How much do you miss Ultra Street Fighter IV? Do you think it deserves to live on beyond its main-stage moment in the sun? Well, prove it!
The “USF4Revival Online League” has just been announced by the USF4Revival Discord Community, solely running on the PC version of USFIV. The league will be available for Europe and North America, comprised of 8 tournaments for each region. Each winner will move on to an 8 man Topanga-style round robin bracket, with the top 2 players from that bracket competing in a Best-Of-7 Grand Finals.
USF4Revival Online League Announcement Video! Watch it to find all the details and how to join https://t.co/N7BZlAwFAS RT a lot PLease! : D
While some of the details are still being worked out, it’s known that the first European qualifying tournament will be held on Jan 13th, 2018. The league intends to stream every tournament from a number of channels, with the primary account being USF4Revival’s twitch channel. Registration for the European tournaments are currently open.
With the Capcom Pro Tour winding down and Capcom Cup 2017 just over a month away, now is the time to take stock and check who is going to be in that final 32-person bracket. We already have our own Capcom Cup analysis series for those players who have secured their spot, but how about those who didn’t make the cut?
Seeing as there are only the Latin American and North American Regional Finals left to go and most of the bracket is locked in, VesperArcade has decided to go through the list and highlight those players who just missed out making the final 32. There are some definite shockers in there — Gamerbee, Infiltration, Xiao Hai, Nemo and MOV have not made it in — while players like 801Strider and Xiaobao had their fates sealed at Canada Cup last weekend.
There is still hope for those who have yet to qualify. 31 spots in the final bracket are decided by points, while the 32nd place is reserved for the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier, held the day before Capcom Cup. This qualifier is open to anyone, so it does act as the final gamble for anyone who has yet to secure a spot. Some US players like FChamp and K-Brad who are hovering in the mid 30s can possibly make it in through the NA Regional Finals as well, so all hope is not lost.
“Super Street Fighter Carnival 2017” is the regularly-occurring tournament series of Japan’s famous Mikado Arcade. This series cherishes arcade titles of old, bringing out high-level play for a variety of titles. We’ve got a month of tournaments from this season already completed, so if you want to see all of the previous games, there’s a lot of games to catch up on!
Today’s SSFC2017 game is “Ninja Master’s: Haō Ninpō Chō” which isan SNK weapons-based fighter set in Feudal Japan that somehow ISN’T Samurai Shodown. Or Last Blade, for that matter.
Have you been enjoying this years SSFC2017? Mikado plays classic arcade titles all the time, and if you dig that you should follow them at their official YouTube channel, or try to catch them when they livestream!
Double has been one of those characters that has had a constant presence in Skullgirls competitive scene. Her tools, including one of the best assists in the game, mean that she’s a character that seems to work on almost any team.
For any beginning Skullgirls2nd Encore players looking to add Double to their team, the Skullgirls Slapfest has put up a lengthy new tutorial video for her. As with their previous tutorial for Valentine, this one features another top player help out in showing how to play the character: Keninblack. Also, just like the previous tutorial, this one is pretty long (their longest to date) so be sure to check out the timestamps in the video description on YouTube.
For more on learning Skullgirls, check out the rest of this tutorial series on the the official playlist.
The “full-crouch” state in Tekken 7 (And most 3D games in general) is confusing for players transitioning from 2D to 3D fighting games. More specifically, many 2D players are unaware that the transitional stage between full-crouch and standing is its own state, with its own set of moves tied to it.
This state is known as “While-Standing” in Tekken (here’s a mnemonic for you: it happens while you’re standing up.) and sometimes “While-Rising” in other 3D games. If you’ve ever wondered why you tried to do one of your standing moves after you finished crouching and something else came out instead, you probably got a While-Standing move.
Though crouching and “While-Standing” moves are not inherently bad or good, there are real reasons why you may find yourself wanting to bypass both of these states to instantly get normal standing moves. In that case, you need to learn about crouch canceling, which is performed in Tekken 7 by using a sidestep to cancel your crouch. Check out FrameWhisperer Tekken‘s latest video for its execution, and practical examples for when to apply this important technique.
UM|Tyrant is one of Britain’s premier multi-game players, who has recently been seen streaming both Street Fighter V and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. He is also one of the best commentators in Europe, showing off his skills at various Capcom Pro Tour events.
While at Canada Cup, BornFree talked to Tyrant about a wide range of topics. In the interview, Tyrant couldn’t contain his excitement for Dragon Ball FighterZ, but also discusses how Street Fighter IV brought him into the fold of the fighting game community. He also talks about his limited participation in events, preferring to do commentary at larger events.
We’ve mentioned in the past that Pokkén Tournament DX‘s Weavile is a slippery foe to pin down thanks to its long list of mobility options. When you see this sort of super-fast, high-mobility archetype in games, you typically don’t expect them to also pump out giant damage when they actually connect.
That’s just not the case with Weavile. Combining the long list of combo tech on display in the latest in the latest 21 Hits exhibition with its special-cancelable anti-air (8Y) and one of the best 9 frame mids in the game (4Y), Weavile hits hard and fast in every situation.
Famous not only for his huge sword but also an elongated intro quote, where he tells the opponent their end is nigh, Hakumen has always been a popular-yet-niche character. He stands out with a different resource system and the inability to run. Instead, Hakumen players (theoretically) should apply patience and wait for the right chance to counter.
Hakumen received some welcome changes in the 2.0 version of BlazBlue: Central Fiction, as his combos have more flexibility now. The options from his Drive have greatly expanded. All in all, Hakumen remains a powerhouse. The damage goes up very fast as long as you pool some resources into it. The combo video takes you from the shorter, less resource-intensive combos to learning how to inflict misery on your friends on foes. And watch your head! All he needs in the corner is to hit you with the stomp overhead, 6B, to deal over 7000 damage. What a character!
If you’d rather cross to the dark side, enjoy these BBCF 2.0 Susano’o combos as well.
Cyclops Osaka’s Ryo “Dogura” Nozaki seems to be one of the least-anticipated qualifiers for Capcom Cup 2017. Having made his name as a titan on the anime scene — carving his fame out taking Blazblue and Guilty Gear titles — he only had 11 tournaments logged in Street Fighter IV’s lifespan, and only a handful of results in Street Fighter V last year.
Given that, few would have expected to see him perform the way he has on the Capcom Pro Tour this year. Nonetheless, he has not only qualified, but catapulted into the top half of the seedings. Will we see Dogura not only dominate anime, but Street Fighter V in December?
A Year of Grinding
The first time I witnessed Dogura playing Street Fighter V personally was at Frosty Faustings IX in January of this year. While he was able to make top 8, it is worth mentioning that tournament didn’t bring out all the best players due to it not being a Capcom Pro Tour event, and that Dogura was there for the perpetual main event of Frosty — Guilty Gear. What I witnessed was more or less a cookie-cutter version of Urien, fundamental but not exceptional. I honestly assumed that he only joined just to try his hand at the game, and was relying more on fighting game fundamentals to bring him through the bracket than anything else.
What I didn’t realize at that point was his entry at Frosty was indicative of his preparation to make a run for Capcom Cup in 2017. He may have only had the basics at that point, but he was earnest in his effort to train the game and become a threat over this year. He has put in a lot of grinding, and it has clearly paid off. His Urien has become the best — not even one of the best. People will talk about Nemo until they’re blue in the face about how great he is, but his results don’t compare to Dogura’s. He may have been the inspiration all Urien players looked up to in the beginning, but Dogura has long since become the master.
Mirror’s Edge
Dogura’s choice of Urien fits him perfectly. Given his background in anime titles, it’s hard to find a character that embodies that sort of style in the Capcom universe. Given all the tools Urien has, he may be the next best thing.
And no one is using those tools better. While you will see Dogura use those crazy V-Skill combos, he has such great spacing and pressure that he relies on it far less than Nemo does. But the most telling is his use of V-Trigger compared to other Urien players.
While we’ve always known how well-rounded Aegis Reflector is in the game, it is Dogura that fully understands the characteristics of the V-Trigger, and abuses them. If you observe Nemo’s play, he primarily uses Aegis in hit-confirms or as a mix-up off of a block string. While Dogura also does this, he is far more flexible in his usage of the tool, milking it for every property it has.
If you observe his Winners Finals match with GO1 at Canada Cup, you’ll see this in full effect. Knowing the projectile reflection property of the move, and that GO1 had Ibuki’s V-Trigger at the ready, Dogura threw out a mirror, then backdashed, forward dashed, and walked back slightly. He allowed GO1 to hit him, giving him the belief that he had successfully confirmed into V-Trigger. What GO1 didn’t realize was that Dogura had just used Aegis — as well as his movement — as a trap. The confirm was a red herring; the pushback from the hit confirm put Dogura in a position where when Ibuki’s bomb came out, it would hit the mirror, and subsequently hit GO1, giving Dogura the advantage in a very high-level play that few Uriens would actually be able to set up.
These are the things that you just simply don’t see other Uriens do — and if they do, they don’t do it consistently. All through the Canada Cup top 8, Dogura was using his V-Trigger in a myriad of ways, which allowed him to take full advantage of even the slightest spacing errors from his opponents.
Hotter than Hell
Let’s face it, it’s hard not to look at the Canada Cup champion and think, “This guy’s got all the momentum.” After NuckleDu’s performance last year was parlayed into the Capcom Cup title, it’s tough to ignore this. And as much as I don’t want to base his results off of what happened to the circuit last year, you have to really examine his last month and realize that we could be looking at the same story this year.
While he only reached three top 8s at all prior to October — and one of those was an online regional qualifier — he has cranked his results up beyond 11 on the dial in the final month of the CPT. Taking two Premier events across the season is a difficult feat. Taking two in the final month,where everyone is scrambling for points, speaks volumes more than taking two spread apart a six month span. Just winning TWFighter Major is a feat to be acknowledged, as some of Asia’s best were there to stand in Dogura’s way. In that event, there were a plethora of qualifiers for Capcom Cup in that event, and he stood on top against solid players in Kazunoko, Mago, and Haitani.
But if you were to ignore TWFighter Major and call it a fluke, how do you argue against his results at Canada Cup? Around 65% of the Capcom Cup field were in attendance, and nearly every player that was on the bubble showed up for it. If Dogura was indeed a fluke, this field would have devoured him. Even more telling was that the top 8 of the event featured no players that were not qualified for Capcom Cup, and Dogura emerged victorious.
At this point it is impossible to argue against him. He is now the hot player in the circuit by far, and he has given his opponents only a month of lead time to download him prior to Capcom Cup. This is the same position NuckleDu found himself in last year. While his results were better than Dogura’s over the course of the season, people really saw his ultimate form at Canada Cup and beyond. It’s highly possible that we’re looking at a similar story for Dogura right now.
Focus
The only negative that you could look at for Dogura is something that you could’ve chided Tokido on prior to 2016. While Dogura has made a concerted effort to make Capcom Cup, he has not abandoned his main games in Guilty Gear and Blazblue to do so. Playing multiple games typically waters down your results in all titles you are playing. You can look at Tokido as the model for that, as he was able to make top 8s in multiple titles at Evo, he was not winning any of them.
This hasn’t seemed to faze Dogura at all. Looking at his results at Canada Cup, he finished first in Guilty Gear, second in Blazblue, and first in Street Fighter V. Granted, Guilty Gear and Blazblue had weaker fields in Toronto, but the exhaustion of playing multiple titles for so long could’ve finally gotten to him. While he seems to handle it well, it remains a cause for concern that too many games could ultimately be his downfall.
However, come December, you know that he will have one single title to play at Capcom Cup. Given his performance lately, you know that he’ll be focused on Street Fighter V solely in California.
Final Thoughts
I don’t like making bold predictions. Last year, I made a few and had to eat my words. But it is insanely hard to bet against Dogura right now.
He has some concerns to worry about. Sure he bested GO1 — but GO1 is not the best Ibuki, and is known more for his Chun-Li and Menat at this point. What if it was Yukadon in his place? What happens when he has to face Tokido? What happens when he has to best Punk, who has a history of cleaning house with the likes of Nemo?
Regardless, he is the most complete Urien on the circuit, and he has become that from being very linear in January. He also has the momentum, and has given people very little time to crunch the numbers on his play. Anything can happen, but he is my dark horse pick for winning the whole thing.
Recently, we got another look at Dragon Ball FighterZ via a livestream from Bandai Namco. In addition to this however, a new trailer — different from the one shown on the stream — was also released in French, one that may hint at another character coming to the game.
As Shoryuken forum member Doctrine Dark has noted, Goku can be seen shooting a Kamehameha at an unknown opponent at around 1:41 in the trailer below.
Freeze-framing and looking closer at said action sequence shows that the opponent that Goku is shooting at is a female character wearing a tube top and some baggy pants — a description that doesn’t match any of the known characters in the game.
As is the way of such things, much speculation is already being made on this character’s identity. Some have pointed out that it may be the female Saiyan prodigy Caulifla from Dragon Ball Super, since she does wear a similar tube top and baggy pants combo, and shoots red ki blasts. Others have noted her attack’s similarity to that done by Kid Buu, prompting them to posit that it is what happens when Buu absorbs Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s villain, Android 21.
Whoever this new character is, we’ll likely learn about their identity soon — what with only a couple of months left before the game’s January 26 release date.
The only negative that you could look at for Dogura is something that you could’ve chided Tokido on prior to 2016. While Dogura has made a concerted effort to make Capcom Cup, he has not abandoned his main games in Guilty Gear and Blazblue to do so. Playing multiple games typically waters down your results in all titles you are playing. You can look at Tokido as the model for that, as he was able to make top 8s in multiple titles at Evo, he was not winning any of them.