Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

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Kofi Kingston vs. 16-Bit in a Kitana mirror; Sasha Banks & Bayley run the Gauntlet on UpUpDownDown Plays

Last week, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Sasha Banks, Bayley and the UpUpDownDown crew visited NetherRealm Studios in Chicago for the exclusive reveal of Firestorm in Injustice 2. While they were there, they also filmed additional footage for two of the channel’s regular segments: “UpUpDownDown Plays” and “Gamer Gauntlet.”

As UpUpDownDown viewers know, Kofi Kingston prides himself on being a solid Kitana player in Mortal Kombat XL, with many victories over WWE Superstars to his credit. But now, he faces NRS quality-assurance tester and multiple Evo top 8-placer Steve “16-Bit” Brownback in a first-to-3 Kitana mirror match, with both utilizing the Royal Storm variation. Will the self-proclaimed “washed-up” former member of Galloping Ghost Arcade remind us why he was once the best player of the Edenian princess in the world–or will the power of positivity from Xavier, Sashsa, Bayley and NRS Community Specialist Tyler Lansdown lead “Mr. 24/7” to a surprising upset victory?

“Gamer Gauntlet,” features the fourth meeting between Sasha Banks and Raw Women’s Champion Bayley–following their battles for the NXT Women’s Championship–as well as a clash in MKXL. However, their battleground this time is a FT3 in Injustice 2. With Kingston, Woods, Bit and Lead Combat Designer Paulo Garcia looking on, “The Boss” chooses Black Canary, Batman, Atrocitus, Aquaman, and Supergirl, with “The Hugger” using Blue Beetle, Dr. Fate, Swamp Thing, Aquaman, and Harley Quinn. Though the gameplay isn’t the best you’ll ever see, we do get to see how Dr. Fate’s Trait works, as it makes his hands glow red until the meter depletes, likely enhancing his various spell-based attacks. There is also a noticeable graphical improvement to the character’s faces. Also included is Sasha’s punishment, where she is forced to eat two sriracha sauce-covered habanero peppers, as Bayley, Kofi, Woods, the New Day’s Big E and Titus O’Neil look on.

You can see both videos below; for more Injustice 2 content, you can check out Firestorm’s gameplay trailer–which includes footage of Green Arrow and Catwoman–here. You can also read up on the title’s in-game currency, Source Crystals, here.

The next character reveal is scheduled for March 23rd. Injustice 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 16th.

Source: UpUpDownDown

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VesperArcade explains the V-Reversal and charging changes in Street Fighter V’s upcoming balance patch

After taking a look at Capcom’s modifications for Dragon Punches and the jump/back throw tech option select that will be implemented in Street Fighter V’s late April balance patch, VesperArcade next explains the alterations that will be made to V-Reversals and charge moves.

The V-Reversal change is fairly simple to explain: for some reason, when being activated from a crouching block instead of a standing block, all V-Reversals currently take an extra frame to come out. According to VesperArcade:

Though that isn’t really a big deal, it doesn’t make sense from a gameplay standpoint. So Capcom doesn’t want to encourage players to just stand and block, leaving yourself open to low attacks, just so your V-Reversal comes out faster. That’s just silly. I guess the worst-case scenario is that one extra frame could possibly give your opponent enough time to block your V-Reversal , or even worse, bait it, jump, and land with an attack, before you would recover and not be able to block it. So the easiest solution Capcom has done is simply make V-Reversals activate 1 frame faster while crouching. Now both are the same speed, so you don’t have to worry about if you’re standing or crouching.

The change to charge attacks, however, is much more complicated; the “hold frames” for charge moves have been increased from 6 to 10 frames.

What they did was increase the input buffer window for charge moves. So this has already been changed once, in case you guys forgot. When the game first launched, the input buffer window for charge moves was 12 frames. But then they recently lowered it to 6 frames, so that’s what we’re playing with now. Basically, they cut the total time in half. This is the amount of time you have after you charge to press a button and finish the input before you lose the charge.

Utilizing Guile, Alex and Urien as examples, VesperArcade goes over the pros and cons of this decision:

One of the pros–and the main reason why Capcom changed this–is to keep unintentional charge moves from coming out when you don’t want them to. So basically, they wanted to tighten the leniency. They didn’t want you to just accidentally do charge moves if the charge was for too long. So what about the cons of this change? For one, it’s harder to pre-charge buffer, since we have less time to keep our previous Charge in the first place. Another con is that it’s a lot harder to do down charge specials into standing attacks. So for example, Canceling Guile’s standing light kick into a Flash Kick, that was hard to begin with. Now that window’s cut in half, so you’ve got to do it a lot faster now. So as you guys can see, there are a lot more cons to this change than pros, and as such, Capcom has listened and extended the window to 10 frames now. So when the game launched, it was 12, then they changed it to 6 now, then coming in April, they’re bringing it to 10. So, it’s not quite as long as when the game first came out, but I think it’s a good middle ground, a good compromise. So when the April patch comes out, players that play charge characters should feel a bit more leniency now for doing their charge attacks.

You can catch the full video–with visual examples of these changes–below. Stay tuned, as VesperArcade intends to go over the character balance changes in detail for all 20 characters that will be impacted.

Source: VesperArcade

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VesperArcade explains what the throw tech option select change means for Street Fighter V

After demonstrating what the Shoryuken changes in Street Fighter V’s next balance patch will look like, VesperArcade has now turned his attention to discussing the impact of the change to the throw tech option select. As detailed in the patch notes, Capcom will be removing the ability to tech throws while holding Up during the Throw Escape as part of their crusade to remove as many option selects as possible from the game.

In the patch that added Alex to the game back in March 2016, Capcom increased the vertical and back jump frames for every character except for Zangief, from 3-4 frames, (4-5 frames for Birdie) in an attempt to reduce the effectiveness of this OS without largely altering the overall balance of the game at the time. Before he begins getting into the finer details, Vesper first wants to define what an Option Select is for viewers.

“Option selects allow multiple options to be covered with overlapping commands. They directly conflict guesswork leading to a positive result quite frequently.”

Utilizing Ryu as an example, Vesper demonstrates how to input the Throw Tech OS, also known as “Fuzzy Guarding,” in addition to a simple buffer OS. He points out the Throw Tech OS mainly covers 4 situations:

  1. Throw Techs
  2. Meaty Normals
  3. Shimmies
  4. Neutral Resets

He then shares the three steps needed to perform the OS consistently:

  1. Hold Down+Back (very briefly)
  2. Input Jump Back+Throw
  3. Return to Down+Back

“So this Option Select takes advantage of the really long Throw Tech window, which I think is 7 frames. So even when I’m getting up off the ground, I’m holding Down+Back for that very brief moment. So even if he throws me the second I get up off the ground, I still have time to tech that throw, which I’m doing by jumping back and pressing Throw at the same time.”

After visually demonstrating the various scenarios that this option select covers, as well as teaching players how to practice it themselves in Training Mode, he discusses a few of the current counters to it in the current build of the game, Vesper closes by explaining what Capcom’s intended fix will mean for the option select and what it will mean for SFV’s meta going forward.

“What they did, is they made it so you can’t tech throws while holding Up. So basically, when I’m holding Up+Back and pressing Throw, if the opponent times his Throw right when I’m getting up, he will be able to Throw me. So that pretty much should cure the problem, hopefully, unless people figure out a time window where they can cover that option as well. So if Capcom is successful in getting rid of this with that patch, then I wonder if Capcom’s going to keep the jumps at 4 frames, I’m really curious. But I guess there were some other Option Selects that would create if we brought it back to 3.”

You can see the full video below. VesperArcade will continue going over the remaining patch notes in detail on his channel in the future.

Source: VesperArcade 

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Tokido discusses his ideal Akuma changes, his training regiment, and more with BornFree at Final Round 20

During this past weekend’s Final Round 20, BornFree caught up with Echo Fox’s Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi to question the Murderface on a variety of assorted topics. Earlier this week, we learned that his main character, Akuma, will be receiving a health increase in the next balance patch (bringing him up to 900) as well as seeing his medium and heavy Goshoryuken properties changed to function more like Necalli’s Raging Lights. However, Tokido has a different direction in mind for the “Raging Demon.”

I want to make him much more difficult. For me, 875 is a lot of health, compared to Street Fighter IV. I’d reduce his health to 800, for much less recovery on his fireballs and much faster movement speed. This time, he’s gained weight, so I hope he can lose it and move fast again. I want to use [a] difficult character to improve my skill. That’s why I use Akuma.

On the subject of Season 1 vs. Season 2, Tokido feels that the game is very different now:

It’s a very big change. A lot of characters have a chance now. I think it’s balanced, but for me, I feel easy characters are strong, and difficult characters are O.K. But totally, I think it’s balanced. I trust my character can fight against such a character, [Laura and Balrog] but maybe it takes time? But I can improve myself with my character.

When asked about his favorite player of all time, Tokido mentioned Hx.Twitch.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara without hesitation.

Honestly, Daigo Umehara. Because, for me, he’s a boss of old-school players. Recently, the old-school players taught me a lot. Why the fighting game scene is now so big, and a long time ago, fighting games were very bad in society, and they played them with their passion. I think that emotion has made the fighting game community so big today. Daigo also knows that feeling and played at the beginning of fighting games.

Taniguchi them talked a bit about his current training schedule:

After Akuma came in with Season 2, I practiced a lot. Before, I played just 3 or 4 hours a day, which was enough in my Ryu time, but with Akuma coming out, maybe I practice at least 8 or 9 hours a day. I bought an Espresso machine, so I drink coffee and eat protein bars to recharge.

When asked if he played any other fighting games, Tokido expressed interest in trying out Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite–and has also been playing The Last Guardian recently.

Finally, BornFree asks Tokido how he feels about potentially making top 8 at the ELEAGUE on Friday, May 26th, then having to travel to France for Red Bull Kumite on Sunday, May 28th, and if he’s worried it could impact his performance: “It’s OK. It’s just an 8 or 9 hour flight. From Japan to here is 16 hours and Japan to Europe is the same. So 8 or 9 hour flights are easy for me.”

You can see the full interview–with timestamps–below, which also covers Tokido’s thoughts on Season 2 Ryu, being signed by Echo Fox, what he’d like to see from SFV going forward (system changes, and SFV eventually releasing in Japanese arcades).

Source: BornFree

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Justin Shade discusses why combo damage should be universally lower in Street Fighter V

Currently, one of the hottest topics about Street Fighter V Season 2 is the amount of high damage output that some characters can dish out, with many players complaining that characters such as Urien, Laura, Balrog, Necalli, and Ibuki can be a bit too explosive at times. SFV enthusiast and YouTuber Justin Shade believes that a lot of the complaints can be solved by reducing combo damage across the board for the entire cast. Citing other fighting games, titles like Halo 4 and Hearthstone, and even real-life sports, like Super Bowl 50, Justin notes that, “While people enjoy an intense challenge, there’s an internal threshold that exists in the average person before thoughts begin circulating about whether something is too difficult or not.”

Utilizing Ryu as an example, he explains the two conflicting perceptions players have about fighting games: players wanting to dish out large amounts of damage as an attacker, but also have and adequate amount of chances to adapt and turn the tide in a match, to overcome their opponent as a defender.

The answer lies in targeting the damage scaling system in Street Fighter V for all characters. Damage reduction on combos is the only system that applies a cascading effect on everything else in the game. Both archetypal characters with higher-than-standard health values and characters with lower-than-average health, all of a sudden require more hits to defeat without directly changing their values. Thus keeping them in the fight long enough for the controlling players to learn from what’s happening and mount a plausible comeback. A player wouldn’t need to hope for an Ultra, rely on an X-Factor or impose character-specific V-Triggers. As for the attacking player, their focus becomes consistency. Ideally, both players are adapting to what the other player’s doing on a near-constant basis, and because the attacking player’s goal is winning the 2-out-of-3 set, they have to continuously outwit the defending player in order to achieve victory.

After detailing the merits of his scaling system, Justin closes by praising the direction Capcom has taken SFV in in terms of mass appeal.

Street Fighter V was developed as a product that someone did not need to devote as much time into as Street Fighter IV or III, in order to be a competent player, and I felt Capcom’s approach, to that degree, was a step in the correct direction. Fighting games are no longer as niche as they used to be, played in the recesses of dark arcades in the corner of a mall, or on the top level of a shopping center in Japan. They’re readily available in retail stores for everyone to pick up or download and play from their home with friends and family.

You can catch the video below. Be warned, some language is NSFW.

Now that Capcom has announced their next balance patch, it’s clear we can’t expect this sort of change anytime soon. Do you agree with Justin’s suggestion, or do you have another approach for addressing SFV’s current community issues? Sound off in the comments!

Source: Justin Shade

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The girls of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round go anime: Arc System Works mashup costume pack trailer

Recently, we’ve been seeing pictures of the various women from Dead or Alive 5: Last Round cosplaying some of the most popular ladies from Blazblue: Central Fiction and Guilty Gear Xrd REV2, as part of Team Ninja’s “dream collaboration with the creator of classy fighting games–Arc System Works!”

To promote the release of the costumes, Koei Tecmo Europe has released a trailer showing the various fighters in action with their new attire. For those unaware, this pack of 16 costumes will feature Ayane as I-No, Nyotengu as Dizzy, Honoka and Lisa as Elphelt and Ramlethal Valentine, Momiji and Rachel as Baiken and Millia Rage, Christie as Jack-O’ Valentine, Leifang as Jam Kuradoberi, Mila as Makoto Nanaya, Marie Rose as Platinum The Trinity, Phase-4 as Mu-12 and Tina as Bullet, Kokoro as Celica A. Mercury, Helena as Nine The Phantom and Kasumi and Hitomi as Noel Vermillion and Tsubaki Yayoi.

These costumes can either be purchased individually, as part of the “Arc System Works Mashup Set” bundle, or as part of Season Pass 6 for PS4, or New Costume Pass 6 on Xbox One, which also includes the “High Society Costume Set,” the “Alluring Mandarin Dress Set,” and three more costume packs set to be released between April and June. You’ll also receive the exclusive Pop Idol costumes for Marie Rose and Honoka for purchasing the Season Pass. You can catch the full trailer below, set to the character select theme of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core.

Source: KOEI TECMO EUROPE LTD.

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Daigo Umehara dropping Ryu for Guile after Final Round 20–according to Filipino Champ and XSK Samurai

It’s no secret that Ryu received a myriad of nerfs in Street Fighter V’s second season, which have lead many players to drop the Wandering Warrior for other characters entirely, or at least pick up some alternates for his bad matchups. Twitch.Hx.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara continued to soldier on; however, falling to Tampa Bison and Panda Global’s Punk to finish 33rd at Final Round 20–the first Premier Event of the Capcom Pro Tour 2017 season–has potentially changed his outlook.

According to tweets from Splyce’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez and fellow Ryu-comrade-in-arms Miky “XSK Samurai” Chea from Winter Fox, Umehara has seemingly given up on Ryu, and now claims he will be maining Guile (seen as one of the most powerful characters in Season 2) going forward. Though he initially played the character at the beginning of Season 2 for a bit, he soon retunred to Ryu.

Denial’s Chris Tatarian chimed in:

This would not be the first time Umehara has abandoned the Shotokan warrior when his strength has come into question, as he mained Yun and Evil Ryu throughout Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Ultra Street Fighter IV, and even has a history of playing the “Family Man” in Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (2012), Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Capcom vs. SNK 2. With Razer Xian’s switch to Ibuki from F.A.N.G leading to a first place victory at Final Round 20, it would be very interesting to see how Umehara can perform in tournaments with the Air Slasher by his side.

VesperArcade also discusses this in his latest video, providing some additional context from Umehara’s recent tournament history:

If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can check out some Season 1 match footage of Daigo’s Ryu here. What do you all think of this development? Would you be sad to see Daigo leave Ryu behind, or do you believe this is exactly what he needs in order to achieve future victories?

Sources: fchampryan (Twitter); SamuraiWFX (Twitter); Chris Tatarian (Twitter); VesperArcade

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Next Injustice 2 character reveal set for March 23rd

The game is almost a mere two months away, and after Firestorm’s firey unveiling on UpUpDownDown, we already know when in to expect another new challenger in Injustice 2. Following Firestorm’s reveal (and his character profile being added to the website), Injustice.com has been updated, revealing that we’ll see another new character join the roster on Thursday, March 23rd.

Will Scarecrow finally fill our hearts with fear, or will the rumors of the Joker’s and Black Adam’s returns bear fruit? Could we see gameplay of Green Arrow or Captain Cold, seen in part two of the “Shattered Alliances” trailer? Or perhaps we’ll see someone else entirely? As the clock ticks down to the unveiling, don’t forget to tune into tomorrow’s Injustice 2 Watchtower livestream, which will feature character breakdowns for Swamp Thing and Cheetah.

Injustice 2 will be released on May 16th for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Source: Injustice.com

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Next Injustice 2 Watchtower Livestream: March 15th; Will Feature Cheetah and Swamp Thing Breakdowns

Following the release of Part 2 of the “Shattered Alliances” trailer series (giving us our first looks at Green Lantern, The Flash, Reverse-Flash, Green Arrow and Captain Cold), NetherRealm Studios is set to keep the hits coming with the next Injustice 2 Watchtower Livestream, taking place next Wednesday, March 15th, at 3:00 PM CST.

This stream will once again feature a pair of character breakdowns. The last stream focused on returning veterans Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman; this time the team will be breaking down a pair of the title’s new challengers: specifically Swamp Thing and The Society’s Cheetah. While we’ve already had a brief breakdown of Swamp Thing courtesy of IGN First, we haven’t seen much at all of Barbara Ann Minerva, save for a brief glimpse in the “Here Come The Girls” trailer that unveiled her. However, NRS’s 16-Bit has assured players that she is a “completely different character archetype” from her feline counterpart Catwoman, and may appeal to “players who enjoy command grabs.” You can view posts from NRS’s Instagram, as well as tweets from Community Specialist Tyler Lansdown, about the Watchtower below.

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

Finally, don’t forget about the exclusive character reveal and gameplay footage from Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Sasha Banks and Bayley’s tour of Netherrealm Stuidos this Monday on UpUpDownDown!

Injustice 2 will be released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 16th.

Sources: NetherRealm Studios (Instagram); Tyler Lansdown (Twitter); via Test Your Might

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Kazunoko and Fuudo Competing in 2v2 For Honor Tournament at Final Round 20

While this weekend’s massive Final Round XX will serve as the first premiere event of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour, as well as the first of the “Magnificent Five” on the Dead or Alive 5: Last Round Battle Royal 2017 Tour, it will also play host to the first competitive showing of Ubisoft’s For Honor, which just received an interesting addition to the bracket.

According to Yahoo! Esports, Capcom Cup 2015 champion GodsGarden Pro’s Kazunoko, and Evo 2011 Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition champion, Team Grapht’s Fuudo will be representing the Land of the Rising Sun in the For Honor bracket as Team Ganryujima, in addition to their usual exploits in Street Fighter V and Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-.

Kazunoko, along with many other Japanese players, including Souji and Team HORI’s Sako, have been putting in a good amount of time with the medieval brawler, posting a large amount of footage on the GODSGARDEN YouTube Channel. Kazunoko seems to be favoring Peacekeeper, a member of the Knight faction’s Assassin Class, who specializes in strong Bleed Damage, with a great gap-closing attack in her Dashing Thrust–though she has short attack range. Given Kazunoko’s fondness for characters like Yun, Cammy, Seth, Sol Badguy, Wolverine and Raven, the speedy warrior seems like a great choice for him–and is currently considered one of the strongest Heroes in the game, according to Ranked Boost.

With a total of 10 full teams, along with 7 solo entrants that still need partners as of this writing, for a total of 17–one of which includes SRK’s own Crow_Spaceboy–it should prove to be an exciting event for the new title. You can check out the current bracket on smash.gg.

You can see footage of Kazunoko’s Peacekeeper in action below:

Final Round XX is taking place this weekend, March 10-12 in Atlanta, Georgia. How do you think the Japanese duo will fare against American players in this new game? Let us know in the comments!

Sources: Yahoo! Esports; godsgarden1; RankedBoost; smash.gg