Hopefully I will get to taste AE soon so I can report some findings for you guys.
In the mean time, if anyone wants to get some games in, hit me up on xbl: SHGLBMX.
U1 all the way. If you can’t combo into it with cr.lkx 3 i’d probably go with U2 just for the gauranteed punish after any crumples
I don’t know how anyone is shitting on mullah for telling it like it is. We’ve all wanted Blanka to have more fundamental tools, and instead, we got a nerf to ball, one of his best horizontal zoning tools, and a nerf to ex rainbow ball distance, his best escape tool. What buff did we get? A shenanigan buff (more control over ex ball). I like tricks as much as the next person, but Capcom is solidifying Blanka as nothing but a shenanigan player.
Of course someone will try to shit on me as I haven’t played AE, but from what I see of the AE blanka vids, I don’t see any hidden buff that will better his footsie/zoning/fundamental game (yes, the slide is supposedly buffed, but doesn’t seem big/I wonder if it can still punish things like honda HP Headbutt or OS teleports since the active frames are less). Of course if I do play AE, I will probably still stick with the green machine as I am too lazy to learn anyone else as in depth, but that is besides the point ;>
Where is the blanka hope…Lol…LUA deliever some good news soon lol
@Lakercrono: we still dont know how good ex electricity is or what combos we can land off (overhead?) rockcrusher… If both those moves are useful it could change a decent to good portion of his game both up close and mixup wise…
mullah:
gotta disagree with you… i find ex moves extremely useful… it’s already hard enough to build meter with blanka especially against someone who is slowly inching towards you and can punish ball well…
chances are you are not gonna get a full meter with 1 round.
EX moves on the other hand gives you a set of tools that puts pressure on your one way or another…
i know you’re personally against ex rainbow to the point I feel like you don’t even use it at all other than getting away… but i do find it a useful tool both offense and defensively… offense… doesn’t always mean i need people to hit me… not to mention EX rainbow ball guarantees my opponent either A) breaks their focus so they need to be forced to block or guess which side to block… B) you can land infront of them or slightly outside their jab-happy range
the only EX move that doesn’t seem that useful… but MIGHT BE different is EX electricity…
anyways that’s just my 2c.
didn’t play any AE last two days… so no news…will probably play a bit today
-LAU
I agree that a good overhead would change blanka’s game completely, but the startup is so bad, it has no use whatsoever. If it was quick (ryu, guile), comboable (ibuki), or quick and comboable (dudley), then that would be a great buff, but it still appears to be slow. Even if there was some remote aspect of deceit with it (think boxer’s rush OH), then that would help, but when you do rockcrusher OH, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Lau - have you tried rockcrusher overhead at all? Also, I think i heard confirmation that ex elec has no invincibility frames. Have you tested that as well?
I just got a chance to play AE:
do not feel a difference in crouching mk or standing mk…
do not feel a difference in crouching lk…
havent played around with crouching mp…
Ex electricity does have a much larger range on start up, which might lead to more electricity combos…
overhead rockcrusher does link to jab ball, timing felt tight though…
Tried OV RC jab super and ex electricity but it did not connect; I honestly think its my timing though…
Slide seems better…
ex rainbow travels a short distance than super, but you can control in more, not sure if its good or bad yet…
hop looks a little farther; I tried mixing up after a throw with a meaty cr short to electricity but it whiffed, again it might be my timing…
I cant think of anything else to mention right now…
Im going back tomorrow, let me know if anyone wants me to try anything specific, and Ill work on it…
I played AE a bit with Blanka but the arcade I was at (sunnyvale golfland) only had 1 cab working so I could only try stuff in arcade mode against the computer. I really think cr.LK does 1 extra frame of hitstun now, it was really easy to land multiple cr.LKs into jab xx HP ball. I also landed cr.LK x3 into jab, ball xx super like 7 or 8 times. Blanka’s slide is way better, it seems to actually push back the opponent on block. Maybe my memory is rusty but does slide push back at all in vanilla/Super (not near my consoles to check)?
Check if his kara throw has improved ranged.
OK… played AE today over lunch.
I’m REALLY pissed off… SOMEHOW the new challenger system… SOMEHOW can by pass me… and it’s not beginners mode… like… all the machines are connected… in the old style… the winner pretty much plays whomever playing in arcade mode… well after 22 wins… i got beaten… by Seth… the CPU… last round because i was trying to cling onto my life hoping somehow one of the 3 other players playing against each other will challenge me… wtf… i don’t get how they by pass me… but i do see the intentionally try to skip me by timing when to press start and go into arcade… but i don’t get how some of those players manage to avoid playing against me 10 games in a row, i’m not exaggerating…it might be more… … like I’'m player 3… player 2 and player 4 plays each other… player 2 wins… you’ll think i’ll play against player 2… but somehow player 4 insert coins… and plays player 2 again… while player 1 who’s also trying to avoid me… plays in beginners mode… so i only get to play him after 4 games… the ONLY time i get to play player 2 or 4… is when they run to get their coins… and somehow this ‘bypass’ system can’t be avoided… it’s fucking weird… anyways…
the arcade i went to I usually win… most of the time… but not by this much… even the boxer player i go back and forth against… lost to me. (the harder arcade… i usually go to they don’t have it yet and the hardest arcade it’s too far out of my way for lunch time…)
I’m really not sure why they are losing… but i think… it’s partially because those characters were nerfed as well!!! i dunno
rockcrusher… sucks… tested it… got combo once… but not end with electricity but with ball… and if you read what i said before… i think is character dependent… it pushes you out REALLY far that you barely can land s.LP… imo… crap.
on the other hand… loving the new EX rainbow… i can practically do an S shape now… go over… pull back and pull forward so i land right infront of him… pretty crazy… and ontop of that… i can punish stuff taht i used to can’t punish before… like people teleporting/rolling behind me… now i can smack them… or if E.honda goes under my rainbow i can smack him on the back…
imo… ex rainbow… definitely an upgrade… not downgrade…
at the beginning of the round if you pull all the way forward… with EX rainbow it’s a crossup… before the max crossup range is about 2/3 of the screen… now it’s 1/2 so go figure.
everythign else basically feels more or less the same.
I play vanilla most of the time… one thing i did notice is that some of my hop setup is different… i dunno why.
example. FA (counter) -> backdash -> hop forward -> c.MK xx hop -> mixup… it used to go behind the opponent now… .it seemsto land infront of them on some characters… maybe it’s like that in SSF4 console… but that pretty much never happens in vanilla… anyways… i dunno what that means… it doesn’t feel like the hop is shorter but maybe some stuff has changed.
and yes… you can get thrown out of it… but it’s not like abel’s roll… it’s not like all the frames is vulnerable to throw… there’s still some invulnerable throw frames…
the whole ball nerf thing is bothering me less now… well maybe it’s because i don’t use much ball to start with… but after throwing tons of LP/MP ball and they get used to that speed and distance it’s much easier to smack them with HP ball and even on block sometimes they aren’t prepared for it.
-LAU
one last note…
like i said… Slide is only a minor buff from the way i see it… i can still use it to do my regular anti-air against those who aren’t empty jumping… and at tip it’s still the same type of safeness… imo
the only different like i said before is that it’s harder to react… and harder to FA like mentioned above… simply because the move overall is shorter… but on the contrary… if they do manage to FA it… you’ll NEVER get those magical whiffs because they released it too early or something… you’re guaranteed it’s gonna hit you hard.
overall… kinda like what choco blanka said… there’s still hope… the more i play the more i feel Blanka haven’t been hit by the nerf stick as hard as we originally thought and i dunno what it is… but I’m winning more than usual … maybe because the other characters are nerfed harder or maybe because some of the players were trying out their new characters… time will tell… but for those who thought of giving up blanka… try him out first…
the fight against shoto… honestly haven’t changed too much… medium ball still works alright… HP ball is mad punishable but only if they are ready to react to it… because MP ball is much harder to punish if they try to do the same thing to punish HP ball they are gonna get hit back hard…
also… now the shoto can’t ‘escape’… it’s much easier to keep them confined… i dunno about you guys but often times… i find myself pressuring shotos to the corner simply by walking forward slowly… and playing footsie… and throwing out ball/hop if i sense FA is coming.
-LAU
one extra 1 frame of hitstun would be soooo nice… OMG consistent cr.LK, jab XX elec., i just came <3
BTW is cr.LK x3 into jab, ball xx super character dependant?
edit: Lau, how has the boxer matchup changed? Is his cr. jab or any of his zoning tools nerfed??? Niiiiice…
i find i can get full bar by the end of round one, and if i get to use it early in round 2 i’ll either win the fight or have full bar agai by the early stages of round 3, unless i’m playing someone who requires ex moves (adon, cammy etc)
vs shotos or sagat i guess ex ball through fireballs is worth the meter, although i find i’m not usually charging so its not an option.
thx
cr.lk > cr.mk must be your focus next time you play as that combo will work and should be an easy plink if it’s been improved.
also LAU, the hop reset ends up on the same side of a bunch of characters, bison comes to mind, there are others. you need to use cr.lk to end up on the otherside, and if your opponent can see it and block then mix cr.lk > dash to stay on the same side. conflicting reports on hop length being changed, looks the same to me from vids though.
It’s character-specific, but it usually lands on the same side (if you reset them during a crumple, that is). What happens in SSFIV is that cr.mk xx hop causes you to cross-under them while they’re being reset, but when they land you’re back in front of them. If you do a move before they land, you end up facing the wrong way and they can punish you, unless it’s electricity because it hits both sides (they can still reversal though). You can also do immediate up-ball for a meaty up ball from the other side (punishable if blocked), or delay it slightly for one that hits in front.
Using cr.lk causes you to cross-over completely, but you can delay it slightly/and or adjust your spacing (char specific?) to land on the same side, so it can be used as a mixup.
Thanks for clarification in vanilla ae it always crosses unless corner then sometimes it’s a
bit random
Oh forgot to mention that when I was playing in Vanilla at one arcade in Kowloon, I noticed that sometimes it didn’t challenge the next guy if I didn’t press start, which I usually do to skip win poses/intros.
ilitirit. cr.mk hop reset for most characters crosses under if you crumple >dashback > kkk hop forward >cr. mk x hop. whats ur setup to land on the same side?
[edit] After some more testing it seems like you can control which side you land on by holding down against the chars listed. Holding a direction or neutral leaves you on the other side.
Lands on same side (crosses under for a moment before opponent lands) vs Ryu, Ken, Chun, Ibuki, Viper, Dudley, Dictator, Vega, Seth, Sagat, Gouki, Dee Jay, T.Hawk, Gen, Cody, Dan, Guy, Rose, Sakura, Zangief
Against other chars: FA crumple, forward dash, slight step back, cr.mk xx hop.
Or FA crumple, backdash, walk forward, cr.mk xx hop
Or max range FA crumple, backdash, forward dash, cr.mk xx hop.
The distance you walk forward/back determines whether or not it will cross-under. It’s easier to make it look ambiguous against smaller chars like Cammy and Fei.
i must be walking a touch before i cr.mk because i crossup vs most of those?