From: jstrachman@vax.clarku.edu
Subject: Balrog strat guide pt. 2 Honda/Blanka/Chun Li/Zangief
Organization: Clark University
Date: 15 SEP 92 06:14:52 GMT

Here goes pt. 2....

Balrog Strategy Guide pt. 2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Balrog vs. Honda
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yuck, this gets very messy.  You have a whole lot of problems with this 
matchup....  

A list of problems with fighting Honda:
1.  1000 hands
2.  The torpedo
3.  Honda's reach (grabs)
4.  1000 hands
5.  Honda's ground attacks
6.  1000 hands

You might have noticed my emphasis.

Any self-respecting Honda player knows this trick from the original SF2, only 
it is even worse now because Honda can now move around, putting you firmly in 
the grips of the 1000 hands.  Worse yet, if you try to jump over it, he can 
stop the hands and fierce chop or torpedo you out of the air fairly easily.  
Balrog can sometimes get through the hands with a crouching roundhouse, but 
it's about as risky as hitting Blanka's electricity.  Good luck, pardner.

Honda and Guile are the two characters I consider Balrog killers.

How to deal with Honda in the air:
Standing strong, EARLY in Honda's jump, or you get a foot in the face.  And 
that HURTS!  
Or, if you're far enough away, standing fierce works nice.  
The running uppercut is nice because even if he does get through it, you have 
a chance to throw him after he hits you.  The problem is Honda's hits take off 
so much that it isn't worth the sac throw you get.  

How to deal with Honda on the ground:
Jump in and GET THE HELL BACK OUT!  Honda's 1000 hands have priority over just 
about any follow up move Balrog has.  Of course, jumping in is folly against a 
good, alert Honda.  Even if you do hit him once, Honda has a sick priority for 
sac throws, and his 1000 hands come out before Balrog can follow up his hit, 
so Honda has two options, equally nasty.  

You're going to end up relying on the crouching roundhouse nearly the entire 
battle, because it's the only move Balrog has to counter Honda on the ground 
at all, and it has a decent range, thus if Honda misses with a crouching punch 
you can nail him before he pulls his hand back.  If Honda is unalert,
the turnaround punch can mess him up, but don't do it against the 1000 hands.
A good Honda can have them up and running before you finish turning around.  
An even better Honda can torpedo you as you try to hit him.  Honda is just 
all around nasty against Balrog.

Balrog's fierce punch is nice because Honda can't duck under it, thus he can't 
trip Balrog while he's throwing his fist out.  This, however, is such a 
minimal advantage that you'll quickly throw it out the window.  Sorry to 
discourage all those Balrog players, but hey, just think of the satisfaction 
it'll bring when you whip those nasty Blanka players!

Balrog vs. Blanka
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I shouldn't even include this in my guide.  This is child's play.

1.  Against Blanka in the air:
	standing strong
	running uppercut

2.  Against Blanka on the ground:
	if he's just sitting there, just in range, crouching roundhouse beats 
        just about anything he can throw at you
	if he's just out of range, fake him out and throw in an unexpected 
        turn-around punch to get the advantage

3.  Against Blanka's ball:
        let it bounce off you and do a running move to hit him on the way down

4.  Against Blanka's electricity:
	crouching roundhouse at the extreme of Balrog's range 
	(this may take some practice)

Other notes:
After Blanka hits Balrog with an aerial attack (for some WEIRD reason), Balrog 
should have a perfect chance to sac throw him, the reason being that the only 
way a Blanka can hit a good Balrog is hit him early on in the jump, leaving 
himself totally vulnerable on the way down.  

Often a Blanka player will just crouch and wait, or perhaps jump backwards and 
hit roundhouse alot.  Just time the jumping player right and you can nail him 
with a running fierce in between jumps, usually.  Against the croucher:  Fake 
him out or surprise him with a turnaround punch.  

AS SOON AS YOU GET THE ADVANTAGE, LET HIM MAKE THE NEXT MOVE.  DO NOT ATTACK 
AN ANGRY BRAZILIAN BEAST. 

Balrog has the counter to everything Blanka can do at his glove-tips.  Relax 
and enjoy.

Balrog vs. Chun Li
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Balrog has some good times with this too!  Hee hee!

1. Chun in the air
is dead meat.

Balrog can: standing strong at top of arc,
            or running uppercut towards the middle of the arc.

If Balrog gets hit by Chun's move, Balrog again has a chance to sac throw, 
just like vs. Blanka, except Chun's moves take off even less than Blanka's.  

2.  Chun on the ground 
is annoying.

Her crouching roundhouse has a bigger range than your crouching roundhouse.

Harumph.

Nevertheless, a turnaround punch will teach her the value of blocking rather 
than messing around will silly looking kicks.  Just bide your time.  Your 
pickup is about as fast as hers, so if she tries to run in and grab you, you 
should have enough time to reverse it or do crouching roundhouse to stop her.  

3.  Chun in a spin
crouching strong
that is all

4.  Chun hopping over your head
GRRRRR I still haven't found a good, reliable way out.

Standing strong sometimes gets her, occasionally the running uppercut.  
Sometimes the running fierce punch gets him out of the way so he can live to 
fight another day.  Best bet:  Don't let your opponent get a chance to do 
this.  Also, you might be able to throw her out of it, but don't count on it.  

Good luck.  If anyone still uses this, they should be slapped.

Balrog vs. Zangief
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Bleah.  What an annoying battle.

Zangief's air moves go through Balrog's running uppercuts!

Use standing strong to defeat Zangief in the air.  This is not all that 
reliable.  Standing fierce is nice too because Zangief can't duck under it.  
The problem here is that if Zangief goes into a lariat, baf in the face, 
you're hit.  Annoying.

Also, you can't go for the turn-around, because Zangief can SPD you while 
you're in the middle on it.  If you do connect, he'll spin you away on to a 
new journey, and, even if you are being cheap and go for the throw after the 
turnaround punch, if he reverses it once, you're toast.  Zangief has the 
nastiest ticks out of any character.

All I can say is take what you can get.  If he jumps, nail him.  If he's on 
the ground, crouching roundhouse and standing fierce.  He can suck you in from 
a mile away, so even these moves are token.  All I can say is good luck, it's 
a pretty even battle, hit for hit.

God, this seems bleak, maybe I'll take up Blanka....

Part 2 completed....  Please send me responses.

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