That’s probably hp ball. Wouldn’t surprise me if mp palm did punish as he lands pretty close to you with the hp version.
you need to hit him just about where his forehead would be if he were standing, if you get real good at it you can stuff balls on wakeup , try it out!
I used to be able to LP.Palm after any Blanka ball (while standing) and it would punish.
Now i can seemingly only MP.Palm punish the LP blanka roll.(while standing).
I will be testing the dash > sweep that has been discussed.
Because at the minute i’m seemingly at a blanka’s mercy from a combination of unpunishable rolls, Sliding sweeps, Electric on crossups.
Although i still win 
I discovered EX upball pretty much owns Gouken. It was down to the wire and I had no health so I faux safe jumped and EX tatsu’ed thinking I would hit him out of his EX upball which I knew he would do cause I had no health and it beat my EX tatsu. Disappointing.
I did learn to deal with the match much better though. Also, does anyone know how to deal with his shout of Earth? It does a TON of chip holy cow. I know if has a ton of recovery but it hits twice. I tried blocking one then jumping bzzzzt dead. I tried blocking both bzzzzt chip dead. I tried blocking both then EX flip but I messed up the input lol. Then I got to thinking though, if I didn’t have flip how could I punish it? How does someone like Ryu punish it? What are the options if you are able to block the first (meaning you baited it, so you can do anything you want and you are full screen away)?
He can do two versions, right? I suppose after blocking the first part, you should anticipate whether he’ll do the anti-air version (Fierce Senkuu punish or attack from the ground?) version or the anti-ground version (EX flip or attack from the air).
use mk flip (throw or ) dive kick and begin your combo there…gouken only seems to work well from mid-screen with this tactic tho results with other kicks are inconsistent
He simply did a late EX upball or you did EX tatsu too early. EX upball has little invincibility frames IIRC (like 5f or around there).
Shout of Earth: Ground Version - You can forward jump the 1st one when he slams on the ground then flip kick on his face during his 2nd attack (exactly his face, not the other parts of the body as the hitbox will cover everywhere else for him, even then it might trade, so throw may be better). As for NOT using flip, just consider it impossible. Even jump HK air tatsu might not cover the long duration of that ultra (like what, 90 active frames?).
AA Version - If you’re far away, they would not use AA version at all. Most likely you’re either jumping right above him (then you’re screwed) or in a very close range. If you’re grounded then back dash once and either go slight walk forward U1 or fully charged U2, or simply go c.LK tatsu. Don’t do any move that can move your hurtbox forward, like cr.MP. That can be risky.
EDIT: After hitting the lab and testing various stuffs myself, I realized that even though foward empty jump flip throw and kick are possible, they’re freakin too hard to time that it’s no use doing it. Since it’s still possible I’ll not edit what I state above.
VS Ground Version
3/4~Full Screen: Mash Medium or Fierce Palm after Ultra Flash
3/4~A bit less than full screen: Empty forward jump and Roundhouse tatsu
Almost anywhere: Flip Sweep after Ultra flash.
Up to a bit less than full screen: Flip dive kick (late) -> Combo of your choice
VS AA Version
Full Screen: Flip Sweep after Ultra flash
Will test more after.
Gouken has more ways to escape his random U2 compared to some of the casts.
Ok, I’m still at a loss. Went to training and just sat and tried all my normals on his wake up. delayed cl.st.mp and cl.hp are the only two that felt solid enough to use on his wake up and his late wake up just fucking bothers me. Completely throws me off my rhythm. Flip kick usually gets blocked and them I’m in the electricity quagmire. Can someone give me some advice here. I want the Blanka I am fighting to fear being knocked down for once, not just wake up EX up ball or electricity knowing he is safe. I’ve seen other posters on other threads mention how he is “free” on wake up. When I inquired how, I got the typical “You are too stupid to answer” kind of response…gee, thanks.
Anyway, help would be appreciated.
off a knockdown safejump him with a gouken flip dive kick. He wakes up slower than the rest of the cast so delay youir timing. if he does his only reversal (ex upball) you will block. if he does anything else he will get hit into a huge combo ending in knockdown. Don’t forget to option select sweep to catch backdash. You can option select with ex tatsu but i dont know if it catches ex rainbow. in the corner you can meaty close st.mp and tickthrow and he can’t do anything about it really except random ultra
Ok thanks for the tips but I still have a ton of questions lol. I will definitely try the cl.mp as I can see how that can work. Does this beat his upball? I did get the delayed safe jump timing down in a recent match against some dude named faceplantu. 7000+ bp, 3000+pp. He was salty after our matches lol. He messaged me some nasty nonsense after I beat him like 5-3 or something. Stupid.
What do you do if he blocks the safe jump? This is probably where I lose it the most. Tick throw? Example: I safe jump OS sweep, he blocks the dive kick, then we’re kinda just sitting there looking eye to eye with each other. I feel like as soon as I press a button, I get beat out. I guess this is where my OS needs work. I feel like when I do it, if I want to jab or something after the block it messes up the OS. Is this true or am I doing something wrong?
BTW…EX tatsu is a lifesaver in this match up.
Only do close stmp in the corner, it will beat everything except ex up ball! But u can sweep on hit anyway. Otherwise go for safe jumpon each knockdown mid screen. After they block it do cl.st.mp then tick throw or cr.hp x firebal fadc sweep. both throw and cr.hp will beat elec startup and all his normals for a counter hit. That’s the basic throw vs counter tech trap mixup you should run on everybody basically. You can sub in sweep or jabs followed by a quick level two focus attack. But the original mixup is my backbone. If they block and you stmp cr.hp x fireball them out then you are neutral! Wait for blanks to do something stupid.
If he jumps over u a lot I’d just j.mp or block, not worth it to Kongo or ex tatsu cos it often whiffs vs cross ups and Kongo is empty jump bait. Blanks is easy to block and tech, wait for a hop and jab him out. If he does elec point blank I always get hit i dont think gouken has a normal that can beat it but maybe low Kongo would work?
I think med kongo or low kongo if you do the crouching kongo shortcut. I’ve done it before and it worked.
This matchup has gotten better for me but I still hate the fact you can’t punish ex upball midscreen on block, but with palm back that may have changed. Online this match is harder cause of hops and lag. It’s not so bad offline. Also, every version of ball is punishable except lp and ex i believe, but again with 2012 that may change again.
I think it’s better not to crouch tech in this match so you don’t get ch electricity, it’s probably best to tech late or eat the throw.
The throw eats you…literally.
*rimshot
cant wait for easy ball punish again. I love it when you can see the change in Blanka when he realizes he can’t just harass with balls. Noobs pretty much don’t know what to do and don’t even approach anymore.
Blanka could already safeball lp palm back in vanilla super with well placed jab/ex balls.
In AE gouken can dash -> sweep strong balls. This change isn’t as big as you think especially against strong Blanka players.
Sort of offering myself up for questions for you guys. I’m a very strong Blanka player, and Blanka destroys Gouken so if you have any questions let me know.
Since they changed lp it made the match up harder, but when 2012 comes out super lp palm will be back and ball spamming will be back to nil for Blanka.
Bait Balls, He comes forward he either hops, jumps or slides.
If he hops he can also go into ball afterwards.
You can hit him out of hop, use jab or st. mp it will convert to the best option. In 2012 you can also mp palm his ass for it.
He has a quirky jump in. On that non meaty ambig. cross up, st. hk normally beats a lot of it. Either kongo or Block the rest.
You can sweep him after slide and then safe jump him after knockdown. He’s pretty much defenseless to it.
You can also safe cross up his wake up after cr. roundhouse and if he reversals he just uses meter for nothing or he’s about to get punished.
EX Tatsu beats Blanka Balls on reaction. Just be careful of the light ones that they use to bait you out.
Spamming cr. lp beats any of his mid. screen balls, and recovers quick enough to block slide.
Electricity can beat GF on wake up, so only use it as a surprise.
U1 Hit’s Low, High, and then Low again.
U2 Goes 2 different directions. Upward. Just don’t jump. Across the screen, EX GF Dive Kick him. So if has U2, make sure you have at least 1 EX Bar for when he wants to light it up.
He can tech after upballs… punish him instead of grabbing him.
jump back, forward mp can also beat some of his ambig attacks.
Pay attention when he’s hopping over your wake up. IF you can’t auto correct then just block. I believe AC EX Dive Kick can beat electricity b/c of start ups… may vary b/c of timing.
Beware of throwing MUCHO hados. He can slide under, use st. mp as a fake instead. Bait slide, and cr. rh him and pressure him.
Most of all BE PATIENT. He jumps around like a maniac and will eventually lend him self to you.
What exactly is a well placed ball? If you stand block a ball it was pretty punishable but sometimes it would miss, I’m guessing you have the answer as to why lp.palm sometimes missed.
Also, do you play on Xbox Live? Blanka is a completely different matchup offline but I’d still like to play you if possible.