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Big Week for Fighting Game Fans
Something old, something new. Something borrowed and something blue. It seems that all the fighting game fans in the audience have a little something to be excited about this week, because we’re seeing the much-anticipated release of two hot fighting games.
We’ve been looking forward to King of Fighters XII for quite some time, especially since we saw the incredible hand-drawn graphics. It really could be the most beautiful 2D fighting game of all-time (or Street Fighter IV) and it won a whole whack of awards during its showing at E3 2009 in Los Angeles last month. And now King of Fighters XII has hit the retail shelves for your fighting game pleasure.
As great as the game may look, KOF XII is apparently not without its faults. We already know that the roster does not include the Mai “Me Bouncy” Shiranui, but it turns out that they crippled Iori too. He doesn’t have his fireball anymore and he doesn’t have that triple QCB combo move either. It’s just a series of “scratching moves,” according to early reviews. Further still, King of Fighters XII is buggy and lacking in story. Shame.
Heading over to Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) on the Xbox 360, we find the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. It’ll be heading to the PlayStation Network (PSN) on the PlayStation 3 first thing tomorrow morning, which is only a few hours away. The full roster is here, so you don’t have to go through the trouble of unlocking everyone. Feel like pitting Zangief against the Hulk? Ryu against Wolverine? Spider-Man against Mega Man? It’s all there.
And you’ve got a hip hop mixtape on the way too. Sweet. Marvel vs. Capcom costs $15 on PSN and 1200 MS Points on XBLA.
How to Choose Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Not surprisingly, one of the first things I did this morning was buy Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix through the Xbox Marketplace for my Xbox 360. Believe me when I say that it’s definitely worth all 1200 Microsoft Points (or $14.99 through the PS3’s PSN). The 1080p HD graphics are great and the online play really makes this a winner.
While the original Super Street Fighter II Turbo involved a rather convoluted way of accessing Akuma (Gouki), the HD Remix makes the process a heck of a lot easier.
If you want to fight as Akuma in SSF2THDR:
Arcade Mode - Move your cursor over to Guile and press up. Akuma will appear in the “globe” portion of the screen.
Other Modes - Move your cursor to E. Honda and press up to access Akuma.
Akuma is remarkably powerful and his super is as awesome as ever. I haven’t figured out how to fight him in Arcade Mode yet (he’s supposed to replace M. Bison if you fulfill certain criteria), but I’ll fill you in when I do.
UPDATE (12/7/08): In order to fight Akuma in Arcade Mode you need to get to M. Bison (on any difficulty setting) without continuing, defeating the other eleven challengers in under 20 minutes. If you successfully do this, Akuma will show up and perform his super move on Bison, replacing him.
The beaten M.Bison will lie in the background for your first fight with Akuma. If you don’t beat him and have to continue, you’ll fight Akuma again, but Bison will no longer be in the background.
Contrary to some other reports on the Internet, it is not necessary to get any set number of perfect rounds nor do you need to not lose a single round in order to fight Akuma. For the Xbox 360 players in the audience, beating Akuma in Arcade Mode earns you 25 GamerScore points as part of the “Sheng Long is in another castle” achievement.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Get Newbie Mode
As a die-hard Street Fighter II fan, this comes as some rather depressing news. It turns out that Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, destined for Xbox Live via the Xbox 360, is going to be made a little more friendly for newbies and novices by way of a new control scheme and an “evening out” of abilities.
There are certain special moves that have typically been difficult to execute consistently on a controller d-pad. People who can pull off Zangief’s screw piledriver on a consistent basis are relative gods in the world of fighting games. Sagat’s Tiger Knee can also be a bit of a challenge, because that of that stupid up-forward angle that finishes the control stick rotation. As such, the people working on SSF2THDR (what an acronym!) are including a control scheme that makes those moves easier. The details are still sketchy, but I imagine it’d be like the alternative scheme found in Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO for the GameCube. All you had to do was tilt the C-stick in a certain direction to do a move. Forward was a hadouken, up was a shoryuken, etc. Lame. Utterly and completely lame.
I hope they don’t make it that easy. I guess making Street Fighter more accessible to newbies is a good thing, but it sure minimizes the pride in being an elite player. I’m also not completely sure what this means:
There’s more than a handful of changes to the controls, as “top tier” characters have been slightly nerfed for tournament play. In turn, some underpowered characters have been given a bit of a boost.
So, E. Honda suddenly gains a fireball and Ryu’s fireball doesn’t reach the end of the scrren, or something? WTF. I’ll say it again: Lame. Utterly and completely lame. Am I alone here?
Source: Capcom blog
