Month: April 2017

After signing top Cloud and DK main Gavin “Tweek” Dempsey for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U earlier this year, Phoenix1 have now thrown their hat into the Melee ring by signing world’s best Samus and MIOM Rank #15, James “Duck” Ma. It seems that birds of a feather flock together, even in esports.

We are happy to announce we have signed @ssbDuck as our first Super Smash Bros Melee player! Welcome to Phoenix1!

— Phoenix1 (@Phoenix1gg) April 11, 2017

Rated as the best player in Michigan, Duck has been a consistent presence at the top levels of many Melee events, with a second place at Full Bloom 3, seventh at Smash Summit 3, ninth at Shine, Evo, and Canada Cup 2016. With wins over players like CLG|SFAT, IMT|Shroomed, MSF|The Moon, G2|Westballz, and a current 3-1 positive record over TSM|Leffen, he has the potential to raise his MIOM ranking even higher in 2017.

Duck was previously signed to Denial Esports, but agreed to a mutual separation in August after issues with player payments–these issues have since been resolved. The Midwestern bounty hunter will be sporting his brand new orange and black jersey at CEO Dreamland this weekend.

Source: Phoenix1

James Mielke over at Polygon scored big: he managed to get together Samurai Shodown series creator Yasushi Adachi, background designer Tomoki Fukui, and composer Norio Tate for a long form interview about one of the most beloved weapons-based fighters in gaming history. These three titans were a part of Samurai Gumi (literately: Samurai Team), and in their exclusive interview give an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the series’s development, budgets, and why the title had it’s “w” sliced out.

Of particular interest to the FGC is Adachi’s call to arms for old Samurai Gumi team members to get together and make a new IP, and his admission that they are not presently involved with SNK on development of a new title.

You can read the full article here!

Source: Polygon

Alongside the now defunct All Is Brawl, GameBattles was one of the best places to train during the days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It helped birth many of the talents we now see dominating the top levels of Smash 4, with its playoffs and online ladder acting as major battlegrounds during Brawl’s lifespan. While Japan still has an active and fiercely competitive online ladder, nothing in the West has really captured the original spirit of All Is Brawl and GameBattles.

However, in a matter of minutes earlier this week after a suggestion by IMT|ANTi on Twitter, GameBattles has set up a new online ladder specifically for Smash 4. Top players like ANTi, TSM|ZeRo and CaptainZack have already signed up to the service, with there currently being over 380 players registered since the ladder’s announcement yesterday evening. You can expect more players to start filtering in over the next week, with MLG hopefully setting up incentives, premium tournaments and playoffs as interest increases.

@Anti Maybe something like this? https://t.co/QGh0NRLbEd

— GameBattles (@GameBattles) April 10, 2017

This announcement has certainly garnered a lot of interest among both Brawl veterans and new-school wifi warriors, so there should be plenty of matches going if you are looking to level up your Smash skills.

Source: GameBattles