Category: Entertainment & Lifestyle

Throughout the entirety of Street Fighter 6’s first season there was little debate (save for some Ken players) about the game’s top three characters: Ken, Luke, and JP.

We’re now well into the latter half of Season 2, and while an evident top three may exist (as we’ll examine below) things certainly aren’t as cemented as they were last year. We thought we’d take a look at notable player tier lists and character performance to get a more solid idea of where things are currently at.

Capcom was sure to nerf JP and Luke heavily and they’ve both dropped to somewhere around the middle of the pack, according to general public opinion. Ken remains one of the top contenders, but he seems to be placed outside the top five here in Season 2 more often than not.

Street Fighter 6 developers have rolled out a handful of substantial balance patches this year, and so things have potentially shifted a few times and thus it’s relatively difficult to hammer characters down.

Had developers not made so many tweaks during September’s Terry patch, we would have a larger sample of tier list opinions (a number of which placed Zangief at number 1) but only a handful of brave community members have come forward with updated tier lists since Terry.

The character opinions we’ve covered during this recent period include top 5 lists from Saishunkan|Nemo, VARREL|Mago, MuscleNoob, Broski, and Angry and Big Bird.

From these, three characters do pop up on every single tier list: Cammy, Rashid, and Ed. M. Bison is the next most prevalent name as he’s included on four lists, and is followed by a tie between Akuma, Zangief, and Ken, each of whom pop up twice.

It’s important to note that not everyone has ordered their top five, and those who have do not necessarily rank Cammy, Ed, and Rashid as the top three, but they are the most prevalent names by a good margin in this sample.

While the input of notable players can surely point us in a general direction, having more concrete numbers helps up clarify the picture from a different angle.

About three weeks back (so it does not include the results of DreamHack Atlanta nor East Coast Throwdown) we documented the results of 25 offline major SF6 tournaments, specifically counting how many times each character placed in the top 8 as well as top 1.

Ken, Ed, Rashid, and Cammy all placed in the top 5 when it came to top 8’s while Ed, Ken, and Cammy boast top five when it comes to first place finishes. You can see the results below; we’ve added updated totals from both ECT and DHA in parentheses.

With all this information in front of you, who do you think make up the top three in Street Fighter 6’s second season? Continue the conversation by sharing your opinions in the comments section below.

We were recently scrolling X when we stumbled upon what looks like an old, late night television spot featuring a couple of grown men cosplaying as Manon and Cammy from Street Fighter 6. Upon further inspection, we realized this was actually a brand new video made by Capcom themselves and featuring Community Team staff members.

The video is actually a launch announcement for the new Capcom Goods Corner, where you’ll find the latest products you can get to show your fandom. Social Media Manager Andy Wong leads us through the presentation (as Cammy, of course) showing off six new items fans can soon get their hands on.

First off, the cosplay costumes on display are real and on sale. They’re all featured over at Micotaku where they’re 15-25% off right now for Halloween.

The selection currently includes standard looks for Juri, Cammy, A.K.I, Chun-Li, and Manon along with costume 3 for both Juri and Cammy. With the discounts in place, the cheapest of these will run you $42 while the most expensive will cost $106.

The parodic nature of the marketing spot is actually well executed as it got a laugh or two out of us while we watched. The sheer devotion to the old school format with lower than average quality (especially considering this is a visual presentation) give it some natural charisma, and seeing Andy and David sell their respective cosplays without breaking was fairly entertaining.

Little touches, like when they censor Juri’s feet around the 58 second mark, take the presentation to the next level and we think you’ll enjoy it even if you don’t wind up buying any of the items Capcom showcases.

In addition to the costumes there are themed sunglasses, action figures, plushies, Infinite Objects, and the Flyboy Capcom 1942 Automatic Pixel Limited Edition wrist watch. See it all in the full video below:

See the launch trailer here

It’s the spooky season and there’s a new horror-themed fighting game out on Steam as Forthright Entertainment has officially launched Terrodrome: Reign of the Legends.

This two dimensional fighting game allows player to choose from 12 different characters and 15 different stages to duke it out in bloody battle. The launch trailer just dropped, and we have it waiting below for you to view.

While clearly inspired by the likes of genre titans such as Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, Terrordrome is clearly not as polished, so it’s best to go in with indie game expectations.

Those who already purchased the title in pre-release will have access immediately, but you can otherwise buy TRL for just $19.99.

Reviews thus far are “Very Positive” as players seem to be enjoying the experience, which you can take online with the always-appreciated rollback netcode. The game also features arcade, training, and versus modes.

Here’s a gallery of official screen shots to give you an idea of the details, and then the full launch trailer awaits below. Give Terrordrome a look over and let us know if you’ll be engaging in some scary skirmishes this Halloween season in the comments.

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Two more DLC characters have been officially revealed for Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero as a brief new video from Bandai Namco unveils mini Vegeta and Glorio from the brand new Dragon Ball Daima series.

In addition to the identity reveals, the announcement also promises over 20 DLC characters for the first Season of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, which will effectively bring the roster count to over 200 once all have been released.

Glorio is a brand new character created for the Daima series. The gun-slinging demon is pale with blue skin and white hair, and wears a purple jacket with blue pants and black boots.

Daima Vegeta and Glorio don’t appear as though they’ll be amongst the first available DLC characters, however, as they’re part of “DLC 2.” Bandai seems to be grouping their post-launch roster additions into three different bundles, the first of which we know feature Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 from Dr. Gero’s Red Ribbon Army.

DLC 1 is themed with characters from the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film while both DLC 2 and DLC 3 will feature Dragon Ball Daima characters. Considering how much of the earlier Dragon Ball ground the game and its 182-character launch roster have already covered, we suspect many of the upcoming characters will hail from these more recent story lines.

All three packs will drop in the first half of 2025, with 1 and 2 promised sometime during the first quarter, and pack 3 coming sometime thereafter. Check out the full announcement trailer here:

You can ensure access to all coming Sparking Zero characters (as well as early access to each of them) by purchasing the game’s first Season Pass for $34.99. Those who bought the higher editions of Sparking Zero will already have the pass as one of the many goodies that come with.

Fans have not been happy with Tekken 8 in recent weeks as multiple controversies have plagued the leader in 3D fighting, but Bandai Namco is aiming to right one of the wrongs with an announcement that went up Thursday morning.

The issue in question revolves around the fact that the new Genmaji Temple is not included in any of the DLC bundles players have purchased, and thus must be bought even by those who have already forked over extra money to ensure the full Tekken 8 experience. Though Katsuhiro Harada apologized for this on social media a few weeks back, he and his team are offering an olive branch to disillusioned fans.

First and foremost, developers are directly correcting the main issue by adding the winter battle stage (Genmaji Temple) to the Year 1 Pass. Those who purchased this season 1 bundle will now also have access to the Temple, and Year 1 Passholders who already purchased the DLC stage will see a form of reimbursement in the second gift.

To further ensure the flow of good will Bandai is giving anyone who logs into Tekken 8 from October 29 to November 26 will be instantly granted 500 Tekken Coins, the title’s in-game currency (a $4.99 value, equivalent to the price of Genmaji Temple).

You can click the thumbnail below to see the statement in full:

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It’s easy to point out that this DLC-related issue is actually over a mere five dollars, and while that’s technically correct, it fails to paint the full picture. In a time where it’s, in many ways, still the Wild West when it comes to establishing proper DLC practices within gaming genres, it is important for fans and developers to maintain a constant dialogue.

Something as specific as the price for a new character is affected by context (Is the game free to play? How many characters are released each season? Are they available via other forms of currency?) which is part of the reason why we might see fans review bomb Tekken 8 for a standalone stage while widely accepting $20 alternate costumes in MultiVersus.

A line has been drawn out of principle, and Bandai has entered into what’s now looking more like a successful negotiation with its audiences after crossing it.

Do you feel that this is enough to right the ship and alleviate the ill will created by the previous situation? Let us know your thoughts and reactions in the comments below.

At the time of writing this, the launch characters and the Season 1 DLC fighters in Street Fighter 6 all have their Outfit 3 available for purchase. The only characters who don’t have a third alternate costume are M. Bison, Terry, and naturally the remaining two characters Mai and Elena in Season 2 as they are slated to come in at a later time.

Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama pretty actively shares concept art of the game on Twitter, and recently he dropped a handful of unused designs for Rashid’s Outfit 3. Among the pack are some interesting looks, including one that labels Rashid as an “Instagrammer” and another as an Arabian prince.

Nakayama shared a single piece of artwork that grants us all a look at five different designs. Each one is labeled with a letter from A to E, and the artist added a note for each to tell what its inspiration and theme is.

The first one, A, reads “Tech-Wear,” and it sees the master of the turbulent wind wearing a tank top with his name strewn across it, a white jacket, goggles on his head, and some high-tech looking boots. Costume ideas B and C are very similar and are “Parkour” themed, with C being the outfit that ultimately ended up making it through and becoming his actual Outfit 3.

Things get more interesting as we get to D, however, as this one is labeled as “Instagrammer.” The idea here appears to be a younger, influencer-type look for the fighter with some hip clothes and a large scarf hanging over his shoulder.

Finally, we have costume E entitled “Arabian Prince.” This is the most visually interesting design of the bunch, in my opinion, as Rashid dons an outfit fit for royalty, though still appears to have a gadget strapped to his arm keeping his high-tech motif intact.

Street Fighter 6 is only in its second year right now, so it’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing more alternate costumes added to the playable cast at some point. With that said, maybe some of these designs might make a return someday as actual costumes, but for now, check out what could have been in the Rashid concept art below.

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Mrs. Eats, a fluent Japanese speaker, recently attempted to transcribe what gets said in Street Fighter 2. Additionally, she even tries to understand what’s said by Raiden in the first Mortal Kombat game.

As pointed out in the video, even though a character like Ryu is shouting “Hadoken” whenever he throws a fireball, it doesn’t really sound like that due to the technology limitations at the time. Regardless, “Hadoken” (or rather “Hadooken”) can be vaguely heard, but the same can’t really be said of the “Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku.”

Though this effectively translates to “tornado spinning wind feet,” it actually sounds more like “dat dat doo get” or “how’s the shampoo, Ken!?” Needless to say, it was only really possible to understand what Ryu was actually saying thanks to the booklet that came with the game.

However, things get even more amusing with the first Mortal Kombat whenever Raiden performs his Electric Fly special. Ultimately, it doesn’t seem like Raiden is actually saying anything at all, but Mrs. Eats heard something… interesting from the sound clip.

It almost sounds “pai mae narae” which effectively translates from Japanese to English as “boobs, line up!” Indeed, this really changes our perspective of Raiden.

Throughout the video, Mrs. Eats also goes over kanji written in the background of stages, as well as highlights what Chun-Li and E. Honda are saying with some of their interactions.

Check it all out below:

Over on Resetera (via Nintendo Life), a user known as RandomlyRandom67 has apparently taken notice of a shipping manifest consisting of components for Nintendo. Of course, all the information is listed in the form of part model names.

Without getting too deep into the complexities of everything detailed in the post, we’re essentially told that the HGU0480 is potentially a new GameCube controller as it utilizes the TRW1230 motor, which is what allows the rumble feature for the GameCube controller. Of course, the TRW1230 motor can also be found in the Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) controller, but this type of peripheral doesn’t contain the LDOL circuit board that’s also part of the shipping.

This seems to indicate that Nintendo is gearing up to upgrade the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership to enable access to a collection of GameCube games. As of right now, games from the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and Sega Genesis eras can be accessed with the purchase of the membership.

If this does happen, the Super Smash Bros. Melee would likely be one of the games made available to the membership considering that it ended up being the highest selling game on the GameCube. Additionally, the game is even still played competitively to this day.

The GameCube controller has largely been tied to the Super Smash Bros. series throughout the years. Ever since Super Smash Bros. Melee, Nintendo has always made it a point to have their consoles support GameCube controllers for the series’ longtime fans.

As such, the GameCube controller has been commonly used for Super Smash Bros. Melee on the GameCube, Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, Super Smash Bros. 4 on the Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Switch. Technically, it’s even possible to play on the GameCube controller for Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 through emulation such as the aforementioned Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.

Though new GameCube controllers weren’t being created for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, older models of the Nintendo Wii had built-in ports specifically for this purpose. Of course, it’s important to point out that the Nintendo Wii was also backwards compatible with the GameCube.

However, Nintendo made it a point to specifically return the GameCube controller back to production along with new GameCube controller adapters for the Wii U specifically for Super Smash Bros. 4. As such, many players continued using GameCube controllers for years to come.

Initially, the Nintendo Switch was not designed to use GameCube controllers. Without any prior announcement, patch 4.0 for the Nintendo Switch enabled GameCube controller support.

Due to the discovery of this, Nintendo had to feign surprise that the GameCube controller was suddenly compatible, but the reality was that Nintendo was enabling this feature specifically so the developers could properly test Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which had not been announced by that point.

Masahiro Sakurai, the series creator, announced that he has already released the final scheduled video of his YouTube channel, though there are also plans for a special finale in the future. He also recently revealed that he was still creating games for the time being, suggesting that development on the next Super Smash Bros. entry may have already begun.

This is further supported by the job posting for Bandai Namco’s Studio 2 & Studio S. Needless to say, Bandai Namco was looking for designers experienced with action games played from a “side-view.”

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was also recently updated to version 13.0.3. While this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal on the surface, it does carry huge implications for the future of the series as it means that someone from Nintendo and Bandai Namco had to sit down to actually apply this update.

Of course, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has already confirmed that the Switch successor is slated to be announced before the end of this fiscal year, ending April 1, 2025. We expect Nintendo to continue the tradition in which a new entry in the Super Smash Bros. series is released for every console since the debut of the series on the Nintendo 64.

With all of this in mind, news surrounding the GameCube controller has always been a telltale sign that a new Super Smash Bros. title is in the works. We’ll just have to see what comes of all of this later on down the line.

Street Fighter League Pro-US is back for 2024 and will be going on for the rest of the year, possibly a bit into next year.

Players participating are FLY|Punk, Falcons|MenaRD, SR|NuckleDu, DualKevin, C9|JB, C9|Lexx, Bandits|Caba, TM|OilKing, Falcons|NL, GG|Xian, Falcons|DCQ, VIT|Sayff, RTS|Booce, TM|NoahTheProdigy, Talon|HotDog29, RR|Mono, RR|Ajax Fidelity, Uriel Velorio, Zhen, LuiMan20, ChrisCCH, Psycho, Shine, Brutus,

The North American installment of Street Fighter League is back again with a new roster of players representing their teams with the winner getting a chance to go up against the Japan and Europe teams at Capcom Cup next year.

The format seems to remain unchanged, meaning that the six teams will battle it out in a double round robin format, which is to say that each team will face each other team twice — once as a Home Team and once as an Away Team — and points will be awarded based on set wins with the final set counting for 20 points contrary to the first two sets which are worth 10 points each.

Whichever team is currently the Away Team must declare in advance their player order, giving the Home Team a clear advantage of getting to pick their matchups. Once the group stage ends, the top 4 teams will move on to a bracket to decide which the ultimate winning team will be.

Streaming is being done at Capcom Fighters.

Street Fighter 6 pro has a longstanding and well-documented disdain for grappler characters, especially Zangief, so imagine his reaction when one of his greatest rivals in DFM|Itabashi Zangief earned a spot at Capcom Cup with said signature fighter.

Well, you don’t have to because Nemo recently discussed the East Coast Throwdown results along with Gief’s strength, and luckily, we have the translations now to know what he was talking about.

“That was amazing. I don’t feel like playing SF6 today,” starts Nemo in the clip translated by Sho Yamamoto.

He goes on to talk about how Zangief’s recent nerfs in the balance update were not enough, and he knew that while other players were saying the the grappler was probably fine now.

“Seriously, everyone apologize. Overseas players too,” said Nemo. “If you think Zangief is weak, you should be winning. Zangief is truly strong. I seriously think he’s broken.

Although Capcom added more damage scaling to Gief’s headbutt and made his leaping knee a bit worse, that clearly wasn’t enough to slow him down in Nemo’s eyes.

“Who are the people saying Zangief is done for or whatever. It’s certain now. Even with the nerf, he’s not nerfed. If he was nerfed, there wouldn’t be results like this.”

He also brings up that some other players that apparently agree with him, including FLY|Punk, and Nemo even does a funny impression of the Evo 2024 champion speaking in English.

“Oh, Nemo this is the best character, Zangief”

This is also now the second time a Zangief was won a Capcom Pro Tour Premier event this season.

People in his chat were saying the grappler’s strength was known since Falcons|MenaRD already qualified for Capcom Cup with Zangief at Cream City Convergeance 2024, but Nemo retorts that’s not what solidified it.

“No, the answer was known when Itazan said he was going to America,” said Nemo. “It’s not about Mena winning. The fact that Itazan would go all the way to America shows the answer.”

He also jokes about what other character could still win after dropping combos like Itazan did and how Zangief can take sets without ever really needing his command grabs much.

But when he does bust them out, they can end the game or swing them back in Gief’s favor.

“You guys are fine. You guys laugh at people getting beat up by Zangiefs.

“This CPT season is filled with reasons why you can’t give good strikes to throw-oriented characters.”

Nemo also laments that he and other top players are going to have to lab the Gief matchup even more now, but at least he’s not all that popular of a character still?

“Even if the character is strong, Zangief is a character with no beauty. That’s why it’s okay for him to be weak. No one is going to play him anyway. Right? It’s sad. We’re sad… We’re the ones that have to fight Zangief. We need to lab out Zangief now.”

While much of his statements seem to be tongue-in-cheek, he does have a point to be very concerned about Zangief given the character’s performance in the hands of multiple competitors in Season 2.

It’s not just Itazan and MenaRD who’ve won big SF6 events with Gief this year either with AMG|Kobayan taking the Topanga Championship finals after never losing a single set.

We are very interested now to see what the community does in response to Itazan’s Premier victory.

Are we going to see more people trying to pick up Zangief? Or are players working to come up with more strategies to counter the wrestler?

At least for now we can watch Nemo rant for a bit about his most hated character and feeling justified for it before Gief probably gets nerfed again in the future.