Fighting Games Friday: Kill la Kill the EX Heroines
The busiest season for fighting game news is over, so these posts should be calming down a little in terms of the information they contain. But the key word there is a “little,” since there’s always plenty of news about fighting games regardless, and titles already on the market are receiving updates and downloadable content. In case you were concerned, I’ll never run out of anything to talk about here. That’s good!
It’s been nearly three months since Arc System Works harshly teased a Kill la Kill fighting game, officially titled Kill la Kill The Game: IF. It initially appeared they were announcing a game developed internally by them, one that perhaps utilized the same graphics techniques as the Guilty Gear Xrd games and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Other guessed the Kill la Kill franchise would be introduced in Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle. But this is an arena fighter developed by APlus Games, who previously worked on the Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time game. That game looked good from screenshots, but its gameplay left much to be desired. Hopefully this game will be different.
Several characters from the Studio Trigger anime series will be in the game, though its original story will receive one notable change. Ryuko Matoi was the main character in the series, while Satsuki Kiryuin was her rival. But that will be reversed for this game, with Satsuki taking the main role. As you’d expect, her fans and those who felt she could have received more development from her perspective are thrilled, but her detractors are disappointed. She’ll retain two of her outfits from the show, but will receive a new original one known as the “Junketsu Shinzui” for this game, which is currently only shown through a silhouette. It’s been drawn by designer Shigeto Koyama, who worked as an art director for the series, though Kill la Kill character designer Sushio is providing touch-ups.
Two characters from the series were also confirmed to join: Ira Gamagori and Uzu Sanageyama, both of whom are brutes. Ira can build up a special gauge by guarding attacks from the opponent or through attacking himself, and unleash powerful charged-up techniques. Uzu, meanwhile, is armed with a bamboo sword, and specializes in close-distance combat.
More characters will be introduced as its release date nears, which is coming at an unspecified time next year. The developers will also have plenty of time to polish the game compared to what was shown at Tokyo Game Show, particularly the camera and framerate.
SNK released Thief Arthur for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy last week, the game’s first DLC character. Now, the second is confirmed to be a gender-swapped version of Skullomania from Arika’s Fighting EX Layer, and the Street Fighter EX games prior to those. While SNK lightly teased this through a silhouette, Arika heavily teased this by holding a stream for SNK Heroines afterward, and retweeting the announcement. This wasn’t a surprise, but that didn’t stop the announcement itself from being fun and hilarious.
This version of Skullomania retains several techniques and poses from the male one, as both take inspiration from various Kamen Rider heroes and heroines. How those techniques are done will have adjustments thanks to SNK Heroines’ unique control format, which notably doesn’t allow for basic fighting game moves like crouching attacks for simplicity’s sake. Her key super technique is also similar to Skullomania’s level 3 super from the EX games.
Skullomania will be available on October 11th for $4.99. Rumor has it there will be a two more characters, and given the pace at which they’re being released, it won’t be long before they arrive.
Speaking of that: Fighting EX Layer is being ported to Steam with 4K support, which looks unsurprisingly nicer than the PS4 version through its screenshots. They provided little info, outside the implication of how it will include all the content from the PS4 version. Arika implied that it could release by the end of this year, but if it doesn’t, it will come early next year.
Cooler and Android 17 arrived as DLC characters for Dragon Ball FighterZ today, the final roster additions for this season. It will take time to determine whether they’re formidable gameplay-wise or not, but they look the part from videos that have made their way online. They released alongside the Switch port of the game today, which notably doesn’t include any of its DLC characters. Instead, it’s fully priced with DLC bundles, despite other ports being discounted several times, and the Season Pass is the same price as the other versions. This strikes me as a brave move, assuming they want it to sell.
There are rumors that a second season of FighterZ could be coming, though it would be a surprise if that wasn’t happening given how successful the game has been. It could be announced between the end of this year and early next year.
Soulcalibur VI’s online test is happening as you read this. It has 15 playable characters available to use online, including guest character Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series. Tira is also included, despite being a paid-DLC character for the main game. The client can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store or the Xbox Live Marketplace, but Steam is being left out for some reason. It’s also interesting that you don’t need to be a PlayStation Plus subscriber to play on PlayStation 4, but you will need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play on Xbox One.
The matchmaking issues that existed when the test started this morning are mostly gone; players are currently discovering how some characters play differently from what they remember, while others don’t remember how to play Soulcalibur as a whole, as it’s been a while since the last game. Give it a shot, if you’re interested.
Even the lenient weeks are still packed with fighting game news, and this pattern will hold as long as the genre remains popular with a large-enough audience. But I like it this way, and this trend will hold up as New York Comic-Con approaches next weekend.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
