Author: Franz "d3v" Co

Alongside the new stages, music tracks, and DLC characters, The King of Fighters XIV’s version 2.0 patch (available to download now!) brings with it a host of updates to the game and its balance.

The version 2.0 update features some changes to training and story modes, as well as a number of bug fixes all around. The bulk of the changes, however, are to the game’s characters, altering the overall balance. A big part of the balance update involves giving the characters individual health values–characters now have different health levels, instead of everyone having 1000 health like before. On the flipside, each character’s run speed after a Quick MAX activation is now the same. Each character also sees a number of significant changes to their move properties, in an effort to compress the game’s tier list; while the game isn’t badly balanced (and nowhere near as problematic as the previous KOF game), some characters have become conspicuous either by their prevalence at–or absence from–tournaments.

The whole change list itself is pretty extensive, clocking in a 25 pages long. Those interested in checking it out can do so here!

Source: SNK

 

It seems that Street Fighter II–via Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers for the Nintendo Switch–isn’t the only classic Street Fighter series that’s getting an updated re-release. according to a new leak, we may be getting a new collection featuring fan favorites Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Both Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 (or Zero 2 and Zero 3 in Japan) saw a significant tournament play back in the late ’90s–and even to this day. The differences between both games (Alpha 2 is more more neutral heavy, while Alpha 3 emphasizes offense and combo execution more) were enough that one never really supplanted the other. Both games also helped solidify the Japan vs. USA rivalry, Alpha 2 being one of the games where the US was seen as more dominant, while Alpha 3 being the game where Daigo Umehara first made his mark in the US with some now-legendary tournament sets against Alex Valle.

Despite the competitive legacy built around both of these fighters, however, there has never been an updated, online-enabled reissue of either game–that is, until now. Based on a post in our own forums, it seems that Capcom may be bringing both games back to modern consoles.

Dubbed Street Fighter Alpha: Competitive Collection (or SFA:CC for short–with “CC” probably being a reference to the Custom Combos that the series pioneered), this new collection looks to be an online-enabled remaster of both games, in the same vein as Darkstalkers: Resurrection, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Origins from the last console generation.

Similar to both of those remasters, this new collection–if it is real–is said to be aiming to be as arcade-perfect as as possible; yet it still seems that the Alpha 3 component of the Competitive Collection will include the console-expanded character roster of Street Fighter Alpha 3: MAX, for the Sony PSP portable–which would prove a good basis to build a remaster on, though the additional characters from MAX are not yet visible in the screenshots provided. It is unclear what console-exclusive modes will make it into this release–World Tour is visible in the screenshots below, but Dramatic Battle may be missing, or may need an unlock.

As for the legitimacy of leak itself, aside from a few notes mentioned above it primarily consists of what seem to be direct screen captures from the game running on a PlayStation 4, also including some off-the-screen photos of the game running. That said, we’ll have to wait for official confirmation to be sure; meanwhile, check these screens and photos out for yourself in the gallery below.

Click to view slideshow.

[CORRECTION: It seems the roster displayed in the screenshot above is indeed accurate: the character selection for SFA3 will actually match the lineup of the PSone/Dreamcast port of the title, with the arcade characters and Dolls Juni and Juli selectable. With World Tour being included, this may indicate that this version is based on one of those ports–but that is not yet known. – Editor]

[UPDATE: the forum post where this information originated has since been deleted.]

Source: SRK forums

It seems that Arika has pulled off the greatest April Fool’s joke of them all–making people think that something is a fake, and then revealing that was real all along.

While the video they released a few hours ago–of a game with Street Fighter EX characters–stated that it was an April Fool’s joke, the game itself is actually real. Arika is currently streaming a preview of the game, featuring GODSGARDEN Pro’s Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue.

The game itself seems to be cross between Street Fighter EX and Arika’s other fighting game, Fighting Layer, bringing in the walled stages and sidestep mechanic from the latter. Only three characters are selectable so far, Kairi, Hokuro, and Garuda. Check out the livestream below!

Source: Arika

When it comes to arcade sticks, there’s no other peripheral company that has had a larger impact than Mad Catz. Starting with the release of their original Street Fighter IV-branded Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition, Mad Catz has been a constant presence within the fighting game community, supporting both players and events–while also providing hardware.

While Mad Catz did see success with their fighting game products, the company has struggled as of late, especially after the seeming failure of their peripheral line for Rock Band 4. They were just recently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Unable to recover from their financial woes, Mad Catz has now made a voluntary assignment in bankruptcy. As part of this, the company will cease operations and their entire board of directors has resigned as of March 30. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed to handle Mad Catz’s assets as their trustee.

Mad Catz’s original Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition was a game-changer when it launched alongside Street Fighter IV back in 2009; prior to its release, players looking for an arcade stick with genuine arcade parts would either have to build a custom stick, or look for a rare limited-edition retail stick (HORI’s Real Arcade Pro line only had arcade-standard buttons in the limited SA and SE variants). With the release of the “TE,” companies such as HORI (and later Qanba and Razer) had to step their game up to match, and offer arcade sticks with full arcade-quality parts as standard.

This increased availability allowed for a boom in the arcade stick modding and building community. A small cottage industry sprang up around modifications for the TE–and eventually, other top-of-the-line arcade sticks as well. At the same time, custom builders–freed from having to make everyday arcade sticks–now moved on to making true “premium” sticks that are as much works of art as they are video game controllers.

In addition to this, Mad Catz was one of the first companies to start sponsoring players, including legends such as Kenryo “Mago” Hayashi, Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi, and of course, Daigo Umehara. In addition to this, they also helped sponsor other players via other teams such as Ho Kun Xian as part of Team Desperation Move, and Ryan Hart as part of Western Wolves.

We here at Shoryuken would like to thank Mad Catz for all they’ve done for the fighting game community.

Source: Reuters, via MarkMan (Twitter)