Earlier this month, we reported on a summer update coming to the arcade release of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], which will be adding new character Mika Returna to the cast. Players will also see a number of system and character changes with this patch, and the full list has been translated into English by Sourenga for your viewing pleasure.
Some of the more significant changes involve the system alterations, particularly the way in which players earn Grind Grid, or GRD, Meter during the course of a round.
The normal speed of the Transfer State gauge has been increased slightly, while it will decrease depending on the amount of time a player is taking damage. You will also gain a maximum of two GRD blocks depending on the amount of time a player is taking damage, in order to make “reading an opponent’s actions in neutral to gain GRD blocks more interesting.” When a player’s health is low, EX specials will consume a smaller amount of CrossCast Veil Off gauge, with the goal of increasing neutral play and yomi. The length of GRD Break when using Guard Thrust was also adjusted to increase the importance of Blocking and Shielding your opponent.
In terms of character changes, all 16 fighters were given a variety of buffs to “increase the range in playing” them, with the goal of ensuring more variety in combos, as well as making characters more distinct.
Version 3.10 of UNIEL[st] will be released in Japanese arcades on June 27th.
During E3, NRS commentators and content providers, Ketchup and Mustard, managed to get a few hours of time in with the initial build of Injustice 2. Feeling that there was a lack of information about two of the game’s new villainous additions, Flash nemesis Gorilla Grodd, and Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, they recorded a video detailing their early findings and impressions with the characters.
They preface this episode of “K & M Talk” by noting that this an extremely early build of the game, so much of what they’ve found is subject to change. Their goal was to answer some of the questions that are “kind of in limbo–things that people may wonder, but there is no conclusive answer on.”
First, the duo talk about some of the sequel’s new mechanics, noting that the game feels “more responsive and sped up, compared to the first Injustice,” which was known for its character’s extremely slow walk speed. There is also the new ability to Meter Burn your forward dash into a roll, similar to MKXL’s run, which allows you to cover distances quickly, cross up your opponents for mixup opportunities, as well as providing another method around projectiles beyond the standard dash blocking from Injustice 1.
There is also an Air Tech mechanic, that will allow you to break a combo without spending your Clash, by pressing Up+Meter Burn, in exchange for being punished on landing from a new falling animation, similar to a Burst from Arc System Works games.
Ketchup begins the character breakdown portion of the video by talking about Atrocitus, who’s game he feels revolves a lot around his Trait. Atrocitus’ ability is to summon his cat and fellow Red Lantern, Dex-Starr, who can shoot a fireball, attack the opponent with a lunge, or place a shield around Atrocitus that acts as a physical projectile that can both reflect attacks and also hit the opponent. This is comparable to Sinestro’s Beware Your Fears from Injustice 1, or Summoner Quan Chi’s Demon Spawn from MKXL. Atrocitus has a full-screen projectile in his Blood Lift, and a full-screen, tracking low, which seems to function similarly to D’Vorah’s Spawning Puddle. He has a breath attack that is safe on block and aimable, as well as a rush move similar to Goro’s Punch Walk. His final special move is a life drain where he goes into a stance that will drain the opponent’s health if they are standing near him, which can be Meter Burned to create an explosion that OTGs the opponent for a juggle or Trait extension.
Ketchup closed this portion of the video by claiming that the character has a lot of mixup potential, by using his mid hitting strings and Dex-Starr to set up jailing pressure, along with full-screen zoning and conversions, combined with knockdown situations when Trait is available. He also felt that the Red Lantern was the strongest character in the E3 6-character build, with lots of safety and high damage output.
In the third and final portion of the video, Mustard talks about Gorilla Grodd, a character who does not have much footage or descriptive information available at the moment, leaving many to wonder about this new character’s playstyle and abilities.
Mustard felt that he was unfinished, with the damage on his special moves being quite low. In terms of specials, his BF3 is similar to Bane’s Raging Charge, that has no startup, gives knockdown on hit, and is safe on block. However, its most interesting property is that you can press Back, Back or Forward, Forward to stop him from running mid-charge, which allows him to cancel it for combo extensions, or to punish opponents jumping back. His Gorilla Leap allows him to jump into the air, with air punch and kick follow-ups, as well as a Meter Burnable grab for a launchert. Though the telekinetic simian seems to be light on mixup potential, due to lacking any overheads, he can Meter Burn many of his strings to launch opponents. With grabs universally doing 16% damage now, he can condition blocking opponents to fear his command grabs, and score large punishes when they attempt to avoid them.
His Trait–for anyone familiar with him from DC comics–is his signature Telekinesis. This allows Grodd to access a myriad of new moves and strings, one of which makes him fully immune to projectiles. Lastly, he can levitate while in Trait, and gains access to an Ermac-style Ground Pound, a forward air dash, or an aerial explosion, which has large range and large hitstun–enough for Grodd to land, dash in and get a full combo.
Mustard believes he’ll be a heavy read-based character with an extremely powerful D2, though most of his specials seemed to be unsafe on block, with large amounts of whiff recovery.
Injustice 2 will be released in 2017 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Many players have expressed frustrations over the PlayStation 4 version of Street Fighter V’s 8 frames of native input delay. Some, such as Red Bull’s Snake Eyez, have noted that this delay is a natural inhibitor to reactionary play, forcing players to act more preemptively during a match. This movement away from reactionary play can leave some fighters–and players–in an odd position.
In a blog post over at Capcom-Unity earlier this month, Haunts noted that Capcom would be “looking into” the lag. However, a new revelation has occurred, as producer Koichi Sugiyama stated on this week’s episode of TopangaTV, that the 8 frames was an “intentional design choice.” Following this information, Victor “Spooky” Fontanez speculated on Twitter that they were possibly attempting to “copy Bandai Namco and Tekken’s innate buffer, which is meant to help smooth netplay.” Spooky also thinks that the reduced input lag involving legacy controllers, “sounded like an oversight.”
You can see all of Spooky’s Tweets embedded below, as well as an archive of this week’s TopangaTV where the statement was made. Do note that Spooky’s Tweets do not necessarily reflect Capcom’s intentions, but are definitely worth pondering.
Sugiyama just stated on the @topangajapan stream that the 8f delay was an intentional design choice. My assumption here is they attempted
This past Saturday, following 8 weeks of fierce competition on PSN, 16 of the best Mortal Kombat XL players on the planet descended upon Burbank, California. These players, representing four different regions, competed for the title of ESL MKX Pro League Season 3 Champion, as well as an unprecedented $200,000 prize pool–the largest in Mortal Kombat History! This was one of the largest MKXL events of the year, with many international challengers eager to prove their worth and show they belong against the strongest America and Canada had to offer.
9. Sakr0n (Assassin Kitana, Royal Storm Kitana, Shaolin Kung Jin, Acidic Alien)
9. BEN|HeeyGeorge (Full Auto Jacqui Briggs, Shotgun Jacqui Briggs)
9. IrishMantis (Stunt Double Johnny Cage)
9. Noble|BeyondToxin (Mystic Ermac, Master Of Souls Ermac)
13. Crathen (Ninjutsu Scorpion)
13. VDV|St9rm (Shirai Ryu Takeda)
13. VDV|Boki (Shirai Ryu Takeda)
13. eLevate|Perfect Legend (Ninjutsu Scorpion, Buzz Saw Kung Lao, Displacer Raiden)
You can see all the matches from the event in its entirety, as well as player, match and regional features, on ESL’s YouTube channel. You can also catch the stream archives of the event, in full, at NetherRealm’s Twitch channel.
As an Evolution champion for Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, along with having multiple top 8 finishes in a wide array of other fighting titles, Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez has proven to be one of the strongest fighting game players around. In a recent interview with theScore esports, he discussed a number of topics, including his competitive goals and what he wants his legacy as a fighting game player to be.
“My goal is to be the greatest of all time. I know that that’s hard, and I might not get there, but I want to set my goals so high all the time. So even if I don’t get there, I’m at least at the top of the food chain. I always aim for success and greatness, I just don’t want to sell myself short.’
When asked about his personal metric for such a claim, Champ offered the following:
“I’m really far from it, but I know that I’m one of the best players in the world now. I’m probably let’s say, Top 15, Top 10, best fighting gamers of all time. Because I can play multiple fighting games at a high level. In Marvel I’ve basically solidified myself as one of the best players in the world who ever touched that game. I’m far from it, but that’s my goal. Maybe if I win Street Fighter at Evo, maybe. Maybe I could be in talks of [being] Top 5 or something because I won Marvel and Street Fighter, and I don’t think that’s been done before.”
Champ was then asked his thoughts on the SFV iteration of Dhalsim, and why he continues to play him in the new game:
“He’s not a Dhalsim like Street Fighter IV, he’s definitely a different architecture. I don’t think he played anything like SFIV, but I think I’m versatile enough in fighting games that I can play any type of character I want, it just happens that I really like my image as a Dhalsim player. I carried the character for awhile and I wanted to continue with him into Five. But I think he is a way better character in V than he was in IV. I don’t think he’s the best character in this game, but I think he’s pretty damn good. I’m sticking with him, but I also play Nash.
Champ also offered his thoughts on Street Fighter V as a competitive game:
“Street Fighter V, from a competitive standpoint, is very good. I think it’s very exciting for spectators to watch. It’s very diverse, mostly every Top 8 you see there’s a lot of variety of characters, which is a good sign that the game is balanced. Also, there’s a lot of support from the fighting game community and the developers as well, so I think we should be fine.”
In the remainder of the interview, Champ discusses the similarities between SFV Dhalsim and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3’s Dormammu, his thoughts on the Bud Light All-Stars sponsorship contest, what characters he believes are top tier in SFV, why Chun-Li hasn’t seen much competitive success, despite many hailing her as the best character in the game right now, as well as his strategy for this year’s Capcom Pro Tour.
Yomi Gaming, known for their myriad of Mortal Kombat XL, Street Fighter V and Killer Instinct players, have officially opened the doors of their arcade and training facility to the general public.
They will be featuring weekly tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on Friday nights, and events for Street Fighter V, Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Pokkén Tournament on Saturday nights. In addition, they will have daily casuals, as well as other events for Project M, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, The King Of Fighters XIII, Killer Instinct and a host of other popular titles.
Visitors can pay $10 for a day’s worth of play, or opt for a membership for as low as $29.99 per month for unlimited playtime. For more information, you can visit their website.
It’s no secret that F.A.N.G is regarded as one of the weaker characters currently in Street Fighter V. However, a few players, such as Kindevu, YOMI|Dieminion, RZR|Xian and cR|Sonic Fox have shown some of the latent potential of Shadaloo’s self-proclaimed Number Two, utilizing the Poison Hand master’s wide array of muti-hitting normals, Ryobendas, and a seemingly endless assault of Nisikyakus to pepper their adversaries with unavoidable poison damage as they struggle to break through his full-screen zoning game.
At Final Round, Fox eliminated NuckleDu from the event, besting his Nash 2-0 to send him packing at 9th place, while he continued to Top 8. Recently, he and NuckleDu met online for a Final Round runback, but this time in a Battle Lounge first-to-ten!
He has also battled other top players, such as Level Up’s Alex Valle and Panda Global’s Filipino Champ.
With big events like CEO and, of course, Evo looming, this is a great way to see what a generally rare character at this point in the game’s life is capable of at the highest level of play.
While Guile’s corner loops and offensive pressure when stocked with V-Trigger and a full Critical Art are well-documented, many players have found it difficult to mount the defensive, zoning-based gameplan that he is known for in previous iterations, despite Combofiend declaring that he would be a “moving fortress.”
After logging in 400+ games with the “Air Slasher” in SFV, known content creator LiangHuBBB has created a guide offering some helpful zoning tips for anyone looking for more of a keep away style of play with their Guile.
He notes that, of the other available characters in the cast, Zangief, Rashid, Bridie, Ken, F.A.N.G and Necalli are “Easy to Keep Away”$$ M. Bison, Chun-Li, Nash, Ryu and Alex, are “Medium” to Keep Away”$$ while Karin, R. Mika, Laura, Vega and Dhalsim are ‘Hard to Keep Away.”
First, he recommends using Guile’s V-Skill, Sonic Blade, to bait jump-ins, which will allow you to land an anti-air Flash Kick afterwards, which will also juggle into Sonic Hurricane, if you have the meter.
Next, he notes that Guile’s air throws, Flying Mare and Flying Buster Drop, both have high priority, which will allow him to jump and air throw any jump-in on reaction after forcing movement with a Sonic Boom, despite the move’s increased recovery from Street Fighter IV. He can also use his Bazooka Knee command normal to move forward and keep up pressure, while maintaining a charge.
He also mentions that, during a fireball war, Guile’s Sonic Booms will always recover faster, allowing him to jump in over a Hadoken for a full-combo punish while his foe is still in recovery frames. Additionally, Guile’s Flash Kick possesses more range than any Shroyuken-like special move in the game, making it perfect for AAing the opponent’s neutral jumps, especially if they’re trying to escape your corner pressure.
Guile even has an answer against movement options like Nash’s V-Trigger, Sonic Move, which he can AA with an auto-correct Flash Kick every time, as long as he’s pre-charging it by holding down, even after throwing a Sonic Boom.
Though you may not be able to punish as many things with Guile’s Spinning Back Knuckle in SFV compared to USFIV, it is still a great tool to stop an enemy’s forward movement, and will still connect on hit after a Sonic Boom.
While Guile’s corner loops and offensive pressure when stocked with V-Trigger and a full Critical Art are well-documented, many players have found it difficult to mount the defensive, zoning-based gameplan that he is known for in previous iterations, despite Combofiend declaring that he would be a “moving fortress.”
After logging in 400+ games with the “Air Slasher” in SFV, known content creator LiangHuBBB has created a guide offering some helpful zoning tips for anyone looking for more of a keep away style of play with their Guile.
He notes that, of the other available characters in the cast, Zangief, Rashid, Bridie, Ken, F.A.N.G and Necalli are “Easy to Keep Away”$$ M. Bison, Chun-Li, Nash, Ryu and Alex, are “Medium” to Keep Away”$$ while Karin, R. Mika, Laura, Vega and Dhalsim are ‘Hard to Keep Away.”
First, he recommends using Guile’s V-Skill, Sonic Blade, to bait jump-ins, which will allow you to land an anti-air Flash Kick afterwards, which will also juggle into Sonic Hurricane, if you have the meter.
Next, he notes that Guile’s air throws, Flying Mare and Flying Buster Drop, both have high priority, which will allow him to jump and air throw any jump-in on reaction after forcing movement with a Sonic Boom, despite the move’s increased recovery from Street Fighter IV. He can also use his Bazooka Knee command normal to move forward and keep up pressure, while maintaining a charge.
He also mentions that, during a fireball war, Guile’s Sonic Booms will always recover faster, allowing him to jump in over a Hadoken for a full-combo punish while his foe is still in recovery frames. Additionally, Guile’s Flash Kick possesses more range than any Shroyuken-like special move in the game, making it perfect for AAing the opponent’s neutral jumps, especially if they’re trying to escape your corner pressure.
Guile even has an answer against movement options like Nash’s V-Trigger, Sonic Move, which he can AA with an auto-correct Flash Kick every time, as long as he’s pre-charging it by holding down, even after throwing a Sonic Boom.
Though you may not be able to punish as many things with Guile’s Spinning Back Knuckle in SFV compared to USFIV, it is still a great tool to stop an enemy’s forward movement, and will still connect on hit after a Sonic Boom.
Kevin “YOMI|Dieminion” Landon, one of America’s top Guile players throughout the life of Street Fighter IV, recently took to Twitter to offer his thoughts on the “Air Slasher” in Street Fighter V.
You can see his Tweets embedded below.
This may or may not be a suprise, but I don't really like Guile in SFV.
Dieminon has been fond of F.A.N.G as of late, using the master of the Poison Hand to place 5th at the recent Toryuken V event, while also securing a 49th place finish with Nash earlier this year at Final Round 19.
Though players such as EG|Justin Wong and Liquid|Nuckledu have had recent success with the Family Man at Canada Cup Vancouver Series and CEO Prologue, it appears the jury is still out when it comes to his overall viability in Street Fighter V.
