Street Fighter’s Ken is most well-known for three things: his aggressive fighting style, his fiery Shoryuken, and his luxurious flowing blonde hair. Of course, not everyone thinks Street Fighter V’s Ken maintains the high-quality hair he’s come to be known for. With that in mind, PFunk decided to give Mr. Masters a new ‘do, in addition to a modified face model.
Leading up to Capcom’s announcement for July 1st’s highly anticipated Street Fighter V DLC at Community Effort Orlando 2016, there was of course SFV’s fierce battle for the top spot. Those who were unable to attend or follow the livestream can catch up on all the action in this roundup of CEO 2016’s SFV Top 8, from Capcom Fighters.
The street-fighting was intense between CEO’s best of the best, with strong showings from Mago, Liquid|NuckleDu, YouDeal.MJS|Haitani, CBZ|Onuki, and BST|Daigo Umehara–with RZR|INFILTRATION and Tokido starting the Top 8, and then later finishing them by facing off once again for the Grand Finals.
As expected, Capcom Digital Media director “haunts” took to the Capcom-Unity blog this morning to bring us further details about what we can expect from Balrog when he joins the Street Fighter V playable roster in the DLC update this Friday.
Balrog stays true to form as the “Crazy Buffalo” with a focus on chaining together devastating punching attacks, mixed up with some dirty fighting.
V-Skill: KKB
Balrog’s V-skill is a twirling sidestep that allows him to dodge projectiles and other attacks, and then immediately advance so he’s ready to punish. Useful at long or close range.
V-Trigger: Crazy Rush
Balrog gets so hungry for that fight money that steam rises from his body and he goes berserk–granting him the ability to chain together special moves like his Bursting Buffalo and Charging Buffalo.
Critical Art: Gigaton Blow
Nothing too fancy, fittingly: Balrog just likes punching things really hard. Balrog just pummels whatever’s in his way until it stays down. This simple but powerful CA is of course linkable, and is sure to be a strong finish to his combos.
Naturally, Balrog comes equipped with an alternate costume for Story Mode and a Battle Costume that you’ll need to grab from the Shop, if you haven’t already picked up the Season Pass.
He’s also following in Guile’s footsteps and bringing an updated version of his classic Las Vegas stage along. Just in time for Evo! But that’s not the only new stage coming our way: the new Kanzuki Private Beach will also be available for 70,000 Fight Money, and a new matching summer outfit for Karin will be available from the shop for $3.99/3.99€/£3.29–joining the other premium costumes as previously announced.
Following up on the tease of Juri and Urien at the end of Balrog’s trailer, we also get a look at their official character art. They’ll be playable in the Cinematic Story Mode, but not in other modes–yet.
Guile’s defensive, zoning-heavy style–as previously described by Peter “Combofiend” Rosas–brings a slower feel to Street Fighter V, a game known for rewarding aggressive play. In this new Cross Counter Training video, gootecks and EG|Justin Wong discuss how Guile has changed (“aged 20 years” as Wong jokingly calls it), having become more difficult to play than his Ultra Street Fighter IV incarnation, while still gaining new strong tools in SFV that open up new ways to play him.
While detailing the pros and cons of Guile’s new normals and special moves, they discuss Sonic Boom’s increased hitstun, how the Sonic Blade V-skill can be used while charging to effectively bait and punish jump-ins, and how to best utilize the chargeless Sonic Booms available during Guile’s Solid Puncher V-trigger. They finish up with some useful combos and Critical Art applications.
Last week, Super Smash Bros. Melee was already well on its way to joining its Wii U sequel in the Evo 2016 2K club; today, an official Tweet revealed that SSBM now indeed has reached that benchmark, with over 2000 registered competitors eager to Smash Las Vegas up.
Congrats Melee players! You have also topped 2,000 entries, making Evo 2016 the biggest smash tournament ever! #Evo2016
The hype for SSBM and SSB4 is strong, and evidently growing stronger: Evo 2016 has already become the biggest Smash Tournament ever, even before Melee broke the 2K mark. Super Smash Bros. Melee has a place of honor in the Sunday Finals at Mandalay Bay Events Center, so it’s probably not a coincidence that Mr. Wizard followed Evo’s announcement with this:
Some additional floor seats for Evo 2016 Sunday’s Finale have been released! Head on over to https://t.co/RprKx3sU5s to pick them up!
The latest video in the Capcom Pro Tour Interview Series features Tokido, speaking from DreamHack Summer 2016. After musing about how Street Fighter V’s Ryu is much improved over his Ultra Street Fighter IV version, Tokido talks about how RZR|Fuudo’s skill with R. Mika still earned him the win over Tokido despite his belief that Ryu is stronger in that matchup. Tokido also comments on BX3|Phenom’s qualification (as this year’s first European) for Capcom Cup, and the differences between Phenom’s and YouDeal.MJS|Haitani’s Necalli play.
Tokido also spoke recently with Yahoo! Esports, and with Shoryuken’s own Corey “Missing Person” Lanier at Seoul’s ArcadeStream.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not reflect Shoryuken as a whole.
When Street Fighter II hit arcades in 1991, it launched the standard model of one-on-one fighting games that’s still played to this day–but that aspect of the game lived parallel to the quarter-munching single-player battle against the CPU. That experience–fighting increasingly difficult CPU opponents in the 2/3 rounds format until you reach the boss character–is deeply coded into Street Fighter DNA. This was how Street Fighter told us about its world and characters: through powerful bosses, rival fights, mysterious hidden opponents, and the short cutscenes and exposition between.
In the original Street Fighter II, the Four Heavenly Kings were true bosses, and the only way to fight them was to play through Arcade Mode. Their iconic stages and themes spoke volumes about their importance; when you got to Las Vegas and faced Balrog, you knew the game just got serious. The tension could only build: the confusion of Vega’s strange fighting style, the fear of Sagat’s raw power when you knew you were almost there–leading, maybe, to the sheer terror that was fighting M. Bison. Reaching and defeating them was a trial of guts, skill, and coin–and later, when Akuma threw M. Bison down to challenge you at the end of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the appearance of a hidden boss even more powerful than M. Bison was a big deal. The concept of the single player Arcade Mode is central to Street Fighter as a game–which is why it’s significant that Street Fighter V has abandoned it.
The Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III series continued and expanded on this model with more hidden fighters and expanded narrative elements. But the presence and importance of video arcades gradually diminished; when Street Fighter IV came on to the scene in 2008 as a triumphant return of the Street Fighter franchise, the gaming landscape it arrived in was much different than the one known to SFIII: 3rd Strike almost a decade earlier. But Street Fighter IV was (and still is) an arcade game at heart, following in the same footsteps as its predecessors. At the launch of IV, Arcade Mode was still a given, even as the game pushed into the new world of online player vs. player and downloadable content. The Street Fighter IV series were arcade games feeling out the new possibilities of an always-connected online world.
Street Fighter V is the first mainline Street Fighter title to launch without an Arcade Mode. At its February 2016 debut, it was immediately criticized for how lean a package Capcom sold us. The online beta offered so much promise behind the unresponsive menus, under a gray veil assumed to be lifting on retail release. But the game hit the streets with key functions still grayed out–no Challenges, no Shop, a brief and ridiculously easy character-specific Story Mode, and a Survival mode–it left the strong impression that we’d paid for an incomplete product. The lack of strong single-player options was particularly frowned upon: Survival mode lets you battle against the CPU, but it has a very different dynamic than the classic 2/3 rounds feel of an Arcade Mode, and none of the narrative. Video game webcomic Penny Arcade voiced what much of the gaming community was thinking: Street Fighter without the Arcade Mode wasn’t Street Fighter at all.
This lack of a satisfying single-player game in SFV deserved all the criticism it got. Other publishers have only increased the single player content for the home versions of their arcade games; for example, Arc System Works titles offer quite robust single player content: in addition to its Arcade Mode, BlazBlue Chronophantasma features Abyss Mode, Score Attack Mode, Unlimited Mars Mode, and Highlander Attack Mode, piled on top of an ever-expanding storyline told through its Story Mode and “Teach Me, Miss Litchi!” episodes. Comparatively, Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, part of a franchise that has no arcade version, includes options such as Classic, All-Star, Event Mode, Special Orders, Smash Tour, Multi-Man Smash, Home-Run Contest, a Stage Builder–practically drowning you in single player diversions.
For the casual player, trading blows with the CPU is clearly a vital part of the Street Fighter experience; however for competitive players, the CPU AI can never match the challenge of a human opponent. Capcom made a deliberate choice with SFV to focus on player vs. player, be it online, or in local casual and professional competition. The increasing focus on the Capcom Pro Tour has shifted Capcom’s attention to the aspects of the game that operate outside of a single player and their own console. In doing so, it may seem that a hole has been left in the game, a sense of emptiness–yet this is a logical progression in the development of the Street Fighter franchise. Street Fighter V is, importantly, the first Street Fighter game to launch solely for home platforms instead of the arcade, and it has a different design goal. This is a clear reflection of the environment SFV is born out of: the fall of the local arcade, the rise of the online lobby.
Street Fighter V was made to be a part of the new world that SFIV only just started to explore. Made to be always online, always connected–an evolving “service” instead of a static game state. Supposedly we will never see Super Street Fighter V, or Super Street Fighter V Turbo–Street Fighter V will be a constantly growing, changing entity on its own, without revisions or new editions. Now, as we’re well into June and the long-promised Cinematic Story Mode is imminent, we’re getting a more and more complete picture of Capcom’s vision for Street Fighter V’s future.
If that vision had included an Arcade Mode, it would probably look very much like Orle-san’s YouTube mock-up video; made using existing SFV game assets, along with generous new text and some creative edits, this shows us a classic-style Street Fighter V Arcade Mode run–complete with story sections, rival fights and Necalli as a the bonus boss fight.
Orle-san’s video is a fitting tribute, but it also shows plainly how dated the Arcade Mode sequence is. It is comfortable and familiar–because we’ve seen it many, many times before.
In a game that didn’t originate in the arcade (and will most likely not appear there, though Yoshinori Ono has not ruled the idea out), what purpose would an Arcade Mode serve? We’ve lost the surprise of hidden boss characters–PC data miners would find Akuma’s code before he could ever jump in to menace us. The upcoming Cinematic Story Mode looks like it will be more than adequate at revealing SFV’s lore and narrative, making an Arcade Mode redundant for that purpose. Street Fighter V is clearly a game that wants us to fight each other–instead of the CPU–as much as possible. The Arcade Mode is a vestige of a different game, from a different time; as nostalgic as we may be for that classic style, better to let Street Fighter V live and breathe in the now, and grow into its own destiny.
Improvement in your favorite fighting game can be a daunting task sometimes–whether you’ve just picked up a new title, or you’re a longtime player hitting a plateau. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is a particularly frenetic and complex title, but the Beefy Smash Doods are here to explain their three basic principles to stepping up your Smash 4 game: practice, knowledge, and observation. Simple–maybe obvious–but this video goes into depth on each principle, detailing exactly how to best utilize these three concepts with Smash 4 to ensure your play won’t get stale.
While the video is focused specifically on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the basic ideas can be applied to any fighting game.
Want more Beefy strategy videos? Check out their footstool tutorial, or learn about Smash 4’s 2-frame punish.
When Daigo Umehara–Red Bull partner, Twitch Global Brand Ambassador, one of the most well-known professional players in the FGC–speaks out about Street Fighter V or the Capcom Pro Tour, players tend to take notice. A number of interesting comments by Umehara, taken from his BeasTV channel, have been posted to Twitter by BeasTV producer Jiyuna.
Consistent with his attitude that he expressed previously, Umehara’s focus is less on winning specifically, but more on exploring his style and preparing for the upcoming Capcom Cup.
Some things Daigo said on BeasTV -He has been experimenting/testing different styles at tournaments. His focus is on CAPCOM Cup results.
Umehara is apparently not feeling ready to compete at Evo 2016 yet. But surprisingly, in addition to this, he indicates uncertainty that Street Fighter V will remain the focus of the Capcom Pro Tour, or possibly tournament play in general, in years to come.
-EVO is too soon for him. He's not ready. -His goal is on Capcom Cup results because he doesn't know if SFV will still be played next year.
An interesting disparity between fighting games in Japan and much of the rest of the world; could Street Fighter V fail in Japan without this social connection? Time will tell if Umehara’s comments reflect more than his personal opinion.
In the latest Capcom Pro Tour Interview Series video from DreamHack Summer 2016, Capcom community manager Matt Edwards speaks with “prodigal son” FA|Ryan Hart, well known longtime Ken main. They discuss why he continues to stick with Ken in Street Fighter V (comparing Ken’s flamboyance to Ryu’s stiffness), the high demands of time and effort needed to stay sharp in fighting games without a local arcade scene, methods of sharing his knowledge and experience with the community, and how his outlook on the game would have differed if the CPT had existed when he first entered the FGC.
The CPT Interview Series also has caught up with BX3|Phenom (winner of the SFV event) and Rize|Infexious at DreamHack Summer 2016–the final standings of which can be viewed here.
