Being Tournament Ready for Otakon

blanka
#1

So I would say that I have been a casual gamer when it comes to fighting games, but SSFIV would be the first one I want to take to the next level… even if it’s being locally known. What better way to start than to make a name for myself at Otakon. So I’d say we all have about 3 weeks to get ready and I wanna work on my Blanka style as much as possible.

So outside of going online for about 2 hours a day, I’ve been studying videos to take a look at what’s possible. I also have been utilizing the Hop in my skill set to confuse the opponents and EX Rainbow Ball for cross ups. I know there is like half of you that already know EVERYTHING or almost about Blanka so if you could give me some tips on other skills I can add on that would be awesome.

Also if there is anyone just going to be at Otakon, let me (and probably others would want to know too) know. It would be cool to see the other people from here coming out.

#2

EX Rainbow isn’t really good for cross-ups against anyone decent. I mean, you can still use it to try to confuse them by wiggling one direction then going the other way over their head at the last second, but that’s not going to work very often against a seasoned player. The reward isn’t worth the potential damage you’re going to take most of the time when they block or focus it. EX rainbow is good in certain situations, to get out of a tight spot. It’s also good to finish someone off in a close match with its chip damage, it does very little chip damage but sometimes that’s all you need when they have basically no life left. His j.mk is the main entry for his cross-up game, plus his hop, it just depends on the character you’re going against. You don’t want to jump around too much against shotos, even on wake-up they can punish you by mashing out an uppercut. I still do it but it takes good timing. You almost have to wait to see what they’ll do on wakeup. :confused: Try to remember that you never ever have to jump forward against a Ryu player, that’s 90% of their game, getting their opponent to jump forward for cheap damage. You never ever have to take fireball chip damage from them either. You can coward crouch, neutral jump from a distance, and be prepared to throw out a hp while you’re up there if they try to jump at you. You’ll stuff them pretty much every time if you time it right. Plus, you can slide under them for a free hit, but you have to be careful to only do that on quick reaction to a fireball from mid screen or less. Then, if you have EX meter of course you can roll right through them, try not to waste it at full screen unless you have really good reflexes and can toss it out the instant their fireball animation begins. The EX forward rolls also go through Ryu’s super and ultra fireballs. There’s a matchup thread in here somewhere. You should check that and come back with specific questions on a matchup you have problems with. Other than that, work on your combos and poking game. Most Blanka players I see rarely utilizes his hands and feet very often. Don’t fall in love with just using your balls. lol Learn every matchup, every single one, you never know who you’re going to face in a tournament. You may be a less skilled player than someone you’re going up against, but if you know the matchup better you might be able to beat them.

#3

Know your match ups. Especially with the higher tier characters.

As Shoto Hunter said EX rainbow roll is shit to use for crossups. I only use it for escaping the corner and depending on the level of my opponent I’ll use it to score a throw. Most players will just focus the rainbow ball which equals free combo.

#4

thanks for the tips both of you. I’ve been mostly trying to work on “adapting to the situation” skills (i don’t have any better words to use). Trying to limit my mistakes as the game progresses is something I’m working on and I have seen some success out of it. Before I would just be a block head and try to do the same thing, but I’ve been learning