Author: Franz "d3v" Co

EMPEROR C0W has returned with his first combo video since the release of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. Here, he focuses on Rig, the mysterious Taekwondo-jin who supposedly can’t remember his past.

As with all of his videos, this one focuses on various practical bread and butter combos, critical burst setups, power launcher combos, and environmental combos. More importantly, they’re designed so that opponents cannot stagger escape, forcing them to guess a hold and risk taking even more damage when doing so.

Source: EMPEROR C0W

From Shoryukens to Rising Jaguars to Cannon Spikes, uppercut-style moves are some of the most satisfying moves to mash out in Ultra Street Fighter IV. For those who can’t get enough, Bafael’s new combo video is just the thing for you.

In the exhibition below, Bafael strings together combos that feature almost nothing but these high-flying specials, using the game’s various systems to link them together both in the corner from and mid-screen. He also gets fancy and throws Supers and Ultras that can be thought of as uppercuts into the mix.

Source: Bafael

Some time back, Vesper Arcade released detailed breakdowns for Street Fighter V based on what we saw during the Capcom Cup exhibition. Since then, Capcom held another exhibition, this time between Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara and Bruce “Gamerbee” Hsiang of AVerMedia, at Taipei Game Show 2015, providing even more footage of the upcoming title.

As such, Vesper Arcade has dropped yet another video detaining their expectations for the game based on that match. The below breakdown points out some interesting things, such as the ability to counter-hit throws. Additionally, they revisit some items from the previous installments, pointing out any new information that this most recent footage has unearthed.

Source: Vesper Arcade, thanks to TheBlackHombre for the tip.

During the recently concluded 2015 Game Developers Conference, Arc System Works’ technical artist Junya Christopher Motomura held a talk on how they developed the game’s unique cel-shaded art style.

For those interested in what they covered, the panel can now be watched online over at the GDC Vault. The talk itself covers a variety of topics, ranging from why they chose to implement the art style to the technical aspects of putting it to use.

The team considered their work on BlazBlue to be the best thing they could do with traditional, sprite-based animation. When moving back to Guilty Gear, they decided to try to find a way to top it. During that time, it just so happened that Motomura was experimenting with cel-shading  for another project that was eventually canceled.

Implementing the art style, though, was not as simple as writing a new shader. As Motomura explains, they didn’t simply let the math handle this aspect of the art. Rather, the artists had to make sure that every shadow cast on the models fit their vision, which meant that they eschewed things like dynamic shadows in favor of simply hard baking static shadows on each model

For more on this, head on over to the GDC Vault to watch the talk.

Source: GDC Vault

A couple of months back, we ran a couple of stories on a canceled Justice League arena fighter that was being developed by Double Helix Games before they began work on Killer Instinct, and Past to Present Online has since provided even more footage of this interesting title.

The videos below showcase a couple of matches from the game’s versus mode. The first one pits Batman against Bane, while the second highlights characters who have yet to make appearances in any DC Comics fighter to date: Lady Shiva and Morgaine Le Fey.

Being recorded of an unfinished build of the game, some weirdness is present. For example, characters float in a weird manner after they’re launched, hanging in the air for a few seconds before unceremoniously dropping down.

Another notable details is a system where characters can somehow gain attributes from other cast members, with Batman evoking Superman and Morgaine Le Fey gaining the powers of Sinestro.

Source: Past to Present Online

Option selects are some of the most interesting techniques that a player can use in any fighting game. They give the player a safe way to approach their opponent, with anything the latter does leading to one of two possible outcomes that are favorable to the former.

In this new video, Paul Ramos demonstrates one such option select for Killer Instinct’s Hisako. The great thing about this technique is that it is meaty, done when an opponent tries to wake up from a knockdown. By hitting heavy kick and then all three kick buttons, Hisako can create an option select that just about counters any reversal the other player tries to do on wakeup.

Beware, however, of an opponent that opens with a block, as that will leave the ghostly fighter vulnerable to punishes.

Furthermore, Ramos released another video today that builds off this option select, allowing Hisako to go into her rekka string when landing the meaty opening attack instead of entering a counter state.

Source: Paul Ramos

Back in 2012, we reported on a new technique discovered in the then recently-released Dead or Alive 5. Dubbed “rapid step,” it allowed players to quickly dash away from their opponent while still blocking.

While this was eventually patched out of the game, the glitch seems to have reared its head again in the PC version of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round. As the video below demonstrates, certain characters (such as Brad Wong, Jann Lee, and Christie) get more out of it than others.

Considering that it only appears on one platform, this is most likely an oversight by the team heading up the port and will likely be patched out soon.

Source: 0Harakiry via Free Step Dodge

When most people think of utilizing a Focus Attack dash cancel in tandem with Ryu’s Shoryuken in the Street Fighter IV series, it’s usually associated with juggling into his Ultra 1. Smart Ryu players, however, know that FADCing the EX version can be used as a way to get him out of the corner.

In his latest tutorial, Jay Rego demonstrates a few ways that players can get the most out of this special move when pinned down. Even better, this also gives folks a way to turn the tables on their opponents and set themselves up for some offense of their own. Give the video below a spin and see if you can learn a thing or two.

Source: Jay Rego

As is par for the course for the franchise, Microsoft’s rebooted Killer Instinct is known for very long, multi-hitting combos, but we’re sure the developers never intended for newcomer Hisako to have one that goes on forever.

In the video below, Melon Team demonstrates how the ghostly fighter can perform a very easy infinite that utilizes her monstrous ultra combo. While the total only goes up to 518 hits before they stop in the video below, they’ve confirmed in the comments that they can go up to 999 hits before the combo counter stops counting.

Give this devastating combo a look and let us know what you think.

Source: Melon Team