From breaking down a match to helping bring on the hype, good commentary is an important part of what makes competitive fighting games so compelling to watch. As such, any big event needs to make sure that they have the best hype men and women behind the mic, and Evo 2017 is no exception.
This year continues on a tradition of having great commentary at Evo. The year’s lineup reads like a who’s who of fighting game commentary greats with names such as David “UltraDavid” Graham, James “jchensor” Chen, Samantha “Persia” Hancock, Michael “IFC_Yipes” Mendoza, Stephen “Sajam” Lyon, Chris “Hellpockets” Fields, Mark “MarkMan” Julio, our very own MajinObama, Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott, Street Fighter legend Seth “S-Kill” Killian, Aris Bakhtanians, Andrew “Jiyuna” Fidelis, and much, much more.
You can check out the full list in the infographic below.
Evo 2017 takes place this coming weekend, July 14 to 16, 2017, in Las Vegas, NV.
Previously covered by the Beefy Smash Doods, RCO Lag is a glitch in Smash 4 which causes some characters to experience additional landing lag whenever they are knocked out of their Up Special. Delving further into this glitch, Paradigm and Erico have discovered another RCO-related glitch which affects the airspeed of certain characters.
Dubbed “RCO Air Speed”, this glitch causes a select number of fighters to move through the air at lower speeds, after their Up Special is interrupted by being hit or grabbing the ledge. The lower air speed often means that characters cannot drift back to the stage and Up B after they have been ledge-trumped, usually resulting in them losing a stock.
All characters affected by RCO Lag are affected by RCO Air Speed. To temporarily counteract this glitch, players can either air-dodge as soon as they come off the ledge following the usage of their Up Special, or use certain aerials like Mario’s Up Air. To permanently get rid of RCO Airspeed for a stock, you first have to experience the glitch, then simply land back on stage while in your normal falling animation. As long as you don’t have your Up Special interrupted again, you shouldn’t experience RCO Air Speed for the rest of the match.
Much like RCO Lag, this glitch is a hangover from Brawl, meaning that players have been potentially affected by this for over nine years without noticing.
Happy Tekken Weekend, everyone. It’s your last Saturday before the biggest dance in fighting games, Evolution 2017! If you’re attending the tournament in Las Vegas, I hope you have your Tekken tech ready. If not, the community has a few more things to show you!
MentalFrameAdvantage shows off Xiaoyu’s ability to wiggle around Rage Arts like no other character could hope to.
King Jae, meanwhile, shows you how to escape the multiple ways to escape Ling’s combo starting “So Shoe Me” throw.
BoxeR-King shows off some King throws and the vairous okizeme options from them.
hfblade has a new combo vid for the counter-hit seeking missile, Steve Fox.
King Gaming Marks teaches you how to execute Law’s Legend Kick consistently.
And lastly, Proper Tech teaches you the gaps in Lili’s strings. You don’t need to respect a lot of her extensions if you know where to step!
“What are you standing up for!?” A phrase that has become iconic over the years in the fighting game community during post-match popoffs following an intense, high-stakes showdown during tournament play. Whether it takes the form of jumping out of a chair in jubilation, an emotional display of tears or even a heated confrontation between two rivals, these moments are unquestionably memorable for anyone who experiences them.
In the latest episode of “The Most ICONIC Esports Moments,” theScore esports takes a look at two of the most memorable streamed early celebrations, beginning with EG|Ricki Ortiz and Joshua “Wolfkrone” Philpot’s battle in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2012 at Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 8: Infinity.
Of course, the most famous recent instance of this has to be the legendary mishap by Ryuichi “Woshige” Shigeno during the Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- Top 8 at Evo 2015, when he forgot there was still one round left to play in his match against Ogawa, and the Zato-1 player ruthlessly capitalized like a shark smelling blood. The blunder was so monumental it was even covered by ESPN SportsCenter.
Relieve both of these moments with the video below.
What are some of your favorite pop-offs? Were there any others you were surprised didn’t make this video? We’d love to hear your stories in the comments.
In anticipation of the Under Night In-Birth: Exe Late[st] home console release scheduled for just after Evolution 2017 on July 20 (and the subsequent Western release), I wanted to share with you my experience at the 4th semi-annual “Over the World” UNIB National Tournament, which took place last month in Tokyo.
Over the World -Continuation-
A short walk from the west exit of Shinjuku Station, this Club Sega looks like a run-of-the-mill arcade to the casual observer…
The tournament took place at the west Shinjuku Station exit Club Sega, a popular arcade and meeting ground for several arcade scenes in Tokyo.
On the street level, this looks like a normal UFO catcher, Rhythm game arcade. However…
This arcade, dubbed the “Battle Arena” of Shinjuku, is a hub for several of the All.net scenes like UNIB, Guilty Gear, and Koihime.
A descending staircase? I wonder what lies beneath…?
The Over the World series is run as a 3v3 teams event, with qualifiers held in arcades throughout the country. In order to qualify, your team had to win one of 16 events. Even though the UNIB community is smaller when compared to Tekken or Blazblue (the most popular current fighters in Japan), it is a tight-knit, highly-competitive scene that gets good activity in certain pockets of Japan.
16 teams were placed into 4 team blocks, competing in single elimination brackets. Only one team from each group would advance to the championship bracket.
In the block stage, the most exciting matches occurred in block C. The 1st round match-up saw fan favorite Senaru’s team, “Elder Gods, ” on the verge of being OCV’d (One Character Victory) by Equal (Nanase) of team “Sega World Arukas.” Watch as Senaru attempts to rally back in the last round with corner control, only to run into Equal’s awesome abare, followed by a crisp anti air confirm into super. With this, Senaru’s (Arc Revo 2015 Champion) team would be eliminated in round one of the tournament!
After team Sega World Arukas defeated team Elder Gods, they then had to face team “Souiutokoyazo,” from Kobe, in west Japan. With the members of Sega World Arukas being east Japan representatives, this was a special rivalry match to see who would advance from the C block. Nishine (Orie), from team Souiutokoyazo stepped up and defeated Sega World Arukas’s Equal (Nanase), beckoning Toushinsai 2016 champion, Hairou (Gordeaux). Hairou removes Nishine in convincing fashion, calling Aya, whom he also defeats. Finally, Eve, a former Yuzuriha player and 3rd place finisher at last year’s Toushinsai, stepped up to challenge Hairou. This would be the start to Eve’s incredible day of Mika play.
After EXECUTING Hairou, Eve proceeed to face the opposing anchor, Red, a top Eltnum player from Tokyo area. With the winning team advancing to the final bracket, this was a tense match. In the end, Eve was able to impose his will with Mika.
Thus, Eve and the west Japan team were able to pull off a huge upset, and removed the Toushinsai 2016 champion from the tournament. Carrying this momentum into the first round of the championship bracket, the west Japan team challenged one of the most terrifying names in UNIB, Notes. Nishine would play really clean, showing great defense and conviction with punishing Notes’s gaps.
Eventually, the set came down to Fusemasuta vs Eve. This set had some awesome sequences with big swings in momentum (check out the throw tech trades in the last round!). Ultimately, Eve’s pressure, anti-airs, and throw game sealed the game.
On the other side of the championship bracket, Riputontarou (Byakuya) was fighting as anchor for team “Kinky Kids.” In his match against Hishigata’s Nanase, watch as despite having 0 health, he doesn’t give up until the very end. After putting together an awesome offensive sequence (including a beastly backdash bait and whiff punish!), Hishigata has enough. His super punish punches team UNIryoku wo Tsuketai!’s ticket to the grand final. Thus, the grand finals became a West Japan face-off between Club Sega Nishinakajima’s Team UNIryoku wo Tsuketai! vs. Team Souiutokoyazo, representing Osaka and Kobe respectively (much to the chagrin of the Tokyo-based players).
In the end, Team UNIryoku wo Tsuketai! made the winning play when they sent Lamp in first. Lamp went on a rampage, running through Aya and Nishine with ease, until he ran into Eve. Watch as he struggles to contain and, meticulously break Eve’s guard. Eve finally makes a good call-out on the dash pressure and calls Hishigata to the stand.
Finally, Hishigata rises to face Eve. Hishigata didn’t buckle when Eve gave him different looks (the 3-second stare-downs are super tense!), nailed his counter-hit confirms, and was able to use wind projectile really well to put Eve in uncomfortable positions. And with this, UNIryoku wo Tsuketai! clinched the Over the World -Continuation- national championships.
You can watch the tournament in its entirety here on YouTube.
Runner-up:【Soiutokoyazo】 Aya (Yuzuriha) / Eve(Mika) / Nishine (Orie)
UNI Power, the winners of the “Over the World” UNIB National Tournament. (left to right:) Lamp, Hishigata, and Kure
-Unreal Black Things-
“This is an event held only once a year, so it makes me happy to see players keep coming out and playing this game,” said Battle Arena event coordinator, tournament organizer, and Under Night In-Birth Fan, Mobius. As an arcade worker, there can be no doubt events like these where the community and developer can come enjoy the spectacle of a nationally organized arcade tournament, hold a special significance. As the western FGC continues to focus its attention on esports, and more devs step away from the arcade, it feels good to see groups that still have a deep appreciation for arcade culture.
I hope you enjoyed this write-up, and are as excited as I am for the July 20 release of Under Night In-Birth: Exe Late[st] for home consoles. I look forward to seeing the North American scene revisit the game, and hope that they can show the same passion for this version that they did the last (UNIB was a highly-successful title in the Western tournament scene).
If you weren’t around at the beginning of the fighting game revolution, you may not be privy to how one of the most cherished fighting games of all time was also one of the most glitchy. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior featured many glitches, but the most notorious was Guile’s infamous “handcuff” glitch. In this glitch, Guile would input a flash kick immediately after performing a throw. The result: the opponent would be stuck to Guile.
Capcom, sticking to the roots of the Street Fighter II series, seems to have let one slip past QA for Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers. Whereas Guile was the center of the glitch in World Warrior, E. Honda and Dhalsim take center stage in this one. E. Honda is capable of grabbing opponents out of the startup of their supers with his Oicho command grab. However, on Dhalsim, if he were to try to Oicho Dhalsim and Dhalsim performs Yoga Teleport at the exact same time, Dhalsim disappears, and Honda is left hugging air for the rest of the round. The difference between this and the original Guile handcuff glitch is that Guile can actually reset the glitch, and Honda cannot.
ARMS University is Andrew “NEV” David Murphy‘s ongoing tutorial series for documenting the competitive concepts in Nintendo’s ARMS. If you’re interested in ARMS and are coming from other fighters, it’s helpful to know how concepts you’re already familiar with might apply to this series.
That is the entire purpose of NEV’s latest “Terminology” video. Here, he defines and provides examples of footsies, pokes, hit confirms, whiff punishing, knockdowns, okizeme, and conditioning.
NEV is also currently working on gathering frame data for ARMS. In the video above, he’s provided us with his preliminary visual guide to Spring Man’s data.
Sajam has noted himself as coming from a background of 2D fighters with a particular interest in Injustice. Tasty Steve has long been a Tekken mainstay. These two fighting game styles have long had a dividing line between the two, with few players being proficient in both disciplines.
Since the release of Tekken 7, we have seen a massive influx of players from Street Fighter and other series into the realm of 3D fighters, with a lot of people struggling on the mechanics side So on The Recipe, Tasty Steve shares with Sajam and other fighting game players how necessary movement is in the game. He also dives into proper spacing in the game, which is entirely different than 2D fighters. He also explains various aspects of the engine — including counter hits, crushes, and the juggle system — in a way that newcomers to the style of fighter can understand.
Red Bull Esports has launched the fist episode of its documentary into the life of their Zangief pro, Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis:
This episode has two major focuses. The first is Snake Eyez’s training regime: how much time he practices, his diet, and his lifestyle. The other focus is his trip to, and opening match at, Final Round 20. Snake Eyez breaks down his own approach to tournament play, and how he gets clues into other players’ playstyle through their mentality and mannerisms.
Today’s Tekken 7 video roundup is largely defensive! If you are someone that needs their defense upgraded, then you’ll find a lot of the tutorials this week are tailored just for you. There’s still some great combo and tech trap videos, too, though, for the more offensively inclined.
Tournament pro Dinosaur, via That Blasted Salami, has put together an examination of the “crush” system of the Tekken series.
TheMainManSWE has made a massive guide for learning the Electric Wind God Fist. Mishima dreamers, this is for you!
Just Frame has made an excellent tutorial on the throw break system in Tekken 7.
King Gaming Marks has put together a straight forward combo video for Lars’s midscreen and wall options.
BloodHawkTR breaks down the applications of Kazumi’s tiger-chucking Rage Drive.
ncea has tapped into some dark magic with this cross up running 3 setup for Devil Jin.
Bryan players, take notice. Here’s a tech trap for Taunt xx Jet Upper from RollTide8569:
Colten Durnell has a taunt trap, as well, and a mixup for it, to boot.
Evo 2017 is just around the corner. Are you ready for Tekken’s largest Evo yet?
