Fighting Games Fri… Saturday: The Power of the Soul

It’s been a busy year for fighting games, in terms of new games released at retail and DLC released for existing games, something I haven’t been hesitant to mention in several previous Fighting Games Friday posts (including those made a little late). But the busiest period has passed, evinced by how there isn’t as much news this week. That’s not to say there isn’t any news; it just means I had to get a little creative with the post this week. In a fun way, of course.

For a time, a Power Rangers and Street Fighter crossover seemed destined to remain in fanfics. But the world of mobile game crossovers has changed everything, where it appears nothing is off limits, though the western world is lagging behind Japan in terms of these advertising opportunities. So, nothing works toward fixing that like a western franchise teaming up with a Japanese one, which is why nWay Games’ Power Rangers: Legacy Wars welcomed several characters from Capcom’s Street Fighter series. It sounded out of this world on the surface, but the SF characters fit in the game rather well upon seeing them in action.

In fairness, it’s not like the Power Rangers are strangers to bizarre crossovers. Power Rangers in Space featured a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the divisive The Next Mutation show, which was far crazier than this in action.

Here, though, both companies upped the ante by having a live-action short film produced called Power Rangers Legacy Wars: Street Fighter Showdown, which arrived online this week. It features Ryu and Chun-Li, who team up with longtime Power Ranger Tommy Oliver and Megaforce Yellow Ranger Gia Moran to take on M. Bison and save Ninjor. It’s as hammy as you’d expect from a crossover like this, and it gets even better when Ryu morphs into the Ryu Ranger to stand a chance against Bison. For some weird reason, Chun-Li doesn’t morph with him, and this likely isn’t due to her being so powerful that she doesn’t need any help. That’s a shame, especially when there’s good fanart of her ranger form.

This is such a silly crossover that I wouldn’t mind if Capcom went ahead with developing a full Street Fighter x Power Rangers crossover. But I’m hesitant to outright say they should do it. Remember, my “Is Capcom Back?” post was in the form of a question; while titles like the Resident Evil 2 remake and Devil May Cry 5 look great, we should wait until these titles and more have released to determine whether Capcom’s pulled themselves out of the hole they were in.

Bandai Namco just released Soulcalibur VI, and to no surprise for anyone who’s kept up with the game and played the online test, it’s getting good reviews. Fans consider it a return to form after Soulcalibur V drifted too far from the established formula, and lacked several fan-favorite characters and a story — not that the development team was completely at fault. This game is an alternate retelling of the first Soulcalibur game, which presses the reset button on all the characters and their storylines.

The second part to the “Souls and Swords” documentary also released this week. The first episode focused on the history of the franchise, and interviewed several members of the fighting game tournament community and streamers familiar with Soulcalibur’s lineage. The second one interviews several of those same individuals to discuss the elements of SCVI which tap into that legacy. The launch trailer was also released, which highlights nearly all the characters announced and parts of its story. It’s also one of the very few examples of such trailers released on the game’s actual launch. For reference, the Red Dead Redemption 2 launch trailer arrived Thursday, though the game doesn’t release until next Friday.

Now that the game is available on all platforms, most players are having a good time playing it online and venturing through the story mode, some small issues aside. Others are having a little too much fun with the character creation mode, and some designs are already insanely creative. It’s also already been discovered that Not Safe for Work (no, seriously) combinations can be made. The character and outfit creation systems are at least as good as they were in SCV, so it’s good that these options are now available in a game most fans appreciate.

This week was slow for fighting game news, even more so than last week. But that’s fine when we had such a rush of it in the last several months that I was wondering if these posts would all become 1,000+ word behemoths from here on. I’m glad that’s not the case, though it would have made for a real entertaining time every week.

P.S. There’s no consensus on whether the Virtual-On series counts as a fighting franchise, but the titles often pit players against each other with robots, so it kind of counts. Sega announced that Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram M.S.B.S. Ver. 5.66, and Cyber Troopers: Virtual-On Force are coming to PlayStation 4 as digital releases in Japan. Each game will have online play. They’ll also be compatible with the Twin-Stick Project Z special peripheral being crowdfunded by Tanita for A Certain Magical Virtual-On, the crossover between Virtual-On and light novel/anime series A Certain Magical Index that Virtual-On fans were overjoyed about when it was announced. There’s no word on whether these ports will release outside Japan, but it would be surprising if they didn’t.