Author: Zavian "mushin_Z" Sildra

Posted on

Muscle & mind combined: Muscle Memory’s anti-Dhalsim strategies for Zangief in Street Fighter V

Explore what the Red Cyclone needs to do to escape divine immolation.

Is it Zangief’s worst matchup in Street Fighter V? In terms of concept, what could be worse for a dedicated grappler than a character built specifically for long-range combat? Thus the “flame that lights the way” has been a tough opponent for ‘Gief since Street Fighter II.

In the latest episode of Muscle Memory, Mr. Slay n man examines how to approach this troublesome matchup with the Red Cyclone. As per usual, the lengthy exploration starts with some basic tech versus tech in neutral, and expands to general discussion of counter-strategy, closing with a look at top-level play of the matchup. Joe Munday (author of Gief’s Gym) and anhdeptrai are on deck to assist with this one.

Check out prior episodes of Muscle Memory to prepare for these other SFV matchups:

Source: MrSlaynman

Posted on

Prove yourself online: Red Bull Proving Grounds 2017’s online qualifier now open for registration

Want in on Proving Grounds, but too far from a regional qualifier? Here’s your shot.

As was the case last year, Street Fighter V competitors that want to join the fight in Red Bull’s Proving Grounds series–but don’t have ready access to one of the eleven regional qualifying stops–can test their fists in the online qualifier instead. At the close of the Spring season, the three winning contestants (the highest scores from the online tournament) will be flown to the Red Bull eSports Studio in Santa Monica, to compete in June’s Red Bull Proving Grounds finals. Top 8 from the finals will earn a trip to compete in Las Vegas at Evo 2017 in Las Vegas.

Registration is open now for Season 1 of the Red Bull Proving Grounds online qualifier at smash.gg. It’s free to enter!

You can find additional information about Red Bull Proving Grounds on the official site.

Source: Red Bull eSports (Twitter)

Posted on

Evo Japan: dates and location officially announced for 2018, including [sài] lead-up event in 2017

The world’s largest fighting game tournament comes to Tokyo on January 26-28, 2018!

Hot news from the Evo Japan Executive Committee: they are proud to announce that the first Evolution Championship Series: Japan will be held on January 26-28, 2018. The location: Akihabara UDX, mere minutes away from Akihabara Station in Tokyo, Japan.

The Evo Japan concept was originally revealed during Evo 2016’s finals at the Mandalay Bay Event Center, and last September–during the Tokyo Game Show–we learned that January 2018 was the intended target, now confirmed.

[sai] 2017 logoAdditionally, a new tournament that leads up to Evo Japan will take place in 2017, in collaboration with the staff and community of TOPANGA and GODSGARDEN, in order to “unite gaming communities and celebrate the fighting spirit in Japan.” This event is called “[sài]” and will be organized using the Evolution Championship Series formula, using the double-elimination format. This event will be an open tournament, allowing anyone to register and compete. There will be no preferential treatment or seeding based on skill level for the tournament bracket placement.

[sài] will take place May 20-21, 2017, also at Akihabara UDX, and is free to enter. There will be three main events: Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, and one other game, yet to be determined. More information will be announced soon on the Evo Japan website.

Message from Noriyuki Kaneko, the chairman of Evo Japan Secretariat

Fighting games have been around for over 30 years, stemming from a single genre within the arcade gaming industry it has evolved and transcended the world of gaming. In recent years the fighting game communities based out of North America have expanded the genre and player base, most notably through Evo and has had great success in hosting the world’s largest open gaming tournament – for all games. I am honored to be part of an Evo event in Japan, the birthplace of the fighting game, not only as part of the staff but also as a fighting game fan & player.

Although it is known that Evo is the world’s biggest open gaming tournament, it’s more than just that. In my experience, Evo is also the best event for the separate fighting game communities. Evo Japan will work to unite these many communities and fighting gamers from all over the world as well. We welcome everyone that has their own specific goals, ideas and purposes and hope to enjoy fighting games together.

We look forward to seeing you at Evo Japan 2018, let’s have a great time together!

evo 2016 montage

Follow news to come for Evo Japan on Twitter, on the official website, and here on Shoryuken!

evo japan header

Source: Evo Japan; [Evo 2016 photos by Junpei Tainaka]

Posted on

Ibuki: some okizeme and stylish combos for Street Fighter V’s resident kunoichi

This ninja is stepping out of the shadows thanks to a prominent Capcom Pro Tour victory.

Ibuki’s technical demands on the player to achieve consistent success have kept her in the background for the most part when it comes to Street Fighter V’s metagame–but we all got a very clear reminder of how deadly she can be when Razer’s Xian tore through Final Round 20 to claim victory, undefeated, with the plucky ninja.

Ibuki can become a real thorn in her opponent’s side when applying her okizeme setups to keep them fighting a losing defensive battle; here’s a number of V-Trigger setups from Redcaliburn to work into your attack plan:

In case you want to show off a little swagger before (or after) you knock opponents down, you’ll want to check out LianHuBBB’s compilation of stylish Ibuki combos and setups below:

Ibuki also looks to come out on the other side of the incoming balance patch for SFV relatively unscathed; check out the upcoming changes here.

Sources: Team Edmonton Gamers; LiangHuBBB

Posted on

Street Fighter V Season 2 balance patch coming for late April 2017, incoming changes detailed

Shoryuken invincibility restored, among the other changes described in the upcoming patch’s notes.

A second pass over Season 2’s balance changes for Street Fighter V was promised a while back–it was expected we’d see it in play before the Capcom Pro Tour started up for 2017, and while it’s a bit too late for that we can now expect to see the results of Capcom’s rebalancing re-evaluation by “the end of April.”

After taking into account their own observations, their intentions for Season 2, and community feedback, a significant number of changes can be expected for Street Fighter V when this new patch drops. Here’s a rundown of some overall adjustments from Capcom-Unity’s blog:

  • V-Reversal input delay on crouching block has been shortened by 1F.
    Developer Comments: When the V-Reversal command was input from a crouch block, it took one frame longer to activate than when standing. This change makes it so that once a V-Reversal is input, whether a character is standing or crouching, it activates at the same time.
  • It is no longer possible to escape throws while inputting up during the throw escape.
    Developer Comments: Correctly guessing an opponent’s next move is one of the hallmarks of Street Fighter. Option selects, which allow multiple options to be covered with overlapping commands, directly conflict with this idea, as the guesswork is removed, leading to a positive result quite frequently. This low risk, high reward scenario can be frustrating to fight as it seems that the opponent is always guessing right. One such option select in Street Fighter V is the “jump back, throw select” in which the back jump command is input simultaneously with the throw input. This allows a player to cover two options on wake-up. If the opponent attempts a throw, they’ll tech it. If not, the player will jump away and reset the spacing between characters, all with very minimal risk. With the new change introduced here, players will now have to make the proper read against their opponent to get the desired result, resulting in much more interesting matches.
  • The number of frames necessary to complete charging for a charge move has been increased from 6F to 10F.
    Developer Comments: The initial change, where we reduced the total number of frames needed to perform a charge move, was made to keep unintentional attacks from coming out. Unfortunately this has made those same charge moves all that much harder to pull off. To fix this, we’ve increased the number of frames needed to perform a charge move, but have still kept that number of frames lower than Season 1. We think that this will ensure that the charge moves will come out much more reliably, while feeling that much easier to perform.
  • Invincible “Shoryuken” Attacks–Shoryuken type attacks have seen a change across the board. The changes are as follows below:
    • L Shoryuken attacks – maintain throw invincibility
    • M Shoryuken attacks – added airborne invincibility
    • H Shoryuken attacks – added attack and projectile invincibility
    This change affects Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Cammy, and Juri.
    Developer Comments: Invincibility on Shoryuken attacks has been a polarizing topic. For players who learned how to use these attacks in Season 1 as an anti-air or counter attack, this change has severely affected their success with their favorite character. Conversely, those who have had to fight against these attacks, completely praise the changes as they felt meterless reversals were far too strong. After analyzing player data, we felt that the change to invincible Shoryuken attacks resulted in a risk/reward ratio that has become risk intensive, yet yields little reward. Additionally, as Shoryuken attacks now occasionally trade with jump-in attacks, players who use characters with Shoryuken attacks are no longer confident in using this attack as an anti-air as intended. We feel that with the changes made to Shoryuken attacks, the attack now yields the right risk versus reward. Players who utilize these attacks will still have to exercise proper timing and a bit more decision-making to be effective, but now they will be rewarded accordingly. For the opponent fighting against these Shoryuken attacks, they will have to exercise a little more caution, but shouldn’t feel as frustrated as they did in Season 1.

In addition to these changes, extensive adjustments to individual aspects of each of the cast members are described in detail on the full patch notes post on Capcom-Unity; best go have a look to see what’s changing about your main–for better or worse–and start getting ready for Season 2 “redux.” The patch notes also detail the official list of bug fixes that were made to the game when Kolin was introduced on February 28.

Source: Capcom-Unity

Posted on

Echo Fox’s Julio Fuentes will help launch the Collide streaming platform at SXSW

Julio Fuentes takes on Street Fighter V challengers for some spirited matches to promote the streaming platform’s launch.

Echo Fox|Julio Fuentes is teaming up with Collide to support the launch of the new streaming platform at SXSW Gaming’s event this week in Austin, TX. As part of Collide’s launch, Fuentes will host open Street Fighter V exhibition matches tomorrow (Wednesday, March 15) and Thursday at the Collide House between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM Central, which will be streamed live via Collide, viewable either on the website or using the iOS app.

Collide–officially launching today–was founded by Robert Earl, CEO of Planet Hollywood International, as a means “to bring content creators closer with their audiences than ever before.” You can learn more about this new streaming platform on Collide’s home page.

March 16-18 will also see the Fighters Underground Street Fighter V invitational tournament at SXSW.

sxsw gaming 2017

Sources: press release; Collide

Posted on

More Street Fighter remixes from RektScrub: new takes on Dudley’s and Urien’s themes

A touch of menace, and a touch of class.

After some fresh arrangements of Akuma’s classic theme and “The Road”–Ryu’s theme from Street Fighter Alpha 3–Rektscrub is back with two more takes on memorable Street Fighter themes, this time for fighters from the Street Fighter III series.

Urien’s theme already got a more “epic”-sounding upgrade for its inclusion in Street Fighter V; RektScrub thought it still needed some “spice” however. Here’s their version:

Gentleman boxer Dudley’s music from SFIII is one of the game’s most distinctive themes–RektScrub makes fairly sweeping changes to its structure here, while maintaining just enough of the original hook to still be recognizable. Check it out:

Source: Rektscrub

Posted on

When Ryu used to be good: Revisiting Daigo Umehara’s deadly Street Fighter V Season 1 Ryu

Are Daigo Umehara’s iconic main’s best days behind him?

Twitch.Hx.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara: an FGC institution, well-known for sticking with Street Fighter V’s poster boy Ryu, despite acceptance that the shoto is not holding up great on the tier lists. Umehara’s clean, methodical play is still a joy to watch–when he isn’t being blown up by a higher-tier character, regularly raising the debate as to whether Umehara is struggling with Street Fighter V in general, or just saddled with a flawed fighter. This could prove an even more common occurance in SFV’s season two build, where Ryu’s nerfs have weakened the wandering warrior even more.

Xuses gathered up some older footage from Ryu’s season one days, for a look back at the tougher, “godlike” Ryu as played by The Beast:

Umehara has tried out other fighters since, most notably the high-tier-placing S2 Guile; caught working with Guile in casuals at Final Round 20–by fellow Ryu main XSK_Samurai of Winter Fox–it seems once again Umehara may be considering dropping Ryu in favor of a keener weapon:

We’ll have to see if The Beast actually casts aside the Hadoken for some Sonic Booms and somersaults in tournaments to come!

Sources: XusesGB; Miky Chea (Twitter)

Posted on

Transformers: Forged to Fight rolls out into mobile battlegrounds on April 5, 2017

A new mobile fighting game for players craving some metal-on-metal throwdowns.

Kabam–mobile developer for Marvel: Contest of Champions–is looking to offer a similar experience for Hasbro’s Transformers franchise with Transformers: Forged to Fight, coming to a smartphone near you this April. This mobile-based fighter will collect different versions of the classic Autobots and Decepticons–from different parts of the franchise’s long history–into a game with strategic, team-building, ‘bot-collecting, and (most notably) one-on-one PVP Transformers battles. As described by the press release:

TRANSFORMERS: Forged to Fight is a new 3D action-fighter and character collection game that gives players access to nearly every era of the franchise’s history, challenging gamers to assemble the ultimate team of Transformers characters, including Autobots and Decepticons from the animated TV series, blockbuster films, as well as fan-favorites from the Transformers comic book series and Hasbro’s line of iconic figures. As fans assemble their team, they will forge alliances, battle other players and dive into a unique storyline that goes beyond good versus evil.

Check out the action in this new trailer from PAX East, showcasing many of the characters’ signature abilities (that will be immediately recognized by longtime Transformers fans):

It’s hard not to feel like this could be a more substantial experience on a non-mobile platform, but it’s premature to judge the end product until the game is out in the wild. We’ll see how much fun–and how fan-faithful–this Cybertronian slugfest is when it launches to the App Store and Google Play on April 5, 2017.

Sources: press release; Transformers: Forged to Fight; Transformers: Forged to Fight (YouTube)

Posted on

Street Fighter V at Final Round 20: Epic highlights and match footage kick off Capcom Pro Tour 2017

Relive the action and drama of the first Premier event of Capcom Pro Tour 2017.

The regular first stop of the Capcom Pro Tour, Final Round 20 did not disappoint as a kickoff to Street Fighter V’s second go-around on the CPT. The best of the best came out to take a shot at SFV’s season two game, and the results were some of the most exciting matches to date.

While the most hype moment of the entire weekend must have been Evil Geniuses’ K-Brad popping off on Wolfkrone after winning their grudge match, there were plenty more magic moments to see. K-Brad ultimately earned himself a fourth-place finish with his deadly Cammy; Echo Fox|Tokido’s Akuma, DNG|Itabashi Zangief, WFX|801 Strider’s Laura, and KFGC|Verloren’s Cammy also had strong showings in the top 8. But Razer’s Xian demonstrated how much of a threat he still is by tearing through the pools and finals undefeated, armed with a deadly new Ibuki–switched from his former season one main F.A.N.G–to take the top spot. He even gave reigning Capcom Cup champion Liquid|NuckleDu a quick teabag along the way. NuckleDu’s Guile proved too tough for most opponents–but he got a taste of his own R. Mika medicine from Grapht’s Fuudo, and was eliminated in third place, even after switching characters to try out a Mika mirror match.

Capcom Fighters has compiled the top 5 moments from the event for your enjoyment; below we’ve also included the full match footage from the top 8, so you can see the high-level play on display here. Even more footage from the SFV pools can be seen on the Capcom Fighters channel.

If this is any early indication, 2017 is going to be an even better year for Street Fighter V. You can see the full final standings for Final Round 20 here.

Source: Capcom Fighters