With Atlus and SNK doing their best to bring the King of Fighters XIV to events all over the world, many have been wondering if the game would be at Evo 2016. Well, it turns out that the answer to that question is a resounding yes.
Atlus have announced that the King of Fighters XIV will not only be playable at Evo 2016, but that they will be hosting an official side tournament at their booth on Saturday, July 15. Entry into this tournament is free, however those who make it into the top 3 will receive cash prizes.
In addition to the tournament, SNK will also be holding a panel at the event featuring both key developers and artists who’ve worked on the series. The panel will take place before the tournament, at 12:oo PM on Saturday, and will be followed by an autograph session.
You can check out their complete Evo 2016 schedule below.
FRIDAY, JULY 15
All Day: THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV Freeplay and Tournament Practice Stations
SATURDAY, JULY 16
All Day: THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV Freeplay Stations
2:00 PM : Side Tournament (ATLUS Booth) Matches Begin
TBD: Special Exhibition Match
TBD: Side Tournament Top 8
Evo 2016 will take place from July 15 to 17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Mandalay Bay Events Center. The King of Fighters XIV launches on August 23 for PlayStation 4 in North America.
The upcoming Evolution 2016 Championship Series will show why Super Smash Bros. 4 is in a great spot right now, according to PG|ESAM. “In both character and player, for the first time in Smash 4’s history, there is no definitive best,” he said in his latest video.
Among the agreed top tier characters, there’s an opportunity for either a new player or an underused character to define the metagame. Post the 1.1.16 patch, there have been more upsets among top players, like at the recent CEO 2016 tournament.
Check out the full video below for more thoughts and analysis from ESAM.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U hosts 2637 Evo 2016 entrants, while Super Smash Bros. Melee has 2350 participants registered.
E3 may have come and gone, but the hype for Tekken 7 remains strong long after the convention doors have closed.
As proof of this, Bandai Namco just released a video of Tekken reactions throughout E3 2016. The video follows the game’s journey from the Xbox conference stage to the hands of the players themselves.
Community personalities like Xavier Woods, Maximilian, and Kenny give their impressions about Tekken 7, its Cinematic Story Mode, and the inclusion of Akuma from Street Fighter.
While we do not currently have an exact release date, Bandai Namco has confirmed that the title will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in early 2017.
With the release of the latest Street Fighter V update, players around the world have finally gotten their hands on the remaining two DLC characters, as both Juri and Urien are playable in the Cinematic Story Expansion, albeit in incomplete forms. But the inability to take them into Training Mode hasn’t stopped those of us who define “fun” as torturing our unfortunate opponents with a variety of ki-enhanced Taekwondo techniques, all the while incessantly taunting them in a suggestive manor. Today, we bring you the latest on the first of the Street Fighter IV newcomers to join the roster, the Korean Taekwondo practitioner Juri Han. Do note, again, that anything seen below is subject to change before Juri sees her final release, even so, those excited to step into the ring and deliver some devastating kicks have plenty to look forward to.
In Street Fighter V, the Spider has seen her moveset altered to a significant degree, as she has lost her signature Feng Shui Engine–which was developed by former S.I.N. CEO Seth in Street Fighter IV–during a battle with M. Bison, forcing her to make do with an alpha version of the device retrieved from an Abandoned S.I.N. Laboratory, as her V-Trigger.
The most significant alteration to her abilities is that she longer has to hold down the kick buttons to store her Fuhajins, which have been rechristened “Fuharenkyakus,” allowing her to move about freely with them in her pocket, while still enjoying the usage of her kick normals. This allows the Korean warrior to now link the stored versions in combos, and when her Feng Shui Engine Type alpha is activated, she no longer has to store them up at all, having access to the attacks with a single input of the command, leading to even more new combo pathways.
To kick things off today, The Red Gambit has provided us with a 31-minute video detailing his early findings with the former S.I.N. Agent, using her initial Story Mode battle against Rashid as a backdrop for his analysis. He tests out all of her specials, normals, V-Skill, V-Trigger and V-Reversal, which takes the form of Kaisen Denkaraiku, formerly her Ultra 2 and Super Art in Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken, comparing the things that remain to her previous incarnations, while also speculating how her new tools are meant to be used. He also addresses her new Sub-Meter, which allows both players to keep track of what strengths of Fuhajrenkyakus she currently has available, similar to Ibuki’s new Kunai Gauge. Be warned, some of his language used is NSFW.
The Red Gambit also provides us with a 2-minute video chronicling all of the day 1 tech he’s discovered for this version of the character, displaying some of her new bread & butter combos, her new fireball punish options, utilizing new attacks Ryodansatsu, a long-range Overhead Wheel Kick, similar to the one used by Kim Kapwhan in the King Of Fighters series, and her Tensenrin, a visually altered version of her former Senpusha special that appears to function as her new equivalent of a Dragon Punch. Crush Counter mixups with her V-Skill, Kasatshushu, a chargeable move that sees her dash forward at various lengths depending on the amount of time the buttons are held, with the fully-charged version going nearly half-screen, as she passes through her opponents and crosses them up, before nailing them with a backwards kick, are also highlighted.
delephantz brings us a 23-second video of “Day -30 Combos” that highlights some EX Ryodansatsu and EX Tensenrin Juggles, in addition to a confirm off of her crossup J.HK, as well as a B&B utilizing both the LK and HK versions of her new Fuharenkyaku stores. He also outlines some of her more significant changes in the description, comparing her to her Omega Mode version from USFIV.
IngeniousClam seemed determined to push this version of Juri to her limits, in search of the most impressive combos possible with this still in-progress version. This clip, weighing in at a little over a minute, shows off V-Skill cross ups, a double Fuharenkyaku confirm into FSE alpha activation, as well as a variety of ways she can confirm into her Critical Art, Sakkai Fuhazan. The video ends with an impressive sequence that utilizes Juri’s maximum resource potential, utilizing all three of her stored Fuharenkyakus, canceled into FSE alpha activation, before she confirms into Critical Art for an impressive 13-hit sequence, proving that the Spider is still very capable of pulling off some fancy combos, despite the overhaul of her toolset.
Utilizing a PC modded version of Juri that can be taken to Training Mode properly, fefobiz demonstrates some early combos. The mod is currently bugged to leave Han in a state of constant FSE Type alpha activation, but this is still a great demonstration of how her FSE-altered normals could potentially function once she’s finally fully playable.
jayrockman75’s been posting a myriad of different short tech videos for Juri, covering mixups, resets, V-Trigger combos, a way to safely bait Rashid’s EX Spinning Mixer that could potentially be applied to the rest of the cast and even some of the okizime situations available to Han.
Johnnybeatdown spends nearly five minutes going through her entire moveset in Training Mode, using her modded PC version.
Othatguitarist brings us a 13-second combo using both FSE Type alpha, as well as her Critical Art and some initial impressions in the description.
Reese C. provides us with a nice look at what type of combo extensions the Spider is capable of once she’s activated her Feng Shui Engine Type alpha, with max damage Crush Counter punishes on baited DPs, ways to combo into and out of Engine activation, juggles with her light Fuharenkyaku, which she no longer has to store while in V-Trigger, that is very reminiscent of her low-hitting light Fuhajin from her previous appearances, and jump cancel combos from her new Kyorestshushu target combo that she can access when Airborne. He closes with a 12-hit sequence utilizing all three stored Furharenkyakus to combo into V-Trigger, before finishing the juggle with her Critical Art.
UpChuckGaming brings up a four-and-a-half minute preview of Juri’s new abilities and how much she’s changed in SFV, along with offering up some initial impressions on her.
AXETB takes Juri to The Grid for a few minutes of training, in addition to showing her new Story Alternate Costume that will be unlocked after competing her Prologue after release.
Next we have one of the most extensive videos on the Korean fighter yet, as DrewTony’Z brings us a complete character guide, covering everything we know about Juri at this point, from all of her normals, specials, throws and unique attacks, to the properties of her V-Skill, which he notes can be stopped mid-dash, by tapping the medium buttons again. The video also covers her new Fuharenkyaku Gauge, which allows both players to keep track of the strengths of attacks she currently has stored up for use, as well as her Critical Art, a new fireball Super that will do less damage the longer it travels, and will eventually dissipate completely after a certain distance, making it ideally used as a combo ender at close range.
Next, the folks at HurtboxTV provide an extensive look at some of the combo options currently at Han’s disposal.
And, to close things out, wauhti has created an Evernote file with loads of information on the upcoming character, including frame data, combos, move properties and much more. If you prefer your information in a text-based format, you’ll definitely want to check it out.
In their third devlog for their as-yet untitled platform fighter, Wavedash Games’ Creative Director Jason Rice has finally revealed some concept art for their first character. Designed by recently employed Character Designer Adam “Strong Bad” Oliver, this new character is called Ashani, a speedy brawler who runs fast and hits hard, very similar to a character like Captain Falcon in Super Smash Bros.
This comparison is quite apt as along with showing concept art, Jason showed off a very early model of Ashani which showed her idle animation as well as her performing a punch which looked remarkably similar to that of the famous bird-themed racing driver. Her costume seems to indicate she is some kind of technologically augmented soldier, with heavy gauntlets and a chestpiece similar to Iron Man’s Arc Reactor. Her concept art shows sparks of lighting flying off her fists so you could expect some attacks to deal massive electrical damage, similar to Captain Falcon’s knee in Melee.
Based on this short glimpse of the in-game model and concept art, I’m not instantly taken with the artstyle. It seems fairly generic sci-fi and lacks that splash of color or hint of character personality which hooks people into playing a certain character in a fighting game. Again, it’s still early days at the moment but I hope Wavedash Games are able to jazz up the characters enough so their visual design matches the mechanical inventiveness that they are promising with the full product.
“Since when did everyone become so knowledgeable about input lag?”
Very succinctly, Katsuhiro Harada stated his point. The long time director of the Tekken series has never been one to shy away from speaking on controversial issues within the fighting game community. When people complained about Josie Rizal, Shaheen, and Lucky Chloe’s designs in Tekken 7, Harada responded with his own brand of rhetoric aimed to silence his critics. And when Capcom, a company whose Street Fighter franchise Harada has credited as being inspiration for Tekken, came under attack for the 8 frames of input lag inherent with Street Fighter V, the man came to their defense.
In an interview with GameSpot, Harada argues that most players and critics were completely unaware of the amount of lag past titles in various fighting game franchises had. He later adds, “I have a feeling people are just prone to being swayed by popular catchwords.” He also stated that he believes, when based on the correlation of the design and the inherent lag, “the actual mechanism is different depending on the game.”
He was also quick to defend his own series, Tekken, from any possible accusations of input lag, stating, “Tekken 7 is the first arcade fighting game to have online play between arcades around the country. It costs roughly $1 per play. Do you really think it would be this successful and well received if everyone was complaining about input lag?”
When later asked about incoming characters for Tekken 7 after the release of Dark Resurrection, he stated that the roster shown at E3 is “not the full one at this time,” but later declined to comment on who might later be included and whether or not they would be released as later DLC.
Sanford Kelly has been known for a while as a drifter in the community as far as teams go. Having been a member of Empire Arcadia and The Steam Co., the New York-based fighting game veteran has added yet another team to his journeyman status.
It was announced yesterday that Kelly has joined Mutiny, a professional eSports team known primarily for First Person Shooter teams, as their first Street Fighter V player. As such, he will be competing under their banner just in time for Evolution.
As was reported last year, Bishop “Shatterstar” Wagner, famous within the FGC for his “Negro Install” line of apparel, is battling cancer. Over the course of 2015, Shatta was able to see the cancer go into remission. The community began to rejoice.
Fast forward to March 2016, and we were told more grim news on his condition via DarkGeneral on the SRK forums. The cancer was back with a vengeance, was not responding to chemotherapy, and doctors predicted at that time that he had 6 months left to live. But Shatta is still a fighter. He hasn’t given up. Nor has the community.
Jeffrey “RagingStormX” Hill of Team ArcadeStream, known for his heartless Vega play, and Peter “Aikawa” Baek also of Team ArcadeStream, banded together to help out a fellow brother in arms. And as such, a charity drive at ArcadeStream will be held on Saturday July 9th starting at 2PM KST (1AM EDT), with all proceeds going directly to Shatterstar himself. Tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Street Fighter V will be held during the charity event, with food and drink orders also going toward Wagner’s recovery. There will also be raffle prizes, and a chance to donate from the stream to help out our brother.
If you want to tune in to either lend moral support or give to this cause, please point your web browsers and smartphones to ArcadeStream’s Twitch channel. In the meantime, you can also donate to help Shatterstar at his CrowdRise page.
Aksys Games was at last weekend’s Animé Expo and they brought with them the PlayStation 4 build of BlazBlue: Central Fiction. This represents the first time that they’ve brought the PlayStation 4 build out to such an event.
As part of this, the game was streamed in Jyosua’s channel and multiple players got a chance to take the game out for a spin. This included a whole lot of casual matches on both days, as well as a tournament on Sunday.
For those who missed the stream, Jyosua has shared footage of both the casual matches and the tournament, which you can now watch below.
When Street Fighter V’s free cinematic story expansion hit last week, it allowed players an early taste of Juri and Urien, characters who have yet to be released, in one of the story mode’s chapters. This has opened up a can of worms, as some players have found ways to make both characters playable online.
In a recent stream on Capcom’s Twitch channel, Street Fighter 5 producer Koichi Sugiyama and assistant producer Tomoaki Ayano took time to address this.
They stated that they have seen the videos of how to make these characters playable in online play and have a good understanding of how to see who’s been using them. As such, Ayano has stated that anyone who they know is using the characters will be dealt with strictly.
In addition to this, they also discussed the recently discovered glitch that gives Ibuki a few frames of invulnerability after landing from a whiffed air throw. They’ve stated that this is unintended and will be patched out in the near future. No date was given for when this fix will hit, but players have been urged to simply not use it.
