Category: Fighting Games

It was previously announced that Aksys Games would be releasing the much anticipated Arc System Works fighter in early November in North America. They took that promise 100% literally, as we now have a release date for BlazBlue: Central Fiction: slated in North America for November 1st on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. Is that early enough in November for everyone?

The game will ship with a choice of Standard and Limited Editions, with the Limited Edition containing a copy of the game, a collector’s box, deluxe 100-page hardcover art book, mini Noel Vermillion Nendoroid figure, and 10-track BlazBlue Song Interlude III soundtrack. For pad players looking to get a nice pad to compliment the game, Aksys Games will also have an edition of the game that includes a HORI Fighting Commander available for sale on their website.

While we have known about the October 6th Japanese release date for a while, we are still waiting on word of the firm European launch of the title, which is still slated for sometime in November.

Source: Gematsu

With ESL’s Brooklyn Beatdown just days away from hitting New York City, everyone is in preparation to fight for a chunk of the $75,000 prize pool up for grabs. Today, there are two interviews available from two players on different ends of the spectrum.

Firstly, theScore esports sat down and talked with Team Razer’s Xian, Evolution champion for Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition in 2012, runner-up at Korea’s Street Fighter V Crash, and currently ranked #6 in the world rankings. Xian has built a reputation for playing characters not viewed as viable and achieving immense success with them, and his pick of F.A.N.G in Street Fighter V is no exception. In the interview, he talks about his pick, as well as Ibuki–his pocket character–and hints at having a new strategy going into Brooklyn Beatdown.

On the opposite end, ESL talked with Commander Jesse, an up-and-coming player who is currently ranked #216, who qualified for winning at Wednesday Night Fights. While not favored to win Brooklyn Beatdown–which sports a stacked bracket including Razer’s Infiltration and the aforementioned Xian to name just a couple–the Southern California Dhalsim player states that he is excited to face off against the best in the world.

Sources: theScore esports; ESL

Final Round is one of the most storied events on the major circuit in the FGC. The Atlanta, Georgia, based event has been in existence since 1997, and next year will be its 20th anniversary of bringing the FGC together in the south.

Today, we learned that Larry “ShinBlanka” Dixon has set the dates for Final Round to March 10th through 12th of 2017. While a venue has yet to be set, if you are someone who can’t miss a Final Round, you now have dates to plan your flights around!

SAVE THE DATE: Final Round 20 // March 10-12, 2017 in ATL, GA (Venue TBA) @ATLfinalround

More @Tekken events: https://t.co/AMIpuTowTz

— TekkenGamer.com (@TekkenGamercom) September 29, 2016

Final Round is always one of the biggest events, with one of the broadest range of service toward fighting games, so if you are a fan of games new and old, you need to be there!

Source: TekkenGamer

Revealed in a brief teaser ahead of Twitchcon this weekend, the dueling tug-of-war simulator Nidhogg is getting a sequel in 2017. Nidhogg II has duelists now fighting with axes, throwing knives and bows–on top of the standard swords and fists–brutally slaughtering their opponent on as they race to the finish.

The most notable and divisive shift is the change in artstyle, going from the minimalist pixel art of the original, to a much more cartoony and vibrant aesthetic. Gone are the lithe stick figures of the original Nidhogg; instead Nidhogg II has fleshy, bulging fighters which look like the offspring of a Jelly Baby and a Simpsons character. While the character models may not be to everyone’s liking, the new backgrounds and weapons look great, bringing to mind old Amiga platformers which were bursting with color.

We may see more footage of Nidhogg II at Twitchcon, complete with more curb stomps and double KOs, but in the meantime watch the short teaser below.

Source: messhof

Degica Games, a Western publisher for Japanese titles that we had previously covered regarding CEOtaku’s Koihime Enbu pot bonus, has just released a lot of amazing information. Without further adieu, let’s get into it!

First, Degica has just released a free demo version of Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena on Steam. The game has 3 available characters–Xiao Mei, Rick, and Ryuga–and is playable online. If you are looking for a new title to get into, this game would be worth a try.

Second, Degica is announcing a community Thursday Fight Night on Steam. This is being billed as an event where you can “play fighting games, make new friends, earn points (which you can redeem for prizes, and have fun.” The event will take place on Thursday nights from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM PST, and will feature not only playing games such as Blade Arcus and Koihime Enbu, but also trivia games.

Finally, Degica will be starting a weekly stream hosted by Brett Young, who is well known streamer and tournament organizer in the anime FGC. Future streams will feature other top players.

Sources: Mitchell Scott, Degica Games (via email)

If you were at Evo 2016, you may have seen a bunch of shiny silver and gold metallic arcade parts from Sanwa Denshi on sale. If you missed the chance to get these at the event, we have some great news for you. After the limited release at Evo 2016, Sanwa Denshi will now be officially releasing their silver and gold metallic parts!

Starting on October 11, the Sanwa OBSF-30-AG (Gold) and OBSF-30-AU (Silver) pushbuttons, as well as the LB-35-AG (Gold) and LB-35-AU (Silver) 35 mm balltops will be available at retailers such as Arcade Shock, Paradise Arcade Shop, and Sanwa Denshi’s own store. Prices for these have not yet be released, and may very depending on region, exchange rates, and shipping costs.

In addition to these, Sanwa also recently showed off 24 mm variants of the metallic push buttons as well, and metallic dust and shaft covers for the arcade sticks. They have stated that they are looking into putting these into production, with the metallic dust and shaft covers being the last ones down the line.

Sources: Sanwa Denshi; Arcade Shock

While the genre is slowly growing as an esport, fighting game prize pools are still comparatively small compared to other genres, especially for games that don’t have large publisher backing. This is why when someone claims to have won nearly $30,000 dollars in a tournament, it tends to raise a few eyebrows.

When an unnamed temp staffer for Ota City, Japan held a press conference to claim that he had won ¥ 3,000,000 ($29,776 USD) for winning a Guilty Gear Xrd tournament held on September 20 and 21 in France, more than a few people were skeptical. With such a large prize pool, you’d think that this news would have been covered by major fighting game news sites, including us at Shoryuken. Indeed, not even Arc System Works’ own website lists such a tournament–a fact that, according to IT Media, had led many skeptics to dispute the player’s claim.

However, others also treated the story as legitimate. Both Jomo News and Asahi News reported on the story and the latter even interviewed the staffer in a now deleted article where he made statements on how his “driving force” to win was due to being mortified if he lost.

IT Media has shared a shot (with the player’s name removed) of one of the now deleted articles.

Faced with with mounting evidence and pressure from people on the net, the staffer finally admitted that the whole thing was too good to be true. “It was a lie,” he states to Mainichi News, which broke the story on the hoax. With this, the question now remains on what faces the player after his confession. According to FNN News (who covered the story on Japanese TV), Ota City officials are now looking at how to deal with him.

Sources: IT Media; Mainichi News; FNN; Kotaku

As Japan is gearing up for the console release of BlazBlue: Central Fiction, it’s Europe’s turn for an exciting announcement: dubbed “Azure Edition” and published by PQube, the latest in the BlazBlue fighting game series will go on sale this November with a handful of special goodies.

Similar to the US BlazBlue Limited Edition, the Azure Edition includes:

• An original 100-page artbook with a special collection ranging from all the games in the BlazBlue series
• The BlazBlue Song Interlude III Official Soundtrack (ten tracks)
• A Noel Vermillion Nendoroid Petit figure–the second version of the Bolverk-wielding fighter, fully supervised by BlazBlue creator Toshimichi Mori
• Exclusive artwork on the game box

This is available to pre-order exclusively through the Rice Digital store for £59.99 (PS3) or £69.99 (PS4), along with a special BlazBlue hoodie. While the date hasn’t been specified yet, the November release is closer in line with the US version.

Aksys Games also recently announced a BlazBlue: Central Fiction Limited Bundle with a HORI game pad.

Stay tuned to our continued coverage of BlazBlue as the Japanese version arrives on consoles on October 6th.

Source: Rice Digital