Author: Luke "Woocash" Siuty

Unlike Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers, which was briefly shown in the Nintendo Switch presentation, there’s another fighting game name that quietly popped up on the Nintendo website.

The above image displays a number of third party titles coming to Nintendo’s new console, some of them teased previously. Among them is the logo for Arc System Works’ BlazBlue franchise. There’s no official information from Arc System Works other than this mysterious Taokaka tweet, so a release date is anyone’s guess. Most likely, it’s going to be the current fighting game Central Fiction, though the series has numerous spin-offs by now–like a beat ’em up Android mobile game.

BlazBlue titles also tend to come out on the PlayStation Vita after releasing on Sony’s stationary console, but it seems that Arc System Works has made the… Switch.

Two-player BlazBlue anywhere sounds rad, provided that the Joy Cons feel right, or fight stick support comes to the Switch.

Source: Nintendo Switch JP Site

Later this week, Arc System Works is hosting a Fighting Game Award tournament: an event dedicated to supporting some of their best players and communities surrounding their games. Since our initial reports on this Guilty Gear and BlazBlue tournament, Aksys Games has clarified the event with information on the English stream, as well as translated the profiles of every participant.

The cast competing in BlazBlue: Central Fiction is as following:

While Fenrich is certainly a favorite to win, Ryuusei, a Carl Clover player, is after his head. Yutta plays Jin like Fenrich, and intends to show the results of his dedication to training. Minami and Souji (Izanami and Arakune respectively) can certainly make an upset, as both those characters have incredibly strong setplay–unless the two Carls lock them down first.

This is the BlazBlue bracket to see who’s fighting whom:

In Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, we have:

Machabo, Omito, FAB, Nage, and GZL|Koichi are some of the strongest and most well-known players on this list. T5M7 came out with a surprising win at Toushinsai, defeating the competition with his Leo Whitefang. While Machabo, who wants to dazzle us with a “flawless performance and win the tournament,” was crowned Evolution 2016 champion, Sin Kiske isn’t the same character anymore, and the game feels more even for the rest of the cast–Omito’s Johnny is in similar shoes, although he’s still incredibly strong.

And this is the Guilty Gear bracket:

Tune in this weekend on Friday, January 13th to watch the stream at 8 p.m. PST/10 p.m. CST/11 p.m. EST. Aksys Games finalized the stream link, and it’s going to happen at twitch.tv/Aksysnation. Here’s the official breakdown of the schedule:

Tune it to the event for top Guilty Gear and BlazBlue gameplay, and although there are no official hints at announcements from the company, it seems likely that we’ll hear something regarding the future of the two games. A recent interview from the producers suggests the event should be worth a watch.

Source: All-Aksys

As we initially reported, the Arc System Works Fighting Game Award 2016 is an event seeking to commemorate the players of the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- and BlazBlue: Central Fiction. The culmination of this celebration, which included several qualifying tournaments and fan votes, is a double-elimination tournament in eight-player brackets for each respective game.

The final cast of BlazBlue fighters is:

• Iwashi, Ragna the Bloodedge
• Fenrich, Jin Kisaragi
• Souji, Arakune
• Minami, Izanami
• Itou Sae, Carl Clover
• Fumi, Nine the Phantom
• Ryuusei, Carl Clover
• Yutta, Jin Kisaragi

As for the Guilty Gear combatants, they include:

• Machabo, Sin Kiske
• Sabamiso, Bedman
• GZL|Koichi, I-no
• FAB, Potemkin
• Nage, Faust
• SPIKE, Slayer
• Omito, Johnny
• T5M7, Leo Whitefang

The page doesn’t say exactly where the event will be streamed, but somewhere on NicoNico is likely. It will take place on January 14th, but the exact time of the tournament isn’t yet specified. The Japanese Arc System Works Twitter account may announce details as the tournament draws closer.

As Kazuto Sekine, General Battle Director at Arc System Works, stated in an interview with 4gamer, there may be an announcement coming from the company at the event. Whether that could possibly be some kind of program to support the competitive players it is commemorating or teasers for an upcoming version of Guilty Gear Xrd is unknown.

Source: Arc System Works Official JP Site

As we initially reported, the Arc System Works Fighting Game Award 2016 is an event seeking to commemorate the players of the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- and BlazBlue: Central Fiction. The culmination of this celebration, which included several qualifying tournaments and fan votes, is a double-elimination tournament in eight-player brackets for each respective game.

The final cast of BlazBlue fighters is:

• Iwashi, Ragna the Bloodedge
• Fenrich, Jin Kisaragi
• Souji, Arakune
• Minami, Izanami
• Itou Sae, Carl Clover
• Fumi, Nine the Phantom
• Ryuusei, Carl Clover
• Yutta, Jin Kisaragi

As for the Guilty Gear combatants, they include:

• Machabo, Sin Kiske
• Sabamiso, Bedman
• GZL|Koichi, I-no
• FAB, Potemkin
• Nage, Faust
• SPIKE, Slayer
• Omito, Johnny
• T5M7, Leo Whitefang

The page doesn’t say exactly where the event will be streamed, but somewhere on NicoNico is likely. It will take place on January 14th, but the exact time of the tournament isn’t yet specified. The Japanese Arc System Works Twitter account may announce details as the tournament draws closer.

As Kazuto Sekine, General Battle Director at Arc System Works, stated in an interview with 4gamer, there may be an announcement coming from the company at the event. Whether that could possibly be some kind of program to support the competitive players it is commemorating or teasers for an upcoming version of Guilty Gear Xrd is unknown.

Source: Arc System Works Official JP Site

New Year, new you, and a new fighting game–if those thoughts entered your mind at the start of 2017, Killer Instinct might just be the game to set eyes on. What’s more, it’s never been easier to pick up the fighter from Iron Galaxy Studios thanks to a comprehensive, easy-to-understand internet guide.

Infil wrote up a guide in HTML that covers all aspects of the game, from core concepts to details on individual characters. Beginning with movement, health, throws, and similar, the compendium explains the intricacies of techniques that use Shadow Meter to turn the tables. The rest of the categories delve into the deep combo system, Combo Breakers, and the cast from each season.

The guide includes language and explanations that will sound familiar to Street Fighter players, so it’s easy to relate when jumping from Capcom’s fighter. In addition, a lot of the text has mouse-over links with extra info, and the pages are filled with accompanying videos.

Check out the Complete Killer Instinct Guide by Infil et al., as well as the helpful Resources page, which includes various additional sources to pick up the game.

Source: Complete Killer Instinct Guide; thanks to @TheHadou

If you ever wanted some Pokémon Sun and Moon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, modder Scorpob has you covered. Fans should quickly recognize Wicke, a member of the game’s Aether Foundation that helps the player catch Ultra Beasts.

Her remarkably good model is a great rendition of the character. As for her moveset, it’s based on Peach, as the model uses the Princess as a prototype. The only change is that instead of attacking with Peach’s crown, Wicke uses her glasses.

You can check her out in action, and see her model and animations in detail, in the video below–along with Gladion, Popplio, and Incineroar.

As for related Pokémon characters, Scorpob is also working on Guzma, the leader of Team Skull.

Source: Scorpob via Kotaku

Just when you think they’re about to lose, when the health bar is nearly at the lowest it can be, they somehow avoid getting hit again and whittle down the opponent’s life to zero. It’s not as improbable as it seems, and the latest compilation from XusesGB shows how it can be done.

Epic Street Fighter V Comebacks Volume 7 features Capcom’s cast after the Season 2 changes radically shifted the metagame. Prominent throughout the netplay match video is Akuma, the latest addition to the cast. There are a lot of high-level mirror matches with the fighter, but other characters get a spotlight as well.

Check out the video below from XusesGB to see these impressive comebacks.

[Editor’s note: Xuses also uploaded Vol. 6 of his comeback compilations over the holidays.]

Source: XusesGB