Author: Sam "Trilby" Foxall

Just as the Miami HEAT has a “strategic partnership” with Misfits, the New York Yankees are now taking a swing at esports thanks to a recently announced investor partnership. This partnership sees the baseball team allying with Vision Esports, a company that holds majority share in franchises like Twin Galaxies, Vision Entertainment and most importantly for the FGC, Echo Fox.

The size of the investment has not been disclosed, but the goal is to “accelerate the growth and increase the global brand awareness” for Vision Esports’ franchises, according to Forbes. Seeing as the Yankees have become their own brand outside of baseball, expect this partnership to result in more Echo Fox merch in the future. I’m hoping for Tokido-branded tape measures to be available this Christmas.

What this will mean for the FGC remains to be seen, but it signals that there is some serious money being funneled into keeping the esports dream alive. With Echo Fox’s FGC roster already dominating Tekken, NRS games, Street Fighter and Marvel, it’s a wonder where they will go next. Fingers crossed for them holding their own fighting game event inside Yankee Stadium.

Source: Forbes

Announced earlier this month by Taito, the company will be running a special location test for their arcade port of Street Fighter V at Toushinsai this weekend. Shown off in a CapcomTV feature, these custom cabinets will be playable at the event, with Taito running a tournament on Sunday for those in attendance.

This mini-tournament will be streamed via a dedicated Toushinsai Twitch channel, so you can tune in to see how these specialist cabinets function. Based on the CapcomTV footage, the cabinets are just computers running the Steam version of Street Fighter V, with each cabinet pair playing in a private Battle Lounge. You can actually look up these accounts on CFN — they are listed as Toushinsai_01, Toushinsai_02 and so on.

Should Toushinsai attendees respond well to this location test, we may see Street Fighter actually returning to its arcade roots — rather than Capcom just releasing something titled “Arcade Edition.”

Sources: CapcomTV; r/StreetFighter

As you saw with the reveal of Captain Ginyu and Nappa yesterday, the latest issue of V-Jump has been a Dragon Ball FighterZ info blowout. Along with showing off these two new characters, this issue has finally given fans some concrete details on DBFZ’s Story Mode, including hints at the plot and some of the special mechanics that will exist in this “what-if” story.

If you read our article on Christopher Sabat’s Game Informer interview about Dragon Ball FighterZ, you will know that Bandai Namco and Arc System Works are leaning heavily on the fourth wall when it comes to the Story Mode. Well, it turns out that the plot revolves around each of the Z-Warriors falling unconscious, and waking up with the player in control of them. It’s your goal to get to the bottom of this mystery, while gathering all of the Z-Fighters together to battle the mysterious clone army, as seen in the initial Story Mode trailer.

The plot reminds me a lot of the spin-off manga The Case of Being Reincarnated as Yamcha, where an avid Dragon Ball fan wakes up in the body of Yamcha and uses his knowledge of the DBZ story to defeat every villain. Hopefully, the Yamcha portion of the story may reference this for the hardcore DB fans out there.

As for what you do in Story Mode, players hop around a world map, defeating enemies and gaining XP as you go. You can use XP to either unlock special Story Mode only skills or simply to level your characters up to the highest point. If you use certain characters for long enough, you can start to listen in on their inner thoughts and hear what they’re really thinking.

Finally, V-Jump reveals that the Story Mode is actually split into three separate scenarios. The main scenario has you following Goku and the Z-Warriors, the second has you taking over Freeza’s body while the final scenario has the players linking up with Android 18. The Freeza scenario looks to be the dedicated “gag” scenario, while Android 18’s scenario has her exploring “hidden memories” about her past. This will no doubt delve into how she and 17 met Dr. Gero and maybe her link to the mysterious Android 21.

You can check out all of the Story Mode scans below, which have been graciously translated by ShonenGamez. Dragon Ball FighterZ is scheduled to launch February 1st 2018 in Japan, so expect news on a Western release date sometime in the near future.

Source: V-Jump via ShonenGamez

With Street Fighter celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, dedicated World Warriors may be looking for a memento to add to their collection. Seeing as Street Fighter was birthed in the arcades, what better way to celebrate its long history, than with a commemorative silver coin.

Check out this anniversary coin by @SmartArtsPrints
Can it unlock Sheng Long in a SF2 arcade cab? Would it even fit?https://t.co/ffW8n4vcqq pic.twitter.com/0LzCTuqXMX

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) October 17, 2017

Made by Smart Arts Gallery, this commemorative token comes embossed with Ryu’s face and Street Fighter II win quote (correctly translated, no Sheng Long here!) on the front, and the 30th anniversary logo on the back. Only 5000 of these coins will be minted, so best place your order now to avoid disappointment. They cost £12 (around $16) and will be shipped by Smart Arts Gallery on November 1st, arriving in time to be a stocking stuffer for any Street Fighter aficionado.

Source: Street Fighter

Following his reveal at South East Asia Major over the weekend, wannabe ninja are scrambling to find out more information on the Ever-Changing Ninja, Zeku. Luckily, Capcom have been on the ball for this character reveal, and have compiled a comprehensive breakdown of all of Zeku’s moves.

First off, let’s tackle the whole Young/Old Zeku transformation. Zeku is Street Fighter V‘s first stance character, with the gentleman ninja being able to switch stances mid-fight by pressing Down, Down with two punches. While it can be done by itself, Zeku can combo into his stance switch off of his V-Skill, as seen in his character reveal trailer.

For Old Zeku, he is focused around keeping the opponent out with his Bushin Gram kicks. There are three variations of the kick: one hits medium, one hits high and the other one acts as an anti-air. He also has his Bushin Jakura flip, which has three variations, being a punch, a kick and a command grab.

If you were a Guy player back in Street Fighter IV, Young Zeku will be right up your street. Like Guy, he has several target combos for reliable damage, as well as a wall jump and a Hayagake command run. He also has access to the Hozanto shoulder bash, along with an air grab which is used extensively in his character trailer.

As for his V-Trigger, Zeku gains access to the special Idaten command dash. This teleporting dash has different frame data depending on whether you use Old or Young Zeku — but both can attack out of the dash. If you land a hit during Idaten, Zeku can combo together normals of ascending strength. Both forms have a unique ender which can be used to finish off the Idaten combo, so experiment to see what sequences you can come up with when Zeku launches on October 24th.

Source: Capcom