Fighting games are hard. They just are, no two ways about it. This leads many of the players who do understand them to try and help others understand, making tutorials and guides to aid newcomers. Universal tutorials, ones that aren’t restricted to any one game, aren’t as common however, though that isn’t to say they are nonexistent.
Fighting game fan and YouTuber novriltataki is known for his Guilty Gear tutorials, but recently he’s been devoting time to making universal guides to help players understand fighting games better. Today’s video covers an unusual topic, terminology, and how it alters our perception of the game. This altered perception could potentially interfere with growing and improving, so be sure to give it a watch and make sure you’re thinking about fighters correctly.
Also, be sure to catch Episode 1, which helps to redefine “Footsies” to give players a better grasp of the games they play.
It’s hard to believe, but after many weeks of excellent FT7s, we are approaching the final Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League match! As enjoyable as those sets have been, with the added opportunity of learning more about the players who participated, “it’s not over yet!” as the Guilty Gear announced would say. This weekend, a truly stacked set of Daredevils approaches the ring.
We have Fable|Kizzie Kay against Nakkiel, as well as SLP|DavidCue facing TS|NerdJosh. If you haven’t heard of those names before, not to worry–let’s learn a little more about each one and see how they feel about their competition.
Let’s get a better grasp at who’s who, and how they feel about the upcoming battles.
Fable|Kizzie Kay
On the match: “I would like to say thank you very much for the invite to SSXrdEL. I am very happy to have the chance to fight a player that I look up to in the scene.”
On his opponent: “He is a really strong player, very solid, and has a very good gameplan despite some people not understanding what he is doing. One of the things that I have to be very aware of is that when he has momentum, he is actually one of the hardest players that I have ever fought in Guilty Gear because you just don’t know what is going to happen next. It makes you feel like the next decision you make might be your last. Despite this matchup being in Sin’s favor, the player skill is so high that I feel like this matchup is even vs Nakkiel.”
On his own playstyle: “My style is very wall/read-based. One of the things I know I have as a player is once I get a complete understanding of what the opponent likes to do, I will start abusing the weaknesses of the opponent’s character. As that process happens mid-match, I will then begin to attack player habits. This will suffocate the opponent and make them feel like they have no options. With this, I am able to use non-advantageous situations to my advantage.
I really think that this is a rare style, but I have met people with similar styles that are better than me, so I know how it feels like to be on the receiving end. My final thoughts on this upcoming set is that I don’t really know what to expect Nakkiel’s gameplan to be, but I’m sure he’s going to be well-prepared. I will also be well-prepared, so I feel that there is a high chance that it will be an extremely close set.”
Nakkiel
On the match: “I’m happy to be involved with SSXrdEL! Kizzie Kay and I play each other often, so I hope we can put on a good show for the viewers and bring the REV 1 league to an exciting close.”
On his opponent: “I have a lot of respect for Kizzie Kay. A few years ago, I was feeling pretty demotivated about fighting games; I had met Kizzie Kay when he was still just getting into Guilty Gear and BlazBlue competitively (or rather, traveling out to events) and his eagerness to improve and attitude toward learning really refreshed my love for the games. It’s been a treat to watch him improve and see the difference in his skill each time we play.
“To me, Kizzie Kay has definitely proven he’s the best Sin in the States and one of the best players around. I’m expecting the match will be a difficult test of us as players, I’m looking forward to it!”
On his own playstyle: “I think my style as a player is pretty adaptive, as I’ve competed as a few different archetypes of characters. One of my strongest traits is taking any advantage I have and turning it into a victory. I work to make sure my opponent feels pressured and uneasy at all times possible. I’ve been consistent with this across zoners, rushdown and even mid-range styled characters.
“Our playstyles clash well together along with our character selection in Guilty Gear, look forward to it and good luck to Kizzie Kay!”
SJP|DavidCue
On the match: “I’m honored to have been picked to play. I hope we put on a good show.”
On his opponent: “Josh is one of my closest friends in the FGC. It’s crazy that we somehow always get matched up to play, but we typically have hype matches, so hopefully this one will be too. He’s a great dude and one of the best overall gamers I know.”
On his own playstyle: “My style is pretty unorthodox. I rely on my ability to beat you in the neutral rather than on big combos that lead into knockdowns.”
TS|NerdJosh
On the match: “Should be a fun way to end REV 1 netplay before the great journey ahead, known as REV 2 netplay.”
On his opponent: “I think he’s one of the most prehistoric savages in anime games, what kind of monster thrives off so many standing Dusts and airgrabs?”
On his own playstyle: “I think I play a very red-light, green-light style of no respect to full respect turtle, so it can be hard to call me out at times. Love frustrating an opponent into attacking me so I can counter punish. I think David vs. I will be full on haymakers. Lots of scrambles; there will be no honor in these killing fields.”
Wow, that’s quite the stacked Exhibition League match, isn’t it? These top players will surely send off -REVELATOR- in a memorable way! Clear your schedule and definitely mark your calendar now for this Sunday (May 21) on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel, starting at 9:00 PM EST/7:00 PM CST/6:00 PM PDT. HellaBrett and Ryyudo will grace the microphone stations.
In last week’s online Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- set, Mr. K’s witty Leo engaged with NC Jin’s Dizzy. We also had Killey’s Johnny test himself against braindead2000’s Venom. If you haven’t seen it live, take a look below!
Capcom’s post-Battle Arena Melbourne 9 interview with Rize|Marn reveals that his trolling comes just as heavy in a conversation as it does during a heated Street Fighter V match. His jovial nature doesn’t make him any less of a competitor, though: he was able to make it in the ranks of the top 16 at the Australian Capcom Cup Qualifier.
Marn spoke honestly about his feelings on the current version of Street Fighter V’s character balance and playability. He had a particularly strong, yet mixed opinion about the Crush Counter system, on which he had this to say:
“I love watching this game. I don’t like playing this game. But if you removed Crush Counter, I would like playing this game, but I wouldn’t like watching this game.”
You can check out the entire candid chat in the video below.
It’s now been four days since the release of NetherRealm Studios’ superhero slugfest, Injustice 2. Keep scrolling down to see more combos and tech cooked up by the community!
VesperArcade‘s Robin Combo Guide is a great starting point for new players looking to slice up the competition, showing off some of his most basic conversions from important tools, such as his F+3, an overhead with frame advantage on block.
TheLinuxVirus shows off this disgusting 50/50 mixup off a 1-meter combo with Black Canary.
Take the 50/50 you learned from above, and see how you can incorporate it with these combos from HurtboxTV!
SC2 Voldo pro Enkindu wants to raise awareness about a “Melty Blood”-esque damage increase/decrease mini-game during supers.
Even desk is getting in on the NRS action with this “FLASHy” combo video. I can now confidently say that you can use a stage interaction to hit confirm into tea-bagging in Injustice 2.
Now that you’re getting used to Injustice 2, perhaps the execution in this Brainiac combo from DeBun will keep your brain busy.
And lastly, this oddly soothing combo video from Virtually Offensive shows off damage output and cross-ups from the coolest bug guy in the game, Blue Beetle.
How are you enjoying the first week of Injustice 2 thus far?
Let’s say you already have Leo Whitefang’s basics down. You know his move list well, and have the bread-and-butter combos prepared to bash some opponents. But now, you’d like to take it to the next level, because, let’s be honest, getting your pressure countered all the time isn’t fun.
Sharizord is your coach for making your Leo much better in about five minutes. They show more useful attack strings that can reliably build up the RISC gauge of the opponent as well as how to add a little extra spice to hit confirms. For instance, by adding a dash buffer to the 236HS motion, you can net more damage on your combos. This video has REV 2 in mind, so you can also pick up how to anti-air better with the character.
This tutorial should also be helpful to those who are looking to battle Leo players, so it’s not a bad idea to watch even if you’re not looking to pick up the Second King. Furthermore, remember to look back at this countering Leo guide, translated from Japanese.
You might recognize Dark Sided|Somniac’s Bison from the Ultra Street Fighter IV days, but the Melbourne, Australia native has been active in his hometown’s fighting game scene since the era of Street Fighter III. Capcom was able to catch up with Somniac at Battle Arena Melbourne 9, where he took 25th place after clashing with some of the world’s best.
Somniac is actually the winner of Battle Arena Melbourne 5 and 7, and has a lot of unique insight into his country’s now prominent Street Fighter scene. A few cool pieces of Australian fighting game history were extracted for the unknown international observer in the interview–which you can view in full in the video below.
The literal King of Fighters, Antonov, received a number of great buffs in Version 2.00 that granted him new mix-ups and damage opportunities. With these new threats in mind, youtuber APE OF THE U N I V E R S E has put together a wake-up guide for all aspiring cigar-munching champions to study.
Most of the safe jumps and mix-ups presented here make use of Antonov’s Max Mode options. Because of the changes in his crouching HK overhead, once you’ve established your safe-jumps, you can now work a fairly oppressive mid/low/command grab mix-up on a downed opponent.
With Street Fighter Vaction getting televised by mainstream media outlets like ESPN and TBS’s ELEAGUE, there are more eyes, exposure, and interest in the fighting game community than ever before. However, Andrew “nevbamshew” David Murphy feels that SFV’s current HUD display may not be doing a good enough job of conveying the action and the myriad of elements on display during the course of a match to the general viewers at home, who may be seeing the game played at high-level for the very first time.
An illustrator by trade, Murphy has provided his own example of an altered HUD, explaining that, “The brief is to improve the usability of the SFV HUD whilst retaining the original aesthetic, accentuating the branding and adding personality and style from the initial promos.”
His proposed changes include increasing the size of the V-Gauge and Critical Art meters to make them easier to see, changing character portraits, while also boldly increasing fonts and visuals, as he feels the current look is a bit too plain. The end result looks like a cross between Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and an Arc System Works title. I can appreciate the plain, basic look of SFV’s HUD, but this redesign certainly has a certain “pop” to it. Catch the video below, and let us know what you think.
For more insight into this project, as well as some great tech videos for both beginners and experts, you can follow him on Twitter at nevbamshew.
As Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 nears its official release, many players are busy learning the ropes and grasping changes. Alongside those, newcomers Baiken and Answer provide plenty of study material.
Our latest Answer tech compilation divulges a few Business Ninpo secrets, but some of us might not be quite ready for such advanced knowledge. To get a better grasp on what’s in Answer’s box of secrets, it’s better to take a look at a more simplified guide first. Knowing what’s available in the ninja’s toolset is also very valuable in fighting the match-up.
This informative video from AXETB provides a complete breakdown of Answer’s moves. With a useful visual input display, it shows exactly how his card and scroll setting works. There’s a lot of follow-up attacks to scroll clinging, so make sure you’re at least aware of what options he has.
In his post-Battle Arena Melbourne 9 interview with Capcom, Razer’s Xian seems slightly deflated, despite taking an impressive 5th place at the Capcom Pro Tour event. He cites the cause of his disposition to losing to Grpt|Fuudo, and being sent home by Echo Fox|Tokido–two players that have become his demons since his recent switch to Ibuki.
Though a little bummed out, Xian is already thinking of future victories, saying that he plans to take a hiatus from the tournament scene to re-access his whole strategy in Street Fighter V. Xian says the next time you see him will probably be at Tiger Knee 2017. You can watch his full interview with Capcom right here:
