If you’re just beginning your journey into studying the mechanical workings of fighting games, the idea of a hitbox may be little more then trivia to you. Though many (not all!) fighting game developers don’t allow you to see the actual hitboxes, understanding their role in the game you play is critical to your development as a player.
Sea Leaf Dojo recently put out an educational video on the way hitboxes, hurtboxes, and collision boxes shape interactions in fighting games. Its a great starting point for those curious to know what’s going on behind the scenes of their favorite fighters.
If you’re just beginning your journey into studying the mechanical workings of fighting games, the idea of a hitbox may be little more then trivia to you. Though many (not all!) fighting game developers don’t allow you to see the actual hitboxes, understanding their role in the game you play is critical to your development as a player.
Sea Leaf Dojo recently put out an educational video on the way hitboxes, hurtboxes, and collision boxes shape interactions in fighting games. Its a great starting point for those curious to know what’s going on behind the scenes of their favorite fighters.
Waiting impatiently for your name to be pulled out of the hat to enter the Dragon Ball FighterZ beta? Constantly asking your computer (or Siri), “When’s Dragon Bahl?” We know, the wait can be excruciating. However, there’s at least lots of DBFZ footage to help you pass the time more easily.
Game Goons has posted five hours of Dragon Ball FighterZ beta footage on their YouTube channel, featuring matches from HellPockets, Woolie, Rhymestyle and Meta Abe. While this isn’t the same as getting your hands on the game itself, this will at least prepare your body for what to expect when you do get to play it.
Learn some easy ways to get the move you want, when you want it.
Street Fighter IV‘s game engine was well-noted for containing many built-in “shortcuts” that allowed inputs other than the literal movelist’s direction/button sequences to activate special moves — and thus providing alternate means of getting those moves in certain situations, once you learned to utilize the shortcut. Street Fighter V follows this design tradition, and has a number of shortcut-able moves as well — particular the Dragon Punch input.
In episode 8 of World Warrior’s “Git Gut Series,” they break down known move shortcuts in Street Fighter V that you can integrate into your own execution. They start with the dreaded “walking Shoryuken”: trying to enter a fireball motion immediately after walking forward will result in a DP instead (because of the game’s reading the forward input as the beginning of a DP), and while this is typically an input error that shoto characters need to work to avoid while in neutral, it can be used to make combo inputs a little easier, too. SFV also retains SFIV’s crouching DP (down-forward, down-back, down-forward+punch), and a similar motion can be used to more easily perform Ryu’s down+HP → heavy Shoryuken → CA combo. World Warrior also discusses the “cross-cut” Shoryuken, used to get a DP to come out in the right direction against an opponent attempting a jump-in cross-up.
Its no secret that Asuka’s Rage Drive is very good in Tekken 7. The list of positives are outstanding: it’s +11 on block, starts combos and hits mid. If that wasn’t enough for you, Asuka can also combo into it from a wide variety of situations.
Tekken pro TDG|Fergus has compiled every stray hit that can lead to a free Rage Drive. As a character with several odd and long strings, this opens up a lot of big damage opportunities from seemingly inconsequential pokes like the B1+4 string, and safe crushing mids like 3+4.
Rather than the typical singles tournament, a 2-on-2 or a 3-on-3 format is quite popular in Japan. Mikado, the premiere spot for regular Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 action, finds time to broadcast tournaments that aren’t quite as traditional. Over the past few weeks, the venue held a few special Saturday 3-on-3 tournaments.
The highlights of these sets definitely include Hase’s Slayer and Azesuke’s May. There’s also a team entirely devoted to Kum Haehyun, so make sure to watch this one if you’re on the lookout for more REV 2 Kum footage.
There’s a host of famous players in this one: Karinchu’s Johnny, Lox and Teresa’s Jam, Tomo’s Leo, Hase’s Slayer again, and more.
Make sure to stay tuned to Jonio’s channel for a constant source of top-notch Guilty Gear gameplay. Looking for something a little older? Also check out their great GGXX Accent Core Plus sets.
Following up on their prior video demonstrating some deadly setups made possible by combining Urien’s V-Skill (Metallic Aura) and Aegis Reflector in Street Fighter V, YouTuber Aeon Aeon has extrapolated even more nastiness from this concept.
The first video demonstrates using the combination setup to cover 3-frame normals on wakeup:
A variation on the setup for the corner:
Here’s some more options on what to do with the second Aegis Reflector.
Additionally, the following three videos look at ways to loop the Headbutt after V-Trigger, as well as setups that follow utilizing the Aegis Reflector. Both horrible and beautiful to behold!
For everyone who didn’t get the chance to attend Gamescom, there is still a chance to play Dragon Ball FighterZ ahead of the game’s closed beta. The Gamescom build of DBFZ will be playable at both the Crunchyroll Expo in Santa Clara, and the GameStop Expo in Las Vegas. Both events are happening this weekend, with Gundam Versus also playable at either expo.
GameStop Expo is also the site of the Hometown Heroes Injustice 2 finals, so that may be your expo of choice if you’re both a DBZ and DC Comics fan. With Crunchyroll Expo being dedicated to all things anime, die-hard anime fans will no doubt find other activities to fill time in between DBFZ sessions. Tickets are still available for bothexpos, so check if you’ve got any Zenny in the bank to spend on attending either event.
If you want a quick summary on all the new features of the latest Dragon Ball FighterZ build, check out this video from Maximilian.
Continuing their series of character breakdowns, Bandai Namco have put the Z-Warriors’ resident Namekian (and number one dad) Piccolo under the microscope. Narrated by notable Dragon Ball YouTuber Rhymestyle, this analysis goes over all of Piccolo’s specials, his Supers, and how people can play him in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Piccolo has some clear inspiration from Street Fighter’s Dhalsim, complete with stretchy arms and a great zoning game. Unlike the fire-spitting Yogi though, Piccolo uses his elastic arms to pull opponents into projectiles like his Ki Grenade. You can summon a fast moving Ki Grenade to help you approach, while the slower Ki Grenade can soak up regular Ki Blasts and can either push your opponent into the corner or set up a grab trap.
Going with that idea of trapping your opponents in disadvantageous situations, Piccolo’s Hellzone Grenade is perfect after a snapback to create an incoming mixup. If the opponent blocks, they are stuck in tons of blockstun so you can close in on them or develop another mixup. If it hits, you’ve got some decent damage and the chance of another combo.
Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon is another powerful tool for psyching out your opponent, as you can charge it and dash around at the same time, similar to Johnny’s Mist Finer in Guilty Gear Xrd. Combine this with many of his other specials which have him appearing and disappearing to deliver kicks and elbow drops, and Piccolo’s going to be a super tough character to pin down.
The 2.0 patch for BlazBlue: Central Fiction is arriving on consoles promptly, in just about a week. Those who haven’t had access to an arcade like Round 1, and don’t live in Japan, have had to satisfy themselves by studying footage from around the web. It seems like we’re slowly arriving at a point where we have figured out how strong the characters are relative to one another.
This video compilation features Ronitta, probably the top Es player in Japan right now. Es is emerging as a very powerful character in the new patch, something Dora extensively talks about. Throughout the stream, Ronitta battles Makoto, Dora’s Bang, a Jubei, and a Ragna player. It doesn’t look like anyone can break Ronitta’s win streak!
Throughout the video, Dora answers player questions and commentates on character strengths, so it’s worth a listen. Dora has also recently made a BlazBlue 2.0 tier list video that explains his thoughts on the current meta.
