Fighting Games Friday: Samurais and Diapers

I’ve become accustomed to focusing on a single topic for recent Fighting Games Friday posts, while including news from the week below that, provided there was any. It’s worked out well so far. But that’s not happening with this post.

Damage Control is a blog and not a “serious” news site, where I’m free to relax and be honest with the readership. That’s exactly what I’m doing here because, reader, I don’t have an idea for a main topic this time around. But that’s fine, and probably not as big a deal as I’m making it out to be. There was plenty of fighting game news to make up for that this week, even accounting for topics I covered in other posts.

Sogetsu Kazama will come to the new Samurai Shodown on April 1st. Kazama, who was previously announced as a DLC character for this game, originally debuted as one of the then-new co-protagonists in Samurai Shodown IV. He arrived alongside his younger brother of another hair color Kazuki Kazama, who’s already available in this game. Both Kazamas have been popular characters ever since, even appearing in 3D spinoffs like the Samurai Shodown 64 games and Samurai Shodown Sen.

Speaking of this particular Samurai Shodown: Remember when SNK announced the PC version? It was originally due for a release in the Q4 2019, but went MIA without a word from SNK themselves. It disappeared for so long that several fans started assuming the Google Stadia version, which actually released Q4 2019, was the PC port. It was finally confirmed for a spring release this week, but to the Epic Games Store. The page doesn’t say whether it will be exclusive to the store, but the chances are good considering every other game on the list they provided will be.

This came as the newest surprise to fans who’ve been looking forward to this after so much time, considering producer Nobuyuki Kuroki previously claimed the company turned down an exclusivity deal for the PC version in June last year. Kuroki never said it was Epic Games that approached them, but there’s no other PC storefront owner making exclusive deals besides them. Again, SNK didn’t specify whether it will actually be exclusive to the EGS, but as more time passes without a clarification (it’s been over four days since their original announcement), the more it seems like one. My how things can change in such a short time.

(What do you know? I kind of had a main topic this week after all.)

While we’re on the subject of Samurai Shodown: The franchise’s Haohmaru will release for Soulcalibur VI as a guest character on March 31st. Footage of Haohmaru was previously revealed during Evo Japan 2020, which showed how several of his techniques come from his SamSho self; but he’s also been given more normals to fit within the Soulcalibur franchise’s 3D gameplay style. We’ll see just how good a job the team did with him when he arrives, but the effort alone will be respectable regardless. He also, oh boy, has an English voice option for the first time in a while, but it doesn’t sound too bad.

Coming alongside Haohmaru will be a new stage with its own unique track, and a character creation set including Nakoruru’s outfit, weapons, and accessories, and a separate character creation set with more new accessories. There are still two more characters and sets coming as part of the second season of SCVI’s DLC, the identities for which should be revealed in the near future. You never know when they could be revealed these days, since the Coronavirus pandemic is creating all sorts of development delays.

Soriz will be the next character coming to Granblue Fantasy: Versus, who will arrive in all territories on April 7th. Soriz is an old man who previously ran a weapon shop, but decided to train to make his body the ultimate weapon instead. Looking at him, it’s clear he succeeded. He’s a muscular guy who isn’t afraid to show off his physique, fully displayed through how he can eventually lose nearly all his clothes to continue fighting in a diaper. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, this IS as amazing to watch in motion as it sounds.

The next character release following Soriz will be Djeeta, essentially the female protagonist of the series. She should inherit a bunch of male protagonist Gran’s techniques, which will be good for players who like his style, since he’s one of the easiest characters to use. Gran is also so good of a fighter that some vocal players feel bad about picking him, so having Djeeta will add a little variety to their character selections.

The other news from this week involved two new characters being revealed for Guilty Gear -Strive-, and the next character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being a face from Nintendo’s Arms. The light existing info about the latter was included in yesterdays’ Nintendo Direct Mini post.

It was a busy week for fighting game news, with reveals that were likely planned to be made on streams and during tournaments before they were cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. Stay safe out there, and never stop fighting — or something.