b.f.C qcf.A f.b.f.A. I've experimented a bit with f.b.f.C and i think you can reset into it in the corner and make it relatively safe so that it either hits and gives decent followups or pushes you back and leaves you at not too poor a disadvantage. Sadly that's not much of a mixup really, so it's a risk taken for a severely scaled followup that is probably not worth spending meter on.