Author: Franz "d3v" Co

Despite recent strides, it’s still pretty much slim pickings when it comes to fighting games on the Nintendo Switch. However, it seems its fighting game library is about to grow by three more titles, as Bandai Namco Entertainment has announced a port of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy for the Switch in Japan.

Originally released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in the summer of 2017, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy is a compilation of CyberConnect2’s Ultimate Ninja games for the Naruto franchise. Specifically, it features Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst. The Western physical release (called Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy) also featured Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto, however this will not be included in the Switch port.

With the transition to Switch, the three games will now run at a resolution of 1600 x 900 when docked, and 960 x 540 when in portable mode. While this is lower than the 1920 x 1080 in the other versions of Trilogy, the docked resolution is still higher than 1280 x 720 of the original PS3 versions. Meanwhile, the Switch version’s frame rate will match the 30 fps of the original PS3 versions.

In terms of additional content, the Switch ports will have the same DLC as the PS4 version.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy launches on Nintendo Switch in Japan on April 26, 2018. Whether or not it’ll get a Western release is — as of yet — unknown.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment via Siliconera

It’s been awhile since we last heard something new about ARIKA’s upcoming Fighting EX Layer. Now, it seems that we’ll be getting some news from the company itself.

ARIKA stated on Twitter that they would be sharing some announcements regarding the game on a stream tomorrow. The stream will take place on their Twitch channel at 11pm JT on January 26, which translates to 6am PT/9am ET.

While we don’t have any idea yet about what these announcements entail, ARIKA did mention that these were “very important”. As such, anyone looking forward to this game should probably pay attention to whatever it is they’re announcing. We’ll mostly see some additional footage of characters like D. Dark, Blair Dame and Jack, and fingers crossed we will get more information on a potential release date.

Fighting EX Layer is currently set to release on PlayStation 4 sometime in 2018.

Source: ARIKA (Twitter)

Southern California is one of the hotbeds of competitive fighting game action in the US West Coast, with numerous tournaments taking place in the region. For any fighting game players who are thinking of passing by the region this July on the way to Evo, here’s one event you might want to check out.

Pasadena Regionals returns this year on July 28 to 29 — the weekend before Evo 2018. While last year’s event was solely focused on Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, this year’s version has grown bigger and will now feature both Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Dragon Ball FighterZ in addition to UMvC3.

For those interested in attending (or even just watching), Pasadena Regionals 2018 will take place at 3887 E Sierra Madre Blvd. in Pasadena, CA. Registration for the event is now open over at smash.gg.

Source: Pasadena Regionals via Dr.Snaketits

Finally, after a long and storied development period, Mane6’s Them’s Fightin’ Herds has finally been released.

And to think that the game almost never happened! Originally started as a popular fan game based on Hasbro’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the game was hit with a cease and desist order from said company. The project got a shot in the arm, however, thanks to Friendship is Magic producer Lauren Faust — who offered to help the team create an original cast and setting for the game. On top of this, Lab Zero provided a free license to use the engine for Skullgirls via a stretch goal on the latter’s DLC crowdfund campaign.

Now, almost half a decade since then, Them’s Fightin’ Herds is finally available for purchase.

Them’s Fightin’ Herds tells the story of a tournament (natch) between the “Key Seekers” of various tribes from the realm of Fœnum. These Key Seekers are looking for the a magical key that will once again lock away the Predators that are threatening the tribes of Fœnum. The winner of this competition will become the Key Keeper, who will face the champion of the Predators.

The game itself launches with six characters: Arizona the cow, Velvet the reindeer, Paprika the alpaca, Oleander the unicorn, Pom the sheep, and Tianhuo the longma (a winged, draconic horse from Chinese mythology). These characters are controlled via four-button control scheme with 3 normal attack buttons (light, medium, heavy) and a fourth “magic” button. The latter can act similarly to the “meter burn” button in NetherRealm Studios games, allowing for powered up versions of the characters’ special moves.

Online play for Them’s Fightin’ Herds is handled by the vaunted GGPO rollback netcode. The implementation of this in Skullgirls (whose engine this game uses) is still to this day one of the best implementations of online play in any fighter, so it stands to reason that this’ll be the case here as well. To this, the game adds a new visual lobby where you can hang around in locations in Fœnum, using customizable avatars.

For those interested, Them’s Fightin’ Herds can now be purchased via both Steam and Humble Bundle.

Source: Mane6 (Twitter)

Hot on the heels of giving us our first in game visuals of them, Bandai Namco Games has now put up the character pages for Broly and Bardock on the official Dragon Ball FighterZ website in Japan.

The profiles given for both fighters seem to give good indication of how they’ll play in the game. Specifically, Broly seems like he’ll play like a traditional “big body” character, with armor on his moves. His stats seem to support this with both power and reach rated as “SS”, while his speed is rated at a lowly “C”.

Goku’s dad Bardock on the other hand seems to be more of a rushdown chararcter. To this end, his power and speed are rated as “S”, but his reach is only rated as “B”, making him out to be a fast character meant to fight up close to his opponent. Interestingly enough, both characters are both rated as “S” in terms of ease of use.

In addition to these, we’re also given the names of what may be their super moves. Broly’s is the “Eraser Cannon”, while Bardock has the “Riot Javelin”. This is on top of the ultimate attack names we previously learned which are “Gigantic Meteor” for Broly, and “Revenger Assault” for Bardock.

Source: Dragon Ball FighterZ