Author: Marcos "El Cubano Loco" Blanco

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Tachikawa talks about Dragon Ball FighterZ, anime waifus, Ramune candy, the FPS genre, and more in this intriguing interview with BornFree

Detonation Gaming’s Tachikawa Toru has made quite the splash in the fighting game community in the last couple of years. He started making his mark in Street Fighter V playing Dhalsim and Ibuki in Season 2, and now most recently in Season 3, doing damage with Kolin in this year’s Capcom Pro Tour. Most recently, Tachikawa has been making new waves in Dragon Ball FighterZ — placing third at Stunfest 2018 and 25th at Combo Breaker 2018.

As it turns out in this interview with BornFree, Tachikawa is a huge Dragon Ball fan — even so far as to calling out his fellow Japanese comrade Moke on his knowledge of the franchise! Outside of talking about DBFZ, some unexpected topics that come up are Tachikawa’s passion for anime “waifus”, Ramune candy that apparently helps him focus more in the game (as per the translator’s confused expression, Ramune is widely known only as Japanese soda, not candy), and his surprising revelation that he likes to play first-person shooters. All this is discussed and then some in the video below — which is over an hour long.

Source: BornFree

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Apologyman talks about Dragon Ball FighterZ, the origin of his gaming handle, and more in this interview with BornFree

Vineeth “Apologyman” Meka is a rare type of player in the fighting game community; there are not many players who can play multiple games at the same time at a high competitive level. In addition to his Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament performances, where he really cemented his name in FGC history with his now infamous Firebrand/Super Skrull/Dr. Doom team, he has had placings in the BlazBlue series, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the Under Night In-Birth series, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and the first two seasons of Street Fighter V.

Now, he’s furthering his fighting game credentials in Dragon Ball FighterZ, with his unique team that is comprised of Piccolo/Tien/Vegeta — and is arguably northern California’s best DBFZ player at the moment. In this interview with BornFree at Combo Breaker 2018, he talks about his gaming origins, how he got his gaming handle, his training regime, thoughts on DBFZ’s mechanics and team composition, and many other general topics as is the norm with BornFree. You can check out the full interview below — which clocks in at almost an hour long.

If you want to know more about Apologyman’s thoughts on DBFZ and anything else in general, follow him on his Twitter. Be sure to watch him action at the Summit of Power Dragon Ball FighterZ Invitational this weekend, going up against the likes of Echo Fox’s SonicFox, Nakkiel, Cyclops’ GO1, Team SoloMid’s Leffen, and other top DBFZ players.

Sources: BornFree; Beyond the Summit (Twitter)

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Take an in-depth look at the history, the community, & the new generation of Street Fighter in this 3-part documentary from Capcom

What more needs to be said that hasn’t already been said about the Street Fighter series? Regardless of what anyone thinks about the current status of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Capcom’s legendary fighting game series has left a huge impact — not just in the fighting game genre but gaming in general, both casually and competitively, on a worldwide scale — for over 30 years. The Street Fighter brand has become even more of a household name in the mainstream, where some random passersby might catch a major tournament being aired on ESPN or TBS at their local bar. Street Fighter and its community are gaining more positive exposure, growth, and acceptance in the general public by the day, and that’s a good thing.

The Street Fighter YouTube channel has uploaded a three-part documentary series covering the history, community growth, and the next generation of new players of this perennial franchise. Footage from past tournaments as well as numerous interviews with pro players, commentators, personalities, and fans are shown here, and inform the viewers about the mark the Street Fighter series has left on them — as well as what the future holds for it. You can watch all three parts below (which total to a run time of about an hour-and-a-half).

Source: Street Fighter (YouTube)

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Fans cosplay as their favorite fighting game characters at FanimeCon 2018

Manga, anime, and gaming enthusiasts from all over the United States (and overseas) descended upon San Jose, CA for FanimeCon 2018 last month. One of the more popular fan conventions in the Bay Area for the past 24 years, FanimeCon has always been a big social gathering for fellow geeks and nerds to share their common interests and hang out with one another for four days straight of 24-hour action every Memorial Day weekend at the San Jose Convention Center. Whether it be for 24-hour gaming, buying collectibles or anime and gaming art in the artist alley, partying it up the Fanime dance/rave with other con-goers, or watching all sorts of anime and live-action Asian films, there’s is always something to do at any given time for anyone attending this event, every year.

Of course when it comes to big conventions such as FanimeCon, there is a huge turnout for cosplay — that is, people dressing up as their favorite character from a certain manga, anime, film, comic, or other media, usually hand-made by the person donning the outfit. This increasingly-popular hobby has become more mainstream and even accepted as a viable career choice with certain cosplayers such as VampyBitme and Yaya Han becoming famous for their cosplay craftsmanship on social media, and regularly attending anime conventions and fighting game community events to sign autographs and have panel discussions with fans.

Speaking of fighting games: there was a decent-sized gathering of cosplayers during FanimeCon weekend dressed up as characters from various fighting game series such as Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Tekken, Inustice, Mortal Kombat, Guilty Gear, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Super Smash Bros. I managed to take some photos of this gathering — as well as some others that I took around the convention center — which you can check out in the gallery slideshow below.

There are also more photos from the fighting game gathering at Sturdy Pine on Facebook which you can view as well.

Click to view slideshow.

Source: Sturdy Pine (Facebook); FanimeCon

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Nicalis, Inc. announces crossover puzzler/fighter Crystal Crisis for the Nintendo Switch, feat. characters from Blade Strangers

It seems like Nicalis, Inc. isn’t slowing down its insane game announcements — In addition to their crossover fighter Blade Strangers getting announced last month for multiple platforms, the indie publisher and developer has followed up with another crazy crossover project for the Nintendo Switch.

Crystal Crisis is a new crossover puzzler/fighter clearly influenced by Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, featuring characters from the upcoming Blade Strangers. As you can see in the trailer, you can spot Quote and Curly Brace from Cave Story+, Isaac from The Binding of Isaac, and Aban, Tina, and Jim Hawkins from 1001 Spikes. There are also some new additions (not in Blade Strangers) that manga and anime enthusiasts will recognize — such as Astro from Astro Boy and Black Jack from Black Jack. And if you want to get really obscure — Johnny Turbo, the infamous mascot for the TurboGrafx–16 add-on “TurboDuo”, has made cut for his first game appearance ever! These are strange, but wonderful, times we’re living in.

There’s other characters from different gaming series that made the cut, as well as original characters that you won’t find in Blade Strangers. You can read about these fighters, the gameplay, and different modes at Nicalis’s blog, linked in the tweet below.

Crystal Crisis is scheduled for a fall 2018 window release with both physical and digital versions priced at $39.99 MSRP. The physical edition will come with a full-color instruction booklet and bonus goodies. There’s no word yet if the title will be on other platforms — stay tuned for more details on this exciting new puzzle/fighting game as it gets closer to release!

Sources: Nicalis, Inc.; Nicalis, Inc. (Twitter)

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VesperArcade discusses Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition DLC character releases: Should they be stronger out of the gate?

It’s almost safe to say at this point that as far as Season 3 of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is concerned, three of the six announced DLC characters have received a less-than-stellar reaction from the community. Longtime fan-favorites Sakura and Blanka have been deemed too weak or too “honest” for the way SFVAE is “meant” to be played. Series newcomer, Falke, was greatly anticipated by some to be a successor to Rolento from Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Ultra Street Fighter IV; upon release, players discovered that not only does she not play at all like Rolento, but she is also slow, has mediocre damage output outside of her V-Triggers, and suffers from having some weird hit and hurt box problems.

While most agree that Falke is interesting and “fun,” her competitive future seems to be up in the air already, and she hasn’t even been out for a month yet! Of course there is still Falke tech trickling out on social media, and new characters take time to figure out — some judgement should be out on hold until more players try her out online and at local and major tournaments. Also, all is not lost when it comes to Season 3 characters: two more fan favorites, Cody and Sagat — and newcomer G — have yet to be released, so hopefully their releases will turn some people around…

With that being said, in VesperArcade’s latest video, he opens up a discussion concerning Capcom’s plans for the rest of the season three DLC characters and beyond. He talks about how Capcom should consider taking a risk to make their characters stronger, but not “overpowered” upon their launch. They discuss the idea that Capcom should have a beta test, or make the new character free to try out, before their actual release. He also weighs the pros and cons if Capcom decides to go down that path.

Source: VesperArcade

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Esports Arena Oakland hosting tournaments for Street Fighter V, Smash 4, and Melee for its grand opening this weekend

It has been a long time coming, but the Esports Arena in Oakland, CA will finally be having their grand opening this weekend. Of course, what better way to kick it off than with some gaming competitions for some of the most popular fighting games. ESA Oakland’s Twitter page made the announcement, listing the games that will be on hand in the tweet below:

As you can see, the insanely popular third-person shooter Fortnite will be a featured tournament game as well, but the main focus is fighting games with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U leading the way in entrants so far with 70+ entrants. For both Melee and Smash 4, there will be a pot bonus of $500 for each game spice up the stakes.

Registration is still open for all games. There is no venue fee for this event, spectating is free, and each game only costs $5 to enter. Go to to smash.gg for if you want to register — and if you live in the Bay Area, come through to meet and hang out with people from these communities and check out all the exciting action.

Sources: smash.gg; ESA Oakland (Twitter)

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Chris Tatarian picks the brain of The Beast in this insightful interview with Daigo Umehara by GauntletTV

An honest team discussion about a winning mentality.

It has been over a month since NorCal Regionals 2018 concluded, but there is still plenty of video content pouring out of Capcom’s most recent premier event in North America. In this latest piece of content coming out of the NCR, Cygames Beast’ Chris Tatarian interviews his teammate, Daigo “The Beast” Umehara — with the help of the latter’s translator, Shino — about his tournament mindset and decision-making.

This interview is refreshing to watch, because it consists of one pro speaking to another, instead of a FGC journalist or personality. Also, since both players are teammates, the interview feels more like a discussion or lecture on improving one’s competitive mindset than a typical Q&A. Chris presents his questions by outlining what he himself has had trouble with and then asks Daigo what his thought process is behind those decisions. Overall, this is a very educational and informative interview for anyone looking to improve their mental game in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition.

Source: GauntletTV

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Sol and Ragna go full-on berserk mode in this concept combo music video

It’s always a treat to see someone do a crossover concept combo video involving characters from two different fighting game series! Granted though, both Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 and BlazBlue: Central Fiction‘s respective protagonists Sol Badguy and Ragna the Bloodedge share similar character aesthetics and play styles that transition well between the two — as shown in this video.

YouTuber Ian “kazumaru88” Kirk demonstrates to viewers some practical, but flashy mid-screen and corner juggle combos with Sol and Ragna using specials, supers, Roman Cancels, Exceed Accels, Overdrives, and even Instant Kill and Astral Heat finishing combos for each respective character at the end. With “Keep the Flag Flying” from GGXXAC+ playing in the background, it makes for an entertaining and enlightening concept video, showing what Sol and Ragna are capable of!

Source: kazumaru88

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PR Balrog shares his candid thoughts about Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, esports’ effect on the FGC, and more with BornFree

Cygames Beast’s Eduardo “PR Balrog” Perez has been missing-in-action in the fighting game community for the past few months. The last time we saw him compete was at the Capcom Cup 2017 Last Chance Qualifier, where he tied for 17th place. With his recent return to competing in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition at NorCal Regionals 2018 last month, it’s almost safe to say we’ll probably be seeing and hearing more from the former Balrog specialist (he mains Akuma now!).

BornFree caught up with Eduardo at NCR 2018 to pick his brain on several current topics in the FGC. In this almost half-hour interview, Eduardo talks about the current status of SFVAE, why he mains Akuma, and his thoughts on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Dragon Ball FighterZ. He also talks about the “Caba incident” that occurred during NCR 2018, and how it ties in with how esports has changed the FGC. You can check out the full interview, where he talks about all of this and more, in the video below.

For more of BornFree’s interviews, be sure to check out his YouTube channel!

Source: BornFree