Newsgroups: alt.games.sf2
Date: Tue,  8 Sep 1992 19:00:45 -0400 
From: Eric Thomas Pronko <ep1d+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Blanka Guide

Okay, a few people have requested it, so here I will present my

Blanka Playing Guide for SF2:TCE.

A few key points first:
-your most valuable buttons are fierce, forward, and roundhouse.  keep
this in mind as you move your fingers.
-these moves apply to the computer as most humans are not so stupid.
-the most significant move is the fierce rolling ball.  practice this
until you can do it at will.
-certain opponents require almost no effort on one's part.

Ken:
He's really stupid, as he is just *crazy* about dragon punches.  If he
does one be ready to walk up after he lands and bite, headbutt, knee,
etc., or do a ball as he is coming down.  Sometimes he likes to throw
fireballs, and if you are close enough he will throw at least two in a
row.  After blocking the first one, jump over the second one and
roundhouse kick.  Other moves work well too, but I think the roundhouse
has the longest range.  After jumping in with the roundhouse try for a
crouching roundhouse.  Because it will take Ken a set amount of time to
recover, if you have the chance you should try for the kick near the end
of your jump.  You will be much more likely to get two hits.  Also you
should note not to be too close or you will find yourself getting thrown
after scoring that kick.  (This applies to most charaters.)

Ryu:
Similar to Ken, but he has a completely different fighting style.  Ryu
is the master fireballer; for this reason you should be ready to jump
over fireballs and kick.  Ryu seems to throw you more than Ken, and he
also seems to recover more quickly after throwing a fireball; be warned.
 Try not to be too close after jumping in.  Ryu rarely dragon punches.

Chun Li:
Extremely stupid, as she does not use her abilities to the fullest.  She
will jump at you continuously and you can hit her with the ball over and
over again, yet she will not foot stomp you.  Another thing that works
is when she is jumping at you, jump straight up and press fierce for the
straight-out claw.  Works great.

Honda:
He's one of the more persistent opponents and will take any opportunity
to throw/bear hug you.  For this reason I tend to use the forward kick
quite a bit more, and jumping right after hitting with an initial
jumping attack is a great way to avoid getting thrown.  Honda is one of
those players against whom you can keep jumping up and down and kicking,
and he will keep walking into your attacks (like Zangief).  If he backs
up and crouches he is going to do his torpedo, and if you time it right
he is very easyy to jab right out of it.  Electricity also works against
his torpedo.  Oh, and if he does his hundred hands a good attack is
jumping straight up and roundhouse kicking.  (Does NOT apply to original
SF2.)

Dhalsim:
He's one of the aforementioned opponents who requires almost no effort. 
One of his favorite things to do is foot slide, for which crouch
blocking and fierce balling immediately afterwards proves quite
effective.  When he jumps he will often attack right at the start of the
jump, leaving you plenty of time to jump and attack with a fierce claw. 
Basically, pound him into the ground.

Zangief:
He knows what you're going to do anyway, so you will almost nevel be
able to pull off a ball on him.  (No pun intended. :) )  Jumping
straight up and roundhouse works wonders.  Computer Zangief is so fast
you will almost never be able to win a low kick contest (that is, he
will almost always seem to kick you first.  The same goes for crouching
fierce).

Blanka:
Probably the most vicious, and probably the reason I play him most. :) 
A surefire way to win against Blanka (almost) is to fire off a ball at
the beginning of the round and do electricity immediately afterwards. 
As long as you are doing electricity and he is approaching from the
ground, he will never attack you.  Instead, he will block for the entire
duration of your electricity.  However, if he is already in the air he
will most likely kick you out of it.  Other than this little tidbit,
Blanka can be very deadly and will bite your face faster than you've
ever seen if you remain in front of him too long after a jumping attack
(as I mentioned with Honda).  He's tough.  Ball a lot.

Guile:
Almost as bad as Blanka.  For Guile I have what I call my "isolationist
strategy."  Guile is jab crazy so pulling off a fierce ball at the
beginning of the round is difficult.  Basically what I do is run away
from him the entire round.  He will for the most part do one of few
things:
1) sonic boom - which you (try to) jump.
2) approach you - during which you keep backing up.
3) low roundhouse kick - which you block.
Once you reach your end of the screen, keep up this strategy and he will
either:
a) jump in at you - for which you ball, fierce, or roundhouse.
b) low roundhouse - which he will do from too far away, and you should
be ready to ball right after the first kick.  (Guile's low roundhouse is
really two kicks.)
c) walk up and do fierce - I don't know why he does this, but in the
delay afterwards you can squeeze in a ball.
d) more sonic booms - which he won't do for long anyway before he gets
bored and starts instead doing one of the above things.

Balrog:
Crouch and fierce punch.  That's right, that's all that you need to beat
him.  Try it.

Vega:
Vega is very susceptible to jumping fierce claws.  Use this to your
advantage.  When he does his wall jump, stay in one place until he stops
temporarily, then back up and do the ball when he is right above you. 
This does not work all the time, but it works enough of the time to get
me past him.

Sagat:
Sagat is crazy about both tiger fire and uppercuts.  For this reason you
use a strategy like Ryu's; you block (or duck, if high) his tigers and
then jump in and roundhouse.  If you jump at almost any other time he
will tiger uppercut you.  A roundhouse/forawrd kick will knock him out
of it, though, if timed right.  Oh, and if he walks up and jump starts
roundhouse kicking (into the air), kick him.  Basically, for the most
part you remain in defensive crouch the most.

Bison:
What a cheese.  Anyway, the surefire trick against him is that he will
NEVER block electricity if you do it right next to him as he is getting
up.  This is *RIGHT* next to him.  Also, for me he almost never will
block if you to a fierce ball right at the beginning of the round.  Use
a lot of forward kicks and fierce flying claws.  The fierce claw (when
performed at an angle), forward kick, and roundhouse kick can all knock
him out of his torpedo, but the roundhouse seems least effective
consistently, probably because it's harder to judge when computer Bison
is going to torpedo than when a human cheese is going to.  :)

Comments?

Eric

*****************************************************
The meek will inherit the earth.  The guilty will be punished.  The
check is in the mail.  Groove is in the heart.
*****************************************************
Eric "E" Pronko            |  "blah blah blah
ep1d+@andrew.cmu.edu       |   blah blah blah
punisher+@cmu.edu          |   blah blah blah"  -me
*****************************************************