Every year during finals day, Evo builds the hype with special videos that play before the top 8 of each game. This year, for Street Fighter V, Seth Mussey once again put out another spectacular video, this time with the help of a special friend.
None other than Lupe Fiasco himself was on hand to provide the music for the video. The Grammy award winning rapper and noted beast slayer provided the music for the video with a new song – Killers – written specifically for Evo 2016.
For those who missed it, or simply want to hear the song again, the video is now up on the official Evo2k YouTube Channel. Check it out below.
When the Capcom Pro Tour content for Street Fighter V was revealed at Evo 2016, many balked at the idea of dropping $24.99 for essentially a new stage and a couple of costumes; Capcom promised that proceeds from the sale of this DLC would be directed back into the Capcom Pro Tour itself.
Capcom Community Director “haunts” posted on NeoGAF last night, to reassure the FGC that the CPT DLC revenue was indeed bound for the community, not Capcom’s pockets. He states that “the majority of the revenue is being invested back into the Capcom Pro Tour,” and that they “didn’t create this content with the intention of making a profit for ourselves, it’s to support the community.” He also promised a full FAQ to answer future questions.
He went on to explain that the revenue will be directed at both the 2016 and 2017 Capcom Pro Tour seasons, and took responsibility for the vagueness of the revenue distribution information so far. He indicated it will be clarified in the future.
Microsoft’s rebooted Killer Instinct has just received a title update that brings it up to version 3.3. The patch brings with it a host of changes, the biggest one being the inclusion of Eyedol.
The original boss character from the first Killer Instinct, Eyedol returns with some unique mechanics for the new game. You can read more about this in our previous coverage.
Aside from Eyedol however, the patch also bring with it a number of fixes and balance changes to the game’s characters. You can check all of these out, including comments from the development team in italics, below.
Killer Instinct ver. 3.3 Patch Notes
System Changes:
None
Jago:
Endokukens build 25% less Shadow Meter on hit and block for Jago. (The team feels that, given the strength of Instinct with two meters, Jago is sitting on full meter a little too easily. Even after this change, Jago remains the meter king of the game.)
Sabrewulf:
Crouching MP is now +5 on hit (was +3)
Crouching HK is now +1 on hit (was -2) (This allows both of these moves to combo into Run Leap Slash Overhead on hit.)
Fixed a bug that would leave Wulf cornered after performing a back throw against Gargos while cornered.
Sadira:
Fixed a bug that caused Salticidae to bounce off of thin air if the opponent had just blocked a Widow’s Bite.
Orchid:
Fixed a bug that allowed Orchid to bail out of certain parts of her enders into Shadow Flick Flak.
Spinal:
Fixed a bug that allowed Spinal to absorb his own skulls outside of Instinct.
Fulgore:
Light Eye Laser is now -2 on block (was 0)
Medium Eye Laser is now 0 on block (was +2)
Heavy Eye Laser is now -10 on block (was -7) (This change ever so slightly weakens his pressure by forcing him to use Medium Laser to stay even on block, and makes using Heavy Laser without a pip cancel in zoning slightly weaker as well. Fulgore is still both an offensive and defensive powerhouse.)
Fixed a bug that could cause Fulgore’s Devastation Beam to detach from him he was moved out of place without being hit during the move.
Maya:
Fixed an issue preventing Maya from being able to perform a linker immediately following a Shadow Counter.
Made an adjustment to the successful Mantis animation so that it doesn’t look quite as strange when hitting an armored character.
Kan Ra:
When Kan-Ra is hit while he has a Shadow Sand Trap, it will turn into a regular Sand Trap now instead of being destroyed. (The team was a bit worried this would prove too powerful, but we are going to try it for now and see how it shakes out.)
Riptor:
Fixed a bug causing Running HP to be counter breakable on whiff.
Fixed a bug causing some hits of the Tail Flip ender to not be breakable during opener ender situations.
Omen:
Rashakukens deal 1 less frame of blockstun. (This makes them ever so slightly less reliable in pressure strings that are spaced too closely or get a fast moving set of orbs. Omen controls the pace of the match really well so this won’t hurt him much, but will allow a tiny bit more wiggle room for opponents.)
Demonic Slide attackbox reduced to only be in front of him. The Shadow Version’s hitbox is unchanged. (As much as we like the Omen flipout into slide mixup, we feel it’s a bit too strong for the character. This change will force players to find new mixups instead of relying on the very powerful and ambiguous meaty slide tech.)
Aganos:
Fixed an issue preventing Ruin and Shadow Ruin from ignoring RAAM’s Kryll Shield as intended.
Fixed an issue causing Counterhit Warpath (F+HK stompwalk) to deal less hitstun than the non-counterhit version.
Standing HK no longer causes a wall splat when used in combos. (This adjustment was made to fix some seriously broken things that happen if you cancel the wall splat hit into his enders)
Hisako:
Fixed a bug that allowed her to Instinct Cancel her Influence command throws.
Cinder:
Fixed a bug causing Burnout to end if the opponent performs a counterbreaker.
Increased the size of the detonation blast on Pyrobombs that are stuck to the enemy to ensure that they don’t whiff when the opponent’s body moves them away from their center.
Aria:
Fixed a bug causing Shadow Crescendo to hit on frame 1 instead of frame 3 as intended.
Fixed a bug that could cause opponents to drop quickly to floor if Counter Hit while grounded by close HK.
Fixed a bug preventing Aria from clearing the Kryll Swarm DOT effect when switching bodies.
Arbiter:
Bullet damage reduced by about 23% (From 18, to 14. This change was made in part to reduce the Jump Gun one chance break damage that Arbiter gets. We think this option is a cool way to spend bullets and want to leave it as a powerful option, but dial it back so that it feels more fair.)
Damage Ender damage reduced by ~25%. (This change also helps with the change above to reduce one chance damage from Arbiter. Also, because Arbiter players tend to use Grenades or Bullets after enders, the various ender types are rarely used over the Damage Ender because it hits much harder than the other enders. Now you may have reason to use the other enders more often.)
Grenade Respawn time changed from 14 seconds to 15 seconds. (Grenades are a very powerful offensive and defensive tool. This small adjustment will give Arbiter players roughly one grenade less per match to use as they see fit.)
Fixed a bug causing some hits of the Overhead Slash ender to not be breakable during opener ender situations.
Gargos:
Fixed a bug that allowed Minions to attack between rounds sometimes.
Fixed an issue that could cause command grab followups to interrupt combo breakers.
Sadistic Hurl now causes a blowout after an ultra combo. (This prevents super long quad-ultras for now so people can get back to playing.)
General RAAM:
Reduced the active frames on Kryll Shield Attack from 4 to 2. (Using this as a meaty requires better timing now, and it is easy to backdash out of these setups for the opponent.)
Crouching HP is now 0 on hit instead of -1, allowing it to combo into Medium Decimation as intended.
Fixed a bug causing RAAM to pass through opponents when trying to throw them into the corner with a back throw.
Fixed a bug causing Shadow Dominance, Ender Dominance, and Shadow Kryll Rush to build meter for RAAM.
Fixed an issue that allowed RAAM to combo off of his level 1 Splat ender midscreen.
Adjusted the size of the grab attempt box on Kryll Rush to match the Shadow Version so that it won’t grab characters who are behind him on occasion.
Fixed an issue making RAAM breakable after landing a Shadow Kryll Rush.
Fixed a bug that could cause your opponent’s gravity to permanently change if you attempted a counter breaker during your OTG stomps on a specific frame.
Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena is heading to PC via Steam on July 28, 2016. The game’s Steam version will be published by Studio Saisenzen.
The game features characters from the Shining role playing game series. Players will compete against one another through the game’s “Tag Battle” combat system with 16 playable characters. There will be four main game modes including its fully voiced Story Mode. Online play was created specifically for the Steam release.
Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena was originally released on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on November 26, 2015. One can hope for a similar release after the game comes stateside.
The seemingly unstoppable force of Dead or Alive 5 Last Round costume crossovers continues with a brand new set based upon the outfits worn by characters from the hit anime and manga series Attack on Titan.
The costumes are currently available on the PlayStation Network, the Xbox Games Store, and the Steam Store. Players can purchase the costumes for $2.99 per character. All 30 costumes can be purchased in a bundle for $39.49 on the PSN and the Xbox Games Store. Interestingly, the pack costs a little more on Steam. It will run at $39.99
There is also a new stage available for purchase as well that is based upon the iconic set of the anime. The stage will cost $4.99.
Throughout the years, a number of talented artists cut their teeth working at Capcom, creating art for games such as Street Fighter. One of these is none other Akiman, known as Akira Yasuda in real life, Akiman did the art for a number of classic Capcom titles in the 90s before leaving in 2003. Since then, Akiman has gone on to work in animated productions such as ∀ Gundam,Code Geass, and Gundam Reconguista in G.
Now, Akiman is once again doing art for Street Fighter. At the San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono announced a special line of alternate costumes designed by Akiman for Street Fighter V. Alongside the announcement, Ono tweeted a sample of the design for Chun-Li’s costume from Akiman himself.
Specific details about these costumes however, such as pricing, whether or not they can be purchased with Fight Money, and who else will be getting them aside from Chun-Li are as of yet unknown.
With this in mind, be sure to stay locked on to Shoryuken for more updates on this and other things from the San Diego Comic-Con.
For many iterations of Street Fighter past, Zangief has always been known as slow with low mobility. This made him very difficult to play, given the fact that he has to stay at close range in order to win, and required him to burn through a lot of his health to get to that range.
However, this time around, things may change. GiefKid recently uploaded a discovered mechanic called IASA, or “Interruptability As Soon As.” This is a mechanic originally from Super Smash Brothers Melee, but has found its way into Street Fighter V, where whiffed normals can be interrupted on certain frames by changing the state Zangief is in. Thus, if the move is crouching, Zangief can interrupt the move’s recovery by standing up, making him able to move faster after performing the move. Also shown in the video was Zangief doing rapid hops using IASA, thus making him cover more ground using the move.
While this certainly won’t make Zangief top tier any time soon, this mechanic will certainly aid Zangief be able to move much quicker into his preferred range.
In any tournament, great matches will often happen off the main stream stations, Evo is of course, no exception. Happily, folks are more than willing to record these matches, even it means just pointing a camera on the screen.
Kevin Diedrich did just that and he captures three amazing matches between some top players at Evo 2016. First up we have Mago taking his Karin against MJS|Haitani’s Necalli in the losers quarter final of their pool.
Next up, Mago takes on EG’s Ricki Ortiz and her Chun-Li, again during the quarter finals stage of the same pool.
Finally, we have another match with Chun-Li, this time that of Hori|Sako as he fights against Stupendous and his Zangief.
Announced during Capcom’s panel at San Diego Comic Con, mistress of the Feng Shui Engine and agent of S.I.N Juri joins the roster of Street Fighter V next Tuesday on July 26th. Most people got a small glimpse of what Juri can do during the Story Mode update, while others got a more extended play session with Juri thanks to data miners on PC but everyone will be able to play as the taekwondo temptress when she launches next week.
For those out of the loop, Juri’s V-Skill is Kasatsushu, where she charges up a flying kick which makes her appear behind the opponent. Holding the V-Skill command will have Juri charge on the spot until you release the buttons but you can forward or backdash out of the charge at any time. Her V-Trigger has her activating the Feng Shui Engine, allowing her to cancel all of her standard ground and aerial attacks into each other. The Street Fighter V servers will be undergoing server maintenance from 9AM to 5PM PT on the Tuesday in preparation of the release of Juri.
Along with Juri’s release date, Capcom announced three new Summer outfits for Ibuki, Laura and Cammy which will also be available for purchase on July 26th.
English voice-acting was a first for Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, which had an extensive, fully-dubbed story mode. Fans speculated about the inclusion of English voice acting up to shortly before the release of the follow-up -REVELATOR-, which only featured Japanese voices.
What’s it like to be a voice actor for a fighting game like Guilty Gear? Is it worth it to try to imitate the Japanese actors as closely as possible? How do you get into character?
Shoryuken sits down with voice actor Lucien Dodge who played Sin Kiske in -SIGN-. Some of his other video game roles include the main character from Dust: An Elysan Tail, Mega Gnar in League of Legends, and characters in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: Spike and Bravely Default. Among his anime voice appearances figure Bleach, Fate/Zero, and Kill la Kill.
Luke “Woocash”: Reaching back to Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, how did you find out about the audition, and what did you think of Sin? How did that go?
Lucien Dodge: As I recall, the studio who was involved with recording the English voices contacted me about auditioning. Sin was one of the characters that they included a script for. Looking at the script for the character and reading about him, he seems like a very multi-faceted character. On the surface, he’s very happy-go-lucky and boisterous and fun, but there were moments in the storyline where he gets a little bit more serious, and he’s talking about his mom, and there was some sentimentality there. A fragile state seemed to be reflected there. I really enjoy if characters show off a wide spectrum of emotions and they’re not just one-note. Sin certainly seemed to fit that mold. Recording him was a lot of fun — he’s a little bit of a goofball, he’s very young at heart, I think he’s actually very young physically [laughs – Sin is actually 10 years old]. You have those two elements working together, where mentally, he’s very young and full of energy and wonder, but he’s really strong.
Luke: Did you have an opportunity to try out Sin gameplay, or did anyone showcase him to you?
Dodge: I did look up YouTube videos of people playing as him so I got an initial taste. I did buy the game eventually [Xrd -SIGN-] and played it long enough. I got the 100,000 World Dollars to buy him in the game, so I played it long enough to earn them, by myself! I insisted on getting him in the game and earning him that way, not via DLC. And I played him, and thought, he’s a lot of fun, he’s really cool! I like spamming his move which is a flurry of his flag pole attacks [”I’m Sure I’ll Hit Something,” follow-up to Sin’s signature Beak Driver]. He’s very nimble, I like that about his gameplay. I think it’s very interesting that he’s the only character that has a hunger meter, which I think is to balance him. So then you get a nice shot of him eating a huge thing of meat right off the skewer. I remember doing those sounds, those were pretty fun and silly to do. “Yeah just do some eating stuff.” And then Sin has an opinion. He loves food. I can relate to that. A lot of us can. Maybe I lack a bit of the superhuman strength…
Luke: When you were recording lines for moves, were you able to see them?
Dodge: No, it was pretty much, “here’s the line.” Sometimes they’ll play the Japanese version because they need to get you in the timing of the original line, so it fits when they load it in. If the Japanese version was a second long, the English can’t go over that in order for it work. I think they may have had Japanese reference clips playing so I could hear the intensity and the direction the original voice actor took, so I can take my own spin on it and match the energy to it. But in general, and I can’t remember exactly if that’s how it happened, even if they didn’t have Japanese reference clips in these cases, it was pretty explanatory. It’s in a battle, it’s all very heightened and there’s a lot of energy to it. I usually give them a couple different versions, two or three, they pick the one they like, and move on to the next. The recording process is generally pretty quick for these games. You go on sheer instinct some of the time. Sometimes you’re taking a stab at it and you think it’s going to work, and if not, they’ll tell you.
Luke: Is it more challenging or fun to provide battle quotes versus regular story mode dialogue?
Dodge: I don’t know if it’s more fun, it’s different. There are different challenges to it and different things that are fun. I grew up playing fighting games, the first game console came as a result of me and my brother going to the arcade a lot to play Tekken, all day. We told our parents that it’s available on a game station, so that’s kind of what got my affection for fighting games started. It’s very nostalgic almost, there’s a certain glee when I can do those sounds I’ve heard in all those different games. And it’s fun when I get to shout out attack names with such gusto and power. Over and extended period of time, if you’re doing a lot of takes of those, it can be really hard on your voice. I would rather go full-out and be a little hoarse rather than go halfway with it. That’s partially due to having played these games.
Luke: Going back to Sin, he came out first in GG2 Overture, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal [who voiced Bedman in -SIGN-]. Have you listened to his performance?
Dodge: I did know someone else had played the character before, but I didn’t look into it or research clips. I wanted it to be my own version. I didn’t want to be persuaded or biased by what has been done before, so I went into it fresh. I played it from my sense of what the character was — maybe different from the original English voice, but I wanted to make sure it was my own.
Luke: Voice actors tend not to get the chance to interact with each other while working, was it the case with Guilty Gear?
Dodge: No, I wish we did. Schedule-wise and fiscally-speaking, it’s not doable in these kinds of cases. But that would be awesome. I love any opportunity where I get to perform ensembles with other actors, it’s always a lot of fun. It was solo recording this time, which is a lot of extra work, because you have to be imagining what might be taking place around you, what are you responding to, and in what way. It’s another case where you trust your director to make sure you’re in that pocket, that it’s going to make sense when it’s all edited together.
Luke: You were describing Sin as a very youthful, energetic person. You sound naturally very similar to him.
Dodge: Yeah, there wasn’t a huge shift. I just got peppier, a little more upbeat, my voice is innately very youthful, so I didn’t have to do a whole lot of work to get my voice in an area that I felt matched the character and his personality. The less I have to affect it and just play it from the heart, I felt like that would keep him grounded. I wanted to be believable and have the foundation of a believable person.
Luke: This is the first time the Guilty Gear fighting games have had an option for English voice-acting. You’ve certainly listened to a lot of Japanese voice—acting and anime, what are your thoughts on Japanese versus English voice-acting?
Dodge: I was a fan of anime in my mid-teens when I first discovered it, and I was a very big proponent of the subtitled, directional, Japanese-language version. I had a very hard time liking or getting into English dubs. I just thought the Japanese versions sounded cooler, they’re kind of poetic and have strength in their cadence. Now, of course, over the years, and now as I have done a fair number of English dubs, I guess what I have to say about it is — of course, there is no innately superior version over the other just because it’s an English version of a property that’s really Japanese. Doesn’t make it a worse performance. There are a lot of factors which can go either creating a very good English adaption or a poor one — scripting, direction, casting, not even getting to even performance. You could have good actors miscast and then you’re at a disadvantage. Timing-wise, scheduling, how fast they need to get it done, how much money they could spend on it — so you may have very talented people involved in the production, but you may not be able to spend more time getting it perfect and exactly the way you want.
The English version cannot be the same, it cannot be a carbon-copy of the Japanese version. There are just too many differences from a language perspective. I think the mistake that maybe fans, or productions who record the dubs make, is that it has to be an exact mimic, but there are certain intrinsic differences. We have different sensibilities for humor, drama, we have our own archetypes.
Even if you don’t like English dubs, keep an open mind or at least understand, that there are a lot of different elements. There are productions where they couldn’t give less of a crap and they want to get it done quickly. But there are those of us in certain productions who really care and work very hard.
Big thanks to Lucien Dodge for speaking to Shoryuken. You can learn more about the voice actor on his website and @LucienDodge.
