Category: Fighting Games

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Learn a New Fighting Game with This Handy Floechart

Ari “Floe” Weintraub has years of experience under his belt, and when he’s not antagonizing Mike “Mike Ross” Ross, he’s more than willing to share his insights with up-and-coming players, evinced by his aptly-named new video series “Floechart.”

Here, Floe aims to teach fighting game fundamentals. In spite of how basic-level this may sound, Floe doesn’t want to target brand new players, instead looking to teach those who already have the basics out of the way. His first episode, which you can find below, focuses on a topic proving popular at the moment: learning a new fighting game. And even with Street Fighter V just two short weeks away, Floe doesn’t plan on only discussing the newest Capcom offering, but hopes to uncover for viewers what lies at the core of all fighting games.

One of his first pieces of advice is one that can’t be overstated. Whatever game you’re looking to learn, pick a character who will let you win without using gimmicks–a character who doesn’t “bend the rules of the game,” as he puts it. Floe also discusses transferring knowledge from other games (even those outside the genre like League of Legends), when to look up videos of the character you’re playing, and how important it is to learn not just what to do in a match, but why to do it.

His organization is admittedly a little all over the place at the moment, but the information is good, and we can only assume experience will help tighten up the presentation in future episodes.

Source: Floe

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Street Fighter V Final Beta Roundup feat. Ken V-Trigger Pressure, Rashid Setups, and More

When putting together videos on the last Street Fighter V beta, the community seems to have leaned more toward match footage this time around, which could be a result of the short window of time we had access to the game. Whatever the cause may be, we’ve still got some quality material for you to check out.

Up first, we’d like to share a Ken video from Jay Rego. Some of you may recognize Rego’s name from his “Analyze This!” series (which you should check out, by the way). Those who do will be familiar with his meticulous attention to detail. Rego uses this same sort of presentation quality to present a video dedicated to using Ken’s V-Trigger in block strings to create pressure and mixup opportunities.

Thankfully, Rego’s testing shows that Ken can never put himself into an advantageous situation by canceling a blocked dragon punch with his V-Trigger, so we don’t need to worry about the return of some overly popular (and overly good) Street Fighter IV tactics. Stick around until the end for some practical applications including a particularly nasty reset.

In this next video, Rush Down takes a look at some of the ways to apply M. Bison’s parry. From creating a defensive wall to opening up opportunities to connect a Critical Art, this move looks to have plenty of potential.

Next up, LiangHuBBB, whose name you’ll certainly recognize from the “Funny & Cool Moments” series, compiled a hefty portion of match footage from across the most recent beta phase. The general focus for the first segment of this video is presenting in-match combo and setup options, after which LiangHuBBB includes plenty of full matches for anyone interested in seeing Ryu in action.

With the game still in its (pre?)infancy, we haven’t had much chance to see solid matchup-related strategy; however, this next video, from NualphaJPN, offers just that. In this match replay, you’ll get to hear thoughts on how R. Mika should approach Necalli.

If you’re interested in brushing up on Rashid setups, this next set of match footage from sean2dgod may be just what you’re looking for. In it, you’ll see how to keep the pressure high and opponents on their toes–or, perhaps stunned.

If you prefer your match footage cropped down, this reel from THE COOL KID93 may be more to your liking. Still focused on Rashid, this video offers much of what you just saw above, but in a smaller package.

It’s true that some of these situations only take place because players aren’t yet familiar with how to fight Rashid; however, it’s never a bad idea to have as many defense-cracking strategies as possible.

We close things out today with a short interface primer from GLHFtv. If you’ve not yet had a chance to familiarize yourself with Street Fighter V’s interface, this video is a good place to get started.

Sources: Jay Rego, Rush Down, LiangHuBBB, NualphaJPN, sean2dgod (tip via gameinn), THE COOL KID93, GLHFtv

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Mortal Kombat X Bug Randomly Locks Player Controls

Bug and glitches are a part of life when playing fighting games. In fact, much of their development is tied to bugs that were later developed into genre staples. However, there is one type of bug that is never welcome in any fighting game, that which flat out breaks the game.

One such bug apparently exists in Mortal Kombat X. The glitch in question makes the game momentarily stop recognizing inputs from both players’ controllers, effectively stopping the match. While things eventually clear out, it still has the potential to destroy momentum and and throws both competitors off their game.

YOMI Gaming’s REO captured this bug in the demonstration below. At around 1:30, you can clearly see both players stop moving for a short moment. When they’re able to move once again, they test their buttons to see if the glitch has cleared.

REO says this isn’t the first time he’s experienced the bug, but the causes are still unknown. We’ll be sure to keep our readers apprised of the situation as it develops, but feel free to let us know if you’ve ever seen this situation in the comments.

Source: REO via Test Your Might

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Pocket Rumble Brings Retro Fighting Action to Steam Early Access

With other indie titles finding various degrees of success over the past few years, it would have been easy to let Pocket Rumble fly under the radar. Developed by Cardboard Robot Games, this neat little fighter is now available to the public by way of Steam’s early access program.

Pocket Rumble’s visuals pay homage to old-school Neo Geo Pocket fighters like King of Fighters R-1 and SNK Gals’ Fighters. The controls, on the other hand, fall somewhere in-between Divekick and a traditional fighting game.

Normals are limited to just light and heavy buttons, with special moves requiring only diagonal and single button inputs to perform. Every character has twelve health, and every attack deals one point of damage. Blocking works how you’d expect, but specials are capable of putting opponents into a unique state on block that makes the next blocked special deal damage.

As of now, Pocket Rumble is pretty bare on content due to its early access status. Two characters are playable, both of which offer up different styles to mess around with. Where Tenchi functions as the game’s shoto thanks to tools like fireballs and uppercuts, Naomi’s rushdown specials and run make her more akin to a King of Fighters character. The developers plan to add a new cast member every month.

In addition to training mode, Pocket Rumble also features online play courtesy of GGPO, so you’ll have no shortage of opponents as you wait for future updates. Going by the menu, it will eventually receive a story mode, tutorials, and more.

If you’re interested in giving Pocket Rumble a shot in its early stages, you can pick it up on Steam for $9.99. A more complete rundown of the controls and previews of upcoming characters are available on Kickstarter, and be sure to also check out our previous interview with the developers.

Source: Steam

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Wizard World Gaming Announces Street Fighter V Tournament Series

Wizard World Gaming has announced a brand new partnership with Capcom that will see Street Fighter V join the convention as a permanent fixture in its competitive lineup. The upcoming title is set to appear at numerous events in 2016, with some nifty cash prizes available to those who can edge out their fellow players.

Over the next few months, Wizard World will be making stops in various locations across the United States, the full list of which can be found below.

This news comes hot on the heels of Wizard World Gaming Portland’s reveal of a $10,000 prize pool that will be split among tournaments for games like Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Tekken 7, and more.

Further information on these events can be found through Wizard World’s official website.

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Catch the Top Five Most Frustrating Losses from Capcom Pro Tour 2015

Even the best players make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes force the player in question into a disadvantageous situation. Sometimes those mistakes cost the player a round. Sometimes those mistakes land the player in a spectator seat for the rest of the tournament.

In their latest top five video, the folks at Capcom present the five best (or worst, depending on who you ask) examples of these sorts of situations from the 2015 Capcom Pro Tour. In many ways, this video feels akin to the top five comebacks reel they put together last week, but viewers are sure to notice a distinct increase in the saline levels present in the footage below.

Source: Capcom Fighters

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We Tech Those! Recent Rivals of Aether Update Revamps Wall Teching, Jab Cancels, and More

When it comes to system changes and careful attention to character balance, Rivals of Aether patches don’t mess around. The most recent patch, which went live on Steam earlier today, is no exception to this rule.

To get started, the update adds a new wall teching system, allowing players already pressed against the wall when slapped with an attack to prevent themselves from sailing away. Another major change involves the ability to whiff jabs and still string them into tilts, offering interesting pressure and punish options that weren’t previously possible.

Of course, there were massive adjustments across the whole cast when it comes to hitboxes, move recovery, general mechanics–affecting Maypul’s plant and Forsburn’s clone–and much, much more.

If you’d like to see these changes in action, the Beefy Aether Doods have put together a patch preview video. You can watch that below, or continue on to the rest of the post to see the full patch notes.

Rival of Aether ver 0.0.12 Patch Notes

General:

  • Wall Techs can now be performed even if your horizontal speed is away from the wall. This allows players to tech walls when trying to recover up the wall.
  • Wall Tech invincibility time increased from 5 frames to 12 frames.
  • Jabs are cancellable into Tilts even on whiff again. However, you cannot reverse your Forward Tilt on whiff. You can still do that on hit though. This is to prevent players from covering rolls with jab into reverse Forward Tilt.
  • Fixed bugs on Merchant Port Aether version with platforms and pipes.

Zetterburn:

Zetterburn benefits greatly from the Wall Tech change since he is known to ride up walls when trying to recover. We also wanted to address a few of his hitboxes that were a bit smaller than their animation. Finally we wanted to introduce some risk into using charged Neutral Special by preventing the charged version from being jump cancelled and adding more recovery frames.

  • Up Special time between last hit and travel hit reduced from 10 frames to 5 frames.
  • Up Tilt now has a hitbox in the center that reaches above the lowest jumpthrough platforms.
  • Down Strong Recovery increased from 20 > 22.
  • Neutral Air Hit 1 and Hit 2 Hitbox radius increased from 55 > 65.
  • Neutral Special Small Radius increased from 75 > 80.
  • Neutral Special Final Recovery increased from 12 > 16. This period can no longer be jump cancelled when using charged Neutral Special.

Orcane:

Orcane is adorable…

  • Up Strong (no puddle) now reaches above the lowest jumpthrough platforms.
  • Down Strong Whiff Lag of 18 added. Recovery remains at 12.
  • Hitstun increased on Jab 1 and Jab 2.

Wrastor:

Our aerial ace has been performing extremely well now that some other characters have been pulled back down to earth. The main concern with him right now is how easily Neutral Special can KO of the top at mid to low percents and Forward Special leading into guaranteed Up Special sweet spots due to the ground flinch on it. We addressed both of these and peeled off a little base knockback from his Strong Attack sweet spots to bring him in line with the rest of the cast.

  • Nspecial will no longer rise faster while hitting an opponent.
  • Nspecial final hit reduced from 7 Base .4 Scaling > 4 Base .7 Scaling. This is to remove ridiculously early KOs from Tornado but keep it a viable KO option at higher percents.
  • Forward Special pops up grounded opponents again. Hitstun returned to .1x. Buffer is cleared to prevent accidental air dodges.
  • Parrying Wrastor’s Forward Special now correctly removes the current and prevents Wrastor from using his Forward Special again for the full cooldown instead of .5x like it was before.
  • Fstrong Base knockback reduced from 9 > 8.
  • Ustrong Base knockback reduced from 9 > 8.
  • Air Acceleration while in Prat Fall reduced from .5x to .3x.
  • Fast Fall speed reduced from 12 > 11.
  • Bug Fix: Wrastor’s Aerial Down Special will no longer hit and slide near the end of it.
  • Bug Fix: Wrastor will now correctly go into Parry Lag when parried during Down Special and then hitting the ground after the kick but during recovery.

Kragg:

Kragg is in a pretty good place but his Forward Strong and Up Strong needed a bit more scaling for the Heavy Hitter that he is. The sour hit of Up Strong was in a weird place considering it is a Strong Attack and should give you a decent reward.

  • Dash Attack whiff lag reduced from 24 > 20.
  • Up Strong Knockback Scaling increased from .95 > 1.1.
  • Up Strong Second Hit (Sour Hit) Knockback increased from 5 base .3 scaling > 6 base .8 scaling.
  • Forward Strong Knockback Scaling 1.0 > 1.1.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that caused the entire stage to move when a Rock or Pillar was attacked at the start of a match.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where players who were hit while standing on a rock that breaks would take knockback but have 0 hitstun.

Forsburn:

Forsburn players are sad to miss out on the “Clone Bros” playstyle that he has adopted when he could combo with his illusory buddy. We do want to push the special toward deception but feel like the latest update felt awkward with hitbox-less attacks. Until we come up with a cooler deception use for Forward Special, we wanted to give players back their CPU friend for now. We removed the ability to make the clone attack faster to prevent camping with the clone.

  • Forsburn’s clone creates active hitboxes again.
  • Forsburn’s clone attacks on a timer of 90 frames after each attack has ended. The clone no longer responds to special inputs. This is to prevent players from running away and mashing special to get their clone to attack. Now the clone will be easily dispatched unless the Forsburn player gets involved as well. Forsburn players can learn the rhythm of clone attacks to get the best use out of comboing with it.
  • Forsburn’s clone now counts as a hit again for whiff / cancel reasons.
  • Forward Special Startup increased from 6 > 12 frames.
  • Forward Special Recovery increased from 4 > 8 frames.
  • Up Special Startup increased from 15 > 18 frames. This is to give aggressive edgeguarders more of a chance to interrupt Forsburn before he can teleport.
  • Forsburn Down Air hits 1 and 2 have had their hitbox sizes reduced. Down Air is becoming too much of an all-purpose aerial so we wanted to strip back the hitboxes a touch.
  • Forsburn Up Special Hitstun Scaling reduced from 1.0 > .85. This is to punish players less for missing an edgeguard against Forsburn while still preventing Forsburn from being punished even when he lands his Up Special.

Maypul:

Lily has lost some of her cool identity in recent updates now that her impact on a match is lessened. We like Lily being an important part of Maypul’s identity. While we don’t want Maypul to have too powerful of zoning tools, we wanted to bring back some of Lily’s glory and address the camping issue in different ways.

  • Lily now wraps all marked opponents again. They no longer are required to be in hitstun.
  • Fat Lily has been removed from the game. Maypul can still feed Lily or Taunt to extend her life time but she will no longer be fed to permanence. This is to reduce her camping ability with a Fat Lily.
  • Parrying Maypul’s attacks now removes her Watcher’s Mark from opponents. This is to reduce the viability of spamming seeds against a marked target and opens up a way for opponents to work around Watcher’s Mark.
  • Neutral Special seed start moved back 10 px closer to her hand to make feeding Lily up close easier.
  • We have changed the input for using Maypul’s Up Special Uppercut while opponents are marked. Many new players will accidently uppercut when they want to tether. Some new players are unaware of the tether mechanic at all. Now to perform the Uppercut if your opponent is marked, you must be holding dodge during the startup frames after starting Up Special instead of just releasing the special button early. This is to keep the uppercut viable for skilled players but make the tether more likely to be used by new players.
  • Down Strong Startup increased from 10 > 12. Down Strong Knockback scaling increased from 1.0 > 1.1.
  • Maypul’s Strong attacks no longer deal increased knockback on wrapped opponents. This is to remove the extra benefit she gets for wrapping with Lily in order to secure an earlier KO.
  • Maypul Down Special Ground cast total frames increased from 24 > 27 Frames.
  • Maypul Up Special Tether end location moved from 40px away from the center of her target to 46px. This moves her out of range of Orcane’s Puddleless Up Strong and Maypul’s Up Strong as guaranteed punishes for all 3 tether directions.

Absa:

Absa lost some of her close range power last update with the removal of Down Special into Up Special. To bring it back, we are increasing her air max speed and acceleration to allow her to weave toward opponents better. We are also increasing the cooldown on Forward Special to motivate Absa players to follow up their clouds with other options instead of another Forward Special.

  • Absa Neutral Special on the ground now pops her up like her aerial Neutral Special does.
  • Absa Back Air knockback angle reduced from 40/45 to 32.5.
  • Forward Special Cooldown increased from 8 > 24 frames.
  • Air Max Speed increased from 5 > 6.
  • Air Acceleration increased from .35 > .4.
  • Clouds now draw in front of Wrastor’s currents.

Dev Mode:

Trevor has made a huge number of adjustments and improvements to Dev Mode. You can now create new hitboxes and have much better control over attacks. Check out his thread to get all the information on how to use Dev Mode 0.3.

Online:

  • You can now enable Dev Mode in Online matches by hitting the gear in the upper left corner. You must ensure that you both have the same exact files in the dev_ver_0.3 folder to avoid desyncs.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where the Short Hop button was causing desyncs.
  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where the Mayflash 4 Controller Adapter would not work if you started an online match with the Steam Overlay up.

Sources: Aetherboards, Beefy Aether Doods

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King of Fighters XIV Producer Hints at Future Character Reveals

When you have a universe as varied as SNK Playmore, you’re always going to be inundated with questions as to who will be playable in King of Fighters. Originally conceived as a dream match of sorts between their various properties, the franchise has always garnered a ton of attention, and King of Fighters XIV is no different.

During a recent interview with GAME Watch, producer Yasuyuki Oda provided some clues on parts of the roster that have yet to be revealed. “I can’t reveal the number,” he explained, according to translations by MM Cafe, “but there’s quite a few of them when you include the new characters and SNK characters.” Those of you who read Shoryuken on a regular basis likely understand what that last statement might mean.

Back in November, we reported on a rumored cast list. Among the regulars, newcomers, and surprises, the rumor stated that the roster might include an Alternate World Team comprised of Samurai Shodown’s Nakoruru, Sky Love’s Love Heart, and Dragon Gal’s Mui Mui. Oda’s mention of “SNK characters” may be a small confirmation that these guest characters are the real deal, or perhaps that more fan favorites are moving up to the big leagues.

Later on, Oda was asked a question concerning King of Fighters’ popularity in China and whether or not the developers are taking steps to make sure the region is represented in the final cast. While no specifics were mentioned, the producer did reveal that King of Fighters XIV will feature Chinese characters as well as a stage set in the East Asian country.

Back to the possible roster leak! In this case, Oda may be referencing either the Chinese team comprised of Fatal Fury’s Tung Fu Rue and his two new associates, or perhaps the Psycho Soldier squad (pictured above) comprised of Athena Asamiya, Sie Kensou, and Chin Gentsai, who in games past have taken up the mantle themselves.

In any case, these details should give King of Fighters fans a lot to think on while waiting for the title to drop on PlayStation 4 this year. For more translations of GAME Watch’s discussion with Oda, be sure to follow the link below to MMCafe.

Source: GAME Watch via MMCafe, tip via NightmareSteam

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Infiltration, Justin Wong, and Poongko Face Online Opponents in the Street Fighter V Beta

With the final Street Fighter V beta taking place over the weekend, it’s no surprise some of the best players in the world got in on the action. You might have even had the distinct (dis)pleasure of donating League Points to their growing totals as they climbed the ladder.

If you didn’t have a chance to toss fireballs their way over the weekend, you’ll likely be curious what sort of technology folks like Razer’s Infiltration, Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong, r/Kappa’s Poongko, Team Spooky’s Arturo Sanchez, and more came up with to use in this most recent version of the upcoming title.

XusesGB and Olympic Gaming took the time to compile footage of these strong competitors taking the fight to online opposition, and you can find the replays embedded below.

Source: XusesGB, Olympic Gaming

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Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-‘s Kum Haehyun is Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master

While an air of mystery has surrounded Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- newcomer Kum Haehyun since her reveal, Gematsu has some new details straight from Arc System Works regarding her place in the title.

Guilty Gear has come to be known for flashy visuals and high execution, but Kum subverts the latter with her playstyle. Instead of lengthy combos, she focuses on doling out damage with single hits.

That being said, her specials revolve around the idea of performance, with additional inputs changing the way they function. The examples provided include a dropkick transition into a rush-style attack as well as missiles that can be controlled with extra button presses.

All in all, the developers say she was created with the mindset of “easy to handle, difficult to master.”

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- is set to launch on consoles in Japan on May 26, with a North American release following soon after on June 7. Kum Haehyun will be a first-print bonus included with early copies.

Source: Gematsu