General fighting games thread

From Castlevania thread with imperfect edits

One of the worst things about really geeky game fans is the expectation developers often pander to of more story focus developing in earth shattering directions like DC and Marvel try to do. It's really silly when you get Tekken and King Of Fighters intros still insisting on overblown drama. Resident Evil got bad for this.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 3 May 2015 21:17

I disagree RAG, I absolutely loved the full out B-movie gloriousness of the recent Netherrealms story modes (Mortal Kombat 9/X, Injustice)

But yeah, more Castlevania would be sweet... just a matter of time before they return to their senses and go back to making 2D games, or if IGA or someone can pick up the slack Mighty No. 9 style...

― Nhex, Sunday, 3 May 2015 22:44

Games rarely return to 2D. There hasn't been a genuinely new 2d Capcom fighting game since Capcom Fighting Evolution/Jam (2004) and that game was made of more recycled character pixels than most fighting games. SNK hasn't really made anything new in ages and even they might not have 2d in their future if they continue to make new games at all.

I haven't seen that Mortal Kombat game's story mode, maybe it's fun but surely you don't thrill to "Oh no! Ken Masters (or Jill Valentine) has been radicalized with PSYCHO POWER and has to fight our hero!" or some dumb rivalry with the angst pumped up to maximum?
Cutscenes with emotional drama rarely do anything other than face imploding cringefests.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 May 2015 00:29

the recent MK games are a lot more tongue-in-cheek (well, i guess they always were compared to SF/KOF). MK9 has a Butterfly Effect-eque plot involving Raiden sending a message back in time to undo the events of MK1-8, only to have things go catastrophically wrong with each timeline alteration. even Injustice constantly brings up how ridiculous the whole plot is, with SUPER SRS EVIL ALTERNATE UNIVERSE SUPERMAN as the villain. but really, it's a clever way to get you to play most of the characters on the roster for single player story mode, and it's fun and goofy universe stuff

i love touches that (and, no i don't think they need to apologize at all for being completely B-movie level) show there's a degree of care or love for the universe. The King of Fighters series started off putting little pre-match animations between distinct characters to highlight friendships/rivalries and other relationships in the '90s. MKX does a fantastic job with this, every single combination of characters has unique voiced banter entering a match. Injustice did his too with the clash events

are for 2D vs. fake 3D/2D, yeah, I would prefer if we got more Guilty Gear/Arcsys/Persona-style hand-drawn games too, but today they're pretty confined as "anime niche" even inside the sadly niche genre of fighting games. The SFIV series and MK series made distinct returns to 2D gameplay this past generation, especially compared to that dire early '00s period

― Nhex, Monday, 4 May 2015 04:41

Well those MK scenes are far wittier than anything in the tedious KOF13 faceoffs. But in Snk Vs Capcom Chaos there was this gem from Akuma: "Beating you was easier than smacking a baby. Not that I would ever do that."
I would generally prefer arcadey games avoided story and dialogue or kept it to a bare minimum unless they knew it was something they could do especially well.

Even Guilty Gear is going 3d, but it has impressively maintained the 2d look more any 2.5d game I've seen but I'm not really into it anymore. But yeah, I'm really not into the style Blazblue, Arcana Heart, Under Night In-Birth, Persona 4 Arena, Aquapazza amd Chaos Code has. After all these games you really appreciate how well animated games like Streetfighter 3rd Strike, Darkstalkers 3, KOF13 were.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 May 2015 12:47

Actually I'd say that [early 00s] was one of the best times for fighting games. Capcom vs Snk 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, King Of Fighters 2003, Project Justice, Street Fighter Ex3 (I liked it, but the previous game was probably better), Guilty Gear X2, Soul Calibur 2, Tekken 4 and Samurai Shodown 6. Those were some of the best instalments of each series.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 4 May 2015 13:34

sorry, realizing that I got way off track here since this is the Castlevania thread. to sum up quickly i agree and disgaree with your various opinions here; but basically to me there's everything up until about '98 and the Dreamcast era, upon which there were the endless sprite rehashes that you mentioned with a few bright spots here and there (like Project Justice! loved that game) while the mainstream releases were "dominated" by things like generic 3D SFEX/MK/Tekken sequels. i want to put time into modern 2D fighters like Xrd, BlazBlue, P4A and Skullgirls and see if they're worth it but, you know, time and age means i'm going to sway towards the ones with bigger player bases

― Nhex, Monday, 4 May 2015 15:32

Fighting games unfortunately are one of the genres that tries to make previous games redundant because of the competitive scene that needs each series to have perfected versions in each series, so it becomes alienating for all but the hardcore with all these updates, this has sacrificed the genre in some ways. It's a difficult situation to deal with unless you're making something like Smash Bros or Power Stone.
People who've played them all in order but don't care about perfect mechanics or expansive character selection are going to prefer different games than someone choosing whichever has the most complete content.

Absolutely. It's tough for series to stay relevant and successful. I often wonder about Smash Bros. which seems to try hardest at mainstream acceptance and only recently has made some inroads towards appeasing the hardcore. But even with the simultaneous 3DS/WiiU push last year, I don't know how to gauge it. Honestly, I'm not getting likely a Wii U anytime soon either.

One game that really surprised me lately was Naruto Ultimate Storm 3 (from a couple years ago, it's two versions behind now I think?). Now, normally - and history will back me up on this - licensed fighting games are generally complete garbage. (Notable exception: Gundam Wing: Endless Duel for SFC.) There are still terrible-looking DBZ games coming out every single year, though the last one I played was all right (Budokai HD collection) That recent one looks... interesting?
...And frankly, Narultimate 3 is COMPLETELY composed of teen anime cliche drivel plot. It's Naruto, after all. TEENAGE NINJAS.
But the presentation! The budget! The super-simple Smash Bros. like inputs and yomi! QTEs and absurdly long scenes to put Metal Gear Solid to shame! A bazillion characters and personalities! Shockingly good. I want to give other Cyberconnect2 games a shot too, like that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure game that came out last year as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twlHRx-pY9g

Anyway, right now, I'm playing MKX on PS4 and half-heartedly trying to convene a local scene in southeast NY through some forums. (TBH though I feel like I'm getting too old to provide the dedication necessary, and I don't think I'm ever going to EVO. But, the fire still burns...) The past half decade I've been more or less strictly SFIV, with a year I was really into Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Have you played any titles in recent years that you think is worth the effort to seek out? There's a ton of these little games like the ones you mentioned, like Battle Arcadia or NG Battle Coliseum, that have skipped my radar or I was too lazy to go for.

The last new fighting games I bought were King Of Fighters 13, Samurai Shodown Collection (which I found shockingly difficult, I wasn't able to beat arcade mode in any of the 6 games, which has never happened to me since Mortal Kombat 3), Vampire Chronicles (a Darkstalkers collection for Dreamcast), Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur 4. I didn't play any of them for much longer than 12 hours.

It's unlikely I'll buy another fighting game, for several reasons: I don't own any games consoles apart from a Nintendo DS (and it would be a miracle if I bought anything other than a handheld console because I hate how complex gaming systems are now, particularly all the online stuff and DLC), I rarely play games anymore because I don't enjoy gaming challenges or anything time consuming anymore, I don't like most of the character design in fighting games and it's getting increasingly further away from my tastes and I don't really like fighting or violence like I used to (I used to be NUTS for fighting games).

What has maintained my interest is that I like good visual designs and videogames make them come alive in ways that other mediums cant. I still look at the new fighting games because I get a kick out of imaginative designs when they come along on occasion and some of the moves and settings still impress. Hakan and Hilde were the last characters I thought were cool and I thought the king character in the last Power Instinct was hilarious.
But really, there isn't much I still like going around. I still have lots of interest in where Castlevania and Zelda are going but I don't know if I could commit to anything other than videos anymore. I think Dark Souls and Bloodborne are awesome but I could never play a game that difficult.

I'd recommend Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, particularly for the variety of characters you wont see in many other games. Mudman was huge fun and the Metal Slug guy Marco was done really well. Several of the KOF characters were reused in KOF11 (one of the best games in the series)but there's still a lot of fun characters to recommend it. SNK fans loved it but I don't think it did as well as it should have.

Also, I cant stomach the clichés and emotional drama of most of these games anymore.

My love for Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution surprised me because the series has always had a justified reputation for mostly bland characters but the game mechanics were a thing of beauty. Button mashing never payed off (like it often would in Namco games), experience and effort always won out. It was very rewarding. The hyper action mode was exhilarating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J0a_-yow4Q

picked up mkx for ps4, so far im enjoying it as the first real fighter ive played since SNES street fighter. community seems pretty active and the game is somewhat approachable for someone not fully invested in the genre thus far. not sure this has sparked a fire in me, and also not sure this game won't die as soon as something flashier drops on the console so for now it is an interesting diversion from destiny/bloodborne

According to the hardcore gaming 101 articles, Fatal Fury was the fighting games series with the most unique entries that were never made redundant.

King Of Fighters is easier to select because if you get 98 Ultimate, 2002 Unlimited, 11 and 13, you have the majority of everything that was good about the main series. KOF Ex2 (Gameboy Advance) and KOF Maximum Impact 2 Regulation A if you want to be completest about different characters not featured in the main series.

Last Blade 2 probably makes the first game redundant but I never played it. Same goes for whatever the last Guilty Gear X2 game was.

I don't think anyone prefers the first Capcom Vs Snk over the second. The style systems in it were just too annoying and didn't let you have all your moves.

Many think Marvel vs Capcom 1 was a better game overall than 2, similarly Street Fighter Alpha 2 over Alpha 3 but the bigger rosters of MvC2 and SFA3 wins me over easily.

if you want to spar, friend me art! (psn: n-hex)

xps Samurai Shodown (and a ton of the original NeoGeo games) had insane level difficulty arcade modes, feel no shame. SNK AI in particular is known for its cheapness - I don't think I've had the patience to go through one of those since Garou: MOTW

VF seemed to me how you described, though I didn't really play it past the first three in the arcades, I always respected its... purity and technical excellence? Especially compared to Tekken which I never got down with. (Frankly it took me a very long time to warm up to 3D fighters - I didn't really like one until the first Soul Calibur) Every time there's another major number iteration I'm tempted to try it again. Unfortunately, VF doesn't seem to have taken hold competitively, but I'm surprised to find out that VF5: Final Showdown was still getting arcade updates in 2015.

MvC1 was where personally input speed/onscreen action just started getting TOO crazy for me, but I agree MvC2 was better and more fun. Marvel Super Heroes vs. SF was probably the least "broken" of that series, but let's be real, they all had slushy infinites.
Loved SFA3, even with the crazy broken V-ism jazz, over SFA2 which was more balanced and sound.

The Last Blade 2 was a massive upgrade over LB1 in terms of gameplay, graphics etc. IIRC, real cool stuff

On the easiest mode all those Snk games have a manageable arcade mode despite cheap bosses, it was hard in KOF 99-03 but I still beat them several times at a minimum, but those Samurai Shodown games were several levels harder and cheaper. The end boss of SS5 in particular is the biggest asshole in any game I've ever played.
Samurai Shodown is odd in that it looks and mostly plays the same as most fighting games but it has several rules that make it far harder to master.

It's odd that Virtua Fighter doesn't have more tournament cred because it's better tuned for competitive play than pretty much anything else.

I also taken a little while to accept 3d fighters but Tekken 2 Is still my favourite 3d fighter. The characters weren't so obnoxiously flashy in terms of haircuts/clothes, the music was great, I liked the lighting, the settings quite atmospheric and I loved the echoey sounds. Overall, even though it may seem slow I found the playing more satisfying.
I think after Tekken 4 the game lacked stylistic cohesion. So many of the characters looked like they came from another franchise.

Although I had enjoyed them all at some point, my main problem with Tekken, Soul Calibur and Dead Or Alive is that it taken too long to watch the movelist demos let alone learn all the moves.

Xp will do, fair warning though, i am the worst.

Dark Awake/Chaos Breaker is worth a look. It's a Dungeons & Dragons styled 2d fighter with quite impressive animation.
For a long time that, Red Earth/Warzard, Hokuto No Ken/Fist Of The Northstar (Arc System Works version) and Martial Masters were my most coveted rare fighting games but Dark Awake unexpectedly came to PSN a few years ago and the response wasn't too great.

Power Instinct is one of the maddest fighting game series ever. Shame it never travelled much.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Avt1m45PKpc

The Prince character can throw carrots that his horse jumps in and catches.

Waku Waku 7 also looked quite nuts.

I think that Melty Blood is partially responsible for the current direction of 2d fighters, even though it wasn't a big professional thing.

Fans of early Mortal Kombat might want to check out Death Cargo. It has the 2d photo animation but the gore is really fucking vile in a way that even offends some MK fans.

ohhhh THAT series! I played Matrimelee, which was hilarious and awesome (and i think had a weird crossover with Double Dragon), one of the last MVS games

It's odd that Virtua Fighter doesn't have more tournament cred because it's better tuned for competitive play than pretty much anything else.

Waku Waku 7 was flippin' great. Dandy J and the whole cast was wonderful, but it should be known forever for the game with the mighty BONUS KUN
http://i.imgur.com/sT29eRC.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htNVFAeykvE

re: Melty Blood, i feel like there was this gradual build up of fan/doujin fighting games in the early 2000s that somehow went pro. Looking it up now, i see they're the same company that made those fun Queen of Heart games and Glove On Fight

never heard of Dark Awake or Death Cargo, will do some research!

Although I had enjoyed them all at some point, my main problem with Tekken, Soul Calibur and Dead Or Alive is that it taken too long to watch the movelist demos let alone learn all the moves.

I looked up Death Cargo, seems like it might be a vaporware scam, which is kind of hilarious

Kings of Kung Fu looks terrible, and it's Early Access (read: will probably never be finished) but's only a few bucks right now on Bundle Stars, and I admire their blatant love of Shaw Brothers and the like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=125&v=_qx295spTto

oops. let me try that again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qx295spTto

Looks terrible but I do love that almost all of the characters are recognizable from movies i have loved.

Decent deal on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - All Star Battle for PS3, $20, no tax, and free shipping if you have Amazon Prime. I don't expect this game to be available for too much longer, so I grabbed a copy.
http://www.bandainamcogamesstore.com/JoJos-Bizarre-Adventure-Battle-PlayStation-3/dp/B00KBB4CB6

So Streetfighter 5 has Ryu, Chun Li, M Bison/Vega, Charlie/Nash, Cammy and Birdie so far. Can't they give some of these guys a rest? I hope there will be more new guys than in 4.

Probably not, unfortunately. I have this feeling that internally Capcom looked at the mostly-new cast of SFIII as a failure and they've been backpedaling away from new characters ever since, like at most you can have four new people in a game. (And who expects any of the new characters from IV to appear? Poor ELF.)

The hope is kind of half hearted too because even if the cast was 90% new, they'd probably mostly look like j-pop stars or bland anyway.

After seeing Yoshimitsu's great new octopus costume I wonder why he looks consistently great in every game redesign yet few of the new characters look so imaginative. Do they get a different artist to design the different characters?

I think that returning characters probably have more lassitude because you can establish an awesome look without having to tie it to a coherent moveset? If this was Yoshimitsu's first Tekken then it'd be pretty confusing with the alien and the octopus and the sword and the pogo and the helicopter.

Which is not in any sense to take away from the fact that Yoshimitsu is completely baller.

Haha indeed he is

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/9/8923583/street-fighter-5-sdcc-2015-san-diego-comic-con-capcom

Glad at least they're (somewhat) making Ken a new-ish character

Aw, Shippuden 4 got delayed to February

I'm interested in the "simpler" fighting games coming out -- Seth k*ll*an's Rising Thunder, Pocket Rumble, David Sirlin's Fantasy Strike. Supposedly the gameplay in the Rising Thunder alpha is already at a releasable state.

Sirlin' turning Fantasy Strike into an actual fighting game? Ha! Talk about snakes and tails..
Didn't know about Rising Thunder, will have to look into that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qxVDOc-oV8
Things of Beauty: Super Smash Bros. as Spectator Sport

I could never get seriously into Smash for various reasons, but I really like this video

yeah, that's interesting; thx for sharing

A bunch of new SF5 characters with interesting moves, (like Tekken they've added an Arabian guy). Karin was a lot of fun in SF Alpha 3.

Teaser for King Of Fighters 14 is really disappointing. I knew they were going with 3d but it looks very modest.

I like Laura's look and moves. Very happy to see Karin and Mika back.

LOL https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/them-s-fightin-herds#/

Just preordered SFV to get access to the second beta round. Getting antsy waiting for the beta code to be emailed to me from Best Buy...

Somehow I missed this. It's from May.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UaXhe_XPsU&t=9m36s

Starting at around 9:30.

good god

http://shoryuken.com/2015/12/05/snk-playmore-bringing-the-last-blade-2-to-playstation-4-vita/

http://mattrifiedgames.blogspot.com/2015/11/my-emerging-love-hate-relationship-with.html

As someone who loves story/single player modes in fighting games I definitely agree with several points in his article. (I wish Battle High 2 didn't have such terrible graphics. Maybe I'll still grab it as a lark - it's free/pay-what-you-want on PC.)

Injustice 2 pre-leaked prior to E3, looks like... I'm in

it has loot crates and microtransactions

argh. i imagine it's gonna be a mess competitively. i'll just have to enjoy the single player mode, i guess

It's EVO time! Psyched to watch the SFV finals on ESPN tomorrow night.
Been watching the SRK streams - they have five this year! - and three guys from my local flew out there to participate so I'm more invested than usual.
Man, I wish I was good at Marvel. Just started getting into Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator and still trucking along w/SFV.

https://i.imgur.com/XvRNfDa.png

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/08/simply-a-smashing-timea-visual-tour-of-super-smash-con/

http://www.polygon.com/pc/2016/9/17/12952688/harambe-vs-capcom-video-game-trailer

I see there's a ROM hack attempt at balancing ST, incorporating the better bits of HDR.
http://www.strevival.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=122

This guy Xanadu from KOF 14 is hilarious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKNAc6p0aAw

what... what is his gimmick??

Ultra Street Fighter II coming to Nintendo Switch... both classic and HDR graphics, two new palette swaps, no word on gameplay changes. I don't plan on getting a Switch so I don't really care.

really weird for a Nintendo system to finally get a port of HDR so many years later

so from what Justin Wong and others were saying

- SF4 throw teching. throwing command is the original. i guess it removes tic throw loops, but still...
- no old characters! way to remove half the game
- akuma has very low life, otherwise he's ST Akuma
- chun's stored super charge is gone
- sagat's tiger knee is dp motion (f, d, df) instead of d to uf

Been getting back into SFV lately due to the huge amount of Season 2 changes, it's a meaty update. Helps that Laura got so many buffs :) Splurged on the Season 2 Character Pass too, not gonna grind out the Fight Money this time. (Plus I would like to buy some stages/costumes this year with FM)

Also put some time this weekend into GGXrd -Revelator-. Great game, though I fear like Marvel the intensity/frequency of input might be too much for me to play competitively. But I'm having a surprising amount of fun just playing with the single-player (and hilarious chaotic and broken) M.O.M. mode. Each character itself is like an entirely different game, so I feel like I'm gonna have to put more time than I actually have into this to explore everyone to decide on a main, though I've enjoyed the weirdness of Ramlethal and Raven so far.

This year's looking pretty good already between Tekken 6, Injustice 2, the next GGX update, and so on... and if the Switch port of Smash comes out this year, I might jump onto that just out of the sheer popularity of the game at locals and online.

Also, after about twenty years of sticking to pads (after beginning on sticks in the arcade back in the late '80s/early '90s) I finally broke down, shelled out the cash for a TE2+ FightStick. No regrets; hitting buttons will always be super fun.

Uh bad double use of "stick" but you know what I'm saying

Capcom might be rebalancing SFV season 2.

https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2017/jan/27/capcom-open-another-balance-patch-pro-tour-season-begins-quick-line-yesterdays-street-fighter-5-blog-seems-suggest-it/

A lot of the changes they made in S2 were odd, giving and taking things without seeming to consider tiers. One rationale I've heard is that all of the current changes have been "in the can" since the 2016 Evo tournament, which was not a good indication of the relative power levels of the characters. For example, Nash was winning a lot around then because he had easy combos that did big damage, while Guile was considered the best of the weak DLC characters. Right before the S2 changes came out, Nash was considered mid and Guile was considered mid-high. S2 comes out and chops off Nash's legs and turns Guile into a god.

Oh, I'm sure there'll be a lot more changes coming. I mean we've only gotten Akuma and we have five more DLC characters to go, and they always sprinkle other balance patches before/after each DLC release. That said some of the more universal changes, like no more meterless untechable/invincible Shoryukens and general weakening of standing anti-air jabs, I think will stick, and good!

They stuck with very few changes in season 1, usually only changing things they deemed bugs -- although they were selective and left other buggy things in. AA jabs were probably a good choice to nerf as they made defense too good. I thought the srks were fine and nerfing them might make the characters more samey.

SRKs are the way they should be IMO regarding knockdown - the attacker should have the advantage (and not be forced to either bait or cross-up which doesn't work often due to to autocorrects). They remain invincible if you use the EX version, costing a bar seems fair to me.

here's a guy who agrees with me on the srks (and infiltration concurs)

https://youtu.be/bsC8io4w1sY?t=5m22s

I actually agree with that in principle (buffing everyone is generally better than nerfing everyone, and more "fun") but SF isn't in danger of having characters feeling too same-y (except notably the Shotokens), like Mortal Kombat or Tekken.
I stand by the SRK nerf. Seriously, Ryu is always plenty strong in these games.

for honor? its not sf-style but its pvp match fighting. don't know how good the controls are, it was fun to watch on twitch. i plan to try it on the next beta

Love Injustice 2. Sure competitively, it'll probably be terrible, but I just love the effort and characters and tone and feel and so on.

it's fun to watch scrubs getting owned by deadshot and darkseid, the day-one zoners.

good evo finals. Punk torn his way through but Tokido destroyed him in the end to finally get his championship

watch punk's eleague matches if you haven't. he was tearing through everyone there.

i missed the end of eLeague, but i saw his matches earlier in the show, he damn good.
he definitely had the skills to beat Tokido, he just lost his composure / got beat by Tokido's experience

http://www.fightersgeneration.com/screens2/arika-fighting-ex-layer.htm

The Streetfighter Ex series always had a mixed reputation but I thought they were some of the most fun 3d fighters. Curious to see how well this one does, I thought these characters would never return.

This channel does quite interesting videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sUVNqNSo5M

you in for DBZ or UNIST, RAG?

I don't think I've touched a videogame for 3 years, I just like watching videos about them occasionally. I'd like a go of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild but I probably don't have the patience for playing it anymore.

sad!

that is a good video btw, i think i watched it earlier in the year before MvC:I came out

i kinda liked MvC:I btw. less visually busy compared to MvC2/3, but still pretty crazy and broke when it came down to it. didn't spend much time on it though

sad!

― Nhex, Saturday, January 13, 2018 4:39 AM

It is a little sad but games are just so expensive, time consuming, I've lost interest in gaming challenges, I don't own any consoles and it's difficult justifying a console for a few games I might never play much. I utterly loathe all the DLC and patches stuff. I'm very jaded so hardly anything looks exciting or fun as it used to.
Bloodborne and Dark Souls look right up my street but again, I'm just not up for the challenge. If I could play them with infinite health cheats I'd be very happy.
But I'm always interested in watching videos of whatever cool thing comes out. One of the things I miss most about being a teenager was the absolute certainty I was going to have a great 5 to 40 hours with most things I'd buy.

here's another video I liked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGSkWVXE2mo

Fantasy Strike does look interesting.

I tried SFV and thought it was fun until I increased the difficulty and realized I would never have a chance against online players. (I couldn’t play online with my pirated copy anyways but I unistalled the game and don’t plan on purchasing it). I also discovered my favorite SFV character is in the lowest tier :(

My all-time favorite fighting game character is Chizuru from the King of Fighters franchise. I like how she creates illusions of herself and is a dance fighter; however, she is one of the hardest characters to control so I mostly just like her from a distance. They haven’t made her a playable character in over a decade. When they do bring ger back, hopefully they will make her moveset more accesible and practical.

Why couldn't you enjoy SFV on a lower difficulty?

Years ago I tried buying some dirt cheap SNK fighting games for kindle and it somehow didn't work. I just bought Garou minutes ago and although it works I can't stand the touchscreen pad and don't particularly want to learn. It's as awkward as I imagined when you can't actually feel the buttons but have to keep your eye on your fingers being in the right place.

Oh god, no, touch screen fightin' just ain't right, especially on ports

I know I'm not gonna have the time to get competitively "good" at it (as if I ever do) but I said to myself "screw it" and pre-ordered Dragonball FighterZ which comes out Friday. Tried the beta, feels great, looks amazing, and tons of fan service for DBZ fans.

is the latest SFV "arcade edition" good? all these editions I can't keep my head straight
I would love a marvel v capcom w/ xmen but I guess the dumb fox/sony thing is at play here? I will wait
kinda tempted by Injustice 2 even though I don't like the DC universe as much

SFV AE is what the game should've been at launch. Has the 12 extra characters from Seasons 1 and 2 (a third one just started), arcade mode, story mode. Feel safe in getting that.

MvC:I is fun but pretty barebones. Also kind of a failure commercially because of many reasons, seems to be dying. Hoping to pick up a complete edition with all the characters/skins if it ever comes out, but there's a chance this could play out like SFxT and never get it

I love the hell out of the Injustice games, but to each his own

Get DBZ, and took a look at UNIST which is about to finally get over here

Thanks!

I watched a lot of the EVO Japan SFV tournament. It was pretty entertaining, especially the pools. Abigail and Menat have added some needed diversity to the game.

any ILXORs playing SFV? I'd like some friends to battle!

i don't play that much now, but if you're on PS4 hit me up: n-hex

I'm RumTum in PS4 SFV. Playstation name is greendat but I don't often play other fighting games.

thanks guys, will give you a shout later...

https://i.imgur.com/O3quT0d.jpgI 100% approve of this

auction tournament for SF 30th Anniversary Collection

https://youtu.be/SxvGhTsB7iY?t=1h36m38s

SonicFox: still gay https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/02/12/im-gay-esports-player-years-swagger-inspires-draws-ire/

wow, SonicFox is only 20? damn these kids are young, feels like he's been around forever. good for him though

I think 2d fighting games could learn a thing or two from Smash. What I had in mind was stage design. A gradual slope here and there. A stage on top a train that makes moving one direction a little slower and the other a little faster. Maybe a wooden raft stage that tilts up and down. All of this effecting hitboxes etc. Non-tourney levels could be more far out. I imagine an alley scene with climbable props like a dumpster and those metal fire ecscape platforms which you can use new hanging attacks.

have you watched smash tournaments? they ban virtually everything. https://www.ssbwiki.com/Stage_legality

the one stage in SFV that has a bit of water on one side is banned, not because it changes the physics at all, but because it's harder to see low projectiles on that side.

Yeah, I've watched them. I've seen some tournaments allow Castle Siege and that slope is much steeper than anything I had in mind.
https://www.ssbwiki.com/File:SSBU-Castle_Siege.png.

Smash is very different though. Most stages have floating platforms and that doesn't really work with a Street Fighter 2 style fighter.

Other stage obstacles could be an ice floor with a little bit of a sliding effect and vice versa for a sand floor.

Here is the official lineup for #Evo2019 ! pic.twitter.com/wgZrwXTGF3

— EVO (@EVO) February 27, 2019

really good lineup, excited to see UNIST get a spotlight as it's a great game to watch. also happy that samsho is apparently coming out soon

didn't even realize a new SamSho was coming out. cool to see BBxtag and UNIST for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R0hbe8HZj0

everything you need to know to understand fighting games in 15 minutes

don't normally care for this guy's vids much but this one is really well done

Button mashing was a frequent complaint about Soul Calibur and Tekken characters like Eddy Gordo. Beginners often beat good experienced players (but not the best players).

Surprised to see no mention of Virtua Fighter, which is hopeless for beginners to win and has very little satisfaction for button mashing players (probably why it isn't as popular). Experience is always rewarded in Virtua Fighter.

VF is criminally neglected in the west, probably because its original home release was on the saturn

Possibly, but if there's something I've known people to criticize about Virtua Fighter, it's that it's never had particularly compelling character designs. The character movements were also somewhat robotic, maybe that's why it was such a precise game.

Even though I used to be quite a fighting game enthusiast, I never got the record straight on how deep the gameplay was in Dead Or Alive, which was quite button-mash friendly but some people said it could be taken to deeper levels, but I don't recall there being many expert players/tournament popularity.
Reviewers often contrasted Itagaki's Ninja Gaiden games with his supposedly much simpler Dead Or Alive games.

I certainly found Soul Calibur and Dead Or Alive less engaging because I felt I didn't need to put in as much attention to my inputs. But eventually Virtua Fighter got more demanding than I could deal with. It was annoying that the character Akira required such incredible precision.

played a bit of the granblue fantasy versus beta - it's alright, weird to play an arcsys game that's got a slower street fighter like pace to it

Seen trailer of new Samurai Shodown. Looks so much like a modern Capcom game, they certainly put more into the graphics than the recent King Of Fighters. The "ghost" practice gimmick is a good idea, don't know if fighting games have done that before?

the killer instinct reboot had it i think

SFV was supposed to have this sort of data-driven stuff, never came to pass

Badly presented video but there's some funny ones in here. Only one I hadn't heard of is the vehicle one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TWkmjgb6Vo
Surprised the Power Instinct series isn't in there.

It's not wacky but I think Dark Edge is one of the most unique looking fighting games.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/dark-edge/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24qpp_7mqNU

that DOES look crazy!

So George Clinton is coming to Tekken: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-05-tekken-7-gets-a-brand-new-character-called-leroy-smith

I was hoping that you were being literal

https://i.imgur.com/E7SyqBY.jpg

excited for new guilty gear, have wanted to learn it for a while but waiting for the next full version up

ehh. i don't really see a huge difference in the trailer from the current GG. but i'm sure it'll be good, Arc has been consistent

visually it's just a gen-up of the same artstyle yeah but they've talked about planning to streamline the mechanics and such

https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/08/13/multiple-sexual-misconduct-allegations-rock-the-fighting-game-community-following-evo-2019

i didn't even really watch evo this year other than UNIST because i was mad that they let Infiltration back in

I watched the EVO Japan SFV tournament (on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/evo2kvids/videos ). The new balance patch has made a lot of characters viable. A character I had written off ended up winning. It's made the game the most interesting it's been since Menat and Abigail came out.

A shame that the (real life) tournament players sometimes have a ton of arrogance and all this trash talking and screwing with each others heads is expected. Probably a lot of players who could thrive if it wasn't like this.

It's always there to some extent, but in my experience I've felt far more positivity and kinship in the FGC than in most gaming cultures. There will always be a few who take competition to the Kobe psychopath level though...

Been playing some Fantasy Strike lately, as it went Free-to-Play recently. Gives you all the characters, practice and online modes; you pay $20 if you want Arcade Mode and the ability to match with friends. It's pretty solid, I like that it's very distilled and simplified. (Maybe too simplified for an old head like me) Definitely fun to see their interpretations of existing FG characters, like Geiger/Guile, Rook/Zangief, Setsuki/Ibuki, etc.

It also does a lot of things right I wish all fighting games these days would incorporate: cross-platform play (PC/PS4/Switch), rollback netcode, and great tutorial videos explaining exactly how each character is basically supposed to work. Worth a peek for anyone who likes the genre, especially if you find modern games to be overwhelming with the inputs.

Ryan "gootecks" Gutierrez (fgc commentator; pogchamp icon) is now a hydroxychloroquine conspiracy theorist.

yeah, makes sense.... he was always a bit of a huckster

Buckley landed literal tekken shit last night pic.twitter.com/4fECvGQ2YS

— creepy slowed down version of an upbeat song (@high_light) October 11, 2020

haha nice

In this little twitter thread here, I'm going to show some appreciation to Virtua Fighter's amazing throw animations. Starting with Masato Tanaka's Diamond Dust. I especially love the way the opponent animates standing back up and staggers around a bit before falling down. pic.twitter.com/YXgxLHmp0g

— Manny Biggz (@Mannyfcknking) December 7, 2020

The dream SNK and CAPCOM collaboration title that can fit in your hands is coming to the Nintendo Switch!

SNK VS CAPCOM: MATCH OF THE MILLENIUM launched on the NEOGEO POCKET COLOR back in 1999, and now it will be available to download on the Nintendo eShop Feb, 17th PST! #SVC pic.twitter.com/QzIWTghzy6

— SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) February 5, 2021

The revival of these old NGPC games is not something I expected in recent times, but welcome all the same

I forgot about that trend of drawing massive hands.

I've heard that SNK hated Capcom because Capcom's CvS games were hits and SNK's SvC games bombed, and the agreement between the companies was that they only profited off their own games. SNK was bought by a Chinese mobile game company in 2015 so I don't know if that still applies.

free guilty gear strive beta now open for everyone on ps4/5

bundle of all steam ports of older gg titles including the oddball action/rts hybrid sequel available for less than $20 total:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18200/Guilty_Gear_Franchise/

Didn't realize the PS1 original had been ported to modern systems, cool

Downloaded the Strive beta on PS4, but it looks like the servers are still down

they've been down all day afaik but some people have managed to get the offline modes to work by using a secondary account and refusing to register with the servers

this worked for me to get training mode going btw pic.twitter.com/KkifAKsV9Y

— cams (@camsteh) February 19, 2021

didn't work for me though

i don't know how i did it exactly, but after online connections weren't working i just mashed buttons and eventually got to the menu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qg8nWyHAB0

Capcom finally made Ryu good in SFV. Probably too good to stay that way, but it'll be fun while it lasts. They also nerfed Guile to the ground. They must really want Daigo Umehara to go back to being a Ryu main.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL0pJDa-ljM

guilty gear xrd on sale on european psn store for less than €2

💥 Fighting fans!

Guilty Gear & Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 are both currently massively discounted on the PSN store (literally, we're talking £1 a game here!)

Guilty Gear (90% off) 👉 https://t.co/Ao9Q0dkRYq

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 (97% off) 👉 https://t.co/JhMdrylzRI pic.twitter.com/HDvRChqpqG

— PQube Games (@PQubeGames) March 17, 2021

Thank you - been vaguely wanting to try GG and that is the right price.

I am a middle aged man with sluggish reactions whose last fighting game love was SNES SFII in the mid-90s & I'd sort of resigned myself to playing Civ, Xcom, a bit of low-intensity Kojima and failing at the Souls series. So I am frankly surprised that I have developed a sudden intense passion for SFV - training, training, then going online, getting the shit kicked out of me repeatedly (& haha watching replays and thinking 'What can I learn from this loss?', like I am some warrior philosopher) but getting immensely high from any win I can scrape off an incompetent, naive leaper.

love to hear it!

sony own evo now?

https://www.sie.com/en/blog/welcoming-evo-into-the-playstation-family/

https://www.evo.gg/press-release

Real shame Death Cargo didn't live up to hype and gameplay is always deleted because it looked great in motion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl9diPC0zpQ
https://multiplayer.net-cdn.it/thumbs/images/2014/06/05/asb7mv7hyqbcgnpgrnsc_jpg_1400x0_q85.jpg

This beat-em-up is replacing it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c698MR8uE7E

What happened with Death Cargo? Kickstarter vaporware?

I think it's just really poorly managed business and an unplayably buggy game that very few people got to play. Maybe they switched to a beat-em-up because it seemed simpler?

Guilty Gear open beta again: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0036-CUSA24910_00-GGSTOBTUS0000100

VF5 for PS4 is out on tuesday, free for PS+ subscribers

saw EVO moment 37 for the first time, wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESR3cvErqCg

have to wonder if there any children who know who Powdered Toast Man is

from the developers of Slap City:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q430dWj9sG4

as if this is aimed at children

ah! impressed that they got a real gig off that. so this might be better than all the other crappy Smash clones.

yeah this is definitely aimed at people who were born in the 90s, the character choices are mostly from the same era as melee

New trailer, doesn't reveal much
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITxAvjG0Zfs

Voice actors haven't been contacted, and games can't reuse their voices without permission.

Some box art with silhouetted characters was leaked by Target. It reveals more characters:
Aang
Korra
Ren
Stimpy
CatDog

I wonder if Nick has the rights to Rocco’s Modern Life. I’m guessing no, seeing how people never mention wishlist characters from that show in comments sections.

CatDog and yellow jumpsuit April O'Neil trailers released. Definitely being aimed at 90s kids.

Funny that she got announced as a playable character in two games this week, which I suppose is probably intentional

basic gameplay guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXiOWSKPDG8

The Clutch button from Slap City is replaced by a Strafe button that keeps you faced the same way. I like how the attacks have a rock-paper-scissors system where each pair has a different effect on the loser.

I wonder what will end up being the dominant platform for this game, if it succeeds. Switch, out of Smash loyalty? The previous or current generation of Xbox or PS5? PC due to current FGC trends?

Also if we'll just get used to the lack of voice acting

The devs said the Switch version will only have rollback netcode during 1-on-1 battles, and some of the other versions will have it during the other modes. So the Switch version might not be the most popular.

The Power Rangers game, Battle for the Grid, got voice acting after its initial release so there's still a remote possibility for it in this game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1739300/Smack_Studio_Early_Access/

Smack Studio - This one is interesting. Came out yesterday, main sell is that it's a Smash clone that can somehow auto-generate 3D fighters out of 2D sprite art.

so it's MUGEN for Smash Bros. then

https://www.humblebundle.com/games/fighting-juggernauts-bundle
SoulCal 7, Injustice 2, Power Rangers, KI, MK XL, Slap City, One Finger Death Punch 2

own almost all of those on other platforms, will buy anyway

There's rumors of a Warner Bros. smashlike. Cartoon characters and DC and other properties.

finally i can pit marvin martian against darkseid

https://newlegacy.fr

very extensive Super SF2 Turbo fan patch that goes beyond what HD Remix tried. The character change notes come with hitbox images and specific match-up differences. It can be played online with Fightcade which I should probably stop putting off and install already.

Mandatory presentation on corporate synergy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFUQl2i24qQ

You must clap now.

Think of the DLC opportunities

Sauron
Top Cat
Blade
Johnny Bravo
Jason X
Yogi Bear
Alex DeLarge
Rosie the Robot
Ramsay Bolton
Wyldstyle
Snowflame
Cowardly Lion
Tony Soprano
Michigan J. Frog
Sister Jeanne
Dumbledore
etc.

Wow they really put in Super Saiyan Shaggy
I do like that they're focusing on 2v2. Only character that seemed out of place was the Game of Thrones character

Finally cracked open Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, having also picked up the final Kombat Pass later on. The online Tower structure for single player is still a mixture of cool and unnecessarily grindy, but I got sucked back into the skin game. The super violent Saturday Morning cartoon-level story was fun, and I LOVE the sheer ridiculousness of having Robocop, Terminator and now JOHN RAMBO as playable characters. (Faster load times on enhanced PS5 version also a nice bonus.)

There was a DLC pack to reskin AND re-voice Johnny Cage, Sonya and Raiden with the '95 movie actors (like they did with Shang Tsung), and yes that includes Lambert. To my shock, the actors actually recorded ALL the match dialogue, intros and various taunts and such. That's a lot! Easily worth the sale price of $3 for that level of amusement.

Really wish the Street Fighter franchise had this level of money, polish, love and actual attention to the single player side. The SF6 teaser didn't do much for me, and makes me think we're far off from an actual game - maybe spring '23? And hopefully less rushed than SFV's launch was.

My hope is that Capcom's bad single player modes were because of Ono, and without him, SF6 will be an improvement.

I can't totally blame Ono - clearly Capcom was unwilling to put serious money and effort behind their SF franchise as well as MvC4. I mean, look at the stuff they're putting out with Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, etc - it's just sad how little they care about the fighting division.

has more to do with jp fighting games historically being thought of as arcade games first with the console versions being ports, i suspect. pretty much every anime fighter has half-assed single player content too, same with SNK games, it's not just capcom

I guess it depends if you count stuff like the Naruto games as anime fighters, but that's fair... Guilty Gear doesn't even try anymore with a real story mode, but at least their tutorials/trials/MoM-mode stuff is meaty. DBFZ did try to do a proper story mode, but was pretty much garbage and only slightly better than Capcom's efforts. I agree that stuff like Under Night/KOF/Tekken (maybe) are at or below SF-level. Smash Ultimate did very well, imo.

None of this stuff comes close to NRS games in any case. And it's not like they're the only ones who did this sort of thing ever - I remember the home ports of Soul Calibur 2 having a pretty solid single player RPG mode as well, though from what I saw later games didn't go as well.

Daigo broke out some new anti-Urien tech during the most recent big SFV tournament. Pretty hype!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ7UH8nbB3I

great video

Always wondered how Martial Masters looked so much like Capcom at their peak of 90s 2d animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a495wV4Afk

lol @ the English guy with Sabretooth's super from XvSF
i like the occasionally fluid animation but the designs are kinda weak

Nick Brawl got voice acting, mostly by the original actors! I've heard the game isn't very good!

oh and the entire SF6 roster leaked

Cautiously optimistic about SF6 and its leaks. I thought V looked pretty good at the time too (Ken's face not withstanding)

Got Nick Brawl from a Humble Bundle and it's free on PS+ this month so will be happy to try it out at somepoint

I haven't played fighting games since probably SF2 Championship Edition and MK3 so I'm way out of the loop, but the hype around SF6 and some Guilty Gear news have kind of piqued my interest? Is the point of fighting games though mostly online PVP though (which is kind of a non-starter for me)?

Unfortunately yes, most games are all about PvP. Although SF6 has a single player World Tour mode that has yet to be described. MKX and MK11 are the gold standard for single player content in fighting games, I've heard.

There's the traditional arcade mode too, but yeah in general something like SFV is all about getting you online (which I was very against but actually enjoyed).

i know fuck all about SFV but the evo top 8 was nuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrAI7a6Shmg

> Is the point of fighting games though mostly online PVP though

yes for the pvp
no for the online which is a necessary compromise from the ideal of in-person pvp

but regardless, a beginner will spend most of their early hours labbing or playing against the CPU, in between getting destroyed everytime they play another human

Yeah, my bugbear is still that fighting games lack compelling single player content (except NRS games like Mortal Kombat and Injustice, and even those have a lot of online-only hooks to get to it). But there has been progress at least in the past 10 years of getting better tutorials to prepare you for fighting human beings.

Someone let me know if there's a quick good roundup of all the various Finals sets from this Evo?

It was a long time ago but I very much liked the tour modes in Streetfighter Alpha 3 and Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, and the practice mode in Streetfighter Ex 2 was fun

Nice timing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCUlBX8E2BU

Good video, pretty solid advice.

One REALLY good tip he mentions that I wish I'd done years ago: just turn off the ability for people to message you. 99% of the time it's just awful toxicity; limiting to animated teabagging definitely was good for my mental health

Another good point was that it's hard to undervalue how much better it is to be playing against friends in person vs. online, it's a whole different life but sadly not a realistic option for most, esp. since Covid. I still stay in some contact with my old crew on Discord but haven't seen or played with any of them in years. (Also, everybody gets old eventually)

Granblue Fantasy Versus free on PS+ this month. I was interested in the single player, which is kinda cool, but the loading times - especially when you're fighting many successive 30 second battles - are atrocious
Also it's basically a console gacha game, so eh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2SQgjYmVYY

Pakistani FGC players use a different grip because the homemade arcade cabinets hurt their hands.

Love it! Great story and reporting.

Currently unreasonably hyped for Street Fighter 6, despite rarely even venturing out of trial mode in SFV. I'm having a custom hitbox/button-only controller made and everything, and have been adjusting to using WAS Spacebar controls for movement in the meantime. I will never be cured of my tendency to accidentally jump on a fight stick so drastic measures were necessary

When it arrives I'll probably be like what the fuck is this thing

oh nice. I got a 2nd-hand qanba drone off ebay & switched out the buttons etc, and it made me think yes, yes, yes, I love fight sticks, this is how games feel to my inner 10-year-old. So I bought an enclosure from Blunderbuss Designs a couple of years ago, but only finally bought a brooks board & wired it up a few months ago (spread the cost, felt less like an absurd indulgence). It is such a delight, even without some giant fucking decal of a waifu slapped across it - just a joy.

I do not think I could change my habits to a hitbox (I have spent too long pulling together a barely functional F/D/DF+p), but they do look intriguing.

Also very up for VI. Just from beta noise & footage, it feels like it will hit

Yeah no kidding re the waifu shit, not sure why I was surprised but browsing Instagram for fightstick inspiration the custom art is all just wall to wall creepy drawings of apparently preteen girls

One of the people who ordered from the guy I'm using just had a blurry photo of their cat sniffing the camera though which kind of rules imo

how about this one

https://i.imgur.com/hVn8Scw.png

Haha I like it! It would certainly serve as a conversation starter rather than a prompt to flee the building as quickly as possible like so many of the others

if it's actually Michael McDonald's stick there's a world of conversational options open

After Ed Boon coyly teasing about Netherrealm's next game constantly for the couple years, the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery unceremoniously announces MK12 in an earnings conference call, lol

Haha. I like it when tedious dripfed hype campaigns for new games get subverted. Leak everything then stfu imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2347gyZp0U

Zangief looks fun! Moveset-wise he appears to have done a bit of catching up on all of the actual pro-wrestling that happened since Street Fighter II

Also, I love playing Street Fighter on a hitbox, no complaints whatsoever

NGL I kind of thought this revive would be about Cammy getting pants.

Capcom Cup was entertaining despite all the Lukes. Zhen is a great player.

SF6 Zangief has great animation. Lily looks interesting. Cammy looks extremely boring despite her crazy stage.

I would pay money for a DLC where Luke dies in an industrial accident and is removed from the game

I'll try to get back into SFV before 6 comes out (haven't played in years), curious why Luke is so broken

I've heard that Luke was the weakest character in the SF6 beta, which is promising.

SF6 is the first game I have ever pre-ordered.

Regarding Luke in SFV: Luke's MP fireball was the best "poke fireball" and his EX fireball was the fastest fireball. They made all of his uppercuts air-invincible, a mechanic from SF6 that wasn't in the rest of SFV. He was clearly better than any of the other shoto in the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9GDWhFKWbM

Been enjoying the demo & all the footage & yeah I am probably going to preorder but there's just something painful about shelling out for the deluxe edition bcz that will be the most I've ever paid for a game. I don't think I'm capable of waiting for the season 1 pass to get cheap.

f it maybe I just don't want to play Rashid etc

The S1 pass will probably be discounted long before it actually delivers all four characters...
But yeah, I'm with you, I don't want to spend that much upfront. I haven't played the demo yet but I'm worried about a lackluster launch and $60 is enough

i'm always happy to just main a character from the base roster and not have to worry about dlc. i havent actually looked at who's in the base roster for this one tho

Classic 8 + Luke, Juri, Dee Jay and Cammy + 6 new characters - Jamie, Kimberly, Manon, Marisa, JP, and Lily. So, plenty to start.
I always look to play the new characters first. The OG World Warriors are always there if the new ones are trash. Ended up maining Laura last game pretty quickly...
Three of the four Year 1 characters are old ones anyway - Akuma, Rashid, Ed.

ah yeah thats a good starting roster i dont need dlc. i can play cammy or ken if theyre not too different

I was having great fun maining Kage in V, so I guess Akuma's the closest I'll get to that for a while, though all of the new characters look worth a try. I'll probably just buy the sucker magic beans edition tbh

I really like how this game has balanced having 3 supers per character at different meter levels, and they're all situational and distinct, as opposed to there just always being a big imperative to work towards popping off your single cutscene-length ultra move that takes off half the opponent's health

seeing it all written out, i think I'm good without - pre-ordered standard edition.

Maybe I'll buy the other three individually to spite that prick Ed.

I went for the Deluxe version, $96 Canadian, which I think is the most I have spent on a single game. Not accounting for inflation. I rarely ever buy games at their launch price.

Lily is the character I want to put serious effort into. I want to condor dive against fireballs like the AI would do to me in old games. Throw characters seem like they'll be good because it's an easy counter to drive impact. I'll be trying Akuma when he gets released -- my guy in SFA3 and what little I played of SF5. I'm curious to see if he still has a "vortex" with the drive system. It's interesting how the Drive system has made them rejigger the older characters. Dhalsim's long limb moves seem vulnerable to parry and drive impact -- instead of improving them, they made his fireballs better. Honda's hundred hands are worse than in previous games because their use is now as a counter to drive impact, having enough hits to break through its armor.

Will those Drive Tickets or whatever be able to purchase characters like Fight Money in SFV? Or it is just cosmetics for World Tour

Seems like it's just cosmetics. Capcom's page says "Drive Tickets can be used at the Hub Goods Shop." Links to a page that says "Tons of items are available at the Hub Goods Shop. Use them to customize your avatar to your liking."

so, worthless then

can't believe you don't want outfit 12 colours 15-20

VF beat-tribe cup top 8 happening right now

https://twitch.tv/majinobama

Mortal Kombat 1 (aka 12) officially announced for September 14. Follows the in-story reboot following MK 11 Aftermath with Fire God Liu Kang remaking the universe. First Kombat Pack will actually include a Jean Claude Van Damme skin for Johnny Cage, which is funny since they tried to get him for the original MK and it finally happened.
It's an exciting year!

MK1 kombat pack characters leaked: Quan Chi, Ermac, Takeda, Peacemaker, Homelander, Omni Man

Anyone messing with the Street Fighter 6 open beta this weekend? Pretty fun! Battle Hub concept that’s like an open arcade where your avatar can walk around and sit down at a machine and challenge or spectate whomever is neat. Game gets you into fights lightning quick, barely had time to take a sip of a drink between matches.

Aesthetically it’s kinda ugly though imo. Not too crazy about the art style and the whole create-your-own-avatar gooniness makes me feel like I’m walking around a Second Life space. And I’m vaguely annoyed by how they shove this Modern control scheme on you, took me a minute to navigate the kinda crappy UI to get it to default to Classic.

All set dressing though I guess, the fighting itself feels pretty good so far. I’ve already put in a few hours.

SFV was the ugliest street fighter's been imo, this one looks a little bit better. not bothering with the beta but i'll play the game when it's out

I kind of want to spend like 30 hours labbing before I jump online, which you can't really do in the beta

I am NOT losing my first ranked match 😤

SFV is very garish, I feel like maybe the naturalistic aesthetic of 6 is a bit of an overcorrection the other way, but this is the most interested I've been to try a crop of brand new characters since pretty much Third Strike

I honestly preferred the look of 5 to this, though it’s been years since I’ve looked at it. Kinda in a Zoomer/Fortnite zone here, but hey, can’t blame them for courting the next gen.

The new characters seem very capable, people are kicking ass with them already. I’m just mucking around with the familiars because there’s not a proper training mode in the beta.

yeah no training mode is why i shant play the beta, i have a need to test every character's moveset thoroughly and identify my main before i go online, in any fighter

in the beta, battle hub has practice mode. go up to an empty arcade machine and select solo training.

oh, I see that other people can challenge you. so use an empty server.

I am NOT losing my first ranked match 😤

I am ABSOLUTELY losing my first ranked match. Planning an almost-but-not-quite perfect loss in the first round then almost take the second until I choke and start mashing sweep.

On PS4 so no beta but been playing the demo & I like the feel of it. The look I'm indifferent to - need to play more than Ryu and Luke.

And I’m vaguely annoyed by how they shove this Modern control scheme on you, took me a minute to navigate the kinda crappy UI to get it to default to Classic.

Accidentally defaulting into modern controls was a mindfuck.

Yes, especially right after they ask you if you want classic or modern.

Here's a spreadsheet someone made of the moves available in modern. Some characters look viable. Kimberly and Juri are missing a few normals but have everything else. On the other hand Guile loses his overhead and his upside down kick.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QQnYBUua2MnA6CYYXcOwVyQoTrzOw_3bN8DEfiqkJJo/

what does "modern additional" mean?

I think it's that characters don't have every one of their special moves mapped to a simple command in modern, and for those ones you have the option of doing a classic style motion to access it.

Not sure what the benefit is of having an alternate motion for the moves that already have a mapped button for modern though. Maybe helps you keep your inputs consistent if you're trying to slowly learn classic but with training wheels idk

Didn’t think to mention it because it was so out-of-sight, out-of-mind, but the net-code they got worked out seems pretty impressive too. Had almost negligible amounts of wonkiness in dozens of matches while playing on Wi-Fi.

Seriously considering getting a Hitbox knockoff. Fightbox a.k.a. RAC-J800B sounds decent. It's not tournament-legal but I'm not good enough for tournaments. The only previous sticks I had were a $40 PS3 piece of shit and a SF4 Madcatz one that had reliability issues.

I've had one from the UK guy Furin Arcade since Feb and I wouldn't go back to another controller. Idk if it makes me gigantically better beyond me not randomly jumping by accident, but it's more fun and satisfying to me to play that way and it's easy on the wrists and hands.

I also had that jumping problem when using stick. Although I'm fine with d-pad.

Dipping in and out of work to muck about on SF6 - Ryu arcade run-through, quick go on the cammy, honda and manon guides, yelling at world tour to hurry up and let me use classic. Everything feels fun! Hopefully will get a few hours tonight.

Day 1 Blanka looks fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-sbw-YaMYg

I haven't had a chance to play it yet.

Finding it quite hard to adjust so far, the moves come out fairly easily but the timing for the dash cancel type stuff seems really demanding for a rapidly decaying guy like me

Early tutorial/combo challenge forays have JP as the surprise frontrunner for me

If I make every effort to switch to classic in every mode I play in hey maybe don’t default to modern in the first casual match I play. Happy to lose but not like this.

I feel like I've missed a 'never ever use modern controls unless I ask to use them' setting. I'm not against modern! Just let me be a happy six-button old man consistently.

Anyway, all fixed now. Went Cammy for a couple of casual matches - won one, lost one and it all felt great.

^ Genuinely annoyed by how you have to manually switch to Classic in multiple different menus. And it still manages to foist it on you depending on what mode you’re checking out.

Put a goddamn REMOVE THIS ABOMINATION FOREVER master switch in there already.

I know right! They finally changed the annoying combo trial thing from SF5 so it defaults to displaying the actual fucking inputs it wants you to do if that's what you pick, but now this shit!!

Completed Ryu's combo trials. This is a sign that I should main him, just until I understand the game a little better, that's all

The dash cancel stuff I think involves a lot of dialing stuff in while other animations are still happening so it's maybe more of a test of concentration than pure finger speed. Ken's regular move dash that he combos into other specials (ie his old v-skill) is still giving me trouble though, very inconsistent on those trials still

World tour mode is kind of dumb fun but the performance is randomly ass at various points on PC

I'm leaning to Manon but I might also fall back to Ryu while I train with her. I'd like to break my shoto habit but I do feel the want of a fireball.

world tour is 100% 'why can't i stop playing this dumb game?'.

btw thank you sarge for the info about getting the actual inputs in trials. Spent too much time in V squinting at the Sakura trials going 'into what now?'

also liking training mode - quick access to eg anti-air practice, plus things like the red/blue cancel hints are really helpful if your timing has always sucked

Played Lily and Zangief a bit. I did not know that SPD could be done with the old tiger knee motion (back rolled to up-forward) since SF4. Apparently you just need to hit all four cardinal directions (with diagonals allowed), so some hitbox users do back, forward, down, up.

Ken Advanced trial 4...good lord

Avatar battles are surprisingly entertaining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bTofdgJm3M

BLIND WARRIOR SVEN! @SvenvandeWege #Evo2023 pic.twitter.com/U1Wdc55yrr

— HiFight(ハイファイト) (@HiFightTH) August 4, 2023

I've been watching the SF6 stream and I didn't catch that one. Street Fighter 2 was an early game to use accurate sound placement -- Super Turbo used QSound for instance. SF6 has accessibility sound options and I hope Sven was allowed to use them in the tournament.

In a recent big SF6 tournament, the Zangief player Snake Eyez won 3-0 in the grand finals against a JP player. Zangief is considered one of the worst 2 characters in the game and JP is his worst matchup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdOYHnnHiG0

Snake Eyez is the same player who won the Evo 2010 HD Remix tournament with Zangief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vc40bFgQ2w

I don’t know how to describe it but this single video describes more what it’s like to play fighting games than anything else I’ve seen pic.twitter.com/kTpHe2HCvf

— WoH Hypo (@WoHJosh) April 26, 2024

yup, it's perfect

I am the red guy

Uhh *this* time the jump-in will work

EVO japan is happening this weekend.

look at these 3rd strike results
1. GS|Sho (Yun)
2. Boss (Yun)
3. GP21ST|Muteki Gorilla (Chun-Li)
4. Ucc (Yun)
5. Maikeru (Chun-Li)
5. Yakkun (Yun)
7. Derun (Yun)
7. Ko-dai (Yang)

Ken's out of favor, huh?

中国のK.O.F.ガチ勢 pic.twitter.com/dU4mY3MuwT

— 鎮男@中国広東省DG🐉 (@UnkochinchinZ) June 5, 2024

So Undead Horseman Bison's already coming to SF6 at the end of this month, and then it's Terry and Mai from Fatal Fury and Elena from SF3 after that

Also, I've never got heavily into many SNK games, but Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves looks like it might end up being really good

the new samurai shodown from a few years back was fun but had really crappy online implementation, hope they've figured that stuff out now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzy_E-jhR18
This is so good for online disagreements

Too bad snk is owned by bin Salman the murder prince

I'm genuinely a bit wowed that a Marvel vs Capcom retro collection is coming out. I'd thought that was some kind of licensing limbo situation, maybe it was for a while? Anyway I played the SF/Darkstalkers collections to death last year, this will be a first day buy for me

Not so much limbo, but I'm guessing Marvel was the one holding it up. The only real activity since Infinite came out were those Arcade 1-Up cabinets, and the last time MvC 2 was officially available on console was 2013. Might spring for physical copy on this one. (Marvel/Activision, where are my X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance remasters?)

But yeah - it's been so long it feels like a miracle of sorts, especially since Maximillian's been stumping for it for four years

I was going to say Marvel Ultimate Alliance already got shitty overpriced Steam remasters a few years back, but a) it was 2016! and b) they've been delisted again 💀

I loved x-men legends

I'm actually looking forward to playing the earlier games, as I played MvC2 to death and barely touched any of the others. MvC1 looks a bit better aesthetically to me - it's a similar situation to Alpha 2 and 3, while the latter has a crazy number of characters and stuff going on, the former feels more complete and satisfying as a game somehow.

This is giving me faint hope the the original Capcom Alien vs Predator and the Jojo fighting game may see the light of day again.

Seen something about Mike Tyson being proud of the Balrog/M. Bison thing. But this is interesting too
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/1007993/street-fighters-fall-from-grace

contains a picture of him holding up Sagat art

I had read quite a bit on the history of the characters development but a lot of this is new to me. Didn't know Sodom was a western guy who spoke terrible japanese and got all the cultural stuff wrong, he was a favorite of mine.
https://www.thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/blog/origins-street-fighter-ii-character-names

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez6wDOcywrc
Good stuff

Wonder why Capcom never re-used these characters? I've always liked them. Maybe Tetsuo Hara owns the designs?

https://fightersgeneration.com/characters6/the-great-oni.html
https://fightersgeneration.com/characters6/black-widow-slam.html

I saw that SF6 is on sale and so I just bought an ethernet adapter for my MacBook and installed Boot Camp on it, I think this is finally happening for me!

didn't see that one coming tbh

Something exciting in the making! #SNK #FatalFury #CR7 pic.twitter.com/u9gDbx9M1y

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) September 21, 2024

I...what?

I guess it's a Being Owned by Saudi Arabia thing

Boy howdy, fighting games have a lot more mechanics than they had in the SF2 days.

Oof. Fuckin bummer.

I’ve been playing the OG ‘Garou: Mark of the Wolves’ entirely coincidentally these past few weeks. First time. One of the best fighters I’ve played tbh. Beautiful game.

Leee I agree that in SF6 the system is complicated. It's one of the most free-form systems as the drive meter can be used in so many ways. There are lots of good youtube tutorials, and also the website supercombo.gg is useful.

I am a terrible, terrible player but I'd say don't sweat the meter mechanics too much immediately - they're important as you get on but getting execution and fundamentals down is the thing and imo is more fun.

Agree on youtube - a lot of the useful starter things are called something like '[character name] rookie to diamond tutorial' & are well guided.

i've been watching an 8-hour cammy rookie to diamond video and it's excellent. won a few matches today employing some of these ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4B_gIoT84

I really liked his Sakura tutorials for SFV - they were excellent at getting you to do just a few things that work, then building on that. When I actually get some time to re-commit to 6 it's Cammy for me & I will be following (tho Akaraien's rookie to diamond for her also looks pretty good)

I wanted to learn Manon but I didn't see a rookie -> Diamond video for her; I checked out a Juri one instead, and after it talked about pokes, I was completely lost with the bar at the bottom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMz_9giZ654

Yeah ceelows is good, I got decent with Kage in SF5 from his guide, something satisfying about sticking to a very basic toolset and slowly adding to it instead of improvising everything you know sweatily

xp
ah yeah maybe it wasn't a great steer - I was thinking of Ceelows and Akaraien in particular. That looks like it dives into 'plus on block' explanations too early.

I've thought about Manon myself & this looks like a brutally basic guide. Maybe I'll try it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx2mkOC_Rc8

Capcom v. DECO lawsuit exhibit video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGnutyhfIL0

This video comes from a VHS tape original given to DieHard GameFan Magazine by Data East as media outreach regarding the 1994 lawsuit Capcom U.S.A. Inc. v. Data East Corp. In this first tape of evidence, a representative from Data East compares seven characters from Fighter's History to ones that Capcom says Data East infringed upon from Street Fighter II.

ceelows deleted his youtube channel. Akaraien it is.

Fuck. Retiring from SF6

Not making any money from youtube apparently? He did come across a bit bitcoin/hustle bro when I used to look in on his twitch.

tbh his SF6 vids were a bit of a step down from the SF5 ones - unedited, bit rambly and less clear on the 'when this happens, do this' front.

Ah yeah I guess when the material's less concisely edited he might have evidenced more chud tendencies, the SF5 stuff was pleasingly all business, even if the videos were 8 hours long

I guess the SF5 new character toolset of "safe poke, reliable anti-air, safe blockstring, punish combo you can consistently do / don't fucking jump all the time" is fairly easy to translate to other characters or games

Yet to even test out Terry B or do much with Bison

virtua fighter on steam with rollback, open beta available now lasting 5 days
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3112260/

Join The VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 R.E.V.O. Open β from... now!

The Openβ is already started and will be available to players on Steam for 5 days.
Check out its store page on Steam!https://t.co/b5aAvXQDqC#VF5REVO#LegacyVF pic.twitter.com/yuPxErEQ5n

— VIRTUA FIGHTER (@VF_SEGA) December 13, 2024

In my very limited experience VF seems like the most elegant of fighting games, a profound game, & it saddens me that I will never have the tiniest bit of competence at it.

VF6 was announced at the game awards

limited hype for vf6 from me because i'm expecting sega to royally fuck it up. at least the changes in revo seem conservative enough to not ruin everything and rollback (if good, tbc yet) is huge

thanks for the beta notice. i haven't touched a VF in so long, i gotta try this