Akuma is selectable in online Super Turbo Ranked matches in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

Expect to see the original Raging Demon appearing in your Ranked matches — or just use his power yourself…

Early copies of Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection have found their way out into the wild, and since the online servers are already open for those that have access to the title, something that many players have wondered about has now been confirmed: in online Ranked for Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma — the game’s hidden boss character, outright banned from tournament play — is indeed selectable.

You need to use the classic arcade code to unlock him — which is a bit tricky, but hardly much of a deterrent against using a character pretty much universally recognized as too broken for competitive play. Many Super Turbo enthusiasts will argue — with merit — that this will seriously damage the online balance for this title. Will Capcom take notice and make changes after launch? If he’s unlockable in this build so close to launch, odds are the developers don’t see much of an issue with Super Turbo’s Demon raging around online.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection launches tomorrow, May 29th!

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

Source: dWo|Singho (Twitter)

VesperArcade breaks down Cody’s changes as shown in his reveal trailer for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition

A closer look at what we can see so far of Cody’s “unique” political platform.

Cody’s new Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition incarnation has been revealed, and is coming to SFVAE on June 26th. As short as a reveal trailer is, it can tell us a lot about what to expect from a new character’s gameplay — and VesperArcade wastes no time jumping in to analyze what we’ve been shown of Cody’s new and returning abilities.

He comments that in the trailer, Cody’s overall animation appears slightly improved over what we’ve seen from prior Season 3 fighters, fitting for a hard-hitting street brawler (Sakura and Falke have both come under criticism for floaty, “soft” move animations). Zonk Knuckle and Ruffian Kick are still here, but no more Criminal Upper (outside of his “Criminal Punisher” Critical Art). He talks about how his V-Triggers look interesting to use, points out how his new target combo draws from his Final Fight moveset (as well as looking very useful), and more in the video below.

If you like VesperArcade’s Street Fighter content, why not head to his YouTube channel and subscribe?

Source: VesperArcade

The Tekken World Tour Global Finals will take place on December 1 and 2, 2018

Though we’ve known that the Tekken World Tour‘s Global Finals would be taking place in Amsterdam later this year, for the longest time we haven’t had a specific date. Well, we now finally know when it’ll take place — December 1 and 2, 2018.

The announcement was made by non other than Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada (alongside translator Michael Murray) during the finals for Tekken 7 at Combo Breaker 2018. The two-day affair will take place on December 1 and 2, and will also include a last chance qualifier.

In addition to this, however, Harada and Murray also teased the fans a bit — stating that while they didn’t have anything else to announce, they still had things that they were “hiding”, and to look forward to news from them in the near future.

Source: Combo Breaker [stream]

Get the lowdown on Cody’s new mayoral moveset in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition

Bringing knives and pipes to a fist fight — this is one mayor who fights dirty.

Hot on the heels of his reveal trailer, Capcom has now shared details of Cody’s moveset in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition over on Capcom-Unity. While the concept of an ex-convict becoming a mayor sounds like an American nightmare, Cody’s unique background means allows him to bring with him an interesting — if dirty — bag of tricks.

That said, getting elected into office did mean that one of his dirty tricks is no longer with us. Cody seems to have quit his hobby of throwing rocks at people (maybe he has a couple of young bucks in city hall do that for him). Instead, Cody can now use his new “Tornado Sweep” special to kick up a gust of wind that acts as a projectile. Aside from this, however, he still retains his “Zonk Knuckle” and “Ruffian Kick” special moves.

One old move that he does bring back — all the way from Final Fight — is his “Double Kick” V-Skill. Veterans should remember this as Cody’s Mega Crash from the Final Fight games, which was also turned into a special move, also called “Mega Crash”, in Ultra Street Fighter IV’s Omega Mode.

The original Final Fight version.

The move itself hits on both sides of Cody, making it an effective anti-air, even against cross ups, and even a combo ender.

As for Cody’s V-Triggers, these bring back a couple of weapons he used in previous games. V-Trigger I, “Sidearm”, pulls out his knife. As in previous games, this extends the range of his normals, while also making them safer on block. Also, he can once again throw his knife, this time by pressing both hard punch and hard kick buttons at the same time. Unlike before, he no longer has to pick his knife back up, he can just pull another one out of his pocket. In fact, the only way for Cody lose his knife is for his V-Trigger meter to end, and even then he still has to either throw it, or hit an opponent with it.

Another new thing he gains with his knife is the new “Rapid Fire” special move. We’ve already seen this in the trailer, with Cody rapidly slashing at his opponent with his knife.

Cody’s second V-Trigger is “Dirty Coach”. Here, he brings out the pipe last seen in his second Ultra Combo in Street Fighter IV, and more commonly picked up from the ground in Final Fight. With the pipe, the range on his fierce punch is greatly extended.

In addition to this, he can also use it as a baseball bat by pressing hard punch and hard kick again to activate “Gentle Swing”, or it’s anti-air version “Gentle Upper Swing”. Both of  these can be combined another move he gains in V-Trigger II, “Bean Ball”, which finally sees him throwing a rock. By timing either swing right, he can make the rock land in different positions, including up in the air (and back down on the opponent’s head), or just smashing straight through his opponent. The catch for all of this is that Cody loses access to his “Tornado Sweep” special. This means he’ll now be dependent on his rocks for hitting people from afar.

Finally, Cody’s Critical Art is his “Criminal Punisher”. The move is basically a really big version of his old “Criminal Upper” special move, with it now generating a much, much bigger tornado.

Cody will be available for purchase on June 26. However, for players looking to try him out before that, Capcom will be bringing a build of the game that includes him as a playable character to E3.

sfv ae cody costumes

Source: Capcom-Unity

Cody — the new Mayor of Metro City — steps into Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition on June 26

Cody busts outta jail once again — and takes Hagger’s job!

As promised via a series of teases over the weekend, the closing of Street Fighter V top 8 at Combo Breaker 2018 saw the reveal of the official Cody gameplay trailer for Arcade Edition, giving us our first good look at the next Season 3 DLC fighter. In between some live-action atmosphere setting, you can see both familiar and unfamiliar moves from the returning fan-favorite — including how his trademark weapons return in the form of V-Triggers.

Cody comes dressed for success in his new role as Mayor, launching with four alternate outfits — include two “Nostalgia” costumes, the second based on his classic Final Fight origins. While the Battle costume will be included in the Season 3 Character Pass, expect to be “taxed” a bit (for the good of Metro City, certainly) to fight with the premium Nostalgia or Final Fight outfits.

Expect Cody to join the Street Fighter V roster on June 26th!

sfv ae cody costumes

And: don’t you think Mayor Cody’s live-action incarnation looks a bit familiar…?

Sources: Street Fighter; Kenny Omega (Twitter)

Control the Duel Phase with BadIntent’s Pokkén Tournament DX footsie primer

Space control is ultimately one of the most important parts of any fighting game, and that includes Pokkén Tournament DX. As Pokkén Pro BadIntent explains in his latest video, it doesn’t matter how big your opponents combos are if they can never hit you:

Though Pokkén may do things a little differently thanks to the inclusion of Pokkén’s guard button, the classic elements of 2D footsies are still there in Pokkén’s Duel Phase. If you’ve been struggling to get out of mix-ups or force your opponent to open up, check out BadIntent’s introduction to Pokkén’s complex spacing game, and get ready to level up!

Source: BadIntent

Tekken 7 collaboration “Project Rainbow” shows off high damage and execution for Hwoarang, Leo, and Eliza

Famed member of the Tekken combo group KYSG, Guc11, recently teamed up with YouTuber A A JOB to push the boundaries of what’s possible in Tekken 7‘s combo system. The results are the creative and clever conversions below, dubbed “Project Rainbow”:

Fans of Hwoarang, Leo, and Eliza are in for a treat — as are fans of the insanity that can be pulled off in Tekken’s open-ended juggle system. There aren’t too many places you’ll get to see cross-under anti-bear juggles, 85% juggles off of Leo B+1+4, and back-turned floor breaks in the same place.

Source: A A JOB

SikShot Gaming breaks down Weiss’s toolkit for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle

It might be painful having to wait for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle to come out, particularly now that more characters are appearing in builds around the country. But those with pre-order demo access can still explore the cast, and that includes RWBY‘s Weiss.

Dragon Ball FighterZ content creator sikshot gaming is turning his attention over to BBTAG in his latest breakdown of Weiss, which covers her decent footsies and glyph-setup game-plan. If you’re missing the demo and want the scoop on this icy swordswoman, check out the video above for some cool tips and tricks.

Source: sikshot gaming

Quasimodo the Watcher leaps into the cast of Omen of Sorrow

Soedesco and AOne Games have just revealed a new character trailer for Omen of Sorrow, featuring Quasimodo the Watcher.

Quasimodo borrows from a bit from his namesake, the protagonist of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. However, AOne has added their own twist in the form of a unique bag of tricks. To hear AOne Games describe him:

Quasimodo is bound to guard the “book of tears” with his deadly tricks. His hooks, wall jumps, and stage modifying powers will severely restrain his opponent’s options during combat.

As everyone tries to get a hold of the powerful artifact, Quasimodo won’t allow any entity, nor good or evil, to fulfill their desire for power. His promise to watch over the book is personal, and it was entrusted to him by the only person that cared or loved him.

For more on Quasimodo, check out the trailer below.

Omen of Sorrow is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 sometime in 2018.

Source: Soedesco

Solange steps into the limelight in latest Blade Strangers trailer

She who wields the sacred blade…

Barring any unexpected announcements, Nicalis has dropped what is likely the final character trailer for Blade Strangers. This new trailer focuses on Solange, the lead character from Code of Princess EX.

Despite her trailer being the last one out, Solange is actually the character we’ve seen the most of, since she’s been in the game’s promotional material from the start. As she does in the game she hails from, Solange wields the sacred blade “DeLuxcalibur”, using it to cut down her foes.

Blade Strangers launches on PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC sometime this summer.

Source: Nicalis