Evo 2015’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament presented one of the biggest upsets ever, with Team Black Eye’s Nicolas “Kane Blueriver” Gonzalez taking a first-place finish back to Chile as the first non-American champion. However, some have pointed out that he defeated only one of the so called “gods of Marvel” at the event, Evil Geniuses’ Justin Wong, making his victory less-than-impressive in their minds.
At Winter Brawl X, Gonzalez will try to put those doubts to rest against Panda Global’s Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez, the Evo 2012 champion, in a first-to-fifteen exhibition match.
In a way, there couldn’t be a better matchup than this. With his status as an underdog thanks to rocking a team of Hulk, Haggar, and Sentinel, Gonzalez has become something of a symbol, showing that Marvel is no longer just an American game. Meanwhile, with his choice of high-level teams that emphasize calculated, defensive play, as well as his penchant for mind games in and out of competition, Ramirez has garnered a reputation of being a a bit of a heel in the community.
Will Kane Blueriver’s big body team be able to slay another god, or will Filipino Champ’s craftiness and cunning overcome the South American challenger? Feel free to take part in our poll below, and be sure to tune into Winter Brawl X, scheduled for February 26-28, to catch it all live.
Nintendo’s next gaming platform, codenamed Nintendo NX, may have a number of Bandai Namco Entertainment-developed products available at launch, including Super Smash Bros.
Bandai Namco worked closely with Nintendo on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, assigning Soulcalibur art and sound director Tetsuya Akatsuka and the entirety of the Tekken team to the project to assist Sora Ltd. and director Masahiro Sakurai.
These details come courtesy of Kantan Games CEO Serkan Toto, who has previously offered up early details on other Nintendo titles. He later clarified that he wasn’t sure if it was an entirely new Smash installment, opening up the possibility that Bandai Namco may instead be developing a port of the most recent release on Wii U.
As with all things related to the Nintendo NX, this news is merely a rumor and should be taken with a grain of salt. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Since he was announced at PlayStation Experience back in December, we haven’t really seen much of Street Fighter V newcomer F.A.N.G. Aside from a few times where he’s been brought out by Capcom, Shadaloo’s newest fighter has been kept well under wraps.
For those looking for more footage of this elusive newcomer, the e-Capcom was recently updated with a quick match. Taken from a recent Puchikapu! Street Fighter V Special event, the replay shows off some good use of F.A.N.G.’s poison abilities, where he’s able to keep Nash in poison for almost an entire round.
In addition to this, they’ve also shared this other bit of footage from the event featuring Chun-Li and Vega.
Street Fighter V hits retail on February 16. A final beta is planned for this weekend.
Instant kills are one of the more stylish mechanics made popular by the Guilty Gear franchise. While somewhat similar to fatalities and finishing moves from other fighting games, these powerful attacks have the distinct advantage of being available during matches (should a few requirements be met, of course).
In his latest video, Kizzercrate demonstrates a number of way that Ky Kiske can set up instant kills in Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. This compendium includes practical and impractical setups, from punishes to fancy combos to straight-up hard reads after random openings.
UltraChen TV returns tonight with a special Wednesday installment of their community talk show. This time, however, they’ll be focusing on Killer Instinct with special guest Stephen “Sajam” Lyon.
The broadcast tonight will be all about this weekend’s Killer Instinct World Cup. If you plan on watching but don’t know much about the Killer Instinct scene, this will be a perfect opportunity to learn about the game, the players, the storylines, and more heading into this exciting event.
The stream will be live in this article, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat.
Today marks the release of BlazBlue: Central Fiction’s ‘Act2’ update, which, among other things, adds series antagonist Hades Izanami to the playable cast. As they are often wont to do, developer Arc System Works recently hosted a special broadcast to highlight what this new character brings to the table.
During the exhibition, ArcSys staffers were broken up into two teams, one focused entirely on Izanami and the other open to use any character they liked. While official archives have yet to be made available, a YouTube user by the name of Shado Onikkusu has provided a playlist of the matches they streamed.
As we previously reported, Izanami utilizes a unique float mechanic (replacing a double jump) to overcome foes. By activating her “Yasakani no Magatama,” she gains access to more attacks but loses the ability to block.
This is the first Izanami gameplay footage we’ve received outside of the reveal trailer, so check it out and let us know what you think.
And for an added bit of spookiness, here’s her Astral Finish.
Oni is one of the more interesting additions to the Street Fighter IV series. While this powered up version of Akuma is considered a “shoto” by some, his moveset has enough differences that makes him quite unique from the others.
In the latest installment of his C.C.V. combo video series, Cjbqulix takes on Oni and demonstrates just how unique and stylish his combos can be in the right hands. These include some impractical setups using unique interactions with other characters’ moves to set up situations you’d rarely see in a real match, if at all.
When Street Fighter IV hit PC back in 2009, one of the first things that modders figured out was how to swap character models and movesets, and it looks like the same thing is happening now with Street Fighter V’s beta release.
A couple of new videos that surfaced recently show what happens when you swap one characters model for another, leading to some hilarious and sometimes disturbing looking animations the fighters stretch and squash to fit skeletons and moves that aren’t meant for them.
Some of the more notable examples include a gaunt, long-limbed Laura with Birdie’s moves and a disturbingly huge mouth, R. Mika with a flaming dragon punch, a squished Birdie using wrestling moves, Vega calling an assist from Laura, and much more.
The upcoming arrival of Street Fighter V heralds a brand new era in the fighting game community. A new game means new champions, and one of the strongest early contenders is Pandora House’s Long “LPN” Nguyen.
Although the game has yet to officially launch, Nguyen sits among a very select group of players who can say they’ve won a Street Fighter V tournament. Mad Catz V Cup saw the Northern California competitor clean house, first with a win in an eight-player invitational and then later on in the open bracket. Of course, winning is a surefire way to garner both good and bad attention, and he was quickly targeted for his performance.
To learn more, we caught up with Nguyen to talk about his early success in Street Fighter V, his recent comments comparing the game to Street Figher x Tekken, transitioning from Street Fighter IV, and more.
First off, give me a some background on how you got into competitive fighting games.
LPN: I got into competitive fighting games at the beginning of the Street Fighter IV era, when it was first released in arcades a couple years back. Living in the South Bay during that time really exposed me to what and how tournaments were like, and coming from a competitive martial arts background of muay thai, judo, and jiujitsu, it really gave me a drive to compete in the game.
How does it feel placing first at one of the earliest Street Fighter V tournaments?
LPN: It definitely felt invigorating during the tournament and after as well. I was so into the game, it was over before I knew it (laughs).
There’s been some discussion as to how you won Mad Catz V Cup. We won’t go into specifics, but do you have anything to say in relation to that?
LPN: Some people (I don’t think I need to name because we all know who they are) jumped to the excuse that I have a “retail copy” of Street Fighter V and that it gave me the unfair advantage against the other players. I can 100% confirm to everyone that I do not own a retail copy of Street Fighter V because I do not work at Capcom (laughs). No one has a physical copy of the game when it’s weeks away from release.
Like Peter “Combofiend” Rosas and others at Capcom have mentioned before, the game will be quite different from the beta versions we’ve been playing when it’s released, so don’t get too attached. Come to think of it, why would playing on a retail copy give anyone an edge in a beta version of a game like the build during the Mad Catz V Cup? It’s a pre-release tournament and it’s called that for a reason (laughs).
You really made a name for yourself in Street Fighter IV by using a ridiculous amount of characters in competition (our rankings say nine, but I’m sure it’s more than that). Was your use of both Birdie and M. Bison at Mad Catz V Cup a sign of things to come for Street Fighter V?
LPN: I’m capable of playing multiple characters at high level but it is difficult to maintain and distribute my skill to the entire cast when it came to Ultra Street Fighter IV. With Street Fighter V’s condensed cast, it definitely feels a lot easier for me to move around and learn the characters at a faster rate than previous games. I’ve been playing M. Bison and Birdie since day one and looking forward to shocking the competition with Laura and others in the future.
What about those two characters in particular drew you to them?
LPN: Bison has always been my favorite Street Fighter character of all time (and possibly favorite villain of any series) because he’s just a complete badass! His redesign in Street Fighter V, both aesthetically and gameplay-wise, made him 100x more appealing than he ever was. I would even go as far to say that this is his best iteration, or should I say “form” (laughs).
As for Birdie, I would have never imagined that I could like a character like that. I mean, just look at him. He’s vulgar, looks like a menace, makes funny sound effects, and is always eating! Perhaps that’s the reason why I didn’t want to give him a chance, as I always pick my character choices based off how they look before anything else. Once I got a chance to try him out and see how much damage he was packing and how goofy he was, it was a done deal! This character is very unique and I want to show the world why.
Hagejin also used Birdie to win a pre-release tournament in Japan. What are your thoughts on his place in the overall game as it stands now?
LPN: After watching Hagejin play and win, I guess the first thing in my head was, “He must be winning because he has a early access!” (laughs)
The way he played Birdie was impressive and abusive. He outspaced his opponents and positioned himself to where he was able to apply pressure while protecting himself at all times. That’s something that I picked up on awhile back and implemented into my own style. We both outplayed our opponents not because of having more time with Street Fighter V but because we have a faster understanding of the game than most people as of right now.
Oh and, of course, Birdie is definitely top six in my opinion. He’s a complete character package just like Chun-Li, M. Bison, and some others as well.
You recently sent out some interesting tweets comparing Street Fighter V to the fighting game community’s red-headed stepchild, Street Fighter x Tekken. What similarities have you noted?
LPN: The reason that I said Street Fighter V is the more acceptable version of Street Fighter x Tekken to the public is because both games give me the same sensation. I enjoy Street Fighter V very much at its current state and it can only get better.
As for comparisons between the two, how much damage can be converted in small instances, the impact of hits, and the mentality behind approaching your opponent are all very similar. I just feel like I’m playing Street Fighter x Tekken without the extra side of shame and complaints that it carried back then (laughs).
You said that Street Fighter V is a “more acceptable” version of Street Fighter x Tekken. Mind providing some more insight on that thought?
LPN: Street Fighter x Tekken could have been a great game, but the execution during release was what really launched it with a rough start. Along with that, paying for gems, which Capcom claimed was essential and later deemed not necessary for tournament standard, hurt the game even more. To top it off, Evo’s 2v2 tournament pretty much killed it.
Outside of those extra and unnecessary ideas, the game itself was great and could have been something…but now we have Street Fighter V.
Your performance at Mad Catz V Cup has likely placed a target on your back as one of the stronger Street Fighter V players at this point in time, but it’s only seemed to motivate you. How important do you think the game will be to your competitive life moving forward?
LPN: I’ve always had a target on my back (for whatever reason) ever since I entered the fighting game community and tournament circuits, whether it’s for my style of play, a loss at a tournament, or a small success.
I always stay motivated to keep climbing until I’m satisfied. I plan on making an impact in this community and transcending beyond that with my goals and message. This year will be extremely important, with Street Fighter V being my main focus as I am not interested in anything else. To obtain the goal that I have set for myself, I can’t let any small distractions that I have no control over effect my performance and focus.
What other players are on your radar as we head into the era of Street Fighter V?
LPN: I look forward to seeing and competing against international players such as Infiltration, Momochi, and many more. Back here in America, there’s only one person on my radar and it’s the legend himself, Graham Wolfe.
It seems the folks at NetherRealm Studios may be packing more into Mortal Kombat XL than we’ve heard so far, and no, these new additions aren’t related to PC compatibility.
On top of all the characters and expected skin packs we’ve already seen, the Xbox store listing for the Mortal Kombat XL pre-order points to upcoming medieval costume options for a handful of fighters.
Since the listing of this particular bit of downloadable content comes beneath the bundle details section and appears in text form only, we have no idea what to expect. Will Quan Chi ride up on a battle steed in full barding while sporting a lance in one hand and his glowing skull in another? Will some dismembered character make obnoxious Holy Grail references while lying limbless on the ground? We’ll have to wait and see.
Mortal Kombat XL will be making its way to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on March 1.
