Category: Fighting Games

In his latest episode of The Armory, Pig Of The Hut explains how to deal with a character who’s caused quite a large amount of discussion in the NRS community as of late, Tarkatan Alien.  Though he was nerfed in the game’s last balance patch back in March, with players like cR Dragon winning nine consecutive ESL tournaments with him, the Xenomorph is still considered a problem by many.

Using what he calls “The Rule of 13,” which means using Armored attacks that have 13 frames of startup or less, you can perform an Option Select on the F134 string canceled  into Rekkas, if the Alien player chooses to delay them in an attempt to make them safer, which will guarantee you a full-combo punish against them every time you block correctly, regardless if they stagger the first or the second hit of the Tarkatan Rush.

Pig then demonstrates how to exploit the gap between his Tail Flip, which is generally safe at -7 on block, but can immediately be canceled into his Tail Slam, which is punishable at -17 on block, but has Armor on it.  Using Kenjutsu Kenshi, Pig is able to consistently full-combo punish with the 13-frame Double Slap.

If you find yourself lacking Meter however, Pig suggests Backdashing the initial Rekka, blocking the follow-ups on reaction.  Though it is a risk for someone like Kenshi, if your character has a faster backdash, such as Kano, Sub-Zero or Quan Chi, this is a much more effective tactic against him.

In closing, Pig mentions Tarkatan’s near-half-screen mixup with his Low-hitting Tail Snag and Tail Flip, as well as his Low Kut Command Normal that can lead into his Tarkatan Rush mixups.  Unfortunately, dealing with this will require a hard read of just jumping in for an attempted punish, or a full-screen punish if your character possesses the tools to do so.  You can also head over to his thread on Test Your Might, which has a list of character-specific punishes against Tarkatan for a wide variety of cast members that can utilize the “Rule of 13.”

Pig also promises a second video outlining how to deal with the “Dragon Serpent’s” Acidic and Konjurer Variations.

Source: Pig of the Hut via Test Your Might

After a thrilling week 5 episode of Street Fighter Crash, featuring the seemingly unbeatable Infiltration on Team Razer fall to Team Topanga’s Momochi, SpoTV returns again this week for the second episode of Top 8.  While last week had heavy hitters such as Team Razer (Infiltration, Fuudo, Xian), Team Topanga (Tokido, Momochi, Mago), and a Chinese team featuring Xiaohai and Dakou, this week also promises to be no slouch, as Team Southeast–featuring Poongko, Humanbomb, and Gamerbee–will look to dominate three of Korea’s top teams.  While Team Southeast is expected to outshine the competition in the B block, they must go through players like Sandbag, one of the most recognizable and famous Street Fighter V players on the peninsula, 200won, a strong Tekken player who has made the transition to Street Fighter and was able to beat Infiltration during group play, and WeirdoNeo, the Korean-American player who previously defeated Poongko in the Top 8 of SpiritZero’s Magic Stick Cup.

If anything has been learned from Street Fighter Crash, it is to expect the unexpected.  Will Team Southeast survive the minefield ahead of them?  Tune in at 2PM Korea Standard Time on Sunday, May 15th (1AM EST Sunday/10PM PST Saturday, May 14th) to find out.  English commentary will be available on Twitch at http://twitch.tv/crash_en.

(Note: While Missing Person is currently employed at SpoTV for English Commentary for Street Fighter Crash, he is taking this week off to focus on other things.  Therefore, he is not involved in the production of this episode of the event.)

 

The Takadanobaba Game Center Mikado in Tokyo, Japan was definitely feeling the spirit of SNK in late April. Held at the Tokyo Culture Culture on the 24th, the event celebrated simultaneous tournaments for Fatal Fury Special and Samurai Spirits: Zankuro Musouken (Samurai Shodown III in the US).

The tournament was just recently archived onto YouTube, but you can also watch the original broadcast in it’s highest quality on Mikado’s official UStream page.

Fans of old school 2D fighters, and even fans of some 3D games like Soul Calibur, will likely enjoy this archive. The patient, disjointed-hitbox poking of Samurai Spirits smells of Calibur meta that would follow years later. Fatal Fury’s unique plane switching doesn’t seem very far from home either, being one of the earliest examples of (technically) 3D fighting. Both games, despite their age, attracted 53 players. These 2D footsie focused masters were ready to throw down in some SNK classics.

Sources: Mikado UStream, Mikado Blog 

TSM|ZeRo has posted a video to explain his absence from recent Super Smash Bros. for Wii U competition: a series of health concerns worsening over the last two months, topped off with finger surgery. ZeRo describes in detail the process in which a growth was removed from his middle finger, and the pain of his ongoing recovery–both in the physical sense, and the emotional pain of being kept from playing the game he loves.

ZeRo closes the video by apologizing to his supporters for not being on the competitive scene, and states that he hopes to be playing again for 2016’s Community Effort Orlando on June 24-26. Being kept off the controller himself hasn’t stopped him from offering advice to help players improve their own Smash game.

Source: TSM|ZeRo

Julio Fuentes has been making quite a name for himself in the Street Fighter V community as of late.  With a 2nd place finish at Winter Brawl X, getting 13th at Final Round 19, a 5th place finish at NorCal Regionals, and finally winning Texas Showdown, he was granted a sponsorship with Echo Fox in late April.  After a 2nd place finish at Northwest Majors VIII and getting 13th at Dreamhack Austin, he also sits comfortably in 4th place in the Capcom Pro Tour Standings, with 211 points.

When asked about his sponsorship, he noted that he’s not sure how to feel about it.  “It feels very surreal.  Like, I drive, I’m like, ‘damn, I’m feeling Hollywood, but I know I’m not Hollywood.’”  “It feels good, the star power.  I love it.  My friends are very happy for me.  I’m just gonna milk the crap out of this opportunity, and I’m gonna go everywhere, get all the experience, soak it all up like a sponge.  It’s gonna be nothing but good.”

On the subject of getting name dropped by many people to Echo Fox CEO Jace Hall, Fuentes feels that it is mostly due to the flair of his Ken play.

When I was on the East Coast, whenever I would do any custom-looking combo, these guys would just go insane, ‘The Fuego.  The fire is so cool’!”  “I think the combo flair from the game itself got me some attention, my performance as well, my results, but yeah, Ken is fire man, he’s really attractive.

The topic then shifted to his fellow members of The Trinity, which also consists of fellow Ken players Chris Tatarian and Brenttiscool.

In regards to the sponsorship stuff, good stuff is going to be coming to them too.  Can’t say anything, but it’s really good stuff.  I’m sure they’re gonna get sponsored very soon, and Trinity is probably gonna do more stuff together.  People love Trinity man.

When asked about Ken’s seemingly “YOLO stuff” and how long it could pay off, he had this to say.

You know what, Ken, he has unsafe stuff, but he’s a very instinctual feeling character.  But you can’t be too instinctual, because then you’re an animal.  You gotta be a little bit of both, that’s Ken.  Sometimes he looks like an animal, but sometimes I play very controlled.  It depends on the player too.  If I know I can shake a guy up playing a little crazy, I’ll keep doing it, ’cause it works, it gets in their head.  You’ve gotta be a little fearless playing Ken.

Julio advised any potential Ken players out there not to be afraid. 

If they don’t punish it, you keep doing it.  Just be comfortable that all the things you do are unsafe, have your hit confirms up to date, you gotta react to everything, and you have to play very instinctually and in control and you will do great with Ken.

Finally, Fuentes was asked how his parents were reacting to his sponsorship.  However, he revealed that, at the time of this interview, he still hadn’t told them.

I have been showing them like the eSports stuff, I send my Mom the links via text.  Like Red Bull, Yahoo eSports, ESPN, so she knows and she messages me back like, ‘What is all this?’ ”  “I’m like, ‘Mom it’s just video games, I guess.’”  “I don’t think she’ll understand, but I’ll tell her.  Maybe if I get a bigger accomplishment, I’ll be like, ‘Now do you understand the scope of how big this stuff really is?’”  “Some people don’t see the size of how big eSports is.  We do, of course, but to the average person, especially like immigrant parents, right?  They don’t know.  But I’ll tell them soon.

Source: Daily Dot Esports

Capcom’s Chairman and CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto has confirmed in a Financial Results Briefing for investors that Capcom is taking Street Fighter V’s rocky launch into consideration, and will endeavor to learn from the experience for future releases.

In his presentation, Tsujimoto states “… some aspects of ‘Street Fighter V’ needed more polish, such as the lack of content and server issues at launch.” He adds “… it’s better to give a little more time to development than before, and have made slight adjustments to our portfolio.”

Street Fighter V’s lean offline content and unstable offline play certainly raised vocal critcism even as the gameplay mechanics and new characters were welcomed by the community. With the game’s sales coming up shy of Capcom’s expectations, it seems those early complaints have been noted by the company.

Kenzo Tsujimoto’s full presentation can be read here.

Source: MCV

 

There has been a breakthrough with Leffen’s visa and now we have another pro-Smasher who is finally able to compete outside of his home country. It has been announced by the host of Get On My Level 2016, TorontoJoe, that Mexican wunderkind Hydra Gaming’s MK Leo has attained a Canadian visa and will be able to attend his first tournament outside of Mexico.

The 15-year-old Meta Knight main has been causing upset after upset in Mexican tournaments, consistently coming first or second whenever he enters, defeating other top Mexican players like Hyuga and his own brother Javi along the way. Leo really made waves when he first beat Dutch Sheik Mr R at Smash Factor 4 and then a year later, he defeated another notable Sheik in the form of Vinnie in the finals of True Combo, cementing his position as Mexico’s best and potentially best Meta Knight in the world.

Leo’s placing at GOML 2016 will be the true decider as to whether he is truly a top 10 player, or if his success is restricted to only in his homeland. With other top players like Mew2King, Ally, Nairo and Mr R in attendance, Get On My Level 2016 is looking to be an absolute belter of a tournament for Super Smash Bros for Wii U.

GOML 2016 is running from May 20-22 in Ontario, Canada and is hosted by EvenMatchupGaming. Check out their Twitter and the smash.gg page for any upcoming news on other top players attending the tournament.

Source: TorontoJoe, GOML 2016

 

Recently, while taking some time in between streaming KVOxTSB 2016 and appearing on DaigotheBeasTV, Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez decided to stream a few first-to-ten sets with some top Japanese players from Kyamei’s Game Café Bar, Cross-Up, located in Umeda Osaka, Japan.

In these sets, you’ll see the Ultra Diamond-Ranked Dhalsim, coming off of his 3rd place finish at KVOxTSB 2016, going up against such names as Woo, who some may remember for his 2nd place finish in The King of Fighters XIII at Evo 2013, Team Hail Mary’s Dogura, known for his skill in a variety of games, Mamespider, and KVOxTSB Champion, HM|Go1-3151, who’s proving to be one of the strongest Chun-Lis in the scene right now.

Art also streamed some games from his hotel in Tokyo, where you’ll see him face off with another pair of top Chun-Lis, GZL Koichi, who himself placed 17th at KVOxTSB, and Harumi, a former Ibuki player in Ultra Street Fighter IV.

There are around seven hours of high-level footage here, so sit back and enjoy!

Source: Team Spooky After Hours