No character hints at Red Bull Conquest this year... unless Ono is teasing with these peculiar photos of confetti
The North American Regional Finals at the Red Bull Conquest event has now officially wrapped up. If last year was anything to go by, there was an expectation of a tease of some sort for the next season.
At the conclusion of the Red Bull Battle Grounds event, Japanese cherry blossoms, or "sakura," confetti rained down into the arena. Looking back, this was an obvious hint that Sakura was to be Season 3's first DLC character.
This year, we got... yellow, blue, white, and red confetti. It might be too much of a stretch to say that this is hinting at something, but something is definitely very odd about the inclusion of the red confetti.
Notably, the yellow, blue, and white confetti can be attributed to the Capcom Pro Tour logo colors. The red, on the other hand, is clearly more scarcer than the others. Given, it's possible they were just simply thrown in there.
Oddly, Yoshinori Ono took a few pictures of the event celebration. His Blanka toy was of course present too.
One of the photos was just of the confetti sitting on the ground. At first glance, there doesn't appear to be anything special about the confetti — but we're talking about Ono here...
Could the confetti somehow be pointing towards an obscure hint or is there actually nothing here worth talking about? Ono has a history of teasing legit things, or completely throwing people off base with innocuous photos. Which category this falls into is anyone's guess.
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Ono photo source: 1up. Sent in by: Pardin and Fawaz.
Red Bull Conquest 2018 results
Update: This story has been updated with final results.
There's a juggernaut of an event taking place this weekend, and it's in the form of Red Bull Conquest, happening in Washington, D.C.
This is a event featuring a whopping three tournaments for Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition. First, the Red Bull Conquest regional tournament that people have been qualifying for throughout the year, then the Open Premier tournament that accompanies any Regional Final, and finally, the Regional Final for the North American Region in the Capcom Pro Tour.
This is also the last Capcom Pro Tour event before Capcom Cup, so after this event is over, we'll know 31 of the players that will be competing in December's finals, with only one spot left from the Last Chance Qualifier being played the day before the big show.
The Red Bull Conquest portion of this event also features Tekken 7 — showcasing players such as Jimmy J Tran, EQNX|JoeyFury, Shadow20z, UYU|Princess Ling, SperoGin, Trungy, TCOL|VictimOfRitual and NG-Obscure — and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, which will be represented at top level by LostSoul, UYU|KizzieKay, BjornSonOfBear, MarlinPie, Hotashi, FF|ElvenShadow, KidViper and Mr. K, among others.
As for Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, a few players you can expect to see in the Open Premier tournament, and probably more than just that for the American representatives, are FOX|Tokido, Ghost|NuckleDu, FOX|Justin Wong, Liquid|Nemo, Rise|MenaRD, NVD|Phenom, REC|Punk, Rise|Smug, CYG|GamerBee, Idom, DNG|Itabashi Zangief, CJ Truth, ESE|CoolKid93, AB|StormKubo, SB|JB, Liquid|John Takeuchi, EG|NYChrisG, EG|Ricki Ortiz, RB|Snake Eyez, UYU|Brian_F, Tempo|Alex Myers, ESE|K-Brad and Terrence — and there will be plenty more where that came from.
Streaming is being done at Capcom Fighters and Red Bull eSports.
Here are the players that have officially qualified for Capcom Cup 2018
Update: With CJ Truth eliminating Idom at the NA Regional Qualifiers, CYG|Chris Tatarian is confirmed to be the final Capcom Cup 2018 entrant outside of the Last Chance Qualifier player.
Earlier: Now that the Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition Open Premier event for the Red Bull Conquest has wrapped up, points are no longer obtainable for Capcom Cup 2018. This means that we now know 31 of the 32 players that will be competing at Capcom Cup 2018 in December.
CJ Truth's victory over FOX|Tokido has netted him an additional 700 points. This has given him enough points to qualify as the 19th seed for the big event. Any placement less than this would've prevented his entry.
Despite the second place finish, Tokido is the number one seed for Capcom Cup 2018. He has a total of 4,431 points. His second place finish awarded him an additional 270 points.
Notably, FD|Fujimura and Mouz|Problem X are the second and third seeds respectively. Tokido's 4,431 points is very impressive when you consider their 2,971 and 2,771 points.
Rise|MenaRD is automatically qualified as he is the Capcom Cup 2017 Champion. NASR|AngryBird, CrossoverRD, RB|Gachikun are also guaranteed a spot thanks to their performance at the European, Latin American, and Asian Regional Qualifiers respectively.
Now that it's only possible for either CJ Truth or REC|Punk to win the North American Regional Qualifiers, this means that Chris T. is confirmed a spot in the Capcom Cup 2018 competition. He is seeded at 29th.
The Colosseum - Fall 2018 results
Update: This story has been updated with final results.
The Colosseum - Fall 2018 is taking place today in Rome, Italy.
This is a Dragon Ball FighterZ Radar event, so European hopefuls are trying to get their chance at grabbing a Dragon Ball at one of the remaining Saga events, with many of the strongest players in the region showing up.
There will also be Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition and Tekken 7 at the event.
A few of the players set to compete are NidhoGG|Eifi, VSF|Rudi, Oplon|Skyll, LOK|Nivek and Yuzu|Murko, though there are many more where they came from as well.
This is a one-day event, so once you tune in, just stick around until it wraps up. The action begins at 10 a.m. local time, which translates to 1 a.m. Pacific, 4 a.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. JST.
Streaming is being done at Everyeye IT
First images of Piccolo, Perfect Cell, Kenshin and Shishio revealed along with avatar creation details for Jump Force
Jump Force was one of the more interesting announcements to come out of Microsoft's Xbox E3 press conference earlier this year for combining the most popular Shonen Jump characters ever and the real world which has some fans very excited while others scratch their heads.
Dragon Ball's Piccolo and Perfect Cell along with Ruroni Kenshin's Himura Kenshin and Shishio Makoto were previously announced as playable fighters in Jump Force, but now we finally have our first chance to see what they'll look like in the arena fighter.
Multiple scans from this week's V-Jump magazine in Japan are now online thanks to YonkouProductions which shows off high detail images of the Ruroni Kenshin fighters plus Death Note's Light Yagami and Ryuk along with a Paris, France-themed stage.
Jump Force's custom character / avatar creation tools are also shown off here detailing that players will be able to make their own custom avatar using original pieces and costume sets from the Shonen Jump warriors along with choosing their fighting style, gender, voice and more.
Piccolo and Perfect Cell were shown off a bit less ceremoniously, as they were included in a look at the game's current playable roster aside from the Kenshin characters with fighters from Dragon Ball, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fist of the North Star, Yu-Gi-Oh, Saint Saiya and City Hunter present.
Jump Force is set to release on February 15, 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. You can take a look at the new character screens in the gallery below.
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Smash Summit 7 early resuts, stream ft Hungrybox, Leffen, Plup, Mango, Mew2King, Wizzrobe, Zain, Axe, Swedish Delight, SFAT, aMSa, Bananas and more
Update: This story has been updated with day 3 results.
This week, Smash Summit 7 is taking place after a rigorous period of voting. It's happening in Los Angeles, California.
11 players were invited beforehand or qualified through event placings, those placers being Liquid|Hungrybox, TSM|Leffen, PG|Plup, C9|Mango, FOX|Mew2King, ExG|Wizzrobe, PG|Zain, Tempo|Axe, CLG|SFAT, VGBC|aMSa and PS|Bananas.
The five players who ended up making it through via voting are OG|Swedish Delight, Balance|KJH, Rishi, Slox and DaShizWiz.
As usual, this is a long event taking place across four days where players will share a house together and tons of fun stuff will be happening outside of just the regular tournament.
Outside of the regular tournament play, there will be Doubles, Crews, 5 Character Iron Man, and even events outside of the game itself such as a Talent Show and Mafia.
Streaming is being done at BTS Smash.
Toi's M. Bison parries an unblockable, tense Abigail mirrors and more: Street Fighter 5 North American Regional Final Open Premier day one highlights
Day one of Capcom Pro Tour's North American Regional Final event went down yesterday, but most of us missed the Street Fighter 5 action due to the organizers' decision to stream the pools after Red Bull Conquest had concluded.
Eight players remain in the final tournament to earn ranking points, and five of them have not yet clinched spots for Capcom Cup in December which could shake up the standings depending on who wins and comes in second.
FOX|Tokido, Liquid|John Takeuchi, CJ Truth, Toi, NVD|Phenom, AB|StormKubo, Ghost|NuckleDu and XSK Samurai will all be facing off shortly to finish off the open Premier, but let's go back to how they got here and other highlights from the first day of play.
Toi's M. Bison play was on point yesterday where he defeated players like NuckleDu, DNG|Itabashi Zangief and EG|Ricki Ortiz in impressive fashion. He even managed to punish Abigail's unblockable V-Trigger punch with Bison's absorption parry.
Players like iDom and Rise|MenaRD didn't quite reach the finals of the tournament, but they still had impressive moments / beat their head against the wall that is Abigail until he broke.
Let's start these highlights off with Toi's final round victory over Itabashi Zangief where he used Bison's V-Trigger enhanced EX Head Press to avoid Abigail's unblockable punch and did a lap around the setup as he popped off in grand fashion.
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DreamHack Atlanta 2018 early results, streams ft. SonicFox, Dragon, Tweek, SKD, Dabuz, VoiD, ChuDat, Speedkicks, Linkorz, S2J, Esam, Colbol and more
Update: This story has been updated with day 2 results.
DreamHack Atlanta 2018 is happening this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.
While Dragon Ball FighterZ unfortunately had to be cancelled at the event, there are still many more games being played at it.
It's a three-day event, so there's going to be plenty of action to tune in to, so make sure you don't miss any of it.
Games being played include Super Smash Bros. 4, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Soul Calibur 6, Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, Tekken 7, Brawlhalla and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.
Some of the notable players partaking are FOX|SonicFox, Dragon, Tweek, PG|SKD, GRV|Dabuz, CLG|VoiD, Liquid|ChuDat, PG|Speedkicks, Linkorz, Tempo|S2J, PG|Esam, SS|Colbol, ESE|Fatality, Samsora, and of course many more besides them.
Streaming is being done at DreamHack Smash, DreamHack Fighters and Brawlhalla.
Here are Mech F.A.N.G's colors in Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
If you've been keeping up with Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition's Extra Battles for the past four weeks, then you should now be able to access Mech F.A.N.G. Mechanical beings don't usually utilize poison so it's an interesting concept.
Last time, we got access Mech Zangief via this mode. Next on the assembly line is Mech Juri.
We've already seen that F.A.N.G is given pincer claws for hands when the Easter egg code is inputted. This can be done by holding light punch, medium punch, heavy punch, light kick, and up during the transition from the character select screen.
Of course, F.A.N.G's appearance is also altered without the Easter egg code. He has goggles and mechanical legs that are visible.
In case you're still wondering if it's worth it to shell out that final 2,500 Fight Money to beat F.A.N.G one more time, we've collected images of F.A.N.G's colors for the new costume. You'll have to either beat Survival Mode with the character or spend $0.99 to unlock colors 03-10.
F.A.N.G can don purple, blue, red, teal, green, dark blue, yellow, gray, orange, and pink colors. Which color do you think F.A.N.G looks best in?
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NiCO, Kokoro and La Mariposa announced for Dead or Alive 6
During the Dead or Alive Festival 2018 in Japan, Tecmo Koei and Team Ninja revealed three new characters coming to Dead or Alive 6: Kokoro, La Mariposa and the brand new fighter NiCO.
The 18-year-old NiCO is known as "The Lightning Technomancer" and fights using Pencak Silat, a martial art style native to Southeast Asia. She is able to discharge plasma during her strikes to electrocute her opponents and can seemingly teleport around the ring using EMF Rings. She is also the game's second original character along with Diego, who was revealed at EVO earlier this year.
Kokoro is Helena's half-sister who first appeared in Dead or Alive 4. Her gameplay focuses around a variety of elbow strikes, throws and palm thrusts. Unlike her sister, Kokoro is a master of the Ba Ji Quan martial arts style.
La Mariposa is a masked wrestler whose real name is Lisa Hamilton, and she was also a former scientist for DOATEC. Lisa debuted in the series in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, but it wouldn't be until Dead or Alive 4 where she'd receive her first appearance as a fighter.
Two new stages called 'Zero' and 'Miyabi: The Hidden Garden' are also shown off during the trailer. The first is a research facility built by M.I.S.T, and the other takes place in a quiet town where you can break through to another spot called 'The Hidden Garden.'
Pre-ordering Dead or Alive 6, which is set to release February 15, 2019, will unlock the bonus character Nyotengu along with a theme for PlayStation 4 users or a costume for Ryu Hayabusa on Xbox One. You can take a look at the reveal trailer for all three characters after the jump and screenshots of the fighters in action below.
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Mortal Kombat 11 rumors are circulating from Spanish voice actor behind Reptile, Kung Lao, and Rain in Mortal Kombat X
Although many of us were expecting a reveal for Mortal Kombat 11 at E3 2018, it didn't happen. Since the release of
We know that Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios is working extremely hard on something. Supposedly, they're working to make their next title their "best game yet."
Recently, some rumors have been circulating thanks to some tweets from Eduardo Garza, also known as Lalo Garza. This individual was the Spanish voice actor for Reptile, Kung Lao, and Rain in Mortal Kombat X.
The Microsoft and Google translations are rough, but he appears to be disappointed that he will not be returning to voice Kung Lao and Reptile for "Mortal Kombat XI." He later added that he doesn't actually know what the project is called, but seems to believe that those two characters are involved somehow.
Garza does not appear to be under any non-disclosure agreement on the topic.
According to Geoff Keighley, this year's Game Awards is supposed to be "bigger than ever." Last year, Soul Calibur 6 was announced at the event. Could we potentially get an announcement of a new Mortal Kombat game this time?
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After the jump, you'll find a video that has Maximilian speaking about the subject.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate deemed number one Nintendo Switch title of 2018 even before launch
It seems like just last week the commercial featuring giant, plush versions of Mario, Yoshi, Donkey Kong and others beating each other up on a beautiful afternoon to The Beatles' "So Happy Together" was on... but it was actually January of 1999.
With nearly 20 years of carnage now under its belt, the Super Smash Bros. franchise is on the verge of releasing its biggest and baddest title yet: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Ultimate will be a Nintendo console exclusive, coming to the Switch on December 7th. Despite dropping a week into the last month of the year, Business Insider has deemed Ultimate the biggest Nintendo game of 2018, and we're not disagreeing.
Indeed the franchise's last entry, Smash Wii-U/3DS, has sold a combined total of 14.7 million copies worldwide since its release in 2014, with 9.35 million of that coming from the handheld version alone.
XSK Samurai isn't messing around as he lands a round 1 Raging Demon on Idom at the Red Bull Conquest's Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition event
The Red Bull Conquest top 8 is already underway. The remaining players are XSK Samurai, REC|Punk, Neon, ChrisCCH, Nephew, Idom, ESE|CoolKid93, and Dankadillas.
XSK Samurai's first match was against Idom. As expected, XSK Samurai went with his Akuma while Idom fought back as Laura.
Evidently, XSK Samurai wasn't messing around at this event. It's clear that he was aiming for first place.
In just the very first round, XSK Samurai was able to secure enough meter for a Critical Art. But Samurai wasn't going for Akuma's standard Critical Art...
Since he went with V-Trigger 1, this meant had access to Akuma's Raging Demon. The sequence was set up beautifully.
Idom tried to move under the Demon Flip set up, which caused the palm to whiff. Unfortunately for Idom, there was no way to jump out at this point...
Click image for animated version
Source: Red Bull Esports.
Abigail takes the top spot from Cammy and Menat is completely absent from the top 32 portion of Redbull Conquest's Street Fighter 5 Open Premier
So first off, it's worth noting that the Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition Open Premier event at the Red Bull Conquest through top 8 isn't being stream yet so there aren't any broadcast conflicts.
We're going off of the assumption that players are using characters that they've used at major events before and aren't pulling out any secondaries. While these stats are possibly not 100% accurate, they should serve as close estimations.
Having said all that, it doesn't look like Cammy is the most played character in the top 32 this time around. There are only two players using her.
Instead, this looks like the event that has called out to all the Abigail mains. In other words, there are a total of five Abigail users in the top 32 — AB|StormKubo, Flash, DNG|Itabashi Zangief, ESE|CoolKid93, and LPN.
Surprisingly, there are no Menat players present in the top 32. We're definitely not surprised by the lack of Ryu, Falke, Sakura, and Alex in the top 32.
Interestingly enough, there are more DLC character users than those who are known for playing with the base roster in this portion of the bracket. Hit the jump below to check out the stats.
Mech F.A.N.G's costume Easter egg gives him claws for hands which could probably pinch you really hard... and still be more effective than poison
Easter egg variants of costumes in Street Fighter 5 have been around since Season 1 with Urien's thong, but they've really gotten a chance to shine with Arcade Edition's inclusion of Extra Battle and crossover costumes though the new one's a bit... odd.
Mech F.A.N.G's final costume piece is now available in SF5's Extra Battle mode, so players have now been able to unlock his outfit and try to figure out exactly what his Easter egg is since it's not really apparent.
It turns out that using the special costume input of holding all three punches plus light kick and up during a loading screen / in between rounds will swap out F.A.N.G's fancy cybernetic hands with simple claws as discovered by online users like Io Housenka and Tamdai.
These "new" pointier claws are hard to see since F.A.N.G's arms are almost always covered up by his overly long sleeves, but their silhouette under the sleeves actually appears differently than his normal hands.
The only way to get a really good look at the Shadaloo general's claw machine hands is to use F.A.N.G's V-Trigger 2 which rolls up his sleeves to display them fully, and the metal even still glows purple with poison.
Players have until next Thursday night to obtain Mech F.A.N.G's costume in Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition before it gets replaced with Mech Juri, who will surely have her own Easter egg to change her up. You can get a closer look at Mech F.A.N.G's big, meaty claws in the gallery below.
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Snapback Saturday: It's been two years since RB upset Daigo Umehara and others with his wild headbutt-looping Urien at Red Bull Battlegrounds
Red Bull Conquest is going on this weekend, and it is also serving as the venue for the final Premier event for the Capcom Pro Tour plus North American Regional Finals for the third year in a row — although under a different name.
Street Fighter 5 was only around 9 months old at the time of its first run through of the NA Regional Finals and Last Chance Qualifier at Red Bull Battlegrounds which produced some interesting results in a time when the field was largely dominated by players like FOX|Tokido and Infiltration.
Arubi "RB" Kao had started that weekend only having placed in one ranking event prior to Red Bull Battlegrounds, but the Taiwanese player would make waves with a character who hadn't seen much time in the spotlight a couple of months after his release with Urien.
Players like RB|Bonchan, EG|Ricki Ortiz and Liquid|John Takeuchi would fall victim to this surprise turnabout, but RB's most notable victory was against one of the best Street Fighter players of all time in CYG|Daigo Umehara and his Season 1 Ryu.
RB was able to use Urien in tournament in ways that we had really only seen in Training Mode concepts and the occasional online match up until that point with headbutt loops, Aegis Reflector mix ups and cross-under set ups effectively setting the example that many other Urien players would try to follow going forward.
Tokido would end up defeating RB leaving him with a second place finish, and though he hasn't placed as high in 2018, RB's Red Bull Battlegrounds run two years ago remains probably the biggest highlight of the event. You can relive the epic clash between Daigo and RB in the compiled clip below from HiFight.
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Gfinity Elite Series Season 4 early results, stream ft Phenom, Akainu, Shakz, Momi, Packz, SaltyKid, Infexious, Broski, Hurricane, Takamura and more
Update: This story has been updated with week 3 results.
The Gfinity Elite Series is back for another season, which will be taking place during the winter.
This is the fourth season in a row, and while some players have stepped out, some have switched sponsors, and a few new ones have joined the fray, you'll likely be quite familiar with the names here, since they're all top European players.
It's a team-based league, with 10 teams participating, meaning it's going to go on for quite a few weeks, so keep checking back in every week.
As usual, it's taking place in the United Kingdom and will start at 6 PM local time on Saturday every week. You can find a time zone conversion chart further down in the story.
Some of the notable players participating are NVD|Phenom, FNATIC|Akainu, FNATIC|Shakz, NVD|Momi, Method|Packz, NVD|SaltyKid, exceL|Infexious, Method|Broski, exceL|Hurricane, Epsilon|Takamura, FNATIC|Atrosh, but there are many more where they came from.
They have once again chosen streaming to be done via Facebook, so tune in if you're so inclined.
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