With the beta edition of Fighting EX Layer fast approaching, Shin Tanimoto has continued his combo series for Street Fighter EX 2 Plus, showcasing the combos that are available to all characters without using the Excel custom combo system.
In this video, he shows off combos for Pullum and Shadowgeist, with the latter having devastating combos, including an infinite combo with relatively easy inputs. But let’s not forget the final combo with Pullum where she literally dances her opponent to death. What a way to go.
While Brook has been the go-to in the last couple years for joystick aftermarket parts, they have also set their sights on cornering the controller market. Their new wired controller, the Mars, boasts compatibility with PS4, PS3, PC, and the Nintendo Switch with minimal lag. How close to their claims have they come?
In his review of the controller, Jonyfraze says that they hit the bull’s eye. While he indicates that some of the removable directional pad options are cumbersome to use, he also states that the buttons, triggers, and analog sticks are incredibly responsive and feel great. He also praises the controller for its build quality — and even the port for the USB cable, for making the connection really sturdy.
DNG|Hiromiki “Itabashi Zangief” Kumada was far and away the best Zangief player on the circuit last year. Unfortunately that was not enough to parlay his play into a berth for Capcom Cup 2016, as he narrowly saw himself on the outside looking in.
He continued along his path of the character specialist this year, and it paid off in dividends. While some things didn’t change — he is still the best Zangief on the planet — one thing did. This year he finds himself on the way to Anaheim in an attempt to muscle his way to a title. What are the odds of him flexing his way to glory?
True Muscle Power
One thing is for certain: Itazan is the greatest example of character loyalty there is. At no point in his career have we seen him deviate from the Red Cyclone. He knows this character inside and out, and makes it work time and time again.
One of his biggest strengths is paralyzing his opponents with his presence alone. Watching him at Evo 2017 — where he took fourth — I noticed so many times where he just simply churned SPD on meaty wake-ups, with full expectation that it would work. More often than not, it did. I commented to my friends around me, wondering why his opponents wouldn’t just simply jump back to evade it, knowing it was likely coming.
And from a casual perspective of looking at the game, I would be right. But there are more layers of depth to Itazan’s game that make the easy choice not so easy. While yes, he does a lot of SPDs, it’s the fact that he makes opponents afraid that he won’t that makes them not do anything. He does just enough normal throws on wake-up to make them think it won’t come. There’s also that looming threat of an air SPD, should you be convinced that he will SPD for the third time in a row. And it’s not just a threat — it’s something he actually does to make you stick to the ground.
That just shows a level of complexity to his mindgames that you really have to study to fully see. The things he does are totally read-dependent. And there are few players who read their opponents’ next moves like he does; this is what makes him a great player.
To also state that his entire gameplan revolves around the grab game would also be too linear for him. He also knows the exact instances to jump in for a combo. He also is highly patient and intelligent in his approach. Any disadvantages that he has to fireball characters seem to shrink, because he doesn’t feel the need to rush in without calculating when it’s time to. This is not just a ‘Gief who churns butter: this is one of the most calculated players on every aspect of the game.
Top Contender
The road of a Zangief main can be insanely tricky. The bracket can fall any which way, and you could see your tournament end early just because of bad match-ups. If you don’t try to mitigate that problem with a secondary, it’s made exponentially more difficult. This is something that RB.CYG BST|Snake Eyez has done, that Itazan simply powered through.
In doing so, he still puts up insanely consistent results. At DreamHack Summer, he finished third to Yukadon and Oil King. At Canada Cup — in one of the most stacked fields the CPT saw this year — he finished third yet again, losing only to Fuudo and Dogura.
In eight events, he only missed top 8 three times. For a Zangief main, that’s the equivalent to winning several majors. Given that one of three events that he missed top 8 in was the sole ranking event he competed in, that speaks a great deal to his skill, having amassed a large amount of points via Premiers only.
Countering the Specialist
The worry is, of course, that he isn’t winning events. This could well be attributed with his insistence on playing Zangief, who has a great deal of mobility issues. While a lot of effort has been made to make him more mobile — including armored moves, his V-Skill, and his lariat — that doesn’t mean those problems go away entirely.
This couldn’t have been any more apparent than when Punk — fresh off of a loss to Snake Eyez at CEO — countered him at Evo 2017 with Nash. This shows the difficulty Zangief has with pure zoning characters who don’t have to worry about playing the poke game with normals, something that Zangief wins more often than not. This was a calculated move by Punk that paid off tremendously for him, but sent Itazan into losers where he fell to yet another strong zoner in Tokido’s Akuma.
If you look down the line of players he’s fallen to, zoners outweigh any other character Itazan loses to. He lost to Dogura’s Urien at Canada Cup. He lost to Sako’s Akuma and Yukadon’s Ibuki at DreamHack Summer. He lost to a Taiwanese Ken player, and was later eliminated by stormKUBO’s Abigail — a character who actually can still outzone Zangief, despite his lack of a projectile — at TWFighter Major. And if you look at the roster for Capcom Cup, almost half of the players use a zoning character that will cause him issues.
Final Thoughts
To say a Zangief player can’t win a major is foolish. Snake Eyez proved that. But there’s still a difference: Snake Eyez has an Akuma to fall back on, and that did come out during CEO.
Itazan has no such fall-back character. He will rock Zangief no matter what. And while that is admirable, and he will do some damage — maybe even making top 8 — it’s unlikely he’ll win it all.
New from the “crossovers we dreamed about as kids, but never thought we’d get,” department, Street Fighter-themed Transformer figures are now an officially licensed thing. At least in Japan, anyway.
Available starting in May of 2018, these figures will feature Chun-Li, Ken, Ryu, and M. Bison as transforming collectible toys. The former two will be available in a set that costs ¥8640 (approx. $77 USD), while the latter two will be in a set that costs ¥12960 (approx. $115 USD). The only disappointment in these figures: the wasted opportunity to make Chun-Li into a helicopter.
Team Razer’s Kun Xian Ho had a tumultuous year in 2016. The former Evo champion — notorious for taking lower tiers to their competitive limits — was taken to his own limits by his character of choice: F.A.N.G. The decided bottom tier of the game did not do him any favors on the circuit — while he was able to reach Capcom Cup last year, the handicap issued by F.A.N.G limited him to just making top 16 of the event.
Armed with a new main in Ibuki and early success on the Capcom Pro Tour with a win at Final Round XX, Xian looks far more poised than last year to take it all. But is he strong enough to do so?
Quality Over Quantity
While I have discussed players’ tournament schedules before, Xian is one of the least-traveled players on the Capcom Pro Tour this year. Listed on his results are a grand total of seven Capcom Pro Tour events. Of those seven tournaments, he has won four of them. Outside of the win at Final Round XX, he has won events in two other regions, including Europe (VSFighting 7) and Asia (Thaiger Uppercut). This already shows poise to take on various regional stylings, as he was able to take victory in England over the ever-aggressive Luffy, and took the Thai event over the mix-up-heavy Oil King.
It is also worth noting that out of these seven events, the only time he placed outside of top 8 was at Evo, where he finished in the top 64. It’s also worth mentioning that off of the CPT circuit, Xian was able to take two events, including China’s LAN Story Cup, where he faced off in Grands against Tokido, who was at the time the hottest player on the circuit. Even in the non-circuit events he has played in, he has chosen quality over quantity, and has provided a ton of the former to offset the latter.
The Original Ibuki
While Yukadon may enjoy a higher seed than Xian, don’t let that deceive you. All the griminess that has been Ibuki’s modus operandi over this year was found in Xian’s play starting with his win at Final Round. Xian has always done well with characters that have solid mix-up potential — even his initial play with F.A.N.G showed glimpses of it. His Gen was notoriously hard to read, as his wall dive mix-ups were always on point.
While Ibuki may have different tools, Xian has found his own way to keep the mix-ups coming. But one thing that is often understated about Xian, that needs to be discussed, is his patience in the neutral. While a lot of focus was on his setups in Street Fighter IV, you cannot talk about his Evo championship without talking about his ability to wait for the hit, occasionally fishing with low strong to confirm into Super. While Ibuki has a plethora of gimmicks and mix-ups in Street Fighter V, you can’t rely on this alone. If you watch Xian, he is one of the most patient players in the neutral zone, and definitely so when you consider other high-octane Ibukis.
But to top it off, Xian is one of the best at working Ibuki at all ranges. He understands when to throw Kunai at long distance, and when also to safely reload. He understands not only when to bait at close range, but how even to force huge mistakes from his opponents. This makes him far more dangerous that most people will give him credit for.
The Danger Zone
Xian’s biggest issue going into Capcom Cup is himself. He has been perpetually known as streaky. At some points he’ll be hot, at some points he’ll be cold. While he had successes and failures on the CPT last year, and much of it could be attributed to the difficulty he faced using F.A.N.G, last year was not the only year he faced issues of waxing and waning performance. While 2013 saw him at the top of the heap for the former half of the year, he struggled beyond Evo. He waxed and waned throughout 2014 and 2015, and that’s something that is always in the back of your mind when you think of Xian.
Granted, the only sign you could take of his waning performance this year is his Top 64 finish at Evo, but he soon bounced back with a win in a CPT online ranking event against a legion of Singaporeans. He was also able to win LAN Story Cup and VSFighting 7—all after Evo. If that was his waning, he is still waxing. Perhaps his commuted schedule is his answer to his streaky play—recharging his batteries instead of grinding tournaments every weekend.
A Possible Character Switch?
We all know Xian’s most loved character is Gen, and a carrot has now been dangled in front of him. Zeku — albeit having moves similar to Guy — bears a striking resemblance to his former main with two stances. Naturally, Xian has gravitated to the character, and is trying to bring him up to task online.
This could be either the greatest move ever, or the worst idea he’s ever had. While it’s obviously something to consider for next season, bringing it out now — untested in tournament play — could be disastrous. It could also possibly put people off guard, much like his change to Ibuki did early in the season. He has just over a month to do it, so it’s a question to how much time he puts in and how seriously he plans to bring Zeku out in Anaheim.
Final Thoughts
Xian is not to be slept on. He could truly be on pace to put together a strong full season — he has the character to do it, and he may finally have the confidence to do it. He certainly is confident enough to not feel like he has to prove himself week in and week out.
The only big issue right now is which character he’s going to pick. I do believe he is the best Ibuki on the planet, but if he is in the midst of a character crisis and tries to pick Capcom Cup to test drive Zeku, it’s hard to bet on him.
I’m of the belief that he’s smart enough to not do so right now, so if all goes well, then Xian could take this event. But with his performance this year, it would be an odd experience to not see Xian at least make top 16 — no matter his choice of character.
Very few things in Super Smash Bros. Melee hurt harder than a Fox Shine combo. Obviously Jigglypuff Rest confirms hurt far worse, but a well-executed Shine combo can have a similar effect.
For a lot of people, getting caught in one feels like it’s certain death with no chance of escape. There are, however, ways to get out of it — and it all depends on your character. Some characters with low to medium traction can actually slide out of the way, making it impossible for Fox to continue the combo. While characters such as Captain Falcon are high traction and can’t use this method, there are six other ways for you to counter this combo, including DI methods and fast-falling onto a ledge.
With people in full-blown nostalgia mode with fighters lately, we are seeing ports coming out more frequently on modern consoles. This week is no exception — as the Data East fighter Karnov’s Revenge — also known by its Japanese title Fighter’s History Dynamite — was released on November 16th for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
The fighter — which is a sequel to the Fighter’s History title — never gained much popularity in the West. This could possibly be attributed to the copyright infringement lawsuit levied against Data East by Capcom over alleged similarities to Street Fighter II that made it look too similar. The lawsuit was eventually thrown out, but the damage was done in the eyes of the consumer. Despite this, the game has some interesting mechanics, including a stun meter which hinges on you breaking a medallion on your opponent’s body, requiring you to target that specific zone on the body.
GFuel’s Hyungsuk “Verloren” Kong first made his appearance in Street Fighter V on Korea’s Street Fighter Crash last year. He ultimately finished with a 2-2 record, beating only Shinji840 and Momochi as his team failed to advance from their pool.
To say that his work in the last year has changed his fortunes in fighting games goes without saying — not even an afterthought in the race for Capcom Cup last year, the Cammy player has found his way into the tournament in the top half of the bracket. As the lone Korean representative in the bracket (the last chance qualifier may change that) he has big shoes to fill. Filling the role of Infiltration — a former champion when the series emerged during the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary event — is a tough ask. Players from the country such as Saint, JDCR, and Knee also dominate the Tekken circuit, so Korea has high hopes for every esports competitor in every genre they compete in. Will Verloren live up to the gold standard?
Stinging Like a Bee
Earlier in the series, I discussed how fellow Cammy main Kazunoko took a very stable approach to the character. While he is able to use all of her tools well, he relies on a lot of spacing to make things work. If you haven’t seen Verloren play, you should take what you know about Kazunoko, and throw it out the window.
While Kazunoko can space out a large swath of the match, Verloren uses the spacing game as a tool to set up his approach. While Street Fighter V is obviously a game that revolves around the corner, no other Cammy fights to get to the corner like he does. If he gets a touch, it’s hard to outwork him. He has incredible footsies, great reactions, and amazing frame traps — including the standing short, standing roundhouse sequence that seems to catch everyone in a crush counter situation.
Importantly, his anti-air game is tough to top. While anti-airs are far and away more situational across the board in this game than other games, Verloren seems to have this on lock. His utilization of back strong, standing roundhouse, and DP is top notch, and if you actually get a jump-in on him, mark the date that it happened on your calendar in red. You don’t get away with these often against Verloren, which only gives him more time to approach.
Strength in Numbers…
Powered by his sponsorship from GFuel, Verloren has been able to do a lot of traveling this season, and it has paid off. Starting off the year with a top 8 at Final Round XX, he was able to tack on five more top 8s in twelve events he went to on the CPT. In non-circuit events, he was also able to take a tournament in Dubai that featured fellow Capcom Cup qualifier Big Bird, and narrowly missed out on the top 8 at Brooklyn Beatdown.
This shows a consistency you don’t see every day. Each weekend that there’s a tournament, Verloren finds himself in the hunt for top 8.
… But Not in Wins
The problem with Verloren is his ability to close out tournaments. Yes, he won in Dubai, but his closest competition in that tournament would arguably be AngryBird and Big Bird. The rest of the top 8 was a mixture of lesser known names. While any tournament win is great, Verloren took this tournament in the United Arab Emirates while the rest of the competitive world was fixated upon Canada Cup. How much bragging rights does this lend itself to?
Outside of this, he’s simply struggled. His highest finish beyond Dubai was second in an Evo qualifier in Korea and second at Battle Arena Melbourne to a then streaking Bonchan. The rest of results read as a string of fifths and sevenths, which only lend to consistency to get to the big stage. Once there, it’s a different story.
One of the biggest tells of his inability to close came at SoCal Regionals, where he made it to top 8 on Winners side. He then quickly exited the tournament, losing to Yukadon and MenaRD in his only two top 8 sets. Fellow Korean Cammy NL was able to dispatch the latter, but not the former, suggesting that Verloren either simply didn’t have the answer to MenaRD, or didn’t have the mental fortitude to make it work in the high-pressure situation.
It also is worth noting that — despite the controversy surrounding the match itself — at Evo 2017, Verloren missed out on top 8 in a big match against Filipino Champ. While it’s possible that the delays in the match due to the issues faced on stream caused him to lose focus, game one of the match already saw him struggle.
And there you find a flaw. In Korea, he has one of the best Dhalsim players in the world to train against in Save. He also has two of the best Birdie players to spar against in XYZZY and Do U Know Kimchi. However, when up against it in high-pressure situations, Verloren seems unable to truly apply what he learns in these sessions to beat his adversaries in tournament. While you could make arguments that FChamp and MenaRD are better than their Korean counterparts, their styles aren’t different enough from what Verloren faces in Korea for him to be thrown off.
Final Thoughts
I’m sure Verloren gained some confidence in Dubai in winning a tournament. That will certainly help him going into Capcom Cup 2017, but is a smaller event victory enough to take down the big one?
That is unlikely. He’s still unproven under the highest amount of pressure. Capcom Cup will be unlike anything he’s faced before, as he now has to contend with every single match being a high-pressure situation. If he’s able to hold it together, I expect him to finish just inside top 8. If not, we could see Verloren crack early.
While we are a couple of weeks removed from Canada Cup 2017, the exciting replays from the tournament are still going up on official sources. Super Street Fighter II Turbo drew in 90 players from many different countries, and while the top 8 boiled down to USA and Japan, it made for an exciting draw for so early on Sunday morning.
In this top 8 recap, you’ll see ST masters Mattsun, Kusumondo, Tomo, Shogatsu, Koemon, Damdai, Ultracombo, and Riz0ne battling it out for the top prize. There are also some amazing comebacks — with the most notable being Shogatsu running it back three straight games on Koemon.
Spider-Man became a go-to character early on in the life of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, mainly due to his strength with Reality Stone — and the ultimately patched-out infinite that came with it.
But Xero18 — who stuck with the character throughout the lifespan of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 — is breathing new life into the character by way of the Power Stone. With an extension on Power Stone activation — made possible through Web Ball — combos with Spider-Man can surpass the 9000 damage range, which is enough for a kill on some characters. While this video showcases the possibilities with Ultron as a partner, there will certainly be options with various other characters.
