Author: Lance "Tarnot" Hood

Clone characters are a great way to inflate a game’s roster, and every fighting game has seen its share of cast augmentation over the years. Sometimes, these clones are met with negativity, but that isn’t always the case. A few characters may even begin their lives as clones and, as a series grows, develop unique attacks–Super Smash Bros.’ Luigi is a great example of this sort of evolution, as is Street Fighter’s Ken.

Below, you’ll find the newest offering from Smash and Grab, which discusses this topic at length. Through the creative use of character dialogue from the game’s Fire Emblem representatives, they touch on some of the history of clone characters and how a handful of these clones differ from one another. Specific attention is paid to Pit and Dark Pit as well as Lucina and Marth, as these are some of the most similar clones that the current version of Smash has to offer. There are, of course, still a number of differences between them, as you’ll see below.

Source: Smash and Grab via Smash Boards

False and Keitaro of Rush Hour Smash are back with another installment of their Smash Theory video series. Today’s offering features a stylishly-edited set of tips and tricks for how to go about handling a doubles match.

Doubles matches are one of those things that Smash claims as its own. Typically speaking, tournament-friendly fighting titles consist of one-on-one battles, but the Smash community has always taken advantage of the ability to pit two teams of two against one another, making this unique game stand out even more. Since teamwork is the key to victory in any doubles match, this video is dedicated to the ways in which players can work together.

If you missed the previous Smash Theory videos covering the neutral game, zoning and reads in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, you can check them out by following their respective links.

Source: Rush Hour Smash

Chances are everyone who plays fighting games nowadays has at least some history with a Marvel-themed fighting title. Whether you spent childhood Saturdays clunking quarters into the local Children of the Atom machine, dedicated a decade or more to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, or only recently got into Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, you’ve probably slammed out a berserker barrage or two against friends at some point or another.

There’s a certain degree of hype that always comes paired with Marvel fighting games; they’re fast, they’re loaded with great characters, the combos are flashy and exciting, the list goes on. But these are the Marvel fighting games that Capcom had a hand in creating. Sadly, not every title was so lucky.

In their most recent video, the Super Best Friends sit down with with two lesser-known Marvel fighting titles–both dedicated to The Avengers, neither created by Capcom–and do their best to slog through some matches. The first, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth hit Xbox 360 and Wii U just a few short years ago, but the fact that it pairs motion controls with some of the worst camera angles in one-on-one gaming proves that Ubisoft has no business trying to make a fighting game.

They only spend half an hour with that before moving on to Data East’s Avengers in Galactic Storm, which only ever saw an arcade release. Luckily, Pat has access to an “arcade cabinet,” so they can give it a shot. It’s much more traditional as far as fighting games go, but that likely has more to do with its 1995 release date than anything else.

The game features a whole crew of characters that only the most hardcore comic fans have heard of (aside from Cap, Ronin, and Hank Pym), and actually has a rudimentary assist system. Of course, the damage output of every character is through the roof, as was the style at the time, but these matches appear much more playable than those in the first half hour.

Be sure to check out the video below if you want to see a humorous take on these eclectic titles.

Source: TheSw1tcher via Super Best Friends Play

Typically, Olympic Gaming’s player spotlight videos are dedicated to a player and their main character. We don’t often get to see the highlighted player hopping around the roster, but that isn’t the case for RnK|Lucius, as they display a mastery of not one, but three characters in this highlight reel.

One thing that all of these characters–C. Viper, Decapre and Seth–have in common is the absolutely explosive level of momentum that they’re capable of generating once they get in. And Lucius has no trouble getting in.

As always, this video features the highlighted player facing off against top-ranked online warriors, and in this case, even a special inner-team battle between Lucius and RnK|MeKtOuB’s Guy. If you like seeing high-level rushdown and incredible mix-ups, you won’t want to miss this week’s video.

Source: Olympic Gaming

Mewtwo defines the term glass cannon thanks to its damage potential and ability to reliably combo at all percents coupled with the fact that it has a hurtbox the size of a truck and weighs about as much as Jigglypuff. At any moment, the true power of the psychic Pokémon can overwhelm its opponents and shut out a stock, or it can find itself on the receiving end of a similar beat down.

My Smash Corner has been bringing us Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tutorials since the game launched late last year and their newest delivers the same level of quality that we’ve come to expect. Given the nature of the character, the video spends most of its runtime discussing Mewtwo’s combos, but it also imparts important techniques like double jump canceling, instant disabling as part of a recovery, and plenty more.

If you’re looking to capture this Pokémon for yourself, be sure to check out the video below.

Source: My Smash Corner via Smash Boards

We’re much more prone to seeing Mii Brawlers and Mii Gunners in the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournament scene than Mii Swordfighters. This is likely due to the Swordfighter’s commonly accepted placement near the bottom of the game’s tier list, but that hasn’t stopped HermitHelmet from exploring the possibilities that this character possesses.

In the first video below, you’ll see the Swordfighter making use of its Shuriken of Light special to gain a short burst of invulnerability, which allows the fighter to take whatever blows may come during that period and suffer no consequences. As an example, Ganondorf hauls off and nails the Swordfigter with a Warlock Punch, but the Swordfighter isn’t fazed.

The second video demonstrates a method for executing a much faster up special when performing it in the proper position near the edge of the stage. Do note, though, that mistiming the technique can result in a rather hilarious SD.

This technology probably won’t change the number of Swordfighters that we see in the brackets, but it may give those few who just love the feel of cold steel in their hands that extra boost they need to succeed.

Source: HermitHelmet via Smash Boards

With the third week of Mortal Kombat X’s life drawing to a close, it’s obvious that a good deal of the community has taken to spending time with the game itself as opposed to releasing massive amounts of video content. With that in mind, we’ve gathered some of the best footage from the last week, with a special focus on more general game knowledge. But don’t worry, we’ve included some combo videos as well.

Bafael and Cross Counter TV have been busy this week bringing us the third, fourth and fifth installments in their tutorial series for the game. The first today (or, the third overall) breaks apart the game’s combo system including the lack of Street Fighter-style links, the types of chains players can use and how juggles and gravity play into all of this.

Bafael spends part four of the series discussing punishes and how they work within the Mortal Kombat X engine. While this is the sort of thing that most players with lengthy backgrounds in fighting games understand quite well, Bafael does keep the information fresh by providing some examples for the sorts of punishes that players can expect to employ in Mortal Kombat X. This is perhaps best demonstrated by his generalized combo path that optimal punishes will take in the game.

The fifth episode details how to take advantage of–or fight against–the various ranged options that the game includes. This means, of course, that Bafael spends a good deal of time talking about fireballs, when to use them, how to avoid them, and the sorts of dangers that come into play when attempting to out-zone a fighter who has a projectile that causes a capture state.

The first combo video that we’ve got today comes from Willie Fresco and covers combos for each of Kung Lao’s variants including a number of strings that work in all three. Beyond damage, some of the Buzzsaw combos take advantage of the setup time that certain enders allow, leaving an active hat on the screen ready to rip into whoever was unlucky enough to get hit by the previous series.

Fresco even includes some combos just for the sake of style, like one for Hat Trick mode that connects 50 hits while doing only 28% damage.

Coming up, we’ve got a couple Cassie Cage combo videos from the man behind the mustache, Michael “IFC Yipes” Mendoza. These combos have been broken apart into their own videos for easy access. Both of them require no meter and deal over 30% cornered damage, so they’re definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of the current generation of the Cage family.

Up next, Nico Montano, who has been leading the charge when it comes to Goro technology, shares a good deal of information about the Shokan; specifically, this video deals with the proper use of his unblockable head stomp attack. Nico covers not only how to use the attack, but also how to defend against it. There are some situations where players are forced to take the damage, but even when used as a meaty, it can still be avoided under the right circumstances.

When learning any character, it’s important to pick up some basic combos for a handful of situations just to get the ball rolling. If you happen to be in the market for some entry-level combos for Ferra/Torr’s Vicious variant, you’ll be pleased to see that SupermanSajam has done a good deal of the work for you.

As the video’s title promises, these combos are indeed basic, but offer an excellent foundation upon which to build a terrifying level of character mastery.

As opposed to a specific character tutorial from SupermanSajam, we close things out today with a more generalized “how to” when it comes to approaching any character in the game. This information applies across the entire roster, and helps ease the process that goes into getting acquainted with a character. Of course, much of this applies outside of Mortal Kombat X as well, so be sure to keep it in mind any time you’re looking to pick up a new character in any game.

Have you found something brutal in Mortal Kombat X that you can’t wait to share? Drop us a line and let us know; your video could be featured in our next roundup!

Sources: Cross Counter TV and Bafael, Willie Fresco, Yipes, Nico Montano, and SupermanSajam