Category: News

While we know that Capcom plans for the Capcom Pro Tour to be a big part of Street Fighter V, going as far as stating that the tour was built with the game in mind, what exactly this entails is still a mystery.

That said, we may now have our first clue as to what Capcom is planning thanks to those intrepid dataminers. A user of our forums named AceKombat discovered some interesting sound sound files that include the names of Capcom Pro Tour events as well as their host country.

Final Round – USA
NorCal Regionals – USA
Hypespotting – Scotland
Stunfest – France
SoCal Regionals – USA
South East Asia Major – Thailand
CEO – USA
Evolution – USA
Mad Catz Tokyo Game Show – Japan
KO Fighting Game Festival – Kuwait
Brazil Game Show – Brazil
Milan Games Week – Italy
Canada Cup Premier – Canada
Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals – Singapore
DreamHack Winter – Sweden
Japan Premier Event – Japan
Capcom Cup Finals – USA
Community Effort Orlando – USA
Evo – USA
Evo Championship Series – USA
Evolution Championship Series – USA
DreamHack – Sweden
DreamHack Summer – Sweden
Capcom Cup Ranking Event
Capcom Cup Online Event
Capcom Cup Premier Event

As you’ll notice in the playlist above, the tournament names are supplemented with generic audio for premier, ranking, and online events, making it likely that Capcom will keep the same format next year. Other placeholders, like the Japan premier event, and carry overs from this year’s tour, such as Thailand being the host for South East Asia Major, are also present.

While we don’t know exactly how these will be used, they do indicate that the game itself will somehow acknowledge when a Capcom Pro Tour event is taking place, and may even be usable at the tournaments themselves to distinguish them during live broadcasts. At the very least, this should help create more exposure for the tour and its various events

Moving on, the excavated Street Fighter V data also features audio files for character names and online rankings. The former further cement the theory that Alex, Guile, Ibuki, Balrog, Juri, and Urien will act as the six post-launch characters previously announced by Capcom. Perhaps more tantalizing is the name “Fan,” a reference to which was previously found in the game’s code, hinting that this may be the identity of the last–and as of yet unrevealed–launch character.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16.

Source: Shoryuken forums

Among all the secrets hidden in Street Fighter V’s now closed second beta session, Capcom also left in some color palette data for the playable cast. As fans are often wont to do, the industrious forum-goers of Street Fighter x Tekken Mods made use of this leftover data to gain a preview of the variations available to each character so far.

We’ve included a few of their compilation images in the gallery below, but be sure to visit the original thread for more.

Click to view slideshow.

While not the most important aspect of a game when it comes to competition, finding a look you enjoy for your chosen character can make all the difference when getting comfortable with a new game. Feel free to let us know which of these colors you prefer in the comments, and cross your fingers they make it into the full game!

Street Fighter V is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC on February 16.

Source: Street Fighter x Tekken Mods via r/StreetFighter

While fighting game sales tend to skew towards the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat side of things, Amazon is currently offering up a ton of deals for those who prefer their games have a more anime flair.

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late, and Arcana Heart 3: LOVE MAX!!!!! are currently enjoying discounts big and small through the online retailer, giving you a chance to catch up on some of the latest airdashers to grace consoles in North America.

Further details have been arranged in the table below.

Please be aware that stocks are limited for a few of these titles and it’s up in the air as to when the sales themselves will end, so act fast!

Source: Amazon via Fighting Games Online, Cheap Ass Gamer

While names like Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara have become synonymous with high-level fighting game competition thanks to their decades of prominence, a relatively fresh face has risen through the ranks to carve out a space of his own. Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis has captivated the community with his intense Zangief play over the years, and now, thanks to his sponsorship with Red Bull and an all but certain spot in the Capcom Cup grand finals, he’s ready to prove what hard work can achieve.

Cultivation is a brand new venture from the folks at Red Bull that focuses on the training necessary to become a successful competitive gamer. Starting with House of Snake Eyez, this documentary series will zero in on Lewis’ journey to Capcom Cup, which saw him travel from the United States to Japan as he sought to level up his skills and secure a portion of the largest fighting game prize pool of all time.

Red Bull unveiled their plans for this series at Canada Cup this past weekend, offering up just the briefest teaser to whet the community’s appetite before its official premiere. We’ve included this trailer below if you missed out before.

Cultivation: House of Snake Eyez is scheduled to debut next Tuesday, November 10, with new episodes available on a weekly basis leading up to Capcom Cup.

Source: Red Bull

Like many facets of life, opinions are one thing the fighting game community has in spades. Think a character is too strong? Jump online and let everyone on your favorite messageboard know. Have criticism for a popular commentator? Do your best to avoid talking to them directly and subtweet with reckless abandon.

Of course, it’s one thing when Twitter rando #473 pops off about something and quite another when a well-known player drops their thoughts on any particular subject. That’s why, when Japanese powerhouse Nemo shared his opinions on a couple of key issues, folks paid attention.

Who do you regard as the strongest Street Fighter players in the world? Your list likely lines up with Nemo’s pretty well, as he thinks of Mad Catz’ Daigo Umehara, Bonchan of Redbull, Evil Geniuses’ Momochi, Kazunoko, and himself as the best Japan has to offer.

In a region as stacked as his home country, Nemo definitely had his work cut out for him. Notably absent are Fuudo of Razer and Mad Catz’ Tokido, both of whom should arguably be included in any discussion of this nature. Of course, we weren’t privy to Nemo’s decision-making process or even how long it took him to come up with this group, so it’s entirely possible he struggled with putting it together.

And you can’t really fault the dude for picking himself. I respect that.

Outside of Japan, Nemo sees Xian of Razer, Infiltration, AVerMedia’s GamerBee, Snake Eyez of Redbull, and MeltDown’s Luffy as the strongest from the rest of the world.

I think USF4 Top5 JPN Daigo,Bonchan,Momochi,Kazunoko,Me World Xian,Infiltration,Gamerbee,Snake eyez,Luffy

— ねも (@GOOD_NEMO) October 30, 2015

Nemo also provided a cursory tier list for the Ultra Street Fighter IV cast. While I don’t personally find these kind of rankings all that compelling without some sort of explanation as to why characters fell where they did, we’ve included his thoughts below for you to check out.

USF4 Character Top10 SS Evil ryu Elena S Rolento Ken Seth A Ibuki Sagat Akuma Adon Yun

— ねも (@GOOD_NEMO) October 30, 2015

So, what do you think? Do you agree with Nemo’s estimations or is he way off the mark? Let us know in the comments, and remember, opinions are like a–well, you know the saying. Be nice and have a great weekend!

Source: Nemo via EventHubs

It seems like every other week there’s a way to pick up Skullgirls Encore on the cheap, but this time around the deals are a bit more significant than usual. If you’ve yet to try out this indie fighter, you can jump in for less than $10 thanks to Steam’s ongoing Halloween sale.

Yep, you read that right, a single Hamilton. $9.94 to be exact. That price will get you the base game as well as every piece of downloadable content thus far, expanding the game with a handful of characters and color palettes. Hell, even if you aren’t interested in grabbing Skullgirls right now, you can still download Beowulf free of charge in case you ever decide to take the plunge.

Similar sales are also in effect for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger ($2.49), Vanguard Princess ($2.49), and Dead or Alive 5 Last Round ($19.99) if those are more your speed.

These discounts will be available through November 2, so be sure to take advantage soon to avoid missing out.

Source: Steam, special thanks to Eternal Star for bringing this to our attention.

It seems like every other week there’s a way to pick up Skullgirls Encore on the cheap, but this time around the deals are a bit more significant than usual. If you’ve yet to try out this indie fighter, you can jump in for less than $10 thanks to Steam’s ongoing Halloween sale.

Yep, you read that right, a single Hamilton. $9.94 to be exact. That price will get you the base game as well as every piece of downloadable content thus far, expanding the game with a handful of characters and color palettes. Hell, even if you aren’t interested in grabbing Skullgirls right now, you can still download Beowulf free of charge in case you ever decide to take the plunge.

Similar sales are also in effect for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger ($2.49), Vanguard Princess ($2.49), and Dead or Alive 5 Last Round ($19.99) if those are more your speed.

These discounts will be available through November 2, so be sure to take advantage soon to avoid missing out.

Source: Steam, special thanks to Eternal Star for bringing this to our attention.

Every Capcom Pro Tour event is important; that’s what a $500,000 prize pool will do. Even beyond picking up guaranteed slots at Capcom Cup, gaining points by placing favorably in Ultra Street Fighter IV tournaments throughout the early months means an easier end-of-year; sure, prize money will always be on the line at these individual events, but once players have a pile of points stowed away, their chance of making it to the final showdown in San Francisco greatly increases.

But we’re well beyond the beginning of the year; in fact, just over a month separates us from what could prove to be one of the most exciting Ultra Street Fighter IV tournaments to date–appropriately sending the game off before the era of Street Fighter V can fully begin. It’s crunch time. In this final month, Capcom Cup hopefuls who’ve yet to make the cut need to perform well at the Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals, DreamHack, and/or Canada Cup in order to make sure their personal tours aren’t cut short.

With players and viewers alike feeling the heat, it’s good to have actual numbers to work with to figure out just how much pressure we should all be feeling. Bavo Bruylandt, who many of you may recognize as the man behind Shoryuken’s player ranking system, recently published a post on Reddit to address this issue. As you might expect, this data comes from his dedicated tracker, which was then consolidated with a list of top players known to be attending Canada Cup created by r/Kappa’s fgcdrmike.

The list in question includes players that have already directly qualified for the Capcom Cup and are simply seeking better seeding: Evil Geniuses’ Momochi, Bonchan of Redbull, Razer’s Fuudo and Xian, GamerBee of AVerMedia, Mad Catz’ Mago, and, last but not least, free agent Kazunoko. Any of these titans making it into the top eight would come as little surprise, and by going so far as to take first place–and, perhaps, additional spots following that–these players could potentially feed Canada Cup’s qualifying spot to a lower-than-expected placement.

Next come those already qualified by points: Redbull’s Snake Eyez, Justin Wong of Evil Geniuses, Razer’s Itabashi Zangief, 801 Strider of Winterfox, and YOMI’s Dieminion. As you’d expect, these players stand to shake things up quite a bit. In the event that one of them directly qualifies at Canada Cup, we’ll see a shift in the qualification range that will allow players to make it in from points alone. This is due in part to Team YP’s Valmaster, whose current point total of 148 would become the new number to beat in order to qualify. That total currently stands at 160, held by Gackt of Razer.

From there, we move on to the final two areas, which make up the bulk of the list. Players like Ricki Ortiz and K-Brad of Evil Geniuses, Team Spooky’s Sabin, MOV, and a handful of others need various amounts of points to gain entry to the finals; the best bet would, of course, be directly qualifying at Canada Cup, but gaining substantial points totals would work just as well in many cases.

Below them come those whose only hope to make Capcom Cup would be outright qualifying in Canada. This list includes the likes of Cast Blanka, Alex Valle of Level|Up Series, Canada Cup Gaming’s own Chi-Rithy and Air, and the ever popular Kitasenju DJ, who will be representing r/Kappa.

These players each have their own following, and everyone likely has more than one favorite from the list of hopefuls; with so many big names it’s nearly impossible to choose only one to cheer on. So, who will you be rooting for this weekend? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Canada Cup takes place this weekend from October 30 to November 1. Preliminary brackets can be found through Challonge, and the full list of Capcom Pro Tour point totals are available on our ranking page.

Source: Bavo Bruylandt