Street Fighter 5

[Silent Bob]

tl;dr

The biggest changes I noticed about Ryu after several days of playing SFV is his ability to keep pressure on, a change in the type of normals you use to do combos, and his parry which is his V-Skill. Let’s start with his normals.

Also, SF4 placed a large emphasis on cr. LK and cr. LP. This is mostly removed which causes a lot of his main combos from SF4 no longer work. Gone are cr. LK, cr. LP, cr. HP xx Tatsu combos as well as cr. LP, cr. LP, cr. MK xx Fireball combos.

Standing MP (st. MP) - This move is probably the normal that seems most different from SF4. It was rarely used in SF4, largely due to cr. MK being a better normal for poking and cr. MP being better for combos. However, in SFV, this normal is the main button used for continuing combos off of a jump-in and for up-close pressure.

Tatsumaki (Hurricane Kick) - This move seems most changed from its SF4 iteration. Let’s first start with the air Tatsu. In SF4, air Tatsu could be used to perform ambiguous cross-ups that could be followed up by a Super for big damage. In this game, cross-up air Tatsus seem to be a thing of the past. So far, it’s only use seems to be to change the trajectory of your jump in order to avoid the opponent’s anti-air Uppercut.

Overall, Ryu seems far more interesting in SFV than in SF4. He does a lot of damage, is well-rounded, makes great use of his V-Trigger because of his Denjin Fireball game and has a strong defensive option with his V-Skill, the parry.