Fighterpedia tackles a question that will surely have proponents on both sides of the debate: Is Smash Bros. a fighting game?

The problem is that there is no real definition for what is a “fighting game” as opposed to some other kind of game. If we take it at face value, any game that involves fighting could be a fighting game, but I think we’d all agree that something like Devil May Cry isn’t a “fighting game.”

It doesn’t have to be one-on-one either, as evidenced by Scramble Mode in Street Fighter X Tekken. And it doesn’t necessarily have to involve hadouken or SRK motions, as evidenced by games like Virtua Fighter. What’s your take? Is Smash Bros a fighting game or no? If it is, then we also have to include games like PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale and maybe even boxing or wrestling games, no?

The Super Smash Bros series from Nintendo is fantastic. I’m more of a purist, so I don’t really consider it a traditional fighting game, but it’s still a lot of fun. It’s also great that you can pit, say, Kirby against Ganondorf against Star Fox against Sonic the Hedgehog. Apparently, Sony wants a piece of that action.

In what is clearly a blatant ripoff of Smash Bros, Sony has just released the trailer for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Set for release on the PS3, it takes the same (up to) four-player simultaneous mechanic with large stages and wide camera angles. The “damage percentage” thing from Smash Bros is replaced with a conventional health bar, but it’s pretty much the same game. The difference is you get characters like that scary clown from Twisted Metal, Parappa the Rapper, and Fat Princess. No Falcon Punch here.

This isn’t necessarily a bad game, but there’s no denying where the developers got their “inspiration.”

But there’s more to Heihachi Mishima that just that bread and butter. Peep the tutorial video below for more awesome stuff.

If you love playing Street Fighter and you normally play using a regular remote control, but now you fancy trying out a joystick, then this blog post will show you some useful hints and tips on how to find the most comfortable joystick grip for you.

The last thing you want to happen is for you to wear your fingers and wrists out after just half an hour of playing. This is why it is important to find a comfortable joystick grip which suits you. As you know, you can perform a whole range of moves on Street Fighter, all of which require particular button combinations. It is not like other games such as Partypoker which simply requires a mouse click to play along, or games like Worms in which you only need to use the arrows on the keyboard to play. Street Fighter is much more complicated than that which is why you might be interested to read the hints and tips below.

There are various ways you can grip the joystick. There is no right and wrong way to hold it but some people find some grips more comfortable than others. Why not try out the following grips and see which one works for you?

1. Try putting your little finger on the joystick’s platform and gently push down for support. Then wrap your middle and index finger around the stick and place your thumb on the top. This is the most common and popular technique.

2. The two finger grip sees the player just use his index finger and thumb to operate the joystick.

3. Some players find it comfortable to make a tight fist around the top of the joystick because it gives them the most amount of control. 

If you want to get big damage in Street Fighter X Tekken, you really have to look no further than the lumbering beast known as Hugo. You might not be able to achieve maximum combo damage with default partner Poison, but check out the video below for some of the possibilities.

In my own experience playing online, getting caught in the middle of a Hugo frenzy can be incredibly frustrating and incredibly damaging. He’s not really one for footsies, but as soon as that combo string gets going, the damage is out of this world.

Yes, Hugo is awesome. And he’s even more awesome in Pandora mode. There are several combos in there with 600+ damage, even with massive scaling. Back breakuh!

We’ve already seen the magic of WolfKrone and his mastery of C. Viper, but now we turn our attention to Poongko and his absolute domination with Seth in Super Street Fighter IV.

You might remember that it was Poongko who decimated Daigo at EVO last year, utterly destroying the man that we would call the beast. In the video below, we see some of that magic, including his signature stepping stairway. The execution, the timing, the mixup game… Poongko is a machine.

Yes, the DLC is already on that game disc of yours, but you still have to pay for the extra costumes and characters in Street Fighter X Tekken. All that controversy aside, we still want to know how much it’s going to cost… and now Capcom is letting us know the price.

As you might recall, twelve extra characters are going to come (for free) with the PlayStation Vita version of SFxTK, but we’re going to have to pay for them on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It has now been announced that the 12 characters will be provided as a bundle pack for 1600 Microsoft Points, which is equivalent to $20. Presumably, the PS3 side of the equation will cost the same. They haven’t indicated a specific date other than saying it’s “later this year,” but the DLC “launch” will likely coincide with the release of the game on the PS Vita.

Before that, you’ll have the “opportunity” to buy some more Street Fighter X Tekken DLC in the form of alternate costumes. Your Street Fighter characters can cosplay as Tekken characters and vice versa. These extra costumes costs 80 MS Points ($1) each. Alternatively, you can buy all of one side for $13 (1040 MS Points), meaning that it will cost $26 to get all the alternate costumes. There are also some “free” colors and three extra quick combo slots being provided for each character.

All said, you’re looking at $46 of extra money on top of that $60 MSRP to get the full Street Fighter X Tekken experience. Is that better or worse that releasing an “updated” version next year called Super Street Fighter X Tekken: Ultra Edition Version 2013?

For the record, the twelve DLC characters are Sakura, Blanka, Guy, Cody, Elena and Dudley on the Street Fighter side, plus Lars, Alisa, Bryan, Jack-X, Christie and Lei on the Tekken side.

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What do you think? Doesn’t the Pandora-fied version of Akuma (Gouki) look a little too much like Oni from SSFIV:AE? That has to be on purpose, right?

If you have a Street Fighter pairing, then you get Xiaoyu and Jin, as shown below. If you chose a Tekken team, then you get M. Bison (Dictator) and Juri. From what I can tell, they don’t seem to have full Pandora powers, but your guess is as good as mine.