Month: March 2015

Much like with previous character launches, Iron Galaxy Studios plans to attach a bunch of content to Hisako’s release, including a brand new retro skin for fellow season two fighter Riptor, balance changes for a majority of the cast, and more.

Feeling as if a static image wouldn’t do her justice, Microsoft Studios’ Adam Isgreen has released a quick Vine of Riptor’s retro outfit, revealing a more classic, organic look than her current digs.

Of course, the meat of this patch will lie in its balance changes, and there’s quite a few. Due to being the most recently released character, Aganos sees its fair share of adjustments in this update, but folks like Kan-Ra, Fulgore, and Orchid haven’t been forgotten. Give the list a scan below and let us know what you think.

System Changes

• Fixed an issue that allowed you to use a Counter Breaker after a manual all the way up until the manual was over, even well after the Breaker window had passed. Now, you can only use the Counter Breaker if your opponent is still in their Breaker window. This prevents a bug where you could do your Counter Breaker very late after a juggle hit and break the game’s physics for the rest of the match.
• The Natural Born achievement for reaching Killer tier is fixed. People that are currently in Killer will receive it after playing 1 match in Killer once they update to 2.5.

Thunder

• Move Change: Call of Sky (Projectile Attack Move) has been removed from the game and replaced with Call of Sky (Dash Buff Move).
• The new Call of Sky strikes Thunder with a bolt of lightning, causing him to enter a charged state and crackle with electricity.
• His next dash will consume his charged state and be replaced with an Instinct dash (Murder of Crows), including all of its features.
• You can only hold one charge at a time, but hitting Thunder will not remove his charge. The charge will expire if unused after 8 seconds.
• The team felt that the old Call of Sky was not accomplishing the goal of forcing players to fight you at a bit less than full screen. We also felt that it was a bit too difficult to get in during certain matchups, and this new Call of Sky is a fun and versatile way to extend Thunder’s arsenal in the spirit of a grappler.

Jago

• Increased the size of hitboxes on the Tiger’s Fury Enders so they won’t ever miss crouching opponents.

Glacius

• Cold Shoulder attack box goes deeper into Glacius’ body.
• Light version becomes active 2 frames earlier.
• Medium version becomes active 3 frames earlier.
• Heavy version becomes active 4 frames earlier.
• This change should help with being able to wipe out Kan-Ra’s swarms using Cold Shoulder as intended.
• Frame advantage increased on Cold Shoulder to match earlier startup noted above. When close, advantage is the same as before. Better than before advantage is possible now when hitting late.
• Fixed a bug causing his Puddle Punch Enders to drop when cursed by Kan-Ra.
• Made his grab attack box taller so that characters couldn’t sneak under it in unintended ways.

Orchid

• F+HK is now immune to throws from frame 9 until 39.
• Orchid can now cancel Ich Ni San into Shadow moves on block.
• Shadow Uppercat is no longer counted as in-air until frame 2. This should increase the priority of its first hit.
• Fixed a bug that got introduced in the Aganos update that caused Orchid’s Ultra Ender to cause an air wall splat instead of the expected ground wall splat.

Fulgore

• Fulgore’s Heavy Eye Laser now travels a reduced distance.
• Light and Medium Eye Beams when used as Manuals are now breakable.
• You can now cancel Devastation Beam into Instinct Activation.

TJ Combo

• Performed a full cancel window pass on Auto Doubles, Linkers, and Shadow Linkers to make responsiveness and feel more similar to Season 1.
• Tremor’s Shockwave doesn’t come out behind TJ anymore.
• Knee attacks have more recovery, but inflict more blockstun. Frame disadvantage will be similar on block.
  Spin Fist is now 0 on block, instead of +1.
• When used as part of a combo after a Wall Splat, Shoot Toss damage has been greatly reduced.

Maya

• Performed a full cancel window pass on Auto Doubles, Linkers, and Shadow Linkers to make responsiveness and feel more similar to Season 1.
• Fixed a bug that allowed Maya to use forward dash into HK before the round begins.

Kan-Ra

• Performed a full cancel window pass on Auto Doubles, Linkers, and Shadow Linkers to make responsiveness and feel more similar to Season 1.
• Recovery after Sacrifice is now longer, and the attack box size of the explosion has been reduced. Characters who read this with a jump back won’t be hit as easily and should have enough time for a punish in most situations now. Kan-Ra will not be able to replace his Sand Trap for free on hit anymore, either.
• The startup portion of Swarm is now a projectile instead of a physical hit, so you can projectile invulnerable through it as expected.
• Standing Heavy Kick (Sand Spray) and Crouching Heavy Kick (Anti Air Sand Upheaval) are no longer counted as physical hits, and are now projectiles so that you can use projectile invulnerable attacks to go through them as expected.
• All HK “Sand” Buttons are now considered Special moves.
• Linker Shadow Swarm can now manual into Heavy buttons.
• Jumping Heavy Kick (Dune) is now breakable.
• Fixed a bug causing Kan-Ra’s backdash to not have invulnerability. Also realigned his Head vulnerable box on his forward dash.
• Fixed a bug that caused whiffing a c.HK (Sand Upheaval) to turn any knockdown into a hard knockdown.
• Fixed a bug that let Kan-Ra cancel Shadow Linkers into another Linker.

Riptor

• Performed a full cancel window pass on Auto Doubles, Linkers, and Shadow Linkers to make responsiveness and feel more similar to Season 1.
• Fixed a bug causing Riptor to recover from Throw attempts 7 frames faster than the rest of the cast.
• Fixed a bug causing Shoulder Charge Enders (Lv2, 3, and 4) to deal more damage than intended.
• Fixed a bug that caused Talon Rake, Flame Carpet, Flame Arc, and Flame Wall to remove Aganos’ Chunks on block.
• Fixed a bug that caused an unbreakable Opener->Ender situation after Predator MK Tail Stings.

Aganos

• Natural Disaster Hop now hits overhead on the way down only.
• Natural Disaster Hop causes a hard knockdown on airborne opponents so they cannot quick rise to punish this on hit.
• Close Standing MP now hits overhead.
• Shadow Natural Disaster is much lower profile on startup and while being held. It is also projectile immune on startup and while held, but not while moving forward.
• Shadow Natural Disaster’s final hit can recapture airborne opponents. It has a larger auto double cancel window as a result, and a shorter manual cancel window (though a heavy manual is still possible.)
• New Command Normal – Back + LP anti air flick. Still has flick’s projectile destroying properties.
• All LP buttons have larger projectile destroy boxes.
• Ender damage tweaked. Pulverize and Natural Disaster Enders hit a bit harder. Low level Payload Enders do a bit less.
• Fixed a bug that allowed you to Instinct Cancel Shadow Ruin on hit. Also fixed a bug preventing you from using an Instinct Cancel on block.
• Fixed a bug that caused manuals to change speeds depending on Chunks, leading to inconsistent linker to manual rules depending on chunk load.
• Fixed a bug that caused Walls to not take damage on Aganos’ knockdown if that knockdown killed him in some situations.
• Fixed a bug preventing Light Natural Disaster Linker from working after some Manuals.
• Fixed a bug prevented specials from coming out using the Heavy Punch button during the Light>Medium Peacemaker chain combo.
• Fixed a bug that caused a Heavy Kick to sometimes come out after activating Instinct.
• Fixed a bug that caused Level 4 Pulverize Ender to whiff if you used a Heavy Kick Auto Double before it.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Peacemaker from breaking when Aganos attempts a Counter Breaker.
• Fixed a bug preventing Peacemaker from breaking when you start Shadow Natural Disaster.
• Fixed a bug that caused Wall Crashes to play during Hitstop, making those moves unbreakable instantly.
• Fixed a bug that could cause Natural Disaster to roll the wrong way after whiffing a Ruin.
• The size of Aganos’ Yellow character collision box is reduced after frame 6 of recovery from a blocked Ruin. This was preventing certain moves from punishing the recovery.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the KV penalty on multiple recaptures after an Ultra from triggering.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Level 2 version of Pulverize Enders to whiff after HK Auto Doubles.

No word has been shared as to when this update will officially launch, but players can expect it to drop sometime before the end of the month.

Source: Ultra-Combo

As I’m sure many of you are aware, Final Round 18 is scheduled to kick off later today. One of the few North American events that can even come close to Evolution’s stature, this east coast tournament series regularly boasts large turnouts and incredibly hype moments every year.

Plus, as Capcom Pro Tour 2015’s first premier stop, talented players from around the world have made the trip to Atlanta, Georgia to earn their spot at Capcom Cup and pick up some extra cash along the way.

Unfortunately, information on the event has been hard to come by the past few weeks. With the recent release of pool assignments, we decided to take the time and break down just who will be competing across Final Round’s official lineup this weekend.

Please keep in mind that these are likely far from complete, seeing as last minute sign-ups will be available for competitors today, but they should offer up a good idea of the big names involved in each game. Feel free to let us know who we missed in the comments!

In addition to the singles tournaments, two notable team exhibitions are scheduled for the weekend as well: Curleh Mustache Battle Royale 5 and Battle By the Backyard, focusing on Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- respectively.

While full team lineups for the former have been hard to come by, you’ll find info on both of these events below.

As for when games will start each day, we’ve also gone ahead and organized the full tournament schedule below according to the various broadcasts. As always, these run at Tournament Standard Time, so expect some fluctuation.

As you can see, Final Round 18 is sure to be pretty crazy, so look out for our full tournament article later today for complete coverage.

Sources: Final Round, Shinobi, Dustloop