Everyone has a fighting chance
HyperX’s Daigo Umehara has yet to attend an event this year, and still has a lot of eyes on him so far in Season 2. Between his finish in 2016 and his adventures in character attempts so far, people are wondering how he will do on the circuit.
And when facing one of the best Rashids in Japan’s Gachikun, you can see that Umehara is still adjusting, but still playing a high level. This first-to-5 set shows both players going all out with the best of their respective characters.
Source: XusesGB
More anime action from Dogura: one of the best things about Frosty Faustings is the international presence that came from the anime titles, and with BlazBlue being known as one of Cyclops Osaka|Dogura’s best games, he was the hands-down favorite to win the game in Chicago.
As expected, the Evo 2014 runner-up ran through the brackets with relative ease, with his Azrael wreaking havoc all the way through the event. Now, Team Spooky has put up the top 8 in its entirety for anyone that missed it on Saturday.
Source: Team Spooky
Alex Valle and Level Up were approached by Capcom late into the Capcom Pro Tour season; they were then asked to host the to road to top 8 of Capcom Cup at the Esports Arena in SoCal. The results, and the criticism, has been well-documented.
However, Valle stepped up to talk to Michael Martin on the latest episode of Conversations and Fireballs to discuss what was going on in the back of the event. He also discusses how he has since responded to the critics of the event.
Source: Yahoo! Esports
Super Smash Bros. as a series has a primary focus on providing a fun environment for new players, and seeks to be a game that anyone could enjoy. With the sheer size of the game and how much it’s sold over its lifetime, single-handedly selling consoles, it’s hard to argue that they didn’t succeed amazingly. While players have discovered a hidden depth in the game and thus explored it competitively, Smash’s strongest point is its ease of entry.
Here we have one of the simplest characters on the Smash Bros. roster, Kirby. While seemingly plain and straightforward, YouTuber RelaxAlex reveals that Kirby has a lot more going on than this outward simplicity. He covers all of Kirby’s attacks, hitstun, colors and movements and how they all directly correlate to past incarnations, and how Kirby was specifically designed to cater to new players through his attack moves. It’s an interesting bit of analysis, that’s well worth the watch.
Source: RelaxAlax
Remember P4AU? It was all the rage for a while, but thanks to the latest patch unfortunately never coming to consoles, many people ended up dropping the game. While the game does see some occasional play–like when it was featured at CEOtaku–it’s largely fallen from the fanbase it once had.
Despite this, it’s not like the game is unplayable. One YouTuber, Persona Entertainment (as their namesake may suggest!) still enjoys kicking around P4AU. They’ve devoted their time to showing off some really cool stuff in this game. These videos feature Chie Satonaka and Shadow Labrys, with some high-damage kill combos.
Source: Persona Entertainment
Though a lot of attention has moved on to The King of Fighters XIV, the prior installment still has a lot of players who still enjoy it, and are still churning out content. Below we have some great compilations and combo videos featuring last generation’s King of Fighters title.
First up we got a Yuri combo video from Persona Entertainment. There are a lot of really damaging combos here, the majority of which kill from full health.
Next we have some videos from 8Sin-Am, the first of which is a hype compilation from various sets with several different characters.
We also have here some character specific compilations, featuring a lot of high level play for both Kyo and Billy.
Sources: 8Sin-Am; Persona Entertainment
Juri is becoming known as a scary opponent in Street Fighter V–scarier now, thanks to her Season 2 buffs. Players that stuck with her through Season 1 were rewarded, and she’s attracting even more players now.
In the video below, JusticeSoulTuna demonstrates ten options for the Poison Spider, both practical and stylish, utilizing her Season 2 improvements–namely the “hidden buffs,” meaning aspects of her current abilities that are not widely known or noticed. Important tools for new players, and some new combos and links that S1 veterans may not yet be aware of!
Source: JusticeSoulTuna
Robin is an oft unseen character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U tournaments, with many players choosing another one of the several Fire Emblem warriors instead of this hooded tactician. Yet, there are still a handful of players who are faithful to this magical swordsman, using his various spells and powerful Levin Sword to send opponents soaring to their doom.
One such player is Mad Ice King, who has recently put together a Robin montage to show off some of the tricks this magician has up his sleeves. Set to tune of “Bonetrousle” (from the indie game Undertale) and even using replicating the combat graphics from the quirky RPG, Mad Ice King uses all of Robin’s tricks to teach any opponents a painful lesson. Beware of this sorcerer supreme if you ever meet them in bracket.
Source: Mad Ice King
Back on January 21st, the Japanese Killer Instinct community came together to compete for spots at the Killer Instinct World Cup with Kombo Klash Japan. For those who aren’t aware, Killer Instinct has a small but intensely passionate Japanese scene, lead by the dedicated OGTY and full of top players like the US ex-pat CAT DRUGS, lab fiend Domi, Riptor specialist Tomosama and Omen master Osomatsu among others. While the community is nowhere near as large as your Guilty Gears or Street Fighters in Japan, the Japanese KI scene is devoted to the game and will do anything to see it thrive.
Acting as the honorary US envoys, as well as streaming the event in English, Ultra Arcade’s Brandon Alexander and Kenneth “Bass” Armas traveled to Kombo Klash to help and compete within the tournament, helping to test the mettle of their Japanese compatriots. After all was said and done, the USA reigned supreme as Bass took first place after a close Grand Finals set with Osomatsu. The Japanese definitely gave Bass a run for his money, with Domi’s Kilgore and General RAAM forcing the American to switch off Spinal and use Mira in tournament.
As Bass has already qualified for KIWC, Osomatsu and Ret have earned places in that 32-man bracket, adding some additional international flavor to the tournament. They join threats from Europe and Canada who will also be attending the Killer Instinct World Cup, being held at the Tobin Center in San Antonio, Texas from March 10-12.
Bass has uploaded all of his matches to his YouTube channel and they can be found in the playlist below. If you want to watch the whole of Kombo Klash Japan, check out Ultra Arcade’s VOD from the event, also found below.
Sources: Ultra Arcade; XiBassiX
If there’s one player who can be considered to be sitting at the top of the heap in NetherRealm Studios’ games, it’s none other than Echo Fox’s Dominique “SonicFox” McLean. This young prodigy has proven to be a dominant force in Mortal Kombat X, as well as Injusice: Gods Among Us Before it, taking with him three straight championships at Evo.
It’s SonicFox’s path to his third Evo championship that this new short documentary from Phil Nolan is concerned with. Here, Nolan takes a closer look at SonicFox’s road to winning Evo 2016, and the opposition in front of him–in addition to this however, the video also gives us insight into what SonicFox’s goals are for the future, including his plans for college, and hopefully being able to work on his own fighting games.
Source: Phil Nolan