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Qazi’s Disposable 2018 – highlights from the year

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I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the past twelve months in terms of new entertainment releases. Let’s not forget that 2017 delivered the sequel to my favourite JRPG with Persona 5, gave me a new Nier game, brought me new material from The Upbeats, Major Lazer and Shobaleader One… heck, we even got a decent Sonic game in Mania. With all of this in mind I kind of expected the shortlist titled “Qazi’s Disposable 2018” to provide evidence of a “filler” year – one with plenty of content to enjoy but nothing on the same scale as 2017’s output. This is why I was so pleasantly surprised with the things that I’ve been enjoying in 2018.

Qazi’s Disposable 2018 – music

Qazi's Disposable 2018
If the Qazi’s Disposable 2018 shortlist was in physical form it would be full of hasty scribbles and Tipp-Ex as new things regularly edged into old lists, and nowhere was this more apparent than when I was checking out new music. There are a few albums I simply couldn’t cover on this site because I was spending too much time listening to things and not enough time talking about them, but notables outside of the website include The Pack EP by the Upbeats/Truth, Deep News by Halogenix, Collapse EP by Aphex Twin and where’s the drop? by deadmau5. Whether you like layered melodies, big beats or atmospheric wobbles, there was a lot to enjoy – however, I think the best thing I ended up reviewing was No Tourists. It marked a maturing of The Prodigy and showed that they were willing to embrace their older electronic roots when Fat of the Land came so close to discarding them. Elsewhere, The Pack EP was probably the best thing that missed a review: four compact but punchy experiences that all have their own identity and are all worth listening to.

Qazi’s Disposable 2018 – gaming

Qazi's Disposable 2018
As mentioned in my intro, I didn’t think there would be a whole lot of noteworthy titles in the gaming segment when shortlisting names for Qazi’s Disposable 2018. I couldn’t be more wrong. Dragonball FighterZ started the year with a bang, boasting some of the prettiest visuals of any game I played this year and maintaining an enjoyable balance of accessibility and depth. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition finally finished the game’s transformation from a rushed-out mess to a fully-formed fighter. PSVR continued to remind people that the right combination of game and hardware can create an experience as intoxicating as Tetris Effect or the Wipeout Omega Collection update. Oh, and Celeste propelled itself from “that thing I bought with spare PSN change” to the top of my game of the year list because the difficulty is pitched so well and it’s wrapped up in some great presentation. (In hindsight, however, I think it runs the risk of beating you over the head with its theming… and although the writing gets praised for acknowledging a minority, there are a lot of smaller narrative elements that speak to other audiences. I’d argue that the broader themes of crushing self-doubt and glimmers of self-belief – things that everyone can relate to – are every bit as valid as the examination of anxiety and the exploration of mental health.)

Qazi’s Disposable 2018 – miscellany

Qazi's Disposable 2018
As for other stuff? I ended up catching up with a slowly building backlog of Blu-Rays, returned to some old favourites via Amazon Prime and the like… and I sadly had no time to watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve (however, during the holiday I somehow ended up randomly discovering old episodes of Batman: The Animated Series on Amazon Prime, which was as entertaining as it sounds.) A special mention to Rampage – the Dwayne Johnson film based on the Midway arcade game – I ended up renting this digitally before it came out on Blu-Ray, and it’s the perfect celebration of Hollywood excess and dumb videogame setups.

Tips for 2019

Qazi's Disposable 2018
So what have we got to look forward to? The third season of The Grand Tour will be released, so hopefully that will maintain the stronger format of the second series… In music, Major Lazer will release the Essentials collection in physical form (and – despite there being no indication of it – I’ll personally be crossing my fingers for The Prodigy to announce “No Tourists: The Remixes” or something similar…) With regards to gaming, Sekiro will be released and everyone will pigeonhole it into pigeonholes instead of praising the game for its own ideas, we’ll finally find out what Babylon’s Fall is about (because they’ll reveal more information and it won’t just vanish into obscurity, right? Right?) Oh and maybe I’ll follow up my Persona 1 rambling with a look at P2: Innocent Sin. Don’t hold me to that though.

Thanks to anyone who’s taken the time to read our content during 2018 – leave a comment if you’d like to let us know what your highlights of 2018 were, or if there’s anything you’re looking forward to next year.

Street Fighter V Arcade Edition – first impressions

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Okay, I’ve probably said a number of times that I would be covering Street Fighter V a little less in the future. The game managed to be rescued from its initial rushed and unfinished form to grow into a decent beat ‘em up once the lobbies, cinematic story, trials and store became available, and the character roster today has lots of variety. I would have been eager to get hold of season three’s content as well, but considering how busy 2018 will be in terms of game releases, I can’t guarantee that I’ll have the time to cover the next season. However, this week saw the release of the free upgrade, Street Fighter V Arcade Edition, and it would be remiss to ignore the new content available, especially when – together with so much of the previous DLC – it fleshes the game out way beyond the skeletal and broken form we witnessed during those disappointing beginnings.

Street Fighter V Arcade Edition – it’s in the name

Street Fighter V Arcade Edition

As we mentioned in our original news piece, Street Fighter V Arcade Edition features new V-Triggers, a “gallery mode” that allows you to see various artwork and other extras, the return of Team Battle mode, the mysterious “Extra Battle” mode and – of course – Arcade mode. Those V-Triggers range from new counter-attack moves for Ryu and Karin, a Shinryuken for Ken, and an example of R.Mika taking lessons from Persona 4 Arena’s Kanji – R.Mika’s new V-Trigger sees her call in Nadeshiko and lets her attack the opponent with a chair. It’s a smart way to encourage players to leave their favourites behind for a while and explore the cast again – I feel like my “main” character jumped from Necalli to Rashid to Juri to Menat and back to Rashid, so I welcome the opportunity to revisit old favourites in Street Fighter V Arcade Edition.

As you’d hope, Arcade Mode is one of the most welcome additions to Street Fighter V Arcade Edition – more than just a sequence of eight battles against randomly-selected opponents, it actually consists of six themed gauntlets where characters are limited to the series that made them famous. Pick the “Street Fighter III” challenge, for instance, and you’ll have to use Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Akuma, Alex, Ibuki or Urien. Er, or Kolin. Or Laura. (I guess they had to make some characters fit somehow, and it kind of works if you consider Laura’s relation to Sean and Kolin’s connection to Gill.) In addition to the fights themselves, another neat feature is the ability to select your next opponent, 3rd Strike style, from a choice of two. Each choice has a different score bonus for completion, and it encourages risk taking. And there’s even a bonus piece of art and narrative if you complete one of the gauntlets.

Street Fighter V Arcade Edition – an extra bonus

Street Fighter V Arcade Edition

Moving on to Extra Battle, it’s one of the more intriguing additions to Street Fighter V Arcade Edition. It was originally described as a way to buy in to special challenges that reward you with a chance to gain exclusive costumes – the catch is that each attempt at a challenge costs Fight Money, and you can only attempt a challenge a certain number of times. At first that seems a little greedy, but when you consider what you can earn from the daily challenges introduced in September ‘16, it’s something to keep in mind. Finally, Team Battle mode is exactly what you think it is; fighters from each team go against each other and the first player to eliminate an entire team wins. It’s great for people who want to host team tournaments, but sadly this mode can’t be enjoyed with online friends.

However, we’re not done exploring Arcade Mode just yet – this mode also holds a welcome returning distraction in the form of bonus stages. Partway through the SFII themed arcade mode gauntlet I had to do the Barrel Buster bonus stage – barrels come down from two slopes at the side and fall down the middle; some break normally, others explode, and Two-P from Final Fight is in the arena trying to send the barrels your way. It’s a nice callback to the original Barrel Buster and was a fun surprise that I didn’t expect to see.

Despite my original issues with Street Fighter V, I have to commend the work that has been put into all of the free updates – if anyone grew tired of the game before, Street Fighter V Arcade Edition gives you plenty of reasons to come back. The arcade mode challenges are great for killing time without the misery of being decimated by online warriors, the gallery has a bunch of fun unlockable, Extra Battle is yet another way to earn in-game content and I’m sure there are local players who will love Team Battle mode. Just like the March update felt like a big improvement thanks to challenges and online lounges, this is another expansion that makes today’s SFV so much better than what we had at launch. As ever, let us know what you think of Street Fighter V Arcade Edition in the comments below.

Our initial impressions of Zeku for SFV

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The introduction of Zeku for SFV represents the last of the season two DLC characters for Capcom’s latest entry in its popular fighting game series. If you recall, the first season of DLC featured established characters from older games – Alex, Ibuki, Guile, Urien, Balrog and Juri – whilst the first season of DLC promised Akuma and five brand new fighters – namely Kolin, Ed, Abigail, Menat and Zeku. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I originally doubted whether or not the newcomers would be as fun as returning favourites… however, pretty much all of the new season two fighters have been quite enjoyable, and trying out Zeku for SFV has been similarly entertaining. Before we get to the gameplay, there’s a bit more going on with the character itself. From the moment the character trailer showed off Zeku for SFV, many internet voices speculated that Zeku was a Strider. One of Zeku’s key abilities allows him to change between a younger and older (present-day) form, and the younger form has various visual motifs that bring to mind Strider Hiryu – a red scarf, sleeveless blue outfit and short(ish) brown hair. Playing the story mode reveals that Zeku for SFV is a member of the Bushinryu looking to hone his skills and discover new fighting styles by – how else? – picking fights among the locals. With his own fighting style established, he suggests names for students of the art, including “Striders”. This suggests that he pioneered the fighting style of Striders (or it would if it didn’t fade out to him reeling off increasingly daft names afterwards…)

Zeku for SFV – a split personality

Zeku for SFV
In battle, trying out Zeku for SFV (in his initial older form, at least) reveals a series of special kick attacks that leave large flashy effects behind (the stronger the kick used, the larger the effect, each one being its own sizeable hitbox. He also has a jumping flip reminiscent of the one used by Guy in SFIV (who himself is a Bushinryu master), but the options increase when you perform any move (including the V-Skill) that allows Zeku to transform to his younger self. Now, he loses his kick variations but gains a ninja run (with various follow ups), a Yun-style palm attack, a Yun-style shoulder attack and an air grab. Meanwhile, the V-Reversal pushes the opponent back and away, and the V-Trigger enables a special dash that allows the user to follow up with a unique custom combo (not unlike the new combos available in Juri’s Feng Shui Engine). So, for instance, you can perform the dash and then hit jab, short, strong, forward, fierce and roundhouse in succession for a simple 6-hit custom combo. (This particular example works in both old and young forms, but there might be some that are only effective in one or the other.)

Zeku for SFV – a decent end to season two

Zeku for SFV
At first I thought that the idea of having to learn two movesets would be a bit intimidating, but we’ve had “stance characters” in many fighting games in the past, and this is no different. Whilst I’ve enjoyed all of the season two characters for Street Fighter V, I’m interested to see if Capcom can continue delivering interesting content in the future. 2018 will be quite a busy time for fighters (as I mentioned in my initial coverage of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition) and I don’t know how often I’ll be able to continue covering SFV DLCs if the newcomers turn out to be as enjoyable (or, indeed, more fun) than Street Fighter V. Until then, there’s plenty of fun to be had with Zeku for SFV.

Zeku for SFV is available now.

SFV Arcade Edition announced

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SFV Arcade Edition marks the first fully-fledged upgrade to Street Fighter V. Whilst there have been numerous stages, characters, costumes and other features added to the game over the recent months, it was all available as individual pieces of content to pick and choose from in the shop, and you could either play enough to earn Fight Money for the content, or pick everything up as DLC from your digital marketplace of choice. SFV Arcade Edition will come with all of the Season 1 and Season 2 characters, new V-Triggers for the characters, a gallery, a mysterious “extra battle” mode and the much-demanded arcade mode. Better still, SFV Arcade Edition will be available as a free update if you already own vanilla Street Fighter V.

SFV Arcade Edition – no separate purchase required

SFV Arcade Edition

Originally I wondered if anything like SFV Arcade Edition would ever be released – you might remember news and gossip surrounding the pre-release hype for Street Fighter V, where people claimed that you’d only ever need to buy one copy of the game. Making this a free update certainly means that the statement remains true, and whilst I think that the fighting game genre is going to be pretty crowded in the future (we have a new Marvel game, Dragonball FighterZ is on the way, Arika are working on their game, Dissidia NT is coming in 2018 and Fantasy Strike is in early access) this will make sure that Street Fighter V remains relevant.

SFV Arcade Edition – coming next year

SFV September Update

SFV Arcade Edition will be available from January 16th, so if you’ve been slacking with your combo practice because you’ve been distracted by new releases over the holidays, this will be a perfect excuse to get back into the game. After the troubles that originally faced the game – missing features at launch, online connectivity issues – this announcement is a welcome display of generosity, and I hope it encourages more people to try the game.

Read Capcom Unity’s official news on SFV Arcade Edition here.

An overview of Menat in SFV

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Fans of the latest Street Fighter game might be disappointed that fan-favourite Rose still hasn’t made it back into the roster, even with the generous number of new faces. Personally, I never really bothered to learn her in Street Fighter IV – although other people I played online with clearly demonstrated how much of a threat she could be in the right hands. However, it almost doesn’t matter now – the introduction of Menat in SFV brings enough orb-flinging, reflecting and jumping grabs to satisfy any fan of the Soul Power-wielding lady from previous games. And even if you didn’t like Rose in SFIV, there’s a lot to like in Menat once you find that she’s much more than a reskin.

Using Soul Spheres with Menat in SFV

Menat in SFV

Things immediately get interesting when you dive into the command list and only find a handful of special moves – when playing as Menat in SFV you can throw a soul sphere out until it stops at a certain distance, bring it back, and do an upwards grab move similar to Rose’s Soul Throw. However, her normal moves change significantly depending on whether or not the soul sphere has been sent out or not. With the sphere in hand, normal moves have better range and you can focus on your positioning a lot more as you make the most of those far-reaching attacks. Then, as soon as you perform a fireball motion and a punch attack, Menat throws her soul sphere out to a certain distance until it stops. This counts as a projectile when moving, and changes the properties of normal attacks, but the same command can then be used again to bring the soul sphere back.

What this means is that when you’re learning matchups with Menat in SFV you’ll be trying to create scenarios where the soul sphere is an onscreen threat and the opponent will always have to consider the fact that you could pull it back at any moment. Do you throw it out so that it stops behind them, pressure them into attacking Menat and then bring it back? Do you take advantage of different punch strengths which change the trajectory of the soul sphere when it’s sent out and brought back? It’s a very versatile ability and explains why the special move list doesn’t have too many other tricks.

A moment to reflect with Menat in SFV

Menat in SFV

Then again, if the Rose comparisons sounded a bit of a stretch before, they start to make a bit more sense when you get into the V-System. Players picking up Menat in SFV will not only have a V-Skill that reflects projectiles thrown at her, but her V-Trigger also causes a number of glowing orbs to materialise around her. However, these aren’t just the instant-hit hazards of Soul Satellite; instead, the six orbs act as single-use projectiles, each one being sent out a the corresponding normal attack. Meanwhile, the V-Reversal teleports Menat around the opponent, making for a neat escape route if a player is cornered.

Even outside of the moveset, Menat can be appreciated purely from a design perspective – all of her moves have neat flourishes to their animations, and the use of individual attacks commanding individual V-Trigger orbs makes it look like the character is batting each orb away with different normal attacks. And even though I was hoping Season 2 of SFV’s DLC would bring back more under-used existing characters rather than newcomers… I’m happy to see more newcomers if they’re as good as these. Speaking of which, Season 2 intially promised “Akuma and 5 brand new fighters”, so after Menat, Ed, Abigail and Kolin we’ll just have one more newcomer before the season’s over. Hopefully they’ll be as fun and diverse as Menat.

Menat in SFV

Menat for SFV is available now, as is the Season 2 character pass. We will cover future season 2 additions as they become available.

Our first impressions of Abigail in SFV

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When I first heard that fighting game fans would be able to play as Abigail in SFV, I felt both happy and a bit silly. You see, Capcom originally introduced the second season of Street Fighter V DLC by saying that all but one of the characters in the second season would be brand new. I originally thought that this meant they’d be new to the world of gaming in general, but just because a character is brand new to the Street Fighter series, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t be an existing character from another Capcom franchise…and so, we can now play as Abigail in SFV. He was originally one of the remaining henchmen that Final Fight players had to face before they reached Belger – after fending off several Slashes, Js and Breds, Abigail would come charging in and hopefully continue to run into the path of your weapon. Of course, we’ve already seen other Final Fight characters join the Street Fighter series (Poison, Andore/Hugo, Guy, Cody, etc) but this was still a bit of a surprise for me.

Abigail in SFV – absurd proportions

Abigail in SFV

When you think of classic games with memorable characters, scrolling fighters probably aren’t in the same league as RPGs, but when I heard that we’d be able to play as Abigail in SFV my first recollection was that he was no midget. He already towered over the Final Fight heroes in 1989, and so when I saw Abigail in SFV I was happy that he had retained his absurd proportions. If he’s standing near the middle of the screen then his head grazes the stun gauges of the players, and in the fictional SFV universe most of the other characters would either be craning their neck up to look at him or fighting whilst staring at his chest. It’s not just a matter of spectacle either – when you’re playing against Abigail in SFV you might have a hard time jumping over to the other side of him. (On the other hand, I guess you can throw out a cross-up attempt as soon as you like because you’ll always be close to the hurtbox…?)

Abigail in SFV – piston guns

Abigail in SFV

Looking at the special moves for Abigail in SFV, they largely consist of motions (quarter-circles, half-circles) and multiple neutral button presses. The Abigail Punch is most reminiscent of Jack-X’s Piston Gun in Street Fighter X Tekken – the opponent receives a flurry of upward blows and gets knocked up and away, making it useful for getting out of corner pressure. Giant Flip is a downward smash after a, well, giant flip… but the EX variant allows for numerous follow-ups if you time your button presses correctly. If command grabs are more your thing, Abigail in SFV comes equipped with a throw called “Abigail Smash” that can be executed with a half-circle motion and sees the opponent being tossed upwards and then smashed down. However, the party piece is Nitro Charge – hit two kicks and Abigail automatically runs towards the opponent, and the player can then follow up with an attack or throw. He can even stop short by cancelling the run with his V.Skill.

Abigail in SFV – armours and counters

Abigail in SFV

As for the V-System, he can puff out his chest to go into a brief counter-state if the V.Skill is used – when an attack connects with this, the opponent is sent reeling backwards and takes damage. Meanwhile, the V.Reversal is a jumping two-footed kick that knocks the opponent away and down and the V.Trigger allows for “charged” fierce attacks if the button is held. In a similar manner to focus, the charge will also grant a hit of armour to Abigail. The Critical Art sees him knock a foe down, lift them up and pummel them before smashing them into the “camera” glass.

Whilst they’re rarely my “main” characters, I really like having a pocket grappler and Abigail in SFV is a lot of fun. His walk is quite slow and he’s a huge target, but I really like the portrayal of the Final Fight character here, and the Nitro Charge and Abigail Punch just feel great. So maybe I’ll put Gief aside in favour of Abigail. We’ll see. As ever, let us know how you’re finding Abigail in SFV by leaving a comment below.

You can try Abigail in SFV right now, as he’ll be available to download by the time you read this.

You can now enjoy Ed for SFV in new DLC

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In the latest content update for Capcom’s divisive fighter, players have been treated to a number of welcome changes and additions to the game, including the introduction of Ed for SFV. Whilst this is the first time the character has been playable in the series, the unveiling of Ed for SFV was met with a positive reception, because this is a character with history. He was seen in the story sequences for Balrog in Street Fighter IV but very little was revealed about the character, and this week fans are able to get their hands on his moveset.

Ed for SFV – “special” moves

Ed for SFV

The reveal of Ed for SFV is just one of several all-new character reveals that Capcom has planned for Season 2. Before this, we had already seen what Kolin had to offer, and despite some visual similarities to Karin she had a moveset that made her incomparable to most other fighters in the roster. With the arrival of Ed for SFV, we’re seeing yet another brand new character with a personality and fighting style that doesn’t seem to mimic too many existing characters, so it’s refreshing to see that these new challengers are more than mere reskins of series favourites. Ed doesn’t have any “unique attacks” in his movelist but his special moves are interesting since none of them require motions. Hold fierce and he’ll do a lunging punch whilst shifting to the other side of the opponent. Press any two punches and he’ll launch his foe into the air. Mash punches and he’ll do a rush-punch combo. The most complex special move is the Psycho Spark – the command is forward+MP, but you can’t simply press MP whilst walking towards the opponent and expect the move to come out. Instead, you press the direction and attack together, and Ed beats the foe with a psycho-power infused blow.

Ed for SFV – pop-ups and V-System

Ed for SFV

People familiarising themselves with Ed for SFV will also enjoy the rising kick attack known as Psycho Rising – press two kick attacks and he’ll boot the foe into the air, following up with an air attack if a punch is pressed. There’s a risk that if Psycho Rising misses it could be punished as a player falls to the ground, but Ed can also do a ground-based attack known as Psycho Upper that knocks the opponent up and away. Either one is useful for getting some breathing room if you’re under pressure, but Psycho Rising seems like a bigger gamble since you’ll be left hanging if you miss.

The V-System builds on this philosophy with the V-Skill – press the buttons and the opponent will eat a combo and get knocked down; hold the buttons and they’re snared by psycho energy before being launched up and towards Ed, making it more viable than Psycho Upper if you’re looking to follow up with something (using the V-Skill and then Psycho Rising or Upper seems to work.) Meanwhile, you can crouch and press the buttons to snare a jumping opponent, pounce on them and bring them to the ground, or you can crouch and hold the buttons to simply pull a jumping opponent to the ground with your psycho energy. Whilst I enjoyed these moves when trying out Ed for SFV, the rest of the V-System is pretty unremarkable; the V-Reversal sees him move to the other side of the opponent and the V-Trigger is a giant orb-like projectile that combos the opponent if it hits. That said, you can use directions to alter the speed of the orb when it comes out, which makes for fun guessing games. Also, the orb’s big hitbox pretty much secures some easy follow-up damage after a successful held V-Skill.

(As an aside, there are some interestingly goofy things you can do with Ed for SFV when you have infinite V-gauge in training mode; you can only put out two orbs V-Trigger at a time but if you keep throwing one out when another’s about to disappear you can perpetually juggle the enemy for a while… sadly I think that they eventually become invincible to the projectile.)

Ed for SFV – now with improved CFN

Ed for SFV

The addition of Ed for SFV is already a good enough reason to get back into the game, but it’s worth briefly mentioning the extra features added to CFN in this update. You can now blacklist players and view you blacklisted players, manage your pending friend requests, view a timeline of friend activities in the game, view more in-depth information in each fighter profile, and more besides. It’s a great update, and people who play the game regularly are sure to welcome the changes.

Kolin for SFV now available as DLC

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The introduction of Kolin for SFV represents the first of several all-new characters that will make their series debut in the fifth instalment of Capcom’s acclaimed beat ‘em up series. If you recall, director Takayuki Nakayama revealed that after Akuma, the following five DLC characters in Season 2 would be completely new faces. At first I jokingly suggested that the second season would take inspiration from “Street Fighter V – A Shadow Falls” and give us five marginally different Bison dolls to choose from. After seeing Kolin for SFV on various streams and later trying her out when she became available to download, it seems that she’s a lot more fun and inventive than I could have imagined.

Kolin for SFV – cool customer

Whilst most characters in the Street Fighter universe are content to throw balls of fire or indeterminable “energy” of some kind, a player who picks up Kolin for SFV will note that she’s a rare character who has ice-based attacks. More than simply being a new graphical effect over similar moves, the various abilities of Kolin tie in nicely with the frosty theme. We can talk about all of that later though, as Kolin is a formidable opponent even before you get to the ice attacks. The normal attacks aren’t too special (no pun intended) save for a nice hitbox on the jumping medium kick, but the move list reveals lots of surprises – a unique attack that acts like Abel’s wheel kick from SFIV (push MK whilst moving towards your opponent), a backdash which can lead to a dashing or jumping follow-up (perfect for playing guessing games with the opponent), an arcing projectile and a variant on Decapre’s “Rapid Dagger” attack from Street Fighter IV. Players who pick up Kolin for SFV will also discover an interesting counter, where Kolin can push a foe back and knock them down, but only if they are countering an attack at the right height – the strength of attack used for the counter determines the height, and so it’s more risky than your average counter.

Kolin for SFV – V-System

Her V-Skill is another counter, although it also works as a regular attack if you don’t get the timing for the counter. Named “Inside Slash”, it will either end up striking the opponent normally, or – if you use it just as you’re being attacked – cause a dramatic change of hue briefly as Kolin strikes back for a counter blow. In between the two hits there’s also a bit of forward movement, so it could be pretty useful for escaping corner pressure (although the attack itself does a lot of knockback too.)

Kolin for SFV has a V-Reversal which is slightly less outlandish – simply making her roll to the other side of an opponent – but her V-Trigger is an impressive frosty callback to The Incredible Hulk in the Marvel vs. Capcom games. Well, sort of. If you’re familiar with the Gamma Wave move in that game, it sees Hulk tear up the earth and send a shockwave of hurt along the ground, and Kolin’s V-Reversal is a wave of ice that behaves in a similar manner. Finally, you’ll find that Kolin for SFV has an interesting V-Trigger – named “Diamond Dust” – that sends a wave of ice spikes towards the opponent, knocking them down and sending them into a “frozen” state where their stun gauge no longer drains out. Instead, the opponent will have to land an attack on Kolin for their stun gauge to recover. Meanwhile, if a player successfully lands Diamond Dust and it completely fills the stun gauge, the opponent will be unable to move and the Kolin player can get a free punish.

Kolin for SFV – good gimmicks

My first impressions of Kolin for SFV make me feel like she’s a character with a lot of gimmicks, but that’s no criticism – players who take advantage of the projectiles and backdash follow-ups could seriously outplay opponents who aren’t used to dealing with her just yet. During lounges with other PSN friends I’m still enjoying Juri, and I look forward to seeing how she fares against Kolin. If this represents the quality of future newcomers, Season 2 could keep Street Fighter V interesting and entertaining. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have success with Kolin and successfully use her ice to see you through ranked battles and casual games.

Kolin for SFV is available now, as is the Season 2 character pass. We will cover future season 2 additions as they become available.

My Disposable 2016 – highlights from this year

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Lists. Who likes lists? Well, you’re in luck, because it’s the time of year when everyone thumbs through their entertainment collections and starts making lists of notable things released over the last twelve months. Naturally I had some ideas for things that I could talk about for my Disposable 2016, but simply listing the Top 10 Things in Categories would be kind of dull, so instead I’ve picked out a few personal lowlights and highlights from Film/TV, music, gaming and so on.

My Disposable 2016 – rushed combos and Grand Gear

My Disposable 2016

Let’s not waste any more time. The award for the best fighting game of the year goes to Street Fighter V, whilst the award for the worst fighting game of the year goes to Street Fighter V. The new gameplay features such as crush counters and V-System abilities helped to reinvent the classic beat ‘em up once again, but it’s impossible to forget the connection lottery during the beta and launch period, or the numerous features that still needed to be patched into the game months after launch. I’ll admit that it wasn’t until Super SFIV that the fourth game really seemed like a complete package, but in setting such a strong standard it raised expectations for SFV, and during my Disposable 2016 it was a disappointing start for a promising new entry in the mainline series.

My Disposable 2016

The award for the notable TV break-up of the year goes to Top Gear and The Grand Tour – the former providing a perfect example of why it’s not always better to simply change the presenters, keep the same format and hope for the best. The new TG was far from terrible, but you can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t seen as an opportunity for the show to reinvent itself again. The Grand Tour isn’t free from criticism either – with running jokes that are going to get old quickly, and main features that occasionally look more like they’re from a bad sketch show – but at least it’s trying something different. And yes, it has had its controversial moments, but sharing footage of said moments on social media to get people talking is probably exactly what the team wants, and most complaints I’ve heard have come from people who have never watched the show before, so you end up with people judging a series based on a few controversial minutes of isolated footage – in writing terms, that’s like me judging Street Fighter V based on R. Mika’s bottom slap.

My Disposable 2016 – second albums and TV gaming

My Disposable 2016

The Surprise Musical Comeback award this year has to go to The Avalanches. More than a decade had passed since their debut album release when suddenly a teaser video named “Since They Left Us” appeared out of nowhere. Soon after this, the new album “Wildflower” was released, and even though it seems to go all over the place at times, there’s plenty of content on the album and so you’re likely to come away with one or two new favourites. Frankie Sinatra was the first thing I heard from the album and I’m still not hugely fond of it, but other tracks such as Because I’m Me and Subways more than make up for it.

My Disposable 2016

The Promising Debut TV Series award goes to Dara Ó Briain’s videogame-themed quiz show Go 8-Bit. Whilst gaming snobs were quick to criticise the show for dumbing things down and making fun of the hobby, the celebrity guests are much more entertaining than random dudes duelling in Gamesmaster challenges, and the familiar retro games share airtime with the likes of Nidhogg, Gang Beasts and Big Buck Hunter, so there’s definitely potential for the series, even if it is buried away in an evening slot on Dave. (Whilst I was drafting the notes for my Disposable 2016, Ellie Gibson confirmed that the show would be coming back for two more series, so that’s great news.)

My Disposable 2016 – wrapping up

Writing lists and coming up with commendations is fun, but in all seriousness it’s been a great year for entertainment fans; musical comebacks, TV reinventions, gaming…er, sequels and more disc releases of ace films than you could ever hope for. The above highlights were just a few of the things I enjoyed, but there was plenty of other stuff that didn’t make the article. I’m certain that there will be even more to look forward to in 2017, and hope that you’ll join Disposable Media in going through it all next year.

Akuma for SFV released, season 2 underway in 2017

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Akuma for SFV was released sometime in December of 2016 and whilst I wasn’t planning to get the new character pass at first, I thought that since I had already written so much content on the characters introduced in the beta and the first season, I should probably continue and look at the characters of the second season. We do know that Akuma for SFV will be the only character in the season 2 roster that is returning from a previous Street Fighter game, and that the other five (or however many) characters in season 2 will be brand new characters. This means that I should stop hoping for the likes of Ingrid or Necro, but at the same time if the new characters are as good as the likes of the new faces in Street Fighter V that could be no bad thing. Besides, the season 1 roster was full of familiar faces – Alex, Guile, Balrog, Ibuki, Juri and Urien – so it’s understandable that they would want to take a break from reinventing existing characters. Until then, we can enjoy Akuma for SFV, a new iteration of the demonic Shotokan who has fully succumbed to the Dark Hadou (or is it Dark Hado? It’s unclear.)

Akuma for SFV – familiar moves

Akuma for SFV

Akuma for SFV marks the return of a character that has featured in SFII, III, IV and now V, so you would hope that most moves are familiar. Indeed, fireballs (of the regular and red variety), hurricane kicks and dragon punches are all present and correct, there’s a demon flip slide move that can be interrupted if you hit an attack whilst Akuma is in the middle of the jump, and his Critical Arts showcase his old SAIII from Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and his signature Raging Demon (Shun Goku Satsu) super which requires V-Trigger to be active and demands that a string of inputs is tapped out in quick succession (jab, jab, move forward, short, fierce.) In training mode this delivered 400 damage, so it’s a useful Critical Art but the requirement of V-Trigger activation and a full Critical Art meter offers two warning signs to an opponent that a Raging Demon move may be coming.

Akuma for SFV – appearance and effects

Akuma for SFV

Akuma for SFV has a brilliant appearance and character model. In SFIV he was defined by his red hair and demonic eyes, and in SFIII he had more detail and animations that looked great. SFIV’s 3D treatment was excellent, defining his face, muscles, clothes and everything, but the full “mane” of hair given to Akuma for SFV is a great touch. The only real disappointment is that this appearance doesn’t change that dramatically when in V-Trigger – since Akuma’s backstory is all about someone who has studied and practiced the ways of the Dark Hadou (or Hado) in his search for power, I expected the V-Trigger to offer a bit more than the feeble neon flames coming from his shoulders in wisps… but that’s a minor thing.

Akuma for SFV – the beginning of season 2

Akuma for SFV

Despite finding less time to play Street Fighter V lately, I’m still curious to see what the brand new characters bring to the game – I was a bit wary of old characters having their movesets redesigned so drastically with the season one additions (Ibuki and her bombs, Juri and her new teleports, etc) but maybe some brand new characters are just what’s needed – with a clean slate there’s no point of reference that can be used to generate preconceptions. And after all, new additions such as Laura and Rashid are a lot of fun already, so I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Akuma for SFV is available now, as is the Season 2 character pass. We will cover future season 2 additions as they become available.

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