Month: April 2015

While the arrival of a new character and various balance changes have rightly dominated Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS discussions this morning, one curious Reddit user recently discovered sound files in the handheld version that may point towards appearances by Street Fighter’s Ryu and Fire Emblem’s Roy.

According to their findings (which have subsequently been confirmed by the folks behind The Cutting Room Floor), these new themes pull music from both characters’ respective franchises with very little editing, leading us to believe they may be leftovers from earlier development or just in the beginning phases. We’ve included all of these tracks, along with a preview of the sound work being done for Lucas’ release in June, below.

So, what do you think? Might we eventually see Ryu and Roy join the game as downloadable characters? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Sources: r/SmashBros via NeoGAF, The Cutting Room Floor, tip via MegamanXZero

The latest version of Blazblue: Chronophantasma has been out in Japanese arcades for some time now, and players have been competing in tournaments across the country. As with any game over a period of time, players have studied matchups and character strength, placing the cast into rough tier rankings according to their overall power.

Speaking in interviews with Famitsu this week, two of Japan’s strongest players have both provided their own respective lists, along with some thoughts on the game’s overall balance. With the balance patch coming to consoles next week in the form of Blazblue: Chronophantasma EXTEND, now is a very good time to see where the cast stands.

The first player to give us their list is Goro. He is most known for performing very well at national tournaments with Makoto, even sticking with her through versions where she was considered to be a weaker character.

Goro

S	Jin, Nu
A	Valkenhayn, Hazama, Kokonoe, Relius, Litchi, Tager, Taokaka
B	Azrael, Ragna, Tsubaki, Makoto, Bang, Izayoi, Carl, Noel, Kagura
C	Rachel, Platinum, Bullet, Celica, Mu, Lambda
D	Amane, Terumi, Hakumen, Arakune

“There’s a difference in strength when you compare tiers A to D, but it’s not that much of a difference when talking about tiers A to C. Ragna, considered by many a strong character, was placed in the B tier,” he went on to explain. “Regardless of how strong Ragna may be, he’s still Ragna. His ‘IAD crossup 623D’ is certainly a very strong mix-up tool, but the rest of his mix-up does not work against seasoned players that consistently appear and place well in tournaments. In other words, it becomes difficult to imagine him not having a hard time against many characters when his mix-up is subpar and he needs to fish confirms on neutral.”

Dora also provided his thoughts. A consistently strong performer, he plays very well in Japanese tournaments with Bang and also travels overseas to compete in North America from time to time. During his last trip here, he placed third at Evo 2014.

Dora

S	Hazama, Valkenhayn, Jin, Nu
A	Kagura, Kokonoe, Azrael, Relius, Makoto, Litchi, Tager, Taokaka, Tsubaki, Ragna, Carl, Izayoi, Hakumen, Bang
B	Noel, Rachel, Arakune, Platinum, Amane, Bullet, Mu, Celica, Lambda
C+	Terumi

When speaking on his reasoning, he had this to say: “The four characters placed in the S tier are the ones considered extremely strong this time. As a whole, the game seems well balanced – when comparing the S and B tiers the difference in strength is visible, but it’s not the case when it’s between S and A tiers. In general, right now it seems like, for the most part, it’s more important to consider the character match-ups rather than how strong a character is.”

Source: Famitsu, special thanks to Hiago for bringing this to us and providing translations.