With a unique moveset and ability to chain multiple dive kicks together, Mian is one of the more interesting newcomers in The King of Fighters XIV. Of course, with a moveset like hers, people are naturally going to want to know what she can do when she puts them together. In their latest combo video, Isedelica does just that, putting together some stylish combos for Mian.
Now, “practical” is the last word you’d use to describe the combos shown here. For the most part, they focus on style, showing what Mian can do out of some very specific situations and interactions. That said, they do lead into some pretty big damage, including a couple of stun combos, as well as touch of death combos that take out an opponent’s entire lifebar.
This generation, Brook has become one of the most trusted names within the fighting game community when it comes to converters and generally making controllers work with different consoles. Now, they’re releasing a converter not just for any console, but for what many see as the grand-daddy of all arcade fighting game systems, the Neo Geo.
Coming exclusively to Arcade Shock, the new Brook PS4/PS3 to Neo Geo converter allows players plug in their favorite PS3 or PS4 fight stick into both the Neo Geo AES home console, as well as the various Neo Geo MVS arcade boards. In addition to this, it will also work with the Neo Geo CD system.
The converter allows for custom button mapping, allowing players to chose between the classic 4 across, “rainbow”, or box style layouts. In addition to this, the converter also has a turbo function for those who’d like to play some of the system’s myriad of shooting games.
Pre-orders for the Brook PS4/PS3 to Neo Geo converter are now open over at Arcade Shock. Expected shipping date is sometime in January.
Back at the 2016 Tokyo Game Show, SNK’s Yasuyuki Oda and Hidetoshi “Neo_G” Ishizawa talked about an upcoming patch for the King of Fighters XIV. The patch is meant to address a few things, including the removing the “F-shiki” fuzzy guard and fixing the game’s input leniency, especially for Desperation Moves. In addition to this, the patch is also expected to bring in some balance changes.
While a firm date has yet to be given for the patch, it’s highly likely that we’ll bee seeing it soon. Producer Oda has posted on Facebook stating that the patch has been submitted to Q&A for testing and approval. With how long platform approval usually takes, this means that we can probably expect the patch to drop within the next couple of weeks barring any issues.
A new patch for Microsoft’s rebooted Killer Instinct has just dropped; the patch isn’t really concerned with balance, rather it’s meant to fix a few bugs and glitches with the game.
The main bug being fixed is one that caused players to forward dash instead of back dash when trying to do the latter in specific situations, such as getting up, or in Hisako’s case, while after performing Descent. Other fixes include ones for glitches that caused reversed inputs for Aria and Sadira in certain situations, as well as a host of other changes. You can see the full change list below.
Killer Instinct Version 3.4.2 Patch Notes
System Changes:
– Fixed a bug where rising from a knockdown and attempting to back dash caused players to forward dash instead.
Aria:
– Fixed a bug where Aria’s inputs could become reversed after performing Air Crescendo and Shadow Crescendo.
Hisako:
– Fixed a bug where Hisako would perform a forward dash when inputting a back dash following Descent.
Sadira:
– Fixed a bug where the player’s inputs were reversed after a back throw.
Glacius:
– Fixed a bug where the player would not face the opponent when performing Shatter and Hail if the opponent swapped sides.
Shadow Lords
– Various backend and Multiplayer bugfixes
Arcade Shock has made a name for themselves bringing specialized arcade parts over to the west. This week, they continue with a bunch of interesting new parts that players can pick up.
Those who play at night when their loved ones and housemates are sleeping know how much noise regular arcade pushbuttons can make. For those players, Arcade Shock is now carrying HORI’s latest line of silent Hayabusa buttons. These buttons are based on the same matte Hayabusa buttons featured on the Real Arcade Pro V Premium VLX Hayabusa that we reviewed earlier in the year. Like those buttons, these feature the same high sensitivity, meaning that players don’t need to use much force to activate them. What’s new is a layer of padding inside the stick to absorb the impact of plastic on plastic, lowering the noise they produced.
In addition to the above, Arcade Shock is now also carrying a new batch of Seimitsu’s special, limited edition “massage” balltops. These special balltops are dimpled to help relieve some stress from the player’s palm. Only 60 of these balltops were ever made, 30 of which were made available at Evo 2016. Now, the remaining stock is up for purchase over at Arcade Shock. For those in Southern California, the company will also be bringing a limited number of these to SoCal Regionals 2016 this weekend.
The Street Fighter V tournament at South East Asia Major 2016 featured some insane action as top players from all over the region fought for the Capcom Cup qualifier slot. One noticeable thing however was how much all the top players were getting good at clutch reads and reactions with EG’s Momochi, DNG’s Itabashi Zangief, and Tokido pulling off insane punishes to anything that was unsafe.
Was this due to the game’s decreased input delay, or are the players just getting better are reading their opponents? Whatever it was, it’s made for some insanely hype moments during the event, some of which have been featured in Capcom’s Top 5 Moments from South East Asia Major 2016 video.
You can check all of these out, from Itabashi Zangief catching Kazunoko’s divekick, Momochi’s insane reaction super against HM’s Eita, to Tokido’s tournament winning reaction standing short into Critical Art, in the video below.
Recently, we reported that Canada Cup would be the first King of Fighters XIV World Championship qualifier. However, it seems that another tournament now has that distinction. Level|Up Series has just announced that next week’s SoCal Regionals 2016 will also be hosting a King of Fighters XIV World Championship qualifier.
In addition to being a world championship qualifier, The King of Fighters XIV event at SCR 2016 will also be receiving a $1,000 pot bonus from Atlus USA.
With Southern California playing host to some of the top King of Fighters players in the country, as well as its proximity to Mexico, the King of Fighters XIV tournament at SCR 2016 may prove to be one of the most important stops in the King of Fighters XIV World Championship.
SoCal Regionals 2016 takes place at the Esports Arena in Orange County, CA from October 14 to 16. In the meantime, here’s the official KOFXIV World Championship trailer.
One thing that anyone who travels regularly to fighting game events and tournaments has to deal with is finding a way to transport their arcade stick. Arcade sticks are substantial pieces of equipment, and finding ways to carry them around is always a priority for players on the go. In response to this, there have been many efforts at providing options for players: both MadCatz and Qanba have their own line of arcade stick bags, and even before then, Evo actually came out with an exclusive Evo Stick Sack some years back.
The latest company to introduce a line of arcade stick bags is Splitframe with their FS Transporter series. Introduced last year, the FS Traveler series differentiates itself from other bags by the fact that each bag is lined with a thick layer of ballistic padding, providing extra protection to any arcade stick contained within.
To give us a chance to test out one of these bags, Splitframe sent us their Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL.
The Basics
The Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL is a pretty large bag. Designed to hold HORI’s Real Arcade PRO Premium VLX line, the bag measures 63 cm long, 32 cm wide, 20 cm across. Part of the reason for this size is the ballistic padding, 5 cm thick on each side (save for the slot for the lever).
This Shadaloo version also features embossed Street Fighter artwork, namely the Shadaloo logo embossed on the main flap and a smaller Street Fighter logo near the bottom. Flipping open the main flap reveals the words “Psycho Crusher” printed out on the protective pad.
Design
The main draw of the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL is the padded compartment for carrying a HORI VLX. The compartment itself is made to hold the VLX quite snugly, with the padded main flap slotting into the compartment. The fit can be a bit too snug though–even with a slot, the stick’s lever still ends up pressed to one side. To help alleviate this, the padding in the slot can be removed (it’s attached via velcro), but this does lessen the amount of protection given to it.
We did also try out other sticks, including a MadCatz Arcade FightStick Tournament Edition 2, older Hori Real Arcade PRO 3, and even a custom built Art Hobbies TEK case, but obviously the bag wasn’t tailored for these.
In addition to the main inner compartment for the arcade stick, the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL also has two additional pockets for carrying miscellaneous items–one on the front face of the stick, and one on the side. The pocket in the front is large enough to carry the bag’s extra strap, as well as any miscellaneous items a player might need, including a game on disc if necessary. The pocket on the side is smaller and tighter though. Players can store things like IDs and their passport in it, but not much else. This is somewhat disappointing, considering that the original FS Transporter XL had a larger pocket that could carry a smartphone or music player (with matching headphone port).
As for carrying, the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL comes with a detachable shoulder strap allowing it to be carried as a messenger. However, hidden in a compartment in the back of the bag is a set of straps that, when assembled, transform the bag into a proper backpack. The ends of these straps attach to the bag via a set of metal carabiner clips for extra ruggedness.
Ergonomics
Aside from the layers of protective padding, one of the unique draws of the FS Transporter line as a whole is the unique side loading system. Unlike similar arcade stick carrying backpacks such as the Qanba Defender that have you load the arcade stick from the top, the FS Transporters have players load their sticks from the side. This actually makes loading and unloading a stick as hefty as the HORI VLX much easier.
This side-loading functionality compliments the bag’s ability to be carried via a single strap on one shoulder, similar to an athletic bag. However, prolonged use this way may lead to some discomfort due to the weight of the stick carried inside. With this in mind, wearing the bag as a backpack makes much more sense for traveling long distances.
Functionality
The big draw of the FS Transporter line is the protection afforded by the 5 cm of ballistic padding in each bag. While Splitframe gave us no details on what the padding itself was made of, the material is strong enough that the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL maintains its shape even without a stick inside it.
As for the amount of protection it offers, while we refrained from doing any destructive testing, we did test it against some light impacts, (including some “love taps” with a metal bat) and it performed fairly well.
The implements of torture.
There some possible weak points in the bag though. As previously mentioned, the main compartment has a slot for the VLX’s lever. The padding here is substantially thinner than anywhere else (the smaller FS Transporter and Transporter 2 do not have this issue, due to a different design to accommodate the lever). The padding is also thinner in one of the sides, on the opposite end of the bag from the main opening. This means that players need to be wary of impacts from this direction, or worse, dropping the bag if it’s being carried in the messenger configuration.
Value
The Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL is currently the only arcade stick bag of its kind on the market. No other arcade stick bag can fit HORI’s Real Arcade PRO Premium VLX. The only other bag that could carry the VLX was previous incarnation of the FS Transporter XL, which is no longer in stock as of this writing. For any VLX owners looking for a safe way to carry their baby around, there’s no other option aside from spending $119.98 on one of these.
Conclusion
As a bag for carrying the the HORI Real Arcade PRO Premium VLX, the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL currently has no equal. While it does carry a hefty pricetag, the Street Fighter Psycho Shadaloo Transporter XL does, for the most part, live up to Splitframe’s promise of a secure bag to carry arcade sticks. It’s a strong, smartly built bag that we would readily recommend to any VLX owners.
As for players with common sticks such as the MadCatz Tournament Edition 2 and HORI Real Arcade Pro V, the same ballistic padding is also available in the smaller FS Transporter 2, and your needs are likely better served by that one.
Pros
Perfect fit for the HORI Real Arcade PRO Premium VLX.
Ballistic padding will absorb most everyday impacts.
Modular design allows it to be carried both as a messenger and a backpack.
Cons
Some areas have thinner padding.
Smartphone/music player pocket from the original FS Transporter is gone.
VLX-centric design means that other arcade sticks wont fit as well inside it.
BornFree continues with his series of interviews with top players at ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown. For his next interview, he talks to none other than the person sitting at the top of the Capcom Pro Tour leaderboard: Razer’s Lee Seon-woo, more commonly known as Infiltration.
Infiltration talks a bit about Capcom Cup and how he’s preparing for the event. He also discusses which players he thinks offer the biggest challenge right now.
As with Tokido, Infiltration also talks about about the DLC characters, specifically why he uses Balrog (notably in his match with Mago at Brooklyn Beatdown) and why he considers Juri to be the weakest of the bunch.
In addition to this: on the subject to additions to the game, Infiltration makes some suggestions on what he’d like to see added to the game in Season 2. Instead of specific characters, he lists system changes, specifically the ability to choose alternate Critical Arts, V-skills and V-triggers, similar to how Super Street Fighter IV added alternate Ultras back in the day.
South East Asia Major has always been one of the most stacked tournaments in the calendar. However, the move away from its pre-Evo slot in June to October–a time many find to be a slow portion of the fighting game “season”–has made some wonder if the event would continue to attract the same level of competition. It seems however that these worries were unfounded, based on this new trailer from Beast of the East.
The trailer below showcases just some of the top fighting game talent coming to South East Asia Major 2016. This includes Tokido, BST|Daigo, HORI|Sako, RZR|Xian, RZR|Infiltration, RZR|Fuudo, EG|Momochi, Gllty, HM|Eita, HM|GO1, HM|Dogura, and more.
In addition to this, the trailer also features guest commentary from Gootecks and Mike Ross, as well as an appearance by none other than Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono.
South East Asia Major takes place this weekend, October 7 to 9 at the Suntec Convention Center in Singapore. For more coverage on the event, be sure to stay locked on to Shoryuken.
