PR Balrog shares his candid thoughts about Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, esports’ effect on the FGC, and more with BornFree

Cygames Beast’s Eduardo “PR Balrog” Perez has been missing-in-action in the fighting game community for the past few months. The last time we saw him compete was at the Capcom Cup 2017 Last Chance Qualifier, where he tied for 17th place. With his recent return to competing in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition at NorCal Regionals 2018 last month, it’s almost safe to say we’ll probably be seeing and hearing more from the former Balrog specialist (he mains Akuma now!).

BornFree caught up with Eduardo at NCR 2018 to pick his brain on several current topics in the FGC. In this almost half-hour interview, Eduardo talks about the current status of SFVAE, why he mains Akuma, and his thoughts on Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Dragon Ball FighterZ. He also talks about the “Caba incident” that occurred during NCR 2018, and how it ties in with how esports has changed the FGC. You can check out the full interview, where he talks about all of this and more, in the video below.

For more of BornFree’s interviews, be sure to check out his YouTube channel!

Source: BornFree

Combos for old and new characters abound in this The King of Fighters XIV version 3.0 roundup

As you may already know, The King of Fighters XIV version 3.0 brings with it a host of balance changes, as well as new characters. As such, the KoF faithful have been hard at work dissecting the new patch. While it’s barely been a day since the patch hit, a number of players have already figured out things for both new and old characters alike.

Being a newcomer to the series in general, there’s a lot of interest in Arabian newcomer Najd. Right now, people are just figuring out how to deal damage with her in her combos, such as in this video by Shiki.

While, as the video above states, her initial damage seems to be low, they were able to figure out an 800 damage combo with her.

In addition to Najd, Shiki’s also been figuring out stuff for returning fan-favorite Blue Mary, such as this combo.

As well as sharing a tip on getting one of her links down.

Here’s another Blue Mary combo from KOF da Depressao, demonstrating a double MAX Mode activation series.

Wauhti demonstrates a similar combo, this time from mid-screen.

Moving on to the other new character, we have this Oswald combo from KCOpedro.

Additionally, HB Hollaback posted a video to remind players about how Oswald’s “Heart” special move can negate and even reflect projectiles.

Meanwhile, diz focuses on Heidern, and how his forward and B (light kick) leads to a hard knockdown when juggled into, leading into some mix-up opportunities.

Moving on to the older characters, Chris “Hellpockets” Fields demonstrates how Joe Higashi players no longer have to delay cancel the Golden Tiger super after his Slash Kicks to get the full juggle.

Shiki on the other hand, demonstrates how Shun’ei now has an easier time crossing up with his jump D.

El Rosa meanwhile showcases how Ramon’s light punch feint step leads to a hard knockdown.

Wauhti demonstrates how Angel’s command grab can now lead to okizeme opportunities using her “teleport”.

SAB-CA demonstrates how Tung Fu Rue can use his Senpuu Gouken to punish projectiles, even super ones.

Speaking of punishes, White-AshX demonstrates how Mian can now punish whiffed DPs with a devastating 5-bar combo.

Moving on to combos doing big damage, Straywolf demonstrates a new max damage combo for Hein.

Tortilla, on the other hand, showcases a new corner combo that Sylvie Paula Paula can use.

Of course, not everything people are posting is about new tech or combos — Benimaru, for example, has a few nerfs, as demonstrated by these videos from KCOpedro.

One character who definitely wasn’t nerfed is Vanessa who, aside from getting better frame data, seems to have a new stun combo, replacing the one SNK removed as this video from GeOs demonstrates.

Sources: ShikiKOF da DepressaowauhtiKCOpedroHB HollabackdizHellpocketsEl RosaSAB-CAWhite-AshXStraywolfTortillaGeOs

My Hero Academia: One’s Justice’s new trailer showcases quirks, assists, and destructible stages

Hot on the heels of the game’s new TV spot, Bandai Namco has dropped a brand new trailer for My Hero Academia: One’s Justice. The new trailer below focuses on all the characters that have been announced so far, showing off how their quirks work in-game.

In addition to this, it also goes over some of the features that the game will have: this includes the “Sidekick System” which works like assists in other fighting games, as well as the “Stage Destruction” feature.

My Hero Academia: One’s Justice is set to launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC sometime later this year.

Source: Bandai Namco Games

Celebrate The King of Fighters XIV’s new DLC characters with this trailer

As you may already know, version 3.0 of The King of Fighters XIV has just hit, bringing with it four new DLC characters (and a ton of balance changes). To celebrate this, SNK has released a new trailer for the game.

The trailer focuses on the four DLC characters being added to The King of Fighters XIV. Three of the four — the card-slinging Oswald, the calm Ikari commander Heidern, and the fan-favorite freelancer Blue Mary — are returning veterans from older games in the franchise. The fourth character however, the Arabian vigilante Najd, is a brand-new character who was the result of a fan character design competition.

You can catch a glimpse of all these characters in the trailer below:

The King of Fighters XIV‘s version 3.0 update is now available for download on both PlayStation 4 and PC.

Source: SNK

Punish players in the name of the moon with this Sailor Moon character tutorial for Sailor Moon S

While Sailor Moon S has often been labeled as a more straightforward, spacing-oriented fighting game, it retains its fair share of gimmicks. One character that benefits from this is the titular character Sailor Moon, who utilizes her unique forward dash to create a vortex and even a throw loop.

These are on display in this character tutorial from Xsjado Blade — who shows the utility of all of her moves, as well as her various setups. He also goes over the utility — or rather, liability — of her desperation move.

Source: NoSLP Xsjado

Team Spooky streamed a BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle tournament at Next Level using the latest build

Arc System Works graciously supplied a pre-release build of BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle to New York City’s premiere fighting game space, Next Level. The weekly event, Next Level Battle Circuit, featured the upcoming game in a first-to-one tournament that lasted a little over two hours. With a wide variety of entrants, just about every character received a little stage time.

At the beginning, tune in to Omnisscythe’s matches if you want to see some Makoto in action. He paired her up with Gordeau, which seems like a good fit to cover Makoto’s weaknesses. There’s no shortage of Ruby and Weiss players; those two are regarded fairly strong by the community, at least in their impressions so far. One of the players to look out for is Method|Flux, who uses Nu-13 and Weiss. Flux recently posted a BBTAG mechanics overview, laying out some competitive advice. PAG|Grover also shows up, using Yu Narukami and Ruby. The two face off against each other in the finals. Their matches are quite exciting, as the two already have some experience with the game.

Check it out below, and if you want more footage, we covered videos showcasing BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle special intros.

Source: Team Spooky

Boxer-King breaks down how to throw break properly versus King in Tekken 7

For new players, its already a chore to throw break in Tekken 7. You have to learn at least three distinct animations and train your eyes and muscles to react correctly to those animations every time — and that doesn’t even factor in unique grabs like Heihachi’s QCF+1+3, for example.

And then there’s Tekken’s flagship grappler, King. King breaks the rules of Tekken by having startups with deliberately misleading animations in relation to their throw-break — for example, Giant Swing reaches out with both hands despite only being a 1 break.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to deal with his throw game, though: as BoxeR-King demonstrates clearly in his live demonstration, you can defeat the “mix-up” with proper training. There’s more then the generic startup animation to Giant Swing and Shining Wizard — check out the drills above to improve your breaks between these tricky grabs.

Source: BoxeR-King

Rising Up: Season 3.5 — Overview and important changes for Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Cammy, M. Bison, Vega, Dhalsim, & Zangief

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition has only been out for a few months, but the community had been voicing strong opinions about various characters’ Season 3 changes; in light of this, Capcom has released a mid-season balance patch which seeks to address some of the most common complaints about the game’s engine and the characters in question. This patch also includes various small balance changes to every character. Because of this, I’m preparing a series of videos on ShoryukenTube showing off the most important gameplay adjustments on a per-character basis.

For this first week, I’ve made a video describing all changes that are universal across all characters, as well as covering most of the returning SFII veterans: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Cammy, M. Bison, Vega, Dhalsim, and Zangief.

Here’s the playlist for all characters so far, which I’ll update as I go.

I won’t stop making videos until I’ve covered all the SFVAE characters, so keep an eye out on the ShoryukenTube YouTube channel so you don’t miss out!

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is getting a collectors edition in North America

For any fans looking to pick up a physical copy of BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle in North America later this June, here’s some interesting news for you. Arc System Works has revealed that the game will be getting a special “collectors edition” in the region.

The Collectors Edition for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is coming to both PlayStation 4 and Switch, and comes with a number of goodies in the box. The items packaged in the Collectors Edition include a copy of the game inside a steelbook case, an original soundtrack CD (15 tracks), a 52-page soft cover artbook with cover jacket, and acrylic art stands of characters Ragna the Bloodedge, Yu Narukami, Hyde Kido, and Ruby Rose.

Pre-orders for the Collectors Edition will go live on May 4 on Arc System Works’ online store. In addition to this, players who pre-order either the Collectors Edition or the regular edition of BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will also receive a mini soundtrack with 7 songs.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle launches on PlayStation 4 and Switch in North America on June 5. Japan and Asia get the game earlier on May 31, while Europe gets the game sometime in the summer. In the meantime, check out these images of the Collectors Edition box and contents…

Click to view slideshow.

… As well as this new English-language trailer for the game!

Sources: Nintendo Everything; Gematsu

Siegfried, the cursed knight, steps into SoulCalibur VI!

“I will not surrender myself to this nightmare!”

This morning, Bandai Namco posted a surprise reveal trailer for the next character coming to SoulCalibur VI. It’s a pretty surprising one, as fans wildly speculated for a while whether Siegfried would make it in — and enthusiasts of big swords and stance-based moves won’t be disappointed.

Lore-wise, Siegfried is the human who picks up Soul Edge at the end of the events of the first game, becoming a vessel for the cursed knight, Nightmare. And yet, he starts to resist the will of the demonic being that’s thirsty for souls. As a playable character separate from Nightmare, it seems this will be important for the story mode in the game.

The German knight battles using his massive Zweihänder with a mixture of faster spins and slower, massive blows. Fans who played him before from SoulCalibur III onward should recognize quite a lot of his moves, which involve many stance changes. The trailer also shows off mechanics new to SoulCalibur VI, giving a taste of a Soul Charge-enhanced combo as well as his cinematic Critical Edge.

Who is a Siegfried past or future main? Let us know in the comments!

Recently, a Ring Out event featured Kayane, among other top SoulCalibur VI players.

Source: Bandai Namco America