On the heels of TWFighter Major is another Capcom Pro Tour Premier Event in the Asia region, E-Sports Festival Hong Kong 2018. And as you would expect, the tournament is packed with some of the world’s best Street Fighters, including many players from TWFM. Participants include sako, Tokido, Fujimura, Haitani, Daigo Umehara, Mago, Dogura, Nemo, Fuudo, gachikun, Momochi, Oil King, GamerBee, RB, NL, Big Bird, MenaRD, Caba, Ricki Ortiz, Justin Wong, Alex Myers, Humanbomb and more.
Details for the NEO GEO World Tour Finals have been released — including the broadcast time, qualified players, and more!
The NEO GEO World Tour Finals are finally upon us. Taking place during the Hong Kong Esports Festival, the Finals cover two days and will feature a total 26 competitors across two games.
Featuring the likes of QANBA x Douyu|Xiaohai, QANBA|Dakou, JoJo, and others, fans can expect some true slobberknockers from the series’ most celebrated competitors. The tour has compiled a full list of participants:
Games featured at the finals include The King of Fighters XIV and The King of Fighters ‘98. The finals will take place on August 25th, with Grand Finals for both titles set for August 26th. The action will be streamed on the NEO GEO World Tour’s Facebook page and Twitch channel, starting at 10:00 AM Hong Kong Time on the 25th (7:00 PM PT, August 24th) and 11:00 AM Hong Kong Time on the 26th (8:00 PM PT, August 25th). Don’t miss out on this massive King of Fighters celebration!
Do you like 100% combos? The answer is probably “yes” if you play The King of Fighters XIV, but few characters are as proficient at bullying life-bars as Vanessa. If you’ve got the meter, it doesn’t matter where you are on the screen — Vanessa can get you to the corner and knock you out.
As Persona Entertainment points out in their latest combo video, these are some nice, long, The King Of Fighters XIII-style combos. Combine her corner carry with her 2-bar Max Mode stun and you have a character designed for the most patient combo enthusiasts.
This past weekend, following massive showings at Evo 2018 and Super Smash Con 2018, there was even more Smash action — courtesy of Heir 5 in Leicester, United Kingdom. This event was solely focused on Super Smash Bros. Melee, with Singles and Doubles tournaments, as well as a Regional Crew Battle featuring the United Sates of America, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, England, Austria, France, Wales, Ireland, Finland, Switzerland, Scotland, Belgium, and Denmark. 752 total players were in attendance, including Evo 2018 Champion TSM|Leffen, Super Smash Con 2018 Champion Alliance|Armada, Tempo|S2J, G2|Westballz, Trif, RB|Ice, Professor Pro, Alliance|Android, Overtriforce, Asterion|Amsah, Liquid|Chillindude, and more.
This new take on the World President’s theme really brings G and Q together.
The President of the World certainly has been moving up in the polls for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition players since his release earlier this month, and his new theme — composed by the excellent Daniel Lindholm — has proven very popular as well.
But for a different take, check out this new fan remix of G’s theme from Kamikaze Bitch on SoundCloud; its brooding synth replaces the more playful aspects of the original theme, really amping up the menace behind G’s still-unknown motives. And the mood of mystery is pushed even deeper with the inclusion of shades of Q’s theme from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike — bringing the two tunes together and bringing G face-to-face with what may be his own future.
Now, if we only can get a full version of President of the World (by Dan the Automator, Domino, & Del the Funky Homosapien) from G’s reveal trailer, we’d be all set.
The game’s Evo sale finally makes it to Europe and the Middle East.
Here’s some great news for players looking to pick up ARIKA’s excellent Fighting EX Layer. The game will be going on sale in a couple of weeks in those regions.
To celebrate, Fighting EX Layer getting an official side tournament at Evo 2018, ARIKA put the game on sale a couple of weeks ago. However, that sale only applied to North America and Japan when it first dropped; now, the company is finally bringing this sale over to Europe and the Middle East.
Starting from September 5, and running all the way until September 19, Fighting EX Layer‘s standard version will be subject to a 27% discount (or 37% for PS Plus subscribers). Meanwhile, the Light version will be subject to a similar 28% discount (43% for PS Plus subscribers).
For those wondering, ARIKA has given out a list ofcountries the discounts will be available in.
Fighting EX Layer sale countries
Australia
Bahrain
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Kuwait
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Oman
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Of course, this isn’t the only thing coming to Fighting EX Layer in September. A balance patch will be arriving at the same time as the sale. Meanwhile, Pullum Purna and Vulcano Rosso are coming to the game as free DLC around that time as well!
Show your support for the Tekken World Tour with in-game T-shirts for your favorite fighters!
Season 2 of Tekken 7 is fast-approaching on Thursday, September 6th. It’s already confirmed that we’ll be receiving balance changes, new Rage Drives and moves for certain fighters, a new Wall Bound mechanic that will be available to the entire roster, and six new fighters throughout the season — including series veterans Anna Williams and Lei Wulong, as well as Negan from AMC’s The Walking Dead. However, there hasn’t been much news in the way of customization items, until now.
The game’s Japanese website, Tekken Official, has recently released a series of screenshots of new Customization Items that will be exclusive to the second Season Pass. In total, there will be three new sets of cosmetic items:
TEKKEN World Tour Set, which provides official T-shirts with the TWT logo to every character in the game (except for Kuma, Panda and Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis Lucis Caelum), TEKKEN World Tour style customizations for Kuma and Panda, and the Fighting King’s Raiment (TEKKEN World Tour version) costume, that will be made available for download at a separate and later date.
Summer Lesson Set: originally released in Arcades back on April 4th, these items will finally be available to console players in what appears to be the same form as their Arcade counterparts, which includes:
Hikari Miyamoto Summer School Wear costumes for Asuka, Kazumi, Josie, and Eliza
Allison Snow Summer Knit & Denim costumes for Xiaoyu, Katarina, Master Raven, and Nina
Chisato Shinjo Summer Dark Blouse costumes for Lili, Lucky Chloe, and Alisa
Upper Accessory “Fluffy Allison” item (usable by all characters)
Upper Accessory “Fluffy Chisato” item (usable by all characters)
Upper Accessory “Fluffy Hikari” item (usable by all characters)
Female Character Hairstyles: Hikari Summer Tail, Allison Summer Medium, Chisato Summer Short
Hit Effect Set: Imitative Sound Effects (4 pieces), Feather Effects (6 pieces), Dot Character Effects (3 pieces), Chicken Mark Effect.
These are dubbed as an “extra bonus” for players who purchase the second Season Pass, and the majority of these items will be available when Season 2 officially begins on Thursday, September 6th. You can view a gallery of screenshots below.
Wake Up Wednesdays is completing its delayed wake-up and bringing their last interview from Evo 2018 to YouTube with today’s new episode: this time Bizarro Mike talks to Street Fighter legend Seth Killian — renowned player, commentator, and all-around expert on all things Street Fighter. They discuss what it’s like to commentate the game, how volatile Street Fighter V can be, Tokido’s “complete optimization” approach to SFV competition, and much more.
Watch for new episodes of Wake Up Wednesdays on Capcom Fighters to stay posted on Capcom Pro Tour news.
r/StreetFighter wants you to choose who to send to Canada Cup 2018!
Who do you want to see head to Toronto in October and compete in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition at Canada Cup 2018? Voting is open on the r/StreetFighter subreddit until August 27th — head over and cast your vote for the player of your choice!
Canada Cup 2018 takes place at EGLX in Toronto, ON on October 26-28, and in addition to being a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event will play host to a large variety of games!
Kenny Omega playing Street Fighter V. Xavier Woods playing Windjammers. There’s a massive crossover between wrestling and the fighting game community, one that’s only grown thanks to the visibility of the aforementioned stars. (And also aided by Bandai Namco’s crossover friendship with New Japan Pro Wrestling.) When you discuss the FGC and wrestling at the same time, those are the names that get brought up.
But not only are they not the lone wrestlers of the FGC, they aren’t even the only wrestling champions in our community. Those that watched the Evo 2018 pools for Tekken 7 may not have known that the masked player “BloodySamoan” wasn’t just some random King enthusiast — this is a man capable of performing King’s move list in real life on anyone that crossed him in-game. A few weeks after Evo, he did just that to defeat Liam Fury for the IPW Heavyweight Championship. In the process, he added his name to the very small pool of FGC players with pro-wrestling gold around their waist.
During that Evo 2018 stream, prior to all of the above, I was among the ignorant.
I saw Mike “BloodySamoan” Mulipola’s match versus Japanese Hwoarang pro “Batz”. Mike may have lost, but I was impressed enough by his play (and by his obvious passion for the game — and King) that I thought to myself “Ah, I’ll just google him and tell him I thought he did well. Dude seemed really good, and he traveled a long way for Evo.”
I found his site. Galleries of bright, punchy illustrations appeared. Dynamic poses, labored form, and eye-popping design were bread crumbs down to a little blurb I had to read twice just to make sure it was real: “During the weekends, I spend my time dropping people on their heads as a professional wrestler for Impact Pro Wrestling.”
Few people get to live one of their dreams. The Liger of New Zealand is living three, and I absolutely needed to know more about how he pulls that off. Luckily, he was more than happy to share.
Crow_Spaceboy: You’re not just a pro wrestler, or an artist, or a fighting game player. You’re all three of those things, and you’re very good at them all at the same time. So to find a starting place, I just want to ask: what came first?
Mike “BloodySamoan” Mulipola: What came first? First for me was comic books. I fell in love with comic books when I was 5 years old. All I wanted to do as a kid was draw… and then came pro wrestling. Pro wrestling was the closest thing to real life superheroes I had ever seen when I was a kid, and around that same time, the first Tekken came out. King was in it. There I was, just a kid just mashing buttons, and I was like “He has a suplex! He’s a wrestler!”
Crow_Spaceboy: It was a natural progression.
BloodySamoan: Yeah. There’s a line of discovery through each of them.
Crow_Spaceboy: It sounds like most of your life you’ve been drawing or playing Tekken. How long have you been wrestling, though?
BloodySamoan: I’ve been wrestling for just over 12 and half years. I’m the current IPW Heavyweight Champion, and I just won it this past weekend for the first time. Before that, I was the Armageddon Cup Champion and I’ve been tag champion a few times… but even though I won the Heavyweight Championship, easily the best thing that’s happened to me is that one of those Tag Championships was shared with King Haku.
Crow_Spaceboy: For those that don’t know about New Zealand’s Impact Pro Wrestling, give the wrestling-loving FGC a bit of a rundown on the IPW.
BloodySamoan: Impact Pro Wrestling in New Zealand was the standard-bearer for the modern era of professional wrestling in this country. In the ’70s, New Zealand was a hotspot — we had Peter Maivia, Ric Flair, Andre the Giant, and others. Then, for years there was no pro wrestling at all until IPW opened up. We’ve been around for over 15 years, produced talent like Dakota Kai, TK Cooper, Johnny Idol, let’s see… Travis Banks. I’ve had many hard hitting matches with him. New Zealand has really made a name for itself thanks to IPW.
Crow_Spaceboy: That’s incredible.
BloodySamoan: It’s great. I had a tag team match recently at one of the comic conventions in New Zealand with Travis. He teamed up with actor Michael Rowe (Deadshot from the TV series Arrow). So he got to jump into the wrestling ring and bust out some DDTs and flying elbows for this comic book crowd.
Crow_Spaceboy: This is a good time to talk about the new IPW champion, isn’t it? Tell us about Liger.
BloodySamoan:Liger is a bully. When I put the mask on and step in the ring, I just want to hurt people. I just go out there and drop people on their heads. I’m Samoan, and there’s a certain stereotype for Saomoans, but I think I’ve turned it a bit with the mask. I laugh at how similar I am to Samoa Joe. We’re both larger guys, mean, but also deceptive and smart.
Crow_Spaceboy: This is a good point to mention that one of Liger’s finishers is the “Donkey Lariat.”
BloodySamoan: [laughs] Yeah.
Crow_Spaceboy: It’s good. It’s a good name. Five stars.
BloodySamoan: The other finish I use, “Cape Killer”, is a reference to the mechanized anti-superhero suits in “Civil War”. I just remember reading that and thinking “Ah, that’s a great name.” I always try to infuse geek references in anything I do, because it’s just who I am.
Crow_Spaceboy: The art that you did for the lariat is great, too. I really love this picture.
BloodySamoan: Ah! That was for the Super Show trading card game! That’s right. It’s a wrestling trading card game. I have trading cards of me: kid version of myself never thought that’d happen. AJ Styles and Ricochet are in there, too, before they were signed with WWE. And then there’s me. [laughs]
Crow_Spaceboy: That’s so great.
BloodySamoan: They wanted to put Liger in and I said, “I’m doing the art for me.” It worked out well. It’s a really good game, too. I recommend it to anyone that is a wrestling fan. I have a lot of fun playing it.
Crow_Spaceboy: What art are you working on right now? What’s the best place for people to see your art?
BloodySamoan: In terms of art I’m working on, I’ve got more Headlocked stuff. Got my “Breat Hart” story coming out in January, and I’m working on an exclusive print for the “All In” event next month. I just finished the Stone Cold Steve Austin story. You can see it all on my site or on Instagram.
Crow_Spaceboy: I’ve wanted to ask: Are you a fan of Tiger Mask at all?
BloodySamoan: Aw, hell yeah. You can tell by my mask design. Misawa is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. I love the anime, Tiger Mask W, as well. Tiger Mask and Jyushin Thunder Liger are huge favorites. Of course, Jyushin is where I came up with the “Liger” name. But, for the record, my all time favorite wrestler is The Great Muta.
Crow_Spaceboy: You must like the NJPW/Namco crossovers in Tekken 7. Maybe we’ll see a Tiger Mask rage art someday.
BloodySamoan: Give King the Tigerplex ’85? [laughs] When they were announcing the NJPW crossovers, I was so excited. I can give King NJPW shirts and color him like my mask. I love that in the Tekken series, you can tell the makers of the series are huge wrestling fans. Pretty much every character in Tekken has at least one wrestling hold.
Crow_Spaceboy: This is a good place to pivot, because I think a lot of the FGC’s first interaction with you will be the Evo 2018 stream. You had a real tough match with Japanese pro Batz. Walk me through your experience during that time. Have you gone back and seen it?
BloodySamoan: When I was playing, I thought I played pretty poorly. Watching it back now, I think I did okay — it was still early-ish in the morning and I felt like I was still warming up, but I did have a few matches prior to him that I won, which was cool, I guess. But, I still felt unprepared for him. Then I found I’d be on stream and I was like, “Agh, I’ve got all of New Zealand on my shoulders.” [laughs] I do have Hwoarang experience from NZ but Batz’s play is so different. And I love that about Tekken — it’s a very expressive game, you can be very creative and unique with every character. As an artist, I’ve always appreciated how free its system lets you be.
I played okay, it killed me inside that I dropped some combos. I hit the kip-up float then dropped the Powerbomb ender. I thought, “Ah, you idiot!” The second match went better because I was hitting the kick parry. That’s “The Great Muta” spot. Hitting that on stream made my tournament: Dragon Screw into Figure Four. I’m a flashy “highlight reel” sort of guy so anything I can do to be “out there” and surprising, I’ll go for it.
The above combos were made in January, and are still creative as hell months down the line.
Crow_Spaceboy: I love that you call it “The Great Muta” spot. Regardless of how you felt about it at the time, I thought you were impressive — you stood up to one of the world’s best, took a round and made some hype. You also showed something that I’m not sure is super well-known — and kind of dated yourself a bit. The commentators didn’t even know this: you kept trying to punish JFSR with B+1,2. That was -12 in Tekken 6, and is -10 now. I’m guessing you’ve been socking Hwoarang in the jaw for more than a few years, and it was habitual.
BloodySamoan: Yeah, I absolutely rely on legacy skills. [laughs] New stuff, particularly new characters, are my kryptonite. To be honest, I don’t keep up with frame data — I’m a very “feels by” player, so if they change something on me it, always catches me off guard.
Crow_Spaceboy: Still, legacy skills can carry you really far. You are ahead of people just picking up Tekken for the first time, more often than not.
BloodySamoan: Yeah. I went 4-2 and placed 193rd, and I won the side tournament and got one of those ZOWIE lag-free monitors. So regardless of what happened, I got a memento. Not bad considering I wasn’t originally going to go to Evo — I was going to the States for the “Headlocked” convention, and Evo happened to be two weeks later, so I stayed a bit. My expectations were exceeded, because I was mostly going to have fun and test myself.
Crow_Spaceboy: Do you think not having any sort of pressure or expectation helped you?
BloodySamoan: Yeah. I take everything in stride and just play my game, do my thing. It helps me focus on the important things, just working on each match as it comes.
Crow_Spaceboy: Switching gears a bit — you juggle so many disparate things. Art, wrestling, gaming. Do you have any advice for others trying to accomplish their dreams?
BloodySamoan: I manage to juggle it because I love everything I do. It’s not easy, I don’t have a schedule, but I just try to do a little bit of each every day, at least. If you love something you find the time to make it work. You have to find the time, then do it. In terms of a mantra? “Do the work, don’t be a dick.” That’s all you need to succeed in life.
Crow_Spaceboy: It’s good advice.
BloodySamoan: Maybe I should follow it. I showed my “King Moves in Real Life” video to Batz before our match and said “If I lose, I can do these moves to you in real life.” [laughs]
Crow_Spaceboy: [laughs] Sounds like Liger said that.
BloodySamoan: Psychological warfare, there.
BloodySamoan: Ultimately, I had a great time. Evo 2018 was great. I made a lot of friends, played great games, got to share my love of wrestling and Tekken 7. You know, I know the Bullet Club. I’m friends with Bad Luck Fale. We’re in a time where I’m surrounded by people at Evo with Bullet Club shirts and it’s just crazy.
Crow_Spaceboy: On that point… this is probably a flippant question: Kenny Omega’s played Tekken. You play Tekken. You’re both champions. Any chance you’ll throw down with him?
BloodySamoan: Kenny Omega… [laughs] So, two years ago when New Japan came down to NZ, I hooked him up with the local FGC to play Street Fighter V. I went and met him, and he was playing, I played with him, got my ass kicked because I don’t know that game. I asked him if he wanted to play some Tekken and he was like, “Nah, I don’t play that.”
Crow_Spaceboy: He played Tekken with Xavier Woods. There’s a storyline there. Sounds like you might need to beef.
BloodySamoan: I’ll catch up with them both next time. I’ll smash ’em. Teach them how to play King properly.
Crow_Spaceboy: One of my goals this interview was to avoid saying anything that would get myself Donkey Lariat’d from the other side of the world. But I can’t help myself, I have to ask: You think you’re the best Tekken player in the wrestling world right now?
BloodySamoan: [pauses, laughs] I would say… I’m up there? “Best Professional Wrestler King Player”? Yeah. I’ll take that crown. I’ve seen Xavier and Kenny play Tekken separately. As an aside, I want to play Lil Majin, just because of his energy and vibe. He gets it.
Maybe the collective FGC doesn’t know his name yet: BloodySamoan, Liger, Mike Mulipola, whatever you choose to call him. But we should, and I think we should both for his many individual talents and for the fact that he represents the passionate, hardworking, and creative qualities that make the FGC so great. He has seamlessly chased divergent passions and weaved them through our niche scene, making it a better and more interesting one in the process. Liger, bully he may be, proves that you can find the time to do what you want in life, no matter what.
