Fighting Games Friday: Wrestling Inferno EX

I feel like I’ve started and ended way too many Fighting Games Friday posts by saying the weeks that involved a rush of fighting game news was bound to come to an end. But the trick there was how I had to be right eventually, and that time was today. There’s a lot of news for both upcoming and currently-supported fighting games these days, but the busiest times were during convention season, which started with E3 and ended with Tokyo Game Show. New York Comic-Con is happening this weekend, but not much news was saved for that event this year.

Soulcalibur VI will release in two short weeks, and Bandai Namco had one more character reveal for the initial roster: Inferno. Inferno has appeared in several installments, a character whose body is made of fire, though he occasionally wears armor. He was the final boss of the original Soul Edge (aka Soul Blade) and the first two Soulcalibur games, though took a different form in each game though his move set. He was referred to as the embodiment of the Soul Edge sword in the first game, but properly called Inferno in the SC titles.

In the first game, Inferno mostly used Cervantes’ move set, who was the main villain in the game. But while he used Nightmare’s move set by default as a boss in Soulcalibur, he could also switch between the move sets of other characters like a mimic as a playable character. In Soulcalibur II, he would switch between move sets mid-match as a boss character, but wasn’t playable without the use of a hack or Action Replay device. He also somewhat appeared in Soulcalibur V, though as a Legendary Souls (mainly a palette swap) iteration of Cervantes.

Since SCVI is a reimaging of the first SC game, he once again mostly uses Nightmare’s move set, though includes at least a few moves of his own. But the playable version isn’t a mimic character this time. It’s also clear that his move set is game-breaking, since he won’t be playable online.

Soulcalibur VI is due for release on October 19th. Tira will be a paid-DLC character despite being playable in the online test that happened last weekend (which went mostly well). She’ll also be included with the $29.99 Season Pass, and more DLC characters should start being announced soon.

Koei Tecmo announced three more characters for Dead or Alive 6, and all are returning faces from previous games. Bass Armstrong has been with the franchise since the first game, a wrestler who previously resembled “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, though the likeness has been reduced with each passing game. His wrestling daughter Tina Armstrong is also returning, who’s a popular character among western players (she’s pretty low on popularity lists in Japan), whose default outfit is noticeably more modest this time around. This is continuing a trend of fanservice reduction, though the Tokyo Game Show preview showed how several old outfits will be available.

The third character confirmed is Mila, a Spanish MMA fighter introduced in Dead or Alive 5, who looks nearly identical to how she appeared in that game. The characters are coming with a new stage called “The Muscle,” a special wrestling ring which involves an electrical current surging through its ropes.

The pace at which more DOA6 characters are being revealed seems to be increasing, though it isn’t due for release until February 15th. Expect this pace to be maintained, as though there are several more potential returning characters yet to be confirmed, there should be at least one more new character among them. I’m not saying that will definitely be the case, but it’s a safe bet.

Arika released Fighting EX Layer for PlayStation 4 at the end of June, but PC players will have the opportunity to play it when it comes to Steam at some point between the end of this year and early next year. The Steam version will support 4K resolutions, and include all the content released for the PS4 version, including the initial 12 characters and free DLC roster additions Pullum Purna and Vulcano Rosso. Unfortunately, the port won’t include cross-play between the PS4 and Steam versions, since the company doesn’t have the resources.

In fact, one of the reasons why they’re doing his is due to the PS4 game selling less than the development team wanted, though it performed well enough for them to release two DLC characters for free. While an upcoming balance patch that will alter some characters and “Gougi” decks will still arrive for free, future DLC characters like Area, Sharon, and Fatal Fury’s Terry Bogard (no, really) will be paid-DLC.

Arika will share more about the PC version and future DLC soon. The PS4 version will also receive a retail release in Japan on December 6th, the first-print copies of which will include the paid-DLC as a bonus. There are no current plans for a retail release outside Japan, but it could happen if they find a generous publisher. Cross your fingers.

Rare behind the scenes footage of the making of Mortal Kombat 3. https://t.co/uOHReEFCbb

— Ed Boon (@noobde) October 1, 2018

This week, I’ll leave you with a special short behind the scenes video for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, posted by co-creator Ed Boon this week. The first three Mortal Kombat games used digitized actors who were skilled at martial arts, and the video shows how several of them were captured for the characters’ moves and poses. If you want more, there’s a much longer behind-the-scenes look at Mortal Kombat 3’s creation.

I’ll see you next week, which should have even less news than this post. We’ll see if I’m right, but I won’t mind being wrong here.