This week’s installment of Next Level Battle Circuit is now streaming live courtesy of Team Spooky. As usual, the event is being broadcast from its namesake, Next Level Arcade, in New York City. Tonight, they’ll continue competition in the newly released Street Fighter V.
Some of the players you can expect in attendance tonight include TS|Sabin, PIE|Sci, OG|Shine, and more.
If you would like to check out these weekly tournaments, you can head on over to Next Level Arcade and take part every Wednesday. The address has been included below.
4013 8th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11232
The stream is currently live below, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat. Full brackets will be made available through Challonge.
The folks over at VGBootCamp recently went live with another installment of Smash @ Xanadu from Xanadu Games in Baltimore, Maryland. These weekly broadcasts provide a great look at the region’s Smash community, and tonight’s installment will feature competition in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
In addition to local talent, visiting competitors like Amsah, HugS, D1, SPY|Nintendude, and more are in town ahead of Pound 2016 this weekend.
If you’re interested in some Smash Bros. action, be sure to tune in. The stream is live below, but you can also head on over to Twitch to join the chat.
Trying out a new game or character is often a daunting task, but with the advent of the internet, learning fighting games has never been easier. If you’re interested in jumping into Killer Instinct Season 3, Sajam has got you covered with breakdowns for returning characters Kim Wu and Tusk.
As with his previous guides, these videos explore the normals, specials, linkers, enders, and more available to each fighter, discussing their usefulness and the overall gameplan players are going to want to stick to. Kim Wu, for example, excels in the mid-range game, while Tusk is more of an in-your-face bruiser.
Killer Instinct Season 3 is only a day old at this point, but the community has already been graced with some fantastic tutorials. Give the guides below some attention and let Sajam know what you learned. Stay tuned for similar videos on guest characters Rash and Arbiter.
After successfully closing their second outing last year, ESL is ready to continue their support of the Mortal Kombat X community with another season of competition. This year, the total prize pool has been increased to $500,000, with $200,000 up for grabs at the finals.
Tournaments in season three will be split between Challenger and Pro League Cups. While the latter will function similarly to last year’s qualifiers, Challenger Cups are specifically designated as a “place where players hone their competitive skills.” Participants in the Commonwealth of Independent States will be able to compete for a single qualifying spot in this way, as Pro League Cups–and, therefore, the ranking points necessary to earn a spot in the finals–are now exclusive to North America and Europe.
This year’s circuit also welcomes Latin America into the mix, allowing players in Central and South America to participate alongside their North American counterparts in the weekly Challenger Cups. As these won’t offer a direct route to the finals, an offline qualifier will also be held at Chile’s Masters Challenge Santiago on May 14, joining Combo Breaker in Chicago, Illinois as the only announced events without an online bias.
Challenger Cups begin on April 2, Pro League Cups follow on April 3, and the finals are scheduled for June 12. More prizing and scheduling details can be found here.
One of the biggest complaints from the fighting game community as of late has been the lack of an official trailer for Street Fighter V’s Alex. While we won’t get into the legitimacy of such complaints, everyone should be happy to learn that Capcom has dropped a quick video highlighting the returning character’s launch.
Alex will join the Street Fighter V roster today alongside an early version of the in-game shop. While the game’s equivalent to real-world money, Zenny, won’t be available, players should be able to spend some of the Fight Money they’ve been accruing since launch on things like story mode costumes, colors, and more.
Due to the limited way in which they are opening the shop, Alex will be free to play until Zenny functionality is added to the game. This will apply to any other downloadable characters added to the game before the currency is supported.
While we don’t have a concrete release time, we’re expecting Alex to become playable soon after Street Fighter V servers come back online at 10 AM PDT (1 PM EDT, 5 PM GMT). Stay tuned for more details.
Although recent years have seen SNK Playmore focus on King of Fighters exclusively, the studio owns a number of properties that are still near and dear to fans’ hearts. One such title is Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the most recent installment of the Fatal Fury franchise. Fortunately, hope is not lost for a follow-up.
During his visit to the Seika Kyouen tournament in Tokyo, Japan, King of Fighters XIV director Yasuyuki Oda commented on the event’s main titles, one of which just happened to be Mark of the Wolves. “I think people here are thinking, ‘Hey what are you doing, aren’t you forgetting about Garou?’” Oda said after showing off the latest King of Fighters trailer. “I’m going to do something about it before I die (laughs), so please keep on supporting us.”
Garou: Mark of the Wolves occupies a unique position in the SNK universe. As a bit of a scrub on the subject, I was confused as to why folks would want a sequel to the older title with King of Fighters XIV on the way, so I reached out to Giby Zia, Chris “Hellpockets” Fields, Andres Velasco y Coll, and Mike Spragg for their input on the matter.
According to Zia, this is mostly due to the split in mechanics that occurred as the franchises went their separate ways. “Fatal Fury has always toyed around with different gameplay mechanics with each title, while King of Fighters has rarely gone off too far from the status quo,” he explained. “Mark of the Wolves adopted a more Street Fighter style of play and ditched some of the more notable mechanics, mainly plane switching.” Fatal Fury’s status as the original Street Fighter competitor also makes it a bit more important than King of Fighters in the eyes of players, and it almost feels as if the latter has gradually usurped the former’s throne over the years.
Velasco y Coll noted that things like Just Defend and certain canceling mechanics further set Fatal Fury apart from King of Fighters. “SNK games were always entrenched in a weird system that dictated how the game would be played and, in a way, King of Fighters has become both their identity and their vanilla offering,” he said. “I’m not surprised to see interest in a Garou, which would play very differently.”
While I spoke to them separately, all four mentioned that the outcry for a Mark of the Wolves sequel also comes from the fanbase’s focus on its consistent storyline, something that has gone by the wayside in King of Fighters. “I know story isn’t that big of an issue for many competitive gamers,” Zia continued, “but die hard SNK fans eat up story and seem to know every detail about the games and characters, much like how anime players know their games.”
Spragg, too, cited Fatal Fury’s more narrow, focused plot as a key element to its continued popularity. “We need closure. What happened to rock after Mark of the Wolves? Is geese alive in FF canon? What is Terry doing?” he explained.
Even though many regard the King of Fighters series as having some of the most fleshed out casts in the genre, I got the sense that even they don’t compare to the various Fatal Fury rosters from games past. “[King of Fighters] is kind of forced to include a certain amount of fan favorites to please people and have little space dedicated to brand new characters and additions from old games,” Fields said. This sentiment was also expressed by Spragg, who specifically mentioned wanting to see characters like Blue Mary, Duck King, Kim Dong Hwan, and Kim Jae Hoon, who have appeared in past King of Fighters releases but all but disappeared since.
With these details in mind, it’s easy to see why Oda’s mention of a possible Garou sequel has gained so much attention within the SNK community. As one of the key staff members during development of the original Mark of the Wolves, he is in a unique position to carry on its legacy in this modern era. Let’s hope he isn’t too burnt out on King of Fighters XIV to make accomplish this goal.
Source: Game Newton via MMCafe; huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this article!
While it may not always be feasible to register for a tournament early, doing so can save you a bit of cash if you’re able to plan ahead. Like many events, Northwest Majors is offering staggered pricing for this year’s installment depending on when you register, and the cost is set to rise tonight at midnight local time (3 AM EDT, 7 AM GMT).
Northwest Majors 8 features a greatly expanded lineup that includes titles like Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Killer Instinct, and more. There’s also a handful of side events if none of the official games interest you.
As of now, registration pricing is set at $40, with additional costs associated with each game you plan to play. After tonight, however, the general registration cost will jump to $55, a price that will last through April 23. And for all of you latecomers, on-site registration is set at $70. Attendees can also purchase a cheaper pass for $30 if they just plan to spectate or play casuals.
Northwest Majors 8 is scheduled for April 29 – May 1 in Des Moines, Washington. If you’re planning to attend, do yourself a favor and register now. More details can be found here.
The folks over at VGBootCamp recently went live with another installment of Smash @ Xanadu from Xanadu Games in Baltimore, Maryland. These weekly broadcasts provide a great look at the region’s Smash community, with tonight’s stream focusing entirely on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
The stream is live below, but you can also head on over to Twitch to join the chat.
The folks at NetherRealm Studios dropped a surprise Mortal Kombat X update this morning on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This ver.1.13 patch brings with it a number of changes, both general and character-specific. As is often the case, the Kombat Pack 2 newcomers were the targets of many adjustments, especially Triborg, who saw frame data changed across every variation.
In addition to balance tweaking, the update also fixes a number of bugs, and certain parry X-Rays will no longer be broken by multiple attacks hitting at once. Check out the full list of changes below and let us know what you think.
Mortal Kombat X 03/29 Patch Notes
General Gameplay Fixes
There is no longer an addition frame of input delay when simulate online delay is on and should now better match online play
Removed several camera, sound, and particle glitches due to rollback
Removed several possible online desyncs
If a breaker is initiated while the attacker is below ground it will no longer animate faster than normal
Some knockdown reactions now longer reset the buffered combo damage scaling used by unavoidable off the ground situations
Fixed a bug which could cause controller configuration options to be reset for a round after a rollback in an online match
The timer in survivor koth now starts at 150 seconds
Corrected some brutalities which had some issues with rollback
Made some corrections to movelist frame data
Some hotfix changes from the previous patch are now being applied correctly
AI tweaks for the Kombat Pack 2 characters
Multiple attacks hitting on the same frame should no longer sometimes break though Sonya’s, Subzero’s, Triborg’s (Cyber Sub-Zero) X-Ray parry
Character-Specific Fixes
Alien – Adjusted the collision of Towards+BK to no longer miss against some duck blocking characters
Alien – Away+BK is no longer high attack immune for during its active frames
Alien – Addressed an issue that was causing the opponents wakeup attacks to sometimes come out the wrong way after ending a combo in Tail Flip
Alien – Adjusted Tail Flip to address it sometimes missing against some characters if they were duck blocking
Alien (Acidic) – Can no longer win a round from poison damage
Alien (Acidic) – Acid Blood is now +1 on hit (down from +11)
Alien (Acidic) – Erosive Blood is now +8 on hit (down from +38)
Alien (Konjurer) – Fixed a bug that caused Facehugger to sometimes remove Kung Lao’s hat for the rest of a round
Alien (Tarkatan) – Reduced the meter gain on executing the Tarkatan Rush special moves
Alien (Tarkatan) – Adjusted Away+BP to reduce it missing against some characters if they were duck blocking
Alien (Tarkatan) – Straight Slice no longer builds meter on block
Alien (Tarkatan) – Added 5 recovery frames on delayed Straight Slice on block
Alien (Tarkatan) – Added 10 recovery frames on delayed Nail And Impale on block
Bo’ Rai Cho – Adjusted Towards+FK to no longer miss against some duck blocking characters
Bo’ Rai Cho – Reduced the stun length of Fart Cloud & Crop Duster by 39 frames
Bo’ Rai Cho (Bartitsu) – Chaining Down+BK after a jump punch does the correct Bartitsu attack
Bo’ Rai Cho (Bartitsu) – Adjusted the hit regions on Away+FK,FP+FK to hit more consistently after Away+FK hits from max range
Bo’ Rai Cho (Dragon Breath) – Added 10 miss recovery frames to Ground Blaze and it now has 2 active frames (down from 5)
Bo’ Rai Cho (Dragon Breath) – Doing Ground Fire or Ground Blaze while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Drinking no longer removes the full screen effects for Reptile’s (Nimble) Basilisk or Basilisk Runner and Jason’s (Relentless) Pursuit or Dark Pursuit
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Adjusted the hit regions on Away+FK,FP+FK to hit more consistently after Away+FK hits from max range
Bo’ Rai Cho (Drunken Master) – Doing Drink or Chug while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Ferra/Torr (Lackey) – Colossal Crush will now correctly combo from a hit
Jason – When Killing Machine is disabled after blocking an opponent’s X-Ray attack there will no longer be lingering effects and sounds
Jason (Relentless) – The opponent can no longer execute a run from a buffered command while Pursuit or Dark Pursuit was up
Jason (Unstoppable) – Having a round end on Kano’s (Commando) Low or High Kounter will no longer skip to slowdown sequence which was removing the player’s ability to not have Resurrection trigger
Johnny Cage – Tweaked the 2nd hit of Nutcracker to remove some instances where it could miss from a some duck blocking characters from a certain distance
Kano – Camera can no longer get out of sync if a rollback happened when Kano is hit out of the beginning of Black Dragon Ball
Kitana – Slightly increased the range of Down+FK
Kitana (Mournful) – Adjusted Glaive Return timing on hit to combo more consistently from mid screen to full screen
Kotal Kahn – Adjusted the hit region of FP,FP to hit a little more consistently
Leatherface – Towards+BP is now +8 on hit (down from 13)
Leatherface – Towards+FK is now +15 on hit (down from 20)
Leatherface – Towards+BK is now +5 on hit (down from 15)
Leatherface (Butcher) – Skull Smash & Skull Fracture now have 8 startup frames (up from 6)
Leatherface (Butcher) – BP,BP is now +11 on hit (down from 21)
Leatherface (Butcher) – Towards+BP is now +12 on hit (down from 22)
Leatherface (Killer) – Killing someone with Psycho Rush’s Meter Burn will no longer sometimes skip the Finish Him sequence
Liu Kang (Flame Fist) – Adjusted repel regions of Windmill Punch & Windmill Flurry so the last hit is harder to low profile on block removing his option to 2in1 cancel it on block
Quan Chi (Sorcerer) – Having the armor trigger from Dark Curse while in a stun reaction will no keep his blocking disabled
Quan Chi (Sorcerer) – Added code to Dark Curse to not add armor if he being juggled in a reaction. This is currently not active because it would likely be more detrimental in most cases
Sonya (Special Forces) – Fixed being able to 2in1 cancel Drone summon into Drone attack commands
Tanya – Adjusted BP,BK to hit duck blocking opponents more consistently
Tremor – Added 5 recovery frames to Rock Shower
Triborg – FP is now +12 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – FP,FP is now +9 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – FP,FP,FP is now +15 on hit (down from 17)
Triborg – Towards+FP is now +13 on hit (down from 20)
Triborg – BP is now +14 on hit (down from 19)
Triborg – Towards+FK is now +15 on hit (down from 20)
Triborg – BP,FP is now +17 on hit (down from 24)
Triborg – BP,FP,FK is now -1 on block (down from -6)
Triborg – FK is now +12 on hit (down from 29)
Triborg – Away+FK now has 15 startup frames (up from 11)
Triborg – Down+FK is now +12 on hit (down from 18)
Triborg – BK is now +12 on hit (down from 17)
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – Towards+BP will no longer sometimes be missing it’s hit regions when canceled into from a run
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – Ice Ball now has 26 startup frames (up from 21)
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – reduced the stun frames on Ice Ball by 13
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – doing Drone summon while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyber Sub-Zero) – doing Dive Kick while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyrax) – Shrapnel-Port now has armor, does 5 more damage, and causes a different reaction on the 2nd hit
Triborg (Cyrax) – reduced the stun frames on Net & Advanced Net by 30
Triborg (Cyrax) – doing Bomb or Hover Bomb while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Cyrax) – Net and Advanced Net will now miss-fire out if a Bomb or Hover Bomb has hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – Hover Bomb will now miss-fire after 3 Hover Bombs have hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – Bomb will now miss-fire after 3 Bombs have hit in the same combo
Triborg (Cyrax) – adjusted BP,FP,BP to prevent all 4 hits from being forced to be blocked against some characters
Triborg (Smoke) – will no longer be invisible for some frames when 2in1 cancelling Away+BP,FP or Towards+BP,FP into some background interactions
Triborg (Smoke) – reduced the initial damage of Smoke Cloud & Smoke Bomb by 2 and increased the drop damage by 2
Triborg (Smoke) – doing Dissipate and Evaporate while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Smoke) – Doing Fade-Port and Smoke-Port while in a combo adds some combo damage scaling
Triborg (Smoke) – Smoke Bomb is now +5 on block (down from +8)
