By: Nicolas Wright
Members of the Fighting Game Community (FGC) have a lot to look forward to this year because of recent announcements. These announcements include: updates, trailers and information about various games that are well known in the community.
Released by the Street Fighter Youtube Channel, a trailer was uploaded on February 20, 2022 with the confirmation of the next Street Fighter game; Street Fighter 6. Fans of the series have long awaited this game and despite some disappointments with the logo and design choices. Fans are excited for the game overall and many videos have been released on what Capcom, the game’s developers, need to do to make the video game better than its predecessor.
King of Fighters XV (15) is another fighting game that was released this year on February 16th. This 3 vs 3 fighting game was highly anticipated as it includes ‘Rollback Netcode’ which is a kind of internet network that improves the online experience for players. The game features 39 characters that are split into teams of three, with four additional teams planned to be released in the future as Downloadable Content (or DLC). The first of the DLC teams was released on March 17th and the second is set to release in May. On March 21st, they released a surprise free DLC trailer that includes a free character along with a new ‘Boss’ mode which will arrive in April.
Another game called Dungeon and Fighter Duel (or DNF Duel) has been getting a lot of attention from FGC fans due to its appealing art, characters and gameplay. So far, 12 characters have been shown to be playable for the game which was announced to release on June 22, 2022. This game is officially part of the Arc World Tour Tournament along with Guilty Gear Strive, another fighting game made by the same company making DNF Duel. Believed to be held in early 2023, the prize-pool for both games are $100,000 dollars.
The Second 2nd Season Pass of Guilty Gear Strive was announced along with addition of Crossplay, a feature that enables different gaming systems to play together via online internet connection. The last character for the 1st Season Pass is set to release on March 28th. Before the 2nd season pass, the next update will include a new story, map along with the new character, Testament. For those interested in this game, the 1st season pass comprises five characters in total and will cost $29.99.
Tekken 7 is a fighting game that hasn’t been really popular until 2018, when a sole American competed against some of the best players in Asia and beat the previous EVO champion. Since the match that can be considered as Legendary, more players have been shown to be slow joining Tekken 7, with a peak of 12,300 people that played in May of 2021. The announcement related to the fighting game wasn’t related to video games but instead an TV related. Tekken: Bloodline is a 3D animated Anime that’ll be released on Netflix sometime this year. The story takes place between Tekken 2 and Tekken 3, a part of the Tekken series’ story that is completely unknown.
Announced to return this year, The Evolution Championship Series (EVO) Tournament is considered the biggest tournament among the FGC. Being held on August 5-7, 2022, top players from around the world will compete against each other in Las Vegas. The Official Tournament List of games is as follows:
- Street Fighter V (5)
- Tekken 7
- Dragon Ball Fighterz
- Guilty Gear Stive
- King of Fighters XV
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Melty Blood: Type Lumina
- Skullgirls 2nd Encore
If you are a fan of fighting games, you have a lot to look forward to this year. If you’re not a fighting game fan, don’t be afraid to get interested, the FGC has a lot to show you.
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