Author: Lance "Tarnot" Hood

Combo videos are a great for picking up new ways to dole out damage with your favorite characters, but the speed, the cinematic nature (or lack thereof), and the general level of practicality of presented combos play major parts in the amount of information that can be gleaned from these often entertaining bits of footage.

Hitbox|Dustin’s latest M.O.D.O.K. video centers around adding Sentinel’s Drone assist to extend combos in a handful of ways. Since this video aims to teach rather than entertain, viewers will find handcam footage, slow motion replays, and explanations from Dustin himself as to what’s going on on the screen during these practical strings.

You’ll quickly notice that Dustin performs each of these combos on a hitbox (which makes sense), so those M.O.D.O.K. players out there who have chosen to eschew the joystick will be able to see the exact sort of button sequences necessary to add these combos to their game, but the information should still help those who use more traditional input methods as well.

Be sure to hit up the video’s description for time stamps and transcripts.

Source: Dustin

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U catches plenty of flack for the speed at which its matches unfold. At their slowest, these matches look something like the top 8 bout between Dabuz and Abadango at APEX earlier this year. That particular set included one round that ran to the final countdown and two more going to Sudden Death–a nearly 25 minute set altogether.

Bringing this up isn’t meant as a dig at the level of play that took place during that match, but more at the nature of that particular matchup. A character as projectile-heavy as Pac-Man fighting someone who can absorb them like Rosalina & Luma is bound to be a drawn out battle, and is certainly not for the faint of heart.

But that doesn’t mean that every round that takes place in the most recent Smash has to go to time, or even last more than a couple of minutes. Below, we’ve included a video of a recent Captain Falcon ditto played between Team SoloMid’s ZeRo and False, showing just how fast the game can move under the right circumstances.

Captain Falcon already adds an undeniable degree of speed to any match that he joins, but when he’s on both the giving and receiving end of his down-air spikes and forward-air sweet spots, an entire best-of-three set can be over in the blink of an eye.

Source: Rush Hour Smash

With all of their success in Mortal Kombat X, it’s sometimes easy to forget that YOMI Gaming is home to players who excel at other forms of digital punching. One such player, Pierre “Shin Phoenix” Jones, has seen a few rounds of Ultra Street Fighter IV in his day, and takes the stage in this week’s Olympic Gaming player spotlight to show off his skills.

While past highlight reels have sported strong opponent lineups, this week’s is more than enough to turn some heads: Tampa Bison, FRQ|Filipinoman, Jazdero, and iPeru each make attempts to put a stop to Jones. And if you’d like to learn a little bit more about the man behind the mask, you can check out the video’s description for a text-based interview.

Source: Olympic Gaming

We all know about delayed wakeup in Ultra Street Fighter IV. Initially, it seemed like the godsend that could finally put a stop to unblockables and hard-to-blockables, vortex options, the whole deal. Then everyone just figured out option selects and setups with built-in reaction windows to (mostly) work around the mechanic. Bummer.

But what about delayed quick rise? Tom Piddock, the creator of Frame Trapped, released a video yesterday demonstrating that the act of quick rising has a built in window wherein the quick rise action can be performed. Through the use of his program, Piddock demonstrates how a slight variance in quick rise timing can seriously mess with safe jump options, even allowing the would-be defender an offensive opening, or a punish.

To see this concept in action, check out the video below.

If you’ve not given Frame Trapped a spin yourself, you can download it here.

Source: Tom Piddock

The Beefy Smash Doods are at it again, this time bringing ultimate pain to one unfortunate target with two sets of fists. Thanks to the intelligent abuse of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’s mechanics, the team pulls off some seriously absurd strings: Diddy gets a chance to fully charge his peanut gun, Jigglypuff lands two Rests, and Captain Falcon gets one of the most beautiful alley-oops into his knee that I’ve seen.

The creators do note a few things in the videos’ description that warrant a mention here as well: footstools don’t allow the affected player to tech, and jab locks force characters into a standing animation during which they’re vulnerable to whatever their enemy chooses to bop them with. Additionally, since these combos were obviously staged, DI isn’t taken into account.

You’ll probably never see them in a doubles tournament, but that doesn’t make these combos any less satisfying to behold.

Source: Beefy Smash Doods

Kirby has been holding down a place in the Super Smash Bros. roster since the game first hit shelves well over a decade ago. Over the course of his long stay among the rest of the Nintendo greats, the savior of Dreamland has come to be associated with a few things, among them easy kills on the uninitiated thanks to his ability to inhale opponents and leap to his own demise and the Hup cancel.

Named for the sound that he makes during the startup of his down air, the Hup cancel allows Kirby to negate landing recovery in various situations, leading to a good number of mixup opportunities.

For a breakdown of how to perform this technique in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, as well as some ideas on its applications, be sure to check out the video below.

Source: Ƥнan†σϻ via Smash Boards

In a recent stream, the folks at YUBIKEN hosted a first-to-five Ultra Street Fighter IV set between C. Viper faithful Latif and their very own Seth mastermind, Dashio. Recorded shortly beofre his impressive victory at Tokyo Game Show 2015, Dashio brings out the sort of Seth play that dropped more than a few jaws just last weekend.

With such explosive characters under their control, there’s no shortage of stuns, high-damaging combos, and insane mixups to behold in the footage below. To help keep the hype levels high, as well as demonstrate the friendly nature of the exhibition, viewers get to see Latif react to the clutch moments that close out most every round.

YUBIKEN also recently hosted a first-to-three set between their own KichijojiKEN and Humanbomb of Canada Cup Gaming, during which both players stuck to using series protagonist Ryu. Be sure to follow this link to check it out as well!

Source: YUBIKEN

Kinderparty, BROKENTIER’s Persia, and the rest of the gang are back with another heaping helping of goings-on from the world of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Since the introductions were taken care of in their first podcast, the team jumps right into pertinent news this episode.

They get things started with a lengthy segment detailing the results from Fall Classic 2015 before moving on to make predictions for upcoming fights at Absolute Battle 6, discuss netplay, and field questions from viewers who were watching live.

If you like what you see, be sure to tune into the podcast every first and third Monday at 6 PM PDT, 9 PM EDT on Twitch.

Source: Marvelous Essentials

With a new entry to the King of Fighters series on the horizon, Persona has redoubled their efforts to push out the completed, final versions of their always impressive King of Fighters XIII combo videos. In many cases, the original entries for featured characters brought about combos insane enough to stand for years to come, but that hasn’t stopped the mastermind from going back and making some adjustments where (not entirely) necessary to squeeze out every bit of damage possible.

Their most recent offering stars Ikari Warriors and Metal Slug vet Ralf Jones. Persona opens with a three-hit kill against Duo Lon, reminding viewers that there’s good reason Ralf has come to be known as The One-Man Army. The combos that come after follow the same sort of formula, trading plenty of Ralf’s meter for plenty of health on the part of his opponents.

This combo video comes complete with a change log from the original upload, as well as an input transcript, both of which can be found in the description.

Source: Persona