Editing Ryu (SSBU)

Ryu's grounded moveset boasts considerable utility. His tapped jab and down tilt both hit on frame 3, making the former useful for relieving pressure, and the latter excellent for extending combos due to its launch trajectory being useful for follow-ups, such as grabs. Tapped up tilt's low knockback, high speed, and active frames make it effective for combos, either into itself, [[Shoryuken]], or even down aerial at high percents near the ledge. Held down tilt can be canceled on a hit into a special move, making it effective for shield pressure and damage-racking even at high percents. Down smash is quite powerful for its speed, and up smash lowers Ryu's hurtbox while charging. Both tapped forward tilt and held jab are altered at close range, both becoming very potent at starting combos into his special moves. Additionally, Ryu will automatically face his opponent in 1-on-1 matches while standing on the ground, making it considerably easier to land his effective ground attacks.

Ryu's aerial moveset is effective as well. Neutral aerial is a [[sex kick]] with low knockback and has only five frames of [[landing lag]], making it useful for combos and kill confirms even at high percents. Forward aerial is quick, highly damaging, and has good range; it can be chained into itself through repeated jumps, and its sour spot deals high shield damage. Up aerial has fast startup and decently high reach, making it useful for juggling, and both it and down aerial can auto-cancel from a full hop.

Complementing Ryu's moveset and combo potential is his wide array of powerful finishers; some of his held tilts, smash attacks, and aerials are very capable KO moves due to their high speed. Held up tilt grants upper body [[intangibility]] on frames 4-10 while hitting on frame 7, making it deceptively safe for KOs when combined with its speed and tapped up tilt setups. Up smash makes an effective substitute for held up tilt as a finisher, and its wide hitbox can catch aerial approaches. While slow, Ryu's forward smash has long range and is his strongest standard ground attack, making it useful for hard punishes. Back aerial is Ryu's strongest aerial, and is fast and has good range. Forward and up aerials also serve as decent KO moves, enhancing their already impressive utility. Finally, down aerial is a powerful [[meteor smash]] with a fast start-up and long duration, making it a deadly edgeguarding tool. Combined with his excellent combo ability, Ryu's punish game is incredibly effective and versatile, being able to rack up damage or KO very easily after connecting with almost any attack.

Ryu's signature special moves are also effective in their own ways. [[Hadoken]] is a large ''ki'' projectile, with three distinct variations, each with a different travel speed, based on input method; the standard version is capable of [[lock]]ing, while the input and Shakunetsu Hadoken deal more damage (with the latter being a multi-hit [[flame]] projectile). [[Tatsumaki Senpukyaku]] propels Ryu forward and deals more damage after an initial travel distance, while the 7.0.0 update allows the move to have Ryu travel through certain projectiles and low hits. Ryu's signature [[Shoryuken]] serves as his main vertical recovery move; it is most well-known for its offensive utility, due to its sweet spot's high knockback and brief intangibility (frame 5). The input version of Shoryuken has increased KO power, even longer intangibility (frames 4-6, with arm intangibility, frames 1-14), and lower landing lag, and can easily be chained into from Ryu's other moves. Finally, [[Focus Attack]] grants Ryu [[armor|heavy armor]] against a single hit, and incapacitates opponents when at least half-charged, allowing for follow-ups. It can also be canceled on hit, after tanking a blow, or even while charging, allowing Ryu to fake out with a shuffle that also provides horizontal recovery distance. His close held neutral attack, first two hits of tapped neutral attack, close tapped forward tilt, held down tilt, and all aerials can be canceled into special moves, allowing Ryu to combo into Shoryuken or Tatsumaki for KOs, Hadoken for safety and damage racking, and Focus Attack for mixups and safety.

Lastly, Ryu has a long-distance recovery and is surprisingly difficult to combo, traits not shared with most heavyweights. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku has large hitboxes and doesn't cause helplessness; this, combined with canceled Focus Attack's armor and momentum boost, grants surprisingly effective horizontal distance and protection. Shoryuken travels a good vertical distance, reaches above [[edge]]s, and can [[stage spike]] reckless edge guarders. Focus Attack also serves as an effective combo breaker, and neutral aerial and input Shoryuken both grant high speed and intangibility, and can even lead into combo or KO opportunities, respectively. These traits allow Ryu to survive to very high percentages when used effectively, which also allows him to take full advantage of [[rage]].

Despite his abundance of strengths, Ryu has his weaknesses, some of which are exploitable. Despite his aforementioned recovery being very long-distance overall, it is very short if many extendable elements, such as [[Tatsumaki Senpukyaku]], are not utilized. Focus Attack still requires a brief charge before it can be canceled. Tatsumaki Senpukyaku's long duration makes it susceptible to being interrupted by long-ranged attacks during use, and he can only use it once if airborne without landing back on stage or taking hitstun. Ryu's falling speed, low jumps, and very poor air acceleration cause his vertical recovery to suffer if he is constantly forced offstage at lower trajectories, which is exacerbated by Shoryuken's recovery being almost strictly vertical while also having very high aerial lag. As such, while Ryu has a manageable horizontal recovery, his vertical recovery is easy to predict and interrupt. Additionally, while Ryu excels at shield pressure, his [[grab]] game is otherwise poor. Although his throws have decent damage output, none of them have effective follow-up or KO potential due to them having too much knockback to combo and too little to secure stocks. Down throw is his only combo throw, but only at very low percents, while the unique mechanics of his other throws only work in [[doubles]] and [[free-for-all]]s (down throw instantly breaking shields, and up throw being capable of KOing bystanders).

Ryu's strong combo potential is also held back by his [[neutral game]], with several factors making it difficult for him to find openings. His very slow walking speed hinders the otherwise great utility of his tilt attacks, and his overall range is very short despite his good frame data (especially regarding his tapped tilts and neutral aerial), giving him trouble with characters who possess [[Hitbox|disjointed hitboxes]], especially when including his tall stature. His only projectile, [[Hadoken]], is very easily telegraphed and punishable due to its sluggishness and lag. Overall, these two issues force him to play patiently and take advantage of any openings, due to his difficulty with contending against opposing [[camping]] and inability to force [[approach]]es. Despite the advantages granted by Focus Attack, Ryu's aerial approach is comparatively poor due to his fixed arc jumps and poor air acceleration, which forces him to commit with air attacks. Furthermore, the advantages offered by Focus Attack are match-up dependent; it is relatively ineffective against characters with several multiple-hitting moves, with some characters being able to exploit it for a free hit. As Focus Attack is also one of Ryu's main methods of escaping combos against such characters, Ryu's high weight and rather quick falling speed leave him susceptible to some combos and juggles, and his slow, fast-falling speed gives him occasional difficulty landing.

Notably, Ryu suffers from the inability to "force" KOs, as his KO potential relies heavily on stringing his aforementioned combo moves. While Ryu does possess some powerful moves, such as his sweetspotted forward smash and back aerial, those moves mostly require hard reads to land, while most of his other moves have low knockback scaling due to being tailored for combo use. Ryu's great combo ability compensates for this and often makes it less of a necessity for him to KO early; regardless, without the proper use of reads, setups, a heavy knowledge of Ryu's moveset, or a lack of compensating for an opponent's [[smash directional influence]], Ryu can have a difficult time taking stocks from opponents due to his significant lack of moves that can KO without prior combos. Finally, the emphasis on using Ryu's unique button inputs causes his normal specials to have lower power without traditionally inputting them, and a simple slip of the hand can use the wrong move at an essential time, most notoriously with him accidentally [[self-destruct]]ing while recovering.