60-
Ryu

Jab1 (-10) & Jab2 (-21, +11 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(Jab2 can be special cancelled, no punish can be true)

Jab3 (-21):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

Heavy Close Jab (-19):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

Heavy Far Jab (-13):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

Light Close FTilt (-20, +6 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This can be special cancelled, no punish can be true)

Light Far FTilt (-8):
NAir (Frame 7)
(This move can be spaced out)

Heavy FTilt (-13):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
(This move does heavy shield damage)

Light UTilt (-8):
NAir (Frame 7)
Z-Drop Bomb (Frame 5)

Heavy UTilt (-19, +11 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This can be special cancelled, no punish can be true)

Light DTilt (-9, +4 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This can be special cancelled, no punish can be true)

Heavy DTilt (-15):
GSA (Frame 9)

Dash Attack (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

FSmash (-18):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

USmash (-24):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

DSmash (-25, +11 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This can be special cancelled, no punish can be true)

NAir (-1, +4 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, this can be special cancelled)

FAir (-6, +5 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, this can be special cancelled)

BAir (-4, +6 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(Safe on shield, this can be special cancelled)

UAir (-8, +5 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This move can be special cancelled)

DAir (-10, +6 Special Cancel):
Unpunishable
(This move can be special cancelled)

Hadouken (-27 Normal, -25 True, -23 Shakunetsu):
Unpunishable
(Projectile usage)

Tatsukami Senpukyaku (-40 Normal, -38 True, -60 Aerial):
This move can be punished with anything on shield

Shoryuken (--):
--

Focus Attack (-33 Stage 1, -34 Stage 2, -- Stage 3):
Unpunishable
(Dash Cancel is unreactable, Stage 3 is unblockable. Stage 1 and 2 do heavy shield damage)

• Neutral Moves: Shakunetsu, Tilts/Proximity Attacks, Aerials, Jab, Grab, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.

• Kill Moves: Smash Attacks, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, Shoryuken, BAir, UAir, DAir, FTilt/Proximity UTilt.

• Kill Confirms: Jab12 -> Shoryuken, Light Far FTilt -> DAir, UAir ladders -> UAir1 -> Shoryuken, DAir -> UAir ladders, Focus Attack stage 2 or 3 -> Kill Confirm, Proximity UTilt (Elbow Jab)/Heavy Jab -> Shoryuken, NAir -> Jab12/DTilt -> Shoryuken, weak FAir -> BAir/UAir1 -> Shoryuken.

• Ryu can cancel several of his moves’ endlag into specials. This includes all of his aerials, faster variants of Jab/FTilt, light and heavy DTilt, and DSmash.

Shakunetsu and Hadouken

• Shakunetsu and Hadouken are Ryu’s primary neutral tools. Both fireballs have 3 variants (slow, medium, and fast) which each determines their speed and damage (for Hadouken, at least). The speed of Shakunetsu determines its combo potential.

• The faster speed variants also travel farther and cover more ground.

• Only one Fireball (Shakunetsu or Hadouken) can be on screen at any given time.

• Shakunetsu can be used as a projectile approach with the slower variants, as the slow Shakunetsu gives Ryu roughly 24 frames to approach behind it. The faster variants do not have this capability.

• Shakunetsu’s various speeds and control allow Ryu to blot out the ground game for the opponent by covering space if they choose to stay on the ground. Shakunetsu can’t be shielded reliably. Two whole Shakunetsus will break shields, and even tanking one can open up more ways for Ryu to shield break.

• Shakunetsu on slower speeds can force harder-hitting followups (UAir/BAir/DAir), and on faster speeds can force a tech chase.

• The various speeds of Shakunetsu have different unreactable ranges because of their speeds, thus changing how Ryu can manipulate the burst range. He can use slow Shakunetsu as a lingering hitbox to cover the close-to-midrange, he can use the fast Shakunetsu to overshoot and cover space, etc…

Ways to clank with Shakunetsu/move around it:

• Ryu is in 44 frames of endlag after Shakunetsu, 45 after Hadouken.

• Shield it once. Shielding Shakunetsu is sometimes fine as a mix-up. It’s easy and fast. The shield damage dealt by Shakunetsu will remove it as an option for a while.

• Full hop over it. Full hopping over Shakunetsu when Ryu starts it too late can allow Young Link to initiate/land with aerial pressure or shield pressure. Be aware that Ryu does have fast out of shield options (refer to advantage).

• High-profiling short hops. Due to the hitbox change after the first few frames on Shakunetsu, the hitbox becomes feasible to high profile. Young Link can high-profile with a short hop (especially with a short hop NAir that shifts his hurtbox upwards) and then hit/combo Ryu for using Shakunetsu.

• Clank with Fire Arrow/Bomb. Fire Arrow and Bomb can be used to clank with Shakunetsu with frame advantage in some situations. Fire Arrow can outpace Shakunetsu reliably, but Ryu can simply jump in and punish Young Link for buffering multiple Fire Arrows in a row, as well as using Fire Arrow in a spot where Ryu anticipates it (that would beat out Shakunetsu).

• Clank with standing NAir. Often a strong alternative to shielding. Ryu is stuck in place at close-range using Shakunetsu, so YL can just rising shorthop NAir and clank with the Shakunetsu. Drift too far forward and Ryu can punish you.

• Tatsumaki Senpukyaku is a fast and high-killpower burst option. Ryu’s legs are intangible throughout this move, meaning that it will cut through projectiles. Young Link has to respect it at kill %s, or he will die outright for using projectiles.

• Ryu can end Tatsumaki Senpukyaku early if he chooses. The move is still unsafe on block, though, and can be hard punished out of shield.

Ryu NAir:

• Ryu’s NAir is his main aerial pressure starter/tool. It’s fast at Frame 4, safe on shield (-1/-2), and shifts his hurtbox upwards. The lingering hitbox is so strong and active that it’s hard to consistently win trades against it. It’ll even find its way in-between FAir’s hits just because Young Link mistimed FAir, and that Ryu has significant airspeed.

• Ryu’s NAir is the primary aerial that Young Link has to answer, cover, condition, and punish. The lingering hitbox of Ryu’s NAir will also clank Boomerang, and even bounce Bomb off of Ryu. Bomb would need to hit Ryu before/during the strong hit, and Boomerang would need to hit Ryu before he commits to a NAir.

• From a full hop/short hop, Ryu can’t commit to another aerial after using NAir. Once he is in NAir, he’s stuck in that move and the move’s endlag until landing.

Punishing Ryu NAir:

• Punishing Ryu NAir can be done in one of three ways: air-to-air at full hop/short hop height, intercept Ryu before he starts the move, or whiff punishing/catching the landing lag and aerial lag of the move.

• Intercepting at short hop/full hop height head-on: ZAir (short hop height only), NAir (strong hit), BAir (slightly spaced), FAir (spaced), Dash Attack (disjointed anti-air, short hop only).

• Intercepting Ryu before NAir is out: Full hop/short hop NAir, Boomerang angled up, B-Reverse short hop Fire Arrow, smash Bomb Toss.

• Whiff-Punishing/Catching Endlag: FTilt/UTilt, Dash Attack, Grab, pivot Grab.

• Ryu’s BAir is a heavy kick in the air with high-killpower and consistency (no sourspot on the move). Ryu can use this to catch movement and jumps to close stocks (especially when Ryu has conditioned the opponent and knows their habits with Shakunetsu). Young Link cannot reliably challenge this move. Ryu can switch to threatening BAir mid-air by using Focus Attack cancel to turn around.

• Ryu’s Light Far FTilt is a forward kick that is completely intangible on his leg. Young Link can’t challenge Ryu at a close range on the ground reliably because of it (and other reasons). Light Far FTilt confirms into BAir/DAir.

• Ryu’s DTilt is a fast and far-reaching low-to-the-ground poke. Ryu crouches during the attack, shifting his hurtbox downward. The light variant of DTilt is safe on shield. This is one of Ryu’s main kill-confirm/combo starters. The heavy version of Ryu’s DTilt sends the opponent into a tech chase/Tatsumaki followup. On the tech chase, Ryu can start another DTilt chain if he reads the opponent’s tech option.

• Ryu’s most potent kill confirm is Jab12 -> Shoryuken. Input Shoryuken is ridiculously strong, and unlike DTilt, Ryu doesn’t have to worry about the spacing of Jab.

• Jab is also faster than DTilt, meaning that Ryu can catch movement easier. Combine this with rage and that Shoryuken kills off of the top, and Ryu has access to a kill confirm that kills Young Link anywhere on the stage at 60%.

• As an aside: This early kill confirm is also achievable by Light Close FTilt, which is Frame 3, does roughly 5% more damage than Jab12, and still kill confirms into Shoryuken.

About Focus Attack:

• Ryu goes into a focused stance, which can absorb the knockback of 1 hit, reducing its damage as well. 2 or more hits at once will break Focus Attack (Jab, FAir, BAir, GSA, Bomb, USmash, or just mashing moves sometimes. Grab will also work).

• Focus Attack can be B-Reversed and wavebounced for movement mix-ups in the air, and can be canceled out at any time.

• Focus Attack has 3 stages to it. Stage 1 Focus Attack stuns the opponent briefly and knocks them away. When this is done while landing, it can be anywhere from +1 to +6 on shield.

• Stage 2 and 3 Focus Attack crumple the opponent, which allows Ryu to execute long kill confirms to close stocks extremely early. Ryu can condition the opponent to swing more in bullet-time scenarios by canceling Focus Attack earlier on, only to hold Focus Attack later and swing the entire match.

• This is furthered by stage 3 Focus Attack having high damage-based armor (16.8% to 33.6%) which can absorb multi-hit attacks that don’t pass this threshold (like staled Young Link FAir). This means that Ryu can even punish the multi-hit aerials that break him out of Focus Attack at other levels, but this can be conditioned and punished as well.

Neutral vs Ryu

• Neutral against Ryu is a lot of keepaway and manipulating Shakunetsu counterplay. Move/punish it differently so that Ryu must be more deliberate in his conditioning. Stay away from the ground space near him no matter what, as even messing up frame traps is easy against Ryu.

• This matchup has a heavy emphasis on stuffing out jump-ins, particularly Ryu’s NAir (since it’s so safe and high-reward). Pinpoint when and where Ryu jumps (which has been influenced by projectiles) and punish it rather than committing to the patterned projectile. Short hop air-to-air is strong against Ryu in this regard to catch his jump-in over projectiles.

Projectile Usage in Neutral

Projectile Usage is mostly the same as in advantage:

• Fire Arrow is strong in corner pressure against Ryu, as it outright denies Ryu from staying back and firing Shakunetsu. Buffering multiple Fire Arrows is higher-risk, as Ryu could then jump in for free and kill confirm Young Link off of the top blast zone. Generally, though, Fire Arrow will enable Young Link to pressure Ryu without having to be within Ryu’s ground game range.

• Boomerang doesn’t trade favorably with Shakunetsu due to its high commitment, but it can stuff out Ryu’s early jumps out of the corner. If Ryu commits to NAir, Boomerang will be cut right through. Boomerang is necessary for corner pressure, but it has rather specific uses in this matchup.

• Boomerang can also catch Ryu’s cancels out of Focus Attack as he drifts away, which is valuable pressure.

• Bomb can be pulled to passively punish Ryu for camping in the corner without approaching/planking with Shakunetsu.

Some Combos & Counterplay:

• Ryu’s DTilt can be DI-ed up and away/away to make confirms off of it more difficult, and help ease the jump out of hitstun to avoid a follow up.

• The optimal DI on Shoryuken is straight out.

• DI out/down and out on slower Shakunetsu/spaced light far FTilt to make the DAir followup harder to connect.

• Ryu can chain multiple UAirs together and then convert into Shoryuken by canceling the second hit on the final UAir. Mix between DI in/out to force Ryu to react to either dashing or not dashing.

• At low %s, Ryu can string/combo BAir out of a DThrow. DI away/up and away to make the combo more difficult to connect.

Boxing
(How do I escape this situation?):

• Ryu’s BAir can be used to threaten and cover jumps out of the corner. Young Link can use FAir/ZAir to outspace the BAir as a mix-up, but there isn’t much window for error, and Ryu gets much higher reward off of the commitment.

• Light DTilts from Ryu can pressure Young Link to hold shield and give up space in order to not get hit by it and get kill confirmed into Shoryuken/Tatsumaki. Due to its range, Ryu can safely space the move in corner pressure and not give up as much stage presence. DTilt is punishable unspaced on shield.

• Ryu can condition opponents to shield in the corner by pressuring with DTilts, BAir, NAir, calling out jumps, etc. This sets up for heavy FTilt (Collarbone Breaker), which can instantly shield break almost full shields.

• Shakunetsu can be thrown from center stage to force and condition a corner escape option around it. Ryu can throw it at short hop/full hop height to catch different jump timings as well. Ryu doesn’t have to use his normals to corner pressure when he can throw out a Shakunetsu if the opponent doesn’t commit to escaping the corner.

• Ryu can punish Young Link for committing to projectiles in the corner by short hopping/full hopping over and using NAir. This leads directly into Jab/DTilt confirms.

• Once Young Link passes the % window for Ryu NAir kill confirms, his NAir will start sending into tumble at a low angle. This is perfect for setting up tech chases.

• Between Shakunetsu, NAir/BAir, and the fast high-reward options up-close on the ground, AND auto-turnaround (to automatically cover rolls without any setup required), Ryu can cover a lot at once. His pressure just off of covering these options alone leaves few options left. Patient corner gameplay is necessary to escape the corner against Ryu, as if he gets close at all, Young Link is very likely to lose his stock.

Platform Pressure
(What tools do they have? How can we escape this pressure?):

• Ryu can pressure platforms from below with UAir (to link into more UAirs and punish drop-down aerial attempts) and USmash to kill opponents for lingering on platforms for too long.

• Using BAir, Ryu can track the opponents movement on the platform and follow them with a high-reward on-hit attack. BAir is especially strong if Ryu catches the opponent’s dashback on the platform, which inputs DI out on hit.

• Ryu can fire Shakunetsu/Hadouken to cover all tech options on the platform/punish opponents standing on the platform at once. The different speeds allow for Ryu to adapt to different timings as well.

• NAir allows Ryu to tech chase and cover multiple tech options at once while drifting on the platforms. Ryu can chase roll in/out with NAir and auto-turnaround DTilt, and neutral tech is also caught by an instant DTilt after the NAir. DI up on hit to avoid this platform tech chase situation if possible.

Landing
(How do they cover it? What are my best options?):

• The general rule of thumb is to avoid landing directly on Ryu most of the time. Not only does Ryu have UAir to hit Young Link for landing on top of him, he also has quick moves to trap Young Link on the ground and shield pressure him with.

• Ryu’s UAir is a multi-hit aerial with intangibility on the fist that Ryu uses to attack. Young Link can’t challenge this in any manner head-on. If it connects, Ryu can convert the first hit of UAir into Shoryuken (special canceling), or convert the second hit of UAir into another UAir.

• Land away from Ryu and mix up fall timings and airdodge timings. B-Reverse Fire Arrow can be used to reverse movement as a mix-up, forcing Ryu, a character who is somewhat slow on the ground, to react and move the other way.

• Ryu can catch Young Link’s drift away/aggressive NAir landings with BAir. BAir sends out, so it can also catch Young Link’s DI away to close stocks.

• If Ryu predicts/anticipates the opponent will airdodge, Ryu can track the opponent with a landing NAir, using the weak hit to then kill confirm instead of committing to an UAir.

• Ryu can use different speeds of Shakunetsu to cover opponents drifting away. He might do this after an UAir to catch opponents drifting away after the hit.

• Ryu can absorb a single hit with Focus Attack, then dash cancel and whiff punish/establish pressure. This is particularly good against rising aerials.

• Ryu can trap landings with his tilts and Jab that are fast and high-reward.

Offstage
(How Do I Escape This Position And What Do I Look Out For?):

• Ryu can intercept Young Link’s tether/ASA recovery with NAir. The lingering hitbox allows Ryu to cover the area around the ledge entirely.

• Ryu’s NAir is still somewhat stubby, so Young Link can outspace Ryu NAir with ASA, especially the final hit.

• Shakunetsu can be used higher up to force Young Link around it. Young Link would have to either go above (face the threat of FAir/BAir), go low (risk of NAir gimp) or get hit by Shakunetsu (limits resources and can outright kill close to the blast zone.

• Ryu can track low recoveries offstage with DAir to spike Young Link for recovering at a linear low angle.

• Tatsumaki is often used into the ledge as a catch-all edgeguard to 2-frame the opponent/hit them for going to the ledge. This forces a stage tech.

• Mix up recovery angles and tether usage to get around Ryu’s presence offstage (primarily with NAir) and space around Ryu’s NAir. Be wary when going low about Ryu’s DAir to spike low recoveries.

Ledge:

• Ryu can hard-punish ledge jumps with short hop/full hop DAir. This will instantly intercept Young Link’s ledge jump and outright kill him at low to mid %s.

• Ryu can pressure the ledge and opponents ledge hangs with DTilts that can kill confirm. The fast startup of DTilt and its low endlag allows Ryu to throw out many of them without risk.

• By throwing out multiple DTilts, Ryu can bait getup options by simply feinting that he’s going to ledge, and/or can feint specific timings by doing a DTilt at ledge and catching the ledge option during his endlag.

• Because of auto-turnaround, any of the grounded moves Ryu uses during ledgetrapping will instantly catch ledge roll as well. This includes Focus Attack.

• Ryu can cover multiple ledge timings at once by simply doing a lingering NAir at ledge. Young Link would have to move around it/use a double jump FAir to hit Ryu and then escape. Auto-turnaround lets Ryu catch the ledge roll with DTilt on landing.

• Ryu can also use BAir to read and punish ledge jumps.

• Mix up timings and options used to get off of the ledge (taking into account the additional ledge coverage Ryu gets from auto-turnaround).

Juggling/Boxing:

• Ryu can land quickly with a fast fall NAir or airdodge mix-up. If Ryu lands the soft fast fall NAir close to the ground, Ryu can instantly convert the hit into a kill confirm.

• Focus Attack not only allows Ryu to absorb whatever move is being used to juggle him with no knockback, he can also react to getting hit and cancel to drift away, landing safely in the corner or able to contest center stage. Once he’s on the ground, he gets access to all of his pressure again.

• Ryu doesn’t have any disjointed hitbox below him. Young Link can reliably threaten UAir from below and force Ryu around it (airdodge, jump away/Tatsumaki, Focus Attack dash cancel left or right).

• Ryu can threaten Tatsumaki as a burst option up-close to punish Young Link for using projectiles. The intangibility on Tatsumaki (on Ryu’s legs) allows the move to cut right through them. Tatsumaki is very unsafe on shield, and can be punished easily on block.

• Young Link has to be ready to answer Ryu’s jump-in aerials from the corner, since Ryu can do them swiftly over projectiles. Refer to the “punishing Ryu NAir” section in the Neutral notes.

• Ryu has multiple fast out of shield options (Frame 6 Shoryuken, Frame 7 NAir, Frame 9 USmash). What these options lack is considerable range out of shield (FAir out of shield has some range, but is slower). Ryu can heavily punish Young Link's shield pressure if it is not spaced.

• Shakunetsu allows Ryu to pressure from the corner without moving too close to Young Link. If Ryu fires a slow Shakunetsu and the opponent blocks it, Ryu can get a true grab, blockstring, or even shield break. Shielding slow Shakunetsu is NOT an option. Clank it with faster-pace Fire Arrows or move around it and hit Ryu for using Shakunetsu.

• Ryu can use the conditioning from Shakunetsu in the corner to jump in when Young Link commits to a projectile (to beat out Shakunetsu) or anti-air Young Link’s jump-in (which would be used for punishing Shakunetsu).

• Ryu’s Jab/Heavy Jab/FTilt/UTilt and DTilt/Heavy DTilt let him command ground space up close. Allowing Ryu to get close in corner pressure is essentially guaranteeing him a reversal situation in practice.

• Ryu has strong hitboxes out of disadvantage with his aerials and ground moves. Being close to Ryu is much higher risk than playing near the end of his burst range. Catch Ryu’s escape options/burst options by contesting that close space when he goes around projectiles.

• Fire Arrow is strong in corner pressure against Ryu, as it outright denies him from staying back and firing Shakunetsu. Buffering multiple Fire Arrows is higher-risk, as Ryu could then jump in for free and kill confirm Young Link off of the top blast zone, but generally, Fire Arrow will enable Young Link to pressure Ryu without having to be within Ryu’s ground game range.

• Boomerang doesn’t trade favorably with Shakunetsu due to its high commitment, but it can stuff out Ryu’s EARLY jumps out of the corner. If Ryu commits to NAir, Boomerang will be cut right through. Boomerang is necessary for corner pressure, but has rather choice use in this matchup for corner pressure.

• Boomerang can also catch Ryu’s cancels out of Focus Attack as he drifts away, which is valuable pressure.

• Bomb can be pulled to passively punish Ryu for camping in the corner without approaching/planking with Shakunetsu.

Offstage:

• When Ryu is sent far offstage, chances are most of the time he MUST commit to Tatsumaki to help him recover. There is a significantly large window in which Young Link can go offstage and FAir/NAir Ryu for using Tatsumaki, as it has significant endlag and travels in a directly horizontal line.

• Ryu can mix up his recovery with Focus Attack canceling. Not only does Focus Attack slow down Ryu’s fall speed, it also lets him shoot left or right out of the move, as well as additional mix from a double jump or directional airdodge to ledge after.

• Most of the time, Ryu will either airdodge to the ledge after a Focus Attack, or go low to recover with Shoryuken.

• Shoryuken has a strong hitbox, and is hard to challenge from above. It’s best to challenge the move from the side with spaced FAir, as using a NAir or BAir could trade with Shoryuken’s hitbox.

• Ryu can throw Shakunetsu offstage to cover his own recovery and hit opponents for trying to hit him offstage directly/track his low recovery. The lag on Shakunetsu in the air usually forces Ryu into a low recovery.

• Shoryuken recoveries will hit through the ledge. Placing a Bomb at the ledge will cause it to explode on contact with Shoryuken, dealing some guaranteed damage.

• A common ledge option for Ryu is double jump in place -> Hadouken/Shakunetsu off the ledge -> regrab the ledge. This is difficult to punish, since Shakunetsu covers the space in front of the ledge most would take to hit the ledge. Young Link can punish this. Either short hop or full hop over the Shakunetsu, and hit the ledge with fast fall DAir.

• Ryu can also use UAir, NAir, FAir, and Tatsumaki from a double jump off of the ledge to hit opponents close to him. UAir specifically can set up for UAir ladders, especially with a platform nearby.

• When Ryu uses a ledge jump off of the ledge, he can drift back/forwards out of a Focus Attack -> dash cancel. Between Focus Attack canceling, NAir, BAir, and Shakunetsu, Ryu can use these tools to float above ledge in disadvantage for lengthy periods of time.

• Don’t overcommit in trying to hit Ryu for doing this, either take setup (strong Boomerang angle or Bomb pull) or hold stage control and catch a pattern option or the corner escape option.

Ledge Info:

XLR8’s Spreadsheet Young Link Ledge Info:

DTilt: Hits

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Hits

Most Reliable Move: All

Animation Info: N/A

Note: Normal difficulty, all three moves hit Ryu at the ledge at the same spacing.

• FD DTilt > ASA %s @ Ledge: 118, 107

• FD FThrow @ Ledge %s: 183, 155

• FD Milkshake %s: 111-161, 99-135

• Ryu Kill Throws: UThrow at very late %s

• Focus Attack can be turned around before releasing.

• Any time that Ryu is in endlag near you or is simply near you, he’s able to threaten Jab kill confirms. No matter what.

• Battlefield:
  Bad. It can be difficult to close stocks on this stage against Ryu, and he gets extended ladders and easier edgeguards. The platforms are strong for limiting Ryu’s approach options, though.

• Small Battlefield:
  Indifferent. Overall neutral stage for both characters in the matchup. Young Link can zone out Ryu and turtle under platforms, but the width in which Ryu can cover in a single jump here must be respected at all times.

• Final Destination:
  Terrible. The flat stage layout leads to an extremely volatile disadvantage against Ryu, since there’s nowhere to land, as well as limited ledge options. Ryu can jump in more easily with NAir as well.

• Smashville:
  Terrible. This stage has very limited stage width, which makes it difficult to zone Ryu reliably. His Shakunetsu usage along the ground shuts down a lot of stage presence for the opponent, since if they full hop, they’ll be above the center platform.

• Town & City:
  Great. This stage’s width is extremely wide, giving Young Link plenty of space to zone. While there is an FD portion of the stage, the platforms help a lot in neutral/disadvantage when they’re around. The high ceiling can help with survivability.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Indifferent. Young Link and Ryu can both block out a “lane” of space at a time with Fire Arrow/Shakunetsu on this stage, forcing the opponent above the platforms or below. It’s a volatile stage with how each character’s projectiles have extended range.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Great. This stage provides plenty of space to zone out Ryu, and the platforms provide ample protection for catching Ryu’s jump-ins out of disadvantage.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Terrible. The wide space without platforms makes it more difficult to get around Shakunetsu. Ryu’s landing full hop NAirs become even more threatening, as the lack of platforms won’t stop early landing aerials. Ryu has no issue killing, but killing Ryu on this stage is a nightmare.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Indifferent. This stage is volatile in that both Ryu and Young Link can close stocks against each other extremely early. The layout is fine for both characters, but Ryu can get stronger ladders on this stage.

• Hollow Bastion:
  Indifferent. The wider stage length makes this stage more of a neutral pick in the matchup rather than a heavily Ryu favored one, like SV.

• Young Link vs Ryu Matchup V0D Playlist: YL vs Ryu Matches

• MU VOD Review w/ Teca: https://youtu.be/xMOk3swQ18Q

• (@RoninX1819 on YouTube) Advanced Ryu Guide! Corner Control, Ledge Trapping & More!