Category: Fighting Games

With the Skullgirls reaching its final revision, coming with the physical release of the title, the game will be reaching the point where it will stay for the foreseeable future. This lets players confidently build their strategies and definitively practice their tech.

cR|dekillsage, one of Skullgirls’ best players, took to YouTube to compile practical midscreen assist kills for every character in the game. Midscreen assist kills are only usable when scoring a happy birthday–a hit on both characters at once–while also killing the opponent’s point character early on. A skilled player can take advantage of this situation to close out both of their opponent’s characters at the same time.

If you enjoyed these midscreen kills, check out the last article we did on this topic a few months back.

Source: dekillsage

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

Ricki Ortiz of Evil Geniuses was always stuck in a crisis of sorts in Street Fighter IV. Known for her Rufus play, she was always a strong player near the top. However, she was never fully able to capitalize on the biggest events, with her highest placement at Evolution being 2nd in 2010, and 9th at Capcom Cup in 2014. But with a new game and a familiar character, has Ricki found everything she needs to decimate the pack?

Let’s Get it on Now

Ricki was most known for her play in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, before her Rufus was pushed to the forefront during the Street Fighter IV era. While Ortiz was able to bring out Chun-Li in the IV series in certain matchups, she never dedicated herself to the character like others, possibly owing to the difficult matches Chun-Li had against the highest competitive tiers in the game.

However, if there was ever a game to return to Chun-Li in, Street Fighter V is it. Her aggressive style play in 3rd Strike–we’re seeing similar from her this time around. While being able to react well, she also makes really strong reads on her opponents’ wake-ups that allow her to push the tempo of the match.

But not only does she have this, but she has a good presence of mind on her own wake-up, which allows her to escape various situations that could cost her matches. She plays a solid game, and should make some strong decisions in Capcom Cup.

On the Prowl

Another thing that you can definitely say about Ricki is her ability to never be out of contention. Out of 28 events, she has placed top 8 in 19 of them. This strong consistency has what kept Ricki in the hunt for a Capcom Cup berth for the entirety of the season.

Stats, Stats, Stats

But while those stats are impressive, there’s one that denotes her placement in Capcom Cup. Out of those 19 top eights, she has only won one event at Defend the North. Making top 8 is no easy feat, and I refuse to scoff at the ones she did make. However, not closing tournaments out does not garner any confidence that she will bring the title home for America for the first time.

Asia Factor

But to further compound her issues going into Anaheim, we have to look at her performance at the Asia Regional Finals. This will definitely be a litmus test of how she is going to do at Capcom Cup, as she is currently projected to play ZOWIE|GamerBee first round, and potentially either Tokido or Yukadon should she dispatch of the ‘Bee.

At the Asia Finals, she was able to take out HM|Go1 in the first round. She then subsequently lost to MOV in the 2nd round of winners bracket, then lost to HuoMaoTV|HumanBomb to end her run at 1-2. While this won’t build a lot of confidence–and at least two of those three are at Capcom Cup as well–it should be taken with a grain of salt. She essentially was a Chun facing a legion of Chuns and fell to them, essentially proving to not be the best at the mirror.

Again, at Canada Cup, Ortiz was gliding along rather well, until she faced OR|Nuki–again a Chun mirror–who sent her out just shy of a 20th top 8. Again at The Fall Classic, Ricki found herself ousted in a mirror by CoinUp|Ludovic. She is a great player that falls to the mirror more often than not.

Final Thoughts

Ricki is a great player, but is she “Capcom Cup champion” great? Unlikely, doubly so should she face a fellow Chun-Li–of which there are possibly four others making their way to Anaheim.

She could easily make top 16, but I’ll guess that she goes 2-2 in this event.

They won’t hear the full ten count!

Balrog is a damage-dealing monster in Street Fighter V, his playstyle well-suited to his personality. NurseLee has added to their growing collection of meaty videos with one dedicated to Balrog’s Hard Smasher target combo, and the potential meaty setups you can follow it with. The video offers a number of options, from basic post-target-combo meaties to V-Skill cancels as part of the follow-up. Check it out below.

Source: NurseLee

Safe jumps are a huge tool for players wanting to limit their opponent’s options. Just being able to create hesitation on your opponent from using their reversal options is big, so finding your character’s safe jump options is always a worthwhile endeavor.

Today we have a compilation courtesy of A1Major, a King of Fighters player, who saw to it to find an Safe Jump option for every character in the cast. Such a list is amazing, especially with the helpful notes he leaves on each example. Some of these setups aren’t very practical, and there are of course more setups to discover. A1Major urges players to use this as a stepping stone to delve deeper and learn more about their characters from this.

It’s a long video; there are time stamps on the description of the video, to help you more easily find your characters of choice.

Source: A1Major

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

Benjamin “Problem X” Simon has long been one of Europe’s elite. The British player was one of the world’s most explosive proponents of Seth over the course of Street Fighter IV, and has maintained his consistent results throughout the first year of Street Fighter V.

With him making his way to the Capcom Cup through the European leaderboard, what does he have to offer when he crosses the pond?

A Bevy of Characters

Where Problem X mostly stuck with Seth throughout the course of SFIV, he has diversified his play with Street Fighter V. After seeing early success with M. Bison, he has added Alex to his repertoire, making the Brooklyn brawler his go-to character. He has also employed four other characters during the season, including Guile, R. Mika, Zangief, and Birdie. He has had success during his time with all of these characters.

However, his diversity could be a double-edged sword. Having too many characters can also be a problem, especially in early phases of a game’s life.

One thing that I always remember was a set at Evolution 2010 where Korean player Laugh played against a Dhalsim. Ever the tactician, expert, and counter-picker, Laugh–after dropping the first game with his patented Ryu–moved over to Rufus, a character he knew was a counter to Dhalsim. While knowledge is one thing, execution is another–and Laugh failed to execute and lost the set.

While Problem X’s mileage may vary in this department, the risk remains the same. If he knows on paper one of his characters wins a certain matchup, but hasn’t had experience of it, he could go for the counter to his detriment, rather than sticking to the character he has the most experience with and gutting it out. Further, with his proclivity to play various characters, we could see him risk his entire tournament run on a character that we have yet to see him play, just because Problem knows it’s a good counter-pick.

Really, the only players I see doing this and succeeding at this point could be RZR|Infiltration or Liquid|NuckleDu. Problem X doesn’t come to mind here.

Tiers

One of the biggest problems facing Problem X is that his characters will not be strong enough to bring him to the top 8 alone. The two characters he regularly plays–Bison and Alex– are both considered far from top tier. Both have flaws, and both of them have more bad matchups than good.

He has already shown that he can play higher tier characters such as Guile and Mika at times. If he was hungry for the Capcom Cup win, he would have played one of them on a more regular basis. He hasn’t. His standard picks are going to give him lots of problems facing the players going to Anaheim.

The Losing Edge

Simon has consistently been a threat to make top 8 in Europe. However, where are his wins?

The problem is that all of Problem X’s tournament victories are way back within the first two months of Street Fighter V’s life. Not only that, but they were local events in the UK. Even with these locals being stacked with talent, and his strong understanding of the game from day one, he hasn’t been able to ramp up his chances of closing out events beyond the local scene.

He has come close since, sure, but he is not playing at the level he should be if he wants to be a serious threat at Capcom Cup. His consistency should be applauded, but he needs to be winning more consistently to have any serious projections coming into Anaheim.

Final Thoughts

Problem X is problematic for everyone he plays. He’s a solid player with a great understanding of Street Fighter V. However, he has problems in sealing the deal, and his characters–as well as his character crises–are not doing him any favors.

Simon is yet another player that I see going 0-2 leading into Capcom Cup. He could possibly steal a win from someone not prepared for Alex or his other unusual pocket characters, but it’s a long shot.