From: grigsby@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Spiral Death Trap)
Subject: Capcom f*cks up TCE
Organization: Oberlin College Computer Science
Distribution: alt
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 21:53:01 GMT


Far be it from me to post a message about TCE here in the midst of this 
stupid flamefest, but I've noticed something that makes some characters
intrinsically better than others.  I'd like to be wrong: if anyone has 
counters or other strategies that even things out, do tell.

1) Some characters have combos which, if the first hit happens, the rest are
*guaranteed* to happen with proper timing.  Examples:
Bison's jab-jab-jab-fierce
Several Ryu/Ken punch-punch-sweep combos
Ryu/Ken/Bison/Guile's sweeps/slides that will automatically hit a character
landing from a jump
Vega's fast slashes (OK, this isn't so bad, but still.)
<Add your faves here -- Guile's combos w/razor kick, Ryu/Ken's w/uppercut,
 and more>
Several characters, to my knowledge, do *not*.  I have found no such sequence
with Blanka, for instance, and know of none either.

2) Some characters, if they knock the opponent down, get further damage
_guaranteed_, with no possibility of avoidance.  Examples:
Bison knocks you down and torpedoes over you as you get up.  You must block
and take damage - over a fierce hit's worth!
Chun Li knocks you down, jumps in and starts the YAP kick.  You must block
and take damage - usually a bit more than a fierce hit's worth!

3) Throw priority does exist.  Try, for instance, throwing Bison after
blocking his torpedo.  I am a poor Ken and can do this about 30% of the time.
I am a much better Blanka and can bite about 5% of the time -- I've stopped
trying since unless the person is clueless it never works.  This makes 
characters with lower throw priority (or execution delay, or whatever) 
almost useless, since throws are the ONLY thing that will damage a low-
blocking player besides jump attacks (I'm not counting the tick of damage
from missiles), except for the next case.

4) Some characters have invincible moves and range attacks, and some don't.  
This only makes a difference when a character without them plays a character
with them.  Examples:
Ryu/Ken's haryuken/fireball
Guile's sonic kick
Guile is extremely annoying here - when he gets ahead on damage he can sit
in a corner charging for boom/kick, and wait for you to jump in over his 
boom.  If you're too far, no problem, you're not a threat.  If you're medium
close, he sweeps you as you fall.  If you're close, he sonic kicks you.  It
is possible with PERFECT timing to get through this with a character without
range attacks, but the advantage is immense.
Ryu/Ken are a little better balanced, since they have to push the fireball
a long ways before they recover, so this isn't absolute, but still.

A final question:  is it possible *AT ALL* for Blanka to bite a crouch-
defending person?  Every time I try it I just get a fierce, and get smacked
for my trouble.  This means that anyone playing Blanka can simply defend
at the right times and take NO damage from ANYTHING AT ALL except a little
tick from the cannonball.  Add to this the fact that good players can shake
off the bite within microseconds, and you're fucked!  Blanka becomes great at
killing mid-level players, but becomes totally useless when facing an 
expert of just about anything besides Chun Li, Honda, Vega, and maybe Dhalsim.
(I don't know about Balrog or Sagat since no one plays them here.)

I'd like to be proved wrong, especially on the last, but right now I'm being
forced to learn Ken due to these circumstances -- everyone here plays either
him, Bison, Guile, or Chun Li (the exception -- the guy was Delaware state 
champion, and I believe it -- he consistently thrashes my Blanka, who is a 
great anti-Chun character, but a reasonably good Bison will still kill him.)
Any wizards with counter-strategies (or Blanka ticks) should feel free to
help the world.  (No fierce-strong/crouching forward suggestions either unless
you can prove it to be unblockable.)

// g
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