User blog comment:MrPacheco101/Enter The Gate of Oblivion! The Lone Wanderers Walk The Pathway To Hell: Scorpion vs. Ryu/@comment-143604-20140624184714


 * Normal Combat Skills- Ryu. While Scorpion is an extremely skilled fighter, his basic hand-to-hand skills are much slower and less effective than Ryu's techniques, and while superhuman power enhances Scorpion's strength, it's not anything Ryu hasn't overcome through his intensive training and martial prowess before. Ryu's fighting style is as fast and as effective as it is honed and disciplined, and while Scorpion's got ninja training, that was a lifetime ago, consumed by hatred and blinded by a need for revenge. He relies far more on his powers and magic than he does his fighting style, and it shows- he loses many hand-to-hand encounters because of this. Ryu, while not lacking in magical ability himself by any means, is far more focused and masterful in his hand-to-hand skills. He may not be stronger, but he's faster and more skilled, he's harder to predict while being better at reads and counters than his foe, and he possesses a wider array of skills to draw on. In a vacuum, where both foes lost their weapons and powers, Ryu's focus, determination and skill would trump Scorpion's blind strength. But this fight doesn't take place in this mythical vacuum, which leads to the second edge-


 * Magic Bullshit- Scorpion. Ryu's magic bullshit, Hadokens and Shoryukens and ki-enhanced Tatsumakis, is all incredibly iconic to the whole video game industry, but ultimately, they would only put him slightly above the bottom of the totem pole as far as MK magic bullshit goes. Even traditional fighters in the MK universe like Liu Kang and Johnny Cage can replicate similar techniques and then some, like turning into dragons or transfomring foes into babies. Scorpion, meanwhile, is at least midcard as far as magical ability goes. His masterful control of Hellfire would be hard for Ryu to dance around, as it's not necessarily clear from a read where the fire will spawn or in what ways until it does, and that's only talking about his hellfire carpets. He can and has demonstrated far more viable uses of the flames, such as the simple but effective enhancing of his natural techniques by wreathing his limbs and weapons in flame, he breaths a torrent of fire that can make closing the gap into melee range fatal, and probably most importantly, he can use it to teleport. Hellfire teleportation is an absolutely brutal edge, allowing him to move faster than the eye can possibly see to brutally cripple an opponent before they realize what's happening, or to drag them into environments where the fight is much closer to his favor. The added mobility not only gives Scorpion a strategic edge, but also ruins the common Ryu strategy of HadokenHadokenHadokenHadokenHadoken, because the projectile is slow enough that Scorpion could easily evade it with a teleport that would put him behind Ryu before he prepared for the up-close encounter, leading to a potentially fatal counterattack.


 * Individual Notes: Weaponry- One edge Scorpion brings to the table here is to note that he's loaded up with weaponry. While Ryu's no strange to weapon fighting, having overcome frag grenades from Rolento, Vega's bladed claws, knives from Cody and so on, he's ultimately still a human, and a blade through the throat is still a pretty fast track way to putting an end to his fighting days. While I feel confident Ryu could deal with the spear and the blades normally in a fight with his focus and skill, combine them with Scorpion's teleporting and hellfire, and it quickly begins to add-up, and one minor slip up results in a crippling wound that leaves Ryu open for a finishing blow.
 * Individual Notes: Satsui no Hado- Tapping into the power of the Satsui no Hado is powerful and can help turn the tide of a battle. Giving in to the power of the technique and becoming Evil Ryu may lead to a technical victory, but would require Ryu pushed to his absolute limits before he'd sink so low. The enhanced strength, speed and durability would help compensate for the tole that battle would take on him up to that point, especially if his feats from Asura's Wrath can be taken as canonical- his strength alone would turn up close engagements into an easy victory, though if Scorpion can keep whittling away at him and play it smart, he'd still be able to overcome it. It's just not a power boost that one can simply take lightly. There's also the whole thing where sucumbing to the evil of the Satsui no Hado isn't much of a victory morally speaking, since it means the real Ryu is effectively dead and consumed by the beast within, but that's neither here nor there I suppose.
 * X-Factors- Scorpion. While Ryu is a better fighter with better training and more discipline, Scorpion is more pragmatic for the purposes of a fight. Ryu has no interest in killing, or even hurting, anyone- he fights because he enjoys the fight, and he seeks to better himself, and it's all a friendly competition to him. Scorpion shoots to kill, and won't hesitate to take advantage of that fact. He uses stealth and ninja tactics and isn't afraid to fight in a manner Ryu would find cowardly or dirty. He goes for crippling shots to disable limbs and destroy organs, he uses weapons, he telports people to hell- he doesn't even actually need to engage Ryu directly in a fight, his objective is to kill, something he'd accomplish much easier through stealth, a viable tactic that he is willing to employ.
 * Deadliest Warrior- Scorpion. I think Ryu is the better character from a better game, but I simply don't think he's capable of pulling this one out. Scorpion is no slouch in a standard fist fight, as much as he's outclassed by his present company there, he's still a dangerous melee foe, and when combined with his powerful wraith abilities, his mobility, his pragmatic brutality, and his X-Factors, I think he's simply too much for Ryu to overcome. Ryu's only chance is to give in to the Satsui no Hado, something he'll actively resist doing until it may be too late for it, and even then, once he transforms he's not so powerful its an automatic win, with Scorpion still having the possibility of coming out on top. I just see Scorpion as being more likely and better equipped to win an encounter.