Crazy Mad Balrog
Nick K. Inabnit
LOL!!
Oh, man...Julien, you're the greatest!
Thanks tons for the report--keep 'em coming!
-Nick
"Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask around it's no surprise that they're giving none away."
-Pink Floyd
Julien B Beasley
Yesterday, I went to the Shinjuku "More" Arcade to play some ST. The
guy whose Bison I wrote about in my last post (the best guile in Japan)
was there, and he was playing Balrog. He was DAMN good, and I stopped
playing just to watch him (and hopefully learn a thing or two).
He was constantly aggressive, and made full use of the tap. He also
made use of the short dash.
For example, when he would knock down, he would do a jump strong, low
jab x 3, low strong, short down dash, jab buffalo headbutt. The jab BH
would usually hit a limb that the desperate opponent had tried to stick
out to avoid being thrown after the short dash.
Time out:
Balrog actually has four dashes. He has two punch dashes, but he also
has two kick dashes. The second kick dash is done the same way the low
punch dash is done - from back to down/forward. The animation is very
similar, but it looks more like a low fierce than a dash, and balrog
comes rushing in while crouched. The advantage of this dash is that by
charging low back to foward/down, you can conserve charge for the BH.
I also think (but I'm not sure) that it recovers faster than the high
dash.
Time in
After the BH, he would repeat the trap. About once in five, he would do
a throw after the dash.
He also made heavy use of the dash->super trick. I'm still not exactly
sure how it is done (whether you need the low or high dash), but he was
using it a lot vs Chun li. I'm sure all you balrog players have been
frustrated at some time or another vs a Chun li that throws slow
fireballs from across the screen, and jump shorts if you try to jump,
and low RH's or throws your BH attempts. To get out of this trap, this
guy would do a kick dash straight at the slow FB!! It would look like
he was going to get hit every time, but he would jump back fierce right
after the dash and the FB would dissipate under him. It was really
wierd and suicidal looking, but it did two important things. It
prevented Chun from jumping short (if she did, she would trade and
lose), and it charted meter. Sure enough, as soon as he had meter, he
would start kick dashing at her. And if a fireball came, out, there
would be a super every time!! This guy effectively made balrog's super
a full screen counter to slow FB's. I'm sure this would work vs guile
and DJ too. It was really amazing. I think he did the old trick of
doing the motion and then pressing the button depending on whether the
opponent did a move or not. It was pretty amazing the way he was able
to hit every single time.
Of course, this guy would combo into supers. He typically did something
like low jab x 2, stand jab, super combo. He would also sometimes
interrupt the dash in the jump strong, low jab x 3, low strong,
dash->super.
I was wondering why he jumped with jump strong instead of something
like jump RH. I played around with it, and it seems that the jump
strong leaves you closer than the jump RH. Also, it hits
more "solidly". I don't really know how to explain it. It's also
suprisingly good air - air. I saw him hit a dhalsim air punch with that.
After a while, no one wanted to lose against him any more and they left
him alone, so he beat up on the computer. I was inspired by watching
this, and so decided to play Balrog after he was done. Being a scrubby
big hairy barbarian, I was quickly challenged. But I started laying
waste to the competition by copying the strategy I had just watched. It
was really really fun! I would scare the hell out of them, and level 2
or 3 TAPs would leave me really close to apply more pressure. Before,
when I played balrog, I would try to hit with my taps. This never
worked because I was waiting for the opponent to give me an opening.
Now, I would use the taps knowing they would be blocked. Not for the
damage (which is excellent), but for the position they gave me after a
block. And what do you know, I was actually hitting pretty often with
those taps! After a few wins, I looked to my right and there on the
other head to head ST machine was that guy, playing new ken. Of course
he was racking up the wins too. I looked to my left, and on the head to
head machine was none other than Daigo Umehara racking up the wins with
A Sakura. We all had our wins in the teens. It felt pretty damn good to
be next to two of the best players in the world, and keeping up the
wins :). Days like that, everything feels OK!
Eventually, the comp petered out, and I beat the computer. I decided to
try my luck vs that guy's new ken. I did beat him the first game with
old ryu, and then he came back and beat me three times in that matchup.
I switched to balrog, and we had the wierdest games. I would attack him
to next to no life, and then he would knock me down. At this point, he
would do a super high jump jab, which for some reason I found
impossible to reverse with a BH. After this jump jab, he would low
sort, or DP, or throw. If he did a low short, he would either throw, or
DP, or combo another low short and super DP. I though it would be
really easy to throw him after that high jump jab, but I couldn't do it
more than a third of the time. Wierd...
After that, I played some A2 where I realized I've lost all timing I
ever had on that game. But I had a blast playing ST, and being there
winning along side Daigo and this guy was a rush!
Julien
--
It may take a litte courage to ask your doctor about Erectile
Dysfunction.
But everything worthwhile usually does.
-Bob Dole
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Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Lion
>
>
> Time out:
> Balrog actually has four dashes. He has two punch dashes, but he also
> has two kick dashes. The second kick dash is done the same way the low
> punch dash is done - from back to down/forward. The animation is very
> similar, but it looks more like a low fierce than a dash, and balrog
> comes rushing in while crouched.
Balrog got 3 upper animations, close strong, far strong and low fierce.
The two different upper dashes use two of these animations.
The advantage of this dash is that by
> charging low back to foward/down, you can conserve charge for the BH.
> I also think (but I'm not sure) that it recovers faster than the high
> dash.
> Time in
>
Don't know if it recovers faster but one thing is sure, low upper knocks
down the opponent, regular upper don't (if hit while the opponent has
feet on the ground).
> After the BH, he would repeat the trap. About once in five, he would do
> a throw after the dash.
>
Just out of curiosity. Don't you recover faster enough after the blocked
low strong to just low short the dash upper, as it hits only high ?
> He also made heavy use of the dash->super trick. I'm still not exactly
> sure how it is done (whether you need the low or high dash),
It works 100% with the high upper (dunno about the low)
The timing is pretty precise and you have to practice before mastering
it.
The motion is charge, forward, kick, backward, forward+punch. I can do
it 1 out of 10 times (or maybe more times, i did not play since i met
you last year in japan :( )
>
> I was wondering why he jumped with jump strong instead of something
> like jump RH. I played around with it, and it seems that the jump
> strong leaves you closer than the jump RH. Also, it hits
> more "solidly". I don't really know how to explain it. It's also
> suprisingly good air - air. I saw him hit a dhalsim air punch with that.
>
Jump Strong got more horizontal range than jump fierce/roundhouse. You
know how Balrog's jump horizontal range is so small.
>
> After that, I played some A2 where I realized I've lost all timing I
> ever had on that game.
Yeah ! Fuck A2.
Man, all these cool ST posts remind me that i need to play this game
BADLY.
Big haired barbarian wa ST ni totemo tsuyoku narunda. Dame da yo !
--
= Lion =
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion.
Let's not argue about who killed who."