#street fighter and tekken look way better anyways

[arttrampbelle]

R.I.P. mortal kombat 1993-2023

This franchise is dead. And the only ones left in it are not mk fans,weebs and hype train riders. And a few survivors trying to hang on to a shred of dignity they have left and make decent content (unlike nrs. They actually give a fuck about the characters. Regardless of hcs! At least there's passion and love in the stitches and not souless corporate greed!)

Welp at least the old content is still available for now. And i have the older games n other media.

I will be blocking any kontent and blogs from the new game. So dont even try.

[maxwell-grant]

thoughts on Tekken8 so far ?

Not too many, I have mostly mixed feelings on Tekken stuff but:

Okay this rules, this is a killer fucking idea for a fighting game story mode. I was actually just thinking the other day about how a lot of modern fighting games with big story modes can't really integrate the tournament structure into the story, so it's either not there or it becomes a schrodinger's tournament. But here there's no mistaking it, there is a King of Iron Fist tournament being held and fighters the world over are invited to join with their lives and with the lives of their ENTIRE COUNTRIES riding on the line. This rules, this fucking rules, I'm pissed Street Fighter didn't do this first because this is the most M.Bison idea that is also a way better plot than anything M.Bison ever did, fuck yeah.

I've heard this described as Tekken doing the Cell Games and having never watched Dragon Ball I'll have to take their word for it.

Don't care about Jin, never have really, but I am at least marginally curious as to how they'll square "Jin you are the light and hope of this world you are the hero of everything you must save us all" and "you totally fucking killed millions of people for no reason with that WW3 stunt dude". Love that Kazuya throws this in his face like, you weak little shit, you think you're putting me down? You think YOU have some kind of body count? Well it's just gonna keep growing watch this *BWOOOOOM

Tekken has spent a loooot of games running in a loooot of circles around the Mishima bloodline drama so this game promising to blow things out of proportion, with Heihachi dead (so far) and Kazuya cutting loose and the entire world seriously on the line, well okay that has my interest.

Gotta be honest folks, up until now I actually hated Azucena. Decent design, Peruvian representation is extremely rare and I was super on board for that, really liked for a beat how her fighting style's meant to abuse Tekken's 3D space with a lot of dodging and swaying... but then the character started talking and, oh great, she only talks about food, she's a gimmick character that only talks about her gimmick, here comes the next annoying latin-american stereotype that the gringos just find sooo charming and sexy and funny, here comes the next El Fuerte/Laura/Zarina, and all my interest died.

And then the latest story trailer revealed that she's happily teaming up with the G Corporation (and by extension Kazuya, you know, the guy currently raining fire and murder on the entire planet) because they make for "better brand optics for my coffee" and, huh. Well. Turns out she's a total piece of shit! The "beloved for her innocent personality" thing was a dead giveaway looking at it now. Turns out she's a business major cracking winks and poses while tanks and soldiers steamroll the land and people around her. You hear a lot of stories growing up here about plantation owners being cutthroat ghouls and I must admit, it's pretty great seeing that as the twist on a typically obnoxious Disney inclusivity cartoon person, feels very topical. Maybe it is just a rehash of Lucky Chloe's twist but Lucky Chloe wasn't that inspired to begin with where as this feels a bit more thought out. I expect to be ultimately dissappointed but it sure got me almost kinda liking her a bit.

Big year for evil women in fighting games.

Feels like Tekken was just bound to have a Nick Fury at some point with other fighting games elevating characters to that position, but it is pretty weird that this a thing, right? I guess when they're going more into world-threatening stakes and characters teaming up being treated like an Avengers gathering you kinda need a Nick Fury or several to glue that nonsense together. Anyway, Victor's pretty cool. Kinda shocked that he's the first French character in Tekken apparently.

It's not easy to make me like espionage-themed characters in fighting games but he's got enough style to him that I appreciate. He's just Vincent Cassel if he was a John Wick guy with a weird Final Fantasy sword but that's not like a bad combo by any means, really just seems like Harada really wanted to put a guy he likes from da movies in there. It's the Kojima impulse but hey, if it works and the voice acting isn't terrible (like a certain other studio, seriously how do you manage to get such lackluster material out of J.K Simmons doing Omni-Man), I'm cool with it.

I'm not too sure what to think of Reina? I feel like that's gonna be entirely dependant on her role in the game, because the other two are fairly throwaway characters where as her they seem to be putting a lot of stock in. I kinda like her design although I appreciate it better in fan art that lets her actually emote and look mean, the in-game face is just way too dull for what she's doing. I like the ego she's got and that she can back it up, that she's this new mystery newcomer with potential arriving to shake up the scene. I think a lot about her would be very generic and forgettable if it wasn't backed up by her mean punk personality and power, which I really appreciate. She kinda feels like if Asuka wasn't a joke. I'm just curious as to what her actual role is gonna be, and while I don't think she's gonna be a full blown villain the way Kazuya is, I'm gonna be pretty dissappointed if she just immediately slides into being a hanger-on hero. So I'm just waiting for more on her with cautious optimism.

I hope Heihachi never comes back because A: it's just wrong to have him without Unsho Ishizuka to voice him, and B: I hope they never ruin the humor of "Yeah he's dead dead but he has at least 20 bastard children all over the world and at least one of them is gunning for the throne so if you thought he was done causing problems or that the Mishima Bloodline would end with Jin, lmao"

[serialgirlposter]

Pre gg strive Article i gave up trying to translate. but anyway it was great to test out the old printer.

Draft of what i did translate under the cut. Bc fuck it. In red is my commentary because i'm annoying

The prettiest and most complex

GUILTY GEAR

You don't have to be ashamed if you've never heard of the guilty gear franchise.

Because if you don't live in japan or south-korea, it's really only a thing in competitive spheres.

But that's going to change next year, is the opinion of fan samuel. (Samuel is the writer)

The guilty gear series has existed since 1998 when the first game released on the playstation.

It provided a breath of fresh air for the typically one-note fighting game genre with it's over the top anime energy, in depth story, iconic soundtrack and heavy metal aesthetic.

With it's impressive debut the game has had uncountable sequels with increaslingly prettier graphics and (rock) music.

(Uncountable sequels? Mans can't count to ten?)

This caused guilty gear to become an important and constant player in the world of competitive fighting games.

Next to this it also has a type of unique charm, partially helped by the loveably crazed characters.

Milla can turn her blond hair into weapons,

Zappa is possesed by the ghost girl from the ring, I-no is a sexy witch whose gituar solo's cause physical damage.

Why you've heard of street fighter and tekken, but probably never heard of guilty gear?

Well probably because when it comes to gameplay it's also the most complex series in it's genre. So it's Not really fit for the mainstream

ROMAN CANCELS

Next year the fifth generation of guilty gear will appear, and creator daisuke ishiwatari

Has promised to completely overhaul the gameplay. In a letter to the community he writes the following: "the new guilty gear has one goal: satisfying both old and new players. This game won't be an evolution or return to it's roots. But a new composition of the most important elements which make the series unique."

Translation: the new guilty gear is an over the top deepgoing violent axtravagance with a downloadworthy metalsoundtrack, but the many complex mechanics will be streamlined.

Paraphrased: difficult systems will get accsesible versions, like the preforming of auto-combo's,

And that will work like a train, because developer arc system works has already succesfully experimented with this. In the amazing dragon ball fighterz the autocombo's looked awesome (everyone could play), but experts were not disadvantaged (tougher manual combo's where still better).

That the rich guilty gear is getting the same treatment is a smart long term plan.

HANDDRAWN

Thought, there is another important reason why the upcoming guilty gear is going to demand a lot of attention: it could become the prettiest videogame up until now. And there isn't a word hyperbolic about that.

Fighting games have always tried to look like tightly animated movie.

(Their spelling mistake or at least i think it's one?)

And thats something the previous generation guilty gear games (xrd, revelator, and rev 2) had already succeeded in.

This is because of the completely unique and timestealing way with which arc system works emulated the look of 2d anime with 3d graphics

[arttrampbelle]

I honestly don't even think they truly care about mileena. If they did. They wouldn't have the tarkatans be a disease. They wouldn't erase her purpose. I want her n kitana to reconcile,but not like this.

I don't even think they have a plot. because i haven't seen anything that really speaks of a plot besides liu kang playing around in the sandbox of time so to speak.

The gameplay is legit copycats of marvel vs capcom,really bad stuff of the og mk games aka the stiffness,and trying to compete heavy with tekken and street fighter(which is blowing them out the water despite the street fighter fans and their own discourse. Mk is laughable to them rn and i dont blame them) but thats gameplay wise.

Storywise i just feel its sloppy,rushed,and lazy rn. Maybe it will be better later on but i doubt it if this is what is to come.

They cant retcon themselves outta this one this time. They cant pull the same thing they did in 11. They dont have as many big named stars and voice actors. Which honestly they did rely on too much.

I love Steven blum as subzy. Hanzo fit too.

Oh and tagawa back as shang? Blew it out of the water. Stole the whole damn game.

They wont hold a candle to that. Despite the plot holes of 11. I was a but too harsh on it. Compared to what they are doing currently.....11 wasn't that bad.

My fave is reduced to a dlc....again......and there is no gameplay. He gets killed off in the teaser trailer. And looks awful.

But hey,being a mk villain lover and main is harsh territory. But its to be expected.

*sigh* i will as a shang main and fan never relive that feeling i got in aftermath will i?

I hate what they are doing to liu kang. Fr. He never wanted to be a God. But I've already talked about this before on why i hate it,why its bad,and why it sucks that they completely ruined my dude. And unless they make him a villain now,it wont be good. Nor would it make any sense otherwise. Because he is way too arrogant.

Anyways i absolutely once again ,agree

Okay, these thoughts have been bothering us since the first release of the trailer. When the gameplay intro dialogues leaked into the network, we felt some vague anxiety, but with the publication of character descriptions, these doubts became stronger. Here's what we want to say: in the New Era of Liu Kang, all the characters that were shown to us are a mixture of two different characters - in behavior, place in the plot, roles. See for yourself: the current Raiden is a morphing of Raiden and the mortal Liu Kang. Kitana is a mix of Kitana and Jade. Mileena is a mixture of Mileena herself and Kitana (princess, elder sister). The Scorpion (whoever he is) is probably Kuai and Hanzo (the venerable warrior Lin Kuei and Bi Han's younger brother, but in a yellow uniform). However, most of all in this bacchanal, it is Bi Han who confuses. Because he is essentially a mixture of Bi Han himself and the Sector. A man with ambitions of dominating his clan over all others, who seems to have killed his own father, the Grandmaster. Between rounds, the phrase "Die like my father" can be heard from Bi Han, which hints at his involvement. And this is essentially what the Sector was doing. He aspired to power by any methods, was ideologically loyal to the clan, was the son of a Grandmaster and killed his father. Why the hell was this done? Bi Han has always been portrayed as a man who doesn't care much about power. From the very first part, he was the one who wanted to leave the clan (the ending of Sub-Zero in the original MK1). And now the writers have decided to make him an asshole by mixing him with another character. What for? To make the Scorpion look better against his background? To be forgiven for killing Bi Han? And Bi Han always dies, he has not survived in any game, cartoon or movie yet. Is this such a preparation for fratricide so that we do not strongly condemn Scorpio? We would really like to believe in some crazy theory, that the plot will show an incredible message (it is possible that good is impossible without sacrifice), but you know - this is NRS. When it comes to plots, it's worth remembering that the development of events that you presented in your head first will be correct. The most banal, the most ordinary, trivial and without fiction development of events will be true. Because the NRS writers don't think about the plot for more than five minutes. It's absolutely disgusting. We feel cheated. They show us completely different characters and try to tell us that these are the ones we love. But it's not them. Don't lie to us. We desperately want to believe that the plot will still surprise us, that the studio will not do this to us by changing the characters so radically. But if in the end everything stays like this, then go to hell. We're just going to ignore the fucking new canon.

[radramblog]

Nickelodeon Star-brawl All-man (or whatever it’s called)

The hype around the Nickelodeon Platform Fighter has been pretty sizable. Considering the last post on this blog, you might assume I have an opinion about the game, now that its been out for a couple days.

Well, I do. Because I played it last night. So how does it shack up?

…ehhhh?

The mechanics of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl are kind of similar to other similar games, but I think the word I’d use for them is consistent. The developers looked at how input and control mechanics worked in other games and asked why certain things are the way they were, and changed them if they didn’t approve. Why can’t you do strong attacks or grabs in the air? You can in this game now. Why are your attacks different if you’re holding left or right or no direction? In this game, they’re the same. Why would some characters be better at dealing with projectiles than others? In this game, everyone gets the same options. And so on. I would argue this simplification better suits a game aimed at a younger audience, but I’m not entirely sure this one is given the roster.

The roster indicates to me that the nostalgia market is really what the game is going for. The game’s 20 playable characters represent 13 cartoons, only 5 of which have any media from the last decade (and I’m not sure Hey! Arnold’s 2017 movie should count), and 3 of those are either long-running (TMNT, Spongebob) or are connected to older series (Korra). So I’m fairly certain they were going for a higher age bracket than the people who are these show’s target demographic now.

I think the best way to describe this game is clunky. Jank, even. Taking characters with such varied artstyles and making them look cohesive is difficult at the best of times, but the overall aesthetic of the game is pretty unattractive (this is my opinion). Some of the mechanics feel confused- the Strafe mechanic would make a lot more sense if the advancing back-aerials it would allow were actually in the game, and if less attacks (particularly n-airs) hit both directions anyway. The controls have very limited customization, which is particularly frustrating considering how many buttons the game uses by default and how utterly weird the default mapping is- not to mention the bug my friends and I experienced on the Switch version that kept rebinding our controls between games. A fair few things clearly needed more time to test- as an example, in the game’s Sports mode, there are cases where you can score a point by hitting the ball with one attack from where it spawns (e.g. Aang F-strong on Omashu), and while I’m not sure how well you can or how much you should test something like that it stuck out to me.

There’s also just a lot of little things. A lack of “are you sure”/confirmation buttons on inputs that are easy to make as a mistake (e.g. control rebinding) or will lead to a long load screen when you make a mistake (e.g. after a game, A defaults to a rematch while B takes you all the way to the main menu). The game’s maps are often frustrating or confusing (the portion of the plate you can actually stand on for Powdered Toast Man’s stage is super unclear), and only a few of them are actually, like, fun (basic maps notwithstanding). Some graphics need serious work- Toph looks completely lifeless on the character select screen, and I’m pretty sure you could count the polygons on Sandy’s hat in her loss screen animation.

Finally, this is a fully-priced game- 70 Australian Dollarydoos!!!- and it does not have the content to justify that. There are no alternate skins, basically no customization, and only one music track per level. 20 characters/maps was a lot back in the days of the first Street Fighter or Tekken games, but this game has less content than similarly priced games from 20 years ago. This would be fine if the game cost maybe 20-30 dollars less, but at that AAA price, I’d expect a bit more.

It’s frustrating, because there is a genuinely good game under all the issues. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a solid fighting game, with genuinely satisfying mechanics and surprisingly snappy gameplay. Once you get a handle on the controls, they do work pretty well, and there’s a lot of fat trimmed compared to other games. It does the Rivals of Aether thing of making Wavedashing easy and fun, and the inputs aren’t nearly as complex as games like that require which is nice for the less dextrous among us. The characters’ kits are solid, even when it’s clear what they’re aping, and the animations are full of both charm and nods to both the shows they hail from and the memes arising from them. And some of the music utterly slaps. I think after a few updates, which we know are coming, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl could be a very good game- it just needs time to get there.

…And there, I managed not to (explicitly) mention Smash Bros once. You’re fucking welcome, nerds.

[aion-rsa]

Guilty Gear: 15 Most Powerful Characters

https://ift.tt/31c9Nc1

Guilty Gear has one of the more ridiculous storylines in fighting games. A beautiful-looking series with a fantastic cast of heroes and villains, the sci-fi anime aesthetic lends itself to some wacky concepts.

The broad strokes of the series aren’t all that bizarre, as it tells a pretty basic story overall. In a world where magic was discovered, three scientists accidentally unleashed a new type of species that led to a lengthy war between these creatures (Gears) and humanity. One scientist became a genocidal monster, one a grizzled anti-hero, and another a mysterious wildcard watching over everything. Eventually, the war ended and peace reigned, but the possibility of the war reigniting is a constant threat.

That’s not too out there on its own. Except the story also features a large vigilante doctor who wears a paper bag to hide his identity as a crazed serial killer. There’s a ninja who gets elected President of the United States, only to later figure out it would be easier to just start his own country. There’s a comatose boy in a weaponized bed whose personality is a mix between Freddy Krueger and Mandark from Dexter’s Lab. There’s a yoyo-wielding bounty hunter, a time-traveling Axl Rose knockoff, a dandy vampire, an assassin who uses reality-bending billiards as a fighting style, and so on.

Shit gets weird.

With Guilty Gear Strive finally out on store shelves, giving us the long-awaited final battle between Sol Badguy and That Man, it’s time to take a look at the most powerful beings in the Guilty Gear universe. One character I’m leaving off the list is Leopaldon from Guilty Gear Isuka. Not only is the game not canon, but even WHAT Leopaldon is (a dog and a wizard piloting a yeti?) isn’t well-explained. But if you want Leopaldon, he’s definitely on our official ranking of all the characters in the series.

Anyway, here the most powerful characters in Guilty Gear:

15. IZUNA

Izuna, a hero introduced in Guilty Gear 2, is a bit on the mysterious side, but there’s enough information to make it apparent that he’s someone to take serious. Not only is he over 500 years old, but he resides in the Backyard, an environment so uninhabitable that most others would be crushed by its magical atmosphere. He’s skilled as a swordsman, and his teleportation abilities are said to be equal to the strength of several hundred mages combined.

It’s presumed that Izuna didn’t show up in Guilty Gear Xrd because Ariels saw him as such a threat to her plans that she sealed him away and kept him out of play before her schemes could really kick into gear. That’s quite the compliment, in a roundabout way.

14. RAVEN

Raven is all about experience and durability. He simply can’t die, can contort himself, and is unable to feel pain. Even his Instant Kill sees him summon energy that engulf him and his opponent, which turns his enemy to dust while he simply lives to fight another day. He also has control over spatial magic in a way that makes Faust look like a novice. He’s absolutely a force to be reckoned with no matter what character he’s up against.

Still, resilience can only get you so far. When you get down to it, he’s comparable to someone like Deadpool or Wolverine, albeit with an even stronger healing factor and some magic bells and whistles. He may live to fight again, but he can still be overwhelmed and defeated with the right strategy. Guys like Slayer and Dizzy might not be able to completely annihilate him, but they can presumably contain him.

13. THE VALENTINE SERIES

The initial Valentine was the final boss in Guilty Gear 2 and Ramlethal Valentine was the boss in Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign-. They, along with Elphelt Valentine and Jack-O Valentine, are treated as crucial parts of the series.

Yet, they just…never really do anything that justifies ranking them higher on this list. Plus I have to lump them together because it’s hard to really compare them when they can apparently shut off each other’s powers.

Then again, I guess the original Valentine is the alpha of the group as she could upgrade her form a couple times over for the sake of final boss battles. Not that it did her any good.

12. I-NO

I-No is a tough one to figure out. Guilty Gear XX introduces her as a major threat, and a mysterious one at that. Her origin isn’t explored at first, and by the time the series explains what the hell she is (some kind of being the universe created out of everyone’s wishes for a better tomorrow?), it doesn’t really give her much context as a combatant. That said, “Manipulating probability” is one of her powers, making her pretty damn formidable when combined with her almost unlimited battle experience and toughness.

Read more

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Guilty Gear: Ranking All the Characters

By Gavin Jasper

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By Gavin Jasper

Even though she’s treated as the boss character in Guilty Gear XX and spends the story messing with everyone, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core lets the rest of the cast catch up to her. Most of her endings involve her being defeated and even killed by those she just beat in-game. For instance, I-No defeats Baiken in-game but then Baiken just gets back up and murders her.

11. BAIKEN AND ANJI MITO

These two are so intertwined and comparable that they’ll have to share a spot. As I already mentioned, they both own I-No no matter who wins the in-game battle, which I’m going to take as a sign that they’re simply superior to her on the battlefield. Both are part of the series’ interesting subplot where people of Japanese descent are both incredibly rare, but also teeming with energy. Unlike May, these two have actually tapped into their genetic potential.

But it has its limits. Baiken has been demolished by Justice in the past, and her attempts to get revenge on That Man only ended in frustration when she couldn’t land a single hit. And he wasn’t even fighting back!

10. KLIFF UNDERSN

Poor Kliff is one of those old school fighting game characters who dies in his own ending, therefore dying in canon. Not that it’s surprising, considering he’s entering a fighting tournament in his late 80s. Still, Kliff is a legend and made a name for himself during much of the war against Justice. Sure, he was taken off the board before we could see how well he’d measure up to some of the younger warriors, but according to canon, Kliff survived at least 16 encounters with Justice.

He couldn’t seal the deal, but surviving against Justice that many times is too impressive not to give him a spot on this list. It’s not like Justice is the kind to spare a defeated foe out of respect. Kliff had to earn his survival time and time again.

9. KY KISKE

Ky Kiske has spent the entire series getting the short straw when compared to his rival and co-protagonist Sol. As Sol’s power keep creeping upwards and making him more and more OP with each new installment, Ky is just off to the side, feeling sorry for himself. He is still more than capable, but on paper, he just can’t hang with the likes of Sol and the other heavy hitters.

The epilogue for Guilty Gear Xrd suddenly shone a new light on Ky, though. Sol fought alongside Ky during the Crusades and saw what he was capable of. It looked nothing like the man he dueled with on multiple occasions across their adventures. Ky then admitted the truth: he had been holding back all this time because, while he may want to defeat Sol, he doesn’t want to kill him and those are two very different fighting strategies for him. Ky may not be some kind of nuclear option in battle, but if he truly wanted to, he could kill you 10 times before you hit the ground.

8. SLAYER

From his first appearance, Slayer made his mark as the retired assassin who was simply too strong for this shit. He’s more of an interested onlooker than a major player and usually only gets involved for the sake of his own amusement. With his otherworldly biology and centuries of experience, Slayer is rarely shown to be in any real peril. Even in defeat, he lies awake and bored, suggesting that he lost only because he allowed it.

It takes a while, but we do eventually get to see some measure of his potential. He’s casual about danger, but there are threats out there that could at the very least make him break a sweat. That’s basically the rest of this list.

7. BEDMAN

Bedman spends the first half of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- making his way through the rest of the roster. Depicted as an enigmatic being who fights his enemies both physically and mentally (and is near unstoppable on both fronts), Bedman not only overpowers series regulars, but is able to take on multiple opponents at once while still making them look like the underdogs.

The moment that truly shows how dangerous Bedman is when he comes across Slayer. At first, we get the idea that it’s a stalemate and that Slayer may be up against someone worthy of his effort. Then, sometime later, we see Bedman standing triumphantly over Slayer, Millia, and Venom, who all lie at his feet. And after that, he still keeps going, taking out Faust and Chipp while forcing Johnny to escape. Dude is scary.

6. PRESIDENT GABRIEL

Gabriel showed up in Potemkin’s ending, and since then Arc System Works has been playing up how incredible he is while never, ever putting him in a game! It’s outright maddening. Make him a DLC character or something. We’ve been waiting decades!

Read more

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Mortal Kombat Characters Ranked

By Gavin Jasper

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He’s a man Potemkin looks up to and confides in by the end of the first game. Then they introduce Slayer and tease tease this nigh-unbeatable immortal is Gabriel’s rival. It isn’t until Guilty Gear Xrd that it really becomes apparent how tough this guy is. After the story spent all this time building up Bedman, Gabriel completely clowns him like nobody’s business.

That’s what you get for killing that dog, you comatose asshole.

5. SOL BADGUY

Every now and then, fiction gives us a character so powerful that even trying to make them cease to exist does nothing. Blow up Darkseid with anti-matter, use magic to erase the Sentry, go back in time and destroy the MacGuffin that makes Apocalypse immortal, etc. They somehow just exist in spite of that. Sol is on that level. I-No once sent him back in time, had him kill his younger self, and Sol simply shrugged off the paradox. The dude is ridiculous.

Sol grows more powerful in each game and even then we’re told that he’s holding back. By the time the dust settles, he’ll probably be worthy of #1 post on the list, but right now, he’s just a high-ranking, angry fellow who’s important enough to be what the series’ bizarre title is named after.

4. JUSTICE

Despite being killed off in the first game, Justice is the constant source of dread in Guilty Gear’s story. Many of the games have revolved around the threat of Justice’s return, whether it’s getting her daughter to follow in her footsteps, cloning, or even resurrection. And yes, Justice is bad news because when she was active, she led a war against mankind that lasted 101 years. She only lost because she was sealed away.

After being released from her prison, Justice was eventually done in by Sol Badguy, the only Gear to predate her creation. It could be said that Sol took her out when she was weakened, but it could also be said that Sol was holding back.

Regardless, I’m going to rank Justice higher because of of her mental control over the entire Gear race, Sol excluded. Yeah, that’s a pretty major weapon to have in your back pocket, even if it doesn’t really come into play in a one-on-one fighting game. Sol was lucky to be in a situation where he could take her out before she could call in the reserves.

3. DIZZY

Dizzy makes me think of when someone is writing a Justice League story and has to come up with a reason for Superman to not be around, like he’s busy in space or off in another dimension. Dizzy isn’t the protagonist of Guilty Gear, but she is the daughter of two of the most powerful characters, and is mainly held back by plot contrivance and her attempts at pacifism. If she wanted to, she could wipe the floor with practically anyone, and there’s even an alternate reality (one where Ky died during the Crusades) that shows her embracing her potential and leading the Gears to victory against humanity.

Her so-called “Instant Kill” in Guilty Gear Xrd paints the best picture. Dizzy reluctantly fires a projectile that misses its mark, but leaves a horrifying mushroom cloud in the distance. Her freaked out opponents can only survey the damage, slowly turn to her, and surrender. Again, that’s what she’s capable of when holding back.

2. ASUKA R. KREUZ/THAT MAN

I can’t think of a more ambitious concept for a fighting game character than That Man. He’s alluded to in Sol Badguy’s ending in the first Guilty Gear game, making you imagine he’ll be the final boss of the next game or maybe the one after that. Instead, he makes mysterious appearances in the Guilty Gear X games. We never get a good look at him, but we see that he’s capable of easily slapping aside anyone who gets in his way. Then he pops up in Guilty Gear 2, including in a boss battle where Dragon Install Sol Badguy can’t even dent him. The Guilty Gear Xrd series gives him a little more dimension, finally revealing his true face and name.

Now it’s time for Guilty Gear Strive where maybe, just maybe, That Man will be DLC down the line. Maybe. Since the beginning, the series has been building to a climactic battle between Sol Badguy and Asuka R. Kreuz. As it is right now, That Man has proved to be higher on the food chain than his old scientist colleague, but that kind of uphill battle is expected.

1. ARIELS

Guilty Gear 2 and Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- built up “Mother,” the force behind the Valentines and the one signing Bedman’s checks. At the end of -Sign-, we found out that the big mastermind is…a lady Pope possessed by a divine force. Sure, why not. Then in the next game, we got to see her go from putting on a professional and benevolent face for the public to going on a killing spree, painting her face like a juggalo, and ranting about how humanity is redundant and needs to be done away with.

Once again, Ariels would have made for a kickass final boss in Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator, but she remained part of story mode only. She was eventually taken down, but it took Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, Sin Kiske, and That Man teaming up to do it. But as revealed in Guilty Gear Strive, she’s still alive!

What is your ranking of the most powerful Guilty Gear fighters? Let us know in the comments!

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The post Guilty Gear: 15 Most Powerful Characters appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles About Fighting Games

I... honestly don’t know where to begin with this Rambling. I’ve been trying to think of a decent intro for over a week now and I just can’t be bothered to write a hook.

I guess I should start with myself.

Hello folks, I am Allen X. I do opinion pieces on the internet that I call Ramblings, write silly fanfictions about cute girls punching things, attempt to write original fictions about cute girls punching things, and very occasionally write fan lyrics to video game OSTs. And today’s Rambling is about fighting games and my current thoughts on them as of late. 

I’m a huge fan of fighting games, been playing them since Tekken 3 and Soul Calibur 3, the latter being one of my favorite 3D fighting games period. After that I got into Blazblue around the time Continuum Shift came out, and I’ve played every game in that series since, becoming a massive fan of Air-Dashing fighting games. 

I’m not a huge fan of ranked listings, but here’s a quick list of my 5 favorite fighting games just so you all understand where I’m coming from. So in no particular order:

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Blazblue Chronophantasma

Soul Calibur 3

Dead or Alive 5

Under Night In-Birth Exe Latest

So with that list I hope you understand I’ve played a lot of fighting games in my time. That list is just a fraction of the games I’ve played over these last ten years.

And folks, I don’t know how to feel about modern fighting games at the moment. 

I think the current games out are fine, but as a fan of fighting games since the early 2000s they just don’t scratch a certain itch. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but nowadays fighting games just feel very bare-bones. Most of them only have an online mode, a training, maybe a combo/mission mode to help learn combos, and then maybe an arcade/story, with that story mode being bare in some way, shape, or form. It’s just feels empty nowadays.

But... I think I should give an example before going further. And I think the best game that shows my... conflicting feelings is Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. 

And where to begin with Cross Tag? This was a game that literally came out of my dreams and into reality. An actual pipe dream that I and many other fans of Arc System Works games jokingly wished for. Under Knight In-Birth, Persona 4 Arena, Blazblue, all in one game. It sounded like the wildest of wild dreams.

And then this trailer dropped. And I lost my shit. I think everyone lost their shit. 

I screamed.

I jumped out of my chair.

I nearly broke my damn tablet in shock seeing this trailer. 

And Ruby Rose was being added? Something that Mori and Ishiwatari had only teased about in passing? 

I... I needed some air after watching that trailer.

I needed a drink and some food. 

I’m pretty sure I lost three pounds from that trailer, and I’m barely 115 pounds, I need to keep all the weight I can put on. I was so excited to play that game after that. A crossover of three of the best 2D fighters in the 2010s and one of the most popular niche IPs of the 2010s, all together in one game, with unique character interactions. And an English Dub. Finally, a chance to hear Patrick Seitz, Cristina Vee, David Vincent, and more back where they should had been in Central Fiction. It was just... a magical time to be a fighting game fan.

And then I actually played the game... and boy did I have opinions on it.

I did a Rambling about this game last year after playing a bit of the beta. My overall thoughts, aside from my gloating, were that I felt it was lacking in complexity, but had potential to maintain my attention if they could meet a few of my expectations. And not much of my opinion has changed since then. If anything, I honestly wish I got off my butt and wrote more about this game while it was still fresh in my mind. 

But, back to my original point, this game is a good starting point in a lot of my conflicting feelings about fighting games nowadays, and I think I should start by discussing...

My Expectations

Last year I had three main expectations for Cross Tag. Those being a story mode that was more entertaining than insightful, free DLC of some kind, and a fulfilling single player experience. These are the three main things I want in most fighting games, as I’m not into the competitive seen outside from online get-togethers nor do I have a positive opinion of the competitive side of the FGC to begin with. So, how did Cross Tag stack up?

Well, I can happily say that at least two out of three isn’t bad. 

But I should probably break this down a little, as again, these three points are what I look for in most fighting games.

The Story Mode

Much like I hoped, the story modes were relatively simple and didn’t get too deep into everyone’s lore and backstory, which is honestly for the best. I’m a fan of Blazblue’s story, I really am, but I wouldn’t wish for that encyclopedia of lore known as the Blazblue world-building and the mini encyclopedia of lore that is Under Night and RWBY world-building mashed together. A fan of all these series I am, but that would had been much.

That said, the story modes were great. I was cackling at almost every interaction. Ragna squaring up to Kanji and Wald, Ruby being an absolute weeaboo when she confuses Yosuke and Yukiko for a ninja and geisha respectively, Ragna being surrounded by all the robo-girls save for Labrys, Hyde just... dealing with everything in his story mode, Weiss and Orie teaming up to take down Ragna in the name of justice. The list goes on, but the point remains. I loved a lot of this mode, my only real wish being that it was a little longer and didn’t focus solely on the main character of each series. I was also hoping for something a little more... grounded. Well, not something so ridiculous as some weird AI/Goddess controlling everything behind the scenes and forcing everyone to fight anyway. I know with the Cross Tag 2.0 update coming there’ll be a new story mode, and I hope it’s a little more inclusive than this one. I’m also hoping for a bit more replayability too. This story mode was fine, but I’d like to see something I could come back to and want to come back to. 

To give an example, I think Continuum Shift Extend had the best story mode of any fighting on pure replay value. There are at least 20 didn’t character perspectives in that mode with alternate endings and gag endings included. Each character has a decent arc and narrative, they occasionally run into other named characters and have their timelines mix, and there’s even a retelling of the previous game with some added bits thrown in. I know I said Chronophantasma was my favorite of the Blazblue series, but Continuum Shift had the most love put into it. I’m not expecting something of that extent in Cross Tag 2.0, but something at least trying to reach that would be great.

Ah, but moving on.

Free DLC

This one’s a real technicality and I’m tempted to not count it, but for the degenerates like me that bought the original season pass, we also got to enjoy Seth, Heart, Teddie, and Naoto K. for free. That’s... not exactly what I was hoping for in my old post, but we did get something out of it. In the future I hope that Cross Tag will follow something a little closer to how Samurai Shodown handled their season passes, letting early adopters download it for free on the first day or week before charging as a reward for those giving it a chance... or at least running the the store page quick enough. 

In all seriousness, I do hope for something to the effect of the reason of Season 2′s characters being either cheap or free for the first few days before charging whatever retail price they set it to. It’d just give some incentive to stay up to date on the game and encourage people to actively play it.

But sadly, two out of three meant I didn’t get the main thing I wanted, which was...

A Good Single Player Experience 

I had mentioned I wanted something akin to Chronophantasma’s Abyss Mode or Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Golden Arena Mode. Something with a leveling system or that had some replay value to it for the single player folks. Sadly, I didn’t get that. Like many current fighting games, Cross Tag is rather bare-bones with the content. There’s not even a basic arcade mode, a staple in every ASW fighting game. I’m... disappointed by that. And this isn’t the only game either. I believe it took Street Fighter V an entire season to get an arcade mode. Tekken 7, a series known for its wild mini games, barely had anything beyond a story mode, a very bare bones arcade mode, and a treasure mode that... just didn’t feel fun to play. This is from a series where the last numbered series had an expansive 3D-esque brawler mode for it’s story mode with special items and costumes that gave some really wild effects. Soul Calibur 3 had a mini Fire Emblem-esque strategy game with Swords and Soul Mode where you got to create a character with a pretty original moveset all things considered, several movesets in fact. But sadly... a lot of that is starting to go away.

I just feel like with the push toward competitive play a lot of fighting games aren’t bothering to keep in mind casual players, and that saddens me. I don’t play too many fighting games for the sake of getting better, but that’s where we’re going. I want to say that’s bad for business, but Street Fighter is pushing out season 4 and EVO is still one of the biggest and most marketable events in the FGC. Maybe I’m just being an old man yelling at those darned kids and their bare-bones gaming content. I’m willing to accept my 25-years-old mindset is a bit old fashioned in the year of 2019 where time and technology is blitzing by and those in our mid-to-late twenties who have been playing games since the 90s are seen as the old men in the gaming community, but I just had to get my thoughts out. ...

...

...

God, I miss the line breaks Tumblr use to have, makes these closing statements a lot easier.

Anyway folks, with all that said I think I’m going to call it here. For those expecting the Weekly Update it’s been a real slow week, so not much to report. Consider this Rambling my update. I’ve finally gotten through the first chapter of Arifureta and honestly that’s all I need to read to get an idea on the Rambling I want to do for that series. I bought 6 volumes of Tokyo Ghoul:re against my better judgement, so expect me to talk about that next week. And slowly but sure I’m getting some notes together for the Taboo Tattoo Rambling. So look forward to all that and I’ll see you all later.

[jawbreakers2015]

Player Profile: Crafekster

Norwegian artist, Lethal League veteran and in the top 6 of the Jawbreakers Stunfest Qualifier

Where do your name and its variations come from?

Long time ago, around 2006, a boy named himself... "Im gonna be Craft2299! hyuk!" out of inspiration of Crafting in World of warCRAFT. (Not minecraft). As he progressed and matured, this name changed: Craft-Crafter-Crafxter-Crafekster. The meaning has been lost and as such, he is now known as Crafek. Most mispronounce it with "Kraifek", and that is just funny.

How do you feel about your performance in this tournament?

Im very happy about it. All fights made me make audible loud sounds of laughter, but especially my last one versus Cherry. I couldnt be happier. It sounds corny but I really do love a good fight.

What was your strategy preparing for and competing in the tournament?

This may sound odd, but I was not that much prepared. I dont spend as much practice time as some other people do. I participated on the tournament a day prior, to warm up to a tournament day. I also worked a bit on my "Kill Moves" with nitro, its something you see me do often. But generally I try to be in a comfortable place in life and have a good mood. I feel that I play the best that way.

During the tournament I heard kirbbbb had been training your Nitro, any truth to that?

As of now/being asked this, there has been very little training. But he did exchange a trick that I did use once or twice during the tournament to my success. However, he has adopted me only recently so the training has just begun. But he did give lots of cheer during this small time so Im going to have to come back and repay him.

Which was your hardest match of the tournament?

Cherry was a very hard match that brought out an even better version of me for the "almost" comeback. But Daio was the one who brought me down to Loosers bracket almost effortlesly. (Pretty much effortlesly).

What surprised you most about the tournament?

Personally, the support and Cheer that I got from people! It is totally undeserved but I am grateful. But across the tournament, is how many doomboxes there was. Fighting doombox is pretty different than fighting other characters, seeing him often kind of normalises this difference a bit I feel.

Is there anyone you didn’t face that you wish you did?

I was ready for Neer. I do admire and am inspired by his playstyle and I feel like I have some kind of grasp against it despite him being better than me, but didnt get to perform against him.

Do you remember where you first saw Lethal League and what hooked you?

Totalbiscuit made a video on it for LL1, which was close to the games release. I bought it almost instantly due to how interresting and fun it looked and had the halmarks of a fighting game (A genre I love).

What’s your current Lethal League experience?

Semi casual, 400hr in LL1, 100hr in LLB

Who are your main/side/counter character picks?

Nitro and dice are my mains. I try to main Nitro, hes got flow with his super.

What are your favourite character outfits?

Raptors Ex outfit

What are your stage preferences?

Any long stage (For nitro), avoiding short stages against characters who do well on short stages.

What input method do you use?

Controller

You've made a lot of visual modifications for Lethal League. Have you ever looked at modding Lethal League Blaze or would you like to?

Yes! But I cannot tell you to expect anything soon. Blaze is different, and if im going to mod the visuals in anyway, it has to be drastic. The game is 3D, which poses layers of problems that I actually havent touched on yet. Im looking forward to figuring those out when I find the time.

Lethal League modification

What are some other games you play?

Soul calibur, Tekken, Street Fighter, Sea of Thieves etc

Will you come to Stunfest?

Sadly no, for monetary reasons, its been a while since ive been to a tournament personally. And I do wish I could join a big one like stunfest.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?

Thanks for the cheers everyone! You will see more of me and I hope that I can give any sense of joy back to you guys!

[sonkitty]

SonKitty/Kazamacat Tekken 7 Review

Video Transcription:

Greetings, all. I'm Cathy also known as Cat to some people. I'm going to review Tekken 7. If you're unfamiliar with me, I'm a huge fan of Devil Jin and Jin Kazama. In fact, I mostly play these games for those characters. I do not play at a competitive level and mostly practice and fight the CPU in modes provided by the games. I will approach the game from this viewpoint, and a very large chunk of it will be about the story.

In fact, that's where we'll start. I am not going to shy from spoilers, so if you care about that, stop watching now. The story presented to us throughout the trailers over the years is Kazumi asking some figure, we later learn to be a guest character, Akuma from the Street Fighter fighting game series, to kill Heihachi if she can't. He's going to do all these terrible things, he being Heihachi, and the trailers build up this big final showdown between Heihachi and Kazuya with Jin not at all present. Kazumi aside, Tekken players have seen this story before, and it ended with Jin being a big factor-by that, I mean Tekken 4.

Well, in the case of Tekken 7, we got the story that was advertised. I'll say that. And I had a lot of complaints about Tekken 6 not being that, because that was going to be some big showdown between Jin and Kazuya and instead, we got an entire mode dedicated to two crappy expansion characters. Of note, Alisa is one of my mains, but my head-canon of her is extremely different from Namcanon. I even change her name to Melissa to indicate she's my version of Alisa.

I think the story mode was handled better in that I got to be some different characters as opposed to stuck with two expansion characters. Overall, I still prefer the Tekken 5 approach best. In that game, characters get prologue art, a cut scene or two I call interludes with other characters they meet at the tournament, of relevance to them, and then an ending.

The story itself is really bad. Let's start with the voice-over telling us repeatedly throughout the story that fighting is about who's left standing, nothing else. That's it? Nothing about training? Nothing about learning through failure to be better? And while we're at it, “left standing” and “still alive” can mean two different things, but the context of the climactic moment in this game is Kazuya kills Heihachi, which would mean that main theme of the story then is that in order to fight, you should kill the person so you are the only person left standing. I don't think that's a good message. And I think even if the message were that the game seems to confuse fighting with winning and to me, they're not the same thing.

Another bad component of the story is the Jin hunt. There are a lot of characters who should be going after Jin in some capacity: Kazuya, Raven, Miguel, Hwoarang. Nina was having the Mishima Zaibatsu search for him, but when Heihachi showed up and took the Mishima Zaibatsu from her, his logic went that in order to expose Kazuya, he needs Jin and my initial reaction that was, “No, you don't.” And then  the story proceeds with them not getting Jin and exposing Kazuya anyway, so that pretty much confirmed exactly what I thought. And do not get me started on Lars. Oh, nope, it's too late, we have to do this. If you don't know me, Lars is my most hated character ever. He goes after Jin under the pretense of, “We have to put everything on Jin. Now my initial reaction was, “I don't know what he means. What, like execute him, put him on trial? What?” And by the way, no, he doesn't.

So let me see if I have this straight. This turd from the last game, last mainline story game, went and took over half of the Tekken Force, as part of some rebellion to the hostile world take-over and then after he gets exactly what he wants in Tekken 6, he still think she needs Jin, that Jin can solve the entire world's problem because Jin was the entire world's problem. Now I have always had a problem with the fact that Tekken 6 includes this “over half” line of the Tekken Force because I don't actually believe some half-baked expansion character can do that and this now half-baked plot point only further convinces me. But anyway, Jin's like, “yeah, the solution for everything is for me to kill Kazuya because I have the Devil's blood.”

Now, they could have made this work better with instead of saying, “We need Jin for reasons that don't make sense, actually, we don't want Jin's body in the wrong hands because the likes of Kazuya or the UN may not simply kill him but try experiment on him, and he's dangerous because Devil.” Oh, and you do not save people from tyranny by killing one person.

I really wish I could be done talking about Lars, I hate him so much, but this story is so, so bad. I hated playing Scenario Campaign, and I especially hated the contrived drama of Alisa's shutdown as some dramatic death and the ridiculous excuse for a friendship these two had and all of this awfulness is shown as, “yeah, we really did that, and we're sticking by it.” Alisa could be so much more and better without him. But anyway, back to that annoying butt-head. The story also says that the only reason Heihachi fathered this turd was to prove that he did not have the devil gene. The story also says Heihachi dropped Kazuya off a cliff to prove it to him that Kazuya had the devil gene. Otherwise, the fall would kill Kazuya. So, based on the game's own logic presented in its own story mode, Lars should be dead because Heihachi would have killed him in trying to prove he did not have the devil gene and yet...what a failure.

The narration is by a man who lost his family to the war, and one of the reviews I skimmed said the deadpan narration was comical though perhaps not intended to be so. I mainly found the opening funny because I wondered what story I walked into that started talking about a son's love for his father. Anyway, I kept wondering if he'd be Gigas or something, but no, and overall, I don't think I cared for it.  The story mode focuses on the Mishima family so a lot of characters do not make the cut for having a presence here, yet nameless here does.

Can you believe that I'm still not done in telling you how bad this story is? So, as mentioned earlier, Kazumi asked Akuma to kill Heihachi and, we later find out, Kazuya too. Akuma, he's in this story even though a lot of other Tekken characters aren't, goes to do that, defeats Kazuya, and given that he was asked to kill him, said he was there to kill him, guess what he did not do? He did not check to see if Kazuya was dead, meaning he did not kill him. He just left!

I feel disappointed that Kazumi really was dead because that means we have five Mishima characters throughout the series (Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin, Jinpachi and now Kazumi), and the only woman among them is the one who is so definitively dead, her role in the story is actually a flashback even though she was the arcade boss.

I'm almost done on the story part. After you beat the story mode, you can get endings for other characters by playing their episodes. On the one hand, this made unlocking their endings really easy. On the other hand, most of these endings were not very good and even if they had good points, they were generally pretty short, presumably because of time and effort dedicated to the awfulness of the Mishima story. Devil Jin appears in his own and Hwoarang's episodes. Jin appears in Miguel's. I knew going into this game that I couldn't think of any version of the story that would satisfy me after the debacle of Tekken 6 so my main bar was some good Jin and Devil Jin footage and there was so little of it, I'm overall disappointed.

Onward, to everything else.

Arcade Battle is only 5 matches and left me confused with the ending of Akuma flexing his power and then getting a Game Over screen, thought I'd done something wrong. I haven't really looked back since playing the story mode. Treasure Battle is similar to past Ghost Battle modes, but you do not get to pick from three different opponents and you do have to deal with these gimmicks like turbo battle, double damage, aerial combo and Special Matches against certain characters. They are Kazumi, Heihachi, Devil Kazuya, Jin Kazama, and Akuma. After awhile, these gimmicks are mildly annoying and if I'm not in the mood, I will exit. Rare items are too rare. After awhile, you're mostly earning money and just waiting around to hit the 2,000 battle mark to unlock everything at once. I mainly wanted Jin's Tekken 6 coat and since I'm not very good at using him, I tried Katarina and Lucky Chloe some, that also took a long time.

The practice mode is great. It has the usual elements and maybe past games had this feature, and I didn't notice but you can practice at specific points in the stages that have wall, balcony and/or floor breaks. I've done a lot of practicing. I think because I didn't play Tag 2 much and my mind struggles a lot since November 9th of last year, it helps alleviate stress and maybe one day, I'll be able to do those electrics every time or almost. I can say that I've been doing them more often and even got up to 3 at once.

New game-play mechanics include a Rage Art and Rage Drive. I love using Rage Arts. I usually don't even try for a Rage Drive but if I keep practicing, maybe I'll work them in. Devil Jin starts with a hellsweep, but the one or two times I focused on trying it in a Treasure Battle match, it didn't go well and I guess I gave up on it. I saw this really powerful Rage Drive combo with a Katarina player on Twitter and tried to learn it. I never did, but I learned the first part, and she has since become one of my mains. Hopefully, I'll remember to go back to trying it. My mains this time around include Devil Jin, Jin Kazama, Katarina, and Alisa. To a degree, you could include Lucky Chloe though I admit, it was mostly for manipulating the CPU. I picked up at least one combo. And you know, I wanted to add more mains, but when you start dedicating time to specific characters to learn more. well, it feels like there's only so much room in my brain for them sometimes. I missed Xiaoyu and Lili so played them a little but when I do a rotation of my main characters in Treasure Battle, I don't even think of trying them. Maybe I will, now that I've written this review.

That was quite a tangent but back to mechanics. Bound is gone, and now we have um, a tailspin move, and I don't remember on Tekken Zaibatsu if the “s” stood for “spin” or for “screw,” and the game itself doesn't seem to actually say, so, but it's a spinning move. And the spin can be used in combos. There are also, some moves have new properties called Power Crush, like Jin and Devil Jin have had Corpse Thrust for at least since Tekken 5, no, even longer um, but that is now a Power Crush move. Um, and for someone like me, that was extremely helpful against the CPU in Treasure Battle. The game lacks other usual modes from past games like Survival and Team Battle. Um, I liked Team Battle so I miss it. Survival's nice too, I mainly like miss Team Battle though.

Customizations are again not as good as what Tekken 6 offered. My Alisa customization in Tekken 6 wore a blue best over a long-sleeved black shirt, not an option. She wore shorts with her Battle Boots. You can get the Battle Boots this time but if you want to use them, they are with the bikini bottom. Again for all the tops like in Tag 2, you cannot pick say a specific pair of gloves you want with a shirt or jacket. Gloves either come with it or they don't. The hair options regress even more because I can no longer get the bushy ponytail I used to be reminiscent of Leona from King of Fighters for Alisa. For me, that is a significant part of my vision for the customization I want so that was a loss. I'm thinking about making a video of how backwards customization has gone for another time.

Another thing that's gone is replays. They'd be a few seconds to show what happened at the end of the match, and you could use that time to pick a button for a specific win pose if you wanted. You can still try to get a win pose you want, but the time frame is much tighter, and I miss the actual replays themselves as well.

The game has this cool feature that offers a jukebox where you can customize what music you listen to in the game. You can use tracks from past games, and that's really great. I tend to turn the music off because I concentrate better with none at all in Practice, and then just don't bother turn it back on a lot of time but when I do have it on, I don't like some of the Tekken 7 tracks, so I'm glad I had this feature to set them to other ones.

Moving on, I really, really love that technology has come to a point where we can all so easily share things, especially on PS4. I can show off my customizations and clip some random funny thing that happened. I've even used it to analyze what I might be missing in practice through like a frame-by-frame replay.

Quick remark on customizations. Before Patch 1.03, you could get some really dark black colors on your people and then after the update, many of them turn to a lighter gray that I know myself and others did not like at all. That it was so hard, it was hard to see sometimes, like in actual matches, but I find it hard to believe that it couldn't be better handled.

Anyway, back to sharing. I can see if my PS4 friends liked the things I shared on Twitter. Another perk of technology sharing is being able to watch so much top-level Tekken play so easily, thanks to YouTube and Twitch.

So, all in all, I found some things to enjoy this game, and I do intend to keep playing. Um, but I do kind of feel, that with the long wait, um, and even with my, what I felt, tempered expectations, of kind of saying, I didn't like Tekken 6, I didn't like these things, I know that these things can happen again, and trying to ready myself for what it could be, I'm still disappointed that so many things changed and not for the better. And I do hope that eventually, if this series continues, um, we can go back to a better place, similar to what we had before instead of feeling like the series is slowly stripping away some of the, a lot of the things that we took for granted um, in enjoying what Namco, not gave us, but you know, they put forth for us to buy. And so, you know, hopefully things will get better. Well, let me re-phrase that because I am not an optimistic or hopeful person when it comes to Tekken. Um, it'll be nice if that ever happens. I'll say that. I do not expect it to happen and it is, I do hope, that things do not keep getting worse. At the very least, I can say that.

So anyway, thanks for listening and/or watching my video. Bye-bye.

[thiswebsiteisbooty]

On the EVO donation drive

If you’re reading this on Tumblr and still following me you probably know that I pretty much only come around to post about EVO and then peace out a few days later. I’m not sure how many of you that is because Im not 100% on how the new dashboard works but if you are here then you know I’m around a little early. But I’m posting *about* EVO anyway so there ya go.

If you’re reading this on Facebook then I know a lot of you guys probably only have at best a passing knowledge of what EVO is but you’ve seen me post about it, particularly Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 a lot, so I’m just gonna ask if you guys have any spare money please consider donating here:

https://www.generosity.com/fundraising/evo-2017-player-vote-ultimate-marvel-vs-capcom-3

Your money goes to the Make-a-Wish foundation, and you make a guy you know personally really happy as well.

And as a final pretense before I really get into this I’m just gonna be honest this is gonna be pretty rant-y, so it might not be a super focused read and will probably contain a few expletives so just be pre-warned.

Originally I was gonna come here and I was going to break down the poll game by game, essentially breaking down why I felt like each game shouldn’t be voted for and why Marvel should. But as it stands right now the winner is going to be either Marvel or Pokken, so this is mostly going to be centered around why I think Marvel is the most deserving game, and why I feel Pokken just might be the least deserving, or at least one of the least deserving.

And every time I look at that generosity page my stomach does flips because it’s literally like a best/worst case scenario. But the funny part about this entire situation is I feel like Marvel shouldn’t even be on this poll. Marvel absolutely *should* already have its spot. Regardless of how you the individual might feel about Marvel 3 in particular, Marvel vs. Capcom has been practically synonymous with EVO. Up until only last year Marvel, be it 2, 3, or Ultimate 3, has always been sort of the penultimate game for EVO, only behind whatever Street Fighter was out at the time. I don’t know if I agree with IFC Yipes in that Marvel made EVO (mostly because I haven’t been around *that* long), but I do agree that without it EVO never would have reached the point that it has. And you look at Marvel 3 specifically, and that game has been a staple of EVO through damn near every iteration of Street Fighter 4, even lasting long enough to share the stage with Street Fighter 5, outlived who knows how many Netherrealms games, Soul Caliburs, Tekkens, Personas, you name it. And that’s not to knock (most) of those games but to make a point that not even taking into account 2, Marvel 3 specifically has been a prefixture of this event for a long ass time

And never mind the countless moments that the game has given us. Back in 2013 what was one of the top things people talked about when EVO was over? Justin’s absolutely incredible run, beating odds on favorite Chris G and going on to nearly defeat Floker to win his first Marvel 3 EVO. Then there was the following year when he clutched it out against F Champ and beat Chris G once more to finally actually do it.

Hell even last year, Chris G, despite being the odds on favorite to win several years in a row, *finally* went ahead and took the one tournament that had alluded him for years. And the year before that when KBR (even though I dont much care for him) became the first non-American to win Marvel at EVO.

People have known for a minute with MvCI on the horizon that this was probably going to be Marvel 3′s last year at EVO, and so people were gearing up for it’s proper final sendoff and now you’re telling me that Marvel might not even be *at* EVO?

And I know there’s a lot of people who agree with me on this because every where I go, even from people who voted for different games, even for people who voted for Pokken, I keep hearing the same thing: “I’m voting for Pokken, but Marvel absolutely deserves to be there”

“Marvel shouldn’t even be a part of the poll”

“There shouldn’t even be a poll, Marvel should take that 9th slot”

And don’t even get me started on how tight I am that there are not one but TWO Smash games, games that barely even qualify as fighting games, games that a good chunk of the FGC never wanted around in the first place, at EVO, but Marvel might not. Especially since y’all are a good chunk of the people pushing for Pokken (which we’ll get to trust me). If I hear one more Melee player complain about Melee being on Saturday and not Sunday while Marvel might not even *be* at EVO I honestly might lose my shit.

And I mean no disrespect to my Smash 4 community, particularly the local Nebraska scene cuz y’all know I have nothing but respect for you guys. My problem really mostly is with Melee, that relic of a game that people just cant seem to let go of. But it’s so funny to me at how often the Smash crowd, particularly Melee, talks about how much they don’t need the FGC and yet they won’t leave.

But it isn’t even really about that. I could sit here and talk shit about Melee all day long but you know whatever. They have there spot and that’s fine. But suffice to say that if it were up to me, Melee would get booted in favor of Marvel in a heartbeat.

But let’s talk about this poll for an honest minute though. If you remember the donation drive they did a while ago and compare it to this one, the last one blows this one way out of the water. Every single game on that list was at least, you know, a fighting game, with actual communities that would absolutely show up to play. I mean there was Melee and Brawl of course but again shit, at least those two games are closer to fighting games than shit like Windjammers, and Nidhogg. There wasn’t goofy meme-y shit like those two, and ARMS. And dont get me wrong I’m excited to play ARMS but THAT GAMES NOT EVEN OUT YET (and before anyone brings up “Injustice 2 isn’t out either” just know that in my book that game can go fuck itself for about the same reason. BUT EVEN THEN, that game at least has a known community that will come out and play it). We don’t even know what community, if any, is gonna come out for ARMS, by that point, since it’ll be coming out 1-3 months before EVO (I’d remind you that ARMS doesn’t even have a set release date. Just “Spring 2017″), that game isn’t even gonna have any real advanced tech discovered yet, if there even is any to discover. Not that any of those stand a chance at winning at this point but the fact that they were included kinda pisses me off. I can kind of see Windjammers since a lot of the FGC likes that game but Nidhogg? Do most of yall even remember that game? And ARMS? REally?

I know someone’s gonna be like, “Well the last donation drive had Divekick, and Fighting is Magic”. And I was one of the first people to say that FiM was probably the weakest, meme-ist option put up there but you know, that was happened because the FGC is filled with trolls. If you remember, the only games that made the donation drive were games that got at least 500 votes on the Facebook poll and I’m pretty confident that 490 of FiM’s votes were trolls being trolls. And at least in Divekick’s defense, that game was made by a dude from that community, for the community. Divekick is basically one massive FGC in joke anyway so if Divekick had made it, it basically would’ve been a big thank you to one of the FGC’s own.

But I think what makes me the most upset about the whole situation isn’t even just that Marvel might not get the proper sendoff that it deserves, but that it’s Swan Song stands a strong chance of being snatched away by Pokken. And just, let’s review Pokken for a sec.

First off, this was the game that was being removed from Japanese arcades in droves because nobody gave enough of a shit to play it. And we’re talking about a culture that loves both Pokemon AND fighting games, and they wanted absolutely nothing to do with that game.

And then, when it came stateside, those of yall that watched tournaments saw that pretty much ever ad breakthere was a little vingette for Pokken. They tried their hardest to get people to actually care about this game, and yet... you pratically had to dig through the Twitch trenches just to find Pokken tournaments. People weren’t watching, and people weren’t entering. Then it got to EVO because Nintendo money, and it had one of the lowest entrants and viewer rates of any of the games there.

Then post EVO, a lot of majors didn’t even run the game because people weren’t entering or watching. And speaking of Nintendo, I would remind you that Nintendo themselves have since dropped Pokken from their Pokemon Championship Series. So not even the parent company gives a fuck about the game at this point.

So with all that being said, never in a million years did I think that Marvel would be neck and neck with Pokken. KI, maybe. MKX, maybe. Shit I figured even Windjammers had a better shot than Pokken and yet here we are.

And you might wonder where the fuck the money is coming from if nobody gives a shit about Pokken. Simple, its coming from Smashers (and you can go check smash websites, most of them are advocating super hard for Pokken), and people who are just fans of Pokemon and will throw money at anything Pokemon. And look I love Pokemon too. It’s top 3 favorite Nintendo franchise and might be top 5 favorite franchises of all time. But I have no doubt in my mind that a lot of the people throwing money at this, barely know what EVO is, probably don’t even know the dates of EVO, and have 0 intentions of watching that game at EVO much less showing up to play the game. Case in point, Shofu is out here on Twitter advocating and donating to this game, and you would think that Shofu, who runs one of the biggest Pokemon related YouTube channels, would probably have a lot of Pokken content right? Well guess when the last time he even posted a video about the game was. I’ll save you the search, it was 6 months ago. One of these videos were, ironically enough, entitled “time to come back”. And then there were two more videos within the same time span, and he hasn’t touched the game since.

And this is kind of the additude that I’m talking about. I read a tweet earlier that summed it up perfectly. About how people never want to watch or come out to support Pokken, and then want to wonder why there aren’t any Pokken tournaments. That game died forever ago. You might even argue that that game was dead on arrival but even if you don’t, then you have to agree that there hasn’t been a game that died out quicker than Pokken did. For all the shit people gave SFxT at least that game lasted a couple of years as opposed to about 3 months. And at least that game had some potential at release, instead of being booted from Japanese arcades Y’all are throwing money at this game and I have no doubt in my mind that it’s going to once again have abyssmal turnout/viewership.

And that’s to me, is the most upsetting thing. That Marvel stands a shot of being robbed by a game that people don’t actually care about, but has a fanbase that will throw money at anything with Pikachu’s face on it. If it were KI, I wouldn’t be super happy, but it would be ok. MKX, kinda upset because I hate that game but you know what, fine. Or even Skullgirls which to me would be best case scenario, if your top two games were SG and Marvel because easily and measurably those two deserve it. Skullgirls is a fantastic game with an ultra dedicated community that only got treated like shit by EVO. I have no doubt in my mind that had SG’s won the last donation drive that game would be one of the biggest in the FGC right now and might even still to this day be a mainstay at EVO. And so if *any* game was gonna be Marvel, I’d wish it to be Skullgirls. But at least I can say of any of the games I mentioned above, people would come out to play it, and support it. In the example of MKX, it would be the exact same people that would be playing Injustice but fuck, at least it’s *someone*.

And I know someone’s gonna be like “well what did you ever do for Marvel?” and yeah, I’ve never been to a major, because I don’t have money like that. But at least every time there is something local for the game, I go out and play. I took time off of work and drove an hour out one time just to get 0-2′d in Marvel on a couple of occasions, but at least I went out there. And I’m out here watching the streams, watching the VoDs; 90% of my “watch later” playlist is Marvel shit that I didn’t get to watch live.

And with that said, yeah I’ll admit that a bit of it is personal for me. Marvel is absolutely my favorite game out there right now. Without Marvel 3 I probably would not care about EVO and the FGC as a whole. But that’s why I don’t want to see it get robbed of a proper sendoff by a game that’s just gonna die out again the minute EVO is over.

[talietikasero]

I went in aware of the (possible) retcons and shit but I watched the whole thing anyway. It’s some ungodly hour way past when I should’ve slept and here’s what I thought. I’m trying to be fair here when I give GG Strive’s story a 6.8/10

Visuals: This game is beautiful. 12/10

Voice cast: I enjoyed the dub. Not as much of a corny anime dub like Sign was, but the returning cast improved from that game -- or at least I thought so. 8.75/10

Soundtrack: One word: Incredible. The duo of Naoki and Aisha on vocals for all character themes -- ok they're only a duet on Ramlethal's [Necessary Discrepancy] but you know what I meant -- was a perfect choice. My favorite themes from when I played the second open beta back in mid-May were Giovanna's [Trigger] and Potemkin's [Armor-Clad Faith], but Leo's [Hellfire] really grew on me the most. 15/10

Game itself: Arcade mode was a fun challenge because I’m an idiot who did all 15 but I got really tired of fighting Nago over and over again. I’m not that great so I’m not worrying about getting the “Messiah Will Not Come” trophy where you fight him but he’s got an infinite blood gauge. Survival gives a good chunk of the lifebar back without making it too easy -- and the “mysterious challenger” at stage 10 being a shadowy Sol with neon red was an okay way to signal a checkpoint. 9/10 I’m not doing online any time soon because I don’t have a wired connection but I hear it’s ass and the tower placement is a complete lie.

Anywho, now on to the real post:

For a finale, the story was... slightly below average. But I’ll be honest here, I kinda had high expectations because of the hype from the past two (?) years, five if you count the total time between Rev2 and Strive's release dates.

The last time I was this critical of a sequel’s story was the gap between Borderlands 2 and 3, which was seven years. I'm going off on a tangent here but I'll sum it up so if you're not familiar with Borderlands you'll have an idea of what I'm taking about. In Borderlands: the Pre-Sequel, the Watcher (Eridian? that saved Athena from execution after telling Lilith and company of her adventures on Elpis with Nisha, Wilhelm, Timothy, Aurelia, and Claptrap) warned "Now's not the time for bickering, Vault Hunters. War is coming, and you will need all the Vault Hunters you can get". BL3 rolls around and there was no big war. Instead, we got a poorly delivered dumpster fire of a main campaign that spanned five planets and the main villains were some bratty livestreamer Sirens that run a planet wide cult. Seriously? The cast was poorly handled there too but I'll stop here.

In the case of comparison to another fighting game’s story, the game that comes to mind is Tekken 7 because if they aren’t a Mishima or Kazama or someone else in that fucked up family that’s plot relevant, they were given a shitty one-fight episode. Sure Nina and Claudio were in the main story mode but that's the thing: they were just there. The returning (dlc) series veterans, such as Anna, Lei, Marduk, and all the way to Zafina plus the newcomers Leroy, Lidia, Fahkumram, and Kunimitsu II weren't given much aside from a brief story snippet. Dare I say it but SFV did their new seasons newcomers and returning fighters justice as they all got episodes of their own. You read that right. Street Fighter V was better to its cast than Tekken 7 and Guilty Gear -Strive-.

Unlike the Xrd games, watching the story does not get you any money. The only difference I saw right after was that the Strive correlation chart updated. For what it’s worth, they could’ve done something like DBFZ’s story clearance unlocking a new character, or do an alternate costume where the outfit Frederick wears in the ending (and upon further inspection is the very same one he wore in the flashback) is useable in fights (it’d be hilarious but a good detail added in if you were to select that option but the name plate doesn’t display “Sol” lmao). If Ky has a palette that puts him in an open button white shirt, jeans, and what look like work boots, then let me play in the ending's lab coat, tanktop, and jeans dammit.

I kept track of how many of the playable cast showed up and played some part. Everyone except Ramlethal, May, and Faust appeared in the story -- these three were reduced to credit image cameos >:( Ram’s seen with Elphelt and Sin, while Ky and Dizzy are in the background. May’s with her crew, and Faust is in the desert somewhere or some shit with Chronus.

But even if they did show up, nobody else except like five people did jack shit. Giovanna, bless her heart, was absent for a long period then showed up to fight Nagoriyuki (who eventually sided with the good guys) but got her ass beat after he faked surrender. Potemkin helped but spent most of his time cruising at high speed trying to get to the White House. Ky and Jack-O didn’t arrive until the end either. Axl -- or should I say Will -- finally got to see Megumi again at the cost of I-No’s defeat. The dude got his girlfriend back at the loss of someone he considered a friend but the delivery felt forced as it was confirmed as she was dying -- wasn't part of her character that she has no recollection of a past? Her suddenly remembering a past boyfriend and being able to describe his appearance didn't really make much sense.

Chipp and Anji were in that comical highway chase scene, but then Anji's just wherever while Chipp's in the Pentagon control room. I get that someone had to stay behind and watch from the other side -- this role landing with Leo as he, Millia, and Zato were overseeing commentating on events from the castle’s war room like Brock and Misty during Ash's battles in the OG season of the Pokemon anime, while Daryl was at the G4 conference and Ky was on his way to the fight -- but the pacing and usage of the cast in this story was a mess. Yeah sure it has most of the GG cast in this installment's playable roster present but it didn't feel like a GG story -- really it felt like the live action Resident Evil movies where the source material's characters are sprinkled in, acting more as a "here ya go they're here don't expect much!" type thing.

Honestly, a step down from Rev because at least everyone in that arc were somewhat present with maybe one or two exceptions? Hell, even though they were added as dlc or in Rev2, Dizzy, Haehyun, Baiken, and Answer were in the main story. Being hopeful here when I say that I hope we see more of Goldlewis or get to play as him because his design is badass and so is his coffin flail weapon. On the side of fairness though, I have a feeling this isn’t exactly what Ishiwatari intended (this is unlikely but it's probably Katano's directing? Whatever in any case)? The general reaction I saw from others who’ve watched the story was that the subplots were half baked and the plot as a whole was pretty rushed. Happy Chaos / the Original as the main villain was Calypso Twins from Borderlands 3 level cringe and every time HC appeared on screen I wanted to mute it. There is the bonus story coming later this year, along with the dlc slots, so ehh? The interactions between Colin and Frederick were one of my personal favorite points even if this did turn into “Neon Genesis White House Down”.

“Brown bears don’t give birth to pandas.“

I’m sure like the others who actually paid attention to the story from the end of Xrd to Strive, my main question was this:

After the Justice / Jack-O fusion -- recall the “newly revived” Aria had purely red hair and Jack-O’s halo disappeared. During the mid-credits of Revelator, former friends turned sworn enemies turned frenemies Asuka and Frederick pretty much have one last declaration of war against each other, with Sin, I-No, and Raven as their witnesses -- Asuka even said “take good care of Aria”. Naturally from all of that, she’s not Jack-O anymore, right? Wrong. According to the game, what's inside of Jack-O is only a fragment / shard of Aria mixed in with Jack-O's projected personality (I think). How did they go from "let's do the fusion and guaranteed she'll return" to "yeah nah she ain't comin' back bro"

Xrd Revelator: "Pull this off successfully and Aria will fully revive as a human."

Strive: "Nah bruh. We lied. It just turned Jack-O human and what's inside her is only an unstable shard of Aria -- not the whole thing."

Back to the “final battle”, they don’t fight, rather Asuka removed the Flame of Corruption from Frederick's body (and somehow he got a haircut too). So really what was the fight in Rev2′s [After Story - A] for? Did he get nearly the life beaten out of him from Ky fighting dirty and left that crater in the park for nothing? Seems that way. Asuka lives on the moon and he's got a radio show now because (*bong rip*) that makes sense.

I’ll admit it’s a little cute that the feelings are mutual between Jack-O and Frederick -- he sees her as herself and not just a genetic copy but they expect us to think in the three weeks they've known each other that "oh shit I'm in love with this person" is believable -- and they live in the woods near a presumably 200+ year old space shuttle complete with the launchpad but come on now. That's some Russo Brothers level writing right there -- y'all remember Avengers: Endgame and how when he went across space and time to return the Infinity Stones, Steve Rogers threw everything away just so he could go back to his original era? The now depowered-so-he's-human-again Frederick Bulsara (the ex-gear and world's savior x times over formerly known as Sol Badguy) living in isolation away from his newfound family and friends gives off the same vibe. Especially after that one and only flashback where it's Aria's birthday and he was going to propose but the ring wasn't ready in time so he had that "error" to show instead.

[virginieboesus]

My Top 7 Retro Games That I Want To Get Remade or Remastered

With the absolutely stunning Resident Evil 2 Remake on the horizon, as well as Final Fantasy VII’s remake someone in the development aether, I’ve been thinking about the various games throughout the years that I would love to see get a remake or remaster. Some of them could do with the full “remake” trilogy like the aforementioned Resident Evil 2 and FFVII, whilst others could work very well by just having the graphics updated.

So, let’s take a look at my top 7 retro games that I would love to see a remake or remaster of!

7. Dino Crisis 2

Recently, Capcom announced (in their investor’s meeting) that they were looking at reviving older IPs and series through further remakes, similar to the Resident Evil 2 Remake. For a lot of people, this spread the excitement of a potential Resident Evil 3 or Devil May Cry remake. However, I would prefer to see Dino Crisis 2 get the remake treatment. Out of the 3 Dino Crisis games (4 if you include the Dino Stalker lightgun game), the second game in the series is definitely my favourite.

The first game was a nice change of enemy style from the Resident Evil games, but it didn’t feel like it really added anything new to the Survival Horror genre. So when Capcom changed gears and turned Dino Crisis 2 into a fast-paced action game, it actually worked really well. Thinking about it, it is strange that I enjoyed that sort of change with Dino Crisis but hated the change to action games for the Resident Evil series. Anyway, I digress – Dino Crisis 2 would be a brilliant game to bring back on modern consoles, as the gameplay was already very polished and had enough action to attract a younger audience (to an extent, based upon age ratings).

6. Rival Schools: United by Fate

Fighting games have really seen a huge boom in popularity once again in recent years. Part of that can definitely be put down to the eSports world where games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken have seen huge resurgences. However, there was one fighting game on the original PlayStation that I enjoyed more than any of the others; Rival Schools: United by Fate.

The game featured a semi-tag team system where your partner in the fight could only be called when you fill up your Vigor, effectively making them a special move. The controls were intuitive and the characters were entertaining and weird. If we got a remake or remaster of Rival Schools, I would pre-order it within an instant (or as soon as I had some cash). But one thing that would make the game even better than its original form would be the inclusion of online multiplayer. Beating your friends whilst they sit on the sofa next to you was fun, but being able to fight against people all over the world would really help build Rival Schools up even more.

5. Wild ARMS 2

Back on the PlayStation 2, the original Wild ARMS got a remake called Wild ARMS: Alter Code F. To this day, I would consider it one of the best remakes I have ever had the joy of playing (alongside the Resident Evil Remake on Gamecube). After playing through Alter Code F and seeing what the developers managed to do to improve the original game, I instantly wanted a remake of Wild ARMS 2. Once again, it is my favourite in the series and it improved on almost everything that made the first game amazing.

Wild ARMS, as a series, has long since disappeared from the video game industry (with the exception of a potential mobile game in the future)… This is really sad as, despite the lack of commercial success, the games were awesome. Wild ARMS 2, itself, offered a great storyline, brilliant J-RPG gameplay and some really awesome music to top it all off. I wouldn’t say that we need a remake of Wild ARMS 2, but that it is a game that only needs to be remastered!

4. Shadow Hearts

It may surprise you that Koudelka isn’t on this list as it is to me what Metal Gear Solid is to Rob from PlayStation Access (in that I include it in so many lists). However, because it has such a huge place in my heart already, I wouldn’t ever want to run the risk of it being ruined by remaking it. However, the sequel to Koudelka would make a great game to remake for the PS4 and Xbox One; Shadow Hearts. This was the first in a trilogy of games that featured one of the more unique J-RPG battle systems and some of the darkest storytelling in an RPG that I have ever played.

Dealing with everything from people who can fuse with monsters, demons making contracts with humans, murder, suicide and God being an alien, it had everything including the kitchen sink. These days, it might not be one of the most acceptable games due to the subject matter, but that doesn’t take away from just how epic Shadow Hearts really is. Sadly, just like Koudelka, all three of the Shadow Hearts game largely went under the radar. A remake could bring new fans into the series who could then experience these incredible games.

3. Resident Evil: Outbreak

Out of all of the Resident Evil games, other than Resident Evil 2 (as it’s my favourite), the one I would like to see get a remake or remaster the most would be Resident Evil: Outbreak. I reviewed the game quite some time ago (here) and spoke about how it was a brilliant update to the traditional Resident Evil formula. The multiplayer also added both a challenge and sense of hilarity as you and others online tried to communicate and survive.

By remaking the game for the PS4, Xbox One and even the Switch, the sheer amount of players could be increased massively and we could have a true Resident Evil experience that we can all play together. It would also be amazing for streamers as well, especially if they put both RE: Outbreak and Outbreak File 2 together in one game!

2. Parasite Eve

The penultimate entry on my list of 7 games I want to get a remake or remaster of is Parasite Eve for the PlayStation. It blended Survival Horror and turn-based RPGs together into one game and pulled it off brilliantly. Based on a very scientific horror novel by a Japanese author and pharmacologist, Hideaki Sena, the game features the theory that mitochondria could evolve and decide to become the dominant species in the world.

It’s full of body horror and gore, but with a very deep and dark storyline as well as very relatable and realistic characters. However, it was never released in Europe, so a modern remake could be a great way to let people enjoy it that missed the game the first time.

1. The Legend of Dragoon

Finally, there is just one game left on the list and it is, by far, the game I want to see a remake (or even a sequel) of for modern consoles; The Legend of Dragoon! I record a video review of the game on YouTube (which you can watch below) because I adore the game so much! In fact, it is my second favourite game of all time!

The storyline could do with some fixes in places, but overall, it is outstanding. The combat is phenomenal, adding just enough to the traditional J-RPG formula that it feels completely different yet familiar at the same time. Everything about the game is awesome, except for the fact that it faded into obscurity and we never got a sequel. Whilst I would prefer a new The Legend of Dragoon game, a remake of this absolute classic would be just as epic!

And That’s All Folks

Those were the top 7 games that I would love to see get the remake or remaster treatment. Each one was an incredibly enjoyable game in its own right but would also work well on modern consoles. I know that, realistically, these games are probably all long dead, but I will keep dreaming forever…

What games would you most want to see get a remake or remaster? Let me know in the comments below!

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/my-top-7-retro-games-that-i-want-to-get-remade-or-remastered/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-top-7-retro-games-that-i-want-to-get-remade-or-remastered source https://smartstartblogging.tumblr.com/post/177222924725

[lostsummerdayz]

Combo Breaker 2018: A Retrospect

Original Date: 06/02/18 Author’s Note: This was done a full week after Combo Breaker because I caught the illest post-con/post-tournament sickness and it was terrible. So worth it, but terrible. In any case, I had so much fun at Combo Breaker and even more fun recalling everything that happened. Not much to really say, I’ll let the article do the talking. This is a VERY long read. Over 2500 words to be exact.

The Combo Breaker weekend passed just as quickly as it had arrived, like a tornado hitting the Windy City. Rather, the outskirts of the Windy City, in a small suburb known as St. Charles. Regardless where it had taken place, Combo Breaker was, without a doubt, the best tournament I have ever attended. Before I go into my thoughts and retrospect, as well as my teammates thoughts, I want to give a huge shout-out to Rick for hosting such an event. I’d also like to give a shout out to the bracket runners, game leads, vendors, artists, and anyone else in charge of making sure the event ran as smoothly as possible.

That Friday morning, I woke up at 1, filled with energy uncommon for one who awakens at 1 in the morning. I would have several more hours to go until I’d leave my apartment to catch my flight at LaGuardia so I could have caught up on more sleep if I wanted to. Adrenaline said otherwise. Combo Breaker would have been my first major in which I went out of state for. As I’ve said in a previous article, my first ever major was Defend the North, but it was literally an hour away from me as far as commute goes. I didn’t stay at a hotel, I simply went back and forth from my apartment to the Crowne Plaza over there. This was a much bigger deal for me, however, as I would meet so many people I would never have had the chance to. As this would be my first Combo Breaker, I didn’t know what to expect, yet the stories I’ve heard about Combo Breaker made me excited to experience such a thing within a few hours.

Unfortunately, everything came to a halt when I arrived at O’Hare. See, I planned my original flight to arrive at 10:30 so I could catch the shuttle bus to Combo Breaker. What happened instead, was I arrived at 9:30 because I didn’t consider Central time. Central Time and Eastern Time are an hour apart, so I was a full hour ahead of the bus. Better early than late, sure, but it left me more anxious to see what Combo Breaker had to offer.

When I finally arrived at the resort, it was one of the most beautiful venues I’ve been to, just looking at it from the outside. There was as much road as far as the eyes could see, the air was humid and the temperature was warm. Entering the venue, it lived up to the name of it being a resort. Indoor pools, window-side seating to have a better view of the golf course resort, various food courts and even a mini bar. The place was very huge. Huger than I initially imagined. I eventually, after some walking, found where Combo Breaker took place and after I picked up my badge, I took in the scenery.

The quietness of the resort clashed with the absolute noisy atmosphere of the main event area. People from all over walked about, conversated with others and played games on various setups whether it was tournament matches or casuals. To the right of me was the stage where people played on the stream station. It was there I saw the Tekken area and how massive the Tekken area was. With over 488 competitors, I’d expect a large mass of people, but it almost felt overwhelming. The event space was so huge, there were crowds just as big as the Tekken crowd, in other corners of the event stage, from the anime fighters to King of Fighters to Street Fighter V. There were also vendors right by the entrance who sold arcade parts, offered arcade stick mods, merch tables, and various beta build stations for games such as Fighting Layer EX, Soul Calibur 6, and BlazBlue Cross Tag.

Across the Megacenter area, there was a small yet almost as big gaming area where there were even more casual setups, a BYOC [Bring your own console] setup, where people played all types of games, and arcade cabinets from old school games such as Tempest, to pinball machines. Smaller games like Smash and Vampire Savior were also ran here for tournaments.

It was at this moment I knew that Combo Breaker was far from just a fighting game tournament, it was a video game convention as well. This realization didn’t hit me until the final day of Combo Breaker when I met this man, Demero, from Milwaukee. He was talking to me about one of the top Street Fighter V players, Smug, who I know of due to us both being from New York. He was telling me how respectful Smug was to his kids and how kind everyone was to each other, spectators and players alike.

On a grander scope, Demero also mentioned an interest on wanting to run events like these on a smaller scale back home, so he could potentially get the troubled youth of Milwaukee off the streets. Being I’m also from New York, the same as Smug, I take for granted just how many tournaments and locals there are here. But in a place like Milwaukee, grassroots events that could be started by a man with an ambition, may very well give troubled youth an outlet to stay off the streets, out of trouble, and hold a controller instead of a weapon.

A sentiment was also shared with Markman and Tasty Steve who I had the pleasure to talk to that Friday evening. They stressed the importance of tournaments where anyone can enter, play, and overall link up with other players who share the same passion as them. It isn’t about the winning or the losing, it’s all about learning and personal growth. It’s all about finding that connection with others to not only help you get better as a player but also as a person.

Steve was more passionate in the notion of locals being a cornerstone in the FGC, as he feels without people showing up to tournaments and their local tournaments, it won’t thrive as much within the upper echelon.

Markman was also a firm believer in encouraging players who believe that they cannot keep up with the top players due to their insecurities, to come out to the event anyway. No one can get better or level up if they limit themselves from doing so. Between talking to these two gentlemen on Friday and talking to Demero on Sunday, as well as others who only attended as a spectator to soak up the atmosphere and good vibes, it made me realize that the FGC extends far beyond simply competing. It exists for the love of the community whether you play the game competitively or not.

With that outlook in mind, winning wasn’t a goal in mind anymore. It was simply a question on how much I could learn and how far can what I already know take me. When I finally met Ando that Friday, he had a similar sentiment. As in the previous article, this was our first time in entering Combo Breaker and he was just as amazed at the venue and excited to play against others as I was, including how well run it was. We took pictures with the Tekken developer, Katsuhiro Harada, and saw some of the matches of Friday’s pools, before we briefly went our separate ways. Coincidentally, later on that night, we ran into each other again as we both had the same idea to get some last-minute casuals in before our matches.

That was another beautiful thing about the venue. Since it was 24 hours, and with over two thousand entrants, there were always people who were down to play games, no matter what time it was. Ando and I stayed until a quarter to 1, playing whoever we could, but the next night I stayed up well until 3 AM. It didn’t matter the time. The event halls were just as packed as it was if you arrived at 3 PM and for good reason. Playing offline against others is a luxury, as anyone who had dealt with the dreadfulness of online could tell you.

Saturday was the big day for the both of us, as our pools began two hours from each other, with Ando’s pool starting before mine. He was relatively nervous. The shark in the pool he was most concerned with was Victim of Ritual, a well-known Nina player known for his “pitbull-like” offense. The sharks in the water for my pool, in my opinion, was Swagmaster, who was known for her Miguel, and Ace Unlimited, a known Mishima player known for his explosive playstyle. For the former, I’ve had almost no experience with Miguel, so I wouldn’t have known what to do or what to expect. Mishima characters were always characters I’ve struggled with, so the fact that a high-level player was also swimming in the waters didn’t help me much.

The main conflict for Ando was whether to choose between using Paul or Geese. Both characters he felt comfortable with, but it boiled down to which character he felt ready to use in a tournament setting. While Geese has been used more and he has had more success with him, Paul was far easier to play for him. However, since his Paul shown signs of rust due to using Geese more, it was all about weighing pros and cons.

What I felt was nervousness all around because much like he has Geese, I had Kazumi who I wasn’t confident enough to use in the tournament. But she was always an option for me. I made the mistake of second guessing myself so I stuck with who I already know. The irony in that statement, was that if I could do one thing differently, I would have played Kazumi when I was down 1.

Ando plowed through his bracket, with the most notable adversary, Fred Distance, standing in his way. A clutch rage driver from his Paul clinched a tight victory and earned him the right to grant his wish. To play Victim of Ritual. On stream.

Naturally whatever nervousness he felt only amplified, with him only telling me that he’s not going to pay attention to the crowd behind him, and only focus on the game ahead of him. With his music playing through his earphones, he fought a hard-fought battle but ultimately fell 2-0 against him. Since this was winner’s finals, he still performed well enough to make it out of first phase of pools which meant he played later on that evening.

As far as my performance, I immediately lost to a Nina who I didn’t know even existed, M A D W A K. I was disoriented, because not only was I mentally prepared even though I played more than enough casuals, but the first lost took a lot out of me to the point where I gave up the second game freely. My biggest fear was going 0-2 in the tournament altogether, and going 0-2 in the very first match and getting sent to losers was not a good outlook for me. I had to snap out of it for my first game in losers, who I defeated soundly and was enough for a confidence boost. The second and third matches, a Katarina and a King respectively, was claimed without much difficulty although both players were good.

My biggest win of the pool was a rematch against M A D W A K, in which not only I was high off adrenaline for playing three straight, but after suffering a loss on stream against Swagmaster, I was more than ready for my revenge. And revenge I got. I switched my playstyle greatly to the point where it was too overwhelming for him and defeated him soundly, 2-0, just as he had defeated me 0-2, only this time I eliminated him from the tournament altogether. My momentum was cut short as I lost my loser’s semi’s match against Cade, effectively eliminating me. I was one win away from making it out of pools. Still, I had a damn good run in losers and I couldn’t be prouder of myself in how I did being it was my first Combo Breaker. Again, my only regret was not giving Kazumi a chance. I finished 97th which out of 488 people is nothing to cry about. I know I can do better next time, however.

Ando’s first match for the second pool was against Shirdel, an Alisa player from the UK, who quickly eliminated Ando from the tournament. At first, we both did not know who Shirdel was, but after researching him, he’s a pretty dominant force in London. Ando mentioned to me that Shirdel’s Alisa was unlike any he had ever played before, so he handled the matchup in a way which he tried to adapt to his playstyle, but he couldn’t no matter how hard he fought. Later on that night, when a friend and I were at the bar talking to another UK Tekken player, we both admitted that we did not know many of UK’s players, but UK and other European Tekken players were definitely of the silent killer majority. Europe in the FGC in general is an often-overlooked continent filled with so many hidden talents that takes so many by surprise. However, Ando couldn’t be too upset in how he performed. He felt like he could have done better, but he was more focused for the future regarding CEO and learning from the other players at Combo Breaker. Still, placing 65th, just shy of top 50, despite dealing with nerves, wasn’t a bad outing for the big guy. This is a reoccurring theme, but much like how I felt I should have gone Kazumi, his regret was not going Geese and instead sticking with Paul.

Decisions like these matter more than one would think. In a massive tournament like this, all it takes is two losses for it to be all over. I didn’t want to make any risky decisions that I would regret later, so I felt choosing Kazumi in my situation vs Cade would have been too risky as I wasn’t confident in her as I was in my main, Eddy. Ando had a similar sentiment when he insisted on sticking with Paul than going to Geese.

After several nights of reflection and playing casuals against people from all over the world including GoAttack, the Korean Master Raven player who made top 8, Ando feels ready for CEO. Combo Breaker humbled him as a player in regard to not only seeing his flaws, but also not caring whether a person is younger, older, or from another country. Each player should be taken as a threat whether you know them or not and that mentality shaped him into training and preparing for CEO.

One of the things I expect Ando will do differently, aside from soaking in character knowledge, is alter his mental psyche of playing against people in tournaments. I always felt as a competitor, 90% of the gameplay comes from your mind. Your mental cognition is what makes or breaks you. Limits or excels past your limitations. While he wasn’t upset with how he performed, knowing that he could do better is what prepares him for his hopeful comeback in CEO. I honestly cannot wait for that to take place and I will be cheering him on as well as Tunk.

P.S: Jeondding we gonna cross paths again at Summer Jam guaranteed (I hope)

Original article: https://www.teamunbroken.com/combo-breaker-article

[barbosaasouza]

Weekend PC Download Deals for June 8: Pre-E3 2018 Edition

For those who haven't heard, E3 2018 is next week. Shocking, I know, because I don't think anybody's mentioned it lately. But with that in mind, gaming retailers are looking to jump into either E3 sales or summer sales to take advantage of the annual gaming hype week.

Well, almost everyone, anyway. Steam is staying conspicuously low-key, with few sales this weekend. That's likely because that storefront is getting ready for its usual Summer Sale madness that normally kicks off later in June. So who's having the big sales in the meantime? GOG.com is leading the pack with its #SummerGaming sale, with Amazon, GamersGate, Origin, and the Ubisoft Store all trailing behind them. There are some good deals to be found on both recent hits and classics.

But also be sure to keep an eye on Green Man Gaming, which has Vampyr, the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, and other recent (as in, released in the last month) hits discounted right now.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

Here's our selection of this weekend's PC deals:

Amazon

Star Wars Battlefront II [Origin] - $19.99 (60% off)

Battlefield 1 Revolution [Origin] - $14.99 (75% off)

The Sims 4 [Origin] - $9.99 (75% off)

Need for Speed Payback [Origin] - $19.99 (60% off)

Mirror's Edge Catalyst [Origin] - $4.99 (50% off)

Dragon Age Inquisition GOTY Edition [Origin] - $15.99 (60% off)

Mass Effect Trilogy [Origin] - $7.49 (75% off)

Crysis Trilogy [Origin] - $12.49 (75% off)

SimCity Complete Edition [Origin] - $7.49 (75% off)

Alice: Madness Returns [Origin] - $4.99 (75% off)

Fe [Origin] - $9.99 (50% off)

Dead Space 3 [Origin] - $9.99 (50% off)

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition [Steam] - $4.99 (80% off)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

Direct2Drive

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus [Steam] - $29.99 (50% off)

Wolfenstein II: The Freedom Chronicles Season Pass [Steam] - $14.99 (40% off)

Wolfenstein: The New Order [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

Return to Castle Wolfenstein [Steam] - $1.25 (75% off)

Fanatical

Pay $1.99 for Chroma Squad, Skullgirls, Deadlight, Mad Games Tycoon, Replica, The Way, Wick, 12 is Better Than 6 Game, The Uncertain: Episode 1 - The Last Quiet Day, and Infectonator: Survivors. These activate on Steam.

Or pay $1 (!) for Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Anomaly Defenders, and Anomaly 2. These activate on Steam.

Or pay $4.99 for F.E.A.R. (w/all DLC), F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn DLC, and F.E.A.R. 3. These activate on Steam.

Or pay $13.59 for Batman: Arkham Knight and all of its DLC. These activate on Steam.

Grand Theft Auto [Rockstar] - $18.59 (69% off)

Bayonetta + Vanquish [Steam] - $13.99 (65% off)

Bayonetta [Steam] - $7.99 (60% off)

Vanquish [Steam] - $7.99 (60% off)

Batman: Arkham VR [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

Injustice 2: Legendary Edition [Steam] - $41.99 (30% off)

Middle-earth: Shadow of War [Steam] - $35.99 (40% off)

Mad Max [Steam] - $4.99 (75% off)

Ori and the Blind Forest Definitive Edition [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition [Steam] - $7.49 (75% off)

Quantum Break [Steam] - $19.99 (50% off)

Darksiders Franchise Pack [Steam] - $9.99 (80% off)

Red Faction Collection [Steam] - $11.99 (80% off)

Painkiller Complete Pack [Steam] - $13.99 (80% off)

Alan Wake's American Nightmare [Steam] - $2.49 (75% off)

GamersGate

Dragon Ball FighterZ [Steam] - $41.99 (30% off)

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard [Steam] - $20.99 (30% off)

Grand Theft Auto V [Rockstar] - $19.80 (67% off)

Ori and the Blind Forest [Steam] - $9.99 (50% off)

Conan Exiles [Steam] - $33.99 (15% off)

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition [Steam] - $29.99 (25% off)

Tekken 7 [Steam] - $25.00 (50% off)

BioShock: The Collection [Steam] - $19.80 (67% off)

Quantum Break [Steam] - $20.00 (50% off)

Dead Rising 4 [Steam] - $22.49 (25% off)

Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 [Steam] - $14.99 (25% off)

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition [Steam] - $10.00 (60% off)

Devil May Cry HD Collection [Steam] - $20.09 (33% off)

Kerbal Space Program [Steam] - $20.00 (50% off)

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition [Steam] - $9.00 (70% off)

Okami HD [Steam] - $11.99 (40% off)

GamersGate is in the middle of its Summer Sale! Check out all of the games featured during the GamersGate Summer Sale.

GOG.com

Spend $5 or more during the GOG.com Summer Sale and receive Sunless Sea for free. Spend $20 or more and also receive Rime for free.

GOG.com has kicked off its #SummerGaming sale. That means over 1,000 games are on sale! Shacknews has bundled together some of the best individual game deals, as well as noteworthy bundles. Find all of the sales on GOG.com.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - $35.99 (20% off)

Saints Row Bundle (Saints Row 2 + Saints Row IV: Game of the Century Edition + Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell w/Devil's Workshop Pack + Saints Row: The Third The Full Package) - $12.35 (80% off)

Baldur's Gate Bundle (Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition + Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition + Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear) - $11.97 (80% off)

Star Wars Starship Bundle (Rogue Squadron 3D + TIE Fighter Special Edition + X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter + X-Wing Alliance + X-Wing Special Edition) - $12.45 (75% off)

Indiana Jones Bundle (Emperor's Tomb + Fate of Atlantis + The Last Crusade + LEGO Indiana Jones + LEGO Indiana Jones 2) - $14.45 (75% off)

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - $20.09 (33% off)

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition - $9.99 (50% off)

Kerbal Space Program - $19.99 (50% off)

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines - $4.99 (75% off)

Mirror's Edge - $2.99 (85% off)

Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition - $9.99 (50% off)

Fallout 3 GOTY Edition - $9.99 (50% off)

Firewatch - $7.99 (60% off)

The Witness - $15.99 (60% off)

Darkest Dungeon - $9.99 (60% off)

Neverwinter Nights 2 Complete Edition - $9.99 (50% off)

Green Man Gaming

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection [Steam] - $29.99 (25% off)

Vampyr [Steam] - $37.49 (25% off)

Moonlighter [Steam] - $15.99 (20% off)

Conan Exiles [Steam] - $31.19 (22% off)

Final Fantasy XV [Steam] - $39.99 (20% off)

Grand Theft Auto V [Rockstar] - $17.82 (70% off)

Grand Theft Auto IV Complete Edition [Steam] - $7.65 (74% off)

Grand Theft Auto III Trilogy [Steam] - $7.65 (74% off)

Rocket League [Steam] - $10.99 (45% off)

XCOM 2 [Steam] - $15.05 (75% off)

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen [Steam] - $23.99 (40% off)

Humble Bundle

Subscribe to Humble Monthly for $12 and receive Hearts of Iron IV, Blackwake, and Portal Knights, with more games added every month. These games activate on Steam.

Pay $1 or more to get Arma: Cold War Assault, Arma: Gold Edition, and Arma Tactics. Pay $15 or more to also receive Arma 3, Arma 3 Karts, Arma 3 Helicopters, and Arma 3 Marksmen. Pay more than the average $17.80 to get Arma 2, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead, Arma 2: British Armed Forces, Arma 2: Private Military Company, and Arma 2: Army of the Czech Republic. Pay $20 or more to also receive Arma 3 Apex. These activate on Steam.

Or pay what you want for Memoria, Caravan, Deponia: The Complete Journey, and Anna's Quest. Pay more than the average $8.05 to get Witch It, Silence, and Deponia Doomsday. Pay $12 or more to also receive Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, The Long Journey Home, and Bounty Train.

Destiny 2 Expansion Pass [Steam] - $19.99 (43% off)

The Crew Ultimate Edition [UPlay] - $12.49 (75% off)

Shadow Warrior 2 [Steam] - $19.99 (50% off)

Enter the Gungeon [Steam] - $7.49 (50% off)

The Talos Principle [Steam] - $7.99 (80% off)

Brofoce [Steam] - $3.74 (75% off)

Find more Devolver Digital games, like the Hotline Miami games and Genital Jousting, on sale during the Humble Store's Devolver Digital Sale.

Oculus Store

Sprint Vector: VR League - $19.99 (33% off)

Origin

Peggle - Free!

Star Wars Battlefront II - $19.99 (67% off)

Battlefield 1 Revolution - $14.99 (75% off)

The Sims 4 - $9.99 (75% off)

FIFA 18 - $19.99 (67% off)

Titanfall 2 - $4.99 (75% off)

Need for Speed Payback - $19.99 (50% off)

Mass Effect Andromeda - $9.99 (50% off)

Fe - $9.99 (50% off)

Mass Effect Trilogy - $7.49 (75% off)

Dragon Age Inquisition - $4.99 (75% off)

Crysis Trilogy - $12.49 (75% off)

Titanfall 2 Ultimate Edition - $9.99 (67% off)

Mirror's Edge Catalyst - $4.99 (50% off)

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 - $9.99 (50% off)

Find more of EA's best games on sale during the Origin Infinite Gaming Sale.

Ubisoft Store

Far Cry 5 - $44.99 (25% off)

Assassin's Creed Origins - $29.99 (50% off)

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - $19.99 (50% off)

South Park: The Fractured but Whole - $19.80 (67% off)

For Honor - $14.99 (75% off)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - $19.80 (67% off)

Tom Clancy's The Division - $10.00 (80% off)

Watch Dogs 2 - $19.80 (67% off)

Rayman Legends - $10.20 (66% off)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Collection - $26.09 (71% off)

Star Trek Bridge Crew - $19.99 (50% off)

Prince of Persia (2008) - $3.40 (66% off)

Child of Light - $5.10 (66% off)

Uno - $3.40 (66% off)

Monopoly Plus - $7.49 (50% off)

Find more of Ubisoft's catalog during the Ubisoft Store's E3 Sale.

Steam

As well as regular discounts, Steam has a couple of additional weekend deals.

Subnautica - $19.99 (20% off)

Tooth and Tail - $8.99 (55% off) (FREE WEEKEND until 6/10 at 1PM PT)

Forts - $8.99 (40% off) (FREE MULTIPLAYER WEEKEND until 6/10 at 1PM PT)

Hunt Showdown [Steam Early Access] - $23.99 (20% off)

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - $19.99 (50% off)

Insurgency - $2.49 (75% off)

Dying Light - $15.99 (60% off)

Insurgency - $2.49 (75% off)

Sairento VR - $23.99 (20% off)

The Mage's Tale - $19.99 (33% off)

Weekend PC Download Deals for June 8: Pre-E3 2018 Edition published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

[aion-rsa]

10 Best Fighting Game Movies

https://ift.tt/31CS0wp

Once upon a time, Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, and John Saxon visited a crime boss’ private island to compete in a fighting tournament and it was awesome. The 1973 movie Enter the Dragon is basically the prototype for the fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. And when those fighting games became popular, they inspired their own movies that either tried to emulate Enter the Dragon or do something completely new.

The ‘90s gave us the cheesy live-action fighting game movies from Hollywood and the animated movies from Japan. There have been several live-action Mortal Kombat movies as well as a few animated ones. There have also been multiple Street Fighter movies, four attempts at Tekken, a trilogy of Fatal Fury films, and more.

Are most of them bad? Yes. But did we pick our 10 favorite fighting game movies anyway? You bet. Here are our picks:

10. ART OF FIGHTING (1993)

Eh…it’s harmless.

The Art of Fighting series is mostly defined by the twist that the first game’s final boss is the main character’s father and the second game’s final boss is a younger incarnation of the villain from Fatal Fury. Take away those aspects and you’re left with a rather lowkey storyline for a fighting game where a teenage girl is kidnapped by a mobster and is rescued by her brother and her boyfriend.

Wait, I said that weird. It’s two different people, I swear! Except in Capcom, where Dan Hibiki is literally both of them merged into one character.

In the 45-minute Art of Fighting movie about Ryo and Robert, who are like chiller and dopier versions of Ryu and Ken, we watch as the duo gets sucked into a plot about stolen diamonds, martial arts criminals, and angry police lieutenants. It doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s a fine, breezy watch.

Ryo’s incorrect hair color kind of irks me, though.

9. STREET FIGHTER ALPHA: THE ANIMATION (1999)

This movie suffers from the same problem as Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture. It features a cast of heroes from a fighting game taking on a villain created for the movie instead of the villains we actually give a shit about. But the movie does also have some brief but awesome cameos (Kim Kaphwan and Geese Howard from Fatal Fury and Dan Hibiki and Akuma from Street Fighter Alpha) to brighten up a less-than-stellar plot.

Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation does at least get by because the original characters play up Ryu’s whole fear about being overcome by “the Dark Hadou.” This leads to some cool animations where Evil Ryu looks like a mindless, shambling zombie but also an unstoppable fighting machine.

The movie’s main storyline is about a kid named Shun who claims that he’s Ryu’s long-lost brother. He too is a fighter cursed with an inner dark side, which is used as a red herring to suggest that Shun’s father (and presumably Ryu’s father) is actually Akuma. That ends up being bupkis and Shun is just linked to some scheme by a mad scientist or whatever.

Probably the funniest thing about this movie is the directors’ infatuation with Chun-Li’s midsection. She’s wearing her form-fitting Street Fighter Alpha costume and there are dozens upon dozens of random close-ups to her lower torso from the front and back. If this were a drinking game, it would kill you.

8. FATAL FURY 2: THE NEW BATTLE (1993)

Of the Fatal Fury movie trilogy, this one is easily the best, even if it makes all the good guys seem like a bunch of overly-serious crybabies. The basic story is that after having avenged his father’s death, Terry hits rock bottom, dusts himself off, and comes out the other end stronger. Good, good. Going Rocky III is the perfect direction for a follow-up.

The problem is that Terry comes off as a bit of a whiner and the other heroes try way too hard to vilify the movie’s main antagonist, who hasn’t actually done anything that terrible. Krauser shows up one day, challenges Terry to a fight, wins, and says, “Okay, when you get better, train and fight me again.” Krauser isn’t trying to take over the world or murder orphans or whatever. He’s just a dude with huge shoulder armor who wants a good fight.

But everyone acts like Krauser’s the absolute worst. Terry starts drinking and falls to pieces while his buddies hope to get revenge. What a bunch of jerks.

While a fun romp, the worst thing about this sequel is how they redesigned Krauser. Gone is his mustache and forehead scar for the sake of making him seem younger. Kind of a bullshit move, considering he’s supposed to be the half-brother to middle-aged Geese Howard.

7. TEKKEN: THE MOTION PICTURE (1998)

This hour-long anime is almost great but just can’t stick the landing. It runs into the same problem as Mortal Kombat: Annihilation where the game series tells a specific overall story but the movie cuts corners to tell the same story. Tekken: The Motion Picture covers the first Tekken while setting up Tekken 3 and skipping Tekken 2 completely.

It means that everything’s well and good until the confusing and rushed finale. Otherwise, the movie is a fine use of the Enter the Dragon formula. Heihachi Mishima has a special island fighting tournament and the entrants include his vengeful son, a couple of cops investigating the situation, a gigantic robot, an angry Native American girl, two feuding assassin sisters, and a bunch of awesome characters who only get about three full frames of appearances each. Really would have liked to see something from Paul, King, and Yoshimitsu, though.

Other than Kazuya being pissed at everything, the best scenes are the over-the-top ones. When Jack does crazy robot stuff, when dinosaurs show up and start eating people, and that memorable sequence where Heihachi catches a hatchet with his mouth and then shatters it with his jaw.

6. STREET FIGHTER (1994)

I know this movie is just a GI Joe script with Street Fighter names pasted over it. I know it’s a cheesefest of dopey ideas and Belgian accents. I’ve long accepted that. Thing is, the movie is still a total blast to watch. What it lacks in faithfulness to the source material, it makes up for with pure camp and ham.

The 16 characters from Super Street Fighter II are represented here, except Fei Long is replaced with the forgettable Captain Sawada. How ironic that the movie star character isn’t even in the movie!

In general, the movie features some head-scratching depictions of classic Street Fighter characters. All-American Guile is played by Jean Claude Van Damme, Charlie Nash and Blanka are the same character, Dee Jay is an evil hacker, Ryu and Ken are comedic conmen, and Dhalsim is a frumpy scientist.

It’s Raul Julia’s M. Bison who keeps this guilty pleasure afloat. He’s to Street Fighter what Frank Langella’s Skeletor was to Masters of the Universe. He gives 110% and his performance is easily the best reason to watch this movie. It’s truly a wonder to behold.

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Games

The Forgotten Fighting Games of the 1990s

By Gavin Jasper

Games

King of Fighters: Ranking All the Characters

By Gavin Jasper

The movie is infamous for inspiring a fighting game based on it, but you know what nobody ever talks about? The Double Dragon movie also had a fighting game based on it made by Technos and released on the Neo Geo. And Double Dragon wasn’t even a one-on-one fighter to begin with!

Anyway, if you intend to sit back and watch Street Fighter, make sure to add in the RiffTrax commentary.

5. DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (2006)

Enter the Dragon meets Charlie’s Angels is a heck of a concept, but DOA: Dead or Alive is so confidently tongue-in-cheek that it succeeds as an action comedy that’s way better than it has any right to be. Part of why it works is that Dead or Alive has never had much of an overarching storyline, but is more defined by the individual characters (plus, you know, all the cheesecake). Enough of those characters appear in what’s your regular “fighting tournament on a mysterious island” setup.

The whole thing moves with such energy that it’s easy to get sucked in. It’s the opposite of the live-action Tekken movie, where even though the film features accurate versions of all the characters, everything is so drab and lifeless that you just can’t wait for it to be over. In DOA, the combatants spend their downtime playing cartoony action volleyball with Fake Dennis Rodman on commentary, while in Tekken everyone mopes about dystopian capitalism.

Other than Helena’s character being “important dead guy’s daughter,” most of the main characters are charismatic enough to keep your attention during the 3% of the movie when fights aren’t happening. It must suck for Ninja Gaiden fans that Hayabusa is depicted as a total dweeb, but he at least gets to do some cool stuff here and there.

The movie also has Kevin Nash playing a character based on Hollywood Hogan and he’s so likeable that I’m genuinely bummed that he peaces out about halfway into the movie. Luckily, the movie is entertaining enough that I didn’t even notice until after it was over. It helps that during that time, we get more of Eric Roberts, his amazing hair, and his special sunglasses that turn him into the ultimate martial arts master.

Spoiler alert, but the secret to defeating him is, get this, removing his sunglasses!

4. MORTAL KOMBAT LEGENDS: SCORPION’S REVENGE (2020)

It took a while, but Warner Bros. Animation is on fire these days. After that Batman vs. TMNT movie and Teen Titans Go vs. Teen Titans, the studio appears to be hitting more than they miss. That’s exactly the kind of team needed to put together the latest animated Mortal Kombat movie.

This is the umpteenth retelling of the first game’s story. Not only does it have to compete with the first live-action movie, but also the events of Mortal Kombat 9, which depicts the tournament in cutscene format. Fortunately, Scorpion’s Revenge has a few tricks up its sleeve. First, it puts Scorpion in the forefront as the protagonist. He was barely a character in the original movie and the game just had him kill Sub-Zero and feel bad about it for the rest of the story mode. Now he feels like a character in a crossover, making a mark on the original story instead of being put in the sidelines.

We also have the wonderful stunt casting of Joel McHale as Johnny Cage. More importantly, Jennifer Carpenter plays Sonya Blade, which is such a step up from Ronda Rousey’s voice acting in Mortal Kombat 11.

This cartoon has a very hard R when it comes to violence. From the very beginning, Scorpion’s origins are gruesome and grisly. Once Jax is introduced, it doesn’t take long until we realize, “Oh, that’s how they’re dealing with THAT plot point in this continuity.” Then there’s a surprise villain death late in the movie that not only comes as a shocking development, but it’s so graphic and nasty that you can’t help but be taken aback.

Scorpion’s Revenge is a fantastic first chapter of what is hopefully a series of animated movies, but it does have its pacing issues. Scorpion being the protagonist may be a welcome change, but at times it does feel like a square peg being crammed into a round hole.

3. TEKKEN: BLOOD VENGEANCE (2011)

One of the best things about the Tekken series is the endings. While the cutscenes from the first couple games haven’t exactly aged well, these CGI epilogues have become a staple in nearly every installment. What better reward for your time and success than watching a rocking action sequence with Yoshimitsu and Bryan Fury killing each other in the jungle?

And so, to play to the series’ strengths, Bandai Entertainment released a Tekken movie that’s really just one big ending cutscene. It’s not canon, but it feels at home with the games.

Since Tekken’s main conflict is with two ruthless megalomaniacs (Heihachi and Kazuya) and a disgruntled nihilist (Jin), it’s hard to treat any of them as a real protagonist here. Instead, they go with Ling Xiaoyu, who is portrayed as the person who sees the good in Jin and wants him to see the light. She’s given a robotic BFF in Alisa Bosconovitch because Xiaoyu is kind of a tame character and needs someone with chainsaw arms and a jetpack to liven things up.

The first hour or so is good enough to keep your attention and its lightened up by a couple appearances by Tekken’s best character, Lee. But once it gets to the third act, it just becomes a completely awesome Heihachi vs. Kazuya vs. Jin fight, with Xiaoyu taking a backseat to watch all the crazy shit going on. It’s a full-on fireworks factory, as we not only see Devil forms of Kazuya and Jin but a very special final form for Heihachi that’s a true delight for Tekken fans.

2. STREET FIGHTER II: THE ANIMATED MOVIE (1994)

Let it be said that for someone who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, finding a faithful cartoon adaptation of a video game property was not easy. Link and Simon Belmont were unlikable sexual harassers. Mega Man was a more annoying sidekick than Scrappy Doo. Mario and Luigi teamed up with Milli Vanilli. Power Team was…a thing. When we got an animated movie based on Street Fighter II, it was mind-blowing. This was a movie where the very first scene was Ryu tearing Sagat’s chest into a bloody gash thanks to a well-animated Shoryuken.

There’s a lot going on in this movie, but at the same time, nothing is going on. By this point, there were 17 characters in the various Street Fighter II games, and outside of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Akuma cameo, it feels the need to include every single one of them. Some get minor roles, like Cammy and Dee Jay. Then there’s Zangief and Blanka, who fight each other for no reason other than for the sake of giving them something to do. Even Ryu vanishes for a huge chunk of the runtime.

Once everything funnels into the third act, this movie is great. And the earlier fight scenes are straight fire too, including the memorable Chun-Li vs. Vega brawl. Even though the movie already feels true to Street Fighter II, it’s even better when you realize that it’s all supposed to be a prequel to the game itself.

Or at least I hope so. Otherwise, all Sagat gets to do is get his ass kicked by Ryu and get chewed out by Bison.

1. MORTAL KOMBAT (1995)

The stars truly aligned for this one. Mortal Kombat Mania was at its peak, so it makes sense that this movie was a retelling of the first game’s story with added aspects from the second game, all while hyping up the arcade release of the third game. CGI was such a novelty in Hollywood in the ’90s that even if it looked primitive, it still looked cutting edge at the time. It was the perfect time to release this movie.

But Mortal Kombat isn’t perfect. Reptile is embarrassing. Scorpion and Sub-Zero being relegated to goons still stings. I still roll my eyes at the part towards the end where Sonya is suddenly the damsel in distress and Raiden flat-out verbally buries her by saying she couldn’t beat Shang Tsung in a million years. Otherwise, it’s the perfect storm of ‘90s action garbage.

There are so many over-the-top and charismatic performances here. Johnny Cage, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Kano, and even Goro are a blast to watch. All 10 characters from the original game are given something to do and, most importantly, they realize how uniquely weird the game’s story is and actually dive headfirst into it. The movie isn’t embarrassed to be a Mortal Kombat movie but handles itself well enough that we aren’t embarrassed to be watching a Mortal Kombat movie.

Even with a PG-13 rating, the movie was violent enough. Kano talked up seeing a pile of frozen guts in the wake of a Sub-Zero fight, Scorpion got his skull sliced apart with demon brain goo spewing all over the place, and Shang Tsung got impaled to death.

With the reboot being rated R, going for the gore could very well be the right route to go, but for the love of the Elder Gods, don’t forget to have FUN. All I’m saying is, if even Johnny Cage isn’t hamming it up, then what’s the point?

The post 10 Best Fighting Game Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Allen’s End of the Year Rambling: Fighting Games

So now we get to the part of my End of the Year Rambling where I actually Ramble. This... this is gonna’ be a long one, and I haven’t even gotten to the RPGs yet... Lord help when I do. 

So yes, video games. I can’t just talk about everything in one go, I’ve played so much, played too much to be honest. So for the sake of my sanity I’ll be breaking this into genres, starting with fighting games.

I’ll be honest here, I’m not the best at fighting games. As much as I love a lot of the characters, as much as I enjoy writing lyrics to the character themes and fanfics for the lesser known  fighting games, I really couldn’t play at a competitive level for my life. My best game is Blazblue, and I can barely keep a 10% win rate on rank. 

No, my love of fighting games comes from the aesthetics and the animations.

Fighting games just tend to look very pretty in motion, and as someone that loves action and shounen and all that, games like these are right up my alley in terms of hitting those aesthetics. I don’t mind trying to learn how to play the game, but... well, “Git Gud” is a phrase that will forever haunt me for a reason. 

But yeah, I gave just about everything a shot as far as fighting games go this year. I played 2D fighters, 3D fighters, Brawlers, Side-Scrolling Beat-Em-Ups, and so on. If it went on sale on PSN or Steam, I tried it out. So here are some of the highlights and my general thoughts on some of these games.

So first I gotta’ talk about Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, Blazblue’s older brother in a way. I’m not gonna’ lie, my opinion of Guilty Gear is a tad... negative due to a lot of Guilty Gear fans putting down on Blazblue fans in the early years of Blazblue’s rising as a fighting game. I know I shouldn’t let that color my view of the game, but it does make it harder to make posts like this, and I can’t help but compare so many things in terms of characters and aesthetics. I tried a bit of Xrd when it came out, the original Xrd back in 2014. I mainly played Chipp and Ramlethal, then mostly Ramlethal since she was a bit easier than Chipp (online anyway). I liked a lot the visuals and animations, it was a bit grittier than Blazblue, and had a much easier story to follow despite being the 3rd (major) game in the series than the time-traveling, multi-dimensional, quantum-mechanical science-meets-magic craziness that was Blazblue. Hell, the voice casting was actually pretty good, even if it felt like they used literally 10 voice actors at times (I swear every English voice actor was playing at least 2 characters). I put it down after awhile and went back to Blazblue and Under Night In-Birth. 

What brought me back to Guilty Gear was actually Answer, and not Baiken to everyone’s surprise. As much as I love samurais and tough girls, Answer hit every single Ninja aesthetic I could ask for in the world of Guilty Gear. His suit, his style, how he talks on the phone while he fights, his theme, oh lord, his theme. I bought Rev 2 with every intent on Maining him.

Then I realized I had to learn how his scrolls worked to do that, and went right back to maining Ram.

As far as the story of Rev 2 goes, I... I really don’t care for it. I honestly didn’t bother with it after chapter 2. And honestly, it was because this game didn’t get dubbed. 

Yeah... sorry if I’m bringing up an old point of complaint, but when games have visual novel-style cutscenes, or a CG movie in the case of Guilty Gear, to showcase their story I’d really prefer a dub. It’s just easier for me personally to follow the information a bit more. The Japanese voice actors sound fine, and I do prefer Ramlethal’s Japanese voice as a oppose to Erin Fitzgerald if I’m being frank, but... I need a dub for these kinds of story scenes, hearing it in a language I understand helps me. There are exceptions, but they are few and far between, and I’m especially not cutting Guilty Gear a break because of that. The only reason I tolerated it in Blazblue is because it was the finale to Ragna’s story, and I was personally invested in Ragna’s character after 3 games. Sol and the cast of Guilty Gear... don’t get that advantage with me since was my first time really caring about the story. I played a bit of Guilty Gear XX beforehand, but not enough to care.

In terms of how it plays, it’s fine. Personally, I think Guilty Gear is way more strict with inputs. You can’t just fumble around with joystick and expect to combo into a DP like in Blazblue, you need to be accurate. You also have to account for close and far-ranged normals like with Slash and Heavy Slash. Guilty Gear is... just a different animal for me. A more strategic and precise one that punishes mistakes heavily.

I do like a lot about it though. It’s music definitely surpasses Blazblue in terms of quality, my favorites of the Rev 2 track is One Dawn, Dizzy’s theme, and Enough is Enough, Answer’s theme. I’m... trying get lyrics together for those songs, but... eh, it’ll take some times.

Next up, we’ve got Street Fighter 5. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of the Street Fighter series, but I do like a handful of character in the sense of aesthetics. Makoto and Ibuki are my favorites, but yeah, I actually bought this game since it was real cheap at the time and I wanted to see if I could actually get into it despite it’s focus on competitive play. I heard this game wasn’t for those looking for a single-player experience, but I needed to see that for myself.

And man, this game is actually tough. Sorry, for the sudden segue, but mechanics of Street Fighter so different to the fast-pace style of an ASW fighter. Doing combos is so hard for me. I know Guilty Gear was tough and punished mashing, but Street Fighter is so much slower paced with how you need to approach it. This game does not want you to button mash for combos. Like, at all. In fact, the main reason I like Ibuki so much is because she one of the few characters who has a handful of combos that you can mash. You need to time things carefully, and that makes things a nightmare for me in netplay sometimes.

But, back to my time with the game. I know I’m beating a dead horse with this critique, but the lack of a true arcade mode or any really single-player experience outside of Survival Mode really bugs me. As someone that isn’t good on a competitive level, nor has an interest in the competitive scene of Street Fighter, I feel like there’s nothing keeping me around. Maybe I could find a group of beginners like me and just pal around with them and improve, but... I don’t know, I don’t think it’s worth it.

In terms of good things about this game, I like the presentation very much. We can... talk about character models and their hair another time, but I like a lot of the outfits and style of the characters. Certain outfits I just had to get for the aesthetics of them. Like I said before, Street Fighter has aesthetics, but... not much outside that is keeping me playing it. Eh, maybe I write a fanfic about the series, who knows?

Alright, next is something I was meaning to get to for awhile, King of Fighters 14. Between this and Street Fighter, I much prefer this one. The inputs took me a minute to get use to, realizing that special inputs could be combined into super inputs and all that, but I like the combo system in this game. I find it a little faster paced than Street Fighter, but not as fast as something like Blazblue. It’s a nice middle ground given my experiences, something I’d be willing to stick a little bit more time into. 

I had to uninstall this due to... certain events happening this year with my PS4, but I’m hoping to buy a physical copy of this game at some point in 2018 and try this out in earnest. My favorite characters to use were Mian, Luong, and Mui Mui. I messed around a little with Alice and Vanessa too at the time before... the event. I’m just hoping there’s still a community afterwards when I get this game later.

And last one my fighting game highlights, I tried to get into Tekken 7. I really tried too, but there’s just a lot that’s dissuading me from it. Much like Street Fighter, I feel like the focus was on online and competitive play instead of making a single player experience. Story mode I didn’t care much for since I’m apathetic to Tekken’s storyline as a whole. Arcade mode... is barely there. There’s Treasure battle, but it doesn’t feel like much of a game there. Honestly, I think Tekken 6 was a little better at this. I feel like a lot of previous fighting game titles did more for the single player experience to be honest. I mean, it’s fine if they want to focus on multiplayer and online,but that just didn’t keep my attention. I’m not really interested in reaching a higher tier of playing a fighting game unless we’re talking about Blazblue and Under Night In Birth.

Now if there’s one good thing I can say about Tekken, it’s the animations. If there’s any reason I get 3D fighters, it’s for how fluid all the characters look and move. It’s why I like Virtua Fighter, it’s why I like Dead or Alive, and it’s why I like Tekken. Your character just does cool stuff when playing them, and unlike 2D fighters, it really feels like you’re doing all the crazy martial arts action. Spectacle is probably the main reason I love Tekken so much, and even if I feel this game is lacking, I’ll probably come back to it eventually... eventually.

Honorable Mentions

Blazblue Central Fiction 2.0: I’ll talk about the Blazblue series in depth another time, but I do want to at least finally welcome Jubei to the cast, it’s nice to have you here Cat Person, here’s hoping we can see you in Cross Tag Battle.

Dead or Alive 5: I actually played this a bit more often over this year, not enough to talk about it in depth, but I’ll admit there’s more to this game mechanically than the breast setting... plus I... spend roughly $100 on cute outfits for the girls... hehe... what can I say, I’m a bit of a shameless pervert.

Absolvers: While technically not a fighting game, there’s enough fighting and martial arts in this game for me to give it a quick mention. I liked it well enough, I just wish it ran at a higher frame rate on the PS4 though.

The Plethora of Small-Scale Fighters/Old Re-Releases I Bought This Year: If I talked about all the fighting games I bought and I’d be here all day, so I’ll just list them off here.

Brawlhalla

Chaos Code New Sign of Catastrophe

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

The Last Blade

Melty Blood

Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena

Arcana Heart 3 Love Max Six Stars

And that’s it for fighting games. Again, I care more about fighting games in terms of aesthetics and animations, something I’ll probably Ramble about in the future, but for now... I’ll see you all when I talk about the Fate series... yeah, I’m really hesitating to talk about RPGs guys, just... give me a week at least.