Earlier this week, we got a quick look at how the metal-armed American hero Jackson Briggs will be taking on opponents in Mortal Kombat X thanks to his appearance in the first half hour of the game’s story mode. This morning, thanks to the folks at Spazio Games, we get to take a closer look not only at Jax himself, but at his daughter Jacqueline as well. As hard as any news may be to believe right now, given that today is the first of April, the footage looks so good that it’s almost certainly real.
As with previous trailers of this nature, the footage clocks in at just over the one minute mark and offers quick takes on some of the attacks that these two fighters will be bringing to battle including Jax’ devastating powerbomb X-Ray.
In their most recent episode of Friday Night Fisticuffs, the Super Best Friends take a trip to the not-so-distant future for their second Mechaweek. As “Mechaweek” probably gave away, the game of choice pits giant robot against giant robot–or in the case of this game, Human Assisted Robot against Human Assisted Robot–in an all-out battle.
That game is none other than Epic Megagames’ One Must Fall: 2097.
This title was obscure when it came out back in 1994 and that certainly hasn’t changed. It released for IBM-compatible computers and was created early enough in the history of gaming to have existed on floppy disks, which always adds a certain degree of class that one can’t find in other distribution methods. Since it hit shelves a couple of years into the fighting game revolution of the early 90s, it’s pretty clear where it got most of its influences. I mean, if the fact that it features Fatality-style, round-ending attacks called “scrap” and “destruction” moves isn’t enough, one of the HARs even brings some of Noob Saibot’s attacks to the battle.
One Must Fall did have some of its own flair, though. For one, instead of picking a single fighter before entering a match, players choose a pilot and the HAR they will control. There’s a sort of stat system that affects the way that certain pilots drive each mecha, so the matchup potential stands to be rather deep for a game with such a small roster. Additionally, it’s got stage hazards, which include things like giant spikes appearing from the background and slamming into the fighting HARs, or my personal favorite, fly-by attacks from fighter jets.
If you long for an old-school slugfest that centers around massive machines mauling one another, check out the video below.
Persona is back with another King of Fighters XIII combo video, this time focusing on the staff-wielding Billy Kane. As with all of the previous entries in their long running King of Fighters combo video series, Persona delivers devastating strings that range from useful to not-even-close-to-practical.
This is the second outing from the combo master that focuses on Billy, but this time around, things have changed. These updates, which Persona outlines fully in the video’s description, come mostly from proper use of HD mode as well as the application of various combo extensions that allow for stylish followups to his Super.
Whether you’re looking for some new combos to add to your own repertoire, or if you just love watching Persona do what they do best, be sure to check out the video below.
Everyone has their preferred input method for fighting games and it’s rare to find any clear advantage for using one controller as opposed to another. Generally speaking, the right input method is the one that feels the most comfortable, and in many cases that means the controller type that the given player grew up with.
There are, however, certain situations where a controller can provide a sizable advantage over its counterparts: it’s easier to plink on a fightstick than a pad, for example, and it seems to be much easier to rapidly choke up projectiles as Firebrand in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on a Hitbox than anything else.
To demonstrate this penchant for filling the screen with fire, Kresent has put together a quick video that offers the method that he uses to consistently release flames with the Ghosts ‘n Goblins villain.
And if you didn’t catch Apologyman’s impressive Firebrand combo video earlier this week, which includes things as ridiculous as scoring a combo off of a Team Aerial Counter, be sure to check that out, too!
Back when Ultra Street Fighter IV first hit consoles, Desk figured out that a hit connecting with a level 3 Red Focus attack right as move lands will negate the its hitstop. He called this technique Perfect Red Focusing, and though it’s useful to know, it’s not the sort of thing that comes up very often due to the circumstances that allow it to happen.
It turns out that this isn’t the only situation in Ultra Street Fighter IV where hitstop frames disappear. Doopliss recently found that if Balrog takes a hit right as his EX Dash Straight connects, he’s able to combo into things he wouldn’t be able to otherwise. This has all sorts of applications, which you can check out in the video below, but like Desk’s Red Focus discovery, this too will likely not see its way into many matches.
Today, to further bolster the excitement surrounding the upcoming release of Mortal Kombat X, the first half hour of the game’s story mode has made its way on to the internet thanks to the folks at IGN and Polygon. And while the game’s narrative is all well and good, the real excitement in this footage comes not from the utter chaos that Johnny Cage and the rest of the crew face, but from Jax Briggs taking the stage for the first time.
From the footage we’ve seen–which you can check out below–Jax looks to have retained signature moves like his ground pound and a host of grabs, among other things. While we can only guess at what his variants will offer, we do get to see that one of them has been dubbed “Pumped Up,” which is also a pretty good description of what we’re feeling as viewers. Of course, since this is the earliest of early hands-on footage from outside of the NetherRealm Studios in-house streams, the game play isn’t exactly tournament-level.
It should go without saying, but if you watch the videos below, you’re going to get some spoilers as far as story elements are concerned, so view at your own risk.
Fallb0rn of the Marvelous Vikings is known for his unconventional Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 team consisting of Super-Skrull, Spencer, and Rocket Raccoon. But when the chips are down and the rest of his crew has fallen to sword loops or an Astral Vision Soul Fist barrage, there’s only one thing Rocket can do: pop that level 3 X-Factor, break out the guns, and crank the Guile theme.
The resulting combos are packed with enough gadgets to make an infomercial host blush. He’s got boulder loops, log trap loops, he’s got bullets and explosives. And in case Rocket finds himself alone in the world without any meter to his name, no worries, many of these combos actually manage to build meter while killing off any opponents caught in the maelstrom.
This is one rodent that you don’t want to back into a corner.
Gouken’s been through a fight or two in his day. He may not be quite as fast as he once was, but he’s not about to start letting the faster fighters run circles around him. He’s still got all the right tools to shut down little rapscallions like Yun who come in with their gravity-defying divekicks and their skateboards and their what have yous. But knowing how to apply those tools in Ultra Street Fighter IV, well, that’s where this video from Sebastian Rikk comes in.
The first thing you have to do, as you’ll see below, is stop Yun’s approach options. Gouken has all sorts of normals that poke out at just the right angle to handle dive kicks as well as EX lunge punches, so with a little practice, those shouldn’t be much of an issue. As for the rest of Yun’s neutral game, Gouken’s got plenty of decent buttons of his own to use as counter-pokes when he sees Yun sticking out limbs..
The real trick, as with any match-up, is making sure that every connected fist leads into the most damage possible, so be sure to stick around until the end of the video to see plenty of optimal punishes as well as some safe jump options to help apply your own pressure.
Earlier this month, the heads of S.O.S. Gamers–Kwabena “Kubuu” Ampofo and Antoine “DA|Wes” Lewis-Hall–announced plans to bring a Super Smash Bros. for Wii U league to the underprivileged youth of New York City. Their non-profit organization started an Indiegogo page to help collect donations from those who believe in their cause. We were able to speak to them at the time of the campaign’s launch to get a better feel for the specifics surrounding this upcoming league.
Their campaign has nearly run its course with the final date, April 2, closing in fast. As of this writing, the team has raised 59% of their goal to get this project rolling. In order to help make their way over that final hump, Kubuu and Wes will be hosting an eight-hour stream this Sunday beginning at 2 PM Eastern.
We spoke to Kubuu about the stream earlier this week and he says that they want “to put a focus on having an open discussion with viewers about the state of Smash in the competitive gaming arena as well as host an open Q&A with viewers if they have any questions regarding S.O.S. Gamers, [their] youth league, or other Smash-related endeavors.” Additionally, they plan to give away two copies of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, one at the 75% marker and a second once their donation goal has been reached.
If you’re interested in chatting with the guys about their project, watching them throw down in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, or even challenging them to some friendlies yourself, be sure to tune in later this weekend.
We’re just a month away from Washingon’s Northwest Majors 7, a tournament set to hold competition in an impressive sixteen titles including the entire run of the Super Smash Bros. series (with Project M in place of Brawl), as well as Ultra Street Fighter IV, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and plenty more. This tournament has seen rapid growth in its seven years of existence and with such an expansive game lineup, it should have no trouble drawing out its largest crowd ever in April.
In an effort to encourage players to come out and throw hands, the tournament series is offering an entry-based pot bonus for both Ultra Street Fighter IV and Super Smash Bros. Melee. This means that the number of registered participants in each game stand to greatly increase the payout for these two titles, not only in the amount of winnings, but also to the number of players to whom the bonus will be paid.
Northwest Majors 7 is scheduled for April 24-27 at Highline Community College in Des Moines, Washington. Further information can be found here. Registration is still open, so be sure to visit the official website and do so before it’s too late.
