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?

Strider Hiryu is comfirmed for Ultimate MvC 3... but...

So I'm doing very, very early speculation on Strider via these videos.

Why? Because when I speculated that Zero's combos would be ridiculous and easy due to seeing a pre-release video of Zero vs. She-Hulk, I was right. His combos are ridiculous and relatively easy.

So I'm looking at Strider... here's what I like...

I like that after he teleports, he can still attack relatively immediately afterwards like in MvC2, as opposed to MvC1 where he had to land helplessly. 

I like that his single orb shot OTG's.

I like that when he does the move that allows him to cling to the wall, he can apparently combo you for a bit and then even continue the combo.

I like that his teleport kick is a knockdown if it hits you in the air and can be combo'd out of if it hits you on the ground. It doesn't knock down, but you can still attack immediately afterward. I don't know if that means its recovery is better than it used to be or if it just has a lot of hit stun when it hits.

I like that Legion OTGs. (it always kinda OTG'd, but you know... in the past, it was a bit more difficult to OTG into a Legion... or anything for that matter... and when you could OTG in the pass, there were much better things to OTG into... like something that lead into an inf or into Orbs).

Of course, nothing can be perfect. Here's what I don't like...

I don't understand why both Orbs and Ragnarok are Level 3 Supers. 

Like... okay, I can understand why Ragnarok would be a Level 3... it looks awesome, it looks like you'd need 3 levels of meter to actually do it, and it looks like ridiculous damage. I can understand why Orbs would be a level 3... the pressure game put up by Orbs is nasty intense, and having 5 opportunities to use Orbs while having a Level 3 X-Factor just sounds broken.

But I don't understand why both of them have to be level 3 supers. What the fuck am I supposed to do with my meter when I wanna style on people? Spam Legion?

Ultimately, though, I see Strider being Top Tier material. With his teleport moves and his ability to just pick a side of the stage that he wants to be on, he has plenty of mobility and mix up options. He definitely looks like he'll be easier to move around with than in previous iterations (which is crazy because Strider was already nasty to move around with), and he's definitely going to be a problem. Which is good. He's Strider. He should be a problem. I just wish he didn't have two Level 3 supers.