What does Alex need to stop being considered a joke in Street Fighter 5 Season 4?
Alex is one of the biggest fan-favorite characters in Street Fighter 5, but we don't get to see him too often... because he's considered one of the weakest characters in the game for a multitude of reasons.
Season 4 of SF5 will be here before we know it, so now is the time when everyone comes out to express what changes they hope to see going forward after witnessing how Season 3 / 3.5 has evolved for individual characters and the meta overall.
VesperArcade is back with a new video detailing their wish list of changes and improvements they'd like to see for Alex in Season 4 after being essentially a non-factor in 2018 while discussing why Capcom appears to be wary of making any grappler character among the top tier — except for maybe R. Mika.
Before getting into what they hope to see going forward, Vesper first goes over the nerfs that Alex has faced since Season 2 that appear to go against his design philosophy of a neutral-heavy grappler by slowing most of his long-reaching pokes.
They feel that Capcom should buff his neutral pokes back to at least Season 1 status including all of his medium buttons when most of them aren't special cancellable anyway, as well as make his anti-airs better like changing normal Air Knee Smash to a proper anti-air instead of relying on its EX version that doesn't leave you in range for a follow up.
Time will tell if Capcom decides that Alex needs any more buffs beyond his continually improved lariat, but you can check out VesperArcade's full video after the jump to see how they feel Alex could be "fixed" in 2019.
New Soul Calibur 6 feature trailer gives us a quick look at arcade, training, Soul Chronicle, Libra of Soul, and other modes
Soul Calibur 6 will be releasing on October 19, 2018 — that's this Friday! The game will come with 21 characters as part of the base roster, but Tira will also be available as a day one DLC fighter.
Earlier today, Bandai Namco released a feature trailer that shows us what's packaged with the game — which is the English version of a previously released Japanese trailer. There are numerous single player modes that fans will certainly have fun with.
The game's story mode is being called "Soul Chronicle" beginning after the original Soul Blade title and leading up to the start of where Soul Calibur 3 would take off. This appears to be highlighting the struggle of Kilik and Grøh against Azwel, who very likely is the final boss.
Of course there will also be an arcade mode while the Libra of Soul appears to be a separate story mode that has you playing as a custom made character. This mode will feature some RPG elements to level up your characters, and head down branching story paths making new allies and enemies along the way.
Speaking of customization, Soul Calibur 6 features hundreds of options to make your creations look exactly how you want them to with a variety of races to choose from — including skeletons and lizard men — plus all of the tattoos, stickers, hairstyles, monocles, wings and armor one can handle. We also know that Geralt's weapon style will be available to use on custom characters — a first for guest characters in the series.
This trailer also reveals that along with ranked online matches, Soul Calibur 6's Casual Match option will work as the game's lobby system where you can battle multiple players in a single room. An extensive museum will also be included in the game where you can check out the lore of characters and weapons, view concept art and more. You can view the full trailer after the jump.
Twitter users encountering strange spam-like tweets and notifications, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says issue has already been fixed
Numerous Twitter users have been reporting encounters with strange tweets and notifications of tweets this morning. These odd, spam-like tweets feature a series of random numbers, letters, and characters and have caused concern among users on the social media platform.
Dozens of screenshots and retweets of these bizarre tweets have surfaced on Twitter, and people are confused about what exactly these are and if they have malicious intent. You've probably seen something that looks like this on Twitter within the last couple of hours: 51aca16970cd49f2bd6003a623d889e70: 0.
Whatever is causing this issue on Twitter, apparently it has already been fixed. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to his own Twitter account to let users know that the company is aware of the issue. "We’re seeing this issue too. On it," Dorsey wrote, sharing a screenshot showing several notifications plagued by the issue.
Dorsey put out a follow up tweet, assuring users that the issue has been dealt with and that the Twitter team is currently investigating. "Should be fixed now. Working to understand why it happened," Dorsey said.
Though it is unclear what caused this strange occurrence, some users believe that it might have been a result of a Twitter bot bug.
A Twitter bot is software that essentially controls a Twitter account. With a bot, users can have actions such as tweeting, retweeting, liking, following, and more autonomously performed for the sake of convenience.
Sony has fixed the PlayStation 4 message exploit, now we're waiting for the update
Last week, we learned about a PSN exploit that was reportedly bricking PlayStation 4 consoles. This appears to be achieved by having the PlayStation 4 receive a message containing a very specific string of characters.
The best way to prevent this is to set it so that your console is only able to receive messages from friends or private. Supposedly, users would have to factory reset their device in order to have it function normally again.
Earlier, Sony told IGN that they are "planning a system software update to resolve this problem." Ask PlayStation UK on Twitter recently commented that the issue has already been fixed, but it is unclear whether or not this fix has actually been rolled out.
It was also mentioned that consoles were actually being sent into a crash loop rather than being bricked and you can apparently fix your PlayStation 4 in under five minutes without a factory reset.
According to the response, you'll want to delete the message on the PS mobile app, go into safe mode, use "option 5," and supposedly the device will return to a normal status.
Sony says they fixed the PS4 exploit, but we're still waiting on the update. As a result of this, we recommend leaving your message settings to private or friends until more information is available.
When asked if exploiters will receive punishment for the problems that were caused, Ask PlayStation UK revealed that they were unaware as they are not part of the moderation team. We'll be sure to update when more information is available.
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Medusa is unlikely to be Palutena's Echo Fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate since they have opposing dominant hands
Along with Hades, Medusa is one of the main antagonists of Kid Icarus: Uprising. She has a deep-seated hatred for Pit and Palutena as she believes that she has been wronged by them both. While she often takes on the false appearance of an attractive woman, her true form was transformed into a cyclops by Palutena as punishment for antics against humanity.
Many speculate that it might be time for Medusa to take up the role of a playable character in Super Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. More specifically, there are those that think Medusa would make the perfect Echo Fighter for Palutena. Making her attacks appear more evil and sinister might be one of the main differences that would be necessary in order to make this happen.
There have also been a number of anonymous leakers that have insisted that this is going to happen. More than likely, any "leak" that claims that Medusa will be an Echo Fighter for Palutena is providing a dead giveaway that the information is fabricated.
Although both characters utilize staves during combat, the two of them hold their weapons with opposite hands. There is an implication that Palutena is right-handed while Medusa appears to be more dominant with her left hand.
It is certainly possible to maintain the functionality of Palutena's moveset when importing it to Medusa as an Echo Fighter. Notably, this would require some adjustments for her animations to actually carry out Palutena's attacks.
While this is not an impossibility, doing this would probably require more effort than what was necessary to put in characters like Lucina, Dark Pit, Daisy, Richter, Dark Samus, and even Chrom. Although these characters have different taunts, run animations, and idle stances, the majority of their moves look and feel very similar.
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Unless you're Sakura, these sketches from ChefBoyRLee are sure to crack you up
We're used to seeing fighting game characters bruising and beating each other up to within an inch of their lives, but every so often you have to take a break from the daily grind for a new perspective on life.
That brings us to ChefBoyRLee, a New York based Alex/Karin player who also has a knack for putting pen to paper and bringing to life the comical scenes concocted in their head.
Today's gallery is a collection of doodles that will almost certainly bring a smile to your face. It sees fighting game characters (mostly from Street Fighter) in some non-fighting situations.
Ibuki and Sakura face the trials and tribulations of public transit, which are especially difficult when Birdie (at least that's who we assume it is) is sitting one seat over and facing the other direction.
In step with her rich girl nature, Karin prepares for a Pro Tour Championship tennis event while Alex embraces the phrase that he's become quite familiar with since his release in Street Fighter 5.
Check out the full gallery here and let us know which of these doodles from ChefBoyRLee are your favorite and why in the comments.
Better zoning or stronger rush down? How should Capcom balance Sagat in Street Fighter 5 Season 4?
This actually is one of the harder characters to have this conversation about. We're beginning the end of 2018 and Season 3 of Street Fighter 5, and thusly starting to speculate on how Capcom will be going about their yearly balance patch for next year's (still unannounced) Season 4.
Sagat made it onto Street Fighter 5's roster only two months ago, so we've had less time with him and fellow DLC fighter G than anyone else on the Character Select screen.
While The King certainly retains his brutally satisfying air and move set, his abilities in Street Fighter 5 have many players ranking him amongst the mid to low portions of the collective tier list.
The highest authority on this topic in terms of competitors has to be the great RB|Bonchan, who is famous for using the character back in Street Fighter 4 more efficiently than anyone else on the planet.
He offered his thoughts to UYU|BornFree back in September, but labeled him as "pretty weak overall" and "worse than Nash."
We also got a take from LU|Alex Valle earlier this month with some details on how he'd make Sagat a bit better. Check them out here and then read on to get our two cents on the matter:
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The original Street Fighter movie grossed over $130 million and still influences Capcom's approach to growing their gaming brands like Monster Hunter
Street Fighter 2 originally saw release in 1991 leading to one of Capcom's most financially successful creations ever while taking over the arcade scene and home consoles, but that's not the only Street Fighter-related media that made the publisher a bunch of money.
Capcom recently released their Integrated Report for 2018 detailing the company's monetary advancements and plans for future endeavors where their CEO also talks about the importance of the original Street Fighter movie.
"I came up with the idea that the most effective method for ongoing media exposure of game titles was to expand globally using Hollywood movie adaptations, said CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto. "We decided to invest 4 billion yen to make a Street Fighter Hollywood movie. At that time, some thought I had taken up movies merely as a hobby, but this investment generated a 15 billion yen return and successfully established Street Fighter as a global brand."
Those numbers currently convert into a cost of around $35 million to make the 1994 Street Fighter movie while it ended up making back a gross of over $134 million, and it continues to generate Capcom an additional $400,000 every year.
Tsujimoto feels / felt that films could garner even more attention than video games which can take "three years to develop" due to multiple releases bringing in more potential viewers with the initial theatrical release, DVD sales, cable and broadcast.
This success influenced Capcom's approach going forward with the highly successful Resident Evil films — commercially at least — along with their future plans with properties like Mega Man.
Bowsette mods are now taking over the internet appearing in games like Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The hype train for Bowsette is showing no signs of stopping any time soon, as the fan-made princess is now making her way into video games through some unofficial means with some of them turning out fairly convincingly.
Mods inserting Bowsette into video games are now popping up for a variety of Nintendo titles including Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and New Super Mario Bros. Wii making her either a playable character or a boss NPC.
In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Mario Kart 8, Bowsette becomes a model swap of Peach with similar designs of a Peach-like body with horns, the Super Crown, a black skin-tight outfit, Bowser's shell on her back, Bowser's tail and the evil ruler's various spiky bracelets and bands.
With her jump over into the land of Hyrule, Bowsette replaces Link as the playable character giving her a variety of swords and weaponry at her disposal including a blade that can set everything around her ablaze which is fitting given Bowser's fire-breathing abilities.
The currently popular incarnation of Bowsette was created after the previous Nintendo Direct showed off the Super Crown power-up in New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe turning Toadette into a princess resembling Peach called Peachette. An artist later created a web comic depicting Bowser putting on the Super Crown and becoming Bowsette — the rest will go down in internet history.
A gigantic version of Bowsette has also been modded into New Super Mario Bros. Wii to replace Bowser as the final boss in the game. You can check out Bowsette in Smash in the clip below, and see Mario burn her in lava in the collection of mod videos after the jump including Mario Kart and Zelda.
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Crucial SEAM finishes from four separate players have shaken up the Capcom Pro Tour standings, the global ranks of Street Fighter 5 have shifted
It seemed as though Capcom Cup was slipping away from a few notable players in recent weeks, but this weekend's happenings saw some crucial victories that have shaken things up quite a bit at the lower end of the qualification spectrum.
Twenty six people get into the Capcom Cup via the Global Leaderboard, but that number can grow to include up to the 31st ranked player if the winners of the four Regional Finals events and the current reigning champion all place in the top 31.
In other words, spots 27-31 are all shaky ground as players in these five ranks have the potential to qualify, but could be knocked out by the five auto qualifications the Pro Tour offers.
There were some major shifts this weekend as the Asia Regional Finals concluded and some big time points were handed out thanks to the Premier-status South East Asia Major event.
The list of variables to consider has shortened as there are now only two Regional Final spots left, and Asia Region players are more than happy that it was Gachikun (currently at 15th on the Global Leaderboards) who took up the Asia Regional qualification spot.
This means the highest ranking player from the Asia Region who is not qualified via Global Points will get in, and there's a heated race with such players in places 28-31:
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Power Rangers Legacy Wars: Street Fighter Showdown short film reveals the origin of the Ryu Ranger
The Power Rangers and Street Fighter franchises first crossed over earlier this year when a handful of the most iconic fighting game characters joined the roster of the mobile game Power Rangers: Legacy Wars, but now we get to see one of them become a ranger themselves.
Lionsgate Games recently released a live-action short depicting the origins of the rad looking Ryu Ranger in Power Rangers Legacy Wars: Street Fighter Showdown to advertise the crossover, and it's just as corny as you'd expect.
The short film begins after Ryu and Chun-Li have been transported to the world of the Power Rangers where they take on the Black Ranger from Dino Thunder — though obviously not Tommy Oliver — and Pink Ranger from Time Force.
Tommy Oliver does appear, however, as he teleports the world warriors to him and reveals that Rita Repulsa has revived M. Bison. He tells Ryu that they need him to defeat Bison and the new army of evil Power Rangers giving Ryu his own Power Coin.
Ryu Ranger goes to work against M. Bison in an old rundown building along with the Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger and Mega Force Yellow Ranger where the world warrior even lands a Shoryuken and Hadoken against the dictator.
It'd be great to see this crossover come the other way too with the Ryu Ranger or other ranger designs making it into Street Fighter 5 though modding will probably be the best we can hope for at the moment. You can watch the full short after the jump.
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Is Shantae a likely roster candidate for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Alpha Stoutland compiles 'all the evidence' for the dancing genie's chances
There's no doubt that Shantae is a character that has received a lot of support from fans and WayForward, the indie company responsible for the creation of Shantae, as a Super Smash Bros. combatant.
While many were disheartened about Shovel Knight's disconfirmation as a playable fighter when he was revealed as an Assist Trophy, others believed that it was Shantae's time to shine as the series' first indie representative.
One fan, Alpha Stoutland, took the time to compile "all the evidence" that supports the possibility of this dancing genie's chances. While even he states that some of the evidence is "reaching," there are a lot of circumstances that are very interesting to say the least.
For example, during the Smash Ballot period of Super Smash Bros. 4, WayForward was very vocal about garnering fan support to vote Shantae into the series. Strangely, WayForward suddenly became very silent regarding the subject after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was announced. Is it possible that a non-disclosure agreement is in effect here?
Notably, Shantae has been extremely popular in character polls on a number of different websites. While our poll was not specifically mentioned in the video, it's worth noting that Shantae came in 7th — directly above Shovel Knight — on our poll before E3 2018. Interestingly enough, King K. Rool, Ridley, and Simon Belmont were ranked above Shantae in that poll and have already been confirmed as playable.
It's also peculiar how Shovel Knight is a playable combatant in Blade Strangers, Rivals of Aether, and Brawlhalla when Shantae has yet to make her debut in a fighting game. Obviously the creators of Shantae do believe she is capable of fighting, or else they wouldn't have pushed for her in Super Smash Bros. in the first place.
In Shantae's latest game, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, enemies fly off screen when defeated in a similar fashion to the Super Smash Bros. series. One of her outfits (and gameplay modes) was previously exclusive to concept art that pitched the idea of Shantae joining the Super Smash Bros. roster.
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Here is the PSN trophy list for Soul Calibur 6
Soul Calibur 6 will be releasing later this week. On October 19, 2018 to be exact.
There are a total of 21 characters available on the base roster. These fighters are Astaroth, Azwel, Cervantes, Geralt of Rivia, Grøh, Inferno (unlockable), Ivy, Kilik, Maxi, Mitsurgi, Nightmare, Raphael, Seong Mi-na, Siegfried, Sophita, Taki, Talim, Tira, Voldo, Xianghua, Yoshimitsu, and Zasalamel.
Tira will also be available at launch, but as the game's first DLC combatant. More than likely, she won't count as a "base-game character" — this will be important to note for later.
We now have confirmation on the title's trophy list for the PlayStation 4. It's been reported that the game's main story mode, the 'Libra of Soul' mode that supposedly has Kilik and Grøh as the main characters, will be over 10 hours long.
A number of these trophies can only be obtained while utilizing a base-game character. Obtaining these trophies can range from performing certain combos a number of times outside of training mode, winning a required number of ranked matches, playing online, unlocking the legendary difficulty for the game's arcade mode, beating the story mode, and so on.
Hit the jump to check out the full list of trophies and their value.
Rumor: The Nintendo 64 Classic might have been leaked
The NES Classic and the SNES Classic were both huge successes for Nintendo. So much so that it would be surprising if they were to just stop there in terms of releasing these "classic" mini consoles.
There's no doubt that another business opportunity is sitting in front of Nintendo. For a long time now, fans have been hoping that the rumors about a supposed "Nintendo 64 Classic" being in development were true.
Supposedly, Nacho on Twitter was provided with images from an unnamed contact of such an item. Given, not everything we hear or see on the internet has been 100% accurate. People have a tendency to lie when they can act anonymously.
Users in a Reddit thread have expressed some concerns in regards to the legitimacy of the images. For one, there is worry that the old school ports cover extends too far, which might make it too fragile.
Notably, Nintendo recently listed the manuals for 19 Nintendo 64 games — like Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Star Fox 64, Pokémon Snap, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and many more — on their website without any explanation. While it's possible they might be planning for some sort of implementation with the Nintendo Switch's online service, this could potentially be in preparation for a Nintendo 64 Classic announcement.
Unfortunately, no fighting games were listed among these 19 titles. Not even Super Smash Bros. 64. Still, the NES and SNES Classics were both prone to having games adding via the modding community.
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Dogura used big-body assist characters to block Gotenks' ghost kamikaze super during Dragon Ball FighterZ tournament at SEAM 2018
Over the weekend, SEAM 2018 wrapped up its Dragon Ball FighterZ Saga Event. There were a number of impressive sequences that occurred throughout the tournament.
Perhaps the coolest moment of all is something only someone with a very keen eye might notice. Pala on Twitter pointed out a couple of unique exchanges between CO|Dogura and Mokemoti
Dogura was utilizing his Kid Buu, Android 16, and Cooler team. Meanwhile, Mokemoti was combating him with Gotenks, Android 16, and Bardock. On two separate occasions, Mokemoti was able to setup an okizeme scenario in the corner against Dogura with his Gotenks.
This was a grand opportunity to utilize Gotenks' ghost kamikaze super. Doing this would put a lot of pressure on Dogura's team and force him to block numerous mix ups... And yet, the ghosts simply exploded before they could fulfill their purpose.
Apparently, Dogura intentionally called assist attacks from big-bodied characters to block the ghosts at the sacrifice of some of their health. It happens so fast, you can really only notice this by looking at the health bars as it occurs.
It's been pointed out that Android 16's hurtbox is big enough to block all four ghosts — as seen in the first clip — while Cooler's hurtbox was only capable of blocking three while Android 16 was the point character.
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Buenos Aires True Salt 2018 results
Update: This story has been updated with final results.
Even though the Capcom Pro Tour is nearing the end of its run this year, we're not quite there yet.
This weekend, another CPT-designated event is taking place, this time in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This is a Capcom Pro Tour Ranking event, so points are still on the line, and since we're nearing the end, they're more important than ever before.
Besides Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition, this event will also feature tournament play in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Tekken 7 and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2.
As for players participating, you can expect to see Furia|HKDash, Umbrella|Dark, AAG|Pr3da, 2DR|YoungHou, Misterio and many more.
Streaming is being done at UAFG.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's under performance more than made up for by Monster Hunter: World as Capcom's consumer sales soar 32% over last year
Though peppered with a few noteworthy victories, it had been a somewhat turbulent last year or two for Capcom in the fighting game department.
Street Fighter 5 has been a roller coaster of ups and downs while Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite failed to become the smash eSports hit many imagined and hoped it would be.
That said, the company has actually seen an incredible 16 billion yen upswing in its consumer sales numbers from last year. That's more than a $142 million increase, and more than double the kind of growth garnered from 2015-2016 or 2016-2017.
One could argue that this was a group effort from Capcom's healthy list of gaming titles, but the overwhelming majority of this success is thanks to Monster Hunter: World, which released in January.
"Monster Hunter: World, the latest title in the flagship series, significantly contributed to increased profitability by delivering record high sales of 7.9 million units..." notes the 2018 integrated report. "... on the other hand, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite delivered a certain level of sales, primarily overseas owing to deep-rooted popularity, but under performed overall."
The implications of such financial prosperity expand well beyond the single IP of Monster Hunter, and, as the sub header says, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Check out the consumer sales chart below to see this year's vast increase as well as previous years' performance and next year's predictions:
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