One of the biggest debates in fighting games today is how accessible is “too accessible”. While people will contend that accessibility dumbs down the genre to the point that execution is no longer a problem, the other side will argue that accessibility brings in new blood to a genre that could go extinct without an influx of new players.
Gerald “mintcheerios” Lee from Core-A Gaming takes a look at this in his latest analysis video. He discusses the depth that is required to enjoy fighting games and how that is not attached inherently to complexity. He also goes over how a game such as Fantasy Strike can use its simplistic controls to be an entry level fighter that teaches new players to be deliberate in their play, rather than just mashing buttons.
Fight in Rio is back for another year! The 2017 event is not only a part of the Street Fighter V Capcom Pro Tour, but also the Injustice 2 Pro Series for Latin America. Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Karnov’s Revenge, The King of Fighters XIV and Tekken 7 round out the list of tournament games.
If you want to watch the action, tune into the streams below and follow the brackets on Challonge.
For almost half a decade, the Super Smash Bros. Melee community has joked about Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman’s hands. Whenever M2K made a slightly dodgy play or pulled out of an event for “personal reasons,” there’d always be a comment or two about him going to the doctor because — for a long time — he would complain about how much his hands hurt. This came on the back of Aziz “Hax” Al-Yami quitting the game with hand problems and — for brief time — the Melee community was incredibly aware of their hands.
Melee has never been the most welcoming game in the FGC. Although it is initially fun, once you start diving into the technical and competitive aspects of the game, it’s easy to drown. With a massive skill ceiling and a dedicated community that has been grinding out tech for more than a decade, dipping your toe into competitive Melee is an eye-opening experience. At this point the results of most major tournaments are a foregone conclusion, as one of Melee’s five gods — Joseph “Mango” Marquez, Adam “Armada” Lindgren, Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Kevin “PPMD” Nanney, and Mew2King — invariably takes victory, with Armada the most successful of the lot.
A Mew2King meme about his hands.
It’s the toll that Melee takes on your hands that will get you in the end, though. Top level Melee requires hundreds of inputs a minute — getting close to Starcraft’s APM — all performed on a Nintendo GameCube controller, which was certainly not designed to accommodate the furious speed and technical demands of Melee. This has forced players to adapt strange grips, like the Claw, where your index finger curls to reach the face buttons, and ultimately has led to hand and wrist problems for more than a few competitors.
It was damage to his hands that forced Hax into retirement, and kept him there. It’s hand problems that at one point threatened the future of M2K in the Melee scene, and which have pained Mang0 since the start of his competitive career.
This year, Hax has been able to enter tournaments again, thanks to the use of a hitbox-style controller that he calls the B0XX. When he did, and when the team over at Hitbox offered up an alternative to the GCC in the form of the Smashbox, there was immediate backlash from skeptics in the community. They believed that the Smashbox — and later Hax’s B0XX — made certain techniques too simple, making high-level techniques like wavedashing and shield dropping easier to perform, at the cost of making basic movement more difficult.
Now it’s gone one step further, with the organizers of many of Melee’s largest tournaments — including by Twitch’s Arian “TheCrimsonBlur” Fathieh, who has vocally campaigned against the Smashbox — have created a “unified ruleset” for Melee, a ruleset that bans all non-GameCube controllers. That means that both the Smashbox and the B0XX are banned from events using this ruleset, a frankly staggering decision.
It turns out that these five “community leaders” would rather that Hax, and other players struggling to play Melee because of hand and wrist issues, were physically unable to play the game than let them use a different controller. Why? Because they believe that playing on a GameCube Controller is “intrinsic to what we consider “playing Melee” and the skills involved in doing so,” a nonsensical statement.
Melee as we know it is a completely different beast than what it was designed to be. Wavedashing, L-Cancelling and other high-level techniques have transformed it so completely that series creator Masahiro Sakurai condemned it as the opposite to his vision for the game. What the Smash community considers “playing Melee” is far from what was once expected from it, so why are we now pulling up short?
Hax with his version of the B0XX.
In fact, just go and have a quick read of the “controller” section of MeleeItOnMe’s justification of this new ruleset. It quickly becomes clear that the reason they’re banning box-style controllers and thus, by default, those unable to use the GameCube controller, is because they’re new, and different, and may open Pandora’s Box when it comes to further control mods.
Now, to be fair to the committee, they have stated that this ban of all things not-GameCube controller is tentative, and that they are fully willing to have their minds changed. It should be noted, however, that Blur has been loudly opposed to the Smashbox and B0XX since their unveiling.
It’s not as though these projects have not communicated. Despite consistent efforts from Gravy and the Hitbox team — and Hax, separately — to assuage the doubts and concerns presented by the community, a group of Melee veterans has decided that they haven’t done enough. It comes as no surprise that the only vote against banning these controllers comes from Nintendude, the only high-level competitor of the bunch.
There are other problems with this ruleset. There are oversights, mistakes, and some things are straight up forgotten. It does, for example, allow the infamous Ice Climbers’ Freeze glitch — as long as you don’t do it on a B0XX, of course.
But the main issue has to be with the way it treats the GameCube controller as some sort of Holy Grail. If it were so perfect, why would a whole cottage industry have grown out of the need to modify and change them? Why would Armada feel the need to pull out of DreamHack Austin because his controller of choice broke? Why would Hax require surgery on his wrist, why would M2K need to go to the doctor? Why would other members of the FGC, looking at our broken down players and decide that maybe that GameCube Controller just isn’t worth it?
Because, despite long familiarity, the GameCube Controller is fundamentally flawed. In fact, most top level players actively hunt for controllers that are malfunctioning, as they make techniques like dashbacking easier. You can read a little more about it on MeleeItOnMe. At the end of the day though, this committee has simply declared that this sort of broken is fine, as long as it is in the shape of a GameCube controller.
Just think, for a moment, about Hax. About how he must have felt waking up to this news. About discovering that the only way he could play Melee — a game that has defined his adult life — was banned, just because it was different.
I’d like you to imagine if this committee had been in this position back in the early days of Melee. Would they be banning wavedashing and l-cancelling? Would the Japanese have banned chain-grabbing after Ken beat Bombsoldier? These techniques are, after all, not in keeping with the way that Melee was played in those early days. The future of Melee would have been very different if they had. The future of Melee is in our hands now, and in the hands of Mew2King, Hax, Mango and so many others. This rule is actively trying to make sure that those hands are too broken to take hold of it.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.
Your corner store has some nice SFII goodies to grab — provided you’re in Japan, that is.
Japanese convenience store chain Daily Yamazaki is collaborating with Capcom to bring customers a number of limited-edition Street Fighter II items to collect. These goodies, available at Daily Yamazaki for the month of August, include clear files and memo pads that feature character art and classic special moves — straight from the original game’s pixel art.
There’s also a special pin set as a potential prize for customers spending more than ¥700, and Famitsu will be providing a special-edition “Streetsu” magazine as well:
These items are only available in Japan for now; maybe we’ll see a version of this promotion come to a similar chain in North America in the future…? Or maybe not.
After its success last year, South East Asia Major is returning to Singapore for 2017, running from October 14th-15th in Suntec City. Not only is SEAM hosting the Asia Regional Finals for the Capcom Pro Tour, but it acts as the Asia-Pacific Regional Championship for the Tekken World Tour and the Windjammers Asia Championships.
Over $50,000 will be up for grabs at South East Asia Major, as well as spots at Capcom Cup and the Tekken World Tour finals at the end of this year. Don’t worry if you’re not a Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 or Windjammers player, SEAM 2017 will also being holding tournaments for Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, BlazBlue Central Fiction and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
Do keep in mind that these Regional Finals are area-locked, so don’t expect a player from Europe or North America flying in to take qualifier spots. All of South East Asia will be out in force to prove themselves on the region’s largest stage. Registration is not available just yet, but stay tuned for more information on SEAM 2017.
Fight Club NRW #8 is one of several Capcom Pro Tour Ranking Events taking place this weekend. Games at the Cologne, Germany event include BlazBlue Central Fiction, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, The King of Fighters XIV and of course Street Fighter V.
Some prominent names that will be in attendance include European veterans like Ryan Hart, Problem X, Packz, Luffy, Phenom, Cobelcog, as well as a few international players like Daigo Umehara, Jiewa and Big Bird. If you want to catch the action, head over to the Fight Club NRW Twitch channel, viewable below.
No, you’re not waking up in a Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller movie. No, Rip Torn isn’t really a crazy dodgeball coach in a wheelchair. However, on August 8, you will wake up and find ESPN U temporarily rebranded as ESPN 8: The Ocho — the network for obscure sports in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
At 2:30 PM EDT on Tuesday, August 8, The Ocho will be showing the Evo 2017 top 8 for Street Fighter V as part of their celebration of alternative sports. If you missed it live, catch the broadcast then! As a side note, you’ll have to wake up earlier (4:00 AM EDT early) to catch some actual dodgeball, though.
If you ever wondered how exactly Guile keeps that flat-top looking so fresh, Capcom may have let his secret out of the bag. As part of the memorabilia for Street Fighter’s 30th anniversary, Guile-themed hair gel is officially going on sale.
While this is obviously a Japanese advertisement — and thus for sale in Japan — there is no word on if this product will hit American shores to give civilians access to this military-grade hold. However, if you do get your hands on this, listening to Guile’s theme while applying it to your hair will surely complete the Street Fighter hair-care experience.
smash.gg has risen as a premier platform for hosting tournaments — from the smallest locals to huge tournaments like Combo Breaker and the Evolution Championship Series — and it’s not stopping.
VentureBeat reports that smash.gg raised $11 million “to help local esports fans create their own tournaments.” The idea is to help out scenes on a grassroots levels — rather than giving more money to major events, to try to inspire local events to pop up more often. Several investors are pouring money into the platform — which, in addition to fighting games, gets occasionally used by sporting events, trading card game tournaments, and Rocket League. Over 2,000 events per month crop up on the service.
Currently, smash.gg is running Burst League and Curleh Circuit, which are ongoing until their finals in September. The VentureBeat article doesn’t state exactly how the funding will work.
Now, if $11 million enters the picture, could we expect some kind of monetary support to those scenes who opt to participate in Burst League/Curleh Circuit? Stay tuned until we find out more — possibly in the second seasons.
If you’ve spent any time with Pokkén Tournament at all, you already know that Blaziken is a character of extremes. He does massive damage to his opponent, but his enhanced special moves deal damage to himself in the form of recoverable health. This is particularly true of the long wall combos the character is best known for, which can end up using several special moves in one combo.
Knowing all this, it’s a pretty bad feeling for a Blaziken player to have built up all that recoverable health after doing a cool combo, only to get popped in the jaw by a wakeup Extreme Speed from Lucario and watch your lifebar melt away.
Well, worry no more. Pokkén Pro BadIntent has developed a new safe jump off wall combos specifically to beat i9 armored moves. These are Pokkén’s Dragon Punch equivalents, such as Lucario’s Extreme Speed and Pikachu’s Volt Tackle. With this safe jump, these problem moves can now be baited out without giving up your meaty pressure. Burn brightly, Blaziken players.
