Fighting Games Friday: Samurais, Trials, and Fighters
The last few weeks have provided just enough fighting game news to make these Fighting Games Friday posts robust enough. You know what? This week is the same way. News has been steady enough to show how popular the genre still is, but it’s nothing overwhelming. That’s also good, not because it gives me less work to do, but because the games aren’t competing for attention.
The next DLC character coming to Samurai Shodown will be Basara, available on Tuesday, October 15th. Basara is a revived spirit also known as “Basara the Executioner,” who debuted in Samurai Shodown III and became a staple in the 2D installments since then. He was killed with his wife, Kagaribi, when demonic swordsman Zankuro slaughtered the entire village in which they lived. He later discovered that recurring franchise boss character Amakusa revived him, but it’s also revealed that Basara killed his wife himself instead of the swordsman. Executioner indeed.
Basara wields a large triple-bladed shuriken on a chain, and is capable of several long-ranged attacks. He can also teleport around the arena thanks to his status as an undead spirit. There’s no way to tell how formidable he’ll be from the extremely short introduction video, but he could be fun to play, which is what matters most.
Basara will be available separately on Tuesday for $5.99 separately, or for $19.99 with three other characters as part of the Season Pass (unless you got it for free just after launch). Rimururu is already available, while Shizumaru Hisame was released as a free DLC character last month. Following Basara will be Kazumi Kazama and Wan-fu in November and December, respectively. The characters will be available alongside the game itself when it comes to Switch on December 12th, and on PC via Steam sometime in the near future. These characters will be followed with a second season that will include another four characters, so this new Samurai Shodown will be with us for a while.
The Free Trial Weekend for Mortal Kombat 11 started today on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, available for anyone still on the fence. They’re giving players a lot to try. One-on-one offline and online play is available, with the entire base roster available to use. There are also two free chapters in the Story Mode, Fatality Training, and the Towers of Time featuring DLC characters Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, and the newly-released Terminator. The Krypt will also be available to unlock and purchase items. This is enough content to determine whether you’ll like the game or not, so give it a shot if you have the time and don’t already own the game.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is also having free trial periods, albeit in a different manner. This isn’t a free demo period, but the game will offer chances to try out DLC characters before they potentially buy them. Base Goku and Base Vegeta are available between today (the 11th) and tomorrow (the 12th). Zamasu and Cooler will be the next characters available on November 2nd. Other DLC characters will follow, so it shouldn’t take too long to make all of them available temporarily. That includes the upcoming Broly from the recent Dragon Ball Super: Broly film, though whether he’ll be the last DLC character is another question.
Training to become a champion or just like to look sporty? Get in the spirit with all-new athletic uniform costumes for the entire #SFVAE roster. They’re free for all players and coming in Dec! pic.twitter.com/6U52lAhncw
— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) October 10, 2019
Producer Yoshinori Ono had a couple of minor announcements to make for Street Fighter V at the Brazil Game Show. Every character in the roster will receive athletic outfits in December. The game has thus far received four tournament-themed arena stages as part of the Capcom Pro Tour, so it’s a surprise that it’s just receiving the outfits to go along with them nearly four years after release. The game itself was designed for eSports potential, after all. Even better news: These will be the first free outfits for SFV since its release. No, those alternate default outfits with CPT advertising don’t count.
The outfits could have also helped with players choosing family-friendly outfits at tournaments broadcast on ESPN or Disney XD or in other countries that don’t want too much fanservice on the screen. Two characters, Cammy and R. Mika, have default outfits too risqué to be used; but all these outfits will feature the characters in well-dressed workout threads. Notably, this will only be the second outfit that Cammy’s received where she’s wearing pants, behind the Jill Valentine one. So much for that particular running joke.
Ono also mentioned that new character announcements will be made at the end of the current CPT run in mid-December, to the chagrin of fans hoping for some here. There have been rumors that Oro from the Street Fighter III series could be added, but other hints suggest Sean, who originated from the same game, could be among the new additions. We have only a couple of months to see if those guesses are right or way off.
That’s all the key fighting game news from this week, though there were other minor pieces of noteworthy news. Popular rollback netcode GGPO is now available for commercial use. Whether some Japanese developers who absolutely need to implement it in their games will seriously pursue it is anyone’s guess at the moment. Also, keep in mind that Arc System Works will release another short trailer for the upcoming Guilty Gear title this weekend at the SEA Major 2019 in Singapore. In addition to further showcasing Axl Low, a new character reveal should be included at the end. I might provide a short post about it afterward.
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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
