As was shown off during the demo, every character in The King of Fighters XIV now has two more colors to choose from. In addition to this, many palettes were either subtly or obviously altered. These changes seem very welcoming, and atop both the new palettes and improvements on older palettes, a lot of the complaints players have had with the palette selection are being directly addressed.
Gato Ray has helped us out once again, this time providing a nice visual representation of all of the colors in the game. While past colors that have changed aren’t as easy to spot, everyone can appreciate the newness of colors 5 and 6. Do you see any old colors that have changed, though?
Season 1 was known for the game mechanics allowing for some amazing comebacks; with Season 2, many things got nerfed–including wake-up DPs–that have made this slightly less possible. But this doesn’t mean its not still happening, and quite possibly amplifies how amazing these comebacks actually are.
XusesGB is back at it, collecting some of the best of the best to inspire you to never give up and never surrender. This video features some of the best players, including Galtu, Echo Fox|Tokido, and ImStillDaDaddy.
Japan is not known for its Killer Instinct players, but if a Japanese player is playing a fighting game, he is giving it his all. And yes, Japan does have a growing Killer Instinct scene, and it looks good.
It was so good in fact, that over the weekend there was a large event in Japan for the title called Kombo Klash. Due to the difference in time between the West and the East, it was difficult to watch from over here. That, however, doesn’t mean you missed your opportunity.
Now the entire event has been uploaded to YouTube. Catch all of this high-level Japanese Killer Instinct play right here!
At long last, they meet in battle: HyperX|Daigo Umehara, walking the long road, seeking the meaning of battle with his iconic main Ryu; Echo Fox|Tokido, now returned after a long wait to the dark power of the Satsui no Hado, with his classic main Akuma. These two giants of Street Fighter fame finally clash online in this FT2 Ranked match set. Watch it below and see who is the true master of the Hado (this time).
[And a shout-out to RektScrub for their use of one of my favorite versions of Akuma’s theme in their video! – Editor]
While Nine is considered one of the best in Blazblue: Central Fiction, the Great Mage has some nuances that need to be learned in order to be played properly. Much like every top tier character in any game imaginable, you can’t simply pick them up and immediately start beasting with them (if you can, then prepare to see them get hit with the ban hammer!).
But thankfully, J Rivera has conjured up a beginner’s guide for playing Nine for everyone to grasp how to cast level 9 S-tiericism on their opponents. Starting with the absolute basics, he gives you enough of her basic moves and spells to get started, and will certainly be delving deeper later.
Find out all you need to know about the upcoming Evolution 2017 event.
The Evolution 2017 Reveal Show–during which we will learn the titles that will grace the main stage, and more–will stream live tomorrow at 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST on Red Bull eSports’ Twitch channel. Watch it live on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/redbullesports
Tune in to see if your favorites made the cut, and to learn additional details about what is sure to be the biggest fight of 2017! Evo is scheduled for July 14-16, 2017, at Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Handling stressful situations is half of playing a fighting game. No amount of fundamentals, neutral and matchup knowledge, combos or resets will be enough if you crack or self-destruct under pressure. While a lot of this pressure is found in tournaments, players certainly also feel this pressure while climbing the online leaderboards.
With this in mind, YouTuber PugilistPenguin–in his series “Two Minute Tutorials”–attempts to give some advice on using outside influence to improve your play. He gives tips on calming down, improving reaction time, and improving performance through sleep. Most of these tactics can be applied to tournament anxiety as well, so if your problem is those jitters you get before matches, than this could be very helpful for you!
SNK has been pressing forward with their esports-style World Championship series, with a handful of events distributing all-expenses-paid qualifying positions in the larger, more illustrious tournaments–competing for a real-life version of Antonov’s championship belt. These qualifiers have all concluded, but if you missed them you can thank Gato Ray for compiling the final rounds for the Korean, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Peru, and China qualifier tournaments.
First we’ll start with the Top 4 matches for Taiwan qualifier. The Top 4 was split into two videos, with one just featuring the Grand Finals; if you don’t want to be spoiled as to who’s in GF, don’t look at the title of the second video until you’re ready!
Up next is Road to Peru, compiled into one Top 4 video. Having South America represent is always great to see.
The next qualifier is something strange. The Hong Kong qualifier looks to have been recorded on a smart phone. Our only explanation as to why the tournament wasn’t recorded properly is in the video description:
“I can’t mention the reason why but you and I missed this tournament, definitely.
Please understand bad quality and I found only footage or article concerning this qualifier.”
The final qualifiers are China and Korea; China’s qualifier seems to only have the Grand final set, but Korea’s has the whole Top 4 of the tournament.
As you may recall, last month PR Balrog announced that he would not be renewing his contract with Evil Geniuses. This caused quite the stir, leaving many of his fans questioning why someone would give up that sponsorship, the dream of many a player. While to some this action is unfathomable, PR Balrog thought a lot about this decision before he made it, and here takes the time to bring us through his thought process.
Primarily, as a player, it seems that the sponsorship was making him lax in his performance and training. The security made him comfortable, thus driving a need to get that fire back that leads him to place highly at tournaments in the first place. He also discusses some conflict with gaining side-sponsors–which he touched on in his announcement–as well as the plan he has for himself and his brand in the coming year.
Genesis 4 was an amazing weekend with a lot of clutch upsets and surprising turnarounds. While the weekend is over, nothing is stopping you from watching the whole event all over again. We’ve compiled all the Smash footage VGBootcamp has uploaded here for your viewing pleasure.
First up is the Super Smash Bros. Melee Singles tournament, which here we can see a lot of sets from pools all the way up to Grand Finals.
Melee also had Crews and a Doubles tournament, which you can see just below.
Here’s the Top 8 showing for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U:
While there was no Brawl or Project M, you can catch Super Smash Bros. 64 Top 8 in all it’s Pikachu-filled glory below.
