Surge of the Intent to Put Lego on Blast Awakened in Killa [SSF4 AE Hype Evil Ryu]

Not so long ago, not unlike the Treaty of Tordesillas, Legoman decided we needed to preemptively pick teams, as it were, amongst the four new roster additions of the incoming Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition downloadable content. With the same breath, Legoman called dibs on Oni. (beat)

While I naturally had a desire to investigate Oni's EX crossup, and was absolutely scintillated by the possibilities of the air Demon, I was resolved to abide. In doing so, I have begun to wrap my mind around Evil Ryu, or as our friends overseas would call him 'Satsui no Hadou ni Mezameta Ryu'. A more literal translation would be, the 'Surge of the Intent to Kill Awakened in Ryu'.

We'll stick with Evil Ryu for brevity.

First thing to note is that Evil Ryu has the same health and stamina as Akuma, so pretty goddamn bad, but not the worst. He does not have Akuma's air fireball or demon flip, but he does have the teleport and a command dive kick, but with a lower activation point than Akuma's. He also has both his normal Hadou and the Shakunetsu hadou (aka red fireball). He has a faster walk speed and a much better forward dash than regular Ryu, allowing for Focus Crumple, delayed cr.Short into dash under reset on most of the cast, allegedly. It is also widely reported that he can juggle short Tatsu to Sweep on only five members of the cast.

His crouching forward is more akin to Ryu's in 3s; it advances him, making [cr.Forward xx Hadou] combo from any distance, and making it an excellent block string. The most notable new inclusion is the standing axe kick aka Dragon Stomp (DS). You can combo into the forward version and then plink into low strong to continue the combo. The EX version hits overhead and gives an untechable knockdown. Roundhouse version gives the untechable, but can be blocked low.

Meterless staple combo should be something along the lines of [Dive Kick, cr.Jab, cl.Fierce xx forward DS, cr.Strong xx short Tatsu, Shoryu]. Three meters should allow [cr.Forward xx forward DS, cr.Strong xx EX Hadou FADC U2] for some flashy, high damage action.

More generally, I am also looking forward to God Tier Yun, Cody's three frame cr.Short, Akuma's [Fierce xx Teleport xx U2], and also the general buffs to formerly trash tier Makoto and Hakan.

Watch your back, Lego.