Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] has arrived to console owners, despite the Western version not having a release date yet (but we know Aksys Games is on it). Whether you’re getting the game or haven’t seen it before, here’s a fun way to preview the title.
HydeGaming1 has a video of all the characters in the cast using their Infinite Worth supers and the Infinite Worth EXS moves. The first type can be done at any time, as long as a character has a full power bar. The second type can only be done when your character has low health, and it’s typically called “pillar” because of its universal activation animation.
Dive into the video below, but keep on reading to see a list provided by the YouTuber that has all the names of the moves. Note that the newest characters, Wagner and Enkidu, are also included!
Carmine – Hyahhahaha! Devour them up!(IWS)/ Piece of shit! This is your end!(IWS/EXS)
Orie – Luminous Embrace(IW)/ Rest In Peace!(IWS/EXS)
Gordeau – Turbulence(IW)/ Soul Vanish(IWS/EXS)
Merkava – I, resentfully rage(IW)/ I, overrun(IWS/EXS)
Vatista – Lacteus Orbis (IW)/ Zahhisio(IWS/EXS)
Seth – Nefarious of Linked Chains(IW)/ Distant of Boundary(IWS/EXS)
Yuzuriha – Twin Moon One Blade-Style Secret Skill: Luster Birth(IW)/ Twin Moon One Blade-Style Blade-Drawing Arts Zeroth Type Hidden Secret Skill: Life Crimson(IWS/EXS)
Hilda – Impalement(IW)/ In The Darkness(IWS/EXS)
Eltnum – Barrel Replica(IW)/ Tri Hermes Blackland(IWS/EXS)
Chaos – Dissect Barrage(IW)/ Deep Revenance(IWS/EXS)
The long-awaited day for UNIEL fans is finally here: the latest version of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] is available to purchase for PlayStation 4 and 3 now. As long as you don’t mind Japanese menus and Chronicle (Story) Mode, you can dive right in and play as the new characters.
An official stream from Arc System Works and French Bread provides a fairly detailed overview on some of the game’s modes and the console-exclusive fighters, Wagner and Enkidu. The streamers start to showcase both of them around the 15 minute mark, displaying their moves, including supers. Additionally, they go through the new Tutorial Mode and finish the stream with some exhibition matches.
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] is currently available through the Japanese PlayStation Store and the Hong Kong one as well. You can also order it through retailers such as PLAY-ASIA.
If you do that, we recommend checking out Sourenga’s Menu Translation to help navigate the expanded Tutorial, Mission, and Training Modes.
Are you picking up UNIST? Let us know in the comments what you’re excited about.
Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, released just a few months ago, did not grace the Sunday finals stage at Evolution 2017. Nonetheless, you can bet the crowd was just as hype for the top 8 regardless. All of the top 8 were Japanese players, and it wasn’t easy to predict the winner, either.
Ultimately, the one who emerged victorious was Omito and his Johnny. Crowned as the World Champion in Guilty Gear, I took a quick opportunity to speak to the winning warrior. I ask Omito whether he was worried about any characters or players, what his favorite thing about Johnny is, and which American Guilty Gear players he respects.
The conversation took place with a translator provided by Arc System Works. Thanks to ASW for making it possible.
Luke “Woocash” Siuty: You just won Evolution 2017 in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2! How do you feel?
Omito: I’m very happy that I won! But the opponent for the finals, I played him a couple of times before, and I’ve been doing very well against him, so I had a lot of confidence in winning this match.
Woocash: Walk us through a little with your Tomo matches.
Omito: I didn’t change anything. I didn’t adapt. I just did what I always do, and if he was going to adapt and change something, I was going to change it up, and go with whatever he sends to me. But for me, I just played like I always play.
Woocash: Against whom were you preparing the most?
Omito: As for players, I didn’t really plan for anything. In Osaka, there aren’t that many players, so I did a lot of Training Mode to prepare for characters I don’t usually face. That’s how I prepared, but I didn’t really do anything special.
Woocash: Which character do you like fighting against the least?
Omito: There isn’t one.
Woocash: Is that because you’re equally prepared for everyone, or…?
Omito: I kind of learn as I go, so even during the match, if it’s someone I don’t usually fight against, I learn really fast and adapt. I don’t really have to worry about certain characters.
Woocash: What was the toughest challenge at Evo?
Omito: Jack-O’ and Raven are the two characters I don’t usually face. I was a little worried about those because I just don’t have enough practice against those, but it wasn’t too bad.
Woocash: purepure? [Japanese Jack-O’ player]
Omito: Yes. purepure and Zadi.
Woocash: What advice do you have to other Johnny players?
Omito: Participate in tournaments, and when you’re going to play, you have to be hungry for that win. If you’re not, you’re not going to win.
Woocash: Do you watch a lot of American players as well? Who are some that you respect?
Omito: Yeah, I do watch a lot of American players as well, and the ones that I’m always looking for are: LordKnight, KidViper, Kizzie Kay, and Hotashi.
Woocash: Is there anything in particular you feel Americans are stronger at?
Omito: Japanese players tend to focus on making combos and set play, while US players lean more to gimmicks, so that’s the difference in how they play.
Though our attention is still focused on Evolution 2017’s grand finals and the winners, as well as some crazy announcements from Arc System Works, there’s a fighting game release creeping up on us this week! While we know that an English translation is coming from Aksys Games, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] is coming July 2oth to PlayStation 4 and 3. It’s likely that the majority of US UNIEL players will want to pick it up anyway, as is typical with Japanese fighting game releases.
The Arc System Works booth at Evolution 2017 granted an opportunity to test-drive the basically-ready consumer build. While I couldn’t spend an extensive time looking through the product, I glanced at the much bigger menu, now featuring extras to make the game more complete. Tutorial and Mission Mode in particular are attractive. UNIEL is accessible, but doing optimal combos is quite challenging. Having more help in the game should make a tangible difference.
Jumping into Versus, which had people lining up to play several games, included the console-exclusive characters: Enkidu and Wagner (Phonon and Mika were also selectable. These two have been playable in arcades). Now, I am not a highly-competitive UNIST player, but I sat down to try both Wagner and Enkidu anyway.
I played Wagner first. She reminds me a little of Sophitia from Soul Calibur in her design — short sword and shield, and she also backs up her move set with kicks. Clearly, her attack range is very short. She does have fast pokes, and while I couldn’t find an optimal pressure route that fast, I enjoyed 6C a lot. It’s a relatively quick overhead. She’s fast-paced and didn’t feel complicated to use at all. It’s surprising how easy UNIEL makes their characters to pick up, but obviously, mastering them and their intricate combos is a big challenge.
As for her special moves, she has a shield charge, a “drill” move that can move her diagonally upwards, a solid Dragon Punch, and an “enchanter” move. Pressing 22A or B would enhance either the shield or the sword. The shield version would power up the attack where she charges forward, while the sword type would make the drill move jump-cancelable. That second buff maybe sounds insignificant, but it not only lets her extend the combo, but also do really quick, crazy-looking cross-ups on pressure. The C version of the enchanting move, which costs meter, gives her both at the same time, as well as a pillar of flame on activation, so she can do this mid-combos as well. Her special move set is also rounded out by an air 2C divekick and a stomp on the ground ‘a la Soul Calibur’s Ivy.
Enkidu, on the other hand, took me off guard with how fun he felt to play. I’m not normally into hand-to-hand combatants, and yet, he doesn’t feel like a typical one, with his imposing figure and shadow-powered attacks. He doesn’t have a projectile, and that’s okay, because he can deal with any thrown at him thanks to his parry. The parry will grab the opponent if they are close enough, and the C version costs meter even if it didn’t catch any attacks. Another enjoyable attack is the air divekick, which also has several versions. It will obviously be used in combos, but I’m not sure how it works when the opponent is blocking.
Enkidu also has a “magic series” of attack strings, namely an easy B B B into C C C. His main special moves are rekka-oriented, so he tends to chain several specials. They felt punishing and impactful on the opponent, ending with a strong punch or powerful kick. I also checked out his “pillar” special, the Infinite Worth move, and it looked scarily good. Overall, Enkidu felt even more fun than Wagner, though at first look I didn’t think I would enjoy him. He also felt very easy to pick-up, and his parry will make knowledgeable difficult to approach. There’s also a unique “Havoc” mechanic whenver he scores a counter-hit, which power-ups his moves, but I’m not certain on specifics.
The new guys are great additions to the cast. I also tried out my main briefly, Yuzuriha. Most of the changes for her are not as noticeable, there are some improvements to her frame data, like faster air and ground normals. She now has a “D” slot for her stance, but that’s mostly just for “sliding” as in, storing an extra slash, not an actual D move. She can also use her “Force Function” move in the air (a.k.a. a Crush Trigger of sorts). A big system change everyone was trying out was using is activating Veil Off mid-combo.
I hope you got something out of my quick impressions, and you’ll be able to try out both Enkidu and Wagner yourself if you buy Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] from the Japanese PlayStation store on July 20th.
Catch up a little more by reading the 3.20 patch notes for UNIST, which detail some system changes and rebalancing for the cast.
Given that I was at Evolution 2017 during the Jubei announcement, I didn’t properly get to gush on SRK over the news, but hell really did freeze over for the cat sensei, didn’t it? We’ve found out now that alongside a BlazBlue: Central Fiction 2.0 patch, Jubei will arrive in arcades on August 3rd — which is quite soon!
We’ve confirmed that the patch is only for arcades first, so the console update is slated for sometime later this summer. Famitsu has a story coming out on Jubei, and the magazine scans confirm another important detail: the patch will be free. We can’t confirm the same about Jubei, but one could safely assume he will have a pricetag.
HiagoXYZ has translated the scans, giving us some insight into how the cat sensei fights:
“Described as a speedy fighter with a low jump, fast dash and a special kind of movement where he can sidestep behind people. Also, because of his install-type Distortion Drive, his Drive and Special moves change, and that lets him play a different neutral game.
Drive: Shiranui
Not many details but a successful hit applies a “black mark” on your opponent, similarly to Azrael. The mark will disappear after a while, and it’s suggested you should end combos with it to keep your opponent under pressure. For reference: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFG5S-WVwAA8JuY.jpg
Pics with Drive/Specials/OD/EA for reference: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFG5S-UUQAACXpx.jpg
1) Picture shows a Drive move powered up with Fudou Sharenjin, the install super. You enter a stance with the D button and press different buttons to decide which directions you’ll move to.
2) One of his Special moves, Rekkouzan. Jubei fiercely slashes the opponent with sharp claws. When Fudou Sharenjin is activated you unlock its follow-ups, which include an overhead and a low.
3) Another one of his Special moves, Gishoukyuu. A quick projectile, which you can use to cover your approaches.
4) One of Rekkouzan’s follow-ups, Ichi no Kata – Kagerou. Can only be blocked low.
5) Overdrive: Rakan Gorinkou. Powers up his Drive moves as well. Using his OD and Fudou Sharenjin at the same time will let you rush your opponent down with extreme speed.
6) His Exceed Accel, Miroku Rinshunrou.
Distortion Drives
Fudou Sharenjin: An install-type move that powers up your Drive into “Shiranui – Hagane” and Special moves for the rest of the round.
Niou Kigantotsu: Jubei strikes the opponent from the air to the ground. Using this DD right after a Drive mode will increase its damage and Jubei will teleport behind the opponent before attacking. Moreover, using this DD from a high position will further increase its damage.
Evolution 2017 provided unprecedented access to Arc System Works — as the company’s booth granted the opportunity for fans worldwide to watch a constant stream, and the ability for attendees to meet and interact with the developers as well.
Shoryuken had the opportunity for a short interview with both Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori. The former is a highly respected designer, director, artist, and musician behind the Guilty Gear series. He also contributes music composition to “Team Blue’s” BlazBlue, which, at one point, was marked as the spiritual successor to Guilty Gear. Mori produces and designs BlazBlue, continuing work on the series up to the latest release, Central Fiction, and as we learned at Evolution 2017, the series is not over.
Note that this interview took place before the big announcements after the BlazBlue: Central Fiction grand finals, and — as expected — Mori kept the news secure behind his smirk. Ever wondered who his favorite character is in BlazBlue (and outside BlazBlue)? However, he does reveal something interesting about an image he posted a long time ago, and we learn more about what’s coming to Guilty Gear in the future.
The following conversation was made possible thanks to a translator provided by Arc System Works. Responses are edited for clarity.
Luke “Woocash” Siuty: Mori-san, in a Forbes interview, you said you would like to work on a RWBY game. And there are rumors that something will be shown at Evo…
Toshimichi Mori [producer of the BlazBlue series]: I knew that was going to be a question you were going to ask, and I’m not really sure why is there a rumor like that.
Woocash: Okay, so Arc Sys is not working on that.
Mori: Yes. [That comment] was incidental but regrettable [laughs].
Woocash: Are either of you working on Dragon Ball FighterZ? What’s your involvement?
Daisuke Ishiwatari [creator of the Guilty Gear series]: No, we are not.
Woocash: But it uses the same engine as Guilty Gear, doesn’t it?
Ishiwatari: I mean, there’s some small, casual advice I have given, but not in a big-scale level, like in a meeting or anything.
Woocash: Mori-san, can you talk about BlazBlue on the Nintendo Switch?
Mori: Ehhhhhhh… We’re doing our best right now!
Woocash: Is it going to be different from a traditional fighting game? Can you talk about that?
Mori: It’s a pretty hard question to answer at the current stage.
Woocash: Ishiwatari-san, is there more content coming to Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, such as After Story C, or anything else?
Ishiwatari: One thing I can say for sure is that we are going to add Story Mode C on it.
Woocash: Will there be an announcement after Guilty Gear finishes?
Ishiwatari: No, there won’t be [laughs]. [And there wasn’t]
Woocash: Mori-san, who is your personal favorite from the BlazBlue cast?
Mori: I get this question a lot, and my answer is probably going to be, “all my characters are my favorite,” but if you were going to go with the length of relationship, Haku-men has the longest one with me. Because that’s the character that I had a rough idea about back when I was a school boy. I’ve been keeping this idea when I was in the position of making my own title. I decided to put him in that.
Woocash: I wanted to ask you about your Twitter banner. It has “Apocalypse,” on it, is that just a teaser, project, or…?
Mori: You will figure it out in around two years. Well, at some point but no later than two years, it could be sooner.
Toshimichi Mori’s Twitter banner. A similar image originally appeared in the Arc System Works 25th Anniversary Official Character Collection artbook, featuring Alpha -No 01-, supposedly the first Murakumo unit, which appears to be a fusion of Ragna the Bloodedge and Nu-13.
Woocash: Ishiwatari-san, I wanted to ask about Baiken’s design. What was it like to bring her into Xrd, and update her visual and gameplay style? Her design is a lot “busier.”
Ishiwatari: The first thing about that, the reason for Baiken’s difference in appearance, is that since it’s a new [entry in the] Guilty Gear series, we wanted to make sure that she will also look new, so that’s why we wanted to make her look completely different.
My inspiration came from a US Baiken cosplayer. I was fascinated. The cosplayer had a mixture of Western elements on it, so I thought, “maybe that would be a good idea.” The reason for the battle system changes was because in the previous version, because she was defense-based with the Guard Canceling, she tended to mostly turtle herself rather than going on the offense. We wanted to make her be a little more aggressive and capable in going on the offense rather than sheltering herself.
Woocash: Mori-san, I want to ask about Central Fiction’s gameplay in comparison to older games. CF seems to be faster, more explosive, you get Overdrive back a lot faster, etc. You ever think about toning it down, do you feel it’s a little too much, too fast?
Mori: Currently, I believe Central Fiction is the complete form of the BlazBlue series. From Chrono Phantasma, all of those systems, I made up the new system additions myself. After that, I had a discussion with the staff about how we can perfect things, and the result of that is Central Fiction. If I ever get to work on a new BlazBlue series, I would actually start the system from zero.
Woocash: Why start over?
Mori: Personally, for me, Central Fiction is a complete format, so I don’t want to touch that or add something or modify. If I want to start something new, I’d rather start fresh.
Woocash: You were also saying you don’t really want to work on fighting games anymore. Can you comment on that?
Mori: It’s not like I hate fighting games. It’s just that I’ve been working on fighting games for such a long time. It’s like a food thing — even if it’s your favorite, if you keep eating it over and over, you’ll get tired of it. So perhaps I wanted to work on something new for myself. My core philosophy is to entertain people. A fighting game isn’t the only way to entertain people, and I want to find what other way I can give joy to people.
Woocash: Ishiwatari-san, Answer is the character that nobody expected would become playable. Tell me about the timing of putting him in REV 2, and how did you come up with this idea of a “Business Ninja?”
Ishiwatari: Timing? Hmm, that’s difficult… The concept of the Business Ninja, I already had that idea even before he became a playable character, and you can see him in Story Mode. When working on REV 2, I was given the permission of adding two characters: one is a completely new character, and one is from the previous Guilty Gear series. Based on my decision, the character who won that position was Answer.
The original idea, the first concept came from needing to make a secretary for Chipp. So since he’s a secretary, he’s more of a businessman. But, since Chipp is a ninja, he should also be a ninja as well. So that’s what created the concept of a “Businessman Ninja.” Also, another background for his design is him having three lenses. One on the forehead. The reason for that is because he can see through his brain, so that’s what also led to his design.
Woocash: The mind eye.
Ishiwatari: Yes.
Woocash: Are you thinking about doing another character poll? You’ve done one in the past with Dizzy.
Ishiwatari: Ahh, I’m not thinking about it right now, but the event itself was quite successful, so if there’s a chance I could do it, I would have felt I’d do it.
Mori: Player-wise, it was quite successful, but as the designers, we were like, “ah man, really?!” We can’t work in advance, we need to work on it after getting the result, so we don’t have that much of a time frame. So it’s really hard!
Woocash: Was Dizzy a surprising result then?
Ishiwatari: Well, we were kind of expecting Dizzy to be chosen, but because of her design, there’s two of her summons [Necro and Undine], so design-wise, it was a pretty time-consuming character, so there was staff saying, “please don’t be her, please don’t be her!”
Woocash: Mori-san, is there going to be an announcement tomorrow about BlazBlue?
Mori: You’ll know.
Woocash: Is there somebody from the cast, or from the story that you also wanted to make a playable character but didn’t get a chance to?
Mori: Personally, to be honest, I did want to make Trinity playable. She has a good design.
Woocash: What would her powers be? Drive? Fighting style?
Mori: She would be a more honest material summoner than Platinum is. I’m not sure that I can talk about this, but the easiest way to describe it probably is Iceman from X-Men: Children of the Atom, he’s my favorite. I always wanted to make a character like that.
Trinity Glassfille
Woocash: Is that why Jin is so strong right now?
Mori: Jin… It’s not like I like the ice, but Iceman’s character system.
Woocash: No way! [jokingly]
Mori: I would say Jin is an easy-to-use character.
Woocash: Ishiwatari-san, do you ever think about voicing Sol again?
Ishiwatari: No.
Woocash: Why not?
Ishiwatari: Guilty Gear now is fully-voiced, it would be really disrespectful to professional actors if there’s one amateur mixed amongst professional actors.
Woocash: Did you ever have an unused character idea that never made it in?
Ishiwatari: Yes, there’s a lot, but I can’t say any.
Woocash: Mori-san, favorite thing about Las Vegas?
Mori: I can’t win on casinos, so… the food is more expensive! But I love this atmosphere. I love America.
After months of silence, major changes are on their way to BlazBlue: Central Fiction — and no, not in the form of Extend. The official Japanese BlazBlue Twitter unexpectedly published a document containing BBCF 2.0 version changes, which include touch-ups to general system mechanics as well as adjustments to every single character. Changes vary from major to minor.
HiagoXYZ, RideTheIcening, superscience890, and others have worked since last night to translate the patch notes for the English-speaking community. Check out their work in the BBCF 2.0 Changes List on a Google Document.
The other big news is Jubei. The cat-samurai-sensei is making his way to arcades with the patch on August 3rd, alongside the patch. Expect to see gameplay breakdowns and footage around that point.
Let us know your thoughts about the patch notes in the comments below; are the changes going to cause a character switch?
Dora is one of the more outspoken Japanese BlazBlue players. Famous for his Bang, he frequently streams on Twitch and shares his knowledge with the rest of the world. He will make an appearance at the upcoming Evolution Championships, so keep an eye out for his tricky Bang and his occasional Mu-12.
Dora has streamed and uploaded several FT10s to his channel, so there’s plenty of high-level play to watch. This set is between him and gerosyabu, a Litchi player. It’s definitely not a frequently seen match-up, so it’s a good opportunity to learn about it.
Another exciting FT10 happened with Nezu. Nezu is an excellent Hibiki player, a seemingly popular character but one that we don’t really see much in tournaments, actually. Dora uses both Bang and Mu-12 against him, and then later he netplays some other folks. We will see Nezu at Evolution as well!
There’s also a set between him and DISA, a Nine player:
Make sure to subscribe to Dora’s YouTube and Twitch channels to stay updated. Don’t forget to also check out his close sets against the top-rated Japanese BlazBlue player, Monster’s Izanami.
As we gear up to watch the BlazBlue: Central Fiction on the main stage at Evolution Championships this weekend, it’s a great time to warm up by watching some top Japanese players duke it out. After all, their presence will be quite noticeable, and this is also the first Evo for Central Fiction–the previous games had a brief hiatus from the big stage.
iGS|Monster, who typically dominates with his Izanami, is just as proficient with Nine. The set below features him below NA|Ikamen, an Azrael player. It’s really great to see how both players watch Nine’s stock and act accordingly; Ikamen tries to predict projectile-based attacks and absorb them. Monster does switch to Izanami, though, so you can see both characters deal with Azrael. Expect to see a lot of Izanami and Nine action at Evo.
Arakune is also no doubt one of the scarier characters in BlazBlue’s large cast, and VER|Souji is the Arakune player you want to look out for. Watch OJA|Rikutoue face off against the “one touch death” character, though one can say the same about Izanami. The proper matches start after 4:00, and many rounds turn into grueling, zoning battles. The time-out at 9:30 is one of the closest. This was an extremely even battle, so definitely worth watching till the end!
And finally, who could forget about IO|Fenrich, the most famous Jin player. Here we have him versus Monster’s Nine this time. It never gets boring to watch Fenrich’s optimized, stylish combos and extremely intelligent callouts. The results of this set will surprise you, though. It will be most exciting to watch Fenrich face American players at Evolution–and likely grace the final stage.
It’s been a big year for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. Along with the newly released update, we have seen many signings onto professional esports teams, but also support from companies like Smash.gg. Burst League, a leaderboard that rewards players from participating in sanctioned events, took a step to providing more structure to anime games. Arc System Works has taken steps to cater more to their community. Although the numbers for this year’s Evolution Championship don’t show an increase from last year, Guilty Gear is 5th overall with 818 registered entrants, still solid (it was 909 last year).
As ArcSys seems more responsive than ever to player feedback, the chance to shape the future of Guilty Gear seems to truly lie in their hands. Anyone has a chance to become a trailblazer at the event. Depending on which character emerges victorious, and we know that the odds are not exactly in favor of some underrated ones, such as Kum Haehyun or Jam Kuradoberi, the next patch could very well shift the metagame in a new direction. We’ve seen a patch with Dizzy land on Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- practically right after the Evo tournament, placing nerfs on monstrous top tiers, Sin Kiske and Johnny.
One important thing to note about this “cycle,” as mentioned in the Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 review, is that the gap between consumers and arcade players in Japan has never been shorter. With such a short time frame between the releases, as well as the availability of a Steam version posthaste (sought-after for the improved netplay), it’s obvious that ArcSys has been listening to its fans. Guilty Gear has been finding a growing audience overseas and in the console market, overshadowing its younger brother, BlazBlue, which has a much stronger following in the arcades. Team Blue’s child also scored frequent streaming on the Japan E-Sports League. Every bit of enthusiasm from the community counts nowadays, since viewership and the entrant counts at Evo are prime pickings for marketers, statisticians, and esports teams.
Speaking of esports, there’s been a few exciting signings precisely for Guilty Gear Xrd in 2017 in the American scene. Broken Alliance Gaming picked up dotNova and CleverFOXSOL in April, filling in some anime fighters amidst their burgeoning Super Smash and Counter Strike: GO rosters. The former is famous for his Jack-O’ Valentine play, a rarely seen character that is known for her tower-defense-game inspirations, which has been notoriously difficult to balance for Arc System Works. He did very well at Combo Breaker 2017, placing 4th in a vigorously diverse Top 8.
Other exciting signings for Guilty Gear happened with BjornSonOfBear (Xcel), who often dominates tournaments with his Chipp, and KidViper and Kizzie Kay (both for Fable Esports). Fable|KidViper talked about successfully devising a strategy to beat CO|Dogura at DreamHack Austin. Fable|Kizzie Kay has been a dominating force in both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, so we can expect high placements from all of these players.
Of those unsigned, it’s definitely worth pointing out daymendou, whose Slayer has not only flourished with impressive placing but also became famous for making great use of Danger Time at Anime Ascension and besting Fable|KidViper. Keep an eye out for PepperySplash as well, another strong Johnny. Hamad’s Ky, Hotashi’s Elphelt, Foo’s Haehyun, BloodWolf’s May, and DEB’s Sol have also been putting in a lot of work this year. For the most part, there aren’t too many surprises in comparison to last year, so we’ll see lots of returning names. It’s a really good idea to check out matches from Tension Pulse and Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League to see what most of the country’s strong players have to offer.
Who’s going to come out on top (or even just in Top 8)? I’m feeling Raven will go far, so expect a Raven player to do some damage within top 64. The Fable Esports boys will certainly at least get to Top 32. PG|MarlinPie also isn’t staying down, though REV 2 doesn’t seem to favor Zato=1. It feels like more of a toss-up than ever before, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s someone totally out of left field.
Now, as for Japan, we’ll see a solid increase in their presence as compared to 2016. Jumping from 237 to 264, you’ll see many more Japanese players around for all games. Out of 264, 79 are registered for Guilty Gear. We’ve got a ton of familiar, top names you will no doubt be likely seeing at least in the top 32: Machaboo’s Sin (the previous Evo champion), GGP|Kazunoko’s Sol and Raven, NAGE’s incredible Faust, Omito’s Johnny, and Ogawa’s legendary Zato=1, as usual. Additionally, keep an eye out for T5M7, whose Leo Whitefang made some waves by winning Arc Revolution Cup 2016, kedako’s May (he’s famous for compiling frame data), purepure’s Jack-O’, Koichi’s I-no, Teresa’s Jam, and Samitto’s Chipp.
Those are just some of the names, so be sure to refer to the full list on Kakuge Checker. To get a little preview of these Japanese players, I highly recommend watching Jonio-san’s YouTube channel — the man himself is also coming!
It would be interesting to see how far a Baiken or Answer player gets. We still haven’t seen those characters show the full extent of their power much yet, as players, especially in the US, are still trying to figure things out. Let’s keep in mind that REV 2 is still a relatively fresh game. There’s a large territory to carve out yet.
I’m also eager to see how many non-Japanese players we’ll see in Top 8. This is yet another chance to prove if the perceived gap between Japan and the rest of the world is indeed shrinking. Are closer release dates enough to let America and other countries catch up? Can’t wait to see that, but more importantly, let’s get ready to see a good show — Heaven or Hell!
Let us know in the comment who you’re expecting to see in Top 8 at Evolution Championships this year!
Ishiwatari: The first thing about that, the reason for Baiken’s difference in appearance, is that since it’s a new [entry in the] Guilty Gear series, we wanted to make sure that she will also look new, so that’s why we wanted to make her look completely different.
