Category: Fighting Games

SPLITFRAME’s FS Transporter arcade stick bags are some of the best options players have for carrying their arcade stick with them. Sadly, the popularity of these items means that they tend to sell out quite quickly. Now, for those who still haven’t gotten a chance to pick one of these up, SPLITFRAME has some great news: they’ve just opened preorders for their latest iteration of the FS Transporter line, the FS Transporter 2 R.

The FS Transporter 2 R is an evolution of the already successful FS Transporter design: specifically, it’s based on the FS Transporter 2 that they released at Evo 2016. As with the previous versions, the FS Transporter 2 R is designed to fit most of today’s biggest arcade sticks from the HORI RAP4, MadCatz Tournament Edition 2, and even the massive HORI RAP Premium VLX.

Improvements to the FS Transporter 2 R include higher quality fabrics, triple reinforced stitching, and waterproof zippers to help keep moisture out.

The FS Trasporter 2 XL will retail for $99.98 when it ships later in the year. However, those who preorder it get the discounted price of $84.98.

Source: SPLITFRAME

The gents over at Source Gaming are back with another translation of Masahiro Sakurai’s latest Famitsu column. In the past he’s discussed some intricacies of Smash’s design and balance and compared it to other high profile games, and the subject of today’s column is none other than 2011’s FGC staple Marvel vs. Capcom 3. And he’s not just talking about the game’s design–he’s talking about how it functions in tournament-level play and how it can be compared to the Super Smash Bros. series.

“When you watch high level matches of Marvel, you will often see players start a combo, and keep it going until their opponent is KO’d,” Sakurai said. “You can convert a single stray hit into a very long combo, and it’s not rare to see a character start with full health and lose all of it from a single combo.”

It’s fair to say that there’s not been a game in the Smash series as combo-centric as any Marvel vs. Capcom game, so it might not be immediately clear that there are any parallels between these games, in tournament play or otherwise. But reflecting on some common fan feedback in regards to balance in Smash, Sakurai makes some sense of it.

“In the case of Smash, that would be people who say things like, “This character’s down-special is too strong, fix it!” They probably think that because they keep getting hit by it and can’t avoid it, or they think the move simply isn’t balanced. I think that reasoning is fairly common.” Sakurai said. However, Sakurai then goes onto state that “if someone’s using a tactic that’s giving you trouble, just adopt their tactic, and win,” rather than complaining about game balance and certain tactics being overpowered. Hearing Sakurai basically say “learn to adapt” is quite something, seeing as he has had quite the strained relationship with the competitive aspects of Smash in the past.

The whole article provides a lot of insight and Source Gaming’s translation is fantastic as usual. If you’re a fan of either series and have ever wondered about the philosophy behind balancing either of these games, it’s definitely worth a full read.

Sources: Source Gaming

With Tekken 7: Fated Retribution still slated for an early 2017 console release, western Tekken players have had little chance to get their hands on the game to understand the full nuances of the title–let alone have the ability to discern character rankings. Most of the competitive Tekken 7 information we get is being siphoned from South Korea and Japan, whose vibrant arcade scenes allow for information to be brought out before we can get our hands on the game.

Thankfully–with enough time under their belts–top Japanese players are starting to flesh out their tier lists, and Flying Wonkey at Avoiding the Puddle has the understanding of Japanese needed to translate the tier lists. The tier lists come directly from the Twitter accounts of three high level players in Japan–including Ao (Evolution 2015 runner up in Tekken 7), Rage, and Tsubumi.

Ao’s Tier List:

S+: Steve, Hwoarang

S: Marshall Law, King, Bryan, Kazuya

A: Heihachi, Devil Jin, Xiaoyu, Dragunov, Feng, Bob, Kazumi, Akuma, Nina

B: Paul, Leo, Alisa, Lars, Shaheen, Jin, JACK-7, Lili, Yoshimitsu, Claudio, Josie

C: Asuka, Lucky Chloe, Gigas

AO的キャラランク
S＋スティーブ　ファラン　
S ロウ キング ブライアン 一八
A　平八 デビル シャオドラグノフ フェン ボブ 一美 豪鬼 ニーナ
B　ポール レオ アリサ ラース シャヒーン 仁 ジャック リリ 吉光 クラウディオ ジョシー
C 飛鳥 クロエ ギガース

— アオ (@SmilyAo) September 6, 2016

Rage’s Tier List:

SSS: Hwoarang

SS: Steve

SS-: Bryan

S: Xiaoyu, Devil Jin, King, Nina, Alisa, Feng,

A+: Law, Paul, Claudio, Kazuya, Heihachi

A: Bob, Dragunov, Shaheen, Kazumi, Yoshimitsu, Jin, Lars, Lili, Katarina

A-: Asuka, JACK-7, Josie

B: Gigas, Lucky Chloe

No Akuma placing.

Tsubumi’s Tier List:

SS: Hwoarang, Steve

S: Bryan, Marshall Law, King

A+: Kazuya, Devil Jin, Shaheen, Feng, Akuma, Nina, Xiaoyu

A: Alisa, Kazumi, Lars, Claudio, Yoshimitsu, Heihachi, Dragunov, Josie, Paul, Jin, Lili, Bob, Leo

B: Katarina, JACK-7, Asuka

C: Lucky Chloe, Gigas

キャラランク
SSファラン スティーブ
Sブライアン ロウ キング
A＋一八 デビル シャヒーン フェン 豪鬼 ニーナ シャオ
Aアリサ 一美 ラース クラウディオ 吉光 平八 ドラグノフ ジョシー ポール 仁 リリボブ レオ
Bカタリーナ ジャック 飛鳥
Cクロエ ギガース

— つぶみ (@TEKKNNET) September 6, 2016

It’s worth noting that there is hardly any divergence in the tiers at this point. It does look like Japan has had enough time with the game to come to a general consensus on what is working on the game. Further, it seems that people are starting to understand the Akuma matchup, as the Street Fighter crossover has nestled himself a place in the middle of the rankings.

With this information, it may be easier for people to start zeroing in on characters to play when this game releases on consoles in 2017.

Source: Flying Wonkey

The forces of darkness are marshaling themselves against Earth, and Gargos is raring to start his invasion. However, due to modern military simulations–and Iron Galaxy’s desire to makes some last minute tweaks–Killer Instinct players can now sign up to get early access to the new single-player Shadow Lords mode, ahead of its September 20th release.

By going over to the sign up page over on Ultra Combo, players can get a chance to receive a Shadow Lords token which gives them the ability to play this mode early. This is not a guarantee that you will gain access if you sign up; Iron Galaxy is checking to see if they do need more players to generate extra data to help balance the mode before launch, so don’t be disappointed if you do not receive a token. Also, this sneak peek of Shadow Lords is only available for Xbox One users–and elements of the game will change ahead of its official release.

You are allowed to stream, make videos or take screenshots of Shadow Lords if you do gain early access but do keep in mind, it’s still subject to change, so don’t go making that tutorial video on how to beat Gargos in two seconds just yet. You can check out some footage of Shadow Lords from back in August at Gamescom, if you are on the fence about signing up for a chance at early access.

Source: Ultra Combo

Some time back, we reported on the fact that a set of unused stage transitions and finishes had been found in Street Fighter V. While interesting, the original discovery only allowed their animations to work in the Bustling Side Street stage. Now however, modders have found a way to get them to work in their proper stages.

TheChosenJuannn over at the r/StreetFighterMods subreddit has released a new mod that enables these stage transitions and finishes in their proper stages for the PC version of Street Fighter V.  Sadly, as you can see in the video below, the mod only shows the animation of the defeated character–the stages themselves seem to be missing more than a few models, textures, and animations. Still, it offers a glimpse into something that Capcom is likely adding sometime down the line.

Interested players on PC can find the mod over on Reddit. Take note that the mod only adds the right side transitions and finishes–the left side ones have yet to be made to work. More importantly, using these online can cause a disconnect when they’re triggered.

Sources: Reddit; SFV Mods Street Fighter V Mods

A couple of weeks back, Capcom shared some rejected superhero-esque costume ideas for Street Fighter V’s cast on the CFN Portal. Seeing these, more than a few fans were disappointed that these didn’t make the cut for the final game. Luckily, we have modder TheJamk coming to the rescue–at least for the PC version of the game.

First up, looking like a strange combination of Yatterman-1 and the X-Men’s Cyclops, is Space Ryu. The costume mod itself is nearly 100 percent accurate to the concept art, with only some minor differences with the visor and the cloth pieces from his headband coming out from the wrong place.

The second rejected costume brought to life is bunny-eared hoodie-wearing Paradise Storm Mika. Again, while the design isn’t 100% accurate to the original art, the differences here are even less noticeable than with Space Ryu thanks to the excellent job TheJamk has done in modeling the outfit.

Source: TheJamk