Super Smash Bros. as a series has a primary focus on providing a fun environment for new players, and seeks to be a game that anyone could enjoy. With the sheer size of the game and how much it’s sold over its lifetime, single-handedly selling consoles, it’s hard to argue that they didn’t succeed amazingly. While players have discovered a hidden depth in the game and thus explored it competitively, Smash’s strongest point is its ease of entry.
Here we have one of the simplest characters on the Smash Bros. roster, Kirby. While seemingly plain and straightforward, YouTuber RelaxAlex reveals that Kirby has a lot more going on than this outward simplicity. He covers all of Kirby’s attacks, hitstun, colors and movements and how they all directly correlate to past incarnations, and how Kirby was specifically designed to cater to new players through his attack moves. It’s an interesting bit of analysis, that’s well worth the watch.
Remember P4AU? It was all the rage for a while, but thanks to the latest patch unfortunately never coming to consoles, many people ended up dropping the game. While the game does see some occasional play–like when it was featured at CEOtaku–it’s largely fallen from the fanbase it once had.
Despite this, it’s not like the game is unplayable. One YouTuber, Persona Entertainment (as their namesake may suggest!) still enjoys kicking around P4AU. They’ve devoted their time to showing off some really cool stuff in this game. These videos feature Chie Satonaka and Shadow Labrys, with some high-damage kill combos.
Though a lot of attention has moved on to The King of Fighters XIV, the prior installment still has a lot of players who still enjoy it, and are still churning out content. Below we have some great compilations and combo videos featuring last generation’s King of Fighters title.
First up we got a Yuri combo video from Persona Entertainment. There are a lot of really damaging combos here, the majority of which kill from full health.
Next we have some videos from 8Sin-Am, the first of which is a hype compilation from various sets with several different characters.
We also have here some character specific compilations, featuring a lot of high level play for both Kyo and Billy.
After European qualifiers in both England and the Netherlands, it’s France’s turn to compete for places in the Killer Instinct World Cup as Kombo Klash comes to France on February 18th. Held in partnership with Killer Instinct France, Ultra Arcade and Yuzu Gaming Clan, the winner of Kombo Klash France will gain an automatic place at Killer Instinct World Cup in March, alongside complimentary flights to San Antonio, Texas to compete in the final 32-player bracket.
We're proud to support the Kombo Klash, the official FR Killer Instinct tournament that takes place on Feb 18th in Paris ! pic.twitter.com/8aToW3uKcO
France contains its fair share of top Killer Instinct players, with players like Bastfree, LeChatNoir, Crotus88 and JacketedBanjo flying “le tricolore” at both online and offline tournaments. After French players successfully defeated their Dutch compatriots back at Kombo Klash Netherlands and with the centuries old rivalry between the French and English still raging via Killer Instinct, expect plenty of close fights in Paris in February.
If you are interested in visiting Paris this year, additional information and registration details are available on the official Kombo Klash France website.
Ten options for playing with your opponents a while longer.
Juri is becoming known as a scary opponent in Street Fighter V–scarier now, thanks to her Season 2 buffs. Players that stuck with her through Season 1 were rewarded, and she’s attracting even more players now.
In the video below, JusticeSoulTuna demonstrates ten options for the Poison Spider, both practical and stylish, utilizing her Season 2 improvements–namely the “hidden buffs,” meaning aspects of her current abilities that are not widely known or noticed. Important tools for new players, and some new combos and links that S1 veterans may not yet be aware of!
Robin is an oft unseen character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments, with many players choosing another one of the several Fire Emblem warriors instead of this hooded tactician. Yet, there are still a handful of players who are faithful to this magical swordsman, using his various spells and powerful Levin Sword to send opponents soaring to their doom.
One such player is Mad Ice King, who has recently put together a Robin montage to show off some of the tricks this magician has up his sleeves. Set to tune of “Bonetrousle” (from the indie game Undertale) and even using replicating the combat graphics from the quirky RPG, Mad Ice King uses all of Robin’s tricks to teach any opponents a painful lesson. Beware of this sorcerer supreme if you ever meet them in bracket.
The April Fool’s joke that kicked off Gouken’s story is a now a quarter-century old.
Capcom is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Street Fighter this year; but that also means it’s the 25th anniversary of the classic April Fool’s joke that ran in the April 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.
The hoax was presented as a means to unlock the mysterious “Sheng Long” in the original arcade version of Street Fighter II: using Ryu, and reaching M. Bison with nothing but Perfect victories, you must then survive ten rounds against the dictator without exchanging any blows. If successful, instead of a draw game, Sheng Long–Ryu and Ken’s long-lost master–will appear, dispose of Bison, and proceed to wreck you with his broken moveset.
EGM even doubled-down on the gag by placing the “find the April Fool’s joke” contest form on the SAME PAGE.
The near-impossible trick to fight Sheng Long was soon exposed as a hoax, but is still remembered for the glorious gag it was. “Sheng Long” is born of the mistranslation in Ryu’s win quote, where “Sheng Long” was later corrected to “Dragon Punch” as intended.
This hoax holds such a strong place in Street Fighter collective consciousness because it inspired design choices that made many of its aspects reality in future games. Sheng Long’s substitution for M. Bison mirrors the entry of Akuma as a hidden boss in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. And as for “Sheng Long”–he became Gouken in Street Fighter IV, making Sheng Long effectively canonical after many years. Gouken even has a win quote in Super Street Fighter IV that pays tribute to the original mistranslation–“You must defeat me to stand a chance!”–as if his very design and existence wasn’t tribute enough!
AcidGlow marks the upcoming April anniversary of Sheng Long with this retrospective video:
Back on January 21st, the Japanese Killer Instinct community came together to compete for spots at the Killer Instinct World Cup with Kombo Klash Japan. For those who aren’t aware, Killer Instinct has a small but intensely passionate Japanese scene, lead by the dedicated OGTY and full of top players like the US ex-pat CAT DRUGS, lab fiend Domi, Riptor specialist Tomosama and Omen master Osomatsu among others. While the community is nowhere near as large as your Guilty Gears or Street Fighters in Japan, the Japanese KI scene is devoted to the game and will do anything to see it thrive.
Acting as the honorary US envoys, as well as streaming the event in English, Ultra Arcade’s Brandon Alexander and Kenneth “Bass” Armas traveled to Kombo Klash to help and compete within the tournament, helping to test the mettle of their Japanese compatriots. After all was said and done, the USA reigned supreme as Bass took first place after a close Grand Finals set with Osomatsu. The Japanese definitely gave Bass a run for his money, with Domi’s Kilgore and General RAAM forcing the American to switch off Spinal and use Mira in tournament.
As Bass has already qualified for KIWC, Osomatsu and Ret have earned places in that 32-man bracket, adding some additional international flavor to the tournament. They join threats from Europe and Canada who will also be attending the Killer Instinct World Cup, being held at the Tobin Center in San Antonio, Texas from March 10-12.
Bass has uploaded all of his matches to his YouTube channel and they can be found in the playlist below. If you want to watch the whole of Kombo Klash Japan, check out Ultra Arcade’s VOD from the event, also found below.
When Mr. Wizard was going through the list of games for the 9th slot, there was a (likely meme-fueled) chant for ARMS so prominent in the Twitch chat, that I just assumed that it would be the main competitor to either Killer Instinct or Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 to take the slot. I like Pokkén Tournament, but I’m also a realist: it’s a newer fighting game IP with a very experimental engine, competing against 20+ year old established FGC favorites. Honestly, I didn’t think Pokkén had a chance.
Instead, this is what I woke up to on the first morning of donations.
No rest for the wicked, I guess! Let’s talk about how we got here, and why–if it does succeed–Pokkén would deserve a spot in the Evolution lineup.
In its first (and only) year in Evo, Pokkén Tournament was the most entered non-Street Fighter and non-Smash game. It did better than Guilty Gear which–this year–doesn’t have to compete for the 9th slot. Though, to be fair to GG, it has a new version coming out soon! If The Pokémon Company ever decided to release Empoleon and friends in an update, maybe we wouldn’t be having this conversation about whether Pokkén should be the 9th game or not.
Still, there were a lot of reasons why Pokkén did well last time. New game smell? Sure. Pot bonus? Of course. Pikachu on the cover? You betcha. Those are also all reasons that would justify its success in the donation drive: people do love the game, for one reason or another, and continue to support it.
I also have to think that the lack of 3D games at Evo will, to a certain extent, inevitably drive up numbers for Pokkén. Tekken 7 was the only game on the list at the time that really appealed to that crowd, and Pokkén has a lot more Namco logic in its frame data than anything else players could have entered outside of Tekken. Frankly, the same is true in 2017, too. It stands apart from the crowd by simply doing things its own way.
I’d also like to take this time to say that all of the above numbers for every game are amazing, and something to be proud of. Evo’s numbers have inflated in ways I honestly never thought I’d live to see.
Pokkén’s Design Is Innovative
…sometimes to great success, sometimes to a fault.
Frankly, there is no other game that plays quite like Pokkén. The phase shifting mechanic, Pokkén’s defining gimmick, really does work. The 3D field phase goes a long way in determining positioning, meter and flow of the match, whereas a lot of the raw damage occurs in the 2D Duel Phase. The push and pull of different characters trying to maintain their preferred phase has become one of the most interesting and fascinating parts of tournament Pokkén.
It’s a new take on the wake-up game that–nearly a year later–remains intense and exciting. Characters strong in duel phase have to count their phase shift points during their combos so that they don’t accidentally shift. Some characters have great 50/50s every time they shift with certain options. (For example: Blaziken’s Blaze Kick/Throw Loop rush down!) Some zoners will want to remain in field phase forever by strategically poking with light, fast projectiles for as long as possible. What ultimately happens with these shifts often comes down to player innovation and play style.
That Pokkén’s design is so inherently against-the-grain of what is commonly done in fighting games is in large part what has helped it carve out its own community. It keeps players playing despite having very little in common with other games. I think this is because…
The Basics of Pokkén Are Really Simple
…but there’s complex depth in its details.
You, reading this right now. If you are semi-competent at fighting games and wanted to get into the meta of Pokkén right now, you could do it. Easily. Execution is not holding you back. Knowledge and creativity is.
Everyone knows about the rock-paper-scissors system of Pokkén, where Attackbeats Throwbeats Counterbeats Attack. But there’s a bigger part of the system that makes this game beginner-friendly: Pokkén’s combo system, which relies on juggles, links and assists, is fairly open. It’s a great blank canvas for players willing to experiment, and there’s a lot of crazy stuff that has been found for every character. The damage is high enough that new players doing less-then-optimal combos are still going to be enough of a threat for you to take the neutral seriously.
There is high level tech, and a lot of it, but nothing that can’t be overcome with a little thought. My favorite example? The widely used Homing Cancel Option Select in Pokkén. There’s a common field phase mixup where, if your first homing attack is blocked, you either attempt to finish your string or go for a throw. This mixup loses to Homing Cancel, as the defender will both break the throw and block the string. But! Homing Cancel loses to something very simple: a delayed grab, or the built-in string charge mixup. Machamp and Gengar players can even beat this by accident by doing their command grabs instead of their normal grabs in this mixup.
Additionally, the frame data is… interesting. There’s, arguably, only 3 types of numbers you need to know. Fast (9 frames) Average (13 frames) and Slow (17+ frames.) There’s only two punishable numbers that really truly matter: -12 (moves that are this on block are punished by the fast category) and -16 (punished by the average category). Anything that is worse then that is usually hilariously unsafe, we’re talking in the -30 and up numbers. What does all this means? It means that while frame data is important, there isn’t a heavy burden on number memorization. To put emphasis on that, the screen flashes yellow every single time there’s heavy frame advantage (for example, Lucario’s charged Force Palm), which is a simple and clever detail I wish more fighting games would pick up.
All of this is to say is that the time to get into the meat of high-level Pokkén is very short, with even modest effort. And once you’re in, it’s really just player versus player more than anything else. It makes it a great game to secondary, which is likely why so many people signed up for it in 2016. This simplicity also makes it a very easy game to get into as a spectator. I’m sure eyeballs will watch just because there’s a Pokémon on the screen, but the gameplay for Pokkén has proven to be enough to keep the community active.
Pokkén Is Really, Really Balanced
Machamp is low tier, and Gardevoir is a bad match up for him, in that classic zoner vs. grappler sense. Here’s a video of Azazel, one of the best players in the world, dominating with his Machamp in this very matchup fairly deep into Canada Cup.
Tier lists in general for this game, with the exception of when the game first released, have been very condensed. Even for the most recent arcade version, Evo champ Tono-sama’s early impressions are very optimistic.
There’s not much more to say. Every character in this game has had great success in tournament play thus far, and character selection is not an excuse for anyone.
The Fact Pokkén Is on This List at All Is Kind of Amazing
Back when I attended Dreamhack Austin in May 2016, I wrote extensively about the hardware challenges the game’s LAN mode presented. In the back of my mind then, though, was a more negative thought: These are the worst arbitrary hardware decisions I have seen in a fighting game. This should kill this game’s future.
Well, they didn’t kill it. Here we are almost a year later, having this conversation again. There was no magic fix for the controller lock out in LAN mode, and LAN mode still is the only proper way to play this game. If I wanted to argue against Pokkén, I could go even more in depth on things that are objectively wrong–Practice Mode is awful. Exhaust Frames are a terrible both in concept and execution. Grey Frames, as well.
Take all of the above and consider: People are still playing this game passionately. All these nails in Pokkén’s coffin have been turned into shining examples of this community’s commitment. LAN Mode is their CRT, If I can make an analogy from the Melee crowd. Coincidentally, Evo will already be equipped with the Wii Us and LAN Adapters necessary to smoothly run Pokkén. There is likely no better venue then Evo to actually run Pokkén. Were Pokkén to make it, there’s no doubt in my mind that Nintendo would find a way to put their support behind it, too.
Even if Pokkén doesn’t win this (at the time of this writing, Marvel has predictably taken a fairly large lead), the Pokkén community has challenged the FGC in a really powerful and impressive way. They love their game because it is, uniquely, theirs. It’s not just a simple offshoot of Pokémon, or Smash, or the FGC. Though I believe players may have been drawn from each of these scenes, Pokkén has truly become their own crowd. That this 9th vote slot is a race at all is indication of that.
They were always an underdog in this race, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing them down at all.
Vote for Pokkén Tournament on generosity.com here. Voting closes at 12:00 PM PST on February 8, 2017.
If there’s one player who can be considered to be sitting at the top of the heap in NetherRealm Studios’ games, it’s none other than Echo Fox’s Dominique “SonicFox” McLean. This young prodigy has proven to be a dominant force in Mortal Kombat X, as well as Injusice: Gods Among Us Before it, taking with him three straight championships at Evo.
It’s SonicFox’s path to his third Evo championship that this new short documentary from Phil Nolan is concerned with. Here, Nolan takes a closer look at SonicFox’s road to winning Evo 2016, and the opposition in front of him–in addition to this however, the video also gives us insight into what SonicFox’s goals are for the future, including his plans for college, and hopefully being able to work on his own fighting games.
