Last night, online registration officially closed for AnimEVO 2018, meaning that the entry totals for each title have now been tallied and released, resulting in a whopping 776 unique entrants across the event’s 27 different side tournaments. Without further ado, the numbers for each game are as follows:
Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late[st] – 209 entrants
Windjammers – 171 entrants
BlazBlue: Central Fiction Version 2.0 – 114 entrants
Gundam Versus – 97 entrants
The King of Fighters XIV – 89 entrants
Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code – 73 entrants
“The biggest barrier you could ever put on yourself is thinking there is a ‘right way’ to play.”
Few people had as a meteoric of a rise in the FGC at such an early age as Chris “CJ Truth” Jayson did when he made top 32 at Evo 2011 in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. The protege of Jebailey came out of nowhere and took out top players with his hyper aggressive Fei Long and has have a reputation of being a fearsome opponent ever since.
Seven years later, CJ Truth still has the same boundless energy that seemed to possess him before. But while his passion for fighting games (and Fei Long) is still as palpable and entertaining as ever, he’s gained some concrete insight from his years of tournament play that balance out BornFree‘s most recent interview.
Interested in scoping out the NorCal’s Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition talent? Then you’ll want to catch Shin City Showdown, which is a Red Bull RISE tournament being hosted by variety stream group Pandorahouse gaming.
The tournament starts at 5 P.M. PST, and brackets can be found here at smash.gg.
Featuring a variety of well known FGC names (such as XsK_samurai, LPN, and our very own El Cubano Loco, among others), this will be one of your last chances to see NorCal prep before they head into battle at Evo 2018.
This weekend sees the next qualifying event in the RED BULL CONQUEST circuit descend upon Denver, Colorado on Saturday, July 28. Willful warriors out to prove themselves will face off in Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, and Tekken 7 to earn qualifying spots for the National Finals in Washington, D.C. in November. From the press release:
Red Bull Conquest’s journey to find America’s best fighting game competitors continues, as it makes its next stop in Denver this Saturday, July 28. In this brand new national fighting game tournament, contenders will battle it out in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, TEKKEN 7 and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 to see who are Denver’s top regional fighters.
On the stream, viewers will catch Colorado’s top fighting game athletes, including up-and-upcoming TEKKEN 7 player Mia “PitVyper” Uwanawich. At only 16 years old, PitVyper is one of the youngest and best performing female TEKKEN athletes, and is getting noticed for her stellar performance at such a young age. In addition, leading Street Fighter V players John “UrbanFlow” Villegas, the 2nd place winner of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour Online Tournament, and his close challenger Ryan “Nguuhao” Ward will be battling it out, fighting for the crown.
FGC expert and personality Vicious will be hosting the event, sharing insider secrets, competitor strategies, surprising upsets, and all the way through the electrifying final matches of the tournament where 3 competitors will be left standing, ready to rep Denver at the Red Bull Conquest National Finals in Washington, D.C. in November.
Want to watch the fights? Streaming information is as follows:
Denver Red Bull Conquest Qualifier: Saturday, July 28
Just a few days after HORI announced their own Nintendo Switch-compatible GameCube controllers, American controller manufacture PDP has come out swinging with a very similar product.
To be fair to PDP, it’s a GameCube controller. It probably should be nearly identical to another company’s take on the same design.
Whether pure coincidence or intentional saturation, PDP’s GameCube-style controller does boast at least one feature not present in HORI’s — a detachable C-Stick/Full-Stick accessory for the right thumbstick.
PDP plans to open pre-orders soon, and will ship before the holiday season starts — no surprises there, since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate drops December 7th.
French computer scientist and fighting game wizard WydD explains Street Fighter V’s cyclical latency on the PlayStation 4, while netcode sleuth DigitalHalftones returns with additional videos to further explain the game’s rollback issues.
Editor’s note: Yesterday we peeked inside the Pandora’s Box that is input latency in Street Fighter V, both online and offline. But it seems that was only the beginning of this tricky subject; here’s a follow-up to provide a closer look at some of the lag issues that SFV players — and competitors — are dealing with while we play!
Fighting game player and tech detective DigitalHalftones recently uploaded a YouTube video dissecting Street Fighter V’s rollback netcode, and his findings revealed a shocking discovery: to make up for one-sided rollback, the game’s netcode would introduce lag to another player should their opponent experience even a slight drop in connection. By connecting a PlayStation 4 console and a PC to one network and manually lowering the framerate, DigitalHalftones was able to prove that the opposing connection would lag in turn. This meant that whatever latency was recorded at the end of a round would be introduced in the following round: in other words, SFV outright creates lag to even out the connection between two players. (Original video follows below.)
Fair’s fair in online play.
DigitalHalftones returned with a second, two-minute video (above) in response to comments about crossplay being a potential factor for the lag he recorded. As in the first video, he used the same setup of a PS4 and PC wired to a single internet connection. He began his subsequent experiment by lowering the framerate from 60 fps to 10 fps on his PC, observing that the PC character was skipping on the PS4 side. He then pushed the framerate back up to 60 fps, and while the PC side smoothed out, the PS4 continued to lag, with PC Cammy still skipping across the screen. However, upon the start of the next round, both sides were completely smooth.
DigitalHalftones explained that this event was due to frames dropped at the start of the round, not his connection’s latency between the two systems. “What’s happening is, at the start of the round, when it says ‘Fight,’ the game is looking at the latency, but it’s also looking at the framerate,” he states over the video. “What happens is, when the PS4 lags behind by a couple of frames at the start of the round, the netcode is thinking that’s actual lag. So, say the game is lagging 1 frame, 2 frames, 3 frames? They’re reading that as milliseconds at a time.” With a single frame being equal to 16.6 milliseconds, three frames would be equal to 49.98 ms of artificial lag, causing the opponent’s side to lag just as much in an effort to even out the connection.
“It’s not crossplay that’s the issue,” DigitalHalftones stated. “It’s the system not being able to run or maintain 60 fps, and the netcode. It’s because of the variable input time for the framerate on the PS4.” As is commonly known, PS4s tend to lag when loading — which explains why rounds get worse for players over time when fighting opponents on the console. Through this additional experiment, DigitalHalftones was able to prove that a variable framerate during the start of a round will incite additional rollback that isn’t part of the game.
The ebb and flow of input latency.
The term “variable” was also recently uttered by fighting game scientist WydD, who used it to describe his findings of Street Fighter V’s input delay on the PlayStation 4. So far, WydD has tested the game on PC, the PS4 Pro, and the PS4 Slim, where he discovered the game’s variable input latency. He now breaks down his findings in layman’s terms, explaining the cyclical nature of the delay and how it affects gameplay.
“Basically, the game has some kind of internal timer inside its engine,” he stated. “When you plot the amount of lag frames over time during my measures, you get this weird cycle.” The cycle in question looks like an active heart monitor, with lag cycling from 4 frames up to 7 frames, then back down to 4 frames once more. “Basically, when you play the game on a PS4 offline — like in a tournament setup — your input lag is around 4 frames, then goes to 5 frames after a while, then 6 frames, and finally 7 frames… to finally drop to 4 frames again.”
While the cycle is relatively constant, WydD observed that the exact time of the switches varies from session to session, resulting in literally variable input delay. “The timing of the steps varies between sessions, but the overall shape is the same, and the length of the cycle is always around a minute,” he explained. While he stated that he isn’t one hundred percent confident of his findings, he hasn’t observed this cycle on PC, citing colleagues Noodalls and DisplayLag as others who have found similar results.
The terror of the input lag cycle.
This variable input delay could definitely have negative effects on players as they duke it out on screen, particularly in regards to hit confirms and reaction timing. “It doesn’t interfere a lot in combos due to the input leniency of SFV,” WydD stated. “The game engine tolerates 5 frames of timing for a 1 frame link. If you’re lucky, you are at the beginning of the cycle and you are generally 3 frames faster in terms of reaction.”
While SFV’s leniency might help give players a fighting chance in this regard, instances can occur that tilt the scale towards saltiness. “There can be other weird instances, like someone presses a light punch and the opponent presses medium/heavy punch one frame after, and the medium punch actually hits anyway because you had a 7 frame delay on the light punch,” he said. “That’s never been seen in experiment, but technically, this could happen.”
WydD also created a series of images that visually represent his findings to better describe this phenomenon. Using Ibuki’s sprite from 3rd Strike, WydD pinpointed the exact frame in which delay begins. Once the command was executed, the screen lost color, and stayed gray until Ibuki’s attack animation was completed. This graphic utilizes his methodology as explained in his YouTube video, but he has since stated that he has improved this setup.
Both WydD’s and DigitalHalftone’s findings indicate that Street Fighter V still has a plethora of issues, at least on the PlayStation 4 platform. With frame drops resulting in actual netcode latency — and worse, the variable, cyclical input delay — the console version of the game leaves much to be desired. As seen in Brandon Chia’s loss in the SEA CPT Online 2, the console version’s build (which is also the CPT tournament standard) can definitely affect players’ performance, potentially leading to whiffed normals and botched reaction times — which, at worst, can cost a competitor a win during an important tournament.
A collaboration to bring you the ultimate PCB setup reaches its fruition!
Arcade Shock, Jasen’s Customs, and Brook Gaming have joined forces to bring you the means to build near-total console compatibility to a single controller: the new Brook Retro Board.
While there are other retro PCBs on the market — such as the Toodle’s MC Cthulhu, or discontinued models like the Akishop’s PS360+ — Arcade Shock wanted players to have access to a rock-solid PCB that would allow compatibility with a wide variety of systems. The Brook Retro Board can be used with the following platforms:
Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo GameCube
Xbox
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast
TurboGrafx-16
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
Pairing the Retro Board with Brook’s Universal Fighting Board can offer compatibility with every major gaming console, both old and current-generation. Details follow from Arcade Shock.
With Brook’s expertise in manufacturing and product support, we asked them to work with us and Jasen’s Customs to develop a board that is extremely simple to install, update, and — most importantly — work seamlessly with their Universal Fighting Board. With current methods, it’s possible to use two boards in a single arcade stick; however, they require increased cost and time to mod (labor: 90 minutes or more, for the seasoned modder), two separate cables, a hard switch, or other PCB switching circuits.
With the new Brook Retro Board, a 20-pin Multiplier Board designed by Jasen’s Customs, and included cables, you will be able to toggle between this board and the Brook UFB with a button combo; all of these functions are programmed into the Retro Board’s software, and with no extra hardware required! Using a RJ45 common output, you can use existing products on the market — such as Akishop’s RJ45 to USB, RJ45 to Sega Dreamcast and RJ45 to PS1/PS2 cables. Furthermore, we are in the process of developing NES, SNES, GameCube, and Sega Saturn cables that will use the common RJ45 jack, which has never been offered on a commercial basis.
There will be a few variations of the Brook Retro Board to make installation a snap:
Solo, using just the Retro Board by itself, offered by both Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs
Side-by-Side, good for most arcade sticks, offered by Arcade Shock
Stacked, designed by Jasen’s Customs for the Panzer Fight Stick featuring drop-in EZ BUILD installation, offered by Jasen’s Customs
Stacked for generic/other commercial arcade sticks, offered by Arcade Shock. This setup takes up less surface area if mounted on a flat surface. (More tests will be required for a complete list of compatible arcade stick shells.)
Product Overview / Benefits:
Dual Mod Support
Combine with the Brook UFB in 2 configurations – either side-by-side with the 20-pin Multiplier, or a custom stacked variant.
Use a single cable out and toggle between the Brook UFB or the Brook Retro Board using a simple button combination on plug-in. Other retro boards on the market require two separate cables, a hard switch, soldering wires to the PCB, or another PCB switching circuit to accomplish this — at increased costs, mod time, and clutter.
Upgradeable Firmware
With Brook’s amazing customer support, if an update is needed, it can be easily done. Brook backs you up!
Effortless Installation
Continuing our philosophy, we made sure that installation for the Brook Retro is as easy as the Brook UFB by pre-soldering the main connectors beforehand, saving you time to work on other parts of your mod.
Zero Lag
When the Brook UFB was in production, the main thing emphasized was response time. A slow board is the difference between victory or loss. A laggy board has no place in today’s FGC. We wanted super low numbers, less latency (lag); from Arcade Shock’s tests, it’s zero. It doesn’t get any better than this.
The Brook Retro Board will be exclusive to Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs, and will soft-launch at Evo 2018; check out Arcade Shock and Jasen’s Customs to order online for late August 2018 shipping.
With over 2.5 million units sold, Dragon Ball FighterZ is an unequivocal success for a fighting game. Eurogamer recently got to talk to the game’s producer, Bandai Namco’s Tomoko Hiroki — as well as its director, Arc System Work’s Junya Motomura — about its success, and the factors that led to it. This includes the appeal of the game’s source material, as well as how the game’s broken out beyond the core audience. To this, Hiroki replies that it’s because they were “able to deliver to users quite a surprising animated expression, as well as a genuine fighting game mechanic,” continuing with, ” we believe the fusion of these two was quite impactful for the users.”
In regards to being able to stay true to the style of the original anime, Motomura cites their experience with the Guilty Gear games — they knew how to achieve that look. The main challenge was in taking their previous work, then getting the style to match the visual style of Dragon Ball. This was helped by paying homage with a lot of references to moments in the series in the games itself, something that came easily because they had fans of the franchise on the team. “A lot of us are fans of Dragon Ball, so we had a lot of people who were well informed about Dragon Ball, who knew the basic aspects of it,” Motomura states.
The other challenge was to create a game that appeals to both fans of the Dragon Ball franchise, in addition to fighting game fans. They cite the 3-on-3 tag team system as something that helps, since fans would like to play different characters. Additionally, they decided that they wanted to focus less on execution, and more on mind games.
That said, the system Dragon Ball FighterZ is built on is pretty free and open, allowing players to pull off a lot of things — including touch-of-death combos. On the latter, Motomura stated that the team didn’t want to limit the players’ freedom to discover things. In addition to this, he also stated that there was a lot more to discover in the game, and that some characters were underutilized as of yet. Hiroki actually points to Frieza in particular as one such character.
Of course, this is just part of what they talk about in the interview. Head on over to Eurogamer to read the whole thing.
Evo 2018 attendees that want to snag one of these bad boys should make a beeline straight for the Controller Chaos booth once Evo kicks off on August 3rd.
SoulCalibur VI producer Motohiro Okubo broke down the upcoming game’s newest features in a recent blog post, detailing everything fans should know in order to get acquainted with the latest title.
On July 20th, Motohiro Okubo wrote up a blog post that introduced both veterans and newbies of the Soul Calibur series to the latest game’s brand-new features. Okubo expressed that he is applying “key lessons” from his work with Tekken 7 into the weapons-based 3D fighter, while keeping the gameplay both fresh and true to the series’ previous titles.
Reversal Edge
The game’s new elements include the Reversal Edge and Lethal Hit, alongside original mechanics like the Soul Charge and Guard Hit. Okubo expressed that the Reversal Edge was a product of the game’s developers wanting newer players to “have fun, excel, and compete against players that have more knowledge and experience” through a fair and balanced means. When players land a successful Reversal Edge, a slow motion sequence is triggered, wherein a kind of rock-paper-scissors mini-game ensues. If players choose the correct action in answer to their enemy, they are rewarded with definite damage, removing the need for in-depth knowledge on characters and gameplay.
Much like the Guard Impact system, the Reversal Edge allows players to parry incoming attacks — this time automatically. The longer a player holds down the Reversal Edge button, the longer they can parry their opponent’s strikes. The Reversal Edge also builds meter, allowing access to the Soul Charge and Critical Edge systems. In sum, the Reversal Edge gives opportunities for newer players on a more even playing field, and eliminates the need for hard data in favor of reading one’s opponent and guessing their next moves.
Soul Charge
While the Soul Charge is a returning mechanic, SCVI aims to make it quite different from its predecessors. SCVI’s Soul Charge will give characters power ups, allowing players to utilize additional moves and deal greater damage for a limited time. Characters’ Soul Charges will also give them different visual properties, “drastically” changing their appearance. According to Okubo, the manner in which the Soul Charge is used will largely determine players’ playstyles, and allow them freedom to express themselves in they way they choose to play the game.
Lethal Hit
The Lethal Hit is another new element of the SoulCalibur series. While different for each character, the Lethal Hit triggers another slow-motion sequence when successfully executed. In this sequence, players deal a damaging attack, which opens up the opponent for a follow-up hit. Unlike the Reversal Edge, the Lethal Hit is meant for players to showcase their knowledge and skill; it isn’t easily triggered, and players who can pull a number of Lethal Hits are shown to be high-level. Additionally, Lethal Hits break away characters’ armor for a satisfying, visual reward of the winning player’s strength.
There are only three months left until SoulCalibur VI’s completion, and Okubo has stated that the game’s character roster is not yet complete. With Evo just around the corner, the possibility of a character reveal is high, and game’s new elements could be further explored in forthcoming trailers.
