Author: Franz "d3v" Co

Last year, we had a big set of leaks from reddit poster “Vergeben” that detailed a lot of information — not the least of which was the reveal of SoulCalibur VI less than a month before Bandai Namco officially announced the game. Now, the same poster has come out with another set of leaks.

The leaks in question cover SoulCalibur VI, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Of these, only BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle wasn’t addressed by the previous leak.

For SoulCalibur VI, the leak details the possibility of  Nintendo Switch port, specifically the fact that it seems that it’s not happening at this time. Prior to this, there was some rumbling of the possibility of one, with some guest characters as well (specifically Link and a Fire Emblem character). However, Vergeben states that their source has stated that while it is “likely,” it won’t be happening for a while.

Some more interesting information reveals some details about SoulCalibur VI‘s development — including that the game wasn’t originally slated to be a reboot of the franchise, but that this all changed after a shakeup at Project Soul. That said, with the status of the game set as going back to the series’ past, characters that are supposed to be appearing in it are Kilik, Xianghua, Maxi (who is apparently now unambiguously presented as homosexual), Siegfried, Nightmare, Taki, Talim, Ivy, Cassandra, Astaroth, and Tira. Zasalamel is also being considered, but he may end up being DLC. Amy might appear in all future installments as Viola (confirming a long-held fan theory). Finally, the character teased at the end of the reveal trailer is supposedly a male character (some have speculated to it being female): an assassin, and Kilik’s rival.

Meanwhile, moving on to Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite: the big leak is that, despite the Fox buyout, season 2 will still not contain any X-Men or Fantastic Four characters. Now this somewhat makes sense, as the buyout only happened recently and the DLC was likely in development for some time now. Instead, the season 2 characters are supposed to be Star-Lord, Ms. Marvel, Asura, Lady, Gill, with the final slot being a toss-up between Rashid or Vergil.

More important, however, is the bit about the game’s future past season 2. Right now, the game is apparently in a state of flux, and what will happen after season 2 is up in the air. The two options are to either just end support for the game, or continue on with it. If the latter happens, then it’s likely that we’ll see more characters and a possible Capcom Pro Tour-style deal for it.

Moving on to Dragon Ball FighterZ, Vergeben states that the DLC characters that he’s been informed about are Broly, base form Goku, base form Vegeta, and Bardock. They also have a source stating that Raditz and Zarbon are in, though they consider this source an outlier, since those are the only two characters the source knows about. As for why we’re getting another Goku and Vegeta, the reason is apparently because of demand from the Japanese fanbase — especially with how good those characters supposedly were in Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden on the 3DS.

On top of this, there are apparently still hidden playable characters that have yet to be revealed, the least of which is Android 21, who so far has only been advertised as an NPC. Android 21 apparently has an “Ultimate Form,” though it’s unknown if this is an install type super, or a new character outright.

Finally, moving on to BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, as previously reported, Arc System Works has debunked that previous leak as well. Now this new leak says the same, and then gives out some more info. Specifically, the leaker states that Kanji Tatsumi, Naoto Shirogane, Mitsuru Kirijo, Aigis, Hilda, Merkava, Taokaka, Litchi, Blake, and Yang will be part of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle‘s roster. The supposed character picks do seem to make sense, and may be pretty “safe” with some almost being guaranteed (by being members of Persona 4‘s  team, being half of Team RWBY, etc.), that said, we’ll see if Arc System Works won’t debunk this as well.

Of course, all of the information above has not been confirmed by the publishers. As such, be sure to take it all with a grain of salt!

Source: Vergeben (reddit)

For those who want to attend Evo Japan but missed out on registering, here’s some great news: registration for the inaugural Evo Japan is being re-opened, but only for a limited time.

On January 5, registration for Evo Japan will be re-opened for only 12 hours. Registration will re-open at 7:00 AM Pacific (10:00 AM Eastern, midnight on January 6 in Japan) and will close at 7:00 PM Pacific (10:00 PM Eastern, 12:00 noon in Japan). This is a great chance for any players who missed the previous deadline. If you’re one of these players, you should head on over to the official registration page on smash.gg during that window.

Evo Japan takes place in Tokyo from January 26 to 28.

Source: Evo Japan

It seems that Capcom really did try to live up to their promise that Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition‘s patch notes would be released “soon.” However, it seems that in their rush, they made a bit of a mistake. Early this morning, Capcom uploaded patch notes for the Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition update — then subsequently took them down. It appears that they uploaded a set of patch notes that was not the final one.

Capcom subsequently issued a tweet regarding this: in it, they acknowledged their mistake in posting patch notes that weren’t final. That said, they did promise that they would post the actual finalized patch notes for Arcade Edition soon.

【SFV運営】本日、一時的にサイト上で次回アップデートの「調整リスト」が公開されましたが、本来とは異なる調整リストとなっております。皆様にはご迷惑おかけしまして申し訳ございません。正しい調整リストは近日中に公開いたします。#SFV

— ストリートファイターコミュニティ(公式) (@SF_Community) January 4, 2018

Despite them taking the notes down, players were already able to create a copy of the notes and share it on the internet. You can check out the un-finalized patch notes in this Google Doc.

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition hits PlayStation 4 and PC — regardless of whether or not we get the final patch notes — on January 16.

Source: SF Community (Twitter) [thanks to brainfraud for the patch notes link]

While we’ve seen a lot of discussion and analysis on the balance changes for the Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition update, none of these are really final, as they were based on player experience with the demo version shown at PSX. Until Capcom says so, nothing we’ve seen and heard so far is guaranteed to stick for the retail build.

Now, for those eagerly awaiting actual information from Capcom on what the final balance changes are, it seems that the wait may be drawing to an end. In response to a tweet by Javits Arias, the official Street Fighter twitter has stated that the patch notes for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition are coming “soon.”

Patch notes will be posted soon!

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) January 2, 2018

Of course, “soon” could mean anything, especially with the release just a couple of weeks away. Season 2’s patch notes, for example, came out barely a day before the update actually hit. We’ll see if this time we’ll get the patch notes out with a little more lead time before launch.

The Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition update hits PlayStation 4 and PC on January 16.

Source: Street Fighter (Twitter)

While Nintendo’s Switch is slowly but surely gathering a library of titles that any fighting game fans looking to play on the go can enjoy, it currently lacks some of the online features of other consoles. While it’s certainly possible to play online with various Switch titles, the system is currently lacking features such as voice chat and a lobby system. These are all supposed to come with a future paid online service in the vein of PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live.

For those eagerly awaiting this service, it looks like you’ll have to wait a bit more. Nintendo Italy briefly updated their website for the online service, stating that it would launch in the Fall of 2018.

This update was quickly reverted back to stating a general 2018 window, reflecting what Nintendo announced at E3. Originally meant to launch last year, Nintendo then delayed the online service to sometime in 2018. The service is meant to add features such as voice chat and online lobbies through the use of a companion app for smartphones. Pricing is currently planned at $3.99 per month, with discounted rates for those who subscribe for multiple months ($7.99 for three months, $19.99 for 12 months).

Source: Wccftech via Siliconera

Here’s some great news for any King of Fighters fans who love collecting toys and figures from the franchise. Hobby Japan is producing a new Mai Shinarui figure.

The new figure is a 1:6 scale statue based on Mai’s look from the King of Fighters XIV. As such, the figure includes some of the finer details, such as the cherry blossom print on her costume, not seen in prior games.

The figure is set to be released on May 31, 2018. For those interested in picking it up, it’s currently available for pre-order over at Play-Asia for $189.99.

In the meantime, here are a few images of the figure.

Click to view slideshow.

Sources: 4Gamer; Play-Asia via Siliconera

For any fans looking for some more Dragon Ball FighterZ action before the open beta hits later this January, here’s some great news. The 3 on 3 tag team fighter based on the popular shonen anime franchise is coming Awesome Games Done Quick 2018.

Tokyo Attack have teamed up with Bandai Namco to bring a build of Dragon Ball FighterZ to Awesome Games Done Quick 2018. As part of this, they’ll be bringing along a special, head to head Vewlix based arcade cabinet for those at the event looking to try the game out.

Awesome Games Done Quick is an annual speed running marathon that takes place every January.  This year’s marathon will take place from January 7 to 14 at Herndon, VA. The event aims to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation via donations.

Dragon Ball FighterZ will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 26.

Source: Tokyo Attack (Twitter)