From: lhuynh@sloth.Reed.Edu (Falcon Feather)
Subject: blanka
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 08:55:14 GMT
Reply-To: lhuynh@reed.edu


============
=   blanka   =
============

"seeing you in action is a joke"


all opponents
(offensive)

blanka can easily jump in on his opponents with either the roundhouse, 
the middle kick, or the fierce claw. it is is very difficult for opponents 
to defend this.  A wide range of where blanka jumps from is open to 
him, with the great range his aerial attacks have.  if your opponent is 
knocking you out of the air, try jumping from a different distance, or 
using one of the other buttons. a few good jumping blanka combinations 
are effective.  one is to jump in with the fierce claw or middle kick, and 
then walk into your opponent and start biting him.  when the opponent has 
defended against the aerial attack, there is a moment where you can move 
in safely and get the bite off, so long as you land within reaching distance.
a little practice, and this move will be a powerful weapon to add to your 
arsenal.  

another tactic is to simply use the middle kick/middle sweep combo.  it 
counters the "sacrifice" throw effectively.  after sweeping twice, your 
opponent will have moved back far enough that he cannot reach 
you, while your crouching uppercut can still reach him, if he forgets to 
block for this.

still another tactic is to jump, >immediately< go into the defensive crouch 
(while still in the air hold the joystick in that position), hit your 
aerial attack button, do your ground attacks, and *then* move the 
joystick forward into the spinning ball attack.  by keeping your joystick 
in the proper position,  you will be charging up for the ball while 
executing all those other moves.

still other good aerial attack combinations are the leaping in/ head 
butt or leaping in/knee butt attacks.  if they hit, they will star the 
opponent.  and if you're close enough, you can use the head butt or knee 
butt twice in a row (this can surprise some people).

blanka's ground attacks have great reach, but be careful of using the 
crouching uppercut, since players can sweep your arm from a great distance 
away.  it is often better to switch to the long sweep on opponents who try 
to sweep your arm.  

don't leap recklessly, however, or your opponent will time your landing 
by sweeping you as soon as you land, or walking underneath you and then 
throwing you.

lastly, when you've backed up your opponent into a corner (which happens 
often when you're fighting with blanka), mix up your sequence of attacks:  
attacking in the air/then biting, attacking in the air twice in a 
row (without a ground attack), jumping in the air, not attacking, then 
land and attack (this can really  surprise opponents sometimes).

(defensive)

blanka has the easiest forms of defense.  few opponents can jump in, no 
matter how close they started to you, without the crouching uppercut 
hitting them.  none can jump in to the fierce claw uppercut, once 
you've learned where to position yourself when your opponent jumps.

the other great defense is to keep in your defensive crouch at all times, 
using the sweep or crouching uppercut when your  opponent is on the ground, 
and then using the spinning ball attack, if he jumps towards you (or even 
back or straight up).

basically, you want to fight from your defensive crouch position, when 
you're not pressing the attack (or even when you are).  that way the ball 
will always be ready to fly.  it is *extremely* effective defensively.  
even when you do the flying ball, you should instantly go into your 
crouching position so that you can do back-to-back spinning ball attacks.

when you have been thrown or knocked down, you should *instantly* be in 
your defensive crouch position.  if your opponent presses the attack by 
jumping into you, wait until the last moment and release with the ball 
attack again.  at worst you will simply zoom across to the other side of 
the screen (if your opponent has tried to jump behind you).

another good defensive that works very well for blanka is to jump straight 
up and kicking out, or using the fierce swipe to lash out when your 
opponent jumps in towards you.  as long as you didn't jump up late, you 
will always win this. the only other important move to know defensively 
is the  sacrifice "bite" (he has no throw, of course).  to do this, you 
let the opponent (who is jumping in) hit you and then press in towards him 
and hit fierce.  you will instantly have jumped on your opponent and 
started to bite him.  to do the most damage from this, move your joystick 
from 0- to -0 very rapidly while hitting the fierce button quickly.  when 
coming out of the bite, it is best to jump back, to avoid being hit by a 
good opponent.

ken/ryu ---

ryu/ken can never effectively jump in.  the crouching uppercut works 
exceptionally well against them, as well as keeping you in your defensive 
crouch against ground attacks and keeping you "charged" for your ball 
attack (which also works very well against ken's and ryu's leaping attacks).

if ryu/ken fires his fireball at you, just jump over it.  unless you are 
jumping from just the right distance away, you can avoid  the fireball and 
land an effective counterattack.  if you're too far away, at least you 
avoid being hit by the fireball.  from just the right (or "wrong") distance 
away, ryu/ken will have enough  time to dragon punch you -- most of the 
time, they cannot, however. don't just jump straight up, but jump in all 
the time.  jumping  straight up allows them to mix up their speeds of their 
fireballs and possibly catching you with a slow one.

both the fierce claw and middle kick buttons work well when  jumping in, 
since ryu/ken cannot effectively defend against this most of the time.  

if ryu/ken have knocked you down and are jumping in to continue their 
assault, use the spinning ball or crouching uppercut to stop this.

so best just press the attack, using a lot of sweeping long kicks to set 
yourself up to jump in and executing one of the "all opponents" tactics.

e. honda ---

e. honda has no good defense when you jump in towards him, unless he is 
jumping straight up or back and kicking out.  he cannot  jump in at all 
with the fierce claw uppercut, or, if he jumps from a long ways out, 
just sweep him as he lands.

use the sacrifice bite a lot, if he is in close and jumping at you (like 
in his flying body slam/throw combo).  blanka can even defend and get the 
bite off a lot of the time.

a good e. honda will probably try to get in close when you jump in and 
go for a bear hug/knee butt or throw.  if he is trying to do this a lot, 
just leap in with the middle kick and then two middle sweeps (which 
very often get executed if he's trying to get a sacrifice move on you) to 
put him in stars. e. honda basically fears a good blanka, because he is 
outmatched move for move.  a good e. honda will also try to use his long_
sweep the most, but since he has to stand to execute this, it can be 
countered by sweeping him first.  if he tries to do the flying headbutt, 
just jump straight up over him, and then  sweep when he lands 
(he takes a moment to recover from a miss), or just time your fierce claw 
uppercut, which also works well.

guile ---

guile is a feared opponent, when playing against a master.  he is fast and 
can walk under blankato turn around and do a throw.  he can take the 
sacrifice throw/back drop well when you jump in on him.  and 
jumping over his sonic booms helps to set up these moves and/or other ones.

to beat him, you have to stay close so that your sweep or crouching 
uppercut will keep him from throwing his sonic boom. you can jump in on 
him when he is standing or moving towards you (and is not too close), 
since he will be unable to use his flair kick then.  use a lot of the 
middle kick button against him, following with a mix up of bites, middle 
sweeps, or head butt/knee butts against him.

if guile does throw a sonic boom and heads towards you, you have to jump 
as soon as he releases it, so as not to give him time to walk underneath 
you.  and jump towards him most of the time, rather than straight up.

if guile has knocked you down and is leaping in to press the attack, use the ball.   
if he is using the 
crouching short jab/ throw combo you have to just go for the bite when he goes for  
the throw, or if he is 
too close, or using one of the other fast hit/throw combo's, try the bite  
immediately as you get up.

do not use the ball attack offensively, unless it is part of a  combination when  
leaping in, etc.  guile can 
counter it far  too easily.

basically you have to be offensive and agressive to beat guile, by keeping the  
attack up so he is off 
balanced.  if you try to play defensive or give him a chance, guile will most likely   
beat you.  if guile uses 
a lot of razor kicks defensively, use the fierce claw when you jump in (the most  
successful counter to his 
razor -- it often hits him before he gets his move off).

chun li ---

chun li best beats blanka by once having knocked him down, pressing the attack  
(mostly by leaping in 
again for a throw). the best way to counter this, once again, is to do the ball when  
getting back up again.  if 
she has jumped to get behind you, you will fly clear and be in the open again (where  
blanka has the 
advantage).  it is very hard to do anything else against a good chun li who fights  
this way.

if chun li isn't too bright, she will try to do her ground throw combos on blanka.   
blanka has little difficulty 
with this, since he can use his middle sweep to stop it, or, if she is using an  
combo this doesn't work on, go 
for the bite as soon as you get up.  between these two methods, it counters all her  
combos.

chun li cannot effectively jump in when blanka uses his claw uppercut no matter what  
she tries, and once 
you've knocked her out of the air, you can safely follow >immediately< by jumping in  
to try a sequence of 
attacks yourself (though if she blocks these successfully, back off again).

if chun li can't knock you down, she won't be able to beat blanka. so if she tries a  
lot of sweeps, counter 
with your own, or just defend till she jumps in and claw her down again.

blanka can jump in effectively against her, using the fierce claw attack best.

overall, fight a defensive, or reactionary, battle against chun li, and once you've  
learned to get out of the 
pressed attack when you've been knocked down, you should win most of the time.

zangief --- 

to beat zangief, blanka must also fight reactionary, or  defensive.  blanka's sweep  
is longer than zangief's, 
so if the two characters stay on the ground, blanka would do well.

blanka can jump in to attack, as long as he doesn't jump in too close (where zangief  
will do a sacrifice 
throw, or just block and throw).  zangief cannot wait for blanka to come to him when  
you've learned to 
fight like this.

the only recourse zangief has then, to beat blanka, is to press the attack by  
jumping in.  to counter this, 
when he is in close the claw uppercut works flawlessly, and otherwise a very good  
defense is to jump 
straight up and kick out.


if zangief gets in close (like jumping in with the knees after having knocked you  
down), use the sacrifice 
bite against him.  it works very well.  if zangief has cornered you, often you can  
block a couple of times 
and then be able to jump straight up and kick out normally (especially if he uses  
the body slam when you 
are in the corner -- the sacrifice bite won't work here, since the move knocks you  
off your feet).  the 
defensive ball attack should work well too (coming up in the ball after having been  
knocked down).

dhalsim --- 

very tough!  fight carefully, defending a lot and seeing how dhalsim presses his  
attack.  if you time it 
right, you should be able to jump in when dhalsim uses one of his attacks, and get  
in close.

when jumping in, using the middle kick button works best to counter his kicks and  
hands.  another good 
kick counter is to use the fierce claw in the air, since that will hit his kicks  
without trading blows with 
him.

if dhalsim jumps at all, and you are in your typical defensive crouch position, use  
the flying ball attack to 
knock him down. don't ever use it otherwise, though.  he will always recover to lash  
out and give you 
more damage once you've hit him (blocking or not).

your crouching uppercut or claw uppercut works well against his kicks.  little works  
well against his arms 
(except when he is too far away and strikes out -- just use the long sweep then), so  
try to jump in during 
these times.

if dhalsim is in the air right next to you and coming down, jump and lash out,  
rather than wait for him to 
land.  his priority for throws is very hard to beat.
 dhalsims spinning aerial attacks are best countered by using the fierce claw  
uppercut, or jumping up and 
lashing out.  if you have enough time, you may also be able to do the electricity,  
as he is such a slow 
jumper, and hit him as he comes spinning in.

if you have gotten in the lead for health, be defensive, unless you are up against a  
good fireball breather, 
where you'll still have to keep up an offensive attack (unless time is getting low)  
to win.  even the best 
blanka's cannot easily defeat the best dhalsim's.


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Internet: lhuynh@reed.edu              
(503) 771-3747                             Hey man.....
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