Earlier this week, GEICO Gaming sponsored an online Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite invitational with eight of the finest players in the game today, each looking to showcase their skills in the new meta following the “Dante Must Die” balance patch earlier this month. With the always-Marvelous duo of IFC Yipes and Persia on commentary, and a few players busting out new characters and Infinity Stones for the first time, it was definitely an entertaining evening of action for any Marvel head out there.
While NEC XVIII raged in the United States, Paris got its own dose of 3D fighting competition with the FDJ Masters League Tekken 7 Edition. Previously holding a Season of Street Fighter V competition, FDJ eSports has recently turned their attention to the King of Iron Fist Tournament 7 over the past two months, providing us with six qualified players who were joined by two Last Chance Qualifiers for a final eight-man bracket — with €20,000 on the line, as well as a trip to next month’s Evo Japan in Akihabara. With this also being a single-day event, it also served as a tough test of endurance for all competitors involved.
1. Crazy|SuperAkouma (Akuma) – Qualifies for Evo Japan
2. CCG|Tissuemon (Master Raven)
3. mYi|KiraKira (Eliza)
4. DG|KaneAndTrench (Yoshimitsu)
5. RTFM|Asim (Katarina, Dragunov)
5. TDG|Fergus (Asuka, Katarina)
7. Harry Potter (Heihachi, Devil Jin)
7. DougFromParis (Steve)
Following Crazy|SuperAkouma’s victory, the Evo 2017 Champion — Echo Fox’s JDCR — showed up as the World Boss to challenge him to a first-to-five Boss Battle.
While many players were focused on the fierce competition and massive Season 3 reveals at Capcom Cup earlier this month, several of the top players in attendance also had the chance to test out the new V-Triggers, specials and even some balance changes, that will be coming in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition.
Though this was a special build, created solely for demonstration at this event — meaning any changes found within it are NOT final — that didn’t stop a myriad of character specialists from taking to social media to share news, both good and bad, about their favorite fighters.
Compiling posts from the likes of Ricki Ortiz, LPN, Alex Meyers, Nemo, Mago, Kyle P and others, DeadAceBS has compiled a list of the known changes for Ibuki, Karin, Vega, Akuma, Chun-Li, Laura, M. Bison, Balrog, Juri, Ryu, Zangief, Urien and Cammy. Throws also appear to be universally nerfed across the entire cast, with throw loops being entirely removed.
Most characters now lose knockdown advantage, after landing a forward throw and dashing up, and all command grabs will supposedly have an extra 15 to 20 frames of whiff recovery. You can see all gathered info in the video below, but keep in mind that’s all still subject to change, as full official, patch notes for Season 3 have not yet been released by Capcom.
What do you think about these changes? Do you think Capcom is heading in the right direction if most of these stick, or do you hope some are dialed back before January? Let us know your feelings in the comments below.
While last week’s Arc Nama stream was mainly focused on the announcement that BlazBlue’s Iron Tager, Makoto Nanaya, Nu-13 and Es would be joining BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle‘s roster, Toshimichi Mori and his co-hosts showed off some new gameplay footage of a pair of fighters we haven’t seen that much of overall, Team RWBY’s Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee.
In the quick snippet of gameplay, uploaded by Jourdal, we can see some of Ruby’s Smart Combos and Command Teleports that utilize her Speed Semblance. She has a new special move, where she shifts Crescent Rose into its sniper form, before firing off a single, quick projectile. We also get to finally see her second Distortion Skill, Petal Dance, which is a direct reference to the “Red” trailer.
Looking even more complete than when we saw her last month, Weiss will have quite the range on her normals thanks to Myrtenaster’s length, along with graceful swordplay and usage of her Glpyh Semblance. She can also freeze her foes with Ice Dust, setting up safe Assist calls and combo extensions. Her first Distortion Skill is a rushing attack that is a reference to her battle with a White Fang Lieutenant from Chapter Eleven of Volume Two, “No Breaks.” We even get a peak at her idle animation, where Weiss takes a second to check her nails in a very fitting moment.
Lastly, we get another glimpse at the increased health totals, as the Investigation Team’s Yu Narukami and Yosuke Hanamura are able to endure much more of the girl’s punishment. It was also revealed that, like with Toushinsai back in October, ASW will be bringing a playable build of the game to next month’s Evo Japan. Perhaps we’ll finally see who’s hiding behind those “ETC” slots?
This past weekend, the Brussels Challenge Road to Evo Japan series continued with its third event, from Brussels, Belgium. These events see some of Europe’s best Street Fighter V players battle it out, with the overall winner of the series getting an all-expenses-paid trip to Evo Japan in January. However, SFV wasn’t the only title sporting competition, as there was a Guilty Gear Xrd REV2 tournament as well.
Last weekend, ZOWIE held its 2017 Street Fighter V World Finals in Taipei, Taiwan — featuring 16 previously-qualified players from a local circuit of events (representing a total of nine different countries) in a double-elimination battle for supremacy. With a whopping $35,000 on the line — $15,000 of which went to the first-place victor — it promised to be an exciting night of action.
Yesterday, the January update to Injustice 2 went live, in preparation for the arrival of Enchantress — the second character in Fighter Pack 3 — next month. In addition to adding the sorceress’s data to the game, the patch also brought with it a new set of Legendary Multiverse Portals for Black Canary, Harley Quinn, and Aquaman. There were also a variety of character-specific bug fixes — most notably for latest roster addition Atom — as well as fixing an issue where Black Manta’s Multiverse Sidekick attack could crash the game and several adjustments to Hellboy’s Devil’s Revolver and Heavy Hoof (J2), that caused some unintended interactions. The final notable change involves Clashing while certain objects are on screen, such as Darkseid’s active Parademons, Joker’s Chattering Teeth, and Legendary Gear Augment Surprise Chompers, Red Hood’s Ground Mines, or Wonder Woman’s Shield Toss. These projectiles will now disappear with a visual effect upon Clash initiation, making it easier for players to know they’re gone once they’ve been reset to full-screen distance. You can see the full patch notes below.
General Gameplay fixes
General stability and Online stability improvements
Move list corrections and improvements to AI logic
Legendary Multiverse Portals are now available for Aquaman, Black Canary, Harley Quinn
Fixed an issue with some Multiverse Meta Challenges not correctly completing
Stage Specific Fixes
None
Character Specific Fixes
Atom – Fixed a bug that allowed Atom to block by holding back while Character Power was active
Atom – Can now use Side Kick’s in Multiverse events while Character Power is active
Atom – The environmental interaction created by the “Making Matter” ability is destroyed when his Character Power meter is fully drained
Atom – Fixed a lingering sound effect when the blue version of Catalyst Chaos is interrupted
Atom – Fixed a rare issue when interrupting Atom while his character power is active, which resulted in his tiny visual effect lingering
Atom – When affected by Dr. Fate’s Final Punishment, the ankhs will no longer visually appear when performing Atom’s throw animation
Atom – Update to Atom’s throw animation
Atom – Fixed issue with Atom’s victim regions not immediately resetting after his character power throw is escaped
Atom – Fixed many issues with lingering visual effects on “Atom Field” Gear Ability
Atom – Fixed some issues with Fermion Fury MeterBurn causing some animation issues on hit
Black Manta – Fixed a rare issue with Black Manta’s Multiverse Side Kick attack causing a crash
Darksied – Clashing while Parademon is active will now cause it to disappear with a visual effect
Dr Fate – Fixed issue with visual effects persisting during the win screen
Hellboy – Adjusted the animation, hit region, visual effects location, and repel region on Devil’s Revolver which could cause some inconsistent interactions
Hellboy – Increased base damage on Hell’s Fury Gear Ability to 6 (up from 5)
Hellboy – Fixed punish indicator not working properly on some of his special moves
Hellboy – it is no longer possible to keep the armor active after dash cancelling out of the Gear Ability Azzael’s Guard’s Meter Burn with specific timing
Hellboy – After missing with Heavy Hoof (Jump + Medium), Hellboy will no longer have slightly modified repel regions for a few frames
Joker – Legendary Augment “Surprise Chompers” no longer auto-corrects, now does 2 base damage (down from 5), and can be clashed
Joker – Fixed issue with Legendary Augment “Surprise Chompers” that prevented close and far versions from being performed
Joker – Clashing with Chattering Teeth or Surprise Chompers on screen will now cause them to disappear with a visual effect
Poison Ivy – Added Sound Effects to Gear Augment “The Thorned Rose”
Raiden – AI controlled Raiden can now perform all end of round animations
Red Hood – Clashing with Ground Mine on screen will now cause it to disappear with a visual effect
Red Hood – The throwing stars from the “Puncture” Gear Augment will no longer appear during Supermove and Clash cinematics
Scarecrow – Fear-Ferno no longer builds excessive character power meter when it makes contact with Atom’s Catalyst Chaos
Scarecrow – Fixed visual issue that could happen when Scythe Grab was clashed from long range
Starfire – Star Dust will now prioritize the very far version over the far version
Starfire – Star Dust MeterBurn cooldown will now properly reset when it connects with armor or is destroyed
Swamp Thing – Abagail’s Garden Character Power visual effects now show up when doing damage to Atom while his Character Power is active
Swamp Thing – Fixed a bug that could cause some wood attacks impact effects to use the opponent’s shader to tint the color
Wonder Woman – If Shield Toss is clashed, her shield now will disappear with a visual effect
Stuntman, actor and martial artist Eric Jacobus has recently returned to uploading episodes of his “Real-Life Tekken” series, wherein he takes a shot at replicating some of the more practical movesets of fighting game characters — through the usage of various bags and props, as accurately to the source material as possible.
To celebrate the recent release of Geese Howard as a DLC character in Tekken 7, Jacobus looks to emulate SNK’s King of South Town’s expanded 3D moveset as well as he humanly can: obviously without all of the Ki Charging, Reppukens and Raging Storms, with the same attacks being performed by Geese inside the game, played along simultaneously.
Though it may not be as realistic as most arsenals naturally seen in the franchise, Jacobus tackles the challenge with his trademark style and flair, even noting that the sheer impractical nature of the moves is in fact what makes them so interesting to see re-enacted.
“Geese’s style is catered to The King Of Fighters engine, which has all kinds of projectiles and strange attacks that don’t align with any one martial arts style. While some of his kicks could be useful, and a couple of his throws have applications, most of his moves are useless in real life, which makes them look super cool.” He even gets his “Hollywood cat actor,” Skid, in on the action. You can see the full video below.
Earlier this morning, Arc System Works hit us with their 5th character introduction trailer for the upcoming tag-team crossover game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. While normally only revealing three characters at a time, the team gave us four this time, all from the game’s namesake — a first for their reveal pattern, since they usually incorporate fighters from two to three different series at a time.
Today’s new Entitled are the “Red Devil” of Sector Seven, Iron Tager (who specifically mentions Kokonoe in his introduction), the “Unfaltering Beastkin” Makoto Nanaya, the “Sword of Hades” Nu-13, and — serving as our first addition from Central Fiction — the “Guardian of the Gate,” Es.
Wreaking havoc with fellow grappler Waldstein, Tager retains his ability to magnetize foes (Voltic Battler) as well as his signature Gigantic Tager Driver, Gadget Finger, Spark Bolt — despite lacking the gauge to charge it — as well as the Genesic Emerald Tager Buster. It will certainly be interesting to see if he retains his traditional 360 and 720 degree inputs in this more simplified Battle System. Retaining her usual close-combat style, Nanaya still packs her Corona Upper and Meteor Dive, along with her Shooting Star and Particle Flare Distortion Skill.
BlazBlue‘s yandere Murakumo Unit has finally arrived, and can finally realize her dream of teaming together with Ragna, even if she doesn’t seem to fully understand the concept. Boasting her Sword Summons — despite the lack of Drives — Luminous Slave returns from CF, and she may serve to torment Gordeau as much as Hilda. Reiterating that this event is one of the “possibilities,” Es retains most of her shoto-like qualities, and seems to even have her Crest Arts fully integrated into her specials.
This brings the roster count up to 20 characters. You can see the full trailer below:
BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle will be released sometime in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. With Evo Japan, the 2017 Arc System Works Fighting Games Awards and RTX Sydney all coming up, there could be a lot to look forward to early next year as the time to intersect draws further nigh. You can see all previous trailers at the links below.
PandaXGaming has just announced that their “Ultra Fight Night: Battle in the Pandagon” exhibition series will be making its grand return this January at Kumite In Tennessee 2018, with a pair of blockbuster, superhero-filled, matchups in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Injustice 2.
First up, the feature fight of the evening will see Battle for the Stones Champion FORT|Cloud805 take on Echo Fox|Sonic Fox in a runback from the Red Bull Proving Grounds. Except this time, it will be in a first-to-ten affair, as voted on by fans in a recent Twitter poll.
Both players have looked extremely solid since the game’s release, with Cloud recently gaining control of the MvC:I Universe and the Infinity Gauntlet by winning Battle for the Stones, taking out the likes of KaneBlueRiver, RISE|Richard Nguyen, Splyce|RyanLV and EG|NYChris G in two separate encounters.
Meanwhile, Sonic Fox has also proven that he’s no slouch either, winning CEOtaku, coming in second at Red Bull Battle Grounds — where he scored a 3-0 victory over Cloud to reset the bracket before falling in the end, leaving their current record of tournament games at a dead even 6-6 split. He has also been a dominating force at Next Level Battle Circuit, regularly defeating names such as Panda Global’s Coach Steve and RayRay, Method’s Flux and even besting Filipino Champ in two FT10s.
With the recent balance update nerfing both members of Zero May Cry heavily, along with Fox adding Venom, Black Widow — and possibly Gamora — to his cast of characters, it will interesting to see the adjustments both warriors have made since their last encounter — which could serve to decide who the true King of MAHVEL really is at this moment. IFC Yipes will also be on hand for play-by-play commentary.
The second match on tap will see top Catwoman and Starfire player Noble|Semiij battle America’s best Batman, Circa|Forever King on the battleground of Injustice 2. Though the two have met on the online warzone of War of the Gods, they have yet to really face one another in an offline setting for this game. To further promote the event, Panda conducted an interview with Forever King about his upcoming match, which you can see below along with the announcement tweets.
It all goes down at Kumite in Tennessee 2018, which runs January 5 – 7th, at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tennessee. You can register online, before December 29th, at smash.gg/kit18, and book hotel reservations at www.kitrevival.com/hotel. Give us your picks for these battles in the comments below.
