TAI-X

Must be some dinky customization items. Sega recently closed all their websites for the VO series, and the rumors of a new game being revealed at JAEPO 2015 turned out to be hot air. At this point there's a good chance the series has been formally retired due to low sales and lack of publisher confidence, like Darkstalkers recently was. Sega has expressed doubt over their intentions to carry on development for anything other than smartphones and freemium PC platforms, anyway. If you ask me, Sammy is going to liquidate them within the next five years and put all their IPs up for auction, THQ-style.

Yeah, Bark is crazy in how he can link into devastating throws from normal punches. Sad that Sega's never once acknowledged the character since, except as an unlockable in Fighters Megamix. I felt like Candy was kind of buggy, even though she's supposed to be "finished" for the 360/PS3 version. Her moveset is especially limited too. I suppose the barrier system was meant as an equivalent to Fighting Vipers' armor, and it more directly parallels how FV2 gave you the chance to win 2 rounds in a single KO if you blew all your armor off.

Necro-ing this because I just remembered the awesome impromptu StF casuals session on a GIGANTIC projector we had at last year's Anime Boston, until we got kicked off for the 3S tourney. I was the only one who was already familiar with the game and had read the movelists, but I still ended up losing sometimes to Nack and Bin's gun/bomb spamming. Honestly, StF needed a proper sidestep more than Virtua Fighter did, just because of their shenanigans. There is a maneuver to dance around your opponent, but it only works at close range and has limited applications. Nevertheless, it's a fun game that deserved to have more people give it the time of day beyond merely laughing at how absurd it looks. Movesets are deeper than you'd expect, and the barrier system makes for a nice risk-reward mechanic that I'd love to see explored in a more serious fighter (you can shed one of your barriers to go into a powerup mode; lose them all through this command or guard crushes, and you can't block until the next round). But anyone can still pick it up and button mash without knowing what the hell they're doing and still have a great time. If you have any friends who say they hate fighting games, or you're trying to turn them on to Virtua Fighter, show them this. I'm sure that if the Saturn port hadn't been canceled, it would be much more well-known and appreciated outside of hardcore Sega fan circles. Didn't help that the arcade version received extremely limited distribution outside of Japan, because Sega America was worried that showing Sonic kicking the crap out of Amy, etc. would have soured his family-friendly brand image. I'd love to see their reaction then if a time traveler showed them Shadow the Hedgehog. If anyone with the 360 version would be interested in playing online, let me know.

I didn't catch that one of the combos bounced the guy out of the corner. I too would be totally on board this mechanic being explored further, even if it was a glitch. Hell, combos started as an unintended bug.

It's a combination of being really far from California, far enough from New York, and not enough Asian/Black dudes lol.

Final Fantasy is, but Dissidia has been exclusively a handheld series until now. S-E may decide that the Japanese playerbase for Dissidia isn't represented enough on consoles. Type-0 HD is an exception, because it's being made primarily for Western markets that never got the PSP version localized.

I'll admit to not knowing that. Waiting until I have a new console to get Last Round, because my 360 HDD is full up.

Probably off limits because the game was a Nintendo exclusive.

Never underestimate the propensity of Japanese publishers to pander to their country's more stable and profitable handheld market at the expense of consoles. Gundam VS NEXT only got a PSP port.

It's obvious that Blitz Shield was meant to be to Slash Backs what YRCs are to FRCs. That is, a slowed-down and more user-friendly reworking of a highly technical and input-demanding mechanic that was sometimes cited as a reason why many people found it incredibly difficult to get into competitive GGXX.

The most obvious criticism to be made is that the sprites are way too small relative to the screen. You shouldn't be afraid of making them bigger if you can adjust the dynamic camera accordingly. Also, something about the animations and hits just looks weird and off, like it's a 2D fighter that feels like a 3D one. It kinda reminds me of Art of Fighting 3 in that respect, but I don't think that's what you were going for. I think some of the movements have more frames and detail than necessary, to the game's detriment, especially the "landing while knocked down" one. Skullgirls also had this problem to some degree. I'm also not fond of the cloyingly generic and Orientalist chop-socky kung-fu styled music and stage, though I'm guessing you're not looking for input on aesthetic details. I will say that I feel like you guys are trying a little too hard to be "the next Skullgirls."

Damn, this is sure hot off the heels of School of Ragnarok. I don't think anyone was expecting S-E to push into the arcade market so strongly. 3 vs. 3? RIP, console split screen and an entertaining solo mode (if they're asses they'll end up only porting it to the Vita, though). Hopefully there will also be 2 vs. 2 and 1-on-1 setups. I am not at all a fan of the PSP Dissidia games, but I feel that the high standards of the JP arcade scene will force them to whip this one into better shape. Dissidia always felt more like a QTE-happy cutscene factory than a legit fighting game, and if you were playing with custom characters then matches came down almost entirely to levels and equipment rather than skill. Even Ehrgeiz is better.

Reminds me of other Enterbrain Fighter Maker "classics" like Urobura KO Act and Arm Joe. Someone really needs to make Arm Joe into a proper game though.

This is a minor thing, but the HUD fonts and the cringeworthy trophy text both speak badly of the quality of the rest of the localization. I would have also left the Engrish as-is for stylistic reasons, outside of the title (which should have been changed to Under Night Inverse). I wasn't going to buy Aksys' version anyway, as I don't care about the story and the game isn't good enough to warrant a second pity purchase.

The last-gen upgrade version of Last Round will miss out on a bunch of stuff, because Team Ninja mercifully opted not to make the required data install even more ridiculously bloated for older consoles with smaller HDDs.

No they aren't, and I only meant that those specific ninja are incredibly overused.

Less than Tekken/VF, more than most 2D fighters. Unless you play someone with a 1/5 "Moves" rating, like Jann Lee or Ein.

Team Ninja has warned that if people make nude mods for Last Round PC, there won't be another Team Ninja game on PC. Well, I guess we won't be seeing any more TN games on PC. Tecmo takes their EULAs and IP protection seriously; they once pursued legal action against a guy who made a nude mod for DOAX1 (and that was on console, even).

Yep, it's the first Square fighter unassociated with Final Fantasy since Bushido Blade 2 (unless you count The Bouncer), and their first arcade fighter since Ehrgeiz. http://www.schoolofragnarok.com/ Play video At first I thought this was another one of those camera-captured trading card arcade games that were especially trendy in Japan a few years ago, but nope, it's using regular old arcade sticks and buttons. It's most closely equivalent to the Naruto Storm games, meaning you can freely and briskly run around in a big open arena, except you are a magical teenager in faux-Hogwarts instead of an overused ninja. The interface and HUD also remind one of Gundam VS. Not sure what hardware it's running on, might be Namco's new PS4-based system, but there's nothing here the PS3 couldn't handle. The action definitely looks smoother and better balanced than Naruto Storm. I am somewhat concerned about the ability to bring in CPU-controlled summons that seem to linger for quite a while, and it seems impossible to dodge the big flashy cinematic attacks if you're standing in the effect zone. I am also worried about the likelihood of the game forcing a system with characters saved to player accounts that level up and gain more powerful abilities across battles, much like in Dissidia. Nevertheless, will definitely be watching this one and hoping for an eventual home port.

I wouldn't have wanted Akane to take up a playable character slot, because she isn't a Nitro+ character. Only reason she's affiliated with them is because of Urobuchi. I feel the same way about Saber, only it's too late for that.

02UM on XBLA is indeed based on the Tougeki edition, which was an unsubstantial update primarily made for bugfixing purposes, much like Accent Core Plus Append. It's not like 98UM Final Edition, which exists to rebalance mechanics that were considered cheap but not buggy. Since it hasn't been specifically mentioned yet, it's up for pre-purchase on Steam now.

Given the way the Japanese industry is going these days, I wouldn't even be surprised anymore if Cloud, Sephiroth and Lightning ended up in this. I mean, Bad Box Art Mega Man as a playable character already happened. Not much lower they can sink.

Way too early, wait for at least a couple months after the arcade release. Also, it's supposed to be closer to Aquapazza than Arcana Heart.

Actually, that system originated in Rival Schools.

What a strange but attractive controller the arcade cabinet will be using. I assume they opted for it over a stick because of the level of abuse the cabs will be taking from kids. (I expected it would be in one of those miniature kid-sized cabs they use for Data Cardass games and the like, but I guess not.) Kind of hope they make the pad available as a Wii U accessory.