Neutral Game

Well, it's a bit overdue, but let's talk about Tekken, shall we? The King of Iron Fist has returned, and our hosts have taken a while to sort out their feelings. Clearly, it's a well made game that does some impressive and admirable things. But it also engenders a weird sort of animosity in us? We finally sat down and decided to figure the whole thing out.

Our artwork for the show is drawn by @WistWhistley! You can find both our cohosts on Bluesky- Six is @sixdettmar.bsky.social and Kyrie is @kyriepage.bsky.social. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Six and Kyrie are more than ready to Rock the Dragon with the newest fighting game in the Dragon Ball series! But, while Dragon Ball FighterZ was a tag fighter in the style of Marvel vs. Capcom, and thus very familiar, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is an ~arena~ fighter. You know, that genre that people scorn as being casual, fanservice only, broken and unbalanced, only fun for spectacle not to play... a lot of scorn from the FGC (fighting game community) in general. Is it deserved? Is this arena fighter worth taking seriously? While we're on the subject, is it worth taking not seriously? Or should one simply... not take it?

Our artwork for the show is drawn by @WistWhistley! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Today in Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, 2B was released as the latest DLC character! Don't expect thoughts on her in this episode recorded last Thursday, but we have plenty of other thoughts about the cast of GBVSR, the modes and tutorials, the missteps, and the future of the game.

Our artwork for the show is drawn by @WistWhistley! You can find both our cohosts on Cohost- Six is @sixdettmar and Kyrie is @KyriePage.

The original Granblue Fantasy Versus, high-budget fighting game adaptation of the popular gacha game Granblue Fantasy was... imperfect, to phrase it kindly. Netcode, balance, systems, there were some shortcomings that could use addressing. Unfortunately, the game hit at the worst possible time, and its life was squashed out of it- not given a chance to grow and realize its potential. I for one mourned the loss.

Fast forward to 2023, and a successor is announced- the Super Street Fighter to GBVS's Street Fighter. With the number of things that could use changing, does Rising fix this fighter? Or do its changes move us further away from the goal, instead of closer? Let's find out, together.

Our artwork for the show is drawn by @WistWhistley! You can find both our cohosts on Cohost- Six is @sixdettmar and Kyrie is @KyriePage.

Our Street Fighter 6 breakdown continues with discussions of the other half of the roster, modes, tutorials and training, handicap settings, World Tour discussion, and more. Plus, what's this about Rashid being legal at Evo despite how soon after his release that tournament will be? All this and more as we conclude our thoughts on SF6... for now!

Our intro music is Ken's Theme, and our outro music is Marisa's Theme, both from Street Fighter 6. You can find both our cohosts on Cohost- Six is @sixdettmar and Kyrie is @KyriePage.

Neutral Game is back with a new cohost to cover a 2023 hit! Street Fighter 6 has been eating up a lot of time over at Scanline Media, as many normal hang sessions quickly become SF6 lobbies. Where does this new game fit in the legacy of Street Fighter, how is it a response to the lessons of 4 and 5, and what makes it just so electric? These questions and more answered in the first of our two part coverage of Street Fighter 6!

Our intro music is Ryu's Theme, and our outro music is Juri's Theme, both from Street Fighter 6. You can find both our cohosts on Cohost- Six is @sixdettmar and Kyrie is @KyriePage.

The power of a rollback netcode update has revived an old favorite! Six and Miodrag bonded in early days over BlazBlue, and yet somehow have never done an episode on a main series entry- only the Cross Tag Battle spinoff. How does it fair when approached with a 2022 mindset, and does this new netcode do the job?

Our intro and outro music is Boss 06 from Demon Souls, a Japanese royalty free music site. Don’t forget to check out Six and Miodrag on Twitter at @sixdettmar and @mdkii respectively!

For this special episode, Six is joined by fellow Scanline Media staffer Kyrie to talk about the DNF Duel beta! The first 8ing fighting game in a long time has Kyrie buzzing with excitement, and Six a little anxious though enjoying it. Let's talk new systems, new characters, new stuff!

Miodrag will be back on the next episode, this is just a side thing we decided to put up on this feed!

Don't forget to check out Six and Kyrie on Twitter at @sixdettmar and @KyrieAPage respectively!

Conventions deserve to be challenged in every medium, that's how we truly explore the form. It's in that spirit we are checking out Touhou 12.3 Hisoutensoku, the expansion to Touhou 10.5 Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. As you might guess, it's a Touhou fighting game. It's not the first, and it's not the last. And if the others are anything like this, they're worth checking out. Let's question our fighting game assumptions together.

Don't forget to check out Six and Miodrag on Twitter at @sixdettmar and @mdkii respectively!

This is an extension of our coverage of the beta, which you can find here or on the RSS as episode 42!

Strive has now been out for almost a month, and met with great sales success. But how does the game hold up for our two genre fan hosts? Unusually, the podcast is split: Miodrag is pretty onboard, and Six is quite skeptical.

Don't forget to check out Six and Miodrag on Twitter at @sixdettmar and @mdkii respectively!