Following the success of their fan art collection to honor Street Fighter’s 30th anniversary (which gathered a massive amount of impressive artwork), Instagram’s @streetfighterlegacy decided to follow up with the same gameplan for the 20th anniversary of Capcom’s other fighting game franchise: Rival Schools. And the results are equally — if not more — spectacular. The love for this Street Fighter sister-series is going strong!
You can view the RIVAL SCHOOLS 20TH ANNIVERSARY ART TRIBUTE as a digital artbook over on issuu. It features 204 slides of Rival Schools greatness. Here are some words from StreetFighterLegacy’s Pete Pearce about the project:
After the success of our “Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Art Tribute”, an also-beloved Capcom fighting game “Rival Schools” is in its 20th anniversary year. I felt we needed to celebrate this often-forgotten and underappreciated game. As my inbox fills up with artwork from our users daily for reposting, I decided to set a challenge to our followers to create an online art tribute. This tribute will only available online, and will be FREE for everyone to view. For the moment we will not be producing any physical copies.
Like with the “Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Art Tribute”, our ethos for this was all-inclusiveness. So every person that submitted a piece that adhered to the rules was included. (Rules being that it had to be “family friendly”, that was not a redrew or reproduction of existing art and created specifically for this project, and not available online before.) I didn’t want this to be elitist. Everyone was welcome, no matter of style or skill level. This has brought in a wide rage of art.
I was a little worried that this project would not reach the volume of submissions like we had for the “Street Fighter” one, but to my pleasant surprise the art came in waves and has exceeded the amount of submissions from its predecessor. This in turns warms my heart, as I have a great affinity for this retro gem of a game, and the number of artists who backed this project proved I am not alone.
Yesterday, Twitter voting for the Dragon Ball FighterZ Summit of Power nomination phase was opened. As previously reported, Beyond The Summit is allowing any unqualified players who’ve placed within the top 32 of Winter Brawl 12 or Final Round 2018, or made top 16 at either NorCal Regionals 2018, Anime Ascension 2018, Brussels Challenge: Major Edition, Michigan Masters 2018 or Super TSB 2018 to opt-in to the nomination process.
Each nominee will have a unique tweet button, with each tweet counting as a vote, limited to 1 vote per Twitter account (though you can connect your Twitter on smash.gg for 10 nominations). The top 20 will advance to the final round of voting, of which only 5 will emerge to fill the remaining spots in the Summit of Power. Eight players have already been invited, with another pair qualifying on the East and West Coasts. There will also be a Last-Chance Qualifer at Combo Breaker 2018, in St. Charles, Illinois May 25-27. The Summit of Power will take place June 8-10th in Los Angeles, California, and will be streamed on twitch.tv/beyondthesummit.
The full list of nominees and current vote standings (as of this writing) are as follows:
Echo Fox|dekillsage – 3,128 Votes
CLN|Yohosie – 2,311 Votes
Kane Blueriver – 1,353 Votes
Lord Knight – 1,229 Votes
Teemo – 1,184 Votes
PsrK|BeyondToxin – 1,153 Votes
NRG|Supernoon – 876 Votes
PONOS|Moke – 854 Votes
FP|Chavo – 803 Votes
UYU|Kizzie Kay – 793 Votes
CE|Doza – 654 Votes
EMP|RogueYoshi – 561 Votes
PAG|Fame96 – 540 Votes
NinjaElephant – 534 Votes
UYU|Cloud805 – 443 Votes
Toki – 402 Votes
Ebonic Plague – 391 Votes
brkrdave – 358 Votes
PAG|LostSoul – 331 Votes
SQ – 290 Votes
IG|Zer0q – 257 Votes
PGTV|Lowry – 250 Votes
Kudaytaa – 236 Votes
Psyken – 235 Votes
ZomBmu – 206 Votes
CDV|WhiteBl4ck – 204 Votes
NecroUndine – 197 Votes
Roman Healey – 178 Votes
ABEGEN – 151 Votes
ScrawtVermillion – 133 Votes
EMP|KN.KDZ – 128 Votes
Echo Fox|Punk – 126 Votes
Mikeand1ke – 113 Votes
AnBi – 110 Votes
PsrK|NicoMaki – 103 Votes
Eifi – 98 Votes
PAG|Grover – 96 Votes
Randomfiend – 91 Votes
CSE|Hidan – 65 Votes
JaazzRap – 58 Votes
Zero_Hour – 56 Votes
ASAP|R1CKY – 48 Votes
CLN|IronGod – 36 Votes
PONOS|Garireo – 31 Votes
GREATFERNMAN – 28 Votes
TempleNut! – 22 Votes
Papa Leo – 17 Votes
TSB|Drunkenchicken – 15 Votes
Method|Flux – 2 Votes
EyECoNiC – 1 Vote
The Voting Phase for the top 20 will begin on May 7th at 2:00 PM PT (4:00 PM CT, 5:00 PM ET).
Finally, the talent lineup for the Summit has been revealed, as Beyond The Summit announced that they’ve used the Dragon Balls to wish IFC|Yipes, Chris Matrix, Rynge, Sajam, Zhi, LI Joe, and HellPockets to the Kame House to call all the action in Los Angeles. You can see the announcement tweet below.
Sign up to compete in your favorite side events now!
AnimEVO has just opened online registration for the side events they’ll be hosting at Evo 2018. How many side events, you ask? Let’s just say there will be a lot…
Head over to the AnimEVO 2018 event page on smash.gg for more information — and to sign up, of course. Note that as AnimEVO’s side tournaments are hosted in Evo’s BYOC area, you need to register for Evo 2018 to gain access! Some other points to note:
BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Koihime Enbu, Melty Blood, UNIST and The King of Fighters XIV will not offer on-site registration, so be sure to sign up online if you want to play. (Bijousho Senshi Sailor Moon S will have on-site sign-ups, but you will not be seeded if you do so.)
Gundam Versus registration will be going live at a later date — so sit tight, Newtypes.
The cheerful shocker and the toucan protector join in on the fun.
NIS America has released a character announcement trailer for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy showcasing two new characters for the title: the former NESTS Agent, Sylvie, and the Colombian dancer, Zarina. Both newcomers were introduced in the previous main entry, The King of Fighters XIV, and offer both unique playstyles and strong personalities.
SNK and NIS America recently discussed the character customization feature as well! Be sure to take a look at all of the ways you can perfect the look of your ladies-only tag team!
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy releases on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on September 7.
This past weekend, Chicago kicked off the RED BULL CONQUEST series of events, announced earlier this year. The energy drink company is energizing various regions in the United States to show their regional pride and compete in Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2. Each of the regional tournaments challenges the players to form teams that will compete at the final event in Washington D.C. in November.
Chicago’s Ignite Gaming Lounge — a typical FGC venue for the community — hosted the event. Red Bull showed off their impressive event production by creating a stage with setups for each game. A swag station sold Red Bull-decorated hats, hoodies, t-shirts, and more, and a special drink bar offered non-alcoholic beverages. Each game’s pool progressed smoothly throughout the day, giving stream time to every title on Twitch. Persia and Vicious, well-known FGC personalities, hosted the event — speaking on camera to coordinate the show for viewers from around the world.
The Street Fighter V tournament had the most entrants, with 95 players throwing their hats into the ring. The action took most of the day, making endurance a factor in the fights. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Chicago’s star SFV player, BxA|THE COOL KID93 — Marcus Redmond — squared off against Rob “RobTV” Burney in Winners Finals. Redmond barely pulled off a win with his Abigail against RobTV’s very patient Guile.
“I love Red Bull events. Before, people really didn’t look to Chicago, because we didn’t have that Alex Valle, those kinds of people, who run those local events that people really look at,” Redmond told SRK. “People started learning about us because of events with Red Bull, they give us a reason to practice and get better. These events over the past years made everybody step up.”
Then, Redmond faced Chakotay “ElChakotay” Andrich in the Grand Finals, coming out on top after a bracket reset, and becoming Chicago’s SFV representative in the Red Bull Conquest series.
“I’m feeling good. It was a headache,” Redmond said. “Normally, these Red Bull events are about points. If you lose, it’s ok, you get some points, you’ll come back next month. But this time, there was more pressure; it was just one tournament. I told my wife, we are going to have to fly to every region if I lose!”
Redmond is looking forward to the release of Cody, his favorite character, and in the coming months he will focus on preparing for the November finals.
As for Bandai Namco’s 3D brawler, attendance came close to Capcom’s game, sitting at 80. While the competition was tight as well, many people favorited Marquis “vShadow_20z” Jordan to win, and he came through. He will team up with Redmond to represent the Chicago region.
Left: vShadow_20z (Tekken 7) Center: Mr. K (Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2) Right: THE COOL KID93 (Street Fighter V)
“People consider me the best in Tekken in the Midwest, so I feel pretty good,” Jordan said. “I feel I can represent well for Tekken and Chicago. We have some great players here. We’re also professional with it. Chicago has a certain image, and not everyone fits it. Most people consider Chicago violent [politically], but it’s not all that, but as far as the fighting game community, there are some great people.”
Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 didn’t have as many players, (33 entrants), but many of them took the effort to come from somewhat distant areas to compete in the event. The winner hailed from St. Louis, Missouri; Stephen “Mr. K” Shannon, Leo Whitefang player and pun aficionado, battled multiple Millia Rages on his way to victory and managed to best BlackSnake’s Venom.
“Everyone in Chicago is super nice. I appreciate everyone I played against, I’ve always been welcomed here,” Shannon told SRK. “This is one of my favorite places to travel to play. I know that if I wanted to drive up here for a tournament for a weekend to play, everyone has that kind of passion, they want to get their games in. I’m glad that Red Bull has Guilty Gear on the circuit, it’s the reason I’m here.”
“I think the GG community deserves a little more visibility,” Shannon added. “The people that play are very passionate about the game, they want to play the game for all the right reasons. And I think that the game is super sick. Guilty Gear is a game I can play for 30 years and never be dissatisfied with it.”
Any player can enter and win to represent any region in the United States. Not locking the rules down based on geographical location was a conscious decision on Red Bull’s part.
“We kept it open because we wanted to get maximum participation,” said Jimmy “ShinJN” Nguyen, the National Tournament Director for the Red Bull Conquest series. “We could have introduced a region lock, but we thought that maybe sometimes a person can’t play in their own region and they can compete elsewhere. I think the cool part about the FGC though is representing your region, so I mean, do you want to go play for California? If you win a qualifier? That’s up to the player, and whether they can live with that.”
This was only the first regional tournament, and there are 13 more to go. The next Red Bull Conquest tournament takes place in Seattle on May 19th. In addition, there will be an online qualifier as well as a last chance qualifier at Washington D.C. Every winner receives $500, a variety of small accessories by Red Bull, as well as a flight to the finals. What will the ultimate winner get? Each teammate competes for $1500, in addition to a flight to Evo Japan 2019.
1. Mr. K
2. kayloud
3. blackSNAKE
4. DBJoseph
5. TheArm
5. WhiteBeast
7. sweetxjam
7. Gekioh
9. M A D W A K
9. ShinSin
9. lizardman301
9. LGOD|Ken Griffey Jr.
View the full results and brackets over at smash.gg.
[Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool / Bryan Lamb]
If you’re a fan of Nexon’s MapleStory franchise, we have good news: Closed beta registrations are now open for next week’s MapleStory 2 event. The closed beta will kick off on May 9th and features “the most creative and customizable MMORPGs available on the market today”. Players will find “a robust set of character options, a new progression and growth system and world building tools”.
According to Reddit, a former Daybreak Game Company employee has dished a bunch of inside information about what was…or is…in development at the troubled studio. According to the now-deleted (but reposted) rumor, EverQuest 3 and PlanetSide 3 are said to be in development.
The veteran ninja returns to the Stage of History — a bit before schedule.
Bandai Namco looks like its gotten into the habit of releasing content a little early, because it looks like SoulCalibur VI just got the same treatment as Vegito. Taki — a returning fighter who has been a mainstay in the franchise until SoulCalibur V — has been announced for SoulCalibur VI with a mystical new look. The fighter now appears to be super-charged by magic kanji that glow before using her special attacks.
The trailer was released on the Japanese video sharing site Niconico, but was taken down shortly afterward. The folks at Avoiding the Puddle were able to capture the trailer, and have shared it online. Check out Taki’s new look and deadly acrobatics in her reveal trailer below!
An in-development indie with its own unique sense of style.
One of the perhaps least-known indie platform fighters to follow in the wake of the Super Smash Bros. franchise is Slap City from Swedish game studio Ludosity, currently available on Steam Early Access. From the Early Access description:
Slap City is a streamlined platform fighter with characters and locations from the Ludosity universe! Slap your way through multiplayer modes like Battle and Slap Ball either locally or online, or take on a bunch of single-player challenges!
Play with up to four players locally or online with a variety of game modes, options, and computer controlled opponents, or play for points in online 1 on 1 ranked battles. Save replays of your greatest moments!
Ludosity is continuing to add content to their in-development title; recent additions include balance changes, three new stages, and a new character: “Business Casual Man”. He possesses a “unique ability to earn money from certain moves in order to make certain other moves super powerful by spending the money!”
The developer is following a planned “roadmap” to add features and content to their title:
Have a look at the official websites for more information on Slap City and Ludosity.
A few months ago, Red Bull Esports partnered with the Esports Game Arena in the Netherlands for a night of FGC action. The event, called “Red Bull Strijders – Fight Club“, featured Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Clearly Red Bull considered the event a success, because now they’re back for Round 2! Red Bull Strijders – Fight Club II will be held on May 12th, 2018, and will feature the highest level of FGC action the Netherlands has to offer.
If you happen to be in the Netherlands around that time, you can find more information and sign up for the event here.
