Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

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Yoshinori Ono announces that Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers is ready to ship

Street Fighter Executive Producer Yoshinori Ono has recently announced via Twitter that Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers has finished its development process, and the Switch-exclusive title is now fully complete and ready to be shipped out to retailers.

This updated version of SFII will add two new playable characters, Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, as well as some balance changes and bug fixes. New modes include Color Edit and “Buddy Battle” modes, the single-player “Way of the Hado” mode, and a 250-page digital artbook, containing over 1,500 illustrations from throughout the three decades of the Street Fighter franchise.

You can see the tweet below, along with some screenshots from GameReactor:

GameReactor USF2 01
USF2 GameReactor 03
GameReactor USF2 02
USF2 GameReactor 05
USF2 GameReactor 04
USF2 GameReactor 06

Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers releases May 26th.

Sources: Yoshinori Ono (Twitter); GameReactor

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The Fighters Generation webmaster Frank Yagami is counting down his top 10 fighting games

For 15 years, The Fighters Generation has been known for its in-depth reviews of any and all fighting games to hit the market. As part of his new Fighters_Gen vlog, the webmaster Frank Yagami has decided to count down his top 10 fighting games–in no particular order–over the course of 10 separate videos. Being a self-described “’80s kid,” the games on this list are titles he grew up playing in the arcade, and come with a lot of personal stories of his experiences, as he describes his love of the various mechanics, characters, and sound and art style.

His first two entries on the list are Samurai Shodown II, which he first played at a local arcade when he was 12 years old, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. These videos are a great watch for anyone looking to relive some old memories, or to gain some insight into a longtime member of the fighting game community. He also encourages viewers to share their own top 10 favorite fighting games in the comments!

Source: Fighters Generation

[Feature image from The Fighters Generation]

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VesperArcade discusses the (lack of) Akuma changes in Street Fighter’s V upcoming balance update

VesperArcade continues his discussions of the balance changes coming to Street Fighter V by looking at the “Master of the Fist,” Akuma. Being the first character released in Season 2, it seems Capcom didn’t want to change Akuma too much, as his only adjustments are the universal changes to Shoryukens, as well as his health being increased from 875 to 900–putting him in a 3-way tie with Cammy and Karin for lowest in the game. According to VesperArcade: “Akuma will be in slightly better condition, I should say. Especially with such an expensive V-Trigger and [the fact] he has to sacrifice health with his V-Skill as well.”

Moving on to the pair of bug fixes that went into effect with Kolin’s release, VesperArcade examines why the cancel window of Akuma’s crouching light punch was shortened by 1 frame:

As far as I know, they did this change to prevent specific option selects where Akuma could use his long chain cancel window of his cr. LP to buffer into anything he wants, while staying safe on whiff. I’m not sure if people explored or exploited this, but I’m sure Capcom wanted to nip it in the bud before people found something crazy.

 Vesper’s final verdict on Akuma’s changes is “very slightly buffed.”

So the only one real balance change Akuma got was his health going up. Honestly, I don’t like this change, because I like the idea of Akuma having the lowest health in the game. I think that makes him very unique, and I feel like Capcom should’ve buffed his offense or raised his damage. I really like the idea of just making him a bigger glass cannon.

You can view the full video below:

Source: VesperArcade

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Check out Sadira’s Ultimate in Killer Instinct Season 3

At last month’s Killer Instinct World Cup, Iron Galaxy announced the Ultimates Ultra Pack. Featuring Ultimates for Fulgore, Sadira, Riptor, ARIA and Kilgore, it will release on May 2nd, free for all players.

After showing off Fulgore’s Ultimate at the panel, they’ve now revealed Sadira’s. Sending her opponent in the air with Recluse, she traps them in a large amount of webbing, before seemingly slitting her prey’s throat. You can see the video below.

Iron Galaxy will be revealing one Ultimate from the pack per week every Monday at Noon PDT, until its release date.

Are you impressed with this Ultimate?  Are their any others you’re looking forward to? Let us know down in the comments.

Source: Ultra-Combo

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Tomorrow’s Injustice 2 Watchtower stream: Bane, Captain Cold, & The Flash; New Shattered Alliances trailer Thursday

Following the release of Catwoman’s gameplay trailer yesterday, NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon has revealed more Injustice 2 news on Twitter. First, part 4 of the “Shattered Alliances” trailer series, focusing on the Society, will be released on Thursday. Also, the next Watchtower live stream will be held tomorrow–April 5th–featuring character breakdowns for the recently revealed Captain Cold, Bane and The Flash, from whom we haven’t seen any gameplay since he was first revealed in the game’s announcement trailer.

You can see the Tweets below, and, as usual, the stream will begin at 3:00 PM CST (1:00 PM PDT) on https://www.twitch.tv/netherrealm.

Sources: Noobde (Twitter); InjusticeGame (Twitter) via Test Your Might

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Frabisaur examines crossups in the first Fighter’s Dojo mini-episode

In an effort to cover additional topics left undiscussed in his normal videos for the sake of time or clarity, Frabisaur has released the first Fighter’s Dojo Mini! This supplemental video provides a brief look at the concept of crossups. Frabisaur explains the crossups are possible in games that lack a block button, because developers placing a marker in the center of each character model that allows the game to tell which side of the screen they’re on–and which direction they need to be blocking in. Showing a clip of Akuma jumping over Ryu, he points out that the moment where Ryu’s head and body start to turn to follow Akuma in the air is the point at which he can be crossed up with an attack.

Finally, after using Zangief’s Body Splash as a visual aid of a crossup hitbox, Frabisaur shows off every single crossup currently in Street Fighter V, noting that some are visually ambiguous, but can be consistently blocked with practice.

You can see the full video above, and check out the other episodes of the Fighter’s Dojo: covering where to begin in fighting games, offense and defense, and hitboxes and hurtboxes. You can also follow him on Twitter at Frabisaur or watch his streams at twitch.tv/frabisaur for more content and concept explanations.

Source: Frabisaur

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Take a closer look at The King of Fighters XIV’s upcoming stages in this new trailer

Notable content included in the upcoming version 2.00 update to The King of Fighters XIV are the additional two new stages, which will be provided to all players free of charge.

A pair of classic backgrounds, “Transcontinental Railroad,” Terry Bogard’s stage from Fatal Fury 2, and “City Circuit,” first seen in KOF ’97, will be returning on April 5th. To celebrate, SNK released a trailer displaying both of these stages in all their 3D glory, set to a remix of Terry’s stage theme, “Kuri Kinton Flavor.” This provides a great look at the detail of these stunning backgrounds, including Mount Rushmore and the various signs that can be seen as the fighters battle upon the Transcontinental Railroad’s moving train.

Watch the full video below!

What do you think of these updated renditions of classic stages? Let us know in the comments!

Sources: KOF WORLD, via ATRyoSakazaki

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Injustice 2’s Catwoman to receive a gameplay breakdown tomorrow, April 3rd

Following the “It’s Good To Be Bad” trailer, which revealed Captain Cold and Scarecrow, the Injustice Twitter account announced that another villain–Catwoman–will be receiving a gameplay breakdown tomorrow, April 3rd. Though we did see glimpses of the Injustice veteran in the “Here Come The Girls” trailer, we’ve yet to see any extended gameplay of the feline jewel thief.

At this time it is unclear if this will be another Watchtower live stream, or a simple trailer on YouTube, similar to ones we’ve seen for Swamp Thing, Supergirl and Black Canary on IGN First. You can view the Tweet, which includes a GIF of Selina’s win pose, below.

Source: InjusticeGame (Twitter) via Test Your Might

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Spread your wings with this first glimpse of Rock Howard’s gameplay in The King of Fighters XIV

Earlier this week, SNK announced that Rock Howard would be joining The King of Fighters XIV as its 4th DLC character. Though the trailer was certainly hype, we now have our first footage of him in an actual match, while he has a sparring session with his trainer Terry Bogard. The single round of action gives us another look at his supers, including his Deadly Rave Neo and a MAX Mode combo.

We also have another clip of combo footage, courtesy of Gatoray. where Rock performs a variety of sequences on Iori Yagami in one of his alternate colors. You can see both videos below.

Rock Howard will be released alongside Whip, Yamazaki and Vanessa on Wednesday, April 5th, as part of the game’s version 2.00 update, which will include two new stages, balance changes for the entire cast, the ability to save Training Mode settings, and more.

Sources: Rafael Alves Sequini Martines; Gatoray

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Frabisaur looks at hitboxes and hurtboxes in the Fighter’s Dojo, episode 3

After covering the concepts of offense and defense, as well as where a new player should start in fighting games, Frabisaur examines the science of hitboxes and hurtboxes in episode 3 of his new Fighter’s Dojo series. Noting that the episode will answer the questions of “why did or didn’t that hit?” and “what button should I use?” Frabisaur provides visual examples from Street Fighter V to display what hit and hurtboxes look like, as well as why certain moves–such as Urien attempting a Spartan Bomb on a crouching Ken–don’t work, despite his hand visually going through Ken’s body. He also provides a succinct definition of the concept:

Hitboxes and hurtboxes are how the program understands that two things have come in contact with each other. This is how the game, computer, console, whatever, is looking at to go, “Hey, this character has now touched this character, or this character is touching this projectile.” This is the way that it knows that something has happened on the screen.

Though this knowledge is specifically applied to Street Fighter V, hitboxes and hurtboxes exist in all fighting games, so these concepts can be easily applied to your preferred fighter of choice. This video is a great way to familiarize yourself with this terminology in an easily digestible fashion, and could also be worth a watch for veteran players looking for a refresher course. You can catch the video in its entirety below.

Feel free to pose questions to him in the video’s comments section, as he replies quite often. You can also follow him on Twitter at Frabisaur or catch him on twitch.tv/frabisaur for more content and further explanations on some of these concepts.

Source: Frabisaur