From: msroark@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (michael roark)
Subject: Re: Electricity (was Re: Balrog & Blanka etc)
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 02:39:55 GMT

In article <Bz6p44.M8z@news.cso.uiuc.edu> skillian@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Seth James Killian) writes:
>sieh@panix.com (Lui Sieh) writes:
>
>	[my original post deleted]
>
        [stuff deleted]
>
>>I've found that there are certain styles of play favored by Blanka players
>>ranging from "shockers" to "rollers/ballers".  Some people don't use the
>>electricity while others use it a lot.  This poses the interesting question
>>of why do people exhibit certain strategies and use certain moves and combos
>>and not others even if they know it exists?
>
>	I think one simple answer to this question, is that people who use
>	the electricity tend to suck.  These are the same people that view
>	Chun Li's lightning kick as the games most powerful move.  These 
>	people usually come from some backwaters arcade where no one has
>	ever heard the word "combo" and the local master is the guy who has
>	figured out how to block.  Anyway, this is not to say that using the
>	electricity is a complete waste of time, it is just risky.  This is
>	a move that you will rarely catch a person with because it tends to
>	be easy to spot (Oh my! Here comes Blanka jumping in with a strong
>	punch! Whatever could he be doing? or "I wonder what he could be
>	planning for me when I jump in?  He certainly seems to be hitting 
>	those buttons like that for something... hmmmm...) and screwing it
>	up can cost you.  Unlike Chun Li's kick, Blanka's electricity does
>	not keep you on the defensive for too long, and it doesn't do too
>	much damage when blocked (maybe three clicks at the outside).  So
>	you don't have that much to gain by trying it, and you do have 
>	quite a bit to lose if you brick.  Why bother?
>
>		Seth Killian

On the other hand, If you use electricity CORRECTLY, those three little ticks 
can add up after a while. Consider: Every SINGLE time that someone is down and
Blanka is up with a charge ready (and any Blanka player worth his salt ALWAYS
has a charge ready, if only because it forces the other player to constantly
consider it an option), Blanka has the option of flying at them at that
crucial moment when he will stop right before them just as they stand up (It
requires some non-trivial timing, but it is possible to get it 99% of the time
with practice). And of course, every Blanka player worth talking about, knows
that you can pop out of a ball with electricity a ragin'. So visualize this
scenario. Someone gets knocked down... doesn't matter how. Blanka rolls over, 
stopping right before them and electrifies.  Three automatic ticks... Then,
just as the electricity ends (you have to quit pounding on the buttons after
the first tick, incidentally) Blanka rolls again, getting another automatic
tick. See what I mean? If the Blanka player does this everytime the other
player gets knocked down, and that happens three, four, five times, this can
add up to enough energy to turn a lost battle into a won battle. Trust me.

[Flame on]

Maybe if you haven't seen this kind of forethought put into SFII, then you
should revise your estimate of who EXACTLY is from the "backwaters arcade," as
you put it.

[Flame off]

	Cheers


-- 
mike roark > "Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window
           > and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll
           > rot like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage.
           > That was Snowden's secret. Ripeness was all."   - J. Heller