Ledge trumping makes returning to the stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U a terrifying experience. If you choose to take your time and dangle off the stage for more than a handful of frames, your opponent can easily take advantage of this by stealing the ledge, then doing something so simple as jumping and performing a back air to send you careening off into a side blast zone.
As the Beefy Smash Doods demonstrate in the video below, quick reaction times after grabbing the ledge can prevent this sort of thing from happening. Of course, some options to return to the stage once the ledge has been grabbed are safer than others, but since there are so many options, it’s important to mix things up and not become predictable.
The end segment of the video is dedicated to a method of making an up special attack proceed beyond the ledge (as opposed to snapping to it) to hit eager opponents and make them think twice about trying to go for a trump. This technique is much more difficult on some characters due to the nature of the inputs involved, and can actually result in an SD if performed incorrectly as someone like Pikachu or Sheik.
Back in January, Alpharad debuted his “How to Play: 101″ series with a video dedicated to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’s Villager. In it, Alpharad put a painful end to a plethora of For Glory opponents through stylish and often hilarious means. Since then, Alpharad has gone on to create 29 more videos which have drawn the attention of plenty of Smash fans and players, including top competitors like ZeRo.
Even though the series has been well-received by the community, all good things do eventually come to an end. With the release of his most recent 101 video–which you’ll find embedded below–Alpharad comes full circle with a second episode filled with pocketed projectiles, brutal bowling ball edge guards, and the same style of humor that he has come to be known for.
Alpharad has stated that he plans to continue producing videos, but will be taking a (perhaps permanent) break from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U content. If you missed some of Alpharad’s previous 101 videos, you can check out all thirty of them by heading over to his playlist.
Mortal Kombat X players have had access to Tanya for just over a day now, and that’s been more than enough time for the community to compile a vast number of combo videos and strategy guides for the new fighter. Below, we’ve included some of the best stuff from around the FGC–shout out to the Test Your Might Tanya forum, as it has proven to be a wellspring of Tanya technology.
Before we unload our shipment of fresh combos, let’s get things started with a general Tanya overview. This breakdown from Sajam is a great springboard for getting into the character. Sajam discusses important buttons and general strategies as well as some more interesting tactics like how to go about using her Dragon Naginata in the most annoying fashion possible.
Over-the-top combos that blow all of your meter to bring home a massive 50% or more damage are excellent for those moments when styling on an opponent is more important than keeping things practical, but these combos from EGP|Wonder Chef aren’t of that ilk. Instead, they start with practical, fast openers and still manage to bring in a respectable amount of damage. If you’re looking to pick up Tanya, definitely grab these combos and add them to your game as quickly as possible.
Judging from early footage, it seems that the community has taken to Tanya’s Kobu Jutsu variant more quickly than the rest of her fighting styles. When it comes to stylish combos, this variant definitely delivers. Below, we’ve included videos from Vlad Lakeev, BigJGleez, and rbrook908, each dedicated to Tonfa fighting. These combos span the full spectrum of practicality, so there’s a little something for everyone.
Up next, we’ve got a fine showcase of combos from FightersLegend. As noted in the video’s description, these were created for entertainment purposes, so many of them won’t find a comfortable place in each match–or maybe even each set–but they do a great job of displaying what Tanya is capable of when given the option to go as hard as possible. That said, there are some practical tidbits to be taken away from this, so be sure to check them out!
As they’ve done with the rest of the cast, Hurtbox TV has already put out an extensive combo collection for the new kombatant. These combos span each of the fighter’s variants and include all sorts of openers: magical purple dust, raw overheads, a variety of strings, you name it. As you might expect, these combos range from every-round viability to questionable practicality due to meter expenditure with regard to damage scaling (X-Ray combos, anyone?), but a good deal of them are definitely worth picking up.
Be sure to hit up our tip line with combo and strategy videos when new characters hit the Mortal Kombat X roster. We’re always looking for quality content to share with the community!
We all know Mortal Kombat X on PC has had one hell of a shaky launch, post-launch, and whatever you’d call six weeks after launch, but as of today, the Steam client seems to have finally caught up to consoles–well, almost at least.
Earlier today, the PC-based title received what the Steam news feed calls the “Tanya Patch.” As the name suggests, it adds Tanya to the cast, but also comes loaded with a host of features, including memory leak fixes, general graphical stability improvements, and a slew of quality of life changes. As an added bonus, the patch is actually fairly small, especially when compared to the previous patches the PC version has received.
Though the notes do include plenty of changes, a good deal of the balance tweaks from the last two console patches didn’t make the official change log. The notes mention that Spectral Ermac’s meter gain bug has been addressed, as has Kitana’s Mournful infinite, and after a quick trip to training mode I was able to confirm that Kitana’s Pretty Kick normal did make it into the game. All of this combines to suggest that the rest of that console patch was likely added as well.
Sadly, Raiden’s F1 still hits Mid, and Erron Black’s Slide is still very, very positive on hit (tested with jump timings of aggressor and defender after a connected attack). As these are two of the major changes that last night’s hotfix brought, there’s an excellent chance that all of those little frame data nuances that came alongside them have also not made it in just yet.
So, for the moment, those of us who prefer to punch each other on PCs are nearly caught up to the rest of the crowd. Will we ever catch up all the way? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Mortal Kombat X has certainly seen its share of bug fixes and character tweaks since it hit shelves back in April, but the most recent hotfix is positively loaded with small adjustments. For starters, Swarm Queen D’Vorah players will be sad to see that her combo damage scaling following Wasp Grenade has been increased, though the notes don’t indicate the degree of this increase. Erron Black saw his Tackle change from +20 on hit to -2 on hit, and he also received a 5 frame recovery increase on his Sand Toss and Sand Throw specials when in the Outlaw variant.
The changes aren’t all nerfs, though; in fact, a good deal of the small frame data tweaks work to slightly improve several characters who haven’t yet had much time in the limelight. These frame data shifts include faster normals for Mileena and Kitana, safer options for Takeda and plenty more.
The hotfix is currently live on Xbox One and will be available on the PlayStation 4 “soon.” Sadly, there is no word on when these changes will be making their way to the Steam version of the game.
We’ve included the full patch notes in the drop down menu below. If you prefer your patch notes directly from the source, you can also head over to the official announcement page to see them there.
Full Hotfix Notes
D’Vorah – Reduced damage of F4,4 by 2
D’Vorah (Swarm Queen) – Increased combo damage scaling after Wasp Grenade
Erron Black – Tackle is now -2 on hit (down from +20)
Erron Black (Outlaw) – Sand Toss / Sand Throw has 5 more recovery frames
Jason – Corpse Grab / Slam should no longer sometimes trade with jumping attacks
Jacqui – Adjusted many hitboxes to connect & combo more consistently
Kenshi – Slightly easier to juggle after Rising Sword / Sword Dance
Kenshi – 1 has 9 startup frames (down from 11)
Kenshi – 1,1,4 can no longer be special canceled
Kenshi – D1 has 8 startup frames (down from 9)
Kenshi (Balanced) – Spirit Charge / Push has 2 more active frames & more pushback on block
Kenshi (Balanced) – Tele-Flurry / Tele-Beatdown is now -9 on block (up from -24)
Kenshi (Possessed) – Reduced the hitbox on Sickle Lift
Kenshi (Possessed) – Demon Assault / Demon Fury is now -23 on block (up from -33)
Kenshi (Possessed) – Soul Push / Charge now has 11 startup frames (down from 14)
Kenshi (Possessed) – Demon Slam / Drop is now -6 on block (up from -21)
Kenshi (Kenjutsu) – Increased Tele-Slam damage by 5
Kenshi (Kenjutsu) – Increased Tele-Toss / Strikes damage by 3
Kenshi (Kenjutsu) – Tele-Push / Blast now has 12 startup frames (down from 15) & is -13 on block (up from -9)
Kenshi (Kenjutsu)—Tele-dash toss is now a high block.
Kitana – Increased Rising Fan / Rising Blades damage by 2
Kitana – B1 has 9 startup frames (down from 16)
Kitana – B1,2 is now +1 on block (down from +2)
Kitana – B1,4 is now -4 on block (down from +1)
Kitana – Adjusted the hitbox on f1 to connect more consistently
Kotal Kahn (Blood God) – Increased effectiveness of Obsidian & Blood Totems
Kotal Kahn (Blood God) – Totems have 5 less recovery frames
Kotal Kahn – Air Takedown / Anti-Air Throw should no longer sometimes trade with jumping attacks
Kotal Kahn (Sun God) – Soul Scorch / Soul Scorch have 5 less recovery frames
Kotal Kahn (Sun God) – God Choke (all 3 levels) damage increased by 3
Kotal Kahn (Sun God) – God Choke (all 3 levels) increased hit advantage by 10
Mileena – 1 has 11 startup frames (down from 14)
Mileena – D1 has 9 startup frames (down from 11)
Mileena – 2 has 8 startup frames (down from 10)
Mileena – adjusted hitbox on b3 to hit more consistently
Raiden – F1 is now a high
Takeda – 1 has 9 startup frames (down from 11)
Takeda – D1 has 8 startup frames (down from 10)
Takeda (Lasher) – Low Slash is now -19 on block (down from -24)
Takeda (Lasher) – Whip Trip / Flip is now -11 on block (down from -21)
If you caught Tanya’s official trailer this morning, you’re likely looking forward to seeing what the completed fighter is capable of doing once she steps into the ring. Luckily, the folks at NetherRealm Studios aren’t keeping us waiting; they’ve just gone live with a special Kombat Kast dedicated to everything Tanya.
On top of presenting viewers with the information that we’ve come to expect from a Kombat Kast, the crew will also be joined by Galloping Ghost Arcade’s PimPimJim who will be showcasing the new Kombatant’s combo potential.
You can check out the livestream embedded below, or head over to Twitch to see the action.
Players who have purchased the Kombat Pack will gain access to Tanya tomorrow, June 2. Those looking to purchase the character as a stand-alone DLC will be able to do so a week later.
We’ve been seeing glimpses of what to expect out of Tanya in Mortal Kombat X since before the game released. We got to see her take part in the game’s story, and modders even went to far as to make her (as well as a slew of other characters) into incomplete-yet-playable characters just a week into the life of the game. But none of this could have prepared to community for the unbridled insanity that she will soon be bringing to the fight.
Today, the folks at NetherRealm Studios released a first look at the upcoming fighter’s gameplay, and it is nothing short of ridiculous. While it’s hard to tell at the moment which moves are variant-specific, we can certainly see that she comes at opponents from all sides at all times.
Of course, it isn’t really a Mortal Kombat X trailer without some fatality action, so be sure to stick around until the end of the video for that, too.
Kombat Pack owners will be able to try Tanya on June 2. She will be made available for individual purchase a week later.
The artificial intelligence used in fighting games has been questionable since the genre first debuted. Hitting up arcade mode, story mode, or similar computer-battle modes has always been a decent-enough way for those tired of training mode CPU dummies to go out into the “world” and try to work on hit-confirming or a number of other tactics, but as we all know by now, doing this is never as good as playing against another player.
This is due in large part to the way that the AI acts. Everything from actually reading your inputs, to employing random tactics, to being able to flawlessly block even the most ambiguous of cross-ups every time (yet still getting snagged by every third errant jab) make it feel, well, artificial. One could even argue that fighting against the AI isn’t even playing the same game as when battling another player.
After decades with the issue of actually needing another person present in order to truly level up in fighting games, the folks at Iron Galaxy Studios have launched Killer Instinct’s Shadows Mode as a means to counter this. Shadows Mode allows players to train the AI–their “shadow”–in how to effectively play the game like a human rather than an algorithm.
The first thing that you do when training your shadow is play three matches against an computer-controlled Jago. While this is only to get things started, the crew at Iron Galaxy claim that even by that point, your shadow will be pretty good at mimicking the way that you fight. Of course, the more data that your shadow has, the more that it can learn and the better it can mimic your actions. The developers also note that shadows can only use tactics that they’ve seen, but they’ll even go so far as taunting if you’ve trained them to do so.
This “shadowing” of a player isn’t based purely on recording inputs either; instead, shadows will attempt to adapt to fights the way that their owner would. They “naturally avoid trying to select the same action over and over,” and they have human reaction times, which is a major plus.
During the training process, you can, of course, challenge the shadows of other players, and you can also access the Shadow Brain menu, which details your shadow’s fighting style with an intricate breakdown that should help you train the best shadow possible while also finding your own flaws.
Below, you can check out the official Shadows Mode video to see what else the team has to say about this exciting addition to Killer Instinct. For a complete breakdown of everything included in this mode, you can also hit up the Ultra-Combo forums.
Clayton “FINAL SHOWDOWN” Chapman is no stranger to Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- combo videos. In his newest release, he hits the lab with Chipp Zanuff to push the speedy ninja to the limits for a second time.
Most of the combos that you’re about to witness require a full stock of tension in order to perform, but they deal enough damage to warrant the meter if you’ve got it to spare. Even though Chapman claims that these combos are far from optimized, the video is still an excellent display of the potential that Chipp has in the right hands.
Mortal Kombat X, like any other fighting title, requires the proper application of mixups in order to secure wins against skilled opponents. With some characters, figuring out the best way to crack someone’s defenses is easy; with others, it can be a little more difficult.
In his newest Mortal Kombat X strategy video, Sajam explores Johnny Cage’s options for doing just that. He begins by asking a simple question: why would you ever block low against a character like Johnny who gets so much damage from landing an overhead? Sajam goes on to show a handful of options beyond this overhead hit that will keep opponents guessing, and hopefully allow Johnny to go for the big damage when it matters the most.
While this information may seem obvious to some of our readers, the video will hopefully assist newcomers who may be struggling with exactly this sort of issue.
Bafael also discussed mixups at length in his Mortal Kombat X video collaboration with Cross Counter TV, so be sure to check out his perspective on this topic if you haven’t already.
