Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

With Dragon Ball FighterZ only about six weeks away from release, fan anticipation is reaching fever pitch. After receiving character trailers for the Buu Saga trio of Gotenks, Ultimate Gohan, and Kid Buu, the roster’s really beginning to fill up with Z Warriors.

Now our eyes are turned towards Jump Festa 2018 — taking place this weekend, December 15-17 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan… where we’re confirmed to be seeing a new trailer for the game. A tournament is even being held on Sunday, the 17th, at 20:00 JST, though it is unknown if they will be using the closed beta/Gamescom build that’s been brought to past public events, or if it will be an updated build with all of the currently-announced characters.

With speculation rising that their could only be four slots remaining on the base roster, (one of which would likely belong to a playable version of Android 21) one portion of the franchise has yet to receive direct representation, despite the title’s story clearly taking place within its bounds: Dragon Ball Super.

During the last V-Jump reveals, the article talked a bit about DBFZ‘s Arcade Mode, which in contrast to most modern fighters will take a non-linear path: your Team’s direction — and opponents — will change depending upon whether you win or lose each battle. Enemy squads are represented by character portraits, as if they were pieces on a game board — a nice callback to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2‘s Dragon World. However, the screenshot provided appears to be from a later build of the game, featuring a trio of characters who have not yet been announced.

Recently, the V-Jump Archives Twitter account was able to clean up the image — which, as pointed out by Dragon Ball YouTuber Rhymestyle — appears to reveal the faces of Universe 7’s God of Destruction Beerus, Universe 6’s Legendary Assassin Hit, and the darkly sadistic Goku Black, in his Super Saiyan Rosé transformation. To further add to the intrigue, Bandai Namco Entertainment removed these three slots from the much-clearer image they added to the DBFZ Official Japanese Website, as if they were deliberately trying to cover their tracks… You can see the full video and tweet below.

C'est bien qui je crois …?
(close-up de #DBFighterZ dans le V-Jump 01-2018) pic.twitter.com/2KLFA52AHq

— VJump Archives (@VJump_Archives) December 8, 2017

In the meantime, why not check out IKevinX’s character concept videos for the trio here? Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released in most countries on January 26th, 2018, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, with a Japanese release following on February 1st.

Sources: Rhymestyle; VJump_Archives (Twitter)

Amidst all of the insane hype for the newly-announced SoulCalibur VI and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition over the weekend, one thing that may have slipped under the radar during Sony’s PSX presentation was a new trailer for the upcoming BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Though overall it was just an alternate cut of the title’s announcement trailer we saw at Evo 2017, there were multiple notable differences.

Firstly, the cuts of gameplay clips come from the latest build of the game, as we see recently-announced characters like Persona 4 Arena‘s Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi (who has her Fire Break from Ultimax as one of her three Assists), BlazBlue’s Noel Vermillion, Under Night In-Birth‘s Waldstein, and RWBY‘s Weiss Schnee in action, complete with the now-maximum 5 bars of Cross Gauge.

We also see BlazBlue’s Jin Kisaragi unleash a third Distortion Skill, Yukikase, a move he did not have in the earlier Toushinsai build. Though we’ve also seen Chie packing all three of her previous Distortion Skills (God Hand, Agneyastra and Power Charge), it will be interesting to see what input the Counter Distortion will take, as all revealed so far use either double quarter-circle forward or double quarter-circle back motions to be executed. It should be noted that he was called in for a Crash Assault following Hyde’s Gyre Vortex, and only performed the attacking portion of the move, seemingly replacing Hiyoku Getsumei as his pre-determined DHC option. Ruby Rose is briefly spotlighted, comboing into her Petal Burst Distortion Skill on Yosuke Hanamura.

Finally, though the previous English reveal trailer for Gordeau, Yukiko and Azrael left the date of the next reveals ambiguous, Arc System Works has confirmed they’ll be holding their December Arc Nama stream this Friday, December 15th at 5:00 AM CT (3:00 AM PT, 6:00 AM ET; 20:00 JST on Thursday). You can catch the full trailer and tweet below.

Arc System Works' next ArcNama live stream (and thus more character announcements for BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle) will be on Friday 15 December at 20:00 JST (UTC+9). https://t.co/9HiC5Tc4xG

— 黒凧 BlackKite (@bk2128) December 7, 2017

Going off of previous teases and established patterns, I’m calling my shot of Tsubaki Yayoi, Kanji Tatsumi, Carmine and possibly either Makoto Nanaya or Blake Belladonna, though Yang Xiao Long may be saved for RTX Sydney the weekend of February 3rd. Let us know whom you’re expecting this round in the comments below. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle will be released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC sometime in 2018.

Sources: PlayStation; bk2128 (Twitter)

Will it soon be time to return to the Stage of History? Over the past few months, a myriad of rumors and leaks have been springing up for several different fighting games… including the highly-anticipated, yet currently-unconfirmed sixth entry in Bandai Namco Entertainment’s beloved Tale of Souls and Swords.

After the 20th Anniversary only provided us with a historical retrospective on the franchise, many likely felt that the series may have perhaps been lost to time, but for those of whose Souls still burned brightly, a leaker by the name of DasVergeben began making posts on both reddit and 8WayRun that have been hinting to the game being announced sometime this month.

Top French Soul Calibur player Hayate made a video discussing all of the current news and rumors (corroborated with tidbits from his own personal sources) that strongly hint at the return of series veterans Kilik, Nightmare, Siegfried, Tira, Chai Xianghua, Talim, Zasalamel — as well as an eighth new character who would serve as Kilik’s rival, also personifying the supposedly-scrapped Fighting Style mechanic by being able to choose between battling with his twin blades separately, or combining together into a larger single sword. You can hear Hayate’s full thoughts below:

This leaker has been making even more posts on the 8WayRun forums, posting under his Vergeben account

So you know that newcomer I was talking about?
You know that style switching/multiple moveset thing I was talking about?
This is how it works:
https://i.imgur.com/rHSmsMm.jpg
Before you ask, no, the character is not Darth Maul. lol
But his weapon was the inspiration for the new guy’s. I needed a visual to express the idea.
And before you worry, no, it’s not a lightsaber, they are swords. More like Cao Pi’s Dual Blade from Dynasty Warriors 5 and 8 from what I hear, which is the same idea.
The new guy uses two swords that he can fight with separate, or combine them and fight that way. Two different movesets in one character.
He’s Kilik’s new rival. And is an assassin.

They tried weapon switch/multiple moveset thing and were dedicated to making it work.
> Some serious problems arose because of it.
> Mostly abandoned in the form they wanted it originally be as far as I know to get the game out of development hell because of it. But there was some kind of V-Trigger styled mechanic in the game as far back as July, which could tie into retaining semblances of it and what they could in certain characters. Though I can’t say for sure yet if there is definitely a connection between the two, but it would make sense.
> The weapon switch/multiple moveset idea was intentionally meant to be highlighted, exist, and live on in the new character that uses two swords that he can combine together and also fight with that way.

Vergeben also backed up Hayate’s claims about Siegfried, Talim and Zasalamel’s returns and also noted that things may be rocky for any V debutant, not named Viola or Z.W.E.I.

Would anyone truly be sad if only Viola and ZWEI were carried over from V?
I can understand liking Pat’s style, but that seems to be the only thing most would even be sad about.

Pyrrha seems to generally be disliked and annoying, with Pyrrha Omega being the thing most people even think is worth retaining and focusing on if she did come back.
Natsu…. needs work to salvage, and I could see them do it. But if they didn’t want to bother doing it…. I would not be surprised.
Xiba was pretty reviled and his shtick got tired and annoying because he was one-dimensional with the only thing that was ever explained that…. he’s hungry…. and in outside info confirmed that he’s Kilik’s bastard son.
Leixia…. was just kind of there simply to replace her mom but more of her “cuteness” played up than they did for Xianghua.

I won’t even bother talking about Elysium, and Dampierre isn’t even technically from V.
I suppose my point is more that, if they “cut the fat” and kept the things that were more original yet underdeveloped (Viola and ZWEI), but dedicated the time and effort to do so, I don’t forsee too much blowback from many at all aside from Pat fans more than anyone.

Finally, Marcus Sellars, a reviewer, editor and writer for multiple Nintendo-related publications, including JapaneseNintendo.com and NinSwitchNet, Liked a Twitter reply from a fan asking, “Will SC6 have any showing at TGA tomorrow?” He also claims that SCVI will be one of “five unannounced games” at Bandai Namco Entertainment’s event on December 15th, of which Nintendo will supposedly have a very large presence at — perhaps we’ll see Link return as a Switch-exclusive guest after all?

Bandai Namco will be hosting an event on December the 15th. 5 unannounced games will be shown off during the event. Nintendo will have a big presence at the event.

— Marcus Sellars (@Marcus_Sellars) November 28, 2017

2 of the games at the event will be:

• Soul Calibur 6
• Dark Souls 1 Remaster https://t.co/cTypbnSVsz

— Marcus Sellars (@Marcus_Sellars) December 6, 2017

Stay locked to Shoryuken and tune into The Game Awards tonight at 5:30 PM PT (7:30 PM CT/8:30 PM ET) at this link. In the meantime, why not take a trip down memory lane with last year’s 20th Anniversary trailer?

Sources: Hayate EIN; Marcus_Sellars (Twitter); 8WayRun (forums); Bandai Namco Entertainment America

With yesterday’s update and all the new DLC released on both consoles, it’s time to dive into a whole new era of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite — the game’s first major balance patch, three new DLC characters, and the remaining Wave 1 Premium costumes for the base roster are all now available.

First up, long-time MAHVEL content creator rooflemonger is back, first with a visual demonstration of what he deems the “most significant” changes in the patch, providing viewers with a look at the freshly-nerfed Reality Stone Infinity Surge, Space Stone Infinity Storm, Dante, Ultron, Dormammu, Gamora, Strider Hiryu, Firebrand, and Monster Hunter, as well as the good amount of buffs for Chris Redfield, and some universal system adjustments. Keep in mind that this is not everything that was changed, as the likes of Thanos, Doctor Strange, and Ghost Rider were omitted. Find full notes here.

With new characters come new nicknames from everyone’s favorite gamma-smashing wordsmith, Hulk!

Moving on to specific tech for the new Marvelous trio, we have a combo guide for Winter Soldier, as well as an episode of “Let’s Learn Marvel!” dedicated to the unique properties of Bucky’s Metal Shield.

th37ito teaches how to do fullscreen Metal Shield cancels with Bucky:

Peter Souvannarath brings us some interesting interactions that occur when Bucky has Metal Shield up during the Soul Stone’s Infinity Storm:

Moving on to everyone’s favorite symbiotic duo, desk provides us with a solo Venom combo video, which features fancy Venom Glide loops, smart mid-combo usage of the new Venom Traps (without setting them beforehand), disgusting corner carry with Venom Fang and Death Bite on Hulk, and much more.

TrueUnderDawgGaming takes Venom to the lab to give us a full breakdown of the symbiotic warrior’s capabilities.

Unequalled Media’s Tyrant spotlights Venom in his latest Basic to Advanced combo guide.

HapkidoRed brings us some early resets, with a cameo by Dormammu.

Not to be outdone, CorkyJay provides us with some early BnBs and resets for his likely new team of Black Widow/Iron Man + Time, noting Natasha feels like the closest replacement for Battlesuit Jill Valentine in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Next up, we can get to some actual match footage of the new Marvelous trio: with Xuses and YogaFlame24 each bringing us matches with Evil Genius’s Chris G and Echo Fox’s Sonic Fox trying out Venom and Black Widow with the Space Stone, while Panda Global’s Punk samples Eddie alongside Dante and Space. We also see some post-patch footage of Idom, Fable|Dual Kevin, and Apolagyman as well.

Maximilian brings us a showcase and his personal thoughts on the final Wave 1 Premium Costumes, while rooflemonger provides a side-by-side comparison of all four colors for each of the newcomers’ two costumes.

Finally, AvengerAlex brings us the new themes for these final characters for your listening pleasure.

 

Sources: rooflemonger; th37ito; Peter Souvannarath; desk; TrueUnderDawgGaming; UM Tyrant; HapkidoRed; CorkyJay; XusesGB; YogaFlame24; Maximilian Dood; AvengerAlex

After nearly a year of absolutely fierce competition, the weekend of Capcom Cup 2017 is finally almost upon us. For three action-packed days, we’ll be able to witness the 32 strongest Street Fighter V players in the world today battle it out in a double-elimination tournament to crown a new Street Fighter V World Champion.

Capcom’s Esports Social Media Manager, Michael Martin, posted on the PlayStation Blog outlining all the key details that fans, attendees, and competitors will need to know to get in on all of the action this weekend in Anaheim, California.

Beginning on Friday, December 8th, the Last Chance Qualifier will be held. This open tournament will decided the final spot in the Capcom Cup bracket, as the victor will enter as the 32nd seed, and will face off with the top seed, Panda Global’s Punk, in the opening round. If you’ll be heading out to California and would like to take your shot, registration for the open tournament will be $40 on-site, but you’d better be quick before the 256-player cap is reached (101 spots remain open, as of this writing).

Admission is free to spectators for the first two days at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel, but a PlayStation Experience badge will be required for admission into the Sunday finals at the Anaheim Convention Center. The festivities will run from 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM PT on Friday and Saturday, before the finals day lasts from 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM PT.

The funds from the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour DLC have been tallied up, and will be adding over $120,000 to the base $250,000 prize pool, allowing these World Warriors to compete for over $370,000, and the chance to have their name permanently engraved on the Capcom Cup trophy — which remains on display at the Capcom USA offices.

If you can’t be there in person, you can still enjoy all three days of the action, including some “special announcements,” at twitch.tv/capcomfighters. You can see the official trailer for Capcom Cup 2017 below, and don’t forget to check out our ongoing Capcom Cup Player Analysis series for more info on the competitors, as well as the planned brackets.

Sources: PlayStation Blog; Capcom Fighters

Hot off the heels of announcing a two-week open beta test for PlayStation 4, ARIKA recently posted an extremely brief teaser hinting at another new challenger for their upcoming title, Fighting EX Layer. In the 11-second clip, we see what looks to be a redesigned Blair Dame, now sporting an outfit looking more like combat fatigues — as opposed to her usual white attire — though she can only be seen briefly from the back, before the proclamation appears: “She will surely come back.”

Originally appearing in the original Street Fighter EX as a secret character, she would later return in the March 1997 update, Street Fighter EX Plus — though she would fail to feature in later games in the series, and would not be seen again until the ARIKA-developed Fighting Layer, published by Namco, in December 1998.

Earlier this year, she received a CFN Portal profile, along with the other EX characters, providing her with a connection to SF’s Karin Kanzuki — as she and Dame are both members of the “Worldwide Young Ladies Club,” in addition to sharing a similar posh upbringing and competitive stubbornness. You can see it here — and can catch the quick teaser below.

Are you excited to see Blair Dame return in the upcoming Fighting EX Layer? If so, feel free to share them in the comments below.

Fighting EX Layer will be released on PlayStation 4 sometime in 2018.

Source: arika