Month: July 2017

Following the teaser trailer after Melee finals yesterday, Wavedash Games have (at last!) shown off gameplay for their eagerly anticipated platform fighter, Icons: Combat Arena.

Along with gameplay, this trailer also reveals Icons’ sword fighter–the warrior empress Zhurong. She is very similar to Marth, with her aerials and forward smash looking almost identical to that of the Fire Emblem lord. The presentation is a bit underwhelming at present, with hit-sounds lacking any real oomph and character animations being a bit too similar to well-known Smash characters like Fox, Captain Falcon and Marth. Do keep in mind that it is pre-alpha, so there is still plenty of time to polish up visuals and give each character their own unique feel.

It’s certainly got the fluid movement from platform fighters like Melee though, with wavedashes, platform pressure and edgeguarding all intact. With its open beta launching on Steam this fall, platform fighter fans will see if Icons can tempt them away from the likes of Melee and Smash 4, with its lighting fast combat, online matchmaking and free to play structure. You can sign up for the open beta over on the official Icons website.

Sources: Evo; Wavedash Games; Icons Combat Arena

Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada dropped this mysterious tweet, during Evo’s Tekken finals…

Maybe I'll announce something.

watch EVO 2017 TEKKEN FINALhttps://t.co/5fiaUxcY6U

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) July 16, 2017

While there have been rumors that Harada has been in meetings with the likes of Arc System Works (and he’s certainly been close to them, lately), the reveal ended up being a partnership with another big name fighting game company: SNK.

South Town’s biggest boss, Geese Howard, will be slugging it out with the Tekken cast and Akuma (hey, it’s the world’s tiniest version of Capcom vs SNK!) in Winter 2017. Get practicing your pretzel inputs in readiness.

Sources: Bandai Namco Entertainment America; Evo

Announced at the end of Tekken finals, Dragon Ball FighterZ producer Tomoko Hiroki revealed a new DBFZ trailer showing off Future Trunks, as well as when signups will open for the game’s closed beta.

Sign ups will open on July 26th, with the beta being available for PS4 and Xbox One. The big news is that there will be nine playable fighters in the beta, rather than just the six we’ve seen in the E3 build. We already know that one of these new fighters is Future Trunks, with the remaining two to be revealed in the magazine V-Jump on July 21st. Personally, I’m betting on Piccolo and Krillin.

Remember to set your alarms for July 26th, as I imagine beta spots will disappear faster than you can say “Demon Containment Wave”.

Sources: Evo; Bandai Namco Entertainment America