Raiden teleports into Injustice 2 this October; will have Black Lightning Premier Skin

After the conclusion of the 2017 Injustice 2 Pro Series finals, NetherRealm Studios had a special treat for those in attendance — or watching live around the world on Twitch. Raiden, the game’s 5th DLC character, and 2nd member of Fighter Pack 2, has received his official reveal trailer.

After promising to send Brainiac to the NetherRealm, the God of Thunder unleashed a flurry of his signature offense, including his Vicinity Blast, Shocker, Superman torpedo attack, the Teleport from his Displacer Variation in Mortal Kombat XL, as well as his Lightning Traps from the Master of Storms Variation.

Then, Black Lightning — Raiden’s Premier Skin – entered The Batcave to challenge Robin. His Trait appears to be striking himself with lighting to power up his attacks, with his effects even becoming yellow when Black Lightning is in play. Lightning even encases Black Manta is some sort of electrical prison, that will damage a foe if they throw projectiles, setting Raiden/Lighting up for a full punish. This could potentially be one of their Gear Abilities, along with a ground pound that serves as a wake-up attack.

Finally, in perhaps the flashiest super in the game, Raiden teleports his enemy to Mortal Kombat‘s Sky Temple, where he then combos them before taking them up into the sky, electrocuting them, and then transforms into the classic logo of the franchise, before unraveling into a lighting dragon and chomping them down to size. It is unknown if Black Lightning will share this same super animation, like every other Premier Skin before him.

Raiden will be available in October as part of Fighter Pack 2, while his Black Lightning Premier Skin will be an exclusive perk to Ultimate Edition owners. You can see the full trailer below.

Source: Injustice

Be amazed at the button dexterity of Mitchel’s “Pressing Buttons with Weavile” Pokkén Tournament combo video

Some characters were just made for combo videos, and Pokkén Tournament‘s Weavile is very clearly one of them. Long before Kolin was ever announced for Street Fighter V, Weavile was icicle hopping across Ferrum Stadium, juggling all who stand in their way.

Mitchel’s latest combo video for Pokkén’s resident Ice Weasel is prettier then it is practical, but that’s what makes it so fun. You probably don’t need to learn the execution to Icicle Crash 4 times off a crit-Night Slash at the wall, for example, but it’d be pretty cool if you did.

Source: Mitchel

Master the art of Bajiquan in Tekken 7 with PepperBeef2Spicy’s Leo tutorial series

Regardless of who you talk to, Bajiquan-practitioner Leo is overwhelmingly considered one of the strongest characters in Tekken 7. If you’re new to learning to fight as or against Leo, PepperBeef2Spicy‘s comprehensive tutorial series is where you’ll want to start to learn this safe, versatile character.

If you like podcast style videos, PepperBeef2Spicy has a two-part character breakdown…

But if you’re just looking for the cliff notes, here’s a 5-minute summary and study guide:

If you just want to figure out Leo’s stances, this video covers all transitions and options:

Leo’s wall game is one of, if not the, strongest in the game. Everything you need to know about their corner pressure, damage, and mixups can be found here:

And last but not least, no Tekken Tutorial series would be complete without a combo guide. Get your Leo tournament read with PepperBeef2Spicy‘s practical combo guide:

Source: PepperBeef2Spicy

Don’t sleep on Meitenkun’s combo potential in this King of Fighters XIV combo tutorial

While most characters have an amazing amount of damage potential off of combos in The King of Fighters XIV, but not too many of these see the line of duty in competitive play. The narcoleptic warrior Meitenkun falls into that category, where he has the ability to dole out mass amounts of damage but no one uses him that often.

With this combo video that shows his most optimized damage off of every amount of meter, it may be time to throw our pillows aside and stop sleeping on Meitenkun. With him being able to reach 80% damage off of 4 bars and 100% damage off of 5 bars, it’d be best to keep him in mind on the character select screen.

Source: playergodaines

Learn how to overthrow the dictator with this M. Bison match-up breakdown for Street Fighter V

M. Bison may be one of the lower characters within the rankings of Street Fighter V, but the best players of the character can catch many off guard. This becomes a big problem for newer players, as some of M. Bison’s strengths can prove insurmountable. His gimmicks and ability to well space his normals and meaties makes it very difficult to get out of his pressure once he starts it.

Fortunately, this video by New Challengers shows exactly what you can do to deal with Bison. Going over some of his frame data and hitboxes, you may have found all the answers you need to deal with him.

Source: New Challenger TV

Learn how to effectively punish Super Dashes in Dragon Ball FighterZ with this guide from GXC|Damascus

Recently, Unequalled Media’s Tyrant and GXC|Damascus traveled down to the offices of Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe to get some more playtime with the upcoming Dragon Ball FighterZ. After playing a fierce first-to-three Set, Damascus decided to make a guide to further educate aspiring players how to effectively punish the universal Super Dash mechanic.

Executed by pressing the Ki Blast and Heavy attack buttons, the Super Dash sees your character flying directly towards the opponent. While they do allow you to close the gap and fly through basic Ki blasts, there are a multitude of ways to defend against a Super Dash. By inputting Reflect (back and the Ki Blast button), you can swat away a Super Dashing opponent and reset the situation back to neutral.

If you’re willing to spend one of your possible 7 meters, you can also utilize the Vanish mechanic. This will allow you to immediately teleport behind your adversary, getting you both a punish as well as an escape. While they do smash through basic projectiles, the Super Dash does lose to beam specials like the basic Kamehameha, as well as projectile Supers like Burning Attack, Special Beam Cannon or Final Flash. If you have the meter, don’t be afraid to waste an incoming opponent.

Finally, Damascus closes with what he believes is the best punish for this situation, your character’s crouching Heavy attack. These upper-body invincible moves serve as the universal anti-airs for all characters, which will also launch your opponent for a full combo on hit, similar to MVC3’s Special button. Standing Heavies will also do the job, but are a bit less reliable, as you have to read your opponent’s Super Dash before inputting the Heavy. However, characters with armored standing Heavies like Android 16 can easily challenge Super Dashes. If you’ve been fortunate enough to make it into the closed beta, you’ll definitely want to give these techniques a try for yourself.

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released on February 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC. You can see some scans of the newly-revealed Yamcha, Tien and original character Android 21 here.

Source: UM Tyrant

Become the Prince of all Saiyans with Maximilian’s character breakdown of Vegeta in Dragon Ball FighterZ

With the closed beta now in full swing, Maximilian continues his series of character breakdowns for the currently-announced cast of Dragon Ball FighterZ, this time focusing on the Prince of all Saiyans, Vegeta.

Max believes Vegeta will be another extremely popular character behind Goku, due to being another all-rounder warrior. Though he has shorter range compared to Kakarot, he makes up for it by being slightly faster. Though he obviously lacks a Kamehameha Vegeta’s Ki Blast Rush allows him to pepper the screen with projectiles to keep opponents away. Vegeta also has a divekick in the form of his Intercept Kick, which will land him immediately on the ground and will also bounce foes away on hit, meaning confirms will likely require the use of Supers or Vanishes.

The Super Dash Kick propels Vegeta forward, though it lacks the travel arc of Goku’s Rapid Kick Rush. It covers about half-screen distance, can combo into either of his Supers on hit, and is great for closing the gap with an enemy. His final Special, the Crusher Knee Kick, sets him apart from Goku and his own SSB counterpart, by functioning as an uppercut. It resembles Azrael’s Panzer Strike from BlazBlue Central Fiction, and the Medium version can be followed-up with a somersault kick that knocks his foes downward, which he used against Semi-Perfect Cell in the original series.

Moving to his Super Special Attacks, Vegeta’s Big Bang Attack can be used on both the ground and in the air, travels the screen quickly, and seems for tacking on damage at the end of combos. His Level 3, the Final Flash, also has great utility for even more damage.

Max also notes that breakdowns for Teen Gohan, Frieza, Perfect Cell and Majin Buu will be on the way soon. You can also check out his breakdowns of the previous cast members at the links below.

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released in February 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Pre-ordering either the regular or CollectorZ Editions will provide you will early access to the open beta, early unlocks for SSB Goku and Vegeta, as well as two exclusive Online Lobby avatars.

Source: Maximilian Dood

Catch classic arcade action with Mikado Arcade’s 2v2 Team Tournament for Virtua Fighter 3tb

World famous Japanese arcade “Mikado Arcade” knows what they do best: run a great tournament with strong players for a classic game. Today’s spotlight is on 1996’s Virtua Fighter 3: Team Battle, which is the arcade re-balance of the legendary 3D fighter “Virtua Fighter 3”.

This particular tournament used a 2v2 team format, and you can watch the fast paced action here:

And if somehow that’s not enough VF3tb for you, there’s even more footage from the qualifying event ran prior to the tournament:

Mikado is one of the most active YouTube channels for high-level play of old school arcade fighters, so be sure to check them out. You can also try to catch them live on their UStream!

Source: Mikado

desk’s latest video “Trade!” combines slick Street Fighter V trade combos with original synth track, “Panch”

In the world of fighting games, when two characters hit each other at the same time, it’s called a “trade”. In a normal game, this usually resets the situation for both players as they scramble to take back control.

In the world of combo videos, though, “trades” are a flashy way to show off situational links and juggles not normally achievable through standard game-play. That’s the subject of Desk‘s new, highly orchestrated combo video. While you likely won’t win your local because of your Alex clothesline traded with Zangief’s V-Skill, it’s the sort of oddball hitbox interaction that makes this video so entertaining.

Gameplay isn’t all that’s offered in Desk’s combo videos, though. “Trade!” features a remix of the crunchy, funky synth tune “Panch” from Desk’s latest EP, titled funcy. Music is integral to the syncing and editing of Desk’s combo videos, and a good portion of the gravitational pull from “Trade!” is just listening to “Panch” for the first time. I realize we’re not a music review site, but the skill on display here goes so far beyond just an ordinary combo so I feel it deserves special mention.

Source: desk

Gather your energy with Maximilian’s character breakdown of Goku in Dragon Ball FighterZ

With the Gamescom build’s new challengers completed, Maximilian made the journey down to the Bandai Namco Entertainment America offices to continue his Dragon Ball FighterZ character breakdowns for the initial six characters.  Being the poster boy for the entire Dragon Ball series, where better to start than with Goku?

Unsurprisingly, Max feels that Goku is the “Shoto” of DBFZ, similarly to other simple-to-use, well-rounded fighting game protagonists such as Ryu, Ragna The Bloodedge, Sol Badguy and Yu Narukami, just to name a few. He even notes in regards to his moves that “it all looks really good and it looks absolutely awesome when you do so.”

He has decent range on his normals that make for easy combos, as well as a Hurricane Kick in the form of his Rapid Kick Rush. This flurry of kicks possesses great utility, by providing Goku with powerful corner carry and wallbounces to extend combos. His Dragon Flash Fist is a rush punch that looks similar to Azrael’s Gustav Buster from BlazBlue, that gives him access to a hard knockdown, or a teleport that brings him immediately back down in front of the opponent. Goku can combo into his Kamehamehas from his basic Ki blasts, and they can be angled in multiple directions, either diagonally up if grounded, or straight forward if airborne, by holding up or down.

Though he has a limited pool of specials, Max feels that Goku’s Supers are what make him truly unique. The Super Kamehameha can be angled similar to its normal counterpart, while the Instant Transmission Kamehameha will see the Saiyan teleport behind his opponents before throwing the energy in an upward arc, making it a perfect ender for air combos if you can spare the meter.

Finally, his Level 3 Meteor Smash sees Goku transform into Super Saiyan 3 before immediately teleporting behind his foe for a huge Kamehameha. It’s a great punishing tool but has enough startup to be reactable, with limited tracking as of the Gamescom build so aim carefully.

You can find Max’s previous character breakdowns below:

Dragon Ball FighterZ will be released in February 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One andPC.

Source: Maximilian Dood