fighting games

Pick-Up Post: Jill and Shuma Gorath in Marvel vs Capcom 3

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Though we’ve known about these characters for months (probably earlier than Capcom intended), Jill and Shuma Gorath are finally available as DLC on XBOX Live and PSN. At $5 each, they might be a bit pricey if you’re not interested in either character, but they’re available if you want them. I bought both of them mainly because I’ve been taking this game very seriously of late, and I’d like to get the full character experience out of it.

Having spent a bit of time with both characters in training mode and online, I thought it’d be cool to talk about my early impressions with them. I’m no expert at this game (and definitely not with these characters), but an amateur perspective may still be of value to you. If you’re considering picking these two up (or just want to read about the latest additions to the roster) check out the rest of this post.

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The Team Mechanics of Marvel vs. Capcom 3

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Over the past few weeks, I have grown rather fond of Marvel vs. Capcom 3. While I still play Super Street Fighter IV with my coworkers when they are online, Marvel has (for now) taken over as my go-to fighting game of choice.

What I’m enjoying most about the game is the team element of the experience. In other vs. games, I would choose my team simply based on who I liked and/or who I was good with. Once in battle, I wouldn’t pay any mind in regards to who my opponent’s team was, either. I was just looking to beat people up for the win. But now that I’ve actually taken some time to learn this game, I’m realizing that there’s so much more to the team-based gameplay than that if you want to go far with the game.

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Happy 20th Birthday Street Fighter II

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Has it really been 20 years? Apparently so. Street Fighter II is officially 20 years old this month, which is definitely something worth noting for gamers of all tastes and walks of life. Street Fighter II is one of those revolutionary games that changed the course of the entire medium. It birthed the fighting game genre as we still know it today. It’s control conventions and design choices originally set by Street Fighter are still used in fighting games and other genres. It revived the arcade scene. It defined a whole era of gaming. Most importantly, it’s legacy still carries on in the hearts of many a gamer that have thrown a hadoken in their lifetime.

Yours truly is one of those gamers that will forever have a soft spot for that game. Outside of owning three copies of this game (not including any updates like Champion Edition or Super), this game changed my life.

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Learning How to Not Suck

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Being good at fighting games is hard. Due to my recent success at Super Street Fighter IV, I’ve sort of taken that fact for granted. However, I got better at Street Fighter through hundreds of hours of practice, tournament experience and absorbing anything and everything I could online in regards to making myself a better player. Before I went through all of that, I spent dozens of hours playing the game online; losing almost every single one of those matches.

Though I was able to coast through the bottom tier of ranked Marvel vs. Capcom 3 matches, my winning percentage has taken a serious dip. I know enough about the game to recognize that I’m losing to people who suck at the game, but I don’t have the skills and know-how myself to beat them. Am I willing to put in the time and effort to not suck?

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In Third Person’s Newbie Buyer’s Guide to Arcade Fightsticks

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Over the last few weeks, the traffic to my arcade fighstick posts have skyrocketed. With Marvel vs. Capcom 3 hitting store shelves, it appears as though you’re all looking for as much fightstick information as possible before you spend your hard-earned cash on a new fighting game weapon of choice.

As a public service to you (and as something I would find fun to write), I’ve put together a newbie buyer’s guide that covers my knowledge of arcade fightsticks. This post features some general things you should know, mini-reviews to a few of the major fightsticks on the market and links to my older posts where I go into more detail on each product. I’m by no means a fightstick connoisseur, but I do own a bunch of them and spend a ton of time using them.

If you’d like to learn more, click through to the rest of this post!

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Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

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As much as I love the Street Fighter IV series, it has done little to open me up to other fighting games in the last few years. Granted, I’ve bought every major fighting game since, but none of them could ever stuck with me. I’d play them for a few hours and go back to Street Fighter without hesitation.

After a handful of matches in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I was concerned that this game would suffer the same fate. As with prior vs. Capcom games, the pacing, team mechanics and execution demands felt completely alien to me. But after a few hours, some training mode time, and some online wins (!) it got me thinking that maybe things will be different this time.

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Super Street Fighter IV: A Change of Heart

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When it comes to the Street Fighter IV series, Akuma has been my main man. I’ve played over 300 hours of that game using him as my guy. I know the ins and outs to make him work, and all of the weaknesses others can exploit to beat him. I worked my way up to one of the top 300 Akuma players on XBOX Live in North America. He was even my go-to character when I won my first tournament match at Fan Expo.

Since that tournament though, I’ve been exploring my options. I’ve been dabbling with other characters. After a lot of practice and soul searching, I think it’s time I had a change of heart.

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Jett Vs. Episode 4 – Trapped

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Welcome to episode 3 of Jett Vs., a series of blog posts where I post one of my Super Street Fighter IV match videos and analyze it for your viewing and reading pleasure.

If for some reason you’ve been hotly anticipating the day when I’d post a video of myself losing, you’re in luck. Not only do I take an L, but I go down in flames.

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Getting Hype For Marvel vs. Capcom 3

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I was an epic fail at Marvel vs. Capcom 2. When that game first came out, i was in the midst of my 14-year fighting game moratorium. I did play it here and there at the arcade, but my primitive Street Fighter II skills did not translate well into a game involving teams, air dashes and crazy super moves. Of the few fighting games I did actually play during my moratorium, it was this one that made me say I had no reason to come back to the genre, because I’m way too behind the curve to catch up.

In 2009, the game came out on XBOX Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. I gave it a second chance, now that I was a little older and definitely wiser in regards to fighting games. Even with my Street Fighter IV experience, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was still rocket science to me and probably always will be.

With all that going against it, why then am I excited for its long-awaited sequel, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds?

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Girlfriend Gaming – We Play Def Jam: Icon

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The last time Steff and I played a rap-music-related game, we were caught by surprise. I figured that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand at best would be ironic fun, but it turned out to be a fairly solid game. Steff, who isn’t into shooters at all, really got into it. It was good enough that I went out and picked up my own copy so that we could play co-op.

When she saw Def Jam: Icon at the store, she was hoping that it would be the fighting game equivalent to Blood on the Sand. Instead, the game broke her heart after the very first fight. In her words, the game was, “Utter disappointment.”
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