Category: News

To say that King of Fighters XIV is the leakiest fighting game in recent memory wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Far from a couple of unknown characters, the entire cast was revealed through forum posts months before the game was even announced, and official reveals since then have matched those leaks perfectly.

But we were still in the dark when it came to the newcomers on the King of Fighters XIV roster. For example, we knew one of the newcomers fit the “Mysterious Hooded Man” trope, but how much of a spoiler could a basic description like that be?

Well, fans no longer have to wonder, because we were recently provided with what appears to be a legitimate character select screen, or at least a mock-up of one. Folks are still not entirely sure where it originated, but the earliest source we could find is a Twitter user by the name of shen-woo, which was then picked up by JohnGrimm in our own forums, and then finally plopped at our feet by the one and only Laban.

We want to thank everyone involved with bringing this to our attention, and also take the time to tell those of you averse to being spoiled that now is probably a good time to vacate the article.

As you can see, the image above depicts the entirety of the King of Fighters XIV roster as described in the aforementioned leaks. New characters are outlined in red, highlighting the fact that three full teams are comprised of newcomers. These include the Another World squad made up of Samurai Shodown’s Nakoruru, Sky Love’s Love Heart, and Dragon Gal’s Mui Mui; the South American team; and the Official Invites, who were previously listed as the Palace Wan team.

The photo also gives us our first glimpses of the mid-boss and final boss of King of Fighters XIV, a “Russian billionaire” and “non-human species” respectively…if the leaks are to be believed.

While we don’t speak Chinese ourselves, a friendly community member has assured us that the text at the top of the image is grammatically correct, a key point that many fake leaks get wrong. It mainly highlights the large cast, stating that a total of 19,600 team combinations are possible thanks to the 50 playable characters.

King of Fighters XIV is slated to release for PlayStation 4 sometime this year. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to let us know what you think of the new faces in our comments.

Source: shen-woo via JohnGrimm, Laban

The folks at Wizard World Gaming are set to continue their young tournament series when the convention lands in St. Louis, Missouri next month.

Players can expect to compete in a smaller lineup consisting of Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4. The organizers will be offering $7,000 in cash prizes, with Street Fighter and Tekken each receiving $3,000 and the remaining $1,000 set aside for Naruto.

This news comes after the organization’s successful showing in Portland, Oregan, which saw players like Evil Geniuses Justin Wong and Ricki Ortiz, Pandora House’s LPN, Panda Global’s Rip, and even WWE superstars The New Day come together to celebrate fighting games. Future events are scheduled to take place in Philadelphia, Sacramento, Orlando, Chicago, Austin, and Pittsburgh.

Wizard World Gaming lands in St. Louis the weekend of April 1. More details and online registration can be found here.

Sources: Wizard World Gaming, Rick Thiher

Ever since video games entered online spaces, players have been divided by home consoles. These days, Microsoft has Xbox Live, Sony has PlayStation Network, and never the twain shall meet. In terms of the fighting game community, this has generally created a sharp ravine between opposing sides, in essence halving the amount of players you’ll have a chance to run into during netplay sessions.

Fortunately, it appears as if that has a chance of changing in the future.

In a recent letter to the gaming community, ID@Xbox director Chris Charla announced that the company will, moving forward, allow developers to take advantage of cross-network play. “This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks,” he explained.

The first game to take advantage of this option will be Rocket League, the high-speed, motorized soccer game created by Psyonix. While at this point in time it’s restricted to play between Xbox One and PC, Microsoft has provided an open invitation to other platforms…like, say, PlayStation Network.

While this is huge news, it doesn’t mean every fighting game moving forward will be playable between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The developers themselves have to take the initiative in allowing this functionality, and it’s likely Sony will need to sign off in a similar capacity to really get the ball rolling. And it goes without saying that titles like Street Fighter V and Killer Instinct won’t be included due to their exclusivity.

What do you think of this development? Feel free to sound off in the comments.

Source: Xbox via Complex, UltraDavid

While players have more than a few options to check out Street Fighter V’s hitboxes in action, most center on the PC version due to the ability to modify the game on that platform. As such, folks who stick with PlayStation 4 are at a bit of a disadvantage.

To help address this, a helpful member of the community named eiSH has created a set of visual guides for every Street Fighter V character, each showing the hit and hurtboxes for the active frames of each cast member’s normal and special moves.

Each graphic is available in a high-resolution JPEG format, which means that players can save them for storage or printing. We’ve included a small example, but be sure to visit DeviantArt for more.

Source: eiSH

Oh, option selects; why can’t we quit you?

Earlier today, a Japanese player by the name of ino (remember his previous contribution?) jumped on Twitter with an interesting observation. Apparently, an option select exists within Street Fighter V that determines hit confirmation, allowing Ken’s jab to cancel into a special on hit and do nothing on block. His demonstration was short, sweet, and to the point.

It is automatic #PS4sharehttps://t.co/1ZQJjAZgX8 pic.twitter.com/X88X1f73QY

— 井上_INO (@inoVSVSVSVSVSVS) March 11, 2016

This technique may look familiar if you’re a Mortal Kombat X player, as that game features a similar option select due to the differing cancel windows attacks have on hit and block. We won’t make any grand statements as to why this is happening in Street Fighter V of all places, but some are theorizing it might be for the same reason.

UPDATE – Shortly after this article was published, we were made aware that Geoff the Hero found this option select late last month. His video, included below, shows that it’s possible to take advantage of these separate cancel windows with R. Mika’s Passion Press as well. He even put together a nifty image showing why it works. What a guy!

Of course, as fighting game players are wont to do, BananaKen took this information and ran with it. His first video was put together in an attempt to show that a single jab will do in place of the groups ino was pumping out while also highlighting other specials that can take advantage of the option select.

His second offering, however, is where things get interesting. By utilizing a medium Tatsu and quickly following it up with a throw input, you can create a situation where, on hit, Ken cancels into the special, but on block, he goes for a tick throw.

Here's another example on how to use the auto-confirm OS: blocked jab into tick throw, hit jab into MK tatsu #SFV pic.twitter.com/fKRQ580AMC

— Jose Llera (@BananaKen) March 11, 2016

Although the above examples involve Ken and R. Mika, we’re sure some industrious players out there will find ways to incorporate it elsewhere, so stay tuned.

Sources: ino, Geoff the Hero via nothingxs, BananaKen via Alioune, BananaKen via Alioune

With so many new players giving fighting games a try for the first time, it’s likely that some of them will go the extra mile and invest in an input device specifically designed for use within the genre. Or, perhaps you’re a longtime competitor looking for a new arcade stick to add to your collection.

Whatever your case may be, the folks at HORI and Level|Up Series are offering a 10% discount on three of their most popular products: the Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai, the Real Arcade Pro 4 Kai Silent, and the Fighting Commander 4.

In order to receive the markdown, enter the code WEDNESDAY4 at checkout. This offer will only be active until Sunday, March 13, so don’t wait!

Source: Level|Up Series