Twitter

I made a Twitter account: NH2_Blanka

For now just silly stuff but I may get into news and links for fighting game stream viewers in a little bit.

ST Blanka Diagram later this week!


Bean allergy?


You can have my EpiPen!

eLive SF2, Gemaga Cover

eLive Fighter II Turbo via Ken Bogard. Brilliant!




April Gemaga cover by Kinu.

Persona Video 030112, Chun-Li B-Day

Blog update: links spruced up a little.

Let's break in a new tag!

Persona Day One Video

Buppa vs. Shadow at Goi Chariot

Happy Birthday Chun-Li

Art by M-Tomoyohi

Mikado 091611 Vids Part 2

Mattsun has a reputation for being a little chilly but he would always light up when he saw Damdai. He said it was funny that Damdai used a different character each time he came to visit: Zangief, Shotos, Hawk. For me, scooping up Mattsun videos from the old Hameko uploader six years ago was one of the first things that led me to this point so capping some footage myself was a treat.


Masao, Makky, Saito, (Gunze). Pic from Tougeki website.

Masao Ken had arrived with his teammates from Osaka that afternoon. Their home arcade is Neyagawa ABC, Shooting D's stomping ground. Masao's Ken was excellent and very different from Mattsun's. His mashing was especially on point; over here you can see how Hawk let a cross-up chance slip by because Ken broke out after one elbow.

I put the videos from that night in this playlist. Check it out!

Dry Mouthedness

This is from the movie White Men Can't Jump.

Gloria: Honey?

Gloria: My mouth is dry.

Gloria: Honey. I'm thirsty.

Billy: Umm...

*Water Runs*

Billy: There you go. honey.

Gloria: When I said I was thirsty it doesn't mean I want a glass of water.

Billy: It doesn't?

Gloria: You're missing the whole point of me saying I'm thirsty.

Gloria: If I have a problem you're not supposed to solve it.

Gloria: Men always make the mistake of thinking they can solve a woman's problem.

Gloria: It makes them feel omnipotent.

Billy: Omnipotent? Did you have a bad dream?

Gloria: It's a way of controlling a woman.

Billy: Bringing them a glass of water?

Gloria: Yes.

Gloria: I read it in a magazine.

Gloria: See. if I'm thirsty.

Gloria: I don't want a glass of water.

Gloria: I want you to sympathize.

Gloria: I want you to say, "Gloria I, too, know what it feels like to be thirsty. I too have had a dry mouth."

Gloria: I want you to connect with me through sharing and understanding the concept of dry mouthedness.

VIPER Explains the Hajiki Screw

A hajiki Screw ("flick SPD") motion lets you do a Spinning Pile Driver or Mexican Typhoon extremely quickly, and it's ideal for grabbing whiffed low kicks. More explanation below but first a quick 2ch note.

I've been reading about the hajiki Screw technique on 2ch for a long time, but based on context I thought it simply referred to a quick walk-in SPD. Also the term comes up most commonly when people are saying silly stuff about Rikiya so I never paid much attention.

One night at Versus, VIPER kindly explained the motion to us Yanks. To do a hajiki Screw you give the joystick a small but firm flick in a circular direction and tear your hand away allowing the spring to carry it around. For 1P side you start with the joystick right and flick it clockwise. For 2P start at left and flick counter-clockwise.

It might sound a little alien but this motion isn't very difficult. VIPER said it took him twenty minutes practice to get the hang of it on one side and about an hour on the other. Your humble blog editor was able to do a hajiki Hyper Bomb almost immediately. You can try it on the character select screen: with a proper hajiki motion the highlight rectangle should go around and land where it started.


Do not practice Flick SPDs on your laundry!

VIPER said the motion is easier on a looser (broken-in) stick. He didn't mention this, but I'd speculate that it's easier on Seimitsu than on Sanwa — dead zone is a little different — but it's definitely possible on both.

Here's a quick video of VIPER demonstrating the hajiki Screw. First for 1P side then for 2P side.



I asked if Pony used hajiki Screw and Shu (Ken player) laughed and said no but he said Gunze and most Hawks use it. Shu said that when a Zangief player uses it well vs. whiffed Shoto low medium kick and low roundhouse the match starts to get unwinnable. Daigo supposedly said as much after losing to Rikiya thirty times in a row.

Here's one more video of an actual match. Attempted Hajiki early in the second round. The YouTube interface covers it up; you have to mouse away to see it.

Mikado 091611 Vids Part 1

Blog Updates

New tags: interviews, [character] rankings, comics, trickery

Some of Gunze's 2009 results added to the chart below. The post title makes more sense now.

I'm working on something small for everyone who enters the contest. Please include your snail mail address with your entry if you're interested. Also international entries are welcome!

Mikado on the Eve of SBO 2k11

I got to thank Kurahashi in person for the X-Mania EU Q&A. He said he would like to attend a US tourney but it'd probably be boring because he'd win easily.

The Kyushu team had flown up earlier that day. They qualified at G-COM Wajiro but their home arcade is "Supolakuhonji." Chai wrote it out for me like that — I think it's a Sega joint further to the South. Hal traveled with her husband; she had a decent Chun-Li.


Chai, Hal, Kumadhal, Aiderun

Here's a highlight for the evening. More to come!

Ze Contest

Please tell your friends about this. Try one of the share buttons at the bottom!

Unrelated note: I plan on uploading Mattsun vs. Shiro and Mattsun vs. Damdai this week. Take a look at AHOJagi for that footage. Also add me on Facebook if you want.

Concept

Using one or more of the screen caps below, put together a collage or comic strip poking fun at some part of the fighting game world.

UPDATE 3/18/12: rules expanded, free pins

Rules

Comic strip should be between one and sixteen panels.

Two megabytes or less. Jpeg, pict or (non-animated) gif.

The subject can be from SF2, Alpha, SF3 or SF4. Characters, story, specific match-ups, specific matches, tourney history, players, MCs - anything Street Fighter.

Screen caps can be cropped, manipulated or even recreated. Get more or re-do if you like from the source; FWIW, the Shigurui show is on Hulu.

If you reference a specific match or moment in fighting game history please include a YouTube link if possible.

No memes:
Fighting game slang, terminology and basic catchphrases ("look at the damage") are ok, but I don't want recent stream-era stuff like "8.95" and "esports."

Using the structure and/or background graphics from forum macros is fine, but no "over 9000", ceiling cat or FUUUUUUU- guy please.

Prize

-Gamest Mook Volume 17 - Capcom Illustrations
Really nice 1995 art book with design works by Akiman, Shoei, Kinu, Sensei and Bengus.

and

-A Yoga Sniper T-Shirt!



Something for runners up TBD.

Judging

Send entries to nohoho@gmail.com. Please put 'Shigurui' in the subject line and (optionally) your nickname in the body of the message.

Starting immediately and ending March 31st.

Entries should be striking: funny would be great, but clever, sexy, cute, disgusting, scary, etc. would also be great. Or some sort of Blue Velvety combination of those things.

DS and Master Chibi have kindly agreed to help judge.

Screen Caps

Click for full size.

To-do List, Special Thanks, Best Posts

I'm going to wrap up Super Turbo coverage on this blog pretty soon. There are some things I'd like to post before then - in particular:

• Contest!
• Player Report Update
• Videos from Japan Trip
• Hajiki Screw with VIPER
• Blanka Diagram
• Miscellaneous Graphs
• Secret Project JBH-1KG-FIG

Please look for those posts over the next few months. This blog may stay open after that with a bit of Morrigan fan art, some translated comics and possibly some Persona Ultimate news. We'll see.

Acknowledgements

Better late than never!?

NKI
I got back into ST after nearly 10 years away because of Nick. The way he played Chun-Li blew my mind. Also his enthusiasm and level-headedness online really inspired me.

Quick personal confession: I have a serious problem taking "yes" for an answer. If I agree with someone, but they're using a faulty premise or mixing up correlation with causation, I'm never satisfied. NKI always makes an effort to argue in good faith and I really appreciate it.

Tianyuan2k4
This guy encouraged me to start this blog in the first place. Also he uploaded most of the videos to the Superturbor account. Thank you, brother.

Harahi
People think I got started with Blanka by watching Komoda videos, but it was Harahi's web page that *cough* got the ball rolling: studying what he wrote, chatting about it with TY! and trying stuff out against NY players like FlashG, Doyle Bros and Shag.

Best Hits

Here are some of my favorite posts:

Muteki Interview
Even though it was just a stock Tougeki Spirits questionnaire, Mute Guile put a lot of thought into his answers. One of the best ST player interviews.

Emiko Iwasaki Interview
Fascinating look at the state of fighting games (before SF4 at least) — take a look at this even if you aren't interested in Battle Fantasia.

Haitani Interview
Short but insightful Q&A with one of the toughest multi-game players. Again highly recommended even if you don't follow the games Haitani plays.