Category: Videos

Step into the world of the Night Warriors with these guides from The Nostalgic Gamer!

After concluding his “Meet The Darkstalkers” series last April with an episode covering Lilith Aensland, The Nostalgic Gamer continues his Darkstalkers Forever project with a three-part “Darkstalkers Fighting Game Primer” mini-series. It serves to introduce newcomers to both the wold of Darkstalkers (as well as the fighting game genre as a whole) though the lenses of Night Warriors and Vampire Savior, the two most-commonly played installments of the franchise, which are also part of Capcom’s 2013 Darkstalkers Resurrection release.

Though the series begins by explaining the very basic concepts of 2D fighting games (which will no doubt be familiar territory to the majority of our readers), TNG goes on to outline mechanics that are specific to Darkstalkers such as Pursuit Attacks, Holds, and the Dark Force system in Vampire Savior, as well as the core differences between the two games.

Finally, the third part of the Primer discusses ways for new players to get into the genre and stay for the long haul, as well as just exactly what drives many of us to log hours and hours of study and playtime into our video game genre of choice — especially for a 21-year old game like Savior.

With this weekend’s AnimEVO having a 56 entrant side tournament, this series is definitely a recommended watch if you’re new to the game, but invested in spectating the event. There is also a series of companion articles, videos, and social media pages, if you’re interested in further increasing your fighting game knowledge or looking to get involved with the competitive Darkstalkers community, listed in the video descriptions. You can see the full series below.

Source: The Nostalgic Gamer

Which region of Japan emerged victorious?

Last Sunday, during the Dragon Ball Game Summer 2018 livestream, there was a special 3v3 regional team event held at the Tokyo Red Bull Gaming Sphere to determine which region of the Land of the Rising Sun was the strongest heading into Evo 2018. The squads consisted of:

• Team Tokyo – GGP|Kazunoko (Kid Buu/Adult Gohan/Yamcha), Kaimato (Teen Gohan/Kid Buu/SSGSS Vegito), Pakka (Adult Gohan/Piccolo/Super Saiyan Goku)
• Team Central – Kubo (Adult Gohan/Android 16/Super Saiyan Goku), Chou (Captain Ginyu/Bardock/Super Saiyan Goku), Banbaban (Kid Buu/Bardock/Super Saiyan Goku)
• Team Osaka – CO|GO1 (Cell/Bardock/Super Saiyan Vegeta), CO|Dogura (Kid Buu/Cell/Super Saiyan Goku), CO|Fenrich (Cell/Bardock/Super Saiyan Vegeta)
• Team Special – Masayan (Bardock/Kid Buu/Android 16), GGWP|Souji (Kid Buu/Bardock/Super Saiyan Goku), Denpa (Captain Ginyu/Gotenks/Android 16)

The event began as a round-robin between the four trios, with the two teams who emerged with the most victories facing off in the Grand Finals. You can see the full video, with timestamps of individual matches and commentary by Jiyuna, below. Though be warned, there is a bit of NSFW language!

Source: jiyunajp

There is no clean solution to Ling Xiaoyu’s Art of Phoenix, colloquially known as “AOP”. This stance has both absurd evasive properties, damaging mix-ups, and incredible safety, making it one of the most important things you must lab against for success in Tekken 7.

But if you’ve got 10 minutes, then a good portion of the legwork has already been done for you by Chad Barley. In today’s video he goes over every AOP option and the most standard solutions for each — measuring, wisely, after the most powerful setup Ling has for AOP: while running 3.

Source: Chad Barley

I’m not sure what prompted the internet’s most prolific Ken content creator for Street Fighter V, World Warrior FGC, to look into Ryu suddenly. But judging by the lockdown potential these easy to hit-confirm combos have, it’s good that he did:

Medium DP allows you to meaty most wake-up options after a quick-rise, including 3-frame normals. It also gives good damage and sets up an easy confirm for both V-Trigger and Super — allowing Ryu to stun some characters in as few as two guesses.

Source: World Warrior FGC

I’m not sure what prompted the internet’s most prolific Ken content creator for Street Fighter V, World Warrior FGC, to look into Ryu suddenly. But judging by the lockdown potential these easy to hit-confirm combos have, it’s good that he did:

Medium DP allows you to meaty most wake-up options after a quick-rise, including 3-frame normals. It also gives good damage and sets up an easy confirm for both V-Trigger and Super — allowing Ryu to stun some characters in as few as two guesses.

Source: World Warrior FGC

As a combination of Goku and Vegeta, Vegito is one of the more popular fusion characters Dragon Ball franchise. That said, this hasn’t really translated into him being used a lot in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

That’s not to say that Vegito (SSGSS) isn’t able to pull his own weight in this game. For any players looking to try out this fusion in Dragon Ball FighterZ, combo genius Final Showdown has shared a video exploring the maximum amount of damage that Vegito can pull off using his bread-and-butter combos. The combos here are practical ones that are meant to be used in a real match; as such, Final Showdown shows multiple ways that these combos can be started, and how much damage each starter gains or loses.

Source: Final Showdown

While the massive Super Smash Bros. for Wii U community is eagerly awaiting the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this December, Evo 2018 will still be the game’s fifth largest tournament ever as it returns to the Evolution Championship Series for its fourth consecutive year.

In the time since its debut Smash 4 has fostered international competition and developed a sustainable community that is independent from the larger FGC and even its sister title, Super Smash Bros. Melee. With Panda Global Stats maintaining a seasonal power ranking and keeping meticulous stats it’s easy to see how fast the game and its players have progressed.

With a sequel on the way, this will almost certainly be Super Smash Bros. for Wii U’s last year at Evo. Previous years have produced three different Evo champions, ZeRo, Ally and Liquid|Salem. After finishing first on the PGRv4 ranking in January, ZeRo announced that he would no longer be competing, opening the door for a new player to claim the title of best in the world for the first time since the ranking system was introduced in Summer 2016.

The heir apparent to the throne is Echo Fox|MKLeo from Mexico. Primarily playing Marth with Cloud as a secondary, MKLeo has finished no worse than seventh in tournaments since the start of 2018. Though he has been the most consistent Smash for Wii U player of the last year, MKLeo suffered a pair of major upsets at Evo 2017, finishing in 65th place. This weekend could have been a shot at redemption and solidifying his place as the world’s best, but the #1 seed was forced to withdraw due to illness.

Sadly i wont be able to go to EVO due that i got chickenpox a week ago, i thought i still had a chance to go cuz i feel better now but this is contagious so i cant even leave home
I will be ready and fine next week for SSC hopefully!
Sorry if you wanted to see me win…
Have fun

— EchoFox lMVGl MkLeo (@Mkleosb) August 1, 2018

Though the front-runner is now out of the picture, a strong field of challengers remains ready to fight for the the Evo crown. Though he had beaten ZeRo in the past, Salem’s reset and victory in the Grand Finals of Evo 2017 was considered one of the biggest upsets of the year. In the time since, Salem has solidified his return as one of the best players in North America with multiple top 8 finishes at major events. Salem, Ally and NRG|Nairo have been at the top players since the days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and their years of tournament experience make them perennial contenders at Evo.

Tweek, who entered the scene with Smash for Wii U, has slowly but surely fought his way up the ladder to earn the second seed at Evo 2018. Once known for his unique Bowser Jr., Tweek made the transition to Bayonetta and Cloud to give himself the best chance at winning. Since the start of the year he’s earned two major wins at 2GG: Hyrule Saga and Momocon as well as two second place finishes at FrostByte and CEO.

GRV|Dabuz is one of two players to have made the Evo finals all three years, the other being ZeRo. While still considered strong, his character Rosalina employs a much more defensive, “lame” style than the game’s other top tiers, often polarizing fans. Earning major wins at Frostbyte 2018 and The Big House 7 in the past year, Dabuz has proven that he can beat the best when he’s at the top of his game.

Though the Japanese scene has gained more attention in recent years, the players do not have as many opportunities to compete at the major level. At Evo 2016 three Japanese players made their way into the top 8 playing characters that are considered mid-tier at best. While Kamemushi’s Mega Man fell to Zero in the Grand Finals, it showed that Japan could not ignored on the international stage and encouraged new communication between the Eastern and Western Super Smash Bros. for Wii U communities. Look for Abadango (Bayonetta/Mewtwo), Choco (Zero Suit Samus), and Komorikiri (Cloud/Sonic) to help carry the flag for Japan at Evo 2018.

The best characters in Smash 4 have always been pretty clearly defined, but as the level of competition increases more and more characters have been proven to be viable. Bayonetta and Cloud, both DLC characters, are the game’s “problem” characters, employing unique mechanics that defy the normal pace of the game. Diddy Kong, Shiek, Zero Suit Samus, and Fox remain common picks from the game’s earliest days, though balance patches have brought them closer in line with the rest of the cast.

Of course there are still some character specialists out there; Elegant earned the 14th spot on the PGR using Luigi, Japan’s Raito is in 23rd using exclusively Duck Hunt, and former Evo finalist ESAM is still pushing Pikachu to the top.

With Smash 4 entering its final months, Evo 2018 will be the first step in a grand send-off for the game. You can catch pools for Smash for Wii U starting at 8:00 a.m. PT/11:00 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 3 on Twitch.tv/Evo3. Semifinals will begin on Saturday, Aug. 4 at 4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET on Twitch.tv/Evo3 and continue into the top 8 Finals at 8:00 p.m. PT/11:00 p.m. ET on Twitch.tv/Evo.

Sources: Panda Global Rankings; コラった Koratta; MKLeo (Twitter)