This week was an interesting one. Earlier we had CEO 2011 which I finally got a Grand Finals video for in MvC3. We also got some unfortunate news in Australia since their strict laws have confirmed that Dead or Alive Dimensions will also not be available in stores. Similar to the other Scandinavian countries I covered earlier, Australian officials have decided that the new DoA game is unfit for any audiences and will not be reaching the continent's shelves. Seeing as Australia is known for issues with strict laws regarding exploitation and what can be deemed proper for sale, this doesn't come to much of a surprise. Thankfully, America is still set for an upcoming release.
And as mentioned earlier, we have a grand finals video of the Tokido vs Justin Wong match at CEO. The characters, in my opinion, are excessively boring but it shows a level of play that I can only hope to reach in this game. Leave your thoughts in the comments below =)
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Soul Calibur 5 Article in Online Magazine
An interview with Soul Calibur 5 designers by EGM magazine has brought forward some really interesting information about the upcoming game. We find out about the creator's ideas behind character popularity, the return of gameplay elements and things like what factors separate Soul Calibur from other games of the genre. There's also a lot of awesome posters from other upcoming games and reviews on existing ones. All in all, it's definitely worth the read. Check it out at this link: http://www.egmnow.com/egmi/issue/249-1.html
It's definitely a good sign that we're starting to get some more concrete info but don't get your hopes up too much on gameplay details so early in the game's development. The pictures in the article do point out that it will be another visually pleasing title, however.
It's definitely a good sign that we're starting to get some more concrete info but don't get your hopes up too much on gameplay details so early in the game's development. The pictures in the article do point out that it will be another visually pleasing title, however.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Sunday=CEO Finale
Seeing as I'm a Florida resident, it's no surprise that I would be trying to hype the CEO tournament in Orlando, Florida this weekend. It covers a number of games and has amazing players from around the world on stream all day. Today is the final day for it so only the best of the best are left in the bracket. Check it out, I know I will.
The top 16 of MvC3 that are going to play today sometime after 6pm are:
Watch live video from teamsp00ky on www.justin.tv
LB|NYChrisG
Luis The Panda (Dante, Zero, Wesker) ****MIAMI RESIDENT!!****
DMG|PR Balrog (Dante, Wolverine, Tron Bonne)
EMP|Remix (Magneto, Wolverine, Sentinel)
EMP|Twisted Jago (Dante, Wesker, Trish)
EG|Justin Wong (She-Hulk, Wolverine, Akuma)
Nix (Chris, Phoenix, Haggar)
TTC|Tokido (Wolverine, Sentinel, Phoenix)
Losers bracket:
Marn (Magneto, Zero, Akuma)
FR|TooMuchDamage (Magneto, Wesker, Sentinel)
TS|NerdJosh (She-Hulk, Taskmaster, Tron Bonne)
Job (Zero, Phoenix, Tron Bonne)
EMP|Evil Rahsaan (Spider-Man, Sentinel, Phoenix)
Flash Metroid (Dante, Iron Man, Tron Bonne) ****Another Florida player!****
AG|MarlinPie (C. Viper, Magneto, Amaterasu)
Ryan Hunter (Dante, Amaterasu, Dormammu) ****Floooowda!****
Apparently Mike Ross just missed making it to top 16 after losing to Marlin Pie and his amazing Crimson Viper.
The top 16 of MvC3 that are going to play today sometime after 6pm are:
Watch live video from teamsp00ky on www.justin.tv
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 — Players qualified for top 16
Winners bracket:LB|NYChrisG
Luis The Panda (Dante, Zero, Wesker) ****MIAMI RESIDENT!!****
DMG|PR Balrog (Dante, Wolverine, Tron Bonne)
EMP|Remix (Magneto, Wolverine, Sentinel)
EMP|Twisted Jago (Dante, Wesker, Trish)
EG|Justin Wong (She-Hulk, Wolverine, Akuma)
Nix (Chris, Phoenix, Haggar)
TTC|Tokido (Wolverine, Sentinel, Phoenix)
Losers bracket:
Marn (Magneto, Zero, Akuma)
FR|TooMuchDamage (Magneto, Wesker, Sentinel)
TS|NerdJosh (She-Hulk, Taskmaster, Tron Bonne)
Job (Zero, Phoenix, Tron Bonne)
EMP|Evil Rahsaan (Spider-Man, Sentinel, Phoenix)
Flash Metroid (Dante, Iron Man, Tron Bonne) ****Another Florida player!****
AG|MarlinPie (C. Viper, Magneto, Amaterasu)
Ryan Hunter (Dante, Amaterasu, Dormammu) ****Floooowda!****
Apparently Mike Ross just missed making it to top 16 after losing to Marlin Pie and his amazing Crimson Viper.
Friday, June 10, 2011
A Lot of Info for the Break
Well as you can see from the title, I have some great information for all my followers. First of all, we have some Smash 4 news. I pointed out in my last blog that a new Super Smash Bros. has been confirmed. That is kind of a surprising fact since previously Sakurai mentioned he had no intention of another for a good while but we've grown to expect a new Smash with a new generation console. We know that we're getting one and it's going into development after the Kid Icarus game (sounds like we're getting an updated Pit moveset then). Here's some highlights that we have from an interview with the creators.
So is there a possibility of Megaman making a showing FINALLY in this series? Only time will tell.
Special thanks go out to Ankoku, a Smashboards translator for the majority of this info. I personally can't wait for it to be released.
- Sakurai is using his experience working with Kid Icarus 3DS to smooth the development process of 3DS smash. Mentions he would randomly think about Smash during Kid Icarus development
- "While I'm sure some people just want a new DX (Melee) or X (Brawl), that is not the answer I'm looking for"
- There's a lot of implied differences between the 3DS and WiiU versions. The issue of limitations (or lack thereof) come up ("I could make 50 characters, or double the stages, or make everything prettier (graphically), but with the WiiU I don't have to choose just one of those options"), while he runs into that problem with the 3DS, "maybe something fun like the original smash bros." adding something about a handicap.
- 3DS version will be more "personalized" than the WiiU version, as most likely the handheld machine will only be played by one person. This regards "personal data and achievements." He's probably referring to the stat-keeping mode the Smash games have had and how a handheld version would most likely only be tracking a single person's stats.
- Sakurai feels conflicted, saying something to the effect of "On one hand, a player feels a great sense of accomplishment by beating something really difficult. On the other, if it's too hard, they'll feel a sense of frustration by constantly losing to it." (implied differences between versions)
- Iwata goes on to add that a handheld experience is typically a "fun experience in a short amount of time," and that adjustments would have to be made to work around that.
- "So, for the 3DS version, since you must enjoy it alone, it has a system of rewards that you can customize your character with. And then you can bring these characters from the 3DS to the WiiU to fight on. So one "individual" on a handheld will appear in the "stadium" of the home console." Iwata summarizes by saying "The 3DS version is where players will earn individual achievements for themselves, while the WiiU version will be a place to show those achivements off"
- Sometime late in the Melee development cycle, Iwata told Sakurai "you can never have enough Smash Bros!," to which Sakurai replied "YES YOU CAN." Sakurai apparently doesn't remember this.
- Iwata mentions that he likes how in Smash, both high level and beginner level players can feel a sense of accomplishment in comparison to other fighting games. If you don't know what you're doing in other fighting games, you'll typically get destroyed, in Smash you can earn a few more hits. Sakurai adds onto that saying "You'd think it'd be natural to help new players improve, but when the goal of a fighting game is to beat your opponent down, that becomes difficult." Iwata "feels helpless and weak when he loses badly," and lastly Sakurai adds that "the 3DS version will have ways to help beginner players," going on to suggest co-op "There will be a reward system for good players helping bad ones"
- Apparently the balancing and rebalancing of characters was entirely up to Sakurai, but he's going to ask for some help from other members of the team this time around. He still feels the creator of the game will have the clearest vision of how the balance should look like, but definitely welcomes the help. Iwata asks what type of balancing he's referring to, and Sakurai responds talking about balancing animation/frame/hitbox data, while making sure it makes sense in the scope of the game. It has to "look natural and feels good to land the attack"
- There's implied distinction between casual and competitive play made by Sakurai, saying "all these claims of 'this character is too strong' or 'this character is too weak' varies from person to person." When he looked at the sets of data from Wifi games, all characters had relatively the same level of success. "However, according to the competitive scene, that doesn't seem to be the case elsewhere."
- A balance regarding the difficulties of surgical balance changes, and how they don't want characters to "feel the same," adding that specific traits/strengths/weaknesses are intentionally built to differentiate characters. Along with the "oh now that we nerfed this, this other thing is broken," etc. Iwata comments that this type of balancing is ridiculously hard and congratulates Sakurai for pulling it off with every single character by himself.
- Sakurai mentions that while new developers might see this initially as a learning opportunity, it'll eventually turn into a lesson of pain.
- More commentary regarding the extreme level of difficulty regarding balance vs uniqueness in a fighting game cast, with Iwata joking that "I knew I had an eye for talent when I picked you"
- Sakurai comments "the mechanics of a game better fit the system the game is on." The 3DS's small screen, for example, is something they have to work around, making sure the backgrounds and stage structure are clearly visible.
- Iwata comments that some designers enjoy gimmicks like FMVs and cutscenes, because it's where developers get the most free reign to show off their skills.
- Sakurai mentions "I think it'd be best if we can design something that works well and looks good regardless of whether it's on a portable or on an HDTV, but having a different team for each version is also good because we can still make very specialized additions to each." Each individual project will take advantage of each developers "specialty and where they're most likely to apply it."
- Essentially boiling down to "while keeping coherence between the two version is important, they don't want to use that as an excuse to compromise potential features for either version"
- Apparently Sakurai had no direct involvement with either Sonic's or Link's implementation in Brawl.
- He's slightly concerned by the fact that the various branches of Brawl staff worked on different schedules so the development process has gotten rather long. Iwata asks "but now you get to be a lot more hands-on with Smash 4, right?" to which Sakurai answers "Yes, but I'm coming into development right after Kid Icarus finishes, with no rest inbetween. So any help I can get is much appreciated"
- Sakurai says as a game designer and head developer, he really enjoys making something himself and seeing it turn into something good, but if he takes it in the wrong direction he won't reach the people he intends to. With Smash he wants to reach out to as many as he can. Iwata comments "this leaves a lot up to chance when it comes to the finished game," but Sakurai responds "I prefer it to a "stable" series where every sequel is juts the same game with a little bit added on. While it's painful to make something new, it's fun to figure out how." While with Smash, each iteration has a different fun twist, and even someone who doesn't know much about the series can pick apart the differences fairly easily.
- Iwata anguishes over how expensive the project is and that it requires a lot of people.
- Sakurai "Anyway, I look forward to the people you bring to this project, since the success of it is dependent on who you gather for me! Still, even if you don't gather enough people, I wouldn't want to see the project stretched thin, so we could focus on only one system." Iwata: "What? Even after we announced at e3 that we'll be developing for both systems?!" Sakurai: "Well either that or I take a small team and we take five years"
- in the conclusion, Iwata thanks Sakurai, and Sakurai says "thanks, but my time is currently focused on making sure Kid Icarus is perfect for launch!"
- "While I'm sure some people just want a new DX (Melee) or X (Brawl), that is not the answer I'm looking for"
- There's a lot of implied differences between the 3DS and WiiU versions. The issue of limitations (or lack thereof) come up ("I could make 50 characters, or double the stages, or make everything prettier (graphically), but with the WiiU I don't have to choose just one of those options"), while he runs into that problem with the 3DS, "maybe something fun like the original smash bros." adding something about a handicap.
- 3DS version will be more "personalized" than the WiiU version, as most likely the handheld machine will only be played by one person. This regards "personal data and achievements." He's probably referring to the stat-keeping mode the Smash games have had and how a handheld version would most likely only be tracking a single person's stats.
- Sakurai feels conflicted, saying something to the effect of "On one hand, a player feels a great sense of accomplishment by beating something really difficult. On the other, if it's too hard, they'll feel a sense of frustration by constantly losing to it." (implied differences between versions)
- Iwata goes on to add that a handheld experience is typically a "fun experience in a short amount of time," and that adjustments would have to be made to work around that.
- "So, for the 3DS version, since you must enjoy it alone, it has a system of rewards that you can customize your character with. And then you can bring these characters from the 3DS to the WiiU to fight on. So one "individual" on a handheld will appear in the "stadium" of the home console." Iwata summarizes by saying "The 3DS version is where players will earn individual achievements for themselves, while the WiiU version will be a place to show those achivements off"
- Sometime late in the Melee development cycle, Iwata told Sakurai "you can never have enough Smash Bros!," to which Sakurai replied "YES YOU CAN." Sakurai apparently doesn't remember this.
- Iwata mentions that he likes how in Smash, both high level and beginner level players can feel a sense of accomplishment in comparison to other fighting games. If you don't know what you're doing in other fighting games, you'll typically get destroyed, in Smash you can earn a few more hits. Sakurai adds onto that saying "You'd think it'd be natural to help new players improve, but when the goal of a fighting game is to beat your opponent down, that becomes difficult." Iwata "feels helpless and weak when he loses badly," and lastly Sakurai adds that "the 3DS version will have ways to help beginner players," going on to suggest co-op "There will be a reward system for good players helping bad ones"
- Apparently the balancing and rebalancing of characters was entirely up to Sakurai, but he's going to ask for some help from other members of the team this time around. He still feels the creator of the game will have the clearest vision of how the balance should look like, but definitely welcomes the help. Iwata asks what type of balancing he's referring to, and Sakurai responds talking about balancing animation/frame/hitbox data, while making sure it makes sense in the scope of the game. It has to "look natural and feels good to land the attack"
- There's implied distinction between casual and competitive play made by Sakurai, saying "all these claims of 'this character is too strong' or 'this character is too weak' varies from person to person." When he looked at the sets of data from Wifi games, all characters had relatively the same level of success. "However, according to the competitive scene, that doesn't seem to be the case elsewhere."
- A balance regarding the difficulties of surgical balance changes, and how they don't want characters to "feel the same," adding that specific traits/strengths/weaknesses are intentionally built to differentiate characters. Along with the "oh now that we nerfed this, this other thing is broken," etc. Iwata comments that this type of balancing is ridiculously hard and congratulates Sakurai for pulling it off with every single character by himself.
- Sakurai mentions that while new developers might see this initially as a learning opportunity, it'll eventually turn into a lesson of pain.
- More commentary regarding the extreme level of difficulty regarding balance vs uniqueness in a fighting game cast, with Iwata joking that "I knew I had an eye for talent when I picked you"
- Sakurai comments "the mechanics of a game better fit the system the game is on." The 3DS's small screen, for example, is something they have to work around, making sure the backgrounds and stage structure are clearly visible.
- Iwata comments that some designers enjoy gimmicks like FMVs and cutscenes, because it's where developers get the most free reign to show off their skills.
- Sakurai mentions "I think it'd be best if we can design something that works well and looks good regardless of whether it's on a portable or on an HDTV, but having a different team for each version is also good because we can still make very specialized additions to each." Each individual project will take advantage of each developers "specialty and where they're most likely to apply it."
- Essentially boiling down to "while keeping coherence between the two version is important, they don't want to use that as an excuse to compromise potential features for either version"
- Apparently Sakurai had no direct involvement with either Sonic's or Link's implementation in Brawl.
- He's slightly concerned by the fact that the various branches of Brawl staff worked on different schedules so the development process has gotten rather long. Iwata asks "but now you get to be a lot more hands-on with Smash 4, right?" to which Sakurai answers "Yes, but I'm coming into development right after Kid Icarus finishes, with no rest inbetween. So any help I can get is much appreciated"
- Sakurai says as a game designer and head developer, he really enjoys making something himself and seeing it turn into something good, but if he takes it in the wrong direction he won't reach the people he intends to. With Smash he wants to reach out to as many as he can. Iwata comments "this leaves a lot up to chance when it comes to the finished game," but Sakurai responds "I prefer it to a "stable" series where every sequel is juts the same game with a little bit added on. While it's painful to make something new, it's fun to figure out how." While with Smash, each iteration has a different fun twist, and even someone who doesn't know much about the series can pick apart the differences fairly easily.
- Iwata anguishes over how expensive the project is and that it requires a lot of people.
- Sakurai "Anyway, I look forward to the people you bring to this project, since the success of it is dependent on who you gather for me! Still, even if you don't gather enough people, I wouldn't want to see the project stretched thin, so we could focus on only one system." Iwata: "What? Even after we announced at e3 that we'll be developing for both systems?!" Sakurai: "Well either that or I take a small team and we take five years"
- in the conclusion, Iwata thanks Sakurai, and Sakurai says "thanks, but my time is currently focused on making sure Kid Icarus is perfect for launch!"
- In a separate interview from IGN, we got some especially tasty information about potential guest characters.
“I can’t say that it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility that some Capcom character could appear in the next Smash Bros. The big problem, though, comes from the idea of trying to get characters from a completely different universe to fit with the style that has been dictated by Nintendo’s characters in a fighting game.
“In fact, I actually think it’s a miracle that we got Smash Bros. and all the Nintendo characters to work together in the first place. Especially when you bring Pokemon into the mix and a lot of the complications that are caused by that being an almost completely different entity on its own, it’s really something. So this is something that obviously will come up more as we get started on the new Smash Bros. development, but keeping those things in mind I think is important.”
So is there a possibility of Megaman making a showing FINALLY in this series? Only time will tell.
Special thanks go out to Ankoku, a Smashboards translator for the majority of this info. I personally can't wait for it to be released.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
E3 Today
Well today I'll be kind of busy watching all of the E3 news that Nintendo is putting up. Tomorrow I'll give an update on all the great news we have. So far, we have a new Super Smash Bros. confirmed so I'm on cloud nine. Check out the live stream here: http://e3.nintendo.com/
Saturday, June 4, 2011
A Hero Gets Blown Up
Seeing as I'm Thorfan1, most of you know my favorite character in MvC3 is Thor. Of course in Marvel vs Capcom 3, the best Thor player at the moment is Mike Ross. I did a post sometime last week about his beasting at Wednesday Night Fights where he got 3rd, taking out many big names. On his youtube series, CrossCounterTV, however, this week we had the displeasure of seeing him get outright manhandled by the winner of the most recent Wednesday Night Fights. The winner was Combofiend, a player probably most well known for beating Justin Wong and Marn and showing people in general that Spencer is a very powerful character. This week we got to see Combofiend and Mike Ross face off after a callout. The results, to say the least, were a bit one-sided with Combofiend showing just how powerful of a player he really is.
The matches were very fun to watch and you get a peek into top MvC3 play and the difference between a generally smart player and a flat-out monster. Combofiend might just be too good.
Friday, June 3, 2011
New Soul Calibur Footage: Now Including Gameplay
I'm sure a lot of you could have figured out what today's blog post would be about. Today, we got both good and bad news. Well the good news of course is that we were able to finally see some actual gameplay from the Soul Calibur title but the bad news came at aboooout.. 1:25 into the video. Wait for it..
Yeah, that's right. We're definitely waiting until 2012 to get our hands on this. I definitely wanted to play it before then but I think just about anyone could have predicted this, right? This short video also pointed out a couple of other nice goodies. For one, we seem to have an upgrade to the guard crush system.
The guard impact system might have been altered or we have an entirely new mechanic put into the game. Patroklos blocks a move at the 0:41 second mark. He glows blue and there's a unique sound. Instead of being put into heavy blockstun by this move, he is able to retaliate almost instantly. A similar scenario happens at the 0:52 second mark. This time, it's red. The reason I think this could be the new guard impact is because in Soul Calibur 4, we had guard impacts and just impacts (a guard impact with very precise timing). The guard impact was blue/green if I remember correctly and the more precise version was red. This could be a way of speeding up the game. I wonder what the whiff animation for it will be if it is different from guard impacting. We see a guard impact whiff at the 0:56 mark by Patroklos. For now, I'm just throwing ideas out there. I'm going to do some research on 8wayrun.com, the competitive forum I used to go to back when I played Amy and Algol (before he was banned) in SC4. That reminds me, I would not hate to see the hero king make a return.
And lastly, speaking of returns: The other big thing we got from this video was that MITSURUGI IS RETURNING! Looks like he's not too old to hang up his sword just yet. I have high hopes for this game!
Yeah, that's right. We're definitely waiting until 2012 to get our hands on this. I definitely wanted to play it before then but I think just about anyone could have predicted this, right? This short video also pointed out a couple of other nice goodies. For one, we seem to have an upgrade to the guard crush system.
The guard impact system might have been altered or we have an entirely new mechanic put into the game. Patroklos blocks a move at the 0:41 second mark. He glows blue and there's a unique sound. Instead of being put into heavy blockstun by this move, he is able to retaliate almost instantly. A similar scenario happens at the 0:52 second mark. This time, it's red. The reason I think this could be the new guard impact is because in Soul Calibur 4, we had guard impacts and just impacts (a guard impact with very precise timing). The guard impact was blue/green if I remember correctly and the more precise version was red. This could be a way of speeding up the game. I wonder what the whiff animation for it will be if it is different from guard impacting. We see a guard impact whiff at the 0:56 mark by Patroklos. For now, I'm just throwing ideas out there. I'm going to do some research on 8wayrun.com, the competitive forum I used to go to back when I played Amy and Algol (before he was banned) in SC4. That reminds me, I would not hate to see the hero king make a return.
And lastly, speaking of returns: The other big thing we got from this video was that MITSURUGI IS RETURNING! Looks like he's not too old to hang up his sword just yet. I have high hopes for this game!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Some SSF4 Technical Love Today
The amazing combo sensei Desk has released another video showing off some of the more advanced combos for El Fuerte and Abel in Super Street Fighter 4 such as El Fuerte's Dai-Pan loop (Punch-run-stop) and Abel's loop on Chun-li. In the video below, Abel is able to land a double focus attack Zangief which is a veeery tight link. But enough of the intro, check out these videos.
And for fun, the below video might make people rethink their thoughts on Chun-li.
You can see more of Desk at his blog here: http://biffotasty.blogspot.com/
And for fun, the below video might make people rethink their thoughts on Chun-li.
You can see more of Desk at his blog here: http://biffotasty.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tourney Results from this Weekend
1: EG Justin Wong (She-Hulk, Wolverine, Akuma)
2: Rex0r (Magneto, Wolverine, Sentinel)
3: KeraHime~<3 (Tron Bonne, Dante, Sentinel)
4: fLoE (She-Hulk, Dante, Dormammu)
5: DMG PR Balrog (Dante, Wolverine, Tron Bonne)
5: Frankie G (Dante, Trish, Doctor Doom)
7: TS NerdJosh (She-Hulk, Taskmaster, Tron Bonne)
7: Omg ITZ Andre (Magneto, Amaterasu, Wesker)
Super Street Fighter 4
1: EG Justin Wong (Rufus, Adon)
2: Alex Valle (Ryu)
3: DMG PR Rog (Balrog)
4: EQ Ricky Ortiz (Rufus)
5: BLG JuiceBox Abel (Abel)
5: TFA BananaKen (Ken)
7: Wolfkrone (Viper)
7: fLoE (Rufus)
Mortal Kombat 9
1: Perfect Legend (Kung Lao)
2: DMG PR Rog (Raiden)
3: EG Justin Wong (Kung Lao)
4: Michaelangelo (Kabal)
5: KTH (Cyrax)
5: Alex Valle (Shang Tsung)
7: Playing To W1n (Raiden)
7: Limbo (Reptile)
Not too surprisingly, Justin Wong takes 1st place in SSF4 and Marvel vs Capcom 3 while getting a solid 3rd place in MK9. Guy's way too good. More surprising was that fLoE was unable to grab a top spot in MvC3. I'm also rather disappointed that top 8 in MvC3 had the same good characters we've seen in the past. Was hoping for Mike Ross to make a showing at this and wreck face.
And congrats go out to the winner of the Windy City Arcade stick during the raffle. I gotta admit, I got really jealous. The buttons even light up!
2: Rex0r (Magneto, Wolverine, Sentinel)
3: KeraHime~<3 (Tron Bonne, Dante, Sentinel)
4: fLoE (She-Hulk, Dante, Dormammu)
5: DMG PR Balrog (Dante, Wolverine, Tron Bonne)
5: Frankie G (Dante, Trish, Doctor Doom)
7: TS NerdJosh (She-Hulk, Taskmaster, Tron Bonne)
7: Omg ITZ Andre (Magneto, Amaterasu, Wesker)
Super Street Fighter 4
1: EG Justin Wong (Rufus, Adon)
2: Alex Valle (Ryu)
3: DMG PR Rog (Balrog)
4: EQ Ricky Ortiz (Rufus)
5: BLG JuiceBox Abel (Abel)
5: TFA BananaKen (Ken)
7: Wolfkrone (Viper)
7: fLoE (Rufus)
Mortal Kombat 9
1: Perfect Legend (Kung Lao)
2: DMG PR Rog (Raiden)
3: EG Justin Wong (Kung Lao)
4: Michaelangelo (Kabal)
5: KTH (Cyrax)
5: Alex Valle (Shang Tsung)
7: Playing To W1n (Raiden)
7: Limbo (Reptile)
Not too surprisingly, Justin Wong takes 1st place in SSF4 and Marvel vs Capcom 3 while getting a solid 3rd place in MK9. Guy's way too good. More surprising was that fLoE was unable to grab a top spot in MvC3. I'm also rather disappointed that top 8 in MvC3 had the same good characters we've seen in the past. Was hoping for Mike Ross to make a showing at this and wreck face.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
National Fighting Game Stream Today
Today's blog post will feature Chicago's Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament stream. For those who don't know, the stream is a live video feed of multiple games going on in this 3-day tournament stream. There will be Mortal Kombat 9, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter 4 and many other games that haven't been seen in a long while. Try to check it out. One common to thing to notice is that strong players usually stay strong across games. Justin Wong is one of those players who will just take first at anything he plays. Alex Valle, an amazing Street Fighter player across the series is destroying in Mortal Kombat 9. There are also random fighting game tournies of games I haven't even seen before. I'm personally hoping for some Arcana Heart hype. Check it out!
Watch live video from Level|Up Live on Justin.tv
Another note that I'll be mentioning: I'm probably going to start putting up some of my brawl matches here when I get back into the tourney scene in the upcoming month.
Watch live video from Level|Up Live on Justin.tv
Another note that I'll be mentioning: I'm probably going to start putting up some of my brawl matches here when I get back into the tourney scene in the upcoming month.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Family Issues
Unfortunately I had some family issues come up so couldn't update the blog yesterday (what a way to thank all my followers, right?). On the bright side, my mom's doing much better now and I can give you all more news and information from the fighting game scenes. Unfortunately, with the way things have been, today's post is more of an introduction to more future posts because I'm busy around the house playing the nurse. Couldn't leave you all without any update, right? Pretty sure you were all worried sick.
On an extra note, I actually got really into League of Legends now so expect to see some info from that too.
On an extra note, I actually got really into League of Legends now so expect to see some info from that too.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
150 Followers
My next goal has been met. I want to thank everyone for helping me get this far. I'm going to keep going and keep getting new and exciting stories for you. This has been a blast so far. Aiming for 200 next, I know we can get there. You all are great and I want to say thanks again.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Country's Censorship Going Too Far?
The title should already tell you where I'm going with today's blog post. A story has been circulating the net for about a week or so now about how the upcoming 3DS fighter, Dead or Alive Dimensions will not be distributed throughout the majority of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This is because three of the characters in the games are under the age of 18. In a fighting game, this isn't anything especially new (many traditional fighting games feature highschool characters after all) but the issue lies in the fact that the game features a mode where you can take pictures of the characters from every angle. So what does this mean in simple terms?
The game is being banned under child pornography laws. So basically, because characters like Eliot (a 16-year old highschooler taught by the master Gen-fu) are viewable in this mode, this game is being banned. Make no mistake, these characters are FULLY CLOTHED (well by DOA standards). But the photography of any characters, real or fictional under the age of 18 in a pornographic situation (being turned while fully clothed in a model viewer) is marked as illegal in Scandinavia. Fans of the series here in America won't have to worry though. We'll still be getting the game. Going by past DOA games though, maybe the claim wasn't entirely baseless.
What are your thoughts? Have censorship laws gone a bit too far or is this ban in certain countries a step in the right direction?
The game is being banned under child pornography laws. So basically, because characters like Eliot (a 16-year old highschooler taught by the master Gen-fu) are viewable in this mode, this game is being banned. Make no mistake, these characters are FULLY CLOTHED (well by DOA standards). But the photography of any characters, real or fictional under the age of 18 in a pornographic situation (being turned while fully clothed in a model viewer) is marked as illegal in Scandinavia. Fans of the series here in America won't have to worry though. We'll still be getting the game. Going by past DOA games though, maybe the claim wasn't entirely baseless.
What are your thoughts? Have censorship laws gone a bit too far or is this ban in certain countries a step in the right direction?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Thor High Tier?
So this past week was the 2nd session in the 4th season of Wednesday Night Fights, a tournament series for a couple of games. Although I try to balance out the information in this blog equally around fighting games, this is totally going to be another Marvel vs Capcom 3 post. What was so special about this Wednesday Night Fights (going to refer to it as WNF from this point on) is that Mike Ross made it to winner's finals playing Thor the entire way. Considering that Thor is typically thought of as a low tier character, this was a real accomplishment. He pulled wins over impressive names such as Clakey D and LLND and even gave Viscant (the tournament winner) a run for his money. Could this win bring about a new surge of Thor players? He's already a likable character and this isn't the first time a player has done really well with him. Justin Wong won an entire tournament before with a Thor/Hsien-ko/Chris team before. But that's not very important. This post is to give props to someone who definitely deserves it.
Mike Ross, you did good. Keep it up and we hope to see more of you!
For those who want to see exactly how he was beasting, you can look up his videos here: http://frame-advantage.com/event/wednesday-night-fights-4-2-mvc3-singles/281 or if you simply want to keep up with him, you can check out his youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/crosscountertv . I'm personally a Mike Ross fan now.
Mike Ross, you did good. Keep it up and we hope to see more of you!
For those who want to see exactly how he was beasting, you can look up his videos here: http://frame-advantage.com/event/wednesday-night-fights-4-2-mvc3-singles/281 or if you simply want to keep up with him, you can check out his youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/crosscountertv . I'm personally a Mike Ross fan now.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Dante's New Infinite in MvC3
When I first heard that Dante had an infinite in this game, I assumed that it was going to be his Acid Rain combo that was Tron-specific (especially since the video started with him versus Tron). As I watched, I quickly realized how dumb this combo is and that it's going to need to be fixed. Dante is already an extremely powerful character in MvC3. He can start and receive the DHC glitch, he has a powerful level 3 that's easy to combo into, a teleport that he can cover with assists to get through camp but most importantly, he has literally more options than any other character in the game. Because of that last reason, I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this was figured out with the Devil May Cry hero.
The combo reminds me of something you'd see in MvC2. It looks really repetitive and it's clearly going to go on for a while. Probably the most disgusting thing about it isn't how meter-efficient and time-consuming it is. The most disgusting thing is that to do this infinite, you're actually MASHING on ONE button. Hold the stick in the down-forward position and jam on the Heavy button and Dante will perform this. How this wasn't discovered earlier is beyond me. Every Phoenix team WILL have a Dante on there to build the five bars and basically guarantee a win.
On an ENTIRELY unrelated note, I've considered picking Dante up.................
The combo reminds me of something you'd see in MvC2. It looks really repetitive and it's clearly going to go on for a while. Probably the most disgusting thing about it isn't how meter-efficient and time-consuming it is. The most disgusting thing is that to do this infinite, you're actually MASHING on ONE button. Hold the stick in the down-forward position and jam on the Heavy button and Dante will perform this. How this wasn't discovered earlier is beyond me. Every Phoenix team WILL have a Dante on there to build the five bars and basically guarantee a win.
On an ENTIRELY unrelated note, I've considered picking Dante up.................
Friday, May 20, 2011
Something Needs to Be Said!
I was going to do another fighting game blog but a friend linked me to this when I got home and I got my mind blown a little bit. Needless to say, I'm subscribing to this guy. Hopefully everyone doesn't comment with a "Oh, you didn't know that?"
Thoughts? Was this common knowledge or did you learn something from this?
Back to the fighting game blog tomorrow, I promise!
Thoughts? Was this common knowledge or did you learn something from this?
Back to the fighting game blog tomorrow, I promise!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Concept Art in Soul Calibur 5
Game's said to be about 10% complete. So we have a loooong wait to go. Here's a look into the future.
The above is Patroklos, Sophitia's son. You can see her daughter at the bottom of the page.
Everyone knows who Siegfried is, I think. The manly beard might make him my new main if he actually makes it into the game.
Pyrrha, Sophitia's daughter.
Unfortunately this is all we have to work with since the game is nowhere near completion. Hoping for the best though.
The above is Patroklos, Sophitia's son. You can see her daughter at the bottom of the page.
Unfortunately this is all we have to work with since the game is nowhere near completion. Hoping for the best though.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thor as a direct assist in MvC3
We talked about Thor's uses as an assist earlier. He has 3 assists with varying use to different teams. They are the Mighty Spark Projectile, the anti-air Mighty Strike and the combo-continuing Mighty Smash. Like most, I use the Mighty Smash for a couple of reasons. It helps my other characters lead into their super easier, of course. It also is one of the best crossover counters in the game. When blocking, if you press forward and Thor's assist button, Thor will come in with invincibility and punish whatever move was used with no lag. This makes it one of the safest tag-ins in the game. His projectile isn't great for starting approaches so mighty smash is my personal favorite.
Doesn't that just look amazing? Who wouldn't wanna have this guy on their team?
(Sorry about the short post. Stayed out pretty late last night and wanna get some sleep)
Doesn't that just look amazing? Who wouldn't wanna have this guy on their team?
(Sorry about the short post. Stayed out pretty late last night and wanna get some sleep)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Soul Calibur V: It's About.. Time?
As many of you probably know, Soul Calibur V was recently announced and for fans of this series, this was great news. With a new game comes many changes however. The main cast is said to be getting divided. That is, some characters from previous games will be returning but definitely not all of them. Seeing as how the game takes place 17 years after the events in Soul Calibur IV, this shouldn't come as a big surprise and we can start guessing who's probably getting the boot. In a recent interview, it was mentioned that not only are the Soul Calibur and Soul Edge weapons being redesigned for this timeline but Siegfried might not be making a return. Being a main character since the original game 'Soul Edge', this was sure to shake up a few people. Female characters (not usually aging well) will probably be hit or miss on returning. Ivy was getting rather old but had such a unique playstyle that she would be very difficult to replace. Talim is most definitely coming back (being only in her mid-teens during the events of SC4). Sophitia is debatable as well. Her son is confirmed to be playable in this game with a spinoff of her style, a faster and more agile version.
We've been promised that gameplay is to be generally sped up and attacks and offense are going to be easier to initiate. Weapons in general will also be much smaller for storyline purposes. So what do you all think? Will you be looking forward to this game? Are there any characters you want to return or think won't make it?
We've been promised that gameplay is to be generally sped up and attacks and offense are going to be easier to initiate. Weapons in general will also be much smaller for storyline purposes. So what do you all think? Will you be looking forward to this game? Are there any characters you want to return or think won't make it?
Monday, May 16, 2011
What caused the hype?
Well, before Marvel vs Capcom 3 was released, I had very little interest in the title. I wasn't looking forward to it at all really. Marvel vs Capcom 2, although very competitive, was a game that was pretty widely known for being a super technical game where you ended up playing about 1 of 6 characters (no offense to MvC2 players, of course). So the entire series didn't appeal to me much at all since I'm known for playing characters that I like over characters that are good most of the time. Because of that, it should be no surprise that I didn't want to play. I did have a few things that swayed me, however. Recently, I put up a post about Thor's taunt in MvC3. That's one of the things that changed my mind completely. The taunt itself wasn't so much a game-changer but I really liked Thor from when I was younger and saw a movie about the Avengers on Cartoon Network. Hearing his booming voice as he swung Mjolnir in front of him brought back a surge of memories and I knew I wanted to break this character in MvC3.
For those of you who haven't seen the movie, here's a short clip. To set it up: The avengers save the day once again but somebody's not being so much of a team player. So they all have to team up to bring down a teammate. The Thor in this movie is called out during early scenes of not actually being Thor and being legitimately insane. His hammer is said to have been created by S.H.I.E.L.D. and gives him Thor-like powers. So basically, this guy is a phony and he still shows people what is really good.
One other small note of interest: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is unable to be lifted by someone who isn't worthy to be called Thor. Enjoy the scene ;D I still find some parts hilarious to this day.
For those of you who haven't seen the movie, here's a short clip. To set it up: The avengers save the day once again but somebody's not being so much of a team player. So they all have to team up to bring down a teammate. The Thor in this movie is called out during early scenes of not actually being Thor and being legitimately insane. His hammer is said to have been created by S.H.I.E.L.D. and gives him Thor-like powers. So basically, this guy is a phony and he still shows people what is really good.
One other small note of interest: Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is unable to be lifted by someone who isn't worthy to be called Thor. Enjoy the scene ;D I still find some parts hilarious to this day.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Well, Thor hype might be dying down some.
The Thor movie's been out for over a week. There's not a bunch of players using Thor nowadays. I'm thinking of expecting this blog into either a full on MvC3 guide or a general superhero blog. I might also keep it the same with little variations as we go along, which is what I'm leaning to the most. You guys are my followers. What do YOU think? Which direction would keep your attention the most? I really like the character but the character in a specific game might be too limiting of a topic for continuous discussion.
To be honest, I'm probably gonna stick with it how it is but if people want something new, I'll really consider it. Next blog's going to be on what made me decide Thor was a BA and started all this in the first place.
Comment with your thoughts.
To be honest, I'm probably gonna stick with it how it is but if people want something new, I'll really consider it. Next blog's going to be on what made me decide Thor was a BA and started all this in the first place.
Comment with your thoughts.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
The Taunt
Today's topic is going to be a little more chill. We're going to talk about one of Thor's most fun moves.
His Mighty Speech is a pretty unique special move in that as you long as you hold down the H button, Thor will rapidly charge his Hyper meter gauge at the bottom of the screen. It is also unique in that he can cancel any of his special moves that end on the ground with this move. So if Thor shoots a projectile, for example, he can instantly cancel into his Mighty Speech. This has very little use in combos but it's there.
The Mighty Speech can only be cancelled in two ways. Either you can release the button which will make Thor put his hand down and go back to neutral stance or (since it's a special move), you can cancel it directly into a super such as his Mighty Punish command grab. This is the only way to remove all the lag from it but burning a super is kind of counter-intuitive to what the taunt was being used for. You'll get like +1000 style points though.
His Mighty Speech is a pretty unique special move in that as you long as you hold down the H button, Thor will rapidly charge his Hyper meter gauge at the bottom of the screen. It is also unique in that he can cancel any of his special moves that end on the ground with this move. So if Thor shoots a projectile, for example, he can instantly cancel into his Mighty Speech. This has very little use in combos but it's there.
The Mighty Speech can only be cancelled in two ways. Either you can release the button which will make Thor put his hand down and go back to neutral stance or (since it's a special move), you can cancel it directly into a super such as his Mighty Punish command grab. This is the only way to remove all the lag from it but burning a super is kind of counter-intuitive to what the taunt was being used for. You'll get like +1000 style points though.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
100 Followers
I just wanted to use today's post to thank you all for following me and my blog. I got 100 followers and, I gotta say, it feels good. Get ready to count on some more great posts. And stay tuned because eventually I'm going to start getting into the more advanced strats that I created this blog for. Thanks again, everyone. Next landmark is 150!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Thor Partners
Well in general, you can seperate Thor's teammates into like three categories:
1) Teammates that help Thor approach
2) Teammates that help Thor do combo damage
3) Teammates that Thor helps
Category 1 would be characters with moves that can get the opponent in continuous blockstun like Dr. Doom's missiles, Ironman's beam assist or Akuma's tatsumaki assist. There are many more options but these are just examples.
Category 2 would include assists that can help Thor continue combos for more damage like X23's ankle slice or Wesker's samurai edge assist since these assists pick the opponents up off the ground for Thor to continue piling on the damage.
Finally, Category 3 would include characters that Thor's assists help. A strong point character like Zero or Magneto with no ability to ground bounce a character for longer combos would gladly welcome Thor into the mix.
Of course there's an option we haven't discussed. The last option is putting Thor with a gimmick team. In the end, the game is about fun. So some people will want to run teams like Gimpyfish does.
So who would you like to team Thor with? Or do you think Thor does better being thrown on other teams rather than having teams based around him?
1) Teammates that help Thor approach
2) Teammates that help Thor do combo damage
3) Teammates that Thor helps
Category 1 would be characters with moves that can get the opponent in continuous blockstun like Dr. Doom's missiles, Ironman's beam assist or Akuma's tatsumaki assist. There are many more options but these are just examples.
Category 2 would include assists that can help Thor continue combos for more damage like X23's ankle slice or Wesker's samurai edge assist since these assists pick the opponents up off the ground for Thor to continue piling on the damage.
Finally, Category 3 would include characters that Thor's assists help. A strong point character like Zero or Magneto with no ability to ground bounce a character for longer combos would gladly welcome Thor into the mix.
Of course there's an option we haven't discussed. The last option is putting Thor with a gimmick team. In the end, the game is about fun. So some people will want to run teams like Gimpyfish does.
So who would you like to team Thor with? Or do you think Thor does better being thrown on other teams rather than having teams based around him?
Monday, May 9, 2011
Team Placement
I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day celebration. If you were wondering, mine was alright. Found out my girlfriend's mom started freaking out cause her son didn't do anything for her but say 'Happy Mothers Day'. That eventually stretched out to meaning that every male was doing her wrong and I was suddenly a bad guy. The gf stood up for me though so I'm good. Anyways, onto business.
Thor is a character that needs to find a specific role in any team he's on. He doesn't just splash with anyone unfortunately. He is also very ineffective without assists to help him get in. This is the reason why having Thor as the last slot on your team is going to just lead to a lot of trouble. It's pretty easy to run from Thor if the character you're playing has even relatively good mobility or a good zoning tool that Thor has to respect. Because of this, Thor's best position is going to be in either starting position so you can wrestle for momentum at the start or in second slot where you can DHC into one of Thor's supers to bring him in. The exact roles that Thor needs to be effective in a lead or secondary slot will be discussed in tomorrow's post. I'm pretty tired from the festivities yesterday.
So tell me about your Mother's Day drama if you had any or if not, do you like Thor in 1st, 2nd or 3rd slot on a team?
Thor is a character that needs to find a specific role in any team he's on. He doesn't just splash with anyone unfortunately. He is also very ineffective without assists to help him get in. This is the reason why having Thor as the last slot on your team is going to just lead to a lot of trouble. It's pretty easy to run from Thor if the character you're playing has even relatively good mobility or a good zoning tool that Thor has to respect. Because of this, Thor's best position is going to be in either starting position so you can wrestle for momentum at the start or in second slot where you can DHC into one of Thor's supers to bring him in. The exact roles that Thor needs to be effective in a lead or secondary slot will be discussed in tomorrow's post. I'm pretty tired from the festivities yesterday.
So tell me about your Mother's Day drama if you had any or if not, do you like Thor in 1st, 2nd or 3rd slot on a team?
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Mother's Day
So today I had to wake up early for work and I'm going to take my mom out for Mother's Day. There's a movie she wanted to see. So this post is more to ask what you all are doing today. I don't think any of my friends are doing anything too major but I usually like to make it somewhat special. This year, I only got her a card and am taking her out. I suppose I'll try to be more impressive on her birthday. What do you all have planned? Do you consider this a day worth going all out for?
Saturday, May 7, 2011
A Guide to Movement
We've touched upon what we expect you to do to close that gap on someone keeping Thor out of his favorite range but it's never as easy as that. Today's post will talk about that with a few more visual cues. The video below was provided by a Thor player from the forums. This is where most Thor players should start so give it a look and tell me what you think.
Friday, May 6, 2011
It's Official / Autopiloting continued
I unfortunately had to work through the night yesterday. Didn't get off work until midnight. I heard the Thor movie was pretty good but it had some parts that rubbed people the wrong way (or at least the bigger fans). I'm going to get back on topic about Marvel vs Capcom 3 but I want to hear from you guys about how you thought the movie was if you saw it. I really am disappointed that I missed it. Do you think it was a great movie or overhyped? Superhero movies are usually pretty exciting, especially the marvel movies. Please don't ruin the movie's plot for other people reading the comments though. This marks the only Avengers movie that I missed but the Captain America movie's still not out, so we'll see. ANYWAYS, back to the topic at hand.
A big problem for people in Marvel vs Capcom 3 (and fighting games in general) is the autopiloting issue we talked about earlier. It's very easy to fall into predictable patterns based on how you've practiced in the past. Can happen to anyone but the key thing we've been talking about is how to bring it to an end. Autopiloting issue starts when a scrub-friendly tactic comes under your control that newer players have an issue dealing with. These tactics are usually safe so punishes aren't too big. Things like spamming Magneto's disruptor or throwing out Tron's giant aerial hitboxes with no mixup or even jamming on your Haggar assist every moment it's possible, all these are extreme examples of autopiloting. I've caught myself doing this before too and it really just slows your development. Everyone has probably felt it at some point.
Remember when the really old school Mortal Kombat was in arcades a long while back? Everytime you did a crouching uppercut, you would hear the announcer scream something cool, you'd hit the guy for a big chunk of health, you were crouching under your opponent's jabs so effectively dodged the majority of his moves and if the opponent blocked it, they couldn't even punish it. If you were like me on those old school machines, you got through like the first 6 levels of arcade uppercutting the heck out of anyone who dared throw his way in the reach of your mighty, rising dominance.
BUT what happened when you got to the higher levels? When you were convinced you ran this game and nobody could stop you? You'd go for the uppercut, the computer would crouch and uppercut you back and they'd get the announcer screaming for them. YOU PANIC. He's coming again? What do you do? Quick, make a decision! Uppercut. Get hit again. You're officially in the quicksand and you're trapped. This is an exaggerated example but it holds true. Even if you're used to wrecking your friends in any game with some powerful tactic, try not to rely on it too heavily. One day, you'll have to come up against someone who knows how to get around your tactic and will test if you have a backup plan. Fighting games are a test of adaptation in the end. Remember that.
Here's a video talking about a popular and powerful tactic from street fighter, also exaggerated but might bring up some nostalgia. For those not too huge on fighting game notation, DPM stands for dragon punch motion (pressing Forward, Down, then Down-Forward in quick succession). It's called this because it's the traditional notation for uppercut motion moves that have invincibility frames on the startup and rise a.k.a. Dragon Punches. Enjoy!
And remember to give opinions on the Thor movie if you saw it!
A big problem for people in Marvel vs Capcom 3 (and fighting games in general) is the autopiloting issue we talked about earlier. It's very easy to fall into predictable patterns based on how you've practiced in the past. Can happen to anyone but the key thing we've been talking about is how to bring it to an end. Autopiloting issue starts when a scrub-friendly tactic comes under your control that newer players have an issue dealing with. These tactics are usually safe so punishes aren't too big. Things like spamming Magneto's disruptor or throwing out Tron's giant aerial hitboxes with no mixup or even jamming on your Haggar assist every moment it's possible, all these are extreme examples of autopiloting. I've caught myself doing this before too and it really just slows your development. Everyone has probably felt it at some point.
Remember when the really old school Mortal Kombat was in arcades a long while back? Everytime you did a crouching uppercut, you would hear the announcer scream something cool, you'd hit the guy for a big chunk of health, you were crouching under your opponent's jabs so effectively dodged the majority of his moves and if the opponent blocked it, they couldn't even punish it. If you were like me on those old school machines, you got through like the first 6 levels of arcade uppercutting the heck out of anyone who dared throw his way in the reach of your mighty, rising dominance.
BUT what happened when you got to the higher levels? When you were convinced you ran this game and nobody could stop you? You'd go for the uppercut, the computer would crouch and uppercut you back and they'd get the announcer screaming for them. YOU PANIC. He's coming again? What do you do? Quick, make a decision! Uppercut. Get hit again. You're officially in the quicksand and you're trapped. This is an exaggerated example but it holds true. Even if you're used to wrecking your friends in any game with some powerful tactic, try not to rely on it too heavily. One day, you'll have to come up against someone who knows how to get around your tactic and will test if you have a backup plan. Fighting games are a test of adaptation in the end. Remember that.
Here's a video talking about a popular and powerful tactic from street fighter, also exaggerated but might bring up some nostalgia. For those not too huge on fighting game notation, DPM stands for dragon punch motion (pressing Forward, Down, then Down-Forward in quick succession). It's called this because it's the traditional notation for uppercut motion moves that have invincibility frames on the startup and rise a.k.a. Dragon Punches. Enjoy!
And remember to give opinions on the Thor movie if you saw it!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A Sad Day
So some unfortunate news came in. My job called me into work today and they want me to close. It looks like I'm not going to make the movie. This is.. all kinds of suck. Don't cry for me though. Keep the hype alive. I'll see it on the weekend. See the post below for a bit of cheering up!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A Day of Recognition
Well I was going to do a continued write up on getting around autopiloting in a fighting game but today is a special day. Tonight (or technically tomorrow) at midnight, the Thor movie is coming to theaters. Seeing as this specific blog is revolving around the strategies of the manliest character in video gaming history, I think we can dedicate one day to the hype that is Thor.
Tomorrow I'm going to finish getting all the hype off my chest then we'll get back to wrecking with this beast in Marvel vs Capcom 3!
Tomorrow I'm going to finish getting all the hype off my chest then we'll get back to wrecking with this beast in Marvel vs Capcom 3!
Autopiloting
The worst thing about autopiloting in this game, I think, is that you lose alot of options that are naturally available to you. Every time that you make a split second decision like playing out the scenario you've done a million times in training mode, you're effectively limiting yourself to a level that is immune to improvement. That is one of the reasons Thor isn't regarded very highly in most of the speculated tierlists you'll see on sites like Shoryuken.com. When a character like Magneto autopilots, he still has a chance of getting a random airgrab that could kill you. Thor is a character of extremes. His correct guesses mean alot but his moves have very specific purposes. His command grab, for instance, is designed for people who are strictly blocking so if you want to use it then you have to scare the opponent into either blocking or simply not pressing buttons long enough to fall victim to it.
Think about it. If you finally get in on someone with a Mighty Strike and they block it, 90% of players will automatically go into their standard block string and mixup from there. The opponent's already blocking, why not skip to the direct counter and punish? A better option would been to mighty strike in and then go for the command grab since you know his mind's on blocking. Or say they just blocked your assist and are about to leave blockstun, what is your option? A big part of this game is remembering your opponent has options. If you can predict that, Thor WILL kill them. Alot of times in tight situations, I'll set bait like a Mighty Smash or a ground assist like X23's ankle slice and approach. Knowing that Thor's coming, common player mindset is to hold up-back to ignore the mixup and reduce blockstun. That is when I can meet them with a midair command grab.
This concept will be continued in a later post.
Think about it. If you finally get in on someone with a Mighty Strike and they block it, 90% of players will automatically go into their standard block string and mixup from there. The opponent's already blocking, why not skip to the direct counter and punish? A better option would been to mighty strike in and then go for the command grab since you know his mind's on blocking. Or say they just blocked your assist and are about to leave blockstun, what is your option? A big part of this game is remembering your opponent has options. If you can predict that, Thor WILL kill them. Alot of times in tight situations, I'll set bait like a Mighty Smash or a ground assist like X23's ankle slice and approach. Knowing that Thor's coming, common player mindset is to hold up-back to ignore the mixup and reduce blockstun. That is when I can meet them with a midair command grab.
This concept will be continued in a later post.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Logic
In the video game Marvel vs Capcom 3, Thor is a powerful force. In general, Thor is meant to be up close, in your face and always ready to dish out the pain with his 3-way guessing game (High, low or command grab). One thing that's difficult to grasp for those who are actually getting into the game now is that, first and foremost, the goal of the game IS to outsmart the opponent. Since you're playing a character who happens to hit like a truck, when you guess right, it means alot more than when your opponent guesses right usually. So how can you make the most of this? Well it's pretty simple. Don't autopilot. Before I get into what that means completely, I don't want to get off track. Today's message is about playing Thor. We know he has a high priority approach move. We know he has sick damage off an aerial or crouching hit. We know his command grab'll do 50%+ on anyone in the cast at least if you land your combos.
But what we have to remember is that Thor isn't just a damage box who rushes you down with triangle jumps and command grabs. He's a character with a reasonable number of options that people don't give him enough credit for. For example, Wesker is a character who stereotypically gives Thor the business. It's a hard matchup for you. He'll gun you in the face all day and if he hits you out of the air, he gets a free combo. If you close the gap enough, he can teleport away or just reverse the pressure onto you. It's tough. So how can we deal with something like this? Simply put, don't play a grappler. Play Thor.
You have a projectile that can stand up to Wesker's gun. Light Mighty Spark is a really fast move with super fast startup, recovery and priority. You can stand up to Wesker and make it harder for him to continue the fight on his own terms. If he's getting blasted by lightning in his face every 0.5 seconds, he's not gonna be able to shoot you or chip you with assists. This will put a bit of fear into him. Instead of mindlessly rushing him down and getting tagged in the face all game with bullets, you effectively limit his options and force him to stop mashing out his f+H. This'll open an opportunity for you to approach. Against other characters, the options might have to be reversed. Magneto can shamelessly outcamp you but he can't combo off his projectiles from mid to fullscreen. This means there's less risk with barreling him down with Mighty Strikes especially since he's made of paper and a misplaced anti-air can get him killed very easily.
We'll talk more about this in a later post and hopefully can start talking about the dangers of autopiloting.
But what we have to remember is that Thor isn't just a damage box who rushes you down with triangle jumps and command grabs. He's a character with a reasonable number of options that people don't give him enough credit for. For example, Wesker is a character who stereotypically gives Thor the business. It's a hard matchup for you. He'll gun you in the face all day and if he hits you out of the air, he gets a free combo. If you close the gap enough, he can teleport away or just reverse the pressure onto you. It's tough. So how can we deal with something like this? Simply put, don't play a grappler. Play Thor.
You have a projectile that can stand up to Wesker's gun. Light Mighty Spark is a really fast move with super fast startup, recovery and priority. You can stand up to Wesker and make it harder for him to continue the fight on his own terms. If he's getting blasted by lightning in his face every 0.5 seconds, he's not gonna be able to shoot you or chip you with assists. This will put a bit of fear into him. Instead of mindlessly rushing him down and getting tagged in the face all game with bullets, you effectively limit his options and force him to stop mashing out his f+H. This'll open an opportunity for you to approach. Against other characters, the options might have to be reversed. Magneto can shamelessly outcamp you but he can't combo off his projectiles from mid to fullscreen. This means there's less risk with barreling him down with Mighty Strikes especially since he's made of paper and a misplaced anti-air can get him killed very easily.
We'll talk more about this in a later post and hopefully can start talking about the dangers of autopiloting.
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Basics
Well generally, I think everyone is going to look at Thor's basic mobility and see that they have a bit of work ahead of them. His dash is pretty much trash. His airdash can go in multiple directions but it doesn't go far enough to reach the ground at minimum air dash height. This, at first glance, would leave him in the category of someone like Hulk who's probably gonna try to super armor his way in or get his super jump on. Since Thor's super armor only comes with fully charged moves, the problems only seem to get worse, don't they?
Well if you're reading this, you either know that what I said above isn't entirely accurate or you haven't found Thor's approach pattern. If you fall into the second category, I'd suggest you watch a match of Justin Wong's Thor. He doesn't have a particularly good Thor but he understands the basics well enough to start you off. For the others, you have to understand how stupid good Thor's aerial Mighty Strikes. He covers alot of ground, lands with very little lag (enough to have an advantage over an opponent who blocks this) and can eat any non-super projectile through the duration of the time that he's moving. All this adds to his Mighty Strike being, by far, his best move for opening an opponent up.
Although he has a pretty good tri-jump game and possibly the best rewards off a command grab in the game, most of the time you're going to be barreling into your opponent until they learn how much priority Mighty Strike has and learn that they must block. THAT is when you can play Thor.
I'm going to start describing what that means in the nextpost.
Well if you're reading this, you either know that what I said above isn't entirely accurate or you haven't found Thor's approach pattern. If you fall into the second category, I'd suggest you watch a match of Justin Wong's Thor. He doesn't have a particularly good Thor but he understands the basics well enough to start you off. For the others, you have to understand how stupid good Thor's aerial Mighty Strikes. He covers alot of ground, lands with very little lag (enough to have an advantage over an opponent who blocks this) and can eat any non-super projectile through the duration of the time that he's moving. All this adds to his Mighty Strike being, by far, his best move for opening an opponent up.
Although he has a pretty good tri-jump game and possibly the best rewards off a command grab in the game, most of the time you're going to be barreling into your opponent until they learn how much priority Mighty Strike has and learn that they must block. THAT is when you can play Thor.
I'm going to start describing what that means in the nextpost.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Getting in with Thor in MVC3
Well there's going to be alot of stuff to go through but to prepare you, getting in with Thor isn't the easiest thing in the world. We're going to try to do a list of general strategies and then break it down into character-specific strategies in the following posts.
This blog's also going to serve as a way to show what I've figured out in general.
This blog's also going to serve as a way to show what I've figured out in general.
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