If you’re a fan of Super Smash Bros, you’re probably familiar with Project M, the fan-made mod for Super Smash Bros. Brawl that attempted to bring the Wii title’s mechanics closer to Super Smash Bros. Melee. But now, after years of work, it’s all over.
In a message posted on their official website, the Project M team has announced that they are ending development immediately. This comes not as a result of any legal issues but because they feel they’ve reached the limits of what they can accomplish with the resources at their disposal.
While an interesting project in its own right, and one that built up a sizable following, Project M’s status as a mod of an existing game prevented it from garnering support from larger tournaments as Nintendo threw their backing behind the competitive scene.
That said, it isn’t all bad news. Aside from the fact that the team is satisfied with Project M’s final revision, they’ve apparently begun work on something new. By stopping now, the developers will be able to focus on their next project, likely with the same passion and dedication that made Project M such a success.
By now there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Rivals of Aether. You may have seen a setup at a local gathering, caught footage of it at the Evo invitational tournament, or noticed the name popping up from time to time on our site. While some of the game’s features are apparent, you may still have some questions about why fiery lions rendered in retro graphics has garnered so much attention.
To address this, the Beefy Smash Doods have put together a video explaining what exactly Rivals of Aether is.
And if that’s not enough, the doods also launched an appropriately named YouTube channel, Beefy Aether Doods, dedicated to delivering strategy videos for the early access title.
The first two videos, which we’ve included below, discuss how the game handles Directional Influence, as well as how to successfully perform a reverse aerial rush. If you’re looking to take a first plunge into this subgenre or just want to try your Smash skills in another series, be sure to give the videos a watch.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship will begin construction at the beginning of next year on a 184,000 square foot facility that will include a UFC Athlete Health and Performance Center.
David “UltraDavid” Graham and James Chen of UltraChen TV have been hard at work putting together videos highlighting each of the players taking part in this weekend’s Capcom Cup tournament. Below, we’ve rounded up a smattering of the newer videos that they’ve released for your viewing pleasure.
Justin Wong of Evil Geniuses stands out as one of the biggest names in the fighting game community, which makes sense given that the man has been making his mark in the tournament scene for nearly two decades. It seems only natural that a player of his caliber–and with his history–should make it to into the Capcom Cup finals.
While best known in Street Fighter IV for his Rufus play, Wong sports a reputation of being, as UltraDavid so wonderfully puts it, “a historically defensive, lame player.” Anyone who has seen Rufus before knows that sitting back and playing patiently isn’t exactly what he does best, so Wong’s decision to stick with Rufus for as long as he did certainly raised some eyebrows. In the Ultra update, he’s also dabbled in characters like Rose and Elena, who are more than capable of sitting back and playing defensive.
For analysis, the UltraChen duo decided to take apart the grand finals match from this year’s Defend the North tournament, a match that saw Wong bring out a relatively fledgling Rose against Red Bull’s Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis.
Justin Wong presents an interesting situation this weekend: will he play Rufus, the character that he’s made (yet another) name for himself with, or will he go with Rose or Elena, the characters that play more into his style but that he has markedly less experience controlling?
Up next, James and David talk about Winterfox’s Gustavo “801 Strider” Romero, a player who excels at many characters, but who is easily most well-known for his Abel.
In spite of an impressive tournament run this year including many top 32 placings, Gustavo wasn’t quite able to bring home the grand prize at any events, though he did land a second place finish at Community Effort Orlando 2015. After tearing through a hefty portion of the competition he’ll be up against this weekend, Romero found himself unable to topple Kazunoko to snag the championship belt in Florida.
In the match the duo analyze, we see Romero face off against Mad Catz’ Mago and his dominant Yang, footage that, appropriately enough, comes from CEO. Below, you’ll get to see Romero’s more fundamental style, which, as UltraChen point out numerous times, rarely relies on “betting the farm” in order to get that W.
Next, the two commentary giants talk about Japan’s Nemo. As the top points holder in Japanese arcades, there’s no question that Nemo ranks among the best players in the world, even when including those who may not have fed thousands of yen into arcade cabinets. While Nemo has been performing in Street Fighter IV for some time now, his Rolento is the stuff of legend. Even before the mercenary received a round of buffs, Nemo was placing high at major events–a trend that certainly didn’t change when the character was strengthened.
For match analysis, the video offers a close look at Nemo’s match against Evil Geniuses’ Momochi at Ultra Hyakkishu Cup back in October. This match is an excellent example of Nemo’s unique style; he never stands still. As James notes, he employs a very active style of defense, which involves more rolling, wall jumping, dashing, tossing stingers, and everything else Rolento has up his sleeve than actually sitting still and blocking. This makes Nemo a joy to watch and, one can only assume, a nightmare to fight.
To say that Meltdown’s Luffy has had a presence at events–both ranking and premier–this year would be a gross understatement. Luffy made it to the top ten for point totals in the Capcom Pro Tour during the tournament season, but that wasn’t enough; his second place finish at DreamHack Winter last weekend earned him a qualifying position to help drive home just how dominant his Rose play is.
And let’s not forget last year, when he won Evo and came in third place at Capcom Cup. He’s certainly a contender, all of the qualifying players are, but given his performance since Evo 2014, and he’s likely to take down many, many people with him, if he even goes down at all.
To show off Luffy’s approach to combat, James and David grabbed footage from VSFighting 5, where Luffy took KIG|Problem X to grand finals. The name of the game in this match is mobility, and both players have plenty of it.
r/Kappa’s Poongko made himself known early on in the life of Street Fighter IV, but his switch to Seth has helped to cement him as one of the strongest players in the world.
Seth gets in your head. Sometimes, there are rounds where you just don’t get to play thanks to Tanden Engines, command grabs, divekicks, crazy toe tap shenanigans, and more; the list just keeps going. It’s frustrating. It’s especially frustrating in the hands of a player who isn’t afraid to shed some clothing to help dampen an opponents waning morale. It’s a perfect match for Poongko.
Appropriately enough, the footage chosen for analysis features a fight against Nemo in a first-to-seven set at the Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals.
Of course, there are plenty more players who will be making their way out to the event this weekend. If you’d like to check out more highlight videos, be sure to head over to the Capcom Fighters YouTube channel.
And if you’ve not yet seen the official bracket for the Capcom Cup, you can check that out by following this link.
