J King breaks down the many possibilities of King’s “Lay Off” shove in Tekken 7

King’s “Lay Off” shove, (ff,n1+2) is one of his more complex and unusual attacks in Tekken 7. In addition to its slightly odd input, the attack itself does no damage. It does, however, offer considerable frame advantage on block and hit. That alone isn’t enough to warrant a dissertation on the move…

…but its counter properties opens up a whole new level to King’s gameplay. At a staggering +18 frames, King can get a number of guaranteed followups depending upon the situation and opponent. This excellent video from J King breaks down those options, classifying them based on reward, ease of use, and the characters each followup works on.

Source: J King

Gematsu details BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle’s Episode, Tactics, and other modes

As we inch ever-closer to the inevitable collision of four universes in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Gematsu has recently detailed a variety of the title’s game modes in a recent report.

The game will include the previously-announced Episode Mode, which will feature four individual arcs from the varying perspectives of the BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth and RWBY casts. According to Gematsu, “In Episode Mode, players can enjoy an original story where battles unfold on the ‘Phantom Field,’ a singular point where the worlds of the four works represented in the game come together.”

Tactics Mode appears to be the traditional tutorial and combo challenge mode that players of any Arc System Works title have come to expect, with the duo of Azrael and Ragna appearing to serve as the training dummies. Survival Mode will allow players to pit their duo of choice against a variety of opposing CPU-controlled teams, with the standard fighting game fare of Training and Gallery Modes, as well as a Replay Theater, round out the currently-announced feature set. No further details were given about the game’s online functionality, and Arcade Mode seems conspicuous by its absence, at least for the time being.

You can see photos of each of the revealed modes below, as well as Cross Character Pack 1 DLC characters Platinum the Trinity, Orie Bellardire, and Kanji Tatsumi. It also includes our first look at Yang Xaio Long’s in-game sprite, as White Rose and Bumblebee share a pre-match intro at the Abandoned Temple. We can also see that Rachel has retained her Sylpheed gauge, which she lacked in her reveal trailer, while Platinum appears to have a new gauge governing items that is different than what she’s had in the past. A form of in-game currency, likely used for Gallery unlockables, also appears to be present.

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BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be released in Japan for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam on Thursday, May 31st, with a North American release on the same platforms following on Tuesday, June 5th. Details on a European release have not yet been announced.

Source: Gematsu

Ship of Heroes – Latest Gameplay Video Shows Updates to Alpha Combat

The Ship of Heroes team has released a new gameplay video that shines the spotlight on progress being made on the combat system during alpha testing. The video comes ahead of planned closed combat Alpha tests with select community members. During these special events, developers will host a tour of Apotheosis City and showcase a number of features including the signature hero, Meltdown.