We Didn’t See This Coming! | Set Point! December 18, 2024
Hey everyone! It’s NormieNick, and this is Set Point! your weekly FGC news round up. This week, Virtua Fighter brought the drip, Clive transported to Tekken 8, and Kings of the World bring us the last CPT Premiere qualifier.
Let’s Rock!
Virtua Fighter!
The Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O announcement was just a set up. At The Game Awards this week, SEGA announced a new mainline Virtua Fighter. While not called Virtua Fighter 6, this will be the newest Virtua Fighter Game in eighteen years, over half the franchise’s lifetime. The release trailer had a new look for it’s main character Akira, some technical showcases of the game’s new engine, and a new character Stella, possibly related to Sarah Bryant.
Immediately after The Game Awards. Sony held a Virtua Fighter Direct. Coming out along with the direct was the 2.0 balance patch for the PS4 version of Virtua Fighter 5. This is the same patch that R.E.V.O will be running on. Of course there were balance changes, but some characters also got moves back from previous Virtua Fighter games.
From a competitive standpoint, Virtua Fighter will be having a Global Tour next year. They are calling the Virtua Fighter Open Championship and it starts in Spring 2025.
SEGA has also partnered with Frosty Faustings to have Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. as a main stage game before R.E.V.O launches. The bracket is free along with your registration.
By the time you see this, the R.E.V.O. Beta has ended, but the full steam release will be January 28 next year.
On Sunday there was an exhibition stream showing some of the top Virtua Fighter players in the world playing on R.E.V.O’s rollback. They tried to cover a lot of the cast and there are some great sets in there.
Tekken!
Personally, I had a feeling there would be a wack pick for Tekken’s final Year 1 DLC character, but I was still pretty surprised to see Clive Rosfield announced at The Game Awards. Clive is the main protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI and the first guest character of Tekken 8.
Along with Clive, a new stage named Phoenix Gate is also releasing. The stage is DLC included with the Year 1 pass, but will need to be paid for separately outside of that. Unlike the previous DLC stage Genamji Temple that released with Heihachi, Phoenix Gate will have unique dimensions and hazards. Clive and the stage’s full release are on December 20. They are available now as a part of early access.
Following The Game Awards, Bandai hosted a series of talks discussing the development of Clive and going deeper into the Tekken/Final Fantasy collaboration. As noted by PhiDX, the collaboration for Clive began around December 2022, months before Final Fantasy XVI released and even before the first Tekken 8 trailer.
Tekken released a patch with some of the features from the Winter Update trailer plus some extras. Features were added to photo mode; you can search for other players the main menu; disconnecting from ranked matches now has a penalty; you can view replays with DLC characters you don’t have; but control the characters you do have; and some character balance changes.
With Tekken World Tour done, European Tekken Cup came back. Enders Zone 4 in Spain ended on Sunday with PiKaH from Belgium rising victorious. PiKaH beat Sin in a close grand finals reset going 3–2 in both sets. He also beat Tibetano, the hometown hero who got third place. Lancelot who got 5th, got enough points to be second in the France region right behind Jodd. Lain, who also got fifth, beat out 2nd placer Oracle in points to now be in the number 2 spot for Iberica.
ETC Current Standings
Street Fighter!
I’ll be doing a more in depth recap of Kings of the World. Since there will be no official Last Chance Qualifier before Capcom Cup, this was the last offline opportunity to qualify. Some highlights from the event were problematic set ups at the event, EndingWalker being eliminated by Boltstrike, moke’s stellar run, and the winner, Armperor!
Armperor is a Ken player from South Korea. He started playing competitively in 2017, but started finding success in Street Fighter V in 2021 getting 3rd at the Intel World Open Qualifier for Japan and South Korea. This year, Armperor was a part of team Korea at the World Cyber Games and was throwing it down in the Korean World Warriors. He got second to NL in the regional finals, but now has his own Capcom Cup seat for next year.
This weekend we also had two more World Warrior Regional Finals. One in Mexico and the other in US-Canada Midwest.
From Mexico, you might recognize him from Street Fighter League this year, is Uriel Velorio! Yet another Ken player, this will be his second Capcom Cup. Uriel began playing competitively in 2019 in Street Fighter V, but has really found his stride this year in Street Fighter 6. Along with doing SFL, Uriel got 2nd at First Attack losing to MenaRD, and 3rd at Astral Finish. Uriel brings a unique energy with his Ken and you won’t want to miss a set from him.
The Midwest’s own JAK, or JustaKid, qualified for his second Capcom Cup, his first for Street Fighter 6. JAK came up during Street Fighter V and won both Combo Breaker and Frosty Faustings in 2023. JAK is a day 1 Juri main and is not to be slept on.
The voice of the FGC, Sajam, is hosting his fourth Sajam Slam and the game this time around is Street Fighter 6. This is a huge collaborative event Sajam started doing last year. Sajam invites streamers and gaming content creators from other genres, to team up with a pro player as a coach, and running a tournament! The top two teams this year will get a trip to Japan to play in an International Championship against the winners of Fight Night. Fight Night is a similar event to Sajam Slam hosted by esports group REJECT.
Street Fighter League US Week 9
You can check out my recap on SFL US Week 9, but here’s an overview from it.
1. FlyQuest 250
2. Cloud9 220
3. Fighting Spirit 210
4. Bandits 190
5. Shopify Rebellion 170
6. Red Rooster 75
Going into week 10, FlyQuest, Cloud9, and Fighting Spirit are guaranteed to qualify for the top three spots through points and wins. Red Rooster has been out of the running for weeks so it all comes down to Shopify Rebellion and Bandit’s performance next week. Unfortunately for us as spectators, we don’t get to see them play each other. Shopify will play Red Rooster and Bandits will play Fighting Spirit. In order for Shopify to make it to fourth they have to get a forty bomb AND Bandits have to lose by 10 or less. If Bandits get at least 20 points, they will qualify regardless of how Shopify does through their wins.
Round Robin!
RINO won the SNK World Championship Qualifier Spot at Animecon Mexico.
Arc System Works shared future battle balance adjustments for Guilty Gear Strive. They apologized for not meeting player expectations and are scheduled to release a patch on December 23.
Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact gets new character, Morel.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite & Beyond got a full release date of Friday, December 20. This is an extensive fan made mod funded by Maximilian Dood with balance and aesthetic changes. You will need to purchase a legal copy of the game in order to play the mod. You can download it on Friday through the link here.
Many FGC youtubers got hacked through targeted fishing attempts. Fortunately, it looks like all of them were able to recover their accounts. See this video by Brian_F for more info. This wasn’t just a “they didn’t change their password” or “they should have known better” type of thing.
CEOtaku pools are out. If you’re going, be sure to get there a few minutes before your pool begins. Soon, Jebailey who runs the event will be posting a huge primer of things to know before going into the con and answer a bunch of FAQs.
Kansai Gaming Party, a huge anime fighting game celebration announced most of it’s line up of games. KGP is happening May 3–4.
Here Comes a New Challenger!
This week’s upcoming events and news
Street Fighter League US Week 10 December 18
Full release for Clive in Tekken 8 December 20
SNK Championship Series Finals will be in Shainghai December 21–22
Street Fighter League Japan Playoffs are December 21–22
CEOtaku December 20–22.
I’ll be there if you want to say hi! Here are the brackets I’ll be recaping once I get back:
- Guilty Gear -STRIVE- Gold Event
- Granblue Fantasy Versus : Rising Gold Event
- King of Fighters XV SNK World Championship Qualifier
Street Fighter 6 World Warriors
Brazil Regional Final December 18
Middle East Regional Final December 21
Europe North-East Regional Final December 21
US-Canada West Regional Final December 22
Europe West Regional Final December 22
You Win!
Thanks for reading. To watch the video version of the recap each week, make sure to Subscribe!
No Set Point planned for next Wednesday. I plan to make a bunch of event recaps over the next two weeks going into the New Year.
Happy Holidays! and ggs
Bonus Stage!
Here’s your new phone wallpaper. Feature the Orochi cast from the King of Fighters!
