There’s a distinct advantage to have a special move with the “counter” property in Pokkén Tournament. For some characters, like Lucario’s Extreme Speed, it gives you an additional panic button. But there’s a more subtle use for these types of moves you may not have considered, as Pokkén pro Allister Singh demonstrates.
Suicune’s Mirror Coat projectile counter can be used to mitigate possible damage when your normal attack strings get countered. The critical property doesn’t apply in counter vs. counter situations, allowing you to take less damage and, sometimes, avoid combos all together.
Kensou returns to The King of Fighters XIV with a large focus on his guard-point specials and zoning projectiles. Though his hit-and-run style makes him more poke-oriented than pressure-heavy, that doesn’t mean he can’t convert into big (and stylish) damage once he touches you.
Brian Kasugano recently explored the possibilities with Kensou’s moveset, and put together some crazy-looking combos. My personal favorite is his early example versus Rock Howard, managing to cross up Rock twice with one move mid-juggle.
Back in April, we reported that the organizers behind Panda X Gaming and Kumite In Tennessee are set to rock the Natural State for the second straight year, with the return of Mid-South Championships 2017.
Produced by Fight Sessions and Merovingian Productions, the event’s official trailer highlights the $2,500 in pot bonuses spread across Street Fighter V, Injustice 2 and Super Smash Bros. Melee (and Wii U) — though Killer Instinct, Tekken 7, Blazblue: Central Fiction, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Project M will also be part of the tournament lineup. Catch the trailer below, and prepare to compete where champions are made — but be warned, some material may be inappropriate for salty players!
Mid-South Championships will be held once again at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, near the Clinton National Airport, in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 9-10. Registration is currently live at smash.gg/msc17, with the venue fee increasing from $20 to $30 on August 1st, before increasing to $40 on-site, so plan your trips quickly! Streaming will be handled by PandaXGaming. For more information, including hotel reservations, visit the Mid-South Championships Facebook page.
While it’s certainly the most successful, NetherRealm Studios’ Injustice series isn’t the first time that DC Comic’s Justice League has had their own fighting game. Back in 1995, Sunsoft and Blizzard Entertainment worked together on their own take on a Justice League fighting game: Justice League Task Force.
In his latest combo video, desk celebrates both the past and the present of Justice League fighting games, showcasing combos for both Justice League Task Force and Injustice 2. As part of this, desk highlights certain moves and animations that are similar in both games, using them as a way to transition between the two titles.
Tekken 7 is entering its third year in the Evolution Championship Series, and this year should be the fiercest competition to date. Maybe that’s not a particularly bold claim to make, since the game has been closed off to the majority of the world until its console launch last month. But even with the game being in console infancy, high-level tournament play has already been full of intense nail-biters and hype upsets.
This Evo is also of significant importance for the defending champion, Echo Fox|Jin-Woo “Saint” Choi. Tekken has only had one back-to-back winner in Evo history: Christopher “Crow” Villarreal won both Tekken 5 events in ’05 and ’06. A back-to-back victory for Saint would be historic. But his biggest competition is his own teammate: Echo Fox|Kim “JDCR” Hyun Jin, a former Evo champion for Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Looking forward to Tekken at Evo? Want to know the personalities you should keep an eye on? Well then, let me introduce you to…
The Spectator’s Guide to Tekken 7
There are a lot of components that make up a great Tekken tournament. If you’re completely new to Tekken at all, here’s some of what you’ll be in for:
The Neutral
Fans of advanced movement, spacing and teeth-grinding mind games should look forward to any top tier Tekken match. Check out last year’s Evo Finals between Knee and Saint: not just because of the players themselves, but as an example of the sort of character-specific footsies on display. Jack-7 is constantly working to maintain a range to where he can backdash or step a move, then whiff punish with his long range df+2/jabs/lows. While the big bot’s keep-out game is one of the more extreme examples of Tekken, space control is a central theme in Tekken play.
The Combos
Tekken 7 is notorious for its juggle system. While some characters in high-level play may not have generally difficult tournament combos, there is no way we won’t see some advanced conversions on the world’s largest stage. Remember that the longer a combo is in Tekken, the further the game sends the enemy flying away from you, making it harder and harder to actually connect with hits. There’s a reason why a video of JDCR’s hands has 18,000 views: the precision for high level play in Tekken is as mind blowing as it is crucial.
The Tech Traps
One area that will make this year’s Tekken significantly different is the impact of so many new players having access to the console version. We all know that when players get to spend time in the lab, they can cook up some wild stuff. There are a lot of traps in Tekken 7 based off the way you get off the ground or wall — I can promise someone will whip out a head-turning gimmick at some point on stream.
The Players
You can’t have a tournament without the players, obviously! Tekken is a legacy fighting game series with a wide variety of personalities. Over the last year, Korea’s cream of the crop Saint and JDCR have established themselves as the two to beat. Here are some of the players hoping to prevent yet another all Korea Grand Finals.
Speedkicks
Main: Hwoarang
Stephen “Speedkicks” Stafford is somehow a free agent despite winning 3 Tekken 7 majors in 2017 alone. He has a lot in his favor going into Evo 2017: Momentum, a rushdown heavy playstyle, and a difficult to deal with technical character in Hwoarang. The only thing really missing from his resume is a win over one of Team Echo Fox’s Korean powerhouses. It’s safe to say he’ll have some new ideas for dealing with them now that the game is out: but will he really be able to bring something to the table these pros aren’t ready for?
Tanukana
Main: Xiaoyu
Cyclops Osaka|Kana “Tanukana” Tani has been on a meteoric climb in Tekken 7. After traveling to a string of majors in the US, her most recent placement in 3rd at Combo Breaker has solidified her as a threat to anyone that runs into her. She plays a tricky, powerful character that requires advance awareness of her gimmicks to fight against. Tanukana herself is smart and agile, and she has shown that she’s not afraid to laugh and have fun mid-game: meaning you won’t be able to get under her skin.
Team ITS
Main: Read below.
Team ITS has positioned itself as the #1 North American sponsorship for Tekken players. The list of talent for Team ITS is borderline unfair to almost all other promotions in the country. There’s a lot of recognizable names: Spero Gin, JoeyFury, Crowder, Lil Majin, CuddleCore, MYK… you know what, just check out their website. It’s a laundry list of who’s-who in American Tekken. Team ITS has the claim to defeating the top Koreans, as well: Joey Fury beat both Echo Fox|JDCR and Saint at Final Round 20. At the same event, Spero Gin was the one to send Saint home. Final Round 20 was a good tournament for Team ITS, to say the least.
Knee
Main: Bryan
We cannot talk about major Tekken players to watch for without mentioning Jae Min “Knee” Bae. Knee has dominated in various Tekken games for a very long time, and his execution and skill with Bryan is the stuff of legends.
But a Tekken 7 major win has always been just out of reach of the taunting master. 2nd at Evo 2016, second at King of Iron Fist 2015. No one doubts his potential to get to the finals, but will he find what’s missing in his game so that he can get 1st?
Nobi
Main: Dragunov
Nakayama “Nobi” Daichi has somewhat fallen off the radar in 2017, but Evo could be the chance for this Japanese Tekken vet to re-emerge. He’s the winner of Evolution 2015, and one of Japan’s strongest all-time players. His lack of major wins this year only imply one thing: he’s probably going to be hungry for Tekken 7 championship #2.
GetNews|Pekos
Main: King
Kaichi “Pekos” Yota has been off the radar ever since his 5th place finish at Evo 2015. It doesn’t look like this King main will have any ring rust, though: he just got sponsored by GetNews, just in time for Evo. Will he repeat his magic from 2015?
Chikurin
Main: Jin
This elusive Japanese pro has only shown up at a few major events, but each time he proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with. He secured 9th in the King of the Iron Fist 2016 world tournament, and made it there by winning the Osaka qualifier. You know who else was at this qualifer? Nobi, who crumbled in 4th. Chikurin is a threat, and with his presence at Evo, this could be his year to emerge from the shadows.
And so many more…
For the first time EVER, Tekken joins the 1000 man club at Evo! Congrats! #Evo2017
Frankly, the amount of talent that the Tekken series has built up over the years is staggering. There’s a lot of strong players in the world, and there’s always the surprise factor of a off-the-radar player scoring a big win.
Evo 2017 is just around the corner, running from July 14th through 16th. Tekken 7 has officially broken 1,000 entrants, making this the largest Tekken tournament ever at Evo [it closed at 1278 registrants! – Editor]. In just a little over a week, we’ll know which one of these is the Tekken 7 world champion at Evo 2017!
Whether as event mementos, or to add some personality to your fightstick, you don’t want to miss out on these buttons!
You’d better hurry over to the Arcade Shock booth at Evo 2017 this year if you want to score yourself some of these new Sanwa Denshi pushbuttons! Arcade Shock will be bringing the Street Fighter V Season 1 series to their merchandise table, along with this year’s exclusives — which include Don-Chan, a chibi Feng Shui Engine Juri, and the premium metallic gold or silver Evo buttons:
All pushbuttons pictured above are the OBSF-30 model (regular play buttons, not the smaller START/OPTIONS size). Evo 2017 arrives at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 14-17, 2017!
Square Enix’s other arcade fighting game, the in-development Million Arthur: Arcana Blood, recently gained two new additions to its cast of characters. In this week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu, the company revealed that Kyomu-gata Eternal Flame and Lise will be joining the game.
While Kyomu-gata Eternal Flame is a character from the Million Arthur mobile game franchise, Lise is actually a guest character from Square Enix’s Seiken Densetsu series (known as the Mana series in the west). The former will be voiced by Juri Nagatsuma, and the latter voiced by Mikako Komatsu.
In addition to the new characters, Square Enix also announced that the game will be playable at a hands-on event in Japan this weekend, on July 8-9.
Bandai Namco has announced the release of patch 1.03 for Tekken 7 today (July 5/17). While some parts of the world have reportedly already received it (Australia specifically, according to this reddit thread), North America has yet to get the update as of this writing.
As we wait patiently, we can reference Bandai Namco’s European site for an idea of what this balance patch has in store:
Adjusted the restriction of the revenge match in Ranked Match. You can now rematch forever!
Fixed an issue where an opponent’s character and name are sometimes changed upon having revenge matches.
Made some sound volume adjustments in Jukebox; adjusted the BGM volume in Jukebox for TEKKEN 1, TEKKEN 2, TEKKEN 3 and TEKKEN 4.
Made some color adjustments to certain customization items. This is to fix an issue where players can set certain color values (black) to certain items in a way that was not originally intended by the developers.
Adjusted Leo’s character customization: fixed an issue where Leo’s upper body disappears when equipping certain items.
Game design adjustments.
Fixed an issue where some characters’ throw moves don’t properly reflect Rage state.
Game design adjustments could mean almost anything, but luckily Bandai Namco did elaborate on exactly what changes are in the new patch on their Japanese site. Mercifully, Flying Wonkey translated the patch notes over at avoidingthepuddle.com. You can check out the full list here.
The majority of these changes are bug fixes, though there are a few buffs on hitboxes and options scattered here and there:
Lee has an entirely new movement option now out of his Rage Drive and b+33: he can cancel the Mist Step from these moves with a back of side step input.
Eddy players may be sad to know they can no longer break walls with their Rage Art.
Nina’s mysterious problem where she did less damage on counter-hit Ivory Cutter seems to be resolved.
Bandai Namco has made no announcement on a delay, so PS4 users in North America should see 1.03 at some point today… until otherwise notified. A date has not been set for Xbox/PC users yet, though it will likely be in the near future.
Editor’s note: Eliza is also affected by the patch, resolving this concern.
Evo will be using 1.03 for the Tekken tournament this year which removes the Eliza meter glitch as well as other improvements! #Evo2017
A new level of customization for your fightstick lever!
The feel and performance of your controller components can make all the difference to your play, and Seimitsu now offers an easy means to adjust the tension on your joystick lever by offering the LS-56-01-AS — a multi-tension lever, exclusive to Arcade Shock. Here’s their overview:
Besides the aesthetic improvements in FGC parts, we’ve been working on improving the user experience that can affect gaming performance. With this, we found that quite a few users have experimented with changing the way a stick feels, and the part that seems to make the biggest impact — and that is easy to swap out — is the spring.
We worked with Seimitsu to make a wide variety of spring tensions to allow the user to swap between 5 different tensions, ranging from the lowest tension .4 lbf (very light) to 4 lbf (very stiff). What’s unique about this product is that Seimitsu has not experimented with their own sticks, but accommodated us and Seimitsu fans to make these custom springs. All 5 springs are included in the kit, as well as 2 additional C-clips (to swap out the springs).
Head over to Arcade Shock to put in your pre-order for $29.95 USD, to ship in late July — or to get one sooner, look for it at the Arcade Shock booth at Evo 2017!
It’s time for another entry in the TEKKEN TRAINING: Electric Wind God Vids series! This week, we’re covering Tekken’s most well-known launcher: the hopkick.
In last week’s video we explained the basic rock-paper-scissors of jabs, crouching jabs, and hopkicks. This week we’re focusing exclusively on the hopkick: what it is, how to use it, and what you can do about it.
For more TEKKEN TRAINING, be sure to subscribe to ShoryukenTube! And if you have any specific questions about Tekken game-play you’d like covered in a future video, let us know in the comments!
