Category: News

While we’ve always had our fair share of spectators, the number of people visiting fighting game tournaments just to witness the action unfold has grown tremendously in just a few years. Events will typically charge a smaller fee for visitors only interested in watching, but Combo Breaker announced today that they plan to give away spectator badges free of charge.

This experiment comes courtesy of the fine folks at Gaming Generations, who have provided Combo Breaker with the support necessary to do away with spectating fees. Now, if you have friends or family interested in your hobby, you can bring them with you and let them experience firsthand without having to dole out extra cash.

Founded on the foundation built by the Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament series, Combo Breaker only just appeared on the scene, but that doesn’t mean the pedigree isn’t there. Head organizer Rick Thiher is involved with an increasing number of tournaments throughout the year, and was able to provide a unique experience all his own in 2015.

Combo Breaker 2016 is scheduled for May 27-29 in St. Charles, Illinois. More details and registration instructions can be found here.

Source: Combo Breaker

Just a day before releasing their third quarter earnings report, Mad Catz has announced a number of resignations from leadership positions. These include president and chief executive officer Darren Richardson, chairperson Thomas Brown, and senior vice president of business affairs Whitney Peterson. All vacancies have been filled internally.

“We recognize the tremendous value that Thomas, Darren and Whitney have brought to Mad Catz during their tenure and thank them for their many contributions throughout the years,” newly appointed CEO Karen McGinnis relayed in an official statement. “Looking ahead, we are confident that we have a talented leadership team in place that will enable us to steer the Company on a steady course in its operations and financial performance as we look to grow our business and reward our shareholders.”

While previously notorious for shoddy third-party controllers, Mad Catz turned the ship around in recent years thanks to their various competitive products. Many of those who joined the community in 2009 likely transitioned from pad to stick thanks to Mad Catz, and their presence at numerous fighting game events cannot be overstated.

This news comes less than a year after community and sponsorship manager Mark “MarkMan” Julio revealed that he will probably be leaving the company sometime before Evo 2016.

Mad Catz previously conveyed to investors that their financial stability hinged on the success of Rock Band 4, for which they designed numerous peripherals as well as helped distribute. While they enjoyed net sales of $38.9 million during the last fiscal quarter, the company still posted a net loss magnitudes greater than the same quarter in 2013 and 2014.

At this point, it’s hard to determine what this means for Mad Catz, let alone the fighting game community. While arcade sticks are readily available from other manufacturers, their support of players and tournaments alike has been a boon for the scene as a whole. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as more details surface.

Source: Mad Catz via Polygon, NeoGAF

As some of you might already be aware, CW Seed is currently airing a Machinima-produced series focused on ESL’s Mortal Kombat X pro league. By following various participants, they’ve provided a fantastic look into the fighting game community for folks who may not be familiar with competitive gaming.

But that’s not all. An eagle-eyed Test Your Might user recently caught a brief glimpse of upcoming characters Alien and Leatherface during the finale preview. While not heavy on details, the brief glimpses of gameplay reveal the names of one variation for each guest character.

We won’t spend a whole lot of time speculating on what these variations bring to the table (that didn’t work out too well last time), but the icons are pretty interesting. Konjurer Alien may make use of facehuggers, the nasty egg-layers of its home franchise, and possibly has some kind of lunging attack capable of being performed in the air. Killer Leatherface, on the other hand, will apparently put a greater emphasis on his iconic chainsaw.

The series finale of Mortal Kombat X: Machinima’s Chasing the Cup is scheduled to air on The CW next Monday, so stay tuned for more details. You can check out the rest of the series on CW Seed.

Source: CW Seed via Test Your Might

We don’t talk about fighting game apparel here on Shoryuken all that often. This is mostly due to the fact that, outside a few outliers, clothing designed for fans of the genre is pretty mediocre, but one shirt has set the bar so low that we are ready to reconsider that stance.

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, Street Fighter V is almost here. That’s really exciting, so much so that you may be looking for a shirt or two to share that excitement with the world. Luckily, there’s a good deal of source material for hypothetical designs: the game’s official logo, the iconic notation for a hadouken, the characters on Ryu’s gloves, or even something like the ‘FIGHT’ and ‘K.O.’ effects that bookend every match.

GameStop, in their infinite wisdom, took all these ideas, opened up Photoshop, and just went to town.

I’m not going to act like I’m the most fashion-forward individual, and far be it from me to put down anyone for their choice in clothing, but what the hell was GameStop thinking with this one? It’s almost as if they forgot they needed to send Capcom a design and grabbed a kid from the mailroom for a hasty lesson in “what’s hip these days?” Even the model has given up on trying to make it look good!

Oh, and you probably already noticed that they used effects from Street Fighter IV. On a Street Fighter V shirt. Whoops.

If there’s any consolation here, it’s that this shirt won’t be appearing on store shelves any time soon. It’s currently only available as part of GameStop’s Power Up program, which means folks won’t be spending actual money on it. But still…wow.

Be sure to take time out of your day to show folks like BROKENTIER, Eighty Sixed, and Hungry Human some love. They deserve it.

Source: r/StreetFighter

Kotobukiya has been busy with their Bishoujo line, designed by illustrator, Shunya Yamashita, of figures for some time. The latest character to join this figure line is none other than Final Fight alum Poison.

This 1:7 scale figure features swappable accessories, allowing fans to display Poison with either her trademark riding crop or a pair of handcuffs – something not seen in most other Bishoujo figures. It retails for $69.99, and preorders are currently open here.

In the meantime, you can check out some photos of the figure in the gallery below.

Source: Kotobukiya

Street Fighter V still has a few days left until its official release, but one lucky NeoGAF user was able to get some time in with the final build during a tournament at their local GAME location. While they didn’t provide gameplay details, they were able to try out the early story mode that will be available at launch.

Story is never the most important part of a fighting game, but Street Fighter V’s features a number of cameos from important characters in the universe. In the shots they provided, a younger Sean Matsuda can be seen having a tender moment with his sister Laura, Nash speaks with the mysterious woman (who is apparently named Helen) from the cinematic trailer, and Guile reunites with Chun-Li and Cammy in a more casual version of his military uniform.

Click to view slideshow.

We can glean a few things from these images, as random as they may be. For one, Sean seems significantly different than he did in Street Fighter III, with red hair and lighter skin. Also, we may be looking at an early version of Guile’s design before he becomes playable later this year.

This art was created by famed Capcom illustrator Bengus, and will act as the initial, character-focused story mode before the full cinematic narrative drops this June.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16. For more specific details on what happens in these various story scenes, be sure to check out this additional post.

Source: NeoGAF

Joe “LI Joe” Ciaramelli is set to get the era of Street Fighter V started right with an exclusive invitational later this month. Sixteen of New York’s strongest fighting game players will be competing for $500 with just a few days worth of practice, which should make for an exciting event.

The full list of competitors includes Team PIE’s Smug, Evil Geniuses’ K-Brad, Bifuteki’s Spab Rog, Tinshi, Javits, Flipside Tactics’ Alucard, Moons, Marvisto, Kreymore, Empire Arcadia’s Hiro, Flux, Kick-Punch-Block’s Manny Fuerte, DaFeetLee, Zeus, OG’s Shine, and Always Godlike’s Native Impact.

LI Joe’s invitational is scheduled for February 20. A live stream will be provided on Twitch.

Source: LI Joe

Editor’s note: Reports differ on the exact day Street Fighter II was actually released, but we’re in that timeframe now so the sentiment still stands.

Due to the nature of our community, our relationships with fighting games are varied. You may be a godlike Guilty Gear player or a newcomer mashing out the magic series for the first time in Marvel, but one title, more than any other, can be looked upon as a sort of binding factor for the disparate portions of the scene.

Twenty-five years ago today, Street Fighter II launched in arcades. It was a different time. While the genre had already seen its foundation laid by other titles, Capcom’s sophomore effort in the world of Ryu and Ken proved to be the true beginning of traditional fighting game competition. If you were lucky, you stumbled upon the cabinet with a friend who already knew the ropes; many, however, were forced to experiment, slowly discovering a world of fireballs and uppercuts hidden beneath the surface.

It probably wouldn’t be a stretch to say every player has a history with Street Fighter II, whether it was when the game first released in 1991 or during the subsequent decade of updates, ports, and remixes. Seeing as I was barely two years old when the game initially popped up in arcades, my introduction would come some time later, first as a passing fancy on home consoles and then as a serious addiction later on. I can’t say I ever truly competed in Street Fighter II, but it still holds a special place in my heart, a sentiment that’s likely shared throughout the community.

And now, twenty-five years later, we look back on that time fondly. It was where we learned fundamentals, debated the legitimacy of throws, and pondered the physics of Dhalsim’s stretching limbs. A good player can earn what were once unimaginable levels of money this day and age, but there’s something special about the era of Street Fighter II that will never be replicated.

I’ve rambled enough. For more on Street Fighter II’s impact, be sure to revisit Polygon’s excellent retrospective from a few years back and head on over to Gamasutra to read up on their collection of thoughts on the game’s legacy from various members of the fighting game community.

Were you the best in your local arcade? Were you one of the fervent adherents that kept Super Turbo alive at Evo well into the 2000s? Or are you merely a casual admirer, happy to bask in the nostalgia of your older counterparts? Feel free to jump into the comments and let us know your history with Street Fighter II; if it’s special to you, we want to hear about it.

Have a good weekend.

In honor of the recent Lunar New Year, Steam has discounted on a number of titles available through their service. As usual, there’s a good amount of fighting games here, with sales on BlazBlue, Guilty Gear, Skullgirls, and more.

Of particular note is the discount on the King of Fighters Triple Pack. The bundle, which includes King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match Final Edition, King of Fighters 20002 Unlimited Match, and King of Fighters XIII, is currently only $6.99, a far fry from its regular $34.99 price point.

We’ve collected all of the markdowns in the table below. Let us know what you plan on picking up!

These deals will be available until February 12 at 10 AM PST.

Source: Steam via Eternal0Star, Dream Cancel

Although they only just completed their Fall 2015 at Genesis 3, The Melee Games’ are ready to pick back up in the spring for another season of Super Smash Bros. Melee competition.

The Melee Games, an series of intercollegiate crew battles, first began back in 2014. “I wanted to keep the new players coming, I wanted to introduce them to each other, and I wanted to bring some camaraderie and school pride into it,” organizer Matthew “MattDotZeb” Zaborowski explained to SSBM Tutorials. “I figured crew battles were the best way to do that. From there, we just kept adding things on.”

Like anything Smash related, the community immediately latched on, and Fall 2015 saw 179 schools from 25 states participate. After deciding the best teams of each region, division, and then conference, the Genesis 3 finals crowned their champion: the University of California Irvine, who defeated Georgia Tech in a nailbiter.

For their fifth outing, The Melee Games will be returning to state-level play, forgoing a national championship ahead of the dual Fall 2016-Spring 2017 season. But that doesn’t mean the competition will be any less intense!

If you’re interested in participating, be sure to visit Smash.gg to look up your college’s team or, if there isn’t one already, establish a squad of your own. Registration ends on February 14.

Sources: SSBM Tutorials, ShowdownGG, Smash.gg