The upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is now just 11 days away. To continue the hype train towards launch, the official Marvel vs. Capcom YouTube channel has released a new gameplay trailer showing off the previously-announced four alternate costumes for Ryu, X, Hulk, and Thor, available via pre-order. The Warrior Thor and Evil Ryu premium costumes will come with pre-orders of both the standard and deluxe editions of the game, while Command Mission X and Gladiator Hulk are exclusive to the title’s $89.99 Deluxe Edition, which also contains a steelbox case, and the 2017 Character Pass (which will add 6 new fighters along with their premium costumes to the game throughout the year, with the first two being Capcom’s Sigma and Marvel’s Black Panther).
If you want the ultimate Vs. Series experience, you can also grab the Collector’s Edition for $199.99, which includes everything found in the Deluxe Edition, as well as four statues of Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Chun-Li, and X (that can be combined together to form a diorama scene), as well as a special collector’s box and a case containing a collection of LED replicas of all 6 of the title’s titular Infinity Stones.
During the battle between Warrior Thor and Evil Ryu against Command Mission X and Gladiator Hulk in New Metro City – Crossroads, we can see Ryu’s alternate animation for his Level 3 Shin Shoryuken Hyper Combo on the Evil Ryu Costume. If the World Warrior is the only character left on your team and he’s low on health when performing the Level 3, a special animation will trigger, where he will briefly succumb to the power of the Satsui no Hado, before quickly overcoming it with the Mu no Ken and completing the attack. When used while wearing the premium costume, he will still be enveloped in the blue aura, but will maintain all of his Evil Ryu characteristics, including the Power of Nothingness mixing with the Satsui no Hado, as he is enveloped in both powers as he finishes the Hyper. You can see the full trailer below.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will be released in North America and Europe for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC on September 19th, with a Japanese release following on those same platforms on the 21st.
One of the unique things that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite brings to the table are the Infinity Stones (or Infinity Gems, if you’re a comic purist). Originally seen in 1995’s Marvel Super Heroes, the stones in Infinite expand on their original concept by providing not one, but two abilities: an Infinity Surge that can be used freely, and an Infinity Storm that burns up the Infinity gauge.
In a new video, Chrome Alchemist takes a closer look at one of these Stones: the Mind Stone. Here, he takes a look at the properties of both its command grab-esque Infinity Surge, as well as its meter building Infinity Storm, showing off some things that may not be obvious just from watching the gameplay footage that we’ve seen so far.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite launches on September 19 for PlayStation 4, XBox One, and PC.
Bullet is one of those characters in BlazBlue: Central Fiction that hardly ever saw much play. Considered one of the worst in the game by the competitive community, only a few are faithful to using her. The 2.0 update, however, restructures the game — giving a lot of new tools to certain characters.
The video below goes over the major changes that Bullet received to her toolset. As one might expect, there are many new combo paths for her, now. The grappler can easily manipulate the opponent’s position while comboing them. More importantly though, the video points out how her pressure and attack strings became much more oppressive. A new gatling from 6A into 6B introduces a safer way to begin the offensive. Then, her D moves allow a follow-up once they are blocked, and some of them are also much better at frame-trapping the opponent.
Check it out below, and if you were hesitant to try Bullet before, maybe give her a shot, now!
That Blasted Salami has consistently been putting quality Tekken 7 content since their inception. However, this 5-part seminar on Tekken 7‘s Jin Kazama in the disguise of a tutorial might be one of the most comprehensive character studies to date for a Tekken character on YouTube.
Everything Jin is covered, from important offensive and defensive use of wavedash, to punishment and combo. Those wanting to learn to fight against Jin should give it a watch too — particularly the section near the end, that shows off what you can punish when fighting against Jin.
It seems like the internet and the BlazBlue: Central Fiction community just can’t get enough of the samurai cat. Being the only new character in the 2.0 version, there’s a lot of focus on discovering his full potential.
If you’ve been on the lookout for Jubei combos, Monarch has you covered with a new video titled Lotus Formation, which is particularly nice to watch if you’re a fan of artistic combo videos. For the most part, everything in the video is practical, though there are some combos that are more for show. You’ll see lots of combos that end in “ball oki,” meaning a corner knockdown where Jubei sends his projectile for the opponent to block. Toward the end, there are a few Fatal Counter combos that not only look stylish but also hit for a lot of damage.
Unequalled Media’s Jonathan “Tyrant” Parkes is one player who has had a lot of hands-on time with the pre-release builds of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, thanks to Capcom UK. Now, he’s giving back to the community with a new series of guides for anyone wanting to get into the game.
This beginner guide series is mostly meant to cater to players who may not have much of a history with the franchise, looking to get into it with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. That said, with how much has changed (and been taken from the older, classic Versus games), players whose only experience is the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series may learn a thing or from this series as well.
Episode 1 of this series focuses on general gameplay concepts unique to the game and the Versus series. You can check it out below.
Last week, Young Commander explained that he had found an unblockable with Ed, by utilizing his V-Skill on a knockdown in conjunction with the last hit of his V-Trigger. However, it is escapable in various situations.
Young Commander shows that if you either perform a reversal on wakeup or block that has one frame invincibility and moves you away from the V-Trigger, you can escape it. He also shows various setups that work on normal wake-up, quick rise, and back rise, and shows that he is also working on a setup that will take care of hard knockdown situations.
Earlier today, Team Reptile announced the sequel to the hit baseball fighter, Lethal League, titled Lethal League Blaze. The new game will be coming to PC and console sometime in 2018.
Lethal League Blaze will feature additional characters like the (spoiler alert) final boss of the original game, Doombox, new game modes, improved, high-resolution 3D graphics along with a new “limited animation” style that is set to maintain the original’s fast-paced combat.
And, most importantly of all… “still no weak shit.”
Those wanting to hear direct announcements from Team Reptile can join in on the Reptile Hideout Discord channel. The Reptile Hideout is already abuzz with players excitedly celebrating this new title’s announcement.
The original Lethal League is one of my favorite games that I played this year, thanks to the console release. I cannot wait to see what improvements are made to an already incredible game. So far my only wishes have been granted, there’s more! And that’s enough to get me hyped! I strongly recommend those interested in Lethal League Blaze go and try out the original, which is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Check out the teaser trailer below, and get to batting practice!
Bandai Namco’s Gundam Versus landed briefly on Western PlayStation 4 consoles this past weekend for its first (and likely only) open beta test. Naturally, we jumped into the cockpit to give this mech-smashing arena fighter a shot.
Multiple configurations
The beta offered a number of both online and offline modes to sample. Online, you could dive into the usual two-on-two team battle, a more frenetic three-on-three version, or duel a single opponent one-on-one. It was also possible to set up a lobby for battle yourself; however, the options on configuring the battle type were very limited, with no option for one-on-one fights that I could find, and there was no means to invite a friend directly — you could only scan from the other side for friends’ lobbies to join. No idea at this point if this is simply due to limited beta features, or if this setup will carry to the Western release build; if it does, players might be left relying on outside channels (i.e. PSN messaging, or Discord) to coordinate fights alongside or against the teams/players of their choice. It seems like a significant oversight, but we’ll see how things go in the release version.
The online fights were a mixed experience in terms of connectivity and matchmaking. 2-on-2 fights were relatively easy to get into, with not too much in the way of connection problems. 1-on-1 duels seemed slightly less popular when we tried — the wait time was generally much longer. If I recall correctly, I had only one fight of this type with unplayable lag. 3-on-3 however, that was a bit of a problem: I had only one battle with a solid connection. Every other fight was reduced to a tragic slideshow by lag, often dropped mid-fight under a connection error. Compounded by long wait times to even try the mode, we didn’t get that much of a chance with 3-on-3, unfortunately. If getting six players into a match at once is proving difficult for their netcode, I hope the beta provided the data needed to improve it — 3-on-3 has the potential to be a lot of fun, by dropping that much more violence into these large arenas. A positive point that I already noticed from the build we played at Evo 2017: you get to practice your mobile suit’s moves in a holding lobby against a dummy opponent while you’re waiting to connect — a little touch that makes the wait time pass more easily, and that Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (another arena fighter, also on beta test last weekend) could really benefit from.
Interestingly, a good chunk of single-player content was included as well: you could play two series of a survival-type mode against CPU opponents in Ultimate Battle, and take on specific challenges in a Trial mode. Both of these modes offered the ability to play with a CPU partner, or invite along a friend to help you out. A nice touch, to allow the chance for two players to take on these modes together over PSN. You could also set up CPU battles how you liked via a “Free Battle” mode.
I actually enjoyed the single-player content more than the online, in this instance — it allowed time to relax into the game’s groove and really get a feel for it without lag, or the pressure of battling more-experienced human opponents. Dashing and boosting around the level maps while blasting low-health enemies was enjoyable, and both the enemy waves and the boss fights are fun nods to their respective anime origins, as enemies from similar eras come out together, and it’s easy to get pumped up to take on a mobile armor or high-powered mobile suit you recognize as your boss enemy.
Taking control
For someone unaccustomed, the controls of Gundam Versus are not exactly intuitive. While they are fairly straightforward once you get the idea, jumping right in and pressing buttons will not quickly lead you to understanding the controls well. This is compounded by the staggering number of mobile suits to choose from, each with slightly different weapons and abilities. Even worse: the tutorial was left out of the beta test — visible on the main menu, but locked — so you were on your own (outside of some helpful outside tutorial content like this, of course). Some time examining the control configurations helped — there are multiple layouts for a Dual Shock user to try, but keeping to the game’s arcade origins, I wanted to use an arcade stick. The “joystick” preset layout most closely matches the placement of the buttons as they would be on the cabinet (square: long-range attack; triangle: melee attack; R1: jump/boost; X: lock-on; circle: Striker [assist]; the other buttons serving as other functions, or combinations of the main three). Comfortable access to the shoot/melee/boost buttons individually and in combination is vital; series veterans have long discussed different “ideal” button layout for various controllers, but it shouldn’t be a challenge to find something that works for you, either in the preset layouts or by personal customization.
Having some more time to study the layouts and experiment gave me a much better idea of how to play than I got from my limited time at AnimEVO’s event — not to mention more of a chance to see exactly how massive the roster of playable mobile suits and Strikers are included in this game. The many Mobile Suit Gundam series, and the suits and characters they each contain, seem very well-represented — there’s enough here for a fan to dive deep into, and for a newcomer to get totally lost. The ability to make a shortlist of favorites (tied to the R1 button at the selection screen) is a welcome feature. As each suit plays a little (or sometimes, a lot) differently, I recommend newcomers choose a single suit and stick with it to get a feel for the gameplay before mixing it up too much. (Basically: pick a main!) Suits are each designed to favor a different type of play; some excel at long-range projectile combat, while some are built for close-up melee combat. I ended up exploring the latter primarily, via the Barbatos from Iron-Blooded Orphans. It wasn’t long before I got a good handle on the slippery close-range rushdown this Gundam Frame is built for. Being a somewhat lower-costed suit often served my teammates well while I was learning the ropes, as having a lower load value (300) made my repeated destruction less costly to our team.
Some older footage of Mikazuki Augus and his Gundam Barbatos in action, from the Japanese beta test.
“Hey Orga, is this the place?”
Overall, this open beta proves promising toward the upcoming final product we’ll be getting later this month. In terms of localization, only Japanese voices were available for the pilots in this beta, and lacking subtitles as well (except for the very chatty Haro, which has its own speech window to continually chirp at you). Hopefully those are in the works for the final product, if it isn’t too late already. But in terms of presentation and gameplay: the game is looking great, sounding great, is loads of fun to play offline and online (when the connection is stable), and is a great diversion from traditional fighters. I look forward to spending more time with it soon.
Gundam Versus hits the PlayStation 4 in North America & Europe on September 29, 2017, and is available to pre-order now from a variety of retailers, or digitally through the PlayStation Store. (PSN pre-orders get an exclusive theme in addition to the usual pre-order bonus: the GN-005 Gundam Virtue, ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos Lupus, and BN-876β Hot Scramble Gundam mobile suits.)
We’re less than two weeks away from the dawn of a New Age of Heroes with the release of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. As we’ve previously shared with you, Unequalled Media’s Tyrant and Maximilian were able to stop by the Capcom offices in the United Kingdom and Southern California to capture gameplay footage of the Gamescom build, featuring the entire 30-character roster. The build was also brought to last weekend’s Celtic Throwdown 2017, to give UK fans even more time with the unreleased title. In these matches we see the likes of Ghost Rider, Frank West, Dante, Nemesis, Firebrand, as well as newcomers like Mega Man X, Jedah Dohma, Ultron, and Gamora duking it out with various Infinity Stones. We also get to clearly hear more of the new character themes for these cast members, with classic theme remixes remaining for the Capcom side, while the Marvel cast boasts new themes with a more decidedly cinematic flair.
UM|Tyrant (Dante/Jedah) vs. Matt “The Street Writer” Edwards (Nemesis/Gamora)
UM|Tyrant (Arthur/Firebrand) vs. Matt “The Street Writer” Edwards (Ghost Rider/Jedah)
Method|Packz (Ultron/Dormammu) vs. UM|Tyrant (Dante/Frank West)
Finally, Maximilian brings us more footage of his battles with Capcom USA developers in SoCal, featuring characters like Jedah, Dormammu, Mega Man X, Strider Hiryu, Firebrand, Ghost Rider, Hawkeye, Morrigan, Arthur, Ryu, Iron Man and Captain America.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will be released on September 19th in North America and Europe on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam PC, with a Japanese release following on September 21st.
