Category: News

Ahead of the actual event in a week’s time, the Imperium Pro Team have announced the prize pool for Street Fighter V at this year’s Manila Cup. The total prize pool is 150,000 Philippine pesos or roughly $3,200, with the grand prize being $1,200, or 60,000 Philippine pesos. This is without any pot bonuses which may be added to the coffers ahead of the actual event. This prize pot puts Manila Cup up there as one of the richest events in South East Asia, alongside tournaments like South East Asia Major, so sign up if you want to earn that big money.

The actual player list is looking fierce, with players like GGP|Kazunoko, YouDeal MJS|Haitani and HM|Eita coming in from Japan, while the USA is sending the combined forces EG|K-Brad, EG|Ricki Ortiz, EG|Justin Wong and PG|Filipino Champ to notch up a victory in one of the toughest regions in the Capcom Pro Tour. Registration for Manila Cup ends on the 7th of September and there will be no on-site registration, so get your money in now to avoid disappointment.

Source: Imperium Pro Team

Following Evo 2016, some of the biggest topics of discussion regarding Tekken 7 revolved around Akuma; specifically, the fact that Street Fighter player Lee Chung Gon–more commonly known as Poongko, from Team Secret–took 3rd place with him, and the fact that many considered him to be too strong.

These things–Poongko’s ease of transition into Tekken 7, as well as the game’s overall balance, were some of the things that VG24/7 discussed with Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada when they met at Gamescom last month.

When discussing how easily Poongko seems to have transitioned into Tekken 7, Harada confirmed that this was their intention. “That’s what we were hoping would happen,” he states, “that players like Poongko who know the character well in Street Fighter could just take their Street Fighter skills that they’ve honed and easily port it over to Tekken.”

That said, he did say that seeing (Street Fighter producer) Yoshinori Ono’s glee whenever Akuma would win put a damper on things. “He was pretty happy each time Akuma would win a match, so… that was kind of irritating,” admits Harada.

As for the game’s balance: to handle fan feedback on that and other issues, Harada states that they combine feedback from social media and Twitter (where Harada has a vocal presence), with actual hard data from polls and results from the arcade.

One interesting thing he stated is that they never take fan feedback at face value. Harada states that “most of the time somebody’s saying something, but the truth is that what they’re saying isn’t exactly what they want.” He continues, saying that “we have to look and say–what is the underlying cause that’s led to them saying that particular thing?”

Aside from these, Harada also gives his thoughts on fighting games and the genre as an esport, stating that the two are “a good match.”

Source: VG24/7

According to Warner Bros., Mortal Kombat XL and all of its content will soon find its home on PCs starting on October 4. This news has been a long time coming, after NetherRealm Studios seemingly abandoned the idea of a PC release and then later surprised folks with an update and beta.

Series creator Ed Boon has been teasing folks after running a poll to see what players wanted most between additional character balances, an ESL Tournament Season 4, or a PC port. After running the results, the PC port held a close lead.

What news do you want to see most on Mortal Kombat X ?

— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 30, 2016

Less than a month later, Boon left a “Kryptic” message for PC users that inspired hope among the community.

Maybe we should Karry eXtra Long People who Care? pic.twitter.com/rvq6spBojz

— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 22, 2016

All of the balances that went along with the most recent beta test will be available to all owners of Mortal Kombat X on PC on October 4 as well.

It is nice to see the PC version being brought up to speed. According to GameSpot, the reason behind Mortal Kombat X’s troubled PC support stemmed from how the game is installed. NetherRealm decided to implement a new installation system that would allow the game to be played without requiring every file to be on the hard drive; this lead to many issues for the title and for a time, patches hurt the game more than they helped. At least the game will at last be comparable in content to its console cousins.

With Injustice 2, NetherRealm Studio’s most recent project–currently only announced for consoles–one can hope that it will see an eventual PC release after having more time to give the title their full attention.

Source: GameSpot

Anyone who’s seen Street Fighter V’s Cinematic Story Mode knows that the future machinations of Gill and Urien are beginning to be set into motion. Courtesy of the CFN Portal, we’ll take a look at some of the associates–and experiments–of the Illuminati, also known as the “Secret Society.”

First up is Eleven, who as the name implies, is the predecessor to Street Fighter III’s Twelve, an artificial life form that can manipulate its body and features in a variety of ways.

Basic Information:

Name: Eleven
Height: 170cm (variable)
Weight: 60kg (variable)
Blood Type: Unknown
Birthday: Unknown
Country of Origin: Unknown
Favorite thing: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown

A life form created by the Secret Society from plants, rather than animals; apparently, it is possible for it to mimic other figures. It has no free will or intentions, and will only faithfully do what it has been ordered to. But it still seems to be in the prototype stage…

Next up is the perfected specimen of this research, Twelve.

Basic Information:

Name: Twelve
Height: 175cm (variable)
Weight: 85kg (variable)
Blood Type: Unknown
Birthday: Unknown
Country of Origin: Unknown
Favorite thing: Unknown
Dislikes: Unknown

The “pure-white slaughter weapon!” Once you’ve become its target, the end is near for you. A powerful warrior given birth by Gill’s organization, a mass produced slaughter machine–reports stating over 500 of them have been identified. It can copy the appearance of an opponent, modify its appearance, change its arms into sharp blades, and even disappear by becoming transparent, making itself invisible to the human eye. It can even generate a patgium membrane between its arms and legs to glide through the air.

10100・01000・00101・00101・01110・00100 (THEEND)

Moving on, we have Necro’s girlfriend and one of Street Fighter III’s “Judgment Girls,” the mysterious Effie:

Basic Information:

Name: Effie
Height: 152cm
Weight: 40kg
Blood Type: Unknown
Birthday: Unknown
Country of Origin: Unknown
Favorite things: red
Dislikes: secret organization

In addition to Effie, it seems this guy was also “remodeled.” It seems they were given special abilities and sent into war. Somehow, she uses a chainsaw…

Next up, we have the devious man behind all of these creations, Dr. Wu! A genius scholar belonging to Gill’s organization, the creator of Eleven and Twelve, and also the person who preformed modification surgery on Necro.

Basic Information:

Name: Dr. Wu
Height: 152cm
Weight: 67kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: February 26,
Country of Origin: China
Favorite things: Experimental study
Dislikes: violence

He was originally a world-famous scientist before he was kidnapped by the secret society. Since his capture, he has been using Urien’s body reconstruction theories as a base to produce a variety of biological weapons. It seems he has also benefited from this himself. His IQ is above 1300 (self-proclaimed).

To close things out, we’ll take a look at the woman behind Nash’s resurrection, Helen–who later becomes Gill’s secretary, Kolin.

Basic Info:

Name: Helen
Height: 168cm
Weight: 65kg
Blood type: AB
Birthday: February 14
Country of Origin: Unknown
Favorite things: reading, butterflies
Dislikes: Unknown

The one who found the mysteriously resurrected person Nash in those ancient ruins. A gentle-looking woman who leaves quite an impression; she’s always reading an old book she carries with her.

Basic Info:

Name: Kolin
Height: 168cm
Weight: 65kg
Blood type: AB
Birthday: February 14
Country of Origin: Unknown
Favorite things: reading, butterflies
Dislikes: Everything except Master Gill, soldiers

She has a very cunning and calculating personality, and she will achieve her objective by any means necessary. She will sometimes deceive her opponents with a friendly tone and her soft, kind voice. She is involved behind-the-scenes with a variety of incidents.

That wraps up another round of profiles, but make sure to check out our coverage of the protagonists of the canceled Capcom Fighting All-Stars here.

Source: CFN Portal

Good news for collectors of fighting game-related books: after a successful run of sales over on Kindle, reddit user Joe_Munday has pooled some funds to actually release a physical version of Gief’s Gym. Acting as an extensive guide to Street Fighter V, walking players through the very basics of combat–like how to anti-air correctly–to more advanced elements–like how to meaty someone’s wakeup–and even the tricky subject of how to select a main.

Gief’s Gym is available on Amazon in English, with a Russian version on the way in the near future–it’s only right for Zangief! If you are looking for a possible Christmas gift for someone trying to get into fighting games, or are attempting to up your own game, definitely give Gief’s Gym a look; it’s fantastic to have all of the separate lessons in one package. It would be a great combo with Daigo’s book for the ultimate guide to becoming a Street Fighter master.

Sources: r/StreetFighter; Amazon.com

While SNK Playmore’s new title The King of Fighters XIV has received rave reviews, there were still issues with the product upon launch. Most people noticed that the netcode was hit or miss, with some connections–including low ping connections–having slowdown issues. While SNK Playmore has been notorious for releasing games from their fighting game library with lackluster netcode in the past–Garou: Mark of the Wolves and The King of Fighters XII in particular coming to mind–they seem to be intent on righting the ship this time with KOFXIV.

A new patch was just released for the game. The patch is aimed directly at fixing “connection slowdown issues in online Ranked Match and Free Match modes,” as well as “minor bug” fixes.

#KOFXIV #KOF14 patch up pic.twitter.com/o54WKcQxkS

— yoan PNL (@yoanp5) September 1, 2016

With this patch hot off the presses, it remains unclear how well this addresses issues with the netcode, but it should certainly be a step in the right direction. The next time you load The King of Fighters XIV on your PS4, you should find this patch waiting for you. If the netcode issues were keeping you away from the game before, it may be worth exploring now.

Source: yoan PNL (Twitter)

In 2003, fresh off the success of their numerous crossover games, Capcom was looking inwards at its own properties for its next crossover hit. Their idea was to combine characters from their existing franchises, Rival Schools-style 3D gameplay, some fresh new mechanics, and some stellar art from former SNK artist Senri Kita to create Capcom Fighting All-Stars: Code Holder. Sadly, negative reaction during location tests as well as the shrinking arcade market caused them to cancel the game–and, in its place, rush out the ill-fated Capcom Fighting Jam.

While it was never released, Capcom Fighting All-Stars is nonetheless not forgotten, as the CFN Portal has released a series of blog articles focusing on the three protagonists meant for the game: D.D., Rook, and Ingrid. Alongside their profiles, Capcom has put out new art of these characters in the same style as their previous Street Fighter V concepts.

You can check these out alongside some older Capcom Fighting All-Stars promotional art in the gallery below.

As for whether this means that Capcom is considering these characters for future Street Fighter V content (especially Ingrid, who has played a role in Street Fighter’s overarching plot), we don’t know. That said, at the very least, it’s nice to see that Capcom hasn’t forgotten this piece of their history.

Source: CFN Portal

While primarily a fighting game franchise, Street Fighter is no stranger to the puzzle game genre. Back in the 1990s, Capcom expanded the franchise with the puzzle game spin-off Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, now they’re doing so again with another new title called Street Fighter Puzzle Spirits.

Now available for iOS, Street Fighter Puzzle Spirits does a slightly different take on the puzzle genre than its predecessor. While Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo followed in the falling block genre popularized by games like Tetris, Columns, and Dr. Mario, Street Fighter Puzzle Spirits borrows from the panel based match-three system pioneered by Panel de Pon and more commonly seen in games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga.

Like its predecessor, Street Fighter Puzzle Spirits changes up the genre with a few fighting game inspired mechanics, such as combos, meter building for character specific special attacks, and of course, the ability to fight other players. Those interested in how all of these play out can check out the gameplay trailers below.

Street Fighter Puzzle Spirits is out now for iOS.  Interested players can download the game from the App Store.

Source: Capcom Online Games

While we’ve known that the King of Fighters’ Mai Shiranui was coming to Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round, we’ve never had a concrete date for her release–until now, that is. According to DualShockers, this week’s issue of Famitsu has confirmed that the original fighting game kunoichi will be coming to DOA5 on September 13.

When she hits Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round, Mai will also be bringing with her some King of Fighters-themed goodies, in the form of a KOF 2000 costume pack. The DLC costume pack will have outfits based on Mai’s KOF 2000 teammates Yuri Sakazaki (for Ayane and Hitomi), Kasumi Todoh (for Kasumi and Momiji), and Hinako Shijo (for Honoka and Marie Rose). Like with most new DLC costumes, these will feature clothing damage–fitting, considering that SNK was one of the first companies to include this in games such as Art of Fighting and, of course, the King of Fighters.

You can check out some scans of these, as well as Mai’s own outfits in the gallery below.

Click to view slideshow.

Source: DualShockers

With Tokyo Game Show right around the corner, Capcom released their stage schedule for the event. While most of it revolves around Resident Evil, one item of note dealt specifically with Street Fighter V.

Street Fighter V will be the first game featured on Capcom’s stage at Tokyo Game Show, being displayed from 10:25-11:05AM JST on Saturday, September 17th. Mentioned in the outline of their Street Fighter V stage presence is that it will feature producer Tomoyaki Ayano and 2015 Capcom Cup champion Kazunoko. But what is more important on this schedule is the last sentence saying, “There may be some new information, too!”

While it says that there “may be” some new information, we can assume that Capcom is indirectly stating with the inclusion of Street Fighter V at the showcase that there will certainly be new information. But what will this new information be? Will it be the unveiling of Urien? Will we see that and more? Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for their Tokyo Game Show showcase!

Source: Gematsu