When first announced, Fight of Gods looked to be your standard heavenly brawler with the usual assortment of deities from the Norse, Chinese and Greek pantheons. Then developer Digital Crafter announced that the prophet Moses was playable, with the Ten Commandments at his weapon. Now, as Fight of Gods launches on Steam Early Access, Digital Crafter has revealed that Jesus and Buddha are also joining the roster.
While Buddha is an out there choice, this is the first time I have ever seen the Son of God in a fighting game. He joins as the roster after literally tearing himself down from the True Cross and using the arms as make-shift knuckle dusters. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘cross-up’.
I’m a bit rusty on my Bible knowledge, but I don’t remember the part of the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus beats all the money lenders in a first-to-ten. You may find his frame data hidden in the Book of Numbers though. If you want to give Fight of Gods a try, it’s currently available on Steam Early Access for $4.79.
Digital prospectors are still working hard in the Street Fighter V datamines, trying to find any hints of new content that could be coming in Season Three. The most recent finds have been a new EX flash which sees characters glowing red, and a potential change to Ryu’s V-Trigger.
First off, let’s deal with the EX flash. Found by Killbox, this new animation has characters surrounded by a red aura, instead of the usual yellow EX flash. You can see it on Menat in the Tweets below:
Naturally, people have been speculating as to what this red EX flash could relate too. Some think it could be tied to the final DLC character’s EX moves or that it may be to do with the rumored changes to Street Fighter V‘s V-System, based on its red coloring. Hell, maybe it’s the return of Street Fighter IV‘s Red Focus.
As for Ryu’s V-Trigger change, this comes from a new video from X-Kira which shows off a new animation for when Ryu activates V-Trigger. The animation change is only slight — Ryu has his left hand open, instead of having it closed when he goes into V-Trigger. While this looks like credible evidence for a new V-Trigger for Ryu, X-Kira has jumped the gun and said that this is a prototype stance for an Evil Ryu transformation. With the Ryu model lacking any extra details or associated particle effects, this is quite a leap to assume that this is Ryu transforming into his Evil form.
Based on the Story Mode for Street Fighter V, it’d make more sense to have Ryu tapping into the Power of Nothingness, rather than the Satsui no Hado. In any case, it’s looking more and more likely that Capcom are planning to overhaul Street Fighter V‘s V-System in Season 3, with all characters potentially getting new V-Triggers.
With only a couple of Sagas left to go before the Championship Finals, 2GGaming have announced the next event on the 2GGC Circuit. Hoping to celebrate the entirety of the West Coast, September’s Saga is titled 2GGC: West Side Saga.
The goal of the event is to “showcase as much West Coast talent as possible”, along with supporting any other regions that make the journey to attend. To aid out-of-region players, 2GG is offering a $10 entrance fee discount to the first 200 non-SoCal players who sign up to attend West Side Saga. Esports Arena is also going to distribute $1000 among the three regions (outside of SoCal) with the most attendees, so rally the troops if you want a bit of extra cash for your area.
As usual, both singles and doubles events will be at West Side Saga, with Esports Arena putting up a $2000 pot bonus for singles and $500 for doubles. Seeing as it is called West Side Saga, I’d love to see a Sharks versus Jets crew battle, complete with a Bayonetta dance-off to decide the event.
Registration is available via smash.gg, along with the current 2GGC standings. Remember to get it quick if you want that $10 entry discount.
Announced during the finals of E-sports Festival in Hong Kong, Capcom have revealed that the fortune teller Menat will be the next character joining the Street Fighter V roster. First appearing in Ed’s Story Mode, Menat looks like a hybrid of Street Fighter veteran Rose and Soul Calibur V‘s Viola, as she wields multiple energy spheres to entrance her opponents.
She certainly has taken some influences from Rose, complete with a projectile reflect and Soul Satellite-esque V-Trigger, where she summons multiple orbs that orbit around her and can then be fired off at will. Menat will be a set-play monster once players get their hands on her, as she can place orbs behind her opponent during a combo to mess with their blocking. The orb can be placed high, mid or low, causing players to constantly fear this projectile.
Combine this with a Dhalsim-like drill move, a teleport and the ability to catch opponents in the air with her energy orb, and you’ve got the makings of one frustrating character. You won’t have to wait long to get your hands on the Egyptian mystic, as she releases on August 29th.
If you’ve watched top-level tournament play for almost any fighting game — especially Tekken — you’ll have heard the term ‘”okizeme.” Often shortened to just “oki,” it is the art of pressuring your opponent’s wake-up to force them into an unfavorable position. In order to teach newer players what to do following a knockdown, as well as how to defend against certain forms of oki, rooflemonger has created an okizeme crash course for Street Fighter V.
Starting with a basic explanation of okizeme, rooflemonger goes onto explain how meaty attacks works, common mixups following a knockdown, how to perform a throw loop, and a quick primer on frame killing. It’s just over 20 minutes of useful information, so it helps to have Street Fighter V open at the same time to test out the things rooflemonger mentions. While this guide won’t turn you into an instant oki master, it should prepare you for the next time you’re knocked down in the corner.
For everyone who didn’t get the chance to attend Gamescom, there is still a chance to play Dragon Ball FighterZ ahead of the game’s closed beta. The Gamescom build of DBFZ will be playable at both the Crunchyroll Expo in Santa Clara, and the GameStop Expo in Las Vegas. Both events are happening this weekend, with Gundam Versus also playable at either expo.
GameStop Expo is also the site of the Hometown Heroes Injustice 2 finals, so that may be your expo of choice if you’re both a DBZ and DC Comics fan. With Crunchyroll Expo being dedicated to all things anime, die-hard anime fans will no doubt find other activities to fill time in between DBFZ sessions. Tickets are still available for bothexpos, so check if you’ve got any Zenny in the bank to spend on attending either event.
If you want a quick summary on all the new features of the latest Dragon Ball FighterZ build, check out this video from Maximilian.
Continuing their series of character breakdowns, Bandai Namco have put the Z-Warriors’ resident Namekian (and number one dad) Piccolo under the microscope. Narrated by notable Dragon Ball YouTuber Rhymestyle, this analysis goes over all of Piccolo’s specials, his Supers, and how people can play him in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Piccolo has some clear inspiration from Street Fighter’s Dhalsim, complete with stretchy arms and a great zoning game. Unlike the fire-spitting Yogi though, Piccolo uses his elastic arms to pull opponents into projectiles like his Ki Grenade. You can summon a fast moving Ki Grenade to help you approach, while the slower Ki Grenade can soak up regular Ki Blasts and can either push your opponent into the corner or set up a grab trap.
Going with that idea of trapping your opponents in disadvantageous situations, Piccolo’s Hellzone Grenade is perfect after a snapback to create an incoming mixup. If the opponent blocks, they are stuck in tons of blockstun so you can close in on them or develop another mixup. If it hits, you’ve got some decent damage and the chance of another combo.
Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon is another powerful tool for psyching out your opponent, as you can charge it and dash around at the same time, similar to Johnny’s Mist Finer in Guilty Gear Xrd. Combine this with many of his other specials which have him appearing and disappearing to deliver kicks and elbow drops, and Piccolo’s going to be a super tough character to pin down.
Arc System Works and Bandai Namco have been tuning and testing Dragon Ball FighterZ a lot since the initial E3 build, as players are noticing quite a few changes in the Gamescom build. Seeing as he got a lot of hands-on time with this new build at a recent Bandai Namco event, Maximilian has made a new video which compiled most of the major changes that are in the current version of DBFZ.
First off is a major change to the damage scaling on Supers performed at the end of combos. In the E3 build, you could tack on a Super at the end of most combos and deal up to 50-60% damage. Based on this build, Arc System Works have changed the way damage scaling works, meaning that Supers — especially Level 3 Supers like Gohan’s Father Son Kamehameha or Vegeta’s Final Flash — do a lot less damage when performed as a long combo finisher.
The other noticeable system changes is to Dragon Rushes, which now spike the opponent back down to the ground when used as part of an aerial combo. This means no more of those extended, touch of death-esque combos you were seeing in the E3 build, as you cannot follow up after the Dragon Rush spike. Don’t worry though, as the new Aerial Smash mechanic allows certain characters to punt your opponent higher in the air, so your teammate can fly in and continue the combo. By the looks of it, these changes are to make players use the entirety of their team if they want big damage — akin to Marvel 3’s Team Aerial Combos. You can only use one Smash per combo, so use it sparingly.
Other people have also noticed a new ability that players can perform in Sparking Blast, which is being dubbed a Sparking Blast Vanish. While in Sparking Blast, you can hold the Vanish button to vanish and then reset their character back to their neutral state. This means you can “fake” a Vanish Attack, then continue a combo with a normal if your opponent doesn’t catch on. You can see it being used in the Twitter clip below:
see here piccolo does vanish into a normal instead of the vanish kick which would wall bounce pic.twitter.com/vNfJEZLomO
There is plenty more to discover in the Gamescom build and seeing as it will most likely form the foundation for the closed beta, you’d best get up to speed with all these system changes.
Rivals of Aether‘s first guest character has finally arrived, ready to battle on both Xbox One and PC. Ori and Sein are available to purchase for $4.99 either on Steam or Xbox One, along with the new Spirit Tree stage. Moreover, Xbox One players can now play the full version of Rivals of Aether, complete with Abyss Mode, achievements, and balance parity with the PC.
To celebrate the release of Ori and Sein, Rivals of Aether is also on sale for just $5 on Steam. With Season 2 of the Rivals Championship Series underway, four original characters coming later this year along with another guest character in early 2018, now is the perfect time to jump into this stellar indie platform fighter. If you want a glance into the competitive world of RoA, check out our spotlight from Genesis 4 earlier this year.
Announced at the end of the special Steve Aoki vs. Don Diablo show match at Gamescom, NetherRealm Studios have revealed the next three characters coming to Injustice 2. While Black Manta and Raiden were dead giveaways — thanks to their iconic headgear — the third character in this set proved hard to pin down. It turns out that it wasn’t Spawn or Rorschach, it was Dark Horse Comics’ famous chain smoking demon, Hellboy.
Hellboy’s look in Injustice 2 is clearly inspired by Mike Mignola’s art from the original Hellboy comic, while Raiden looks like someone cut a massive hole out of the middle of his Dark Raiden costume from Mortal Kombat X. By the sounds of it, NetherRealm didn’t manage to get Ron Perlman to voice Hellboy, which is a missed opportunity if I’ve ever seen one. Based on the trailer, it looks like Black Manta is going to be a zoning character that uses a massive harpoon gun, along with shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. We’ll find out more about him during a special worldwide gameplay demonstration on Friday at 4:00 PM PDT.
As he is getting the first gameplay reveal, expect Black Manta to kick off Fighter Pack 2 sometime in September.
