Author: Lance "Tarnot" Hood

Even with all of the excitement going on in the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 scene–thanks in no small part to recent upsets at Canada Cup and Youmacon–sometimes it’s nice to take things back to the time before TACs, MorriDoom, and, you know, Vergil. Clayton “FINALSHOWDOWN” Chapman decided to do just that in a recent Marvel vs. Capcom 2 combo video dedicated to Hayato, which he notes was a long time in the making.

If you’ve seen Chapman’s work in the past, you know to expect to see some things that you’ve never seen before, and you’ll not be disappointed on that front. The combo video features no assists, just a man, his energy sword, and his meter, slashing down all who oppose him for some fantastically stylish damage output.

Source: FINALSHOWDOWN

We got a chance to sample some of R. Mika’s motivational monologues last month thanks to a video from Burnout Fighter. Even though Mika had plenty to say, that footage barely scratched the surface of what the wrestler has on her mind.

It appears that she has–at the moment–seven different speeches to regale crowds with while she sits comfortably behind her single hit of armor. In the video below, Burnout Fighter returns to provide an opportunity to hear the rest of Mika’s talks.

For the most part, her words come as little surprise. There’s plenty of mention of rainbows, nods to how swell professional wrestling is, all that stuff. But her last offering is a little bit strange. It likely alludes to some story element that remains unseen at the moment, and involves pursuing an unknown target, a chase that she seems to believe requires the construction of a rainbow bridge.

There’s little chance that this is a nod to Norse mythology, but if anyone in the Street Fighter roster were to have something to do with Bifröst, I suppose the one named Rainbow would be the most appropriate.

Source: Burnout Fighter

Novril and the Chemical Lovers team are back with another set of tips and tricks for budding Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- players. Last week’s tutorial covered attack ranges and suggested that a good way to get started in the world of comboing is to figure out how to chain attacks together at a few different distances with your character of choice. With that tidbit out of the way, the team can move on to one of the most important, and most fun parts of the game: hit confirming.

In this week’s episode, the team suggests keeping your optimal chain ranges in mind, and then using the time during which your first few attacks connect to figure out what the best option for ending the combo will be based not only on range, but also on the current state of your opponent–standing, crouching, etc.

Check back next week for the team’s next video, and if you missed previous entries you can find information relating to basic offense, basic defense, ground movement, and aerial movement by following their respective links.

Source: Novril

Burnout Fighter released a video shortly after Street Fighter V’s second beta ended demonstrating Karin’s ability to perform a just-frame version of her EX Tenko. He showed that, activated this way, the move is safer, faster, and provides more combo options–pretty good, right? Well, on top of all that, it seems that the just-frame special also doesn’t cost any meter.

That’s right. Pandora House’s LPN recently showed this concept in action with a brand new video. From what we can tell, this technique looks to be just as good in practice as it is on paper. There’s one minor restriction that at least sort of puts a damper on the tactic, and that’s the fact that it’s only free if it isn’t canceled into from a normal. As you can see from the rest of the highlight reel, that isn’t much of an issue.

It’s important to note that there has been no official word on whether this effect is intended or not. We’ve still got a few months left before we get our hands on the final product, and things like this could change entirely before that time. For now, and until we hear otherwise, be afraid of Karin.

Source: Pandora House

In just a few short months, we’ll all have our hands on Street Fighter V. Not only will the upcoming title bring hundreds of hours of punching to the masses who already pour plenty of time into the genre, it should also bring in throngs of new players eager to throw their first Hadoukens.

Those initial weeks spent with Street Fighter, regardless of iteration, can be rough. The more time passes, the rougher entry into the fighting game community becomes. With this in mind, Jay Rego has created a video for newcomers to the series that really gets at the core of Street Fighter basics: analyzing opponents to figure out their intentions, forcing opponents into specific situations, and taking advantage of momentum shifts.

While the video draws its footage from Ultra Street Fighter IV, the concepts appearing therein should readily transfer over to Street Fighter V when the time comes. If you’ve got friends looking to get into the genre, this may be the perfect place to start.

Source: Jay Rego

With two full beta tests behind us, we’ve seen all sorts of new technology spring up for the cast of Street Fighter V. It’s no surprise that combo videos rank among the most popular early discoveries, and we’ve all seen our fair share of different ways to string hits together against opponents.

Typically speaking, the number of hits per combo in Street Fighter V remains rather low when compared to the current iteration of the game–thanks, Evil Ryu–but there’s still plenty of time to close that gap.

In the combo video below, Eternal-Emz makes major strides in pushing the Street Fighter V hit counter as high as possible with returning veteran Ken Masters. The damage suffers from serious scaling, which is understandable when this many hits come packed together, but it’s definitely a flashy way to make sure every bit of meter gets put to good use.

Source: Eternal-Emz

The Marvelous Essentials team is back with another episode in their biweekly Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 round table discussion podcast, Marvel LIVE. This was a big weekend for the Marvel crowd, so viewers can expect this evening’s show to be just as big.

Tonight the team plans to discuss Indiana’s upcoming Naptown Clutch tournament, as well as the results of three recent tournaments, Defend the North, Canada Cup and Youmacon. There’s plenty to talk about when it comes to Youmacon, including the grand finals upset as Cosmos took home first place over Tempo|Chris G in a mirror match. You can also expect to hear about CCG|BeeBall defending his home turf against some of the best Marvel players in the world.

We’ve embedded the stream below for convenience, or you can head over to Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from TeamSp00ky on www.twitch.tv

Source: Team Spooky

Olympic Gaming is back with another Ultra Street Fighter IV player spotlight. This week’s video features PandaxGaming’s HBK OR RKO, a Guy player who enjoys doing what Guy does best: running all over the competition. In the showcase below, they face off against a handful of high-ranking online players, rarely giving them enough space to take a breath, let alone think about what sort of mix-up the next command run will bring.

As always, if you’d like to learn a little bit more about the featured player, be sure to check out the video’s description for a brief, text-based interview.

Source: Olympic Gaming