FIGHTING GAMES BRO (couldn't think of a better name lol)

The Road to Apex 2012


So I've registered for Apex 2012. For those of you not in the know, Apex 2012 is a HUGE Smash Bros. Tourney that will be taking place in Rutgers University in New Jersey on January 6, 7, and 8. It will include the games Super Smash Bros. (N64), Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

"But those aren't fighting games."

That's a completely different type of blog post that I may tackle one day.
Fact is, I'm in there. I entered for Brawl singles, Smash64 singles, and All Brawl.

For Brawl singles, I was originally going to go MetaKnight without hesitation. However, since MetaKnight has been officially banned after Apex (more on that later), I'm going Marth. I may play a little Sonic in "serious friendlies" and money matches, but in tourney, I'm probably going Marth.

For Smash64, I'm going either Captain Falcon or Fox. Now, I'm not even all that good in this game, but I actually play it much more than I do Brawl (something about this game actually having hitstun...), so I figure I might as well try it out in tourney. I'm also going to have to secure an N64 controller for this, as I play Smash64 on *gasp* a PS2 controller. And yes, it works. It works well.

What the fuck is All Brawl?

That is All Brawl.
Basically, the rules are all items are on, everything is chose at random against three other opponents, and you gotta win two games before everyone else does. Clearly, this is a lottery, but you know what? Easily the most fun lottery you can enter. So I'm game.

MetaKnight has Finally been Banned

Well, it's too late for me (especially since MetaKnight's ban doesn't go into full effect until after Apex, which is theoretically the last Smash Bros. tourney I'm entering in my life), but you know what? I still feel like this will be good for Brawl in general. It took, like, five attempts, but you know what? This might be a case of "better late than never." Apparently a number of players had left the community because MetaKnight was such an obviously broken character that might have been left in the game solely because of one player (seriously. just one guy) (like, if this guy admitted that MetaKnight was, in fact, broken, MetaKnight probably would have been banned much, much sooner) and it's possible that now since this character is banned people may come back. Of course, there may be players that leave due to the banned MetaKnight, but... well... you get what you get what you get.

Seriously, I do like this move. I do think that Brawl is a very balanced game outside of MetaKnight, and I think that characters will be coming out of the woodwork in tournaments and stuff since MetaKnight is no longer there to lock characters down. Seriously, MetaKnight was so badass that they had to make rules to keep him in, and then adjust said rules because MetaKnight didn't give a fuck. One such rule was the "ledge grab rule" or LGL. It states that if an opponent grabs the ledge more than x amount of times, that player lost. At first, it was, like 70, I think. Didn't mean shit, because, you know, MetaKnight has, like, 5 jumps. Then it was 50. Still didn't mean shit. I think there was a 40 (don't mean shit), and I think it eventually settled down to 35, although the lowest my eyes remember seeing it was 25 at one tourney (although that may have been either a joke or a typo, since 2 is so close to 3 on the keyboard). Stages were also banned because MetaKnight existed.

With MetaKnight gone, maybe some of those rules can be removed and maybe some of the stages that aren't really a problem can return.

Of course, what if MetaKnight was just the optimal abuse of all the issues that Brawl has in terms of being a competitive fighting game? Well, with the "honor code" that smashers seem to have, I don't think it'll be that big of a deal. I mean, if smashers played to win like, say, street fighters, MetaKnight would have a 97% tourney win rate, since Mew2King wouldn't lose.....

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

So whenever I play this game, my team, as it stands, is going to be Blue Zero, Blue Vergil, Blue Strider. Yes, I know, I'm never going to have meter, because I'm going to be blowing it on my Zero combo, blowing it on the Vergil surrounding sword super, and blowing it on Strider's orbs. What I may do is play a relatively straightforward game with Zero and Strider, and then have Vergil come in with 5 bars and attack hard, especially if he's the last man standing... so that dat level 3 X-Factor can kick in...

Although I heard that X-Factor took quite a nerf... doesn't last as long and, while still damaging, isn't as powerful as it was in MvC3. X-Factor was one of my biggest issues with MvC3, and honestly, I kinda wish it just didn't show up in UMvC3 at all. However, I'll attempt to reserve judgment since it's been nerfed.

Oh, and have you guys seen Ryu gameplay? They definitely based this guy off of Goku. Dude even has a Kaio Ken attack lololol.

Street Fighter X Tekken


This is a game that, the more I look at it, the more I feel that if there's nothing below the surface of la, ma, ha, launch, la, ma, ha, *insert attack here*.

This probably won't be the majority of all the fights though. It's just that everything I've ever seen about the game is just that.

And honestly, that's no better than MvC3's la, ma, ha, s, ma, ma, ha, s, *insert otg move here*.

But, we have 6 whole attack buttons here. It can't be all bad. But if it is........

I'll just resort to Chun Li footsies and pokes and stuff... that'll work... right?

What happened to Mortal Kombat?


Like, Mortal Kombat had crazy hype behind it from its initial release to the decision to feature it in Evo2k11 right up to the big tourney itself. And then, I pretty much heard nothing about it.

Did it die? Impossible... the game is constantly patching up botches in the system and between the five featured games of Evo (SSF4:AE, MvC3, BlazBlue what the most recent one is, Tekken 6, and MK9), it had arguably the most balanced roster with BB coming in second I believe because MvC3 had Phoenixes running rampant, Tekken 6 had a Bob mirror for Grand Finals, and SSF4:AE's top 8 had Vipers and Yuns all day (even though a Virtua Fighter player won with Fei Long).

Maybe it's just me not following the game so much. Maybe the hype itself died but it's living on very quietly. I don't know what the case may be, but Mortal Kombat was not a bad game...

Oh wait... I remember when I was at a friend's house and wanted to play the game, shit took about an hour to update itself. Unfortunately, time is of the essence. We didn't wait for the update.

So maybe that's why I stopped caring. Silly consoles and their desire to become computers... can I just have a Super Nintendo Entertainment System 2 already?

Random Talk about Capcom

Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled.

The following might get a lot of heat. Good. I love the heat. (really though, summer is my favorite season.)

I'm glad that Mega Man Legends 3 got cancelled. I never liked Mega Man Legends. I didn't like the look and I didn't like that it was an RPG. Still, I eventually tried it. Still, didn't actually like it.

I didn't like Mega Man Ballnutz. I was overly upset when he made the TvC roster. Sure, I have no problem trying new things, but what the fuck. Shit was terrible.

Seriously, when it comes to Mega Man, they really only need Classic and X. MMZero is okay, but that shit just got overly ridiculous after a while. Fuck NT Warrior. Fuck Ballnutz. Classic and X. That's all you need.



Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is coming.
It's supposed to have 12 new characters.

But it's still going to have X-Factor, and that's where the game fails for me. X-Factor is such a flawed system... maybe if they nerf it then I'll have less of an issue with it, but then the game's button format is clearly still going to bug the shit out of me. And let me not dare mention the "lol random presses = super" execution requirements.

So yeah. I think it'll be another 3 days of hype, and that's about it. I guess I can see why people still play the game, as it has kinda leveled itself out, but X-Factor is still too very stupid, literally allowing players to make comebacks that they shouldn't have made otherwise. I'm really surprised how all the MvC3 players can sit there and love that game to death, but then have the nerve... the gall... the audacity to call Smash a party game... muthafucka, what you think MvC3 is?



I honestly haven't played much Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition. Still too busy playing Tetris Attack, actually. What I am hearing, though, is that the game is relatively balanced without the use of Yun and Yang, and that the only reason Fei Long and Makoto are part of the top 4 is because they do significantly well against Yang and Yun. I don't know how true any of that is, but whatever. They nerfed the shit out of Rose like Rose was goddess-like or something.



I'm still waiting for some Street Fighter X Tekken though. I haven't seen too much of it, but I do like what I'm seeing so far. And I'm definitely gonna attempt to rock the team of Bob Sagat. Like, how can you not play that team at least once?