Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo/Balrog

Boxer's portrait in Super Turbo

Color Options

New Boxer Colors

New Boxer's color options in Super Turbo
To choose the "Hold" color, press and hold any button except Start for 2 seconds. To choose any other color, simply tap the desired button.

--Raisin (April 8, 2007)

Old Balrog Colors

Old Boxer's color options in Super Turbo
Old Boxer's input code is RLLR. Pressing Short simultaneously with Jab or Fierce will give you the alternate color.

--Raisin (April 8, 2007)

Moves List

Normal Moves

Standing Jab - Useful to cancel into super / rushes. Also good to stop some stuff (Honda's headbutts for example).

Standing Strong (far) - Second best anti-air move. Has more range than cr.HP.

Standing Fierce - Great poke to use at max range.

Crouching Jab - It's very fast and has the repeating property (something low short doesn't), but it has a different hit box. I really dont use low short much, only low jab for cheating and combos.

Crouching Strong - This is his best ground attack, despite not hitting low. The entire arm is safe and cannot be hit, but can hit the enemy (it's a completely red hitbox, no blue).

Crouching Fierce - Best anti-air non-special. Hits early and late, unlike most moves in game.

Crouching Forward - Catches some moves that go under Crouching Strong (like Vega's slide). Links into cr.Strong and the Super. Your move of choice to tick / combo in throw mixups. Quick recovery and great for hitting limbs in footsies (like Guile's d. Forward).

Crouching Roundhouse - Best horizontal range out of his ducking moves and knocks down. Useful for footsies when a crouching Forward won't reach. Long recovery so be careful.

Jumping Jab - Lasts long with a slightly higher hitbox than the Jumping Strong. This generally makes it his best priority air-to-air move which can be useful in certain situations (Claw's walldives for example).

Jumping Strong - Good horizontal range on this makes it useful for hitting fireballers when a jumping Roundhouse/Fierce won't reach.

Jumping Roundhouse / Fierce - They are the same. Can cross up some characters.

Straight Jumping Fierce - You can control it as soon as you hit fierce.

If you just want to clear a projectile:

1. You can jump early, hit fierce and edge forward to hop over it

2. You can jump normally over it and then hit fierce and guide your way down.

--Graham , --Shag , --Tataki, and Janus Gemini

Special Moves

Turn-Around Punch [TAP] (Hold PPP or KKK at least one second, then release) - Attacks that increase in strength and speed over time, making them hard to predict. They also have great hit properties able to hit nicely like his old rush punches from super did. When activated, they give a lot of super meter. Lastly, they can be used without being 'charged' like a rush punch or headbutt. --Graham

There is no difference move wise but you want to use the 3K version so you have access to his punch moves: st.FP, cr.MP, throw, rush punches and buffalo headbutt. --Shag

The Turn-Around Punch has eight levels, 1~7 and Final. The longer you hold the buttons, the higher the level you'll get. You can combo a cr.Strong into a rush punch after a 4+ meaty TAP.

Straight Rush Punch (Charge b, f + P) -

Low Rush Punch (Charge b, df + P) -

Rush Uppercut (Charge b, f + K) -

Knockdown Rush Uppercut (Charge b, df + K) -

Buffalo Headbutt (Charge d, u + P) - Anti-air special. Its active frames come in quite late for a reversal, making safe-jumps easier to do against Balrog. Useful to avoid some fireballs (don't use against Sim since he can Standing Roundhouse you on reaction), set up grabs (whiff it so you land just in front of your opponent), get out of Vega's walldive shenanigans (Fierce version), stuff things after a blocked rush / super, etc.

You can keep your charge (to do rushes / Super as you land) if you do it with up/back instead of up or up/forward.

Grabs

To grab your opponent, hold towards or back and press Strong or Fierce punch. Boxer will hold the opponent in place for a few seconds and repeatedly headbutt them.

The first hit of the grab deals about 19.5% damage. Subsequent hits add almost 3% more each. If Boxer wiggles the joystick and/or mashes buttons while the grab is taking place, it will extend the duration. Similarly, his opponent may do the same to reduce the grab's duration. Sometimes people playing charge characters will elect to do this only for a moment before opting to charge during the grab's animation instead.

Weirdly, the Strong grab has more range than the Fierce grab even though they seem identical. You should favor using the Strong grab in situations where range is an issue.

--Raisin (March 12, 2007)
--Some info courtesy T.Akiba

Mixups

• Go behind your opponent and then do cr.Forward, cr.Strong xx Low Jab Rush Punch or instead do cr.Forward and then grab.

or, as an alternate:

• Act as if you'll go under, then cr.Roundhouse from the front.

--Graham

Reversal Throw from Opponent
If you are within your opponent's throw range when he lands be careful for reversal throws. You can however, then bait the reversal throw and punish with a far cr. Roundhouse.

Advanced From-Behind Mixup Notes
Against some characters like Cammy, it is difficult to get behind your opponent in time for the cr. Forward to be a true meaty (hitting them the instant they land), which means you can get thrown easily.

In this case it is better to do:

• a cr. Jab string mixup
• a st. close Forward, cr. Strong xx Low Jab Rush Punch combo. Keep in mind the link timing from the st. close Forward to cr. Strong is a little longer than the cr. Forward, cr. Strong.

or

• a st. close Forward then grab.

Meaty combo from the front
A riskier but greater reward mixup option from the front is a meaty cr. Forward, cr. Roundhouse combo, or against big characters, meaty cr. Forward, st. Fierce.

Different characters fall from the grab at different speeds, so you'll have to experiment and practice to get your meaty timing right so that it will combo.

Other Mixups and Options
Some opponents are automatically conditioned to block low after recovering from the throw, so using a straight jumping Fierce guided forward can catch them off guard. This is especially useful in the corner where you can easily do a throw/low attack mixup afterwards.

You can also do a Low Dash Upper (the one that knocks down) immediately after the grab ends to build meter and follow up with the "One or Two Jabs" mixup.

One or Two Jabs?
The deadly "tap throw" mixup. This is basically a tick throw mixup where you can:

• cr. Jab, then grab
• cr. Jab x2, then grab

or if you have enough down-charge from a Safe Jump-In (only against certain characters) or a Low Dash Upper after the throw:

• cr. Jab, Jab Buffalo Headbutt
• cr. Jab x2, Jab Buffalo Headbutt

If timed right, in order for the opponent to effectively reversal this mixup, he has to guess whether to complete his motion after your first jab or your possible second jab. If he tries to reversal after the first jab and you time the second jab right, he'll still be in blockstun and his reversal won't come out and you can grab him after. The trick on the second jab is to time it just late enough to bait them into doing their reversal move but quickly enough so that you don't actually get hit by the reversal. Doing the second jab too quickly/immediately after the first one is a giveaway against players with good reaction time.

-- Janus Gemini

Super Move

Crazy Buffalo (Charge b, f, b, f + P or K) -

Remixed Changes

This section refers to HD Remix (360 / PS3)

Modified moves:

               Turn Around Punch: Gain less meter. Can be performed by holding
                                  2 punches or 2 kicks, rather than all 3.

               Headbutt: Gain less meter. LP/MP travel slightly farther and are
                         barely less safe.

               Throw: Throw range decreased slightly (harder headbutt loops).
                      First hit of throw does less damage.

               Super: Does a little less damage (around 50% rather than 60%).
                      Glitch Dash Uppercut into Super still works.

--added by: _MJ_#R

The Basics

Balrog Playstyles

There are basically 4 styles of Balrog play.

• Fast paced = no TAP or very limited usage of it (level 1 TAP), so you can do dashing shorts and grabs a lot. This style is good vs Guile, Blanka, and other chars without fireballs.

• Fast paced TAP = level 2-4 max TAPs mixed with occasional dash shorts and lots of consecutive tap+low dashes usually vs shotos.

• Mixed = sometimes charging TAP up to level 3-4 and sometimes playing without TAP, this is usually for oddball chars like vs st Chun.

• Slow paced TAP = charging sometimes up to level 5-7 TAP along with a lot of blocking and carefully selected low dashes, this generally happens vs Sim

By the way, there is also a defensive style with Rog which is good vs Gief and Honda. I don't consider it one of his 4 'stances' though. --Graham

TAP Usage

• Against Shotos I use the TAP randomly making sure that it never saves up past 4; between 1-4 is a good pace for them. Usually try not to do too many 1's though.

• Against Sim I use the higher TAPs, sometimes reaching up to 6.

• Against Guile, Chun and DeeJay I occasionally throw in TAPs, not frequently though because these characters projectiles protect themselves.

A technique I use to sometimes land the TAP is to release it from very far right when the opponent is getting up from a knockdown, so that they are actually on their feet when I release it. This space I'm giving them to get up usually makes them attack or do something and then the punch flies across the screen and hits them. --Graham

Finger positioning for the TAP

I use the bottom of my fingers (directly above the lower joints) to charge kick TAP and use my fingertips for punch buttons. Place your fingers over the 3 rows so that all 6 buttons are pressed. Now try to lift the top of your fingers while still holding the lower column (kick buttons) in place.

I'm sure this is awkward for some but I've done this since HF days and I'm quite used to it now. --Shag

Yes, it does limit your ability to play, which is why when I'm being cheaped a lot I tend to stop charging TAP to have better control of my button presses. I still play well with TAP held down and can reverse cheaps etc., but I just don't like trying to shake outta noogies with TAP held as much but yes it is possible and I do that sometimes if I need to save my TAP (down by 75% life) or whatever. --Graham

Cancelling into Super

• cr.Jab x 2 xx Super: charge down-back, jab jab, towards-back-towards, jab~fierce. You're cancelling the ducking jabs into standing jab, but then you kara-cancel the standing jab into super.

Also: cr.Jab x 2, f, neutral, b + Jab, f + Jab

• After a Rush Punch: charge b, f + P / K, b, f + P / K. Since they start with the same notation you just add another b, f after the Rush to finish the super motion.

It's a lot easier to whiff with the down / towards kick rush because it actually has less frames than the straight kick rush. (The short version of the straight kick rush has 25 frames, while the down/towards version only has 21.) --NKI

• After Headbutt: Charge db, ub + Punch, then do f, b, f + Punch as you land.

Jump Ins

After the throw, Boxer can immediately perform a jump-in on the following characters:

• Sagat
• Another Boxer
• Cammy
• Fei-Long

I know that in the Boxer mirror it is a safe jump-in, but I'm not sure about the others (think they are as well, but not positive). It does not work in the corner, either, since the opponent reaches the ground much more quickly.

--Josh the FunkDOC

cr.MK, cr.MP link combo notes and hitbox weirdness

You can do cr.Jab x 2, st.Jab xx Rush Punch on a crouching Honda. But, for some reason, that won't work on Blanka; the st.Jab will whiff. Note that you cant combo cr.Jab into st.Jab on a standing Blanka as well. The reason seems to be his akward small hitbox (even when standing) while being hit. Don't know if this was mentioned before but you can also combo cr.Jab in st.Jab on crouching Gief and Balrog.

Another thing I found out about his cr.Forward, cr.Strong link combo:

Won't work on

• st.Chun (but on crouching)
• st.Deejay (but on crouching)
• st.Vega (but on crouching)
• st.Balrog himself (but on crouching)
• cr.Honda (but on standing)
• cr.Blanka (but on standing)

Only explanation I can think of is that the animation of those characters, while being hit, moves their hitbox back so that the cr.Strong won't hit on the first frame, but on a later hitframe, after the opponent has recovered from the cr.Forward.

--Roundhousepunch

Combos

Biggest Boxer combo I've seen is 12 hits:

• Against crouching Zangief, cross-up j.Fierce (or j.RH), cr.Jab x6, super

Practical combos:

• cr.Forward, cr.Strong xx low rush

• safe jump Jab, cr.Jab x2->st.Jab xx high rush

• j.RH, st.Forward xx low kick rush (the one that knocks down)

Also, you can link the super after his cr.Forward.

To dizzy the opponent, Daigo uses meaty cr.Forward, far st.Fierce.

--NKI

Dizzy:

• Simple combo: Jumping Roundhouse / Fierce, cr.Strong, Low Kick Rush with Short (knockdown)

• Highest damage combo: Jumping Roundhouse / Fierce, 2 cr. Jab, Standing Jab, Straight Fierce Rush Punch

On wakeup:

• cr.Forward early, cr.Strong, Low Jab Rush Punch

After grabbing them and walking behind:

• cr.Forward early, cr.Strong, Low Jab Rush Punch

On wakeup for quick dizzy:

• cr.Forward early, Standing Fierce (on big chars)

On jumping on certain chars during fireball (Chun li for example):

• Refer to simple combo

On jumping on Sagat (for example, if he does low fireball):

• Jumping Roundhouse, Standing Fierce (connects cause opponent is ducking)

Simple super combo when they're dizzy or on wakeup:

• Jumping forward or jab or strong (see it hit, can't use fierce or roundhouse or you won't be able to get the full amount of jabs), 2 cr. Jabs, Standing Jab, Super

--Graham

Match-ups

Vs. Balrog (boxer-self):

Feel free to edit this for continuity.

When facing off versus another Balrog you have a few simple moves you'll want to do. The key to this match is largely patience. You don't want to attack aggressively like you would against other characters but rather wait there for your enemy to give you an opening then push the aggressive moves out.

Standing fierce is your main form of attack when your opponent is in range, throw it out to block, or use it when you're far away and see your opponent rushing you with a punch. If you throw it out without connecting you'll end up getting low rush punched so play patient with it. If your opponent is a low strong button masher thinking you'll be doing alot of low jab dash punches use this to stuff them.

Low Jab Dash Punch is your main punishment move or attack used to follow up after you force your opponent to block a standing fierce. Try to see them miss attacks such as standing fierce and punish them while they are still recovering.

Low Strong is a decent counter attack for the Low Jab Dash Punch. Press it when your opponent isn't at perfect range and it will stuff their move, for example if they are trying to pressure you with only Low Jab Dash Punches instead of using the standing fierce, low jab dash punch lock. Don't mash this or you'll get hit by a standing fierce.

The charged headbutt (name?) doesn't do much damage but it does knock your opponent down allowing you to get control of the match. I use it occasionally either if i'm being forced to block alot in the corner or if I see my opponent dash punching me from 3/4 to full screen away. Some players tend to use this too frequently resulting in missed headbutts, When I see this I punish with a low strong, low jab dash punch combo. The damage is too minimal to use it as a form of attack, its just a defensive move to give you control of the match.

Balrog is very susceptible to his own cheap tricks. When you get a chance on occasion use a jumpin short then grab and do the textbook Balrog cheap repeatedly, he has a very hard time reversing it like most characters. Or if the opportunity presents itself just grab him and start the cheaps. Of course to get out of this use the headbutt if you need to, reversing tends not to work well.

Jumping at Balrog can be done on occasion but do not abuse it, he has a quick jump but if the enemy knows you'll jump they can easily counter you with a low fierce or rushing uppercut.

--Graham

Vs. Chun-Li:

Try to keep some distance and do rushes whenever possible. If I am close, I'll jump at her usually --Graham

Vs. Dhalsim:

The reason I use TAP is because the match is a slow match for Balrog. Dhalsim can keep you out pretty good, the chance of getting an opening is very slim, and when it happens it's nice to have a hard hitting move. Usually I can spend sometimes 20-30 seconds waiting for an opening.

There are multiple options when you see a yoga fire. I do either a jab straight running punch (trade) if it's a slow fireball, a TAP trade, a standing fierce trade, a jump straight up if far away and guided fierce punch to move down and avoid, or a jump toward at last second and fierce / roundhouse, or I walk toward them if it's slow and block at last minute to gain a bit of ground. There are many options, you just need to be willing to block sometimes. Sometimes if the player is really close I do a fierce headbutt through it, but once you get the super you'll shut down his fireball game fast if he isn't full screen.

But honestly, most of it is just pure practice. You need to play matches a lot to get the feel of what to do. I'll say this a lot of the times: I build a strategy on the spot to accomodate some players. --Graham

Vs. E. Honda:

Stay back, do low strongs to counter headbutts and keep charged for buffalo headbutt; do it if he tries to sit or jump at you.

If you can't time the low strong properly, then switch to using rapid standing jabs. --Graham

Vs. Guile:

Don't charge the tap, do low rushes to counter low forwards, do low forwards close, and standing fierces on occasion, jump at him when you can with fierce if he does sonic boom and you aren't too close. --Graham

Vs. Vega (claw):

Always be charged for headbutt, when he goes off the wall do a fierce headbutt before he hits you or gets near you. Thats the safe escape for off the wall move.

As for ground game, if he jumps, ducking fierce, if he is playing the poke game, your low strong hits his low strong, your low forward hits his slide. But you should attempt to jab low dash in when he is at the perfect range. What I do with Vega is counter the rushes with low strong but only when I'm far enough away to react; when he is closer than 3/4 to full screen it's hard to react to those low rushes and you can catch him offguard. If you manage to knock him down you should cheap the hell outta him. --Graham

Vs. Zangief:

If Balrog knows how to fight Zangief, the fight becomes largely 50/50. Jab Low Rush with Punch beats the Lariats if you distance it properly. But Zangief can whiff stand jabs a lot which will hit the Low Rushes before they reach Zangief, discouraging you from doing the move. But Balrog can Stand Fierce Zangief from the same range he wants to do the Low Rush, which will beat or trade with Gief's Stand Jab. And, of course, Zangief can Lariat the Fierce. So you can bait him into doing the Lariat and Low Rush him.

It's cyclical, but it makes the fight much more manageable to Balrog. Good Zangiefs WILL make this a very hard fight, but a good Balrog will make the fight much more honest. --jchensor

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I agree with Chen. That match can be hard for Rog if he gets knocked down, that's why you have to be careful and choose your attacks wisely. Rog has some tools that he can work with. If Gief likes to use the cr. roundhouse a lot, Rog can just standing fierce on the whiff and hit him clean. For Gief's standing jabs, Rog can just st. fierce and trade in Rog's favor.

For anti airs, Rog has the st. jabs, st. strong, st. fierce, cr. fierce, and high rush depending on distance and what Gief does. Like Chen said, Rog can low rush Gief's lariat at the right distance. If Rog gets knocked down, it can be trouble so you have to play this match very carefully. Using TAP a lot isn't good cuz Gief can see it and lariat on reaction. Don't let Gief bully and corner you, use the tactics above and fight him. If you are getting near your own corner and happen to knock Gief down, do a jump in combo that ends with a low rush to push him away. --Afro Legends

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The best strat vs. Gief is one my brother created which is stupidly simple: just keep pressing low strong. --Graham

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Normally, Balrog can't do much about Gief's lariats... it's either fist sweep or low rush, and those can be hit, and difficult to time against kick lariats.

Normally, Balrog's super gets stuffed clean everytime by Gief's lariat...

However, if you do the KICK super (starts with the uppercut), it'll hit Gief every time out of lariat, b/c it hits him in the head where he's vulnerable.

Good way to punish in a fight where Balrog doesn't really have an upper hand. --Renegade