Welcome, ladies and gents.
It’s been some time since I’ve updated the Haven with any news concerning the top of my personal Most Wanted list, Street Fighter x Tekken. With Capcom opening the proverbial flood gates with new information (even though much of it raises more questions than answers), the radio silence ends today.
From character reveals to new gameplay mechanics, I aim to make everything that I’ve uncovered and learned concerning this game over the past couple of weeks available to you in this one article. This will serve as a compilation, giving you a one-stop shop for everything new, related to SFxT here on The Outer Haven.
File #1 – Character Reveals:
Since the last SFxT related article posted here featuring the first two new teaser clips, Capcom has released two more last week. We now have confirmation and in-game images and footage of all four new combatants added to the roster.
First up, as was speculated, Heihachi Mishima had refused to be left out of the fray, predictably joining the crew serving as Kuma’s partner.
Aside from the hilarity of the background in this picture, worthy of note is the fact that both Kazuya AND Jin are tied up on the roller coaster behind him. Throughout interviews and discussions, both Seth Killian and Yoshinori Ono have let slip references to Jin being a playable character in SFxT. This picture certainly does add to the list of things unofficially confirming him.
Next, though there was some confusion about who exactly the character being teased with Heihachi was (many guessed Sodom, Sean, Charlie, etc.) it’s now confirmed – the SF character teased was none other than Mad Gear’s own Rolento (another Final Fight veteran):
Oddly enough, Rolento comes in as Ibuki’s partner. The only connection I know of the two characters is Ibuki’s kunai throw, as well as her Kasumi Suzaku super when used in the classic Pocket Fighter. Ibuki cosplayed Rolento while she was throwing the knives. It’s a really thin connection, but no one said all the teams had to make sense, I guess. Sadly, with this team decided, chances of the partners more fitting for Ibuki aren’t looking so good right now (Makoto, perhaps Elena), as well as characters that typically would be Rolento’s partner (Sodom). If any of them were in the game, I doubt this partner arrangement would be
Also worthy of note is that Rolento has a variation of his “Minesweeper” super (the grenade roll) as his super for SFxT. Disappointing, as I’m much more fond of Take no Prisoners (the super in which he hangs you).
The Super and Cross Arts for Rolento and Heihachi have been made available on the Japanese Street Fighter x Tekken website
Moving along, the second batch of character reveals have shown one character that we only got a mere flash frame of in a trailer long ago. As I was patiently awaiting her, Capcom has finally seen fit to add Tekken’s Lili:
Unofficially, we know her partner is Asuka, as she was also shown in an earlier trailer, and it’s the obvious choice. But for now in game, Lili’s official partner has yet to be revealed. The Tekken half of my most anticipated dream match in this game is now all but guaranteed in Lili/Asuka. Here’s hoping Ono doesn’t drop the ball and makes sure to add Sakura/Karin on the SF side!
Lastly, rounding out the SF reveals, the Red Cyclone is back yet again, as was painfully obvious to anyone seeing his teaser clip:
As for his partner, all signs indicate that the most usual suspects you’d associate with ‘Gief (R. Mika, El Fuerte) are not his partner in this shindig. As for who is being hinted at, it’s detailed in the next file.
File #2 – Trailers:
To commemorate Tokyo Game Show, Capcom has let loose with another character trailer showcasing some cinematic SFxT antics! Bob and Julia take on Zangief and (surprise, surprise) Rufus and there are plenty of other hilarious moments I could point out in this trailer (check out Ryu and Ken, LOL), but I’ll let the vid speak for itself:
(Note where this takes place… hopefully that’s hinting a future reveal!)
New Character gameplay trailers:
Next we have a video rundown of almost everything else I have to discuss here. I present the TGS “Pandora’ trailer!
File #3 – Pandora:
So, what’s the deal with this new Pandora ability? From what’s been revealed, it seems like the point character sacrifices their life to give the character in reserve access to the power boost of Pandora. Looking at it, I’d expect a power boost, but it does not seem to boost speed at all. Whether or not it changes any meter or juggle properties remains to be seen. From the footage showing it, it seems to have a different duration in some videos than others. Could duration or power be linked to the amount of life the sacrificed character had? Is it linked to the new second meter that’s been revealed, or the small circles attached to that meter?
Also, though we have no specifics at this time, Capcom-Unity reports that after Pandora is depleted, your character loses as well. A full breakdown of the mechanic is pending from Seth Killian.
File #4 – Features:
As you see in the trailer, SFxT is coming jam packed with plenty of amazing new features. 2×2 online play, allowing 4 players to fight teaming up against each other. Scramble mode, giving us a full on dramatic battle. Lastly, online training with briefing, that supports multiple players as well as online fight request! As hype as I am for the game, these features in itself make the experience worth it. As the Pandora feature seems to kill off the point character, I’m speculating that it won’t interfere in team matches, as the player using the ability will likely be choosing to sacrifice themselves, rather than their partner.
File #5 – The Rumor Mill
According to Lupinko (the source that leaked the entire MvC3 roster long before release), the SFxT roster is massive, with more slots than Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (it has over 50 characters)! Could I actually get the 60 characters I’ve been hoping for?!
It seems like Ono will be present at Brazil Game Show. We may be getting more information sooner than you think:
Lastly, I’ll just leave this here (the latest in Ono vs. Harada):