Japan Cup 2017 has concluded. After the smoke cleared, the results showed a surprisingly diverse character selection in top 8, with countries represented by their top players. It was a good showing for Capcom’s flagship fighter, and its community.
The official YouTube account of the CPT tour, Capcom Fighters, has compiled their top 5 moments from the event. There’s big comebacks, Daigo camera-aware goofiness, clutch parries, and Poongko’s inspiring Kolin, all on display here.
Shortly after Evo 2017, top players from the Topanga League (which includes some of world’s best players, such as former Street Fighter IV Evo champion GRPT|Fuudo) revised their personal tier list for Street Fighter V. In some places, the Topanga tier list has a considerably different selection of high tiers compared to American tier placements. VesperArcade decided to go through their tier list and contrast it with his own selections for top tier.
VesperArcade also shares his own requirements for what tools a character needs in order to make his top tier: such as throw loops, reversals, and matchup spread. Do you agree with his barometer?
If you’re always tempted by a good markdown, I have some good (or bad?) news for you: Multiple fighting games are currently on sale on the US PlayStation Store, some marked down as much as 60% off as part of the “Attack of the Blockbusters” sale:
Return to a world of glory, sacrifice, and divekicks.
Full disclosure: the original Nidhogg is one of my favorite games. The blend of simplicity, accessibility, and technical play, with the stark old-school visuals and moody soundtrack — it won me over immediately. So, while I have some positive bias toward the game’s concept as a result, that also means I had pretty high expectations for the sequel. It just hit Steam and PlayStation 4 today… Does Nidhogg II from MESSHOF prove to be worthy of sacrifice to the great wurm?
An all-new Nidhogg?
This game is essentially the core gameplay mechanics of the original Nidhogg, transplanted into a completely new, vibrant world. As a reminder to those unfamiliar with the original: Nidhogg‘s gameplay is based on one-on-one fencing combat. The levels are comprised of multiple screens, mirroring each level’s terrain from the center point. It utilizes only directional inputs and two buttons — attack and jump. You fight using a number of attack options (thrusting, guarding, throwing your sword, melee attacks) and movement options (walking/running/crouching/crawling/jumping/divekicking), and your attack/guard system is based on holding your sword at one of three different heights — attacks at the same height are guarded, while sword interactions at different heights result in disarming, or death. All sword attacks are one-hit lethal, and killing the opponent allows you to run forward along your side of the level to get closer to the end goal — until they respawn in front of you, to fight again. This tug-of-war continues until a fencer has reached their end screen, proving their worth to be sacrificed to the glorious Nidhogg.
This gameplay system is retained almost to the letter in Nidhogg II, with some slight adjustments that I’ll go into more detail about below. The biggest change is the visual presentation, leaving behind the bare-bones retro aesthetic for a much more colorful and richly-detailed look. If Nidhogg‘s look was Atari 2600, then Nidhogg II is Super NES.
With the simpler pixel art left behind for this bright new gooey and comical look, some fans will be immediately put off — I was too, to a degree. But once you get into the game, see it in motion, and start exploring the new levels, you quickly see that the original’s grim sense of humor remains — now even weirder and more surreal than before. An incredible amount of detail is stuffed into every screen — and where the original retained a medieval theme throughout, Nidhogg II exists in some bizarre timeless world of cruelty and wurm-worship. Surreal is a fitting word for it: it’s a cartoony, gory, bright and shiny — but dark and twisted — mess that somehow comes together to form its own weirdly coherent universe.
Evolution of the wurm.
Aside from the graphical facelift, the gameplay in Nidhogg II still feels like the original: easy to pick up and play, but precise and technical as you get more familiar with it. The new graphics and background make the combat feel more frenetic, as there’s so many on-screen distractions now that it can make it more difficult to stay focused on the fight. But mechanically, the heart of the Nidhogg is unchanged — although perhaps slightly improved with some new mechanics.
Basic movement options have been tweaked — you can now run and slide into your opponent to surprise and disarm them. The ledge grasping-climbing mechanics are more forgiving. The jump and divekick are a little more floaty, making them easier to control but easier to dodge as well.
The way weapons are handled in Nidhogg II is the biggest change to gameplay. There are now four different weapons: the rapier, the broadsword, the dagger, and the bow. Arcade mode introduces them to you gradually as you progress, but versus modes let you use all (or none) of them immediately, cycling through in that order as you get killed and respawn. Each has different properties that require you to adjust your gameplay to attack and defend with them.
The rapier is the same as the sword from the original game, and is the “default” weapon. It has three guard/thrust heights, and can be thrown. The broadsword is slower, and is swung in an upward/downward arc. It has only two guard heights, making it tricky to defend lighter weapons with it — but it crushes opponents, always disarming or smashing them on contact. The dagger is similar to the rapier in controls, but is very quick with short range.
The bow is the most interesting new addition — I didn’t like it at first (and the CPU can be wicked with it) but I came to appreciate it after more practice. It can’t guard (unless your loosed arrow intercepts an attack), and is very vulnerable at close range, but your arrows provide unlimited ranged attacks, at two heights. You need to press the attack button to nock your arrow, and release to fire. But arrows can be deflected back at you by your opponent’s attacks — even other arrows! Throwing the bow is also non-lethal, working as a melee attack on contact.
On losing your weapon, you have to rely on unarmed combat techniques until you can retrieve one (dropped weapons remained on the stage to be picked up at will by either player, one of the interesting back-and-forth aspects of Nidhogg‘s gameplay!) or die and respawn. All melee attacks cause a disarm effect if they hit in Nidhogg II; and the arrival of new weapons comes with weapon “continuity” between screens. In the original, even if you lost your sword, it would return when you ran forward to your next screen. Now, you keep whatever weapon you’re carrying — and if you have none, you don’t get a new one automatically. All melee attacks have also been changed from the original game; rather than desperate punches and a neck-break if you manage to knock down the opponent, all fighters in Nidhogg II have become Taekwondo experts. Melee attacks are now a flurry of super-fast kicks, and they will knock weapons right out of your opponent’s grasp at certain heights. Score a knockdown, and you’ll be stomping your opponent into a fine pulp.
The mix of new weapons — and the changes to melee attacks — add an extra dimension to the combat, and accommodating them into your game plan provides an extra challenge. As a result, Nidhogg II‘s gameplay feels more interesting overall, though less tightly-focused as the original.
The fencer is no longer a generic pixel person — now you can customize your fighter’s color, outfit, and gender before the fight. The options are fairly varied, and allow a little bit of extra self-expression.
Back to the gorgeous (and bizarre, and sometimes rather gross) stages, Nidhogg II has a total of ten locales, over the original’s four. Some are updated versions of the originals, but most are all-new forays into madness.
The game offers a few different playable modes; Arcade mode is a straight run through all ten stages; it isn’t tough to beat, so the goal is shaving down your completion time, like in the original. You can play local versus of course, and adjust the fight rules to your liking. The original game’s eight-player tournament mode also returns. Online versus consists of one-on-one lobbies by invitation, or a new Ranked mode. I found the online play generally stable (only one unexpected disconnect), and without any noticeable lag.
A different kind of monster.
There is something lost in the transition to Nidhogg II from the original; the simplicity of the gameplay and the visuals (which were still actually quite detailed, in its own style), combined with Daedalus’ spooky electronic soundtrack, created an otherworldly atmosphere unique to Nidhogg. The revamped dark-comedy visuals take center stage in setting the mood for the sequel, with a much more subdued (but still enjoyable) soundtrack to compliment the new tone. This is not really a bad thing — another game that stayed fast the original’s formula in all respects would have made for a less-compelling follow-up. To warrant a sequel, changes had to happen. And as dramatic as the atmospheric changes appear at first, they are a natural extension of the first game’s creative concepts, at heart.
This game has the chops to carry forward its refined version of the Nidhogg gameplay formula, and deliver it to both returning and new players. While the original’s simple “purity” is lost, the gameplay in Nidhogg II is fast-paced and fun, with a bit of extra freshness. I’ll still be going back to the original now and then, but this new wurm has chewed its way into my heart as well. All glory to the Nidhogg.
Score: 8/10
Nidhogg II is available today on Steam and the PlayStation Store. This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version.
Kinetiquettes has done a great job of providing collectible statues and dioramas related to fighting games; the company recently branched off into doing merchandise for The King of Fighters, following up on their work with their Daigo Umehara diorama. Now, the company is going back to the franchise that started them off in the fighting game community: Street Fighter.
The latest Street Fighter collectible from Kinetiquettes is this new Juri Han statue. The 1:6 scale statue, which shows Juri in her classic Super Street Fighter IV costume, is part of their “Femmes Fatales” line. The statue itself forms part of a diorama with the previous Chun-Li and Cammy statues. Putting them together shows Juri fighting against the latter two in Street Fighter IV‘s construction stage (as seen in the intro of Super Street Fighter IV).
Pre-orders for the “Femmes Fatales” Juri Han statue are now open over at Kinetiquettes’ official site. The figure can be ordered for $396.00, though buyers can opt to instead pay $132.00 a month for three months.
In the meantime, you can check out more images of the statue in the gallery below.
With BlazBlue: Central Fiction set to receive its Version 2.0 update on August 31st, Level 482 Productions have completed the last of their series of videos going over the translated patch changes coming to the game’s cast. This final set of videos, hosted by 482|Mastastef, 482|Saykin, and 482|Premium Tax, cover the final ten cast members, including:
Ragna The Bloodedge
Naoto Kurogane
Kagura Mutsuki
Bang Shishigami
Mai Natsume
Es
Amane Nishiki
Taokaka
Iron Tager
Bullet
As usual, the hosts discuss what effect they believe these changes will have on each individual character, and how they will potentially move up or down the tier list — as well as what changes may need to be made by players to get the most out of their altered character, if they choose to stay the course with them. You can see of their latest videos below.
And with that, Level 482 Productions BBCF 2.0 patch note series is complete! You can view their pervious coverage of Nine, Noel, Mu-12, Hazama, Hibiki, Izayoi, Izanami, Azrael, Susanoo, Jin, Hakumen, Rachel and Valkenhayn here, and coverage of Kokonoe, Celica, Lambda-11, Nu-13, Tsubaki, Makoto, Litchi, Arakune, Relius, Carl, Platinum and Terumi here. You can also view the full patch notes, including all of the game’s upcoming System changes, here. The patch will be free, while new DLC character Jubei will cost $8.00.
Give us your thoughts on these character changes in the comments below. Do you feel they were just what these Warriors of the Azure needed, or do you believe Team Blue could’ve done more for them?
HORI unleashes an updated version of their new Noir fightstick design.
Following up on the release of the Real Arcade Pro TEKKEN 7 Edition for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, HORI has created a new version of that fightstick, but without the Tekken branding. The HORI Real Arcade Pro.N Hayabusa for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC (via XInput) updates the prior model with a new look. HORI provided us with an “advance production prototype” to try it out prior to release.
Our advance model differs slightly from the version being released in the West, but only in the panel art — the metallic elements are much brighter in the retail release model than the one we tested.
As this stick is almost identical to the Real Arcade Pro TEKKEN 7 Edition, much of what follows is a retread of our prior review; if you read that review, or already own a Tekken 7 edition stick, you can just skip ahead to the “What’s changed?” section near the end!
All that glitters…
Much like the prior Tekken stick — or any fightstick, really — the first thing you’ll notice on a new stick is the panel artwork. The striking black and gold color scheme on the RAP.N definitely grabs the eye and holds on, especially thanks to the art’s metallic sheen.
Classic and updated design elements.
This new RAP’s case is based on older models, but only on the outside, really. It has naturally been updated with HORI’s current components.
The Hayabusa buttons and lever are the usual fare on all HORI sticks lately, and this stick is no exception. As usual, I’m generally very happy with how these components perform. As I’ve said before in several prior HORI reviews, I really enjoy playing on the matte-surfaced, short-throw Hayabusa buttons. They feel quick and “snappy,” providing the sensation of rapid response due to the shallower depth. I’m not quite as fond of the Hayabusa lever; these levers are on the looser end of the resistance scale, and can become “clicky” in the corners if your input is too forceful, so I still hold a slight preference for the Sanwa Denshi JLF in comparison. I’m still comfortable on a Hayabusa lever, however, but I definitely like the Hayabusa pushbuttons more than Sanwa’s, presently.
The “Noir” button configuration is what makes the RAP.N what it is: so as with the Tekken model, this button layout may be a little different than you’re used to playing on. Variations on the Taito Vewlix layout have become pretty much industry-standard across the board, but HORI is mixing it up with a switch to the Noir layout. Nearly identical to Sega’s “Astro City” layout (as you can see below), the buttons curve downward and away from your fingers more sharply than in the Vewlix configuration.
These diagrams aren’t quite mm-perfect representations of what we see on all sticks now, but should still give you a good idea of how different these layouts are. Extended play with the Hayabusa lever and buttons in the Noir configuration proved both fun and effective for me. I think I actually prefer the Noir layout now, as it better suits the shape of my hand and length of my fingers. What will make or break Noir comfort for you will depend on your input method: whether you shift your fingers to hit HP/HK inputs, or if you hit the third-column button with your ring finger, as I do. If you shift, Noir will be a bigger adjustment; while the only difference between Vewlix/Noir for the ring finger is the angle of the wrist, really. I played Tekken 7 and Street Fighter V with this fightstick, and found it very comfortable throughout.
Intended as such or not, players that tend to carry their RAP Pros in that handle-like area under the front edge of the case will be lost for a handhold on the RAP.N, as the ornamental side-shaping on this case doesn’t offer enough room to get a solid grip. This stick does have some good weight to it, so being shaped as essentially a solid rectangular block, they would actually benefit from an added handle, somewhere. But that didn’t prove a significant concern for me.
The control panels that were placed on the right side of prior RAP models are now positioned in the upper left of the top panel, similar to competing fightsticks from other manufacturers. The controls to activate turbo and reassign buttons are all still here, as RAP standard features.
You’ll find the PlayStation 4 touchpad in the usual area for HORI models — back of the case, just above the pushbuttons and thus easy to reach and use. The type of cover used on this cable compartment seems to fit more snugly than on prior RAP models — a good thing.
This model of RAP includes a headset jack, in the front lower left — definitely a nice feature to have handy. As I stated in my prior review, HORI’s means to avoid accidentally pressing the START/OPTIONS button is hilarious and awesome at the same time. Rather than a toggle switch to just turn the button on or off for tournament play, they instead provide an actual sliding cover to safely block off the dangerous button when needed — like some sort of deadly, game-destroying ICBM launch control button.
The cover works great; it’s quick and easy to open and close when desired. This is both a simple and silly solution, and I love it.
What’s on the inside?
RAPs are generally quite simple to get into and pull apart for modding, and the RAP.N is no different. The hex nuts on the top panel are only for holding the top panel in place; if you want to get at the joystick, buttons, or board, you need to remove the bottom panel. However: on both the Tekken edition and the RAP.N, I found the top-panel nuts did need a bit of tightening up; they may loosen during production/shipping, so keep an eye on those.
The lever and buttons can be swapped out easily. I liked this stick enough that I decided to make it my usual weapon of choice — which meant adding a Sanwa JLF and Phreakmod’s The Link to make packing the stick for transport easier.
What’s changed?
Aside from the slick new panel art, the only notable change between this fightstick and the Real Arcade Pro TEKKEN 7 Edition is the removal of the rubber feet used on the Tekken release, and addition of rubbery pads of the same type used on prior RAP models:
This addresses my complaint about the Tekken model slipping around on your lap, making this version much better for that type of play. The plate sections on the base that were used for the rubber feet are still drilled out — now just filled with a placeholder screw — so you could add rubber feet to this model as well, if you really wanted to.
Setting a new “gold” standard.
I was quite impressed by this new take on the Real Arcade Pro when it came out as the Real Arcade Pro TEKKEN 7 Edition, and I’m still impressed with it now. As I said before: it might not be enough to draw you over to HORI if you’re comfortable with a stick from another manufacturer, but it’s a strong offering for the price if you’re shopping for something new. The price on the RAP.N is still a touch more than previous RAPs: at $169.99 USD on Amazon.com and at Arcade Shock, for example. Dropping the Tekken-licensed artwork shaved a bit off the cost, while you’re still paying for newer goodies like the headset jack, Hayabusa buttons, and the START/OPTIONS button cover.
Longtime HORI fans won’t be disappointed; as for new buyers, I would personally consider this the best RAP design yet. The Noir layout is something to seriously consider before purchase, either as a pro or a con, based on your own preferences.
Pros:
Stylish, eye-catching new panel art design.
Solid, sturdy, and comfortable case.
Hayabusa pushbuttons are quick, responsive, and feel great.
Cost is still slightly lower than many competing fightsticks.
Added padding on the base corrects the design flaw of the Tekken 7 edition.
Cons:
Hayabusa lever too loose and not as “solid” in the corners as a Sanwa JLF, for my personal taste.
Less-common Noir panel layout may not suit your preferences.
Additional source: slagcoin.com[for control panel layouts]
The Tekken Training series “Electric Wind God Vids” continues with a straightforward examination of the biggest scrub-killer in the game: slow lows.
The big slow sweeps in this game, such as Law’s Dragon Tail and Bryan’s Snake Edge, are gatekeepers to your improvement in the Tekken series. They are the shotgun panic buttons of low-level players, and once you’ve put the work into defeating these on reaction, your defense will allow you to move beyond the field.
For more TEKKEN TRAINING, be sure to subscribe to ShoryukenTube! And if you have any specific questions about Tekken gameplay you’d like covered in a future video, let us know in the comments!
Every year, the team at Flash Vision holds FV Cup — one of the largest fighting game events in Malaysia, as well as the country’s own Capcom Pro Tour ranking event. This 2017, FV Cup returns for what may be its biggest installment yet.
In addition to hosting a Street Fighter V tournament as part of the Capcom Pro Tour, FV Cup will also see tournaments for a host of other games. These include a Tekken 7 “Tanukana Invitational” tournament, as well as competitions for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, The King of Fighters XIV, and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2.
Players interested in competing in any of these game can now register at this link. For those traveling to Kuala Lumpur, Flash Vision is recommending the following hotels: the Furama Hotel, Noval Hotel, and of course, the Berjaya Times Square Hotel right above the venue.
FV Cup 2017 will take place from September 23 to 24, at the Genysis at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In order to grow, a baby Zangief needs to learn the ways of the Spinning Pile Driver. It is the signature move the character is based around, after all! But for new players, an overlooked fact about this move is that it’s not just a mixup tool — it’s a punishment tool.
That’s where EX Workout‘s latest SPD guide comes in. In this guide, he’s painstakingly detailed what can be SPD’d, the corresponding frame data behind each move, and even details some edge cases where you may have to use a different move based off of the range.
This game is essentially the core gameplay mechanics of the original Nidhogg, transplanted into a completely new, vibrant world. As a reminder to those unfamiliar with the original: Nidhogg‘s gameplay is based on one-on-one fencing combat. The levels are comprised of multiple screens, mirroring each level’s terrain from the center point. It utilizes only directional inputs and two buttons — attack and jump. You fight using a number of attack options (thrusting, guarding, throwing your sword, melee attacks) and movement options (walking/running/crouching/crawling/jumping/divekicking), and your attack/guard system is based on holding your sword at one of three different heights — attacks at the same height are guarded, while sword interactions at different heights result in disarming, or death. All sword attacks are one-hit lethal, and killing the opponent allows you to run forward along your side of the level to get closer to the end goal — until they respawn in front of you, to fight again. This tug-of-war continues until a fencer has reached their end screen, proving their worth to be sacrificed to the glorious 
