This past Sunday, Body Count Fighting just finished the third entry of their title-defense series, BCF3! BCF3 hosted both exhibition matches and title matches in Street Fighter V, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Tekken 7, and Injustice 2. If you missed any of the action, every match is now available on BCF’s YouTube page!
The exhibition matches were:
Street Fighter V
Low Tier God vs. Nick Tanella
Smug vs. Marn
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Angelic vs. Joey D
Coach Steve vs. Dual Kevin
Tekken 7
Weapon X vs. Joey Fury
Injustice 2
Krayzie vs. Nubcakes
And the title matches, including brand new titles for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Tekken 7:
Earlier this month, we reported that digital pre-orders of the recently-released Spider-Man: Homecoming film on the PlayStation Store or Xbox Live Marketplace (before October 29th) would provide Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite players with a free bonus: Spider-Man’s Wave 1 premium DLC costume, based off of the “Superior Spider-Man” comic book storyline where Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker’s body.
Adam AJ Moore stumbled upon an Imugr post showcasing the costume on the character select screen, along with its three alternate colors that can be unlocked by beating Arcade Mode or playing matches online.
We can see that color 2 is a male version of Spider-Gwen, an alternate version of Gwen Stacy from Earth-65, who was bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter. His color 3 is “Superior Venom,” paying homage to Peter’s look when wearing the symbiote after first discovering it (which will color-coordinate nicely with the returning Venom, once he arrives as part of the 2017 Character Pass!). His final color is the Iron Spider, a second tribute to an alternate look from Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which pays homage to a special suit designed after the Iron Man armor, received from Tony Stark during the first Civil War event before reappearing in Amazing Spider-Man #429 in March 2009.
For those who don’t wish to purchase Homecoming digitally, this costume will eventually be sold individually for the price of $3.99. PlayStation 4 users will also gain an exclusive Homecoming theme as well as avatars of Spider-Man and The Vulture, though. You can view all four pictures of the colors below:
While China, Taiwan, and Mexico are considered the hotbeds of The King of Fighters action — with the reigning The King of Fighters XIV top 3 from Evo 2017 hailing from each of these nations — it’s worth remembering that Japan still has some solid competitors within the title. Remember the fact that the reigning world champion for the title is Sanwa’s M’, of Japan.
The Japanese KOF community has recently started a league — similar in style to Topanga — for the game, and it features some of Japan’s best players. This playlist contains high-level The King of Fighters XIV from the likes of M’, KojiKOG, and Score, all vying for the top spot.
With the first DLC character of Fighter Pack 2 — Black Manta — releasing earlier this month, PND|Ketchup has put together a “Getting Started” guide to Injustice 2‘s latest villain.
After going over the properties of some of his more notable strings, Ketchup moves on to Manta’s specials. His Manta Ray becomes a safe full-screen beam when meter-burned, that also provides Manta with massive chip damage opportunities. The regular version is also +2 on hit, making it a fine mid-range poking tool. Shark Attack is a lunging charge attack — similar to Sektor’s Cyber Charge in Mortal Kombat XL — though it can also be done on the ground, and serves as Manta’s wake-up attack. Torpedo Cannon serves as both a combo extension and short-range zoning tool, with limited tracking capabilities. Rising Tide is a teleport punch, also similar to Sektor’s, allowing him another way to extend juggles along with having a way around those pesky zoners. Lastly, his Harpoon allows Manta to reposition his prey, since it can be used on both the ground and in the air, allowing him to reel in enemies that prefer to fight at long-range, and can also be meter-burned for additional damage.
Manta’s Trait is the ability to float with his suit’s jetpack, giving him aerial pressure comparable to Zatanna in Injustice: Gods Among Us or Imposter Shinnok in MKXL. Manta can also utilize float cancel pressure with the stance change button. However, these techniques require a good amount of execution, something generally downplayed in NetherRealm Studios titles, so spend some time in the lab tuning up your suit. You can catch the full video, with even more tips from Ketchup, below.
Think you and your friends can compete with the best Street Fighter players in the world? If so (and if your group can also get to/is already in Europe), energy drink manufacturer and esports sponsor Red Bull has announced a new 3v3 tournament called “The Pit.”
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Street Fighter series, this 32-team open registration tournament will run October 21st and 22nd at Bootshaus in Cologne, Germany. Team synergy will be particularly important at this event, as each player will be character-locked throughout the tournament, and each team member must have a different character from the rest of their team.
If you’re wondering how this tournament is being spread across two days, here’s Red Bull’s format:
Day One: The 32 teams will be divided into 8 round-robin groups. The top 2 teams from each group will advance to Day Two.
Day Two: 16-team single elimination tournament.
The 3v3 event is a bit of a change of pace for Red Bull. The Pit will now give everyone the opportunity to compete with the stars of the scene!
Martin “Marn” Phan has always been an amazingly entertaining figure within the fighting game community. From his championship in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at Evo 2010 to his antics in front of the camera — including on ELEAGUE — he has always been someone the people cheer for.
He was recently in Toronto to play in the Northern Arena Knockout event. While his day was cut short with two straight losses, we sat took the opportunity to sit down to talk about what the future holds for Marn.
Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: You had a rough day today. Let’s go back through your matches really quickly. How did you feel about your opening round match with Imstilldadaddy?
Martin “Marn” Phan: I was actually really confident going into that one. He didn’t play like I was anticipating. He didn’t Flash Kick out of my mix-ups like I thought he would. Like I would start a mix-up and then block, and he wouldn’t Flash Kick. He kind of got into my head and I went, “Well, there goes everything.” So I lost to that. I wasn’t really mad about the loss. He played well.
Missing Person: Do you feel like it was an adaptation on his end, knowing what you were expecting?
Marn: I don’t really think he did. I think for lack of a better term, he just completely outplayed my thought process.
Missing Person: Let’s move on to the subject of the day, your match with Smug…
Marn: Yeah, I hate him.
Missing Person: [laughs] How did you feel about that match?
Marn: He always beats me at every tournament and in every exhibition we play. And you know, he’s just not smart. He plays Balrog.
Missing Person: How do you feel about the Northern Arena Knockout event?
Marn: It’s already gone very smoothly. They’ve already reached top 8 and it’s 9:00. They said it would end at 11:30. It’s actually surprising when a tournament says they’re going to start at a specific time and end at a specific time and it actually happens. That never happens.
They’re also very nice, and took care of us here. I haven’t had one complaint, and the one small thing I found was that the green room was too hot for us to play casuals in, and they didn’t even hesitate to turn on the air conditioning.
Missing Person: You grew up in the era of community-run events, and we’re now starting to see more events with corporate sponsorship. Do you feel like this helps to magnify the foundation that the community built?
Marn: It’s nice. The corporate run stuff is more professionally, and sometimes they tell me to tone it down, and that’s kind of not cool. But it’s better this way. It helps the scene grow with the exposure it gives to the games. I hope more of these come along. Lately it’s been a little here, a little there, and I hope it just gets more frequent.
Missing Person: You’ve always been known to go ham in front of cameras. Even at ELEAGUE we saw some of your flair. Do you feel like there’s still a place for that as the FGC moves toward the esports realm?
Marn: I think so. Sometimes you have to show your personality. We’re not robots. We’re not Japanese players. We’ve got to be real.
Missing Person: Have you played any of the Canadian players since you’ve been here?
Marn: I played Drae “Yomi” Games, the Laura player. He beat me. I don’t think he really bodied me though, it was really close. It was casuals. They’re really good. They beat all of our players here. They kind of destroyed us the first round, but we ultimately came back and destroyed them.
Martin “Marn” Phan playing Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite against Kenneth “K-Brad” Bradley before Northern Arena Knockout.
Missing Person: Focusing on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, you’ve always been a solid Vs. games player. What are your thoughts on the game?
Marn: It’s probably the most fun game I’ve played in a very long time. There’s not been a game where I’ve felt like I could sit down and play 100 games and be fine. Street Fighter V in my opinion is not a bad game, it’s just a very stressful game. That’s what I don’t like about it. If I play 20 or 30 games of it, I can’t do any more. It just hurts my brain. I’m not saying thinking too much is bad, but there’s so many frustrating moments to it. Even in Infinite, there are frustrating moments. But it’s very fun to play. It’s very fun to get creative.
Everything about the game is fun to me. Everything you think you can do in this game, you can eventually get it to work. It’s so nice to be so creative with your combos. People keep saying that the easy combos do the same damage, but it’s never been about that for me. It’s always been about being stylish and execution heavy. I can do that in this game. In SFV I cannot express my play style as much as I can in Infinite.
Missing Person: Are you drawing any shades of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom into this game?
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.
It has everything you want in the game, except for the art. Some people just need to learn to look past that. They want to hate on this game for no reason. But if you’re having fun playing the game, does the art really matter?
Missing Person: So moving forward, are you going to be focusing on Infinite more?
Marn: I will only be focusing on Infinite until Season 3 comes out. That’s why I haven’t been travelling as much since I have given up on the CPT. But I will be going to all of the Battle of the Stones tournaments.
Missing Person: Your team is coming up really well. You’re setting yourself up for a run in Infinite, Smug is doing really well, and MenaRD has been a rising star of late. What’s your thoughts on this?
Marn: You know, at the beginning of Season 2, in my head I knew I wasn’t going to do well this season. It didn’t feel like a game for me. So I knew Rise was going to be mad if I tell them this. But if I hand them two great players who will do great and make Capcom Cup, they can’t be mad at me. So I gave them those players, and said, “I don’t want to travel anymore. You have two great CPT players. Just let me rock.”
Missing Person: So Marn is the harbinger of all the damage they’ve been doing?
Marn: Yeah, because I told them I want to focus on Marvel. I was going to give this game my 100% focus, so it would’ve been a waste of money to send me out for Street Fighter V, because my heart wasn’t there.
Missing Person: Are there any shout-outs you want to give?
Marn: Shout-outs to Rise and Kareem, the owner of the team. Shout-outs to the fans, I don’t know how many of them are still around. I’ll make it work once Infinite goes full throttle.
If you found Rami and Woolie’s guidance helpful last time when they discussed Tekken 7 beginner mistakes on Tales from the Loser’s Bracket, Rami will be on hand today to provide some live Tekken 7 instruction via gutsygeek on Twitch. The stream will run at 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT today. Tune in to the stream to get some answers to your burning Tekken 7 beginner questions!
We’re back with another tech roundup of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. While this one focuses on a few characters specifically, there is plenty of tech for everyone to devour. Perhaps you’ll have to face some of this in a tournament, and have to know exactly what your options are against it. Let’s begin.
First, we start with this amazing primer on Jedah, starting with bread and butter combos, including some that combine his synergy with Haggar and Nemesis:
With these combos, you’ll find that his Scythe Ball is his best combo ender. The reason why: it opens up mix-up potential. While this video primarily shows what he can do with Nemesis, Ultron, and Thanos, there’s sure to be more nasty setups with various members of the cast.
We also see some of what he can do with his various movement options, including his fly, as well as his specials and supers. Do note that his backdash is not an 8-way dash, so this does limit his movement options as opposed to some of the other cast.
Next, we see an odd couple in Arthur and Haggar. These two have some nasty mix-ups, as the next two videos show. Arthur allows Haggar to set up some very ambiguous mix-ups, including one where the same move will either catch someone in an air grab, cross up, fake cross-up, or stay in front.
He also has some mixups with his fire bottle, which causes a force block or a hit depending on what the opponent does, leading to some nasty setups with Haggar and various other cast members:
Here’s a nifty 6.1K solo combo from Haggar, which only expends one bar of meter.
While we’re on the subject of Haggar, he has a nasty light SPD. His range looks dangerously similar to Zangief’s post-Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. What’s worse is that he can kara cancel into it, further extending its potential range.
Next up is Morrigan, who has some solid solo-combos, including this one with 6.6K damage off of one bar of meter.
The next one deals similar damage, and guarantees a corner carry. Throw in an active switch, and you have instant pressure on your opponent.
The above combos with Morrigan require you to staircase your combos. This tech may be daunting to newcomers, but this tutorial video from rooflemonger certainly helps break down the simplicity of staircasing for everyone. Do note that characters have to have both flight and an 8-way dash — or in Morrigan’s case, an air dash that moves her upward. Thor, however, cannot take advantage of this due to his slow dash and normals.
Six regions can now play the new version of Puzzle Fighter on their mobile devices.
The follow-up to Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is making its official debut on mobile devices — depending where you are. Puzzle Fighter has “soft-launched” into six test areas, meaning you can now download the free-to-play game if you are located in one of the following regions:
Canada
Mexico
Australia
Hong Kong
Malaysia
Singapore
This leaves some major markets — like the USA and Japan! — still waiting while Capcom Vancouver works on a wider rollout. If you want to be notified when it becomes available in your area, you can sign up on the official website.
For player in the soft-launch areas, the game can be downloaded for both iOS and Android devices. Everyone else will need to remain satisfied with the latest promo trailer:
Even as they work on the game’s home version, Square Enix is still continually adding new characters to Dissidia Final Fantasy‘s arcade version. Recently, we saw the reveal of Final Fantasy XV’sNoctis, and now it seems that we’re getting yet another character announcement.
Next week, as part of the 12th official Dissidia Final Fantasy broadcast, a new character for the game will be revealed. In addition to the announcement, producer Ichiro Hazama and director Takeo Kujiraoka will also be talking more about the game’s next update, as well as its upcoming 2nd anniversary in arcades.
For those interested, the broadcast will be viewable on both YouTube and niconico, on October 3 at 8:00 PM JST (4:00 AM PT, October 3). In addition to talking about Dissidia, composer Nobuo Uematsu and director Masanobu Suzui will also be on the show about their arcade rhythm game, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: All-Star Carnival, which is nearing its one-year anniversary.
Marn: No, it’s a completely different game. Yeah, there’s combo breakers in stuff, like the Mega Crash in TvC, but the tag system with no assists is so crazy. Everyone was freaking out that not having assists wouldn’t make it a Marvel game, but this game is definitely one.
