Category: Entertainment & Lifestyle

It’s been well over 10 years since Bleach last received a major console game release, and the revitalized manga / anime franchise is going back to the fighting stage.

Bandai Namco has been building up the roster of Bleach Rebirth of Souls for quite some time now, bringing the grand total of playable characters just shy of 30 — and it seems they’re not done yet either.

The publisher just revealed the Quinta Espada member Nnoitra Gilga to add to the list of Arrancars that’ll be available in Rebirth of Souls though we’re still missing some pretty big ones too.

By our count, the new Bleach fighter is now up to 29 different playable fighters if we count the two variants of protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki as different entries.

We already know the new game’s setting takes place from Bleach’s Substitute Soul Reaper Arc through the Arrancar Arc, so that leaves out Fullbringers and the Thousand-Year Blood War Arc completely from the launch roster.

Bamco already confirmed, however, that the first Season Pass for Rebirth of Souls is going to be focused on Thousand-Year Blood War fighters.

Before we talk about who’s still missing, why the game may be more interesting to play than you’re average anime arena fighter, and which characters we expect to see as DLC, we better go over the characters that are actually announced and confirmed already first.

So we’ll be breaking the roster up into sections so far between the Shinigami, human world warriors, Vizards, and Arrancar.

With Bleach, there’s plenty of distinctions and classifications you can make, but we’ll be lumping in the traitors like Sosuke Aizen in with the Soul Reapers and Ichigo in with his human friends.

Here’s what the Bleach Rebirth of Souls playable roster currently looks like.

Human World Fighters

• Ichigo Kurosaki

• Ichigo Kurosaki (Bankai)

• Uryu Ishida

• Yasutora Sado

Vizard

• Shinji Hirako

Soul Reapers / Shinigami

• Byakuya Kuchiki

• Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto

• Gin Ichimaru

• Ikkaku Madarame

• Izuru Kira

• Kaname Tosen

• Kenpachi Zaraki

• Kisuke Urahara

• Mayuri Kurotsuchi

• Rangiku Matsumoto

• Renji Abarai

• Rukia Kuchiki

• Sajin Komamura

• Shuhei Hisagi

• Shunsui Kyoraku

• Sosuke Aizen

• Soi Fon

• Toshiro Hitsugaya

• Yoruichi Shihoin

Arrancar

• Grimmjow Jeagerjaques

• Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck

• Nnoitra Gilga

• Szayelaporro Granz

• Ulquiorra Shifar

Bleach Rebirth of Souls is set to release on March 21, 2025 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

You can check out the new trailer for Nnoitra below, and take a look at the game’s opening movie here that sounds a heck of a lot like Linkin Park.

Street Fighter does not shy away from crossovers and collaborations both inside the games and out with the latest rounds getting a bit spicy buy also clearing your eyes.

Capcom just added a new collaboration to Street Fighter 6 while another is hitting snack shelves.

The first of which brings one of the game’s big sponsors and supporters into the action officially with Rohto Z!

Said Japanese eyedrop brand may seem like an odd choice next to some of their previous collabs including popular anime / manga Spy x Family, Baki the Grappler, Undead Unluck and Pop Team Epic, however, the company has been sponsoring players like Tokido and fighting game events for years now.

Their mascot Rohto Z! Man was also at Evo Japan last year, and now you can dress up like him too even if you’re not in Japan.

The in-game collab brings a Rohto Z! Man suit for SF6 avatars to dress up as plus 6 stickers and 3 titles.

Getting these is as simple as logging in before March 10 and checking the News tab.

You can also get 1,000 Drive Tickets that way too for Ken’s birthday now this week plus 2,000 tickets for participating in the Capcom Cup 11 Street Voter promotion.

The Capcom Cup 11 Street Voter is live!

Predict who will win Capcom Cup 11 and if your pick wins, you’ll receive a special reward!

You’ll also receive Drive Tickets just for voting, so be sure to visit Eternity in the Battle Hub.

Voting Period: Feb 10 – Mar 3 pic.twitter.com/AJSeHNmqYm

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) February 10, 2025

As for their other promotion, Street Fighter 6 is joining forces with the snack maker Koikeya with some interesting flavors and cute artwork.

It seems Koikeya is releasing three different types of chips based on the world warriors, specifically Dhalsim, Marisa and Ryu.

There’s the Dhalsi-Mucho hot chili chips as a combination of Dhalsim and Karamuucho, Love BBQ Scones and Shoryuken Ryu Special Ramen Flavor.

We don’t know what a Shoryuken tastes like, but it certainly has us curious.

It seems every package will feature unique artwork of the SF6 cast with different package designs including M. Bison and Ed apparently bonding over some spicy crisps — plus an extra one they’re keeping secret.

Click images for larger versions

Unfortunately, these chips and their cute packaging are likely to be exclusive to Japan, but maybe you can get lucky with some local Asian markets or something.

Koikeya is taking orders of sets of six bags plus stickers for 2,580 yen until February 18 with shipments beginning in late March.

Packs of three chips are also going to make their way to stores as well, so those would most likely be the ones to run into out in the wild if they make it that far.

The world has gotten a lot more open with shipping overseas over the past decade or more, but there’s still some really cool stuff stuck in Japan of course.

More information can be found on the Koikeya website.

SNK’s Mai Shiranui is the latest character to join the Street Fighter 6 roster. Due to her unique traits, it’s still not entirely clear how effective she’ll be in the current meta.

Though it’s said that the character suffers from some truly “awful match ups,” she does have some strong tools at her disposal. Over on X, Web uploaded an interesting clip that showcases Mai’s potential to deal a ludicrous amount of chip damage.

In Street Fighter 6, chip damage can only be received while in Burnout. This makes defensive play particularly difficult since Burnout also causes characters to suffer an additional four frames of block stun.

With all of this in mind, it’s possible to trap an opponent in a block string that’s inescapable due to the extra block stun. Throughout these sequences, opponents will find their health bar just withering away due to the chip damage that they’re also getting hit by.

It turns out that Mai Shiranui can deal over 30% damage in chip damage, mostly thanks to her Overdrive Kachousen (fan projectile). Under certain conditions, the fan will bounce and strike at the opponent a second time after the projectile is blocked.

After running out of Drive Gauge, Mai can then finish the sequence by cancelling into her Critical Art. The entire sequence deals 3,146 damage with no gaps to escape through.

Check it all out below:

連ガで3146削ってる・・・怖い・・・。#SF6_Mai pic.twitter.com/enwbfgZxOk

— シトネ@Webライター (@sitone_sitone) February 9, 2025

舞のBO連ガ連携、しゃがみ対応で全部最速で良いルートができた・・・。#SF6_Mai pic.twitter.com/rtGFFBUbwX

— シトネ@Webライター (@sitone_sitone) February 10, 2025

Capcom Cup 11 is scheduled to take place on March 5 and last until March 9, 2025. In a press release from Capcom on PR Times, it’s been revealed that viewers can gain access to special CPT colors in Street Fighter 6 by watching the event.

For each day a viewer watches the stream (likely for a predetermined amount of time), they’ll be provided with a code. It’s been indicated that these codes will be for five different characters in Street Fighter 6.

There will also be an exclusive opportunity for those actually attending the event. Those that purchase their tickets for Capcom Cup 11 for actual attendance (located at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan), will gain access to “Outfit 1 EX Color 1” for Ken.

We’ve been provided with an image that shows how Ken will look with EX Color 1 selected. He’s wearing a black shirt, gray jacket, and orange pants. His hair also has a orangish hue to it.

It’s important to note that it’s been indicated that these codes must be redeemed by 23:59 (JST) on Monday, March 9, 2026. Thus far, this has only been announced in Japanese, but we have to imagine that it should also be available for those of us overseas.

As of right now, it’s not known which five characters will have special colors that players can unlock by watching the event. The press release has informed everyone that fans should stay tuned to the official CAPCOM eSports X account for more information.

Capcom Co., Ltd. press release

Those who purchase tickets to the “CAPCOM CUP 11” event will receive a “Ken” costume, “Outfit 1 EX Color 1,” which can be used in the “Street Fighter 6” game.

In addition, during the broadcasts from Wednesday, March 5th to Sunday, March 9th, viewers will be given event codes that will allow them to obtain special CPT colors for a total of five characters, one character per day.

Please tune in every day to get your event code.

For details on each campaign, please stay tuned to the official CAPCOM eSports X for further updates.

*The event code for the “Ken” costume, “Outfit 1 EX Color 1,” will be distributed to ticket purchasing accounts by e+ in mid-March 2025.

*Each code is valid until 23:59 (JST) on Monday, March 9, 2026.

*This item may be redistributed.

Click images for larger versions

SZ|M0tsunabE was recently featured as a top 50 competitor in Luminosity Gaming’s top 50 player list. He’s known to be one of the best Falco users in the world with notable victories over players like Zackray, KEN, Asimo, and many others.

It would seem that M0tsunabE has recently opted to release a new tier list for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Needless to say, it’s a tier list that contains a number of unique placements.

As one might expect, Minecraft’s Steve found himself at the upper portion of the tier list in the “top 5” category. However, it is a bit curious to note that Kazuya was actually placed in front of Steve. While it isn’t know if the groups in M0tsunabE’s tier list are intended to be ordered, it’s certainly eye catching to see a character other than Steve above everyone else.

The other characters residing in the top 5 are Diddy Kong, Sonic, and Olimar. As for the top 10, it contains Min Min, Luigi, Snake, Pyra & Mythra, and Corrin. Luigi being this high is particularly jarring as he’s generally recognized as being around mid tier (though his ability to perform touch-of-death combos is the type of trait that would be expected of a top tier).

It’s also interesting to see characters like Hero, Pichu, Rosalina & Luma, and Toon Link above Cloud Strife, a character that has been consistently been able to win major events. Pichu is also apparently regarded as being stronger than Pikachu according to this tier list.

Meanwhile, the bottom two characters are said to be Villager and Ganondorf. Although Little Mac is usually ranked as poorly as Ganondorf on most tier lists, he is instead being regarded as being potentially better than characters like Mega Man, Zero Suit Samus, Sheik, Incineroar, Bowser, Jigglypuff, and quite a few others.

Check it all out below:

Click images for larger versions

Mai Shiranui recently became available in Street Fighter 6. It’s been almost a week since she was released at this point, but players are still learning about all that she can do.

CJ Nosa recently outlined a problem with Mai Shiranui’s fans on X. It would appear that Capcom will need to fix a certain interaction involving Mai’s Kachousen special (fan projectile).

CJ Nosa first demonstrates what happens when the training dummy performs a Perfect Parry against Mai’s charged Kachousen. By successfully pulling off the defensive maneuver, we can observe that the CPU secures a net positive in Drive Gauge.

However, this interaction doesn’t work quite the same way with a human player behind the wheel. Utilizing the Perfect Parry against this attack will instead result in a net negative of Drive Gauge for the player.

According to CJ Nosa, this was first noticed during a session involving Street Fighter 6’s Replay Takeover feature. Overall, it looks like players will be better off just blocking Mai’s Kachousen projectile rather than attempting a Perfect Parry against it, at least until it gets fixed.

While it is a little odd that something like this got through Capcom’s thorough testing, sometimes things just slip through the cracks. Regardless, this is a bugged interaction that we should probably expect to get fixed in a future update.

Check it all out below:

Mai’s charged fans are bugged right now#SF6 #SF6_Mai pic.twitter.com/cgyiFranQF

— CJ Nosa (@CJNosaFGC) February 10, 2025

During the era of Super Smash Bros. 4, fans were told to “settle it in Smash” via a memorable tagline from an ad campaign launched by Nintendo. It would seem that someone has opted to actually “settle it in Smash” against their “high school bully” in a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

YouTube content creator Anthony Po has apparently been posting flyers in New York City advertising the big event. As expected, this resulted in a crowd gathering around the scene to spectate the event.

Anthony was apparently good friends with Aiden during high school. However, it would seem that this friendship saw some turbulence when Aiden made a joke about something Anthony had said.

According to Anthony, he was especially sensitive during his high school years. While this joke may have come across as being harmless to most, it was enough to have Anthony go from considering Aiden as a friend to a bully.

Regardless, Anthony is using this as an opportunity to reconnect with his old friend. During the video, Anthony uses Yoshi and Aiden plays as Kirby.

Of course, it should be mentioned that most of the match footage seen in the video is said to be an exaggerated recreation of what actually took place. Still, it ends up being an entertaining video.

Check it all out below:

Sales are a big indicator for Capcom in terms of making sequels

Like any business, Capcom is trying to maximize profits and revenue, and the recent uptick in sales for two Marvel vs. Capcom games is an indicator that the franchise has a special place in fan’s hearts and wallets.

Numerous times through the years, Capcom has delivered collections or re-releases to help gauge the community’s interest in following up with another major AAA title, and if recent sales are an indicator, it’s possible we’ll be seeing a new Marvel vs. Capcom entry in the future.

To get a better picture of the story, we should look at the sales for Darkstalkers Resurrection, which were disappointing to Capcom back when it was released in March of 2013.

Former Capcom employee, Yoshinori Ono once joked that fans would need to buy about 4 million copies more to get a new Darkstalkers game made, despite tremendous internal support of the franchise throughout the years.

The bottom line is Capcom uses game sales from their re-releases and collections to gauge overall interest and green light projects — and the fact that the Marvel vs. Capcom series continues to sell well is a big indicator that there could be a new game in the works, in the future.

Ono said back in 2014 that any game that doesn’t sell over 2 million copies will likely have the brakes applied to making a sequel for that project, but Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has now sold 2.4 million copies.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s re-release has sold 2.1 million copies, putting the grand total sales across all releases up to 5.5 million, not including the PlayStation Vita port.

We’ve also gotten confirmation from the company that Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is selling exactly as planned, which lends even more weight to a potential sequel not being held back by game sales.

One of the biggest complaints against Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was the lack of X-Men and Fantastic Four characters being available, which should no longer be a hurdle since Disney acquired the rights for them back in 2017.

Looking over all of these past statements from Capcom, plus current sales of the Marvel vs. Capcom crossover series, you can see the stars potentially aligning once again for a new entry.

None of these re-releases would have happened without Marvel’s approval — it’s simply how the process works when dealing with other company’s intellectual property. So it’s clear that Marvel and Capcom’s relationship is still in good standing.

Considering that the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise is very popular right now, sales are good, and previous character rights have been reacquired, it’s entirely possible we’ll be seeing another Marvel vs. Capcom sequel announced in the future.

This is how Capcom has approached things in the past, and Fighting Game Community companies are consistently repeating history.

Many fans of Street Fighter were quite surprised to learn that G, who didn’t appear until over two years after the game was released and was the 17th DLC character added, was the final boss of Street Fighter 5.

G didn’t appear in that game’s main story mode, A Shadow Falls, but he made a number of appearances in various character’s individual story modes and is a very formidable villain capable of destroying the earth.

Not a ton is known about G and his full capabilities, but he regularly refers to the earth mother Gaia, and has various fire and earth based attacks.

He also bears a number of similarities to Q, who’s one of the most mysterious and powerful characters in the franchise, who was first introduced in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

And Street Fighter 6’s Director, Takayuki Nakayama, says there’s a deep tale about G that he wants to tell at some point.

“It is very difficult to describe him. But there is a deep story (like the one involved in Q) that I hope to be able to tell one day,” wrote Nakayama on X.

A fan noted that he wanted to know what the President of the Earth is doing, as he misses him. “I like him too He’s interesting, isn’t he?,” wrote Nakayama. “POWER TO THE EARTH！Glad you guys are liking G (Though some people may not like him),” he added.

Given how crucial G was to the latter story of Street Fighter 5, and how many theories there are on the internet concerning him and Q, it could be absolutely fascinating to see how the good guys avoid the destruction of the earth.

The Street Fighter franchise isn’t known for its depth of storytelling, but G is one of the few characters who have piqued the interest of the community in recent times.

Capcom once said that G has “cosmic-like power that we have so little knowledge of,” hinting at the depth and capabilities of this character, to the point where it’s possible that if he’s released as DLC for Street Fighter 6 at some point, we may see a whole new threat emerge beyond JP and his NGO (non-governmental organization).

It’s possible Street Fighter 6 will have a second story arc beyond what we saw in World Tour, where team good guys band together to stop the threat of G destroying the earth.

As part of Rose’s story mode, she discusses that G will destroy the earth as if a gigantic glacier fell into the ocean, and she must go back in time to stop him.

As such, it’s possible that the battle to stop G may not happen in current Street Fighter period, but back in the past, possibly the Street Fighter Alpha / Zero timeline, which Rose once again hints at in her story mode for Street Fighter 5.

This would also give the developers the chance to explore G and Q’s ties, as these characters are clearly related in some ways, and having more details on how this came about would definitely be something fans of the series’ lore would love to see.

The sudden reveal that Akuma was joining Tekken 7 back in 2015 felt like a surprise that came out of nowhere. It remains as our first and only glimpse at what Tekken X Street Fighter might be like.

Akuma wasn’t the only Capcom guest character that was ever considered for Tekken 7. According to a post made by Katsuhiro Harada back in 2020, Morrigan Aensland from the Darkstalkers series came very close to also guest starring in the 3D fighting game.

“To be honest, back in 2017 she was a prime candidate for us to want to bring in as a guest,” said Harada in a response to fan asking about Morrigan in Tekken 7.

The developers apparently felt confident about properly referencing the character in terms of her animations and model. Unfortunately, there was a perceived difficulty about how accurately they’d be able to represent the gameplay of the Darkstalkers series in a 3D fighting game like Tekken.

実のところ2017年のゲスト参戦では最有力で、実際カプコンの小野さんに正式打診する一歩手前でした。
モデリングとかアニメーション再現&味付けには自信はあったのですが、戦術の再現性検証に時間がかかりそうだったので当時は諦めましたね。https://t.co/cCWk4pmiEY

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) January 15, 2020

“And we were extremely close to contacting Ono over at Capcom for official permission,” continued Harada. “We had full confidence in being able to do her modeling and animations and having it do justice to the source material, but as for her gameplay it felt like making it feel the way it should for her would take a lot of time so we ended up abandoning it.”

Rumors have recently begun to surface that Morrigan was considered, but Akuma was chosen instead as the Capcom guest character. This much is even referenced on Akuma’s Tekken wiki page with a linkback to the aforementioned post from Harada.

However, this timeline doesn’t actually make sense based on Harada’s words. Within Harada’s post from 2020, he mentions specifically that Morrigan was a “prime candidate” as a guest back in 2017.

“To be honest, back in 2017 [Morrigan Aensland] was a prime candidate for us to want to bring in as a guest.” — Katsuhiro Harada

By 2017, Akuma was already playable in Tekken 7. This means that Morrigan was being considered as a Capcom guest character in addition to Akuma, not instead of him.

Had Bandai Namco gone forward with adding Morrigan as a character in Tekken, it would’ve been in place of SNK’s Geese Howard, Square Enix’s Noctis Lucis Caelum, or AMC’s Negan Smith.

Just recently, Final Fantasy 16’s Clive Rosfield was added as a guest character to Tekken 8. It would seem that guest characters are once again on the table for Tekken.

With this in mind, could we see a scenario in which Morrigan is finally realized as a guest character, but for Tekken 8? We’ll just have to see what gets announced for Season 2 and beyond.

A special thanks goes out to Nicholas “MajinTenshinhan” Taylor for the translations used in this article.