Category: News

It was reported in September that the work-in-progress Gundam Vs. title coming to PlayStation 4 would have a closed Alpha test in Japan; it was recently announced via the official Gundam Versus Twitter that the test will take place between November 26th and 27th, and will not be held online but locally at the developers’ studio. Though these details could be bittersweet news for overseas fans who were hoping to get their hands on the alpha, US fans can at least rest assured that a version of the game with English subtitles is planned.

Source: GundamVersus via Gematsu

Mortal Kombat X players have a great chance to stock up the bank account after the holidays, as NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive have added a $10,000 pot bonus to MKX at Kumite in Tennessee. Similar to the pot bonus at SoCal Regionals, this cash injection should bring the best Mortal Kombat X players out to Franklin, Tennessee this January to kick off the new year with a cracker of a tournament, if the SoCal Regional results are anything to go by.

Kumite in Tennessee runs from January 6th to 8th at the Franklin Marriott with 12 games running over the course of the weekend. This includes:

• Street Fighter V
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
• Mortal Kombat XL
• Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-
• BlazBlue: Central Fiction
• Killer Instinct
• Pokkén Tournament
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Super Smash Bros. Melee
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
• Project M
• Dead or Alive 5 Last Round

The first wave of early bird pricing has finished, but registration is still available for just $35 until December 1st, where prices increase to $45. You can register at the venue on January 6th for $60 but this is cash only. Discounted hotel rooms are also available but the discount rate for these rooms end on December 15th. Registration and any additional information about KIT 2017 can be found on their smash.gg page.

Sources: @KumiteInTN; smash.gg

Juri versus Decapre! Ibuki versus Q! Sakura versus… Dan’s training?

The Street Fighter Unlimited ongoing comic series from UDON Entertainment will soon feature its very first Annual issue: Street Fighter Unlimited Annual #1 will hit stores in December 2016. This one-shot issue compiles four shorts previously available as bonus stories in the hardcover collections of prior UDON Street Fighter comics: see Juri battle Decapre and Ibuki takes on the mysterious Q, while Sakura deals with Dan’s “training” and Chun-li faces the Mad Gear Gang.

This 32-page comic will feature the talents of UDON artists and writers Omar Dogan, Jim Zub, Ken Siu-Chong, Matt Moylan, and Takeshi Myazawa. Two standard covers–both by Rob “Robaato” Porter (cover A pictured below)–and an special retailer incentive cover–by Hanzo Steinbach–will be available.

Pre-orders are now open for the Street Fighter Unlimited Annual #1; check out your local comic dealers (try www.comicshoplocator.com if you don’t know where to start!) or your favorite online comic retailer. Cover price is #3.99 USD. Diamond Comics order codes are below!

DIAMOND COMICS ORDER CODES:
OCT161939 STREET FIGHTER UNLIMITED ANNUAL #1 CVR A (story cover)
OCT161940 STREET FIGHTER UNLIMITED ANNUAL #1 CVR B (Dan variant)
OCT161941 STREET FIGHTER UNLIMITED ANNUAL #1 CVR C (Retailer Incentive: homage variant)

Source: UDON Entertainment

Generally, Capcom has had a policy of not interfering with Street Fighter V’s balance while the current Capcom Pro Tour season is ongoing. Genreally speaking, the game that we have now is the same as the one that came out last February (DLC characters notwithstanding).

However, Capcom does make some changes on occasion, usually when it comes to option selects. The latest option select that was removed from the game revolved around R. Mika’s Irish Whip. Prior to the change, R. Mika could input her Irish Whip command (forward or back with strong punch) and it would catch her opponents if they pressed buttons, or did nothing. With the change however, the move no longer completes its grab animation on counter hit.

Javits Arias demonstrated this chance in a tweet which you can see below.

My friend suspects Mika's Irish Whip OS was nerfed in recent patch so I tested and found it doesn't work on CH?! @TOOLASSlSTED @Louffy086 pic.twitter.com/PHTs91nZz6

— Javits Arias (@jav1ts) October 17, 2016

The effect of this change is quite the nerf for the move as part of Mika’s pressure. Prior to this, the only answer to the option select was to block, allowing Mika to continue her pressure. Now, players can simply try to poke it out with a fast normal with little risk, as the counter hit will no longer lead into a full combo from Mika.

Source: Javits Arias (Twitter)

While the rest of the European qualifiers were announced for the King of the Iron Fist Tournament, the UK was left in the lurch as to when their qualifier would be. Well, wait no longer, as Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe has revealed that the UK qualifier will be held in the UK offices of Bandai Namco Entertainment in Richmond, London on the 11th of November.

Unlike previous 256-player qualifiers, this event has a limited cap of 64 players, so competition will be fierce for spots. Due to the scarcity of places, the actual selection process for this qualifier is a little different. Rather than simply buying a ticket or it being first come, first serve, players must fill out a registration form which proves how big of a Tekken fan you are. This means how many tournaments you attend, if you have a massive collection of Tekken merch, or if you make regular videos or art about the Tekken series. I’m not sure if this is the best way to select players, but it certainly makes sure only dedicated Tekken fans are in this bracket.

Potential applicants must fill out the form by this Friday the 21st and if you are selected, you will receive an email to confirm your place in the tournament. Entrants must be 18 or over, they must be a European resident and have travel documents which allow them to go to Japan should they win the qualifier. If the winner does not have valid travel documents, the prize will go to the next highest placing player.

Additional information such as tournament rules and legal controllers are all available on the official Tekken website.

Source: TEKKEN

Street Fighter V returns to its roots.

It was a big weekend for rumors: in addition to the stories circulating about the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Baiken “leak” and the (since confirmed) news that The King of Fighters XIV was going to get an arcade release, word of an impending arcade version of Street Fighter V also started getting around. Just like KOFXIV, this appears to be true–sort of.

As discussed by VesperArcade in the video below, the arcade release of Street Fighter V will apparently not be on a dedicated arcade board, but instead be some sort of customized PC version, altered to operate in that setting. What this will look like exactly is anyone’s guess at this stage; will it have a single player Arcade Mode, or some other single-player vs. CPU function, or be 2-player only? Either way, this may add some context to the “arcade” reference recently found by SFV dataminers.

Getting Street Fighter V into arcades–in any form–is still a good move for the title. We’ll be on the lookout for any new information on this development!

Source: VesperArcade

Chaos Code is an anime fighter which may have slipped through the cracks for many. The gameplay is in-line with traditional anime fighters but the original Chaos Code on PS3 in 2013 had no online, which hampered the game’s popularity. Modern fighting games rely heavily on netplay to build the scene, so lack of online play for the original Chaos Code hurt its growth.

However, a PS4 remaster titled Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe looks to bring this forgotten fighter to a new generation of players. A list of PS4 Trophies was recently leaked and over the weekend, we have news that the remaster is set to release next month in Japan, with two new characters called Lupinus and Ray.

The team at FK Digital also showed off a trailer for a project simply titled “New Chaos Code” at Toushinhai 2016. It features four new characters with one of them appearing to be an alternate form of Cait & Sith, with both Cath & Sith sporting new outfits. You can check out these four characters in the gallery below, as well as Lupinus and Ray from the PS4 release of Chaos Code: New Sign of Catastrophe. The new arcade Chaos Code is set to release in 2017, so plenty to look forward to if you are a fan of the series.

Click to view slideshow.

Sources: @TenryoTheLight; @A_crimefighter