The King of Fighters XIV is getting some new DLC characters soon; one of these characters is the Ikari team’s Whip, who makes her first playable appearance in a KoF game since the King of Fighters XI.
For those looking to see more of how Whip plays in The King of Fighters XIV, SNK has just released some new gameplay footage of her, taking on teammate Ralph. Series veterans will likely note some things she retains from her previous incarnations–such as a familiar-looking double stand B into Boomerang combo.
Despite its age, new things continue to be discovered in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. This latest discovery involves Dante–specifically, a new TAC Infinite for him.
The infinite–which you can see demonstrated by HB Evasion in the video below–is interesting because it involves a hard knockdown, making him only the second character after Dr. Doom who can do a TAC Infinite off one. By using the hard knockdown off his air S, Dante can relaunch his opponent using his Volcano move, and then loop back into his air S once again.
Take note that the infinite is quite difficult to do, and HB Evasion actually only does two loops in the video above. The infinite itself was discovered during the development of another infinite (which you can see below). This one uses the air S into Volcano launcher only once to set up a different loop. Both infinite combos have been confirmed to work midscreen, as well as in the corner.
The Guilty Gear online league continues this week with a new set of Daredevils. This time, the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League has four new combatants once again. We’re going to see some zany techniques from Faust and smart countering from Leo Whitefang. Then, Potemkin will show the strength of patience against Dizzy’s onslaught of spells and critters.
Here’s a breakdown of the fighters this week, and a little on their background:
ElvenShadow
On the match: “Zidane and I have played in tournament only twice if I recall correctly. The first time was APEX 2015 Grand Finals where I won in a close set. The 2nd time was at NEC 2015 where I won in top 16. At APEX we also played two FT5 exhibition sets in which we went 1-1, and finally a FT5 at a Frosty Faustings IX after party, in which he beat me. I feel like if I am on point and apply my matchup knowledge well, I can take the set.”
On his opponent: “I think I first met Zidane during the Guilty Gear XX Slash era. He had one of the best Anjis in the U.S. along with KBnova, and since then has been regarded as one of the best U.S. players, though I don’t recall actually playing against him much in the XX series. He has been one of the most consistent U.S. players in Xrd, despite the fact that he doesn’t travel that much, and his performance at Evo 2015 was also, of course, great stuff. He’s a smart player, so it’s going to be a really tough match, but I look forward to the challenge!”
On his own playstyle: “I love zoning with long pokes and fighting from a distance, but once I am able to find an opening, I also really love rushing down! I always have a general gameplan when I play, but things can completely change at any moment depending on what items come out, so I am always ready to adapt on the fly. Because of that, I feel like I play using instinct and feeling a lot of the time. This can be either a good or bad thing at times. I could probably stand to be a little more mentally disciplined in some regards. I also feel like I play even harder when my back is to the wall, and I am on the verge of losing. The Chicago FGC refers to it as ‘EX Bozac.’ I need to learn how to play like that all of the time.”
Zidane
On the match: “It’s going to be an uphill battle since Leo vs. Faust is one of Leo’s harder matchups. It’s tough to approach Faust; his buttons out-range mine, Leo has very low mobility, and I always have to deal with Faust items like bombs, meteors, Mini Faust. If I get in, I have to worry about his options on wakeup. 5D being invulerable is another thing I have to look out for besides things like backdash/super/YRC. If I’m able to cover his options or guess right, the bright side is Leo deals massive damage and could win any around off a few stray hits.”
On his opponent: “ElvenShadow has been playing GG longer than I have, I came from #Reload. He’s always been an amazing player, he’s placed high in U.S. tournaments since I’ve been around the game. I feel he’s more aggressive than the average Faust player, but it works out for him. We played against each other throughout the years, but I’m not sure we played each other in tournament until Xrd. I haven’t actually beaten him in an Xrd tournament.”
On his own playstyle: “I think I’m an aggressive player. I want to go in, keep players locked down and generally make them play my game rather than playing theirs. I enjoy reacting to what they’re doing with the proper punish or hit confirm, it’s one of the most enjoyable things for me.
“Gameplay style is kinda funny. I enjoy well-rounded characters, characters that have almost every tool: Good buttons, reversals, mobility, etc. Even if I want to go in, I prefer having tools to disengage or play from a distance. The character I play in Xrd is not a well-rounded character. Leo’s sole strength is offense, so I’ve had to change how I play. A lot of Leo players I watch go 100% on offense even if the pressure is fake (which it mostly is).
“I’ve had to dial down aggression because I recognize what situations are smoke and mirrors, and I try to play a more… ‘honest?’ game. I think going crazy with the character from time to time is a good way to keep someone off-balance. Making players second-guess themselves is needed for a character like Leo who has very little options. So yeah, I have to be less aggressive playing a max-aggressive character.”
Octopimp
On the match: “I’m a little nervous! Potemkin vs. Dizzy is one of those matches where you can either completely stamp her into the ground, or she won’t even let you get started. Because of her low health, it doesn’t take that much to end a round, especially after a Pot Buster (command throw). However, if she starts to gain momentum, it takes a couple of good reads and a lot of patience to get your turn again. Using Slidehead against her 421S (homing ice spike) and all her summons is very important. Also keeping Flick in mind for 236S/H can stop her cold (no pun intended) if timed well.”
On his opponent: “I play tenpai!! a lot, and I would say we are about at equal skill. I’m at that point where I can do some reads based solely on ‘I know tenpai!! is looking for <x> so I’m gonna do <y>’ and it keeps our matches really interesting. tenpai!! is the type of Dizzy player who loves to run away and try and trip you up so that he can engage on his own terms. He’ll use things like 236S>YRC (Ice Spike) a lot to try and catch me using Hammerfall. He also likes to use the D fire fish to bait out Flick, since Flick is very strong against dizzy, but if you Flick the D fish it’s bad news. Hopefully, I won’t fall for that, though. tenpai!!’s corner mix-up game is REALLY strong, and I still have trouble blocking it effectively. Potemkin also doesn’t have a whole lot of ways to get out of the corner, as he lacks a true reversal against someone like Dizzy who can just instant-airdash all over the place and not worry about reversal Pot Buster or Trishula, unless he plays very aggressively.”
On his own playstyle: “First of all, I would like to describe myself as the U.S.A.’s top fraudulent Potemkin player. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but I tend to fall back on gimmicky stuff when I’m really pressed into dire situations. Very dangerous, but sometimes it pays off! Every match I try to play very patiently and figure out their habits, then exploit them and attempt to do wacky stuff that they wouldn’t really expect. Don’t get me wrong, when it comes down to it, I’ll play the waiting game for an opening, but I try and play a balance of defensive and aggressive that frustrates and intimidates my opponent.”
tenpai!!
On the match: “I think Dizzy has a slight advantage over Potemkin just because she has so much freedom to dictate the pace of neutral, but it’s a much more complicated matchup than it might seem on the surface. Potemkin can Flick, Slide Head, or even Hammerfall through lazy zoning, and his normals can be hard to deal with head-to-head, so it’s a grinding, patient battle where we both try to trick each other into choosing the wrong option. I’m pretty confident in my ability to dictate the pace of the match against Pot, but any slip-up leads to extreme damage, so keeping cool for such a long set is a rewarding challenge that I’m really looking forward to.”
On his opponent: “Octopimp and I play each other a fair amount, so I have a decent grasp on his playstyle. He’s a very active player for a Potemkin main, with a particular fondness for Blitz Shield, raw Potemkin Buster on defense, and of course 5D. In general, this committal style can sometimes get him into trouble, but the reality is his character has twice as much health and does twice as much damage, so it’s a good fit for the matchup to take risks. It sounds like he’s been preparing for the matchup a lot from our conversations, so I look forward to seeing what tricks he has up his sleeve!”
On his own playstyle: “Oh jeez, I don’t really know – I think it’s really hard to describe one’s own playstyle accurately, especially as a weak player like myself. I generally like to play defensively and lame, running away from the opponent and frustrating them with zoning until they make a fatal mistake. I’ve been playing a lot with strong players like BjornSonOfBear and DEB to break myself of my many bad habits, though I’m still far away from making a breakthrough and end up taking a lot of steps back, because I don’t have a lot of confidence in my decision making. Hopefully, I can overcome this in the future and show the world what my Dizzy can really do!”
tenpai!! fights Octopimp first in a FT7 set. After that, it’s ElvenShadow’s Faust vs. Zidane. Catch the action tomorrow, Thursday, at 10:00 PM EST/9:00 PM CST/7:00 PM PST. As usual, it will be on silva_hime’s Twitch channel. NerdJosh and Rynge_ will commentate.
Last week’s Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League brought a showdown between Mynus’ I-no and doren2k’s Jam, as well as Gekioh’s Axl-Low and DaveO’s Sol Badguy. Catch up on that set here:
Missed the patch notes, or having trouble visualizing what some of the incoming Ryu changes means for your character? VesperArcade has you covered.
Ryu’s nerfs at the beginning of Season 2 all but killed his neutral and mid range poking game in Street Fighter V. Of all the changes requested for this balance update, calls for Ryu buffs were among the loudest from the community. The famous SF protagonist (and possibly estranged main of the legendary Twitch.Hx.CYG BST|Daigo Umehara) will be received a number of logical, no nonsense buffs: Standing LK and Standing MP will have their forward hitboxes expanded, though it’s unclear if st.LK’s will be reverted fully to its Season 1 range or if it’s some strange compromise between the its original form and the newly-nerfed version.
In addition to the other universal light Shoryuken buffs, Ryu’s medium and heavy Shoryukens are getting various invincibility properties. Medium will be a more viable anti-air, and heavy will be useful for blowing up block strings ending in fireballs. There’s also a mysterious change to Ryu’s crouching HP animation. Considering Ryu already has a fairly unique c.HP animation that changes on standing opponents, it’s difficult to speculate what this change is–or why–without more information.
VesperArcade concludes these changes will help Ryu overall, but it’s still nowhere near close to reverting him back to Season 1. Perhaps the bigger question is: will Umehara return to his original world warrior after this balance patch hits?
Fresh off of her top 64 performance at Final Round 20–not to mention second place at Capcom Cup 2016 late last year–Evil Geniuses’ Ricki Ortiz is poised to make more noise for the rest of 2017, competing in Street Fighter V during another year of the Capcom Pro Tour.
Before and during Final Round 20, the UK’s public service broadcaster BBC conducted an interview/mini-documentary with Ortiz; in the video, Ricki discusses her challenges of being transgender and how being a part of the fighting game community helped her figure out who she was. BBC also follows her and NorCal local tournament organizer, Joe Flores, inside of Milpitas Golfland, as both of them talk about their humble beginnings in the arcade fighting game scene.
If you can spare nine and a half minutes, it’s definitely worth watching for a side of Ricki Ortiz the fighting game general public rarely gets a glimpse of. You can see the full video on the BBC website.
Continuing his “Art of” series of character guides, IzAw has turned his attention to the Mushroom Kingdom’s biggest baddie, Bowser. With a brutal grab game, decent ground control, and his immense weight, the Koopa King is one fearsome contender. Bowser is best suited for defensive play, luring opponents into trap before dealing massive damage with his throws or smashes.
As a grappler, the game plan for a Bowser player should be to frustrate enemies with a wall of jabs, tilts and Flame Breaths before pivot grabbing and leading into one of his many up-throw follow ups. He can kill off of three grabs, and he only gets stronger with Rage, so never get too eager versus a Bowser.
Patience is key to playing Bowser well as while he can hit hard, his large frame and weight make him easy combo food. Much like fellow grappler DK, Bowser struggles to land back to stage safely, making him a prime target for ledge traps and easy edgeguards. Without the greatest of approach options, it is fairly easy to camp out this burly turtle as well. If you have the percent lead, there is no real reason to go running into his clutches.
Online warriors have a new chance to shine. As the Steam version of Guity Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- offers a superior net connection in comparison to the console platforms, a new league plans to take advantage of this. Level Up Gaming, a company that streams and organizes fighting game tournaments, is teaming up with Stream.me to host the Overdrive Series. Following the success of online leagues for Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct and Street Fighter, Stream.me are now branching out into anime fighters.
The series plays out over four tournaments in April. The dates divide into qualifiers, and then top 8 matches the following day. What are the stakes? Nothing less than a free trip to Las Vegas, NE, for Evolution 2017 (including lodgings). Runner-up prizes are yet to be determined.
Users have to be in the United States, Mexico, or Canada. Using a wireless connection isn’t allowed, and the players must have an upload speed of at least 3 MB/s.
As per the website, here are the dates for the tournaments:
Dates / Times
April 3-4
April 10-11
April 17-18
April 24-25
Mondays are qualifiers starting at 6 PM PST
Tuesdays are top 8 finals at 7 PM PST
Everything will be streamed over at Stream.me. Players can stream their matches, but only on this platform. Level Up invites interested parties to view the Guilty Gear subreddit and sign up via smash.gg.
Are you gearing up to participate in this online league? Let us know in the comments.
Looks like the leak was right on the money this time, as Atlus U.S.A. confirms our expectations.
Last week, word got out that Vanessa was inbound as the next DLC character reveal for SNK’s The King of Fighters XIV. Today Atlus U.S.A. has confirmed that as true, with the release of the reveal trailer for the new fighter. Vanessa now joins Whip and Yamazaki as incoming DLC for The King of Fighters XIV.
First playable in The King of Fighters 2000, this housewife-turned-mercenary knows how to use her boxing skills to lay her opponent out in style–with flurries of high-speed punches, naturally. No pricing information or release date has been revealed as of yet, but most likely she’ll cost the same as Whip ($5.99 USD), who kicks off the releases of these DLC fighters on April 5th.
The Pokémon Company International have at last revealed more information on this year’s Pokkén Championship Series: with the finals taking place as part of the Pokémon World Championships in August, competition will be fierce to decide the 16 players that will make up the final bracket. With a prize pool of $20,000 on the line at the World Championships, expect trainers of all stripes to be hitting the gym.
North America’s qualifier will be at CEO 2017, with the top four players going through to attend Worlds. Unlike VGC tournaments, there is only one age division for Pokkén, meaning players of all ages can compete for one of those coveted spots. There will be a $5000 prize pool at CEO 2017, with the top four all receiving flights to attend Worlds in Anaheim. Do not fret if you do not qualify at CEO, there will be a last chance qualifier held at Worlds to give four more players a chance to get into the finals.
There is currently a 256 player cap in place for Pokkén at CEO due to the overwhelming popularity of the event. However, if there is substantial support from the Pokkén community before mid-May, there is a possibility that this cap will be lifted so get out and sign up.
Europe will be getting its own qualifier where four players will gain a spot in the finals, with the remaining four invites being given to Japanese Pokkén players. TPCI have yet to announce the details of the European qualifier, but stay tuned for more information.
Editor’s note: as reported previously, the Championship in Anaheim will run on the Wii U version of Pokkén Tournament–not the updated arcade version; no news has been released confirming (or outright denying) an update to the console version to bring the two versions into parity, but as we move closer to the Series season itself, that is seeming increasingly unlikely.
A closer look a very handy accessory for wandering warriors.
Competitors and fighting game fans that like to take their fight stick on the road all wrestle with how to pack these inconveniently-shaped devices we like to mash buttons on. The protruding joystick can make for some tricky or awkward transport–unless you invest in a fight stick bag that is specifically designed to accommodate it. There has been another option on the market for a while now: Phreakmods produces a replacement shaft that can be installed in the widely-used Sanwa JLF joystick, to allow you to detach the joystick top at will–making for easy packing and transport of your weapon of choice. The release of “The Link” in a new color assortment seemed like a good excuse to find out how well this mod works in hand, so I nabbed one from Arcade Shock to try it out for myself.
Before the mod
This is my HORI Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai–since modified from the factory unit I reviewed, now with Sanwa pushbuttons and a Sanwa JLF joystick.
And here is The Link.
In addition to some basic instructions, The Link includes the two sections of the linked shaft, and a hex tool. The basic premise of The Link is to replace the single-piece shaft in a standard Sanwa JLF with this linked version that can be popped off without tools–or even opening your fight stick’s case. There are no detailed install instructions, so some familiarity with what the inside of a JLF stick looks like is helpful to get this mod in place.
After removing the joystick from the HORI’s case, you can see above what it looks like; note the base as shown in the middle image–that e-clip is what holds the whole spring-loaded assembly of the JLF’s shaft together. You need to pop that off carefully–a flat-headed screwdriver can do the trick. With that removed, the tension will release and the shaft assembly comes apart into the components shown on the right.
Shaft swapping
The Link’s two-part shaft separates by pulling upward on the upper (colored black, in this case) section’s outer sheath; this releases the clamping mechanism that holds the shaft together and allows it to be lifted off. With the upper section removed, you can see the difference between the standard JLF shaft (above) and the shorter one from Phreakmods (below) that’ll replace it:
It’s a fairly simple matter to reassemble the Sanwa’s joystick components around The Link shaft, then resecure them under the spring’s tension with the same e-clip removed earlier. You can see below how the replacement shaft looks, once installed into the JLF housing:
Next, the balltop is attached to the upper part of The Link just like it would be on a normal joystick; where you would use a flat-headed screwdriver to keep the shaft from spinning in place on the standard shaft (or maybe your fingernail, if you’re hardcore), the included hex tool now serves this function for The Link, as shown here:
The completed Link can now be reunited the same way it was removed, by sliding the outer sheath up and then back down once you’ve placed the upper section back over the lower shaft.
Of course, it isn’t much good like that–we’ve got to get it back into the HORI case to try it out.
Once fully reinstalled, you can see that the separated shaft is no higher than the plexi surface of the stick, fulfilling its inconspicuous destiny of removing any protruding joystick elements.
As Sanwa sticks often use two dust washers, to use The Link, you need to leave out the inner one as it’ll mess with your ability to reattach the upper joystick section. You can still use the outer dust washer of course, but you’ll need to find a place to stash it when you disconnect.
Playing on The Link
So the real question: how does it feel? When connected, The Link is solid–there’s no give and it holds up to rough, intense play. As I use the “wine glass” grip with my fingers curled up from under the balltop, the shape of the shaft took some very brief getting used to, since it’s no longer just a single smooth cylinder. As The Link is replacing only the metal shaft in the JLF, all other components work exactly the same–so there’s no difference in stick travel, the feel of the gate, or how it hits the actual switches. Once you get the hang of sliding the sheath up (it can be done easily with one hand, by putting the shaft between your pointer and middle finger, and pulling toward the balltop), it connects and disconnects very quickly and easily.
I found that the Sanwa dust washer did sometimes catch a little bit on The Link’s surface, causing it to “click” back into place as the stick was moved–but that’s something a bit of filing down can fix, if it’s a recurring nuisance. Regular play seemed to reduce that issue. I also caught the balltop coming loose on me after a while–but that’s more due to my own lack of tightening than a functional flaw, as since I’ve retightened it, it hasn’t come loose again.
Is it worth the buy?
The Link from Phreakmods will run you $26.95 USD on Arcade Shock (and another $6.50 USD will get you a lanyard to snap the upper section onto for easy access). If you travel with your fight stick frequently, that is a fair bit cheaper than most dedicated carrier bags–and the install takes less than an hour. However, if you prefer non-Sanwa joysticks, you’re presently out of luck for this mod. If you do play on a JLF, and you’re down for some Sanwa surgery to perform this shaft transplant, I would definitely recommend it as an add-on to your favorite fight stick.
