Is Street Fighter 5 now more balanced than it ever has been? Plus special guests discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of GranBlue Fantasy: Versus
Perfect balance in fighting games is likely all but unachievable, but the community most definitely has a relative sense of what's acceptable and what's just too much in regards to character power.
Street Fighter 5 has undergone quite a few changes and updates in its 4+ years, and it seems as though Champion Edition is the best-balanced version yet. There's still more to be unveiled concerning this particular puzzle, but Catalyst and I spend the first half of this week's podcast examining what we can under the microscope.
Poll: Which legacy characters would you most hope to see if we get a Kombat Pack 2 in Mortal Kombat 11?
The Mortal Kombat community has seen a handful of home runs since Mortal Kombat 11's launch last April especially when it comes to DLC character additions. Spawn's introduction a few weeks back marked a high note end of Kombat Pack 1, but already are murmurs popping up about a potential Kombat Pack 2.
The current Mortal Kombat 11 roster count is at a respectable 31 combatants, but it seems the game has more than enough momentum for further expansion. While many MK legacy favorites are already playable, there are at least a handful of old fighters that would make quite a few community members happy should they be added as DLC. That's where you come in.
'It's been a horrible experience for me, personally' - VesperArcade shares thoughts on Street Fighter 5's latest online update
Capcom has clearly been upping their efforts and attention to Street Fighter 5's online experience as they've rolled out no less than two updates in the last two months attending to the game's netcode and matchmaking standards, respectively.
We've been hearing some mixed reviews when it comes to player experiences, especially concerning the matchmaking patch. Vesper Arcade has released a video detailing his personal experiences since the update, which have not been all that great.
Sakurai's Super Smash Bros. 'Pic of the Day' was originally meant to keep team morale up while working, idea was formed during Brawl's development
In the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu, Super Smash Bros. series producer Masahiro Sakurai brought up a seemingly mundane but actually surprisingly interesting subject in his weekly column — namely, his custom of posting a "Pic of the Day" on Twitter featuring Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
This week's column sees Sakurai explain that the Pic of the Day was originally something he never meant to release to the public, but has been a custom he's been doing internally for the sake of his development team as far back as when they were developing Kid Icarus: Uprising (though the team was also much smaller back then). In short, he wanted to keep his colleagues focused on what their work was accomplishing but there's more to it than that — I've included some translations from parts of Sakurai's column below in which you can hear about his thought process towards both his colleagues and all of the game's fans.
Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon says Mileena will never be in another NetherRealm Studios game ever again
Well, it finally happened... you broke Ed Boon! The Mortal Kombat series co-creator is clearly tired of all of the requests for Mileena that bombard every tweet the man ever puts out — even if the tweet is not related to Mortal Kombat.
All of your pestering has finally caused the man to snap, and now we will never be seeing the popular female ninja in a NetherRealm Studios game ever again. Boon responded to yet another request tweet earlier today and delivered the sad news.
'It's not enough to simply increase the number of athletes competing' - Capcom's Head of eSports on company's current ventures in competitive gaming
Capcom just released their latest Investor Relations update and included a special interview with Nobuhiko Shimizu, who was promoted to become company's Head of eSports Business Division last April.
Shimizu has been a major driving force in Capcom's clear efforts to march further into the eSports space, something we've seen through the evolution of the Capcom Pro Tour as well as the development of ventures such as Street Fighter League. The latter of these features a team format, something that isn't all that common in the competitive fighting game space, and Shimizu opens up a bit on why he and his team have shifted a significant part of their focus to team-based ventures.
An ARMS character is coming up next in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — but which one of the stretchy fighters will it be?
It was announced earlier this week, albeit in a slightly unceremonious manner, that the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character to be added to the game, and thereby kicking off the game's second Fighter Pass, will be from Nintendo's fresh Switch intellectual property ARMS.
What wasn't mentioned at all though was just who it will be. All that was said was that the fighter will be able to extend their arms — a universal trait in the game, since that's how you fight. Let's take a look at some of the most likely candidates for being the next Super Smash Bros. fighter releasing in June.
Sogetsu is now available in Samurai Shodown along with the big Version 1.70 balance update
It's hard to believe, but we're quickly approaching the one year anniversary since Samurai Shodown first launched where the game is still seeing a lot of support from SNK.
Samurai Shodown's second character from Season 2 is now available to download and purchase in Sogetsu Kazama, and joining him is perhaps the title's biggest balance shake up to date with the Version 1.70 patch making adjustments to the entire cast.
Arika teases Prayer to Death as their new April Fool's game, Fighting EX Layer receives limited update on Steam
We're now three years out from when Arika first teased on April Fool's Day what would end up becoming Fighting EX Layer, and it appears the team is back at their old ways once again.
Yesterday, the developers teased a video unrelated to FEXL set to release at midnight on April 1 in Japan which has since been made live to "announce" Prayer to Death though there's not a ton of details about what it is or if it is indeed a real project.
Fighting game legend Justin Wong created a 'Pogchamp room' in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
I haven't played a single second of any Animal Crossing games, but have had them described to me by friends who have as "a more fun version of real life activities." This is usually communicated with a small pinch of admitted guilt, but judging by the immense success of the recent Animal Crossing: New Horizons title, it seems very much worth the price tag and hours of investment.
That sense of control that comes with games that offer such high levels of personal customization is more alluring than we may first think, and the fact that the stakes of these IRL mimicries are so low frees us almost entirely from the fears of long term consequences.
It's from that amateur psychological analysis of why people love Animal Crossing so damn much that I garner enough significance in Justin Wong's "Pogchamp room" creation to share it with you today.
Samurai Shodown's 1.70 patch takes a diplomatic approach with buffs and nerfs — how will the meta shift as a result of mostly strengthening the cast?
Although we haven't gotten to enjoy much tournament action lately from Samurai Shodown, SNK's successful sword-slicing fighter, due to concerns way out of tournament organizer's control there are a lot of us who have been happily enjoying the recently released Mina Majikina as well as the game overall these last few months.
With the impending release of Sogetsu Kazama tomorrow or the day after depending on where you live, we were also alerted that we'd be receiving a bunch of balance changes to the game which were publicly released and are fully detailed here. While the patch hasn't gone live quite yet, I've taken an intricate look at these notes and tried to discern exactly what the game is going to be like once the new patch actually does hit. Please allow me share my findings with you.
Where do our community voted tiers for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sit at two months after Byleth's release?
Byleth was made available on January 28, 2020. It's been nearly two months since the first Fighters Pass wrapped up for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Where does our community voted tier list section for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate currently sit at considering the addition of this new character, balance adjustments, and meta developments? Let's take a closer look.
Here's how you can make your Animal Crossing: New Horizons villager into Menat from Street Fighter 5
Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch is all the rage and all the cool kids are doing it! The latest installment in the life-simulator is very popular right now, with several people in the fighting game community delving into it — myself included.
With the vast level of customization options not only from home decorating but designs you can draw out yourself and wear, fans everywhere are creating some really interesting and awesome things. Twitter user MilkTeaTiff has created a design that allows you to dress up your villager like Menat from Street Fighter 5.
'Neco Drop' is Capcom's latest April Fools' browser game that remakes all 40 Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition characters into cats
"Neco Drop" is Capcom's April Fools' browser game this year. It's a puzzle game that involves matching colors.
There are 40 different missions that can be completed in Neco Drop. For each level you beat, you'll potentially be able to unlock an encyclopedia entry for a cat that's based on one of Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition's playable characters.
Soul Calibur 6 Season Pass 2's final character identities have reportedly been data-mined by modders as a couple of highly requested series favorites
Soul Calibur 6 just saw the release of its latest character by way of crossover with Samurai Shodown in Haohmaru which leaves two more roster choices shrouded in mystery — but are they really?
Members of The Stage of Modding Discord have reportedly discovered new files buried within Soul Calibur 6's latest Version 2.10 update which may directly point to who else will be joining the samurai and Hilde in 2020. Potential future roster spoilers follow.
Ken player performs literal wake-up DP after briefly passing out during 24 hour Street Fighter 5 live stream... still wins round
The most "Ken" thing we may have ever seen happened recently on one of the most "Ken" players' live streams. Joshua "CeroBlast" Tran has made a name for himself as one of the most successful reads-based players in competitive Street Fighter 5, often resorting to unconventional risks and scoring flashy rewards.
The Canadian Ken player embarked on a 24-hour live Twitch session over the weekend, and understandably started dosing off around the 21-hour mark. The stage was set for a real-life wake up Dragon Punch.
Street Fighter X Tekken's online community is still very much alive holding regular tournaments with tons of tools for those looking to jump in
Street Fighter X Tekken just recently passed its eighth birthday since it first released at the start of March, and while it may not be at the forefront of the mainstream FGC any longer, the crossover fighting game still has a dedicated online following of those still looking to show off their perfect tag team combos.
SaltLevelsMax and the Street Fighter X Tekken Discord crew have been working hard for a long time to keep their community going and growing by running regular online tournaments, special contests and one of the best beginner guides / frame data bots that we've seen.
