In my first attempt at a Let’s Play video, I take on the world in Injustice: Gods Among Us. I’ll be the first to admit that it is lacking on the production front, but I’m doing what I can with the tools I have. Hopefully it’s still an entertaining watch and I promise I’ll get better as I do more of these!
fighting games
Building a Better Fighting Game Tutorial
Fighting games are some of the most difficult and intimidating to learn. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by all of the variables at play, from complex button inputs, to a seemingly endless stream of online competition ready to beat you to a pulp and brag about it. Even fights against the computer can prove difficult when it appears to have a counter to all of your tactics. How does one get better at fighting games?
Before the advent of training mode, all you could do was suck until you eventually didn’t suck. Then training modes became standard on console fighters, though it was mostly used as a place to practice combos rather than actually learning the nuances of combat. As a means of addressing this shortcoming, fighting game developers have implemented tutorial-like modes into their games. However, I still feel like they’ve all fallen short in some way or another. The end result is the fact that most games in the genre do an inadequate job of teaching players how to actually play, which will drive those dedicated enough to seek information elsewhere, or drive others (maybe most) away.
What can fighting game creators do to help players become better grasp their games? I think they’re almost there, but not quite. Why?
Check Out My Kickstart Guide To Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 On Splitkick.com
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is still one of the best and hottest fighting games around. If you’re a beginner-level player and are looking to improve your skills, my Kickstart Guide on Splitkick might be the boost you need!
Check out the Kickstart Guide to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Jett Plays Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
A little while back, I ran a set with this Hulk player. I find the Hulk to be a weird match-up for Wolverine, as his standing H’s armor ability snuffs out a lot of his offensive options. In this video, we go almost 50:50, though the set ended with me winning 25-5. These are a mix of the more interesting matches in that set. Get hype!
Hands-On With Killer Instinct
At Fan Expo 2013, I got to play a pre-release build of Killer Instinct on the Xbox One. Though I wish I could have played the game on a fightstick, it did give me an opportunity to get a feel for the new Xbox One controller and my first new taste of Killer Instinct in over a decade.
Divekick Review
The divekick maneuver is one of the most powerful in all of fighting games. Hurtling down from the skies at a sharp angle, most characters don’t have any sort of tools to deal with them. As such, those with divekicks tend to be some of the strongest. Whether it’s Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat, Cammy from Street Fighter IV, Dr. Doom from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or Black Adam from Injustice: Gods Among Us, there’s no shortage of tangible evidence throughout the annals of fighting game history.
This insight is the driving force behind Divekick; a one-move fighting game parody that’s toys with the idea of being accessible to the masses. I’ve been excited to play this game since it’s initial trailer over a year ago and bought it as soon as I could. Having played through it, is the joke actually on me?
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Check Out My Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Combo Video
Assorted combos with assorted characters. These won’t make Justin Wong blush, but there’s a little swagger in my step (I think). Check it out!
Universal Fighting Game Guide: Tier Lists
If you’ve ever played a fighting game with another person before, I’m sure you’ve discussed the hot-button topic of which character is best. You may have tried to rank these characters from best to worst. For a handful of seriously dedicated individuals, you may have even gone through the painstaking process of trying to mathematically calculate that pecking order.
Tier lists are a hotly-debated topic in any sort of competitive game. For better or worse, their presence in the competitive fighting games can’t be understated. In today’s world of online discussion and information transfer, you’re just a Google search away from finding dozens of different tier lists for any given fighting game written by players with various levels of understanding. Before you cling to a tier list written by a random message board user as fact, let’s take a moment to learn what tier lists are, how they work and what they’re good for.
Salty Bet: The Ultimate Realization of CPU vs. CPU Play
As a kid, I had a weird fascination with CPU vs. CPU play. Though I never understood the point of including this as an option, I’d always run it at least once in every game that supported it just to see what happened. Sometimes the ensuing action was as dull as watching paint dry. Other times, it led to a few solid hours of entertainment. In particular, the classic wrestling games from THQ for the Nintendo 64 were my favourites for simulated gaming action, as those fights almost always were legendary.
It’s funny now seeing this phenomenon manifest in new ways on a much larger scale thanks to the efforts of the VGCW and Salty Bet; the latter of whom may have reached the ultimate end game for CPU vs. CPU play.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the Execution Barrier
Though I don’t talk about it much on this blog, I am no slouch in the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series. Having invested hundreds of hours into it, I wreak havoc online and it’s generally the game I do best at in tournaments. Say what I will about having the #1 ranked Rose in Canada on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, my best tournament placing to-date across any game is 25th in MvC 3 at T12; a point that arguably holds more weight in my fighting game resume.
Having said that, I have a glaring hole in my skill-set that keeps me from ascending to the upper echelon of players: my inability to land the biggest combos.
In Third Person 