The Super Famicom fighting game Sailor Moon S has been gaining a lot of popularity lately, and the New York fighting game community held a large tournament for it over the weekend at TSB Yabai. The bracket had 17 players of all skill levels looking to fight evil by moonlight and take advantage of the game’s loose — but exciting — mechanics.
Just in case you missed out on all the action from this classic game, Team Spooky has posted a replay of the tournament, which featured some of the top players in the game — including DaiAndOh, Mynus, Apollo, and NerdJosh, to name a few.
It’s been well known for a while that Ken has some nasty meaty setups in Street Fighter V, and these just make his setups even more ambiguous. By connecting his light Tatsu off of a juggle after a V-Trigger confirm, he can actually switch sides. This makes your opponent’s back roll increasingly dangerous for them. You can further make this more deadly by incorporating cross-up air Tatsus after the side switch, making them further guess which side you’ll end up on for the meaty.
Red Bull’s Masato “Bonchan” Takahashi had arguably one of his roughest years on the circuit in 2016. Having frequently been on the verge of qualifying for Capcom Cup, he was never able to take anything higher than fourth place on the Capcom Pro Tour, including at the Asia Regional Finals in Busan, South Korea — his last chance to make the cut.
Not only was he excluded from Capcom Cup, he faced the same fate of fellow Nash players Infiltration and Yukadon in a painful nerfs to his signature character. However, he was able to take Nash at his worst, and produce results that made him a shoe-in for Capcom Cup 2017. Having redeemed himself on the circuit this year, will he be able to go one step further and take the title?
The Last True Nash
Having spent the entirety of the Street Fighter IV series as one of the deadliest Sagat players on the circuit, Bonchan had to go to the drawing board for Street Fighter V. While there was no true equivalent to Sagat, Nash was the next obvious choice — the character could zone well, but could also dole out a large amount of damage when up close. Similarities, however, does not mean equivalency, and I feel like this was part of Bonchan’s problem last year. Nash in Season 1 relied more heavily on the close-range game than Sagat, and Bonchan relied most on Sagat’s zoning game. While he was still able to utilize this aspect of the character, it was definitely outside of his comfort zone.
If you compare that to a player like Infiltration, who was already used to dancing in and out of range with Akuma in Street Fighter IV, it makes perfect sense why these two players who lost their mains in a new game had totally different stories.
As strange as it sounds, it was when Capcom nerfed Nash’s backdash and defensive options that we started to see Bonchan’s best. It was as though the nerfs challenged him to truly learn how to play an oppressive offensive game, and use it to its fullest. And while Nash players abandoned the character left and right due to their distaste with Capcom’s design choices, it was Bonchan himself that held true for the longest time to the character, and reaped the benefits of using the offensive tools against people who had dismissed Nash’s viability in Season 2.
No Laughing Matter
But then, even the Nash stalwart finally decided it was time to make a change. While he kept true to Nash until Evo, in the three events we’ve seen him in since, he has been using far less of the character and more of Karin. This is definitely an unusual switch for him, but now that he has his footing in the close-range game, it makes sense. Her poke game is far superior to that of Nash’s, and can deal large swaths of damage on any good touch.
One of the biggest things that makes Karin work for Bonchan is her ability to control the ground so well with easy to space pokes. A trademark of good Sagat players is controlling the ground game so well that it forces players to take to the skies. When you combine that with exquisite anti-airs — which Karin has — it makes this a great fit.
The last time we saw Bonchan run the character in September at Tokyo Game Show, there was still some sloppiness in his play. So long as he’s been practicing the character since then, he should have plenty of time to tighten up the screws before December.
Character Crisis
But this switch could be a difficult one for him to pull off. It’s worth calling into question that switching to Karin mid-season could be a big mistake when all of his tournament wins were on the strength of his Nash play. Why fix what wasn’t broken in the first place? Was not making top 8 at Evo deflating enough that he felt the need to make the shift?
This is not a massive issue, as we saw NuckleDu make constant shifts in characters over the course of last season before he ultimately settled on Guile and R. Mika. It’s possible that Bonchan has found his rhythm — and it’s not as though Nash has completely disappeared off the face of the earth for him. The last event he attended — D3 — saw him run both characters. But he looks to be banking on Karin more than Nash right now. This means he’s injecting another Karin into a Capcom Cup that already features three — and all three have been playing the character far longer than he has. This is also a character that has long been one of the most popular on the circuit. It’s not as though players won’t be ready for his Karin.
Don’t Break
Another issue that I have with him is that since D3 at the beginning of October, Bonchan hasn’t been seen on the circuit. It seems that he’s taking a break from the competitive circuit in preparation for Capcom Cup 2017. This was a similar issue I had with Infiltration last year, as it’s hard to truly learn to beat your top opponents without getting out there and playing.
The bright side — and the key difference between his break and Infiltration’s — is that he has still been grinding it out online. While this doesn’t replace tournament experience, it will be helping him keep sharp for Capcom Cup.
Final Thoughts
Between his character switch and his results since, it’s hard to bet on Bonchan. I won’t dismiss him as a threat — any time Bonchan is in the hot seat, he is capable of making everyone else sweat. My guess is at best that he’ll make top 8 — but again, anything can happen.
The climb is never done. Once you’ve had tastes of victory as a rookie, you want more! Soon, if you’re diligent, you’ll find yourself climbing from Bronze, to Silver, and on to Gold. But should you stop there?
No — because the real test comes when trying to reach Platinum rank and beyond. Frabisaur, who previously has offered guidance on how to climb to Silver and Gold, now sets his sights on getting you to Platinum. By first illustrating how to do delayed throw techs and shimmies, he focuses mainly on your mental game in this episode. He illustrates how observing your opponents’ play and forcing them to do what you want is the key to victory as you climb in rank.
Remember to check out Frabisaur’s Twitch stream on Thursday night, as this week will focus on the application of what is covered in the above video!
Romance’s endeavors to continue to hype the The King of Fighters XIV are paying dividends as his flagship tournament — The Las Vegas Championship — is coming closer to occurring. The tournament — which is sponsored by SNK — will commence on December 2nd, and will be a destination for some of the top KOF players in the world.
As a testament to how strong the field will be, Taiwan’s ZJZ Bridget will be attendance. He has previously been known for his 4th place finish at Evo 2017, and his silver medal performance at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan this year.
Sherry “Sherryjenix” Nhan has been a community figure since her entrance into fighting games in 2009. She quickly learned one of the most technical characters in any fighting game — Street Fighter IV‘s C. Viper — to the point where she was not just one of the strongest female players, a major tournament threat. Today, she remains a force to be reckoned with, often placing within the top 16 of major events.
While her tournament road ended early at Canada Cup 2017, I got a chance to sit down with her to discuss what her motivation for playing was, and what she thinks of Canada Cup — an event that she always makes it out for.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: How’s your tournament experience at Canada Cup so far?
Sherry “Sherryjenix” Nhan: Canada Cup is always an amazing tournament, so my experience here is always good. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it out of pools. I lost to Daigo, then had to face Commander Jesse in losers bracket, and lost there as well.
Missing Person: That Commander Jesse match is essentially a team kill though.
Sherryjenix: Every time we go to Wednesday Night Fights, I always seem to run into him or Dankadillas, and I hate Dhalsim.
Missing Person: You’re not the only Necalli who has mentioned Dhalsim as an Achilles Heel. With Necalli, is there any tool in particular that Dhalsim has that gives you trouble?
Sherryjenix: The thing is about Jesse is that he has strong offense. My offense is kind of linear, so it’s easy for him to be on the defense. The big thing is that his offense is really strong, so it’s hard for me. I have to worry about him going in on me and teleporting in and out. Jesse’s definitely one of the stronger Dhalsims.
Missing Person: I did catch one match against you and Italdan, one of Canada’s best players. Take me through that one.
Sherryjenix: I did lose the first game, he beat me pretty badly. But I realized he jumped at me a lot in the first game. He started the second round off with V-Skill. So I realized he liked to hold up forward. I stopped doing V-Skill to bait out the jumps. I anti-aired him to keep him grounded. On the ground game, I wasn’t too worried about it. It was mostly fireballs and fierces. I’d start jumping and he’d anti-air. But I wasn’t too worried about the mix-up. If I got the jump-in, I’d have the damage into the mix-up. I implemented that and it worked out pretty well.
Sherry “Sherryjenix” Nhan (right) playing against Daniel “Italdan” Rando at Canada Cup 2017. [photo by Corey “Missing Person” Lanier]
Missing Person: You’ve been to every Canada Cup since 2011. What is about this event that keeps you coming back every year?
Sherryjenix: Well, you know that the 5-on-5 is a Canada Cup specialty. It was so amazing even back in the day. It usually ends up as Team Japan versus Team USA, and Japan always bodied us. But it was always just a really good experience overall. There were always good salty suites here. Now there’s a 24-hour venue.
I also feel like because Lap Chi established the 5-on-5 international tournament, all the international players come out to this event. It’s not just Japan, you have Korea and Europe coming out as well. This is really hard to get at other majors. You always have the typical Japanese crew like Mago and Tokido, but you’ll only get a couple from other regions. Japan comes out full force here, and the same thing for Europe.
Missing Person: Have there been any upsets in this event for you?
Sherryjenix: As far as upsets go, Punk being in Losers in pools was a big deal. He lost to VastEnd, a Canadian Vega player. But I gave Punk the option select of having been focusing on Marvel. He hasn’t been playing Street Fighter that much, and he’s doing good in Marvel as well.
Outside of that, the results are pretty predictable. I already know it’s going to be a good show. Every pool was stacked and had multiple killers. This is going to be a good show, especially top 8.
Missing Person: While you’ve talked about this before, a lot of people still don’t know your story. How did you get into Street Fighter in the beginning?
Sherryjenix: It’s actually pretty random how it happened. I had never played fighting games before; Street Fighter IV was my first. I’m a true ‘09er. I literally started in June 2009. I was at Arcade Infinity in SoCal playing Initial D with my friends. There was a player there named Shglbmx — I knew him from the car scene, because originally I was in the import scene. He was there for Street Fighter IV ranbats. And I hadn’t seen him in a while. I went up to him and said, “What are you doing here, Dan Tam?” I didn’t even know his gamertag, so I just called him by name. And he mentioned that he was there for Street Fighter, and went on to say, “There’s a women’s-only tournament in two weeks. We’re supposed to find a girl to mentor, so would you like to be that player?”
I said, “Dude, I’ve never played a fighting game in my life. Are you sure you want me to play?” He told me, “It’s not that serious. It’s for fun, you should try it out.” I decided to take him up on that. I went out and bought the game and a TE Stick. I went 0-2 in the tournament. But because I met the FGC from that — players like Keno and Mike Ross — I went to Arcade Infinity every day from there. They convinced me to go to Evo the next month. I went 0-2 there, losing to two Bisons like I always do — I still lose to Bisons! I didn’t know who players like Combofiend were at the time. Combofiend was in top 8 with C. Viper, and I was impressed at how sick his Viper was. I didn’t even know who Daigo or Justin Wong was — and they were in Grand Finals. I knew they had to be really good because they were in Grand Finals. When Justin reset the bracket that year, he did that thing where he walked around the stage with his arms up, and everyone went nuts. I said, “Damn, I want to do that. I want to be that person who can get a whole country behind me.”
Since then, I’ve been traveling to tournaments nonstop, practicing for 8 years.
Missing Person: You started out initially with C. Viper. Even for intermediate players, she was a highly technical character. What made you start playing this character?
Sherryjenix: When Dan was training me, he showed me the character select screen and told me to choose someone and he would give me the basics of the character. I didn’t grow up playing games. I didn’t know who Ryu or Chun-Li was. If I had known, I might have gone the typical route of being a girl who chooses Chun-Li. I saw Viper and she had the red hair and the gloves on. I told him to show me her moveset. He showed me her flame kicks and thunder knuckles, and I knew this was my character.
He tried to discourage me from playing her, saying she was really technical. I said, “So? I want to try her.” I couldn’t do any combos. I’m talking about I couldn’t even do jump in roundhouse into crouching strong. It was just not something I was used to. When I first started, I was button mashing really hard. Once I saw Combofiend play, and he was doing all these sick things with her, and flame kicking across the screen, I decided to stick with her. Then later we had players like Wolfkrone, Latif, and Jayce the Ace providing inspiration for me. I would never change my character in that game.
Missing Person: In Street Fighter V, Necalli kind of fits with his V-Skill, but do you find yourself missing the frenetic energy of Viper?
Sherryjenix: I miss her so much. I honestly struggled a lot when Street Fighter V came out. I’m so used to Viper. It was non-stop pressure with Viper. I still did frame traps with her, but it was still constant pressure. And now shimmies are a thing, where if I wanted to bait throws in Street Fighter IV, I would just flame kick. It was a really big adjustment, especially with the lack of super jumps. When I play against Guile and Dhalsims now, I wish I had that. I never had to worry about them in SFIV, because I could just super jump through their walls.
But to be honest, playing a character like Necalli has taught me more discipline because I didn’t have an easy way in. Now I have to block like everyone else did in SFIV. I also had to learn actual mix-ups outside of Seismos and flame kicks. I had to learn how to shimmy. I had to learn how to frame trap. I had to learn how to delay my normals. That’s not something I had to learn in SFIV.
As much as people hate Street Fighter V, it has taught me a lot as a player.
Missing Person: You did mention earlier that you got into the scene via a female event. Do you feel like this is an avenue that tournament organizers aren’t utilizing to get female players into the scene?
Sherryjenix: I am a big supporter of all-girl tournaments. It meets a lot of debate and controversy. People just don’t like the idea. I always try to talk to people about it, and show myself as an example.
I actually had a debate about this with Brenttiscool a couple of days ago. We were talking about it in the lobby of Canada Cup. He just couldn’t understand the concept of an all-girl tournament. He said, “You want to be a part of the community, but you want to be segregated.” Those are totally valid points. A lot of people have the same concern. For me, it was a stepping-stone. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to enter co-ed tournaments. It’s just that someone reached out to me to enter the all-girl tournament first. I don’t see it as an exclusive group of girls that you can’t join. To me, it’s creating an environment where women are inclined to play. Some girls just like playing with other girls. It’s not a sexist thing.
Another thing Brentt stated was that it was just a newbie tournament. That’s not necessarily true. It’s not a low-level tournament. It’s kind of like a girl’s night out or a slumber party. You invite the girls over, and more girls are inclined to join. If a woman sees something a group of girls are doing, they want to join in. It has nothing to do with thinking they’re not good enough to play in the mixed events. We’re just creating a more welcoming environment to bring out more girls.
Missing Person: It’s more or less something to entice them into playing more seriously.
Sherryjenix: Exactly. There were 48 entrants in the Evo Women’s Only tournament in 2010. I know damn well there aren’t 48 girls at other tournaments. Usually it was just myself and BurnYourBra. When I saw that there were so many entrants regardless of the skill level — skill level is not the point, we’re not out here trying to say that someone is the best girl — it brings me back to my point of bringing out more female competitors.
Missing Person: As one of the premiere female competitors, how do you view your role in promoting more women to get into playing?
Sherryjenix: To be honest, I’m not very active about it. I’ll speak out about it when people ask me. A lot of girls do come up to me and ask, “How do you deal with the situations you’re put in? I want to play sometimes but I’m scared.” I have no problem talking to them or training with them. I kind of let other people handle this more, like Carolyn “MamaDao” Dao. She’s one of the more outspoken women about it. That’s why she started the whole Combo Queens thing. It is the equivalent of Smash Sisters for the FGC. I think she is the perfect person to run the group.
That’s the same thing with Samantha “Persia” Hancock. She’s a great role model for women. She’s a good Marvel player, but not only that, she’s a great commentator. Her face is always out there with commentary. Women like them have these great roles in the community where they’re not just players. I feel like I’m just a player. If you want to train with me or get some Necalli tips, I’ll help you out. But if you want to talk about TOing or dealing with certain situations, I feel like there are multiple ambassadors you can talk to.
Missing Person: Do you feel like you’ve ever been discriminated against in tournaments, even if it was just some guy getting salty for losing to a girl?
Sherryjenix: It happens all the time. It actually makes me really happy. I love making people salty. Because we’re also in a new generation of players, the dynamic changed. In Street Fighter IV, I had played that for eight years, so in the latter years of the game, no one was salty losing to me because they lost to a girl. Everyone just recognized me as a strong player.
But now, with a new generation of players, it’s reverted back to that. I was playing against a Ryu player at Combo Breaker in casuals, and this guy was laughing at me the entire time he was playing against me. I didn’t understand why he was laughing. His friend was sitting across from him and actually asked him. And he says, “Oh my God, she actually knows how to play.” At that moment, it just flipped a switch in my head where I had to show him what’s up. “Because you said that, I’m going to have to perfect you.” I’m so adjusted to it that I’m not offended by it anymore. I just instead have to show them what’s up and educate them on what I can do in this game.
Missing Person: What’s your best story about making someone salty?
Sherryjenix: I have actually been looking for this one guy here at Canada Cup. Last year he was here, and he was playing Season 1 R. Mika against me. If anything, I should be salty. It was just casuals, and I believe it was a First-to-5. I was playing really disrespectful, and he got really upset. One of my friends actually stepped in and actually said, “I’ve been waiting for a while. Can I get in?” And the guy got up, and he mumbled something under his breath along the lines of, “Oh, she’s just salty that I bodied her in SFIV.” I have no idea who he is at this point, by the way. So I literally say, “I’m sorry man, I don’t know who you are.” And he says, “Uh huh, sure you don’t.” I told him we could go play Street Fighter IV right now if he wanted, and he just walked away mumbling. For me, these are the moments that I live for. [laughs]
Missing Person: [laughs] Those are the moments we all live for. If you’re under their skin, you’ve already won.
Sherryjenix: Exactly. But I do feel like I get that more often than other players simply because guys don’t like losing to a girl.
Missing Person: Any shout-outs you’d like to give?
Sherryjenix: Shout-outs to Justin. Canada Cup was actually my birthday weekend, so he took me out to Brazilian barbecue. I also want to shout-out Yipes. He didn’t make it out but I know he’s watching back home. Also shout-outs to all my friends like Floe, they message me all the times asking how I did in pools or helping me lab up after losses. Those friends are the ones that carry me through all the ups and downs in this community.
In my position, I’m not just a player, but I’m also friends with a lot of people. Because of that I get into a lot of drama. But my friends have been with me through it all since 2009. Shout-outs to everyone who has been there for me.
With teams like DarkSided taking hold of esports in Australia, more teams are popping up with an increase in interest in the FGC. As such, some of the strong Australian free agents are being scooped up — and Masterminds just made a big grab on the market.
Over the weekend, the team announced the signing of Christian “ROF” Dedalija — a Melbourne-based Birdie player who recently placed 2nd at Red Bull Throwdown. Also recently signed were Street Fighter V player Travis Styles, and Super Smash Bros. Melee player Joshua “Sora” Lyras.
Looking forward to what the future brings with @mastermindsgc I am excited about this opportunity and I look forward to making an impact with @MGC_TraviStyles !
In a weekend that has now had two hype character reveals, Bandai Namco decided not to be beaten by NetherRealm Studios’ announcement of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2. At tonight’s Tekken World Tour Finals (after a brief discussion about the input lag situation in Tekken 7) Executive Producer Katsuhiro Harada, alongside Michael Murray, walked off the stage saying, “Merry Christmas.”
Their early Christmas present to the FGC was a reveal trailer of the third DLC guest character: with Square Enix’s blessing, Noctis Lucis Caellum — the lead protagonist from Final Fantasy XV — has entered the Iron Fist Tournament (apparently to help his buddy Lars!). Equipped with his Royal Arms weapon selection and warp strikes, the character from the storied RPG franchise will make his way to the game — alongside a Final Fantasy XV Hammerhead repair shop stage — in Spring of 2018.
Getting back to the stage in Super Smash Bros. Melee is difficult enough, but adding in wall jump techs on several characters could actually make it more of a mess. By accidentally hitting a wall during your recovery move, you could unknowingly send yourself into a wall jump, which can be punished by your opponent.
So how do you save yourself in those moments? SSBM Tutorials proposes three options. The first is the safest, which allows you to drift to the stage after performing an aerial move immediately following a wall jump. You can also air dodge onto the platform — which is riskier. Further, if you are truly feeling yourself, you can do a waveland on the stage.
While a lot of the competitive attention is focused on Street Fighter EX 2 Plus, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha still has some amazing things to behold. While a lot of the mechanics that would make EX 2 the more complete title were missing, the ability to combo supers into supers still make combos in this game a sight to behold.
Featuring combos from Allen Snider, Blair Dame, and Akuma — who has two infinites in the game — this will be sure to get fans salivating for ARIKA’s new title.
One of the biggest things that makes Karin work for Bonchan is her ability to control the ground so well with easy to space pokes. A trademark of good Sagat players is controlling the ground game so well that it forces players to take to the skies. When you combine that with exquisite anti-airs — which Karin has — it makes this a great fit.
Sherryjenix: When Dan was training me, he showed me the character select screen and told me to choose someone and he would give me the basics of the character. I didn’t grow up playing games. I didn’t know who Ryu or Chun-Li was. If I had known, I might have gone the typical route of being a girl who chooses Chun-Li. I saw Viper and she had the red hair and the gloves on. I told him to show me her moveset. He showed me her flame kicks and thunder knuckles, and I knew this was my character.
I actually had a debate about this with Brenttiscool a couple of days ago. We were talking about it in the lobby of Canada Cup. He just couldn’t understand the concept of an all-girl tournament. He said, “You want to be a part of the community, but you want to be segregated.” Those are totally valid points. A lot of people have the same concern. For me, it was a stepping-stone. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to enter co-ed tournaments. It’s just that someone reached out to me to enter the all-girl tournament first. I don’t see it as an exclusive group of girls that you can’t join. To me, it’s creating an environment where women are inclined to play. Some girls just like playing with other girls. It’s not a sexist thing.