Yun
Introduction:
A lot of people come to me for tips on this match up, telling me that they are getting bodied by Yuns, but in fact this is actually one of the better match up for Ryu. I would say 6-4 in Ryu’s favor. In this guide, I will explain why it’s not a hard match up and I will also cover little things that Ryu players might not know, and I am sure this will help you tons with this match up! Here we GO!!
Ground games:
Far Range: You can throw fireballs for free at this range, and all Yuns usually build meter with his palm. Aside from building meter with Ryu, make sure you throw different versions of Hadoken to make it difficult for Yun to cancel the projectile with his palm. You can also walk close (but NOT too close) to right outside of Palm range and wait for a Palm. Once it whiffs, punish Yun with sweep. Don’t forget that Yun has this move called the Lunge punch which reaches from full screen; however, the regular version is SRK reversal-able at this range, though the EX version is not. So beware, Yun players with meter might try to get in for free with this tool. It’s actually not a really fast move; I would say it’s almost the same speed as EX psycho crusher, therefore it’s not too hard to react to.
Mid Range: Yun’s low forward (cr.mk) is not as good as Ryu’s as a poke, therefore Ryu players should be comfortable playing a footsies match. Yun also has his far target combo (strong > fierce > back fierce), which has great range and but first two hits are punishable on block with any normals/move that are 5f or faster. Yun players will usually dive kick in at this range, since it is hard to counter-SRK it (Yuns dive kick has to be reacted to quickly, otherwise it stuffs any of your moves). Always be ready to anti-air; however, it is not possible to react to his moves at every moment (well, it is, but not for me at least…). Therefore, you’ll have an easier time by substituting SRK with stand jab or stand short as anti-air tools. I personally prefer standing short because of several reasons: firstly, the hit box extends upwards; secondly, it beats Yun’s target combo; and lastly, it makes Yun’s low forward whiff. As for standing jab, I would only use it when I am in the corner, mainly because I can mash it hoping it will hit something, since it’s too hard for me to react to Yun’s dive kick in this situation.
Close Range: At this range, Ryu’s options are really limited. Yun has a 3f low jab which takes control of this whole range leaving Ryu 2 options: block, or mash on low jab/SRK. Yun doesn’t have many frame traps, but he has a command grab, therefore I would recommend Ryu players to mash on low jab while blocking his poke strings. Worst comes to worst, you get EX command grabbed out of it, but at least you burnt one of Yun’s meter. I don’t think I need to explain why mashing on SRK is a bad idea… just mash it on your own risk.
Counter:
Lunge Punch: Throw out any attack before it hits you. It is also punishable with SRK on block, except when the lunge punch is performed at max distance. Then, it is only punishable with Super.
Ex Lunge Punch: Any attack will either beat it or make it trade. MP/EX SRK can beat it clean. THIS MOVE is only punishable with super on block (I tried SRK, didn’t work..but super did).
Palm: This special move is like an invisible projectile with little range and can only be countered with MP/EX SRK and Ultra. It can be punished on block with Ryu’s Super.
Ex Palm: The EX version is invincible on start-up, but it still can be beat by MP/EX SRK. The EX Palm can be punished with HP SRK/Super on block.
Dragon Kick (Up Kick): Different versions of his Up kick have different invincibilities and priorities. His roundhouse kick version has the most invincibility which makes MP SRK trade (EX SRK beats it clean). The other two versions completely lose to MP SRK. The kick has a very slow recovery, therefore, there is more than enough time to land your most damaging combo (F.hp > combo)
Ex Dragon Kick: The Ex version is only counter-able with EX SRK, however, can be punished the same way as the normal version’s.
Shoulder: Any attack works, including focus attack. It can be punished by a reversal SRK/Super on block.
Ex Shoulder: The start up is a lot faster than the regular version and it also breaks guard because it is 2 hits. This version is also SRK/Super-punishable on block.
Flip Grab (Command Grab): If you predict it coming out, then any attack beats its start-up.
Ex Flip Grab: This move is extremely broken… It beats any of your moves with extremely far range except SRK/Super/Ultra.
Genei Jin: A super only used to connect combos. 
You Hou (Ultra 1): This ultra is usually used to connect into combos and doesn’t really do much damage.
Sorai Rengeki (Ultra 2): There’s nothing scary about this ultra at all. It does have good range through projectiles, but other than that, there’s nothing much you need to worry about. DON’T THROW FIREBALLS RECKLESSLY!
On Ryu’s Wakeup:
As scary as Yun sounds, he actually doesn’t have many mix-ups against Ryu. The most common mix-up he has is an instant cross-up dive kick after being knocked down by Yun’s roundhouse Up Kick. You can avoid this by not quick-waking up, or you can just simply quick-wake up and jab SRK for a trade or an mp SRK. This mix-up is the most common one, but Ryu has to be careful because this mix up can also bait wake up SRKs by delaying the jump and using HK dive kick instead of LK (crossup). Anyway, Yun’s only mix-ups are dive kick to land either in front or behind to confuse their opponents, but I think it’s not too hard to figure out which side he’ll land.
Another mix-up that Yun can do on Ryu is a frame trap, where low strong alternates with command throw. In this case, I would usually just back dash on wake-up if I see Yun still on the ground. The worst scenario is getting hit by an OS lunge punch which can’t be lead to any scary mix-ups, and it’s totally worth it to take the hit (only if you have enough life to take it).
Mind games and Option Select:
Sadly, there aren’t much OS you can do on Yun due to his roundhouse Up kick, but thankfully, you can still perform safe jump! After a knockdown, jump forward HK immediately for a perfectly-timed safe jump. The only OS you can follow the safe jump with is sweep or EX SRK (any other attacks lose to his HK Up kick). You can mix up the safe jump with crossup hurricane kick, just like any other character that has wake-up reversals. And of course, you can still perform the same sweep OS on the ground.
Since there is only one timing to perform the safe jump, it leaves no extra time for Ryu to perform any threatening jump-in mix-ups. Therefore, other simpler mix-ups become handy, such as overhead guessing games.
Tips and Tricks:
If you guys have ever watched my DVD tutorial or read most of my guides, you should know my on-ground hurricane kick mix-ups. One of them works against Yun, which is: back throw > forward dash X 2 > HK hurricane kick.
After a knockdown, as long as the Yun player quick rises, doing a meaty standing fierce OR standing roundhouse can cover two things:
- Hits him out of his back dash
- Trades with any non-EX version of his Up kicks
It’s a really useful trick, because the traded Up kick does barely any damage to you, and at worst, you eat an EX Up kick, which trades your life for one of his meters, putting him one meter further from Genei Jin.
*NOTE* when you do a meaty standing fierce, make sure you cancel into fireball for the following reasons:
-If Yun does an UP kick, the fireball doesn’t come out
-If Yun back dashes, the fireball doesn’t come out
-If Yun blocks your standing fierce, he can’t punish because you canceled into Hadoken
Also, you can do the following trick now, thanks to EX Tatsu’s buff in AE: Forward throw > jump forward (there’s only one range that works, so try it out in training mode) > EX Air Tatsu. It beats any version of his up kick CLEAN and also allows you to follow up with Ultra 1 (Yun will fly really high compared to the ground EX tatsu, therefore a half-screen U1 is possible). Why is this useful? As I mentioned above, safe jumping is very hard on Yun, because the timing is strict. If he is knocked down by a sweep, then the timing is automatic, but after a forward throw, it’s all muscle memory and I don’t think it’s 100% possible to perform it every time. Knowing this, your opponent can’t know whether you’ve properly timed a real safe jump, so he might take a chance and Up kick, hoping it will hit. It’s just a very neat option in AE that you can try, and on top of that, even if your EX Air Tatsu whiffs, you land with barely any recovery!
Things to be aware of:
Zoning with fireball is a key to win this battle. Maybe to a lot of Ryu players, it feels really risky to throw fireballs, but you really do need to throw fireballs (smart ones, not predictable ones) to make Yun move. He basically has to work his way in, which is not that easy unless he has EX meter (you can also throw fireballs at a range where his EX shoulder only lands 1 hit). Yun either has to get in with shoulder/EX shoulder, far dive kick, or regular jump-in. With good zoning, any of these 3 can be easily baited and it can be very rewarding to punish.
When Ryu has the life lead, a majority of the Yuns might be desperate and try to do reset combos with cross-up LP shoulder during Genei Jin, or command grabbing on your wake-up or in the middle of poke strings. Jumping back during poke strings is the only way out against EX command grab, since it has huge range and, as I said before, I do not recommend mashing on SRK.
*In case any of you guys don’t know, cross-up LP shoulder can only be done if Yun hits you air-to-air, and then LP shoulder will cross you up once he lands. So make sure you block the correct direction.
