FGN: Evo Wins E3

If you're interested about the results, Leo posted them over here.



People have bet on both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue butting heads in an epic crossover title, but little did we know that Arc System Works had a different idea in mind: giving us the crossover we never knew we wanted. People were ecstatic when they saw Persona and BlazBlue together, with a few others whom certainly weren't that interested. When Under Night In-Birth was revealed, everyone cheered. We would have been content with just that, but no.

As it turns out, RWBY (or just Ruby, we're not sure yet) has also been confirmed as part of the crossover. It was certainly from one hype moment to the other, back-to-back. From the looks of it, this is most definitely going to be a 2v2 fighter. If DBFZ is after the UMvC3 crowd, BBCTB is gunning straight for Infinite.

It's worth mentioning that Toshimichi Mori, BlazBlue's director, previously stated in an interview with Forbes that the series he was most interested in making a fighting game for was RWBY. Similarly, Monty Oum (god rest his soul) himself was a big Guilty Gear nerd as well. It's like a dream come true for everyone.

Quote :

“If I were to make a game based on something that wasn’t a complete original…it would be based on the intellectual property of RWBY…If we were to ever make a fighting game of this, I would want to really spearhead that if possible.”

The trailer mentioned a release window of summer 2018 sometime after Dragon Ball FighterZ. No platforms were confirmed, but going by ASW fashion, chances are they'll most definitely be on PS4 with a slight chance of hitting the XONE if Atlus allows (they certainly won't allow it on PC). In any case, eat your heart out, Capcom, cause ASW is out for blood.



Remember Arika's April Fool's joke this year? Well, it seems like the joke is actually going to be a fully-fledged fighting game next year. Utilizing the EX characters from the Street Fighter EX games, this is most probably going to be a revitalization of the EX games minus the Street Fighter bit. Hopefully this game turns out good and receives the reception it deserves. So far, only the PS4 has been confirmed as a platform. No specific release date has been given outside of 2018, with some potential test plays at the end of this year and presumably worldwide.

Of course, I can't end this without addressing the elephant in the room as to why this is such a big deal, which is why I'll segway into the next section right away. It's time for some...

Character Reveals

How could people not be hyped? One of the most popular characters from the Street Fighter EX roaster is back, baby. Seeing this beautiful man back in action brings a tear to the eye.


Again, my lack of expertise is a major factor here, but I don't remember much of this character unfortunately. He definitely looks like a lot of fun, and surprisingly translated really well into 3D. Looking forward to him as well.



Tekken 7 is already crazy enough especially with Akuma joining as a guest character. Fortunate for us, Bamco had other plans, because now Geese Howard, the main antagonist of The King of Fighters, joins the fray. It's definitely a great time to be a fighting game fan. Now if only Bamco can keep this up and we might eventually end up seeing Soul Calibur characters too because why not?



People have been screaming for years at Arc System Works to make Jubei playable, and while it took them forever, aka the final entry (for now), we finally got our wish. Jubei seems like a much more aggressive Taokaka, taking a hit in speed in exchange for raw power. A release window has been confirmed for this summer, presumably as paid DLC. If Mori sticks to his words, there obviously won't be an Extend version of Centralfiction and Jubei will just be added to the current build of the game.



We saw this coming, but it's still worth mentioning. Trunks from the Android future will be stepping in as a playable character, sporting all kinds of iconic moves and attacks from the manga (or show, you do you I guess). Trunks is definitely unique in being the only Saiyan character who wields a sword (rip Yajirobe) so his inclusion was pretty obvious if not also welcome. Also, rumor has it that two new characters are expected to be announced in the same magazine which first revealed the game (I don't have a source for this but I remember reading talks about it).

There also seem to be sign-ups for betas to try out Trunks on July 26th, so be ready to cancel any appointments.



Gamora was already confirmed way way back, but this is still the first time we're seeing gameplay footage of her. Just like how Maximillion Dood coined it, it seems like she's taking a lot of queues from both Deadpool and Zero, and while the latter is already in the game, we deeply hope this doesn't mean the omission of the former.

This time around, it seems like Jedah is going to be representing Darkstalkers alongside Morrigan. Turns out the leaks were spot on as always on this one. I definitely would have very much preferred either Dimitri, Q-Bee, Jon Talbain, Sasquatch or Lord Raptor (Felicia, B.B. Hood and Hsien-Ko had their turns, even if Felicia is my favorite), I suppose Jedah is a fine pick as well.



Nothing new here, but I'm a tad curious if they're planning to bring just Ruby Rose, or to bring in other characters from the RWBY universe as well. I definitely want to see Blake, Yang and Weiss as well as some others such as Cinder, Nora, Pyrrha, Sun and Penny. Only time will tell. Also, speaking of Persona, I don't want it to stop at just Persona 3 and 4. Since there's no excuses for plot continuity for the series, I want to see some Persona 5 characters; hell, maybe even some Persona 2 characters like Tetsuya, Maya, or even Eikichi and his weird gatling gun guitar. Joker would also be a very welcome edition to the roaster, provided that ASW doesn't have any plans for a Persona 5 fighter in the future, which I personally highly doubt.



In a recent interview with Daisuke Ishiwatari on Redbull, it seems like the character Daisuke is most interested in next when it comes to fattening up the roaster is Robo-Ky. The character is a fan favorite as well as one who already appeared in Xrd's story (alongside Zappa), so naturally people expected him to be the next pick to implement into the game. There's no confirmation or anything, but all I'm saying is to keep your chin up in case the best comes to pass.

Update:



Seems like Bamco isn't the only one bringing over guest characters. As it turns out, we just got a very recent announcement from Capcom that Abigail from Final Fight is going to be included in Street Fighter V as well. If this is going to be a new trend among fighting games, I'm certainly all for it. How long until we start seeing some Samurai Shodown characters?



Unless you're among the very fortunate enough to attend EVO, you're going to need to sign up on the game's official website for a chance at the closed beta, as confirmed by PlayStation's main Twitter account.

Sign-up here: http://na.square-enix.com/us/dissidiant-closedbeta-signup

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