Author: Ian "iantothemax" Walker

Over the past few weeks, fans have seen a flurry of reveals for Street Fighter V in the form returning fighters Karin and Zangief as well as newcomer Rashid. Folks in North America have yet to see the new characters playable on their continent, but that’s all going to change at this weekend’s New York Comic Con.

Similar to previous events, Capcom will be attending this convention, this time with Street Fighter V in tow, allowing attendees the opportunity to get their hands on the aforementioned cast members. In addition to playable demos, Capcom executive Yoshinori Ono is schedule to make a special appearance at the company’s panel.

New York Comic Con is scheduled for October 8-11. More details on Capcom’s plans can be found here.

Source: Capcom-Unity

In an area as large as the United States, traveling a state over for a tournament can end up bearing a cost many can’t afford, let alone traveling clear across the country. Fortunately, Capcom has partnered with Level|Up Series to sponsors two online Street Fighter tournaments, with trips to Capcom Cup in December as the grand prize.

If you think you have what it takes in Ultra Street Fighter IV, this could be your chance to spectate this high-level competition in person. There will be two tournaments, both played online with the PlayStation 4 version of the game; one will take place on October 17 and the other is scheduled for November 3. Registration is now live through Challonge, but please be aware that this is open only to players in North America.

For more details, be sure to visit the official announcement. Brackets are being capped at 128 players, so act fast!

Source: Capcom Pro Tour via EventHubs

Few competitive Killer Instinct regions come to mind outside of the United States. For whatever reason, it hasn’t gained the same foothold elsewhere, but that hasn’t stopped small pockets of the world from developing their scene with the release of the title’s latest installment on Xbox One.

One such pocket is Japan. Renowned for their skill in pretty much any fighting game you can think of, Japanese competitors have begun to spring up, bringing new ideas and techniques to the table with them. Names like Domi, who was the only non-American to qualify for Evo 2015’s top eight bracket thanks to his surprising Cinder play, and OGTY, translating his success in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, have proven that they deserve to be counted among the world’s best.

Fortunately, Ultra Arcade has recognized their talent, and will be providing Japan with their very own Killer Instinct World Cup qualifier in Kombo Klash Japan, scheduled for later this month.

Ultra Arcade’s Killer Instinct World Cup is an answer to the Capcom Pro Tour, and its organizers are hoping to do for Killer Instinct what Capcom Cup did for Street Fighter. By holding qualifiers, they are ensuring that they bring together the best players they can find, as well as making sure the entire community is represented.

As of this writing, TSC|CDjr, UA|Bass, UA|MyGod88, UA|Paul B, and MOR|Rico Suave have qualified for the finals, a fitting testament to the level of competition this event is sure to provide.

Kombo Klash Japan is scheduled for October 24-25. More details on this qualifier and the overall tour can be found here.

Source: Ultra Arcade

Ever since opening their Indiegogo campaign last month, the folks behind Them’s Fightin’ Herds have had a whirlwind of success. The crowdfunding efforts have raised over $200,000 for their project so far–putting them well on their way towards the $436,000 goal–and now they have been approved by Steam’s Greenlight program.

What this means, in short, is that enough interest was shown in the title that Mane6 will be granted the right to publish on the world’s largest digital games platform, a huge step in getting Them’s Fightin’ Herds noticed by the wider gaming community. Additionally, previous and future backers who contribute at least $40 to the project will now be granted access to the closed beta when it goes live.

Since the last time we checked in on them, Mane6 has also added a number of stretch goals, including Mac and Linux ports, a seventh launch character (a goat!), and more. Be sure to check out Indiegogo for more details, and tune into their special broadcast on Twitch later today for a first look at Oleander the Unicorn and Paprika the Alpaca.

Source: Mane6, tip sent in anonymously

After a little over a week of voting in Japanese arcades, we’ve been provided an early picture of how the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- character vote is shaping up by a recent Arc System Works broadcast.

For those out of the loop, the developers have asked players to vote which character they would want to see join the title’s playable roster, out of a potential group of sixteen. These fighters range from familiar faces to obscure figures even hardcore Guilty Gear fans may not be aware of.

At the midway point, there are four clear contenders for the coveted position. Holy Order Sol tops out the voting with a slight lead over second-place finisher Dizzy, both of which are closely followed by Bridget and Baiken. The latter proved to be popular enough to handily take the top spot in our own unofficial poll, but it appears as if taste in Japan is a bit different than that of our readers.

But after that, vote totals begin to spiral downward at a harsh pace. While Anji Mito was able to secure over 6000 votes, Testament, Robo-Ky, and surprise placer Izuna barely make it into the top eight. Things get downright tragic for Kliff Undersn fans, as their character brings up the rear with a measly 290 votes, the only entry unable to crack 1000.

We’ve gone ahead and transcribed the information in the image above into a handy list, complete with some rough percentages.

Let us know what you think of these early results, and stay tuned for the final tally on October 16.

Source: Arc System Works via Furious blog

65,379 total votes

Diddy Kong was considered strong before, but a new glitch discovered after Nintendo’s implementation of a recent patch could possibly see the primate banned from competition.

Here’s how it works. If Diddy is hit by a multi-hit attack while shielding, and then unshields for whatever reason, he will become impossible to throw. This bug was first discovered by a player named Kibzu, and brought to our attention by Nick Riddle; both of their videos can be found below.

While this glitch is active, Diddy can still be damaged normally, and will be grabbable should he lose a stock. This weird state will also be reverted if Diddy’s shield be attacked again. As Kibzu notes above, all characters are capable of falling victim to this same problem, and even nontraditional grabs like Kirby’s inhale become ineffective.

Is this a bannable offense? Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

Sources: Kibzu, Nick Riddle via D1

Ever since being released as an alternate skin for Jago, Killer Instinct fans have clamored to see Shadow Jago become his own unique character. They were satiated for a bit thanks to the season two appearance of Omen, the spirit who haunts the series protagonist, but the question still remained: what’s going on with Shadow Jago?

Things got interesting with the start of the Killer Instinct Community Fund earlier this year. While it proved an excellent way for folks to help support major fighting game tournaments and get a little something in return, the final reward was what they had all been waiting for. The developers promised to officially add Shadow Jago to the playable cast should the campaign reach its $100,000 goal, and the community responded by hitting that mark in just three days.

After informing players of their progress on Shadow Jago back at Evo 2015, Iron Galaxy Studios’ lead combat designer Adam “Keits” Heart took to Ultra-Combo to provide even more details on this upcoming character.

From the looks of things, Shadow Jago is shaping up to be a quicker version of his regular counterpart, with a higher walkspeed to complement the commitment of his lengthy forward and back dashes. His slowest fireball is the same speed as the regular Jago’s fastest, and the Shadow version fires a barrage of plasma instead of a single, large projectile.

One of the main ways the developers seem to be setting these two characters apart is sword usage. While Jago utilizes the weapon in a number of attacks, Shadow Jago takes that to another level. His crouching heavy punch, for example, has had its reach increased to make it a more reliable poking tool, and his normal throw automatically transitions to the Laser Blade ender for more juggle opportunities. Even his uppercut has been changed from a simple dragon punch to a deadly blade swipe, as seen in the comparison images below.

The most unique aspect of Shadow Jago’s gameplay, however, is definitely his Instinct mode. Shadow Symbiosis grants the dark character additional frame advantage on his moves like Jago’s Tiger Fury, but the similarities end there. While in Instinct mode, hitting the opponent with an Endokuken or dashing through them will attach the Dark Tether, which comes with its own set of upgrades.

When the Dark Tether is active, Shadow Jago fuels his Shadow and Surge moves with the opponent’s meter, using only half of his own and stealing the rest. He will also gain access to a unique taunt that instantly grants both players a full bar of meter. A risky proposition, sure, but when you have two resource pools to work from instead of one, why not?

Oh, and before the cries of, “Overpowered!” ring out, know that a single hit will detach the Dark Tether, so smack Shadow Jago up quickly before he turns the tides.

All in all, Shadow Jago sounds like an incredibly fun addition to the Killer Instinct roster. He will be available sometime before the end of the year. For more gameplay details, be sure to check out Heart’s full write-up by following the link below.

Source: Ultra-Combo