Category: Fighting Games

Earlier this morning, Super Arcade owner Mike Watson made the very sudden announcement that this week will constitute their final days at their current location. While not leaving the town of Walnut, California altogether, they will be leaving behind a venue that has housed them throughout the four years of Watson has been a part of the operation and many more before that.

As one of the last remaining arcades in the United States, Super Arcade stands as a final testament to the game centers that nurtured our scene during its infancy, making it an important piece of the fighting game community both in Southern California and across North America. Add to that the recent conclusion of a major remodeling project that was funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign, and it’s easy to see why folks were left with a ton of questions.

We recently caught up with Watson to discuss their decision to move, what brought it about in the first place, where he sees the arcade going in the coming days, and, most importantly, what’s going to happen with that new toilet.

Shoryuken: First off, what prompted the move?

Mike Watson: The main thing that prompted the move was being forced into signing a long-term lease. I was very fortunate to sign a month-to-month lease when I first took over two years ago, but since we remodeled I’m guessing the landlord figured he could “hold us hostage” in a sense and alter our agreement.

SRK: Where will you be setting up shop next?

MW: The new Super Arcade will be showing up again in the City of Walnut and very near our current location. This is due to business licensing and just the fact that keeping our location between Los Angeles and Orange County would continue to make sense.

SRK: How long have you known that Super Arcade’s location needed to change?

MW: I honestly wanted to keep the arcade in the same location for a few reasons aside from the obvious hassles of moving and nostalgia. The lease here is very high and the landlord was not willing to reduce our rent at all. I am positive that the surrounding stores have benefited greatly from all our foot traffic and never once complained, yet the landlord still wouldn’t budge, so we were left at a standoff.

As far as it needing a change…I think from a financial standpoint it probably needed a change a long time ago.

SRK: You just finished a huge remodeling effort with help from the community. How much of the refurbished equipment will be transferred to the new venue?

MW: All the equipment can and definitely will be moved. Does it suck that I wasted so much time and effort overhauling the current spot? Of course, but in the long run this is obviously for the better for myself and hopefully for the community. We will be moving the new toilet and amenities from the restroom, so not all is lost!

SRK: Will there be changes to the weekly events you currently hold?

MW: We will be keeping the same schedule for our new location. In addition, we will also be trying to schedule things for Mondays and Tuesdays.

SRK: What are you looking for in a new location?

MW: We have a few options currently and a decision needs to be made soon. The main goal in the new location is to provide enough space for everyone and also have ample parking for all our customers. One issue that we are currently running into though is that we run events till 4am on weekdays and that is frowned upon by some locations I have looked at, so those places are obviously out of the question.

SRK: The arcade business is tough as it is, so do you see this harming the future of Super Arcade?

MW: I actually see this as an improvement, and with the lower cost of rent we will be able to have the flexibility to expand and create a greater venue that will benefit everyone.

SRK: Anything else you’d like to relay to community members about this development?

In closing, I want to make a few statements. Although we did spend money remodeling our current location, it wasn’t all for nothing. Granted, we are not going to be able to bring the new paint job or flooring with us, but the new location will be fully renovated already and not out of our budget. We will also have a chance to pretty much start fresh and not have any issues, such as power outages and faulty wiring, which does hinder us at our current location.

I can’t make it any more clear, and I do see a bunch of negative comments already in regards to our moving, but we are not closing! We are moving to save money on rent and also because I do not want to sign a new long-term lease with the current location (which charges over $6000 per month).

If people have any questions, feel free to come chat with me this week at the arcade. Come out and have some fun for our last week at this current location! We are running things as usual, including:

• Wednesday, December 17 – Wednesday Night Fizz Zights (USFIV, TTT2)
• Thursday, December 18 – The Run Bizzzack (UMvC3, KI, MvC2)
• Friday, December 19 – Friday Night Console Casuals
• Saturday, December 20 – Super Smash Weekends (SSB4 Wii U)
• Sunday, December 21 – Super Smash Sundays (SSBM)

Thank you all and see you soon!

Super Arcade is currently located at 1211 N. Grand Avenue in Walnut, California. We will be sure to relay their new location as soon as they settle in.

Upon bringing her into Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Arc System Works toned down some of the execution barriers that existed for playing I-No at a higher level in previous games. That said, she still remains a rather technical character who requires some time and dedication to get good with.

Naotolololol recently put together a comprehensive, hour-long tutorial video for the rocking witch. The guide below covers most of the basics that players will need to play I-No, and includes helpful information on her normals, hit-confirms, and combos.

Source: Naotolololol

Indo Imran recently added M. Bison, a third charge character, to their growing list of Red Focus combo tutorial videos for Ultra Street Fighter IV. The combos featured in the video below are mostly built around the dictator’s ability to cancel his Scissor Kick to keep combos going.

Though it sounds like that would be rather limiting, Imran proves just the opposite to be true, as Bison has a bunch of options both leading up to and out of this classic special move.

As with any Red Focus combo video, there are options that could make their way into any match as well as ones that should be used only if styling of the highest degree is necessary to seal a particularly triumphant victory–which is a long way of saying that sometimes damage scaling seriously kicks in.

Imran has also incorporated some interesting green screen effects to allow Bison to fight in iconic stages from classic Street Fighter titles as well as in front of his own face from the title’s big screen 90s adaptation.

If you enjoyed this style of video, Imran previously produced two others that show off the Red Focus potential of Blanka and Chun-Li, which you can check out by following their respective links.

Source: Indo Imran

The rage mechanic in Super Smash Bros. 4 isn’t a secret. Everyone who has gone so far as to watch streams of the game have likely heard it brought up from time to time in justification of an unusual kill percentage or some other in-game oddity. But while everyone knows it exists, no one really seems to know the specifics of exactly how it works.

With this in mind, Smash and Grab set out to determine the difference that rage can make when it comes to netting kills. The duo did something similar before on the 3DS version, but it seems that the rage mechanic doesn’t work in training mode for some reason or another. This resulted in them thinking the mechanic had little or no effect on the game, but once they set up some in-match tests, what they found was pretty alarming. So alarming, in fact, that they compared the mechanic to X-Factor in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

It seems that the mechanic is in place from zero to eighty percent, but doesn’t become fully noticeable without side-by-side comparisons until after that point. Once you hit 100% and above, the knockback that your moves cause will allow kills at percentages so low that they border on being ridiculous.

For example, Fox’s up smash, which the duo shows to always kill another Fox at right around 120%, was able to do the same at 100% when the space animal performing the Smash was himself at 150% damage. Marth’s tip forward smash had even crazier results and was able to knock out Lucina at a shocking 36%.

Once players have figured out rage-based kill percentages on their characters of choice, this mechanic stands to change the way that the game is played. Could this mean an uprising in tankier characters who can handle being at high percentages longer than the speedier members of the cast? Only time will tell.

Source: Smash and Grab