TAI-X

My input on the multiplatform debate is that you folks should be prepared for GG XXrd (or whatever it will be called) to be a PS4 exclusive. I see Arc's decision to backport Xrd to PS3 as a transitory measure that will not last past the game's vanilla version, once the PS4 has been out for some time and gained greater momentum. Regardless, I have no interest in the PS4 myself right now and won't be getting one (can't afford it anyway lol) for at least a couple years.

Art of Fighting 3 is pretty much a 3D fighter made with 2D graphics, and it's one of the Neo's greatest non-KOF/SamSho titles. They should try for something with a similar play style and flow. I've heard that the second Samurai Shodown 64 game (in 3D) is pretty awesome, but there aren't many people that can vouch for it, because it never got a home port and hasn't been properly emulated.

Special mention goes to Xenophage, Ultra Vortek and Tattoo Assassins. The latter was mercifully never released. Ultra Vortek has Poopalities and a Jamaican stereotype named "Dreadloc" who blows weed smoke as one of his specials. That says it all. There are other terrible Jaguar-exclusive fighters out there, like Kasumi Ninja and Fight for Life, but they aren't quite so groan-inducing.

Yeah, I'm still amazed that someone bothered to localize that in the US. A real dog of the DS library, and it's the most shameless ripoff of Guilty Gear I've seen. Who the hell are Windy and Windam supposed to be, anyway? Evil Zone is okay. The localization was definitely something fresh for non-importing US players at the time, and it's at least better than the dire Toshinden series. I prefer Destrega for casual button-mashing 3D fighter action on the PS1.

It doesn't get any worse than pirate Famicom fighters. Can you believe someone tried to port Tekken to the NES?

Please tell me this is only a joke video and it isn't actually going to be released like Divekick.

I can say that a lot fewer people use Chizuru in player match. Not having a ranking to protect does wonders for opening people up to other characters. I even saw a pretty good Riannon once. Chizuru feels like an out-of-place Melty Blood character. I main Oboro myself. Playing like a Samurai Shodown character made it easy to get used to him fast, and he even has a Galford color. I also like his OTG capabilities with the arrow summons. I tried playing Manaka for a while and did pretty well, but tossing books from the other end of the screen all day got boring fast. By the way, is the playable version of Boss Ma-Ryan missing some of her attacks? I saw her do a triple fireworks shot I couldn't replicate.

MadCatz sticks have been confirmed to not work. I think they'll be more than happy to get us to buy new ones. Every DLC mecha from Extreme Vanilla will be on-disc.

There wasn't any DLC for this, was there?

Overdramatic much? The tactic only works on a portion of the cast, only if you let yourself get trapped in the corner, and there's a good chance that Koko will whiff the combo from black hole (which does barely any damage on its own) anyway. The game is a pretty far cry from "one touch = infinite death combo" fighters like MvC3 and the first version of UNIB. Everything with the 3 DLC characters should be fixed in time for BBCP II and the US console release.

Console version is releasing practically back to back with Maxi Boost in arcades. Everyone who's into the series is gonna have to start thinking about saving up for a PS4 and a new arcade stick soon. It will probably be the system's first exclusive Japanese killer app.

It will inevitably be patched for the BBCP II arcade release. I see this current period in the game's life as the beta test for Kagura/Terumi/Kokonoe. I don't think Arc was too concerned about having them balanced before they're available in arcades, where all the real Japanese competition takes place. Kokonoe is my main, so I'm not complaining anyway.

My copy has shipped from Amazon.

So is this really $20? That's too steep for a game I already played to death back in the day. Think I'll pass on this.

God damn, Growler eating a full ice gun spray goes on FOREVER. Could maybe be useful if you want to force a time out.

So I just learned the hard way that the super armor on Tager's 236236B DD counters Kokonoe's Astral. This seemed like it would be a good matchup for Koko, but Tager can plow straight through your graviton setups pretty easily, and if you get magnetized he can quickly yank you in for a punishment during her long graviton/flareball/ice gun/lightning trap animations.

Keeping the XII/XIII sprites wasn't viable in the long run. People expect every fighter to have huge rosters nowadays, and sprites at that level of quality are incredibly time and resource-consuming to draw. XIII brought back some fan favorites like Mai, but they still had to leave out plenty of popular characters due to time constraints. SNKP also had to pull in tons of outside studios to get the job, and there's a lot of headswap characters like Joe/Hwa and Ash/Saiki to make things easier. Annd I'm one of the few people who actually liked SamSho Sen, but I still would have preferred a 2.5D game.

No argument there. But they certainly sting harder the first time around, and that can turn people away a lot faster than fighters. That's of course assuming they don't immediately take advantage of the infinite credits in most home ports, repeatedly continue all the way to the end, and complain that it's too short and easy.

I actually think fighters have a significant edge over "bullet hell" shooters in getting new players interested. Any shmuck can start wasting the CPU on Normal in SF or Marvel right away, and if they're new to the genre they'll feel like they accomplished something. If the community is diverse enough, they can move on from there to low-ranking human players and experience a pretty smooth learning curve. On the other hand, newcomers are going to be utterly annihilated no matter what on their first Dai-Ou-Jou playthrough, and it will be the same way every single time through until they get better.

They've also replaced their US branch president. I guess someone needed to feel the consequences after the Tommo Neo Geo X disaster. Maybe they'll resume the PS3 Neo-Geo Station releases? Those are some EXCELLENT ports.

Forgot to respond to this. EVERY character in DOA is a counter character.

Your title is misleading. SNK first "went 3D" in 1997, with the Hyper Neo Geo 64. They've had other 3D games like the Maximum Impact series, that godawful PS2 Metal Slug, and Samurai Shodown Sen on newer hardware since.

Played someone with an obvious lag switch last night. Whenever I would start a combo, it immediately went from a 3-bar connection to what felt like a 0-bar. I don't recall ever seeing one before, even in games with a large scrub population like SFIV.

It seems like the only use for Tager Laser is to chip out an opponent at very low health (assuming they can't barrier through it) or in an occasional aerial combo that's difficult to set up. As far as I know, putting it on the ground or charging it at all will always cause it to be blocked.

You'd think the budget price of $30 alone would attract a decent crowd, but I guess the price point for non-mainline fighting games has plummeted to almost nothing in the wake of PC releases and F2P titles. Not to mention that the Western "FG Renaissance" is running out of steam, with Capcom circling the drain and MOBAs sucking up so much attention from anyone interested in competitive games.