Ryu may have been left behind by Street Fighter V‘s meta, but that hasn’t stopped the truly dedicated from advancing his game-plan. pdcsky is one of (if not the) most active content creators for Ryu technology, and presented here is his latest exploration in the Ryu vs. Akuma match-up.
He covers Ryu’s punishes and optimal options versus Akuma’s main arsenal…
Akuma’s dive kick at various ranges…
…and Akuma’s various Demon Flip options.
If you’ve ever been unsure how to respond to Akuma’s pressure or options, this is the perfect series for you to study.
Every year at Evo, you can count of the legendary Capcom vs. SNK 2 player Ryo “D44BAS” Yoshida to host a tournament for his favorite game. Now, with Evo actually coming to his home country, it’s no surprise that he’s doing the same for Evo Japan!
Over on Facebook, BAS has announced that he will be holding a Capcom vs. SNK 2 side tournament at Evo Japan in 2018. The side tournament will take place on Saturday, January 27 — day 2 of the event, at Ikebuburo Sunshine City.
Details on things such as registration, system, streams, and possible prizes have yet to be revealed. BAS says that he will make an update regarding these at a later date. Stay locked on to Shoryuken for more on this and other news related to Evo Japan.
What does it take to become the best Super Smash Bros. Melee player in the world? For Team Alliance’s Adam “Armada” Lindgren, it was not just confidence, dedication, perseverance, and experience that got him to the top of the Melee mountain. As he mentions in a clip from The Big House 4: if Armada doesn’t get first place, it’s not good enough for him.
In the latest video by theScore esports, Armada goes over his competitive roots in the Super Smash Bros. series, and the surprisingly tough obstacles he had to overcome to get to where’s he’s at now. He talks about his first taste of competition in Super Smash Bros. 64 and Melee in Europe, his original main character before playing Peach, his first time traveling and competing in the United States, the brief retirement period, and eventual return to dominance since Apex and Evolution 2013. If you ever wanted to know more about Armada, check out the video below.
PandaXGaming has just announced that their “Ultra Fight Night: Battle in the Pandagon” exhibition series will be making its grand return this January at Kumite In Tennessee 2018, with a pair of blockbuster, superhero-filled, matchups in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Injustice 2.
First up, the feature fight of the evening will see Battle for the Stones Champion FORT|Cloud805 take on Echo Fox|Sonic Fox in a runback from the Red Bull Proving Grounds. Except this time, it will be in a first-to-ten affair, as voted on by fans in a recent Twitter poll.
Both players have looked extremely solid since the game’s release, with Cloud recently gaining control of the MvC:I Universe and the Infinity Gauntlet by winning Battle for the Stones, taking out the likes of KaneBlueRiver, RISE|Richard Nguyen, Splyce|RyanLV and EG|NYChris G in two separate encounters.
Meanwhile, Sonic Fox has also proven that he’s no slouch either, winning CEOtaku, coming in second at Red Bull Battle Grounds — where he scored a 3-0 victory over Cloud to reset the bracket before falling in the end, leaving their current record of tournament games at a dead even 6-6 split. He has also been a dominating force at Next Level Battle Circuit, regularly defeating names such as Panda Global’s Coach Steve and RayRay, Method’s Flux and even besting Filipino Champ in two FT10s.
With the recent balance update nerfing both members of Zero May Cry heavily, along with Fox adding Venom, Black Widow — and possibly Gamora — to his cast of characters, it will interesting to see the adjustments both warriors have made since their last encounter — which could serve to decide who the true King of MAHVEL really is at this moment. IFC Yipes will also be on hand for play-by-play commentary.
The second match on tap will see top Catwoman and Starfire player Noble|Semiij battle America’s best Batman, Circa|Forever King on the battleground of Injustice 2. Though the two have met on the online warzone of War of the Gods, they have yet to really face one another in an offline setting for this game. To further promote the event, Panda conducted an interview with Forever King about his upcoming match, which you can see below along with the announcement tweets.
It all goes down at Kumite in Tennessee 2018, which runs January 5 – 7th, at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin, Tennessee. You can register online, before December 29th, at smash.gg/kit18, and book hotel reservations at www.kitrevival.com/hotel. Give us your picks for these battles in the comments below.
While a lot of fun has been had on the consumer side with Fighting EX Layer, ARIKA has been taking this test equally as seriously as all the lab monsters have, stating in a series of tweets that they have compiled data on over 200,000 matches online.
Seeing some of the infinites being performed, they admit to underestimating the players, and have begun patching out those combos. They have also asked for players to continue to find and post infinites for them to patch out.
As such, they will be taking the beta down temporarily for maintenance at 3:00 PM JST on December 15th (10:00 PM PT, tonight) in order to institute a patch to crack down on infinites. They will then announce via Twitter and Facebook when the beta returns.
To all users taking part in the Beta test. 12/14/2017 19:05(JST) β版に参加していただいている皆様へ。2017/12/14 19:05(JST)
We are very grateful for all that we were able to learn thanks to everyone's participation. Yesterday, there were more than 200,000 matches played and we were able gather useful data about the connection status.
As for the damage values, we first thought to leave in the loop combos because they would be rare and fun; but looking at actual combo and damage data, we were able to discover that a large number of players are successfully performing these combos.
Continuing their excellent Tekken 7 Essentials series, That Blasted Salami is covering the fundamentals behind one of Tekken 7‘s most difficult characters to play: the adopted Mishima, Lee Chaolan.
Lee’s strengths lie in his wall carry, evasive poking, and some of the best counter-hit and keep-out tools in Tekken. His hurdles — complexity, weak punishment versus push-out, and difficultly opening up opponents — can be mitigated with hard work and patience. You can start your journey to obtain both with this excellent rundown of Lee’s move-list and game-plan.
A classic arcade stick returns to fight once again!
HORI’s Fighting Edge sticks are already well-known in the community, and much loved for their clean, classy design. The last available versions for the prior console generation still fetch a high price through third-party sellers. But now: the Fighting Edge is back for PlayStation 4 — and it looks better than ever.
Interesting note: on the current market, we’re quite accustomed to seeing a fightstick with built-in compatibility with both the last-gen and current-gen consoles, as well as PC; new sticks for PS4 typically include a PS3 setting. This stick however breaks the pattern, being designated for PlayStation 4 only.
It only takes a quick glance to see how striking the simplistic design aesthetic of the prior Fighting Edges has been carried forward and updated for the new generation. The black plastic frames shining brushed aluminum and chromed edges — combined with the etched logos, it is a very, very pretty fightstick.
Note that, like the immediate predecessor the RAP.N, the pushbuttons are once again in the NOIR layout, not the more-common Vewlix style.
Components: like HORI’s other recent offerings, this stick packs in the Hayabusa lever and low-profile short-throw Hayabusa pushbuttons. I’ve covered these components multiple times before in prior reviews of other HORI sticks, and my opinion remains the same: I find the Hayabusa lever workable but a little loose for my taste, while I really like the short travel and matte surfacing on the Hayabusa buttons. These buttons are standard-sized and the joystick bracket is accommodating for replacement of other parts from other manufacturers, if you want to rock the Fighting Edge case with customized parts. And regarding customization — like the RAP series, this stick is easy to get into and mess around with as you feel inclined.
Much like the RAP.N, the top panel bolts don’t allow effective access to the interior — even less so, in this model. To get in, you need to remove the bottom panel(s).
In terms of performance, there is no discernible difference in responsiveness in-game between this stick and the other recent HORI models. Its size and weight make it comfortable for lap-based play, and it has two large rubber pads on the base to keep it from sliding around. The control panel is on the right side of the case, tucked under the top panel.
Also included: standard switching between digital input or one of the analog sticks. The ASSIGN function works like previous HORI fightsticks.
This stick has abandoned the turbo function — expendable for our genre, generally. You can still reassign buttons as desired. A new addition (for HORI) is the tournament mode switch, which cuts inputs from the PS button, and the OPTIONS and SHARE buttons. While I loved the RAP.N’s start button cover, this is a much more practical option — if a bit less fun. This version of the Fighting Edge also includes a headset jack, like other recent HORI models.
This stick is pretty big. That works to its advantage for vigorous fighting game play, though it’ll take up a lot of backpack space if you want to take it to your weekly. It will fit in Splitframe’s carrier bags, and the Qanba Aegis too, if you’ve got one of these on hand. The “handle” grooves make the fairly hefty stick easy to grab and go.
There is one glaring flaw to the Fighting Edge’s build: the bolts that hold down the metal top panel are only half-threaded, almost certainly to ensure that they cannot be over-tightened, to prevent the plastic parts of the case from being damaged. This protects the case from overzealous modders, but prevents the bolts from holding the top panel completely flush to the base, allowing it to slide around nearly 1 mm in all directions; this might not sound like much — until you really get into the game and notice the metal plate and bolts rattling around from the force of your inputs. The movement isn’t as bad as the plastic top sheet on the Mad Catz TE2 could be, but it will annoy some players — and frankly makes the Fighting Edge feel a bit lower-quality than it is. DIY solutions include adding washers to the bolts to fill the extra space, or using double-sided tape between the top plate and the plastic case. Still: this is an unfortunate flaw in an otherwise gorgeous fightstick.
For those in the market for a sleek, stylish, and comfortable arcade stick, you won’t go wrong with HORI’s new Fighting Edge — as long as that you don’t mind that slight looseness of the top panel, or are willing to make the mods to address it. It runs a little higher in price than the RAP family: that brushed metal elegance will run you $199.99 USD. It has just officially become available for purchase today; look for it at HORI’s website, or at Arcade Shock.
Pros:
Eye-grabbing, stylish visual design.
Comfortable size and weight.
Reliable and responsive Hayabusa components.
Includes a tournament-lock switch.
Cons:
Bolts holding down metal top panel don’t hold it flush, allowing it to shift position and rattle.
Not back-compatible with the PlayStation 3 console.
As it enters the next stage of its Fig campaign, Earth Romancer‘s sole developer Thomas “BlankMauser” Luvan has released a short interview, talking about his goals with Earth Romancer. With it taking inspiration from multiple genres — not just from other fighting games — Luvan is hoping that Earth Romancer will be a true evolution of the platform fighter, rather than just it iterating on Super Smash Bros. Melee or Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Based on the complexity of its systems, Earth Romancer is clearly aimed to please the hardcore competitive crowd. While other fighting games are pursuing accessibility with mixed results, Luvan is aiming to provide a huge creative sandbox that players can go wild experimenting in. It should still have the “pick up and play” feel that Smash has, while also providing that mechanical depth for dedicated players to immerse themselves in. The ultimate goal of Earth Romancer is “helping people understand the joy of playing a complex fighter.”
While some may have been turned off by the initial two character designs, not all of Earth Romancer‘s cast is made up of anthropomorphized animals. The full game will feature solar-powered cyborgs, water valkyries, rabbit time lords and even a space pirate boxing champion — so there’s something for everyone. When you also consider each character has two movesets thanks to Earth Romancer‘s Red and Blueshift system, platform fighter fans have got plenty to sink their teeth into, should Earth Romancer be funded successfully.
If you wish to hear the whole developer interview, check out the video below. Along with Luvan explaining more about the game (and showing off some never before seen characters), it has brief interviews with GRAPHT’s Gllty and famed Melee commentator prog about Earth Romancer‘s potential.
Hot on the heels of the most recent batch of character trailers, Square Enix has released even more of them for Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. While the previous batch focused on the heroes from the earliest installments, this recent batch is more about those from the height of the series’ popularity, in the mid-nineties.
The trailers below give us a look at Final Fantasy V‘s Bartz Klauser (Butz in Japan), Final FantasyVI‘s Terra Branford (Tina in Japan), Final Fantasy VII‘s Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy VIII‘s Squall Leonhart, and Final Fantasy IX‘s Zidane Tribal. As with the previous batch, each shows off a bit of the characters’ story before delving into action sequences to show off their gameplay.
Check these character trailers out below:
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT arrives on PlayStation 4 on January 11th in Japan, and January 30th in North America and Europe.
Here’s another batch of tech from the Fighting EX Layer beta!
Expanding on the Kara Skullo Dream found by NerdJosh in the last roundup, bea べあ shows off its synergy with his chain series and Shinobi Gougi.
Skullomania needs meter for his kara ‘”grab” though. Darun, as youhousan found out, is just fine using his command grab.
youhousan also has some nice Darun combos to show off. This is the first time I’ve seen someone’s air throw bounce off the wall, though it certainly looked like a glitch more then anything.
Quise B has a nice combo off of Gouga (HCF+K) for Garuda. Considering the combo after the super fireball hits, I wonder if this can be taken even further with dash-canceled normals?
This was inevitable: here’s This One 6uy‘s unblockable setup into guaranteed Skulloball.
It’s unlikely this dash link will remain, considering the infinite its a part of, but this combo from Tipsy Ruben uses the exploit in a flashy way.
ARIKA really likes the idea of a Raging Demon, with two of the demo characters being built around the powerful super throw. Thorasskicker has a great setup for Shirase that comes directly from a chain combo.
A character we haven’t seen a lot of tech from comparatively is Kairi. I know he’s disappointing to some, considering the creative ideas Kairi had in the past, such as his disappearing fireball and own Raging Demon. But don’t sleep on this incarnation either: here’s some combos from mariotaz to show why!
Y. Xiao has some very clever cross-up tatsu setups with Kairi.
And last but not least, be glad that this game dosen’t have stun. Because if it did, imagine what infinite Gougi Allen could do to you with this combo from Pigi86.
