It’s ranking season in the world of Super Smash Bros., as both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U are getting new editions of their world player rankings. With MIOM managing the Melee Top 100, it’s Panda Global who manage Smash 4, with the Panda Global Rankings or PGR for short.
Version 4 of the PGR has made some substantial changes since Version 3, dropping of the written portion of the rankings, as well as commentary in their video roundups. The PG Stats team has clearly been inspired by the Japanese Power Rankings, even hiring the videographer behind the last Japanese PR — Kud — to produce this year’s roundups. The change in style does benefit the format immensely, as it focuses more on raw data and top performances by each player, while showing clips from certain matches and stand-out performances.
Similar to SSBMRank, expect the rest of the PGR v4 to be uploaded ahead of Genesis 5, so esports teams can snatch up any free agents ahead of the Smash community’s first major for 2018.
Notable Brazilian data miner X-Kira returned towards the end of last month with more big discoveries to close out 2017. With Street Fighter V on the cusp of finally receiving the much-demanded Arcade Mode later this month, it appears that Capcom is planning to increase the amount of nostalgic stages available in the game even further, especially with four of the upcoming Season 3 DLC characters being returning veterans.
X-Kira claims that upwards of 20 new arenas will be making their way to SFV:AE in the coming months, with his list currently being as follows:
Final Fight: Metro City Slums, U.S.A. (Cody stage)
Street Fighter II: Battle Harbor, U.S.A. (Ken stage)
Street Fighter II: Amazon River Basin, Brazil (Blanka stage)
Street Fighter II: Big Factory, Russia (Zangief stage)
Street Fighter II: Maharaja’s Palace, India (Dhalsim stage)
Street Fighter II: Ayutthaya Temple Ruins, Thailand (Sagat stage)
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Beijing, China (Chun-Li stage)
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Detroit Highway, U.S.A. (Nash stage)
Street Fighter Alpha 2: W.C. in the London underground, England (Birdie stage)
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Field in a Thunderstorm, Australia
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Ridge Overlooking Guyana Falls, Venezuela (M. Bison stage)
Street Fighter Alpha 3: Hana Shotengai, Japan (Karin & Sakura stage)
Street Fighter III: New Generation: A Road in Kyoto, Japan (Ibuki stage)
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Olmec Ruins, Mexico (Urien stage)
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Subway Station, U.S.A. (Alex stage)
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition: Russia (Kolin stage)
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition: Shadaloo Corridor A
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition: “Rainbow Ring” Japan (Rainbow Mika stage)
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition: Nguhhao Palace (F.A.N.G stage)
Though nothing is ever fully concrete until officially confirmed by Capcom themselves, X-Kira insists on Twitter that “All these stages are 100% confirmed, for the future, just wait, and the list is not over yet!”
His most recent pair of discoveries are just as equally interesting. X-Kira recently posted a video of what looks to be him running through the DEV version of a “Boss Rush” mode, which could potentially be tied to the upcoming Extra Battle mode. As Kolin, we can see Kira battle Cinematic Story NPCs, such as the low, mid, and high-ranking Shadaloo Soldiers, Shadaloo Dolls Enero, Fevrier, Marz, Aprile, Satsuki, Juli, Santamu, Decapre, and Phantom Bison inside the Ring of Destiny, noting that, “in this mode you challenge the gangs, Shadaloo, Illuminati, S.I.N. and Neo Shadaloo, and there is also another script that controls only the good guys, but this script is incomplete and it crashes constantly.”
Finally, X-Kira appears to have uncovered some form of Edition Select, a mode last seen in Ultra Street Fighter IV that allowed players to utilize previous versions of every character throughout the series, allowing for previously-impossible dream match-ups between fighters from different eras of the game. He demonstrates this via a few R. Mika, Nash, and Zangief combos, as well as an online Battle Lounge match, where he uses Season 2.5 M. Bison against -Fenix-‘s Season 1 incarnation of the Mighty Dictator, which you can see below.
All these Stages they are 100% confirmed, for the future, just wait, and the list is not over yet!
What do you think of these potential developments? Are you excited to see these stages possibly return, or are their others you’re still yearning for? Let us know in the comments.
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition will be released on January 16th, as both a free update for current SFV owners, and as a separate purchase for those looking to jump right in.
Follow the Beast to a new battleground in three legendary titles: this is Kemonomichi!
Daigo Umehara presents a new event for Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 today: Kemonomichi [path of the beast/way of the beast]. Competitors (“beasts”) include Kotaka Shouten, Machabo, Deshiken, Ohnuki, and more. These will be battles between the best of the best in these titles, solely to test their skill and fighting spirit against one another!
Get caught up on the hype by checking out the series of trailers on BeasTV that introduce the event and each of its storied competitors (first one embedded above); view the whole playlist here. Next, tune in to BeasTV on Twitch at 8:00 PM PT today — January 2nd — to catch the action as it unfolds.
Bandai Namco isn’t the only company with a “Happy New Year” message to their fans. Arc System Works, developer of a number of fighting games (including one in collaboration with Bandai Namco – Dragon Ball FighterZ) has also sent out a special video thanking their fans.
Of course, this being Arc System Works, they don’t just do any old video. From Chief Executive Minoru Kidooka, Director of Development Toshimichi Mori, and COO Daisuke Ishiwatari dressing up in traditional kimonos while stating their New Year resolutions, to the latter rocking out a few riffs on his guitar, this is a “Happy New Year” video that only Arc System Works could create.
Now there’s a very special reason for them to put out this video, 2018 represents their 30th anniversary (Arc System Works was founded back in 1988). So as part of the video, they’re announcing that they will be hosting an “Arc System Works 30 Year Anniversary Festival” sometime in May of 2019. More details on the event are set to be revealed in the future.
Check out the video below. Take note that it’s in Japanese, so be sure to turn closed captioning on for the subtitles.
What a way to start off 2018. With teasers being posted to various social media outlets from ST Revival regarding their storied Tournament of Legends series of Super Street Fighter II Turbo events, they have finally announced that the Tournament of Legends 3 is in fact coming this year. As a departure from years past which saw the penultimate qualification event culminate at Evo, this year will see it be hosted at Canada Cup 2018.
As with previous years, there will be Japanese invites coming to take on 27 qualified players from various stops on the tournament circuit, such as Toryuken, Winter Brawl, Final Round, Evo, and SoCal Regionals. The entire current list can be accessed on their website.
The 2017 Steam stats have been published with a number of MMOs and RPGs making the cut across several categories including Best Sellers, New Releases, Best Virtual Reality, Early Access Grads, and Most Played.
Webzen has announced “a new chapter in MU’s history” with the revelation of MU Ignition, an upcoming browser-based MMO. The game will be instantly playable without the need to download any client and can be played on any device with browser access. To get players interested in signing up for beta testing coming later this month, Webzen has released a teaser video ahead of the launch of the game’s official site.
Anytime you pick up a new fighting game, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by whoever the game’s resident rush-down monster is. In Pokkén Tournament DX, Weavile easily fits that role with his fast jabs, high mobility, and Counter-to-Taunt parry options.
But there’s a lot of gaps and big commitments common in both low and high level Weavile play. Once you understand how some of Weavile’s options work, Weavile will seem a lot less terrifying: you can reduce many of his more complex tools down to 50/50s, or outright nullify them completely depending upon the character you’re playing as.
Check out Mitchel‘s breakdown of the ice Pokemon above to learn about how to slow down this speedy slasher. As one of the most recognizable Weaviles out there, Mitchel‘s humorous and detailed teaching methods makes this video easily digestible and informative.
Here’s some great news for any King of Fighters fans who love collecting toys and figures from the franchise. Hobby Japan is producing a new Mai Shinarui figure.
The new figure is a 1:6 scale statue based on Mai’s look from the King of Fighters XIV. As such, the figure includes some of the finer details, such as the cherry blossom print on her costume, not seen in prior games.
The figure is set to be released on May 31, 2018. For those interested in picking it up, it’s currently available for pre-order over at Play-Asia for $189.99.
In the meantime, here are a few images of the figure.
For any fans looking for some more Dragon Ball FighterZ action before the open beta hits later this January, here’s some great news. The 3 on 3 tag team fighter based on the popular shonen anime franchise is coming Awesome Games Done Quick 2018.
Tokyo Attack have teamed up with Bandai Namco to bring a build of Dragon Ball FighterZ to Awesome Games Done Quick 2018. As part of this, they’ll be bringing along a special, head to head Vewlix based arcade cabinet for those at the event looking to try the game out.
Awesome Games Done Quick is an annual speed running marathon that takes place every January. This year’s marathon will take place from January 7 to 14 at Herndon, VA. The event aims to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation via donations.
Dragon Ball FighterZ will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 26.
