SSBU/Ryu/Matchups

This page includes write ups and various other notes from Shotocord. This will include matchup notes geared towards Ken and Ryu. The names of who wrote the matchup write up will be listed.

It is suggested that you go to the Advantage page to see character exceptions for combos, and to the Strategy page to find the shield break strings for each character.

Aegis (Pyra/Mythra)
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Pyra
From Jahzz0:

I think Pyra is easy to fight, one of the easiest to parry in the game, one of the easiest sword characters to call out in neutral, she’s basically boiled down to knowing she wants that Side B. They go for grabs a lot to patten the neutral monotony, so be spotdodge those dash ins, because even if they do a tilt, it’ll cover the grab and tilt option at that time. If she’s holding ledge and using Up B, respond with an Up B of your own, Ryu can do it too, but with a lesser result. When she throws Side B and whiffs she’s either gonna roll or jump, keep in mind where she is on stage, because normally when she does throw it, she’s likely underneath a platform to mix her movement. Just keep that in mind.

Mythra
From Jahzz0:

If you are playing Ken and dealing with an oppressive Mythra, it will not kill you to dash bait. Dash back to call out DA or run up grab. Punish with, and do not overextend your combo, because she will foresight you. It’s very hard to call out the air dodge, especially considering that Ken’s air drift isn’t good once you’re airborne, but once you get the, keep it simple with going for or. I started doing that with a lot more MUs like Steve because he has a fast aerial combo breaking neutral air, I do it for Mythra because of foresight.

Banjo & Kazooie
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From Bean!:

Neutral
The key to this matchup is patience, and being able to weave around his projectiles to get behind him and really start dealing damage. Banjo has 2 projectiles: Down B and neutral B, both of which are decently fast and annoying to get hit by, which may coerce you into jumping in. These projectiles set up traps that Banjo can use to shield break you, deal around 55 percent if he hits, or if you run away, reset neutral. TL;DR: Banjo’s projectiles control the flow of the game, and try to mix up how you deal with them.

Banjo’s neutral consists of a few things. Grenade Spam, Egg spam, and using FAir and other chunky moves to whack you for approaching at all. What you’re gonna want to do is over his wall of projectiles if he is trying to wall you out, and to NEVER SHIELD HIS BOMBS. They combo right into FAir and if you keep holding shield its gonna get popped. Play it safe, play it patient, and approach with extreme caution.

Dealing With WonderWing: Its annoying, its huge, and its invincible. Wonderwing is an extremely volatile kill move, it 2 frames us very well, if Banjo does it to ledge and doesn’t instantly grab ledge consider your stock erased, and he can confirm into it. You can shield it and try to get a glimpse of the Banjo’s cover option afterward, since they usually chuck out an option to counter faulty punishes. Or you can try to tank it and get a Real Mans Punish but that requires an ultra hard read so stick with shield or hop over it for a  or cute little BnB.

Advantage
Killing Banjo isn’t rocket science, but most likely you’re only gonna be able to get a sliding tilt or aerial in on him when he doesn’t expect it. I recommend Ken HIGHLY for this matchup, since you can go full unga bunga without having to care much since kills him so early. The way you’re gonna work around his projectiles to get said kill is like the Samus MU. His projectiles have a small amount of endlag, so you’ll be able to punish them hard if you catch him in his endlag frames. I recommend sliding under him and doing a if he tries to do full hop grenade. Reasoning for this is because if he does grenade, he’s holding the control stick straight down, which means that he’s gonna get shot right up and die pretty easily.

Since he’s of decent weight, I recommend keeping strands to a decent length, straying from fancy aerial extensions and sticking to that closer more simplified ken. Best strand to use here is xx  >. A couple of these or trying for an >  xx  >  at ledge will secure you the stock. TL;DR: Keep it simple, keep it safe, don’t be a donut and in.

Ledge Trapping Banjo This is where Ken really gets to shine. Once Banjo is at ledge he’s most likely gonna do drop ledge grenade to get back on stage. Stay 1.5 roll distance away, throw out, and if they jump its money for the taking.

Disadvantage
How to climb out of Disadvantage Against Banjo You’re not. But in all seriousness, its veeeery difficult since this bear holds onto the stage tighter than Winnie the Pooh with a honey jar. Try your hardest to keep stage control, keep steady damage, and don’t get angsty or greedy, otherwise you can kiss your stocks bye bye.

Bayonetta
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Matchup notes from Bill Bill Bill:


 * Ken can condition Bayo by making her use witch time since her Jab is frame 9 and cannot punish . You can condition her to shield, jump, or attempt to attack, which you can all avoid and punish. Remember though, Ken  is pretty bad, and since she's slim and light, she can easily fall out of it.
 * can be low profiled with her Side B. Ryu will need to think of how to use his.
 * Ken struggles here a bit with combos as most of his strings are very untrue, and Bayo has a frame 1 air dodge. Ryu too, a bit, since her hurtbox is slim and she changes positions a lot during hitstun.
 * Ryu might have a better time recovering with, since both his legs have intangibility instead of Ken having just one. Plus, the hitboxes are slightly bigger and launch Bayo far enough to make her unable to punish Ryu.
 * Ken has a better anti air with his DP, but Bayo doesn't really approach in the air, unless it's with aerial side b angled down. The only way you'd punish that OOS is with a parry, since she bounces off your shield and pretty far, too. Force her to be in the air.
 * Her edge guarding game is pretty good, too. is deceptively good against us. It's big, lasts long, and can make us lose our jumps. Be careful with that.

Belmonts (Simon & Richter)
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From ImBad:

Neutral
Getting in on the Belmonts is going to be somewhat difficult due to our lower air and ground speed. We need to be able to make the most out of the openings we do get. I would recommend Ken for this reason, but Ryu can somewhat counter zone. Belmonts are on the heavy end weighing in at 107 units. Keep this in mind when going for kill confirms.

Belmonts neutral will consist mostly of FTilts(dash back or otherwise), FAir/BAir, and cross. These aren’t safe on shield per say being -6 to -8 depending on what move it is, but spaced well they are nearly impossible for us to punish on shield. FTilt will also eat through hado and has a trample effect so using tatsu to beat it isn’t reliable. RESIST THE URGE TO JUMP/RUN STRAIGHT AT THE BELMONT AFTER THEY HIT YOUR SHIELD WITH AN FTILT there is more than likely another one coming. When you finally close the gap to the point they shield watch out for upb oos its frame 6 and has intangibility on frames 5-6 (poor man's shoryuken).

Advantage
Lucky for us Belmonts are very susceptible to our combos. For Ken CK > DSmash will work. If you have a Belmont above you in juggle watch for them to do DAir. It has a poor hitbox and will be beaten out by HUTilt. The Belmonts frame data is bad so we can abuse that if they try mashing after being hit. If they are off stage all you have to do is intercept their recovery with NAir and they most likely wont make it back. When they are on ledge watch for ledge drop FAir or jump FAir. Both will hit us.

Disadvantage
Belmonts are going to look to put you in tech chase situations at low % by using FTilt(this starts at 0). They can cover multiple get up options with cross at one time. You need to mix up what you do here to avoid eating cross. If you roll in they can holy water you which will set us up to take 50% from falling UAir shenanigans. UAir is decent for keeping us in the air due to our lower air speed. It is possible to focus through UAir, FAir, and BAir. However, keep an eye out for crosses or axes. Belmonts have crazy ledge trapping and can force you off the ledge with many things.

Bowser
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Matchup notes by ICE | Torricane:

Bowser's armor is only broken if a single hitbox is stronger than the threshold, multiple hits won't break it even if delivered on the same frame. Damage-based Armor Compendium: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HZgiCY0ee7C8-yPBLo2rZVu4cZdMx_VauNafxZW3zDw/edit#gid=0 < Main doc
 * Every move Bowser can Armor in Ryu/Ken's kit

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HZgiCY0ee7C8-yPBLo2rZVu4cZdMx_VauNafxZW3zDw/edit#gid=1762814975 Ryu

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HZgiCY0ee7C8-yPBLo2rZVu4cZdMx_VauNafxZW3zDw/edit#gid=1711360161 Ken

Other notes by TeX:

Neutral
Neutral against Bowser will consist of long range harassment with Hadoken and Close range baiting. Things he will fish for are Up special and his command grab side special since they are his fastest grounded options our of shield and out of frame traps. Try to catch full hops, if a Bowser can full hop he has access to forward aerial, which is a strong neutral tool if spaced correctly. Like usual, it is a bad idea to mindlessly full hop in neutral or use a double jump to approach as Bowser has many moves to snuff aerial approaches.

USmash, DAir, and BAir break focus armor.

Disadvantage
Bowser has a good advantage state and you really have to look out for FAir to cover jumps and being careful about shielding because of their grabs. Bowser really wants to scare you into shielding or jumping in disadvantage so they can either grab you or hit you with FAir/BAir/Side B for the the kill. Your best option as Ken is to either back dash, mix up roll but just don't jump. Some risky but potential reversals are Tatsu or Shoryu; I would prefer the light shoryu as it could result in a bait and you could get a heavy off in time however generally you don't want to whiff tatsu. Every person is different and may bait some of these options but these are possible options that will help you out in disadvantage versus Bowser.

Out of Shield
The best thing to do if you think A Bowser player will up special when you hit their shield is to empty hop shield, special cancel Tatsumaki to reset neutral or try to run up grab.

Tatsumaki will be the safest as it resets neutral and you can get a punish if they go towards you. The other two options are very risky, especially at high percentage because of side special. It's a rock, paper scissors game of Shield, Grab or Spot dodge. Shield the up special, spot dodge the command grab or grab them before they up special.

Shield Pressure
Up tilt and down tilt with clank with both Whirling fortress and flying slam's command grab. Depending on whether you think they will jump OoS should determine which you go for. Both clanks will leave you in a frame advantage state for a few frames. Do not use Nata Otoshi Geri on shield, you will either get command grabbed or up special'd OoS. Even though is is technically frame plus for the command grab and will either beat or clank with it if buffered it's a 50/50 between shielding the up special or trying to beat the command grab. So you CAN use NOG on shield however it is very risky.

Advantage
generally Bowser's disadvantage is very bad outside of a frame 6 command grab however it will be easy to bait. He has up B, side B, jab and the regular defensive options that everyone else has. He's very easy to abuse since he only has 3 extremely effective yet easy to punish/bait options in disadvantage. Bait up b with shield out of a frame trap, side b with spot dodge and jab can be baited by just expecting it and getting creative. Be weary that nair breaks focus and they like to dair in juggle situations

Ledge Trapping
Do not stand near the ledge or you can get hit by drop off, jump up side B, nair, fair or if you're close enough, up air. If you are too close while they are recovering they can hit you with overshoot up B and still snap to the ledge. Stand about roll distance away walking in and out of their get up attack range which is 30 units (about Ken's ledge roll). Don't challenge jump from ledge with fair, try either catching it with short hop up air or catching their landing with a grab to throw them back to the ledge. Try to bait get up attack since bowsers are confident in it.

Offstage
Snip them with hadoken if you can. If you can get them to recover at about a 45 degree angle to the ledge you can drop down back air them. Other than that, stick too ledge trapping and ledge trumping.

As for us offstage it boils down to high or low since fair offstage unless you save your jump or they hit a focus attack air stall, it will kill you. Recover as low as you can and scrape the stage so you don't get hit by suicide dair. You'll trade and then you'll die. Try focus attack stall offstage and save your jump if you think the fair is going to happen immediately.

Bowser Jr.
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Matchup notes from RoyKoopa:
 * Cart armor only tanks moves that do 6%
 * Hadoken beats Jr Side B
 * Tatsu goes over mechakoopa
 * Jr struggles to get in vs Ryu
 * Rare matchup where going to Battlefield might be the play

Byleth
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Matchup notes from Lernonad:
 * Try to air to air FAir and BAir as Byleth can only combo off of it when delaying the aerial to land with it
 * Byleth's aerials are unsafe against shotos when unspaced
 * NAir is Byleth's main get off me option
 * It is unsafe on block but it hard to punish due to being a multihit

Matchup notes from Kusu:
 * Be careful in disadvantage due to UAir being a multihit
 * Aerial rushes are not recommended as Byleth can just space out FAir or BAir or use Side B when they read an attempt to approach from the air
 * Mixup recovery to avoid Neutral B snipes
 * Try walking to move in and out of range of DTilt

Captain Falcon
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Raptor Boost Armor Compendium from ICE | Torricane:
 * https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kw--b0JY1FA_h9f1fFSwuO-98T3LaaD0b68q3vfCRSU/edit#gid=0
 * https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kw--b0JY1FA_h9f1fFSwuO-98T3LaaD0b68q3vfCRSU/edit#gid=1762814975 Ryu
 * https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Kw--b0JY1FA_h9f1fFSwuO-98T3LaaD0b68q3vfCRSU/edit#gid=1711360161 Ken

Recovering against Falcon
 * AHero: Tatsu is a last resort mixup option. Try using Focus to recover more. Falcons often attempt to go low and use their Up B to grab us offstage. With significant timing mixups, you can avoid it and potentially send them careening to their deaths.
 * Bill Bill Bill: If you're somewhat close to ledge, you can fair and maybe catch them with it and prevent a knee/some other move. Then you can recover with jump/shoryu.
 * SHORYUKEN: Hado hover ain’t bad either.

https://twitter.com/realHARTHUR/status/1400851215295057925?s=20

Chrom
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You can cancel tilts into to tank Up B OOS. Then, dash cancel away to not get hit by the landing hit.

Cloud
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From mo!:

If Cloud approaches: Cloud likes to shorthop a hell of a lot most of the time. The easiest way to avoid getting hit by this is to shield (or parry, even better) and follow up with a tilt, then wham on 'em. Be careful, don't wail on him too much because of Up B (frame 7). Stay grounded. you don't wanna get juggled against cloud it is NOT fun for Shotos.

Ledgetrapping is extremely useful in this MU since Cloud's recovery is not the best. If you time it exactly right, you can hit Up B with from below. is also useful but more risky. If you're gonna go offstage, wait until he jumps and then use or. If Cloud goes low try offstage.

If Cloud doesn't approach: Clouds like to spam Neutral B at the start of the match so they can bully you into approaching. You can use to stop the projectiles. You could also jump past the lasers but this puts you at risk of a counterattack. Defensive clouds might abuse Climhazzard OOS too. Roll and counterattack accordingly.

Which Shoto should I use? In my honest opinion you should pick Ryu for this one since his neutral game is better. You can shield poke with shaku and have a better time staying grounded and have stage control.

Corrin
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If you get caught in the charge hitbox, you can use to tank the FSmash when they release it, but it is still not the best as it does not tank a full charged sour spot FSmash on frame 1. But even then, you still take half damage and slightly less knockback. Bill Bill Bill also says that Ryu's clanks with the sweet spot of FSmash.

Diddy Kong
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From Notorious:

Ok so I played with a Diddy Kong for a while and idk if this will be useful information, however, I feel that Ryu is best for this MU. You can grab banana and hold on to it and still use both Shaku/Hado just be aware that if you press A you will throw banana so you'll need to use B to throw projectiles. When banana is in your hand you are unfortunately limited to your moves as you cannot use tilts (if you do you'll throw the banana). The Diddy Kong will be pressured to chase you down as they need banana for their combos so this is where you have to be smart with your projectile use. If you see an opportunity to do so you can use banana to extend a combo or start one but you will lose banana and have to start over. Depending on the type of side b they use (either grab or attack) Shaku/Hado will beat them out (I think it beats the grab variation of it). Hard up tilt will beat Side B, Tatsu will not, Shoryu timed well can also beat it out. Ledge trump double jump BAir can probably catch them. If they have banana be careful of your approaches, they don't necessarily need to trip you in order to combo with it. Offstage be careful with Tatsu or Hado usage as depending on how they throw it they can mess both forms of recovery. If they have banana at ledge just drop ledge jump NAir. They usually expect a roll or neutral getup. Getup attack will not grab banana. FTilt is useful in this MU as is roundhouse. If you have banana in hand and are spacing then out with projectiles just be careful. Your tools are limited since you'll only have projectiles, Tatsu, Focus, and Shoryu. They'll likely pressure you to throw banana and then grab it back. Basically be mindful of banana and hold on to it/prevent Diddy from getting it. They have a plethora of options to get it back or force its usage whereas you'll be limited so be mindful of that. Neutral wise use roundhouse, FTilt, and your projectiles. Their burst options can be overwhelming if you're not careful and they can combo you for a while. I haven't found any DI/SDI that's helpful for getting out of combos atm. You can pick up banana with just about any tilt (including collarbone) and aerial so if they throw it out just tilt or throw an aerial to grab it. As far as kill power is concerned its small, most setups are DTilts and banana setups but they're limited on how long they can hold a smash attack so its always a weak variation of the move. Fair is really good for edge guarding and banana into FAir can force you out of Focus.

Donkey Kong
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From Bean!:

This matchup may seem like a one and done, bing bang boom sort of thing but it isn’t. A good DK is gonna abuse their disjoints and out range the ever living %$&@ out of us. So don’t underestimate this matchup. Your best bet is forcing him to approach, since all of his approach options are very committal besides his bair. Once DK secures a grab you’re walking away with at least 35-45 on average, and may even lose a stock. So whatever laggy move you do better be worth it. Coil Tatsu trumping DK’s recovery by not immediately snapping to ledge but hanging there for a while cripples him. (As in not immediately pressing down when tatsuing the ledge to stall next to the stage for a while).

KO moves:

Shoryuken, or Medium Tatsu. He’s quite chunky so killing with heavy tatsu should be reserved for near the ledge interactions.

Ledge Trapping DK

DK has quite a few super armor gimmick moves like Giant Punch and Headbutt, so if you get too close for comfort you’re gonna get whacked. Most likely, the DK player will do a neutral getup since going in the air from ledge as DK is suicide, especially against us. To ledge trap him, stay around 1 1/2 roll distances away and walk back and forth with the occasional sliding tilt or pivot ftilt to try and catch him lacking. Make sure you do not overextend, safe spacing is very important.

DK’s kill options on us

DK can go offstage and down b us for free since the hitbox is disjointed and quite good for murdering recoveries. His dair, fair, down b, and side b spike, so watch out. But you’ll probably die to a bair, fsmash, ftilt smack due to a ledge poke, or a cargo throw of some sort.

Free Punishes

DK’s in the air? Free HUTilt. DK’s in shield? Free HUTilt focus or tomahawk grab if you know he’s not gonna do anything. The rest should be common sense.

How to DI out of his combos

DK is most likely conditioning you to DI down and out of his combos since he’s probably doing upthrow nair whatever move. Be aware of your DI, because if you DI the same way, he has traps for that, like the iconic dash attack to bairs to up b. Stay aware of your own DI and Do. Not. Try. To. Style. Offstage.

Dr. Mario
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From mo!:

Despite what the metagame tells you, fighting a good Doc is not an easy MU. Doc is essentially Mario but he's slower and hits like a truck.

The basics: Doc has a very good neutral game with pills. They're a slow, bouncy projectile that is easy to confirm into. The easiest thing to do would be to jump over it, but this puts you at risk for eating a kick to the face. Doc's nair is about the same as Mario's, so watch out for it. Fair doesn't spike but it hits like a truck. Up air is a good combo tool. Doc's jump punch is a good oos option, so be very careful shield poking. It kills at around 100-120%. Dr. Tornado is a very dangerous move in this MU. It's a multihit doc can combo into and kills offstage at ~70%. Good DI is very useful in this MU.

Kills: Doc is pretty average weight so getting a kill is not terribly hard. Up air > tsrk will do it at ~60%. Air tatsu also helps with Ryu. Due to his....questionable recovery, you can abuse the hell out of Doc offstage. Landing a dair or even a fair or nair will likely do it for him, unless he has an extra jump. You can also use down smash on ledge. Ledgetrapping doc is key. To recover against Doc is pretty simple. Make sure to avoid dair and cape. Mix it up!

Which shoto should I use? Ken can trip Doc up with his speed and Ryu can wall him out so either is fine for this MU.

From Bill Bill Bill:

Doc can also mix up Up Smash and Doc Jump Punch (Up-B) as an OoS kill option. Up Smash is a DI mixup and I think Behind and Down from Doc is the best DI? Jump punch sends you Forward and Up so if you do the DI for Up Smash, you'll die way earlier.

Doc also can't really abuse his grab except for killing, so DI out if he does Dthrow since he can probably only do an Uair as a true confirm. Fair can hit if he reads an airdodge or you don't do anything to counter it. Fair is incredibly strong too, don't get hit by it.

Don't corner Doc too much as a Back Throw will almost certainly kill (at around 120 or less with rage). I think its like #3 in strongest back throws.

Duck Hunt
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Frisbee beats light Hado. Med/Heavy Hado beat frisbee. If the frisbee hits a hitbox and a hurtbox at the same time, it will be deflected away. If it hits a hurtbox it will put you in hitlag/hitstun.

Hitting sheriff keeps him out for longer. They cannot use Down B until the sheriff goes away.

Falco
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From SHORYUKEN:

Hold shield against his aerials because fair is very tricky. Until you get the feel of it, don’t use focus basically at all - At least don’t commit to it, The only aerial it deals with is uair and bair but you’ll get fair and naired for days. Don’t worry about lasers and don’t let them force you to approach, the damage is so small as to almost not matter. Shaku is good as long as you don’t get jumped or are far enough away not to worry about reflect. He’s really light so it doesn’t take much to get him at kill %, just be patient. For the love of god don’t commit hard to offstage especially deep offstage edgeguards; hovering near the ledge is ok as long as you don’t get clipped by side b. Also at low percent he might fall to the ground fast enough to make HDTilt conversions untrue.

From mo!:

Like SHORYUKEN said, Falco is a very patient MU. Having a good tech game is good since Falco can tech chase easier with phantasm now. Falco is also in this really weird area where he's a floaty-fastfaller. Don't chase him in the air, that's bait. Wait for him to approach instead.

As said before, getting Falco to kill % isn't a big deal. You can kill him with Ken tsrk or Ryu tatsu rather easily.

The biggest things to watch out for in this MU is 1. Disadvantage. Falco is pretty much all advantage (lol) so getting out of this can be tough. 2. Offstage. Recovery mixups will be put to the test, also don't commit to this lol.

From Revbecca:

This is somewhat common but if you didn't know you can DI out of the up throw and back throw laser. If the Falco's extremely committal you can punish their follow up but don't stay in the air for too long because, yknow, Falco. You can usually DI/SDI up throw left or right, back throw down

Fox
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From mo!:

General stuff: Fox is very fast, but also very light. He will often maintain neutral or advantage with fastfall nair. Be careful in close encounters as Fox can rack up damage faster than a bad marriage. Fox's setback is having maybe 2 or 3 reliable kill confirms. What you should primarily look out for is up smash and up throw > up air. Killing Fox is not hard. He's light as a feather so medium tatsu or a raw tsrk will do it for him. Getting him to kill % is the challenge since he is very fast and can dogpile you very easily with his aerials. Fox also has a reliable jab lock tech chase that combos into down smash. Watch out for that. Tech rolling is important.

Specials: Blaster is really not an issue in this MU, in my opinion. If you're close enough, abuse the endlag. Fox Illusion is a reading challenge, since Fox can change the amount of startup, but once you adapt to the pattern, it won't be too much of an issue. You can also tatsu or shaku him out of it (recommended for Ryu) Fire Fox is his primary recovery option. While it's a pretty okay move, it's extremely predictable. Spike him offstage if you can. Reflector is the biggest issue in his kit. Bait it out with hado and attack afterwards.

Which shoto? Either works!! Personally I use Ken but Ryu is just as fine.

From Bill Bill Bill:

Do. Not. Tatsu. As. Ken. Ever. Actually, light tatsu may still serve its use here, its just that Fox's weight and fast falling properties may not knock him down when you expect him to. Also, the only way you'd manage to even hit a light tatsu is with a confirm, but you should probably go for something better like CK or something. Be prepared to tech often as Fox LOVES dragdown fair when will create a tech situation 80% of the time. Also, Fox's nair is absurdly good as a kill setup. I think of it as a better version of Ken's nair and it connects very well with upsmash for a kill. I think it can also create a tech chase at higher percents? Not sure. Hado is useful since they have no choice but to jump, shield or EVEN BETTER, reflect. Use slow hado as Ken.

Ganondorf
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From ImBad:

Ganon has a 50/50 on both shotos from flame choke if you tech away, in place, or miss your tech Ganon can dtilt you. If you tech in he can dash attack you.

From JMU notes made by General Yi:

Neutral Shoto Advantage Shoto Disadvantage Stage Selection
 * Shotos have fireballs to pester Ganon with at a distance, allowing them to wrack up damage and force an approach.
 * Ganon will utilize his longer-reaching attacks in the matchup, such as properly spaced nair and downtilt. Even his jab has a solid range to it and will be used to prod at a distance.
 * Ganon’s nair works best as an air-to-air attack due to its long range and double-hit.
 * Ganon’s anti-air game is lacking, so he’ll prioritize air-to-air combat when possible.
 * With both shotos and Ganon being punish-heavy characters, the tempo of the match will revolve around who can maintain a stock and percentage lead.
 * Ganon is one of the few characters in the game that shotos are unable to poke when he hangs from ledge.
 * Ken can force himself into an advantage state using tatsu to punish a whiffed move of Ganon’s, but be wary that it will leave him wide open should the Ganon be ready for it.
 * Wizard’s Kick (Ganon’s downB) will pass through shaku and all forms of Ken’s hado.
 * Wizard’s Kick will be stopped by a fresh heavy hado from Ryu. This will no longer work after hado has been staled with three uses on hit/on shield (and remember that hado/shaku share the same staling queue).
 * Shotos are at -19 frame advantage when tech-rolling in after Flame Choke (Ganon side-b).
 * Focus isn’t realistically strong enough to absorb Ganon’s fsmash or upsmash, do not try tanking these.
 * While ledgetrapping Ganon, be mindful of flame choke from ledge as a quick option that will beat light tilts and focus.
 * Ganon’s OOS options consist of Dark Dive (up-b) as a command grab and fair if a shoto is pressuring with downtilts.
 * While Ryu can pepper Ganon with hado and shaku at a safe distance, Ken is able to keep Ganon in a disadvantage state longer due to his long combo strings and Ganon’s weak OOS options.
 * Shotos do better at maintaining a horizontal advantage state rather than keeping Ganon above them.
 * A well-timed nair can gimp Ganon off stage fairly easily, so long as shotos bear in mind Ganon’s ability to retalitate using upair or Dark Dive.
 * The end of Dark Dive has a hitbox, so be wary of it sharking above the ledge when ledgetrapping Ganon.
 * Dark Dive will electrify you four times before launching you, and will not refresh Ganon’s double jump if it has already been used.
 * Shotos can utilize Rockcrocking (punishing the end-lag of Dark Dive by teching off the stage wall after being launched) to press the off-stage disadvantage state on Ganon.
 * The Shotos’ best Rockcrock tool is fair, though in some situations you can also use dair for a spike, and the best stages to use this on are Kalos and the Yoshi stages due to their straight sides.
 * Using tatsu to ledge is a free invitation for Ganon to spike you with dair, recover low when possible.
 * Ganon will watch your DI after he’s used down-throw and can use nair, dash attack, up air, rar bair, or even downsmash depending on if/when you use an air dodge or jump.
 * Tech flame choke by either reacting to the explosion of Ganon’s fist or the vibration of your controller, though bear in mind that still leaves you in an unfavorable state due to the option-select of teching in place, rolling, or choosing not to tech at all.
 * Due to shotos’ poor roll distance, tech rolling away from flame choke can still result in you getting hit by Ganon’s downtilt.
 * The list of Ganon’s options after flame choke are as follows:
 * Tech-roll behind: bair, turn-around upsmash (possible chance to shield this)
 * Tech in place/get-up attack/normal getup: dair
 * Tech-roll away: Another flame choke, Wizard’s Kick, downtilt (sometimes)
 * Ganon can auto-cancel Wizard’s Kick by flying off the ledge with it towards the very end of the move for a quick ledgetrapping movement option.
 * Shotos are forced into a 50/50 situation when grabbed by flame choke in the air onto a platform: normal get-up/get-up attack is beaten with a dair, while rolling will be hit by an upsmash.
 * Ganon’s late dash attack into upair or Dark Dive will be true at low to mid percents.
 * Platforms can allow Ganon to maneuver around fireballs, bypass ledgetrapping options, and set up 50/50s with aerial flame choke, so consider stages like Battlefield and Lylat only if you’re confident in being able to utilize platforms to your advantage as well.
 * Lylat in particular is a rough stage to fight Ganon on due to the low height of the platforms allowing him to cover their entire length with fsmash and upsmash.
 * A smaller stage like Smashville works in favor for both shotos and Ganon since there’s literally less room for error, but this does mean less room to pressure with fireballs for shotos.
 * Final Destination can work well for the shotos due to them being able to control the stage and air space at a distance while Ganon is forced to maneuver with limited options.
 * With Town & City’s moving platforms, shotos are able to benefit from long range stage control when the platforms are gone, and their height when present keeps them relatively safe from some of Ganon’s tools.
 * Bear in mind that any stage with a large width, like Town & City or Pokémon Stadium 2, will also allow Ganon to run away and stay out of fireball range longer when he has the percent/stock lead.
 * Pokémon Stadium 2’s length benefits fireball play, and the platforms work well for both shotos a
 * Kalos, despite having high walls that make rockcrocking Ganon easier, is the worst stage in this matchup due to how high the ceiling is and the side-platforms working better for Ganon’s defensive options than shotos’ offensive ones.
 * Good for shotos: Final Destination
 * Neutral for shotos: Smashville, Yoshi’s Story, Battlefield, Town & City, Pokémon Stadium 2
 * Bad for shotos: Kalos, Lylat

Greninja
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From JJDJ:

so Greninja is a very fast character with likely the best overall mobility stats in the game. He is exceptionally good at controlling space and he can sometimes be tricky to catch, but as long as you take advantage of his weaknesses, this matchup is still winnable

Because of his extremely terrible aggressive out of shield options, being able to get in against greninja, as well as invalidate his approaches, are key points to this matchup.

As for general knowledge stuff

-heavy uptilt, light ftilt and ryu upair 2 can all beat out greninja nair if properly spaced, but are still fairly high commitment options. if you miss, you’re probably gonna take 30-40% from a whiff punish so use them sparingly -hado and shaku clank with water shuriken, but for some reason uncharged shuriken can low profile fireballs so you can damage trade with heavy hadouken if they’re camping you out on the ground -In my opinion, Ryu has an easier time in the matchup than Ken since Ryu is able to cover landings with his controllable fireball speeds more easily than Ken and punish jump ins with upair and uptilt, as well as not have the problem of certain setups not working on him due to his size and good defensive options

often greninja mains like to play slow and patient and wait for a punish window. whenever Greninja is camping you out in the corner, try to avoid giving overcommiting and giving up stage control. instead, setup shaku or hado whenever safe and pressure him into the corner with low commitment tilts and aerials. many greninja players like to avoid pressure with defensive options, so whenever you’re pressuring greninja in the corner, expect them to choose a non-aggressive option such as jumping or rolling, and punish according to their most used option. (good options for punishing jumps would be ryu upair or light uptilt, and for covering rolls, use dtilt.)

Whenever greninja wins neutral, getting out of disadvantage can be very difficult. avoid mashing focus out of hitstun since the vast majority of greninja’s moves are able to bypass focus armor. try to mix up landings with either b-reverse focus, fastfall nair, or retreating to ledge. Whenever Greninja gets you offstage, you have to stay extremely aware of your positioning relative to the greninja since he can edgeguard shotos for free. avoid using raw tatsu to ledge other than for a mixup, and always make sure to properly space shoryu on recovery. even if you barely miss the ledge sweetspot, he can cheese you with hydro pump and still maintain stage control if he misses. Use hado as a stalling option if the Greninja goes offstage after you, and sometimes tatsuing gren bair can trade so that can be a viable option too.

So basically dont make your landings/ recoveries really predictable and you should be fine


 * DI dtilt>upsmash directly away on hit and the sweetspot will usually miss if you react quick enough
 * Always be ready for random techchase scenarios off of dragdown upair and up-angled ftilt
 * dont mash high commitment options in his face cus you’re most likely gonna eat a dash attack for it
 * Dash attack on shield is -14, so you can punish it with pretty much anything other than rising nair, since he can occasionally low profile with it
 * dont challenge greninja fair’s hitbox. ever.
 * abuse his mediocre frame data whenever you get him in the corner, and try punish the player’s favorite defensive options.

Hero
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RNG go brrrr.

From Bean!:

Hero Neutral:

Hero’s neutral state is usually initiated with him immediately going to a side of the stage and opening down b, doing fast neutral b, or ranged side b to get some space before using the down b command select. once hero opens up their down b, you’re stuck into a cycle with them. approaching means you have to be ready to counter their menu option, if that’s even possible, staying away means you have to be willing to get hit, and running or jumping in just lets him hit you away to reset neutral. the most important thing to remember in this matchup is patience, and to not run directly in on the hero.

Hero’s Advantage:

Absolutely MONSTEROUS. Once hero puts us in disadvantage we’re staying there for a while. Wasting MP means nothing to him because all he has to do is spam aerials and if they connect with your shield, he gets MP back, so its no committment for him. When stuck in disadvantage against hero, visualize a few different lines representing his burst menu options and normal special options. His ledge trapping is extremely vicious if you’re not thinking so stay aware of your own options as well as his to play this matchup corrrectly.

Hero’s Disadvantage:

Hero’s Disadvantage is having no MP and being off stage. We can expose this by letting him burn his entire menu of spells and other specials, then use an aerial or fireball to try and catch him off guard to secure a grab that could possibly be a game ender. COIL Side B works excellently in this matchup, and not instantly clicking to the ledge completely screws over Hero’s up b recovery.

Dealing with Down B:

I know what you’re thinking, “his down b takes up the whole stage and if I don’t approach he gets buffed up and I die at -18,765%!” The key here is to be pseudo aggressive. you’re trying to mask your approach and your real gameplan, because once the hero catches on, consider it curtains. Each of his long range down b projectiles: Bang, Kaboom, Sizzle, Sizz, Whack, Magic Burst can be dealt with accordingly. Stay out of the range of Kaboom, or at least above its suction hitbox, and you’re a-okay. hero has quite a fast, large nair so challenging his menu up close will most likely get you hit by nair or fair.

Dealing with Roided Up Hero:

So lets say you made a serious mistake and tried to turtle against Hero. He’s got Accelerattle, Oomph, Psyche Up, and invincibility from Hocus Pocus. What are you supposed to do? Wait it out, or let him tap your shield to wear it off VERY CAREFULLY. Hero has some ridiculous shield break potential, and the buffs only make them even more insane. Wait him out, and when you’re ready, start closing the gap to deal with him face to face. Ideal Character, Strands, and Playstyle:

I highly reccomend Ryu for this matchup. He’s got a good enough projectile to play a semi-decent game of keep away against Hero. But mainly I choose Ryu since he’s my favorite his damage output is solid, consistent, and doesn’t inherently make you want to fish for fancy stuff. I reccomend playing simplistic, pseudo aggressive, and tricky. Keep your movement ambiguous and keep the hero guessing with B Reverse focus and all sorts of movement mixups you can throw in.

Dealing with Bounce:

Bounce does affect our neutral, but it doesn’t destroy it. Instead of relying on fireball to get your chip damage, you can use aerials and sliding tilts to catch the Hero off guard to inflict decent damage with tatsu, or if you cat h him at higher percents a kill with dtilt shoryu.

Hero’s Kill Moves on Us:

Hero can kill us the same amount of ways you can skin a mongoose, which is infinite but if you’re a busy man its around 37. All his smash attacks are volatile BEEG no no zones, if you find yourself dancing around his smash attack range, death shouldn’t be a surprising outcome in that scenario. It helps to pretend that Hero is a bomb that’s armed and ready to explode, and poking, agitating, and forcing him to come over is the only way to keep him from going Kaboom at any given time.

TL;DR: Play Ryu, Pseudo Aggressive, Mysterious Playstyle, Keep it simple, Heavy focus on Ledge Trapping, Heavy focus on mixing up landing, ledge options, OoS options, and options out of hitstun. DO. NOT. NAIR. IN

From Tytaneum:

magic burst has trash priorty. try to hit hero at the beginning of the move where the radius isnt that big. if you cant, just fireball him. all projectiles go straight through. if hero has oomph and / or psyche up, do not let him shield break you. heres a few ways hero can delete your shield: https://twitter.com/aperfectcreatio/status/1237549851698581504?s=21

Ice Climbers
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From Lernonad:

Blizzwall is a pain. You have to preemptively jump over it to air-to-air it from above. But if they got a platform to hide under then GGs. If you shield blizzwall I guess I’d say best bet is abuse the fact that you get a fully intangible roll after 11 hits on shield and if you’re close roll behind and dtilt. -\(‘_’)/-

They got ToDs for days. Don't get hit by blizzwall or grab and you're all good. Focus doesn't work if Nana is around.

Down Throw breaks shields so you can use it to grab and throw Popo and disable Nana for a little bit. Up Throw has an external hitbox so if Nana is not shielding, use this to knock her away. Then you can go edge guard Nana. Ken's Back Throw has a long roll before throwing the opponent. This is good for separating the two.

This matchup is even to slight winning for Ken until the ICs player decides to camp. Then, it is losing.

Ike
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From Lernonad:

Neutral
Because of Ike's range, releasing shield trying to parry and doing tilts can easily be countered by out spacing us then using dtilt which can combo and kill confirm, so try parrying with caution. The only other option that is good is anti-airing, or because of his range, air-to-airing. You can do so with both Ken and Ryu by doing full hop immediate nair, fair, or short hop buffered uair, which then you can combo off of. If he sees that you are consistently going for full hop air-to-airs he will start doing short hop reverse up air, which you can just beat by doing short hop buffered aerial then combo or by doing a grounded anti-air. To do this you have to jump at the same time Ike does. You can practice by turning the CPU to jump in training mode. Or, if you have the training mod pack, set the CPU to do falling NAir. You should mostly be doing these in neutral. If you get caught in shield you gotta mixup what you do. You can parry and do a tilt but it might not reach. Releasing shield into tilt will not work, so keep in mind that you can also jump OOS or after a parry and do an aerial.

Advantage
When juggling Ike he can double jump out or air dodge through. He might also try using side b to try and go to ledge. When going to ledge Ike can do side b to recover high and get to center stage or use up b to get to ledge. To counter side b you can do bair to hit him or hado to force him to go lower. If you hit him out of side b then he is forced to go to ledge with up b. To counter up b you have to throw a hitbox when Ike throws his sword. By the time Ike rises the hitbox will be out. Dsmash is easiest to counter up b. When Ike is at ledge there aren't a lot of Ike specific mixups. I've only seen drop off double jump side b. Be careful when attacking his shield since his up b has armor and has good knockback to kill at around 100%. Shotos can counter with doing a tilt string canceled to focus to tank the Up B then dash cancel out of the way and punish. If he doesn't Up B then dash cancel away before he reacts and grabs.

Disadvantage
If you are being juggled you can jump out as Ike is about to uair, then you have to fast fall neutral air dodge to get past up air again and get below Ike. If you do get below Ike via this then you can get a chance to hit him as he lands, but shotos add another option of FADC. It works the same as air dodge most of the time. If you're going to ledge from below Ike has DAir and eruption. Once on ledge NAir, DTilt, and DSmash can hit shoto's ledge hang. If he is spamming NAir then aair-to-air with a ledge jump aerial. Its the same timing from ledge as it is anywhere else.

Incineroar
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Inkling
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Isabelle
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Jigglypuff
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Joker
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Kazuya
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Ken
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King K. Rool
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King Dedede
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Kirby
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Link
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Little Mac
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Lucario
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Lucas
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Luigi
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Marcina (Marth & Lucina)
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Mario
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Mega Man
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Meta Knight
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Mewtwo
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Mii Brawler
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Mii Gunner
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Mii Swordfighter
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Min Min
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Mr. Game & Watch
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Ness
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Olimar
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Pac-Man
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Palutena
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Peach
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Pichu
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Pikachu
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Piranha Plant
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Pit
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Pokemon Trainer
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Ridley
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R.O.B.
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Robin
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Rosalina & Luma
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Roy
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From Mattias (summarized):

beats the armor of Up B. So it can be used as a callout. is not safe against Up B but is up to the 4th stale. If you block Up B you can jump OOS to then land on top of Roy with an aerial combo starter like. If there is a platform you can jump to that platform as well and either land on it or shark it and be able to punish Roy.

Ryu
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Samus
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Sephiroth
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Sheik
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Shulk
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Snake
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Sonic
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Sora
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Steve
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Terry
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Toon Link
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Villager
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Wario
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Wii Fit Trainer
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Wolf
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Yoshi
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Young Link
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Zelda
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Zero Suit Samus
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