As some of you may already know, there’s a hitbox viewer available for The King of Fighters XIV: Steam Edition on PC. However, for some, simply seeing these in motion at regular speed may not be enough to fully understand them. For those players, Overheat’s GameTime has been putting out a series of videos showing the hitboxes in slow motion.
Players can now see how they shift from frame to frame, giving them a better idea of how they work. This can help demonstrate why certain moves whiff at certain points in time, and why they get beat out in others. Overheat’s GameTime currently has slow motion videos for Ralph, Nakoruru, Athena Asamiya, King, Iori, Kim Kaphwan, Ryo Sakazaki, Xanadu, Geese Howard, and Terry Bogard. You can check these out below.
In addition to this, their channel has also previously uploaded slow motion hitbox footage of other games, such as Street Fighter V.
With the increasing number of fighting games on PC, we’re now getting used to seeing them being tweaked by modders. What we’ve seen less of, however, is modders modifying existing games to become fighting games. That’s exactly what one player has done with this mod for Counter-Strike: Global Ops: turning it into a Tekken parody. With chickens.
Called — fittingly enough — CHIKKEN, the mod turns Valve’s competitive tactical first person shooter into a feathered fighter, featuring flightless fowl. As you can see in the video below from KnockingOn, the mod is still in a very, very, rough state. (Note that some of the audio commentary is NSFW.) That said, creator Crashz has stated that improvements are coming to the game, including an actual basic fighting system, combos, more stages, music, sound effect, and unique characters.
CHIKKEN is currently being beta tested on Steam. Interested players can check it out over at the Steam Workshop.
Most of the combo videos we’ve featured from Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s Story Demo have come care of the combo virtuoso desk. However, he isn’t the only one who’s been trying their best to make combo videos from the Story Demo! Here are some combo videos from a few other players and creators.
First up we have a Dante combo video from Isedelica. They’ve covered Dante before, however this time they offer a more comprehensive video on his MvC:I incarnation.
Next up is a multi-character combo video by ECO’s Ninja Naz. This one’s interesting, as he also showcases some combos that the AI for Ultron-Sigma does. There’s also a number of multi-tag combos that, sadly, end too quickly due to the low life of the AI drones in the demo.
This combo video by I Really Dunno on the other hand has less tag combos. Instead, we see more relaunch combos and loops, though they still end the combos using tag to create more traditional looking DHC situations.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s aerial movement continues to be the source of some interesting advanced options. This time, Ravoz11 demonstrates some things that can be done with the way the game handles instant air dashes.
Similar to other games, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite allows you to instant air dash by tapping up-forward, then tapping forward. What’s interesting, however, is that the game allows you to buffer a normal after hitting forward, canceling the dash and making the character fall down immediately. However, before landing, you can buffer another instant air dash input. This leads to some interesting movement and pressure.
You can check this out in the video below. In addition to this, Ravoz11 also shows a bonus short hop setup with Rocket Raccoon using the Time Stone.
With a new game featuring a control scheme and combo system reminiscent of games prior to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, many players are wondering what veteran characters from that game will play like in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. One character in particular, Dante, with his numerous special moves and cancels, raises the question in particular.
The Legendary Dark Knight breaks down the differences between how Dante plays in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Story Demo; the most noticeable thing is how much easier Dante is to use in MvC:I compared to UMvC3. A good part of this is due to the fact that he no longer has bold cancels. Instead, his moves — such as Stinger — can now be canceled and used in combos more easily. The video below covers most of these, going beyond bold cancels and into the strict timing required to connect certain moves in UMvC3, and showing how these combos are pulled off in the older game.
Persona is back with yet another The King of Fighters XIV combo video. This time he focuses on on longtime Orochi team member, Mature.
While she’s a pretty strong character overall, Mature’s combo routes really tend to go in one direction only in terms of optimization. It’s this trend that Persona tries to go against in the combo video below, using the crumple off her CD attack to get some interesting juggles.
Aside from the official games on the roster, Evo is also known for hosting a number of side tournaments. One of the more famous ones is the annual Capcom vs. SNK 2 side tournament hosted by legendary player Ryo “D44BAS” Yoshida.
This year, BAS returns to host another Capcom vs. SNK 2 side tournament; to up the stakes, BAS has also added a special bounty on himself. That’s right: anyone who’s able to eliminate the man acknowledged by many to be the best CvS2 player in the world will receive a $500 bonus, regardless of their placing in the tournament.
For those interested in joining, registration for the tournament is now open at smash.gg. The tournament itself will take place on Saturday, July 15 at Evo 2017’s Bring Your Own Console area. Entry fee is only $5, and registration opens at 1:30 PM with the tournament starting at 3:00 PM. Format for the tournament is double-elimination, played in best of two out of three matches.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen two distinct “demos” for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite: the VERSUS demo shown at E3 and CEO, and the downloadable story mode demo on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The reaction to these demos could not have been more different. While most players who had the chance to try the VERSUS demo have raved about it, the Story Demo has been met with less than stellar reception.
The reason for this is obvious, when you compare the two. The Story Demo focused on giving players a taste of the game’s story mode, while preventing them from playing around too much and experimenting with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s new gameplay system — what may be, in fact, be the best thing about the game. Meanwhile, the VERSUS demo at E3 and CEO has the gameplay up front and center. Players got the chance to spend time to figure out just how creative the system will let them be (the answer to which is “very”).
The negative reaction to the Story Demo was further exacerbated by the fact that it looked quite rough compared to the 1v1 demo. Most players who got a chance to try both have stated that while the VERSUS demo still has some of the issues people noted, it still looked further along graphically compared to the Story Demo, with more vibrant lighting and shading. Adding fuel to this fire are reports from various sources that the Story Demo is based on a build that’s at least three months old, compared to the newer VERSUS demo build.
Bad lighting in the older build (left) makes Dante look much worse.
Now, anyone familiar with game development cycles already knows why the story demo was based on an older build. Demos, especially ones that are publicly downloadable, usually need a lot of work to make them presentable, while preventing players from getting into parts of the game that aren’t working yet. This may also require the creation of bespoke interfaces and graphics just for the demo alone. Combined with the fact that public demos on consoles also need to go through comprehensive testing and certification, and you can understand why they’re usually forked off from development with a lot of lead time.
With Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite‘s Story Demo, the main issue seems to be that the demo had to be ready in time for E3. The most likely line of thought here is that releasing a demo focused on single-player content during E3 would help reassure those made wary by Capcom’s previous fighter, Street Fighter V, launching without much in the way of single-player options.
However, what Capcom seemingly wasn’t counting on was the internet’s penchant for accentuating the negative, combined with Bandai Namco announcing their own tag team 2D fighter — one with a more universally-appealing cel-shaded art style. This has had the effect of pushing the Story Demo’s flaws into the limelight, while burying the overall game’s strengths.
This now brings us to the question: would it have been better if Capcom just had not released the story mode demo? Or, at the very least, should they not have targeted E3 as a release date for it? Better yet — should the E3 demo have been the basis of a public demo to be released later down the line (sometime after Evo 2017, perhaps)? Or, can such a demo still be released to help the game?
Personally, I do think it’s clear that releasing the Story Demo did not work out as well as they had hoped. The Marvel vs. Capcom games were always about the creative — if a bit overwhelming — gameplay they brought to the table, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite would be better served if that they focused on that. That said, I do understand the need to reassure people that the mistakes of Street Fighter V in terms of single-player content will not be repeated.
E3 may not have been the ideal time to put out such a demo. Sure, they could have announced the demo at E3, but with events such as Evo 2017 (which is also getting the VERSUS demo), Disney’s D23 Expo, and the San Diego Comic Convention taking place a month after E3, maybe it would have been better to release the demo at those events. Certainly, releasing the same demo that people get to play at these events would be quite the PR coup, and could maybe even stem the tide of negativity from the Story Demo.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is shaping up to be a great Marvel vs. Capcom game, based on how it plays. Already, players have been praising the level of creativity and freedom of expression that it allows. However, all this may be for naught if Capcom (and Marvel) stumble when promoting the game. If they do want the game to succeed, then their marketing campaign should be focusing on its strengths, something that the Story Demo (and subsequent PR gaffes) simply did not do.
As much as we try to break down and understand the inner workings of a fighting game, oftentimes, its most closely-guarded secrets will never be known — until someone actually looks into the game’s code. Such is the case with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, a game whose innermost secrets are only being revealed now that modders are digging into the PC version of the game.
650fosho, who has been working on the UMvC3EX mod for the game, recently posted to reddit detailing certain things he’s discovered. Some of these are simple bits of data that haven’t been covered in previous guides, such as the official one from BradyGames (often called the UMvC3 “Bible”). These include all the restrictions on Iron Man’s dashes that make it awkward (his forward ground dash has no momentum until frame 5, and has a restriction that prevents plink dashing until frame 10).
Other bits of data include how some inconsistencies with the classification of certain attacks, as well how different moves with charge times work in the game. On the latter, while charges need to be held for a certain number of frames, they’re also only registered after a number of frames have past. For example, Thor technically only needs 10 frames to charge Mighty Strike, however the charge only registers after 14 frames, making it a 24 frame charge. Speaking of Thor, his air dash has a height restriction based on his hurtbox. It’s the size of his hurtbox combined with this height restriction that keeps him from moving like other characters with 8-way air dashes like Magneto.
One more interesting thing that’s been discovered is how different characters have different knockdown times off their air S in an air combo. This is why it’s impossible to hard tag into an OTG with some characters, while some characters have it easier. The former usually have their knockdown times nerfed compared to the latter, who usually have it at the default setting.
Of course, these are just some of the things that have been discovered. Head on over to the r/MvC3 subreddit for more!
While we’ve heard a lot about Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite from Capcom, we haven’t really heard as much yet from the Marvel regarding the upcoming fighter. At E3 2017 however, Gamesindustry.biz’s Brendan Sinclair got a chance to talk to Marvel Game’s Jay Ong regarding Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and the rest of their portfolio.
The main thing that Ong discussed was how they’ve changed the way they license games, and work with their licensees. The gist of it is that they want their relationships to be for the long term. Ong specifically mentions the three big games they have on the horizon: Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Square-Enix’s untitled Avengers game, and of course Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. As part of this, Ong also stated that they’re no longer handling licenses like they used to — where they’d give a company exclusive rights to one character or IP. This also means that they’re looking more into pushing games that feature the entire Marvel Universe.
One other thing Ong mentions is that Marvel wants to take advantage of the industry-wide shift into the games-as-a-service model. Specifically, Ong states that they believe that Marvel is in a position to take advantage of this thanks to the depth of their IP. He compares it as akin to “feeding the hungry beast.”
This, of course, applies to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, which is one such project that looks to be primed for this — because both companies share a similar depth of IP. “And what we talked about earlier with games-as-a-service, we certainly expect Marvel vs. Capcom to be that,” states Ong. “There’s going to be content released over time. We’re not seeing this as a one-off that ships this fall; it’s a service that goes on for years. Therefore, if you look at it, content and new characters are going to be dropped over time, and I think fans will be happy with what’s going to be dropped, not just in September but going on from there.”
When asked about the possible exclusions of certain fan-favorites, specifically those associated with the X-Men and Fantastic Four, Ong brought up the fact that the roster still hasn’t fully been revealed. “We haven’t officially released the roster,” Ong states, “let’s just say we think our fans will be pleased with what’s being announced.”
