G1 Finals match against Blanka
[media=youtube]NeECgrREfwo[/media]
Besides missing the demon at the end, what are the areas I need to improve on so I can come out with the W.
That Blanka was abusing the slide and you let it go unpunished so many times. You can punish the slide from almost full screen if you see it coming. If he is slide happy bait it and punish it. You can punish it with a FA, block and combo if it was poorly spaced, or Ultra it. If the Blanka is smart enough to use to slide at the edge of its range then it is hard to punish on block though if you anticipate it you can always back dash and punish it.
Another note is you used the HK way too much in this match. A good Blanka will own you if you use it too much since he has so many ways to punish it. I know it is tempting to use it after a blocked ball attack, but try not to. That was a bad habit I had to get myself out of when I started playing SF4.
Against Blanka I try to stay grounded for about 85% of the time because Akuma’s air moves do him little good if predictable. Between Blanka’s HK, electricity, and anti-air ball he can basically shut down Akuma’s air game. Also fireball use should be taken to a minimal when Blanka has EX or is about half screen. Any predictable fireball will be punished and I mean ANY fireball. Your normals and footsies are your best spacing tools against Blanka.
Above all, patience!
Here is a good video to watch for this match up.
[media=youtube]53HBLxpNwDs[/media]
^ I use dash > sweep for spiral arrows and cannon spikes but I never thought abt it for horizontal ball. AWESOME!
It doesn’t always work, so watch out.
It should almost never work… it’s definitely not reliable. Blanka’s horizontal balls (all of them) are -24 on block. Akuma’s forward dash is 18 frames, and his sweep has a 6 frame startup. So if you were to do this, you would have to be frame perfect or risk eating another ball… however, Akuma’s forward dash rarely even puts him close enough after a blocked Blanka ball to connect with sweep, so you have to inch forward, and with exact perfect frame timing required in order to punish with sweep, it becomes impossible at that point. I just double checked in training mode, and the punish only seems possible when you block a blanka ball at point blank range, due to having less pushback in this instance.
EDIT: That’s really weird. He was doing it over and over, I really don’t understand this. Maybe I’m just doing something wrong? I did see some points where he was too far, I guess I’ll test ranges some more.
The Horizontal Blanka ball is almost impossible to punish on block without Ultra.
Though the ball is easy enough to punish in progress if it is over abused. SRK or even just standing HP can punish a full screen ball.
I remember watching Momochi punishing Blankas ball with Focus. Is that reliable?
^ hahahahahahaha. punished using his face
Just to clear things up: after block, of course.
unless it was rainbow ball, pokes wont really reach.
Yeah, I cant remember if it was a horizontal or a rainbow ball, but the second possibility seems to make more sense.
Seeing Momochi murder that turtler was pudding for my eyes.
Good show.
(Goddamn I can’t stand turtles :D)
Remember push-back is less when you block standing. Food for thought.
another thing that works WONDERS against blanka is doing a safe demon flip palm or simply a safe jump in his wakeup to bait ex upball when you have ultra.
Ex upball is pretty much blanka’s best/only wakeup option and we all know how that green monkey likes to abuse it. Block and ultra
Hmphg…
You take bad habit online
Well, I’m finally able to pull off DF dive kick, c. lp, c. lp, c. MP, LK tatsu and then branch off into either EX tatsu or HP SRK (or c. HK to start the vortex). But that’s offline practice… I’ve had a few chances online, though I managed to flub the c. MP input each time (stupid hands!) :arazz:
The other thing is that there isn’t much variety online where I can try it: all I keep getting pitted against are FB spamming Ryus/Sagats/Kens/Akumas. Kinda tough to land a bnb combo on opponents that have such strong AA options.
Still, I’m more optimistic now about my chances of competing during a match than I was few days ago.
Why are you doing such a long BnB? DF dive kick, st. fierce, lk tatsu, HP shoryu. That’s the core BnB. If you want to hit confirm, then do DF dive kick, cr. strong, cr. jab, lk tatsu, HP shoryu. Or DF dive kick, cr. jab, st. fierce, lk tatsu, HP shoryu.
And there is no real thing as FB spamming, it’s all part of zoning. If they’re throwing fireballs relentlessly, focus some, throw some fireballs back, and after doing so, read there pattern. And punish obvious patterns with with a EX demon flip dive kick and then you can apply the BnB from there.
A little tip on Sagat though. The exploding heart technique, which is a forward throw followed up by 2 forward dashes and a medium demon flip dive kick, will stuff and/or make Sagat whiff all his wake up options. His tiger uppercut gets stuffed by dive kick, his ex TU whiffs, his ultra whiffs, his super whiffs. It’s one of my favorite things to do against online Sagats because most of them just spam tiger uppercut and you can punish them for it. As for Ryu, Ken this doesn’t work (Except for their jab shoryu, but no one does that).
Against Ryu, you need to play a more defensive, turtly style. Blunt dive kicks or jump ins always get eaten by shoryu, and Ryu’s ultra is always guaranteed even in his worst case scenario which is a trade. I like to use cross up tatsu’s and cross up jumping lk’s. Because that beats all of Ryu’s wake up shoryu’s. You have to play very patiently and carefully on this match up.
Ken is also kinda similar. Your fireball game is SO much better than his. So space him out with FB’s, play a pseudo run away game. If he starts pressuring you, tele out and repeat. Punish bad shoryus with BnB and so forth. Ken has a better poke game then Akuma so watch out. Also watch out for his kara throw. If you see Ken stop his block string for a short moment at a distance you think he’s out of grabbing, get ready to tech.
Some people can’t hit-confirm in two hits (i.e. me) unless it’s strong strong (since it’s slow and easy for me). I almost always do jab x3 or short jab strong, etc. I will say with a jump-in maybe it’s a bit easier and wiser to just use two hits though, since there will be a fair bit of pushback. ultimately, whatever works for you is what I’d recommend doing for anyone.
I always found the 2 cr. strongs after the dive kick a little tricky lol. Yeah I like the jab X3 as well, but it could be a tricky link, and the fact that Akuma’s light tatsu doesn’t hit on crouching opponents, you could get pretty gayed if you miss a link and the tatsu just spins over the guy’s head lol.
First and foremost, let me set the tone. I’m like not even half way decent in this game, and I find my self having the most fun with Akuma. I just wanna know what I can do to get even just a bit better, and SRK is like the only sure place to do it online so…
My recorded matches(most are G1 recorded final matches/ also I’m sure their not very good either if I’m beating them:sweat:):
These come in horrible handycam too…
VS Bison [media=youtube]vHUjctofREI[/media]
VS Sagat [media=youtube]UdDguU2Jupo[/media]
VS Sagat again(I’m talking smack in this apparently) [media=youtube]28LD3__nbO8[/media]