2017’s Cooperation Cup received the most attention the series has ever received. The annual Japanese Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike event definitely owes a lot of this to the live English broadcast on Twitch, whereas previous iterations were in Japanese only, and available only through paid Japanese service NicoNico–a large hurdle for people not in Japan.
In this piece by Yahoo! Esports, Michael Martin talked to Arlieth and Duralath–two American 3rd Strike mainstays, who also participated at Cooperation Cup as players and commentators–about their involvement and experience at the event. They also cover some of the most exciting moments of the event, including the incredible parry into Genei Jin moment between Nitto and Matsuken.
Before streaming, Twitch, Twitter, and Discord, and similar tools, the fighting game community relied more on grassroots organization and word of mouth. Whether you remember a time when VHS tapes were still in fashion or not, James Chen has made a few podcast-style shows that talk about the past of the fighting game scene.
UltraChenTV’s mini-series, “History of East Coast vs. West Coast,” talks about the roots of rivalry between the two regions. Chen’s blast from the past brings up how the scene was first figuring out how to get match footage to share with others, how Battle by the Bay brought out some NorCal and SoCal competition, and how the two ends of the country started to meet up to battle. He also goes over some old footage, and analyzes the different styles from both regions. Echo Fox|Justin Wong and Alex Valle also joined in the chat.
View the first video below for a little storytelling time, and the UltraChenTV playlist has all three segments.
Are you in Europe and have been waiting impatiently to get your hands on Tekken 7? Have you been drooling with envy of Asia and North America for their early access to the game? Wait no longer!
If you are a Tekken fan and have a chance to go to Milan, Italy for Milan Games Dome, you might want to add this to your travel plans. The event, which is on February 11, 2017, will have the most recent build of the console version of Tekken 7 available to play. This build will feature Lee Chaolan and Miguel in playable form as well, which might just make up for the time you’ve had to wait for this title.
In light of today’s big news regarding Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 (are you hype for Baiken and Answer, or what?), one of the most Guilty Gear-centric tournaments that’s coming up, Frosty Faustings IX, is giving an extra chance to pre-register.
The deadline is extended till midnight PST today, January 14th. Other than some big pot bonuses for Street Fighter V, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Killer Instinct World Cup Qualifying spots, among others, some major names are confirmed in attendance for the tournament in Illinois. Just today, the organizers Mike “ElvenShadow” Boczar and Michael “SuperGreekFyter” Hionis received confirmation that Ryo “CO|Dogura” Nozaki and Goichi “HM|GO1” Kishida from Japan have registered for the event. That’s in addition to famous, top-notch talent in every game featured at Frosty Faustings, such as Liquid|’NuckleDu, RZR|PerfectLegend, Ghris G, KBR, Nakkiel, BananaKen, F3|Hollywood Sleep, BjornSonofBear, MC|GCYoshi, PG|MarlinPie, and so many more. View the gallery below for more names.
“In celebration of the GG Xrd REV 2 announcement from Arc System Works and Aksys Games, and due to the exciting amount of talent who recently registered for Frosty Faustings IX, we have decided to extend registration for one final day!” said ElvenShadow in a statement to SRK. “This will be the absolute last chance to register until on-site registration at the event. Please do not miss out on our raffle for pre-registered players only, and keep in mind we cannot guarantee region or skill seeding for on-site-registered players.”
Some time ago, we ran a sneak peak at the beautiful hand-drawn Street Fighter fan animation project from Paul “OtaKing” Johnson. A well-known creator of hand-drawn animations, both fan-works and official projects, this new Street Fighter fan film is to be Otaking’s longest to date, clocking in at 20 minutes.
OtaKing recently reached out to us with some updates to his project. The biggest bit of news is that he’s now working on the project on a full-time basis. Previously, he was only able to animate it on the weekends, however that’s no longer the case as his previous long term contract has finished. The downside of this, of course, is that OtaKing is now relying solely on his Patreon to help cover the cost of this and other projects.
In addition to this, OtaKing has also released an updated preview of the film, this time showing some more characters: namely Guile, Cammy, and Juri.
While still somewhat rough, the video shows amazing attention to detail and also reflects the characters current movesets. Guile opens up with his Sonic Blade V-Skill and later on performs a combo into his Solid Puncher V-Trigger, while Cammy uses dive kicks to get in on a group of baddies and confirms her standing strong punch into a Cannon Drill.
The video, which you can watch below, also shows some bits of the animation process, showing some uncolored rough animations for some of the action scenes.
For more information on this, head on over to OtaKing’s Twitter where he posts updates on this and other projects that he’s working on.
Following the release date unveiling for Injustice 2 earlier this month, details have started to trickle in about the game at large, after a long period of silence. It seems that a small leak has emerged from this drip feed of information, as the PlayStation Store page for Injustice 2 has revealed that Darkseid will be a pre-order bonus for the DC fighter.
Darkseid just leaked as the preorder bonus for Injustice 2! Looks like he's the Goro of the game. pic.twitter.com/GKLJhpbGbx
Caught by notable FGC YouTuber Maximilian Dood, it seems that the DC villain will be similar to Goro in Mortal Kombat X, being a special pre-order bonus for those who really want Injustice 2 on launch day. While Goro was not the strongest character on launch, Darkseid is infamous within the DC universe for being one of the strongest villains out there, so I imagine he may be quite the formidable character.
With command of the disintegrating Omega Beams, speed and strength to rival Superman and near omnipotence, this long-time rival to the Justice League should be a force to be reckoned with in Injustice 2.
HORI’s Sako has been known as representing the excellence of execution in the FGC for forever. So when yet another character that requires a decent degree of execution steps forward, you can expect Sako to be licking his lips.
Known for his perfect execution with Chun-Li in Season 1, he is now setting his sights on Akuma in this video. How much does the execution matter here? With Sako it’s everything, and he shows exactly how dangerous Akuma can be in the right hands in this compilation.
Coming from the previous installment, one of the biggest changes in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is the fact that the game is returning to the 2 versus 2 format. The change harkens the game back to the series’ roots, when it first turned to the tag-team format with 1996’s X-Men vs. Street Fighter.
In a recent issue of Edge magazine, the co-producer Peter “ComboFiend” Rosas talks more about the change, reiterating the fact that it was done to help newcomers to the series. ComboFiend points out that with the 3 versus 3 system with assists, players had to make around 6 or so decisions before starting a fight. He also explains how one of those decisions more often than not involved a character whose sole purpose was to be an assist.
Players had to make roughly six decisions before they could fight. The people were looking for two characters, which corresponded to their preference. But the third fighter was chosen solely because of his function – perhaps he had a particularly strong anti-air move or something like that … This selection felt totally superfluous.
Series veterans should already be familiar with this, with top tier teams such as Magneto, Sentinel, Psylocke and Storm, Sentinel, Cyclops in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 demonstrating this.
In addition to this, ComboFiend states that they want to emphasize the feeling of partnership with the fighters, ostensibly, by giving both characters equal importance instead of having one purely as an assist character.
How all the other systems in the game–such as the Infinity Gems–will play into this, he doesn’t state. However he does confirm that we should expect more announcements later down the road.
At the end of the Arc System Works Fighting Game Award 2016, the company made the following announcement: Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is coming for the PlayStation 3, 4, and Steam.
A promotional trailer shows off two characters that will be added to the cast: “Business Ninja” Answer, who appeared in Story Mode and “Lone Samurai” Baiken, who also made an appearance in the narrative, as well as in the past Guilty Gear games. There will be additional Story Mode content, online play changes, and possible rebalancing for the cast.
Arc System Works doesn’t have a price point yet, but the company said it will make it “affordable” during the presentation. There will be a retail disc for the PlayStation 4 version, while PS3 and Steam will get it in form of DLC. REV 2 is expected to hit arcades this Spring.
On January 20th until the 22nd, location tests for REV 2 will begin.
Can I just say, Baiken, you’ve kept us waiting, huh? Stay tuned to SRK for more coverage regarding this development.
Sources: Famitsu; ASW Fighting Game Award Tournament
Since the return of Guilty Gear, with 2014’s Xrd, Guilty Gear has been going from strength to strength. For those who started with a Street Fighter game, however, it can be difficult to get into. With so many mechanics and skills to get to grips with, Guilty Gear can feel overwhelming, which is why TheoryFighter has started a series that aims to explain the game from the point of view of a Street Fighter player.
The first full episode kicks off by explaining how to play the neutral game in Guilty Gear, which appears incredibly frenetic but, according to TheoryFighter at least, isn’t as bad as it might seem.
Although this is an excellent, comprehensive explanation of how to understand the neutral, there is a lot of assumed knowledge. It’s not ideal for someone who has no idea how to play neutral, but if you know the basics, there’s a lot to learn here.
