Earlier today, arcade operators around Japan were informed that Capcom will be updating Ultra Street Fighter IV to ver.1.05. While the exact contents of this patch are unknown, it will be focused on fixing a number of bugs. No word has been released as to if it will arrive on home consoles.
Additionally, in mid-May, Ultra Street Fighter IV will become a NESiCAxLive compatible title. Until now, the title has made use of the NESiCA online services and card system, but it was not part of the actual network. This will allow it to be played at game centers that utilize TAITO’s digital distribution service.
While these are important updates to the arcade version of Capcom’s leading fighter, it’s still unclear how, if at all, this will affect other platforms, including the upcoming PlayStatio 4 port. Stay tuned for more details.
Over the weekend, competitors from across North America, Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States jumped online to throw down in ESL’s very first preseason cup for Mortal Kombat X. Over five hundred entrants would take part in the three separate tournaments, bringing together some of the best early players in the newly-released title.
North America in particular featured a ridiculous amount of talent, including Fatal 8 exhibition winner and eventual champion cR|Sonic Fox. Although it wasn’t broadcast officially, a number of participants captured their tournament matches. Two in particular, provided by Perfect Legend himself, showcase the former Evo champion’s late-stage sets against Kitana Prime, who would go on to take second place, and storied veteran REO.
If you’ve been fiending for competitive footage of Mortal Kombat X, this pair of videos is the perfect place to start, as all of the participants show great skill with their characters thanks to rigorous practice over the past week. Check them out and let us know what you think.
The importance of maintaining momentum in fighting games can’t be stressed enough. If you can keep the pressure high, all but the most seasoned opponents will be forced into making poor decisions due to a lack of time to take a step back and assess the situation. While important to every character in every game, there are some fighters who make a favorable momentum look good.
These characters often have high mobility, good setup and mix-up options, and an overall flashy style that makes them a joy to watch. In Ultra Street Fighter IV, Guy can definitely count himself among the characters that, once they get going, are quite difficult to stop.
In the latest installment of their Spotlight series, the folks at Olympic Gaming picked out TBR|Alumni, a Guy player who shows plenty of familiarity with controlling the flow of the match. Whether dealing with fireballs or just slamming out combos, this student of the Bushinryu shows their strength time and again against a handful of big names in the fighting game community.
You can also check out the video’s description for a brief text-based interview with Alumni to learn more.
Well known Mortal Kombat and Injustice: Gods Among Us player–not to mention two-time Evo finalist–Brant “Pig of the Hut” McCaskill kicked off a new podcast series last week to celebrate the launch of Mortal Kombat X. At the moment, McCaskill plans to make The Armory a bi-weekly production loaded with tournament news, interviews with top players, tips and tricks for how to get better, and plenty more.
The first questions that everyone has when something like this starts up is, why watch this podcast? What is it, exactly, that makes this specific series stand out from other videos of a similar nature? In an effort to preemptively answer these questions, McCaskill decided to step up The Armory’s production value, making it as professional as possible. Everything from the set to the information provided to the tone in which McCaskill delivers that information combines to create the same sort of feeling as SportsCenter or other similar programs.
In this week’s episode, McCaskill offers up a Twitter-based contact sheet filled with tournament organizers and important fighting game community members across North America to help players get involved in their local Mortal Kombat X scenes. As you might expect, this list includes folks from NorCal, SoCal, and Chicago–the home of Mortal Kombat–but also provides contacts for people in Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia, and more. If you’re looking to get involved locally, definitely check out this list.
McCaskill also spends some time talking to Slips about fundamentals, footsies, and mixups, focusing on topics important to improving that may not be quite so easily defined for new players. The video rounds out with a collection of tips for Quan Chi and Kenshi as well as some final tidbits of assorted information.
If you missed out on last week’s episode, you’ll find that here.
Like what you see? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
By now, you’ve almost certainly seen a few of Persona’s King of Fighters XIII combo videos. These exhibitions, which always push the limits of the characters involved, have been entertaining combo connoisseurs for quite some time, and they almost always include a couple of 100% damage strings to make sure the footage closes out with a bang.
Today, as a slight change of pace, the combo master casts aside practicality with a nearly six-minute showcase comprised entirely of touch of death combos. The video gives several characters the spotlight, including Ash, Raiden, Mr. Karate, and plenty more.
Expect to see excessive use of both the drive meter and super meter as HD Mode strings and Max Cancels fly to deliver a series of stylish death blows.
The folks behind the inaugural Combo Breaker recently shared another preview for the event, highlighting the major details of this upcoming tournament.
As the spiritual successor to Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament, it will feature a good number of games when it makes its debut this May, including Ultra Street Fighter IV and Killer Instinct, both of which will use Combo Breaker as the host for their respective major circuits: Capcom Pro Tour and Ultra Arcade’s Killer Instinct World Cup.
Additionally, these titles (along with Skullgirls Encore and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U) will see bonuses applied to their prize pools from various sources.
Combo Breaker will take place May 22-24 in Chicago, Illinois. More details can be found in the trailer below as well as through the official website.
Now that everyone has their first weekend of local tournaments and casual Mortal Kombat X gatherings under their belt, it’s time to kick off the second week of the game’s life with a robust collection of combos and technology for a wide array of characters.
Up first, we’ve got a collection of Jacqui Briggs combos from Hurtbox TV. These strings come from all of the fighter’s variants and show just how much damage she’s capable of dishing out in the right situations; 30% meterless is no big deal mid-screen, and, given the right circumstances, she can push out 50% in the corner using her High Tech variant.
And as always, her combos in the middle of the screen look quite stylish thanks to the amount of running that she has to do in order to keep the hits coming.
They also took Kung Jin to the lab for some combos for each of his variants. This video dedicates a lengthy section to the Shaolin archer’s Ancestral and Bowjutsu styles, as they seem to currently be the most combo heavy, but things like that are always subject to change throughout the life of the game.
The folks at Hurtbox TV didn’t stop there; they’ve actually been quite busy producing lengthy combo videos for the whole cast and show no signs of stopping before they’ve exhausted the entire roster. In addition to Jacqui and Kung Jin, they’ve also released videos for Sub-Zero and Reptile. As with all previous entries, these videos cover combos for each variant that these characters bring to the fight.
And as you might expect, the Reptile video highlights plenty of Basilisk options.
Up next, we’ve got two D’Vorah combos that are actually quite similar to one another. The first, from Shoryuken’s own M’Ellis, opens with the F22 string, which hits overhead, and proceeds to spend a single bar to dish out 45% damage in the corner.
The second, from MrOrchazm, trades the fighter’s F22 string for a jump-in attack opener and manages to squeeze an extra six percent out of this situation for a total of 51% damage. Both of these combos do take advantage of the corner to net their high damage output, but the use of only a single bar in each situation speaks highly of the fighter’s ability to crank out damage and still maintain some meter for other situations outside of combos–or, you know, doing a second 50% combo to close out the round.
Nico Montano, who has previously shared some beautiful Goro videos since Mortal Kombat X’s launch, has another collection of combos for the Shokan today. Many of the combos in this video are meterless, so players can get the hang of how to deal damage without reliance on building bar beforehand. The first third of the video also offers combos that work across all variants, so every Goro player can learn something important from checking out this footage.
We’ve seen a surprisingly low amount of technology coming out of Kung Lao so far. Razer’s Carl “Perfect Legend” White gave a great showing with the Shaolin monk at the pre-release Fatal 8 Tournament, but things have remained rather calm on the bladed hat front since then.
Kamikaze651 is looking to change that with this quick collection of combos for the fighter’s Buzzsaw variant, which includes options that manage to make their way just over the 50% mark toward the end of the video.
To wrap things up, we’ve got a few more character breakdowns from SupermanSajam. Today, the tutorials focus on Raiden, D’Vorah, and Mileena. As with previous breakdowns, Sajam covers the characters’ strengths, their best buttons, how to go about playing them, and what sort of things players can expect from these fighters at this point in the game.
Have you found something brutal in Mortal Kombat X that you can’t wait to share? Drop us a line and let us know; your video could be featured in our next roundup!
Mortal Kombat X recently received a rather substantial update, which included the first round of balance changes for the new title as well as early data for downloadable characters. The Steam version, however, has received numerous other patches to correct ongoing issues with its stability.
According to High Voltage Software (who handled the game’s PC port), these updates were meant to address some of the various crashes players have been encountering. While the original announcement didn’t give away any details on what exactly was fixed, the game’s Steam page has seen a couple of posts regarding their work.
Should you still be experiencing any problems, High Voltage Software has asked you contact them through Facebook.
With Blazblue: Chronophantasma EXTEND right around the corner, resident combo video creator SuperKawaiiDesu (SKD) has decided to put out one more video featuring his main, Izayoi.
As this will be his last demonstration of her current incarnation, SKD has gone above and beyond to truly showcase the full extent of the character. Not only does he throw up some mind-boggling combos, but he also includes some of the dirtiest uses of her Trans-Am super we’ve ever come across.
Be sure to check out the other videos SKD has made and contributed to over on Jourdal’s YouTube channel, as well as the content hosted on his own channel, if you’re interested in more content.
With Blazblue: Chronophantasma EXTEND right around the corner, resident combo video creator SuperKawaiiDesu (SKD) has decided to put out one more video featuring his main, Izayoi.
As this will be his last demonstration of her current incarnation, SKD has gone above and beyond to truly showcase the full extent of the character. Not only does he throw up some mind-boggling combos, but he also includes some of the dirtiest uses of her Trans-Am super we’ve ever come across.
Be sure to check out the other videos SKD has made and contributed to over on Jourdal’s YouTube channel, as well as the content hosted on his own channel, if you’re interested in more content.
