#best gundam ive seen in years with so much potential

[kurozu501]

anyone else sad we aren't currently in the middle of gwitch season 3.

[recentanimenews]

AnimEVO: The Fascinating Fan-Run Side of the World's Biggest Fighting Game Event

  EVO is a massive event, filled with thousands of players from across the globe coming to compete in nine carefully selected official tournament games. But with hundreds of fighting games out there, it’s easy for someone’s favorite to be left off of the official roster. So what’s a fan of lesser-loved fighting games to do? You play in a side tournament at the event for your games of choice. And if there isn’t a side tournament? Well, then you roll up your sleeves and set one up yourself!

But being a tournament operator, or “TO,” isn’t easy. I should know, because my boyfriend Matt “LordBBH” Hall and I ran our own side tournament for the very first time this year! You not only have to deal with a lot of running around at the event itself, but you also have other logistics to worry about: getting space, keeping track of entry fees and payouts, handling registration, and getting your tournament publicity. Thankfully for us, there’s AnimEVO, a collective of EVO side tournaments that works to help both TOs and competitors participate in the games they love.

AnimEVO began back at Evolution 2014. As Capcom games like Super Street Fighter IV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 dominated the official EVO lineup, many so-called “anime” games, called such for their anime-derived aesthetic (and that they were typically more popular in Japan), were often left off the roster. The first AnimEVO featured games like Aquapazza, Melty Blood, Arcana Heart 3 Love Max, and even Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle.

AnimEVO’s current co-director, Hagure, first joined the event for its 2016 incarnation. “I initially came to the team to create the AnimEVO website. I didn't plan on doing much else besides that at first,” Hagure admits. But as the event implemented online registration and required increased organization, he found himself becoming more and more involved. “Last year was probably the first I was really the one directing stuff.”

And AnimEVO certainly needed someone to wrangle everything. As EVO has grown, so has AnimEVO alongside it, allowing more and more games to join its collective of side tournaments. The amount of players entering every year has increased, too. “Removing a lot of the redundancies shared between TOs and streamers gives them more time to focus on promoting, organizing & running tournaments & streams, leading to more interest & a better event overall,” says Hagure. “Also, online pre-reg & having all the info in one place has helped attract more players. Getting cross-entries from players between games they wouldn't normally enter on-site is something we've seen a lot of. Finally, people, especially veteran [community members], are starting to see that we're here for them year after year, and know that we're dependable. Some folks are now anticipating our lineup more than EVO's [main games]!”

So what kind of games will you see at AnimEVO? Well, you have obvious anime-inspired games like Melty Blood, Vampire Savior, older versions of Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, and Persona 4 Arena. You’ll find games that have a direct anime connection, like Sailor Moon S for the Super Famicom, the Fist of the North Star fighter, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. You’ll also find older games like Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, and Fighter’s History Dynamite—the tournament Matt and I ran. Even competitive games not considered “fighting games” have been welcomed into the AnimEVO roster, like Gundam Versus, Windjammers, Catherine, and Puyo Puyo. One year there was even a Granblue Fantasy tournament. No, not Granblue Fantasy Versus, the mobile game!

“Obviously, we lean towards fighting-genre videogames, especially those that don't get the usual main-stage treatment. But pretty much as long as it is some kind of competitive game, that has the necessary TOs dedicated to run it, we'll allow it,” says Hagure.

Mark of the Wolves Tournament photo by @NocturnalSRK

This year, AnimEVO’s roster boasted a whopping thirty-one games for players to consider entering. While some players may stick to only one or two games, others may enter multiple titles—and place very well in many of them. Some players even come to EVO primarily for AnimEVO games—this year, a group of Korean players made a splash when they came out to EVO for the express purpose of playing in the tournament for Capcom’s fan favorite Dreamcast fighter Project Justice. 

  The Project Justice side tournament was dope as hell. @bananashot3 and the Korean team came all the way to Evo only to support PJ. Some old FGC heads showed up as well. @NeoRussell is the community MVP for running this. Great times were had ???? pic.twitter.com/ozpd8HrGDa

— Jotamide (@jotamide) August 4, 2019

  Sponsors have stepped up interest in AnimEVO as well, with companies like Sega, Atlus, and Arc System Works promoting AnimEVO’s side tournaments and even contributing things like setups, streaming space, prizes, and winners’ pot bonuses. This year, Arc System Works helped out to run the first-ever tournament for the recently released KILL la KILL: IF, and Square-Enix stepped in to promote free entry and a major pot boost to Million Arthur Arcana Blood. “31 games was a pretty big jump for us, [and] with the ArcSys World Tour, KILL la KILL and Million Arthur Arcana Blood sponsor relations, we did grow a significant deal organizationally over previous years,” Hagure notes. Even the strange, obscure games can get some surprise support: the one-man crew behind the bizarre and beautiful freeware fighter Ultra Fight da Kyanta 2 was watching all the streams and giving out thanks to the players and organizers. 

Of course, not every game in AnimEVO has a corporate sponsor behind it: many are run by and for longtime fans of these games simply to give other folks who love these titles a rare chance to play them competitively. That’s what motivated Matt and I to set up a side event for Fighter’s History Dynamite, a Neo-Geo fighter by Data East that is largely unknown to the mainstream, but beloved by fans of older fighting games. It had never been in an EVO before in any form, and we’d struggled to get casual play set up at previous EVOs, so we decided to take matters into our own hands.

Making the leap from playing to TOing is quite a jump, however. At a major event like EVO, there are many players across many games, all of whom have different schedules and potential conflicts. Chasing down people to play often proved challenging, especially since FHD’s playerbase of Neo-Geo fans overlapped a lot with players being called to play in their pools for the new Samurai Shodown at the same time. Brackets were tough to update online, necessitating a shift to tracking everything on good ol’ pen-and-paper. Japanese players with unusual control setups needed help configuring their sticks and buttons and conveying information to their opponents, which required me to step in as an interpreter. We had hoped to have the tournament done in two hours, but it wound up being more like three-and-a-half due to needing to chase people down to play, make calls on no-show disqualifications, and deal with other odd issues that cropped up. Even with two people, it was hard work!

In the end, however, people really enjoyed our tournament, and several players went home with custom-made trophies featuring original art by Anthony Vaccarelli. It was tough, and mistakes were made, but in the end most everyone had a great time.

  Animevoのファイターズヒストリーダイナマイト優勝しました！ やったぜEVO覇者だ！世界一だ！#EVO#FHD pic.twitter.com/W8RvcVVDHI

— ケンちゃん様さん@8.24白猫ファンミ (@ilpkenchan) August 3, 2019

So, what should you do if you want to run a tournament for your favorite neglected fighting game at EVO? Well, for starters, you must realize that you are going to be committing a huge chunk of your time at the event (and before it) to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. You’ll also have to make tough decisions—if that one guy hasn’t shown up to check in for the past hour, should you disqualify him because he’s holding up tournament progression, even though he’s been doing well? Sometimes you just have to act in the best interests of all the other participants.

Hagure has his own advice for would-be AnimEVO TOs. “First, make sure you're committed to going to EVO and running a side tournament during the largest FGC event. Dedication is the most important thing we ask for. Once you're absolutely committed, we always send out a call for volunteers and create an application form shortly after EVO does their initial lineup announcement. Filling this out & returning it ASAP is the best way to make sure we can work with [people interested in helping with AnimEVO].”

  “When it comes to qualifications: We highly suggest having had TOing experience, especially at a major or regional sized event. Running side events (especially the game they've submitted) is a huge plus. For less experienced folks, we ask them to find someone with more experience to help them run their game. Outside of that: Stay informed and have passion for your game! Love for our games is really what motivates us all in the end.”

What competitive game would you like to see at EVO as a main game or a side tournament? Would you be willing to run it yourself if needed? Talk amongst yourselves in the comments!

    ------

Heidi Kemps writes about games, otaku culture, and other odd topics of interest across many different publications. The amount of doujinshi and figures in her living space is either astonishingly awesome or somewhat terrifying, depending on your point of view. She runs the website gaming.moe and can be found on Twitter @zerochan. 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[parvaatidynasty-blog]

Top 10 Games I played in 2017 [so far]

May was a busy month for me, and I didn’t realize until recently that I neglected this blog and forgot to write something. As a way to make up for it, I wrote 2 blog posts. Both entries this time are a list-like format, but since I’m playing Breath of the Wild right now, I’d really like to write something more detailed about open worlds for July.

The first half of the year is almost over, and boy, has it been great. There have been so many great games released during the first half of this year alone that making a Game of the Year list at the end of 2017 will be remarkably difficult, more so than most other years. At the end of the year, 2 things will be certain: 1) a fair amount of games I enjoyed will be left out of the top 10, and 2) games I played in this year that were released early than 2017 will be left out. As a result, I wanted to create a list of the top 10 games I played this year regardless of their actual release date. This year I played a fair amount of games from previous years, and some of them are so good it’d be a shame to not give them their 60 seconds of fame here. Even though the list is mostly of 2017 games anyway, the order may not necessarily be the same come December.

10. Snipperclips: Cut it out, together!

Snipperclips is one of the best games you could include in a potential “Nintendo Switch starter pack.” Although playable by a single player, the game shines in cooperative play, and through this method of play, you can experience the vision of the Switch hardware. The game is a blast regardless of whether you are playing it in TV or tabletop mode. Everything from the quick load time of the game software and OS to the snappy gameflow of Snipperclips perfectly exemplifies the mission statement of the Nintendo Switch hardware. The puzzles are well-crafted with a good amount of variety and rely on both players to work together. As you and your partner discover the solutions to the puzzles, you will undoubtedly find yourselves come across moments of laughter, which makes the game all the more memorable. The additional modes are welcomed, whether they be the competitive sports and battle mode or the 4 player puzzles. Overall, it’s a game with more content than you would expect, making it a fantastic launch game and a perfect introduction to the Switch hardware.

 9. ARMS

ARMS is a unique game, and even though the product on release is a little skimpy on the content, I’m really enjoying it. The motion controls are very intuitive, to the point where I haven’t even tried the Pro Controller. And although the mechanics appear simple on paper, there’s a lot of depth, and the skill ceiling is quite high; even the AI can be brutally difficult. I’m still barely above the skill floor, or at least the AI makes it seem that way at times, but I’m looking forward to playing more of ARMS as time goes on and seeing where my abilities peak. The great art direction, character design especially, makes the game very welcoming to all players. It’s really something to see the Mario Kart 8 team branch out of their comfort zone and create their own take on a fighting game.

8. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

How I perceive the Fire Emblem series has changed a lot over time. My first experience with the series was playing the Sacred Stones on the Gameboy Advance. I wasn’t particularly good at it, Advance Wars with its disposable units was more my style, but I did make it to the credits at the expense of many casualties during the endgame. I hadn’t played another game in the series since Awakening, and Awakening’s accessibility and the lack of Advance Wars games made me see the series in a new light. I’m proud to declare that I beat Fire Emblem: Fates on Hard, redeeming my poor play in the Sacred Stones, and although I haven’t beaten Echoes yet, I’m really enjoying it. The game is different in just the right amount of ways so that things feel fresh, and the writing is so well-done that I don’t feel like I’m missing the self-insert characters from the original 3DS entries. When it comes to sound, the amount of voicework in the game is nothing short of impressive and the soundtrack is as incredible as one should expect from the Fire Emblem series. Overall, Intelligent Systems did an excellent job taking an entry that not many people responded well to in the past and turning it into an excellent one.

 7. Steins;Gate

Are visual novels games? Let’s not go down that rabbit hole. For now, I just want to say that Steins;Gate is great and should be experienced by anyone who likes visual novels or science fiction. I haven’t seen the anime, so beyond the elevator pitch of “kids create a microwave that sends emails to the past,” I had no idea what to expect. But when the game was available for $2.99 on PSN during the Golden Week sale, I bit, and I’m glad I did. Although the True Ending is a little contrived, the journey there is one that shouldn’t be missed. The characters are very well-written and mechanics behind time travel are well-thought out; Naotaka Hayashi did his best to make the underlying pseudoscience as believable as possible. Anyone familiar with anonymous message boards, otaku culture, and chuuni will find the script hilarious. Also, Miyano Mamoru, my personal favorite VA ever since his great job as Takuto Tsunashi in Star Driver, does an amazing job voicing Okabe.

 6. NieR: Automata

NieR: Automata is a really unique game when it comes to aesthetic; the art direction and music are a combination that is so unique it’s worth playing for that alone. The story is really interesting as well, and it’s probably of the best game localizations of all time, with its amazing English dub. The actual game design has a more tried-and-true approach, but that’s not solely detractive. The Bayonetta-like combat is solid and responsive, and the genre shifts whether it be 9S’s hacking minigames or twinstick shooter segments are fun ways to shake up the monotony. However, the open world of the game is somewhat empty and boring, even if it is that way for narrative purposes. And although the ending of the game disappointed me (it felt like getting off a rollercoaster right when it reached the summit), it was still one of the best games released in 2017, and a PS4 classic without a doubt. I was completely engaged from beginning to end, and I would love to see Yoko Taro and Platinum Games collaborate on another project in the future.

 5. Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X may be the closest thing we’ll ever get to an open world Gundam game. Although the first third of the game is somewhat dull, and the amount of systems they throw at you can be overwhelming, once you stick with it and get your Skell license the game becomes magnitudes better. The Skell’s vehicle mode and flight mode offer you so much freedom in how to tackle obstacles and where to explore. Upon obtaining the Skell, I couldn’t put the game down, and was addicted to exploring every nook and cranny, ignoring most of the main storyline until I felt my collection of mecha were fully decked-out. Xenoblade Chronicles X isn’t a perfect game by any means, most of the character models are kind of ugly, the story has more low points than high points, and the battle system isn’t exactly my cup of tea, but the exploration component of the game brought me so much satisfaction I was more than willing to look over the flaws.

 4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This latest entry in the Legend of Zelda franchise is a large departure from the norm. Breath of the Wild is the kind of game that gives back the more you invest into it. If you just go from point A to B completing only the tasks and shrines associated with the main quest, you probably won’t enjoy the game. But if you’re the type of person who is willing to put off the main quest and head in a random direction, unlocking as many shrines and watchtowers along the way as possible, you’ll have a tremendous amount of fun. The game’s world as well as its physics and chemistry engines gives you a variety of ways to accomplish your goals, and the focus on shorter dungeons with well thought-out puzzles makes the game perfect for the Switch. The need to craft elixirs or food for adventuring in areas of extreme cold and heat are the only negatives I’ve encountered thus far. It just seems contradictory to place those kinds of limits on a player in a game about exploring. But Breath of the Wild is still one of Link’s best outings, and I can’t wait to see what the next Zelda game will look like.

3. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Last year I had the chance to play Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, and really enjoyed it. Ever since I finished VII, I was heavily anticipating VIII, eager to return to the old-school RPG worlds of Dragon Quest, and this game did not disappoint, but instead, exceeded by expectations. Similar to Final Fantasy IV, my favorite in that franchise, the game gives you party members whose roles are initially static, but the ability to denote skill points into several categories allows you to experiment with and specialize them. The story is a well-written mix of vignettes tied to an overall plotline, and the cast of the game, especially your party members, is just incredible. The battle system remains the classic turn-based system you want out of a Dragon Quest game, but benefits from the speed-up feature included in this 3DS port and the addition of the Tension system. Upon beating the final boss, the game isn’t quite over, and the segments that follow make one of the most memorable ending sequences of all time. When you play Dragon Quest VIII it doesn’t feel like just an old game, it feels like an eternal classic.

 2. Persona 5

Although Persona 3 is still my favorite game of the post-Persona 2 trilogy, I really enjoyed this entry. The new additions to the battle system work incredibly well alongside its stylish UI, which makes full use of the controller’s buttons to minimize the inputs needed for every action you may want to perform. And the addition of new elements such as Nuclear and Psychic ensure that all of your party members are viable in different areas of the game, something I felt the series struggled with in the past. The cast is appealing, revamped social link system is fantastic, and although the first third of the story is the strongest part, it remains enjoyable for the entire duration of the game. Fusing Personas remains as engaging as ever, although the filtering systems in place aren’t as robust as those in the Shin Megami Tensei 4 duology. The game has one of the strongest and most focused aesthetics I’ve ever seen. Everything from the soundtrack to the UI elements just screams “Phantom Thieves.” Upon beating it, I was already planning my second playthrough, which I’ll be sure to do before summer is over.

 1. Monster Strike

Monster Strike has no right being as good as it is. It takes the gameplay of the successful mobile game, removes the microtransactions, and turns it into a full-blown RPG with a challenging post-game, resulting in something that’s really amazing. The process of creating your team of monsters has a tremendous amount of depth. Not only do you need to consider the elemental strengths of weaknesses of your crew versus your enemies, but you need to take into account the passives of each monster, such as erasing mines or immunity to walls that inflict damage, as well the type of combo attacks they expel, such as X-shaped laser beams or explosions. Once the billiards-like battles begin, you need to carefully aim your monsters, adjusting the angle so that you can maximize damage to the enemy by bumping into them and setting off Friend Combos by bumping into your allies. The graphics are impressive for a 3DS title, and the story is predictable, but enjoyable. The end result is a game with the level of decision-making typically reserved for series like Shin Megami Tensei or Bravely Default. It’s an incredibly unique and well-made RPG, and is without a doubt one of my favorite titles on the 3DS.