Author: Sam "Trilby" Foxall

Revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu, we’ve received more information about the different Gundam players will be able to pilot in Gundam Versus’ upcoming closed beta test. There will be 38 playable Mobile Suits from 11 separate Gundam works, including Gundam Barbatos from Iron Blooded Orphans, and Gundam Throne Zwei from Gundam 00. You can find the full list of playable Gundam below, courtesy of Famitsu:

• Turn A Gundam
• Jesta
• The-O
• Gundam Throne Zwei
• Jagd Doga
• Gundam Sandrock Kai
• Z Gundam
• ZZ Gundam
• V2 Gundam
• Jinx
• Union Flag Custom
• Full Armor Gundam
• Gundam Barbatos
• Gundam Kyrios
• Gundam Exia
• Sinanju
• Unicorn Gundam
• Tallgeese
• Wing Gundam Zero
• v-Gundam
• Gouf
• Guncannon
• Gundam

This closed beta, which will be happened on PlayStation 4 on March 10th, March 18th, and March 19th will feature four separate game modes and will only be available to users in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Trial Battle and Free Battle are single player modes, with Free Battle acting as a sort of training mode to test out new techniques and practice with certain mechas. Trial Battle is like your traditional Arcade mode, where players battle against computer opponents and progress along various battle routes until the end of a campaign.

Ultimate Battle is a sort of Survival mode, where players have to upgrade and repair their Mobile Suit in between waves of new enemies. After certain battles, special scenarios may appear where you may have to face off against teams of enemy pilots or even special giant mechas. You can play Ultimate Battle offline, but playing it online means you can team up with up to five other pilots for some proper robot-battling action.

Finally, there is Player Match where you can create rooms of up to 18 people for select two on two battles. These multiplayer lobbies will allow players to fight against other nations who are in the closed beta test, so plenty of chance to test your Gundam piloting skills. If you have a PSN account registered for any of the previously mention regions, you can sign up for beta access, but do be aware that the connections could be quite unstable. While no Western release date has been announced for Gundam Versus, there is an Asian English version in development if you are hankering to watch giant robots beat the bolts out of each other.

Sources: Gematsu; Hachima Kikou via Famitsu

Following the announcement of the second World Championships for Pokkén Tournament earlier this month, players have been desperately awaiting more details on the actual circuit surrounding the event. Well, the Pokémon Company are now starting to release information on this year’s World Championships, detailing the overall prize pot, alongside the version that the Championships will be using.

First off, players will all be competing on the Wii U version of Pokkén, as opposed to the arcade version of the game. Unless the Pokémon Company finally decides to push the DLC fighters–which are currently only available on the arcade version–to console, we won’t be seeing Darkai, Empoleon, Croagunk or Scizor going for the Worlds title in August. This may deepen the disconnect between Western and Japanese players–who may have to literally play on an older version of Pokkén, unless the Wii U version is actually updated to be in line with the arcade edition ahead of the Championships.

Besides the mention of a Last Chance Qualifier on the Friday before the World Championships, The Pokémon Company did not state how players can actually qualify for the Pokkén World Championships, outside of this final qualifier. One would assume that players can win spots by competing at regional Championships, like the North American International Championships in Indiana, but it has not been explicitly mentioned by The Pokémon Company. They could follow the example set by Bandai Namco with the numerous King of the Iron Fist qualifiers at events like Wizard World, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.

The Pokkén World Championships will unfold on August 19th, with Pokémon trainers battling for a share of $20,000. Unless The Pokémon Company chooses to update the Wii U version of Pokkén to finally be on par with the arcade version–complete with additional fighters and balance updates–fans will probably have to wait until the conclusion of this tournament for any news of a comprehensive version of Pokkén for the Nintendo Switch–if at all.

Source: The Pokémon Company

While it has always had its place at Super Smash Bros. Melee events, Melee doubles has grown in prestige and popularity in the past few years, with dedicated teams forming specifically to compete in team events. With the quality of play also drastically improving for Melee doubles, the TO team behind Genesis have decided to nurture this part of competitive Melee with a brand new circuit.

Titled Fuse, this circuit is set to run for the first half of 2017, with teams gathering circuit points to lead to an eventual invitational held on Evo Sunday, to make up for Melee’s absence at Evo 2017’s Sunday finals. There will be a minimum pot of $5,000, with $2,000 going to the winning team. Similar to circuits like the Capcom Pro Tour or the Killer Instinct World Cup, events in the Fuse circuit are divided between Premier and Major events, with teams earning points based on their performance at said events. The three Premier events are Genesis 4, CEO Dreamland and another as-yet-unannounced event, while the six Major events are BEAST 7, Full Bloom 3, Smash ‘n Splash 3, HFLAN and two other events which are yet to be confirmed.

Hey Melee,

We heard you love Doubles.https://t.co/ZEJYIc3lMK

FUSE: a Melee Doubles Circuit!#FUSEmelee pic.twitter.com/WEuJmFupAf

— GENESIS [#FUSEmelee] (@Genesis_Smash) February 18, 2017

Seeing as this is a circuit to celebrate Melee doubles, teams earn points as a unit, rather than players individually earning points. To take BEAST 7 as an example, where SFAT did not compete with usual partner PewPewU, but with dizzkidboogie; in order for the BEAST points to count, SFAT would have to lock dizzkid as his partner, which would forfeit his Genesis 4 points, acquired by competing with PewPewU. The opposite is true, so SFAT will not gain the points he won at BEAST if he chooses PewPewU as his partner. The main point of Fuse is to celebrate the achievement of static teams, rather than just rewarding players who partner up with the next best player to guarantee easy points.

All teams must be locked before the final Major in June, with the ability to gain more points stopping around two weeks before Evo. The top eight teams will be invited for the Fuse finals, to be held somewhere in Vegas at a time which should hopefully not clash with finals for Smash 4 or Street Fighter V. So, if you are at all interested, get a partner and start practicing your team play! The prize pot may rise via crowdfunding, so teams could be earning quite the pretty penny should they take the whole circuit.

Sources: Genesis_Smash; Melee It On Me

With the recent release of version two of the Panda Global Rankings for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, there was a fair bit of confusion about the weighting of specific tournaments on rankings. Many fans and players were unsure of how much importance was given to certain events, and how this came to impact a player’s final ranking on the PGR. To increase transparency and to act as a guide for future events, the PGStats team have compiled a Tournament Tier System which should aid in showing how certain tournaments will impact future editions of the PGR.

Tournaments will be range from C Tier up to S Tier, with events earning points based on the number of entrants, the size of the prize pool, the number of current PGR players attending and how many of those players are in the top 20 of the PGR. Events will then be marked up using this system, getting a letter grade depending on the number of points that they earn. To be listed as a C Tier event you need 300 points, B Tier requires 600 points, A Tier requires 1200 points and S Tier requires 2400 points.

Our Tournament Tier System is live!
See the tournaments that will make the PGR!
Link https://t.co/kQNvgPk2zO
Article https://t.co/WsL4fcgKmI pic.twitter.com/zOC3UYUM9Z

— #PGstats (@ThePGstats) February 13, 2017

So, with this system, Genesis 4 is the only 2017 event that has earned an S Tier ranking, with the two 2GGC Sagas being the only A Tier tournaments. S Tier is really only reserved for super majors like Genesis, Evo, CEO, The Big House and so on, so don’t expect many S Tier events on the TTS going forward. The PGStats team has also made the decision that biweekly or weekly events will not form part of the TTS, as it puts too much weighting towards well known, active regions like MD/VA or SoCal.

This TTS will be subject to change, with tournament weighting and points totals changing as the year goes on so do voice your concerns to the PGStats team if you see anything amiss. My main issue with the weighting system so far is that it still massively privileges US events over those outside the country. One only need to look at the rating for BEAST 7 which Europe’s biggest ever Smash 4 tournament, yet it is a low ranked B Tier tournament with 688 points. Hopefully, the rating system will change as time goes on, in order to reflect the global nature of Smash 4.

Source: Panda Global

Since his release back in January, sales of DLC character Kilgore have been steadily filling Killer Instinct’s community fund for tournaments in 2017. In just over a month, sales of this prototype Ultratech robot have raised over $50,000 for future KI tournaments, guaranteeing sizable prize pots for the next round of the KI Ultra Tour.

However, the fundraiser can’t continue indefinitely, so the ability to add to the Killer Instinct community fund with purchases of Kilgore will stop on March 6th. As a result, Kilgore will not be available for a short while as Microsoft and Iron Galaxy tally up the final community fund count, hopefully in time for the Killer Instinct World Cup on March 10th-12th. Kilgore is not going away forever though, with players being able to purchase him for the lower price of $5 later this year. So, if you want Kilgore and still want to support the future of competitive Killer Instinct, get your purchases in now.

The community fund won’t come into effect until the next KI Ultra Tour begins, but the Killer Instinct World Cup already has quite the healthy prize pool, with the world’s best KI players fighting for the lion share of $30,000.

Source: Ultra Combo