Category: Fighting Games

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PHASE SHIFT: Pokkén Tournament Trainer Tips — Bone Rush, block stun, and option selects

Welcome to Phase Shift!

The goal of “PHASE SHIFT: Pokkén Tournament Trainer Tips” is to introduce the FGC to Pokkén Tournament DX’s meta, and examine how various skills from other games can be applied to Nintendo’s experimental Pokémon fighter.

Today, through the use of Lucario’s “Bone Rush,“ we learn about block stun, buffering, and option selects. “Bone Rush” is input with 6A, and for many characters this is a primary combo ender or attacking option. Lucario’s, in particular, has a multitude of options afterwards — but we can exploit Pokkén’s system to reduce the complexity of this move.

For more PHASE SHIFT, be sure to subscribe to ShoryukenTube! And if you have any specific questions about Pokkén gameplay you’d like covered in a future video, let us know in the comments!

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Rising once again: “Rising Thunder: Community Edition” announced for January 2018

Rising Thunder returns — to be delivered into the hands of its own fanbase!

With Radiant Entertainment acquired by Riot Games in 2016, FGC community-driven concept fighter Rising Thunder had officially shut down, and was left to an uncertain future — if any. However, Rising Thunder was far from abandoned, and the game’s future has now indeed become clear!

Announced today on the Rising Thunder subreddit, Rising Thunder is returning to the community in a big way. Dubbed Rising Thunder: Community Edition, the team plans to polish up the title and open up its code for the fans to run with going forward. From the reddit announcement:

Hey folks. Super inspired by your efforts to bring back the game. We’d like to pitch in with a little help.

So here’s what we’re doing, all coming this January. We’re calling it “Rising Thunder: Community Edition.” Our intent here is to give the game back to you guys, the community, and let you run with it.

– Final game build: We’ve tinkered with the old final build of the game, adding offline, local play (!!!) along with some quality of life improvements. Local play will support keyboard vs. controller only, but it should be straightforward to hack in 1p controller support through external scripting. Just to be clear, this release is basically the same one you had in your hands when we turned off the servers in 2016. Please don’t expect new characters, systems, etc.

– Source code for an open-source version of the Rising Thunder server, so you can play matchmade games online. The original RT server is somewhat of a beast, segmented into a bunch of different services that aren’t particularly easy to deploy or maintain. So instead we’ve whipped up a first pass at a bare-bones server that will allow you to play online with rudimentary matchmaking and limited features. And we’re making it open source so that if you’re inclined you can tinker and improve it.

All of this is free, and will stay that way forever. In the meantime, our team has moved on to develop something new and we’ll share that with you when the time is right. Until then, Happy Holidays from the Rising Thunder team!

Stay locked on to Shoryuken and the Rising Thunder subreddit for more updates, and keep an eye out for Rising Thunder‘s return in January, 2018!

rising thunder thumbs up

Source: Rising Thunder (reddit)

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Brand new Supers, glimpses at the Story Mode and much more feature in this Dragon Ball FighterZ gameplay blowout

Last Friday, press from around the world got a chance to go hands-on with the latest version of Dragon Ball FighterZ. While we at Shoryuken may have missed out on going, many outlets were able to get direct capture footage of the game, showing off previously-unseen features like the game’s tutorial, its Training Mode, more gameplay of Goku Black, Hit, Beerus and much more. There is a lot to go through here and it’s in several different languages so you better be taking notes!

First off, we’ve got some direct capture footage from Gamespot, showing off Goku Black, Hit, Beerus and Gotenks. The first match takes place on the Outer Space stage, with the second match happening on Doomed Namek.

From Spain, Vandal.net shows us a little bit of everything — some match footage, Story Mode cutscenes, character trials, the lot.

Also from Spain, MeriStation gives us some more match footage, along with a breakdown of all the Supers for the most recent batch of characters — being Adult Gohan, Kid Buu, Hit, Beerus and Goku Black. The coolest thing in this video has to be Gohan’s Family Kamehameha, which sees the half-Saiyan teaming up with his little brother Goten and Goku for his Level 3 super.

To round off, Game Clips and Tips has some videos showing both Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s arcade mode, along with its online hub and some more of Story Mode. One thing you’ll notice in this is a shot of the final Dragon Ball FighterZ roster, which has a suspicious looking space open below Beerus’ character portrait. When you also consider that SSB Goku and Vegeta are missing — presumably because the demo units hadn’t finished Story Mode — it stands to reason that the space is left open for a possible third unlockable fighter. My bet is still on Android 21 being the final fighter, but it could be anyone.

Don’t forget about Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball FighterZ livestream later today! Expect loads more information and extensive character breakdowns coming from that stream.

Sources: Gamespot; Vandal.net; MeriStation; Game Clips and Tips

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Team NINJA’s announcement at NEC: The end of support for Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

While many people were hoping that Team NINJA’s teased announcement at the Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Battle Royal Grand Finals at Northeast Championship 18 would be for something new, it turned out to be anything but. Instead, Team NINJA simply reiterated what we’ve known for awhile: that the developer would be ending support for the game.

During the announcement, Team NINJA brand manager Yosuke Hayashi said goodbye to the game that they’ve worked so hard on for the past six or so years, while also thanking the community for their support. Indeed, despite the game’s age, Dead or Alive 5 Last Round still sees decent-sized tournament turnouts, with NEC 18 seeing 116 players registered — beating out games such as Injustice 2, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and Pokkén Tournament.

Hayashi also did state that the Dead or Alive team was still very active, and that they were looking forward to the future.

In addition to this, both Dead or Alive art director Yutaka Saito and game director Yohei Shimbori both also made statements about the game, and thanked the fans for their support.

You can check out the full transcript of their statements below.

Dead or Alive 5 farewell announcements

Yosuke Hayashi, Team Ninja Brand Manager

Hi, everyone, I’m Team Ninja’s brand manager, Yosuke Hayashi. Thank you for your continued support of Dead or Alive. It’s been five years since Dead or Alive 5 hit the market, and thanks to your undying love, the franchise has grown much bigger during this period. I’d also like to express my gratitude to Big E for all the tournaments you organized for our game over the years. Dead or Alive 5 has finally come to an end, but the Dead or Alive team is very active. Looking forward, I hope you’ll continue to support Dead or Alive. Thank you!

Yutaka Saito, Dead or Alive Art Director

To all of you who are participating in Battle Royal 2017, as well as organizers and staff, thank you very much for your support. I am Dead or Alive‘s art director Yutaka Saito. Five years is a long time, isn’t it? While we were constantly doing our best to improve the game, we were always watching your matches, whether they were joyful victories or heartbreaking defeats. I’m a player myself, so I get very emotional watching those. I take pride in the fact that we’ve been able to create such heartfelt games all these years. I sincerely hope that I get to create more inspiring games so that someday I can greet you like this once again. I look forward to your continued support and working with you again. Thank you very much! It’s been a great ride.

Yohei Shimbori, Game Director

Hi, I’m the game director Yohei Shimbori. To all Dead or Alive players, Big E, and the tournament staff, thank you very much! This is a bit personal, but I’ve always been very into fighting games, and when I found this job, that is when I was first introduced to Dead or Alive, and I’ve learned a great deal through my working experience. However, there was a time when the Dead or Alive series had been put on hold. That’s when I swore to myself that we will make Dead or Alive the best fighting game and that people around the world will play our game. That is an oath I made to myself. At last, Dead or Alive 5 has become a game worthy of tournaments such as this one. It’s been five years, yet you are still playing it, our tournaments get better each time, new champions emerge, and our community continues to expand. Also, the free-to-play version is doing well, and we created so much downloadable content that the sheer amount would be worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records. However, it is time to stop what we are doing for now and look into the future, which means we may not be around for some time… but we are very much looking forward to seeing you again someday. And I hope you will maintain your love for Dead or Alive and keep on fighting! Thank you so much for everything!

Source: Bifuteki via Gematsu

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The Dragon Ball FighterZ open beta runs from January 14-15, with pre-order customers getting access on January 13

The Dragon Ball FighterZ news just keeps on coming, as Bandai Namco have just announced the dates for the game’s open beta session. Strategically placed just before the launch of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, this beta is open to everyone from January 14th-15th.

For those who have pre-ordered Dragon Ball FighterZ, you can get into the beta that little bit earlier. Pre-order customers will gain access to the beta on January 13th, giving you a full day of lab time before everyone else joins in on the fun. At present, we don’t know how many characters will be present in the beta, or if you’ll be able to go into Training Mode to test stuff out, so await more news from Bandai Namco within the next few weeks.

Just to get you that little bit more excited, Bandai Namco have also released a version of the Jump Festa trailer with English subtitles. In case you were getting worried, Dragon Ball FighterZ will indeed have an English voice dub, courtesy of the Funimation cast.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe

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Nintendo drops trailer for ARMS Version 5, teases new fighter and stage, will release “within this year”

Nintendo’ steadily updated Switch fighter, ARMS , will be giving one last present to its fans before the year is up. The latest update ‘s trailer, Version 5.0, was just dropped onto Nintendo’s channel today:

The predominate tease of the trailer is ARMS newest character: a green-haired woman cackling manically as she teleports around the field. This (apparent) antagonist does not have a release date planned as of yet, but the update’s release is slated for 2017 — so look out for her within the next few weeks!

Source: NintendoEurope

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Check out this Fighting EX Layer introduction video from Ryan “Ketchup” Neal

Though famous commentary duo Ketchup and Mustard are primarily known as  NRS specialists, Ryan “Ketchup” Neal was a huge fan of the Street Fighter EX series growing up. This is a point he makes clear in his introduction to the beta of Arika’s latest project, Fighting EX Layer:

If you’ve wondered what the movement and mechanics of the latest beta are like and haven’t had the chance to try it yet (or are just interested in hearing an NRS player gush over run-chains!), you’ll want to check out the above video. Ketchup lays down the game’s mechanics, its ties to the EX series, and more in this informative breakdown.

Source: PNDK&M

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Street Fighter-inspired beer called “Zangief’s Bearhug” found in Michigan

Looking for a beer that’ll piledrive you? Well, if your tolerance has as much vitality as Zangief, you might want to pick up a few of these Russian-style imperial stouts the next time you’re out. Given the familiar likeness being sold its label, you’ll know it when you see it:

Zangiefs Bearhug 12

This is assuming you can find it, of course. Shared on reddit by user signalflow313, “Zangief’s Bearhug’ is a Russian Imperial Stout made by Short’s Brewing Company, a Michigan brewery. You can seek out this beer using the site’s beer locator, but your unlikely to find results if you’re outside the North-East.

Source: r/streetfighter

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Dissidia Final Fantasy NT open beta announced for Japan

At this weekend’s Jump Festa, Square Enix announced that they would be holding a series of open beta weekends for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT for PlayStation 4 owners in Japan.

The open beta for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is open to all players with a Japanese PSN account. More importantly, a PlayStation Plus account is not required. For those with Japanese PSN accounts interested in joining the beta, it’s set to take place from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM Japan Time on the following weekends.

  • December 23 and 24
  • December 30 and 31
  • January 6 and 7

Those who join the beta will have access to the Class Match, Rush Battle, Story, Customization, and Treasure modes.

As for the West, Square Enix has yet to say anything on whether or not they’ll have a beta outside of Japan.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT will launch on PlayStation 4 on January 11 in Japan and January 30 in North America and Europe.

Source: Square Enix

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Esports Arena present the Smash Masters League, with a special livestream on December 19th

A major part of not only SoCal’s, but the North American Super Smash Bros. scene, Esports Arena is looking to expanding their influence in 2018 with the Smash Masters League. While it is set to be a global competitive league for both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, we still don’t know a whole lot about how this circuit is going to work.

Luckily, the team over at Esports Arena are planning to host a live AMA on Twitch next Tuesday to answer questions about the Smash Masters League. If you’re itching to find out more about this potentially game-changing league, make sure to tune in on December 19th at 5pm PST, over on the ESA Smash Twitch channel.

For those looking to be a part of the Smash Masters League — whether it’s as a TO, a player or an influencer — register your interest over on its official website.

Source: Smash Masters League