Everyone who plays fighting games gives new characters a try from time to time. Whether the temporary switch is intended to help learn a matchup, to pick up a pocket character for specific situations, or just to goof off, taking a break from the main can be a rewarding experience. Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara recently took one such break from the Ryu he’s come to be synonymous with, opting to give Zangief a go.
Thanks to Flying High, we’re able to watch Daigo try his hand at the Red Cyclone in a lengthy Street Fighter V set against Suika-zzz’s Laura. This grappler showdown clocks in at over forty minutes, so grab a chair and get ready to see some Spinning Piledrivers.
LiangHuBBB’s Funny & Cool Moments series has been a mainstay in the fighting game community for quite some time. Even after all of these episodes, the series is still going strong, as there’s always something curious or hilarious happening in our genre of choice.
This newest episode–the 94th–is loaded with footage from current contenders like Street Fighter V and Killer Instinct, as well as old school favorites like Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. You’ll see strange hitboxes, unusual glitches, long combos, hilarious strategies and plenty more.
Soon, players will be spending their first weekend with Street Fighter V’s newest addition, Alex. With all that potential time in the lab coming up, we’re here to help you make the most of it with this collection of Alex footage from around the community! Let’s jump right in!
DaFeetLee has had a couple of days to figure Alex out, and in that process, he has come up with loads of setplay options following a variety of the returning fighter’s tools. This video is quite long, clocking in at nearly ten minutes, and offers more than enough setup options to satisfy all of the setplay fiends out there.
Marlonlonmilk keeps things going with a lengthy–over seven minute–collection of Alex beating his opponents to a pulp. These combos and resets range from basic to advanced, so Alex players of all skill levels are certain to find something helpful.
With a little bit of meter and a successful forward throw, Alex can demolish the whole cast. If you’re considering pressing a button against him on wakeup, this video may make you reconsider.
If you’re looking to get started with Alex, the latest offering from Meno Jazz may be just what you’re looking for. This primer offers a look at how to apply the character’s tools in a variety of ways.
It wouldn’t be a new character without new option selects to abuse, and the folks at 4Dstreaming have that covered. As you’ll see in this clip, the demonstrated option select follows a neutral jump and allows its user to block, tech a throw or perform an Air Knee Smash depending on the situation at hand.
Alex stands to reap big benefits from trade situations. As you’re soon to see in this footage from 1PinkyFlamingo, Alex can convert a traded Flash Chop into hundreds of damage. For a quicker look at a similar situation, check out the following footage from Some Fresh Guys.
In the event that Alex lands a throw against a cornered opponent, he can choose to apply this meaty option from drekerrr to keep the pressure (and stun) high.
Dopples offers a slightly longer series of setups that can lead to a guaranteed round victory against most of the cast. This is the sort of thing that won’t work out as planned all that often–especially considering the jump-in involved–but when it does, it’ll be quite the sight to behold.
If you’re just looking to pick up some combo knowledge for Alex, we’ve got plenty of options from which to choose to round out today’s collection. Neekogaming, ElChakotay Andrich, ArT, and Berial Plays all sent in reels collecting some of the best ways for Alex to go about doling out damage.
If you find something crazy over the weekend, send it our way! It may wind up in our next Street Fighter V community roundup!
Earlier today, the folks at PlayStation announced that Skullgirls 2nd Encore will be making its way to PlayStation Vita systems on April 5.
This mobile version is cross buy (meaning if you already own the PlayStation 4 release, you’ll get this free of charge vice versa), and will feature cross-play with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions as well as local multiplayer support via PSTV. Additionally, it will come fully-loaded with all five downloadable characters, a fully-voiced story mode, new challenges, new trials, a new survival mode, and a full array of platinum trophies.
The news comes alongside an announcement that the final Skullgirls patch can be expected soon as well, and will feature lobbies equipped with a mechanic they’re calling “All Play,” allowing players in larger lobbies to pair up and fight among themselves as opposed to having to wait in line.
For more information, head over to the PlayStation Blog, or check out the launch trailer below.
Corners in the fighting genre have proven to be one of the more difficult aspects to implement correctly. It seems so simple; it’s just the side of the stage after all, but even with decades of experience, genre leaders like Capcom can’t seem to get everything quite right when it comes to these borders. We saw evidence of this yesterday, and more just came our way moments ago.
Today’s interaction, as you can see in the quick clip we’ve included, shows a vastly extended range for R. Mika’s Critical Art when she has her back to the wall. The truly strange part about this is the fact that her actual animation also covers more ground before she goes for the grab. It’s almost like she’s bouncing off the ropes.
Though the video only demonstrates this occurrence on player two’s side, we can confirm that it applies to player one’s side as well. It also seems to only apply to R. Mika, as Laura doesn’t receive the same boost to her own Critical Art. Let us know what you think of this useful technique in the comments.
If you’ve been watching the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U scene recently, you may have heard about the new Bidou controller configuration that’s turning some heads. Last week, My Smash Corner demonstrated how this button layout can change the way the game is played by offering easy access to techniques normally avoided in tournaments due to their inconsistency, while also opening up some options not possible without it.
Since this stands to change the way we think of the fourth Smash title, it makes sense for top players to give their opinions on the matter. One such player is none other than Team SoloMid’s Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios.
The biggest problem with any change so drastic, as ZeRo points out, is the adaptation period required. Some folks have been playing Smash on a GameCube controller with a standard button layout for as long as they can remember, so making the change not only to a new layout, but also a new controller–anything Wii U compatible with four shoulder buttons–will understandably take some time.
Those who do decide to give the configuration a go will face unique challenges not present when doing something less drastic, like changing main characters. While mid-transition, players will likely suffer from the inability to reliably perform at tournaments, not only because they’ll be less consistent with the new layout, but because making a return to their comfortable, standard layout could work to erase any muscle memory they’ve built up. So it’s an interesting call to make: is the benefit of easy access to previously lab-only technology worth reconstructing the method through which players access the game? The answer to this will certainly depend on the player asked.
Toward the end of the video, ZeRo notes that “[a]ll it takes is one player mastering this technique and going to a tournament and having a great showing at it to prove if Bidou is or not the next big thing [sic],” and that’s a fair call. To make a switch like this look worthwhile, we need to see someone blow away the competition by using it. We need to see movement and positioning so crisp that the GameCube controller will become a thing of the past, but that doesn’t currently look too likely.
One thing to keep in mind, is that the Bidou layout takes advantage of some obviously unintended mechanics in order to create its effect. Certainly, bugs in fighting games are nothing new, and some do wind up sticking around, but with Nintendo still keen on patching the game, anyone looking to take their Bidou layout to an upcoming event would be wise to keep in mind that its effectiveness could be tweaked or removed at any point. If this does happen, it will likely happen without warning, or even announcement, thanks to how Nintendo tends to handle updates.
Check out ZeRo’s video below and let us know if you’ll be making the switch in the comments.
The folks at Smash and Grab released their latest Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tutorial earlier today. This new collection of footage highlights the abilities and strategic options of Corrin, one of the game’s final two downloadable characters.
True, Corrin released quite a while ago, but Smash and Grab produce tutorials that are quite a bit more than a simple list of how-to-play instructions. If you’ve seen their previous guides, you know that they draw inspiration from the highlighted character’s game (or series) of origin to create content that is both informative and entertaining.
If you’re looking to pick up ways to apply every move in Corrin’s arsenal and have a good time doing it, you’ll not want to miss this video.
As you’ve certainly noticed, we at Shoryuken enjoy rounding up footage of new characters and new games upon their release. These roundups often feature combos, setups, and various other tactics to help the community grow as a whole. However, in this most recent build of Street Fighter V, we’ve seen enough odd goings-on to warrant putting together the first roundup dedicated entirely to in-game oddities that will certainly result in some head scratching.
First, we have a video showcasing a strange move interaction. Alex’s standing roundhouse moves him forward a good bit before becoming active. It goes without saying that this sort of movement adds extra functionality to the move under specific circumstances, but all of those circumstances may not be intended. In the case of this video, from HeruButterfly, Vega performs a reversal timing EX Flying Barcelona on wakeup, in this case moving him forward slightly as well.
If timed correctly, Alex can perform a standing roundhouse on top of Vega as he does his wakeup and pass through the masked fighter, putting his roundhouse’s massive hitbox into a cross-up positioning and resulting in a crush counter. The timing isn’t terribly strict, but if mistimed it can result in either Alex losing outright or phasing harmlessly through the rising attack.
There’s a good chance this isn’t the only interaction of this kind for the standing roundhouse, but more testing is required.
Vryu123 found a couple of oddities in this build of the game as well. The first involves a shift in frame advantage following an EX projectile depending on which side of the stage the exchange takes place.
OMFG Capcom plz…You really did this? Left/right side Ex clap +3 on block stMP 6f startup pic.twitter.com/v1V9UgNAqH
The same sort of situation arises directly following a blocked stand short from the Brazilian fighter as well. Any number of things could cause this interaction–likely a hitbox/hurtbox interaction–but as it stands, all we know is that these sorts of inconsistencies shouldn’t exist in a game designed for competition.
Your guess is as good as ours when it comes to figuring out how dragonballjoseph wound up in this sitaution. When taking Alex into easy Survival Mode to unlock a new color, they were met with a screen that was entirely black aside from the HUD. Looks like Survival Mode just got a lot more difficult.
We wrap things up with another video from dragonballjoseph, which offers a quick look at Ken’s newest color: active camouflage.
This is where we would suggest you send us your own buggy findings, but hopefully there aren’t enough to warrant a second roundup of this sort. We’ll have to see!
Alex has barely been in our hands for a full day, and the community has already picked apart plenty of practical strategies for this returning character. And thanks to how fresh his appearance is, he’s truly the star of today’s roundup. Let’s get going.
John Crofts has been providing the community with tutorials of all types since the release of Street Fighter V, so it comes at little surprise that he was ready to tackle the game’s newest character as soon as he dropped. Today’s first video delves into notable normals, anti-air options, special move explanations, and a general gameplan for the returning fighter.
Frame traps are an important part of any offensive strategy, and if you’re looking to add some of these to your game with Alex, this next video, from Wave eSports, is just what you need.
SpabRog found out that Alex is capable of performing an EX Air Stampede directly following a connected clothesline to net some free (aside from the meter cost), safe pressure.
In the event that Alex lands an Air Stampede, he gets a free opportunity to continue pressing his advantage. In this next video, DaFeetLee demonstrates a throw or command grab option following the Air Stampede, as well as a meaty standing strong setup.
Now it’s time for combos, and boy we’ve got a load of them. This first reel, from Doopliss, opens up with some basic strings, but quickly evolves into some of the crazier options available to Alex. Doopliss also peppers in the occasional setups, so be sure to check it out.
Second on the combo front is none other than Desk. It comes as no surprise that the combo master has already had enough time to craft some impressive strings for Alex.
This next compilation, from izumojinX, kicks practicality to the curb. These combos will almost certainly never happen in a proper match, as most of them involve perfectly-timed projectiles colliding with Alex to expedite his journey through the recovery period of any given move and allow him to get the next swing started that much earlier. But that doesn’t make them any less entertaining to watch.
If you’re looking to snag some massive damage off of crush counter situations with Alex, these three one-off combo videos from wauhti should give you the ammunition you need. They also sent in a contender for Alex’s top damage output potential.
We round things out today with the second part of Shadowloo Bootcamp’s final F.A.N.G episode. In this chunk of footage, host Ricardo “Mono” Roman talks all things F.A.N.G footsies.
If you’re loving Alex enough to record some strategies of your own*, send us the footage! Your video may appear in our next Street Fighter V community roundup.
*We’re still cool with videos related to the rest of the cast, too.
Over a month into the life of Street Fighter V, we’ve finally made it to the moment many players have been waiting for since long before we were certain he’d make it into the game: Alex is playable. The community has been hard at work deconstructing the returning fighter, so we’ve rounded up plenty of footage of exactly that. Of course, we’ve got some standard roundup fare, too, so let’s get started.
We being things today with a combo reel from Sebastian Rikk. This is far from the only combo collection we’ve got in store, but it is the most traditional, in that it offers plenty of practical options for various amounts of meter.
In a similar vein, Evil Pixel put together an extensive tutorial for everything related to Alex combos. If you’re looking for a one-stop video to learn the ropes with the new guy, this is the video you should watch.
Alright, now we can move on to the less practical end of things. It’s important for combos to deal as much damage as possible, but it’s also important to go about dealing that damage in the most stylish way possible. What is the perfect style to damage ratio? Well, I don’t know much about math, but I can say for sure that these combos from Venom47 have a potentially disproportionate amount of pizzazz.
Speaking of damage, just a few hours into the life of the character, Redwolfxx may have already found Alex’s maximum output, which sneaks just over the 650 mark.
It looks like Alex has plenty of combo potential following specific trade situations, too. To demonstrate some of these conversions, Oscar Cruz put together this quick video.
This next Alex video, from Ambassador Foxx, focuses entirely on combos involving juggles. Give it a look to make sure you’re getting the most damage possible when you send opponents sailing skyward.
If you’re up against anyone but Zangief, this stun setup from hameko can result in a kill. As with anything of this nature, it’s pretty unlikely that someone will let the entire sequence happen in a proper match, but hey, it could happen.
The final episode of Shadowloo Bootcamp dedicated to F.A.N.G went live recently. In it, host Ricardo “Mono” Roman discusses anti-air options, footsies, and zoning with the poisonous newcomer.
Now for the finale! It’s not exactly the most practical option, but lordofultima figured out a way to carry opponents from corner to corner with R. Mika through a series of combos and setups. The interesting part about this is that Zangief–Mika’s target–is set to back recover and perform a jab on wakeup, so Mika has no trouble keeping opponents locked down even when they try to escape through back techs.
What have you found with Alex (or anyone else)? Send us your footage and it may make it into our next Street Fighter V community roundup!
