Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

Despite his involvement with Capcom’s upcoming special edition release of Devil May Cry 4, director Hideaki Itsuno still has yet to let go of a possible revival of the Rival Schools franchise.

During the festivities at Niconico Chokaigi 2015 this past weekend, the longtime developer responded to a fan request for a new installment of the old-school fighting series. “I’ve already thought of a new story,” Itsuno divulged, “so please send your requests to Capcom!”

This is far from the first time he’s made such claims. Back in October 2013, Itsuno expressed a desire to return to the Rival Schools universe, telling Anime News Network that a third installment was on his agenda despite the uncertainty of its future.

As we mentioned in our previous report, Capcom has an unfortunate habit of building hype for a property without delivering, so it would be best to keep your expectations in check if you’re hoping for another trip to Aoharu City. That being said, feel free to let us know what you want from a hypothetical Rival Schools 3 in the comments.

Source: Famitsu via Siliconera

During a special presentation at Niconico Chokaigi 2015, the folks behind the development of Pokkén Tournament revealed that Gengar will be playable in the upcoming Pokémon fighter thanks to its overwhelming popularity in the character request campaign on Twitter.

The ghostly creature joins the likes of Gardevoire, Suicune, Machamp, Pikachu, and Lucario in the growing cast. Much like the latter, Gengar will be able to Mega Evolve over the course of battle to raise its power.

The video below, which was pulled from the official broadcast by azprojectmelee, showcases the shadow Pokémon’s moveset.

Pokkén Tournament is scheduled to land in Japanese arcades sometime this summer.

Source: Niconico via NeoGAF, azprojectmelee

While there’s no doubt Mortal Kombat X looks good, thanks in part to its release for the latest line of gaming platforms, it’s always interesting to research the roots of our favorites games’ high-quality visuals. Concept artist Justin Murray recently made that quest a little easier by releasing three of his personal pieces.

The art in question highlights early designs for returning veteran Mileena as well as the duo Ferra and Torr. Obviously, much of the work on the former was set due to her appearances in several previous installments, but Murray was given the opportunity to work on the new anatomy of her mouth as well as focus the overall aesthetics for the latter. Much of his influence would find its way into the final game, though some pieces, like Ferra’s chain, was be tweaked before launch.

Feel free to check out Murray’s art below and let us know what you think.

 

Source: Justin Murray

In an effort to correct frequent issues players were experiencing with the game’s netcode, Capcom released an update for Ultra Street Fighter IV on Steam last month. Though it was only available through the platform’s beta client, it gave fans the opportunity to try it out for themselves and provide feedback on its efficacy.

One huge problem, however, was the fact that very few players were using the beta client despite instructions on how to do so, and the diminished number of participants made it hard to truly gauge how much the netcode was improved. Fortunately, those changes have finally made their way to the main Steam client, meaning everyone who hops online to throw Shoryukens will be playing with the update in place.

Have you noticed improvements in your online connections in recent days? Let us know what you think of this Ultra Street Fighter IV update in the comments below.

Source: Capcom-Unity

Last last month, we reported on some news detailing the release schedule for Mortal Kombat X’s downloadable characters. The details included there, which were supposedly from an EB Games Australia promo, mentioned that Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees would arrive on April 26.

Unfortunately, that was wrong. I messed up.

On the bright side, we now have official word from NetherRealm Studios on when folks will actually be able to get their hands on the horror icon, and that happens to be May 5. A preview of his gameplay will be provided through a special Kombat Kast the day before.

Jason is the very first character to be released as part of the Kombat Pack, which will also see appearances by Tremor, Predator, and Tanya, as well as a number of new costumes set to debut alongside them. Each cast member will eventually be up for purchase separately, but details on exactly when have yet to be provided.

Source: NetherRealm Studios

As I’m sure most of you know by now, Capcom updated Ultra Street Fighter IV today–both in arcades and on home platforms–to ver.1.05. Although quite a few changes came with it, nearly all of these adjustments are found in the game’s remixed Omega mode, the sole dissenter a fix for Decapre’s ultra command.

But a late edit to the original announcement mentioning an addressing of other bugs raised our hopes. Sure, with no specifics it was hard to imagine the game-crashing sound bug disappearing, but perhaps smaller issues saw corrections that we weren’t aware of?

Unfortunately, there’s currently no word on that front–quite the opposite, actually. Jay, a Japanese player who, as of April 15, is the third-highest ranked Abel in arcades, recently revealed a brand new hitbox issue involving Ultra addition Rolento. Apparently, something wonky happens with the soldier’s crouching hitbox on block that makes Abel’s low jab completely whiff, an occurrence that can be replicated by dashing in after a blocked Focus Attack, Forward Kick, or a canceled Change of Direction and mashing jab, as seen in Jay’s tweets below.

This is only the latest hitbox discrepancy to be discovered in Capcom’s flagship fighter. Funny enough, during our own testing we found it was present in earlier versions as well, and has only now come to light.

Its discovery makes an update, which was already quite perplexing in that it barely touched the main, competitive version of the game, an even bigger disappointment. With $500,000 on the line at Capcom Cup, not to mention the additional pot bonuses being provided to premier Capcom Pro Tour events, one would hope issues such as these would be addressed before those in Omega Mode.

Oh, and before we close out, you can also expect Ibuki’s standing strong and Oni’s standing fierce to whiff on a crouching Rolento as well, the former of which was pointed out by French competitor Damascus back in June 2014.

Have you found anything else in Ultra Street Fighter IV that’s yet to be corrected in post-release patches? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Jay via NeoGAF