Introduction
------------
First of all, I have to thank you for reading this FAQ. This is my first
attempt at writing a FAQ and I'd greatly appreciate any feedback or comments
you may have. This is a Z-ism faq, because that's the mode I play. :)
I like my air blocking, extra super (gotta have fruit) and I can't figure
out any decent VC's with him. I also expect you to know all the terminology,
etc., because I'm too lazy to write it out. :) If you don't know it, get
Kao Megura's SFA3 FAQ at Gamefaqs.com and a kudos to him while I'm at it
for such a good job.
Why use Blanka?
---------------
Why? Here's the only reason you should need: He's not Ryu or Ken! I can't
understand how some people can exclusively use Ryu and Ken.. You have 30
odd charcters at your disposal and you pick 2. (oh, and sometimes Akuma).
Blech.. That's exactly why you should pick Blanka. He's different, he's
green, and he got FRUIT! (more on that later..) Anyways, pick Blanka
and mess your friends up.
2.MOVES
Movelist
--------
This is your basic movelist. I'll explain everything further in the
next section. I'll also use my own names, as I find the others to be
confusing or misleading. (amazon river run?)
Rolling Ball: charge B, F+P
Vertical Ball: charge D, U+K
Backstep Ball: charge B, F+K
Electricity: press P rapidly
Headbutt: B or F+STRONG
Slide Punch: DF+FIERCE
Dash Forward: F+KKK
Dash Back: B+KKK
Super Rolling Ball: charge B, F, B, F+P
Tropical Hazard: charge DB, DF, DB, UF+K tap P or K
Ground Throw: F or B+PP
Air Throw: F or B+PP or KK
3.STRATEGY
Basic Moves
-----------
Standing Jab - Your generic jab punch. It's sorta quick, decent priority
is interruptable, blah, blah. Not too useful.
Ducking Jab - A cool looking claw swipe to the shins. Pretty good
priority. Try using it every now and then when in close, besides that,
it's not very useful.
Jumping Jab - A weak jumping swipe. whoopee. Nothing great.
Standing Strong - Blanka pokes with his claw, palm up. Good move because
if it connects, you can cancel it into the Rolling Ball for some damage.
OR you can use the Vertical Ball for some style points.
Headbutt (B or F+STRONG) - This move should be used A LOT, especially in a
combo. It's a 2 hit headbutt that hits crouchers, and the first hit can
be easily canceled into the Rolling Ball. Also, since it's now F+PP to
throw, you won't be accidentally throwing you opponent all the time
like in earlier SF's. Also, the first AND second hits can be cancelled
into the Super Rolling Ball. But that's pretty much useless, because
it won't connect unless your really, really close.
Ducking Strong - A lunging claw swipe. Decent attack to use in close.
You'll find yourself snuffing out a lot of your opponents attacks with
this. Not too close though, as it has some lag time. Try to connect
with just the claw part.
Jumping Strong - Downward angled punch. Good in that it comes out fast.
Pretty good when meeting you opponent in the air, but not too good for
jumping in with.
Standing Fierce - Double upward scoop. Good damage, but pretty slow.
Try using it as an air counter sometimes, but don't rely on it. It's
good like any fierce in that if you counterhit someone, you'll pop them
up for extra hits.
Ducking Fierce - Great counter move here.. Blanka makes a LONG punch up
into the opponent's stomach. Very good to counter missed attacks (such
as Sagat's High Tiger Shot) and you can try to snuff attacks with it as
well to pop your opponent up with the counterhit. Not good when in close
especially since it takes off less damage when close. Try to connect with
the fist only. Primarilly a counter move.
Sliding Punch (DF+FIERCE) - Blanka slides forward with his fists, belly up.
Good range, but not as good as it looks. It has a bit of lag at the end,
so I wouldn't use it too close to your opponent. You'll find your fists
passing through your opponent sometimes, and that can be very frustrating
in a good match. But a good move nonetheless.. Just don't overuse it or
you'll be eating a super combo. It can go under fireballs, and can even
snuff 'em before they come out. I wouldn't recommend trying to go under
fireballs from a distance though, it's not Dhalsim's slide. Do use it
to go under fireballs if you're close enough to connect. It's also a good
suprise tactic.
Jumping Fierce - Another great move. Blanka makes a long double-handed
downward swipe. Good priority and good damage. It's also your basic
combo starter, and because of Blanka's quick jump, you don't have to hit
very deep to get a combo. Use this move a lot, espeially when jumping
in close. You have to remember however that it doesn't come out instantly
so if your meeting someone in the air with it, you have to throw it out
early. You can also cross up with it but that's not too useful, because
of how awkward it is and Zero 3's messed up charge switching. But go for
it if you wanna try some flashy Vertical Ball combos.
Jumping Straight Up Fierce - A cool looking straight claw swipe.
Definitely an anti-air only attack. pretty well useless on a grounded
opponent but it's a great anti-air attack. It's fast too, as soon as
you press fierce, it's out. If you manage to pop someone up with a
counterhit, you can try to snag a few style points with this move. Pop
someone up, then hold up and press fierce as soon as you jump. CRACK!
you gotta love that hit sound. :>
Standing Short - A weird looking upward kick. Pretty useless.
Standing Close Short - Blanka hops up and hits with his knee. Can go
over sweeps, but it's not very good.
Ducking Short - A short toe poke. It's ok in close because of its
priority, but it's weak (duh). Also interruptable
Jumping Short - An upward kick, sorta like his standing short. Nothing
special
Standing Forward - Same as standing short but a bit slower and stronger.
Standing Close Forward - Double hit knee, like the short.
Ducking Forward - This is one of Blanka's best kicks. He swings his
right foot around to the opponent's shins. Good poke attack, and it's
also good in combos. The bad part is if you want to cancel this into
the Rolling Ball, when you let go of forward and press towards you'll
usually get the Backstep Ball instead, which is NOT good. To get around
this you can do the ducking forward, hold down the forward button, finish
the motion for the rolling ball, and -then- let go of forward. Don't worry,
it's easier than it sounds.
Jumping Forward - Downward single kick. I never use it.
Standing Roudhouse - Backflip kick. A pretty decent move, but you'll
find that it won't hit cleanly a lot. Has a fair bit of range, and you'll
sometimes score a counterhit with it if you use it wisely. It does look
sweet though when you crack a ryu in the face with this as he's starting
to throw a fireball. :>
Ducking Roudhouse - Your basic sweep.. Long range, and trips the opponent.
Pretty good because of it's range. Watch out if you don't connect with it,
as it's recovery isn't good (as with all sweeps). Don't use it right next
to your opponent unless you know it's going to hit.
Jumping Roundhouse - Great move. A long double footed dropkick. Good
priority, good damage, good range, etc. If you're jumping in from a
distance, this kick is the one to use. Good for jumping over fireballs
with from a distance too.
Hold (F or B+PP) - Blanka hops up onto the opponent and then starts to eat
their face. MMmmMMmm.. This Hold has good damage. If you jam on all
the buttons and rock the pad back and forth, this hold can take off as much
as Zangief's Piledriver. This would be good if I played with throws. :)
Air Throw (F or B+PP or KK) - Now these are fair game where I come from,
and I use them a lot. If you meet the opponent in the air, go for it.
With the punch air throw, Blanka grabs the opponent over his head and tosses
them to the ground. This one works best when you're lower than you opponent
in the air. With the kick air throw, Blanka looks like he's about to start
his bite, but then snapkicks the opponent away. This one works best when
you're higher than your opponent.
Special Moves
-------------
Rolling Ball - Charge back for 2 sec. Towards and punch.
Blanka curls up in to a ball and flies across the screen. One of his
best moves, and unfourtunately, one of his worst. When done with Jab,
he goes about half screen, with strong about 3/4, and with fierce he goes
full screen. It's a good move in that it's fast and the damage isn't too
shabby either. Like all special moves, it has good priority. But you're
not invincible either. If you get predictale with this, you're toast.
Best used in combos.. In fact, it's pretty much the only combo you'll use.
Some characters can hit Blanka after they block this move and that's BAD.
This ball can also go over low attacks. So, if you can call a sweep, bang!
hit 'em with the ball.
Vertical Ball - Charge down for 2 sec. Up and kick.
This is Blanka's Flash Kick. He curls into a ball and flies upwards
diagonally. When you reach it's peak he does a backflip and lands almost
back where he started it. It can be air blocked unfourtunately, but it's
not too bad because you'll usually bounce away to safety. This does
however have awesome priority. No more trading hits all the time like in
Turbo. I have yet to be hit out of it with an air attack. It's not good
though when the opponent is jumping in too close, especially on cross ups.
You'll most likely miss and land right next to them, which is also bad.
You'll have to judge your opponents jumps and play accordingly.
Backstep Ball - Charge back for 2 sec. Towards and kick.
Ok, this move is trash. Usually the only time you see this in a match is
when a Blanka does it by accident. Blanka does a backflip, and then rolls
in a ball in an arc towards the opponent. This move was designed to be an
anti fireball move. If there was no backflip in it, it'd be awesome. But
since there is (sigh), you have to do it when, or even before your opponent
throws his fireball in order to go over it and hit him. And FORGET trying
it on Dee Jay.. The only way you'd hit him out of his projectile with this
is if he let you do it. All in all, I'd say that you shouldn't use
this move. Once or twice might be alright, but once your opponent catches
on (or wakes up is more like it) you'll get hit out of it every time.
It's more of a humiliation move, to show that you read a fireball and
smacked 'em with the crap ball instead of jumping in for a combo.
Electricity - Press any punch rapidly.
Blanka crouches down and starts to emit electricity a short distance around
his body. This move is alright, if you're close. If they block it, you
can usually stop it and be safe from counter attacks. It's also pretty
good against jumpers, but it's pretty hard to pull off when you see someone
jump.. Unless you have lightning fingers. (Get it? "lightning"? :).
The general rule with the electricity is to make sure you connect with it.
At least make your opponent block it so you'll be safe. The reason for
this is that you are totally vulnerable during it. A well place sweep or
punch will easily take you out.. especially super combos.
Dash Forward - press towards and 3 kicks.
Blanka does a little hop foward, about 1/4 screens length. Ok, this is
NOT an attack, but I put it here anyways. Don't go crazy with this move
as you can't do aything while dashing, and you are totally vulnerable.
But it's not that bad. It can be quite good actually, as long as you know
when, and how to use it. If you opponent whiffs a move, but is too far
away, dash forward and smack 'em with a ducking fierce. It's also a good
move to cover ground with in general. Another interesting thing about this
move is that it goes through your opponent. Which can be confusing to
the opponent (and to you if done by accident :). And because it's a
special move it can be buffered into a normal move. One thing to try
is to jump in with fierce (you're charging for the ball of course), and
start a double hit headbutt while charging the ball. Now, if you connected
with the jumping fierce, cancel the first hit of the headbutt into
the rolling ball for a nice and easy 3 hit combo. If they blocked
the jumping fierce, which means they probably blocked the headbutt,
cancel the first hit of the headbutt into Blanka's dash. You'll hop over
your opponent and most likely confuse him. If he's the type that
jams on sweep or some other button when they don't know what to do,
you could start jamming on punch when you started your dash to land
with your electricity, and he'll be hit. Or, if you're cheap, and he
doesn't jam, you could throw when you land next to him. Oh yeah,
If you have trouble doing this (the dash instead of the ball), you
can hold strong when you do the headutt, cancel into the dash, and then
let go of strong. Oh, and for you cheapo's, dash into throw works well. :)
Dash Back - press back and 3 kicks.
Similar to the forward dash, but he doesn't travel as far. I don't
know why, but it CAN'T be buffered into a normal move (?). It's good
to get away from your opponent, and if you're good you can use it to
dash away from a close attack and then smack em with a ducking fierce.
Super Combos
------------
Super Rolling Ball - charge back for 2 sec. Towards, back, towards and punch.
First, the SC chi appears freezing the screen. Then Blanka does a little
ball that pops up a bit and then rolls on the bottom of the screen. This
is your wake up move. EXCELLENT priority against jumpers and even against
cross ups while you're getting up. But the damage isn't too great, for
a level 3 that is. Don't bother using any other level unless it's a life
or death situation. You can also stall this move after the first little
bounce by holding a punch button. I highly recommend that you do this
every time because if you don't, you'll miss out on a lot of hits.
Sometimes the little bounce hits the opponent, but the rolling part misses.
You can fix this if you stall the rolling part for a sec. Just play in
training and you'll see what I mean.. try it on an opponent that's in
the corner. Also, if your opponent touches you while your rolling in place
you'll automatically roll ahead ending the stall.
Tropical Hazard - charge down-back for 2 sec. Down-towards, down-back,
up-towards and kick.
This is not an `instant' super, and should NOT be used as a wake up move.
Blanka jumps to the top of the screen and -then- the SC chi appears. Some
fruit will fall in front of blanka and some melons will appear at the top
of the screen. Then the melons fall, and Blanka dives VERY quickly
towards the opponent. This move is hilarious.. :) If you jam on punch
or kick, more melons will appear and more fruit will fall. But you'll
stay at the top of the screen while shaking the extra fruit down. You're
pretty safe while doing this move, as it's nearly impossilble to hit Blanka
out of it cleanly. They'll have to hit you on your way up to hit you
cleanly out of it, which doesn't happen very often. But the bad part is
that your opponent usually has time to block the dive part. :( The good
part is that if you shaked down enough fruit, you now have some projectiles
to play with! :) Hopefully after doing this move, you'll land somewhere
close to the fallen mellons. From there you can launch them towards your
opponent. I use the ducking foward to launch them in an arc which can
sometimes even go over firealls, and the ducking fierce to send them
rolling on the bottom of the screen. I recommend that you experiment with
this move A LOT.. because the opponent usually has a hard time with
it, and 'cause it's pretty humiliating to kill someone with a melon. :)
Watch out though, because your opponent can just as easily use the melons
as projectiles. I should have mentioned this earlier, but.. weak attacks
send the melons in a high arc, medium strength attacks send them in a low
arc, and hard attacks send them on the floor.
Basic Strategy
--------------
To win with Blanka, you have to play around your opponents moves. Try not
to stay too grounded, and always try to be on the attack and be in control
of the match. Don't be afraid of poking out an attack every now and then,
because you'll find that Blanka will usually win out. You're air game will
also usually beat your opponent's. The main thing to remember is to NOT
get predictable. Sure, whip out a ball every now and then, but in different
situations. One thing to try is to jump in from a distance. Throw out the
roundhouse sometimes and other times don't. Watch how your opponent reacts.
If they try a DP type move, don't do anything and hit them after their lag.
If they try a ground attack, try to snuff it with one of your own.
Experiment in every situation, try differet things, and use the ones that
work (duh). ALWAYS try to know your opponent.. people usually play with
the same strategies and styles. Watch for patterns and opennings. One
thing I look for is projectile patterns. If your opponent throws a
projectile, remember that situation, and see if it happens again. If you
can become to predict your opponents projectiles, he's meat. Jump in
and land your favorite combo. Also look for openings.. Openings are
situations where your opponent can't block. Always remember that your
opponent can't block while they are attacking, and they can't air block
ground attacks. And if you find yourself getting beat by someone, analyze
the match afterwards and try to find your mistakes. By doing this, you
can prevent it next time.
Advanced Strategy
-----------------
Ok, here's the good stuff..
After you do the ball, always charge back-down. Opponents love to jump
in after blocking the ball, and since you have a charge, do the vertical
ball. If they keep blocking this, air throw them.
Your basic combo is jumping fierce, headbutt, into the ball. Always charge
when jumping so you can whip out the ball when you land. Sometimes you might
find your opponent whiffing when you jump, so you can land into the ball.
Try to stay out of your opponents reach, and try to poke him with attacks.
They'll usually try to trip you or poke with their own attacks, in which
case you could snuff them with your own, or jump in with Blanka's quick jump
and combo.
Always play on a high speed.. :)
Don't be afraid to try and counter with the ball. If you get hit though,
DON'T try it again.
Try the headbutt from close, if they block the 2 hits they'll usually try
to sweep you or another normal attack. You'll usually recover in time to
ball over the sweep, or even throw a ducking jab or strong to snuff them.
If you ever get hit, REMEMBER what you did and why you got hit. I know
I mentioned this earlier, but I can't stress enough how important it is
to get your psychological game up to par. Street fighter is like an
awesome game of chess. :)
Use the dash to confuse your opponent. Dash around when feeling safe, and
a dash forward into the slide punch can work well from the right distance.
It's a good idea to tap puch while doing the ball. Sometimes people jump
and you'll roll underneath. If they look like they're going to land near
you, keep tapping punch and hit them with the electricity. This also works
if they block the ball and jump towards afterwards.
If you are cornered with your opponent somewhat close to you, DON'T do the
ball. Even if you hit, your opponent can usually nail you afterwards.
If your opponents is cornered, try to get close with electricity. Don't
hit with it, just stay right next to them. A lot of people have trouble
with this because of it's high priority, and the fact that they can't back
away. Even if you trade hits when they attack, you can try to walk
forward and do it again. This will also work outside the corner to some
degree. Watch out, as expert player will easily get around this.
If your opponent is open, but you don't have a charge for a combo, go for
they bite and wail on the buttons. This is not considered cheap where I
come from because they were open to ANY attack. (ex: after a DP, or flash
kick).
If your opponent jumps in while your down, go for the wake up Ball Super.
I don't recommend using the vertical ball as a wake up move though.
Here's one that usually works a lot.. Since wake up moves are so easy
in Zero 3, you can usually sucker you opponent into them. If you
knock you're opponent down, try jumping in for a combo as they get up.
You might get hit by a few wake up DP's or flash kicks, but you might also
score a few combo's. Anyways, after they get used to you doing this, try
jumping in a little early so you land BEFORE they get up.. This should
draw out a wake up DP, which you'll be able to block since you jumped in
early. Now you can hit them when they come down. This works well
especially on the shoto-boys.
Characters that can hit you after the ball: Honda, Blanka, Vega, Cammy,
Juli, Juni, Dhalsim, Dee Jay, Gen, Fei Long, Bison, and Balrog. If anyone
reading this knows of any more, please email me. I'm planning on going
more in-depth with this, and possibly do a vs. section if I can get enough
info.
Here's something that I think is a bug or glitch in the game.. After you
do the tropical hazard, you should have a nice few melons around. If you
hit them with a ducking fierce, AND hit your opponent with the fierce, you
somehow get extra hits and more damage. You'll get 2 hits per melon and
1 for the fierce. If you can connect with 2 melons and a ducking fierce at
the same time you'll get 5 hits, and take off as much as if you jumped in
and did a ball combo. With 3 melons you'll take off half their life! I've
even connected with 4 melons for a 9 hit, 75% combo! So you might want
to use this to your advantage.. :) After you do the tropical hazard, try
sitting behind your melons. You can launch them up at your opponent with
a ducking light if they jump, and try one of the balls afterwards to juggle
for more hits. Or if they throw a fireball you could negate it with a
melon using your ducking forward, and quickly ball 'em afterwards.
Sometimes you can even send a melon over the fireball and hit them. A lot
of the time, your opponent might want to play with your melons too. This
is why you have to gaurd your melons. If they come in while your sitting
behind your melons, try a ducking fierce. Hopefully you'll connect and
your opponent will be wondering how the hell you took off half his life
with a ducking fierce. :)
Counter Strategy
----------------
As you may know, when you counterhit someone, they are in hit stun longer
than usual and you take off more damage. Hard attacks also pop your
opponent into the air on a counterhit. If you think your opponent is going
to attack you as you jump in, throw your fierce half-early to couterhit,
and you should still have enough time to land and combo even though you
did't hit deep. If you counterhit with a ground attack when close, try to
snag another buffered into the ball. Or even a sweep is good. If you
counterhit with the ducking fierce (which should happen a lot), try a ball
afterwards, or a jumping attack.
Air Strategy
------------
IMO, the air game in Zero 3 plays a huge part in winning matches. If you
can keep juggling your opponent, you'll noticed yourself winning a lot more.
When meeting your opponent in the air, try to hit them (duh). If you get
a counter hit, try to jump up and hit them again. If they flip out when you
hit them and block your next attack, go for the air throw instead. Of course
you could just walk forward and do a standing fierce instead. It's hard
to describe all the situations that will happen, but you should ALWAYS look
for juggling opportunities. If you counterhit a jumping opponent with a
standing fierce, try to walk forward and do it again. Or go for air throw.
Remember to experiment and always look for the counterhit. One strategy
that works well is with the electricity. After you hit someone with the
electricity they fall back in the air. Most people will flip out right
away, because they're afraid of being juggled. But what most people don't
know is that Blanka CAN'T juggle after it, he can juggle after it ONLY if
they flip out. Catching on yet? :) So if you connect with the electricity
try jumping up towards them and go for a fierce, or if you think they'll
block do an air throw instead. You could possibly do a standing fierce even.
HmmMm.. and when I think of it, you could also probably do the super
rolling ball after it and time it so you hit them as they land. I must
try that out.. :) (see? always think about new strategies).
Combo Strategy
--------------
This is just a combo list and when to use them. It's not very big, because
Blanka isn't a combo character. If you're looking for big combos, go pick
Dee Jay or Gen or something. :)
Headbutt into rolling ball - this is a good combo, just because it's easy.
If you can't do this, your pretty bad. :) Try a jumping fierce before it
for some decent damage.
Ducking forward into rolling ball - you can use this if your not in range
for the headbutt, but it's harder to do. It's good on the ground because
of the forward's range, and if you use a jumping fierce before it, it takes
off more than the combo above.
Ducking forward into vertical ball - this is for style only, as it won't
always connect unless your close or if your opponent is tall.
Jumping fierce, standing strong into vertical ball - If you can do this
combo reliably, you're pretty good. Another stylish combo. If you can
catch your opponent with a standing strong into vertical ball out of the
air (ex: after a jumping counterhit), you shouldn't be suprised if you
get some compliments. :) You can try doing the headbutt instead of
the strong for a few extra style points as well.
Ducking forward into SC rolling ball - this combo isn't very practical,
but looks nice if they miss a DP move or aything similar. Just make sure
that you're right next to your opponent or you'll whiff.
4.MISCELLANEOUS
Miscellaneous
-------------
This is just little stuff I've noticed..
-blanka has 5 or 6 win poses. Just hold down a button after you win.
(although I think you need to have a Blanka/Blanka match for some of them).
-If you play a Blanka/Blanka match, sometimes you'll get different openings.
(hopping out of a fruit truck, etc.)
-Contrary to the guide at Gamefaqs, you can pick six different colors for
your character regardless of what -ism you use. X, O, Square, Triangle,
R1, and R2 each give you a different color. (sorry to whoever wrote the
colors FAQ).
-The eletricity looks cooler in a Blanka/Blanka match. :)
Author's Note
-------------
Well, this wraps up my Blanka FAQ. If you have any comments, complaints,
advice, etc., please feel free to email me. Sorry that this FAQ is so
smiley-ridden, but I think it helps to put a bit of personality in any
piece of writing. If you didn't mind that, and liked this FAQ, please
tell me.. because if you do, I plan on writing a few more. I'm currently
working on a T. Hawk FAQ, and plan on doing a Juni one (my fav. character..
did you know that she has one of the most damaging special moves in the
game?). Anyways, thanks for reading this, and I hope you kick a lot of
ass with the flying snot - aka Blanka.
