Umehara follows his fist into battle against some of Street Fighter V’s online best.
At the start of Street Fighter V’s Season 2, it looked like HyperX|Daigo Umehara might switch away from his well-recognized Ryu main to play Guile, or even Urien. But it seems that trial period is passing, and Umehara is back on the warrior’s road with trusty Ryu after all.
In the online compilation below (called a “marathon” at twenty-one minutes long) you can see Umehara apply his usual stalwart Ryu game against Diamond-ranked fighters in Ranked matches on the Capcom Fighters Network. Join him in battle to see if Diamond really is Unbreakable!
The Nguuhao’s Poison Hand tricks are no match for the Kanzuki-ryu.
Karin players: if you are having trouble putting that violent and vulgar creature F.A.N.G in his place, here’s a look at what tools the Kanzuki-ryu offers to silence that capering fool. ReikiKirei’s video guide below offers means to deal with F.A.N.G’s reversals (including his V-Reversal), as well as a safe jump and punish against F.A.N.G’s Critical Art on wakeup. The included meaty setup against F.A.N.G’s EX Nikankyaku on wakeup functions almost like an option select: if he tries a wakeup jab or throw instead, you will still have a chance to land a combo either way.
VesperArcade continues his ongoing series of videos looking at changes in Street Fighter V’s second season with the game’s first DLC character, Alex.
Unfortunately, despite being considered a mid-tier character in Season One, it seems the “Awakened Talent” had a lengthy meeting with the nerf bat. Many of his normals saw increased startup, a reduction in active frames, and reduced hitboxes/increased hurtboxes–greatly impacting his neutral game. His EX Knee Smash okizeme game was also greatly reduced. However, his Cr.LP now combos into his light Flash Chop and Cr. HP is now a faster anti-air, to make up for the nerf to his St.LP. His lariat, F+HP, is now +6 on hit, allowing it to link into St. MP–but it’s 1 frame slower. He can also no longer link St.MP into lariat after a V-Trigger confirm, since it is now only +10 instead of +12. But his V-Skill, Overhaul, now builds him 30 V-gauge after the motion is completed: allowing him to acquire Rage Shift and Big Boot much more quickly. To close, Vesper gave his final thoughts on Alex’s changes:
Overall, he’s been greatly nerfed. So many normals nerfed, and more importantly, none were really buffed to compensate. We got the Cr. HP buff, but if they’re taking away Alex’s neutral pokes, he’s not getting anything in return. Oki from the EX Knee Smash is nerfed, which was probably his best oki tool. Everything that was buffed on Alex, there was some nerf that came with it as well. There was nothing that was just a straight buff, and that’s it. You could say that they slightly buffed his close-range game, which was already strong, but then they just completely gutted his mid-range game. I feel like Alex in Season One was in a pretty decent spot. He wasn’t too strong, but he wasn’t too weak, either. But now I feel like he is definitely the weakest of all the DLC characters after reading most of these notes. Definitely one of the most nerfed characters that I’ve read so far.
As always, he also uploaded videos demonstrating Alex’s notable buffs, and the new combos that are possible. You can catch both of them below.
You can check out his previous entries in this series below. Be sure to let him know which character you’d like to see covered next!
With all the hype building up to Genesis 4 this coming weekend, it’s hard to not get excited with the recent string of trailers showcasing two of the most prominent Melee “gods” C9|Mango and Alliance|Armada. After all, they have met each other in every Melee Grand Finals since the tournament’s inception, with Mango winning the first one and Armada winning the last two–including last year’s Genesis in an exhilarating set in San Jose, CA. It’s almost a Genesis tradition at this point.
Traditions don’t last forever though. With Liquid|Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma competing at Genesis 4 with an injured finger and with EG|Jason “PPMD” Nanney’s attendance still in question due to health issues, the “script” might be flipped for another Melee god to claim the coveted Genesis title: FOX.MVG|Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman.
The stage seems set for Mew2King to win his first big major in quite some time. The trailer hits hard, showing off some of the most toughest Melee losses he has had the last few years, including the heart-wrenching loss to SPY|Nintendude at last year’s Genesis 3.
However, when a longtime top Smash player like FOX.MVG|Mew2King falls, he surely rises again as shown in this trailer. When his character repertoire of Sheik, Marth and Fox are on point on a good day, Mew2King can slay his fellow gods, as well as up-and coming top players who threaten his status. With Celldweller’s emotional “Just Like You” playing in the background, alongside footage of Mew2King’s recent victories (with crowds of his supportive fans going nuts for him) one can’t help but get excited and hopeful that this “under-god” will make the impossible possible again and break the sacred Genesis tradition of an Armada vs. Mango Grand Finals.
Chun-Li isn’t exactly a character associated with top-level Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 play. While she’s been a series staple, she doesn’t quite have the tools and the consistent damage output to make her a regular pick in tournaments. That said: she still has a great kit for doing some flashy combos, especially when given the right team.
In this new video, akaJoness explores some of her combo potential and synergy when teamed up Devil May Cry characters Dante and Vergil–a combination commonly known as “Chun May Cry.” The video below goes both ways, with Dante and Vergil both backing Chun-Li up to extend the combos she starts, as well as with Chun-Li backing both brothers up to extend their combos. The results are stylish combos for everyone on the team.
Meaty setups to help bring Nash back from nerf-death.
Among the members of the Street Fighter V cast, Nash has been noted to have received some fairly heavy nerfing in the Season 2 build. But that’s no reason you still can’t take down those that would stand in the way of your revenge (or rising through the CFN ranks).
In their latest dose of meaty setups, NurseLee focuses on the meaties that can follow up on Nash’s Wind Shear target combo. Study up for some new techniques to keep Nash a force to be reckoned with in Season 2.
When it comes to Super Smash Bros Melee, there are few rivalries more legendary than that between Alliance’s Adam “Armada” Lindgren and Cloud 9’s Joseph “Mang0” Marquez–born at Genesis 1, where Armada made his American debut. It was the Swedish Sniper who emerged victorious from that first battle, but there were many more to come, including the Grand Finals at that same tournament, where Mang0, fueled by the crowd, fought his way from behind to take the tournament.
The two have clashed again countless times, but it is Genesis that has arguably defined their rivalry. Grand Finals of Genesis 1, 2 and 3 have been legendary battles between the pair and, for the first time, Last Stock Legends have given us the opportunity to experience the rivalry firsthand.
In this episode we hear the entire rivalry from the men themselves. The whole saga is covered, from the first battles at Genesis 1 to their meeting at Genesis 3, in which Armada broke the 1-1 tie they had found themselves in.
It’s a deeply fascinating look at Melee history that we are living through; Armada and Mang0 are two of the finest players to pick up a pad, and their rivalry is one of the intense and competitive in the history of the game. And with Genesis 4 just a few short days away, what better time could there be to learn why, if we see Mang0 and Armada in Grand Finals once again, it will be one of the most fiercely fought battles you will ever see.
Texas’ own Anas “Vagabond” Khan, now sponsored by Noble Gaming, had a breakout year in 2016 with his aggressive Necalli play in Street Fighter V–with high placings in several stacked tournaments, including Texas Showdown (4th place) and the Red Bull Battlegrounds Last Chance Qualifier (5th place). So in a move that perhaps goes back to his SFIV roots when he used to play Evil Ryu, Vagabond has started playing Akuma, and from the looks of this Ranked Match highlight video by YouTube user Vice, he seems to have picked things up quickly with the Master of the Fist.
Vagabond tests his new character against several highly-ranked opponents such as PIE|Smug and Alex “Calipower” Valle among others. With already a basic, but good understanding of the neutral game with Akuma, Vagabond shows off what he has learned so far with simple but highly optimal combos in both V-Trigger and non-V-Trigger mode, with post-combo setups to continue the offense. This video is a highly entertaining and informative watch of the high damage potential and pressure Akuma is capable of. There is a great Raging Demon punish at the end as well!
As previously reported, Street Fighter V’s servers are down for maintenance today. While no details on what exactly this maintenance period will be addressing have been dropped, it’s likely meant to–at the very least–fix a number of glitches with the current system.
One such glitch is this one demonstrated in a video by Ditch Pickler. In the video below, he demonstrates how, after a loss in Ranked, he was suddenly put back in Rookie rank (with zero League Points), down from Super Gold, despite only losing 1 League Point. Happily, this is only temporary–as the rank fixes itself in later matches. There are thankfully no reports of this LP “loss” being permanent.
Why this happens is currently unknown. However, it’s possible that the temporary rank down was due to a connection issue with the server, and the game being unable to fetch the player’s correct rank in time. [I have personally experienced this glitch myself, as well. – Editor]
One of the defining aspects of the first Injustice was how fascinating the story telling was. There was a comprehensive campaign that set the groundwork for a tale that was built upon by the excellent comic books that continued until 2016. Following up on such a great narrative was always going to be a challenge, but the first glimpses seem to be promising.
Following up from the events of Injustice 1, Injustice 2’s story mode sees Batman, despite his triumph in defeating Superman, unable to rest on his laurels. There’s all sorts of challenge and conflict ahead. Indeed, we see that he has perhaps lost his head as he brawls against someone unexpected.
The trailer also confirms that Darkseid, Robin, Bane, Brainiac and Poison Ivy will be making appearances, though it is only Darkseid that has been properly confirmed as playable–and as pre-order DLC. It’s likely that the others will be too, but we will have to wait for more news to confirm that. The rumors that Black Canary would be confirmed however, appear to have been fruitless.
There is also some explanation of what we can expect from Injustice 2’s story over on the PlayStation Blog:
The biggest challenge? Extending the Injustice narrative, without repeating ourselves. We knew that the game’s core conflict — Batman versus Superman — had to remain front and center. But to keep Injustice moving forward, we needed more.
Enter Brainiac.
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we need to go and watch this trailer a few dozen more times.
