Better Early [2010 GOTY BEST NEW GAMEPLAY MECHANIC]

BEST NEW GAMEPLAY MECHANIC: Baroque (TvC)

To be honest, this was the toughest category by far, sadly only because none of the nominees really stood out. The Baroque from Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom narrowly edged out FFXIII's Paradigm Shift job-changing system which was slick, but ultimately not that much fun. BioShock 2's Protect Little Sister segments were a lot of fun, but ultimately not very original. SSFIV's Ultra Select has been quite a game changer, but when compared to SFIII's Super Art select, it's really not all that new.

The Baroque is not tremendously original either, borrowing heavily from Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel, better known these days as BlazBlue's Rapid Cancel. The SFIV series also has the EX Focus Attack. All of these expend meter to cancel an attack during its animation, normally to either extend a combo, or to cancel out of a blocked move to avoid punishment. The X-Factor in the upcoming Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 performs a similar cancelling function, bestows boosts based on when it is activated, and has been seen in early videos to allow characters to X-Factor cancel one Hyper into another, or the same Hyper. Double Magnetic Shockwave == "Welcome to Die".

The Baroque has a couple of interesting characteristics that differentiate it from the aforementioned. Instead of using meter, or a one time activation (ala X-Factor), Baroque sacrifices a character's recoverable red health to activate the cancel. Once activated, subsequent attacks in the combination recieve a damage bonus based on the amount of red health used to execute the Baroque. This all adds up to some intense comebacks, wherein the more badly beaten a character is, the greater the potential damage they can unleash.

In the VS series, traditionally, a character will slowly recover their red health while tagged out. The choice then becomes, swap characters so that the injured partner can come back strong later in the match, or throw caution to the wind and go for Baroque.



And, man, do I like comebacks.

This pic is actually from Marn vs. Keits at the 2010 Midwest Championships. To be clear, Marn does not use Baroque for comebacks in TvC, since he's never behind in TvC. Baroque is kind of broken on a rushdown character with extended combo's like Martin Phan's Zero because it can be used over and over again in a match.

Tatsunically Obscure Reference [Tatsunoko vs Capcom Joe the Condor X Haunting Ground Ending]

Hey, remember when we talked about Haunting Ground?

Well, Joe the Condor's arcade ending in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom totally has him intervening in the events of Haunting Ground. Wild, huh? Doesn't get much more obscure than that.

Go for Baroque [Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom Impressions]

I reckon I owe KB more than that last text post...

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom is (1) a blast, (2) the first VS. Series game in seven years, (3) chock full of fun, colorful characters, and (4) only the third respectable fighting game for the Wii.

Wtf is a Tatsunoko? Learn to Google. (Though, please, do not confuse with Tsuchinoko, the reptillian cryptid and crown jewel of Snake Eater zoological die hards.) Anyways, now you know Tatsunoko is a Japanese animation studio responsible for many of the nation's iconic characters like Speed Racer, Samurai Pizza Cats, and Gatchaman. They reached a deal with Capcom for a VS fighting game intended only for the domestic market, but the huge North American fanbase eventually tempted Tatsunoko and Capcom, and after a ridonk number of licensing issues were resolved, it has been localized for these United States, and is available on an extremely prolific console.

Besides Smash Brawl, the only other significant source of fighting action on the Wii is Guilty Gear XX ^Core (and GGXX^C+, but who's counting?). I've bought my share of Guilty Gear releases, and it's not for everyone. Even with the foreign characters, I think people will be immediately more inclined to delve into Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

Controls are somewhat of a challenge, though not a dealbreaker. I did not (for once) go out and buy the associated fight stick. I'm sticking it out with the Gamecube controller; the only problem being the joystick and directional pad being woefully inadequate for some of the more technical inputs, like dashes (especially instant air dashes). I've resolved this to some degree by assigning L+M+H to the right trigger simplifying the use of Advancing Guards and Air Dashes. I've got left trigger assigned as L+M+H+P allowing quick use of the Mega Crash (think Guilty Gear's Burst).

The choice of a 2v2 format (instead of MvC2's 3v3) is a better fit for the size of the roster (a respectable 26) and a good place to start for anyone not intimately familiar with tag team fighters. However, if you do know MvC2, you should be able to dive in head first. All you need to pick up are the Baroque cancel, the Variable Aerial Rave, and Mega Crash, and you're up to speed.

So far I've been sticking mostly with Capcom characters, especially Zero and Alex. Jun the Swan, Tekkaman Blade, and Yatterman No.1 have all stood out to me as highlights from Tatsunoko side.

I've unlocked all characters as of Yatterman No.2 last night, and I'll be spending more time in Training and Online before I make another formal post about the merit of this title. But if you ever have or think you may ever pull of an Air Rave, than this is probably a safe buy for you. I know a lot of you out there have Wiis, so seriously consider picking of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom if you have the feeling for the flavor of a fighter. (Oh, and hey, buy it through Killa Blog!)

And I think I heard Shwa got this bad boy... I'll have to hit him up.

The Crossover Glossover [Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ultimate All Stars Very, Very Initial Impressions]

Used Friender in a combo vs. Legoman. Tatsunoko vs Capcom is pretty cool.

A New Challenger Approaches

Not only can you check out the furious crossover action of Tatsunoko vs Capcom in this clip, but you also get to see Zero in action. What?! Batsu from Rival Schools is his partner, and they throw down against a couple of Tatsunoko IPs, err, characters. Enjoy!

Leakage [TVC Roster]

Shoryuken did some digging and done dug up da dirt. The complete roster of the North American version of Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom was deciphered from some sloppy html. Most notable, as far as Killa Blog is concerned, is Mega Man Zero. He did pop up in SVC Chaos, though I've never really been an SNK guy, and didn't have much interest in that installment.

I have to say I'm pretty un-fucking-familiar with most Tatsunoko IPs. I know Casshern through exposure via Big Sis Prinny, though the film didn't really do it for me. However, on the Capcom side, I am pretty familiar with Ryu, Chun Li, Alex, Batsu, Morrigan, Viewtiful Joe, Mega Man Volnutt, and Roll.

I may have to consider picking this one up, though I have till January to debate it. It's hard to compare any Wii fighter to Smash Brawl, but, then again, Capcom crossover games only come around so often...