Category: News

When first starting out as a fighting game player, having folks to look up to is huge. While it may be detrimental to strive for the upper echelons of competition right off the bat, the positives of being able to talk to a veteran and learn from their experiences are immeasurable, granted you have someone willing to give you some pointers. Fortunately, with the advent of the internet, it’s easy to hop on Twitter or Twitch and shoot off a couple of questions to folks like Justin Wong, and they are often more than happy to answer.

Team Spooky’s Steve “LordKnight” Barthelemy certainly fits the bill. Over the years, he’s come to be known as one of the strongest “anime” players in the United States, with impressive tournament showings in games like Melty Blood, BlazBlue, Persona, and, more recently, Guilty Gear. In order to help out beginners, LordKnight recently put out a list of important concepts to keep in mind as you continue through your fighting game career.

While some, like being open to criticism, are just common sense, many go unheeded by even the best players within our community, especially when it comes to character choice. “Tier whore is a concept you’ve created. Understand that at a competitive level, people are going to do whatever it takes to win,” LordKnight says. “People are also going to pick characters they enjoy. At a competitive level, it doesn’t really matter ‘why’ someone plays x or y character. Anyone can play any character they want, for whatever reason they want to.”

That said, he is quick to elaborate, mentioning that you don’t deserve an award just because you forgo choosing the “strongest” cast member in any given game. “You’re not special for picking a certain character. Just because you play a low tier doesn’t make you special, or secretly better, by default.”

What this all really amounts to, though, is fun. At the end of the day, no matter how heated things get, we’re all still playing video games, a source of entertainment, and “you can’t define what’s ‘fun’ for other people.”

For more of LordKnight’s tips, be sure to visit his original post by following the link below.

Source: LordKnight, image courtesy of FGC: Rise of the Fighting Game Community

Capcom executive Yoshinori Ono is visiting the United Arab Emirates this weekend for Dubai’s annual GAMES convention, and it seems he has some Street Fighter V news in tow.

Over the past few days, Ono has dropped a couple of interesting screenshots that show Ryu getting hit by what appears to be a tornado or some other wind-based attack. This, of course, conjures images of Cody’s Criminal Upper, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we’re in store for another newcomer.

GAMES15’s official website notes that Ono will be sharing an “exclusive Street Fighter V treat” during his presentation on the PlayStation stage this Friday, September 11, so stay tuned for more details.

Source: Yoshinori Ono via UltraDavid

Arc System Works is set to continue their recent string of PC releases by bringing Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX!!!!! to Steam on September 29.

Arcana Heart, for those out of the loop, is a unique airdasher created by EXAMU, the developers behind the more recent offering Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel. The series is perhaps best known for its wide array of movement options and quick pace, which have only increased throughout its numerous installments. In addition to selecting a character, LOVE MAX players are prompted to pick from one of 23 separate Arcana, which bolster their chosen fighter with special abilities.

While still a step behind the SIX STARS update that launched last winter, this is sure to excite anime fans looking to expand their PC library. More details on this port can be found through Steam.

Source: Arc System Works via BLACKSTAR

When Street Fighter Alpha 3 launched back in 1998, it introduced a brand new character to the Street Fighter universe: Rainbow Mika. A strong, over-the-top fighter, the outspoken professional wrestler fit in well with the franchise’s already extensive cast of world warriors and quickly became a fan favorite despite the disparity of her appearances on the competitive circuit.

Apart from R. Mika’s incorporation of suplexes and hipchecks, the enthusiasm of the voice acting provided by Junko Takeuchi went a long way towards entrenching her in the minds of fans. In 2002, Takeuchi would go on to voice Naruto in the anime adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series of the same name, an iconic role filled with the same energy she brought to Street Fighter.

With R. Mika’s return in Street Fighter V, many assumed Takeuchi was invited back to resume her previous duties due to the similarities of the voice used in promotional materials. Furthermore, folks were also led to believe Maile Flanagan, who is perhaps best known as Naruto’s voice actor in the English localization, was brought on board to bring R. Mika to life in North America.

While all of this could have added up to a pretty fun story (especially with the similarities between R. Mika and Naruto’s childish Oiroke no Jutsu), details provided to us by Capcom confirm that our ears may not be as good as we think. According to this new information, Hiromi Igarashi has been employed to voice R. Mika in Japanese while Bonnie Gordon is handling English duties. Arc System Works fans may recognize Igarashi’s work in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, where she voices newcomer Jack-O.

Whether this is a case of Takeuchi now being either too busy or expensive to reprise her role or Capcom looking to go in a different direction, one thing is for sure: R. Mika is in great hands.

Street Fighter V is scheduled to launch for PlayStation 4 and PC in March 2016.

While folks have been hard at work piecing together Rising Thunder strategy since the alpha went public, the early builds were missing on key component: player lobbies. Today, that all changes thanks to the title’s latest update.

Rising Thunder’s new custom match functionality allows players to directly hook up with their friends in unranked matches. Though not as fully-featured as you would expect, it remains a work in progress, much like the rest of the game.

A complete list of changes implemented in this patch can be found below.

Source: Rising Thunder

Although PAX Prime is over and done with, Street Fighter V footage continues to pour out courtesy of Khaos Gaming. They recently compiled two large playlists full of gameplay for the upcoming title, from both tournament and casual settings.

Some of the players you can expect to see in the replays below include Kwyjibo, Bokkin, Longur, Harrison, and Clim, so there’s no shortage of smart players showing off what they’ve learned.

If this isn’t enough to slake your thirst, keep your eyes on Khaos Gaming for more footage in the coming days.

Source: Khaos Gaming

PlayStation is celebrating their twentieth anniversary this week, and they’ve marked down a number of titles on PlayStation Network to help fans get in on the fun. Fortunately, fighting games were included in the celebration, most notably Ultra Street Fighter IV and numerous SNK classics that you’ll definitely want to add to your library.

The full list of fighting game sales can be found in our handy table below. Please keep in mind that PlayStation Plus subscribers enjoy slightly deeper discounts while you browse.

This promotion lasts through September 14, so take advantage as soon as possible!

Source: PlayStation Network

Jam Kuradoberi will be joining the Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- cast in late September according to new details from Arc System Works. While the game launched without her last month, an upcoming patch is set to add her to the playable cast and correct a number of bugs.

But fans won’t have to wait that long to see her in action. Starting tomorrow, the developers will be holding a number of location tests to run the update through its paces and give players their first opportunity to see how Jam performs in Xrd.

Further details are sure to surface throughout the coming days, so stay tuned for more information from those attending the location tests. For now, feel free to check out the gallery of new images below.

Sources: 4Gamer via IPLAYWINNER, Dustloop

With Rising Thunder’s alpha now open to the community at large, ShowDown is ready to put on the title’s very first tournament tomorrow, September 9, at Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco, California.

Hosted in cooperation with Radiant Entertainment’s Seth Killian, this event will feature a $500 prize pool as well as goodies for all participants in the form of shirts and pins.

The tournament will start at 7 PM PDT with a hard cap of 32 players, so don’t miss out on showing what you’ve learned in this robot fighter.

More details on this event can be found here.

Source: ShowDown

After just arriving in arcades this summer, Sega is ready to bring Dengeki Bunko FIGHTING CLIMAX IGNITION to home consoles…well, in Japan, anyways. This dream match fighter, which sees characters from various light novel properties duke it out, will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita starting December 17.

As a follow-up to the original 2014 release, IGNITION adds a number of new gameplay mechanics and characters, including Heavy Object’s Quensar Barbotage and Emi Yusa from The Devil is a Part-Timer! Players can expect familiar trappings, like training and online modes, to be included in the console port as well.

With the first title still awaiting a North American release this fall, it remains to be seen which version the community will throw their support behind, but I’d say things are looking pretty grim for the upcoming localization.

More details are expected in this week’s issue of Dengeki PlayStation, so stay tuned.

Source: Dengeki Online via Gematsu