Fighting Games Friday: Azwel That Ends Well

In terms of fighting game news, the last several weeks have ventured from one extreme to the other. I had too much news to feature for two weeks, which happened during Evo and Gamescom. But thanks to the other two having little to none, I focused on games I hadn’t covered and a Dead or Alive 6 feature that brought some predictable heat. This trend wasn’t surprising, since publishers always like to save their biggest news for conventions (outside E3), but we appear to be getting back to a normal schedule now. News from this week was nothing out of the ordinary.

Several characters have been revealed for Soulcalibur VI since its announcement last December, but only one new character has been among them. It’s well known that this game is a reimagining of the original Soulcalibur, and they don’t want to veer too far from comfortable territory after the reception to Soulcalibur V’s new characters. But new games need to distinguish themselves from previous works. Grøh, who wields dual sabers, was the first new character shown, and joining him will be Azwel.

Azwel will have an important part in this newly-established SC timeline, in being the main antagonist of the Libra of Soul Story Mode — one of two story modes, by the way. He’s a scholar in many subjects who, in his infinite wisdom, concluded that humanity will eventually destroy themselves through several wars and calamities.

However, he wants to be an ardent savoir of the human race, and seeks to instill the knowledge of the wraths that could be wrought with humans continuing down this path through his own terrifying plan. There are questions regarding whether anyone needs to be a scholar to know the potential for societies to eventually collapse upon themselves, and whether his plan is actually that smart given how he’s being treated as an antagonist. But the SC series has never contained award-winning plots, so let’s just hope it’s entertaining.

Azwel uses the Palindrome in battle, a pair of gloves that contain fragments of the Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. Of course, they’re a lot more than normal gloves, since he can use both to summon a variety of weapons. This makes him similar to Algol, the main antagonist of Soulcalibur IV, who returned in SCV. He looks formidable in the introduction trailer, but keep in mind main antagonists are rarely on top of the tier lists.

There aren’t many reveals for SCVI left, but hopefully they have more surprises before its October 19th release date. Let’s also hope those surprises don’t create unnecessary controversies like the day-one DLC they announced last week.

Speaking of DLC characters: The first one was announced for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. The initial 14 characters have all been confirmed, but SNK revealed that paid DLC character Thief Arthur will join the cast. She’s a guest character from Square Enix’s Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur, a popular free-to-play RPG released for mobile platforms and Vita in Japan. As a thief, Thief Arthur is a quick character capable of big combos from the ground and air, and somewhat resembles a Capcom Vs. or Arc System Works character in motion.

It’s fine that SNK Heroines is getting another much-needed character that wasn’t in The King of Fighters XIV, in addition to Shermie and the gender-swapped Fatal Cutie Terry Bogard. But releasing her as paid DLC a mere six days after the main game arrives for $50 on September 7th (one week from today) is a hell of an idea given the low initial character count.

In exchange for Thief Arthur, the home version of Million Arthur: Arcana Blood, the fighting game adaptation of the Million Arthur series developed by Examu (of Arcana Heart and Aquapazza), will receive Iori Yagami from the King of Fighters series. This game will release on November 29th in Japan, and there’s a fair chance that it could be localized afterward.

Don't panic! 👻🐶

Fiona from Haunting Ground is the next Crossover Costume for Cammy, starting in Extra Battle Mode on August 30. pic.twitter.com/iAguAQVDF4

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) August 24, 2018

New outfits come to Street Fighter V on a constant basis, but two outfits coming to the game soon stand out thanks to how good they are, and the stipulations for how to obtain them. Cammy received Fiona Belli’s outfit from Haunting Ground, a horror game released for PlayStation 2 rereleased as a PS2 Classic for PlayStation 3 a few years ago… in Japan. (This was despite how it was re-rated by the ESRB for America in 2012 — thanks, Capcom.) An Easter egg version of the outfit (a bonus outfit for Fiona from the original game) gives her pants, if you want to call them that.

Let's get to the punchin' already!

Get the Mike-like costume for Balrog in Fighting Chance until September 24! 🥊 pic.twitter.com/H69KLbpRsz

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) August 28, 2018

Meanwhile, Balrog will receive Mike’s outfit from the original Street Fighter. Notably, Capcom is still denying that both characters are one and the same.

Both outfits will have to be earned through the Extra Battle mode, which can be a royal pain when it costs Fight Money to play for the chances to obtain each part of the outfit, and some battles can be difficult. That’s despite Capcom removing options to obtain FM over time. There haven’t been too many complaints about this lately, so it’s possible the bragging rights have been worth it to some remaining players.

Improve your craft with these new costumes for Menat, R. Mika, Kolin, and Falke!

Available August 28! ☕️ pic.twitter.com/RQO6LEd6Yo

— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) August 21, 2018

Playing the mode won’t be necessary for the new maid and maid-style outfits added for Kolin, Falke, R. Mika, and Menat, which can be purchased with real money. The addition of these could settle the debate around whether SFV is an anime game or not.

It will be fun to see which end of the spectrum next week’s Fighting Games Friday post ends up on, since several companies will be saving news for Tokyo Game Show later in September. If it’s on the “no news” side, I’ll have to think of an idea for a unique post, which will be really fun. Either way, I promise you that it will be entertaining.