Fight! Fight! Fight! [Upcoming Fighting Games]

It's like a late Aughties fighting renaissance.

Super Street Fighter IV

The game du jour as it were. Even with Lego's new work schedule, we still manage to get in some ferosh matches here and there. His freetime at night has allowed him to refine his skills online, particularly his Honda and Dhalsim. His Honda is better in every aspect, and a real threat. I'd say definitely his best now, and it is worth noting that his advancement started before Mike Ross's Top 8 Evo finish and Honda's top tier status on the new JPN rankings. Likewise, as a solid alternate, his Dhalsim is crafty, and he's moving the Yoga master around the screen much more smoothly.

I've been trying to smooth out my new additions when I have time, though right now I think most of my focus should be on Cody and Bison. I thoroughly enjoy using Cody, and I know I am only scratching the surface of his potential. While I'm connecting bigger combos, and countering more approaches, I've yet to tap into the strength of his pressure strings and frame traps. I had been of the opinion even a month ago that my Guile and Rufus were my strongest overall chars, but the reality of my inability to reliably execute certain elements (notably Guile's Flash Kick FADC Sonic Hurricane and Ruffie's Short-Fierce link) has led me to think I may have more luck in competition with the mighty Bison, as my technical insufficiencies are much less damning.

I keep entertaining the idea of making an appearance at Baltimore's Xanadu Wednesday night Xanbats, or Fairfax's CyberGround Tuesday night Ranbats, and my relaxed work schedule looks like it will accomodate this. Though, of course, I can't take Lego as my wingman... Wah wah.

Allegedly at least two new characters will be revealed in September, and hopefully made available as DLC soon after. Sounds like Alex (3s) and Rolento (FF/Alpha) are the strongest candidates, with Elena (3s) and R.Mika (Alpha) close behind. I would be sated with Alex's addition, but, for 900th time, I'd really like to see Charlie.

Marvel Vs Capcom 3

Hypewise, MvC3 is dominating the digital blog waves. Super Skrull's moveset looks flippin' tight, Dante's movelist if f'n Riddick Bowe, and Silver Surfer is now rumored to be in. And, you know how rumors work, Silver Surfer is in, so that must mean Galactus is the final boss, which must mean Dormammu is playable, and so on, and so on. Still, should be the next big thing on Killa Blog for the next 18 months or so... (Just to warn ya.)

And for the record, since last time we spoke, DMC's Trish, Okami's Amateratsu, SF's Chun Li, Marvel's Thor, Super Skrull, and Doctor Doom have been shown. Amateratsu doesn't gel with the Best One Yet list I relayed here, so I guess we don't really know who's in and who's out. Still no sign of any Mega Man or Spiderman chars... And I am still hoping Dictator makes it in as the third Street Fighter, if not Charlie.


Arcana Heart 3

You know I've never delved in Arcana Heart, another obscure fighting game that has a passionate following stateside. Apparently the third iteration is also coming to XBL and PSN which will mean an unprecedented amount of exposure for the series. Don't know about price point, but this could potentially be very far reaching.

Third Strike Online Edition

And speaking of downloadable fighters, I think if 3sOE can even move half the digital units that MvC2 has, it will have been a smart choice on Capcom's part, regardless of how long it takes to release. It's catering to the 3s die-cores, which is a very wise choice since they (and the MvC2 crowd) are the ones that kept the fighting game scene alive during the MvC2-SF4 drought.

Street Fighter x Tekken :: Tekken x Street Fighter

A fun announcement and everything, but these are so far off in the distance it has barely bleeped my radar. I hope TxSF doesn't preclude Namco from working on Tekken 7...

Cat-G Tune [Lost Planet 2 Impressions]

Though it hasn't popped up on Killa Blog Featured Products, I have been playing Lost Planet 2. Whilst the housemates Keif and Lego had recently acquired L4D2 for the 360, and I do enjoy a good Versus splitscreen session, I have had about 290 hours of experience in the game, so I reckoned I could use a new shooter to keep my trigger finger in shape.

I'm on the penultimate episode of LP2 now, and I've been mostly happy with the game. I'm very rarely surprised by a game I purchase, as I am a well-informed gaming consumer, and as you can see here I'm no stranger to doing my homework (and everyone else's). LP2 had mixed review scores, most citing strong action and multiplayer, but a technically frustrating campaign. Delving deeper, it seemed that this was mostly due to the saving structure, and to the worthlessness of the AI bots that can accompany you in singleplayer.

I can't really find fault with the gameplay partitioning, as I've played my share of Megaman games and can appreciate Capcom's use of spacing save points. It is a confusing system that involves a pool of Thermal Energy your whole team shares for healing, respawning, and opening certain chests. Additional thermal energy (T-ENG) is acquired through felling foes and activating data posts which serve as respawn points. A big chunk of the game is: Find the next data post, activate it, repeat. So get used to it.

And, yeah, those AI bots are dumb as hell. I can see why it is such a widespread complaint. I've made it up this far on normal difficulty with three AI bots, so it's no dealbreaker, but I'm looking forward to playing through again with Keif watching my 6.


As I haven't completed the campaign yet, expect more impressions later on. So far, though, I've felt a little let down by the Category G Akrid battles. A little. At this point LP2 is not going on the featured list, but at $40, it's not a bad buy.

Let this be a lesson, though. Nothing goes on the Killa Blog Featured Products list unless I personally guarantee it to be a fun, quality title.

Here Comes (Two) New Challengers [SSF4 Japanese Arcade Release New Characters DLC]

Gootecks relayed this Twit Pic from @marika_j. The Japanese SSF4 arcade release indicates two new fighters are inbound. The common held expectation is that they will be DLC not too far in the future for us on Team NAH.


Gootecks predicts one to be an Alpha fighter, and also that Urien will not be included.

I am rooting for Charlie (from Alpha), as I have mentioned repeatedly in this space. Guile is so revamped now, I think a clone version would be warranted. My pick for the other slot is Alex (from SF3). There are already, you know, plenty of grapplers, but, like Abel, he has a diverse arsenal. Although, and I'm speaking without any specific knowledge, I don't know how the SF4 engine would handle his back-turned shenanigans.

Otherwise, my guesses would include Rainbow Mika, Yun, and possibly another Final Fight character, even possibly one that has never appeared in a SF game... namely Mayor Mike Haggar, who is rumored to be in MvC3. You know, Poison would be cool too, actually.

Registered Trademark Aperture Science [Portal 2 New Gameplay Mechanics Vid]

Part 1 and 2 are worth checking out as well, but this one shows the coolest of the new twists.

Marn-Ma-Geddon [Evo2k10 Marn Ed Ma SSF4]

ZOMG! JWong eliminated?!!

Viewing Enjoyment [SSF4 Option-Select Godsgarden 4th Strike Vids]

Flash Metriod demonstrates high level Makoto in this Option-Select.com video.



In case you don't know 3rd Strike very well, most of the things in this video were not possible or are completely new moves. It's a source edit apparently, likely on a CPS3 emulator. Click through to see the other characters.



Probably the bext Godsgarden Online match I've seen.