For those of you who are unaware, the Street Fighter IV series is gearing up for a third incarnation in the form of Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. In addition to balance tweaks, the game will be welcoming a number of new fighters into the roster. Yun and Yang, the martial arts twins of SFIII fame, have already been confirmed, and rumors of additional characters range from the possible (Karin, R. Mika, Hugo), to the far-fetched (Poison, Haggar, Juli/Juni), to the downright absurd (anyone from the SFEX series).
One particularly juicy rumor [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105668-Rumor-Evil-Ryu-and-More-Evil-Akuma-Coming-to-Super-Street-Fighter-IV] involved the return of Evil Ryu, a dark version of Ryu who's pumped up on evil chi and able to use some of Akuma's trademark skills. The rumor also speculated on the appearance of another "Evil" character, dubbed "Oni Akuma" by fans.
Today, that rumor was confirmed to be true. The enterprising players of Arcade Infinity in Rowland Heights, California, have unlocked Evil Ryu and Oni.
- Evil Ryu's most closely resembles Akuma in Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition. Many of their moves are very similar. A few examples: Far Standing Hard Punch is the same, Crouching Hard Kick (sweep) is slightly slower, Hurricane Kick can juggle into a Shoryuken and it doesn't break armor.
- Akuma's Fireball, Red Fireball, Shoryuken, Hurricane Kick, Dive Kick and Teleport all look to be pretty close to what Evil Ryu can do. It looks like many things Akuma can do, like cross up Hurricane Kicks and core combos, so can Evil Ryu.
- Has a new special move, appears to be quarter-circle forward + Hard Kick. This performs an Axe Kick with an exaggerated animation, the regular version does not hit overhead, but the EX version does. You can combo into the regular versions from a Crouching Medium Kick, but the EX version won't combo.
- He definitely has low health (stamina), probably some where around Akuma's, I'd guess 850. Two wrong guesses can lead to a dizzy from some characters.
- Can combo into his Ultra 2 with Crouching Medium Kick into EX Fireball FADC, Ultra 2. Full animation will land. Sick.
- Does a TON of damage. One combo into Hurricane Kick did about 35-40% on Chun-Li.
- Evil Ryu's Crouching Medium Kick is like the one in Third Strike, pretty good, but slower than Ryu's and you can't combo into it from Light Punch.
- You can combo into his Medium Punch off Light Punch, though, and his Crouching Medium Punch is really good. Thing has a lot of range and stuffs a lot of attackst. On bigger hitbox characters you can combo 3 Crouching Medium Punches into whatever you like. So far you can do it on Oni..
- His Super is a Raging Demon.
- Ultra 1 is a souped up Fireball. This mostly closely resembles normal Gouken's Ultra 2, as it appears that you can charge it up and then release it.
- Ultra 2 is a Metsu Go Shoryu uppercut which he hits you with three uppercuts: flies into the air and charges evil energy... and slams you're face into the ground with it.
- Toward + Medium Kick does a lunging Hop Kick, but it doesn't hit overhead.
- Hard Punch Shoryuken is a good anti air.
- Red Rapper offered this opinion on Evil Ryu: "It's all about risk reward. He [doesn't make] Ryu obsolete. Essentially, you're getting a different version of Ryu who does more Damage, but in return takes a LOT OF DAMAGE. His c.MK is better or worse in some ways, but he has some cool tools that could help out against normal Ryu's bad matchups. However ? he's for sure not overpowered. No way."
He's not like Vanilla Sagat either. Vanilla Sagat you could guess wrong quite a few times and still pull out a victory with one ultra combo. Evil Ryu you guess wrong twice you're [screwed]. "Very cool character, though. Tons of fun to play and a nice vary up to normal Ryu's style."
- People are comparing Oni more to Gouken than to Akuma. He looks slower and his sweep is different. Regular fireballs don't travel full screen, unless they're the EX version. Red (electric) Fireballs do travel full screen.
- Has a new teleport/air dash move by doing quarter-circle back + 3x Punches. Can be used to avoid anti air moves, among other things. Seems to have some recovery on it, though. Overall, seems to be a GREAT move.
- One of his attacks makes him leap into the air and come with a stomp/body attack, think E. Honda's Sumo Splash. There's an EX version of this.
- He has a Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) and Hurricane Kick. Shoryuken seems good at times, others, not so good.
- Health isn't known, some say it's low, some say it's average. May be because he's fighting Evil Ryu so much, who takes off a ton of life.
- Damage output is low.
- Some of his normal moves are fairly good, like Standing Hard Kick. - His c.MP is pretty decent. Some of his normals are so-so.
- His 'Gouken Palm' special crosses up and it might be fireball invincible. It's unsafe on block, though.
- Demon Flip is a really good anti air from some ranges.
- Super is a Raging Demon.
- Ultra 2 looks like Akuma's Ground Pound Super Art (Kongou Kokuretsu Zan) from Third Strike if it whiffs or partially connects, but if goes into the full animation Oni jumps into the air and finishes with a huge Shoryuken with a lot of flashing stuff on screen.
- Can combo his Ultra 2 off his EX Slide Dash move.
- Can do air Ultra fireball... possibly for chip damage.
Bear in mind that because the characters have only been unlocked tonight, quality video footage of them might not be available for some time. Here's a bit of what's available now.
I know I'm not the only Street Fighter addict on the Escapist, so I can't be the only player who cares about this. What are your thoughts, Escapists? Do they have the potential to contribute well to the overall experience? Is it a waste of character slots to have two versions of the same character? Are the too many shoto (Ryu clone) characters as it is?
Let's hear your opinions!
tl;dr: Evil Ryu and Oni have just been confirmed for SSFIV: AE. What do you make of this?
One particularly juicy rumor [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105668-Rumor-Evil-Ryu-and-More-Evil-Akuma-Coming-to-Super-Street-Fighter-IV] involved the return of Evil Ryu, a dark version of Ryu who's pumped up on evil chi and able to use some of Akuma's trademark skills. The rumor also speculated on the appearance of another "Evil" character, dubbed "Oni Akuma" by fans.
Today, that rumor was confirmed to be true. The enterprising players of Arcade Infinity in Rowland Heights, California, have unlocked Evil Ryu and Oni.
Evil Ryu as he appears at the Character Select screen
Some early gameplay notes from Eventhubs:- Evil Ryu's most closely resembles Akuma in Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition. Many of their moves are very similar. A few examples: Far Standing Hard Punch is the same, Crouching Hard Kick (sweep) is slightly slower, Hurricane Kick can juggle into a Shoryuken and it doesn't break armor.
- Akuma's Fireball, Red Fireball, Shoryuken, Hurricane Kick, Dive Kick and Teleport all look to be pretty close to what Evil Ryu can do. It looks like many things Akuma can do, like cross up Hurricane Kicks and core combos, so can Evil Ryu.
- Has a new special move, appears to be quarter-circle forward + Hard Kick. This performs an Axe Kick with an exaggerated animation, the regular version does not hit overhead, but the EX version does. You can combo into the regular versions from a Crouching Medium Kick, but the EX version won't combo.
- He definitely has low health (stamina), probably some where around Akuma's, I'd guess 850. Two wrong guesses can lead to a dizzy from some characters.
- Can combo into his Ultra 2 with Crouching Medium Kick into EX Fireball FADC, Ultra 2. Full animation will land. Sick.
- Does a TON of damage. One combo into Hurricane Kick did about 35-40% on Chun-Li.
- Evil Ryu's Crouching Medium Kick is like the one in Third Strike, pretty good, but slower than Ryu's and you can't combo into it from Light Punch.
- You can combo into his Medium Punch off Light Punch, though, and his Crouching Medium Punch is really good. Thing has a lot of range and stuffs a lot of attackst. On bigger hitbox characters you can combo 3 Crouching Medium Punches into whatever you like. So far you can do it on Oni..
- His Super is a Raging Demon.
- Ultra 1 is a souped up Fireball. This mostly closely resembles normal Gouken's Ultra 2, as it appears that you can charge it up and then release it.
- Ultra 2 is a Metsu Go Shoryu uppercut which he hits you with three uppercuts: flies into the air and charges evil energy... and slams you're face into the ground with it.
- Toward + Medium Kick does a lunging Hop Kick, but it doesn't hit overhead.
- Hard Punch Shoryuken is a good anti air.
- Red Rapper offered this opinion on Evil Ryu: "It's all about risk reward. He [doesn't make] Ryu obsolete. Essentially, you're getting a different version of Ryu who does more Damage, but in return takes a LOT OF DAMAGE. His c.MK is better or worse in some ways, but he has some cool tools that could help out against normal Ryu's bad matchups. However ? he's for sure not overpowered. No way."
He's not like Vanilla Sagat either. Vanilla Sagat you could guess wrong quite a few times and still pull out a victory with one ultra combo. Evil Ryu you guess wrong twice you're [screwed]. "Very cool character, though. Tons of fun to play and a nice vary up to normal Ryu's style."
Oni as he appears at the Character Select screen
Some early gameplay notes from Eventhubs:- People are comparing Oni more to Gouken than to Akuma. He looks slower and his sweep is different. Regular fireballs don't travel full screen, unless they're the EX version. Red (electric) Fireballs do travel full screen.
- Has a new teleport/air dash move by doing quarter-circle back + 3x Punches. Can be used to avoid anti air moves, among other things. Seems to have some recovery on it, though. Overall, seems to be a GREAT move.
- One of his attacks makes him leap into the air and come with a stomp/body attack, think E. Honda's Sumo Splash. There's an EX version of this.
- He has a Shoryuken (Dragon Punch) and Hurricane Kick. Shoryuken seems good at times, others, not so good.
- Health isn't known, some say it's low, some say it's average. May be because he's fighting Evil Ryu so much, who takes off a ton of life.
- Damage output is low.
- Some of his normal moves are fairly good, like Standing Hard Kick. - His c.MP is pretty decent. Some of his normals are so-so.
- His 'Gouken Palm' special crosses up and it might be fireball invincible. It's unsafe on block, though.
- Demon Flip is a really good anti air from some ranges.
- Super is a Raging Demon.
- Ultra 2 looks like Akuma's Ground Pound Super Art (Kongou Kokuretsu Zan) from Third Strike if it whiffs or partially connects, but if goes into the full animation Oni jumps into the air and finishes with a huge Shoryuken with a lot of flashing stuff on screen.
- Can combo his Ultra 2 off his EX Slide Dash move.
- Can do air Ultra fireball... possibly for chip damage.
Bear in mind that because the characters have only been unlocked tonight, quality video footage of them might not be available for some time. Here's a bit of what's available now.
I know I'm not the only Street Fighter addict on the Escapist, so I can't be the only player who cares about this. What are your thoughts, Escapists? Do they have the potential to contribute well to the overall experience? Is it a waste of character slots to have two versions of the same character? Are the too many shoto (Ryu clone) characters as it is?
Let's hear your opinions!
tl;dr: Evil Ryu and Oni have just been confirmed for SSFIV: AE. What do you make of this?
