Category: News

The hype train for the newest character in BlazBlue: Central Fiction continues, this time with a more detailed look at Mai Natsume from the Tokyo Game Show.

As previously seen, Mai’s Drive is a chargeable spear throw. The spear homes in on the opponent, coming back to hit them from behind. When fully charged, which requires Mai to be holding it still (not aiming up or down), it becomes unblockable.

What’s more interesting is that Mai has a control scheme that’s unique to BlazBlue. In place of traditional specials, she has two quarter-circle motions, back and forward, that initiate types of movement. From there, she can press any button to execute a special move. Her normal attacks are unique as well: they can be whiff-canceled to get different strikes.

Check out the video overview from TGS for a visual guide on how Mai works:

Source: Jourdal

In September 1984, Capcom released a Maze Arcade Game in Japan known as Pirate Ship Higemaru.  This Z80-based game would later see the light of day on consoles by being included in the 1998 compilation Capcom Generations: The First Generation, for the original Playstation in Japan and Europe, and the Sega Saturn, only in Japan.  Most players of it may be more familiar with its inclusion in the 2005 Capcom Classics Collection for the Playstation 2 and Xbox, as well as the Playstation Portable version of the title in Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded, which marked the first time the game was released in North America.

The game stars a Norwegian sailor named Momotaru, who must defeat the titular enemy pirate crew by throwing barrels at them–as he has no attacks of his own–which would culminate in facing a Boss Pirate, known as Bow, at the end of each of the game’s sixteen levels. For the next series of CFN Portal site profiles, the Shadaloo Activity Report–as per Private Nakagawa– looks inside this pirate and his family, including a relative who may prove to be extremely familiar to long-time fighting game fans.

Private Nakagawa: This guy is a scoundrel of the sea and a sea-faring ruffian! He’s likely quite strong! He’s the brother of a Norwegian fisherman and he has actually battled with Ryu. He’s the eldest son of his fisherman family.

Basic Info:

Name: Momotaru
Height: 218cm
Weight: 170kg
Blood type: O
Birthday: May 5
Country or Origin: Norway
Likes: The Sea, Darts
Dislikes: Rough Seas, Land

Private Nakagawa: He’s a big man that throws the huge barrel he shoulders at his opponents as an attack. Despite his rugged and grim appearance, he has a very friendly personality and is an extremely kind person. The ship that he uses with his siblings is called the “Anchor No. 1.”

Next, we move on to his brother, and boss character of the series, Bow!

Private Nakagawa: A man of the sea who is prideful in his own strength. He doesn’t actually train, but was naturally gifted with muscles and is very buff.  He must have a very hard job.

Basic Info:

Name: Bow
Height: 196cm
Weight: 146kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: May, 22
Country of Origin: Norway
Likes: Booze, Family
Dislikes: Minor Details, Things that require precision

Private Nakagawa: The youngest son who carries a massive glass float on his back that he uses to fight with. He’s the strongest of the fisherman siblings. His booze is also mighty potent, and he’s the best at holding his liquor. He’s always frustrated with fast-talkers, as he doesn’t understand what they’re saying, and could care less about it all. He’s the only married member of the fisherman siblings.

Continuing with the eldest brother, we have Beard!

Private Nakagawa: The strong-armed fisherman. He also partakes in fighting. Currently, it seems he wants to arrange a fight with Mr. Rufus, lately. I wonder why?

Basic Info:

Name: Beard
Height: 223cm
Weight: 174kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: October 8
Home Country: Norway
Likes: Fighting, Fried food
Dislikes: Tooth decay

Private Nakagawa: The third-born son, who hurls a small shark around. He’s got a hook equipped on his right hand in order to reel his opponents in like he’s fishing and pull them around. His main offense as a character is his Command Grabs. He’s the rowdiest and most violent out of all of the three brothers. But, then again, he’s apparently no match for the likes of their younger sister… [His name is Beard, and it has a round shape, so this could be a play on the word “Higemaru,” the title of their series, that literally means, “Round Beard.”]

Finally, we close out this batch of Profiles with the sister of the Higemaru brothers, who may prove to be a VERY familiar face to fighting game fans:

Private Nakagawa: The youngest child in a family of fisherman. A strong-willed lady. I remember seeing her somewhere before… It seems her father was a pirate.

Basic Info:

Name: Ruby
Height: 174cm
Weight: 55kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: February, 24
Home Country: Norway
Likes: Old Furniture, Travel
Dislikes: Boredom

Private Nakagawa: The most stable person in the entire family. She always makes clear what she wants, and is the type of person who straight-up says exactly what she wants to say. She always enjoyed and looked forward to hearing her father’s traveling tales. She works at the bar her mother manages, and she’s slowly constructing her own ship to sail the seas on her own adventures. Her ship’s name is “Partenaire”, in French. [“Partner”]

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, Street Fighter V’s Associate Producer, Takayuki Nakyama clarified on Twitter that, like Ingrid, in the case of Capcom Fighting All-Stars and Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, there are now two separate versions of Ruby, that exist parallel to each other. The one we all know and love from Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, and this version, who has been changed to the daughter of a Norwegian fisherman, to make her canon to the Street Fighter Universe–and who has had no control over ghosts or spirits mentioned officially at all, as of this writing.

ルビィ・ハートさんではなく、ノルウェーの酒場の娘のルビィさん。シュプリマシオン ！

— takayuki nakayama (@takaNakayama) September 1, 2016

“Ruby is the daughter of a Norwegian bartender, not Ruby Heart. Sublimation!”

He also commented on some original plans to make Momotaru part of the Playable Roster in Street Fighter V.

モモタルは一時期ホントにプレイアブルキャラにするつもりだったです。Ｖスキルで画面外から樽が振ってきて相手に投げつける、と言うキャラでした。遊び的にバーディーと被るので出れませんでした。

— takayuki nakayama (@takaNakayama) August 30, 2016

“We had the intention to really make Momotaru a playable character, at some point. His V-skill should have been the ability to make a barrel rain from above the screen, and then grab it and toss it at his opponent. He didn’t make the cut because Birdie already covered that gameplay.”

That does it for another round of CFN Profiles. Do you have any experiences playing Pirate Ship Higemaru that you’d like to share? Do you think any of these characters should become playable in Street Fighter V in the future? What do you think of Ruby Heart being made officially canon to Street Fighter, and now finally having a home series, albeit an alternate version of her? Sound off in the Comments below! You can check out our coverage of the Season One DLC Characters here and here, as well as having a look at Tom’s friends here.

Sources: CFN Portal; Takayuki Nakyama (Twitter) [thanks to Miðgarðsorm for translations]

There’s a lot to see, but there’s not much time to build more hype!

Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe has released an English-subtitled version of the Tokyo Game Show trailer for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. The trailer focuses on the game’s story mode, complete with cutscenes both animated and in-game. Players enlist in the Time Patrol, a league of space explorers tasked with protected the ever changing Dragon Ball timeline.

While most of the footage from the trailer is new, it does not necessarily answer any questions that were not addressed before. The trailer primarily expands upon previously announced aspects of the game. That being said, this sequel hopes to take everything about the original title and polish it to become a truly current-gen experience. The speed and spectacle have certainly improved over the original game.

There will be two beta sessions for the game available for PlayStation 4 users. The closed beta begins on October 8 and closes on October 10. The open beta will start on October 14 and end on October 17. These beta tests will give players a good idea of what the final product will look like since the release is only a few days later.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 releases on October 25 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with a PC release following later on October 28.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe

It’s Street Fighter comics day: head to to your local comics retailer and you can pick up issue #3 of UDON Entertainment’s Street Fighter Legends: Cammy miniseries, as well as the first Street Fighter Swimsuit Special! Both issues sport a $3.99 USD cover price and multiple variant covers.

Street Fighter Legends: Cammy #3 features art by Omar Dogan and is written by Jim Zub, both longtime UDON contributors. In this issue, Cammy’s new Delta Blue team (comprised of herself, Abel, Ginzu, Juli, and the missing Juni) attempt a mind-linking experiment to tap into Decapre’s memory, in order to find their lost team-mate–but things go terribly wrong! The issue also includes a bonus story by Ken Siu-Chong and Brendon Tapper, which features a fierce and furry showdown between Blanka and Sasquatch of Darkstalkers fame–and acts as a preview for UDON’s upcoming Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers limited series!

Today’s second offering is of course UDON’s first Street Fighter Swimsuit Special, full from cover-to-cover of spectacular pin-up art from a wide variety of artists; check out UDON’s preview of the comic here. The issue features all of your favorite ladies from the Street Fighter franchise–and some of the men! The legacy of Hot Ryu continues.

 

 

 

It is with great sadness we report that the Daily Dot, an Austin, Texas-based media company, has laid off approximately 40% of its staff. At first glance, this may mean very little to the FGC. However, the layoffs includes a large portion of the esports department, which in turn includes the staff that produced one of the best fighting game podcasts on the internet, Best of III.

Games/esports media is brutal. Really sad to hear @DOTesports has been affected by @dailydot layoffs. Hoping everyone lands on their feet

— Michael Martin (@Bizarro_Mike) September 21, 2016

Super sad to hear @DOTesports Best of 3 show is over. Was definitely a highlight for me ever week, and FGC needed awesome content like that.

— Stephen Lyon (@Sajam) September 21, 2016

We wish all parties the best, and certainly hope that the Best of III cast can find a home in some form or another elsewhere on the internet.

Sources: CNN Money; Sajam; Michael Martin

After his amazing performance at Evo 2016, Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli has been one of the most exciting American Street Fighter V players to watch. With this in mind, many were surely looking forward to him play at next month’s Brooklyn Beatdown presented by ESL One, especially it was taking place in his own backyard, so to speak.

Sadly, it seems that this will not be the case. In a recent tweet, LI Joe confirmed that he will not be able to attend Brooklyn Beatdown.  The reason for this was simply given as due to a change of positions at his current job. As some of you may already know, LI Joe currently holds on to a day job as he believes that sponsorships and going professional in fighting games “isn’t there yet.”

So my position is changing at work. I can no longer play in the kaz exhibition or attend Brooklyn Beatdown.

I'm sorry guys.

— Joe (@thisislijoe) September 20, 2016

As part of this, LI Joe will not be able to take part in the planned exhibition against the Capcom Cup 2015 champion, Godsgarden Pro’s Ryota “Kazunoko” Inoue.

More importantly however, the change in position may prevent LI Joe from traveling and competing in other tournaments for the time being.

This is actually going to impact my ability to play and travel for the time being…

— Joe (@thisislijoe) September 20, 2016

We here at Shoryuken wish Joe the best, both of his new position at work, as well as in his future as a fighting game competitor.

Source: LI Joe (Twitter)

Back in February, shortly before the launch date of Street Fighter V, we reported on rumors that a New Challenger named Zen, from India, would be joining Rashid, Laura and Necalli in Street Fighter V.  Obviously, the final newcomer turned out to be Shadaloo’s Self-Proclaimed “Number 2” F.A.N.G, of the Nguuhao, but–having a bit of fun with this idea–Capcom created and released a piece of concept artwork for this character, detailing what he would look like according to then-current speculation, alongside a design for “Blana,” a female version of Blanka.

However, the minor detail of not being real hasn’t stopped Shadaloo’s information networks from acquiring data on him, as he’s the subject of the next Capcom Fighters Network Portal site profile, alongside his younger brother and manager, Shin–courtesy of the Shadaloo Activity Report and Private Nakagawa! It should be noted, however, that they have been labeled as an “extra,” non-numbered entry, similar to Shadow, Shadow Lady and Don-chan.

Private Nakagawa: An Indian superstar! He can sing, dance and fight: I’m envious! He appears in more than 30 movies per year, apparently.

Basic Info:

Name: Zen
Height: 180cm
Weight: 77kg
Blood type: AB
Birthday: December 27th
Home Country: India
Likes: Movies, Kachumba [An Indian salad]
Dislikes: Evildoers, Scoundrels

Private Nakagawa: An Indian actor and fighter. He chastises evildoers using anything he has near himself that’s familiar. He was originally a car salesman. With his sharp dance moves and his sweet smile, he captivates women all around the world. An old friend of Zangief.

Basic Info:

Name: Shin
Height: 199cm
Weight: 142kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: June 19th
Home Country: India
Likes: Movies, Holidays
Dislikes: Brawls, Quarreling

Private Nakagawa: Shin’s younger brother. A former Kushti wrestler. He retired because of a leg injury, but he’s still going strong enough to bring down and kill an angry water buffalo with a single blow, and emerge alive and well. He’s currently the manager of his brother. A sincere and simple man. It is a good brotherly relationship; you are working hard at the three-legged race!

If you’re anxious for more from the CFN Portal site and the Shadaloo Activity Report, you can take a look at our coverage of the Season One DLC Characters here and here, as well as Tom’s Friends, here.

Source: CFN Portal

DLC in Street Fighter V can be polarizing. Some content has been positively received by the hardcore community, while some has driven them away. However, what about the casual community, and the people on the fence that drive new revenue for Capcom?

Seraphyx seeks to answer these questions with scientific examination. Using the Bayesian Structural Time Series, and scraping daily Street Fighter V player counts on both the PlayStation 4 and Steam platforms, he attempts to find exactly how each DLC release has changed the player base in Street Fighter V. He also compares the player count to other fighting game titles, such as Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- and Mortal Kombat XL.

What was found was that after the releases of characters, the game enjoys a jump in players briefly, followed by a return to their usual numbers–not a surprise, really. However, with the DLC drop that included Balrog, Ibuki, and the cinematic General Story Mode, the game enjoyed a large and steady increase. It is therefore possible that Story Mode brought more players into the game than the new characters have.

For more of the science regarding this, please visit the link to read the full article.

Sources: pj (Twitter); seraphyx