Category: Fighting Games

Concurrent console and PC releases aren’t common in the fighting genre. Even in the last year, PC players were forced to wait two months after the console release of Ultra Street Fighter IV (patch version) before getting their hands on it themselves. And beyond that, there are a slew of other popular titles that remain exclusive to either Xbox or PlayStation, even outside of the PC market.

This is a sad reality, as the more ways that we have to play these games, the bigger the community stands to grow as a whole. It’s just easier to not have to go out and buy every console on the market to have access to all titles within a single genre. But for the time being, we can at least be pleased with that fact that Mortal Kombat X will be hitting both Xbox One and PlayStation 4, as well as PC at the same time, which is definitely a step in the right direction.

With all of this in mind, and with Mortal Kombat X’s release today, we’d like to know which platform you’ll be using when you take to the Dead Woods. Below, we’ve provided a poll where you can select your answer. If you’ve not yet pre-ordered a copy of the game, go ahead and check off the version that you plan on playing so we can all see what kind of a spread to expect once this title takes off.

The latest set of Ultra Street Fighter IV combos from freeno0b covers a wide array of cast members and manages to provide strings that could potentially work their way into a match as well as some that serve little purpose beyond simply being something that exists within the game. For example, Cody fitting ten light kicks into a single combo scales the damage to the point of uselessness, but it’s still interesting to see unfold.

On the other end of the spectrum, freeno0b’s offerings for Sakura and Chun-Li–two characters that, by now, are almost required in a multi-character combo video–bring enough damage to make up the difference.

If you enjoy seeing things that you’ll likely not be seeing anywhere else, you’re sure to enjoy this video.

Source: freeno0b

As with other major video game releases, Mortal Kombat X began arriving in folks’ hands days ago thanks to local mom and pop stores disregarding official launches. With that comes the opportunity to stream the game for players who have yet to secure a copy for themselves, but traditionally developers have put a hold on early broadcasts for various reasons.

Fortunately, it appears as if NetherRealm Studios isn’t one of those developers. According to a tweet recently sent out by Twitch’s support team, fans who have been lucky enough to snag Mortal Kombat X before it’s scheduled to land on store shelves are free to broadcast their gameplay for others to enjoy. This has led to a number of notable community members to head online and show off their early findings, a quick list of which you’ll find below.

• EG|Justin Wong
• Avoiding the Puddle
• Twin Galaxies (feat. Ed Boon and RZR|Perfect Legend)
• fLoE
• L.I. Joe
• Level Up Your Game

A complete roundup can be found by following this link. If you haven’t had the opportunity to grab Mortal Kombat X early, now is the perfect chance to see what folks are finding ahead of its release tomorrow.

Source: Twitch Support

During the recently concluded 2015 Game Developers Conference, Arc System Works’ technical artist Junya Christopher Motomura held a talk on how they developed the game’s unique cel-shaded art style.

For those interested in what they covered, the panel can now be watched online over at the GDC Vault. The talk itself covers a variety of topics, ranging from why they chose to implement the art style to the technical aspects of putting it to use.

The team considered their work on BlazBlue to be the best thing they could do with traditional, sprite-based animation. When moving back to Guilty Gear, they decided to try to find a way to top it. During that time, it just so happened that Motomura was experimenting with cel-shading  for another project that was eventually canceled.

Implementing the art style, though, was not as simple as writing a new shader. As Motomura explains, they didn’t simply let the math handle this aspect of the art. Rather, the artists had to make sure that every shadow cast on the models fit their vision, which meant that they eschewed things like dynamic shadows in favor of simply hard baking static shadows on each model

For more on this, head on over to the GDC Vault to watch the talk.

Source: GDC Vault

On Saturday, NetherRealm Studios teamed up with the folks at ESL and Xbox to present the first official Mortal Kombat X tournament. The event featured a selection of eight high-level competitors, who faced off in a single-elimination bracket comprised of first-to-five sets.

If you didn’t catch the tournament live, or if you just want to have a nice place to steal some tech once the game releases tomorrow, ESL has uploaded the tournament in its entirety for your viewing pleasure.

The tournament had a wide array of character representation, including Kung Lao, Quan Chi, Raiden, Scorpion, Jax, and Erron Black. The only cast member fielded by two players was Kung Jin, who saw use from Ryan “FA|Prodigal Son” Hart and Christian “KiT|Forever King” Quiles.

Also interesting is that, once selected, all contenders stuck to their guns as far as their character’s fighting variation was concerned, with the exception of Ryan “Ketchup” Neal and Malik “MIT” Terry, who saw success with all three of Scorpion’s different fighting styles. One particularly noteworthy match saw the latter struggle against Razer’s Carl “Perfect Legend” White as Ninjutsu Scorpion, initially going down two matches against the Evo champ. Once at this disadvantage, MIT switched to Inferno and ended up taking the set, speaking volumes about the potential for matchups to change entirely based on a variation switch and promising for a healthy metagame.

Below, we’ve embedded all three finals matches, but you can follow this link to watch the full tournament playlist. For results and a full match log, be sure to head over to our coverage of the event.

Source: ESL

Concept videos for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 are always exciting, especially when such videos are devoid of characters like Doctor Doom and Vergil. In the video below, pat728 has given us just that as Nova and Arthur team up to throw down.

One of the main strengths of this pairing is the fact that Arthur’s dagger assist leaves opponents in so much blockstun that Nova has free reign to run his high/low mixups–he’s even able to go so far as to attempt two overheads on the same assist if he so pleases. This duo also offers up plenty of situations where Nova will be left with frame advantage in the case of a block, or with the ability to follow a hit with a combo of his choosing.

Additionally, this team has access to some particularly nasty incoming mixups as well as ways to hit-confirm into easy crumples in the event that you want to tag in a third member of the party, who could very well be a top-tier contender, to finish the plate.

Of course, a video like this wouldn’t be complete without some exciting combos, which pat728 has included in bulk, so be sure to check it out below and let us know what you think.

Source: pat728

Success in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U ties closely to a player’s ability to efficiently move around the stage. Not only does proper mobility allow players to get where they want to be exactly when they want to be there, but techniques like fast falling and perfect pivoting offer tiny recovery and spacing advantages over those who are stuck in the world without them.

Today, EOE released a tutorial video for Peach’s ability to float cancel fast fall. When added to Peach’s arsenal, this maneuver allows the princess spacing and approach options that she didn’t have before, including the ability to re-grab thrown turnips, emulate platform cancels, and a whole lot more.

Source: EOE