Author: Lance "Tarnot" Hood

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The Daily Dot Talks Absolute Battle 6 with Brolylegs and Cast Blanka

The folks at The Daily Dot are back with another episode of Best of III. This time around, the trio are joined by Mike “BP|Brolylegs” Begum and Javier “TL.BP|Cast Blanka” Castaneda, both of whom had top five finishes in Ultra Street Fighter IV at last weekend’s Absolute Battle 6.

In the interview, Brolylegs goes into the thought process behind his approach to the Vega matchup, a line of questioning inspired by his impressive double perfect at the start of the tournament that put him well on his way to finals day. Those who haven’t heard Brolylegs speak on his method of playing should be sure to stick around for his brief discussion on the pad setup that he uses in order to compete with limited access to buttons.

Cast Blanka has plenty to say as well, speaking on execution, his opinion on Blanka’s abundance of unfavorable matchups, and plenty more.

As with all previous episodes of the podcast, the team spends the first third of the show covering recent news from around the fighting game community and rounds things out with some match analysis. If you’d like to skip right to the interview segment, you can do so by following this link.

Source: The Daily Dot

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The Daily Dot Talks Absolute Battle 6 with Brolylegs and Cast Blanka

The folks at The Daily Dot are back with another episode of Best of III. This time around, the trio are joined by Mike “BP|Brolylegs” Begum and Javier “TL.BP|Cast Blanka” Castaneda, both of whom had top five finishes in Ultra Street Fighter IV at last weekend’s Absolute Battle 6.

In the interview, Brolylegs goes into the thought process behind his approach to the Vega matchup, a line of questioning inspired by his impressive double perfect at the start of the tournament that put him well on his way to finals day. Those who haven’t heard Brolylegs speak on his method of playing should be sure to stick around for his brief discussion on the pad setup that he uses in order to compete with limited access to buttons.

Cast Blanka has plenty to say as well, speaking on execution, his opinion on Blanka’s abundance of unfavorable matchups, and plenty more.

As with all previous episodes of the podcast, the team spends the first third of the show covering recent news from around the fighting game community and rounds things out with some match analysis. If you’d like to skip right to the interview segment, you can do so by following this link.

Source: The Daily Dot

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Bafael Breaks Down True Blockstrings, Auto Guard, Proximity Guard. and More in Ultra Street Fighter IV

Thanks to the complexity of the fighting genre and the abundance of nuanced features that our favorite titles tend to contain, Bafael still has plenty of topics to work with in his Ultra Street Fighter IV Primer series, even this late in the game’s life.

His latest video covers a handful of closely related topics beginning with true blockstrings and then moving on to auto guard, chain canceling, and proximity guarding. As with all of Bafael’s videos, viewers will find out how these topics affect gameplay on a match-to-match basis and, especially in the case of true blockstrings, how to use these mechanics to solidify a stronger game the next time you step into the arena.

Source: Bafael

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Snake Eyez Suplexes Dashio and Hagejin in Recent Ultra Street Fighter IV Exhibitions

If yesterday’s announcement of Zangief’s return in Street Fighter V wasn’t quite enough to sate your hunger for Siberian wrestling action, you’ll definitely want to check out these recent exhibition matches between Red Bull’s Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis and YUBIKEN’s Dashio. Though the Tokyo Game Show is a couple weeks behind us now, Dashio is still the man to beat, and who better to step up to the plate than the always crowd pleasing Snake Eyez?

Lewis’ ability to slow down the match plays heavily in his favor throughout this set, preventing Dashio from taking full advantage of Seth’s blistering speed and mix-up potential. But, as you’ll see in the footage below, not even the footsies master can keep Dashio in check forever.

And if that still wasn’t enough Zangief action for you, how about a Zangief mirror? While at YUBIKEN headquarters, Lewis also had a chance to meet Banishing Flats with Hagejin in a first-to-five set to determine Russia’s best bet for proper sky protection.

Source: YUBIKEN

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Rivals of Aether Receives Bug Fixes, Balance Changes, and an Exciting New Jab Mechanic in Early Access Patch

Even though Rivals of Aether has only been flying the Steam Early Access flag for a little over a week, it has already received a sizable update.

If you’ve spent some time playing the game, you’ll know a couple of things to be true: Kragg and Zetterburn positively swarm the online matchmaking system, and many players resort to jab strings as opposed to more stylish options when looking to tack on damage. That means that both the beetle and the lion had some of their numbers and abilities toned down, and the game’s jab mechanic has changed to allow more creative combo options after landing that first swing.

On top of plenty of slight shifts in damage and the like across the whole cast, the game received some minor bits of polish and a handful of bug fixes generally aimed at helping to improve the online experience.

For full patch notes, including a breakdown of how the new jab string system works, you can check out the box below or head over to Reddit.

Rival of Aether ver.0.0.4 Patch Notes

Since this update is mostly bug-fixes and only minor balance changes, we are pushing it as a full update. Later in Early Access, we might play with the balance some more and could look at doing Beta Opt-Ins before those changes go live. Because we are still early into our development and learning just like you are, please be patient with our process.

General

Jab combos are fun, but they don’t give players much chance to style. At high or low percents, finishing a jab combo is optimal unless you expect a tech. Now we are allowing players to get more creative with their jab combos.

  • Jab Combos can now be cancelled into tilts on the same frame that they can be continued. Jab 1 or Jab 2 can be cancelled into any of the 3 tilts by holding a direction while pressing the A button. You can continue the jab combo by keeping your stick neutral while pressing A. This works for all 6 characters.
  • Jab 1s now cause a flinching animation to grounded opponents instead of knockback. This prevents Jab 1s from being tech-able when hitting a grounded opponent.
  • Neutral Respawns: Players now respawn in the center of the stage. This change will hopefully reduce respawning players from gimping opponents.
  • Up and Down Angles Adjusted on Left Controller Stick. The input angles for both up and down have been increased. Hopefully now you will have to hold your controller at an angle closer to 45 degrees to register an Up or Down rather than 30 degrees.

Zetterburn

Alright Zetterburn mains, I know you are worried about your favorite lion. I am here to say that we are keeping his core intact for the foreseeable future. With that said, some of his numbers are a bit off compared to the rest of his kit and to the other Rivals. Therefore, we are hitting some of Zetterburn’s damage numbers so he doesn’t rack up it up so quickly with some of his aerials.

  • Zetterburn Down Air Damage Reduced from 15 to 12.
  • Zetterburn Neutral Air Damage Reduced from 3,3,5 to 2,2,5.
  • Zetterburn Forward Air Damage Reduced from 10 sour, 15 sweet to 8 sour, 13 sweet.
  • Zetterburn Up Air Damage Reduced from 15 sweet to 13 sweet.
  • Zetterburn Forward Tilt hitbox adjusted to match visual. Has more range forward now.

Kragg

Kragg players are also worried about their favorite beetle. To that I say, we aren’t impacting much today except we took a good hard look at his Pillar and tried to hit at some of the campy strategies both on stage and off stage. We also looked at Down Special which has the ability to slow down a match greatly due to how safe it is.

  • The Pillar will now start falling under the weight of players. One and a half seconds after spawning, the pillar will begin to slowly descend if any player or rock is sitting on it. This prevents players from camping on a pillar below the stage line.
  • The Pillar can now be destroyed on the way up, causing Kragg to go into fall state. This will force Kragg to be a bit more careful about when he uses his Pillar on stage and will also allow players to counter the Pillar with a projectile if they can make a good read.
  • Kragg’s Down Special Recovery has been increased from 12 to 16 frames.
  • Kragg now has an appropriate amount of Parry Stun if Down Special is parried allowing it to be punished.
  • Bug Fix: Kragg can no longer tech while holding a rock.

Wrastor

Wrastor is the king of the air and players are having a great time as long as they can read their opponents. Our Wrastor updates are focused on his Down Air to make the move more enjoyable to use.

  • Wrastor Down Air has a new animation that looks and feels way better.
  • Wrastor Down Air has a bigger hitbox during the active frames.
  • Wrastor Down Air now has a sour spot after the active frames on his wings that causes a weak semi-spike.
  • Wrastor Down Air Startup increased from 7-8 frames and recovery increased from 12-15 frames.
  • Parrying Wrastor’s Up Special will no longer stop him in his tracks.

Forsburn

We are still watching Forsburn’s clone very closely but want to give it some more time to develop. We are also watching his recovery into smoke clouds. However, today we are adjusting one of this most used attacks to hopefully open up more creativity in his game.

  • Forsburn Dash Attack Damage reduced from 11-9
  • Forsburn Dash Attack Knockback Scaling increased from .3 to .4.
  • Fixed a bug where Forsburn could not perform the second hit of his Forward Strong with the attack button when facing left.
  • Fixed a bug where a clone on fire was causing Forsburn burn damage.

Orcane

Seems like players are having a great time learning our Whale Cat Snake (terminology courtesy of Sky Williams). We tweaked his Up Air in efforts to make the move more reliable and line it up with other KO abilities.

  • Orcane Up Air Base Knockback Reduced from 10-9. Knockback Scaling increased from .75 to .8.
  • Orcane Up Air Sour Spot Active Frames increased from 8-10.

Maypul

Now that the game has been out for a week, players are just now beginning to uncover the craziness that is Maypul. We wanted to adjust some of her gameplay in attempts to open up some variety in her playstyles.

  • Maypul Jab 1 and 2 startup reduced from 5 frames to 3 frames.
  • Maypul Dash Attack Horizontal Speed reduced from 14 to 12. This is to allow the move to combo into itself more appropriately and prevent it from having too large of punish range.
  • Maypul Back Air hitboxes increased to match the visuals.
  • Maypul Up Strong Active Frames increased from 3 to 6. Hitbox also adjusted to match her visual.

Bug Fixes

  • We have found a bug causing players to lose their double jumps in specific scenarios. We have removed this issue and expect players to retain their double jumps more consistently.
  • AI Kragg will now recover from his pillar in practice mode.
  • Fixed a bug that caused frame one of hitboxes to be incorrectly aligned.
  • A Profile’s Right Stick Settings should now work in online matches without having to enter the options menu again.
  • The Simple Smoke setting has been renamed to Simple Effects. It now also disables particles on the basic version of the Treetop Lodge. We will be adding more effects to this option in later updates.
  • Kragg can now create a pillar under the Air Armada due to the stalling potential being removed.
  • Kragg no longer retains Super Armor after cancelling his Side Special into Jump into Up Strong immediately.

Online

  • We have fixed some bugs causing players to be automatically matched when glitched or AFK in queue. This should reduce the impact of Wishbone561s even more.
  • We have updated the visual at the top of match-made games to be crowns so players are more aware of the best of three format.
  • Added a “Game and Set” UI Element for when a Best of Series ends.
  • We have fixed a bug that allowed players to deselect a character after choosing ready causing the match to load incorrectly.
  • Invites have moved away from best of 3 and are now currently just a counter. Players can play as many matches as they want and scores will reset if they leave. Matchmaking remains best 2 out of 3 series.
  • We hope to add series back to Invited games in a later update but for now players can simply leave and then re-invite to start a new series.
  • We have updated some of our join / leave logic and have reduced some of the wait time.
  • Kragg’s Pillar no longer stutters during Online Play.

Source: Dan Fornace via GilesofJosh

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Unleash Your Lightning Legs with These Tips for the Chun-Li vs. El Fuerte Matchup in Ultra Street Fighter IV

Battling El Fuerte can be one of the more frustrating things in Ultra Street Fighter IV. Thanks to his speed, ambiguous angles of attack, mix-up options, and that goofy chef hat that he occasionally decides to wear to the fight, he’s usually got just the right tool to knock you off your guard.

If you happen to be a Chun-Li player, Spab Rog’s latest guide to putting a stop to Fuerte offers the insight you’ll need to make the matchup much less of a struggle. Spad offers punish options for some of the suplexing chef’s more common attacks, ways to apply the Kikosho Ultra, and some creative opportunities for Chun-Li’s normals, specials, and focus attack to favorably alter her hurtbox and avoid damage.

Source: Spab Rog

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Escape Lucario’s Shieldlock in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

If you’ve had the distinct displeasure of stepping up against an in-the-know Lucario player since yesterday’s update to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, you’ve probably suffered some frustrating shieldlock situations. Thanks to the increase in shield stun generated by all attacks, the Pokémon can trap shielded opponents at the edge of a stage (or any platform) with his neutral special until their shield shatters.

Veterans of the Smash series likely figured out the best way around this tactic after falling for it once, assuming they fell for it at all. But for those with less experience, the Beefy Smash Doods put together a quick video detailing how to deal with this unique situation.

By using Smash Directional Influence to first ease Lucario away from the stage, then performing SDI in the opposite direction to actually remove themselves from the attack’s hitbox, players are free to live another day, and possibly get the drop on that dastardly Lucario.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods

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Super Smash Bros. for Wii U Patch Brings Minor Gameplay Tweaks, More Downloadable Content

A new patch hit Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS earlier this morning, and, as usual, Nintendo has chosen to keep its lips sealed with regard to the exact nature of its changes. Luckily, some folks on the Smash Boards forums have already begun breaking apart the update. Luckier still, the process of digging up what has actually been modified has become markedly easier thanks to the wonders of data mining–gone are the days of tedious side-by-side comparisons.

At the time of this writing, a partial list of changes can be found here. Since it’s still quite early in the life of the patch, there’s an excellent chance that this list will continue to expand as the day progresses. The changes at present include a reduction in shield damage on tech get-up attacks, a rework of Ganondorf’s neutral air, a host of tweaks to two of Ike’s neutral specials, and plenty more.

And just like previous patches, these changes come alongside a small offering of downloadable content to pick up if you’re into that sort of thing. We all knew to expect the addition of the Super Mario Maker stage, and as predicted earlier this month, a second stage based on Brawl’s Wind Waker-themed Pirate Ship made its way into the game as well.

But that’s not all: folks can also deck out their Miis in a handful of new duds including a business suit, Toad and Fox outfits (for when you want to be Fox without actually, you know, being Fox), and options inspired by other Nintendo properties.

As with all previous content, players can purchase the items for the Wii, the 3DS, or in a pack that contains all of the content for each in one big ol’ bundle. The price breakdowns are as follows:

  • New Mii Outfits – $0.75 each per system, or $1.15 each for both systems; $5.25 for full costume bundle per system, or $8.05 for full costume bundle for both systems
  • New Stages – $2.49 per system, or, $3.49 for both systems
  • Entire bundle – $7.74 for the 3DS, $9.73 for the Wii U, or $13.53 for both systems

Note: The price variance in the complete bundle is due to the Pirate Ship stage being limited to the Wii U.

Source: Smash Bros. and Smash Boards

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BandDGames Explains Some Lesser-Known Super Smash Bros. Melee Facts

When a game has been around as long as Super Smash Bros. Melee, the community has an abundance of time not only to figure out how the game should be played at the highest of levels, but also to unearth all sorts of wacky interactions between characters, stages, menus, and more.

The folks at BandDGaming recently compiled a host of these strange occurrences, which we’ve included below. If you’ve got a good deal of Melee under your belt, you’ve probably run into a few of these at some point, but have you seen Yoshi turn pixel-height? Have you seen Link’s super jump? What about Samus’ extended grab?

If you see something that you’d like to perform at your next set of locals, the video includes details on how to do that as well.

Source: BandDGames via Smash Boards

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Jay Rego Continues His Analysis of Stunfest 2015’s Ultra Street Fighter IV Grand Finals

If you enjoy picking apart high level play, or at least seeing high level play picked apart, there’s a good chance you’ve been keeping up with Jay Rego’s running series dedicated to the Stunfest 2015’s Ultra Street Fighter IV grand finals between Evil Geniuses’ Momochi and Daigo Umehara of Mad Catz. In this fourth video, which went live earlier today, Rego breaks down the match that forced a bracket reset at the French tournament, allowing Daigo some space to breathe.

Since Rego has already spent so much time with footage from this set, he’s able to provide a plethora of information regarding the tendencies that each player has shown so far, allowing viewers a glimpse into the minds of these two champions. The analysis also includes a segment dedicated to an option select that Momochi brings out, using training mode to demonstrate the situations it covers as well as how Daigo could have escaped it.

If you missed Rego’s breakdowns of the first, second, or third games between these titans, you can catch up on those by following their respective links.

Source: Jay Rego