Chun-Li, while dominant in Street Fighter V’s first season, was nerfed pretty significantly in the Season 2 build, and the only change she’s getting in the upcoming rebalancing patch is a change to how many button inputs are needed to start a rapid-press Hyakuretsukyaku, to help prevent accidental activations. She still tends to fall into the top ten or upper-middle of tier lists for the game, but she certainly isn’t as formidable as her S1 incarnation–the changes to instant-air-legs may be enough to bring that result around alone.
FreeStep Dutch feels that Chun-Li is far too weak in her current build–maybe even the worst character in SFV, period. Too extreme a view? The arguments–that her pushback, range, and recovery are all far too poor–are broken down instance-by-instance in the video below.
What are your thoughts? Legitimate problems, or just a failure to adapt? Fair assessment, or biased complaints? Any Chun-Li mains sharing this pain? Sound off in the comments!
Use your Muscle Power to bust right through those pesky frame traps.
Zangief’s Lariat, Cyclone Lariat (V-Trigger), and EX Spinning Pile Driver all pull Zangief’s hurtbox back a little–just enough to cause certain normals to miss, meaning the frame trap your opponent may be trying to use against you can whiff instead, if your timing is right. In the video below, MrSlaynman breaks down how to take advantage of this, demonstrating how to apply these three moves to “tactically” mash out of frame traps and turn the tables on your opponent. Frame trap escape examples for the whole SFV roster are shown, and timestamped in the video description.
Wizard World’s tournament series heats up St. Louis this weekend!
Continuing with their tournament tour, Wizard World Gaming is holding their St. Louis event this weekend, featuring Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Tekken 7 with healthy prize pots up for grabs. If you want to check out the action on stream, you can watch live on Wizard World Gaming’s Twitch channel. The schedule is included below.
Group A returns to battle for progression in the ELEAGUE Street Fighter V Invitational.
Tonight the fight continues in the ELEAGUE Invitational, with Group A diving into their regular season bracket. You can watch the live stream of the matches on Twitch’s ELEAGUE TV starting at 2:00 PM PDT.
I love Street Fighter Alpha 3–and I enjoy seeing how at least a portion of the Japanese FGC still love it too. Here, Jazz shows us all the best bits of this returning SFA3 event.
Crow_Spaceboy’s in-depth look back at a defining glitch/mechanic/feature in SoulCalibur II really got readers’ nostalgia juices flowing. A fitting discussion of one of the all-time greats.
Bafael returns with an extensive guide on how to fight against Street Fighter V’s hungry, chain-swinging menace. This is a matchup I definitely need to study up on, too!
A happy surprise on April Fool’s Day, as Arika actually live streamed its proof of concept for a new Fighting Layer-esque fighter on YouTube. Based on the overwhelming support, there are possible plans for Arika to crowdfund this game in the future.
While the Asian English release has yet to be announced, die-hard Gundam fans will be happy to know that Gundam Versus will be launching on July 6th. Due to its release date, AnimEVO 2017 will now be running Gundam Versus, instead of Versus Extreme Full Boost.
The King of Fighters XIV has been one of my favorite titles over the past few months. It’s loads of fun–but some of my best characters are terrible. Make that were–The King of Fighters XIV version 2.0 is here, and there are plenty of changes in store.
The Red Bull Proving Grounds is a great series of events. opening our eyes to some scenes that aren’t always in the spotlight–like the Canadian scene, for example. Give this interview a read, and be sure to check out some of our interviews with other Proving Grounds TOs.
Sometimes the most iconic parts of a series are trapped behind closed doors, but every now and then we get the chance to draw back the curtain. Capcom’s anatomy guide has been in use for almost 30 years, but this is the first time we get a glimpse. Don’t miss the opportunity.
This year we doubled down with two fake reports: an upcoming Street Fighter Alpha collection and an Extend update to BlazBlue: Central Fiction (despite promises to the contrary); looks like a lot of readers want both of these things–or in the case of Extend, some definitely do not want. I guess time will tell if these are just throwaway gags, or things we might actually see someday…
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article and the selected posts are solely those of the writers, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Another tool in the Ken rushdown arsenal, at least for now.
Longtime Street Fighter players are no stranger to kara throws–for those unfamiliar: basically tricking the game engine into extending your fighter’s throw range by entering the command for a longer-ranged normal attack immediately before the throw command. Joutai has found a kara throw for Ken in the current version of Street Fighter V, in this case using his light kick to reach out just that much farther. You can see it demonstrated in the video below!
The UDON comic book version of the Street Fighter universe is an interesting animal: reaching back to the Alpha/Zero era, it tells the story of a timeline matching the Capcom games precisely on some points, while broadly rearranging and twisting the character’s lives in other ways, to make the UDON comics into their own sort of Street Fighter parallel universe.
While covering the subject matter of the Street Fighter Alpha series, Street Fighter II, and Street Fighter IV, the comics did a thorough and entertaining job of filling in the gaps around the beginnings of most of the SF cast, the original Shadaloo-hosted Street Fighter tournament, and the rise (and fall) of Shadaloo-offshoot S.I.N. As these comics were being produced while new games were also being made, the new characters in the game continuity often got inserted into the narrative in interesting ways–but overall, the gist of the past stories doesn’t stray too far from the game’s own canon. In the Street Fighter Unlimited series, we’re now dealing with the post-SFIV and pre-SFIII era directly–and with the events of Street Fighter V taking place in that same zone, it’s here where UDON starts to diverge even more from the Capcom games’ canon to tell its own tale of the rise of the Secret Society. The result is both an intriguing alternate take on the storyline and characters, and an entertaining vehicle for our favorite characters to smack each other around. Minor spoilers follow!
A new enemy, a new journey
The Super Street Fighter graphic novels featured the early machinations of the Secret Society, in the immediate wake of Seth and S.I.N. In the second volume (“Hyper Fighting”) Evil Ryu and Oni were made straight-up canonical in UDON’s own universe, once Ryu drew the Satsui no Hado out of Sakura with his own ki, and succumbed to the equivalent of two fighter’s darkness to become Evil Ryu; meanwhile Akuma unleashed his full potential as Oni to fight him. At the close of Super Street Fighter volume two, Gill appeared and used his godlike power to suppress the Satsui no Hado in both of them, returning Ryu and Akuma to “normal” (though confused and frustrated). The volume ended with Gill deciding that the time had finally come to reveal the Secrety Society and their intentions to the world.
This is where Street Fighter Unlimited picks up: Ryu is conflicted and ashamed of his murderous moment, his chest scarred as a reminder of Evil Ryu’s emergence. This scar acts as a reminder to the reader as well–Ryu has no such scar in Street Fighter V. We’re in new, unfamiliar territory. While Gill–with the loyal help of Kolin, and the grudging obedience of Urien–stages a disaster-thwarting PR event to reveal himself and his power to the world at large, Ryu sets out on a new pilgrimage to figure out if he can ever utilize the power of the Satsui no Hado without losing himself to it. After seeking out old Retsu and coming face-to-face with the master he thought was dead, Ryu’s search takes him to Brazil to train with the bizarre and unorthodox hermit Oro.
Blanka makes a guest appearance in Oro’s training regimen.
Meanwhile, the story follows Alex, Guile, Cammy, Ken, Chun-Li and others as they follow the Secret Society’s trail through the remnants of Shadaloo, to learn what the Society’s agenda actually is. Following the layout of the single comic issues, the story is broken up into the main sections punctuated with smaller side-stories.
Kolin teaches Sodom some manners.
While stuffed with a generous amount of Street Fighter action, Street Fighter Unlimited has a noticeably more thoughtful, philosophical tone than prior comics–a lot of panels are devoted to exploring Ryu’s internal struggle and guilt, while he seeks a new teacher to guide him onward. Gill is shown as he presents himself to the world–angelic and wise, powerful but gentle, a caring and benign ruler for a new world order. In volume two, once Gill has gathered street fighters from around the world to his island, the question arises–what do fighters do when there’s no one to fight? Is there a place for them in a world of complete peace?
Of course, Gill’s darker agenda begins to surface, and Urien’s jealousy and intention to betray his brother become apparent–once Gill announces a new Street Fighter tournament, and expresses dissatisfaction with the level of ki the fighters can produce. A strange machine is revealed: it’s based on recovered S.I.N. technology, and Gill wants to charge it with the fighters’ ki; as we get these clues that Gill’s new world order won’t be exactly as cheerful as hoped, Alex learns that he has an unexplained connection to the Secret Society.
As these volumes form only the first two thirds of the full Street Fighter Unlimited arc, volume two does end rather abruptly, leaving us hanging for volume three for the conclusion of the story threads that have been laid out (of course, you can read the full story in the completed monthly issues, too). The result is still some great Street Fighter storytelling with more than its share of memorable moments. Highlights include: a slice of Haggar’s daily workload as mayor of Metro City; Alex, Chun-Li, Guile, and Cammy battling an army of shape-shifting Twelves; Oro’s unusual (and brutal) testing and training of Ryu; and a side-story in which Dan gains his chance to avenge his father’s death at Sagat’s hands.
This can’t go well.
Throughout the story the influence of Street Fighter IV and V can be felt in the inclusion of costume and character cameos. Street Fighter V content gets directly engaged in the bonus story for volume one–each volume has an additional tale not published in the monthly run–where F.A.N.G makes his presence known to re-recruit Balrog and Vega into a new Shadaloo. Both bonus stories tie directly into the Street Fighter Legends: Cammy comics (to be collected into their own volume in May 2017).
An unlikely alliance.
Works of art
As lavish hardcover collections, the books are frankly gorgeous–although, maybe we’ve grown accustomed to that from UDON by now? The stories are broken up by the individual issues’ original covers, and each volume includes a massive gallery at the end, full of bonus covers and concept art.
The homage covers are a big highlight, almost worth the price of admission on their own!
The main story duties fell to Ken Siu-Chong, with Jim Zub, Adam Warren, Chris Sarracini, and Matt Moylan as guest writers. They have certainly provided an engaging main storyline, along with fun side-stories here. Art is shared between tales by Joe Ng, Edwin Huang, Josh Perez, Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz, Omar Dogan, Sarah Stone, Hanzo Steinbach, Brendan Tapper, and Genzoman; all of them bring their own unique flavor to the visuals, all of it a pleasure to behold–especially in the increased size format the hardcover offers over the original comics. Colors by Edwin Huang and Espen Grundetjern, flats by Ludwig Olimba, and lettering by Marshall Dillon complete the beautiful presentation in these books. While the main story art is shared between different artists, by volume two Huang is handling the main story sections exclusively–which suits me just fine, as I love his distinctive style of Street Fighter artwork.
Three dates still remain in this Street Fighter V qualifying series at Xtreme Gaming in Colchester!
Presented by ZOWIE and held at Xtreme Gaming in Colchester, England–it’s the Street Fighter V Extreme Series! Intended as a means to build the community and help discover some new talented fighters, these events are are open to all skill levels and are completely free to enter; the first qualifier on March 25 has already completed, leaving four all-expenses-paid spots remaining to fight for in the upcoming Paris finals.
Each event offers a prize pool of: £500 and a ZOWIE RL2460 esports monitor for first place, £250 for second, and £100 for third.
March 25, 2017 [top 2 advance to finals] – completed
The first event on March 25th saw Mousesports|Problem X take the top spot. The venue remains open for casual matches throughout the day for players to practice. The tournament sets are streamed at www.twitch.tv/banksesports. A word from organizer James Banks, of BanKs Esports:
The ZOWIE Fighter Extreme Series in the UK is about the players, all you have to do is ask the people that attended the first event, and we want to reach as many Street Fighter players as possible, not just due to the prize money and the opportunity to attend a European final event but to learn and grow. It was refreshing to see so many players speaking to the top players about their losses and learning, we want that balance of community, FGC event and top level play that we love to see and get hyped about!
Evolution Fighting Championships: continuing to evolve!
Tony Cannon took to reddit today to describe at length planned improvements to Evo 2017 in the Evo 2017 Planning Megathread. Cross-posted on r/StreetFighter and r/SmashBros, it discusses points raised by the community from last year’s Evo, and what steps are being taken this year to make Evo an even better experience for competitors and attendees.
To answer concerns about crowding, the venue space has been doubled over last year’s, from 125,000 to 277,000 square feet. This will allow every game to have its own dedicated screen and viewing area while it’s being played, as well as feeling less cramped in general. The 80-foot big screen from Evo 2015 will also be making a return this year. You can view a rough, tentative venue map to get an idea of what’s being planned on the Megathread.
To address bracket/seeding issues, the switch to smash.gg has already been made. Seeding at the event itself will use smash.gg’s own system, and smash.gg will be providing on-site support at the event to keep the brackets running smoothly. The pool of available TOs will be expanded to ensure TOs are familiar with the games they’re running brackets for!
We endured a sweltering walk between the Westgate hotel and the event hall last year; to avoid that this time, the event is consolidated in Mandalay Bay this year. And if you don’t want to line up for your passes when you arrive, smash.gg can send you a personalized pass in advance when you register!
Evo 2017 is at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 14-16, 2017.
New apparel featuring those slightly mistranslated, now-iconic lines from Street Fighter II!
To help celebrate 30 years of Street Fighter, UDON Collectibles has just launched a new T-shirt line: it features the Street Fighter II cast’s win quotes from that classic game, matched with their silhouette and costume colors. The English version of Ryu’s win quote has launched speculation, a hoax, and eventually created a whole new character–while Guile’s classic put-down and Chun-Li’s powerful proclamation are just two more examples of these both iconic and entertaining quotes. Do you remember them all?
The shirts are available on the UDON Collectibles store now for $29.99 USD each, available in a variety of men’s and women’s sizes. Go check out the selection! Ready to proclaim your love proudly for your original main?
Step-G in retrospect: Was SoulCalibur II a great game because of Step-Guard–or in spite of it?
UDON Collectibles launches T-shirt line featuring classic win quotes for Street Fighter’s 30th anniversary
Gundam Versus releases in Japan on July 6, 2017
The King of Fighters XIV’s version 2.0 patch is now live; SNK shares the balance change details
Underground Hype–Montréal’s Red Bull Proving Grounds TO: “We have no doubt that we’re the best in Canada”
Street Fighter Alpha Competitive Collection? BlazBlue: Central Fiction Extend? Nope–Happy April Fool’s Day
To help celebrate 30 years of Street Fighter, UDON Collectibles has just launched a new T-shirt line: it features the Street Fighter II cast’s win quotes from that classic game, matched with their silhouette and costume colors. The English version of Ryu’s win quote has launched speculation, 
