SSFIV Arcade: Evil Ryu and Oni Gameplay (UPDATED)

Back into the Shadows… for now.

UPDATE: Capcom just threw down the hammer of the gods on some of the Youtube videos showing off Evil Ryu and Oni gameplay in Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition– apparently Yoshinori Ono wasn’t totally joking around when he said that he was going to be chewed out by his bosses by the apparent leakage of the two additional SSFIVAE fighters. So, did someone hack the arcade units? How did that happen? Anyways, the vids are being taken down all over the place. I won’t be posting any more links till the banning frenzy is over so my site won’t become a way for the Capcom Ban Police to find more stuff to clamp down on.

Anyway, for the benefit of those who weren’t able to catch the (low quality) vids, Evil Ryu pretty much looks like he always has in the previous games, save now he has what appears to be a nasty wound or hole in his sternum or chest. Oni (previously known as Oni Akuma) appears like a more buffed-up, Super Saiyan-version of Akuma, sporting flaming white hair (and matching blue-white fiery aura) and a cool new raised-arm stance. Players have described Oni as playing more like Gouken than Akuma. Suffice to say, these two overpowered-looking Shotos look pretty impressive.

I guess now we’ll have to wait a bit till the embargo on the characters is lifted, although by now it’s pretty moot to keep them secret. Who knows what the fallout will be from this leakage, but heck- players have known about these fighters since that first artwork of them was shown months ago. What’s the big deal? Whatever… anyway… going back to monitoring Tekken Tag 2 on Twitter then…

TTT2 Mystery Part 2: Julia Chang Quick Change!

A couple of interesting comparison pics were brought to my attention by longtime poster Ryuhza, and I think it’s worth a look at. If we take Mystery Luchadore Girl’s artwork and super-impose it with Julia Chang’s Tekken 6 art (after first flipping it over) and then mess with the opacity… we can see that Julia and Mystery Girl’s features line up, almost perfectly. Eyes, nose, lips, jawline… they all line up. Heck, their boobs also seem the same size just by looking at them. Once again, a bit more evidence to the speculation that Julia Chang and our mysterious new Masked Babe are one and the same. Or at the very least, that they both look the same under that mask. We can of course consider that Mystery Girl’s artwork isn’t as hi-res or clear as Julia’s, but really- the closeness is unmistakable.

Is this what lies under the mask?

The last time a similar bit of identity hi-jinx occurred was way back in Tekken 4, when sneaky Lee Chaolan entered the tournament under the guise and alias of Violet. It was only after a bit of playing with him that his true identity would be revealed, and the Violet revealed to be just a skin.

In this case, perhaps the biggest proof will be if Julia’s missing from the roster come release day. If she’s also in the roster along with Mystery Girl, then perhaps there are other possibilities to consider (twin sister?). Or not. Maybe. In any case I love the idea of Julia taking on a new persona, hopefully with cool new moves, hot new outfits and customizations and a more playful personality. For now though, we can just wonder and hope the next updates to TTT2 aren’t too far away. The game is set for Japanese arcades in Summer 2011.

TTT2 Mystery Fighter… Julia Chang in Disguise?

Since the release of yesterday’s holiday trailer for Tekken Tag Tournament 2, fans have been discussing about it at forums, blogs and fansites endlessly. One intriguing issue though has surfaced regarding the mysterious masked luchadora fighter who debuted in the trailer. Who is she? Well, there has been speculation ever since she first appeared that she may not be a totally new character, but an existing one that has adapted a new persona. Some suspected at first it was Christie Monteiro, but that wasn’t likely since we’d know it was Christie the moment we saw her standing stance. Another possibility has been raised and posted over at sites like Neogaf and SD-Tekken which seems far more valid. Is Mystery Girl none other than Julia Chang?

Julia and Masked Luchadore Girl… one and the same?

There are several factors supporting this. if you look closely at the comparison pic above, both girls are wearing the same amulet- now unless there’s a store selling those things, the conclusion is obvious. Julia’s fighting style, though often characterized as Chinese Martial Arts, includes many wrestling-type throws. Yes, Miss Lucha has shown she has several lucha-type attacks that Julia doesn’t, but then- maybe Julia learned some new tricks.

Same height, similar fighting stance.

Next, as seen in the pic above, both Julia and Lucha Girl seem to be of similar build (yeah, they’re both hot), but more importantly their standing stance seems similar. This is, of course, taken from what we could get in the TTT2 trailer right now. There’s no reason though why Julia can’t change her stance to fit her persona.

The question is… WHY? Why take an existing character and dress her up as a totally new one? Well, for starters it saves the devs effort on actually making a new fighter. Maybe they have some sort of weird storyline that has Julia taking on a new persona to intervene in the feud between King, Marduk and Armor King (we do know from Tekken 5 that Julia and King are friends). If this is all true, will players be able to select regular Julia? Can you pit her against Miss Luchadore? Is this something that we will just suspect yet will never truly know if it’s true or not? Man, these devs are tricky dudes, aren’t they?
Then there’s that other possibility… that Miss Luchadore is Julia’s Twin Sister? I mean, there have been two Armor Kings after all. Two sisters… with twin amulets? Kind of a stretch, but at least this allows for two different babes. I like the mystery secret identity angle better though.

In the end, we’ll just have to wait and see as more of the game is revealed. If Luchadore turns out to have more than enough moves to set her apart from ‘Vanilla’ Julia Chang, her own costumes and customizations as well as intros and win animations, then that’s fine. If she’s got a secret- a secret identity, then perhaps it just adds to the charm of this new character while at the same time giving the existing, and admittedly kinda bland, Julia Chang an air of mystery which players may latch onto. More as we get it then!

Check out SD-Tekken’s articles on this subject here! Check out the original post from Master Thespian at Neogaf’s TTT2 thread here.

Tekken Watch: New Customization, Costumes for TTT2, Roster Size

It’s been a bit slow lately, even on Katsuhiro Harada’s Twitter, but there are bits and stuff aside from the occasional piece of Tekken or Soulcalibur artwork doled out by the Tekken producer from the old Namco hard drives.
As often mentioned before, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will see the return of Character Customization, with a “New Customization System with New Custom Costume. Include Lots of costume”. No idea yet if we’ll be seeing old outfits from Tekken 6 returning (I’d say the popular pieces and customizations should return). Vague, but encouraging stuff.
Update: We may be seeing the Customization System adopt color options ala Soulcalibur, judging from how Harada responded to a tweet. It would indeed be cool if we can mix our own colors for each individual costume part, instead of having to buy/earn multiple different-colored copies of the same item.

There will be over 40 characters in the game, even more than Tekken 6. No word yet who from the mists of antiquity will be returning; Jun Kazama is supposedly in consideration, but still Harada won’t cough up any confirmation, which is pretty obvious at this point why.

Random bit- Lars Alexandersson is in his 20s. Jin’s favorite dish is takoyaki (octopus balls), while Bryan’s is carbonara (does that guy even still eat???).

Well, that’s not too much eh? On the bright side, we’re nearing the end of 2010, so the release of the arcade version of TTT2 is inching closer and closer. Hopefully this will mean we’ll see more and more of the game, hopefully in more screens and perhaps new videos, in the next couple of months. More as we get it then.

SSFIV Alternate Outfits Now Available!

Get ’em while they’re hot!

The first batch of alternate outfits for Super Streetfighter IV are apparently now available online! You can check out the goods in advance in the video above, showing off Mak, Hakan, Dudley, Deejay and Guy in their new costumes. Me, I’m liking how fetching Makoto is in her school uniform. Nice!

Tekken Tweets: The Latest from Harada-san!

This weekend passes with no new trailers of vids from any of the upcoming games in the Fighting Festival series (SFxT, TxSF, TTT2), but as usual Namco-Bandai’s Katsuhiro Harada was manning his Twitter account to answer some of the gazillion questions, requests, challenges and so forth tweeted his way by Tekken-loving (or hating) Twitteratti. The most noteworthy answers from Harada-san were the following…

… liked Azazel? I didn’t think so. Well, the good news is that Tekken 6’s ovesized and overpowered boss is, according to Harada-san, DEAD. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will have a new boss. Hopefully Harada was joking though when he mentioned Devil Ganryu.

… when asked if Lars will become evil, Harada said ‘probably not’- the guy doesn’t have a Devil Gene unlike Heihachi. A bit of inconsistency here- I was of the perception that Heihachi’s whole schtick with wanting to capture Kazuya and Jin was that he didn’t have the DG himself as well. Oh well, details, details. Anyway, from this I gather that Mr. Alexandersson will continue to be Tekken’s resident white knight and ladies man- both of which Jin Kazama would never aspire to.

… once again, Character Customization is confirmed for Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

… on the next Soulcalibur, Harada has stated that the Project Soul team ‘wants to make a new SC’, and has thanked gamers for the petition. Now, all we can do is wait.

Man, not a lot of stuff. But I guess knowing that the Big Cheap Chicken is dead and gone makes my day. Heheh… Anwyay, back to Dead Rising 2 then…

New Look for Ninja Girls in Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Ayane and Kasumi are sporting new threads for the 3DS.

Fighter’s Generation just posted the above pic, showing the two kunoichi sisters, Ayane and Kasumi, as they will appear in the upcoming Dead or Alive: Dimensions for the Nintendo 3DS. These are, I assume, alternates to the girls’ traditional costumes, and hopefully will be just one set of many- because darn, don’t these ones look pretty boring. I mean, it’s like Team Ninja’s designer lost his libido or something. What’s with those crappy cycling shorts on Ayane? Is that homey knitted scarf on Kasumi really part of that outfit? Overall, both of these duds are… duds. Well, to me at least. Hopefully they get more and better costumes.

Anyway, at this point we still only know four confirmed fighters for the game (Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate and Raidou), so I’m hoping for a more substantial update soon (with a trailer, at least). Aside from the 3DS version, I’ve been hearing rumors that DOA is also headed for the PS3. More on this as I get it then.

New Trailers for SSFIV show off Yun and Yang, Alternate Costumes

The Kung-fu Hustlers make their public debut.

During last weekend’s TGS2010, quite a few vids were released by Capcom of the upcoming Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition, with new characters Yun and Yang finally being announced (even if we’ve known about them for about a month prior).

The World Warriors show off their new duds.

But while the additional fighters are as yet arcade-only, us home gamers can look forward to the new 3rd Alternate Outfits for the existing roster on consoles, featured in the cool trailer above. The costumes should be coming this Autumn, around October or November, according to Yoshinori Ono’s Twitter. Just a month or so and you’ll be able to play as Sun Dress Sakura, Alpha Chun-li, Schoolgirl Makoto, Demon Akuma, Flamenco Vega and more.

SFIV iPhone Updated with E.Honda, C.Viper and In-App Store

Two more challengers arrive to fight on-the-go.

Capcom has just posted the update to the iPhone version of Streetfighter IV on the appstore. The 284MB download will add classic world warrior E.Honda and SFIV debutante Crimson Viper to the roster, as well as add an In-App Store where you can purchase Ryu and Chun-Li’s alternate outfits (Ryu’s topless gi, Chun-li’s sexy blue dress). It’s a meaty download and well worth the effort to get for mobile brawlers.

Add a new outfit to Ryu and Chun-li for some spare change.

Taking a peek at the way the Character Select screen is now with the two newbies, I think that there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing four more fighters added in the near future. I’m hoping for at least Juri and Makoto, at least. Anyway, SFIV has so far proven an awesome investment for me with the added content (Cammy and Zangief were added the last time). This is a no-brainer for SF fans who have an iDevice (well, a phone- the app looks pretty bad on the iPad). Now, where’s that Tekken iPhone game?

Super Streetfighter IV Alternate Outfits Revealed!

Makoto cosplays as Tasuki Arisawa from Bleach!

For the past few days, Capcom’s Yoshinori Ono has been twittering like crazy to fans, dispensing teeny teases of upcoming stuff and, even better, concept art of upcoming alternate outfits for the fighters in Super Streetfighter IV. So far he’s released a good dozen or so at least, and some of them actually look pretty cool. My favorite is easily Makoto’s School uniform, which gives the karate kid a totally different, and thankfully feminine, look. Also top on my list is Sakura’s summer dress, though Rose is as frumpy as ever and Chun-li looks a bit too… big… in her Alpha costume.

In any case, there are still quite a few left to go, which may or may not be shown off tomorrow or announced tomorrow once TGS starts. Hopefully we’ll also find out when these DLC outfits will be available and how much they’ll set us back in MS points or PSN credits. For now, check out all the so-far revealed outfits over at Kotaku’s gallery.