Under Night: In-Birth

In the previous post, we said you should pay attention to this game, but we feel that it needs a separate post for the reasons why.

Under Night In-Birth* is the upcoming fighting game from the developer of Melty Blood. It is scheduled for arcade release this Summer (or in near future). The game may look like a low-budget version of BlazBlue, but some elements are better.

*The game officially uses In-Birth in English, but Inverse in Japanese.

The first thing you will quickly notice is it's clean. It doesn't have millions of gauges and icons like in BlazBlue. The game is in good pace and has good camera work (no unnecessary zoom-out or move-up). Overall, it has one of those things that make SF4 easier to get into.

Anyway, the video below is the most important reason. Orie probably has the best sprite in any 2D FGs right now. She's so smooth.

There're many smaller FGs from smaller developers like this both on PC and in the arcades in Japan. Due to the lack of budget and resources, none of them can compete with FGs from the bigger companies. These game probably are not up to your standard, but there're something that they get it right and we want to promote that. The more you know, the more you realize that bigger FGs in the market are still far from being genuinely good.

Nico to stream Extra Stage of Game Summer Festival 2012

It is revealed that Nico Nico will stream Game Summer Festival 2012's Extra Stage for free both day.

Game Summer Festival is the game event that will be held together with Tougeki 2012. Two events share the same ticket.

Below are stream links and time table.

August 4
11:50 - Soulcalibur V talk show
13:25 - Taiko no Tatsujin exhibition
15:00 - Puyo Puyo tutorial and super play
17:30 - Dead or Alive 5 tournament
19:10 - Doruaga Time Attack Battle
20:40 - Tougeki 2012 First Day talk show

August 5
11:50 - Hokuto no Ken exhibition match
13:10 - Puyo Puyo tutorial and super play
15:40 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure HD Ver. introduction stage
16:40 - Touhou Hisoutensoku tournament*
18:10 - Under Night In-Birth tournament*
19:25 - Tougeki 2012 Second Day talk show

*Highly recommended by Beast Note

Big announcements from Tougeki: UMvC3, Touhou, etc.

Tonight on Nico, a show was arranged for some big announcements from Tougeki organizer. Tougeki producer and Fuudo were also there.

Here is our summary.

Umehara will be invited for exhibition match in Nico Nico Chokaigi
They asked the viewers who they want to watch in the 8-man exhibition matches. Umehara was named, though they will invite him anyway. Confirmed players are Haitani, Fuudo, MDR.

All tournaments in Chokaigi are single (1 on 1) and winners can choose teammates
The winners of Tougeki qualifiers in Chokaigi get to choose teammates if the tournament is 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 in the finals.

Tougeki to try double elimination in Chokaigi
They are planning to try double elimination system, but for SSF4AE2012 tournament only.

Tougeki to deal with doujin/PC game for the first time
Since there is Touhou booth in Chokaigi, Tougeki will have a Touhou Hisoutensoku special tournament in Chokaigi. (We actually have a post about this game.)

Nico to stream Tougeki 2011 for free
Since they did not release Tougeki 2011 DVD, they decided to stream it for free on April 22.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 being planned for Tougeki 2012
They want to add Soulcalibur V -- and UMvC3.

In the end, they said that UMvC3 is the last title so we now have a complete lineup. Leaving Street Fighter X Tekken behind is another bad news for Capcom's Ono team. The game is being given the cold shoulder from around the world. The game suffers from many issues. Evo 2012 does not accept its Gem System. Now Tougeki does not accept it at all. In contrast, Capcom's Niitsuma team is making a big comeback with UMvC3 as the Japanese start to give it attention.

Let us remind you about titles.

1. Aquapazza (2 on 2)
2. Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (1 on 1)
3. Street Fighter III 3rd Strike (3 on 3)
4. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver.2012 (3 on 3)
5. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited (2 on 2)
6. Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown (3 on 3)
7. Soulcalibur V (being planned)
8. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (being planned)

Tougeki 2012 (finals) is still not dated. But judging from everything, it should last at least 2 days.

Ura Kao TV 2011.11.25 (Touhou Hisoutensoku)

M-ya, a player who is an acquaintance of Kami-chan came to play Touhou Hisoutensoku with the viewers on Ura Kao TV on November 25. M-ya also taught how to play and introduced all the characters.

The stream was 7 hours, and an amazing person just uploaded all of it today.

This's a self-published (doujin) PC fighting game (from 2009) which is a spinoff of Touhou (bullet-hell shooting game) series. The game maintains the bullet-hell image as fighting with projectiles is still the main theme. Its system and character customization make it very unique.

Being a low budget self-published game, it doesn't have character voices and online match maker. (You must enter your partner's IP manually.)

Both Touhou Hisoutensoku and Ougon Musou Kyoku are the same. They don't get what they deserve. You'll see more creativities in these low-profile games than those from a company like Capcom, who ran out of ideas and started to understand less about fighting games. (Did you notice that Capcom has comeback mechanics in their last 3 games. And Focus Attack is the only contribution.)

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Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7 (last)