Month: October 2015

Ever since being released as an alternate skin for Jago, Killer Instinct fans have clamored to see Shadow Jago become his own unique character. They were satiated for a bit thanks to the season two appearance of Omen, the spirit who haunts the series protagonist, but the question still remained: what’s going on with Shadow Jago?

Things got interesting with the start of the Killer Instinct Community Fund earlier this year. While it proved an excellent way for folks to help support major fighting game tournaments and get a little something in return, the final reward was what they had all been waiting for. The developers promised to officially add Shadow Jago to the playable cast should the campaign reach its $100,000 goal, and the community responded by hitting that mark in just three days.

After informing players of their progress on Shadow Jago back at Evo 2015, Iron Galaxy Studios’ lead combat designer Adam “Keits” Heart took to Ultra-Combo to provide even more details on this upcoming character.

From the looks of things, Shadow Jago is shaping up to be a quicker version of his regular counterpart, with a higher walkspeed to complement the commitment of his lengthy forward and back dashes. His slowest fireball is the same speed as the regular Jago’s fastest, and the Shadow version fires a barrage of plasma instead of a single, large projectile.

One of the main ways the developers seem to be setting these two characters apart is sword usage. While Jago utilizes the weapon in a number of attacks, Shadow Jago takes that to another level. His crouching heavy punch, for example, has had its reach increased to make it a more reliable poking tool, and his normal throw automatically transitions to the Laser Blade ender for more juggle opportunities. Even his uppercut has been changed from a simple dragon punch to a deadly blade swipe, as seen in the comparison images below.

The most unique aspect of Shadow Jago’s gameplay, however, is definitely his Instinct mode. Shadow Symbiosis grants the dark character additional frame advantage on his moves like Jago’s Tiger Fury, but the similarities end there. While in Instinct mode, hitting the opponent with an Endokuken or dashing through them will attach the Dark Tether, which comes with its own set of upgrades.

When the Dark Tether is active, Shadow Jago fuels his Shadow and Surge moves with the opponent’s meter, using only half of his own and stealing the rest. He will also gain access to a unique taunt that instantly grants both players a full bar of meter. A risky proposition, sure, but when you have two resource pools to work from instead of one, why not?

Oh, and before the cries of, “Overpowered!” ring out, know that a single hit will detach the Dark Tether, so smack Shadow Jago up quickly before he turns the tides.

All in all, Shadow Jago sounds like an incredibly fun addition to the Killer Instinct roster. He will be available sometime before the end of the year. For more gameplay details, be sure to check out Heart’s full write-up by following the link below.

Source: Ultra-Combo