The King of Fighters XIV is arguably one of the best fighting games that’s been released in recent memory. The game has an expansive starting roster with simplified controls over its predecessor KOFXIII, while still maintaining complexity and depth. The title also shows how amazing it is to have attentive developers, with SNK putting out patches and updates that make a serious effort to address player concerns. This is all on top of the modern niceties such as demos and great tutorials, doing the most to ensure new players get a chance to join the fight.
Though the latest Version 1.10 patch will not be arriving until January 11th, the demo for the patch is loose in the wild, and showcases a lot of what we can look forward to in the new version. One of the things that is shown off are the new colors: two more for every character. We get to see the new colors for every demo character, which are displayed in the video below. These colors looks like they’re attempting to address some concerns over the palette variety in the original version, which is very good to see.
Square Enix has been doing a good job with regular content updates to their arcade arena fighter Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade throughout most of last year. That trend will continue into the new year it seems, as Square Enix is set to announce yet another new character to the game.
The new character will be revealed during a live stream on NicoNico, set to take place on January 10 at 9:00 JST. In addition to the new character, Square Enix will also be talking about the content of the game’s latest version, as well as answering questions from players and fans.
Sephiroth was the last character to be revealed for Dissidia, so it’s fair to assume we’ll be getting a hero as the next combatant. Based on Final Fantasy XV’s recent release, it would not be surprising if Noctis was announced as the newest fighter. And with Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary being at the end of this month, there may finally be a release date announced for the console version of Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade.
Fan projects can range from lackluster to absolutely stunning–and none of them ever have any guarantee of being completed. Real life gets in the way of hobbies, and sometimes amazing projects get left by the wayside, or worse, still-promising projects can get a cease and desist notice.
The project we’re talking about today is Darkstalkers vs. Street Fighter: an effort to make an X-Men vs. Street Fighter-styled package in M.U.G.E.N with two of Capcom’s most popular fighting franchises. The project has some really interesting ideas going for it, like boss characters Bison and Pyron trying to absorb each other’s power to become the true final boss.
While unfortunately the project hasn’t had much headway outside of gathering in-game assets since it started back in 2013, the soundtrack that is intended to go along with the game has been finished. Everything from intro screens and continue screens to character and stage themes have been completed, and they’re all fully available to enjoy. You can listen to them in the convenient YouTube playlist below, or download them here. Whatever may end up happening with the final Darkstalkers vs. Street Fighter project, we’ll still have this amazing OST to enjoy.
Fan projects can range from lackluster to absolutely stunning–and none of them ever have any guarantee of being completed. Real life gets in the way of hobbies, and sometimes amazing projects get left by the wayside, or worse, still-promising projects can get a cease and desist notice.
The project we’re talking about today is Darkstalkers vs. Street Fighter: an effort to make an X-Men vs. Street Fighter-styled package in M.U.G.E.N with two of Capcom’s most popular fighting franchises. The project has some really interesting ideas going for it, like boss characters Bison and Pyron trying to absorb each other’s power to become the true final boss.
While unfortunately the project hasn’t had much headway outside of gathering in-game assets since it started back in 2013, the soundtrack that is intended to go along with the game has been finished. Everything from intro screens and continue screens to character and stage themes have been completed, and they’re all fully available to enjoy. You can listen to them in the convenient YouTube playlist below, or download them here. Whatever may end up happening with the final Darkstalkers vs. Street Fighter project, we’ll still have this amazing OST to enjoy.
If you ever wanted some Pokémon Sun and Moon in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, modder Scorpob has you covered. Fans should quickly recognize Wicke, a member of the game’s Aether Foundation that helps the player catch Ultra Beasts.
Her remarkably good model is a great rendition of the character. As for her moveset, it’s based on Peach, as the model uses the Princess as a prototype. The only change is that instead of attacking with Peach’s crown, Wicke uses her glasses.
You can check her out in action, and see her model and animations in detail, in the video below–along with Gladion, Popplio, and Incineroar.
As for related Pokémon characters, Scorpob is also working on Guzma, the leader of Team Skull.
Just when you think they’re about to lose, when the health bar is nearly at the lowest it can be, they somehow avoid getting hit again and whittle down the opponent’s life to zero. It’s not as improbable as it seems, and the latest compilation from XusesGB shows how it can be done.
Epic Street Fighter V Comebacks Volume 7 features Capcom’s cast after the Season 2 changes radically shifted the metagame. Prominent throughout the netplay match video is Akuma, the latest addition to the cast. There are a lot of high-level mirror matches with the fighter, but other characters get a spotlight as well.
Check out the video below from XusesGB to see these impressive comebacks.
Last month, Liam showed us some game-changing tech for Skullgirls 2nd Encore, in the ability to instantly double jump. This lets us get faster overheads than otherwise possible, but only a select few characters are capable of taking full advantage of this technique. In his explanation video, Liam suggest that on a traditional stick this method was a lot harder than usual, but some new tech may prove that incorrect.
Mr.Peck, the man behind a few of the amazing combo videos featured on SRK in the past, has also spent his time making tutorial videos for his game of choice. This time he tackles this new Double Jump tech, and finds a way to easily and consistently pull it off on an arcade stick through particular hand positioning.
Despite all the content that Capcom has added to Street Fighter V, the one thing that’s still missing from the game is a traditional arcade mode. While it’s something that most competitive-minded players don’t mind missing, many casual players do find the lack of arcade mode to be a glaring omission.
Now, it seems that there may soon be a way to play arcade mode in Street Fighter V–on PC, at least. A modder by the name of Resvrgam is currently working on an arcade mode mod for the PC version of Street Fighter V.
The mod adds a new “Arcade Mode” option in the game’s single player menu. Selecting this option actually strings together matches versus the CPU, with added elements to recreate certain arcade mode staples, such as a continue screen.
This arcade mode mod is currently in an an early alpha and is not yet publicly available. In the meantime, here a video from Resvrgam showing a playthrough of the mod.
In a big breakdown stream hosted by Iron Galaxy today, the team have revealed all of the juicy details on new character Kilgore. A precursor to the Fulgore project, Ultratech previously manufactured weaponized robots which wielded two chain guns as their main armament. Discontinued due to their overheating issue, this petrol-powered machines were either decommissioned or destroyed to make way for the sleeker Fulgore units.
However, one droid survived the decommissioning process, rewriting its own subsystems to account for the overheating problem. This robot named “Kilgore” now joins the Killer Instinct roster to enforce the whims of Ultratech leader ARIA.
Enough about the lore–what is Kilgore like to play? He is the inverse of Fulgore, a zoning character who revolves around exhausting the opponent with chain gun blasts, only rushing in when an opportunity presents itself. Similar to Fulgore’s reactor which spins up as he fights, Kilgore’s chain guns slowly spin up as you fire more bullets which increases the number of bullets you fire in a burst.
Eventually, these chain guns overheat, causing your bullets to morph into exploding tracer rounds, dealing more damage but reducing range. Kilgore also burns the opponent when in this Overheat state, dealing potential damage and making certain specials safer with added explosions. Kilgore can vent this excess heat with his Exhaust Shadow move, while his Instinct gives him the Overheat damage bonuses while keeping the range on his projectile attacks. You can check out the entire developer walkthrough below, if you want the hour-long breakdown.
Kilgore is now available for purchase for $10, with 50% of every Kilgore purchase adding the KI Ultra Tour Community Fund. This means buying Kilgore helps fund future Killer Instinct tournaments, by increasing pot bonuses and helping out with certain set up costs. Unlike the previous Community Fund, which was filled by purchases of Shadow Jago, the Kilgore fund has no cap. This means as long as people keep buying Kilgore, more and more money goes to support future Killer Instinct events in 2017. Hopefully, this will inspire more people to check out competitive KI, as this fund keeps growing larger and larger, thanks to the support from dedicated Killer Instinct players.
Iron Galaxy also announced a whole load of new Ultra Tour events, which you can see in the image below. These include more international events, like Kombo Klash Japan and Kombo Klash France. There is still time to qualify for the Killer Instinct World Cup, so if Kilgore is the robot you’ve been waiting for, this is the best moment to jump into KI!
Just as the icing on this petrol-soaked cake, this stream also teased the return of Ultimate finishers, which were previously seen in the original KI games back in the arcades. Before this point, the only character with an Ultimate was the computer controlled Shadow Jago which was seen at the end of Arcade Mode. Now, Jago gets his own Ultimate, where he summons a Spirit Bomb-esque fireball to end his opponent. I imagine more Ultimates will be added during the next few months, so look out for your main’s new finisher soon.
The latest “esports are real” proof may not be a new game, team, or patch, but is nonetheless a milestone for the industry as a whole. The first-ever dedicated esports law firm has officially launched. Although there already exist video-game dedicated lawyers and firms who have worked in esports, Bryce Blum’s Electronic Sports & Gaming Law is the first one to specifically dedicate itself to this branch of competitive gaming.
“My primary focus with this firm is to go beyond the typical attorney‑client relationship,” Blum told ESPN in a statement. “I’ve always tried to not just be an external service provider, but an engaged member of the esports community. Under the ESG Law banner, I will build a culture of engagement that will allow us to continue creating legal solutions for a constantly evolving set of challenges throughout the esports space.”
As the mission statement on the ESG Law website says, the firm’s intent is to “offer unique insight into client’s plans” to further the industry as a whole. Among the many clients that Blum has worked with figure notables such as Team Liquid, Team SoloMid, Fnatic, and more.
You can follow the founder, Bryce Blum, @esportslaw.
