Shut Down Jason’s Red Screen Shenanigans in Mortal Kombat X

David “UltraDavid” Graham recently spent some time discussing how to deal with Relentless Jason in Mortal Kombat X. This variant comes equipped with the Pursuit special, which causes the masked murdered to pop his neck (for some reason) before turning the screen red and scrambling his opponent’s controls, rendering them about as effective at fighting as a camper at Crystal Lake.

That is, unless, they know what to expect.

As David points out, there are only three set arrangements into which the new button layout can fall, and once you’ve figure out one button’s new placement, you can deduce the rest.

Sadly, this information won’t stop miffed PC players from seeing red with regards to recent developments surrounding upcoming downloadable content, but at least they can join in with the console crew when applying this knowledge.

Source: UltraChen TV

Street Fighter V Beta Live Ahead of Schedule

Fans itching to get their hands on the final Street Fighter V beta no longer have to wait until the weekend to do so.

The client opened up ahead of schedule earlier tonight on both PlayStation 4 and PC. This time around, every character is playable with the exception of F.A.N.G (c’mon Capcom!), so jump on and go wild.

This beta session was originally scheduled for January 30-31. Details on why it’s launched early have yet to be provided through any official channels, so don’t be surprised if you suddenly find yourself kicked out. We’ll be sure to update this article should any new information arise.

Have fun!

Churning the Butter #63 feat. Ultra Street Fighter IV Streaming Live from San Francisco, California

The folks behind Churning the Butter have just gone live with another installment of their weekly tournament series, taking over Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco, California to host Ultra Street Fighter IV for local players.

Tonight, you can expect to see competitors like Alex Myers, DM|El Cubano Loco, and more in attendance.

If you’re interested in seeing what the NorCal cats have up their sleeves, be sure to check out the stream below and show your support. You can also head on over to Twitch if you prefer to chat.

Watch live video from showdowngg on www.twitch.tv

Want to check these tournaments out for yourself? Well, you’re in luck, because even if you missed out this week, Churning the Butter is held every Thursday at 8:30 PM PDT during ShowDown’s game night at Folsom Street Foundry.

Source: ShowDown

Mortal Kombat X Bug Delays Damage from Erron Black’s Caltrops

Ah, bugs. For more than a few players, finding glitches, unintended interactions, or just strange and unique occurrences is part of the joy of fighting games, even moreso when these things are discovered in the middle of a match. Such is the case with a glitch YOMI’s REO found while playing a set with Critical Reaction’s Dragon.

During the match, REO blocked Dragon’s X-Ray which, after block, ended with the latter’s Kitana standing on the caltrops laid down by the former’s Error Black. With Kitana at about 1% health, both players simply put their controllers down, expecting the caltrops to take her out.

Except they didn’t.

It turns out, when Erron Black blocks an X-Ray with his caltrops out, the spiky traps become disabled, causing them to deal no damage. You can check out REO demonstrating this in the video below.

Of course, for those who want to see the exact moment when the glitch was discovered, REO has also shared a video of his entire match with Dragon. The moment itself happens at around the 1:25 mark, where you’ll see both players stop moving when they think that REO should have already won the match.

You likely noticed that the caltrops do eventually kill Kitana, but not until a few precious seconds have gone by. While not the most game-breaking glitch, it’s potential to change the outcome of close matches shouldn’t be ignored. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: YOMI|REO via Test Your Might

SmashPad Now Available for iOS Devices

We recently reported on SmashPad, the Super Smash Bros. app that promised to bring ultimate Smash knowledge to mobile devices of inquiring players. Earlier today, Chris “Praxis” Hardin released the full version of the app on iTunes, so you can go grab a copy now.

So far, the app lives up to the hype, offering features like hitboxes and frame data, tournament information, player rankings, and even a sort of Smash news ticker to keep users in the know when it comes to current goings-on.

If you’re a Smash player with an iOS device, you’ll definitely want to give this free app a try. An Android version is forthcoming.

Source: iTunes via SmashPad

Tekken 7 Fated Retribution Location Tests Planned for February, March

We thought hype for Tekken 7 Fated Retribution couldn’t get bigger after the Akuma and Nina Williams reveals, but Bandai Namco Entertainment has revealed their plans to hold location tests in both Japan and the United States in the coming months to gather feedback from the series’ most dedicated competitors.

First off, various game centers in Japan will be hosting testing sessions the weekend of February 12. According to details translated by Avoiding the Puddle’s Flying Wonkey, attendees will be able to get their hands on both of the aforementioned characters. There will be a live Nico broadcast for folks unable to attend in person, with commentary from Nobi, Yuu, and Hameko.

Then, in March, the developers are planning to bring Fated Retribution to Final Round 19 in Atlanta, Georgia. Widely recognized as the heart of North America’s Tekken scene, this will be a great opportunity for attendees in the southern United States to get their hands on an early build of the game. No word has been provided as to how close it will be to the Japanese location test, but word is Akuma is set to make an appearance. Further details on this event can be found here.

All in all, the next few months are sure to be an exciting time for Tekken fans, culminating in an Evo 2016 appearance this summer. Get ready for the next battle!

Sources: Tekken via Flying Wonkey, Final Round

Catch a Glimpse of Street Fighter V’s Exclusive Alternate Colors in Action

As some of you may know, Capcom is offering special limited edition packages for players who purchase Street Fighter V from the e-Capcom store in Japan. One of the bonuses included in these bundles is a set of exclusive alternate colors for the characters.

For those who want to see how these palettes look in motion, whether out of curiosity or to see if they’re worth importing for, Capcom recently provided brief footage of each character’s intro with the colors enabled. They include Chun-Li’s red and black outfit, a dark-skinned Cammy, Vega as a brunette, and a younger M. Bison.

Source: e-Capcom

Super Smash Sisters Heads to Sweden for Beast 6

After their debut at Genesis 3, the Super Smash Sisters series will be traveling to Sweden’s Beast 6 next month for another go-around.

For those out of the loop, Super Smash Sisters was established as an experiment, focused on all-women crew battles, to test community reaction. Their goal was to provide a welcoming space for female Smashers of various skill levels to participate in competition, learn from their peers, and encourage new players to experience Super Smash Bros. Melee.

And going by Lil “milktea” Chen’s recap of the event, they definitely succeeded.

This next iteration will be hosted by a whole new group of ladies, but is set to feature the same exciting crew battle format of its predecessor. Registration instructions have been detailed here, and feel free to also check out the original announcement if you’re interested in taking part.

Beast 6 is scheduled for February 19-21 in Gothenburg, Sweden. More info can be found on their official website.

Source: Beast 6

Core-A Gaming Talks Fighting Game Community Villains

The right kind of villain can add extra hype to any situation. In the case of the fighting game community, having an “evil” to rally against gives top players and audience members a common purpose. The scene has more than enough villains to go around, and in their newest video, Core-A Gaming discusses the positive impact these folks can have on competition.

It wouldn’t be a villain-related video without mention of Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez, who makes more than one appearance in the footage. Core-A Gaming even goes so far as to highlight Champ’s devotion to his villainous ways, including a clip from his recent interview with The Daily Dot, wherein Champ says, “I really love the feedback and the energy I get from the fans when they boo me.”

The fans love it, too. At Evo 2014, Champ’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 match against Jan in top eight serves as a perfect example of the crowd fueling his fire. After eliminating Shuma-Gorath and Hulk, Champ spends over thirty Marvel seconds pushing Jan’s Haggar away with Magneto’s repulsion, refusing to put the Mayor out of his misery, and leaving plenty of time for the room to fill with a torrent of boos. With so much energy circulating, the crowd positively explodes when Jan manages to land a hit, even though the clock has only a couple of seconds to spare, leaving no chance for a comeback.

The set between the two players had enough excitement to stand on its own, but there’s no questioning the fact that Champ’s “villainy” enhanced the viewing experience.

You can check out Core-A Gaming’s video below. Did your favorite fighting game community nemesis make an appearance? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Core-A Gaming

Viscant Begins Article Series to Help Aspiring Street Fighter V Players Hit the Ground Running

BROKENTIER’s Jay “Viscant” Snyder recently unveiled the first in a new series of blog posts focused on helping everyone, from tournament hopefuls to those looking to make their first foray into the fighting game community, perform their best at Street Fighter V. The blog series, dubbed “Hit the Ground Running,” will see publication once per week, and readers can expect new content up until Evo 2016. That’s more than enough time for Snyder’s take on fighting games to have a meaningful impact on his target audience.

In his initial post, Snyder offers a no-excuses approach to preparing for the launch of Street Fighter V. Since many likely don’t have access to an early copy of the game, or haven’t acquired the latest beta build through dubious means, he spends most of the article discussing what players can do with the resources they have now to help the learning process once they get their hands on the release version of the game.

To start, he tasks readers with watching high-level matches, then formulating questions surrounding the play. Using Long “pH|LPN” Nguyen‘s recent set against MCZ|Tokido at Mad Catz V Cup as an example, Snyder asks how Tokido could have better dealt with Birdie’s EX Bull Revenger, then lists out some possible ways to get around Nguyen’s tricky setup. Having this sort of specific situation in mind when going into this weekend’s beta phase should give players a clear starting point when they’re waiting for matches in training mode.

Snyder also suggests firing up Ultra Street Fighter IV and learning a new character, preferably an unfamiliar one. He clarifies this definition of learning as, “not just picking [a character] for a couple hours and messing around,” but instead actually focusing on learning the tools the character brings to a fight and then taking the character for a spin in proper matches.

Some may be quick to shoot this down, as the differences between Ultra Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V are vast, but the goal here isn’t to pick up game-specific knowledge that will easily transfer to a new game; instead, Snyder hopes to encourage the sort of thinking that will make learning a new fighting game easier.

If you’re looking to make serious strides in self-improvement when it comes to fighting games, with an emphasis on Street Fighter V in particular, head over to BROKENTIER and check out Snyder’s full article and be sure sure to check back weekly for more.

Source: BROKENTIER