Despite the Super Smash Bros. series being featured in tournaments alongside traditional fighting game franchises like Street Fighter and Tekken, there are still people in the fighting game community that believe Smash is not a “real” fighting game. Though there are obvious ways in which Super Smash Bros. does not fit the mold of a “traditional” fighting game, it is not uncommon to hear Smash players argue that getting good at Smash requires the same amount of dedication and mental dexterity as it does to heighten your skill level in any other fighter–if not more so!
Smash Central has released a video in support of the aforementioned argument to YouTube, entitled “Is Smash Bros. a REAL Fighting Game?” In the video, they admit that there are many aspects of Super Smash Bros. that are definitely nontraditional, but that doesn’t make it any less of a fighting game. He argues that every fighting game has its own unique attributes, and there are more similarities between Super Smash Bros. titles and other fighting games than there are differences.
You may not agree with everything Smash Central says, but they make some pretty sound points. You can watch the video below to hear the full stance.
One of the best things about Tekken–you know, other than its stellar and deep gameplay–is the ability to customize your main in a multitude of ways. It has been like this for a long time in the Tekken universe, and it looks like Tekken 7: Fated Retribution is no exception.
Revealed recently are multiple different options to accessorize your characters. First up, we have what is called the “Kiwami”–or “Ultimate”–collection. These are two piece costumes that which each piece can be selected individually.
As Tekken 7: Fated Retribution rolls closer to console release, we can assume that all these costumes will also be readily available in the console version for us to customize to our hearts’ delight.
With January 27th a little over a month away, the folks at Frosty Faustings are busy with announcements for the ninth installment of the acclaimed tournament series in suburban Chicago, Illinois. They have already announced numerous pot bonuses, and the announcements of bigger pots continue to pour in.
Frosty Faustings, already one of the final stops on the Killer Instinct World Cup tournament series, is now boasting a $1,000 pot bonus for the game. This pot bonus is presented by the KI Ultra Tour.
With all of these announcements, Killer Instinct is shaping up to be huge at Frosty Faustings. Make sure that if you are a player of this game, to get your registration in for Frosty Faustings.
Ibuki has long been a character known for her ambigious setups, and most notorious for her vortex potential in the Street Fighter IV series. In Street Fighter V, it seems like old habits die hard, as Ibuki still has insanely ambiguous setups–and potent damage potential off of them.
Here are a couple of videos that better flesh out how lethal she can be off her setups. In this first video, watch the usage of her forward roundhouse in order to create these dirty left/right mixups that are difficult to react to on the fly. These setups can be used in a variety of situations.
In this second video–which is actually the first in this series, but does better here as the last one–we find a corner only setup. This one also requires the use of at least 4 kunai, which makes management of this resource of the essence for Ibuki mains.
One of the most notable aspects of development in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is the presence of the Marvel Games team in the process. Whereas previous installments of the series have been produced primarily by Capcom with Marvel holding the rights to decide which of their characters make the cut, it seems that this time they are sticking their hands deeper into the development mud that ever before.
Michael Martin from Yahoo Esports talked to executive producer Mike Jones and creative director Bill Rosemann of Marvel Games about the new title, and their role in the game’s production. The Marvel team seems to be mainly in charge of story, with Jones quoted as saying, “What we’ve never been able to do is tell the story about why these worlds are coming together,” and Rosemann further elaborating, “There’s a reason for everything. You’ll notice in the backgrounds it looks like the worlds are merged. The question is who did this? These are questions and mysteries that will be answered as you play the game.”
One of the most unique tournament organizers of the last decade has always been Mike “ElvenShadow” Boczar. Having spent the greater part of his career organizing events living in Japan, he always came back home to his native Chicago to run Frosty Faustings over the course of his winter break from work.
Now relocated back to Chicago with wife and child in tow, Boczar hasn’t slowed down on two things: his passion for running Frosty Faustings and his love of the Guilty Gear series, the latter of which plays a big part in the aforementioned event–name notwithstanding! This is the point of Boczar’s life where our very own Luke “Woocash” Siuty caught up with him on behalf of Red Bull eSports to discuss the event, and his time playing in Japan. He also talks about the time where he was beating top players such as Abegen and Kishitaka with players commenting behind him that “foreigners don’t play Guilty Gear.”
Combo virtuoso desk returns to YouTube with a “Season Finale” for Street Fighter V’s Zangief! So many elbows, knees, lariats and juggles… but fun to see how some-well-timed Muscle Power (read: V-Reversal) can put F.A.N.G in his place with a Borscht Dynamite. You still gotta watch out for those Aegis Reflectors though, ‘Gief.
After the combo craziness, desk appends the CMV with some notes as to what mechanics are involved in some of this strange stuff, like the standing 720° Critical Art that still gets grabbed with an EX Spinning Pile Driver, and how to exploit the Cyclone Lariat’s timing for combo connections.
Some time back, we got some hints that more classic costumes would be coming to The King of Fighters XIV as downloadable content. Now, we have our first official confirmation of a new classic costume from SNK themselves.
In a recent tweet, SNK has announced that Athena Asamiya’s classic costume from The King of Fighters ’98 will be coming “very soon” to The King of Fighters XIV.
Now while SNK has yet to give a specific date for when the costume will be released, producer Yasuyuki Oda has stated on the KOF World Facebook page that it will be available for free for a limited time.
Some time back, we got some hints that more classic costumes would be coming to The King of Fighters XIV as downloadable content. Now, we have our first official confirmation of a new classic costume from SNK themselves.
In a recent tweet, SNK has announced that Athena Asamiya’s classic costume from The King of Fighters ’98 will be coming “very soon” to The King of Fighters XIV.
Now while SNK has yet to give a specific date for when the costume will be released, producer Yasuyuki Oda has stated on the KOF World Facebook page that it will be available for free for a limited time.
You’ve likely heard of “fuzzy guard” setups by this point. The premise is that when you block something standing—like an air normal—you have a set amount of time where your character is stuck in a standing block animation. While you can change your input to crouch block, you’re still stuck in a standing animation while the blockstun finishes. During this time your standing character is vulnerable to “instant overheads” using jump normals on the way up.
A quick video example from Ibuki in Street Fighter V:
After the cross-up, if you were to crouch block you’d get caught by the instant jumping light kick.
Fuzzy blocking utilizes this concept as a defensive perk. In Guilty Gear, it’s something akin to the usefulness of the jump back + throw tech option select in SFV. It can escape throws while also covering several high/low mixups.
While blocking, you go from down-back, to up-back (+two buttons for Faultless Defense), to back, to down-back.
How long should you hold the Faultless Defense for? It mostly depends if you went airborne or not, but if you have meter to spare it can of course be useful for its pushback function.
Here’s an example against a few mixups from I-no, who has some of the scariest high/low pressure in the game:
Considering your typical pressure timing: most characters lows start up in about 5 frames, while their command overheads are typically closer to 20 frame startup. (If all they have is standing Dust, that’s usually closer to 25 frames.)
Starting with low block covers the timing for a typical meaty low. If they put you in blockstun, you won’t be able to jump and you will then just be high blocking for a moment. If they did not put you in blockstun, you will jump out. This will cover many basic mixups: going low immediately, a low followed by an overhead, a (command) grab instead of any normals, etc.
It’s best used after you’ve shown your opponent you’re willing to block when on the defense. If you use it immediately on your wakeup, a basic gatling with a delayed low (2P > 2K) or multiple lows (2K > 2D) is going to hit you. Using it later in a pressure string can be more effective. Know your opponent’s options: what they can gatling into, how many lows they have, etc.
Once you’ve conditioned them to try higher levels of mixup, though—this is a good time to apply this. This strong defensive option is also useful when you suspect a command throw might be coming.
Another example vs I-no, but this can be applied to many airdash pressure strings:
A common way for I-no to extend her pressure is Chemical Love YRC air dash forward. The mixup used here is airdash j.S, j.HS into j.D (for a third overhead), or land and go low. Because the low comes out fast compared to when the j.D hits, this option used right after the j.HS covers both options.
It should be noted that if she’s using other strings like j.S j.K j.S off the airdash that this is much harder. Those strings require closer spacing though, so you can use FD (Faultless Defense) to push her out of range of j.K, giving you an out.
The timing of this technique takes some practice to get used to, but it’s well worth learning.
Fuzzy blocking is quite an asset. It takes some practice to find the timing and where it’s applicable. It’s not infallible, though. If it’s obvious you’re doing it every time you get knocked down, it can be easily countered. Used wisely, however, this can get you out of a lot of difficult pressure situations, including mixups you may not be able to react to.
