“I saw you smiling at me… was it real, or just my fantasy?”
Final Fantasy VIII‘s Rinoa Heartilly is the next character to join Dissidia Final Fantasy NT as announced during Square Enix’s live stream earlier today. Rinoa is a shooting type character and attacks with her wrist mounted Blaster Edge and her loyal canine, Angelo. She also has the ability to summon wings and fly swiftly across the battlefield while attacking with magic.
Rinoa Heartilly will become instantly available to all season pass holders or for $5.99 separately sometime in August on PlayStation 4, while heading to arcades earlier on July 12. Three more characters remain for the season pass and Square Enix has released hints about who they might be, and their release schedule. Check out additional screens from the broadcast showcasing Rinoa’s outfits, weapons, and more below!
The NetherRealm Studios-centric event played host to a wide variety of games this year, with the primary focus being on Injustice 2, as it was the third Premier event on the 2018 Injustice 2 Pro Series (following Combo Breaker and CEO) with the customary $10,000 pot bonus. Additionally, Mortal Kombat XL, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Tekken 7, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, and Skullgirls: 2nd Encore were also played.
We already have replays for the NRS titles, Tekken 7 and DBFZ, courtesy of the Injustice YouTube channel and PNDK&M, which you can view below. The next stop for the IPS will be an online event for the Western region of North America later this month, right before Evo 2018 in early August.
Cody Travers has returned in Street Fighter V: ArcadeEdition under the new mantle of Mayor of Metro City. Although Cody is a series veteran and was previously playable in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Ultra Street Fighter IV, his normals have been almost completely overhauled, while his special moves have been redesigned and repurposed. Additionally, his V-Triggers are completely new, and add many additional special moves. He seems to reference his Final Fight toolset moreso than his previous Street Fighter incarnations — though he feels versatile and strong. I’ve put together this guide of his most essential combo routes, so that players can quickly learn the basics and start developing their neutral game. Here are your best bread-and-butter combos that I’ve found for every common scenario. This video features anti-airs, punishes, confirms, counter-hit combos, crush counter combos, juggles, and more.
This Cody bread-and-butter video is not the full Cody tutorial I’m working on, but rather simply a guide to his basic optimal combo routes. The combos are all my own findings, alongside a few things I’ve observed from other players. Although Cody is technically a returning character, he’s been almost completely reconstructed, and he has multiple similar combo routes with huge potential for okizeme and V-meter optimization. Thus, I wholeheartedly encourage anyone watching to point out superior combo enders and combo routes in the comments, for both me and the other players, so that I can amend them into the final video when I release it!
This past weekend, Lab Zero announced at Anime Expo 2018 that they were bringing Skullgirls 2nd Encore over to the Nintendo Switch. Now, they’re following up on that announcement with a new trailer that details some of the features for the upcoming port.
First and foremost, there will be a physical release for the game (alongside a digital release on the eShop, of course). In addition to this, Skullgirls 2nd Encore will feature both English and Japanese voices, as well as trials, challenges, and survival mode.
Check out the trailer below.
Skullgirls 2nd Encore‘s Switch port is set to arrive later this year. It’s also currently available for PlayStation 4, PS Vita, and PC.
Yesterday we learned about the practical swing timing of Cody’s V-Trigger 2 special moves. But if you’re pulling out the pipe, you won’t jut be reflecting projectiles and landing command grabs all day — you’ve gotta make your combos hurt.
That’s where AXETB‘s latest video comes in: slick editing, useful information, and absurd flashiness come together to demonstrate Cody’s damage and stun potential. There’s a lot of useful tidbits in here too, such as Cody’s ability to reflect projectile V-Triggers and an amusing glitch vs. Dhalsim’s fireball.
Street Fighter Carnival 11 is Mikado Arcade’s currently-ongoing, month-long, multi-game tournament series for a wide variety of classic (and sometimes, obscure) arcade titles. This series is well under way, so start from the beginning if you want to catch up!
Today we start with SNK’s Samurai Shodown VI:
The ‘Spirits’ system makes up the core of this game’s design — each player can choose one of six ‘Spirits’, which gives access to different offensive/defensive capabilities during play. Each of the ‘Spirits’ are based around a different entry in the SamSho series- so if you have a preference for any previous SamSho game, there’s a sub-system waiting for you!
Up next is a little game called Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Maybe you’ve heard of it, readers of shoryuken.com?
You can follow the action of SFC11 by subscribing to Mikado’s official YouTube channel. For the night owls in the US, you can even try to catch them when they livestream.
In Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Cody’s V-Trigger 2 — the questionably named “Dirty Coach” — gives him additional range and the ability to reflect projectiles. That’s all well and good, but GLHFtv would like to bring special focus to two new special moves he gains from this new weapon:
The new command grab and projectile given to Cody via VT2 are powerful, but only if you’ve got your eye on the ball — er, rock. Timing your swing after both of these moves gives you access to absurdly powerful stun and damage options, so check out the video above to learn the proper timing for your swings!
If zoning in fighting games doesn’t interest you unless it’s as complicated as possible, then Pokkén Tournament DX‘s Darkrai might be a character you want to look into.
On the surface, Darkrai struggles with other zoners — and anyone else if they can get in. But, if you learn the ins-and-outs of its move-list and focus on its core win condition — Nightmare mode — you’ll find the opposition will be cowering in fear in no time.
Safe pressure, powerful command grabs, insanely good reversal tools, and more await you in Darkrai’s nightmare. Check out BadIntent‘s guide above to end your opponent’s dreams fast!
Surprise! Seemingly out of nowhere, the official Japanese Pokkén Tournament DX website has announced a new update for Pokkén Tournament DX. It’s set to arrive on Wednesday, July 11, and features balance changes for all 23 fighters (and several supports).
Here are the changes for the Battle Pokémon:
Blastoise
Aura Sphere (Upward): can now fire aura spheres upward after water gun
Burst Mode: now improves Blastoise’s move speed universally.
jX (Field): Can now input bjX to track opponents
Dark Pulse: no longer interacts with opposing projectiles
Decidueye
Soaring > Forward dash: reduced landing recovery
8X: increased block stun
6XX: reduced recovery, but also reduced hitstun
CA: Reduced active armor frames to match other grounded CAs.
5X: increased combo scaling
Empoleon
nY: Can now ice skate right out of nY by holding down the button.
5YX: New move. Hold the button down to go into ice skating.
Movement: Empoleon move speed has increased universally.
jX (Field): Increased active frames of the hitbox while descending. Can change the direction of the move with 7/8/9
5X: increased the hitbox of the second hit
2X: When inputting 1X, you won’t spin as far.
4X: More blockstun.
Skating -> Jump (Duel): Input forward to go even further when jumping.
2X: Increased hitstun. Combo scaling increased.
Skating -> Jump: fixed a problem where your controls would get locked if you were hit with a certain timing out of this move.
Skating (duel) -> Y: can no longer use duel phase moves after phase changing with this move
Back Skating -> Y (duel): fixed an issue where phase changing with this move would cause the camera to get weird
Scizor
Bug Bite: Can now be activated from ]A[
Swords Dance – Shots: Can now forward dash right out of this move with R.
2X: More block stun. Increases pushback from the wall if you wall splat with this move to better position Scizor for combos.
Homing 1: reduced recovery, reduced hitstun
Hover Turn: fixed a bug where inputting hover turn would cause you to use u-turn in certain situations
Croagunk
8[Y]: new move
j8X: On whiff, the move’s random effect has been altered.
bY – Avoids some high projectiles. Just frame increases synergy.
Gunk Shot (Self Destruct): can now guard break opponents
Darkrai
6Y: On hit, causes a down state. On just frame, grants more synergy.
4Y: Just frames give synergy now. Also causes a down state.
2Y: Reduced recovery. However also does reduced blockstun.
Shadow Claw (slice derivation, held): more phase shift points
Air Teleport (Nightmare mode): increased recovery if you air teleport
Shadow Mewtwo
Psywave Projectile (Max Charge) – now eats other projectiles more easily (higher priority)
Miracle Eye – reduced HP cost
Teleport: reduced recovery time
6Y: When the second hit hits an opponent above ground, increased stun
5X: increased the window to cancel into 5XX
Psywave Vortex: reduced HP cost, but also reduces synergy gain to match reduced HP cost
6Y (Burst): when burst ends, the pillar disappears too
Mewtwo
6YX: new just frame added. Just frame adds more damage and synergy gain on success.
Psystrike: Just frames add synergy.
2X: Just frames add synergy.
BA: removes any supports you have out on activation (IE gets rid of rotom if you try to Rotom + BA)
Braixen
j8Y – new move
Flame Charge – when crossing opponents up with this move, you will move a shorter distance
Flame Charge EX – fixed a problem where after performing this move, you would auto correct into the wrong direction
Garchomp
Dig – On crit, OR in burst, now allows you to combo afterward. Made it easier to combo opponents who were hit out of the air. Now avoids projectiles while doing the uppercut portion as well. Nose Dive – now is cancellable into pokemon moves
4X – Can now avoid certain low projectiles.
[Sand tomb] – fixed a problem where the animation wouldn’t play on hit
Sceptile
6Y: Can cancel into vine hang after the move.
Detect (Success): increased chip
CA – On critical hit, the opponent is now downed. (not sure if hard knockdown or if crumple) On hitting an aerial opponent, hitstun increased.
5[Y] on hit, causes a down (not sure if hard knockdown or crumple)
6Y: on start up, this move can avoid lows. The last change is “fixed a bug where jump forward after using vine hang would cause your inputs to get stuffed afterward”
Chandelure
Will-o-Wisp: deals more damage to shield (duel phase only)
4y: more base damage
WoW: reduced knockback against blocking opponents
jY (Field): reduced the range Chandelure can move while performing jump laser
Pikachu Libre
sY – when enhanced, hold the button to do a magnetic hop (I forget what the actual name of her special jump thing is, her wall jump IIRC)
sY – higher base damage
jX – has reduced range when crossing over opponents
Gengar
6YX – Press R to permeate
sY – can cancel into pokemon moves
Sludge Bomb – attack debuff lasts for less time if an opponent walks over the trap
BA – on activation, removes any supports you have out
Mid Air Jump – fixed a bug where you couldn’t properly use astonish after jumping back and permeating
Blaziken
Air Dash – changed the trajectory of his air dash.
EX Heat Wave – Reduced combo scaling
jY – Can now cancel into Pokemon moves. Increased hitstun, reduced knockback.
Weavile
6Y – new move
Burst – lasts longer
Icicle Crash (Slam) – increased chip damage
8X – Weavile can now combo if this move hits opponents out of the air
One of the most popular characters in The King of Fighters series, Leona Heidern is a execution-heavy, rewarding character with few major weaknesses in her versatile move-set — provided, of course, you have the trained skill of an Ikari Warrior.
Persona Entertainment clearly does, and he’s here today to show what The King of Fighters XIV‘s Leona can do with proper charging and C+D wall crumples. These are a critical part of your post activation combo filler so that you can set up those sweet, sweet juggle loops.
