Street Fighter 1 MR/Retsu

Retsu's portrait art

Retsu's default and P2 alternate color

Background

Retsu is a previously ex-communicated martial artist who was banned from his dojo for using forbidden techniques. Retsu is much older and wiser than he looks, being one of Goutetsu's dojo assistants and watching Gouken and Akuma personally. He was tasked with locating the two of them as they trained elsewhere, under the request of Goutetsu. When Retsu found Gouken, he had been training in the mountains for 14 days without food or water, a feat only accomplished by Goutetsu before him. This meant that Gouken had reached enlightenment. Retsu gave him a final test by taking him to the village where his parents were murdered. Gouken said he had no intentions to fight them, proving to Retsu that he had passed and became enlightened.

Next, Retsu had to locate Akuma. He started in Tokyo, and quickly found out that Akuma lacked a mail address or any way to easily locate him. He asked around local fighting communities, only to find horror stories of a demon fighter from hell, a murderous curse sent by god to kill everyone and everything in sight. Retsu quickly decides he wants nothing to do with that, and reports all of what he learned to Gouken and Goutetsu. Akuma had become one with the Satsui no Hado.

Retsu had his own encounter with the Satsui no Hado when fighting a young Ryu under Gouken's training. During a spar match to test Ryu's skills, Ryu fell under the influence of the dark power. This quickly turned a sparring match into a deathmatch, and Retsu would have been killed if Gouken didn't step in and settle Ryu down. As Retsu was being tended to by Gouken, and informs Gouken that Ryu is much, much stronger than he appears.

Introduction

Retsu is a bit of a questionable pick. Among the incredibly high character power present in SF1MR, Retsu doesn't have as much going for him. He plays essentially like a shoto with no DP, using fireballs to put on midscreen pressure and ending combos and blockstrings with his unique but much more reliable tatsu. His 214P counter is useful for calling out bad pokes and anti-airs, though it loses to lows and projectiles. His supers are both fairly standard, with a fireball super that can be used for chip damage and anti-zoning and a rush combo super that ends combos with big damage.

What makes Retsu weak is that none of his options are necessarily "broken". Things like Sagat's insane health, Adon's unseeable high/low, Mike's invincible command dash, etc. His fireballs don't go fullscreen, his tatsu is safe but not plus enough to true string off of, his counter does big damage but it loses to lows, and none of his buttons are notably that good. As a mixless character, Retsu is also forced to rely on chip damage in blockstrings, heavily limiting his comeback factor. Retsu is a simple and honest all-rounder in a game where every other character lacks even a shred of honesty.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Simple and Consistent: Retsu is likely the easiest character to pick up and play, as nothing he does is necessarily complex and all of his best stuff is obvious Pressure: His unique 4214K Spin Kick tatsu is actually quite a good tool for pressure as well, though he can't infinitely string people on block like Eagle lariat Damage: While he isn't doing any TOD combos, Retsu has very consistent damage across the cast thanks to his simple and reliable combo structure Counter: 214P counter is active for the full duration, making it awkward to punish and allowing it to catch a lot more things

No Mixup: Throws are not a universal concept in SF1MR, and Retsu lacks an overhead or a crossup. This forces him to rely on chip to make realistic comebacks, making it so getting the life lead is necessary to win Bad Fireball: Retsu's 236P fireball only travels about 1/3rd of the screen, and both versions disappear at the same spacing. Notably, the C fireball disappears before Retsu even recovers from his fireball animation. This hurts Retsu's zoning a lot, leaving his fireball to be more or less a pressure and anti-zoning tool alone Mediocrity: While his consistent and simple nature leave him very easy to play, he lacks anything notably busted or abuseable, leaving him with almost all losing matchups

Character Summary

Move List

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Special Moves

236A/C - Hadouken: Fireball

4214B/D - Incomplete Spin Kick: Tatsu

2146A/C - Retsu Reversal: Counter

Supers

236236P - Hadouken x3: Fireball Super

236236K - Shaolin Special: Rush Combo Super

Unique Attacks

N/A

Quick Combo Reference

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Basic BNBs:

• 2A > 2C > 4214D = 227 Damage
• 2A > 2B, 2B > 4214D = 211 Damage
• 2C, 2C > 4214D 266 Damage

Metered BNBs:

• 2A > 2C > 236236K = 308 Damage
• 2A > 2B, 2B > 236236P = 198 Damage