Category: Entertainment & Lifestyle

Insert comic for Ant-Man joke here

After years of uncertainty surrounding the franchise, fans can now purchase a hard disc (or cartridge) of a brand new Marvel vs. Capcom release again though it is made up of classic arcade titles.

The Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection just released its physical edition version a few days ago where players who pre-ordered received an exclusive comic book, which may not have been quite what was expected.

Personally, I too was among those surprised at how small the pre-order bonus ended up being compared to what was being shown on retailer websites — though Capcom did give some warning as to the size right before release.

Since I ordered the MvC collection the same week it launched, I wasn’t sure I was even going to get the comic and was a bit disappointed when I learned that there was only a game case in my Amazon package.

Upon returning home, however, I saw the sticker on the box that said the comic was included, so I popped it open and saw what was inside.

The comic was definitely in there, and it didn’t even fit in both of the manual clips of the PlayStation 4 case.

I’ve included a couple photos so you can see for yourself how it appears compared to the package and a regular comic book.

Click images for larger versions

Now, I’m not reporting all this to say the comic is bad or awful and is not close to the level of the Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite eggs, but it was at least surprising.

After pulling out the tape measure, the MvC comic is around 4.5 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide, which is significantly smaller than the standard comic book size of 10.1 inches x 6.6 inches.

Perhaps this was done to make sure the comic would fit inside the smaller Nintendo Switch case.

Capcom never stated the book would be a full-sized comic, but they also never really made clear it would be a mini book either.

All we really knew leading up to launch was that it was 32 pages long and had the cover art done by Marvel’s Todd Nauck.

Those pages equate to what would be a medium to large panel or two on a regular comic though.

When Capcom first showed off a few pages from the comic, we thought those were panels on a larger page, but those were indeed the full pages.

Fans did end up getting a glimpse if they follow the official MvC X/Twitter page where they showed the book as being just slightly larger than some Capcom Funko Pop figures two days before release.

For this month’s book club, our action figures and statuettes are reading the comic that comes with the physical version of #MvCFightingCollection! pic.twitter.com/zrzgHh6UdE

— Marvel vs. Capcom (@marvelvscapcom) November 21, 2024

We have seen some fans complain about the size of the comic online of course, but much of the negative attention we’ve witnessed for the physical release has been a bit different.

Most of said complaints have come from buyers in the United Kingdom and Europe in general stating their copies of the collection didn’t come with the comic at all.

We’re not sure what the pre-order info and marketing was like in other regions for the game, but it seems players are a bit unhappy that Capcom may not have been fully clear that the comic wasn’t coming to everyone.

The other main complaint we’ve seen is coming from those who purchased a copy of the physical Switch version in Europe that only contained a code for the collection, but this was confirmed to be the case a few months back.

Got my UK release today and there was no comic inside is only the US that gets it?

— Richard (@FrostyRogue) November 22, 2024

It is curious that Capcom would produce a physical cartridge for North America and presumably other regions like Japan but not Europe.

Ultimately, I’m still happy with my pre-order and that I got the book since it still has nice art as a little collector’s item.

It’s just not really big enough to easily display on a shelf or in a frame as I had hoped.

And there is a full-sized option coming in December with Marvel releasing 11 comics with Marvel vs. Capcom 2-themed alternate cover arts, so at least some other ways to display your enjoyment of the fighting game series is on the way soon.

Ghostface hasn’t even been available for a week yet in Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, but it looks like he’s brought some of the scariest tech imaginable with him.

Players have now discovered multiple unblockable reset options for Ghostface as well as touch of death combos facilitated by said unblockables, which was led to the tournament organizers already stepping in on the matter.

IHateMondays in particular has been going in showcasing how busted th Scream slasher can be with just a little timing and execution.

A lot of this seems to boil down to Ghostface’s ability to force resets / re-stands in the middle of extended combos, which can be combined with not just one but a multitude of different Kameo assist options to keep the strings going basically forever.

Ghostface/Sektor 99% Midscreen Combo #MK1_Ghostface pic.twitter.com/qhtgPchgii

— Jason Sodano (@CHECK4900) November 22, 2024

The unfair situation appears to be enabled largely by the horror icon getting a re-stand right as the Kameo hits and the little knife flip / stance change being counted as a whiffed attack and resets the combo counter.

When combined with Kameos like Sub-Zero’s body freeze, for example, this lets Ghostface reset his damage scaling and combo count while the opponent can essentially do nothing to block or stop it.

so this works with sub kameo as well enjoy this TOD/100% combo lol gotta love guaranteed resets #mk1_ghostface pic.twitter.com/5yOer2KBBX

— IHateMondays (@IhateMondays33) November 23, 2024

It’s also been found the forced reset tech works with Goro, Jade, Frost and Sektor at least too and potentially others.

Heck, he can apparently even do the reset by himself with Ghostface’s enhanced purple mist.

just as a heads up this work with shujingo goro jade and frost as well #mk1_ghostface pic.twitter.com/jW8hvT8mx1

— IHateMondays (@IhateMondays33) November 24, 2024

Splash showed this off a few days ago, noting it’s a bug that’s been in MK1 since launch, but no ones really been able to take advantage of it as quickly and easily as Ghostface.

GAME BREAKING BUG WITH GHOST FACE SEKTOR, INFINITE LOOPS. PLEASE NERF DEVS ASAP @tylerlansdown @Osu16Bit pic.twitter.com/mzlT8OTH82

— Splash (@Fabian_yuz) November 21, 2024

The only way to really escape the situation would be to use a Breaker, but if you don’t have the resources for one, it can be lights out.

Mr. Aqua has already chimed in to state that all of these resets and any other similar ones will be banned in Kolossuem events and imagines most others will follow suit.

The team combinations won’t be banned, just the reset tech.

Both of the resets below and any others found will be banned in Kolosseum and any event I imagine. The teams will not be, but any use of the unblockable situation will result in a loss https://t.co/6B1LlzyT8s

— Mr Aqua (@MrrAqua) November 24, 2024

This is a very similar situation as to what happened with Sindel last year when she could perform an unbreakable touch of death combo when paired with Sub-Zero’s Kameo.

That tech was also banned from official tournaments.

It appears NetherRealm Studios hasn’t officially responded to the situation yet, but we presume that’ll be coming soon along with hopefully a solution to fix the rule-breaking combos.

oh yeah good find dude #mk1_ghostface pic.twitter.com/BcELzxpScx

— IHateMondays (@IhateMondays33) November 24, 2024

We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Image via MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This.

There’s still quite a few fighting games trapped on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360-era hardware, but it seems we can cross one of them off the list soon.

Aquaplus along with publishers DMM Games and Shiravune announced today basically out of nowhere that Aquapazza: Aquaplus Dream Match is coming to PC via Steam.

The anime game crossover was first released all the way back in 2011 in Japanese arcades before being ported to the PS3 in 2012 and brought to the West in 2013.

Aquapazza combines with the worlds and characters of Utawarerumono, Tears to Tiara, To Heart, Kizuato, Routes, Comic Party and White Album properties.

Instead of a high-flying action anime fighter, Aquapazza is focused more around grounded gameplay and using your partner character to score big flashy hits — like running them over with a bicycle.

The game was originally developed by the now defunct Examu Inc., who also crafted Arcana Heart, Nitroplus Blasterz and Million Arthur: Arcana Blood.

There is no mention on the Steam page if the new Aquapazza release will include rollback netcode, but the original definitely did not.

No official release date has been set either, but we know the game is slated for a 2025 launch.

You can check out the new trailer below.

Maybe this combo lasts for a little too long…

Ghostface and his corresponding compatibility patch were recently made available in Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns. As of right now, it’s not known just how much of an impact this slasher will have on the meta, but DLC guest characters have traditionally been extremely strong in NetherRealm Studios games.

One thing about Ghostface that’s clearly powerful is his ability to restand the opponent after launching them. Evidently, this characteristic can lead to some insufferably long combo sequences, especially when paired when a Kameo like Khameleon.

IHateMondays recently posted a clip that showcased a combo from the new DLC character. Though it dealt quite a bit of damage against the training dummy, it’s really the length of the combo that proves to be the main draw of the sequence.

Needless to say, this is a combo that lasts for over 30 seconds. However, most of the damage is actually dealt within the first six seconds of the scene as scaling is in place to prevent the character from removing too much of the opponent’s life bar.

This sequence ends up spanning so long due to Ghostface’s multiple ways of restanding enemies. Additionally, Khameleon’s low cooldown means that she can be called six times throughout the exchange.

In total, the combo ends up dealing over 420 points of damage, but the creator notes that it’d probably be better to go for a reset situation early into it all due to the scaling. Still, this seems like a great way to run the clock if a round is already in favor of the Ghostface player.

Check it all out below:

i love this team 6 kameos in one combo for a 30 sec long cutscene #mk1_ghostface pic.twitter.com/JTrA1IACqs

— IHateMondays (@IhateMondays33) November 23, 2024

Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat series has had a pretty rough time in D.M. Galloway’s stop motion videos. He’s fought against unlikely opponents such as Michael Jackson and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Unfortunately for Scorpion, these videos always seem to feature him losing in the most brutal fashion possible. Could this change in D.M. Galloway’s latest video that has Scorpion going up against… Snoopy the Dog?

Needless to say, the Mortal Kombat rep is shown to have difficulties landing hits against Snoopy due to his short stature and cartoony characteristics. Despite being a small opponent, this beagle’s bites and other attacks pack a lot of punch.

It also doesn’t help that Snoopy is getting assists from Woodstock, Charlie Brown, and Linus Van Pelt. Indeed, Scorpion continues the trend of being the whipping boy of D.M. Galloway’s clips.

Eventually, Snoopy is able to manifest his imagination to turn his doghouse into a fighter jet. Scorpion tries to evade the incoming barrage of bullets, but Snoopy proves to be an ace pilot.

At long last, Charlie Brown is able to demonstrate what would happen to a football without Lucy pulling it away at the last second as he tries to kick it. This time, however, Scorpion’s head serves as the football.

Check it all out below:

SNOOPY in MORTAL KOMBAT

Good grief! Can our favorite Beagle take on Scorpion?

“ It’s Mortal Kombat Charlie Brown! ”#stopmotion #animation #Peanuts pic.twitter.com/GEq5JyAREy

— D.M. Galloway | DGDX Animation (@DGDXAnimation) November 23, 2024

R.I.S.C. which is a clever and topical abbreviation for Rumble In SoCal will be happening this weekend, obviously in SoCal, more specifically in Riverside, California, U.S.A.

Notable players participating include Zane, RFL|Zippy, Kanme|Elsa, BNP|Knotts, LPT, Flaquito, Foo, Jona, Betadood, GB|ZweiNot, NH|Uwabami, STG|GarlicBread, FT|Kastrological, Paragon, Rickstah, Nyan-derthal, Beautifuldude, EnzoTheHokage, Aloa and more.

This is a Gold Event for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising on the Arc World Tour, so there are points on the line for players showing up for this game.

The most entered game is Guilty Gear Strive which sits at around 55 participants followed by Tekken 8 at over 50 players and then Street Fighter 6 and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising which both landed at around 45 signups each.

There will also be tournament action for Under Night In-Birth 2 [Sys:celes], BlazBlue: Central Fiction and Guily Gear Xrd REV 2, all of which sit at about 20 competitors each.

Streaming is being done at Bay Area Mad House and KizzieKay310.

It took Call of Duty to beat Goku

It seems pretty safe to say at this point that western fans were hungry for a worthy successor to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 after 17 years and that Bandai Namco’s big marketing push really seems to have worked out.

Circana (formerly NPD Group) recently published their video game industry sales data for the month of October in the United States where Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero almost managed to come out on top in terms of best-sellers and managed to set another record.

According to the sales charts shared by Mat Piscatella, 8 of the top 10 best selling games in the U.S. last month were actually new releases, which may be the most we’ve seen all year in one go.

That includes Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero all the way up at number two for October as a big win for Bandai Namco.

This applied to both the PlayStation and Xbox top 10 sales charts too.

The only game that managed to beat out Goku and friends was unsurprisingly Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which there was probably no way DB was ever going to defeat in the U.S. alone even with Ultra Instinct.

October 2024 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

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— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 8:00 AM

Dragon Ball’s performance is impressive given the stacked month that included not only those two titles but also Silent Hill 2, Undisputed, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Super Mario Party Jamboree and Sonic X Shadow Generations.

The Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection was featured in the last top 20 rankings for September, but it is not here for last month nor are any other fighting games.

Piscatella makes another very interesting note in regards to Sparking’s performance that puts it above the lifetime totals of Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Kakarot and every other game featuring the Saiyans.

According to their data, Sparking Zero is now the best selling Dragon Ball game in the United States, and it reached that point after just a month.

Beyond that, DBSZ was also the third highest among Bandai Namco titles in the company’s history too behind only Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3.

After just one month in market, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero became the best-selling Dragon Ball game in U.S. lifetime dollar sales and ranked 3rd among all Bandai Namco Entertainment published titles in history, trailing only Elden Ring and Dark Souls III.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 8:00 AM

He does note, however, this sales record is from counting the lifetime dollar amount generated and not copies sold.

So that likely means FighterZ and Xenoverse 2 may have still sold more individual copies overall, but Bamco has made more money from Sparking Zero by way of more players picking up the game at launch (with a slightly higher price tag of $70 and more expensive deluxe versions).

Moreover, Sparking Zero already rocketed up to the number 4 position on the year to date sales chart for the U.S. too after its first month trailing only behind EA Sports College Football 25, Helldivers 2 and COD Black Ops 6.

Tekken 8 is still holding on to its ranking position as well, but these two new additions to the list have pushed it from 14th to 16th place — so it’ll be interesting to see if it can remain there after the last two months have passed for 2024.

Year-to-Date Ending October 2024 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content)

[image or embed]

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 8:00 AM

This all lines up pretty well with Bandai Namco’s recent reveal that around 90% of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s sales have come from the Americas and Europe as opposed to Japan, the res of Asia and other regions.

The company also stated Dragon Ball had an outstanding launch after it sold 3 million copies in just one day though they haven’t provided an updated figure to that yet.

Dragon Ball FighterZ and Xenoverse 2 have both managed to cross over 10 million copies sold after their lifespans, so the new arena fighter still has some work to do to fully catch up to its predecessors.

On PC at least, Sparking Zero has seen its average playerbase drop over 90% now compared to the game’s record-breaking peak of over 120,000 concurrent Steam users, so it’ll be interesting to see what momentum the game continues to have going forward.

There is of course the current Season Pass with more DLC on the way as well as future updates, but will it be supported for over six years like FighterZ has?

We’ll also be extremely curious to see where Sparking places on the sales charts for November and December too though we’ll obviously have to wait to find out more about that data.

No matter how you slice it, though, Bamco is probably really happy with these results.

Black Friday seems to get pushed back to begin earlier and earlier every year, and some companies are resorting to running different sales basically back to back now.

Although PlayStation already pushed their November Savings Sale through to players a few weeks ago, Sony’s official Black Friday Sale is now underway featuring more big fighting game deals for the holidays.

Interestingly, the November and Black Friday sales are entirely separate with no actual overlap in specials, so some things that were missing from the previous deals that ended today are here now and vice versa.

That does mean Tekken 8 is already back up to full price, but you can still save money elsewhere.

The biggest inclusion is probably Mortal Kombat 1 getting slashed by 60% down to just $20 for the base game while the rest of the DLC content is 50% off.

Said discount even applies to the MK1 Khaos Reigns Bundle with all the new content and first Kombat Pack, so you can get everything Mortal Kombat currently has to offer for just $50 — which now beats Xbox’s Black Friday deals on the game.

Street Fighter 6 and its Ultimate Edition have also had their prices cut in half, but it appears Capcom isn’t yet ready to put the Year 2 Pass on sale yet, which is a bit disappointing.

The King of Fighters 15 arguably makes up the next best deal with the base game getting put down to $10.50 plus the two Team Passes going 65% off, so you can get the first two years of KOF15 content for less than $22.

Unfortunately, last year’s Fighter Pass is not included in the sale here, so that still remains $16 by itself.

To play online and have access to other games, Sony is also running various discounts on their PlayStation Plus subscription tiers as well.

Other deals included in the savings are Dragon Ball FighterZ, the Capcom Fighting Collection, Mortal Kombat 11, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Soul Calibur 6, Tekken 7 and more.

That means the likes of Guilty Gear Strive, Under Night In-Birth II, and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising are among those missing.

These PlayStation Black Friday deals are slated to last until December 2.

You can check out the breakdown of fighting game sales below, but please note they represent just the United States PlayStation Store. Pricing and availability may differ in other regions.

• Brawlhalla All Legends – $20

• Capcom Fighting Collection – $16

• Dragon Ball FighterZ Legendary Edition PS4 & PS5 – $39.59

• DBFZ FighterZ Pass 3 – $8

• DBFZ Select DLC – 50% off

• Injustice 2 – $3

• Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition – $5

• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Deluxe Edition – $12

• Mortal Kombat 11 – $5

• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Add-on Bundle – $5

• Mortal Kombat 1 – $20

• Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Bundle – $30

• MK1 Kombat Pack 1 DLC – 50% off

• Soul Calibur 6 – $9.59

• SC6 Season Pass – $9.89

• SC6 Season Pass 2 – $13.59

• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection – $9.89

• Street Fighter 6 – $30

• Street Fighter 6 Ultimate Edition – $52.49

• Tekken 7 – $10

• Tekken 7 Definitive Edition – $19.19

• Tekken 7 Season Pass 3 – $10

• Tekken 7 Season Pass 4 – $7.49

• The King of Fighters 14 Ultimate Edition – $8

• The King of Fighters 15 – $10.49

• KOF15 Team Pass 1 – $5.59

• KOF15 Team Pass 2 – $5.59

Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada has been working on the legendary fighting game series since its very first entry, and as a result, he has seen and done a whole lot when it comes to game development. In recent weeks, the longtime game creator has been sharing behind-the-scenes insight into some of the Tekken franchise’s characters, and just a few days ago he discussed something very interesting pertaining to one of the series’ more recent newcomers.

In a fully packed tweet, Harada talked a bit about Josie — the game’s fighting representative from the Philippines who made her debut in Tekken 7 — and how a last minute design choice he made ultimately ended up taking heavy criticism from fans.

Harada has been sharing some truly fascinating details about the Tekken series lately. We just recently learned more about Eliza, another newer character in the grand scheme of things, and why she is unlikely to return as DLC in Tekken 8 despite being a fan favorite.

This time, though, Harada talks a bit more about Josie and the process of designing her for Tekken 7.

“The background to the birth of Josie is that there has long been a lot of TEKKEN fever in the Philippines in Southeast Asia,” Harada’s tweet begins. “The Philippines has had a lot of TEKKEN arcades since the 1990s, and I myself have visited the country many times with sales staff and had contact with the community.”

Harada goes on to reveal that he originally wanted to include a male Filipino character on the roster for Tekken 5 in 2005, but notes that he couldn’t quite come up with a good concept for the fighter so he gave up at the time.

“When the time came to introduce [Josie] in TEKKEN 7, I decided that ‘this time, in order to make it happen, I’m going to borrow the abilities of many people, not just my own’, and asked Shimazaki-san (who designed Reina, Kazumi, and Bayonetta) to design her,” Harada said.

Apparently, had Shimazaki not come up with the costume design for Josie, it was possible that the character would have ended up not being added to Tekken 7 at all.

Josie’s inclusion into the Tekken series started off as promising as Harada explains that everyone was quite happy with her reveal, but there was also a fuss brewing in the Philippines over it.

“It was in the news in all kinds of media (including general media, not just gaming media), and there was even a bit of a fuss that involved the official Twitter of a Philippine government agency,” Harada said.

Harada recalls the one major regret he has about designing Josie, and it comes in the form of a last minute decision to make her personality lean more towards being a “crybaby.” While making these kinds of last minute calls had worked for other fighters in the past (and the rest of the development team trusted Harada’s insight here), apparently this one trait made fans fairly unhappy overall.

“Also, the original Josie was not particularly a crybaby,” Harada explained in the tweet. “When the recording started, I added the ‘crybaby setting’ in a hurry because her Win pose and other performances and character traits were not showing any individuality at all.

“In the past, there were many cases where the ‘character’s personality’ of Jin, Heihachi, Alisa, Bryan, Dragunov… etc…etc.. was created by my sudden instructions at the time of voice recording or animation production, so the staff did not doubt this idea.

“However, I feel that the fact that Josie was a crybaby was not well received by fans, and while I’m sure there were many people who liked it, at least I felt at the time that I received a lot of criticism regarding Josie’s crybaby character.

“Interestingly, I can’t remember the episodes that were successful, but I remember in great detail the things that ended up being mistakes. It would be a lot easier if it were the other way around…” Harada concluded.

The background to the birth of Josie is that there has long been a lot of TEKKEN fever in the Philippines in Southeast Asia. The Philippines has had a lot of TEKKEN arcades since the 1990s, and I myself have visited the country many times with sales staff and had contact with the… https://t.co/eOzeleB6zr

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) November 19, 2024

For every top tier in a fighting game, there must also be a bottom tier. The Super Smash Bros. series is certainly no exception. As an example, Meta Knight is recognized as being the best overall character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl while Ganondorf is seen as being the worst.

During a video uploaded by Brawlternative, it’s outlined that the transition from Super Smash Bros. Melee to Super Smash Bros. Brawl really did The King of Evil no favors. Additionally, it seemed that the developers really wanted to emphasize Ganondorf’s slower traits, which were essentially masked by Melee’s speedy mechanics.

Due to having the second worst run speed in Brawl, Ganondorf was said to have awful defensive capabilities. Despite this shortcoming, his offensive capabilities were also extremely lackluster.

Not only did him having some of the slowest moves in the game, but his attacks were also generally quite unsafe on block. In the case of the character’s up special, the Dark Dive, it was even unsafe on hit if the opponent was aware of how to take advantage of the move’s low hit stun.

Given, this fighter was capable of dealing a lot of damage and killing early, but landing the necessary hits to do this was easier said than done. Generally speaking, characters with speedy and defensive characteristics tend to consistently be the best throughout the Super Smash Bros. series.

Funnily enough, it turns out that the antagonist’s forward aerial was intended to function better than it actually does. Unfortunately, a programming error resulted in it having more recovery frames than intended in the final release.

This was problematic as this oversight was made during an era before Super Smash Bros. could be adjusted post-launch via patches. In other words, Ganondorf was doomed to his bottom tier status in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Based on the game’s coding, it would seem that the developers intended for Ganondorf to be capable of autocancelling his forward aerial starting on frame 36. Ultimately though, this autocancel window is ignored until frame 55.

Of course, this combatant’s intentional weaknesses would’ve likely still resulted in him being a bottom tier combatant, but this error really compounded his problems. He could’ve functioned a little better if he just had a little less risk attached to one of his strongest moves.

Regardless, Super Smash Bros. Brawl would effectively be the beginning of Ganondorf being a bottom tier in future iterations of the series. He even reclaimed his spot as being the worst overall character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate despite seeing a number of improvements since Brawl.

Check it all out below: