Category: Fighting Games

While he’s moved on from the genre in recent years, Valhalla Game Studios’ Tomonobu Itagaki played a huge part in getting one of the longest-running fighting game franchises off the ground with the release of Dead or Alive in 1996. His outspoken nature has seen him take other studios to task, most notably former employer Tecmo Koei after parting on less than amicable terms.

Dead or Alive fan and frequent content contributor Emperor Cow recently had the opportunity to visit with Itagaki at his studio in Tokyo, Japan, and discussion quickly turned towards Dead or Alive, starting with their goals when developing the first installment.

“There are four main pillars that I concentrated on when designing Dead or Alive. On two ends of the spectrum you have Casual and Pro, and on the other ends you have Sex and Violence. The main goal was to find the perfect balance between all these four pillars. The game should not be too difficult in order for casuals and newcomers to enjoy it and it should not be too easy in order not to lose the pro players,” Itagaki explained. “It also should not be too violent in order not to scare off any of the sensitive players and it should not be too sexy in order not to turn it into an “Ero-game” (an erotic game). This is why I put a firewall on all four pillars, so that no one pillar overshadows the others and a perfect balance could be achieved.”

Itagaki would go on to describe what he sees as the downfall of the genre: becoming too technical for newcomers. In the case of Dead or Alive 5, he believes the difference between novices and those who have been playing the game for years is so large that, without help from the system itself to reinforce the idea that winning is possible early on, they won’t have much desire to keep going. “A game like that would never sell. This is why they thought they can overcome this by making the game more erotic and milk you loyal players all out of your money with erotic downloadable content,” he concluded. “It’s disgusting.”

For more of Cow’s talk with Itagaki, be sure to visit Orochinagi for the full interview.

Source: Orochinagi via NeoGAF

Hugo’s damage in Ultra Street Fighter IV isn’t exactly small potatoes. Through proper meter usage and relatively simple combos into his Ultra, he can make health bars vanish with the best of them. When he switches over to Omega Mode, though, things get a little out of hand.

To demonstrate just how crazy the Street Fighter III veteran can get when the gloves are off, cjbqulix has compiled a collection of Hugo combos and setups that will leave opponents either dead or close enough that a proper guess will guarantee a victory. The video also showcases a handful of unlisted changes that the grappler received that help keep things fresh as well as devastating.

If you enjoy this video, you’ve got a lot to look forward to in the future, as cjbqulix says that this is only the first of many similar reels to come.

Source: cjbqulix

Although folks in South Korea were just heading into late afternoon, Tekken Crash Returns wrapped up in the early hours of the morning here in the United States. Fortunately, those of you who missed the action can already catch up on the competition courtesy of replays released by eSports TV.

As the first high-level Tekken 7 tournament, the program featured a ton of great footage for the upcoming fighter courtesy of players like Knee, Saint, JDCR, CHANEL, and more. And while Shaheen failed to make an appearance, fellow newcomers Katarina and Claudio saw use in both the main event and a special pre-finals exhibition.

All of the festivities are included in the archives below, so be sure to give them some of your attention if you weren’t able to watch live. Full results can be found in our coverage hub.

Tekken 7 will pre-launch in Japanese arcades on February 18. An official release is planned for March.

Source: eSports TV

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’s Rosalina and Luma represent a very unique addition to the world of Smash. Unlike the Ice Climbers, where Nana imitates Popo’s actions (allowing for some very cool desync techniques), Rosalina controls Luma much like puppet characters in other fighting games would. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities in tournament play, but also comes with more necessary information to digest on the part of the competitors.

After taking a short hiatus, Smash and Grab have returned with another one of their great Smash breakdowns. In the video below, you’ll find a ton of knowledge on Rosalina and Luma, demonstrating how to best utilize their one-of-a-kind gameplay options. Check it out and see what you can pick up.

Source: Smash and Grab

UltraChen TV is back with yet another broadcast, and a whole new slate of topics to discuss. Tonight, UltraDavid and James Chen will be discussing a variety of topics, including Frosty Faustings VII, KAKUTOP League, Mortal Kombat X, Killer Instinct, Pokkén Tournament, and more.

The stream will be live in this article, but you can also visit Twitch to join the chat.

Watch live video from ultrachentv on www.twitch.tv

Source: UltraChen TV, featured image courtesy of Kara “Karaface” Leung

One thing that Ultra Street Fighter IV players may not know about Sakura is that players can plink her EX air Shunpukyaku. Doing so actually changes the trajectory of the move, which allows for openings a regular EX Shunpukyaku would not.

To demonstrate how this technique can be used in matches, Jay Rego sent in a tutorial video showing off a few useful applications. These range from new ways to go past fireballs to some interesting mixups from the neutral jump version.

Source: Jay Rego

When you’ve been cranking out quality Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 videos for as long as Marvelo has, it’s only reasonable that there would be some odds and ends that never quite saw release. If you’re not familiar with Marvelo’s past contributions to the game’s knowledge base, these “leftovers” might come off as less-than-useful, but as soon as the footage starts rolling, you’ll find that that couldn’t be further from the truth.

As this is a collection of various combos, raw tags, and other general tech gathered over a long period, you can expect to see a good amount of character representation. Zero, Dormammu, Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Frank West, and Dante all make the cut and team up with Marvelo’s signature Strider to bring this reel to life.

Check out the video below and let us know what you learned!

Source: Marvelo