Falco is one of the best characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee with regard to taking quick stocks. His infamous pillar combo can not only be used for easy scrub kills early on in tournaments, but can also catch unsuspecting veterans off guard if they aren’t prepared to counter it.
What players new to the game don’t know is that this combo can be escaped, and can also open up your own potential to counter him should he be unprepared for your escape. SSBM Tutorials goes over exactly how — by using directional influence — you can escape the combo. It’s also of note that at early percentages, you can hit the ground and immediately punish the pillar combo.
When we last left Frabisaur, he was able to teach a legion of Rookie and Bronze players how to climb their way out of the dredges of Bronze rank to Silver, using some of the absolute basics of learning fighting games. The climb, however, doesn’t stop there — as the goal should always be to go higher.
Frabisaur continues his series by teaching Silver ranked players how to climb to Gold and stay out of Silver. Building on what was learned in the Bronze tutorial, he builds up the technical aspects by teaching how to maximize every opportunity you get, but trains up the mental side of the game by instructing people to always anti-air and close out rounds, and to never willfully corner yourself.
Marcus “Packz” Parker has been on the bubble of Capcom Cup for quite a while, and is still on the verge of making the cut. He got even closer at EGX 2017, as he earned points for his top 32 finish.
While at EGX, Capcom community manager Matt Edwards talked to Packz about Karin, and her strengths and weaknesses. They also talk about his transition to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and his hopes that Europe will pick up the game competitively.
Adel “Big Bird” Anouche has become a well-traveled player since his signing with Emirati esports team Nasr Esports. All the travel has paid off, as he has now on the verge of securing his first spot at this year’s Capcom Cup.
In their big EGX interview series, Capcom UK community manager Matt Edwards talked to Big Bird about his recent success on the Capcom Pro Tour. Despite his drop in popularity, the two also discuss the future of Ken in Street Fighter V and how he, along with Takamura, Momochi and Chris T are keeping the Ken dream alive. They also touch on the recent signing of fellow Emirati player Angry Bird (no relation) to Nasr Esports.
Joe “MOV” Egami may be one of the few remaining true Chun-Li players left on planet Earth. Despite the huge nerfs the character received in Season 2, he has continued to push the Chun meta foreard, making top 8 at Evo with her for the second year in a row and looking poised to make Capcom Cup as well.
Speaking to Capcom UK community manager Matt Edwards at EGX, MOV talked about how Justin Wong had urged him to continue to hone his skills with the character that he helped pioneer all the way back in Street Fighter III: Third Strike. He also talks about how he actually feels satisfied with Season 2, but expresses his desire to see an arcade release of Street Fighter V as well as a new Darkstalkers game.
While the potential of fighting games in the Olympics look to be at a standstill, organizing bodies of competitive international sporting competitions are still putting fighters in the forefront. Over the weekend, some of Asia’s best players in The King of Fighters XIV found their way to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, where esports were on demonstration at the event to potentially be placed in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
While one of the best players in the world — Qanba Douyu’s Zhuojun “Xiao Hai” Zeng — was unable to attend due to an organizational snafu, his teammate Haojun “Dakou” Su managed to take bronze for China. Reigning Evo champion in the game Chia-Hung “E.T.” Lin took gold home for Taiwan, while his fellow countryman Chia-Chen “ZJZ” Tseng — who captured fourth at Evo — received the silver.
The final three matches played out were recently uploaded to YouTube — and there were some intense matches, especially in the grand finals.
CEOtaku 2017 was a huge event, with over 600 players in attendance spread across a multitude of anime-styled titles, including players from Japan who are well known for their prowess in said titles. The result of such an event was hours upon hours of hype and exciting moments.
If you’re short on time, but want to experience the excitement the event held for all who showed up, here is a very well-put-together highlight reel showcasing some of the best moments from each game’s top eight — from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax all the way to Guilty Gear Xrd, there is plenty of hype to go around.
At Capcom Cup 2016, Nathan “Mister Crimson” Massol did very well, making a solid effort before falling in top 16. While this year, he has yet to qualify for the event, he is still on the bubble and is clinched to participate in the European Regional Finals.
While at EGX 2017, Capcom community manager Matt Edwards talked to Mister Crimson about his season. They discuss his two character choices in Laura and Dhalsim. They also talked about his life outside the game, and also discuss what he hopes for in Street Fighter V season 3.
While China, Taiwan, and Mexico are considered the hotbeds of The King of Fighters action — with the reigning The King of Fighters XIV top 3 from Evo 2017 hailing from each of these nations — it’s worth remembering that Japan still has some solid competitors within the title. Remember the fact that the reigning world champion for the title is Sanwa’s M’, of Japan.
The Japanese KOF community has recently started a league — similar in style to Topanga — for the game, and it features some of Japan’s best players. This playlist contains high-level The King of Fighters XIV from the likes of M’, KojiKOG, and Score, all vying for the top spot.
Martin “Marn” Phan has always been an amazingly entertaining figure within the fighting game community. From his championship in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at Evo 2010 to his antics in front of the camera — including on ELEAGUE — he has always been someone the people cheer for.
He was recently in Toronto to play in the Northern Arena Knockout event. While his day was cut short with two straight losses, we sat took the opportunity to sit down to talk about what the future holds for Marn.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: You had a rough day today. Let’s go back through your matches really quickly. How did you feel about your opening round match with Imstilldadaddy?
Martin “Marn” Phan: I was actually really confident going into that one. He didn’t play like I was anticipating. He didn’t Flash Kick out of my mix-ups like I thought he would. Like I would start a mix-up and then block, and he wouldn’t Flash Kick. He kind of got into my head and I went, “Well, there goes everything.” So I lost to that. I wasn’t really mad about the loss. He played well.
Missing Person: Do you feel like it was an adaptation on his end, knowing what you were expecting?
Marn: I don’t really think he did. I think for lack of a better term, he just completely outplayed my thought process.
Missing Person: Let’s move on to the subject of the day, your match with Smug…
Marn: Yeah, I hate him.
Missing Person: [laughs] How did you feel about that match?
Marn: He always beats me at every tournament and in every exhibition we play. And you know, he’s just not smart. He plays Balrog.
Missing Person: How do you feel about the Northern Arena Knockout event?
Marn: It’s already gone very smoothly. They’ve already reached top 8 and it’s 9:00. They said it would end at 11:30. It’s actually surprising when a tournament says they’re going to start at a specific time and end at a specific time and it actually happens. That never happens.
They’re also very nice, and took care of us here. I haven’t had one complaint, and the one small thing I found was that the green room was too hot for us to play casuals in, and they didn’t even hesitate to turn on the air conditioning.
Missing Person: You grew up in the era of community-run events, and we’re now starting to see more events with corporate sponsorship. Do you feel like this helps to magnify the foundation that the community built?
Marn: It’s nice. The corporate run stuff is more professionally, and sometimes they tell me to tone it down, and that’s kind of not cool. But it’s better this way. It helps the scene grow with the exposure it gives to the games. I hope more of these come along. Lately it’s been a little here, a little there, and I hope it just gets more frequent.
Missing Person: You’ve always been known to go ham in front of cameras. Even at ELEAGUE we saw some of your flair. Do you feel like there’s still a place for that as the FGC moves toward the esports realm?
Marn: I think so. Sometimes you have to show your personality. We’re not robots. We’re not Japanese players. We’ve got to be real.
Missing Person: Have you played any of the Canadian players since you’ve been here?
Marn: I played Drae “Yomi” Games, the Laura player. He beat me. I don’t think he really bodied me though, it was really close. It was casuals. They’re really good. They beat all of our players here. They kind of destroyed us the first round, but we ultimately came back and destroyed them.
Martin “Marn” Phan playing Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite against Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley before Northern Arena Knockout.
Missing Person: Focusing on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, you’ve always been a solid Vs. games player. What are your thoughts on the game?
Marn: It’s probably the most fun game I’ve played in a very long time. There’s not been a game where I’ve felt like I could sit down and play 100 games and be fine. Street Fighter V in my opinion is not a bad game, it’s just a very stressful game. That’s what I don’t like about it. If I play 20 or 30 games of it, I can’t do any more. It just hurts my brain. I’m not saying thinking too much is bad, but there’s so many frustrating moments to it. Even in Infinite, there are frustrating moments. But it’s very fun to play. It’s very fun to get creative.
Everything about the game is fun to me. Everything you think you can do in this game, you can eventually get it to work. It’s so nice to be so creative with your combos. People keep saying that the easy combos do the same damage, but it’s never been about that for me. It’s always been about being stylish and execution heavy. I can do that in this game. In SFV I cannot express my play style as much as I can in Infinite.
Missing Person: Are you drawing any shades of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom into this game?
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.
It has everything you want in the game, except for the art. Some people just need to learn to look past that. They want to hate on this game for no reason. But if you’re having fun playing the game, does the art really matter?
Missing Person: So moving forward, are you going to be focusing on Infinite more?
Marn: I will only be focusing on Infinite until Season 3 comes out. That’s why I haven’t been travelling as much since I have given up on the CPT. But I will be going to all of the Battle of the Stones tournaments.
Missing Person: Your team is coming up really well. You’re setting yourself up for a run in Infinite, Smug is doing really well, and MenaRD has been a rising star of late. What’s your thoughts on this?
Marn: You know, at the beginning of Season 2, in my head I knew I wasn’t going to do well this season. It didn’t feel like a game for me. So I knew Rise was going to be mad if I tell them this. But if I hand them two great players who will do great and make Capcom Cup, they can’t be mad at me. So I gave them those players, and said, “I don’t want to travel anymore. You have two great CPT players. Just let me rock.”
Missing Person: So Marn is the harbinger of all the damage they’ve been doing?
Marn: Yeah, because I told them I want to focus on Marvel. I was going to give this game my 100% focus, so it would’ve been a waste of money to send me out for Street Fighter V, because my heart wasn’t there.
Missing Person: Are there any shout-outs you want to give?
Marn: Shout-outs to Rise and Kareem, the owner of the team. Shout-outs to the fans, I don’t know how many of them are still around. I’ll make it work once Infinite goes full throttle.
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.