Category: Entertainment & Lifestyle

2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the first King of Fighters entry, and there’s been a lot of celebrations going around from the release of classic concept art to weird health equipment collaborations.

Now, it seems that KOF 30th Anniversary Project is coming to an end with the 30th and final reveal being the rise of something new.

SNK has announced the establishment of the “KOF Studio” with the tag line “Revolutionize the legacy” though we’re not really sure what means exactly.

There is an official website available for the new studio now, which doesn’t really clear things up much.

“Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and more— SNK fighting games have thrilled and delighted fans worldwide ever since their landmark debut in the 1990s,” reads the site’s message.

“The 30th anniversary of The King of Fighters brings with it another milestone: the launch of the all-new KOF Studio.

“KOF Studio will proudly carry on the storied legacy of our iconic fighting game IPs while driving their evolution well into the future.

“Get ready for the new battles ahead as SNK gears up for the revolution at hand, and remember: The dream match never ends!”

KOF 30th Anniversary Project Part 30

To coincide with the 30th anniversary of THE KING OF FIGHTERS, we are happy to announce the establishment of KOF Studio!
KOF Studio will proudly carry on the 30-year legacy of SNK fighting games while also bringing forth a new… pic.twitter.com/VgSsWnn0bK

— KOF STUDIO (@KOFstudio_en) December 29, 2024

They then go on to list SNK’s modern fighting game projects even outside of King of Fighters including Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Samurai Shodown and SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy.

There’s also a spot with some concept artwork for the upcoming Samurai Shodown action RPG featuring Yashamaru.

And that’s pretty much it.

Click images for larger versions

The X / Twitter page for the KOF Studio has existed for months now as the vehicle for sharing the KOF 30th Anniversary Project updates, but it sounds as though it’ll be used for something different moving forward.

It could be this KOF Studio is a specialized part of SNK’s existing development teams that handle their fighting game properties (apparently even if the title isn’t a fighter itself like the upcoming SamSho spin-off).

We’re also curious if the KOF Studio is connected to the SNK Universe Project from last year that aims to bring Fatal Fury, KOF, and SamSho to other forms of media like manga, anime and film with all this talk of IPs and evolution.

Or perhaps it’s just new branding for SNK’s fighting game PR to share news and announcements, however, considering the studio was their final “anniversary reveal”, we expect there to be more to it than that.

No matter what this KOF Studio is, SNK looks to be expanding their horizons and reach moving forward with their fighting game properties.

The company also just recently revealed Gato as the latest character coming to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ launch roster.

With the inception of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, characters were initially only able to throw forward or backwards after grabbing an opponent. Super Smash Bros. Melee would later introduce the down throw, up throw, and pummel interactions that became mainstays for the rest of the series.

Recently, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed plans to unveil the Switch successor within this fiscal year, which spans through March 31, 2025. As such, Nintendo has maintained a tradition of having a new Super Smash Bros. entry released for all of their mainline consoles since the Nintendo 64. Could it finally be time to add a new grab interaction mechanic?

C Sharp recently released a new video that showcases one of his mods in action. This mod takes the “special pummel” mechanic from Rivals of Aether and essentially puts it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Essentially, this allows characters to perform a slower, character specific pummel by pressing the special button after grabbing an opponent. Since this type of pummel is slower, players generally won’t have enough time to perform this action against opposing fighters at low percentages since they’ll be able to easily escape.

For a number of combatants, the special pummel effectively just behaves as an extra throw. Upon being used, the initiator will basically just transition into a rapid jab combo, releasing the other player from the grab.

However, some of the fighters were gifted with some particularly interesting tools. Even C Sharp himself believes that some of these ideas might be a little too overpowered.

Duck Hunt’s special pummel, for example, has the duo harmlessly placing a targeting reticle on the held victim. After a set amount of time, the other combatant will be shot at with the NES Zapper.

Similarly, Sephiroth’s special pummel will place a single Shadow Flare orb on the opponent without the need to hit with a side special. If they’ve already been marked with Shadow Flare, then this will adds one to the total orb count (up to five as normal).

As one might expect, Snake’s special pummel has him placing a C4 explosive on the opponent. If the C4 is already placed, he can detonate it while still holding the opponent in place.

An important caveat to consider is that C Sharp has it so that a special pummel can only be used once per grab. Additionally, this mostly seems to be a proof of concept as some special pummels (such as Kirby’s due to grab lockouts) don’t work correctly.

Check it all out below:

Matsumoto is still holding out hope Dr. Dre’s Detox will release eventually it seems

It may be a bit hard to imagine that Street Fighter 6 is going to soon crown its second world champion and enter its third year, but the game also isn’t anywhere close to being done in terms of content and updates yet.

Japanese publications Famitsu and 4Gamer have been running their own New Year’s tradition for quite some time now asking hundreds of game developers to reflect on the current year and look ahead to the next with the latest rounds now available as we rapidly approach 2025.

Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama and Producer Shuhei Matsumoto were among said developers that gave New Year’s messages to both publications to talk about the game, what they enjoyed most about this year and what they’re looking forward to next.

Starting out with Famitsu, Nakayama offered deep meditation / consideration as his keyword entering the new year while Matsumoto wrote “kotsukotsu,” which could be read as steady progress.

Both are of course looking forward to Capcom Cup 11 taking place in Japan this upcoming March though the Producer had some other media he’s watching out for.

Matsumoto wrote he has his eyes on Stranger Things Season 5, Gannibal Season 2, The Bear Season 4 and Detox by Dr. Dre, which he’s still hopeful is going to come out after 15 years.

And of course they had some things to say about SF6 itself as well as the upcoming Capcom Fighting Collection 2.

“This year we plan to bring you all a lot of updates and events for Street Fighter 6,” said Matsumoto via Famitsu that we’ve translated. “Please look forward to Mai joining the action from Fatal Fury. With SNK being synonymous with Fatal Fury, we hope you’ll enjoy the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 as well when it releases, which contains Capcom vs. SNK 1 and 2. With all that being said, there’s a lot of things we’ll be doing in 2025.”

“The Capcom fighting game team is working really hard, and we will continue to do so this upcoming year so you all can enjoy Capcom’s various fighting games.”

And this is what the Director had to say for his game.

“Thank you all so much for playing Street Fighter 6,” said Nakayama to Famitsu. “We are currently in our second year with the game and about to enter our third in 2025 where we are still planning more collaborations and events. So please look forward to them, and we appreciate your continued support.”

They had a lot more to say to 4Gamer as well.

Nakayama said the title that impressed / surprised him the most this year was actually Animal Well and that he’s a pretty big fan of Metroidvania games.

He lists the media that the most memorable to him in 2024 as the album Myrsky from the Finnish metal band Mokoma, which he describes as a masterpiece with no filler songs.

Thank you for all your help this year. Have a great New Year’s
本日仕事納め皆さま今年もありがとうございました pic.twitter.com/WtEwpSi7aM

— TAKA-nakayama (@takaNakayama) December 27, 2024

As for the Producer, Matsumoto wrote Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as the title that impressed him the most this year that put a smile on his face as a fan of the film series.

He couldn’t narrow his memorable entertainment category to just one thing, so Matsumoto included The Boys Season 4, The Penguin series (that he notes had a “meh” final episode), The Crossroads album by Cordae and GloRilla’s album Glorious (though he wrote Gorgeous, so we’re not sure if he accidentally used the wrong name or it has a different title in Japan).

Matusmoto’s people he’s paying attention to most include the girl group FLO, which he says gave him nostalgia for TLC, Destiny’s Child and the Spice Girls.

And he talked about Detox there again too.

“Is Detox out yet? I’ll keep waiting forever. After Missionary, I hope he’ll do Detox.”

As for their actual games, there’s not really much more to add that wasn’t already covered by Famitsu besides Matsumoto noting how happy he is to see online and offline SF6 events pulling in big numbers this year.

Nakayama also asks fans to please not shy away from saying hello to him if they see him at events.

Unfortunately, there’s no talk or hints about more costumes or other more substantive content for SF6 beyond Mai coming in early 2025, so it sounds like players are going to need to continue waiting to learn more on that front.

It’ll have to come at some point considering how popular the Outfit 3 release was for the game, but Capcom hasn’t spoken specifically about Outfit 4 after six months since Season 2 began.

You can find all of the developer New Year’s messages on Famitsu and 4Gamer though they’re all of course in Japanese.

These also contain more messages from Arc System Works, SNK, Bandai Namco, Sega and more, so stay tuned for more developer translations soon.

Image via Game Informer.

The recent release of the big Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond mod brought more attention and players back to the crossover fighter than any point in the past seven years, and that also means a fresh take on tournaments for the game are popping up now to test out the changes on a competitive level.

Tampa Never Sleeps is jumping in to hold their own Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond tournament featuring many of the best Marvel players across North America including the one and only Marvel Infinite world champion Cloud805 as well as Stealth, FORT|Cless, MASH|Escalante, Angelic, UG|Jako Man, LG|Hyper Crasher, Romora, WBI_Priest, and more.

This tournament will of course be played using all of the balance and gameplay adjustments made to the mod on top of all the visual and audio changes.

Infinite & Beyond Producer Maximilian is also adding a $500 pot bonus for the special event on top of regular prizing with 81 players signed up to compete.

Tonight’s event is open to all players in the North America region using the PC version of the game and the mod update while those who go 0-2 will be entered in an additional redemption bracket.

Streaming for the Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond tournament is being handled by Tampa Never Sleeps and Maximilian_Dood.

Christmas and most of the holidays may now be over as we approach New Year’s, but it’s still a great time to gift yourself and your friends some strong fighting game deals.

The PlayStation Holiday Sale is currently underway offering up heavy discounts on the biggest fighters of the last few years including Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 plus most of the others you can probably think of over the past generation.

Out of everything, Mortal Kombat 1 is serving the wildest sales in the genre with the base game being marked down to $20, but that’s not the crazy part.

The MK1 Khaos Reigns Kollection, which includes the game, Kombat Pack 1, and the Khaos Reigns Expansion, has its price chopped down by a whopping 67%, so you can get all kontent for just under $30 (before taxes).

Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 are also offering 50% discounts on their titles and some of their expanded editions though we’re still waiting for SF6’s Year 2 Pass to go on sale.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is also finally on sale for what we believe is the first time, so if you’ve been holding out on that, now would be a great time to pick it up.

It’s not technically listed as part of this sale, but the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection brought back its recent discount of 20% to make the compilation $40 on the digital store.

Most of these deals can also be found in the Steam Winter Sale going on too, and there’s even more to pick from if you’re interested in PC fighting games.

The PlayStation Holiday Sale is slated to last through January 17, 2025 though some titles are listed as ending their discounts on January 7.

You can check out a breakdown of the best fighting game deals below though note that prices and availability may differ in other regions.

• BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle – $5.00

• Bounty Battle – $2.50

• Capcom Fighting Collection – $20.40

• Dead or Alive 6 – $9.00

• Dragon Ball FighterZ – $9.60

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising – $25.00

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Deluxe Edition – $37.50

• Guilty Gear Strive – $20.00

•
• GGST Season Pass 2 – $12.50

• GGST Season Pass 3 – $17.50

• Injustice 2 – $3.00

• Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition – $5.00

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R Deluxe Edition – $19.60

• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection – $40

• Mortal Kombat 1 – $20.00

• Mortal Kombat 1 Khaos Reigns Kollection – $29.69

• MK1 DLC – 50% off

• MK1 Khaos Reigns Bundle – $24.00

• Mortal Kombat 11 – $5.00

• MK11 Ultimate Bundle – $5.00

• Mortal Kombat X – $5.00

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Ultimate Edition – $20.00

• Omen of Sorrow – $7.00

• One Strike – $1.50

• SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy – $25.00

• Soul Calibur 6 Deluxe Edition – $14.40

• Street Fighter 6 – $30.00

• Street Fighter 6 Ultimate Edition – $52.50

• SF6 Year 1 Character Pass – $19.50

• SF6 Year 1 Ultimate Pass – $32.50

• Tekken 8 – $35.00

• Tekken 8 Ultimate Edition – $66.00

• The King of Fighters 15 – $9.00

• KOF15 Team Pass 1 – $4.79

• KOF15 Team Pass 2 – $4.79

• The Rumble Fish 2 – $7.50

• The Rumble Fish+ – $2.40

• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – $7.50

• Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes – $25.00

It’s been a couple of months since the Season 4 patch for Guilty Gear Strive was released. Indeed, the meta has changed significantly due to the adjustments featured with that update.

LordKnight recently released a video that details his current impressions of all the characters in Season 4. Of course, LordKnight isn’t quite ready to rank the roster on a tier list, but he did use a tier list template to provide an idea on how every combatant feels right now in the new meta.

First off, it’s worth mentioning that LordKnight is currently unsure of Asuka, Zato-1, Axl Low, Queen Dizzy, and Bridget. This implies that he hasn’t been able to play against too many opponents using these characters.

Goldlewis Dickinson, Ramlethal, Leo, Johnny, and Sin sit at the very top of LordKnight’s arranged tier list template. Not only are these characters seemingly very strong at the moment, but they may also be very problematic without nerfs in the future.

Of the characters that LordKnight is familiar with, it would appear that Millia Rage might be the weakest right now. At one point, LordKnight was actually maining Millia, but it would appear that the fighter now has too many problems to be competitively viable at the moment.

Despite all of this, it would seem that Guilty Gear Strive is in a fairly good place as 21 out of the 29 characters in the game seem to be either “fine” or better.

Check it all out below:

Click images for larger versions

Update: This story has been updated with day 1 results.

The BeePro Cup 2024 is taking place right at the end of the year to close out 2024 and it’s happening in Taipei, Taiwan.

Notable players participating include UMA, TM|OilKing, JG|ZJZ, XG|E.T., Yoro, Xiaohey, 777|Daybreak, Cola321 and more.

BeePro Cup 2024 is a qualifying event for the SNK World Championship 2024 tour so there’s high incentive for King of Fighters 15 players to do well here and grab a spot at the finals.

That being said, the star of the show is without a doubt Street Fighter 6 — sitting at over almost 450 participants, a massive turnout for Capcom’s flagship fighter.

Besides Street Fighter 6 and King of Fighters 15, there will also be tournament play for Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 8 and Dead or Alive 6.

Streaming is being done at GamerBee.

It seems that we’re at the point of Street Fighter 6 in which the community is looking back at the previous Street Fighter entry, Street Fighter 5 in this case, with rose-tinted glasses. For example, we recently reminisced about Broski pulling off a crazy combo with Oro, a character that has yet to join the Street Fighter 6 roster.

While it’s nice to be nostalgic about the good memories pertaining to Street Fighter 5, we also can’t forget about the less pleasant things about the previous Street Fighter entry. Needless to say, Ross recently posted a funny clip that felt a little too familiar for myself in particular.

While it could be argued that Street Fighter 5’s rollback netcode was an improvement over Street Fighter 4’s delay-based netcode, it still resulted in a number of games that can only be described as being “completely unplayable.”

This clip uploaded by Ross is certainly one of those type of games. The constant rollbacks make it impossible to really discern what’s happening even for the players themselves.

Indeed, the concept of whiff punishes or… any kind of punishes at all go out the window with a connection this poor. It’s basically impossible to react to a blocked sweep when the game behaved like this.

Even trying to block attacks becomes radically more difficult. These were the sort of matches that were enough to make just about anyone want to rip their hair out and quit playing Street Fighter 5.

Check out all the hilarity in the clip below:

People reminiscing over SFV, here’s what I think of. Oh the good old days. pic.twitter.com/y2Rf92Hw1P

— Ross (@Brickterium) December 27, 2024

Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite & Beyond, a new mod for Capcom’s 2017 title Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, is now officially available for download. This free PC mod for the Steam version of the game adds an overhauled visual style, new balance changes, new modes, and more goodies for fans to sink their teeth into.

Spearheaded by popular content creator Maximilian, Beyond also adds some changes to the game’s final boss, Ultron Omega, that makes him one of the most difficult to beat bosses in fighting game history on the highest difficulty. Max and his buddy Steve use the new Cross Frenzy mode to play both characters on their team on screen at the same time to try and defeat this nearly impossible final boss challenge, but can they succeed in beating it?

Since MvCIB was released, Maximilian has been letting people know that the challenge of beating this new and improved Ultron Sigma on the highest difficulty with Cross Frenzy active is an incredibly fun and incredibly difficult challenge.

When Diaphone was streaming the mod earlier this week, Max even hopped into his stream chat to personally issue this challenge to Diaphone, and you can see how that all went down here.

But in one of his latest videos Max takes on the same challenge he’s been giving to others, and it’s the first time we get to see him face off against the monster he helped create.

Max and Steve dig deep into trying to defeat this crazy final boss, who not only has a never ending stream of drones that keep coming no matter how many times you defeat them, but also has the ability to hit like a truck and regenerate his own health.

The new Ultron Omega in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Beyond really feels like one of those old school fighting game bosses that is just ludicrously difficult to topple. Check out the video below to see how Max and Steve do in the near impossible fighting game challenge, and let us know in the comments if you’ve tried the challenge yourself.