Josh, what makes Honda worse than Bison ?
Ves, how do you deal with Sim then?
iirc didn’t taku even say he was the hardest?
or am I losing it…
Sim is relatively easy. Sim’s mash on buttons, so blanka should just mash on buttons too. In the long run, you will trade pretty often, and your trades rape him.
tongue sorta in cheek, but not really, but kinda yea, but oh well
I firmly believe in playing a character that follows your playstyle. So if you need a counter character, play a character that plays like how u want to play. For example, I zone, specialize in normal usage, so I can counter people with any character that utilizes those characteristics.
If I want to counter bison, without a doubt i choose vega. Just straight low mp rapage. I also use vega to counter balrog if I really want to, though I like the blanka blarog match, not cuz its in my favor, I just find it fun to crack that nut open. Vega also aint too bad against honda, which is another rough matchup.
I also like dhalsim a lot. I see vega/dhalsim/blanka to all be very similar in that they focus on zoning and space control. Hell, vega is practically dhalsim without the fireball. Blanka and Vega are practically the same character, its just their normals play differently with the whole cast, so I choose one accordingly.
So those are kinda my triad, though I also in a pinch can pull out balrog cammy killer, or bison as well, though I honostly just dont really see a nitch for bison in this game. I played hella bison in older games, but I just don’t like him in this one.
I can easily play honda as well (about as brain dead of a character that ever existed in a sf game). Jab hands is basically jab elec, but easier, and ex headbutt, and standing rh. Thats pretty much honda. Oh, and jumping mp ftw. For obvious reasons, I dont choose to play honda bc he puts me to sleep.
Why do I hate honda? Unlike bison, he has fukin damaging and awesome anti-airs. While bison tries, Honda’s tick dmg capabilities are fuking crazy. In fact, its pretty much jab hands and headbutt that makes honda way way way more difficult than either bison or balrog. When Taku says that honda is rough, I completely understand where he is coming from, because there is very little blanka can do to get in, and when blanka does get it, all it takes is a random ex headbutt, and honda either resets the situation or does mad dmg. Phun…Yes, sure, blanka can sorta bait out the ex headbutt, but there are very very very few options where u can get any real dmg from doing so. All in all, a yucky match, and I play dhalsim specifically to beat honda.
Pimperonio Muffin: Taku did not say dhalsim was hardest, or even hard. In japan, top tier blanka goes at least even with dhalsim. Its basically a question of dmg. If blanka hits dhalsim, game is over. Dhalsim can sorta keep blanka out, but I can also just simply block everything dhalsim does, and laugh in his face. If dhalsim snipers, blanka has guaranteed punish, leading to massive offense. blanka ball and elec often trade with limbs, as does standing fp. Low rh can pretty easily sweek dhalsim standing fp. There is a whole lotta tech that is needed to be known to win the match consistantly, but once you do, its a very tight hard match and comes down to who knows the spacing better.
Random counter character thoughts: Some people, instead of seeing blanka as a zoner, might see him as some kinda of passive aggressive control freak, and as a result they could fit many other characters into their playstyle. When I think of counters to use with blanka, I dont really look at it from a which character covers all of blanka’s hard matches the best, but rather I look at which characters fit with the way i want to play the game. For example, if I really wanted to counter honda, i could instead of picking dhalsim (zoner), I could pick ryu or sagat (shoto’s). All three should do pretty well against honda, but I’m just not a shoto guy, and as a result I go for the dhalsim.
I like play Chun-Li with Blanka, i think both are great together.
If you like zoning with normals and all of that, Chun is fun to play and she does good in Blanka’s hard match ups : Honda, Bison, Boxer and also against Fei.
But she’s not easy to play, the learning is not like Honda, you need to play a long time to have results with her, you never think or try her Josh ?
I’ve looked at chun, and I always hated chun. Only chun i ever played was in cvs2 c-groove. But same concept sure, the game has a lot of flavors if you like to zone.
Vega on the other hand, has always been my good friend. I played more vega in cvs2 than blanka, in fact blanka is more my cvs1 character, not really cvs2.
I just like vega a lot because his anti-airs are awesome (if yer reactions are fast enough), and his poke range is super fast and long. Also, his damage output seems to be a lot better than chuns. Vega just dishes out damage left and right.
I always see Vega as a weak character in SFIV, so i’m wrong i guess.
You think which is the most solid between him and Blanka ?
Both vega and blanka have shit matches that make them…incomplete? Though I deffinately think vega is able to deal with his bad matches better than blanka. Vega’s movement speed and poke range and dmg output pretty much outclass blanka. However, vega doesnt have the scary wakeup game that blanka has, nor does vega have the anti-airs that blanka has.
I do think vega does well where blanka does shit, and vice versa, ala bison/balrog are easier for vega. Twins were fuking evil for vega in AE, not sure how they are now though.
I just prefer blanka overall cuz I like to bite and electrocute people. Personal problems are likely.
Vega is like blanka in that their effectiveness is highly highly dependant on the person using the character. They have no insta derp, nothing that immediately makes them scary. Just solid footsies and patience make them very powerful.
If you need a character to compliment blanka I would consider a non charge character that isn’t riddled with more than 7 bad match ups. There are some characters that only have very little bad ones (Sagat comes to mind) I mean Vega looks like he might be a good idea but without an effective reversal he is pretty much free.
Guile would be your best bet to deal with Bison but I don’t know how I would feel about having to completely learn one character just for one match up.
Anyhow, I’m new in this section, hi ^_^)
I think I saw some of you at SCR
Lack of a good anti air does not a bad character make.
And besides, if vega has good reactions, he has all the anti-air he needs.
Certainly a bunch of good japanese vega’s, even a couple good american ones too.
He fits some holes in blankas game, at least in my eyes.
Hell I hope nobody else plays vega, easier fer my vega to roflstomp!
Another random point: Never learn a character just for a single matchup. If you learn a secondary, learn the damn secondary as much as possible. I know about 4 characters as full as i can, allowing me to counterpick as best aspossible, and if he counters my counter, I won’t be compeltely fucked.
Counter-picking is the traditional American way to play SF, old school SF is counter all the fukin way…that means building up a complete set of characters that you understand how to use to the best of your abilitiers.
I played Guile, Ryu and Blanka all the way through SFII. I only switched out Guile for Viper in SFIV because I didn’t like how Guile played in this version. I might pick him up again though, but I’m also considering Chun (who I do like in SFIV) and Honda.
Good stuff Josh.
Sagat/Deejay/Sakura are probably my best characters that aren’t blanka. Deejay does well vs. Rufus/Cammy, Sagat doesn’t fit my playstyle at all, and Sak pretty much only helps vs. Bison/Makoto/Abel
@Shinebox hi
Agree with all this, its good to have a complimentary posse of chars to pick from for countering counterers lol. Some say it takes away from your main/dedication, but imo after time it is best. I think picking up a secondary or 2 can improve your main’s play as well.
As far as WHO to pick…
I suggest picking characters you hate to play against.
Why?
You learn more about them and thus how to beat them.
Ves, I like DJ. He is a solid character, that does not require super precise timing to pull off his combos. And thats kinda a big factor too, when switching characters in a tournament, it likely helps to have characters who have pretty easy combos, or the timing is similar between the characters so that your likelihood of fucking up a key combo moment is reduced.
I have no idea, however, if DJ is especially good where blanka is weak. DJ - bison? I have no idea, same with DJ balrog. His projectile seems useful in those matchups,but the lack of a guile low fp, especially against bison, makes me wonder how the matchup goes.
Just to reiterate though, I have a lot of confidance in blanka, and the only character I would really counter-pick against is honda. Its likely all in my head at this point, but the dhalsim - honda counter is pretty obvious.
I use Dee Jay as an alt because he’s fun to use. I think he brings more to the table against some of Blankas bad match ups. He may not be the best choice, but he can do better than Blanka.
I counter pick honda with Chun. I always feel a little wussy cos I don’t think that match was too horrible, but ex headbutt annoys the crap out of me and nothing feels better than shutting that option down completely.
wtb this tech
Wich are the matchups where Blanka have an advantage for you guys, even a slighty advantage ?
Of course T Hawk.
Gief, Gouken, Rose, Guile.
Chun ? Vip ? DJ ?
Gouken likely less so now, bc his buffs are crazy. I havent played our local gouken guy yet, but he is a happy guy.
Off hand, I cant really think of anyone that blanka just destroys.
You pretty much listed his better matchups already. DJ certainly.
Gief, I would say is 5-5, no way anyone really has an advantage. All it takes is one gief knockdown and life can suck hard.
I didn’t know about all Gouken’s buffs, just the Super 3 frames, and about Gief, it was very tense with Ball nerf in AE but now with new exupball, i feel this match up much better, Gief can’t kill you with one option on your KD but i don’t know who have better priorities on normals, i just know Gief have a damn good standing strong.
Advantage matchups(not speculation)
Gouken, Dan, Sakura, Oni, Chun, Viper, Deejay, Evil Ryu, Guile, Fuerte, T.Hawk, Rose
With Deejay, Dan, Gouken, and Hawk being the biggest advantage matchups.
Maybe Advantage(Matches I do not feel Blanka loses, and if they were to tip one direction they will tip towards him)
Gen, Hakan(I learned how to fight oilkan so whatever), Rufus(if you land one grab on him you win basically), Yun, Akuma, Yang, Cody(Ex upball change is huge vs. him IMO), Sim(yup)
I never thought Yun was a huge problem, and I’ve played Hugo101’s Yun a lot and done really well vs. it considering what he does to other people. Blanka probably beats Yun.