Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

It’s been a long wait, but the day is finally upon us: Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is now available, ready to usher in a new era for Capcom’s signature fighting game as it enters its third season of content. In a two-minute trailer (F.A.N.G would be proud) we see the character select screens for all six courses of the titular Arcade Mode, Urien, and the Mad Gear Gang’s Two P. furiously try to break barrels together in the new Bonus Stage, and we get a glimpse of some of the 200+ unlockable endings and illustrations, courtesy of UDON Entertainment.

The new Team and Extra Battle Modes are also briefly shown off, as Guile battles Shin Akuma, while Ed faces off with Viewtiful Rashid — the first Extra Battle Crossover Costume — that will be this month’s reward for finishing all four of the Extra Battle challenges.

Finally, the new V-Triggers IIs take the spotlight to close things out. You can see the full trailer for yourself, and get in on the hype below:

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is available now for PlayStation 4 and Steam, as both a free update for existing SFV owners, as well as a retail release that includes download codes for the 2016 and 2017 character passes, providing you with all 12 previously released DLC characters as well as various pre-order costumes.

Source: Street Fighter

Rounding out his currently-released character breakdowns for Dragon Ball FighterZ, based on his recent trip to the Bandai Namco Entertainment America offices, Maximilian examines the final antagonist of Dragon Ball Z — and another member of the open beta — Kid Buu.

As expected, this “pure” form of Majin Buu, free of the influence of the Grand Supreme Kai, differs from his more portly, “innocent” incarnation in a wide variety of ways. His signature Mystic Ball Attack can be preformed both on the ground and in the air, serving as Kid’s go-to combo ender, with the Heavy/EX version putting foes in a juggle state for further extensions, in a similar manner to Cell.

Kid’s Mystic Arm Grab in an anti-air command grab that bears similarities to Super-Skrull’s Elastic Slam in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It appears to only be a hitgrab, but can be comboed into after a couple of his long-range, launching, sweeps. Kid Buu’s Candy Beam appears to be a solid projectile, though it doesn’t have any healing properties like Majin Buu’s Level 3.

His most interesting special appears to be his Arm Ball, where Kid tosses out a projectile that hovers around his opponents, before striking them multiple times. This will leave them in a good period of hitstun and a restand state, affording Kid plenty of time to call Assists, rush in with a quick super dash to pile on the damage, or to even tag out when the pressure’s on him. Lastly, Kid has the Majin Kamehameha, that can only be performed when airborne.

As for his Supers, Kid Buu’s first Level 1, inherited from Super Buu, is the Human Extinction Attack. This sees Kid fire several energy waves from his left palm, littering the screen with raining projectiles — which can also hit on the way up — making them comparable to a Super version of Doctor Doom’s Hidden Missiles. This could prove a fantastic DHC option for any Team. The Pearl Flash augments Kid’s aerial conversions, but can also be performed grounded.

Finally, his Level 3, the iconic Planet Burst, has the utility of being usable both on the ground and in air (unlike most Level 3s), affording Kid some massive damage conversions if he has the Ki to spare.

As always, you can see more of Max’s thoughts and footage in the video below, as well as links to all previously-covered breakdowns below.

• Future Trunks
• Piccolo, Android 16 and Android 18
• Krillin
• Super Saiyan Goku
• Super Saiyan Vegeta
• Teen Gohan
• Perfect Cell
• Frieza
• Majin Buu
• Captain Ginyu
• Goku Black
• Nappa
• Hit
• Beerus
• Adult Gohan

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released outside of the Japan for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on Friday, January 26th, with a Japanese release for the same platforms following on Thursday, February 1st.

Source: Maximilian Dood

As we inch ever closer to the release of Dragon Ball FighterZ later this month, Maximilian continues his character breakdowns following his trip to the Bandai Namco Entertainment America offices by taking a look at another one of the characters in this weekend’s open beta: Adult Gohan.

Though he bears some similarities to his teen counterpart — including both having an uppercut as their Assists — Gohan’s older, more-experienced incarnation breaks away from his youthful self in a variety of different ways.  His launching command normal, the Ultimate High Kick, which allows him to send his foes into the sky without the standard jump canceling other characters have to do, in a vein similar to the universal launchers found in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.

The Jet Uppercut seems to be the Adult equivalent of Teen Gohan’s Dragon Flight, which has slight invulnerability, with the heavy/EX version doing a bit more damage, for overall standard fare. The Machine Gun Kick is another shared special, and seems to function similarly to Chun-Li’s Lightning Legs, and can only be preformed in the air (just like his younger version).

The Ultimate Back Attack is unique to Adult, and allows Gohan to setup dirty mix-ups, since it’s an overhead that can cross-up foes depending on the strength used, though it seems you won’t get much off of it. However, the most unique aspect of this fighter — given that he hails from the Majin Buu Saga — is his unique install super, Potential Unleashed.

Adult Gohan can spend up to a full 7 bars of Ki Gauge to go into his “Mystic” form, which provides a small damage buff and grants him new specials, such as the Machine Gun Punch, which improves his Chain Combos, and will also add a tracking property to the Ultimate Back Attack, providing Gohan with a dangerous, full-screen instant overhead, that can go behind your opponent, for some truly grizzly tactics.

However, once you hit Level 7 and reach full Potential is where things get truly insane. Once fully-leveled up, Adult Gohan will gain the unique ability to “reverse beat” his combo chains, something no one else in the entire roster is afforded, so long as he doesn’t repeat the same attack multiple times in a single combo.

For those unfamiliar with the term, this means Level 7 Unleashed Adult Gohan can ignore the normal rules of combo chaining that the rest of the roster is forced to follow, as he can then chain his normals together in any order that he wants. Combined with Assists, his newly-acquired Machine Gun Punch, enhanced Ultimate Back Attack, and launching Ultimate High Kick, players will be forced to block Level 7 Adult Gohan in ways they don’t have to block against any other member of the roster, leading to unique pressure situations only he can pull off.

You can hear Max’s full thoughts in the video below, along with links to all previous character breakdowns.

• Future Trunks
• Piccolo, Android 16 & Android 18
• Krillin
• Super Saiyan Goku
• Super Saiyan Vegeta
• Teen Gohan
• Perfect Cell
• Frieza
• Majin Buu
• Captain Ginyu
• Goku Black
• Nappa
• Hit
• Beerus

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released outside of Japan for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC on Friday, January 26th, with the Land of The Rising Sun receiving it on the same platforms on Thursday, February 1st.

Source: Maximilian Dood

Wrapping up his coverage of the Super trio of Dragon Ball FighterZ from his recent time at the offices of Bandai Namco Entertainment America, Maximilian now breaks down Universe 7’s God of Destruction, Lord Beerus.

Beerus is reminiscent of Venom from Guilty Gear, due to the similarity of his Ball Sets and the Destroyer’s Cataclysmic Orbs. However, Max feels that Beerus uses them and executes his gameplan in a far different manner than Venom, in addition to breaking the general mold of DBFZ characters.

His Ki blasts are standard fare, and are the God’s go-to projectile, as he lacks a more traditional option like most of the other cast members. After calling his Cataclysmic Orbs, Beerus will surround himself with a formation of six of them, which are tangible objects with hitboxes that he can force his enemies into for a collision that can lead to follow-up combos, and they can be manipulated in various ways. Though Max lacked the time to figure out the true minutiae of this technique, he notes that there are a lot of different applications for the orbs, similar to how he uses them in a variety of ways in the anime itself.

Beerus’s God of Destruction’s Wrath serves as a meterless reversal, though it has a notable amount of startup and seems to only be performable in the air — though it does spread out to cover a large amount of screen space, so opponents will likely have to respect it if they’re not directly on top of him (especially since he appears to get at least three air actions from a single jump). The Palm Energy Infusion Explosion looks to be a fantastic combo ender, especially with the heavy/EX version sending victims far across the screen for the cost of one Ki Gauge, and may even hit overhead.

Finally, his Level 1 Super –the Beerus Ball — will do increased damage with air travel time, similar to Frieza’s Death Ball and Goku Black’s Holy Light Grenade, and can also be enhanced by spending a second Ki Gauge to make Beerus detonate the Ball on the spot for increased damage.

You can catch the full video and Max’s closing thoughts below, as well as links to all previously covered character breakdowns. Don’t forget that Beerus will also be one of the 11 playable characters in this weekend’s open beta, making this even more essential viewing.

• Future Trunks
• Piccolo, Android 16 & Android 18
• Krillin
• Super Saiyan Goku
• Super Saiyan Vegeta
• Teen Gohan
• Perfect Cell
• Frieza
• Majin Buu
• Captain Ginyu
• Goku Black
• Nappa
• Hit

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released outside of Japan for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC on Friday January 26th. A release on the same platforms in Japan will follow on Thursday, February 1st.

Source: Maximilian Dood

Continuing with his Dragon Ball FighterZ character breakdowns following his recent trip to the Bandai Namco Entertainment America offices, Maximilian now looks at Universe 6’s legendary assassin: Hit.

The initially comparison is to Persona 4 Arena‘s Akihiko Sanada and Slayer from Guilty Gear — in terms of him being an extremely mobile, purely ground-based melee character, who’s pressure and ability to quickly control the horizontal plane rival Yamcha’s. Though to offset this, he is awful in the air.

Utilizing fast left/right mix-ups, fullscreen hit confirms, as well as serving as the title’s first true counter-based character, the legendary hitman will be able to get into his sweet spots quite frequently, provided he can make the right reads and predictions to evade the opposing team’s offense.

Hit’s Time Skip counters have multiple follow-ups, including a rush punch, forward dash, a forward rushing strike, similar to Azrael’s Gustav Buster or Slayer’s Mappa Hunch, as well as a launcher for extended combos. As such, Hit is looking to be a very read-based, prediction-heavy character, who also boats a hefty amount of execution, at least in comparison to the lower bar that has been set by most of the cast, due to stance cancels.

However, Hit will not be helpless at long range, as he has a second stance that will allow him to perform various multi-hit strikes that vary whether he is holding up, down or forward, which can then be confirmed into Vanish for a full combo at the cost of one Ki bar. Hit also has a slow, fullscreen unblockable by leaving a Time Skip trail across the length of the floor, as well as a unique attack with the Special button. Like Captain Ginyu, he does not have regular Ki blasts, but instead has a Time Skip parry — similar to Ryu’s Mind’s Eye — that can be used to absorb multiple hits, as it can be continuously pressed to absorb big attacks and slip behind your foes.

Lastly, Max feels that he’s barely touched the surface of Hit, and that players should have plenty of opportunities to get good damage with him, with his output seemingly being on the higher end of the cast so far. You can see the full video below, along with links to all previous breakdowns for the rest of the cast we’ve covered.

• Future Trunks
• Piccolo, Android 16 & Android 18
• Krillin
• Super Saiyan Goku
• Super Saiyan Vegeta
• Teen Gohan
• Perfect Cell
• Frieza
• Majin Buu
• Captain Ginyu
• Goku Black
• Nappa

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released outside of Japan for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC on Friday, January 26th, while the Land of the Rising Sun will receive the game on the same platforms on Thursday, February 1st.

Source: Maximilian Dood

Following his recent trip to the Bandai Namco Entertainment America offices, Maximilian continues his breakdowns of some of the newest revealed characters in the rapidly-approaching Dragon Ball FighterZ, this time looking at the menacing Goku Black.

Max declares Goku Black to be the “Evil Ryu” of Dragon Ball FighterZ, in that he has the same model as Goku, but has a very different moveset. Max feels Goku Black will be a very tricky, albeit meter-intensive, well-rounded mixup character that can crack open adversaries quite easily, thanks to moves like the Binding Black Kamehameha, God Slicer and Instant Transmission.

God Slicer and Instant Transmission are great for opening people up, particularly with the Heavy/EX versions, which can lead to full-combos, while the Black Kamehameha and Fierce God Kick are standard fireball and divekick fare. As for his Supers, God Slicer Dance and the Holy Light Grenade appear to be solid 1-bar combo enders, despite their relatively low damage, with HLG potentially being screen size-dependent, which will do more damage and hits the higher you are in the air upon releasing it. His Level 3, The Work Of A God, also has a large amount of utility and ways to execute it.

• Future Trunks
• Piccolo, Android 16 & Android 18
• Krillin
• Super Saiyan Goku
• Super Saiyan Vegeta
• Teen Gohan
• Perfect Cell
• Frieza
• Majin Buu
• Captain Ginyu

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC in most of the world on January 26th. A Japanese release will follow for the same platforms on February 1st. Keep your browser locked to Shoryuken, as Max is still releasing character breakdowns for the remaining members of the base roster at a steady pace.

Source: Maximilian Dood