The FGC's Shift to a New Generation

This year is about to become big for the FGC because we are getting new fighting games on the docket that are about to enter a new generation of gaming besides KOFXV, which was already released. We got three new fighting games upon us below. I'll go into detail on each fighting game.

Street Fighter 6:

If you played and enjoyed Street Fighter V, that's good. From what heard, the game went off to a disastrous start. Specifically, the launch roster ended up with a disappointing 16 playable characters, but more characters get added every year. However, despite years of attempted improvements, that didn't fly and that made things a bit worse. The netcode is terrible that they had to keep on choosing the boring training stage like in Street Fighter IV. We begged Capcom to fix the netcode, but they wouldn't listen.

But Street Fighter 6 won't be the case because it has a shockingly excellent 18 character roster at launch with twelve returning fighters and six new fighters. Each of them have unique moves and the biggest mechanic of the newest iteration is the new Drive System, which I heard is the best mechanic. It is used with EX special moves, cancels and defensive options. The Drive Gauge starts fully stocked at each round and replinishes overtime so that characters can have a wide arsenal of offensive and defensive maneuvers. But don't use it too much or you will enter a burnout state. It leaves you vulnerable and trying to block the Drive Impact will cause a stun. That's a risk. But if you're confident, you might win a round while in burnout state. That's a reward.

The only thing is that EX special moves only deplete your Drive Gauge rather than your super gauge so that it can make saving it easier when it comes to supers. In fact, it makes it easier to expect lv. 3 supers to be executed. It's because they are cinematic like Them's Fightin' Herds and executing it while below 25% HP makes it more cinematic. The netcode in SF6 is out of this world and well done. Capcom finally did a great job implementing it so that our online matches can be enjoyable and we don't have to keep on picking the training stage. It's freaking out of the park. And there's crossplay between PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

But that's not the only thing because Street Fighter 6 gives us the possibility to make our own guy for Battle Hub and World Tour. In Battle Hub, you'll meet up with other players' guys and do almost anything. There are arcade cabinets of classic Capcom games if you wanted a refresher course. You can even fight other players' guys.

In World Tour, it is SF6's story mode where you take your avatar to a journey around the world and meet with fighters. It has RPG elements and meeting other fighters will learn new moves. Your progress you made on your guy during World Tour will carry over to the Battle Hub to show off other players.

If you liked your guy, but want to set your own parameters, there's always Fighting Ground. It is a perfect mode for local matches and online matches when it comes to hosting offline and online tournaments. And there's Training where you can choose your character to train without waiting for an opponent giving you time to polish up and Extreme Battle where there are gimmicks that make fights crazy. If you're willing to experience the classic of a fighting game, Fighting Ground is the way.

The only best thing I like about Fighting Ground is when you're at the stage select screen, the first part of the music plays. Then at the character select screen, the second part of the theme plays and I couldn't stop listening it. But it goes back to the previous state when going back to the stage select screen. This is something that I'll embrace time and time again since it is making its first debut at EVO 2023.

There are three different control types. The Classic control type offers a traditional and full set of controls you see in previous Street Fighter games while the Modern control type offers inputs to make combos easier to execute while the offline only Dynamic control type have three buttons and an AI to perform combos for you.

The battles in Street Fighter 6 are well-polished and fun to enjoy, but there's one thing that makes battles more fun to enjoy. The realtime commentary system. It is an interesting feature that makes battles even more exciting to experience. It's the only thing that previous Street Fighter games don't have, though it doesn't fully capture the commentary.

The newest iteration marks the new era of the franchise following the fall of an evil organization called Shadaloo at the hands of the World Warriors. But a new evil rises...

In conclusion, Street Fighter 6 is gonna be an amazing game for everyone to enjoy. Even me. The battles are amazing, the netcode is excellent and well-implemented. It is making their debut at EVO 2023 and it's the opportunity to celebrate the release of the newest iteration of the franchise. I submitted it to my Q before release so that I can just wait untl the day it gets shipped. Capcom Pro Tour 2023 is upon us and Street Fighter 6 is gonna be the main title of the circuit in 2023 and onwards.

Don't expect players to use the Modern control type because all offline tournaments are gonna ban it and will only use the Classic control type, which institutes a traditional six button control scheme. But some online tournaments can restrict players to use the Moden control type.

In all things Street Fighter, the newest installment is not the only thing on the docket because there is a new live action Street Fighter movie in the works by Legendary Pictures. Remember the previous live action Street Fighter movies? They are crappy and trash because the characters look terrible and abmysal. Ryu and Ken wore their gi, but they don't have Hadokens. And now that a new Street Fighter movie is coming, I hope the characters perform their moves like in the games and don't look crappy.

Tekken 8:

After the end of Top 8 at EVO 2022, there is a teaser at the end of the balance trailer. Couple months later, Bandai Namco's newest game Tekken 8 was announced and the graphics look gorgeous. It has a new system, the Heat System. It's a new system Rage Drives were removed in favor of and Heat Smashes can be used as them as they said. But Rage Arts are gonna return and they will be much more cinematic than Tekken 7's. Then later, character reveal videos kicked in and so far, 13 characters were confirmed. But they're not done yet because there are many more characters to come before the number of characters at launch is determined.

Fists meet fate as Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama clash each other to see who is the most dominant warrior. That announce trailer has them wearing their traditional pants printed with a flame.

Apparently, Street Fighter 6 is not the only fighting game to have a simple control scheme because Tekken 8 is gonna use the simplified control scheme where combos are easier to perform and it also uses one-button combos that you'd perform on Bloody Roar and other 3D fighting games that use them since Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Most people said that the simplified control scheme is for losers. I sort of agree. All offline tournaments can ban simplified control scheme. But some online tournaments can allow it.

Its predecessor is gonna be playable this year at EVO and it's unclear if it's gonna be the last year or not because the newest entry is still a ways to go. But we know one thing. A 15th character will be revealed after EVO. Since Tekken 8 is in the works, will we eventually see a Soul Calibur VII too?

Mortal Kombat 1:

There is a teaser video that they posted showing the second hand of a clock approaching the 12 until a surge has happened and it skipped the 12 to go straight into the 1. Then a week later, Mortal Kombat 12 is actually "Mortal Kombat 1" because of this below.

Warning! The following section contains spoilers below. If you haven't played through the MK11 story, please do not read this and scroll past it.

There was the Keeper of Time named Kronika, who had her one mission to restart history to create the New Era. Under the Kronika umbrella, Raiden will not exist because his actions had made the golden balance between light and dark impossible with Shinnok's decapitation being the cap stone if you watched the first cutscene in the MK11 story. That balance from Shinnok's darkness and Cetrion's light is intended to put the realms to endless war between good and evil once history has been restarted to the wild side under her umbrella. As blood enters its high tides, the hourglass is almost ready. But then, Fire God Liu Kang confronted Kronika in stopping the New Era from happening.

The fight was a success and Liu Kang attempted to restart history in hopes of creating a peaceful new era, until Shang Tsung, Nightwolf and Fujin escaped from the Void to inform that without the crown, history can't be restarted and the realms will cease to exist. The only way to solve this is to get the crown before Cetrion gives it to Kronika because the crown is required to restart history, so the Fire God sends travelers back into the current timeline.

While their presence has changed things a bit, their combined power is not enough to stop Cetrion, so they need the help of Sindel, who became a revenant, to be the key.

Thanks to Sindel's help, that plan became foolproof that her scream put Cetrion on the ropes and others used their combined power to send her back to the Keep reporting her failure to her mother. Some other developments have been made. Jax was convinced that Kronika's promises to him are a cruel deception earlier and Sindel and Shao Kahn teamed up as Outworld's couple to change the way the sortie in the Netherrealm unfolds. Everything has changed in the current timeline for good.

Then later, Shang Tsung wore the crown and sucked the souls of victims, only to fuel the crown even further. After Kronika's defeat, Fire God Liu Kang showed up to stop him and the fate of all realms depends on it. Shang Tsung was defeated and Liu Kang taken the crown. With it, he'll be able to restart history, so he did and history has been restarted to the good side under the Fire God Liu Kang umbrella, thus paving the way for a peaceful new era when Mortal Kombat tournaments will not be conducted, unless they can be fought with honor.

Following the epic conclusion of the Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath story, it is a legend no one will forget. Everything has changed after rewinding back to where it all started. The iconic characters are reimagined like they have been never seen before. Scorpion and Sub-Zero are making peace with other as brothers and they are both part of the Lin Kuei. Raiden is reincarnated as a mortal, but he still has his thunder and lightning powers. Kung Lao returned with his iconic blade-bearing hat. Mileena is Kitana's sister, but there is a lethal disease between them. Everyone thought that Shang Tsung was wiped from existence. But he is back to wreak havoc and this time, he is independent from Shao Kahn and looking younger.

While the rest of Mortal Kombat 1's gameplay mechanics haven't been revealed yet, it features a brand new gameplay mechanic, Kameo Fighters. They are capable of assisting you in battle and a separate selection of Kameo Fighters will appear after you select a main character. It's like in Aquapazza, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax and Nitroplus Blasterz where you select a playable character and an assist character. They are also capable of making combos longer and it's something that can make it enjoyable since SEGA vs. Capcom. But some playable characters can also be Kameo Fighters that bear their classic looks.

So far, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao and Johnny Cage are confirmed already and there will be many more characters to come and it might end up with 25 characters at launch like previous games. There will be character reveal trailers along the way to release, which is in September 19.

Pre-orders are live and it comes in three editions, Standard, Premium and Kollector's Editions. A Kombat Pack is confirmed to have six playable characters and five Kameo Fighters. Pre-ordering it benefits granting access to the Beta launching in August, Shang Tsung and a one week early access to the game. They are wondering if it's gonna have rollback netcode, so to confirm it, Mortal Kombat 1 will have rollback netcode across all platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, which the game will also be available on like its predecessor. I'm sure the Switch version will not produce technical challenges, knowing Paladins and Rogue Company are ending support on the platform in late June.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is making its debut at EVO 2023 and because the newest game is gonna come out in September 19, this year will be final EVO MK11 gets its debut at before the franchise takes us to the new era. This is the perfect opportunity to give it a grand finale it deserves and there might be reveals. Since MK1 is gonna be available on the ninth generation consoles and Nintendo Switch and getting a PS5 is now easier going forward, they must distribute PS5s to offline tournaments going forward once it is released.

Can you believe that the Mortal Kombat series has turned 30 years old since the beginning? Eleven mainline games with eight under the Midway umbrella and three under the NetherRelalm umbrella spanning over six console generations and around over 80 characters? That was a long bloody trip the gory franchise has gone though. And now, after the conclusion of Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath, boom, history has been restarted to the peaceful side and Mortal Kombat 1 was announced to mark the brand new era of the brutal franchise where the iconic characters look completely different and the universe gets reborn. This reminds me. I really should be playing through the Aftermath expansion somehow...

So far, in my opinion, I like MKX's story better because it has a lot of my favorite parts. The Kombat Kids became a main part. The truth has been revealed that the Lin Kuei was not the one responsible of the extermination of the Shirai Ryu. It was actually Quan Chi responsible of that raid. A peaceful Outworld was established by a new emperor, following Shao Kahn's defeat.

Plus, the 2021 reboot is so good that it deserves an R-rating to produce strong and brutal violence the games have. People were sick on set because they have not been holding back on the Fatalities and I was intrigued by it. Just look at all that blood. Now that's the definition of strong violence. That's what I like about R-rated movies. They have strong violence, which established by a lot of blood coming out of the characters' bodies. It's only a matter of time before the sequel is greenlit. I bet we're gonna see characters introduced in MKX.

Three new fighting games are on the docket and the FGC is about to enter a new generation. You could be a part of this massive community. People cared about how gorgeous fighting games look. Even me, though I am reunited with playing classics.

EVO 2023 is upon us. This year is gonna be different because not only it's presented by Chipotle. It's also because it has eight games on the lineup instead of the usual nine and there will be the top six finals instead of eight. Keef posted a video, but it's not the EVO skit I'm looking for. It's a reaction to how PvE is cancelled to shift to Story Missions in Overwatch 2. Since this year is gonna have the top 6 finals, it might benefit making it bit shorter.

The only thing about this year's EVO is that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has made its debut to have a throwback tournament, but my main problem with it is that Bonne Wonderland is gonna be the only permitted stage because it's not only brighter, but also can mitigate lag when playing a fighting game with delay-based netcode. Both offline and online. It's just annoying to see them pick the same stage that fights lag. This needs to be fixed like right now.

Especially on Granblue Fantasy Versus where they had to pick Coliseum in online matches since it uses delay-based netcode. Even on EVO Japan because the guidelines stated that they must pick Coliseum, though it is offline. But it's sequel, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is upon us.

There is a open beta tournament for it that will be played there and rollback netcode is something that needs to be implemented on there so they wouldn't have to pick Coliseum during online. That's what rollback netcode is for. It allows your character to act immediately upon a button press to make input predictions instead of waiting until the signal reaches your remote opponent to perform an action no matter the distance and what stage. And since Street Fighter 6's rollback netcode is excellent while Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8 are getting it, our online matches will play smoothly no matter what stage and the distance between you and your remote opponent.

If UMvC3 is in a spot where the top four games are gonna be played Sunday Arena Finals, Capcom better give us a Marvel vs. Capcom collection, or better yet, a patch that mitigates lag from all stages so that they wouldn't have to keep on picking Bonne Wonderland. It's annoying as heck.

Again, the FGC is about to shift to the new generation as three fighting games are on the docket. You are in for a new gen ride.

How BBTAG Music is the Most Unprecedented

In my opinion, BBTAG music is the most unprecedented, okay? It has character themes from BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, RWBY and other universes and that's the source of giving the game magic. And the BlazBlue themes play differently than in the main BlazBlue games to go with themes from Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth.

In case if you don't know what happened a long time ago, since that situation happened almost three years ago, Autumn and Hidden Variable have posted a statement that they are no longer working with Mike Zaimont following the allegations of sexual harassment. Despite the fiasco, Skullgirls is continuing development because Autumn is the IP holder, not Lab Zero and shifting to BBTAG music is the cherry on top and Annie is still assigned to Justice Sword during the BBTAG music period.

And then, a Season 1 Pass has been announced and it contains not only Annie, but also Umbrella, Black Dahlia and Marie. Since the shift to BBTAG music, it benefitted three characters assigned to BlazBlue themes and one character assigned to an Under Night In-Birth theme in the Season 1 Pass. Justice Sword, Active Angel, Walpurgisnacht and Purity & Strictly are the themes that the Season 1 Pass characters are assigned to.

Back in March 2021, I considered giving listening to BBTAG music a go, so I did while watching Skullgirls Slapfest as a test to see if it's well enough for me to confirm it or not on the character section. After doing so, it has turned out well enough for me to confirm that I'll be officially shifting to BBTAG music. It's because it has a jukebox feature at the entrance and the online lobby and BBTAG has multiple universes.

It reminds me of that episode on Dragon Tales after I brought BBTAG music and it turned out well. I started assigning the characters, stages and canon 1v1s to them and I started out rocky, but later, I made some changes. I wouldn't consider Skullgirls a Marvel game, though it is based on MvC2, knowing that my local movie theater makes me think of Skullgirls since looking at popcorn machines made me think of Peacock, but not much during the day. It works well at night time.

It even turned out well while playing through the Story Mode. The jukebox has non-gameplay BGM and that what makes it so.

My duty is turning out well so far, until I learned what has contradicted listening to BBTAG music and it was the RWBY themes. They aren't substantial enough to justify a theme despite fitting well with the characters and canon solo matches because they don't have an endless cadence other universes have. That's why I will no longer assign characters, stages and canon solo matches to RWBY themes going forward and I have announced that final theme changes are coming too.

BBTAG music is now in full swing after making final theme changes. I haven't did MvC2 mode where I play the theme on the stage I am playing on yet, but I'll cross that bridge once I get there. There are a couple more changes coming to the stage section before it is cemented for real.

Then later, being on the character section is not the only thing I am doing. Seeing Skullgirls continuing development because of Autumn Games holding the IP and shifting to BBTAG music have given me the perfect opportunity to make BBTAG palettes out of characters that are assigned to BBTAG character themes that fit well with them for my Skullgirls X BBTAG Palette Pack as a cherry on top.

It is only meant to have Skullgirls characters who don't have BBTAG palettes in the game and can only have BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth palettes. Plus, it can also have characters that have palettes of non-BBTAG characters in my wish list for the BBTAG 3.0 Character Pack. However, they will stay banned from my special online casual until it is confirmed. I still plan to give you a before and after comparison for the current chart that takes place before the BBTAG 3.0 period and final theme changes that will take place after the BBTAG 3.0 period, but not until Marie is fully released.

BBTAG 2.0:

BBTAG 3.0:

Since Black Dahlia is officially released and couldn't get her Nine the Phantom palette, she stays up there on two separate packs along with the other Season 1 Pass characters that didn't get their Izayoi and Platinum palettes during development. One for the BBTAG 2.0 period and the other for the BBTAG 3.0 period. But had to be after Annie's Izayoi palette to match with the order of introduction because Izayoi was first introduced before Nine. Also made some boo-boo fixes on Double's Merkava palette that you are gonna see on other WIP projects.

As a result, as Black Dahlia didn't get her Nine palette after looking through all of her palettes, the BlazBlue row is still having four characters, one on each installment of the franchise with Big Band depicting a Calamity Trigger newcomer. Umbrella depicting a Continuum Shift newcomer, Annie depicting a Chrono Phantasma newcomer and Black Dahlia depicting a Central Fiction newcomer.

As a special bonus, if Indivisible stayed alive when 505 Games owns the IP or when Mike Z left Lab Zero Games, Ajna would've made a great character for Skullgirls with conciliation as a cherry top so that I can make an Es palette out of her and put it on my projects. But that would never happen because everyone left Lab Zero Games and Indivisible is gonna remain unfinished forever. All of the money the backers have spent to make the game happen and all of the hard work on the guest characters and the two remaining characters from the developers have all went down the drain. All because of one man.

The palette editor has Marie's temporary NMO Arena banner you are gonna see when Marie hits Alpha if you click her sigil before it goes away. I left it on there in different shades of purple as a temporary placeholder up on this collection of characters in their BBTAG palettes and it will be replaced once Marie is added. Again, I'm keeping the Ceremika thing because of her forte of punching and grabbing. These are the characters that will be legal in my special online casual called Skullgirls X BBTAG.

Because it is gonna take place on the Steam version, the Beta version can also be played on. I am doing a PC streaming test to see how smooth my Steam games run. It's working towards becoming a content creator. A G-rated one who never swears at all.

My Discord server banner art for my special online casual has an update. It has NMO Arena tinted in blue in the background just for show and that's one of the stages I strongly recommend playing on, updated the picture of Cerebella in Mika's colors to her new one, which I found better than the other one and threw in Marie's purple temporary NMO Arena banner on there for craps and giggles as a temporary placeholder to show you the spot where Marie in Orie's colors will be located at.

NMO Arena is my most favorite stage because of the banners that show what characters are we playing as. The best part about my special online casual is that I will get to experience players running duos and trios that involve the Renoir sisters, TV stars, Parasite head users and other interesting things and canon solo matches that involve these characters.

I had to color Marie's banner purple because she is assigned to an Under Night In-Birth theme that is a perfect fit for her. Soon, my Discord server banner art will be coming along nicely to show everyone how fly the 14 Skullgirls characters look in their BBTAG palettes once I have Marie in Orie's colors on there to replace her banner in different shades of purple. With all of the awesomeness that is SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level developed by Madxruler, all four Season 1 Pass characters being legal makes it 14.

Forgot to mention that there is a delicious surprise Beowulf, Parasoul, Annie, Umbrella and Cerebella on the left side in palettes of Kanji, Mitsuru, Izayoi, Platinum and Mika are holding on the play... 👀

I know I am being off topic, but you guys heard of SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level, right? It is officially in the works, but it's a fan game by Madxruler. I guess I am interested in that. This reminds me. Madxruler has videos of them performing Sonic's random combos. They have inspired me to do the same, by performing Annie and Tianhuo's random BBTAG-style combos and Smart Combos to showcase on how will they perform well in BBTAG. But it's gonna be on console because it is easier to record gameplay clips on console than on PC.

The shift to BBTAG music came with this number one benefit; creating BBTAG Trinities, trios that have one teammate assigned on each universe's theme. Here's a couple of examples of them.

Team Bella-Beo-Band - Big Band, Beowulf and Cerebella in Tager, Kanji and Mika colors. Since Beowulf first came out, SwingBeatz, ruby_chan and others started running this BBTAG Trinity to give matches a lot of magic and this is the team that we'll probably see often in my special online casual if we are doing 3v3 battles during that day's casual. I recommend NMO Arena for a ton of magic. I know Beowulf already has his Kanji Tatsumi palette in 2nd Encore, not in Mobile yet, but if Cerebella and Big Band's Mika and Tager palettes are in the game, I bet that several players that run the Bella-Beo-Band team I know would make a Mika, Kanji and Tager version of it.

Team Living Weapon - Cerebella, Parasoul and Umbrella in Platinum, Mitsuru and Mika colors. The Skullgirls story involves the use of Living Weapons. This is the only BBTAG Trinity that can seal the deal to contain these characters wielding their Living Weapons and running this will make them the most awesome player on the block.

Team Thigh High - Annie, Filia and Cerebella in Izayoi, Labrys and Mika colors. This BBTAG Trinity having these characters wearing thigh high boots is kind of a meme just so players that run this would be hungry for them just because Mary J. Blige was rocking out them thigh high boots at Super Bowl LVI. Except that Annie's thighs are colored maroon during the process of making an Izayoi palette out of her.

Skullgirls X BBTAG 1.0 Character Pack Wave 4 - Annie, Parasoul and Double in Izayoi, Mitsuru and Merkava colors. One of the players I know runs this team and that's Zolly. They run this BBTAG Trinity in palettes depicting the Legend of Zelda characters since they are named "Legend of Zolly". I actually kind of like Zelda a little bit knowing Tears of the Kingdom is coming out soon. And now that the Season 1 Pass period and onwards have expanded to Nintendo Switch, Zelda fans can run Annie in her Link palette on the Switch version as a treat.

Next up, Skullgirls X BBTAG 1.0 Character Pack Wave 6 - Black Dahlia, Filia and Cerebella in Nine, Labrys and Mika colors, because you want to run this trio comes elemental bullets, a school girl enamored by the glory of the morning sun and punching and grabbing things. Even so, I sadly haven't seen any of the players that run this BBTAG Trinity since I retired from watching Skullgalz Showdown and Skullgirls Slapfest. Hope I can return to watching them in the future...

Team Carnival - Platinum, Teddie and Mika colors. I just realized that it hit me that Cerebella's Mika palette is not the only thing I can completely agree with because I can also completely agree with Umbrella's Platinum palette because of not just her upbeat personality as a child, but also victim trapping bubbles and Peacock's Teddie's palette because of her wild and wacky gadgets in her possession, just because she is all into cartoon violence. These characters are assigned to themes that have that carnival feel and running this BBTAG Trinity is actually kind of interesting to make them a legend.

And of course, you know I am into BBTAG Trinities since I shifted to BBTAG music and planned to run a trio that involves Annie on both console and PC like SonicFox, Dekillsage and other players that do. But I'm gonna run this trio that involves Annie and this one makes a BBTAG Trinity.

Now, this one I can mark as the most interesting. Team Awesome. I don't care if Cerebella is not a TV clown. These characters are awesome and I'm using this BBTAG Trinity as my casual's mascot.

I have a couple more BBTAG Trinities that I want to share, but they require Marie's picture of her Orie palette.

And as a bonus, it even fits well with the most magical matchup I ever watched in Skullgalz Showdown. I heard Cerebella and Annie have charming NMO Arena banners, generic win voice lines that say their own name at the end, unique commands that involve holding down the button to hover while in mid-air and feels for movie theaters at night.

That's why I wanted their Mika and Izayoi palettes to be implemented as a treat.

Anyway, in conclusion, nothing will ever beat BBTAG music. It is much more unprecedented than others since it benefitted the Season 1 Pass having three characters assigned to BlazBlue themes now available on Steam, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch and will soon be available on Xbox and one character assigned to an Under Night In-Birth theme that will be released later this year and that is Marie.

Development on Skullgirls 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass for the Xbox is continuing along smoothly without hitting a single hurdle and it's because of the codebase upgrades that make console development easier. So far, most of its major features, such as sharp UI, combat, lobbies and multiplayer have been implemented so far. They can't wait to get it into the Xbox players' hands so that they can join the Season 1 Pass period and onwards and we can get crossplay once the season is done. Turns out, judging on their accelerated development, the Xbox port is definetely gonna come out before Marie does. I don't have an Xbox One or an Xbox Series X/S, but I am glad that Skullgirls is making a grand return to the platform after over seven years since 2nd Encore first came out on PS4 and BBTAG is being ported to the Xbox too.

But the Xbox port isn't the only thing on the docket slated to release before Marie does this year because there is another project on the docket that I neglected to mention for so long, which is the update with the Season 1 Pass for the Japanese PS4 release of 2nd Encore to match with other regions.

Arc System Works forged a license for the Japanese PS4 version of Skullgirls 2nd Encore to implement Japanese voices to all regions. They were on the verge of bringing the update to it, but they must take steps with ArcSys to make progress. But now that ArcSys' license for the game has expired, the Japanese PS4 version of Skullgirls 2nd Encore is transferred back to Hidden Variable and Future Club to benefit making it easier to finally give the Japanese PS4 players the update and the Season 1 Pass they need to match with other PS4 versions. As a treat, the Skullgirls X BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Palette Pack will also be available on the Japanese PS4 version.

I originally don't care about this, but now, I suddenly do because we are eager to play online matches against Japanese PS4 players and they need it so that they can bring their PS4s to offline tournaments in Japan, like in Them's Fightin' Herds that console ports benefitted bringing PS4s to offline tournaments to make set ups easier.

Once both the Xbox port and the update for the Japanese PS4 release of 2nd Encore are released, not only the devs will then double their efforts on the development of Marie so that they can get her completed for her release on 2nd Encore and Mobile sooner. The "true" Skullgirls launch party will be open truly for everyone, the 2nd Encore release with the Season 1 Pass and the Skullgirls X BBTAG Palette Pack will be available on all four digital storefronts of Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch across all regions on that time.

Emphasis on "true" because once the Xbox port and the update for the Japanese PS4 release drop, the launch party will be fully open to welcome those who own Skullgirls and the Season 1 Pass on all four platforms across all regions. That's when the devs can double their efforts on completing Marie to get her out sooner, future updates can be delivered with more flexibility and more smoothness produced by codebase upgrades on all four platforms and a possibility of an announcement of a Season 2 Pass.

It's like in the development of Them's Fightin' Herds that working on console ports demanded more time from engineers and writers is why the Story Mode couldn't be completed last year and Chapter 2 starring Velvet couldn't be released sooner. But now that they are complete, working on the Story Mode is their top priority again, but not the only one because with several combat devs on their team, they can work on the Story Mode chapters and new characters simultineously.

Eleven years passed since Skullgirls first came out on PS3 and 2023 marks a big year for the franchise because Marie is making her playable debut and Purity & Strictly would be a cherry on top and a perfect fit so that she would be legal in my online casual and eligible for an Orie palette, Skullgirls is finally making a grand and triumphant return to the Xbox after almost ten years since its release on the Xbox and seven years since 2nd Encore first released on PS4 as development on the Xbox release is continuing along smoothly and the update and the Season 1 Pass for the Japanese PS4 version are gonna be released so that the Japanese PS4 version can be matched with other PS4 versions. That's three things that are sunrising this year.

And Nintendo Switch players, if you have Skullgirls, be sure to buy the Season 1 Pass. It actually turned out to perform really well because of the codebase upgrades that make console development easier with faster load times and eight-player lobbies BBTAG and other fighting games have unlike the PSVita version. That version sucked crap because of slow load times that depend on what characters you have on your team, six-player lobbies and lack of flexibility. If any of you are asking, I am totally buying the Season 1 Pass on the Switch version so that I can play the new characters on the go on long road trips, but when it is discounted.

I wanted to see where would Marie be on the character select screen when she hits Alpha, but she's definetely gonna be on top of the default selection and on the square where the online timer is located at so that the random selection can still be in the center. That might be a perfect placement. But if the online timer is moved to the top of the character select sign, the BETA watermark could block it, so it's best for it to be moved to the bottom of the portraits. You know, like in BlazBlue: Central Fiction that when Jubei came out, the timer goes at the bottom of the selection as his portrait is located at the original spot where the timer was.

Originally, I said that I want to go full blast on PC and console now that Black Dahlia is fully released and the smoother online multiplayer , but there has been a change of plans. I can no longer think that I'm gonna go full blast on PC and console now that Black Dahlia is released when there is circumstances. Marie is the final character on the docket. Her Alpha and onwards come with the time I play Purity & Strictly while her full release comes with post Season 1 Pass period content, like the Season 1 Pass characters' fully voiced Story Mode and other stuff. When Marie either hits Alpha or when she is fully released, I can go full blast. We'll see. I can't make any promises to be safe.

With that being said, part 2 of the update is coming at you soon and it will contain the following below.

-Update on the stage section

-Update on the canon solo match section

-An announcement regarding celebrating Skullgirls' very first Season 1 Pass and the shift to BBTAG music.

After part two of the update, there will be no more theme changes until the 3.0 Character Pack is confirmed while future updates beyond that will have the reveal of future characters and have standalone updates for Skullgirls X BBTAG going forward.

Joe's Segues - 4/24/23

Happy Monday, everyone and welcome to today's episode Joe's Segues. We have a couple of things to talk about today. And before we get started, I am gonna announce in advance that today's episode will not have SML Happened because the simulated league is on a hiatus and it will be back in the future. Now with that out of the way, on to the episode.

We'll start this off with the elephant in the room; the announcement regarding the Nintendo Switch port for two of Hi-Rez Studios' games Rogue Company and Paladins. First Watch and Evil Mojo both posted their statements regarding the Nintendo Switch version. It stated that the Switch version is not performing well on both of them. They were dedicated to fixing Switch-specific issues and coming up with workarounds for countless hours. Regretfully, the significant technical challenges have prevented them from continuing support on the platform and they couldn't provide the level of support players deserved. That's why both games and their DLC are no longer available on the Nintendo eShop and all in-game purchases have been turned off.

It's a step forward in discontinuing support on the Nintendo Switch version of both games in late June and Midnight Masquerade will be the final update the Switch version of Paladins will get accordingly. The Switch port will be discontinued after 58 Champions and 25 Rogues after that. This shift benefits providing better support and having more flexibility and frequency on how they deliver updates on PC, PlayStation and Xbox going forward, including the ones that introduce new characters. I have a good feeling that teasers for Paladins' 59th Champion and Rogue Company's 26th Rogue are gonna kick in on social media in the future after the update.

They have to do this because the Switch ports of Paladins and Rogue Company couldn't perform well despite all of their best efforts to make it healthier as possible and the technical challenges are the cause of it. Paladins and Rogue Company are great shooters of diversity, evolution and friendship where you can kill people. Hi-Rez Studios worked with both developers to bring them to life. I am sorry that both of their games and their DLC are no longer available on the eShop and their journey as Switch players of these games will end this way the moment the update slated for late June drops. This might also benefit fixing more bugs than before, including the ones that have been lingering for years and adding some in-game dialogues that I want to hear.

Fortunately, there are other Hi-Rez games still available on the eShop and still having in-game purchases on the platform. There is SMITE and all of its DLC on there and its in-game purchases are still available. Titan Forge is highly likely to continue support on the Nintendo Switch version because they are still keeping track of the 1-month update cadence and the Switch port is still performing well on it. There is also Realm Royale. But it is now called Realm Royale Reforged because it is back after its two year hiatus and that's one of the things that made 2022 the best year. Switch players can link to any other platform of their choice to pick up where they left off.

There are other free to play online games that are performing well on the Switch version so far, like Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Brawlhalla, Apex Legends and many more. I'm sure that they can stay supported.

This reminds me. I was thinking of a new Hi-Rez game where the SMITE and Paladins characters clash each other. That would be godlike since Mortal Kombat. But it has to be third person.

Now, we are down to the next topic. Now, this year, E3 is back and better than ever after being stymied by the COVID-19 pandemic for two years. However, console companies Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all dropped out of E3 this year and that means that we get to see only third-party games. And then, Ubisoft followed suit to drop out of E3 and just like that, E3 is officially cancelled following withdrawals and people were ticked off at that cancellation. It's because they have other plans in digital game showcases. Nintendo has Nintendo Direct, Sony has State of Play, Microsoft has Inside Xbox and Ubisoft has Ubisoft Forward.

But the good news is, there is a general game showcase that is still being scheduled and that is the Summer Game Fest hosted by Geoff Keighley, the man who does the Game Awards. What made the situation worse is that he was the reason why E3 is cancelled after all three console companies and Ubisoft withdrawn themselves from it to deliver their own digital game showcases going forward. Mightykeef has two videos about E3 2023, so go check them out.

And last but not least, one of the online only games I played that is so much fun to play, Crash Team Rumble. Activision and Toys for Bob are developing a new Crash game where heroes and villains of the Crash Bandicoot universe clash it out in 4v4 battles. I pre-ordered it digitally to get access to the Closed Beta. Overall, the game is fun and the action is wild and wacky. That previous match was a nail biter, but I managed to win that one. Holy crap. I even pulled a 1smash18 when I enjoyed it, like when he enjoyed Super Smash Bros. CMC+ because of what I've experienced on that, like the Numemon fight. Neat stuff.

The Closed Beta test is over and the full launch is less than two months. However, since Crash Team Rumble is online only and it's gonna be a paid game, you need a PS Plus and an Xbox Live Gold membership to play. Great game. I can't wait until the full release and it's gonna be a blockbuster like the Super Mario Bros. Movie.

And hey, since Crash Team Rumble is a thing, I think Nintendo should make a new Mario game similar to that, but it can't be called "Super Mario Team Rumble" because of copyright concerns, so it had to be called "Super Mario Fever 4 on 4". The Mario franchise has sports games, racing games and party games, so the only thing that it doesn't have yet is a 4v4 online multiplayer. I really thought that it's gonna have characters across the Mario universe. Imagine Mario as the Scorer, Bowser as the Blocker and Peach as the Booster. Nintendo better make this one.

That's all I have to say for today's episode and thank you all for listening. I'll be looking forward to the next one. And Switch players of Rogue Company and Paladins, my condolences to you and I am sorry to hear that your journey will end that way once the update is released in late June and that's when both games are gonna continue to be supported on PC, PlayStation and Xbox going forward to benefit having more flexibility and frequency on how they deliver future updates and fixing more bugs than before. Especially the lingering ones.

How Wi-Fi is Bad in Fighting Games

The majority of the FGC has a strict no Wi-Fi policy to ban users from their online casuals and tournaments. It's because Wi-Fi is less stable than wired. So this is something to get off my chest, so let's jump right in.

I am here with a post I felt passionate about doing. You see, I was surfing on the Internet for interesting things. Then there is something that caught my eye to hold on, so let's dive into the post.

One of the biggest conflicts in fighting games is Wi-Fi, which is less stable than wired on fighting games. There is a majority of people who have a strict no Wi-Fi policy to ban Wi-Fi users from their online lobbies since they wanted online sessions to have players who are using a wired connection. The Wi-Fi indicator is shown on fighting games with rollback netcode. It represents that players are using Wi-Fi. If the Wi-Fi indicator is not shown, they are using a wired connection.

I know that some people would use Wi-Fi as long as they check their connection and make sure that it doesn't go bad. But McDonald's Wi-Fi is not just a meme. It's also real and it is not stable enough. It produced a slideshow and I don't think someone who wants to play Smash Ultimate would bring their Switch to McDonalds and use its Wi-Fi there. It is a different story that Wi-Fi can kill the magic in playing online.

I was able to get my LAN adapter because my laptop lacks a Ethernet port. I got one from Best Buy over a year ago and I was intrigued by its speed. Not allowing Wi-Fi on online tournaments and casuals is because of the fact that it is less stable. That's why the majority of the FGC had to ban Wi-Fi from their online casuals and tournaments. What is really cool is that in Skullgirls, it has a tiny red dot on the upper left hand corner of the lobby screen to represent that you are using Wi-Fi. Now, if I enter a lobby with a Wi-Fi indicator on my name, I will be kicked out because of the strict no Wi-Fi policy they enforced on, so I must plug in an Ethernet cord so that I wouldn't be kicked out of lobbies.

But fighting games in general aren't the only thing Wi-Fi is bad on. There are other genres where Wi-Fi is bad on like hero shooters, MOBAs and others That also goes to Remote Play and cloud streaming. Doing Remote Play and streaming while using Wi-Fi is much less stable. It can lead to lag and problems no matter how close to the router. But plug in an Ethernet cord on the PlayStation 4 or 5 and Remote Play and streaming are stable. Same with livestreaming and browsing on the Internet.

Honestly, I think what is really interesting is that if they came across a player who is using Wi-Fi, they can kick them out until they invest in an Ethernet connection. That's one of the coolest things about players having a strict no Wi-Fi policy on fighting games. But for me, the casual I'm running will allow Wi-Fi players into my lobby, but I do have one rule for them. They must check and make sure that their connection is good before they ready up. I have finished setting up my server on Discord, but I can't share it to anyone yet. I need to do some final checks on the rules and format first. It might be a while.

Some tournaments and casuals allow Wi-Fi, but online circuits don't. If they want to participate in a online circuit, they must plug in an Ethernet cord so that they can have a stable online experience, especially when it comes to performing combos. If the tournament organizers find out that if they are using Wi-Fi, they'll be disqualified until they plug in an Ethernet cord.

To sum it all up, Wi-Fi is less stable on not just fighting games, but also non-fighting games, Remote Play, cloud streaming, livestreaming. It is important to invest in an Ethernet connection so that you would have a stable experience and not get kicked out of online lobbies, have problems and experience all that lag.

Joe's Segues - 3/6/23

Hello, everyone and happy Monday. I know you guys are depressed that once the weekend is over, you have to get up and get ready for school because today is Monday. But don't be depressed because it is time for this year's third Joe's Segues. Winter is winding down and Spring is around the corner. For this set, I'm gonna go over what I've been working on and pull a Goremiser to highlight the next SML Happened. Let's dive right in.

This project I'm working on is my splash art for my Skullgirls X BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Discord server banner. It's Skullgirls, but with characters in their totally nifty and fly BBTAG palettes that are allowed in my special online casual you are seeing facing each other on my beautiful art.

The stage lights, buildings and the filmstrips are on there to give it an art deco aesthetic Skullgirls has and that is because of movie theaters at night. It is coming along nicely, with Black Dahlia in Nine the Phantom's colors being an interesting one and it's because she has elemental bullets of fire, ice and lightning loaded in her gun and the Renoir sisters of the Canopy Kingdom in Mitsuru and Platinum's colors being next to each other as a callback to the 2nd Encore art and in response to Umbrella finally making her playable debut. And since Purity & Strictly is a perfect fit for Marie, her Orie palette will be up there.

That hit me. I heard BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is coming to Xbox like Skullgirls is and my project is gonna commemorate that since both games are coming to the Xbox. Not to mention both games have the master volume setting that influences all audio volumes the upcoming update will have.

And here is the back of the splash art. It has the "Ladies and gentlemen, can't escape from crossing fate!" tagline, the text that explains the casual, three awesome characters as a mascot and the horizontal filmstrip with portraits of eligible characters in their BBTAG palettes, a temporary blank purple space and empty spaces that are reserved for future characters that are eligible and a join on lead in. It has the Steam logo to represent that I'll be running the casual on Steam. I have no plans to run it on console. If crossplay is implemented, I will add game console logos to this splash art so that console players can be welcome to join my casual. This has three fonts Skullgirls uses.

Since Marie is assigned to an Under Night In-Birth theme that fits well with her, Purity & Strictly, a temporary purple space after Black Dahlia in Nine colors for an Under Night In-Birth palette is already on there to reserve a slot for Marie. If it's an eligible character assigned to a BlazBlue theme, I leave a temporary blue space for a BlazBlue palette. If it's an eligible character assigned to a Persona 4 Arena theme, I leave a temporary yellow space for a Persona 4 Arena palette.

Fortunately, we're getting closer to info about Marie's Alpha as Black Dahlia is approaching her final release, but she has yet to get her Nine the Phantom palette you are seeing on both of my art. But her story mode palette is not yet revealed, so this is her last chance to get her Nine palette for beating her story. If she doesn't get it on her full release, it stays in my palette pack separated into two packs below. One for the 2.0 period and the other for the 3.0 period to contain characters in their palettes of non-BBTAG characters in my BBTAG 3.0 Character Pack wish list.

BBTAG 2.0:

BBTAG 3.0:

As mentioned before, the palette pack will also have palettes of non-BBTAG characters in my wish list with Fukua's Shadow Labrys palette after Filia's Labrys palette now updated to be in parity with the order of character introduction on the Persona 4 Arena row. A blank purple spot before Double's Merkava palette is still on there to pave the way for Marie's Orie palette if she doesn't get it during development.

Again, if Black Dahlia is fully released and her Nine the Phantom palette didn't make it into the game after looking through all of her palettes, she will stay up there on both packs, but must be after the Sealed-Weapon Annie to match the order of introduction of BlazBlue characters, putting the first three Season 1 Pass characters together on the same row. Whereas, Izayoi was first introduced before Nine.

And here's another graphic with all of the characters in their BBTAG palettes including the ones that already have theirs in the game sorted by introduction on the BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth characters still having the purple blank spot before Double's Merkava palette to reserve for Marie's Orie palette. Now, my main problem is Big Band's Iron Tager palette, even though he looks fly in it and he is so large. He doesn't even have the power of magnetism, okay?

The only one I still completely agree with on this BBTAG palette collection is Cerebella's Mika palette, and that is because of her forte of punching and grabbing things with her hat with living arms and Forceful Step is a perfect fit. It's because I was like "Cerebella is assigned to Forceful Step because she is into punching and grabbing things with her hat with living arms." That's exactly what I said when assigning characters to BBTAG themes. After all, Cerebella is basically Mika, but with a hat with giant living arms. There's no denying it.

Now, the release process on the console versions is gonna be more straightforward than ever going forward because the upcoming update for the PS4 comes with not only Black Dahlia. It also comes with a nearly full rewrite of the codebase that makes console development much easier going forward and online refactors that produce a smoother and more stable online experience and fix the lingering issues. The Switch version already launched with them.

Remember that part where a snag was hit when they were on the verge of releasing Annie and the Season 1 Pass on the PS4? That hurdle was created by waiting for Sony's green light announcement they had to pass since the release process on Steam is more straightforward than on Sony's end. Once submitted, they wait until Sony gives the greenlight to release and that's my favorite part of game development. It was worth the wait, but Annie's Izayoi palette is not in the game so that it can stay on my palette pack. But thanks to the nearly full rewrite of the port's codebase, console development is gonna be much easier going forward to make releasing patches on console versions of 2nd Encore easier. 

The PS4 won't be the only console to get it because with the Season 1 Pass period expanded to Nintendo Switch and will soon expand to Xbox as we are waiting for word about it so that the launch party can truly begin, it is also gonna get the update as the blue and red certificates for Sony and Nintendo to greenlight are being processed going forward.

Then it's off to the wait for Marie and that's where I come in to wait until she is released on Mobile so that I can make an Orie palette out of her on the palette editor and put it on my projects. But Marie's Alpha will come after the general balance changes section that takes place after Dahlia's full release accordingly. It is my job to find out if Marie actually gets her Orie palette during development or not.

I am setting up the server for my online casual on Discord, but I am not ready to give you the link that gives you an invite yet. I need to make sure that everything's right first.

Alright, everyone, it's that time again that I'm about to pull a Goremiser for another SML Happened.

Hats off to the Moose and Beewolves for making their way to the Super Mega World Series. There has been some well developments. The Beewolves taken first blood on Game 1. On Game 4, a grand slam has been scored in the center field and I was very excited on that one. In the end, congratulations to the Moose as they are gonna be our Season 1 Super Mega World Champions and we'll see them again in Season 2, which will be different with twelve teams divided into two divisions the American and National divisions like the MLB, not the Nintendo and SEGA divisions. Again, congratulations to the Moose and they'll return in Season 2.

That's all I had to say for today. Remember, my friends, with Dahlia approaching her full release, you better lock your doors before going to bed. Otherwise, you may suffer a fate worse than death.