Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

After a weekend off, major fighting game competition returns this weekend in the form of NorCal Regionals 2015. As with other large events, the area surrounding Sacramento, California will be inundated with a wide array of talent from across the United States and other parts of the globe, giving local events some added participation that they normally don’t see every week or month.

First off, Showdown’s Churning the Butter returns to San Francisco tonight for another helping of Northern California Street Fighter play, with an added twist. Bruce “GamerBee” Hsiang will be in town to take on all challengers in a special kumite event presented by his sponsor AVerMedia, allowing players a chance to face the Taiwanese master and win some cool prizes in the process.

You can expect all the same great tournament action as well, so if you’re interested, be sure to visit The Foundry (located at 1425 Folsom Street) around 7 PM PDT to get in on the competition. Other players expected to attend include Liquid’s Du “Nuckledu” Dang, Kelvin Jeon of AVerMedia, Pandora House’s Long “LPN” Nguyen, and more.

Are you going to be closer to Sacramento and don’t want to travel to the bay? Well, you’re in luck, because Tapioca & Tea will be hosting their 58th monthly event at Tapioca Express in Elk Grove, California. Organizer Romeo Rivera Jr. has done an excellent job keeping the local community alive with these regular events, and is sure to see an influx of new faces due to their proximity to the NorCal Regionals venue.

Street Fighter and Marvel signups begin around 5 PM PDT, so be sure to visit the event’s official page for more details.

These two events are the perfect way to get some practice in before this weekend’s tournament; don’t miss out on the opportunity to test yourself against unfamiliar opponents!

During today’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, president Satoru Iwata announced that Mewtwo will arrive for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS on April 28 alongside a few new balance changes, making the classic Pokémon character the first piece of downloadable content created for the latest installment of the franchise.

First? Yep, you read that right, because the cast will continue to expand in the future, starting with Mother 3 protagonist Lucas. Though he previously appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the young fighter failed to make the transition with fellow Earthbound representative Ness. He is planned to arrive sometime in June.

Furthermore, the developers want to know what other Nintendo characters you’d like to see join the Super Smash Bros. cast. By visiting the official ballot, you can suggest whatever video game figure suits your fancy and provide a brief breakdown of why you think they should be included in the games.

With this news in mind, it’s easy to envision a long and fruitful future for the competitive Smash community, and it should be interesting to see how the cast expands in the coming years. Feel free to let us know which characters you’ve told Nintendo about in the comments below.

Sources: Nintendo, Smash Bros.

Much like the rest of the video game world, the fighting genre has become inundated with leaks over the past few years. From characters and gameplay mechanics to entire game reveals, receiving early information on our favorite titles is rather commonplace these days.

Most recently, data mining revealed a trio of new characters for Tekken 7 more than a week before they were officially revealed by Bandai Namco Games. And while early previews of upcoming content is always fun, we rarely focus on the impact these leaks have on the developers.

In the case of Tekken 7, Bandai’s team has been forced to rush the creation of future characters to meet community demands. When asked about his plans for Golden Week (a string of Japanese holidays in early May) by Mad Catz’ Mark “MarkMan” Julio, producer Katsuhiro Harada divulged that he’s had to forgo this year’s festivities. “We are changing character [development] and release timing,” the longtime developer explained, ascribing these adjustments to the earlier leaks.

With Jin Kazama out today, Devil Jin scheduled to launch on April 7, and Josie Rizal’s release in the near future, all of which land well before the aforementioned holidays, one can assume Harada is discussing plans beyond the aforementioned fighters.

Tekken 7 is currently exclusive to arcades, but may also be in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Source: Katsuhiro Harada

Photo c/o Davis Wiki

While a number of reputable arcades have been forced to close up shop over the years due to the decline of their business models, one in particular may not be as well known to those who recently became converts to the way of the Hadouken and Electric Wind God Fist.

Memorial Union Games Center, located on the UC Davis campus, is set to shutter their location to undergo an extensive renovation project. When they open back up in 2017, however, one important piece of nostalgia will be missing: the arcade cabinets. In their place? Flat-screen monitors and home consoles.

Although it’s not the destination it used to be, the location held regular fighting game tournaments and attracted a number of notable competitors in its heyday.

“The Memorial Union Games Area brings back lots of memories as I frequented that building regularly during my college years. It was a great place to kill time between classes,” John “Choiboy” Choi explained to us. “The building contained the book store, cafeteria, billiards, and of course the arcade. So it was the one stop shop for many students. It was my daily routine to go there after class to eat, chit chat, and play games. Oh, and there was also bowling, but I opted to throwing fireballs rather than bowling balls.”

After profits peaked at over $200,000 in 2006, MUGA’s returns dropped to less than half that by 2014.

“Some of my greatest friendships and best memories come from being connected in person with this community and not just online. The in-person connection and space to play games together is no different than a basketball court open at night on campus,” Leo “OneTimeHero” Martin said of his time at MUGA. “I feel bad that future generations won’t be able to experience the same level of fun and ‘in-person’ gaming that has become less and less common these days.”

Transitioning to more modern setups has allowed venues like Next Level Arcade in New York City, New York to survive where others have failed, but there’s definitely something to be said for the visceral feeling arcade cabinets provide during intense matches.

“I have lots of fond memories of the place so I’m sad to hear of it coming to an end,” Choi closed.

Upon reopening in 2017, the MUGA operators hope to see a renewed interest in the space and plan to start running tournaments again.

Source: Sacramento Bee