Blanka - match up difficulty 4/10
This match is again in Ryu’s favor. I prefer not to play an overly aggressive Ryu against Blanka, as you can easily get shut down. If you jump at Blanka, you will most likely eat a st:mp: for your trouble and be sent back to where you came from. Instead, playing smart defense has often been the key to success against Jimmy, the Brazilian Green Monster. Your goal is to pressure Blanka with fireballs and punish jump in attempts with proper normals and the occasional dragon punch.
Let’s take a look at the normals we need here:
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cr:mp: : If you don’t use it yet, you will learn to love this move. Very good general utility. It stuffs Blanka balls, the annoying Blanka slide and any hop attempts. Be careful, however, as it loses to a properly spaced cr:hp: and cr:hk: from Blanka.
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cr:hk: : Handy in punishing Blankas that jump from a poor distance. Your sweep will knock him down, or if you mistime it and he blocks, it’s not hard to cancel into fireball. If you manage to hit confirm it, I sometimes cancel it into a short hurricane kick to build some meter before juice kicking backwards.
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st:mp: and st:hp: : Make sure you are not using the overhead or dash punch by mistake! Those moves are surprisingly handy in beating a lot of Blanka’s jump-ins. Practice the distance, and you can often punish jump ins that would be out of your Dragon punch reach.
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st:mk: or :lk: : same use as the standing punches, but tends to trade more. They also work off a slightly different distance than the punches. Use with caution, but can be handy!
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fireball: your primary tool in keeping Blanka away. Mix in fake fireballs and the occasional crouch/standup/crouch thing to get Blanka to commit to an ill advised jump in.
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dragon punch: Ryu has a weak dragon punch, and this is one of the matches where this can be brutally apparent. If you do not know how to time it, you will learn against a solid Blanka. Blanka’s jump:hk: is beastly and will often trade or beat a dragon punch that is timed too early. Don’t be afraid and learn to time the DP deep into Blanka’s jump. Fierce is often times necessary as Blanka loves to mix in his j:hk: with j:mp: and j:lp: that do not extend his hitbox nearly as much.
Overall, Blanka has to come to you and has a limited number of ways of doing so - learn all of those methods of approach and you will have the advantage. You must be fast enough to punish a Blanka ball on reaction, as it is safe on block for him. You can either fireball it if he is from full screen, or dragon punch/cr:mp: it without much trouble. Blankas will abuse the jab roll to get in close to you and start his mix up shenanigans. Do not be nervous. Be aware of what distance you can safely throw a fireball from. He can slide under them, so don’t be predictable. If you end up being cornered, it is not really too bad. Blankas will usually alternate cr:hp:, cr:hk: or the slide.
Blanka should never get a free jump in on you. Assuming he does, because we all sometimes suffer from Bad-Executionitis, they will do one of the following:
1 Jumping attack directly into bite
2 Jumping :lk: st:lp: bite
3 Jumping:lk: st:lp: bait the reversal and punish your face
It’s a bit of a guessing game at that point. If Blanka does a jump in, I usually mash the throw attempt in case he goes with 1. If he does, he’s up close and you have the advantage and should get your throw off. If he goes with 2, you have enough time to recognize the tick attempt.
Important! Blanka’s throw range is bigger than yours! If you attempt a reversal throw, you will be out of range and will most likely get a st:mp: or whatever! Unfortunately, because Blanka is in his throw range, your attack will be stuffed by his bite!
As such, you have one of two options: dragon punch reversal, hurricane kick reversal. Hurricane kick does not always get you out, but if the Blanka player isn’t ready for it, it can get you out of dodge and back to mid screen. Most of the time, I go for dragon punch and it will generally give me some breathing room. Unfortunately, if Blanka went with option 3, he baited me and I then eat cr:mk: xx Blanka Ball for some serious damage, or even a simple cr:hp: or slide for knock down.
The biggest learning hurdle in this match is this: You spend most of the match crouching, and learning to dragon punch 100% of the time off a crouching position makes this match very manageable!
http://www.streetfighterdojo.com/superturbo/ryu/ryumatches.html#Blanka
I’d love to get some feedback from the better Blanka players and have them give us their perspective on what makes it difficult for them. The best Blanka I’ve come across is BlueTall, though Empirion is definitely solid as well.
Any thoughts or input? Again, this is based solely off my personal experience and opinion and represents nothing but my own thoughts, so take it with a grain of salt. Cheers.
