In-depth Blanka FAQ - Guide for Capcom vs. SNK
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In-depth Blanka FAQ ------------------- Author: Pee-tah / Peter Ng Version: 0.99 Date: 12th March 2001 Credits: -------- - Me. Names of all moves have been named myself. Blanka's moves are rather basic looking, and its pretty obvious what you mean when you say 'electricity' so I thought researching the real names of moves would sound too flashy, and would be too confusing for practical purposes. - Kao Megura, tho I don't think I've read any CvS or fighting FAQ of his as yet, he definitely deserves credit as the ultimate FAQ-write known to the history of gamefaqs writing. Version Update: --------------- Version 0.99: My first FAQ! I might not be bothered ever to update this, so this poor thing may never reach version 1+ status. Copyrights etc.: ---------------- This document Copyright 2001 to me. Though I doubt something THIS in-depth would ever amount to commercial value. You can try it, but your book won't sell. Terms: ------ c - charge B - Back F - Forward D - Down U - Up P - punch button K - kick button PP - both punches KK - both kicks LK - light kick SK - strong kick LP - light punch SP - strong punch Ball Roll cBF+P Vertical Roll cDU+K Hop Back Roll cBF+K Surprise Back B+KK Surprise Forward (F+)KK Slide Tackle DF+SP Head butt B+SP cr.FK DB+SK Ball Super cBFBF+P Roar Super cDB,DF,DB,UF+P The Basics ---------- Move list --------- I'm gonna go thru all of Blanka's moves, and give a detail description of how to use them. Won't talk about moves I find useless. Will tell you about moves that you might find useful but actually useless. Crouching Fierce ---------------- THE poke move. It's range is amazing, but nevertheless learn its limits. As long as this hit connects, blocked or not, you are safe from retaliation. Okay, MAYBE if you used it right in front of them, but you wouldn't. If you whiff you'd be open for any sort of sweep thrown at you, cos blanka's body is outstretched while retracting. Stay within range and, unless you're up against Dhalsim, wait for the sweep, and punish on reaction. The stronger your opponent, the more you'll end up relying on this move. Slide Tackle ------------ In most situations you would use the above in place of this. Too close and they'll retaliate, whiff and you'd eat just about anything they throw out cos it's got horrible recovery. It does push the opponent away if it connects tho so safe in that respect. Only useful because it has quick start up time so good for slide tackling fireballers (a golden move vs pesky Guiles) Crouching Forward ----------------- This has got more range than it looks. If up close, use this move instead of cr.FP, due to its ability to link. Once pushed out of its range, use cr.fierce to continue your poking. Cancel into fierce ball roll if it hits, it will ALWAYS connect. Also good to cancel this into surprise forward, but more on this later. Head Butt --------- Not as good as cr.FK, not as far reaching, and not low hitting. Double hit up close, but up close you've got lots of other more interesting options. Use it on somebody rolling up to you. Hit back and fierce the minute you see somebody rolling at you. Either headbutt or a punch throw will come out depending on your reaction time and how quick the roll is. Headbutt comes out for two hit damage, and throw comes out if they get close. Quite valuable since roll distances vary much in this game. Practice this to the extent where you'll do it on reaction, and you are guaranteed to stop the roller doing whatever he was planning to do. Crouching LK ------------ Close poke of choice. Learn how to chain two/three of these in a row. And learn how to chain it into cr.FK. And learn how to chain cr.FK into Ball Roll and its super version. A must for all blanka experts. Ball Roll --------- Blanka's signature move. Learn it. As competition gets better, you'll find it harder to utilise. It'll lose to jumping stick moves (e.g. Ryu's jumping jab), rapid crouch jabbing, DP's on reaction. Furthermore people will learn the moves that can retaliate Blanka in his recoil. Almost all characters have at least one move (L3 super) that can hit, so you can't just throw this out without consideration. However, there are characters that cannot tag you in recoil, and this is where you can abuse this move like a scrub. I won't go into detail here, cos this IS intended to be an advanced FAQ. The fierce version can be used as a long range mistake punisher, or to go under jumping opponents if they're trying to cross you over. The jab version can be used as a teleport like move. If you get the distance down, this will become a lethal part of your arsenal. Do it so that you stop in front of them and you're pretty much guaranteed a techless throw. Vertical Roll ------------- Evil. Roundhouse version is a good anti-air. If you manage to anti-air them, the distances and times for recovery are perfect for wake up games. Alternatively you can activate electricity for free chip damage when they get up. Against crossover jumps, the short version is better, cos the roundhouse would whiff. Apart from that the short version should be left alone. Roundhouse version has an extra use. It covers insane horizontal range. If you've pushed somebody up to the corner with cr.fierce, and he's just out of your cr.fierce range, he may just jump up and down with a stick short kick to gather his wits as a safe defensive move. You can nail him from there. Electricity ----------- Apart from the method above, I don't see any other use for this. I used to roll into it, like how shotokan's roll into a DP. But it doesn't share the same invincible properties as a DP so I gave up on it. Hop back Roll ------------- Useless. No wait... you could use it for... wait... no... it really IS useless... Surprise Back ------------- Blanka is so versatile. This is faster and shorter than his back dash. Various uses, especially in mind games and distancing. Surprise Forward ---------------- Use this. It will crossup and jump over any crouching kicks. At most blanka would be hit out of it and since he's airborne, damage to him is limited. Use it while they get up for a crossover. Learn its distance and its vulnerable frames. Learn how to throw the minute you land. Standing Roundhouse ------------------- Some people use this for anti-air. I don't. Jumping Roundhouse ------------------ The stretch and extra range you get from pressing roundhouse is unrivalled. Again, learn its distance. Don't ever jump deep at anyone with this. Jump at them so that your very toes are in their face. The vertical jump can also be used as a defence mechanism. As anti-air it is very reliable. Throwing a few vertical super jumps a distance away is rewarding as well. You can stall the match and gather your wits knowing that your roundhouse can nab them out of any advancing move they try. Jumping Fierce -------------- If you are intent on fighting air-to-ground battles, use this move instead. It's got more downwards range which is what matters against anti-air, and this move is better than roundhouse for deep jump-ins. Jumping Short ------------- Blanka's jumping crossover move. Learn the timing and learn how to combo it into several cr.LK. IMO the super jump version works better, but in an actual fight, I find you have more chances to distance a normal jump version than the latter. Ball Super ---------- L1 version: Can be used for anti-air especially vs crossover, don't use it in combos. L2 version: Can chain off a punch throw into wall a slight distance away. Learn what distance. I don't think its worthwhile using it in other combos since its not worth losing 2 super meters for a whiff. L3 version: ARGH! FRESH MEAT! Nasty. Blanka with an L3 bar is played VERY differently with a Blanka without. LEARN THIS! It can chain off a punch throw ANYWHERE. It can replace Ball Roll in ALL of blanka's combos. It can anti-air. It can punish anything you want. And for huge damage. The difference between L1 and this is about double. Sweeeeet. Most lethal property is that it can super THRU fireballs. In the initial frames of the super blanka is invincible (these initial frames is sufficient to go thru King's double strike). If Guile is a crouching fierce away, and he throws a sonic boom at you, if you super just as the projectile gets close you WILL hit guile. Guile has the fastest projectile recovery in the whole game. So at even further distances away, you can super thru projectiles and still nab the guy looking so smug hiding behind his little fireball. Your opponent either does know how dangerous the L3 version is or they don't. If they don't, punish them. If they do, they will begin to play very VERY defensively when you've your L3 bar... no problem here... jab ball roll towards them, punch throw them, and super them regardless... Roar Super ---------- Anti-air of choice. Jam the punch buttons for more hits. Don't ever think of using L2 or L3 version, its pointless. It actually doesn't do that much damage. And occasionally some jump in attacks can knock blanka after the first hit. But it does serious psychological damage to the opponent. Staring at the paused screen with blanka in his roar pose, getting juggled sky high, watching the hit meter rack up, watching you ram the controls for more hits, and the simple fact of getting hit by a super makes them think twice against jumping at you again. So, learn how to pull this move out as fast as you can a DP. My trick is to charge downback (duh...) and then very quickly whip a half circle from downforward, rolling all the way up to upback. And remember it is always better to hit the button early than late and tapping twice for backup. CvS system uses negative edge, i.e. special moves can be activated by releasing the button as well as pressing it. Don't worry about a standing jab coming out because the super will override its frames and come out instead in good time. Other uses include rolling into it like you would roll into a DP (safe-ish cos the recovery time is quick and hard to predict when it finishes), and also comboing it from a wall punch throw. Combos! ------- You MUST learn these combos if you ever intend to be any good. I'll give a few pointers on how to get good at them, and when to use them. *** moves in brackets are optional. Use if you can to rack up the damage *** (1) (j.SK) -> (cr.LK -> cr.LK) -> cr.FK -> Fierce Ball Roll First one you should learn. Do it in your sleep. Start off learning how to chain 3 cr.LK's. Then learn how to tag on the cr.FK at the end (timing same as LK's). Then practice cancelling the cr.FK into the ball roll. Then do it all from the j.SK. Sometimes negative edge will make you do Hop back Roll instead cos you released the roundhouse button from the cr.FK just as you flip the stick forward. MAKE SURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN. You'll go from juicy damage, to a sitting duck. Do this over and over again until 10/10 times the whole combo comes out WITHOUT the Hop Back coming out. Its okay if the chain breaks, but whatever you do, correct the Hop Back problem. The cr.LK's are not necessary, since if you've charged back since leaving the ground for your j.SK, you should be able to land and go straight into cr.FK. But you should get used to throwing a few in, since it gives you more charge time, and more time to realise whether you're opponent is blocking. I usually only use one cr.LK, since two might push them too far. One is optimum, giving you plenty of time to decide whether to go all the way or stop and throw. Obviously you don't need to start with j.SK, so use this liberally in your ground game (e.g. punish rollers, punish mistakes) (2) crossover j.LK -> cr.LK -> cr.LK -> cr.FK -> Fierce Ball Roll The next one you should learn. If you've got the timing for the above down, this shouldn't be hard. Learn how the crossover lands. And make sure you can chain the j.LK into the cr.LK as the timing is quite tight. Here you NEED two cr.LK's cos the crossover will ruin your charge. Also instead of chaining into a cr.FK you have enough space to chain into a Head Butt instead, which you can cancel the first hit into a Ball Roll. The advantage of this is that the Hop Back problem won't occur since you're not negative edging a roundhouse, instead you're negative edging fierce which is what you want. Its your choice. But for combo (1) I recommend you stick with cr.FK cos the Head Butt isn't as far reaching and would whiff easier. Furthermore a whiffed headbutt is much easier to punish than a whiffed cr.FK. Its okay for this combo tho as the crossover guarantees the distance. (3) Charge downback, downforward, downback, upback + LP If you don't recognise this you should be shot. I cannot stress it enough that to become good you have to be able to throw his roar super out in any situation. That's why I put it in the combo section. So you'd learn it. Don't stop practicing it until you can do it as fast as a DP. (4) Punch throw -> L2/L3 Ball super, L1 Roar super Its a mashable throw, so make the most out of it. Especially with the capcom glitch. The way I do it is for the first three or four hits mash and shake, for next few hits mash buttons and start charging back, and as the throw ends STOP PRESSING ALL BUTTONS. The first few seconds you're opponent will not have started anti-mashing yet, so your mashing and shaking is very productive. You need to charge for the super so start charging downback, but you can keep mashing buttons. You must leave at least a split second to stop mashing before the end of the throw otherwise Electicity would come out. The super has to be executed FAST. L3 super can be done anywhere, regardless of the wall. L2 super needs the wall otherwise the body would have fallen too low to connect. Note that for L2 you can be quite some distance away from the wall and the super will still connect. The L1 Roar super has to combo off a throw pretty much right up to the wall. You'd be using L2/L3 ball super more often but occasionally, you're left with L1 super, you should do with the best of what you got. (5) j.SK -> cr.LK -> cr.FK -> cr.FP A blocked version of (1). People are always waiting for their turn to retaliate. Pause a bit between the block cr.FK, and then whip out that big ass crouch fierce. (6) j.SK -> cr.LK -> cr.FK -> Surprise Forward (Surprise Forward) -> Punch Throw A blocked version of (1). After the blocked cr.FK, release the stick and hit both kicks. Don't try to push the stick forward, cos then you'd get the dreaded Hop Back Roll again. After several combo (1)'s and combo (2)'s you've conditioned them into thinking they're stuck for a while. The cancelled Surprise Forward is very fast, and all cancelled moves keep the opponent psychologically locked into thinking they should keep blocking. Especially when blanka is advancing. Prime time to throw them, and continue into combo (4). Alternatively you can Surprise Forward again, whereby you cross them over for a throw, or combo of choice. Kick ass... Note that this activates the glitch perfectly as the blocked cr.FK is registered as a blocked strong attack. You are almost guaranteed to dish out tonnes of damage. Remember to pick the direction of the throw so you can get the benefit of a wall if need be. ***NOTE: for combos (1) and (2) you can replace the Ball Roll with L3 Ball super. It takes a while to get the timing down (especially not to activate that DAMN HOP BACK ROLL!), but it does separate the men from the boys.*** Tactics: -------- All the above I've written is the basics. Any person who's played blanka to some depth would already have grasped those concepts, and there isn't much space for argument. They are straightforward. What I will say next will be less familiar, more radical, and more open to debate. Because this is where I describe how I myself play blanka. Everybody plays their characters differently, and with as versatile a character as blanka, there are many ways of playing him well. Naturally I believe my way of playing him is the best way to play him. I may be wrong, and I'd be happy for somebody to show me I'm wrong, cos then I'd change and make him better. But keep in mind that everybody's style of playing is unique to themselves so don't get offended if I make the way you play blanka sound retarded, nor try to copy my style to the extent that you lose sight of your own. I would love to get any feedback on this, so I get some insight on other blanka's out there. Capcom or SNK? -------------- Originally I was SNK. But having found the deadliness of L3 ball super, and the abusability of the glitch, Capcom is overwhelming attractive. SNK does offer you the extra move of charging up. It serves as a taunt, and a useful taunt at that, since it gives your opponents a reason to try stop you. Desperation mode does little to blanka, as he can't abuse L1 supers as efficiently as others. In fact that makes his L3 super even more predictable. Capcom is more suitable. Your L3 threat is standing throughout the match. Glitching into the throw pretty much guarantees you a super. Where to play him? ------------------ If you're being cocky you can play him first, with the intent of taking out your opponent with blanka only. Don't laugh, its possible. Especially against scrubs. But I normally place blanka last. He's my confidence guy. If you've got a better confidence guy, I suppose you should put him last then. After losing your second last man, you should always be left to think 'ah well, that's okay, this guy hasn't yet seen my BLANKA!' Apart from that place him behind a battery character (Capcom mode of course). Blanka coming in with an L3 super waiting for him is very promising. Play defensively, unleash a 60% throw -> super combo on him. Finish him off, and wait for next. First move ---------- I feel that you should always have A first move. Or two. Just something to get the game going. Could be something risky, could be something safe, but start the match at least feeling familiar seeing the animation of blanka doing Surprise Back. My personal starter move is cr.fierce. It will hit ALL fat characters, and nab anybody who tries to do anything, and also those jumping forward. If not, I just sit holding downback, and watch what they try to do. A majority of people playing against my blanka tend to jump backwards with a stick jab or roundhouse to knock me out of a potential fierce ball. Ground game ----------- Imagine CvS was changed. They've disabled jumping, or maybe both controls have lost the 3 up directions. Blanka's crouch fierce looks SO attractive doesn't it? How on earth are they going to get close to you? This is the ground game. This jumpless wonderland doesn't grow on trees, you have to create it. If you constantly eliminate his option of taking to the skies, we've turned the game into one where blanka has a distinct advantage. So let's talk about anti-air first... Anti-air -------- There are 3 types of jump-in attacks. (1)(a) Far away (1)(b) Deep (2) Crossover (3) Special (e.g. Dhalsim, Kim). For (1) the prime move is of course your L3 ball super. If you're not sure of the timing, then your L1 Roar super works perfectly as well. But if you don't know if you've got a super, the roundhouse version of Vertical Roll is the move of choice. If you lost your charge (shit happens... your phone rings... you had to scratch your ass... whatever...), then jump straight up with a roundhouse. Either he'll knock you out, or you'll knock him out, or you'll knock each other out. Chances are you'll win. Note if you're not sure if you've charged down enough still hit up + roundhouse, either the ball will come out or jump roundhouse. If its a very deep jump-in, or perhaps even your opponent doesn't know whether he's trying to cross you up or not, then consider jumping backwards and roundhouse. Less agressive, seems more like running away, but does the job. (2): Crossover attacks are more tricky. Firstly you might be stuck in crossing over frames making your attacks come out a split second too late (that IS the beauty of crossover attacks). Secondly your L3 ball super is rendered useless by the fact that you're being attacked from behind. Thirdly, your Roar super is risky as the crossover might screw up your directions. Personally I'd roll fierce across the screen. Keep a distance between you and your opponent. Second option would be to Surprise Back, but you have to react quick enough so that you never actually get crossed over, otherwise you'd get hit by the attack anyways. Third option would be to roll which should place you in cr.fiercedistance of your landing opponent. (3) Depends on the special, some of them blocked would lead to a throw, so it may be better to block them anyways. Otherwise just stuff them with a roundhouse Vertical Roll. Anti-air from getting up ------------------------ Different situation here. Naturally you should always use delayed get up (hold PP). A whiffed jump in attack would mean a throw -> super. But supposing that your opponent got the timing right you'll have to block it. If there is even a sliver of a gap, then roar super immediately. I cannot stress enough the importance of being able to whip this move out of nowhere. If the guy crosses you up, you're stuck. If the opportunity presents itself, roll out of it. Back to the ground game... -------------------------- Mark your territory. Ever played against a good dhalsim player? Find yourself always ready to block when you're in range of his dreaded roundhouse and F+fierce? You want to impress this on your opponent. With blanka, you've got 3 attacks that dominate space. Crouch fierce, jump roundhouse, and fierce ball roll. Push them away to the brink of your crouch fierce, whiff once, and then start super jumping straight up and show off your roundhouse. And that's basically it. Your aim is to stop him advancing, and anticipate your opponent. If you set your mind to it, and really concentrate (I mean completely focussed attention here), you can keep the opponent at bay, and fire off that L3 ball super the split second you see an opening (roll, fireball, jump-in, special move e.g. king's tornado kick). Jump in game ------------ Blanka's jump in game has always been my personal favourite. In the days of the original SF2, I used to always pick Blanka and my brother always used to pick Chun Li. Back then, blanka's anti-air moves were limited, without his vertical roll. Both his standing fierce and roundhouse had difficulty dealing with the Chunsters off the wall stomp kicks. So whenever my brother got close, I had to roll across the screen. Running is not the way to win so I figured out how to do it without, of course, using Ryu or Ken. The trick is to keep Chun Li from jumping in the first place. Blanka's jump was nastier back then, it had shorter horizontal distance, went up quick, came down quick. I would jump in with a fierce, then jump back straight up again with a roundhouse, and again, and again, until I've pushed him too far away, and I jump ahead with the fierce again. It kept Chun Li in a LOT of block stun, and without dashes, she had had no where to go. Jumping back would not get away as she'd still eat my jumping roundhouse. Ah... the good old days... Enough of that. Generally speaking I don't rely on a jump-in game. Some characters have very effective anti-airs (e.g. Ken's DP, L1 DP super, L2 kick DP super), and it would not be worth your while to throw in a few to test your opponent. But against some characters without invincible frames of anti-air, you could easily work it into your wake-up game. I can't tell you how you'd work this into your game, cos I don't. My blanka doesn't knock down people too much (by-product of choosing cr.fierce over slide tackle). But you do have opportunities now and then, and I'll point out the most common ones that you should be prepared for. Refer to the anti-air section above about types of jump in attacks. Of those categories, the best attack for the 3 available him are: Far away : strong kick Deep : strong punch Crossover : light kick But I would never recommend jumping in deep. Just keep it to far away jump-ins and crossover jump-ins. Far away -------- * Wake-up opportunity: * - After a successful ball or vertical ball. Remember that you can hit from a VERY far distance away. Learn the maximum distance and use it to your advantage. When you've got that distance down, learn to jump in WITHOUT using it. Yes that's right, DON'T use it. At a certain position in the air, you have the option of attacking them or not. If you choose to attack, your opponent either tried to block or anti-air, therefore he'd either block your attack, trade hits, or hit you. If you choose not to attack, again your opponent either tried to block, in which case you will land safely, or your opponent will try to anti-air you. Presuming they've got no long reaching anti-air (e.g. guile, blanka) chances are they've whiffed and standing wide open for cr.forward -> ball roll. As you can see, it's actually far more beneficial to you NOT to attack, however be ready to hit that roundhouse regardless in case your opponent whiff's an attack, or jumps towards you. If it connects, link into combo (1) Crossover --------- * Wake-up opportunities: * - After a crossover anti-air vertical ball. Move back slightly first. * - After anti-air roar. * - After a successful ball roll. Dash forward first. It may be too late to count as a wake-up tho. Crossover games are fun. Crossover them, tick them with one or two cr.LKs, then jump over them for another crossover, lather rinse repeat. This is where your combo (2) above steps in. Playing with the L3 super ------------------------- It's very predictable if you're crouching there all day waiting to super him. But if you think about it, there's not much they can do about it can they? You can super thru his fireball, throw him into the super, or super his jump-in attacks. Concentrate on pure anticipation, and don't mess up, MAKE IT COUNT. Alternatively you may run into some people who really are quite flawless in execution leaving you no gaps. For example, mega pokers like Kim, Terry and Guile will give you a few problems, if they decide to continue poking thru out the match. Then you'll have to change your tactics. You can only create more situations by moving around, and this means you can't sit there charging back all day. This means that the only way you can throw out the super is if you combo it or throw him into it. This is where learning how to chain the L3 super off a cr.FK becomes so valuable. As long as you've learnt how to stop the hop back roll coming out, you can do delayed pokes all day, buffering the command for the super, and only hitting both punches if you see the cr.FK connect. Playing without the L3 super ---------------------------- So you've landed that super, and your opponent is roughly at half a life bar. It seems that the smart thing to do would be to play defensive. But if you've landed that super early on, you should go all out offensive. Three reasons: (1) you've earned yourself a bonus by taking off so much damage so early, you really should make that bonus count by finishing him off quick and getting a juicy time-life reward; (2) getting hit by an L3 super would make your opponent want to do the same to you ASAP, and thus if you're constantly attacking (e.g. multiple crossovers) he's more likely to try get out of it and end up making more mistakes; (3) since after the super you are superless, you no longer have the anti-air roar super option, so by attacking you won't need that anti-air as desperately, and also you'd charge up supers much faster: aim to get one super bar ASAP, and afterwards aim to have all three when you finish him. In a situation where the lifebars are about similar and you haven't got L3 yet, you can afford to play defensive. Poke with cr.fierce and j.roundhouse to keep them at bay, and ball thru any jump-in or roll attempts. However, I feel that its really no fun to play that way, and its worthwhile to sacrifice the win just to play Blanka savagely... MUAHAHAHHAHAHA... One thing to remember, without the 3 super levels, your primary aim should be to get up to 3 bars ASAP, cos Blanka is far more dangerous then. So the punch throw has become your friend, and any chance to activate the bug is golden. If you do it right, chances are you'll activate the bug, and can combo that L3 super immediately off the throw. That's all I've got to say right now... hatemail to: [email protected]
