Fighting Game Hype Thread

[quash]

This past weekend I had a gathering of US +R players at my house in Yokohama. Unfortunately it seems that Twitch didn't archive it, so I'll have to fix that for the next one. Gonna try to make this a monthly/bimonthly thing.

In the meantime, you can watch Team USA's matches from the +R nationals in May and September.

https://youtu.be/hx5rGA7iLoU
https://youtu.be/sQg1sjsH5VY
https://youtu.be/IZ5QkqhM_uw
https://youtu.be/AyxGc68pLS0

There's also videos of the Red vs White exhibition if you're interested. I think those offered some of the best matches period.

[system11]

Western physical release for Skullgirls, albeit a limited one, is finally happening.

Make sure you're online exactly when the game is released, Limited Run Games releases are now popular with ebay flippers. The 6000 copies of each Shantae game lasted far less than an hour, quite upset about that.

[KAI]

In case anyone missed these fightingslations from Shmuplations:

Real Bout Fatal Fury – 1995 Developer Interview
Art of Fighting 2 – 1994 Developer Interview

More people should play the RB series, is one of SNK's best imo.

[BulletMagnet]

Make sure you're online exactly when the game is released, Limited Run Games releases are now popular with ebay flippers.

According to the email I got...

Preorders for this title will be open until November 14th, 2016 and the game will be manufactured to demand. Once the preorder period closes, that's it! Don't forget to put your order or you'll miss your chance to own this gem.

If 10,000 copies of the game sell during the preorder period, Lab Zero will be adding Japanese VO into both the physical and digital releases of this title. If you're a fan of Skullgirls, your purchase of the physical edition will benefit the entire community!

...so it looks like most folks will have a better chance than usual of getting in on this one.

[iconoclast]

https://www.twitch.tv/daigothebeastv

Lord Daigo discovered "super hadouken" tech in Street Fighter V. I tuned in a little late to the stream so I need to recheck the info once it's done, but I think the gist of it is that plinking an EX hadouken gives it the improved hitboxes of both the regular hadouken and the EX together. As expected of the head of the Research Institute of Ryu.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

More people should play the RB series, is one of SNK's best imo.

Agreed.

[Stevens]

More people should play the RB series, is one of SNK's best imo.

RB 2 imo is actually SNK's best fighter. Most will say Garou, which is pretty good but like 3rd Strike it has a pretty high entry barrier.

RB 2 is everything great about the FF series refined. Was Rick Stroud in any other games?

[null1024]

I wish I could get any of my friends to play RB2. What a cool game.
We'll play KOF98 or 2002 for days, and we used to play an absolute fuckload of Garou [but all of us are ridiculously terrible at that game], but I can't get any of them to play RB2 that much.

of course, everyone is literally just going to be Terry or Kim anyway
and the input reader always felt a tad off to me

[BulletMagnet]

...because of course he is.

[soprano1]

Wow, so many fans of RB2, add one more
@BulletMagnet, no surprise there.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

Here's a great channel for RB2 content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClL02EWD9iY

[iconoclast]

The funny thing about Akuma to me is that everybody expects Tokido to play him... but Tokido is unarguably the best Ryu in the world right now, and Ryu is at worst the 3rd best character in the game. I don't see why he would switch unless Akuma is incredibly strong, especially since he'd have to relearn every matchup instead of continuing to develop Ryu his strategies. Ryu will probably get nerfed a bit in season 2 though, so we'll see.

A really cool new stage for Rashid is coming out today too.
https://twitter.com/StreetFighter/statu ... 3271727108

In other news, Nuckle Du won two CPT premiere events in a row. Considering how good he was at SF4 and how good he is in 5, it's probably fair to say that he's the best western fighting game player ever at this point.

[dannnnn]

In other news, Nuckle Du won two CPT premiere events in a row. Considering how good he was at SF4 and how good he is in 5, it's probably fair to say that he's the best western fighting game player ever at this point.

Jesus. Why do you always have to make such grandiose, exaggerated statements?

Was NuckleDu the best NA player in SFIV? Perhaps during Ultra, towards the end of the game's competitive cycle- though it's debatable. Is he currently the strongest NA SFV player? I would say so, though he has only recently claimed that position and the game has been out for less than a year (with player rankings constantly shifting).

So, does arguably being the best NA player at specific points in two games warrant being proclaimed the best "western" fighting game player ever? I know everybody's getting carried away with his latest win but this is by far the most ridiculous thing I've read on the matter. There are players with a FAR longer history of success across numerous games who belong in that conversation way ahead of NuckleDu, at this point at least. That is inarguable.

[iconoclast]

I don't see anyone else (besides Phenom at EGX) winning major tournaments in games with such strong international competition. Of course Justin Wong would be the most obvious choice, but his best games, MvC2/3, are ones that only westerners (almost entirely Americans?) take seriously. That's not as impressive as being on top of a game that's played worldwide. Who else is in the conversation, Ryan Hart, Valle, maybe Ricki Ortiz and John Choi? Du's list of achievements might not be as long, but he's reached a higher level than any of them tbh.

It's also not a stretch to say that Infiltration should be considered one of the best SF players ever, either, despite only being the best at two games at specific points.

[dannnnn]

I don't see anyone else (besides Phenom at EGX) winning major tournaments in games with such strong international competition.

Whether it was considered a major tournament or not, at the Red Bull NA Regional Finals tournament that NuckleDu won this past weekend there were only three international players in attendance (Tokido, John Takeuchi and RB). NuckleDu played against only one of them, Tokido, losing to him in the first round and then defeating him in grand finals. Now, beating Tokido is obviously no mean feat (he's arguably the best player in the world right now) and I'm not trying to diminish that win, but something that everyone seems to be overlooking is that Guile beats Ryu clean in SFV. A top Guile should beat a top Ryu. Personally I wouldn't even say NuckleDu has the best Guile right now, there are stronger Guile players in Japan IMO.

I agree with what you wrote about Justin Wong though. That's something nobody seems to take into account when proclaiming him the greatest NA player of all time.

How do you figure that NuckleDu has reached a higher level than any of those other players you listed? Do you think there was no competition during the days when they actually played competitively or something? Same with Infiltration, he's undoubtedly one of the best players of the modern era having been the best in the world at three games (if you include SFxT) at specific points, but there are a good number of players who deserve to be placed ahead of him if we're talking all-time. You can make more of a case for his argument than NuckleDu's, though.

I'm not being snarky or anything, this is a genuine question I'm curious about: was SFIV the first fighting game you followed seriously?

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

I have only one word to add to this subject.

Bestworst.

[iconoclast]

It's not just the Red Bull tournament, but also Canada Cup. In the singles tournament, Du beat NL (top 5 Ryu), Daigo, and Xiaohai to win it. In the team tournament, he beat Yukadon, Nuki, and John Takeuchi (using Mika) to win that. I agree that his success is at least partially because Guile is a hard match for Ryu, but I'm not the only one who thinks that Du is one of the best right now. When Tokido and Mago went over the Capcom Cup brackets on TopangaTV, they predicted that he'll beat whoever he faces in the first round, Xian, Momochi, and MOV to make it to winners finals against Tokido. And this was before he soundly beat Tokido at the Red Bull tournament.

How do you figure that NuckleDu has reached a higher level than any of those other players you listed?

I just think he has more impressive achievements than any of those players, even if he doesn't have as many.

I'm not being snarky or anything, this is a genuine question I'm curious about: was SFIV the first fighting game you followed seriously?

I would say no, but I guess it depends on how you define seriously. I followed SF4 closer than any fighting game before it, but that's because the youtube/streaming era made it much easier to stay up to date on everything. I followed what I could of most other major games (never cared for Tekken or non-ASW anime).

[dannnnn]

Winning Canada Cup was impressive, no doubt, but I think people are getting carried away with this follow up win which was against virtually all NA players. Even at Canada Cup you'll notice that two of those three notable players you listed whom he defeated en route to winning are Ryu mains. I'm not trying to say he isn't a top player- he is, undoubtedly so, and I agree that he's currently amongst the strongest players in the game. But people are going overboard, and saying something like

it's probably fair to say that he's the best western fighting game player ever at this point.

is just going way too far IMO. Looks like we'll have to just agree to disagree.

How do you figure that NuckleDu has reached a higher level than any of those other players you listed?

I just think he has more impressive achievements than any of those players, even if he doesn't have as many.

That's because the spotlight on the scene is so much bigger now. There's serious money involved in the largest tournaments and everything is turning "esports". Imagine if that was the case back when a prime Alex Valle faced off against a prime Daigo in Alpha 3 all those years ago. That would look a lot more impressive too.

And by the way, I really don't see NuckleDu beating Xian, Momochi and MOV at Capcom Cup, but maybe I'll be proven wrong.

[quash]

I can drink to Wong being far and away the best Marvel 2 player, but I don't think he can lay claim to anything else.

NuckleDu is a good player, no doubt, but I don't think there's enough to argue that he's the best to ever come out of the West, or even the US, frankly. I'd be more inclined to give a distinction like that to someone that's proven themselves across a variety of games such as Ryan Hart or Latif.

[pestro87]

I suddenly felt like re-watching the SSF2X Murasaki Vega kumite. Such a strong dictator player!
GameSpot Versus 032016 - Murasaki Kumite

[hanasu]

Choi won two Evos in the same year. Cmon son.

[BulletMagnet]

KoF patch incoming.

[iconoclast]

Final brackets for the Capcom Cup: http://challonge.com/capcomcup2016

Lots of matches got shuffled around since Misterio, Tse4444, and CCL are unable to attend and had to be replaced by K-brad, Yukadon, and Humanbomb respectively.


I made some predictions for fun: http://challonge.com/cc2016prediction

I just went with whoever I feel is the stronger player, while taking whatever match history I'm aware of into account. I'm sure there will be upsets, and a lot of the matches between the top level players could easily go either way, so I highly doubt it'll actually end up like that. But as far as the potential winners go, I think the "tiers" would be something like: Tokido = Momochi > MOV = Daigo = Fuudo > Infiltration = Xiaohai = Haitani > Mago = GamerBee > Everyone else.

My main takeaway is that nobody has an "easy" road. The weaker players will probably get knocked off in the first round, and from there it's nothing but top-tier player vs. top-tier player. Should be an awesome event, especially since every match will be first to 3.

[Stevens]

Not sure what it was from, but was watching Infiltration (Claw) play a few sets against Poogko. Vega is a monster in V.

[iconoclast]

I think that was the CPT Asia finals. Vega was improved compared to 4 but I still don't think he's that good. Characters that don't have an invincible reversal have a hard time in SF5, unless they're Nash or Mika. Once they're cornered, you're free to pressure them on wakeup every time unless they have full meter and go for a yolo super. This is something that I wonder if they'll address in season 2.

Anyway, if you want to watch more Vega footage I'd look for Nemo. He's the best. It's too bad that players like him, Bonchan, and Nuki couldn't make it into the Capcom Cup. Asia got kinda screwed this year.

[Stevens]

I think that was the CPT Asia finals. Vega was improved compared to 4 but I still don't think he's that good.
Characters that don't have an invincible reversal have a hard time in SF5, unless they're Nash or Mika. Once they're cornered, you're free to pressure them on wakeup every time unless they have full meter and go for a yolo super. This is something that I wonder if they'll address in season 2.

Truthfully I hope they don't address it in season 2.

Claw is the type of character who should be very strong on his feet. He should be one of/the most mobile character (fast walk speed, quick jump), have really solid pokes (he didn't have these in 4, Chun Li had way better pokes), and generally be tough to get to the ground.

However once he is on the ground you should be at a disadvantage. I feel giving him that "get out of jail free" on wake up takes away from that design (see Super Turbo).

That said everyone should have a way out with meter that isn't a super.

Anyway, if you want to watch more Vega footage I'd look for Nemo. He's the best. It's too bad that players like him, Bonchan, and Nuki couldn't make it into the Capcom Cup. Asia got kinda screwed this year.

Thanks for the info, I will check this out later.

What are your favorite Street Fighters?

[iconoclast]

Honestly I think it would be okay if more characters had a reversal in 5. Every time you use one, the risk of eating a crush counter combo on block means you could be betting your life on it. In that regard it's the total opposite of SF4 (and that's one of my favorite things about the game). But there's always V-reversals, I suppose, even though they have their own drawbacks.

I like pretty much every mainline Street Fighter tbh, but I suppose my favorites would be ST, 4, and 5. I like 3S and Alpha 2 as well, but not as much.

[BulletMagnet]

Revelator headed to Steam in about two weeks.

[Stevens]

Honestly I think it would be okay if more characters had a reversal in 5. Every time you use one, the risk of eating a crush counter combo on block means you could be betting your life on it. In that regard it's the total opposite of SF4 (and that's one of my favorite things about the game). But there's always V-reversals, I suppose, even though they have their own drawbacks.

Admittedly I've watched more V than I have played, you have a fair point on the crush counter combo. Who doesn't love baiting a reversal on wake up? That is one of my favorite parts of SF in general.

I like pretty much every mainline Street Fighter tbh, but I suppose my favorites would be ST, 4, and 5. I like 3S and Alpha 2 as well, but not as much.

Even with its flaws I love ST. The game itself is fantastic, and it doesn't hurt that it is Claw's strongest build ever. I prefer his HDR version - I'd rather have the fake wall dive then the wall dive loop. The fake adds a lot of mix up/bait options and truthfully that loop is cheap as fuck, there is a good reason they took it out. His sky high claw is bad as an attack, but useful if you use it as a dash in certain situations.

I like 4 a lot too. Alpha 2 is solid, but I haven't played it in years. I have literally 1 credit or so in Alpha 3. Which is a shame as it seems to be highly regarded.

3rd Strike I love, but I am utter shit at it.

You have HDR on 360 or are you on Fightcade? We should throw down sometime.

[quash]

I think that was the CPT Asia finals. Vega was improved compared to 4 but I still don't think he's that good. Characters that don't have an invincible reversal have a hard time in SF5, unless they're Nash or Mika. Once they're cornered, you're free to pressure them on wakeup every time unless they have full meter and go for a yolo super. This is something that I wonder if they'll address in season 2.

I'm more concerned about how they address it. No more Mika claps, please.

Overall I agree with what you say about V and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the game. As someone who never cared for IV, I see the logic in basically everything they changed in V. There's no need to implement a patchwork manual wakeup mechanic because the issues that plagued IV from its inception don't exist in V, and instead we're treated to a unique okizeme game that is every bit Street Fighter as it is Guilty Gear.

I would like to see the input lag reduced, the walk speeds increase a bit, and maybe some more recovery on dashes, but I don't think anything is wrong with the game on a fundamental level. I guess some jump ins could also stand to be nerfed but that's a relatively easy fix.

Hilariously enough, my biggest issue is that there's no arcade release, which pretty much relegates me to netplay entirely.