Category: News

As some of you may remember, we launched a fun poll a few weeks back that asked which classic character you want to see make an appearance in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-. To keep things from getting too out of hand, we used the list of choices provided by Arc System Works themselves, who are currently running their own, official poll in Japanese arcades.

Inspired by the folks over at Kakuge Checker, we put the question to our readers, who came out in droves to participate. After all was said and done, 5733 individual votes were cast, giving us an interesting picture of where each character stands.

Before we get to the full results, I have to stress that this is nowhere near being sanctioned by the developers. This was merely an experiment to see how our audience would respond, and has no bearing on who will eventually join Guilty Gear Xrd’s playable cast.

Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, onto the results!

Baiken was the huge favorite, garnering over a quarter of the votes ahead of Dizzy and Bridget in second and third, respectively. While none of these stats are mindblowing, they do go to show just how popular the one-armed, one-eyed swordswoman actually is, at least among our readers.

Rounding out the top ten are A.B.A, Holy Order Sol, Testament, Zappa, Izuna, Valentine, and Raven. The last three are perhaps the most surprising due to their connections with Guilty Gear 2: Overture, the action-RTS hybrid that departed from the series’ fighting roots.

For a full look at how things shook out, be sure to check out the full results below. For comparison, we’ve included Kakuge-Checker’s tally as well. Please note that the Japanese site allowed multiple choice, whereas we only gave folks a single vote. All percentages are approximate.

Are you asking yourself how these fighters might play when they reach Guilty Gear Xrd? Well, lucky for you, Arc System Works battle planner Pachi is way ahead of you, and already provided his thoughts on how they may change should they return in -REVELATOR-. Be sure to check out our translations if you haven’t already.

Finally, thank you all for participating! Let us know what you think of these results in the comments.

Today, TAITO conducted the bracket drawing for its upcoming Ultra Street Fighter official tournament and Capcom Pro Tour premier event Ultra Hyakkishu Cup. Set for Saturday, October 17, at Tokyo Big Sight, this event will feature cash prizes, with first place taking home one million yen (~$8275 USD).

As you would expect from a Japanese national event with a Capcom Cup spot on the line, this 128-player bracket is packed with top players. While you might notice a few missing names (the Mad Catz team of Daigo Umehara, Tokido, and Mago, for example), you’ll see your Momochis, your Nemos, your Bonchans, and many more strong players in the listing. A few international players will also be participating, namely Razer’s Xian, Poongko, and Dawgtanian.

Below is the full listing of the 128-player bracket. Look forward to this killer event when it goes down next month!

Source: TAITO, SF Community

After launching their Indiegogo campaign earlier this week and unveiling Them’s Fightin’ Herds first five characters, the fine folks at Mane6 recently dropped information on a sixth, rounding out the indie fighter’s initial cast. While “imposing” may not be the right word for this half-dragon character, Tianhuo certainly represents a different side of this decidedly cutesy title.

Tianhuo is based off the fabled longma of Chinese mythology, and sports a pair of fiery wings that are much more than show. According to Mane6’s gameplay description, she is capable of flight-based attacks and can cancel her entire movelist into Firecracker, her unique Magic ability.

In other news, Mane6 recently threw their hat into the ring on Steam Greenlight, the service that allows smaller titles to be published on the platform if enough interest is shown from the community. Should you feel like helping be sure to visit their official Greenlight page and vote ‘Yes’.

At the time of publishing this article, the Indiegogo stands at $160,405 of the overall $436,000 goal after just four days.

Source: Mane6

Since revealing Killer Instinct season three will feature a guest appearance by Battletoads mainstay Rash as well as the return of veteran Kim Wu, the developers have been pretty quiet with regards to upcoming content. Fortunately, it appears as if that will be coming to an end soon.

When asked for updates, the official Killer Instinct account on Twitter promised to share more details next week, though probably not at the breakneck pace fans demand. “It has been quiet, hasn’t it? We’re going to start slowly remedying that next week,” the tweet reads. “Emphasis on slowly.”

Although we’ve only been shown one character so far, Killer Instinct’s third season is already shaping up to be quite an endeavor thanks to the new direction its soundtrack will be taking with Atlas Plug and Celldweller at the helm.

So, what we’re saying is you should be ready for new details in the near future, but do your best to keep your expectations in check, okay?

Killer Instinct season three is expected to begin sometime in March 2016.

Source: Killer Instinct

Slowly but surely, Arc System Works titles are making their way to PC. After releasing BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift EXTEND on Steam, Korean publisher H2 Interactive will be doing the same for BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND next year.

As the name suggests, EXTEND updates Chronophantasma with a number of gameplay adjustments as well as two more playable characters: Celica A. Mercury and Lambda-11.

Similar to past releases, this unfortunately comes just a little too late. BlazBlue’s next iteration, Central Fiction, is set to launch in Japanese arcades sometime this winter, but these plans do signal an improvement to the rather sluggish release schedule we’ve seen in recent years. With no console plans for Central Fiction in sight, Chronophantasma EXTEND will presumably remain the competitive standard outside of Japan for some time, giving players a better reason to double dip on Steam other than curiosity.

H2 Interactive’s schedule says BlazBlue: Chronophantasma EXTEND should arrive on PC sometime in January 2016. At this point in time, they only mention a Korean localization, but their previous track record makes an English release quite likely. Stay tuned for more details.

Source: H2 Interactive, tip via Daskir

The folks over at Radiant Entertainment have continued their long string of Rising Thunder updates today with a patch that, in addition to providing additional content, also improves the title’s training mode.

Now, players can customize the practice dummy with a number of behaviors and blocking options. While these are pretty traditional options, it’s nice to see finally see them make an appearance in the alpha build.

As far as gameplay goes, Chel has received a new special move variant, Crow sees a more consistent anti-air command join its movelist, and Dauntless players can now take advantage of safer max range Cold Drills and Diesel Strikes thanks to their added pushback. Full details on all this and more can be found in the box below.

Source: Rising Thunder

Level|Up Series’ Wednesday Night Fights is one of the most well known weekly tournaments for fighting games. Formerly held at Super Arcade, it attracted some of Southern California’s best players in multiple games, and was also known for bringing in out-of-state talent on a regular basis.

After parting with Super Arcade late last year, however, the series moved to online competition. While this has allowed additional players to take part in the tournaments, more than a few folks have mourned the loss of a local venue and the arcade-style feel that it brought to the area.

Well, those in mourning need not mourn much longer, as Level|Up just announced that Wednesday Night Fights will be returning to live competition this fall. In the video below, Alex Valle takes viewers on a walking tour of the eSports Arena in Santa Ana, California, which will house the upcoming competitive season when it begins in October. As you’ll see, there should be no shortage of setups or the comforts of home in this new venue.

Wednesday Night Fight’s 2015 fall season is set to run from October 21 to December 16. Stay tuned for further details on its return to live competition.

Source: Level|Up Series

While folks in New York City are currently enjoying a Pokkén Tournament location test at Dave & Buster’s, it appears as if Bandai Namco Entertainment will be showing some love to Southern California as well.

According to IPLAYWINNER, a pair of Pokkén cabinets have been installed at Round 1 in City of Industry, California, located in the Puente Hills Mall. They aren’t operational at present, but it’s only a matter of time before the owners throw the switch and give players a chance to try out this unique Pokémon fighter.

Pokkén Tournament is currently enjoying a release in Japanese arcades, and was recently updated to include Blaziken and Masked Pikachu as part of the playable cast. A global Wii U release is expected sometime in spring 2016.

Sources: IPLAYWINNER

After giving the United States’ west and east coasts the opportunity to shine, Ruu, Efute, Biscuits, and Zidane have organized a similar Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- lobby for players in the Midwest.

Regularly thought of as one of the strongest Guilty Gear regions, this broadcast will allow Midwestern competitors to show the world what they are made of. The players invited this time include ElvenShadow, BLACKSNAKE, SymVicious, KBNova, and Bloodwolf, all of whom are set to participate in an intense round-robin competition.

Much like previous efforts, Biscuits will be providing an English broadcast on Twitch while Efute does the same in Japanese on Niconico Live. If you’re interested in checking out the matches live, be sure to tune into one of their streams on Saturday, September 26, around 7 PM PDT, 10 PM EDT.

Source: Zidane