'Street Fighter 5' finally makes Blanka available to players

Promotional image for Blanka in "Street Fighter V"Capcom

"Street Fighter's" most electrifying fighter has finally returned as a playable character in the third season of "Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition," bringing along his trademark unconventional fighting techniques.

Capcom released a character trailer video for Blanka on Feb. 12, giving players a sneak peek at the character's V-moves. The green-skinned Brazilian fighter was also given a character introduction video, which gave a more detailed insight into what the character can bring to the table.

Blanka was finally made available to players on Feb. 20, making the character playable for the first time since "Street Fighter 2." In "Street Fighter 2," Blanka was introduced as a wild man who lived in the Brazilian jungle after surviving a plane crash. According to the game's lore, the character's yellow-green skin was the result of a lightning strike in the electrical storm that crashed his plane.

This new iteration of the character in "Street Fighter 5" has undergone a redesign, now sporting longer, wilder hair and greener skin. However, his signature moves remain familiar to those who remember the character from Street Fighter 2.

Players have the chance to use classic Blanka's V-Skill moves, like the Coward Crouch. V-Triggers 1 and 2 give players access to the character's special moves, including a new one that can be accessed through Trigger 1.

Here is a list of commands for Blanka's moves.

Even though the character trailer and introduction videos have given players an idea of what they can expect from Blanka, actual gameplay has revealed a few surprises. According to EventHubs, there was a noticeable change in the character's Charged Ground Shave Rolling move. 

EventHubs notes that the move was shown to break the opponent's guard in Blanka's character introduction video, which was published only a few days before the character's official release. However, in the actual gameplay, it seems that the Charged Ground Shave Rolling move no longer has the guard break capability. It's possible, therefore, that this change was either last-minute or a bug in the game.

Players can gain access to Blanka as a playable character by spending $5.99, or 100,000 Fight Money. The Season 3 Character Pass can also let players access all six of Season 3's new playable characters. Aside from Blanka, the new playable characters are Sakura, Falke, Cody, G, and Sagat.