Capcom vs SNK 2/Balrog

Introduction

Health (at Ratio 2)
14400	Above Average
Stun
70	Average
Dash Length
15 Frames	Short
Dash Type
Hop	Corpse Hop=Yes, Proj. Hop=Yes
Run Speed
8.8	Above Average
Roll Distance
120 pixels	Medium
Roll Duration
25f	Medium
Wakeup Speed compared to Ryu
0f	Average

Story

Balrog, known as Mike Bison in Japan and Boxer worldwide, is an American boxing legend. Balrog was raised from a childhood of poverty in a criminal area, and made it out by training to become a boxing fighter. He took to it quickly, and was soon called one of the best boxing champions at the time. However, his upbringing made him more relentless and cutthroat, leading him to high violence in the ring and using illegal moves like his Buffalo Headbutt. After accidentally killing one of his opponents, Balrog was banned from any competitive boxing circuits. Still, he had plenty of money and was an amazing fighter. He enjoyed a life of fame and riches, until one day he joined Shadaloo.

He quickly rose the ranks of Shadaloo, and became M. Bison's personal enforcer. Throughout most of the games, Balrog enjoys his high position in Shadaloo, and carries out multiple hits for them alongside directing other grunt work. Not much is known about where Balrog is in the modern time of Street Fighter 3, but we know he lost to Alex in the grand finals of a tournament called Vale Tudo Eternal Fighting prior to the events of Street Fighter III: New Generation/

Gameplay

Balrog is a classic bully character, using his forward moving punches and long reaching normals to bust up opponents in neutral. In other games, especially Street Fighter 2: Super Turbo, Balrog is often considered a high or top tier character for his amazing offense and neutral. Balrog isn't as strong in CvS2 sadly, but is nowhere near weak, usually scoring in the mid tier somewhere. He still has his amazing dash punches, but Dash Straight can be crouched by a majority of the cast, limiting its use heavily. This sorta sucks, because Dash Straight is classically the main one you use in neutral for it's long reach and safety on block. This forces Balrog to rely on other dash punches, like Dash Upper and Dash Lower, or to simply play patient in neutral.

Balrog comes with plenty of benefits however. He has simple and good combos, Dash Upper is amazing for creating powerful guard crush strings, and his supers are incredibly useful. Crazy Buffalo is a high damage combo ender with good reach and invuln, and the level 2 combo from it is simple and powerful. The real juice is his level 3, Gigaton Blow. Incredibly fast, great range, and high damage makes Gigaton Blow a terrifying punish tool akin to Ken's SAIII in 3rd Strike, but with much scarier damage. Even without a super, Buffalo Headbutt can get Balrog out of a sticky situation, and RC Dash Straight makes opponents think twice about throwing that fireball or standing poke out. Balrog leans a lot more defensively in CvS2 in neutral, as a crouchable Dash Straight removes his most ignorant neutral skip. Once he gets to be aggro, he can overwhelm his opponents, and solid defense gets you there faster than a high risk neutral skip.

Groove Selection

Best - C: Balrog's best Groove is C-Groove. Easy access to a lot of meter for Crazy Buffalo combos or a Gigaton Blow punish with meter, air blocking to make his jumps a lot safer while he charges midair, and his level 2 Crazy Buffalo cancels easily into a Buffalo Headbutt for solid damage with meter. Balrog has a solid roll cancel with RC Dash Straight, and while it can still be crouched, using it as a fireball or standing poke punish makes this less risky. RC Dash Ground Straight is also a powerful tool, though the startup is worse and it is riskier if blocked. C-Groove is a very solid defensive Groove, and since Balrog needs good defense to win neutral, C-Balrog is his best Groove. N-Balrog

Useful - K/A/N: K-Balrog and A-Balrog are right behind. K-Balrog gets better movement and mixup potential to make his aggressive potential a lot scarier, and he does more than respectable damage with Rage. The real attraction of K-Balrog is that you get very consistent access to Raged Gigaton Blow, which is a massive damage punish tool and combo ender. A Raged K-Balrog is a lot scarier to fight, but in trade he loses the threat of a super without Rage. A-Balrog loses the threat of super almost entirely, but makes up for it with his Custom Combo. It's not the highest damage, but it is a very powerful tool, and his CC is actually quite easy to perform. Both A-Balrog and K-Balrog trade off consistent meter threat for these tools however, which is a hefty loss. N-Balrog maintains the threat of a level 1 Crazy Buffalo combo, and gets access to the movement of K-Groove and the rolls of C/A-Groove, but basically never has Gigaton Blow.

Worst - S/P: S-Balrog is a bit of a gimmick, just like any S-Groove character. Infinite level 1 Crazy Buffalo is pretty nice, as it solidifies his punishes a bit more, but he doesn't entirely need it. As a loss, he has to charge meter to have any threat of a super. Having to charge meter removes the threat of dash punches or Buffalo Headbutt in neutral, and leaves him open to punishment. This really sucks for Balrog, who can be a little more than reliant on a good super. Gigaton Blow is even rarer in S-Groove as well. P-Balrog is very hard to use, as you sacrifice charge to parry, meaning he can't get much of a punish. Situationally, you can parry a move and have enough time to charge for a Gigaton Blow punish, but this is rare and about the scariest thing P-Balrog has.

Balrog (Boxer) is a versatile character with good defense and offense, but lacking neutral. If he gets a solid punish on defense, he can go into powerful guard crush strings against his opponent and secure a win. However, if he never gets these, and is forced to play neutral all day, he struggles hard. Balrog is best in C-Groove.
Pros	Cons
Defense: Between two fast punishing supers, Buffalo Headbutt, and RC Dash Straight/Ground Straight, Balrog has plenty of defensive tools Offense: Balrog has great guard crush ability, with repeated Dash Upper's and stringing together normals Supers: Crazy Buffalo is a solid combo ender and punish super, and Gigaton Blow is it's expensive beefed up cousin with massive damage and great reach Damage: You can output quite a lot of damage with Balrog, especially if you have meter	Dash Straight: Being able to crouch under Dash Straight is a weakness that cannot be understated. By design, Dash Straight is the center of Balrog's neutral, and he always played around how the opponent would answer it. When half the cast can easily answer with zero risk to themselves by holding down, he loses access to his best tool, and has to go at it with much worse and riskier options. Most of his weaknesses have to do with this Neutral: He has a few solid buttons, but would really like to be able to Dash Straight in neutral, and without it he is very weak Matchup Dependency: This leads back in to his Dash Straight weakness, and makes him unreliable, as you can play much better in matchups against tall characters but much worse against short characters. Watch your opponents team to judge if Balrog is going to help you or hurt you more Meter Hungry: Balrog really likes having a super to threaten with, and this is a big reason he's mainly a C-Groove pick

Normal Moves

5LP

Far Jab
Far Light Punch
5LP / Far LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	300	3	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	2	4	6	12	+5	+5	None
A quick jab. Simple and standard, with a nice benefit of being 2 frames when most 5LP's are 3 or 4 frames. Decent panic button, but it can be crouched under.

5MP

Far Strong
Far Medium Punch
5MP / Far MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1000/800	10/8	SU	Mid	High	7	3	23	33	-6	-6	None
A far reaching uppercut. Surprising horizontal range, you can anti-air with this pretty consistently. You would rather get cl.MP or 2HP for anti-air usually however, or Buffalo Headbutt.

5HP

Far Fierce
Far Heavy Punch
5HP / Far HP

For when you wish Dash Straight would work

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1200	12	SU	Mid	High	8	6	21	35	-3	-3	None
A long reaching straight punch. Crouchable, but by less of the cast than Dash Straight, making it a subpar replacement. You can combo into super if you do this as a punish, and it does massive damage.

5LK

Far Short
Far Light Kick
5LK / Far LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	500	5	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	2	3	5	10	+7	+7	None
High hitting elbows. Superior to 5LP in every way except hitbox. Better overall frame data, +7 instead of +5, and it does 500 damage instead of 300. Like many things in Balrog's kit however, these whiff crouching opponents easily.

5MK

Far Forward
Far Medium Kick
5MK / Far MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1000	10	SU	Mid	High	7	5	17	30	-2	-2	None
A quick gut punch. Low reach, and there is a difference in the close and far versions, so you're much more likely to land the close version than this. That's ok, because the close version is much better in every way. If you do get this, you won't get a special cancel if you buffered for one, but you can still go into a super.

5HK

Far Roundhouse
Far Heavy Kick
5HK / Far HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Far	1300	13	None	Mid	High	8	4	24	36	-4	-4	None
A far reaching hook. One of Balrog's pokes that you can't crouch under, making it instantly very valuable. Sadly, it isn't a great replacement for 5HP/Dash Straight. It only has about half the range of 5HP, and barely a 3rd of the range of Dash Straight. It doesn't cancel, and leaves Balrog -4 so you can't exactly run in and pressure after it. It does do decent damage for a single hit however, and regardless of all the drawbacks, it's a far reaching and uncrouchable poke, making it very important in his kit.

Close Normals

clLP

Close Jab
Close Light Punch
cl.LP / cl5LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	300	3	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	2	4	6	12	+5	+5	None
Identical to 5LP. Still a good panic jab that you can crouch under.

clMP

Close Strong
Close Medium Punch
cl.MP / cl5MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	1000/800	10/8	SU	Mid	High	5	4	19	28	-3	-3	None
An uppercut at a similar angle to 5MP. A bit better overall, mostly due to the faster startup, but getting 5MP instead of this really isn't too bad anyway. Still mostly for anti-air purposes and the occasional combo into super.

clHP

Close Fierce
Close Heavy Punch
cl.HP / cl5HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	1400	14	SU	Mid	High	7	4	19	30	+1	+1	None
Another straight punch. Probably the worst overall, though it does very high damage, as it has the highest hitbox. Very easily crouched under. Only really leads to super, and 2HP is a more reliable button for that purpose. Oddly, this move slides Boxer back a little bit, so the +1 on block is a bit hard to abuse.

clLK

Close Short
Close Light Kick
cl.LK / cl5LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	500	5	RF/SP/SU	Mid	High	2	3	5	10	+7	+7	None
Identical to 5LK. Still very good jabs as well, and still crouchable unfortunately.

clMK

Close Forward
Close Medium Kick
cl.MK / cl5MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	1100	11	SP/SU	Mid	High	5	4	13	22	+3	+3	None
A directly upgraded 5MK. Useful normal for meaties and punishes, as it combos pretty easily into a Ground Straight or a Dash Upper. +3 on block means you can pressure afterwards, though without a little walk there isn't much that will reach well. On counterhit it's a little easier, but still not much will reach.

clHK

Close Roundhouse
Close Heavy Kick
cl.HK / cl5HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close	1500	15	SU	Mid	High	6	7	15	28	+2	+2	None
Another gut punch. Your highest damage normal, and a very high damage cancel into super, although the situations you can punish with this into super are a bit rare. The difficulty lies in not getting a throw while you buffer for the super. Still, if you get it consistently, this is your max damage super cancel.

Crouching Normals

2LP

Crouch Jab
Crouching Light Punch
2LP / cr.LP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	200	2	RF/SP/SU	Mid	Mid	3	4	7	14	+4	+4	None
A simple 2LP for mashing and pressure. Links into itself so you can build charge, and on counterhit it can link into stronger moves. Standard but useful overall.

2MP

Crouch Strong
Crouching Medium Punch
2MP / cr.MP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1000	10	SP/SU	Mid	Low	4	4	13	21	+4	+4	None
A strong low punch. Useful for meaties and close range poking, and on counterhit it links into itself for big damage super confirms. Decent as a defensive option as well to stop them moving in on you.

2HP

Crouch Fierce
Crouching Heavy Punch
2HP / cr.HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1300/800	13/8	SU	Mid	High	5	6	23	44	-5	-5	None
A high reaching uppercut punch. Your go-to anti-air and super confirm in most situations. Fast, decent hitbox, and good damage make it a very rewarding option in both of those scenarios. -5 on block, no special cancel, and hefty endlag make it a worse option in neutral however. Save it for anti-airs and confirms.

2LK

Crouch Short
Crouching Light Kick
2LK / cr.LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	300	3	SP/SU	Low	Low	3	4	7	14	+4	+4	None
A quick jab aimed at the feet, and Boxer's main low route. To confirm with this, you have to hit a 1 frame link into 2LP, which is as hard as it sounds. Without doing that, you can't confirm off of 2LK and have to cancel immediately. Learning the 1 frame into 2LP gives you a solid combo with 2LK, 2LP > [2]8HP, so try to lab that out in order to make Balrog's mixup just a little bit scarier.

2MK

Crouch Forward
Crouching Medium Kick
2MK / cr.MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	900	9	SU	Low	Low	7	2	15	24	+3	+3	None
Another low hitting punch. Not as useful as a poke, which is rough since Balrog would really like this to be a good poke. Instead, this is mostly a whiff punish into super or a link from a counterhit cl.MK, and doesn't see purpose anywhere else much.

2HK

Crouch Roundhouse
Crouching Heavy Kick
2HK / cr.HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1300	13	SU	Low	Low	7	4	23	34	-DWN	-3	None
A heavy punch that resembles a Dash Ground Straight. Very solid sweep, gives a good knockdown and can confirm into Gigaton Blow from pretty far out. For the Gigaton Blow confirm, don't cancel 2HK, and instead link into the super. Hits low and has good range, and not as much whiff recovery as other sweeps, but still a pretty risky button in comparison to things like 2LP.

Jumping Normals

jLP

Jump Jab
Jumping Light Punch
j.LP

Neutral Jump

Diagonal Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	600	6	None	High	High	3	22	0	25	Varies	Varies	None
Useful jabs for interrupting air movement, though they tend to lose out and aren't very high reward. Try to hit them as you rise up, best used from a backwards jump.

jMP

Jump Strong
Jumping Medium Punch
j.MP

Neutral Jump

Diagonal Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1000	10	None	High	High	5	10	0	15	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
/+	900	9	None	High	High	6	6	0	12	Varies	Varies	None
Diagonal jump strong is a hook similar to dj.LP, but with much less active frames. Not much use. Neutral jump strong is a decent air-to-air, but you won't use it often since air-to-air is worse than just doing 2HP or 5MP.

jHP

Jump Fierce
Jumping Heavy Punch
j.HP

Neutral Jump

Diagonal Jump

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1200	12	None	High	High	9	8	0	17	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
/+	1300	13	None	High	High	7	8	0	15	Varies	Varies	None
Diagonal jump fierce is your main jump-in normal for damage, and has a solid hitbox below Balrog. Neutral jump fierce is a unique move. While nj.HP is active, Balrog can move a little to the left or right by holding 4 or 6. This is a little niche, but allows you to neutral jump over fireballs and still approach forward, or escape to bait an anti-air. Lower risk way to move forward over projectiles, but not super notable otherwise.

jLK

Jump Short
Jumping Light Kick
j.LK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
//+	600	6	None	High	High	4	22	0	26	Varies	Varies	None
Similar air punches to j.LP, with fast startup and high active frames. Outside of one extra frame of startup, this is identical overall to j.LP, so technically there's no real reason to ever use this. This would matter a lot if j.LP was an important air-to-air, but it isn't, so it really doesn't matter much.

jMK

Jump Forward
Jumping Medium Kick
j.MK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	900	9	None	High	High	6	9	0	15	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
/+	900	9	None	High	High	7	6	0	13	Varies	Varies	None
Jumping punches that are identical in animation to j.LP. Not much purpose for these overall really, they aren't great air-to-airs or great jump-ins. The neutral jump and diagonal jump versions are identical except for different frame data, which is not something that will affect you often.

jHK

Jump Roundhouse
Jumping Heavy Kick
j.HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
+	1300	13	None	High	High	8	10	0	18	Varies	Varies	None
Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
/+	1300	13	None	High	High	7	8	0	15	Varies	Varies	None
Heavy jump ins. Neutral jump version has a bit of extra active frames but you won't use it much. The diagonal version is exactly the same as diagonal j.HP, you can use them both in the same situations.

Throws

Head Bomber

Lever Break
Punch Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HP

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	1900	0	None	Grab	Grab	3	1	13	17	-DWN	Grab	None
A quick liver blow. Not a mash throw like in other SF titles. Faster and lower damage of his two throws. You can still get solid oki from this since Balrog can walk up as the opponent flies away.

Dirty Bomber

Kiss Your Grave
Kick Throw
Near Opponent, 4/6HK

Version	Damage	Stun	Cancel	Guard	Parry	Startup	Active	Recovery	Total	Adv Hit	Adv Block	Invul
Close /+	2200	0	None	Grab	Grab	5	1	13	19	-DWN	Grab	None
Balrog slams his opponent into the ground. Higher damage but slower startup. One of your best up close knockdowns, right next to Balrog.

Special Moves

Dash Punch

• Charge Back, Forward + Punch

Dash Uppercut

• Charge Back, Forward + Kick

Dash Lower

• Charge Back, Down-Forward + Punch

Dash Lower Uppercut

• Charge Back, Down-Forward + Kick

Buffalo Headbutt

• Charge Down, Up + Punch

Turn Punch

• Hold 3P or 3K, release

Super Moves

Crazy Buffalo

• Charge Back, Forward, Back, Forward + Punch
  • Balrog rushes forward and starts throwing a barrage of punches. 2800/4000/5100 damage, Crazy Buffalo is not safe on block and requires a grounded opponent. It does not work like Chang, Iori or Kim's super that sucks you into it. It is worth knowing that unlike most supers, CB has invincibility frames at all levels (9/15/23).

Gigaton Blow

• Charge Back, Forward, Back, Forward + Kick
  • Gigaton blow is a level 3 or max super meaning it cannot be done in A-groove. It is probably the most dangerous super in the game. There are 2 reasons for this. First off, it does massive damage weighing in at 6800. Second, it is the fastest super in the game in terms of distance traveled. Gigaton will punish almost every single special w/ recovery and will punish nearly all whiffed fierces and roundhouses. It will blow through nearly all projectiles as well due to its immense speed. Worth noting that it also has a -10 on block.
  • Gigaton will punish
    • Whiffed HP/HK's
    • Iori Rekka's
    • Hibiki QCF slashes on hit and block
    • Blanka Balls, Psycho Crushers, Scissor Kicks, Headbutts
    • Yamazaki Serpent Slash
    • Badly spaced Cannon Drills
    • Almost every single projectile (may get pegged by iori and guile's lp version)
    • Hard Edge
    • Oxford Red on hit and block
  • Gigaton will not punish
    • Sakura Hurricane Kicks
    • Blanka Electricity
    • Vega Balls
    • Properly spaced Cannon Drills
    • Crack Shoot

Advanced Strategy

Guard break FTW!!!

Match-ups

Characters who can't crouch Balrog's Dash Straight

• Capcom

E.Honda, Eagle, Sagat, Zangief, Dhalsim

• SNK

Kyo, Terry, Joe, Benimaru,Chang, Raiden, Geese, Yamazaki, Rugal

Characters who can crouch Balrog's standing Fierce

• Capcom

Cammy, Chun-Li, Vega, Sakura, Morrigan, Yun, Maki

• SNK

Hibiki, Rock, Iori, Athena, Mai, Kim, Vice, Yuri, Nakoruru

Rule of thumb, most of the girls can go under it, with King being an exception. Then you just add the short guys.

I need to do some more testing. If anybody can confirm more characters, that would be awesome. --Eddosan 02:36, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Faster to use the height chart, in Buktooth's system FAQ. Rog's st. HP hits height 64 and higher. Dash punch is 68 and higher.

--Viewtiful Elvis 06:26, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

For smaller characters than can duck underneath the standing Fierce, you can use standing Roundhouse, though it's roughly 1/3 shorter than the Fierce.

Colors