3S Ryu vs Akuma matchup notes

Punishing Akuma's moves -------

Akuma's F,D,DF+K is +6 on block.

----- Tatsumaki -----

Punishing Tatsumaki is very important part of this matchup. Even though it's unsafe, even good Akuma players tend to do it anyway.

----- LK Tatsumaki (1 hit)

LK Tatsumaki whiffs on crouching Ryu.

- c.HP>EX Joudan Geri.

- c.HP>HP SRK. Use this unless you're too far for SRK to connect.

----- MK Tatsumaki (3 hits)

- If you crouch block, MK Tatsumaki will whiff after first hit, then you can punish it with cl.HP>etc combo. It will not cross over you, unlike HK Tatsumaki.

- Since it's easy to confuse MK and HK Tatsumaki in mid air, you can simply crouch block, then use crouching SRK for easy punish. Aim for HK Tatsumaki punish timing because it's the same for MK Tatsumaki timing.

----- HK Tatsumaki (5 hits)

If you're crouching against HK Tatsumaki outside your corner from close range, it crosses over you and hits you from the other side, and you can't punish it. Change block direction when this happens. In your corner, you should crouch against HK Tatsumaki because then you can punish it with c.HP>SRK. MK Tatsumaki can't cross over you or hit you while you're crouching, so you're not risking to get hit by changing blocking direction.

- After you block first 2 hits, stand up and parry last 2 hits, then punish with cl.HP>etc combo. If Akuma did MK Tatsumaki, doing this will make you miss a punish on it. Universal punish for both MK and HK Tatsumaki is crouching SRK. Aim for HK Tatsumaki punish timing because it's the same for MK Tatsumaki timing.

- SRK is easy punish if you block all 5 hits. It also leads into Super.

Notes:
- Weird thing about MK Tatsumaki is that it's 3 hits on block or parry, but 2 hits if it connects. HK Tatsumaki is 5 hits on block or parry, but 3 hits if it connects. This doesn't change or mixes up your punishes though.

----- Demon Flip -----

Demon Flip is easier to anticipate when Akuma does an attack first, because he usually cancels it into Demon Flip. You can react to Demon Flip, just not what Akuma will do in the air.

----- Demon Flip Kick

Move notes:
- Demon Flip Kick can have up to +11 frames on block if done as late as possible. Early Demon Flip Kick has +5 on block. This makes it very good for creating mixups. Block it only if you have to.
- Despite being air attack, it can be blocked while crouching.
- Does 1 pixel of block damage.

- SRK. Crouch entire time, then do crouching SRK on reaction when Akuma is close enough. This avoids early Demon Flip Kick which hits high, and by the time Akuma is low enough to reach you, he gets hit by SRK. If you do SRK while Akuma is high in air, you can trade hits with early Demon Flip Kick, but you will deal more damage. Same applies to EX SRK, and it does less damage. If you plan to use SRK to hit Akuma when he is close, use the EX version. It never trades hits and does more damage.

- Jump Back, air HK. Air HP also works, but less because of smaller reach. Timing window to not get hit by Akuma's early Demon Flip Kick is short if your back is touching the corner. If you are in corner, but your back is not touching the corner, it works normally.

- Dash forward. Dashes under Akuma. If you do it on reaction, you can only cross under Akuma's late Demon Flip Kick. If you commit to Dash when you expect Demon Flip, you can easily cross under Akuma. You can also walk under Demon Flip Kick if Akuma did it at close range.

Depending what attack Akuma did before Demon Flip, Dash forward punishes will work differently.

If Akuma did cl.HP>LK Demon Flip, you can do these after Dash forward:

At mid screen, while Akuma is in air:
- cl.LP air reset, SA1.
- cl.LP>EX SRK. Do it while Akuma is still in air.
- cl.HP air reset. You can do cl.HP>LK Tatsumaki to get closer to Akuma after air reset.
- SRK. Just do D,DF+P in different direction because you already pressed Forward when dashing.

At mid screen, after Akuma lands:
- c.MK>EX Hadouken. Hitting Akuma too early with c.MK will air reset him.
- c.MK>EX SRK. Ordinary SRK doesn't have the range to connect. From bigger range, just use EX Hadouken because EX SRK hits once.
- c.MK>SA1
- cl.MK>Joudan Geri. Only works if Akuma didn't do cl.HP>Demon Flip Kick from closest range. It's a bit inconsistent.

If you do c.MK too early, you can get hit by late Demon Flip Kick.

In corner:

cl.HP>LK Demon Flip Kick:
- c.MK>SRK
- cl.HP>Joudan Geri
- cl.MK>etc
- c.HP only works if Akuma tried to block low.

----- Demon Flip Sweep

Punishes in order of distance from Akuma:

- SRK. 2 frame timing. If SRK is not reversal, it will hit from far and deal less damage. Doesn't work if Akuma is far away
- EX SRK. 3 frame timing. If EX SRK is done at last possible frame, it hits only once and deals less damage.
- SA2. 3 frame timing.
- c.MP>HK Tatsumaki. 1 frame timing.
- c.MK>HK Tatsumaki. 2 frame timing. Even if Akuma tried to block low, he is hit in standing position, so HK Tatsumaki works well.
- c.HK. 2 frame timing. Use this when you don't have range for c.MK.
- SA1. 5 frame timing.

- EX Tatsumaki, SRK. Do EX Tatsumaki when Akuma is in mid air. This combo only works near your corner. EX Tatsumaki flips Akuma to your side, then you can juggle him with SRK. SA1 juggle also works, but inconsistently. Demon Flip Kick counter hits EX Tatsumaki, so this is risky to do.

Dash forward options from Demon Flip Kick section can be applied here as well.

----- Demon Flip Punch

Depending how late Akuma used Demon Flip Punch, you'll have more or less frame advantage. At worst, you can have +2 frame advantage. An early Demon Flip can easily be punished with cl.HP>etc combo.

Early Demon Flip Punch punishes Jump attempts, such as Jump Back air HK you would use to punish Demon Flip Kick.

Demon Flip Punch is an overhead attack, so Akuma may use it to punish you for trying block Demon Flip Sweep.

Dash forward options from Demon Flip Kick section can be applied here as well.

Demon Flip Punch does 2 pixels of block damage.

----- Demon Flip Throw

If you anticipate Demon Flip Throw, use UOH quickly to be in air for a short time to make Akuma's throw whiff. Then punish with cl.HP>etc combo.

Dash forward options from Demon Flip Kick section can be applied here as well.

Jump Back, air HK works here too.

------- Raging Demon

Raging Demon can't be escaped if Akuma did it while at closest range. That's usually done when Akuma Kara cancels his attack into Raging Demon while standing close to you. Most commonly after F+MP. Akuma can also jump close to you and then do it if his air attack whiffed early so that it doesn't get blocked.

These moves avoid Raging Demon at close range if done before the Super freeze: Jump, SRK, SA2, UOH.

If Akuma messed up F+MP>Raging Demon and did it after you blocked F+MP or got hit by it, you can punish him with cl.HP after recovering. You get grabbed by Raging Demon if you mess up the timing, so doing SRK is much easier.

Wakeup Raging Demon:

You should jump against wakeup Raging Demon. At mid screen, you can do Jump Back, air HK to hit Akuma. Near your corner, you can do Jump Back air HP, cl.HP>etc combo.

If you are standing too close to Akuma on his wakeup and he did wakeup Raging Demon, you won't be able to jump out of it. It has startup invincibility frames, so attacking Akuma on wakeup is risky when he has full meter. Doing UOH is safe wakeup attack unless you hit with its late frames to set up a combo link.

You can input SRK before Super freeze and then press P after Super freeze to punish wakeup Raging Demon.

Tech -------

Akuma's MK and HK Tatsumaki have 3 frame startup, but no invincibility. Still, a lot of players tend to use it because of its speed and harder punish than wakeup SRK.

When Akuma uses Dive kick at the time when you did c.MK or c.HK, it counter hits it and it leads into combos, so it's risky to use c.MK against him.

Ryu's c.MK>LK Tatsumaki works on crouching Akuma, but not from big range. It works well when you're in doubt whether or not Akuma will crouch block after a Special move. c.MK>LK Tatsumaki deals 1 pixel more damage than c.MK>HK Tatsumaki does on a standing Akuma, but 7 pixels less damage if it hits on standing opponent. It's a guess game for Akuma how he will take the damage, but you should always aim for safe c.MK>LK Tatsumaki.

If Akuma tries to win with HP Shakunestu Hadouken>SA1 to win by block damage from close range, and you parry it, you only need to parry it 6 times even though it's 9 projectiles in total, so the timing doesn't change from SA1 parry. It's because when two attacks hit at the same time, you can parry them both at once. If Akuma did it from bigger range, you need to parry it 9 times, and the timing is very hard. First you need to mash Forward, then switch to normal parry timing. Unless your health is near 0%, it's best to mash forward 5 times, then block the rest.

Akuma can't be thrown during his F+MP (2 hit) overhead attack, except for first 3 frames.

If you parry Akuma's F+MP, he can still cancel it into Raging demon at any point. You can't jump after Super freeze to escape it. The safest thing to do is SRK after the first parry. If Raging Demon comes out, you will counter hit it with SRK.

Because second hit of Akuma's F+MP deals low damage, red parrying it has a good reward for a low risk. Akuma can still potentially cancel it into Raging Demon though.