Category: Fighting Games

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ARMS gets an ongoing free demo on the Nintendo eShop

2018 has been an odd year for adding enticements to games late in their life cycle. Ubisoft released a training mode for For Honor a year after its release, and now Nintendo is putting out a free demo for ARMS on the Nintendo eShop.

This follows multiple “Global Testpunch” events that allowed players to try the game, but this is the first demo with ongoing availability. Considering Nintendo is almost certainly mobilizing their current resources for Super Smash Bros., this could easily be a subtle way to remind people of the game before Spring Man or Ribbon Girl suddenly get Smash reveals. If that’s not the case, well, this is still a great chance to try out this quirky, stretchy fighter for free!

Source: NintendoAmerica

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Assessing the nerfs to Android 16, Vegeta, and Adult Gohan with Maximilian’s Dragon Ball FighterZ patch breakdown

The latest Dragon Ball FighterZ patch has been live for a bit, and among some new content and modes, it includes some balance changes. Though the changes aren’t huge, they do affect some of the most dominating characters in the game: Android 16, Vegeta, and Adult Gohan. Maximilian says in his breakdown video that the patch rather aims to adjust the meta, rather than be a big balance pass.

Maximilian starts out with the changes to Android 16, who no longer gets a full knockdown from the infamous command grab. While the opponent is still grounded, they are able to roll in either direction, which doesn’t allow the ‘droid to do a cross-up anymore. It’s a small but pretty significant change. Also, his heavy attack doesn’t go through projectiles anymore. Adult Gohan’s Machine Gun Kick doesn’t have as much frame advantage on block, which means it’s not as strong of a blockstring as it used to be. Vegeta (SSGSS) hasn’t received really big changes, but scaling on some attacks has been adjusted, and Bandai Namco applied many bug fixes.

Get yourself acquainted with the full DBFZ patch notes on SRK, and check out Maximilian’s thoughts below.

Source: Maximilian Dood

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Exceed Assault expands with online Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax exhibitions

If you haven’t heard of Exceed Assault, you’ve been missing out on a series of excellent exhibitions. Up to this point, they have been centered around BlazBlue: Central Fiction, but that’s looking to change. Get ready for some focus on Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] as a new chapter of Exceed Assault unfolds.

On May 17th, LogicHole will showcase a special UNIST exhibition on Twitch. Each of the members listed in the poster will face each other in a FT5. The sets will be commentated by none other than HellaBrett and Tari, two very notable members of the UNIST community and knowledgeable players.

However, that’s not everything. For those who miss Persona 4 Arena, Exceed Assault will do an exhibition in Ultimax as well. That event will take place on May 24th on NYGamer’s Twitch channel.

In addition, the two admins of the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Discord server, Chickzama and Bloo, will fight it out in each game in a FT5.

These community-based exhibitions are a great way to show support to these games, so make sure to spread the word and tune in during the broadcasts.

Source: @Chickzama

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Registration is now open for the Street Fighter X Tekken 2013 side tournament at Evo 2018

While both the main and AnimEVO 2018 lineups are extremely stacked this year, there are still more community members looking to host additional side events for their titles of choice in Las Vegas this August.

Reigning Evo Champion and undeniable leader of the Street Fighter X Tekken community, Psychoblue, has announced that the game will “Cross The Line” for the 7th consecutive year at the fighting extravaganza with another side tournament. Thanks to the amenities of the new venue, the event will even be streamed live at twitch.tv/psychoblue9, which hasn’t been possible since Evo 2015. Avermedia LGPs will also be posted at setups to ensure unstreamed battles can still be recorded and shared with the community.

You can find more details and register yourself over at smash.gg. As of this writing, Japan’s Hazama, HomelessDragon and DBZfantomStrikR have already joined the fray. The festivities are scheduled for Saturday, August 4th.

Evo 2018 takes place August 3-5th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Let us know if you’ll be getting in on the crossover tag team action in the comments below.

Source: smash.gg

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SNK’s new NEO GEO Mini is both a miniature arcade cabinet and miniature console

Some time back, we reported on SNK’s plans to enter into the mini console market, following in the footsteps of Nintendo and Sega. Now, the company has revealed their entry into this segment: the NEO GEO Mini.

As with Nintendo’s offerings, as well as the upcoming Sega Mega Drive Mini, SNK’s NEO GEO Mini is a miniaturized version of their classic hardware. However, unlike the other two, the NEO GEO Mini doesn’t just copy the original’s look onto a miniaturized shell. Rather, SNK instead opted to miniaturize an entire arcade cabinet.

Specifically, the NEO GEO Mini copies the look of SNK’s Neo Candy Mini SC19 candy cabinet. While the mini console connects to a TV via HDMI and features two controllers, players can also opt to play via the built in 3.5 inch screen, and miniature arcade control panel.

The NEO GEO Mini will come in two versions. The one for the Japanese and Asian markets will feature colors based on the original Neo Candy Mini SC19. Meanwhile, the “international” version will instead use a more muted color palette, and slightly different mini arcade panel to bring it closer to the look of the original AES console.

As for the games, the NEO GEO Mini is set to launch with 40 classic titles. No word as of yet has been given on exactly what titles will be included, however the officially released photos hint at a number of classic fighting games from The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and Fatal Fury franchises, alongside other classics such as Metal Slug.

No release date as of yet has been given by SNK for the NEO GEO Mini. In the meantime, check out these promotional photos of the mini console.

Click to view slideshow.

Source: SNK via Siliconera

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FGC Philosophy interviews Combo Queen co-founder DaPurpleSharpie, talks Origins, FGC, Invitationals vs Locals

“There’s nothing stopping you from going out and running your own event tomorrow.”

If you’ve always wanted to do something for the FGC beyond just playing the game, then the guest on The Philocypher‘s FGC Philosophy latest episode could (and should) be a new source of inspiration to you. Meet Combo Queen DaPurpleSharpie.

A commentator, content creator, competitor, and co-founder of the women-empowering organization “Combo Queens“, DaPurpleSharpie has made it her intention to give back to the FGC and grow it in every way she can. Her message is one of growth and achievement for everyone that wants to play fighting games — but the energy here is applicable to far beyond games alone.

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Learn how to get in versus zoning in Pokkén Tournament DX

Pokkén Tournament DX‘s unique Field Phase is where a large part of the long-range game in this quirky Pokémon fighter takes place. Because of the nature of this 3rd person point of view, a lot of players have trouble getting in versus heavy zoning in the Field Phase because they aren’t utilizing its unique mobility.

That’s where Pokkén pro BadIntent comes in — as he lays out in his latest tutorial video, beating zoners with any character is simply a matter of knowing their options, and your own. Watch the video above to see just a few examples of how to negate Field Phase fireballs.

Source: BadIntent

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Isaac from the Binding of Isaac joins the ever-expanding roster of Blade Strangers

Keep the character announcements coming!

Nicalis, Inc. continues to impress with the wildly varied roster for their upcoming fighting game Blade Strangers with the addition of Isaac, from the adorably disturbing rogue-like, The Binding of Isaac. The publisher has been announcing characters with rapid fire pacing, with Gunvolt and Quote showcased just days apart.

As you can tell by Isaac’s tears, the guy’s seen some things, and he’s not afraid to let loose for victory. The Studio Saizensen-developed title is sure to house even more surprises once it releases for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC this summer.

Source: Nicalis

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BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle’s Blake, Platinum, Orie, and Kanji to be playable at various May events, with English voices

The Fates of BBTAG’s first four DLC characters intersect Stateside!

After making their initial publicly playable debuts in Osaka at KVOXTSB 2018 this past weekend, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle‘s first quartet of DLC characters, Team RWBY‘s Blake Belladonna, BlazBlue’s Platinum The Trinity, Under Night In-Birth’s Orie Ballardiae, and Persona 4 Arena’s Kanji Tatsumi (who make up Cross Character Pack 1) will be playable at a trio of events in May, complete with their English voices, so we will be able to hear the Fifth-Ranked Executor of Licht Kreis’s new voice actress for the very first time. The schedule of events is as follows:

  • Wednesday Night Fights – May 9th in in Santa Ana, California
  • Anime Central – May 18th-20th in Chicago, Illinois
  • Combo Breaker 2018 – May 25th-27th in St. Charles, Illinois.

In addition, today’s episode of Arc Live! will also be immenating from WNF at 5:00 PM PT (7:00 PM CT, 8:00 PM ET) at twitch.tv/arcsystemworksu. There will also be action going on at twitch.tv/leveluplive throughout the evening. You can see the announcement tweets below.

Finally, if you’re looking to get up to speed on the crossover title’s new mechanics for the currently-ongoing online beta, check out this fantastic system primer.

Source: ArcSystemWorksU (Twitter); levelupseries (Twitter)

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This Japanese BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle system primer video covers everything you need to know

The BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle beta is upon us; those who pre-order are able to play the game today. For some, it will be the first time they had a chance to play the tag crossover game, even though it has been available at certain GameStop stores and events. To that end, Curry Roo has offered an excellent system overview of the game.

Although it’s in Japanese, it’s still an excellent system primer that goes over all the general mechanics of the game. The overview begins with an explanation of movement. Note that pressing forward dashes automatically. We switch to the main buttons, which are an ABCD system. A and B attacks can autocombo, and C is the Crash Assault overhead strike. The D button tags the partner.

If you’re more curious about partner attacks, that’s the P button (R1 on controllers). Everyone has three different assist attacks, which can be done by combining P with either direction or none. BBTAG has a few system mechanics that utilized by pressing two buttons at once. Throw by pressing B+C, and A+D is a universal Dragon Punch move, which can be done in the air as well as in combos. Note that if the opponent punishes your DP, you won’t be able to use a partner assist to bust you out.

As for special moves, 236 or 214 with A and B cover most inputs in the game. Some characters have 22 inputs as well. Pressing C unleashes the EX version of the special move which costs one bar. Super moves are done similarly but with B+C inputs instead. By simply pressing P during a super of the main character, the next character will tag in and perform their Distortion Drive. There’s no traditional Bursting in the game, however, in certain situations, your partner can step in to save your character if you press P+D.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle pre-orders are live today.

Source: Curry Roo