As some of you may already know, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are backing Pokkén Tournament with a dedicated Pokkén Tournament Championship Series. Currently, a $100,000 prize pool is on the line for those who plan to compete in the series.
Now, more details on the Pokkén Tournament Championship Series have been revealed. The biggest new piece of information we have is that the series will be split into 2 divisions: Masters and Seniors. Players born after 2001 will compete in the Masters division. Meanwhile, those born before 2001 will be part of the Seniors division.
These divisions will have different numbers of players at the world championships later this year. The Masters division will have 64 players while the Seniors Division will only have 16.
Players from both divisions will compete in major and minor PTCS events. For the Masters Division, major events will see the top 32 receive points, while minor events will only have them for the top 16. For the Seniors, only the top 2 will receive points.
The Pokkén Tournament Championship Series starts this weekend in Europe with the Pokémon UK National Championship. It ends with the World Championship in August.
In the wake of statements from Disney regarding its future (or rather not) in the video game industry, speculation has been growing as to the possibility of another entry in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, considering Marvel licenses fall under Disney’s umbrella.
Taking a small step further than merely speculating, eager fans from the /r/MvC3 Reddit community have launched a Change.org petition to show Disney and Capcom that the fighting game community is indeed ready for a fresh installment in the renowned series.
As of this writing, the Marvel Vs. Capcom 4 petition has gathered over 3800 signatures, putting it well on its way to making its target of 5000. The petition can be viewed–and signed, if you’d like to add your support–here.
Do note that reaching the petition’s goal will not necessarily persuade any involved parties to begin even the earliest steps of production on the title. Of course, signing it certainly won’t hurt anything.
Attention Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players: if you constantly find yourself getting bodied, TSM|ZeRo has got your back with his list of the top 5 mistakes he sees Smash 4 players making. Each of these common errors and bad habits can easily lead to losing a stock.
ZeRo warns against wasting your double jump, missing grab chances, not mixing up your edge game, and rolling from the edge or air dodging too often. His video warrants a look for new players that want to avoid picking up these habits, or for Smash veterans looking to eliminate them–or, alternatively, get in on some new opportunities to punish their opponents.
Bayonetta has been a hot topic in the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U community since she dropped back in Febuary. She’s definitely high on the list when it comes to characters complained about, with some communities even going as far as discussing banning her use. A character being considered too good is nothing new, nor is it new for players to rise the challenge of discovering counter plays to these characters.
One such player to take on the challenge of besting this series newcomer is Panda Global’s ESAM, who took to YouTube to breakdown what is needed to save yourself from having a stock stolen. This technique in particular involves using SDI to escape from her common kill strings.
Anti-Bayonetta tech isn’t a new thing here on SRK, so if you’d like some more methods for dealing with this troublesome character, you can check out our post on ZeRo’s response to the character, as well as Beefy Smash Doods’ short guide.
If you’re a PC gamer who fancies themselves a fan of Capcom or WB Games, then you definitely need to check out Humble Bundle’s Spring Sale.
While you’re not going to find any deals on Street Fighter V among this sea of discounts, you can catch up on any semi-recent fighting titles you may have missed. There are a total of 60 deals currently being offered on select Capcom and WB titles, consisting of fighting and non-fighting titles alike. For fans of our preferred pugilistic genre, the deals being offered are as follows:
Ultra Street Fighter IV – $10.19 – 66% off
Street Fighter X Tekken – $7.49 – 75% off
Street Fighter IV – $4.99 – 75% off
Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition – $4.99 – 75% off
Injustice Gods Among Us: Ultimate Edition – $4.99 – 75% off
Mortal Kombat X – $14.99 – 75% off
Mortal Kombat X Premium Edition – $22.49 – 75% off
Be sure to act quickly, as these deals are set to end this Saturday!
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not reflect Shoryuken as a whole.
Those who remember last year’s Skullgirls tournament at Combo Breaker remember it fondly. The Illinois-based event is widely considered by the Skullgirls community as the tournament of the year to make it to, bar none. If you don’t remember or weren’t invested at the time, this game was not a main stage title at first. It became one after its pre-registration numbers trumped nearly every other title early on, and players from multiple other countries came out just to participate in the game. That in mind, it has become the one tournament every year that the entire community will push for.
Let’s take a quick look back at last year’s competition with Kai Kennedy’s nostalgic trailer for the upcoming tournament.
The video accurately captures some of the moments that made Combo Breaker amazing: the excitement was electric, the hype was palpable, and the energy invigorating. Nothing less is expected from this year’s event, which showcases later this month.
One year ago, players from England, Spain, and Canada, as well as a player from Brazil who made it out thanks to a community effort to send him, met up in Illinois to play. All of the community’s rallying amounted in a total of $2000 in pot bonuses being added from multiple parties, which just added to the list of reasons Skullgirls players were bursting with excitement.
It’s obviously impossible to know how this year’s Combo Breaker will end, but we have a good idea how it will start. Much like last year, the community has again decided to send its favorite players out to compete. Zeknife (Sweden), 159man (Japan), and Yaya (Canada) have all been crowdfunded to attend the tournament. Mr.Peck is Skullgirls’ England representative, as he was last Combo Breaker, bringing the number of countries outside the US making a showing at Combo Breaker 16 for Skullgirls to 4. Those who follow the game may remember the name 159man from the USA vs. JPN 10 vs. 10 tournament that was played earlier this year, in which he managed to take the win from KPB|McPeanuts.
It has also been confirmed that SG is to have 148 entrants this year through pre-registration alone, making this year’s event one of the biggest tournaments to ever take place for the game. Last year the count barely broke 100, which was still impressive for Skullgirls, but having the number jump by at least 50 percent is a great sign of what’s to come. There are still potential on-site registrants, so the number can only increase from here.
On top of all this pre-CB16 hype, there’s more waiting at the event than just the tournament. There is a high-profile 10 vs. 10 exhibition crew match planned as well. East Coast is considered the strongest in Skullgirls right now, so an East Coast vs. The World exhibition is planned to take place. This exhibition will be streamed along with pools and the main tournament, so keep an eye out at the end of the month.
The world of Triple-A gaming is sort of cruel, especially when the business side starts showing. We’ve reported on the recent financial report from Capcom, which reveals Street Fighter V’s sales to be in the area of 1.4 million units–impressive, but still short of its projected goal of 2 million.
While Capcom remains fairly optimistic about Street Fighter V’s performance, this invites discussion over what truly makes a fighting game successful; is it just hard sales numbers, or a combination of those figures and community engagement? FGC commentator and YouTuber Maximilian brings this topic up in his newest “Real Talk” video.
In the video, Max notes that “[i]t’d be amazing if we could see a direct, hardcore success as a result of a fighting game, and maybe, just maybe, other fighters that Capcom could make in the future can rely on success similar to Street Fighter V.”
To hear the rest of what Max has to say on the topic, check out the full video below.
The Japanese CFN Portal website has added more Street Fighter V character concept art, this time giving us a look at R. Mika’s opponents on the Iwashi Ga Hama Women’s Pro-Wrestling circuit. It’s a collection of colorful characters as over-the-top as Mika herself, such as the horror-themed dirty fighter Vivian Nishiki, and the Canadian-born Maple Storm.
Sunrise Nishisenba; Maple Storm; Kaminarihana
Kazehana; Vivian Nishiki; Pepe Ishiwata
We also get a look at a Shadaloo “Monitor Cyborg” that can scan and copy other fighters’ abilities; and to top it off, there’s some familiar faces from Final Fight–and two old masters of Ansatsuken.
Monitor Cyborg; Guy; Carlos Miyamoto
Hitoshi Maki; Goutetsu; Gouken
This only adds to the concept art we’ve seen so far, showing us how both old favorites and newcomers could fit into Street Fighter V’s expanding world. Japanese-speakers can head to CFN Portal’s Shadaloo Activity Report to read further details about these fighters.
After the changes for Mortal Kombat XL were released, many players felt that Quan Chi would see a sharp decline in competitive play due to the loss of his meterless Vortex, guaranteed gapless pressure after Meter Burn Ground Burst, and added damage scaling on his Bat attacks in the Summoner Varaition. However, some of those same players were quick to overlook the myriad of enhancements that were given to the demon’s Sorcerer Variation. This style of Quan saw reduced startup and recovery on all three of his spells, faster regeneration on the hit of armor in Dark Curse, and his Skulls, Ground Bursts, as well as his Trance, became capable of draining his opponent’s meter on both block and hit while standing in Black Magic. Yet many players felt that his corner game with Final Hex, which gives Quan increased chip damage for as long as his opponent remains inside the circle, was severely weakened due to reduced chip and meter gain on block across the board in XL, compounded by the loss of gapless frame advantage on his MB Ground Burst, which has removed his “Rune Trap” setups.
Fortunately for those of us in the Quanmunity, ESL commentator and 5th place Evo finisher, PND|Ketchup, has been back in the lab with the Brotherhood of Shadow member. In this time, he has discovered a new variation of the Rune Trap that can’t be jumped or back dashed, and beats button pressing as well as both Delayed Wakeup timings, losing only to armored reversals. With Black Magic allowing him to drain more meter from his enemies than ever before, this shouldn’t prove to be too much of a detriment.
Using two reps of F21, MB Skull allows Quan to tag opponents with a meaty 14 in the 1, 14, Trance string to continue looping the restand in the corner. If they choose to use max Delayed Wakeup, and you whiff f21 MB Skull, the game will option select F212, as the input for Skull is DB2, with a large window to confirm it and input the MB Skull. If they half Delay Wakeup, they will stand up into the second hit of the F21 string and will be forced to either block or get hit by the MB Skull. This allows for around 65-75% damage in the corner.
Ketchup also released another video explaining the new Sorcerer Quan in full detail earlier this week, offering a look at what type of gameplan you need to be using with him now.
Hardcore fans of the King of Iron Fist Tournament–with fairly deep pockets–will be interested to learn of First 4 Figures’ upcoming celebration of Tekken series mainstay, King. These detail laden statues stand 22 inches high (1/4 scale) and come in four different varieties, including exclusive and non-exclusive variants of King II’s appearances in Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.
Production will be limited to 750 pieces worldwide for the non-exclusive versions, while the exclusive versions (featuring the wrestling ring) are limited to 250 for Tekken 5’s King II and 150 for his Dark Resurrection colors. Either way, paying homage to this King will run you $374.99 to $439.99, depending on your choice of base. Pre-orders are open now for a late 2016 release, though a waitlist is currently in place.
As Tekken 7 continues to grab attention, displaying one of these will leave no doubt about how much you love this particular King of the Iron Fist. King not your style? Don’t worry, the folks at First 4 Figures are just getting started.
