Author: Crow_Spaceboy

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Potetin Shows His Dark Side with Pokkén Tournament’s Darkrai

It’s tough to find any high-quality footage of Pokkén Tournament’s newly added Darkrai. Not just because the its arcade-only; the pitch-black Pokémon seems, on the surface… complicated. He comes packed with his own character-specific mode (Dark Void!), and he has an intricate set of delayed projectiles; he’s a low-health, option-heavy glass cannon.

It would take a dedicated player to churn out a winning strategy for him this quickly, less then a month after his arcade release. Of course, who else but Potetin would be the first to give his opponents nightmares? This is the same player that played the most characters in top 8 at Evo 2016 of any game, after all!

These videos were shared with us thanks to twitter user Monkey_Engine. There are three matches currently on the account, including one with the legendary Gengar player Sasahune.

There’s great zoning and decision-making, showing off Darkrai’s out-of-the-box strengths well. It’s a pretty amazing sight to see a Suicune player get frustrated and try to go in during Field Phase.

The wait for a console release date for Darkrai (and possibly others) seems to just get longer.

Sources: Monkey_Engine

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Potetin Shows His Dark Side with Pokkén Tournament’s Darkrai

It’s tough to find any high-quality footage of Pokkén Tournament’s newly added Darkrai. Not just because the its arcade-only; the pitch-black Pokémon seems, on the surface… complicated. He comes packed with his own character-specific mode (Dark Void!), and he has an intricate set of delayed projectiles; he’s a low-health, option-heavy glass cannon.

It would take a dedicated player to churn out a winning strategy for him this quickly, less then a month after his arcade release. Of course, who else but Potetin would be the first to give his opponents nightmares? This is the same player that played the most characters in top 8 at Evo 2016 of any game, after all!

These videos were shared with us thanks to twitter user Monkey_Engine. There are three matches currently on the account, including one with the legendary Gengar player Sasahune.

There’s great zoning and decision-making, showing off Darkrai’s out-of-the-box strengths well. It’s a pretty amazing sight to see a Suicune player get frustrated and try to go in during Field Phase.

The wait for a console release date for Darkrai (and possibly others) seems to just get longer.

Sources: Monkey_Engine

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“The Lost Arcade” Will Be Showing at NYC’s Metrograph Theater from August 12th-18th

There’s a little movie getting a big push at film festivals around the globe, and it just happens to be about something close to the heart of our scene. “The Lost Arcade,” arising from a kickstarter in 2011, is an affectionate documentary about Chinatown Fair. It’s not the first documentary to try and capture the storied arcade’s magic and significance, but it could be the most ambitious.

The trailer is filled with crowded, energetic shots of the arcade intermixed with personal recollection. It’s awash with a loud, glitchy, beeping soundtrack from Gil Talmi. The movie seems to be crossing over well outside of our scene, too: SFGate and Independent Magazine have taken notice, at least.

The above trailer dropped in July; IGN just recently shared an exclusive interview clip of one of it’s patrons, Anthony. He takes a drag on his cigarette, and then goes through some photos of arcade goers: the games they played, and the impressions they made on him.

Coming off of a successful showing at The Roxie in San Francisco, The Lost Arcade will be playing at the Metrograph from August 12th-18th, 2016.

Thanks to Kapwan for the tip!

Sources: IGN; The Lost Arcade; Metrograph

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Escape Rashid’s Critical Art with the Right V-Reversals in Street Fighter V

So: you’re low on health, Rashid makes you block a normal, and the camera pans over to him. You know if you don’t do something, you’ll get chipped out by his incoming Critical Art. The built-in answer to this in Street Fighter V is your V-reversal, right? Well, Rommaler thought that too.

The little secret that Rashid players know about his super is that for many in the cast, V-reversal is simply not the answer. This suits them just fine: since Rashid is not nearly as common a pick in SFV as other characters, this information is a lot more likely to stay buried.

Youtuber Quew went the extra mile and broke down the unique situations that can occur for different V-reversals in the game. In this short clip, it’s revealed that the best reversals are going to be those with complete invincibility or evasiveness: Rashid, Gief, Vega, et al.

Moral of the story: if your character can’t weather the storm, you’re going to need to avoid blocking the normal all together.

Sources: Rommaler; Quew

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There’s 1000 Ways to Die from Tool Assisted Akuma Combos in Tekken 7: Fated Retribution

Correct me if I’m wrong, SRK! With the way typical 3D combos work, the phrase “tool assisted” doesn’t come up often in 3D combo videos. At least, not anywhere near the same frequency that their 2D brothers seem to pump out. I doubt anyone’s surprised by this, though. Combos are already long by design in the juggle rich universe of Tekken. That’s one of the appeals of the series, after all!

I mean… if you really wanted to shake things up, you’d need links and cancels and meter consuming extensions and-

Oh no, it’s Akuma! Run, Tekken characters! You don’t stand a chance!

The short, sweet, and terrifying combos above were posted by よろレルワールド. Google tells me this translates to “Yolo barrel World”. I can’t imagine this is correct, but I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed, either. If his tool assisted work with Akuma impresses you, you’ll probably enjoy the rest of his Tekken dominated channel. Below are a few more (non-tool assisted) treats for any aspiring Gouki’s to play with. The anti-tech roll resets look particularly nasty.

Thanks to Markman for the tip!

Source: Youtube

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PokkénArena’s PokkénCast Breaks Down Darkrai Moveset

PokkénArena put together a podcast breaking down the upcoming dark-type pokémon Darkrai’s move set. This hour and a half discussion is based largely on what we’ve seen from Japanese location tests and players. The cast covers everything known about the character thus far, from Nightmare Mode to Combo Possibilities. Be sure to check out the video’s description, which links to various Darkrai game play videos and the currently known move list.

The PokkénCast includes:

PokkénArena is one of the largest Pokkén forums on the internet, dedicated to tournament level information and organization.

Source: PokkénArena

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Watch the USA vs. JP 5v5 Pokkén Tournament Team Battle from Evo’s Anime Suite

After the defeat of GO-1 and Abadango at CEO 2016’s Pokkén Tournament, I made the claim that the US players had closed the year long skill gap that the Pokkén Arcade release afforded the Japanese scene. In my eyes, we were finally playing the same game!

Now that the dust has settled from Evo’s Pokkén Tournament, the largest and most international Pokkén event to date, the results certainly seem to verify this: from the ashes of 1156 players, there was a even split in top 4 between US and Japan. Every match was grueling and exhilarating to watch. For a brand new fighting game IP, it was a fantastic showing that I absolutely encourage you to watch it for yourself. (If you are the small percentage of those interested in Pokkén that haven’t seen it yet, of course!)

But! Those were not the only games played between these long distance rivals. As previously reported, the American and Japanese communities worked together to organize a team battle of their own. As these matches occurred after the official Evo event, these players now knew each other even better, tendencies and all. It’s phenomenal enough to make it through the quadruple-digit-entrant tournament and place as an individual. How well can these communities come together as teams now that they have reads on each other?

 

 

Filmed and provided by RvLMillnable, these matches are every bit as high level and vicious as their singles counterparts. Included in the collapsible list below are the teams and their orders, with character usage and EVO placements listed.

5v5 Team Lineup

No surprise that USA, as usual, came into this as the mathematical underdog. Stats don’t tell us everything, though, and the close matches above prove that. Set some time aside, sip something nice, and enjoy this great, community organized team event.

Sources: Milin

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Evolution Championship Series Celebrates It’s 20th Anniversary

20 years ago, the Cannon Brothers ran a tournament called “Battle by the Bay”, a 64-man Super Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha 2 Sunnyvale, California. 64-man tournaments sometimes sneak by without notice these days, but at the time it was probably a jaw-dropping success.

Let’s put this in perspective: Evo is not just older then some of it’s entrants. It’s older then one of it’s most celebrated multi-champions, SonicFox.

I can imagine the Cannon’s did indeed dream of the sparkling spectacle that Evo is now, but I suspect they may not have believed they would see it happen in their lifetime. It’s one thing to see the place in your dreams. It’s another to get there.

Well, congratulations! We should all be so lucky to see our work grow up like you have, Evo. If you consider Battle by the Bay Evo’s official birth, then in one more year, Evo can legally drink. Given the spot the community is in with it’s recent televised success on ESPN2, it feels apropos, yeah?

Of course, it wasn’t actually “Evo” until it’s name change in 2002. But that’s semantics. The spirit and concept have been there since the beginning, and we are all more advanced, organized, and unified because of it. I’m not much for predictions, but it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re going away anytime soon.

Happy Birthday, Evo. Happy Birthday, FGC. Here’s to 20 more.

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Bill Walton Loves Evo, and He Wants the World to Know

Evo 2016 ended up being a huge turning point for it’s visibility in outside-the-FGC news media. As the event drew record breaking numbers, it aired for the first time ever on ESPN2. Perhaps, though, there’s no better sign of it’s continued creeping into mainstream acceptance than Legendary Bruin Center Bill Walton gushing over the event.

 

 

Walton sang the praises of games he was clearly emotionally invested in watching, and the sportsmanship and history that went on there. In the all-to-brief segment, Walton surprised his interviewer with boundless enthusiasm and knowledge.

Then he was asked what got him into the FGC in the first place.

“My future is the business of sport,” Bill pulled back his giddy grin for a bit to get serious. Still passionate, but now he was being predictive; “This is what the business of sport is about for all of our future.” It was hard to read this any other way: Walton was openly championing continued FGC coverage.

“We got to witness some of the greatest champions I have ever been close to.” To hear Bill say that and name check SonicFox, Chris G, Justin Wong, and not, you know, a sports figure the ESPN demographic would normally applaud… for our community, that’s powerful.

 

Little Billy warning you not to miss the “intergalactic championship” of Street Fighter V shows just how real the fun he’s having is. ESPN, or really anyone, should consider using him as their regular E-sports spokesperson. Palpable passion and name recognition both go a long way, and he has both.

Between his endorsement, Xavier Woods, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more, Evo’s profile keeps getting raised. Who will be the FGC’s next celebrity endorsement?

 

Sources: ESPN2

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5v5 US vs. Japan Pokkén Tournament Crew Battle Set to Happen at Evo

It’s happening!

Team Japan and Team USA are going head to head in a 5v5 Crew Battle at Evo. Talks about a possible crew battle at Pokkén’s largest international event thus far have been in the works for a little while. Through a considerable amount of organization from players of both sides, the event is set to happen on Evo Sunday and the players have been chosen.

Image created and provided courtesy of Burnside.

There’s a lot of interesting things already to consider in this showdown.

The lack of one of Japan’s absolute finest, Azazel, is surprising. Azazel’s exclusion is the equivalent of Suicune Master or BIM? sitting out. Given his unusual character choice, and the fact that he and Suicune Master have at least an hours’ worth of training experience with each other, he could have been a wall for Team Japan.

On the flipside, the character diversity of Team Japan is also likely to be a considerable asset. Though it’s probably safe to say Team USA is ready for the Mewtwo Bros and Sceptiles (and probably, to an extent, Pikachu Libre), Braixen/Weavile are almost completely invisible in the US brackets and could provide problems if every member of Team USA doesn’t come completely prepared. The represented character diversity means Team USA has to prepare for twice as many opponents, potentially. Min-maxing theory vs. flexibility is really on display between these character selections.

It’s currently unclear–and unlikely–if this (very unofficial, community organized) crew battle will be streamed in any meaningful way, but Cat Fight himself has promised to record all matches, which is good, as this will be the most capsulized measurement of US vs. Japan Pokkén yet.

Who is your money on?

Soruces: Cat Fight