Monday, February 23, 2009

Free Street Fighter IV Strategy Guide

I don't think I need to say much more -- written by a top Street Fighter IV player.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Play N Trade Colonie Center Street Fighter IV Tournament

Today I participated in the Street Fighter IV Tournament at the Play N Trade in Colonie Center.

Since I have about 4 hours of play with the game I didn't do too well. I did much better at the Street Fighter Alpha 3 Tournament last weekend. I only won one match out of four.

Here are some highlights:

My second to last match - Ken Vs Ken (I am in white)

My final match against Sagat:

Johnathan (seated on right playing as Ryu) Vs Michael (standing on left playing as Rose) -- This was an crazy intense matchup!

An earlier match with Michael playing as Rose Vs. Honda

Johnathan played much better against Sagat (same person as my final match) than I did.

A tight match between Ken and Honda

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Street Fighter IV Fightpad for Xbox 360

The standard wireless controller for the Xbox 360 is an excellent controller. It has a huge flaw -- its analog D-pad.

Now while is is no where as bad as the D-pad on the PSP, It still makes playing fighting games difficult. Capcom in its infinte wisdom has worked with Mad Catz (eww.. I know Mad Catz) to create a 6 button gamepad for the 360 and PS3.

Buttons

This Fightpad has 6 buttons on the face X,Y,A,B,RB and RT. The LB and LT remain on the shoulders but the LB moves to the right side.

D-pad

This is where the most siginifigant improvement has been made. The D-pad on this controller is very similar to a Sega Saturn 6 button D-pad in its construction, but it is larger. It is a little too large, which requires further thumb movements. This increases the time to perform a move on the controller. Overall this conteoller is oversized. The 6 face buttons are so large that I was frequently having to make sure I was pressing the right button. I am sure that I will adjust to this controller over time, but it would have been better if it were the size of the Saturn controller.

Features

One of the best features is that this controller is not burdened with 2 analog sticks. Mad Catz was able to do this by putting a switch on the back that changes the d-pad to act as the left stick or the right stick. I assume this was added in case any games require the analog stick to navigate the menus, which give it a great second use as an Live Arcade gamepad. This pad also has a turbo feature, but I have not had the need to use it yet.

Overall for $39.99 this is an excellent buy and makes fighting games more fun on the 360. I know I will be using it at the Street Fighter IV tournament this weekend. I just wish it were wireless.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Import Fun King of Fighters 95 - Sega Saturn

While I was inbetween matches of the Street Fighter Alpha 3 tournament at the Play N Trade in Colonie Center Mall I noticed a interesting looking cartridge in the bin. Upon picking it up my hands started to tremble. It was a Japanese import King of Fighters 95, For the Sega Saturn! It was only $3.99!!!

So I shatched that up and returned to the tournament where I didn't win. The prize was a copy of Street Fighter IV.

I got home later that day and popped it in the Saturn and nothing happened. So I looked the game up and found that the cartridge was only half of the game. It also requires a CD! Woops! So a trip back to the store and the other half was mine for and additional $14.99.

But the problem was that my means for playing import games on my Saturn, the Ultra Madness ST-key uses the cartridge slot. Normally this is not a problem but this game needs the slot. I tried swapping the cartride after the game booted, but the system freezes. So it looks like my only solution is to add a region switch to my Saturn.

I just need to decide if the game is good enough to do the mod. The mod is simple and no problem for me to do. I would just put the switch in the bay where the battery backup is, which would save me from having to hack the case.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Janey singing "The B.I.B.L.E"

Janey singing "The B.I.B.L.E"