smash.gg has risen as a premier platform for hosting tournaments — from the smallest locals to huge tournaments like Combo Breaker and the Evolution Championship Series — and it’s not stopping.
VentureBeat reports that smash.gg raised $11 million “to help local esports fans create their own tournaments.” The idea is to help out scenes on a grassroots levels — rather than giving more money to major events, to try to inspire local events to pop up more often. Several investors are pouring money into the platform — which, in addition to fighting games, gets occasionally used by sporting events, trading card game tournaments, and Rocket League. Over 2,000 events per month crop up on the service.
Currently, smash.gg is running Burst League and Curleh Circuit, which are ongoing until their finals in September. The VentureBeat article doesn’t state exactly how the funding will work.
Now, if $11 million enters the picture, could we expect some kind of monetary support to those scenes who opt to participate in Burst League/Curleh Circuit? Stay tuned until we find out more — possibly in the second seasons.
Throws in BlazBlue: Central Fiction aren’t quite the same like in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. They’re not as much of a defensive tool, but they can result in damaging combos — depending on how much resources you put in. Because throws in BlazBlue have start-up, they can’t be used while getting up, and it’s tough to use them in the middle of enemy blockstrings.
And yet, there are many moves in the game that can be interrupted with a sneaky throw. Warui Neko-kun put together a creative video with some surprising grabs that can easily reverse the situation. Usually, those punishes revolve around knowing when the opponent will use some kind of special move. A couple of these aren’t that realistic — because normally, a player wouldn’t do two small jabs, which apply very little blockstun, into a move that’s slow to come out.
However, most of these are really good to know and not as obvious as they seem. You can grab Lambda out of her overhead attack, 4B; same with one of Mai’s overhead and Ragna’s; Valkenhayn is surprisingly vulnerable to a grab; you can punish Noel for using 2D in her Drive chains, and so on. The video also shows sample combo punishes.
When we were still in the Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- era, there was one New York City player whose name echoed overseas: PAG|LostSoul. His terrifying command of Xrd’s new character, Elphelt, became particularly famous after beating CO|Dogura’s Sin in 2016 (check out the match below). His play even earned him a spot on the Japanese fighting game player wiki, something few US players have achieved.
LostSoul has been missing a bit from the scene due to personal circumstances, but he resurfaced at this year’s Evolution. It was a great opportunity to hang out with the player who had many Japanese visitors lining up to play him and learn more about him. To my knowledge, this is the first interview he’s ever done about his Guilty Gear play, so it’s a rare highlight of his impressive abilities. Responses have been edited for clarity.
Luke “Woocash” Siuty: How was your Evo? Is Guilty Gear the only game you entered?
LostSoul: Yeah, it’s the only one. I made it up to the 17th place, two spots away from top 8. And I believe that’s a great accomplishment for being out of the game for eight months due to life problems. Going to Evo, which was my first one, as well as my first major after coming back, I think that’s a great achievement.
Woocash: Walk us through some of the matches.
LostSoul: The first match in winners was against Omito. Knowing that he’s a great Johnny player, that was one of my great concerns — after coming back to majors — that I would have this tournament stress going on. I couldn’t have performed as well as I did [later], but he has great movement, great offense, and I just couldn’t keep up with that. Soon after I lost the winners, I managed to do very well against him, I took games off of him, after the tournament, even got a perfect in there. I managed to get him to do what I wanted him to do. Everything that I wanted to do I was able, no second thoughts, no nerves, my execution was there. I was basically me at that point. But what really counts is the tournament.
And of course, I lost to him on stream badly. And in losers, I lost to XCEL|BjornSonOfBear. I feel kind of bad, I have some rust on his character Chipp. Back before the break, we used to netplay a lot. I used to be the one winning, in tournaments also. In this case, not only I lost, but he also has greatly improved. Him getting the Overdrive series and winning the trip to Evo and CEOtaku, he has definitely improved on that. At the end, it was 2-1 his favor, last game, last round, and sadly, I lost to the only other American between us.
LostSoul: Yeah, I still have Jack-O’ on the side, because Elphelt has, ever since the patch came about, changed somewhat. She got new unblockables with Roman Cancels, so I had to practice that. Practice my match-up experience against characters again since I was gone eight months, and change what was her unblockable route into a mix-up route. But Jack-O’ didn’t really change after the patch, her move set and combos are nearly intact. I’m planning to get back into Jack-O’ and dual main.
Woocash: Any further thoughts on REV 2 balance?
LostSoul: Some of the changes were a little questionable. Especially on my character, Elphelt. Her 6P has no hurtbox on her upper waist, so it’s like an anti-air and an overhead from 6P. Some supers actually whiff. Of course, as an Elphelt player, I’ll take it. It’s kind of weird. I know people hate it because it’s kind of half-assed, but personally, I’m indifferent to it.
Woocash: Are you comfortable to talk about why you were out of commission for eight months?
LostSoul: I was out of commission due to family problems. My family was being evicted. We had to live in my sister’s house for a good month or two. Since then, I was unable to play Guilty Gear. My main concern was to save up money to get back into the house. We managed to do that after 3-4 months with the help of the anime fighting game community. My friend, Mr. Bisonopolis, helped me set up a GoFundMe. This also helped set up to pay the first month’s bills. At first, it was 2000-3000. Within a couple hours, after he tweeted it out, the goal was met substantially, in two hours, flat. I was speechless. I was able to get back my house, and now, I am still there, being supported.
My new goal then, after four months, was to find a new job. I wanted to find a new job to support it. I thought I would be out for one more month, but job searching was more difficult that I imagined, so it took an extra four months. I promised myself not to touch video games until I got that done. I put priorities in life, Guilty Gear later. This was before REV 2 came out, so after this eight month period, that’s when I finally touched Guilty Gear again.
Woocash: I saw you play a lot of Japanese players, lining up to fight you at the ASW booth. Tell me more about this relationship with the Japanese scene, because they definitely talk about you a lot, and I know you’re on their fighting game player wiki.
LostSoul: I know that Japanese players have a totally different mindset from what we have in America. There’s a style to it, I can’t really explain it. They know what to do to avoid certain situations. They noticed me probably when I beat Dogura, the first time, back at Final Round, I believe. I got first place, beating him not once, but twice. From that time, that’s when on Twitter, I saw that the Japanese were surprised Dogura. That was my first event. But Dora was also there, another native from Japan. I beat Dogura in a FT5 and Dora came by, and I guess he spread my name, but Dogura definitely spread my name around. So I’ve been on the radar right around that.
Even now, a lot of Japanese want to fight me and after fighting me, they told me I’m very strong, so I guess I succeeded in meeting their expectations. I fought Haaken, Kedako, Fumo, Tomo. With Tomo, I kind of destroyed him at the first set, but then he got the next two. He said I was very strong and he had a difficult time beating me. I was going pretty even with Fumo in the mirror match. Maybe even stronger. I also beat Zadi 2-1. I’m definitely a “player vs. player” type of guy. Despite not knowing how they play and them trying to download me, I could also download them.
Woocash: What are your plans moving forward? How interested are you in esports, or becoming a sponsored player?
LostSoul: Yes, I am interested I guess in esports, but mostly, I’m interested in going to more majors after Evo. I want to go to every major that’s available. The next issue for me is taking days off my job to go those events. I’m even missing my locals, TSBs, because they happen on Saturdays, and my job happens on those days.
Woocash: And would you ever want to be a sponsored player?
LostSoul: Here’s the thing. I could say I’m interested, but the one I’m in now, PAG, already hosts me. It’s more like a group, they’re not like Fable or XCEL. But PAG does help me travel, just like Justin Wong sponsored me for this Evo trip. If I could have more opportunities like that, then yeah. Yeah. I’m definitely interested in esports.
Alongside the big stages, tournament stations, swag stores, and big company booths at Evo 2017 were smaller developers showcasing their games. There was plenty to choose, from Nidhogg 2, to the new ARIKA game, Omen of Sorrow, Absolver, and even some RPG games as well. Lots of good opportunities to try new products.
With my limited time, I couldn’t play all of them, so I chose to try out some games that I haven’t played before, or heard much about. Here are some of my impressions; some of these definitely have a real shot at being popular choices for fighting game events, even if just as side or party games.
This one has probably the most promise to make it into mainstream FGC. Fantasy Strike lets fighting game fundamentals take center stage, removing difficult links or special move commands. Characters have jump attacks and usually two or three types of jabs, usually an anti-air or a defensive move, throw, and super. The throw mechanic is interesting in particular. You automatically counter throws with a special “Yomi counter” as long as you’re not doing anything — it triggers a cool animation. There are still command throws in the game, which I found pretty difficult to handle, especially since one of the characters has super armor with them — the Zangief-like Garus Rook.
The characters are heavily archetype-based. You can play as Jaina — a complete zoner — with several archery attacks, and a DP that costs health to use. I really liked Setsuki, who had cross-up teleports and command grabs, and probably the longest combos in the game with a special dive. DeGrey really stood out as well. He’s a reference to Guilty Gear’s Slayer, as he has a quick step back and a Pile Bunker-like punch and kick follow-ups. He also sends his ghost to disable the opponent. The cast is packed with references to characters from other games — and they didn’t feel like rip-offs — but rather to welcome people from across the fighting game spectrum.
There’s some concern that the game is “too simple,” but the community manager assured me that this argument doesn’t hold up very well.
“A lot of people are afraid that if you reduce complexity, you reduce depth,” Richard “Leontes” Lopez, Marketing & Community Manager at Sirlin Games, told me. “They feel like it’s an affront to their identity, but it’s more about outsmarting the opponent and making decisions.”
In a category of “Fighting Game with Weirdest Rules” this would surely be the winner. The hipster coffee aficionados in Coffence duke it out between each other with coffee cups, pots, and other containers with caffeine. The goal is to not hit the opponent, but what they’re holding. Upon a successful hit, one “drop” (or “life point,” effectively) soars into the air, free for anyone to grab back into their container. So yes, the goal is to empty their pot and fill up yours.
How does one go on the “Coffence,” exactly? Well, there’s jumping and sliding, which is good for crossing-up. There is a melee swing and a special “break” attack, which is used to break defense, sort of how a throw mechanic would. The main way to play though, I feel, is to do the ranged attack, which propels your cup forward and back like a yo-yo. This gave it a bit of an ARMS feel as you try to aim and hit their cup. It’s fun to snatch flying drops of coffee like this.
It’s a mix between a stick shooter and fighting game. Props for a unique concept! Though I only tried one vs. one, up to four players can engage in Coffence.
Picture four wizards duking it out in combat to the death, wrapped in Smash-esque mechanics. The vivid colors on the stages, which vary greatly with death traps and environmental conditions, caught me a little off-guard. There’s a lot of adaptation required, depending on which stage is selected. The controls are very simple, there’s only jumping and directional attacking. Characters have hit points and various attack types. Some of them dash with their attacks, while others release small bursts of energy. But that’s not the most exciting aspect; when every round starts, there are spellbooks placed around the map. Those give access to powerful special attacks. I had fun summoning ice spikes from the wall; they can completely catch someone off-guard. There was a projectile spell, as well as a powerful summon golem spellbook.
It’s a game where you have to be clever about movement and using the stage to kill your opponents faster than they can take you out. Surprisingly, there’s also a single-player campaign that plays like a physics-based platformer.
It’s not exactly a fighting game, rather an RPG, but I feel this will find appreciation from this audience — especially from those who played PlayStation’s Valkyrie Profile. Each party member is assigned a button (triangle is for spellcasting, such as healing or offensive magic), so pressing square, X, and circle in succession automatically sends them swinging. Multiple presses lead to chains and more effective combo finishes. Timing attacks is important to stagger opponents, but so is blocking. Correct blocking requires quite the reflex and doing a perfect parry is even more rewarding. Fighting bosses truly requires learning their patterns, which aren’t always straightforward.
This game is already out on PlayStation 4, and getting it also nets a PlayStation Vita copy which features a different protagonist.
The 2.0 update to BlazBlue: Central Fiction just hit arcades in Japan (as well as cabinets around the world that use the NESICA Live system), so players are busy discovering the changes. Beyond what’s said in the patch notes, it turns out that there’s quite a lot of new things to discover. Sometimes, some very small modifications can completely alter or enable brand new tech. Here’s a sample of some of the interesting changes players found so far:
Here’s an important universal change: as stated in the BlazBlue patch notes, Exceed Accel attacks are a lot less safe now. If blocked, they are “at least -9 frames,” according to Minami. You’re also in counter-hit state.
The BlazBlue: Central Fiction 2.0 patch is hitting arcades shortly, and with it, a host of changes as well as Jubei. While there’s definitely plenty of excitement for the new character, there are 35 other fighters who have a varying amount of modifications.
The official Arc System Works livestream presented a Jubei overview first, detailing his move set, which happens in the first ten minutes or so. The next two hours or so run sets, showcasing most of the characters from the cast. Not everyone gets a spotlight, but we see plenty of Jubei action. There’s also some Amane versus Tager, multiple Es matches, Hakumen, Susano’o, Lambda, Kagura, Jin, Ragna, Arakune, and a Nine vs. Izanami later on in the video. Jubei even faces the other “cat fighter” in the game, Taokaka.
Are you ready for the cat sensei? Jubei has plenty of hype behind him, and from what we can finally see in a video overview by Arc System Works, he lives up to it!
At last, we have a longer, more detailed look at what exactly Jubei does in a fight. Movement-wise, Jubei’s backdash can be performed out of a run in a way that crosses-up the opponent. He can also start running forward a lot faster if he does his regular backdash.
Jubei has two parry moves, forward A and forward B, and they target low or mid attacks. He can combo out of them. The Drive, “Shiranui,” marks the opponent. This interacts with one of his Distortion Drives, which will cross-up teleport the enemy if they’re marked. If Jubei uses his install-type Distortion Drive, “Immobility: Silk Lotus Formation,” his Drive changes to allow him to set up four marks on the screen. He dashes rapidly to those. The rest of his move set is also empowered, allowing him to do more follow-up attacks.
Two weaknesses that we can see outright are: very short attack range, and as demonstrated with a Ragna combo, and it appears that Jubei is in a “perma-crouching state,” at least for combo purposes. That means that other characters can automatically do their crouching confirms on him.
If you want to see his full move list with explained and translated attacks, check out the BlazBlue Wikia Jubei page.
I mean, look at that backwalk animation. You wouldn’t hit a kitty, would you?
Jubei is arriving shortly to BlazBlue: Central Fiction arcade cabinets — dated August 3rd. We have no console version confirmation yet.
The 2014 Evolution Championship was a significant one for BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. Before the game fell off the radar a bit, the top 8 for the Arc System Works title was one to remember. Even those who didn’t play the game (nor understand it very well!) witnessed an incredibly tense comeback from Ponos|Garireo (a.k.a. Galileo), whose Litchi tackled the menacing Azrael controlled by Cyclops Osaka|Dogura. Dogura is a fearsome opponent, skilled in multiple games, and now full-time pro-gamer, while most people haven’t even heard of Garireo.
BornFree sat down with Garireo to walk through those moments. They talk extensively about how Garireo felt in those moments, which included losing in winners finals, to then beating Dogura to reset the bracket, and eventually taking the win. They also move to talking about the current version, Central Fiction, and how he feels about the balance of that game. As for his greatest rivals and strongly respected players, Garireo considers Monster, probably the most-skilled Izanami and Nine player, as well as Fenrich, the Jin player who came second in Evolution 2017.
Check out the full interview (with translation) here:
In Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], Yuzuriha has always been regarded as one of the more difficult characters to master. Well, fear not — for if I have learned to play her to some degree, so can you! Some say that she’s slightly more accessible in Late[st], the newly released console update. Whether or not you’ll master her is fine; what’s more important is that you’ll play the coolest character in the roster.
We have a translated version of a Yuzuriha combo guide via Evernote, written by probably the most famous Yuzuriha player in Japan, Kure. The guide begins with explaining certain notation and a couple of good things to know in order to practice Yuzuriha combos effectively. Then, it delves into various starters at portions of the screen; for instance, midscreen A and B starters, then throw and corner sequences. There are useful explanations throughout.
If you’re more of a visual learner, there are some UNIST Yuzuriha videos as well:
If you know nothing about Yuzuriha and need an overview, check out the subbed video tutorial below, though it is a little outdated. The concepts remain the same.
Post Evolution 2017, after the hype BlazBlue: Central Fiction top 8, we’re back to the grind of getting better at the game. One of the top 8 fighters was Dora-bang, known for proficiency with the ninja character. Dora continues his series of helpful videos to teach players around the world to become more competitive in BlazBlue.
His newest videos on Twitch tackle the intricacies of “teching,” or waking up, in the Arc System Works fighter. As we know, there are multiple ways to get up in BlazBlue. Neutral teching, quick rising, and rolling back or forward all have different properties and invincibility frames. Here’s a text breakdown from Dora:
Forward Roll
1~3F Fully invincible
4~17F Throw invincible, if hit you will be in the air
18~30F Guard possible, if hit, you will be in crouching position
1~10F can pass through opponent
Back Roll
1~10F Fully invincible
11~17F Throw invincible, if hit you will be in the air
18~30F Guard possible, if hit, you will be in crouching position
1~10F can pass through the opponent
Quick Tech
1~13F Throw invincible, if hit you will be in the air
14~19F Throw invincible, guard possible, cancellable into any grounded attack, if hit you will be in standing position
Will automatically Quick Tech after laying on the ground for 68 frames
Neutral Tech
1~32F Fully invincible
According to Dora, it’s best to attack right after the “combo proration” resets, after 10 frames. Attacking before then would continue the same combo that led to the knockdown and allow the opponent to tech in the air. It’s a small window, but attacking from frame 11 can lead to another combo.
Check out the video below for some visual demonstrations as Dora covers the various options.
Dora also made a second video where he breaks down this concept in more detail. He shows off some character specific nuances with Terumi, whose 2A attack can actually whiff on Amane and Bang if they do a quick rise.
