Category: News

A while back, some details about the upcoming arena fighter Kill la Kill the Game: IF were revealed via Famitsu. Now, Arc System Works has given out a bit more information (and some screenshots) via the game’s official website.

Most of the information posted is basically more detailed explanations of what was revealed before. This includes breakdowns of the simplified attack scheme, as well as the rock-paper-scissors style system between “Guard”, “Break Attack”, “Blows”, “Read Evasion Attack”, and “Evade Actions”. You can see how these interact with each other in the chart below.

As part of this, we get a clearer explanation of how the “Ketsui Hyoumei Enzetsu” (Speech of Expressed Determination) combat speech-making system works.

Designed to mimic the in-fight conversations from the original anime, the system is triggered by landing a “Ketsui Burst”, activated by pressing L1 and R1 at the same time. When this lands, players will then be able to trade arguments using a rock-paper-scissors style system. If the player who activated the Ketsui Hyoumei Enzetsu either wins or ties, their “Ketsui Level” increases permanently for the duration of the match.

Increasing a character’s Ketsui Level will significantly strengthen their character, increasing their strength, or even turning some special moves into super special moves. If a character’s Ketsui Level is maxed out, it will enable a deadly blow called “Seni Soushitsu Ougi”. Fans of the anime will recognize these as the moves Ryuko uses to end fights, so these may likely be this game’s version of the “Instant Kill” moves from other Arc System Works fighters.

In addition to all this, they’ve also released a bunch of new screenshots of the game. You can check these out in the gallery below.

Click to view slideshow.

Kill la Kill the Game: IF is set to launch on PlayStation 4 and PC sometime in 2019.

Source: Arc System Works, via Gematsu

It’s happening, folks. One of the games that helped shaped the Evolution tournament series into what it is today is back for another round. Ultra Street Fighter IV is back as a side tournament at Evo 2018 this weekend!

This will take place in the BYOC area of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV this Saturday at 1:30 PM. It’s a $5 entry with 70/20/10 pot split, and it is a double-elimination format. The game will be played on PlayStation 4, and there is a 128-player cap.

Currently, 110 players have already signed up on Challonge, which include some big names such as CYG BST|PR Balrog, Brenttiscool, Iansanity, Wolfkrone, Vicious, CastBlanka, and many more. If you want to compete, be sure to sign up now since slots are filling up fast. There might be on-site sign-ups an hour before the tournament begins if certain players don’t show, but no guarantees, since this might hit the 128-player cap soon.

This is a community-driven event and since it was last minute, there might not be a live stream for this game, so if you’re at Evo and want to spectate some high-level USFIV action, be sure to hit up the BYOC area. I’ll be competing myself, and helping out with this event by recording some matches to upload after Evo 2018 is over. Stay tuned for more details if anything new comes up!

Source: Challonge

The Japanese BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle website recently updated once again, revealing that the next Arc Nama stream will be taking place on Friday, August 17th. Though we’re hopefully going to see some official reveals for the nine remaining DLC characters this weekend at Evo 2018 (with Cross Character Pack 4 rumored to be releasing on Monday, August 6th, according to the Nintendo eShop). There’s a good chance we could be in store for a reveal, as Cross Character Pack 5 is rumored to drop on Tuesday, August 21st, just four days after this stream. Tthe developers may demo the trio of upcoming fighters before we get our hands on them officially.

As usual, we’ll just have to tune in at twitch.tv/arcsystemworks, at 4:00 AM PT/6:00 AM CT/7:00 AM ET to see what the team may have in store.

Source: blazblue.jp/tag

SNK has released a number of mobile games using their The King of Fighters IP. Now, another mobile adventure will be joining the likes of Destiny and All-Stars, and it’s bringing fans’ favorite fighters to the AR realm.

The Hong-Kong based studio Gameone is bringing yet another The King of Fighters title to smartphones. Much like the famed Pokémon GO, the upcoming The King of Fighters GO will use a fusion of GPS technology and Augmented Reality to bring players a unique experience that allows them to integrate the game into the real world. Instead of monsters, players will seek to catch and collect the wide array of SNK’s The King of Fighters characters, pitting them against other players’ teams to determine the stronger combatant.

Originally titled The King of Fighters — The Orochi Saga GO, the newly-named The King of Fighters GO brings back the ‘95-’97 Orochi Saga, with Orochi returning as the game’s final boss. However, the game is currently exclusive to residents of the Hong Kong area: participants in a recent closed beta received a VIP code through Hong Kong’s Anime and Games Convention. The beta ran from July 27th through July 31st for the iPhone iteration of the title via Testflight, and with the Android beta as yet unannounced, fans of the series can expect more news in the near future.

Source: MMCafe

With Evo being the biggest fighting game of the year, it’s no surprise then that NIS America and SNK are bringing SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy to the event. What may come as a surprise is that the former will be bringing the “launch day build” of the game; in other words, the version at Evo 2018 will be the same game that’ll go on sale in September.

As part of this, they will also be revealing the identity of the final character for the game at Evo 2018. We’ve already seen some hints of who this is — the trophies for the game seem to indicate that it’s Terry Bogard. Of course, “Terry” could actually be misdirection, and it could be someone like Alice, who’s pretty much a fan of Terry Bogard, and the Fatal Fury crew in general. Looks like we’ll find out who this really is at Evo 2018.

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy arrives in North America for PlayStation 4 and Switch on September 7. Evo 2018 takes place this weekend, August 3 to 5, at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

Source: NIS America (Twitter)

The recently-announced Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour originally featured seven major events, where winners receive one of seven Dragon Balls. Since then, Bandai has added Dragon Radar Events to the Tour, and more were just scheduled.

Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball FighterZ existed without an official tournament circuit for nearly five months. On June 22nd, the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour was announced, and the first event was just a few days away at CEO on June 28th. CEO marked the first of seven Saga events, where champions receive one of the seven Dragon Balls upon their victory — and a spot in the Tour’s Grand Finals.

More recently, Bandai announced the implementation of smaller, ranking events within the Tour. Dubbed Dragon Radar Events, winners of these tournaments receive free travel and lodging for any Saga event of their choice, or the Last-Chance Qualifier for the Grand Finals in January. A slew of DBFZ’s Radar Events have now been disclosed, with August chock full of Super Saiyan action.

Notable Radar Events this month include the Taiwan Fighter Major, coming up on the 18th of August, as well as Ireland’s Celtic Throwdown, France’s Ultimate Fighting Arena, and Indonesia’s C3 AFA Jakarta x Game Start. SoCal Regionals likewise joins the ranks of Radar Events for September, with Canada Cup and the Thailand Game Show following in October. Sweden’s DreamHack Winter also stands as a Radar event, with two other, online Radar events within the same month.

DBFZ’s Radar Events provide an important avenue for players without means of travel a chance to compete in the Tour’s Saga Events. With more regions represented in the Tour, as well as a number of Online Radar Events, Saga Events could very well see a rise in competition very soon. A full list of the Tour’s events can be found here.

Source: Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour

Injustice 2 will return to the Evolution Championship Series this year with a very different tournament landscape. With the game now into its second year of competitive play, the honeymoon phase is over — the players who were interested in exploring a new game have given way to those who were willing to keep up with the waves of patches and DLC characters that have redefined the game.

For those that remain invested, Evo 2018 is the fourth premier stop on the 2018 Injustice Pro Series, with a pot bonus of $10,000. Multiple balance changes and polarizing match-ups have led to a metagame fueled by counterpicks, forcing top players to adapt quickly or learn more than one character to stay ahead of the field.

The overall field is certainly smaller than last year, with a decrease in players from 880 to 361. A few factors outside of the game may have had an adverse effect on the community’s growth, including NetherRealm Studios’ late announcement of the 2018 Injustice Pro Series and speculation over the potential announcement of Mortal Kombat XI. Regardless, the players at the top of the game continue to push Injustice 2 to new heights.

The Regime – Players to Watch

Each of the pro series events so far this season has been won by a different player and a different character. Last year’s Evo and ELEAGUE Injustice 2 champion, ALG|Dragon chose to withdraw from this year’s pro circuit for personal reasons, leaving the door open for a new player to claim the crown.

Top seed bc|Biohazard is the only player to reach top 8 in all of the premier events so far, using a mix of Black Adam, Starfire, Bane, and Cheetah. Noble|Tweedy earned the second seed after winning Combo Breaker and finishing second at CEO with Starfire and Doctor Fate.

Third seed Noble|Semiij and his Catwoman have dominated the War of the Gods online tournament circuit and performed well at several offline events, but he finally broke through to win his first major tournament with a grand finals reset at CEO. While other players have adopted secondary characters as potential counterpicks, Semiij has shown that Catwoman is well equipped to deal with a variety of match-ups.

Two more character specialists, bc|HoneyBee and PG|Hayatei, earned top seeds with the Flash and Robin, respectively. HoneyBee was the Evo 2017 runner-up, winning over the crowd with his lightning-paced Flash play. Hype for underused characters doesn’t translate to wins though, as both players have yet to take home the top spot at a Pro Series event.

Of course, no NRS tournament is safe with Echo Fox|Sonic Fox in the bracket. Last year’s Pro Series champ has admitted that he is prioritizing Dragon Ball FighterZ over Injustice 2 this year but he continues to post solid results. With less conventional picks like Captain Cold and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic Fox seems determined to win with his own style in spite of the characters currently dominating the game.

God Tiers Among Us? – Character Picks

Injustice 2 features some of the strongest zoning strategies in modern fighting games; Starfire, Black Adam, Doctor Fate, and Firestorm are just a few of the characters capable of controlling the pace of the game at long range. Starfire in particular has drawn the ire of many players, her wide range of tools and safe reversal moves have made her a common pocket character. The strength of the zoning game is what results in the game’s frequent counterpicks, as some characters lack the tools to succeed in certain match-ups.

Reminder! I'll play any Starfire in the mirror for $100 at EVO.

I'll also use Black Adam vs any Starfire for $100.

The money doesn't have to come from the Starfire. Come on guys if there's no depth to fighting her and she's just broke lets do it @Gross_DR @SylverRye

— Tweedy (@Noble_Tweedy) July 20, 2018

Zoning certainly isn’t the only winning approach; Catwoman is still considered one of the strongest characters in the game despite their lack of true zoning tools. Batman’s unique trait and diverse moveset have kept him in the upper tiers of the game since launch. Brainiac, Blue Beetle, and Atrocitus can still find plenty of success at mid to close range, too.

Though some of the more popular characters seen at the launch of the game have seen nerfs in the past year, Superman, Green Lantern, and Supergirl remain solid picks for their balance between zoning and close range fighting. Hellboy and Black Manta have shown themselves to be the strongest among the second wave of DLC characters and will likely see a good bit of use at Evo too.

Injustice 2 pools and Semi-Finals will be held on Friday, Aug. 3 starting at 8:00 a.m. PT/ 11:00 a.m. ET on Twitch.tv/Evo5. The top 8 finalists will play on Saturday, Aug. 4 at Noon PT/3 p.m. ET on Twitch.tv/Evo. Brackets are available on smash.gg.

Be sure to check the full schedule for Evo 2018 and follow all of Shoryuken’s coverage of the biggest fighting game weekend of the year!

Sources: bc|HoneyBee; Noble|Tweedy