Here’s your chance to build your own eight-game fantasy lineup of the games you personally think deserve to be on that list. (Of course, this is just for fun, and isn’t going to affect the actual plans for Evo 2018.) Make your own eight selections in the survey below!
Survey closes on Sunday, February 11th at midnight PT. If you are having trouble viewing the embedded survey pane below, try this link instead.
Did we miss your favorite game? Let us know in the comments! The Evo 2018 World Finals will run at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 3-5, 2018.
When we reported on Capcom’s focus on esports in the open letter from Capcom’s CEO, we were left only to speculate whether this focus would extend beyond Street Fighter V. We have now received our answer.
In a report from Compete — Kotaku’s esports section — a Capcom representative confirmed that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will not be part of this year’s Capcom Pro Tour. Said Capcom representative was also silent when pressed on whether there would be a second Battle for the Stones circuit. When you also consider that MvC:I also missed the cut for this year’s Evo, prospects are looking grim for developer support going forward.
The leaked Capcom esports presentation from last year initially raised expectations for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, promising that the game would join the Pro Tour alongside Street Fighter V. While the Marvel community certainly isn’t giving up, it looks like Capcom are all but abandoning MvC:I.
Expect more information on the 2018 Capcom Pro Tour — including a full tournament schedule — on February 19th.
Abigail is already the new Street Fighter thing people are shaking their heads at. To be fair, he makes himself a big target.
In this compilation of crazy moments in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, we see many instances of strange hitbox interactions with Abigail, among other characters. We also see some impressive plays using Alex, and many instances of Poongko doing amazing things — including a fantastic set full of parries from his Kolin.
What’s this? A new year is upon us? You know what that means, patrons of classic games: it’s time for more retro fighting game action from the mecca of the FGC, Japan’s Mikado Arcade. Street Fighter Carnival X has offically begun.
And if you don’t know what that means, then check this out:
Above is high-level gameplay from Fatal Fury Special, Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers Revenge, Samurai Shodown III, Breaker’s Revenge, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Mikado’s multi-game tournament series like SFC (and its tournament series later in the year, Super Street Fighter Carnival) is renowned for bringing hype gameplay from a wide variety of classic titles.
Enjoyed the action? Want to check out previous tournaments from Mikado Arcade? We covered SFC9 last year, too, and you can check that out here. You can follow the action of SFCX by subscribing to Mikado’s official YouTube channel. For the night owls in the US, you can even try to catch them when they livestream.
Tung Fu Rue — like many characters in The King of Fighters XIV — can deal a lot of damage, but falls on the lower end of the totem pole competitively. His low stature and short limbs make it really hard for him to push people around — areas where top tier characters like Kula and Robert excel.
However, in this guide, we see that with some finesse, you can augment Tung’s strengths to make up for these deficiencies. With certain moves, you can apply a significant amount of pressure with the little guy.
It isn’t a surprise to most people that Balrog was nerfed in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. When a nerf seems like an inevitable thing, though, dedicated players have to be worried that the character could end up getting killed altogether in tournament play. Just ask Season 1 Ryu players, for example.
Well, there’s few players as dedicated to pushing Balrog as SFV Pro Brian_F. He’s documented the Season 3 changes here in his latest video, while also giving them some context for Balrog’s future. Boxer players will certainly have to adjust to their new world, but as Brian F shows, not all of the news is doom and gloom.
Red Bull Esports has partnered with the Esports Game Arena in the Netherlands for a night of FGC action featuring Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Red Bull Strijders – Fight Club (“strijders” meaning “fighters”), will be running all day tomorrow, February 10, from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM CET — that’s 2:00 AM to 2:00 PM PT for us in North America. That’s a bit early for us to tune in, but it is a chance to see the high-level competition in Europe! Winners of each event will win a trip to Red Bull’s E-WKND event in Sweden in November.
More information can be found here (in Dutch, as the stream will also be). Check out the stream below!
It’s been a rollercoaster for Chun-Li players in Street Fighter V. After debuting strong in Season 1, the wide list of nerfs in Season 2 drove many away. Now those players have a reason to come back: Season 3 was fairly kind to the Queen of Street Fighter.
One of the most signifigent adjustments to Chun-Li was the addition of larger frame advantage off of her Air Lightning Legs on hit. VesperArcade‘s latest tutorial video demonstrates various methods for inputting this useful technique — and how to apply it in battle safely.
We’re nearing the end of the off-season of the Capcom Pro Tour, and the signings are ramping up. With multiple teams trying to find their way into the FGC, we can expect more signings in the next couple of weeks.
Now announcing their own recent acquisition is esports team CheckSix, who have signed Dexter “Tampa Bison” James to a contract. The Florida native — who wears his main in his tag — will now be representing them on the CPT. He was able to place 139th on the rankings last season with a limited schedule, and will likely improve with more travel time in 2018.
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is a mouthful. Commonly abridged as UNIST, this fairly niche anime fighter from French Bread — published by Arc System Works (Aksys Games in the West) — occupies a strange space in the fighting game realm. Though it has an intensely anime aesthetic, it’s not an air-dasher, and it places more emphasis on a sort of rock-paper-scissor fundamentals. At the outset, it shines with excellent sound, graphics, and feel of combat, and it hosts a fairly large cast of 20 characters now. While it’s overall easy to pick up — it has auto combos, and can be fun to play without delving in too deep — there’s enormous depth below the surface awaiting patient and dedicated gamers.
Late[st] lags about two years behind its arcade release, bringing additional characters and balance changes. We see modifications to series’ mainstays like Gordeau, a menacing scythe wielder; Waldstein, a grappler who fills the screen; Vatista, a zoner that attacks with beams, and others. Everyone can find a fit in the diverse cast. The flow of battle is still governed by a Grid at the center of the screen, which fills with blocks for both players. Whoever has more at certain times enters an empowered Vorpal state and accesses Chain Shift, a sort of “YRC” or “Rapid Cancel” in loose translation that cancels most actions, pauses the game to get a quick look, and gives meter back to the user. It’s crucial to pay attention to this tug of war, as well as to remember that the resource meter conserves between the rounds. Being unable to attack after recovering in the air also distinguishes this title from related ones, keeping the action more grounded. New to UNIST is a Cross Veil Off mechanic, which reminds me a bit of Gold Bursting in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. A fighter can extend their combo by releasing the rest of their energy to unleash multiple super attacks in a row.
While fans of the series will pick apart the nuanced balance changes between UNIST and its predecessor, UNIEL, the biggest difference between the two is the single-player content. The [Late]st edition packs a sprawling Tutorial mode, Mission mode (combo challenges), and an expansive story mode titled Chronicle. The Tutorial is a welcome addition, since it thoroughly explains the nuances of French Bread’s fighter.
Other than tune-ups for each member of the cast, four additions make their way to the roster. Mika is a small girl with big fists, while whip-wielder Phonon can dominate from long range. Most notably, Late[st] adds console originals Wagner and Enkidu. Both of them stand out in their own ways, but gel with the rest of the cast. Enkidu seems very beginner-friendly, as the martial artist has lots of rekkas — his special moves have easy follow-ups, and even his normal B and C attacks can be repeated up to three times in a row. Wagner resembles SoulCalibur’s Sophitia a bit with her short sword and shield, and her specials ignite the stage with quick, drill-like dashes. She can further enchant her sword or shield to strengthen moves. I found both fighters to be exciting choices that are flashy and fun to play, even if Enkidu is generally regarded as a weaker character.
Unfortunately, the netcode isn’t on par with BlazBlue: Central Fiction’s, so it will be a little tough (but doable) to be a netplay warrior. I’ve compared my connection with a friend with whom I played stable BBCF games; the UNIST lag with the same person amounted to about 4-6 frames, just a bit beyond a good threshold. However, I still had quite enjoyable games with someone in my city and a someone in an unknown location (a 3-bar). Network Mode also feels a bit barer than Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 or Dragon Ball FighterZ as it lacks the avatar lobby and unlockable goodies, it’s only plain menus. To be honest, though, it doesn’t detract from the experience very much. [Note these impressions are based on network conditions prior to the wide retail release in the West. – Editor]
Chances are though, if you’re looking for some content, you’ll spend some time in the new to Late[st] story mode. The Chronicle Mode is definitely worth rifling through if you’re a visual novel fan. The well-written chapters — which focus on specific characters — humorously clash between supernatural Night creatures with reminders of daily, modern life. Yuzuriha points out the inconvenience of laws prohibiting carrying around Japanese swords around civilian areas; shortly after she gets a smartphone for the first time with an app called “LINNE” for communication. We witness Byakuya’s traumatizing transformation from blissful, prosaic life and discover how his powers came to be. It’s a bit verbose, but overall, the language paints the action and the emotion through scenes that show how many of the characters in the series came to be who they are.
While it’s meaty, it can be picked apart in digestible, shorter chapters, which focus on telling the origin of the cast and how the Night creatures came to be, and how people discover their EXS powers (incidentally, the name of the main power resource). As a side note: there’s undeniably a large amount of text in the game, but sadly, the translation has quite a lot of misspellings and mistakes which can distract from enjoying the tale.
And speaking of EXS, you’re not alone when it comes to wading through the breadth of fighting game terminology. As some may have already heard, the Tutorial Mode is incredibly robust this time, covering not only tech specific to this game, but it also does an excellent job teaching methods applicable to most air-dashers (if not simply most fighting games in general). You’ll learn how to do an empty jump into mix-up, a reversal backdash, how to Dragon Punch out of pressure, and even learn some UNIST-specific option selects that the game is famous for. While some crafty players can use record functions to program an enemy dummy to practice situations in most fighting games, UNIST comes ready with an exercise for nearly every technique it presents. Even if the explanations are a little terse, this is practically a complete, interactive Wiki right in front of you. It may be tough to get newcomers to muster up the will to sit through so many segments, but it’s easier than ever before to get on par with such an in-depth fighting game.
There are some things holding back the English release of Under Night, however. January has been packed with some big fighting game releases, so it’s tough to see this rather niche title gaining much traction among them (or sustaining the attention of those who play multiple fighting games). Furthermore, many fans of this series probably already grabbed the Japanese-language version. It’s a shame, because I feel it’s really worth getting the localized UNIST for its robust Tutorial and lengthy Chronicle Mode. In a time when single-player content sometimes doesn’t make the cut, UNIST raises the bar for all fighting games when it comes to teaching its players how to master it.
It’s never been easier to get into this title, but it won’t succeed without a reasonably-sized community. UNIST features a memorable cast and intensely strategic elements that forge a unique title — even if at the outset it looks similar to other anime games. Although the market is getting crowded, we still enthusiastically recommend this title to the fighting game community at large. You may be surprised just how much you’ll like it; the game does require dedication, but it rewards you a lot for it.
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is available now on Amazon and PlayStation Network for $49.99 on PlayStation 4, 3, and Vita. Review copy and screenshots provided by Aksys Games.
