Fighting Games Friday: The Rising Kombat Wind

Evo 2023 is now about a month away, by far the grandest stage for fighting game tournaments in the world. The event will host the largest individual fighting game tournament ever through Street Fighter 6’s, in fact, which has garnered a Vegeta scouter-crushing number of over 9000 entrants as of a week ago. Publishers also save plenty of fighting game news for Evo considering the number of genre fans who tend to watch it. This means we’ve now entered what’s typically a dry period for news.

I said “typically” because it is absolutely not a dry period this year. There’s been enough news in the last week to suggest that publishers are either done with saving news for one big event, or they have so much to announce that they can afford to provide some weeks before Evo begins. Either way, I’m not complaining.

I didn’t expect for Capcom to reveal everyone’s favorite fighting game streaming character Rashid for SF6 until Evo, considering they previously dated the character for a summer release. They were perfectly positioned to reveal him on the event’s last day, just before the game’s finals, and release him as a semi-surprise shortly afterward. Capcom clearly thought differently when they revealed him this week for a release on July 24th.

Rashid will return with several moves from Street Fighter V, alongside new ones, though some will have different commands. The Arabian Cyclone is a new technique that will involve him performing a spin kick to summon a whirlwind, but it can lead into the Rolling Assault and Wing Stroke attacks previously attached to the V-Skill function from SFV that didn’t return in SF6. He also has a feature that allows him to improve his mobility, as if he isn’t quick and active enough without it. The development team appears to have kept everything that worked about the character from the previous game, and has found other ways to equip him with the same moves to ensure that he won’t be neutered, the running theme for how they’ve approached characters for SF6.

He’ll be added to the World Tour mode too, where the Avatar can learn his moves. It’s nice that they plan on continually updating the mode, though they assuredly have even larger plans for it in the future. Rashid can be obtained through the Year 1 Character Pass, and the Fighting Pass that will also come with Rashid-themed gear for the Avatar. Players can also try him out for free with a Rental Fighter ticket, included with the Fighting Pass. Precisely what Capcom has planned for Evo news remains to be seen, but a first look at new character A.K.I., planned for release in autumn, would be nice.

The Kombat Kast streaming series from NetherRealm Studios has returned in the lead up to Mortal Kombat 1’s release, with the first installment reintroducing two legacy characters. Human Smoke and Rain will return, allied with the Lin Kuei and Liu Kang’s group, respectively. This is notably the first time Human Smoke will be playable since the ninth Mortal Kombat game a whopping twelve years ago, in case anyone wanted a reminder of how old they’re getting. The fanbase is free to debate whether the current look or the long-haired version of Smoke is more aesthetically pleasing, an argument I’m not entering. MK1, meanwhile, will mark Rain’s return to the base roster after being downloadable content in previous games. I also don’t remember him being quite so cheesy before.

A number of new ninja Kameos were additionally shown in the trailer, including the robot versions of Cyrax and Sektor, Frost, and the original Scorpion. Unlike the main roster, the Kameo roster hasn’t been leaked. Expect to see plenty more faces that players wish were playable there, though perhaps some requests will eventually be granted through the Season Passes.

MK1 is planned for release on September 19th. Considering how soon this is coming, subsequent reveals will come soon and quickly.

Nier summons the primal beast Death to fight alongside her. Input Death's skills in succession and watch as they activate in order. But be careful, as this costs Love's Redemption, a resource that causes Death to become temporarily inactive once exhausted.#GBVS #GBVSR #AX2023 pic.twitter.com/wiRxkJITeA

— グランブルーファンタジー ヴァーサス (@gbvs_official) July 3, 2023

Nier is the newest character joining Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. This is perhaps not the “NieR” you’re thinking about upon reading that name, but the one from the Granblue Fantasy mobile game. (There’s no way 2B wouldn’t be the NieR representative if one was chosen.) The fans who know her are welcoming her inclusion, however. She’ll be one of the Arc System Works fighting game characters who fights with an assistant with the not-intimidating name of “Death,” who can be summoned at the cost of Love’s Redemption, the latter being a mechanic unique to her.

Versus: Rising is scheduled for a release sometime this year. A pre-release beta is scheduled to start on July 27th, perhaps the first of several testing sessions.

Hey KOF fans!

Submit any questions you have for NAJD by using the hashtag #KOFXV_NAJD by July 10th and they might get chosen!

Picked questions will be answered in Summer on KOF XV's official website alongside the DLC launch of NAJD.https://t.co/zcZZPxq3Ek#KOFXV #KOF15 pic.twitter.com/05ojjQ1il2

— SNK GLOBAL (@SNKPofficial) July 3, 2023

SNK has yet to show off Najd for The King of Fighters XV, a returning character introduced in The King of Fighters XIV coming back again as DLC. But she’s evidently coming soon given the small promotion SNK is providing in preparation for her arrival. SNK is likely saving the bigger surprises for Evo, so a Najd reveal trailer should arrive before then — maybe even next week. Two more characters are planned as DLC beyond her, one of which could be everyone’s favorite sumo girl Hinako, long missing in action in playable form. The other might be Duo Lon, who hasn’t been seen since The King of Fighters XIII.

This was a surprisingly good week for fighting game news, though whether this Pre-Evo Drip Feed (that’s what I’m calling it) will continue remains to be seen over the next few weeks. I wouldn’t mind it.