BLANKA - NORMAL MOVES - SUPER STREET FIGHTER 4

JAB (LIGHT) PUNCH

     

Standing Light Punch is a pretty good poke for Blanka if not abused.  It is very fast and has fairly good reach. It can be used to apply some pressure.

STRONG (MEDIUM) PUNCH

     

Standing Medium Punch is a pretty good poke by Blanka standards. It's not the fastest move but it has pretty good reach.

Crouching Medium Punch is an excellent anti-air.  It does not look like it by looking at it, but try it out in training mode. It works really well once you get the timing down.

FIERCE (HARD) PUNCH

     

Standing Hard Punch has excellent range and does good damage. Because of its reach and its sweeping arc (Blanka swipes his claws from above in an arc to the ground), it is an excellent move to try to hit the extended limbs of characters who whiff moves.

Crouching Hard Punch has even more range! However, it has long startup and recovery so use it carefully and preferably at its maximum range to lesson opportunities for your opponent to react and punish.  You can also cancel out of this move into his Super.

SHORT (LIGHT) KICK

     

Crouching Light Kick is a very fast attack by Blanka standards. However, it does not have a good reach.  For a fast move, it takes a lot of practice in order to get it to link into itself.

FORWARD (MEDIUM) KICK

     

Jumping Medium Kick is one of Blanka's best normals. It has good reach, does OK damage, and it's virtually impossible not to hit with the thing unless you press too early in the jump. If you aren't 100% sure of hitting with a Hard Kick, use the Medium Kick. 

Jumping Medium Kick is also the cross-up weapon of choice if you are in the air. This attack makes cross-ups super-easy. When used in combination with the Surprise Forward, Blanka really has a lot of options for mix-ups as a downed opponent tries to get up.

Crouching Medium Kick is an excellent poke. If you already have a charge you can follow crouching medium with a Blanka Ball or, if you are really good at links, a Super or Ultra. 

ROUNDHOUSE (HARD) KICK

     

Jumping Hard Kick: If you really want to reach out and touch someone while jumping in, jumping Hard Kick is your attack! It does lots of damage and Blanka really stretches out with the attack, giving it very good reach. However, it has zero crossup potential. If you miss, you will miss completely, so know how and when to use it. 

Standing Hard Kick can be used as an anti-air.  However, you need to practice the timing to be sure that Blanka is at the right spot in his backflip as the opponent connects. 

Crouching Hard Kick is extremely useful.  It's pretty quick and has fair reach.  There are many ways you can use this move.  You can stick it out when you anticipate that an opponent is trying to throw out a slower move as a counter.  It can also be used to punish some whiffed attacks.  Its also great to use on an opponent who is trying to get up. If you use it meaty (throwing out the move so that the kick is already active the moment the opponent gets to his feet), it will pretty much sweep them out of any move they try to throw trying to get up.  It even works on Balrog, who arguably has the best jabs in the game.  Do not abuse against characters with great wake-up moves like Ryu and his Shoryuken, however.

THROWS

• Blanka's face bite throw (Wild Fang) was nerfed pretty bad in Street Fighter 4 compared to other games in the series.  In Street Fighter 2 the name of the game is to bite people in the face. In Street Fighter 4 it's harder (range seriously reduced) and doesn't do quite the actual and psychological damage it used to do. However, it's still good, still does good damage, and still annoys many opponents, which is in Blanka's favor.
• Blanka's Rolling Throw (Jungle Wheel) throws your opponent away from you. It usually is not in Blanka's best interests to throw your opponent away from you but if you wish to do so, he has the option.

COMMAND NORMALS

AMAZON RIVER RUN (SLIDE)

DOWN-TOWARDS HARD PUNCH

• Extremely quick startup makes it easy to surprise opponents who are not waiting for it.
• Goes under projectiles and covers a fair amount of distance in the process.
• Deceptive in that it stays active for a long time which makes it a good meaty move.
• However, it is extremely easy to punish on block by most characters at almost any range because of its long recovery time.
• Best used at maximum slide range where just fingers hit opponent to minimize punish opportunity on block.
• This move is also easy to block by opponents who know how to effectively use focus attacks.  This move only does one hit and has slow recovery. An opponent can focus as you slide then release the attack during the recovery of the move. If you notice that your opponent is doing this, restrict your use of this move appropriately.

COWARD CROUCH

DOWN + THREE PUNCHES

• Ducks projectiles including Sagat's Low Tiger Shot.
• The longer you hold DOWN, the longer Blanka stays in Coward Crouch.  After a period of time, though, Blanka will stand up on his own.
• Blanka can use Surprise Forward & Back out of Coward Crouch
• Electric Thunder and Vertical Rolling Attack are also options out of Coward Crouch.

SURPRISE FORWARD & BACK

   

BACK/TOWARDS + THREE KICKS

This move gives Blanka many options and has several key uses. 

Increased Mobility: It can be used to quickly gain ground or retreat more quickly than a standard forward or back dash.  Between the Surprise Hops and his normal dashes, Blanka has a tremendous amount of mobility on the ground.

Ability to Maintain Down-Charge as you Move:  You can use these moves to move Blanka both forward and backward and still maintain a down-charge. You do this by holding down-back and three kicks for Surprise Back and down-forward and three kicks for Forward.  This is exceptionally useful as you can then Up Ball at any time, catching your opponent if they are a jumper or sometimes just surprise them with an Up Ball to the face if they are close.

Holding Down-Charge and move forward with Surprise Forward:   

Holding Down-Charge and move back with Surprise Back:   

Surprise Forward Into Ultra 1: You can use Surprise Forward to "hop into Ultra" by using the following commands:

  (initiates Surprise Forward)   (initiates Ultra 1)

This takes some practice to learn the timing but it is still very useful to a Blanka player who uses Ultra 1.  You need to do the second back and forward as Blanka is doing his hop and hit the three punches just as he's landing to get it to properly work.

Cross-Up Shenanigans: The Surprise Forward allows you to actually pass through an opponent and land on the other side (assuming the move isn't interrupted by an attack). This is tricky to use on a standing opponent as it can be interrupted by attacks, but when your opponent is on the ground it's a different story.  You can hop back and forth at will on a downed opponent, so you have lots of mix-up options when they are waking up.  Here are just a few options you can do on wake-up:

• Stay on one side of the opponent somewhat close. At the last second as they are about to get on their feet, jump to the other side using Surprise Forward and throw out a Crouching Heavy Kick so that his foot is already out at the moment the opponent fully gets up.  If they are doing anything other than jumping or blocking (throwing or using a move that doesn't have initial invincibility like Shoryuken), they will be tripped again.
• You can also hop to the other side and use a throw if you anticipate them blocking.  If you use the Surprise Forward to cross as the opponent is about half-way up, you can even sometimes screw up the opponent's Shoryuken attempt by confusion.
• You can hold the down-charge as you Surprise Forward across a downed opponent and at the last second, as they are fully standing, hit them with an Up Ball.
• Jumping Options: You can use Surprise Forward to go back and forth across a downed opponent and then, at the last second, jump either straight up and use a Neutral Jump Hard Kick to come down on them (will hit if they do anything but block high) or jump across him and use a Medium Kick to get the cross-up and combo into electricity, which will result in yet another knockdown.
• Baiting a wake-up move: If you are playing against a character with a strong wake-up move like a Shoryuken and you feel like the opponent will use it on wake-up (likely), you can bait it by staying close to one side as they get up and then Surprise Back at the last second. Their wake-up move will miss and you can punish them.

These are just some of his wake-up mix-up options! Mix tactics up to really confuse your opponent. Do not be predictable.