For the latest episode of the “How to Beat” series, the SSBM Tutorials crew have brought in a special guest. To learn how to beat the dreaded Ice Climbers, they have drafted resident conspiracy theorist and Fox/Peach dual main CDK to teach people on the techniques needed to best this hammer wielding duo.
As with the Sheik tutorial, CDK lists each section of the Ice Climbers’ game plan that players need to dissect in order to win the match-up. This means baiting out their wavedashes and up-airs in the neutral, how to kill Nana as fast as possible, the best ways to interrupt their recovery, and which god to pray to if you ever get wobbled. Check out all the tips in the video below.
For the latest episode of the “How to Beat” series, the SSBM Tutorials crew have brought in a special guest. To learn how to beat the dreaded Ice Climbers, they have drafted resident conspiracy theorist and Fox/Peach dual main CDK to teach people on the techniques needed to best this hammer wielding duo.
As with the Sheik tutorial, CDK lists each section of the Ice Climbers’ game plan that players need to dissect in order to win the match-up. This means baiting out their wavedashes and up-airs in the neutral, how to kill Nana as fast as possible, the best ways to interrupt their recovery, and which god to pray to if you ever get wobbled. Check out all the tips in the video below.
Focusing his next update of this Super Smash Bros. Melee mod around fan feedback, Dan Salvato has released a new trailer for 20XX Tournament Edition, detailing all of the new features in version 2b. Version 2b will be available for download on October 11th, with the beta version being available now, should you wish to test it out. If you buy a 20XXTE memory card from the The Big House 6 shop on smash.gg, it will have version 2b loaded onto it, so no worries about you needing to update. Once released, you can just update your own 20XX TE memory card by copying the update data onto your memory card, and as long as you do not overwrite or delete your TE Settings file, all of your nametags and save data should remain in tact.
The main features in this update include smaller file sizes for replay data, a special hand warmer mode where players can warm up without fear of damaging the other player, added training mode features, and much more. 20XX Tournament Edition will be used during Smash Summit 3 and will act as a great demonstration of how this souped-up version of Melee can really aid the running of tournaments. You can find out more information on the mod and a full list of all the changes on its official website.
Revealed in a brief teaser ahead of Twitchcon this weekend, the dueling tug-of-war simulator Nidhogg is getting a sequel in 2017. Nidhogg II has duelists now fighting with axes, throwing knives and bows–on top of the standard swords and fists–brutally slaughtering their opponent on as they race to the finish.
The most notable and divisive shift is the change in artstyle, going from the minimalist pixel art of the original, to a much more cartoony and vibrant aesthetic. Gone are the lithe stick figures of the original Nidhogg; instead Nidhogg II has fleshy, bulging fighters which look like the offspring of a Jelly Baby and a Simpsons character. While the character models may not be to everyone’s liking, the new backgrounds and weapons look great, bringing to mind old Amiga platformers which were bursting with color.
We may see more footage of Nidhogg II at Twitchcon, complete with more curb stomps and double KOs, but in the meantime watch the short teaser below.
To sync up with the long-awaited release of Mortal Kombat XL on PC, Ed Boon has revealed on Twitter that Mortal Kombat X will be receiving a balance patch on October 4th. With Injustice 2 on the horizon, this could be the last balance patch MKX get for a fair while, that is unless a Kombat Pack 3 is released fairly soon.
To thoroughly break down this patch, Ed also announced that there will be a Kombat Kast on October 3rd at 3pm CDT, where the NetherRealm guys will go over all the major changes, buff and nerfs that will be present in this very important patch. Will Alien finally get the nerf everyone has been praying for? Will Unbreakable Sub-Zero get some loving? Will there be any general engine changes? You’ll have to tune into the Kombat Kast over on the NetherRealm Twitch channel to find out more. Who knows, we may get a hint at Kombat Pack 3 while we’re at it.
Last weekend saw Japan’s best Super Smash Bros. 64 players gather together for their 11th annual 64 tournament, Kanto 2016. While arguably the two best Japanese players, Wario and Jouske, did not enter this year’s competition, this allowed some of the other members of Japan’s elite to get their time on the stage and show their skill at 64.
Alongside the onslaught of puffballs with the multitude of Kirby players and the threat of Wangera’s Jigglypuff in this final bracket, there was some character diversity: with FAUST’s Mario making it all the way to Losers’ Semis, while sekirei made it all the way to Losers’ Quarters with Link, who is deemed as the second worst character on the current 64 tier list. You can catch all of the matches via this special playlist, and you can see Losers, Winners, and Grand Finals below. It is not direct capture unfortunately–it is the recording of a projector screen showing each match–but the quality is still decent.
Jumping head first into the world of esports, the Rivals of Aether development team have announced the first season in their esports league, titled the Rivals Championship Series or RCS. This league begins this Saturday, kicking off a 12-week circuit of offline and online tournaments across Europe and North America, which has players racking up circuit points, exclusive skins, and even a travel voucher to the series finale at the mecca of all things platform fighter, Genesis 4.
To prevent player burnout, the RCS organizers will only count a player’s top three placings within a single month, meaning that you do not have to compete in every single event in order to have a chance at the qualifying spot at Genesis 4. All entrants to their first RCS event will receive a Champion Zetterburn skin, with high placers also receiving a special Champion Etalus skin. Ahead of the series finale at Genesis 4, points will be tallied up with six players from North America receiving a travel voucher to help them get to that final bracket, with two players from Europe also receiving a voucher. The final bracket at Genesis 4 will be open to everyone, but only eight players will receive the travel vouchers to help them attend the event.
There will be weekly streams, updates and more events as the series goes on, so keep an eye out on Aetherboards and the official RoA YouTube channel for more information. As it stands, Season One of the RCS will be for PC players only, with Season Two hopefully bringing Xbox One players into the running too. All the details including the points breakdown for each event, all of the RCS rules and details of currently announced offline majors are all available on the RCS thread on Aetherboards.
The Wombo Combo has been enshrined in esports history now, expanding out from the initial legendary Super Smash Bros. Melee combo, to being common parlance in MOBAs like League of Legends and DOTA 2. Yet, outside of the old school Melee community, it’s doubtful that many people know the history, the intentions and the players that were involved in this historic combo. To enlighten the world and flesh out the story surrounding one of Melee’s most influential clips on its seventh birthday, Last Stock Legends have devoted their latest documentary episode to the Wombo Combo.
From talking to the unfortunate recipient of the combo to discussing its legacy, Last Stock Legends spin out the intricacies of the Wombo Combo and show the myriad of factors that went into this now legendary exchange. While it may seem on the surface like a few seconds of spontaneous combo creativity, the Wombo Combo was a set play, designed to humiliate a certain player. Find out all of the details and the work that went into one of Melee’s first viral videos below.
When people discuss fundamentals in a fighting game, they often talk about mastering neutral, having good footsies and being able to react quickly to a situation. Very rarely do people cite being able to keep a beat as a part of becoming a good Street Fighter player.
In this video from NeverKnowsBest00, he discusses how by learning to recognize the rhythm of an opponent, like the time at which they may throw a fireball, it can help get through an enemy’s zoning. As he says in the video, rhythm manipulation is a key factor when playing a zoning character, so tapping into an opponent’s rhythm or actively changing up your attack timing to mess up your opponent keeping time is a useful mindgame to be aware of. It also useful to think of with blockstrings, when someone may purposely leave a pause in the “beat” of their string, in order to shimmy you or to catch you mashing a button.
By giving you a metronome to tune your mind to and some exercises to try out for yourself, NeverKnowsBest00 gives players a way of thinking of Street Fighter in terms of competing rhythms, and how to construct drills which will help you recognize and deal with people playing to a certain beat.
As part of the ongoing Leffen: Resurrection series, Red Bull have been releasing shorts to accompany the full length episodes, usually involving people close to Leffen discussing his recent trials and tribulations. In this short excerpt from a Q&A at this year’s EGLX, we get to hear from the man himself, as he answers questions from an audience of Smashers.
The questions range from what Leffen is going to do after he retires from Smash, how to regain composure in the middle of a set, and if media attention has massively changed his life since he started becoming a real threat on the world stage. This short Q&A acts as a great aside to the recent Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection episode which revolved around his rocky performance at EGLX, after being out of the Smash limelight for a significant time. The next episode will focus on his return to the Grand Finals stage at Get on My Level 2016, which saw him finally take a major after months of struggle.
