Author: Franz "d3v" Co

Arcade sticks are one of the most important pieces of equipment for any competitive fighting game player. That said, carrying them around to tournaments and events can be a bit of a chore due to their size and weight. To help alleviate this, SPLITFRAME, in cooperation with Arcade Shock, are announcing a brand new line of of arcade stick carrying bags.

The FS Transporter differs from other stick carrying solutions in that they are designed with a layer of ballistic padding to protect the equipment being carried inside. The bags will also come with extra pockets where players can carry their phones, headsets, and even documents.

Two sizes will be available: regular, which should fit most arcade sticks, such as the Mad Catz Tournament Edition 2 or HORI Real Arcade Pro 4, and XL, which is designed specifically for the HORI’s Premium VLX line of sticks (including the recently announced HRAP 4 Premium VLX Kuro).

These bags are expected to be released in time for Evolution 2015. Prices will be announced on Thursday, March 5 with pre-orders opening on Saturday, March 7. In the meantime, check out some pre-production shots of the bags below.

Source: SPLITFRAME

When Dead or Alive 5 Last Round launched a couple of weeks ago, players on Microsoft platforms faced a number of issues, and Team NINJA released a brand new patch over the weekend to correct these problem.

While the update addresses a bug that corrupted save data when certain training stages were played with a handful of languages enabled, the most important of its fixes adds arcade stick compatibility to the Xbox One version.

In addition to the above, the patch also allows players to enter a code (by pressing LB+RT+LT+RT in the Help and Options menu) to unlock content, which should be a boon for those who already lost their saved games.

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round’s 1.01A patch is now available on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Source: Team NINJA

Thanks to its unique character designs and intricate story, Arc System Works’ BlazBlue series has developed a large peripheral demographic who are just as interested in those aspects of the franchise as they are in the fighting. To help satisfy these fans, ArcSys partnered with Aksys Games to bring the game’s spin-off visual novel XBlaze Code: Embryo to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita to North America last year, and now they are set to do the same for the sequel.

XBlaz Lost: Memories continues from the events of the first game while bringing new characters and plotlines into the mix. Gameplay features a mix of RPG and visual novel elements, combining 2D dungeon crawling with traditional visual novel gameplay. Players will get to roam around the game world collecting “Memory Fragments,” crystallized items that hold the key to unlocking the story behind a mysterious unknown character. Meanwhile, the game also offers multiple routes and endings, allowing each player to lead their own story.

XBlaze Lost: Memories hits PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in North America sometime this summer. In the meantime, check out a few screenshots in the gallery below.

Source: Aksys Games via Gematsu

Back in 2010, HORI shocked the world (or at least the part that cares about arcade sticks) with the release of their Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX. Modeled after the control panel of the Taito Vewlix arcade cabinet, the VLX pioneered a number of features, such as the flip open top panel, that have since become standard in premium arcade sticks.

Now, in partnership with Arcade Shock, they are bringing the VLX back with the Real Arcade Pro 4 Premium VLX Kuro for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. This stick will see an extremely limited release, available through Arcade Shock, HORI USA, and HORI Japan.

As with the previous VLX peripherals, this collaborative project is modeled after Taito’s Vewlix design (this time, the black Vewlix L cabinet), and brings with it the same easy open top panel. Additionally, the VLX Kuro uses HORI’s own line of arcade parts–the Hayabusa lever and Kuro buttons–found in some Vewlix cabinets.

One new feature not available in earlier models is a new touch panel attached to the back of the stick. Similar to those featured in the HORI RAP.4 Kai and RAP.V Hayabusa, this allows players on PlayStation 4 to use features that benefit from the touch panel, such as text input or menu navigation, without having to switch to a seperate controller.

The HORI RAP 4 VLX Kuro will be available for $299 on May 1, with pre-orders open now. While the asking price may seem steep, this is actually quite a steal considering that the original, mint condition Red and Diamond VLXs now command prices as high as $550 in the collectors market.

Be sure to follow the links above and grab one before they’re gone!

Some time ago, we reported that Nyu-Media was planning to expand access to the beta version of Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm on Steam to backers who donated $10 or more to their Indiegogo campaign. If you’re one of the people who qualify for this, you’ll be happy to know that these keys are now being sent out.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Attack on Cataclysm is an expanded version of Yatagarasu, an indie fighting game made by three former SNK developers who worked on the King of Fighters series. The game bears some similarities to those titles as well as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

The latest beta version features playable versions of the update’s three newcomers Azure, Aja Salisbury, and Kotaro, and gives us our first taste of the English commentary Ultra David, James Chen, and Maximilian.

For those who don’t have access to the beta, check out a few screenshots, along with a short video we recorded, below.

Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm is currently available in arcades via Taito’s NESiCAxLive digital distribution service; development is still ongoing for the full Steam release.

Source: Nyu-Media

One of the more interesting addition to the fourth Super Smash Bros. game is custom moves that provided tweaked special attacks for the game’s cast. This mode has proved interesting enough that even Evo is allowing it tentatively for 2015.

That said, there is one hurdle to fully utilizing customs – the fact that moves have to be unlocked in game. Players have to play certain modes in the game repeatedly for a chance to unlock custom parts used for the attacks, and that can get rather tedious.

To help players be able to unlock more customs moves quickly, Dunnobro over at the Smash subreddit has posted a guide on how to automatically farm for parts.

Using a turbo controller, you’ll need to set special attacks to the A button, pick Ganondorf, go to stage two of Target Blast, and then find a way to keep that button held down. With this, Ganondorf will automatically punch the bombs, repeatedly blowing up two targets and spawning the wrench items for custom parts, while at the same keep going back into the mode to unlock more customs.

According to Dunnobro, the method described above will yield about one custom move every two and a half minutes. While that doesn’t seem to be all that fast, it does require almost zero effort from the player once they’ve set the system up.

For more info on this trick, head on over to the original thread.

Source: r/Smashbros

People are spoiled for choice nowadays when it comes to custom balltops for their arcade sticks, with companies offering a multitude of different designs, such as clear, mesh, and even briarwood options. For those who prefer old-school American style battops hover, choices have been somewhat limited…until now.

First announced at Japan Amusement Expo 2015, Sanwa Denshi’s new LB-30N-CW clear battops are coming to the United States courtesy of our friends over at Arcade Shock.  These battops sport a transparent, nearly glass-like look that should add a touch of class to any arcade stick.

Additionally, these use a new mold that features the standard size screw hole, not the larger one of past Sanwa battops, meaning that it’ll fit in most Japanese style arcade levers, including the company’s own JLF, without the need for an adapter.

Sanwa’s LB-30N-CW clear battop will be available from Arcade Shock this Friday, February 27. More colors are planned to follow. In the meantime, check out these images of the clear stick below and let us know what you think.

Source: Arcade Shock, thanks to MarkMan for the tip.