There’s something very distinct about watching a combo video for a game that most players have moved on from. It’s a bit of nostalgia, but it’s also a rush of fun. It gives the sense that this game is being played purely for fun and love of the game, as opposed to playing a game just because it’s new and everyone else is playing it.
Today, PIE|Smug took to YouTube to show off a lot of what he could do in Street Fighter’s recent past. These Dudley combos are creative, destructive, and difficult. It’s almost a work of art, seeing a good Dudley player deliver. Smug does clarify that he is still playing and enjoying Street Fighter V, and that he’s just doing this because he wants to.
While he may not be as flashy as fellow 3rd Strike veteran Urien, an accomplished Alex can be a sight to behold in Street Fighter V. Alongside players like Gunfight, Circa|LPN and Donpachi, TheCool Kid93’s Alex is doing the Brooklyn brawler proud, as seen in his latest Alex compilation.
His corner control is what really stands out in this compilation, forcing the opponent into the corner and then not letting them free until they’re knocked out. All it takes is a single good read and it’s a round for Alex. The mega parry at the beginning of the video, where TCK93 parries two V-Trigger Fuharenkyakus and a Critical Art from Juri is pretty damn impressive too.
A new Star Wars Galaxies EMU server will be opening its doors to player looking for the “NGE”, or New Game Enhancements” version of the now-defunct title. Called Stella Bellum, the server is being worked on by a team of eight that seeks to bring SWG back to life as it was at the time the lights were turned off by SOE, now Daybreak Game Company.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
DNL|Chris Tatarian is one of three American players, alongside FOX|Julio Fuentes and BCW|Brenttiscool, who are considered part of the Ken Trinity. He is the second of the Trinity–after Julio Fuentes–who has found his way into Capcom Cup by way of points.
With two of them headed to Capcom Cup, will one of them take the title in Anaheim? Further, will it be Chris?
Come at Me
While Chris has great, relatively safe pressure with Ken, one of the things he does best is reacting to his opponent. You’ll often see that a lot of his damage comes off anti-airs, jump-ins over fireballs, and whiff and block punishment.
Even better, Tatarian does well at creating the illusion of opponents needing to do things he can easily react to. This is likely the thing that makes Chris most dangerous in the game; he forces others to act, then takes advantage of his ability to react. The reduction of input lag since the early days of Street Fighter V is only going to make Tatarian an even greater threat in this department.
The Brotherhood
One of Tatarian’s–and Fuentes’, as well–greatest assets going into Capcom Cup is having his brother in arms in the hunt with him. While they are still competitors whose individual aims will be to win the event, both will want to see the other do well if one of them is eliminated. They will likely be talking things over before their respective matches and bouncing theory and matchup data before they enter the fray–unless of course they are facing each other!
Further, they will likely see Brentt “Brenttiscool” Franks in attendance as well–despite him not making it into the tournament itself. The three will likely be working together to see one of the Trinity make it to top 8.
Infrequent Flyer
Chris Tatarian is ready to win tournaments. However, the tournaments he has proved that fact at are generally lower level. The events he has won have been locals–such as Wednesday Night Fights–or majors where the most international competition he faced was south of the border in Mexico. When he has faced up against players from Asia, he has not fared as well.
The only event where he has made Top 8 with an Asian player involved was a 3rd place finish at First Attack in Puerto Rico, where he lost to both HM|Go1 and /r/kappa|John Takeuchi. Despite winning against Go1 on winners side, he lost to him in loser’s finals, which implies one of two things: either Go1 picked up on some pattern in Tatarian’s play, or Tatarian lost his nerve.
It’s not just Asia that have Chris T’s number either–when he travelled to UK for VSFighting 2016 he was left stumped in Grand Finals after resetting the bracket against fellow Capcom Cup qualifier AWS|CCL. He did blaze through the rest of the bracket however, suggesting that only Europe’s upper echelons will be able to face him down come the grand event.
While his finishes just outside of top 8 at SoCal Regionals and Red Bull Battlegrounds are respectable, they are just simply not confidence-instilling going into Anaheim. Although his new sponsorship with Denial eSports will give him more opportunities to travel and play against the best next season, future holdings do nothing for his current prospects.
Final Thoughts
Chris Tatarian has a lot going for him. But he’s just not ready for the field he’s about to take on. His results at Japan Cup are a glaring reminding of how much work he needs to put in during the coming year.
Though Chris T is one of the best Kens around, Julio Fuentes is who I see having the most potential in Anaheim out of the Trinity. I honestly expect Tatarian to go 0-2 in this event, maybe 1-2 depending on who his first round match is against.
Those Hearthstone players looking for a little more goblin in their lives will be happy to hear that the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion will be launching this Thursday, December 1st. The expansion is already available for pre-order on the Blizzard Store. MSoG comes with 132 new cards, three new factions, a new board and much more.
According to Venture Beat, Pokemon Go will be getting a much awaited update in December that could be seen as an early Christmas gift. Reports indicate that Niantic is preparing a new update to the game that will include over a hundred normal and legendary Pokemon, PvP, ways to raise creatures hatched from eggs and, prepare yourself….trading between players. The information was obtained by mining through the game code by a scanner called PokeVS.
Buried in Pokkén Tournament is something akin to the instant blocking mechanic normally seen in games like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear–and it wasn’t discovered until about three weeks ago, by Japanese player Uho.
It’s easy to miss what’s happening in the above video if you aren’t looking for it. In the first example, Pikachu blocks R.Pika’s Counter Attack and grabs. Nothing special. The second clip is exactly the same situation, but Pikachu’s grab punishes the CA, causing a critical hit. The reason for this? Pikachu’s block in the 2nd example wasn’t just an ordinary block–it was a block coming from a canceled homing attack. These very specific blocks, intentional or otherwise, shave off a hefty amount of block stun.
And it works for every homing attack in the game, it seems.
Many important applications. This one isn't a punish, but leaves you at advantage in a situation where you're otherwise negative. pic.twitter.com/pCMt5ghNSs
It’s not just homing attacks, either. It’s anything that cancels into shield–for example, Machamp’s command grab. This potentially means Machamp can flat out ignore frame traps (in both phases!) from reactable counter-piercing moves, like Charizard and Shadow Mewtwo’s divekicks.
I confirmed with Thulius that the window for this frame-shaving property does not last as long as you hold the shield.
@CrowCrowters it's a small window after the homing cancel. Lenient enough to be practical, but not 100% free.
No one has sat down to find out the exact number of frames the instant block window is yet, but given the excellent documentation on the frame data in Pokkén thus far, I imagine that won’t be a mystery for much longer. This is assuming, of course, the window is the same for every character!
