Movelist

Throws

1. Dynamite Headbutt - b/f+C

Ralf headbutts the opponent, knocking them back in the direction he was facing
can be recovery rolled and doesn't give Ralf any chance to mixup

2. Northern Light Bomb - b/f+D

Ralf supplexes the opponent, knocking them the opposite direction he was facing
cannot be recovery rolled, but doesn't give much time to set up a useful wakeup game

Special moves

1. Vulcan Punch - mash P

Ralf rapidly punches at a diagonal angle in front of him
buttons can be mashed further to make him continue punching
free cancellable into
free cancellable out of
has a deceptively large hitbox in front of him making it hard to jump/sweep punish it, but can be easily punished by rolling
very little practical usage outside of some impractical max combos

2. Gatling Attack - _b f+P

Ralf will walk forward with a few punches, the last one being an uppercut
C version travels further than A version, and does an extra hit on the uppercut at the end
supercancellable on the second hit
free cancellable out of on all hits
comes out fast but not fast enough to be useful as a reversal on wakeup
useful for punishing whiffed CD counters and in combos off crouch A
whiffs against some crouching characters like Mature, Vice, K', Joe, Athena, Kensou, Benimaru, Mai, Yuri, Chris, Leona, Choi, Kula, Angel
doesn't whiff against crouching Yamazaki, Mary, Maxima, Whip, Ryo, Robert, Takuma, Terry, Andy, Chin, Kyo, Daimon, May Lee, Yashiro, Shermie, Ralf, Clark, Kim, Chang, Kusanagi, Vanessa, Seth, Ramon, K9999

3. Kyuukouka Bakudan Punch (Chijou) - _d u+P

4. Kyuukouka Bakudan Punch (Kuuchuu) - qcf+P(air)

5. Galactica Phantom - qcfx2+P

Ralf winds up slowly, then unleashes a punch that travels full screen length, doing a huge amount of damage
unblockable
hard knockdown
free cancellable out of
has autoguard throughout the winding part and the punch itself
counterwire

6. Ralf Kick - hcb+B

free cancellable out of

7. Ralf Tackle - hcb+D

Ralf charges across the screen, hitting about 4-5 times in the process
knocks down but can be recovery rolled
has autoguard throughout most of the move
free cancellable into
free cancellable out of on any hits
has horrible recovery if blocked and if the opponent gets hit by it in the air, they can recovery roll and punish him before he recovers as well

8. Super Argentine Backbreaker - hcf+K

instant grab

DMs

1. Umanori Vulcan Punch - qcb hcf+K

Ralf runs forward and tackles the opponent. If it hits, he will do a series of punches ending in a hard knockdown
if it's blocked, he will not perform any of the punches and will take a long time to recover
the hard knockdown gives Ralf a very long time to position himself however he likes before the opponent gets up

2. Baribari Vulcan Punch - qcf hcb+P

Ralf runs forward with a series of many punches, ending with a big uppercut
Ralf will do the entire move regardless of whether it hits, is blocked or whiffs entirely
has some problems with the first hit connecting against crouching opponents or opponents that aren't very close, making it difficult to combo into
hard knockdown on the last hit

SDMs

1. Baribari Vulcan Punch - qcf hcb+AC

HSDM

1. Umanori Galactica Phantom - qcb hcf qcf+AD

Ralf runs forward about a full screen length, similar to his qcb hcf+K. If it connects, he punches up into the sky, taking the opponent a few seconds before they hit the ground
very punishable if blocked
fast enough that it can be comboed into from strong attacks, though the motion is not practical at all

Combos

1. Close C/Crouch AA, hcf+K - 28%

Probably your best punish combo that doesn't use meter. Close C comes out slow so it is difficult to combo after a jump attack unless it hit deep. The hcf+K sets up a decent wakeup mixup after. You can replace the close C with a crouch A which is easier to combo from a jump attack. If you did do a jumpin right before, then more than one crouch A will likely put you out of range.

2. Crouch AA, _b f+C - 26%

This is a much easier combo than the above in terms of execution and ease of landing off a jump attack, but it is situational. The combo does not work on crouching Mature, Vice, K', Joe, Athena, Kensou, Benimaru, Mai, Yuri, Chris, Leona, Choi, Kula, Angel.

3. Crouch AA, _b f+C(2), (S)qcb hcf+K - 50%

Probably his highest damage practical combo, that can be easily set up from a jump attack. It is advisable to supercancel into qcb hcf+K as the other supers, including the qcf hcb+AC SDM, will very likely whiff on the first hit, making the rest of the super not combo.

4. Crouch B, BC, Close C, qcb hcf+K - 40%

Ralf cannot cancel or link his crouch B into anything. The best he can do is cancel to maxmode and immediately close C on the first frame. To do it, you must input the attacks as crouch B, C~B, qcb hcf+K. This combo gives him about 40% damage from a low attack

5. Crouch AA, BC, _b f+C(3), (C)hcb+D(4), (C)mash P(hold forward) - 46%

A flashy combo with no reason to be used over a simpler combo 3. The beginning part of the combo can be input using the shortcut crouch AA, _b f+BC(3).

6. Crouch AA, BC, _b f+C(2), (S)qcf hcb+AC - 60%

Fairly damaging combo that requires 4 stocks. Keep in mind that it will almost never work on a crouching opponent, so your best bet at landing this combo is by punishing a move with a jump attack (most likely a fireball).

Strategies

Ralf is a shitty character. Think of him as a character with 6 different dragon punches. Good damage and priority, but if they whiff or are blocked you're dead.

Ralf's best tool is reversals. This can really scare the crap out of your opponent. All his non throw specials have huge priority or auto guard, cleanly beating all normals and most specials.

This is the first half of his game, if you're in a position to be defensive (say waking up), you have a 50/50 against an offensive opponent. If they try to do a meaty, reversal anything will beat it (including reversal throw). If they try and bait the reversal by blocking, throw catches that as well.

hcb+D is the best reversal against grounded attacks, on wakeup the autoguard will beat all grounded meatys, it's auto guard will also beat fireball and energy meaties on reversal. It does however lose to any air based offense. If you're opponent is pressuring from the air, go for a _b f+P or hcb+B, as hcb will duck high attacks like RED kick.

This should force your opponent to stop pressuring you in reversal situations, giving you lots of space.

The second half of ralf's game comes from poking and throwing. Ralf's pokes are only mediocre, kinda slow, kinda low priority, but are his only other tool.

Mix up his pokes, force your opponent to play footsies with you.

In close combat, the rest of Ralf's tools come sc.C and throw. sc.C will meaty and combo into super or throw. If it's blocked it's safe. Punish with hcf+K throw.

Other notes:

hcb+b has nice ducking frames and will duck things like RED kick and a lot of jump in attacks like Yashiro j.D or Iori j.D. If you're opponent follows up, thinking he hit you get a free counter hit, if not, you're slightly punishable.

Ralf doesn't really have a good air combat attack, his air to air elbow (j.C) is mediocre, his sf.C is mediocre at best, and _d u+P is awful unless your opponent is right on top of you. Stick to guarding.

The dive of _d u+P and j.qcb+P do huge guard damage. 2 or 3 of these will put your opponent in the red zone where you can proceed to c.C once or twice and land a free super. However both attacks are punishable on block with rush supers and usually a standing heavy attack otherwise, on whiff it's even worse. Using these attacks is risky but almost worth the trade against characters who can only punish with heavies.

If you're like me and abuse the shit out of s.CD. Eventually you're opponent is going to get smart and find solutions other than blocking. Against Vanessa who uses her invincible dash (either _b f+P or qcf+K f+P) to go through the s.CD and then hit you during your recovery, you can cancel s.CD to hcf+K throw. This strat is also very effective against people who might try to roll through s.CD and punish you during recovery. At the very least on hit or block the cancel is safe and builds meter. In fact it's very easy to build bar just doing s.CD xx hcf+K throw all day.

cl.D is also a surprisingly effective move. It doesn't combo or have much application, but it will tech crouch jump in and tech jump lows. Similar applications as Chun Li's close s.HK in 3rd strike.