BOD
by Crunch King
Being a big fan of fighting games ever since I got a copy of Street Fighter 2, for my (at the time still working) Super Nintendo, I jumped at the chance to go to Battle of Destiny after learning about it online. Hosted by Neo Empire, a relatively new organisation formed in 2005, the event promised four tournaments as well as plenty of casual play and a few exclusives, and boy did it deliver.
The big pull for me was the chance to play the arcade version of Street Fighter 4, a game I was looking forward to immensely. A chance to play it early was far too good to pass up. Playable versions of Soul Calibur 4 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (which wins the award for longest game title ever) were also at the event, along with pretty much every other fighting game one can think of. On the way to London early on Saturday, I was very excited, but also a little nervous. This would be my first fighting game tournament, and I was unsure of what to expect. Although, among my circle of friends, I am easily the best fighting game player, compared to real hardcore players, my skills were, to put it lightly, decidedly meagre. However, I need not have worried. As I would learn, a spirit of camaraderie ran through the event, with everyone showing each other respect, regardless of their level of skill.
BoD was organized with two tournaments on each day, Hyper Street Fighter 2 and Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection on the Saturday, and Capcom vs SNK 2 and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike on Sunday. I had not played SF2 for at least 5 years, but play a bit of Tekken 5 on and off, so I entered the tourney, to see how good (or bad) I really was. The first stages of the Tekken tournament did not start until the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to look around, get acquainted, and try out some of the games on offer. The Rocket Complex of the London Metropolitan Uni was a very good venue for such an event, with plenty of space and two floors devoted to fighting game bliss. Downstairs, eight setups of SF2 HD (as it will now be called) on the 360 were available, each with a nice comfy couch accompanying them. My friend and I played a few rounds of this to begin with, and the first thing that struck me is how nice the graphics really are. The new sprites for the characters were incredibly crisp and sharp, and the backgrounds, whilst being redrawn also, retain their stop-start animations, giving the whole thing a nice nostalgic feel. Unfortunately, only six characters were available to play, with Ryu, Ken, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Vega and Akuma being selectable. Without my beloved Chun Li available to play as, I divided my time pretty equally between the six that were. Besides the shiny new graphics, the game has been re-balanced, with some commands changed, and a few new moves added in, such as a fake Hadouken for Ryu. Despite a few little bugs (such as characters disappearing for a second), the game was great fun to play, striking the right balance between newness and nostalgia, and I look forward to playing it more when it is released
The rest of the bottom floor was devoted to casual setups of 3rd Strike, as well as the “proving grounds” in the back for the group stages of the tournament. Upstairs were many more casual setups for all the tournament games, as well as many others. There was even a PC setup running Melty Blood, which was great to see. At the far end of the room, as promised, were six shiny new Street Fighter 4 arcade cabinets, in all their glory. There was, unsurprisingly, a queue, although it never got larger than a 15 minute wait. As I had arrived early, I didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes before my first go.
Watching videos online is really no match for seeing the game up close and personal, and in action the game looks simply stunning. The stylized, cel-shaded graphics fit perfectly, and the backgrounds in particular are worthy of praise. Little flourishes, like the watercolour effects on focus attacks, also help to make the whole package visually astounding. For the first day, the win limit was set to 3, meaning the player turnover was rather high. This allowed me lots of time to try out many characters, including all the new ones. El Fuerte I especially enjoyed, with his twitchy fighting style reminiscent of Maki from CvS2, as he uses sprint commands that then flow into other special moves. Crimson Viper seemed the most well-rounded of the four new fighters, although her Burning Kick special proved to be, in my opinion, somewhat overpowered. Abel, befitting his bulkier size, was slower, with more grapples, in some ways reminiscent of Alex from SF3. And Rufus, completely at odds with HIS bulkier size, was very fast, with a strange style to accompany his appearance. I did not have much luck playing Rufus, although this may have been due to me getting distracted by his hypnotically jiggling belly, and the large triangle of what I hope to god wasn’t pubic hair poking up from the bottom of his unzipped jumpsuit. I also tried out most of the returning characters, and they seemed to strike a good balance between new and old. The game in general feels like a halfway point between SF2 and 3, with focus attacks replacing parries in a way, and anyone who has played a character in a previous SF game should have little trouble picking them up again. None of the old characters seemed much changed, although the balancing was not spot-on, and the general over-powered-ness of Ken will not do much to quell the tide of shoto players. Playing as Chun Li (my main, in 2 and 3) again was like riding a bike, you never really forget how to. She seemed, like the rest of the game, to be a halfway point between the two previous games, with her special moves more reminiscent of 2 in their execution (such as the kikoken), but some elements and attacks carried over from 3 also.
The new focus attacks feel like they could have a lot of potential, but few people used them much over the weekend, preferring to get to grips with the characters rather than the new gameplay systems. The attacks, which are briefly charged up, allow you to take a hit without flinching, and immediately counter-attack. Interestingly, the damage you take from the hit whilst you are charging your focus is not immediately taken from you, so if both you and your opponent are on the verge of defeat, the focus attack could be useful to make sure you finish off your enemy first. Also interesting to note was the fact that the Revenge/Ultra gauge is separate to your Super gauge, allowing you to pull off one after the other if you so desire. The Ultra gauge also fills up very fast as you get hit, which led to them being used quite a lot. However, a benefit to this is that using EX moves, which drain your Super bar, no longer means you are left without a combo move should you need one. On the second day, a Capcom representative changed the win limit to 10, with anyone reaching the achievement winning a prize. With my highest win streak of the weekend being 4 with my super-awesome Chun Li, I never came close, but it was entertaining to watch the masters in action. A downside to this was the good players stayed on longer, making it much more likely for you to be knocked off the machines on your first go, after queuing up for ten minutes. I still got in lots of play time though, and loved it to bits. As a Street Fighter fanboy, I can honestly say there is no other game I am looking forward to more right now. Bring on the console versions.
Also on the top floor was Soul Calibur 4. I spent a bit of time with this, but not a huge amount, as it is out in less than a week anyway. From what I played the graphics were very nice, and Yoda and The Apprentice are awesome, but I cannot really say more than that with the few plays I had. I have never been hugely into Soul Calibur, and I missed 3 entirely, but I will pick this up on launch, and have some fun with it. Xbox Live will soon learn to fear my Maxi, Talim and Yun-Seong.
Playing on the casual setups, practicing for the tournaments, was fantastic. Everyone was very friendly, tips and strats were shared, and a general good time was had by all. Being surrounded by people who truly love fighting games is a great experience, and the level of skill on show was awe-inspiring. I had some especially great 3rd Strike games on Sunday, with a guy who plays a fantastic Dudley, but was still happy to play with lower-classed players like myself.
I was, of course, resoundly beaten in the T5DR tourney, not winning a single game, but it was still fun going up against such high-calibre players. The finals on Saturday were extremely entertaining, with the winners of both giving up their tickets to Evo due to not being able to go. In fact, in the DR tourney, the second placed player, who happened to be the older brother of the winner, also could not go, so the ticket ended up being passed down to the infamous Ryan Hart, aka Prodigal Son, who had come third.
On the Sunday, I entered the Third Strike tournament, and again got thoroughly destroyed, but the general spirit of good-natured-ness never faltered. The judge of our group, Shin Dragon, otherwise known as Richard Denton, was a stand-up guy, who gave me credit for just coming along.
Shin, along with his twin brother Sho Dragon (Marc Denton), The Golden Gunman (Anil Das-Gupta), Masamune (Inti Lagos-Brown), Mr Reid (Danny Reid) and Chunkis (Dominic O'connor) were in charge of the weekend. With the chairman and original founder of Neo Empire, Bullet Proof taking a long overdue sabbatical these guys, along with all the other Neo Empire staff members deserve unlimited praise for making BOD so enjoyable.
The finals on Sunday were again very entertaining; with the quality of play on show astounding. The famous Justin Wong also played a couple of fantastic matches, the first being an MvC2 match-up against English player Sinity. There was never any real question as to who would win, with MvC2 being Justin’s “game”, so to speak, and to see him play was amazing, especially his finish with a team of Megaman, Roll, and Servbot/Kobun, with the Servbot beatdown at the end getting huge cheers from the crowd. However, the highlight of the night came from the Third Strike money match between Wong’s Chun Li and Ryan Hart’s Yun. Going the full three games, the fight seemed pretty even until Hart managed a full parry of Chun Li’s SA2, a feat previously accomplished by Daigo at the 2003 Evo finals, perhaps the most famous fighting game video ever. The cheers from the crowd were simply enormous, and Hart went on to win the match, to riotous reaction. It was the perfect finish to a perfect weekend.
Any fighting game players who have not already done so would be well-advised to sign up on Neo Empire’s website, as they truly love the genre as much as the people attending. In a meagre three years they have accomplished a great amount, and I certainly will be attending as many of their future events as I can after the fantastic time I had at Battle of Destiny. With Neo Empire now essentially running the UK scene, things can only get better from here.
Being a big fan of fighting games ever since I got a copy of Street Fighter 2, for my (at the time still working) Super Nintendo, I jumped at the chance to go to Battle of Destiny after learning about it online. Hosted by Neo Empire, a relatively new organisation formed in 2005, the event promised four tournaments as well as plenty of casual play and a few exclusives, and boy did it deliver.
The big pull for me was the chance to play the arcade version of Street Fighter 4, a game I was looking forward to immensely. A chance to play it early was far too good to pass up. Playable versions of Soul Calibur 4 and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (which wins the award for longest game title ever) were also at the event, along with pretty much every other fighting game one can think of. On the way to London early on Saturday, I was very excited, but also a little nervous. This would be my first fighting game tournament, and I was unsure of what to expect. Although, among my circle of friends, I am easily the best fighting game player, compared to real hardcore players, my skills were, to put it lightly, decidedly meagre. However, I need not have worried. As I would learn, a spirit of camaraderie ran through the event, with everyone showing each other respect, regardless of their level of skill.
BoD was organized with two tournaments on each day, Hyper Street Fighter 2 and Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection on the Saturday, and Capcom vs SNK 2 and Street Fighter 3: Third Strike on Sunday. I had not played SF2 for at least 5 years, but play a bit of Tekken 5 on and off, so I entered the tourney, to see how good (or bad) I really was. The first stages of the Tekken tournament did not start until the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to look around, get acquainted, and try out some of the games on offer. The Rocket Complex of the London Metropolitan Uni was a very good venue for such an event, with plenty of space and two floors devoted to fighting game bliss. Downstairs, eight setups of SF2 HD (as it will now be called) on the 360 were available, each with a nice comfy couch accompanying them. My friend and I played a few rounds of this to begin with, and the first thing that struck me is how nice the graphics really are. The new sprites for the characters were incredibly crisp and sharp, and the backgrounds, whilst being redrawn also, retain their stop-start animations, giving the whole thing a nice nostalgic feel. Unfortunately, only six characters were available to play, with Ryu, Ken, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Vega and Akuma being selectable. Without my beloved Chun Li available to play as, I divided my time pretty equally between the six that were. Besides the shiny new graphics, the game has been re-balanced, with some commands changed, and a few new moves added in, such as a fake Hadouken for Ryu. Despite a few little bugs (such as characters disappearing for a second), the game was great fun to play, striking the right balance between newness and nostalgia, and I look forward to playing it more when it is released
The rest of the bottom floor was devoted to casual setups of 3rd Strike, as well as the “proving grounds” in the back for the group stages of the tournament. Upstairs were many more casual setups for all the tournament games, as well as many others. There was even a PC setup running Melty Blood, which was great to see. At the far end of the room, as promised, were six shiny new Street Fighter 4 arcade cabinets, in all their glory. There was, unsurprisingly, a queue, although it never got larger than a 15 minute wait. As I had arrived early, I didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes before my first go.
Watching videos online is really no match for seeing the game up close and personal, and in action the game looks simply stunning. The stylized, cel-shaded graphics fit perfectly, and the backgrounds in particular are worthy of praise. Little flourishes, like the watercolour effects on focus attacks, also help to make the whole package visually astounding. For the first day, the win limit was set to 3, meaning the player turnover was rather high. This allowed me lots of time to try out many characters, including all the new ones. El Fuerte I especially enjoyed, with his twitchy fighting style reminiscent of Maki from CvS2, as he uses sprint commands that then flow into other special moves. Crimson Viper seemed the most well-rounded of the four new fighters, although her Burning Kick special proved to be, in my opinion, somewhat overpowered. Abel, befitting his bulkier size, was slower, with more grapples, in some ways reminiscent of Alex from SF3. And Rufus, completely at odds with HIS bulkier size, was very fast, with a strange style to accompany his appearance. I did not have much luck playing Rufus, although this may have been due to me getting distracted by his hypnotically jiggling belly, and the large triangle of what I hope to god wasn’t pubic hair poking up from the bottom of his unzipped jumpsuit. I also tried out most of the returning characters, and they seemed to strike a good balance between new and old. The game in general feels like a halfway point between SF2 and 3, with focus attacks replacing parries in a way, and anyone who has played a character in a previous SF game should have little trouble picking them up again. None of the old characters seemed much changed, although the balancing was not spot-on, and the general over-powered-ness of Ken will not do much to quell the tide of shoto players. Playing as Chun Li (my main, in 2 and 3) again was like riding a bike, you never really forget how to. She seemed, like the rest of the game, to be a halfway point between the two previous games, with her special moves more reminiscent of 2 in their execution (such as the kikoken), but some elements and attacks carried over from 3 also.
The new focus attacks feel like they could have a lot of potential, but few people used them much over the weekend, preferring to get to grips with the characters rather than the new gameplay systems. The attacks, which are briefly charged up, allow you to take a hit without flinching, and immediately counter-attack. Interestingly, the damage you take from the hit whilst you are charging your focus is not immediately taken from you, so if both you and your opponent are on the verge of defeat, the focus attack could be useful to make sure you finish off your enemy first. Also interesting to note was the fact that the Revenge/Ultra gauge is separate to your Super gauge, allowing you to pull off one after the other if you so desire. The Ultra gauge also fills up very fast as you get hit, which led to them being used quite a lot. However, a benefit to this is that using EX moves, which drain your Super bar, no longer means you are left without a combo move should you need one. On the second day, a Capcom representative changed the win limit to 10, with anyone reaching the achievement winning a prize. With my highest win streak of the weekend being 4 with my super-awesome Chun Li, I never came close, but it was entertaining to watch the masters in action. A downside to this was the good players stayed on longer, making it much more likely for you to be knocked off the machines on your first go, after queuing up for ten minutes. I still got in lots of play time though, and loved it to bits. As a Street Fighter fanboy, I can honestly say there is no other game I am looking forward to more right now. Bring on the console versions.
Also on the top floor was Soul Calibur 4. I spent a bit of time with this, but not a huge amount, as it is out in less than a week anyway. From what I played the graphics were very nice, and Yoda and The Apprentice are awesome, but I cannot really say more than that with the few plays I had. I have never been hugely into Soul Calibur, and I missed 3 entirely, but I will pick this up on launch, and have some fun with it. Xbox Live will soon learn to fear my Maxi, Talim and Yun-Seong.
Playing on the casual setups, practicing for the tournaments, was fantastic. Everyone was very friendly, tips and strats were shared, and a general good time was had by all. Being surrounded by people who truly love fighting games is a great experience, and the level of skill on show was awe-inspiring. I had some especially great 3rd Strike games on Sunday, with a guy who plays a fantastic Dudley, but was still happy to play with lower-classed players like myself.
I was, of course, resoundly beaten in the T5DR tourney, not winning a single game, but it was still fun going up against such high-calibre players. The finals on Saturday were extremely entertaining, with the winners of both giving up their tickets to Evo due to not being able to go. In fact, in the DR tourney, the second placed player, who happened to be the older brother of the winner, also could not go, so the ticket ended up being passed down to the infamous Ryan Hart, aka Prodigal Son, who had come third.
On the Sunday, I entered the Third Strike tournament, and again got thoroughly destroyed, but the general spirit of good-natured-ness never faltered. The judge of our group, Shin Dragon, otherwise known as Richard Denton, was a stand-up guy, who gave me credit for just coming along.
Shin, along with his twin brother Sho Dragon (Marc Denton), The Golden Gunman (Anil Das-Gupta), Masamune (Inti Lagos-Brown), Mr Reid (Danny Reid) and Chunkis (Dominic O'connor) were in charge of the weekend. With the chairman and original founder of Neo Empire, Bullet Proof taking a long overdue sabbatical these guys, along with all the other Neo Empire staff members deserve unlimited praise for making BOD so enjoyable.
The finals on Sunday were again very entertaining; with the quality of play on show astounding. The famous Justin Wong also played a couple of fantastic matches, the first being an MvC2 match-up against English player Sinity. There was never any real question as to who would win, with MvC2 being Justin’s “game”, so to speak, and to see him play was amazing, especially his finish with a team of Megaman, Roll, and Servbot/Kobun, with the Servbot beatdown at the end getting huge cheers from the crowd. However, the highlight of the night came from the Third Strike money match between Wong’s Chun Li and Ryan Hart’s Yun. Going the full three games, the fight seemed pretty even until Hart managed a full parry of Chun Li’s SA2, a feat previously accomplished by Daigo at the 2003 Evo finals, perhaps the most famous fighting game video ever. The cheers from the crowd were simply enormous, and Hart went on to win the match, to riotous reaction. It was the perfect finish to a perfect weekend.
Any fighting game players who have not already done so would be well-advised to sign up on Neo Empire’s website, as they truly love the genre as much as the people attending. In a meagre three years they have accomplished a great amount, and I certainly will be attending as many of their future events as I can after the fantastic time I had at Battle of Destiny. With Neo Empire now essentially running the UK scene, things can only get better from here.