Category: Fighting Games

I recently grabbed a PlayStation 4, and the very first game I picked up to go along with it was Mortal Kombat X. Throughout my early forays into training mode, I noticed an interesting way to go variationless within the training options, but without any real use outside of practice I figured it wasn’t much of a story. Today, however, frequent tipster NightmareSteam provided us with a video that shows how players can forgo choosing a variation within the rest of the game’s modes.

This trick is made possible by Mortal Kombat X allowing competitors to hide their cursor when choosing a variation. For some reason, when blind picks are enabled, pressing the Settings button (Triangle on PlayStation 4, Y on Xbox One, or P on PC) and entering the match gives players the ability to play without a variation and everything that comes with them.

While the above video only shows this technique being used in a random match against the computer, I can personally confirm this works throughout all other modes, including online.

NetherRealm Studios’ Ed Boon previously noted that they were toying around with the idea of including a fourth, barebones variation, so it’s possible this is a holdover from development that’s only now come to light.

Of course, this isn’t of much use unless you want to handicap yourself or perhaps get down to the core basics of a character you plan to play with multiple variations, but it could definitely provide some laughs if busted out during your next session.

Source: NightmareSteam

Every year, the organizers behind the Evolution Championship Series help a member of the community achieve their dreams with a scholarship to the Tisch School of the Arts’ Game Center at New York University. Funded by proceeds collected from online subscriptions to the tournament’s live stream, this scholarship has been awarded to numerous students over the past three years, allowing them to study game design in the accredited program.

With Evo 2015 rapidly approaching, NYU Game Center has announced this year’s recipient, and it’s someone many of you are likely familiar with. skisonic (pictured above) has dedicated tons of his time to the fighting game community. While he now spends tournaments commentating live matches, he’s a previous Evo finalist who broke into the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom top eight in 2010.

“I’m excited to come to New York and be inspired by a place that is constantly in motion,” ski said of receiving the scholarship. “I hope to bring the hardcore, passionate spirit of competitive fighting gamers to the program, and I’m anxious to learn from people who may not even know how to throw a Hadouken but whose unique experiences might offer me a fresh perspective.”

This is the latest development in NYU Game Center’s recent collaborative history with the fighting game community. The school has played host to Spring Fighter tournaments since 2010 as well as insightful Seth Killian interviews with players like Daigo Umehara and Alex Valle.

“We’re excited to provide someone from the fighting game community an opportunity to develop their skills and express their talent as a game designer,” NYU Game Center director Frank Lantz explained. “This scholarship is a truly unique initiative to explore, discover and innovate in the world of competitive game design.”

We here at Shoryuken would like to congratulate Sutton for this remarkable award, and we can’t wait to see what he produces during his time in the game design program.

Source: NYU Game Center, image courtesy of Robert Paul

Fighters are regularly put on sale in ones or twos on the PlayStation Network, but the service’s latest round of discounts focus entirely on our preferred video game genre. Starting today, fans of these brawlers can save quite a bit of money on titles ranging from classics like Soulcalibur II and Street Fighter Alpha to relative newcomers Mortal Komat X and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, and everything in-between.

The full list of deals can be found below. They’ll likely only last a a week, so be sure to take advantage as soon as possible.

Source: PlayStation Network, tip via cinnamonpirate

Shortly after Sony’s announcement of their PlayStation 3 in 2013, Arc System Works’ Toshimichi Mori expressed interest in developing a brand new fighting game series to coincide with the platform’s release. This, he said, would follow the company’s tradition of keeping up with updated hardware, as Guilty Gear targeted Sega’s Dreamcast and BlazBlue launched on PlayStation 3. “Creating new things at the turning point of time is who Arc System Works is,” Mori said during an interview with Dengeki Online around that time, “so we would like to take it on.”

Nothing tangible has come from these statements (at least from a consumer viewpoint), but Arc System Works president Minoru Kidooka recently reignited the discussion while speaking with Famitsu. According to him, the studio has been toying with a few ideas but has yet to land on anything concrete. “We need to establish a new fighting game that follows Guilty Gear and BlazBlue,” Kidooka is quoted as saying by Siliconera.

Though some may count the Persona 4 Arena series as the final piece in the Arc System Works trinity, it would appear they have a different view of the Atlus-owned property.

At this point in time, it’s hard to ignore the legacy Guilty Gear and BlazBlue have left behind. With brand new installments of their own on the itinerary, one can only guess how Arc System Works plans to further expand their brand in the fighting game genre. Let’s hope they keep the alliteration intact.

Source: Famitsu via Hachima Kikou, Siliconera, NeoGAF

Tekken x Street Fighter has become something of a running joke in the fighting game community. After being announced alongside its companion Street Fighter x Tekken at San Diego Comic-Con 2010, the title went into a sort of hibernation before Bandai Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada confirmed in 2013 that it was still in development to quell cancelation rumors. Since then, we’ve received quick bursts of information from the producer regarding his team’s progress, and this year’s Comic-Con provided the perfect opportunity to once again poke at Harada concerning the project.

Famitsu had the opportunity to do just that during their time at the convention, to which Harada answered that Tekken x Street Fighter is “pretty far” into development at this point. “It might seem like we haven’t started on it at all, but the character lineup has been decided upon since a very long time ago,” the Tekken team lead continued, according to translations by Siliconera. “We’ve already finished the polygon models, moves, and systems.”

While it’s probably safe to assume Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima and Street Fighter’s Ryu will appear in the game due to their prominence in early promotional art, Harada did not divulge their decisions for the rest of the cast.

Harada also mentioned that he and his team are still struggling with the decision of when to release Tekken x Street Fighter with players likely to be stretched between Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V.

At this point in time, all we can do is sit back and wait. Tekken x Street Fighter is definitely a thing though, and it should be fun to speculate on how it will stand alongside Street Fighter x Tekken for another few months.

Source: Famitsu via Siliconera, IGN

Examu and Nitroplus’ new fighting game, Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel, will be coming to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan on December 10. When it does, it will have one additional character that wasn’t in the original arcade version.

Heart Ino, who hails from Examu’s Arcana Heart series, will be joining the cast of Nitroplus Blasterz as a downloadable character. Much like Senran Kagura’s Homura, she will be available via a download code packaged with first print copies of the game.

Additionally, Nitroplus Blasterz will have a special limited edition box that includes 3D crystal art, an original soundtrack CD, an art book, and a swimsuit product code. Meanwhile, pre-orders will come with “Marvelous Colors” for every character, and a wallpaper for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, and smartphones.

Source: Hachima Kikou via Gematsu