Author: Franz "d3v" Co

For any PlayStation Plus subscribers looking for discounts on fighting games, here’s some great news: a number of games are currently on sale for PlayStation Plus subscribers on the US PlayStation Store.

The list below is of all the fighting games and fighting game-related content that’s on sale for PlayStation Plus subscribers; this includes a number of big titles, including Street Fighter V, The King of Fighters XIV, and Mortal Kombat XL, as well as indies like Nidhogg II. Additionally, some DLC items, including a couple of the costume and character packs for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round are also on sale as well. Check these out below:

Of course, fighting games aren’t the only thing on sale for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Head over to the PlayStation Network to see what other games are discounted.

Source: PlayStation Network

As is the case for every fighting game, Street Fighter V has had characters who have been described as “dominant” for each major revision, or “season” in this case. However, these oftentimes come down more to people’s own conjecture than any actual sort of detailed statistical analysis.

Luckily for us, SFV does have a way to track performance at high level play: the results of the Capcom Pro Tour. Our good buddy Bavo Bruylandt — who runs Shoryuken’s stat-keeping site — recently compiled this data to find out the ten most dominant characters for each season of Street Fighter V.

Most dominant SF5 characters per season.
Ranked by total points scored in tournaments pic.twitter.com/hLjJxFulAO

— SRK Stats (@SRKRanking) June 25, 2018

In addition to this, Bavo has also shared screenshots of the data tables he used. This includes breakdowns for mid-season changes, as both Season 2 and Season 3 had significant mid-season balance patches.

Now, as with any list of strong characters based purely on tournament results, this doesn’t really factor the strength of the competitors playing them. Additionally, we’re still only halfway through Season 3. However, this data is still important; when combined with all of those factors, it gives us a more complete picture of how the game is playing out, and where it may be headed.

Source: SRK Stats (Twitter)

Steam’s Summer Sale is currently ongoing. SNK already shot first promoting their own games that are part of the sale — however other publishers have their fighters on it as well!

The list below contains just about every non-SNK fighting game on sale as part of the Steam Summer Sale. This includes big names such as Dragon Ball FighterZ and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition to indie darlings such as Skullgirls and Nidhogg.

Take note that the above list focuses mainly on the games and their major DLC packs or season passes. There are a number of smaller DLC items — such as costumes, soundtracks, etc. — that are also on sale.

The Steam Summer Sale ends on July 5, so interested players looking to grab some — if not all — of these games should act soon.

Source: Steam

Nicalis and Studio Saizensen’s indie crossover fighting game Blade Strangers is almost here. With the game’s release looming, Nicalis has revealed the game’s box art so you can know what to look for in stores.

The art in question does its best to cram the game’s roster into a limited space. Taking center stage, however, are Solange from Code of Princess and Kawase from Umihara Kawase. Of course, that doesn’t make the presence of the other characters any more diminished.

One interesting note about the art is the fact that the Switch version’s box art has a glaring difference — it has Blade Stranger original Lina on it, whereas the PlayStation 4 version does not. Of course, this seems more a concession to the difference box proportions than to anything else.

You can check out the box art for both consoles below.

Blade Strangers is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 and Switch in Japan on August 30 in Japan, followed by a Western release on the same consoles and PC sometime this Summer.

Source: Gematsu

For any fans of SNK’s various franchises, here’s some great news: The company has announced that a number of their titles on Steam are a part of the Steam Summer Sale.

Included in the sale are a number of fighting games from the King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, and Last Blade franchises. This even includes their most recent fighter, the King of Fighters XIV, as well as classics such as Garou: Mark of the Wolves. You can check out all the discounts on their fighting games below:

Of course, in addition to fighting games, other SNK classics on Steam are on sale as well.

For those interested in picking any of these games up, take note that the Steam Summer Sale ends on July 5.

Source: SNK

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition‘s new Mayor of Metro City, Cody, is arriving on June 25 — the Monday this time, rather than the usual Tuesday we typically see updates arriving on. With this, of course, comes the expected server downtime as Capcom adds him — and other material — to the game.

For those wondering when Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition‘s multiplayer servers will go down to apply the mayoral update, Capcom has released the schedule on via the official SFV Server account:

We will perform server maintenance from 11am to 5pm on 6/25 PDT. (6/25 6pm to 6/26 12am UTC) Thank you for your patience and support.

— SFV Server Status (@SFVServer) June 22, 2018

As stated above, the game’s online servers will be down from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific on June 25. During this time, players wont able to play online, or earn any sort of Fight Money. Offline play is, of course, unaffected (aside from the aforementioned inability to earn that Fight Money).

Aside from Cody, the upcoming Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition update brings with it a few other changes. This includes a revamped Survival Mode, as well as an unpaid lootbox system that allows players to gain exclusive cosmetic content.

Source: SFV Server (Twitter)

It’s no secret that ARIKA would love to expand the cast of Fighting EX Layer with more classic Street Fighter EX characters via DLC. Now, it seems like they’re teasing one of those characters (much like Vulcano Rosso was dropped into the very end of this video).

In a recent tweet regarding the company’s presence at Community Effort Orlando 2018, ARIKA Vice President Ichiro Mihara included an image that seems to be teasing Pullum Purna as an upcoming character for the game. The image, which you can see below, has Pullum seemingly rendered in-engine, while covered up with the text from said tweet.

First appearing in the original Street Fighter EX, Pullum Purna is a Middle Eastern heiress who’s traveling the world with her bodyguard, Darun Mister (who is already in the game) in search of her father. She was notable for a moveset inspired by Arabian dance — as well as being the only character who could double jump.

Aside from Pullum, ARIKA has also mentioned wanting to add Area, Sharon, and Vulcano Rosso as DLC as well. Now considering that Pullum is seemingly shown in-engine in the image above, should we expect an announcement soon to confirm this, possibly at CEO 2018?

Fighting EX Layer launches on PlayStation 4 on June 28.

Source: Arika