Leona Trial 10 – The King of Fighters 13

The Trials in The King of Fighters 13 represent a fine line between testing your skill and outright destroying your hand. Leona Heidern’s Trial 10 is a good example. It consists of 16 hits with the need to transition from a Moon Slasher to a Baltic Launcher by canceling out of the latter not once, not twice but three times in a row. Then you have to execute and cancel out of a Grand Saber run, perform the Moon Slasher to Baltic Launcher inputs again, execute a V-Slasher – an in-air Desperation Move that requires one directional quarter circle followed by a half-circle and either Low or High Punch – before ending with a Leona Blade Neomax, which is another quarter circle followed a half-circle into a Low or High Punch. Got all that? Naturally, you need to be frame perfect, especially with the cancels, to pull it off properly.

While the name Team Ninja conjures up images of mythical and historical Japan jammed together of the now popular Nioh series, long before any of that they had Dead or Alive. The fighter series has continued on at a steady pace with the sixth mainline installment coming out last year. It now seems like it’s time for them to wrap things up, with a nice thank you.

As announced via their official Twitter account, the final update (1.22) is available now. They also offered a thank you to the fans who supported the game as well as the (vast amount of) DLC that it received. No word on where the series goes from here or what degree of success DOA6 had, though it’s mentioned that it received 3 million downloads. For reference, the fifth game lasted almost 5 years to 6 only being active a little over a year.

Dead or Alive 6 is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC with the last update live on all platforms. A free to play version called Core Fighters is also on all platforms as servers do remain open.

https://twitter.com/DOATEC_OFFICIAL/status/1250155315397627914?s=20

Kronika – Mortal Kombat 11

In terms of power, Kronika is easily at the top of the pecking order in the Mortal Kombat pantheon. This prowess is reflected in battle as well – Fatal Blows aren’t effective against her (only the initial hit does damage) and she has insane juggles and quick movement. She’s also capable of “rewinding” a fighter with homing projectiles, disorienting and setting them up for more damage. And of course, in terms of disrespect, her endlessly looping Fatality takes the cake.

Despite seeming dead on arrival, Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive 6 actually performed decently in its launch month. According to publisher Koei Tecmo’s recent financial report, the fighting game shipped 350,000 units across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Given that it launched on March 1^st and the fiscal year ends on March 31^st, that’s not half bad.

Other titles that Koei Tecmo provided updates on include 700,00 units shipped for Warriors Orochi 4 on Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. This is up from 310,000 shipments in the last report, with the title first becoming available in Japan on September 27^th, 2018, before releasing in North America and Europe in mid-October.

Koei Tecmo does have quite a bit in the works, especially with E3 2019 around the corner. They recently announced a collaboration with Atlus for Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers, a Dynasty Warriors-style beat ’em up with characters from the RPG. Team Ninja is also working on Nioh 2, the action RPG Soulslike that was announced at Sony’s E3 2018 presser.

Dead or Alive 6, the latest installment in the long-running fighting series, came out to mostly positive reviews (you can read our take on the game here), but the Koei Tecmo-published and Team Ninja-developed title had a surprising omission in its base release with a lack of lobbies. They’re fixing that now with the newest 1.05 update, which is available now across all platforms.

The update is a small one, only a few megs big, but the lobby system is a big update for fighting fans jumping online to face off against veterans and newcomers to the franchise alike. For the PC version, there’s also a slight graphics optimization feature for online play.

The game is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The fighter also recently saw the release of a free-to-play version with Dead of Alive 6: Core Fighters across all three platforms, similar to the previous game in the series. You can get more info on the Core Fighters version of the fighter through here.

Without further ado then, let’s begin.

MORTAL KOMBAT 11

People have been looking forward to Mortal Kombat 11 for some time now, and after much anticipation, it’s finally almost here. Typically, it looks absolutely incredible. Promising much gore, Brutalities, and Fatalities, combined with what’s looking like a strong roster, as well as the kind of strong campaigns NeatherRealm Studios usually delivers, Mortal Kombat 11 is undoubtedly very close to the top of many most-anticipated lists.

We’ve known for a while now that Koei-Tecmo would be releasing a free-to-play version of Dead or Alive 6, like they did with Dead or Alive 5: Core Fighters. And now, with the base game itself having been out for just two weeks, its free-to-play version has been made available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Dead or Alive 6: Core Fighters will allow players to play through several modes, including DOA Central, Time Attack, Arcade, Versus, Training, a few DOA Quests, as well as the introduction of the story mode. While the selection of modes is impressive, players will be restricted to a much more limited roster of playable characters, with only four – Kasumi, Bass, Hitomi, and newcomer Diego – being available.

For those who want to try out the core systems of the games and dabble in some of the modes on offer, this presents a good chance to test the waters and judge whether or not the game is worth a full purchase. You can also read our review for it through here for more information.

To begin with, both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X versions of Dead or Alive 6 offer two graphical modes. One is the Graphics mode and the other being the Action mode. The PS4 Pro versions renders Dead or Alive 6 in 1080p regardless of the mode you run the game on. However, the Graphics mode has better anti-aliasing and slightly better shadow quality, but overall, the differences between the two modes on the PS4 Pro is pretty miniscule. On the Xbox One X, things get a bit interesting. In Action mode, the game runs at 1080p, but in Graphics, the game runs in 4K resolution. So, in terms of image quality, Microsoft’s machine is clearly leading the race here.

But what about performance? On the console front, we analyzed the game’s performance by taking some sample scenes from the game and running it through trdrop, an open source software. Note that this tool gives us a mere demonstration of the game’s performance, because an exact 1:1 representation of performance can only be provided by the developers themselves since they have access to vast of array of tools and profilers. The PS4 Pro version in both the modes runs at a steady 60 frames per second. This holds true even for the Xbox One X version when the game is running in Action mode, but as soon as you switch to Graphics mode, performance becomes uneven. The game runs in the range of 30s to 40s making the response time for controller input quite sluggish. There is absolutely no excuse to run a fighter at anything below 60 frames per second, and the Xbox One X’s Graphics mode is certainly no exception to that rule.

We also tested the game on the PC. The developers recommend an Intel Core i7 8700 or better CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and a shockingly high memory requirement of 16GB. On the graphical settings front, Dead or Alive 6 features a pretty barebones set of parameters. Besides the expected options for changing resolution and screen settings, the game offers players with only four other settings. These are Shadow Resolution for background and characters, Effect quality and Object Display. Dead or Alive 6 is no technical behemoth, it’s a decent looking game but there is no excuse for providing players with such a barebones PC graphical setting list. Our test PC includes a GTX 1080Ti, 16GB of GDDR4 memory and Ryzen 1700 CPU, and as expected, we had no issues running the game at a rock solid 60 frames per second. When compared against the PC build, it’s the Xbox One X version that comes close to matching it. However, it’s clear that the PC version excels with better texture filtering, anti-aliasing and overall better shader quality when compared against both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X versions.

As noted earlier, Dead or Alive 6 is the first major entry in the mainline series in almost seven years. The previous game, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, utilized the Soft Engine. However, this time around the developers are using a new in-house engine so that the series can be bought up to modern lighting standards. As mentioned earlier, Dead or Alive 6 isn’t exactly a game that will set your hardware on fire. Its adherence to physical based lighting for the most part is okay and the characters move more fluidly than they ever did before. But the engine seems like it’s stuck in transition between last generation and current generation. One look at the likes of SoulCalibur 6 or the more graphically intensive Tekken 7 will show you how much Dead or Alive 6 lags behind its material shaders and hair rendering solution. However, there are some noticeable improvements in the form of particle effects, skin shaders that allows for enhanced sweat and dirt effects along with cloth damage.

So, overall, Dead or Alive 6, from a gameplay perspective is a strong entry in the long running fighting series. However, from a visual perspective, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The PC version easily trumps both the console versions but between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, it’s a bit hard to decide given its weird implementation of graphical settings on those consoles. The lack of a resolution higher than 1080p on PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X’s unlocked frame rate in Graphics mode are both noticeable issues. If you are okay with a full HD resolution on the PS4 Pro and are able to pretend that a Graphics mode doesn’t exist in the Xbox One X version, you can’t go wrong with either platform.

Dead Or Alive 6 is now out, and Team Ninja’s newest fighter has you earning in game coins to be able to afford in-game goodies. This guide walks you through earning coins quickly, as well as racking up your point multipliers.

HOW TO EARN COINS QUICKLY

First, let’s get the most surprising fundamental out of the way—playing fights online or offline is the worst way to farm currency in this game, and if that’s what you are looking to do, don’t (well, you can, but it will take you a very long time!). Instead, what you should do is clear the DOA quest to gain Stars, in game achievements that always net you Coins when earned. Completing combos from each characters is also a good way to get some coin.

POINT MULTIPLIERS

A lot of the quests in Dead or Alive 6 demand that you rack up points in Survival Mode. To meet the Points threshold, the easiest thing to do is to rack up the multiplier. The easiest way to do that? It’s to launch your opponents into the walls. Seriously. 1 launch = 2x Multiplier, 2 launches = 4x multipliers. That aside, remember you don’t get points for throws. You get them for strikes, combos, so on, but NOT for throws.

The newest Media Create charts for video game software and hardware sales in Japan for the week ending March 3 feature two new releases debuting in the top 5 of the software side of things. Dead or Alive 6 and Left Alive rank in first and fifth place in their debut week respectively- however, neither of them managed to sell too many units, with Dead or Alive 6 selling over 26,000 copies, and Left Alive only managing over 17,000 units sold.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is continuing to chug along, taking the second spot with over 25,000 copies sold, while New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe continues to perform as well, with over 24,000 units sold for a third place spot. Anthem, which debuted on top last week (and nearly sold through its shipment) is in fourth place, with just over 20,000 units sold.

Meanwhile, on the hardware side of things, the Nintendo Switch is still on top of the charts, to no one’s surprise. It has seen a significant boost over last week’s sales, selling over 68,000 units as opposed to last week’s 53,000. Meanwhile, the PS4 sold over 19,000 units.

You can check out the full software and hardware charts below.

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. [PS4] Dead or Alive 6 (Square Enix, 03/01/19) – 26,442 (New)
2. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 25,617 (2,909,033)
3. [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo, 01/11/19) – 24,436 (479,443)
4. [PS4] Anthem (Limited Edition Included) (Electronic Arts, 02/22/19) – 20,368 (98,306)
5. [PS4] Left Alive (Square Enix, 02/28/19) – 17,622 (New)
6. [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! (Bundle Editions Included) (Nintendo, 11/16/18) – 12,864 (1,514,711)
7. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 12,369 (2,154,698)
8. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts III (Limited Edition Included) (Square Enix, 01/25/19) – 10,983 (781,051)
9. [NSW] Zoids Wild: King of Blast (Takara Tomy, 02/28/19) – 10,030 (New)
10. [NSW] Super Mario Party (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 10/05/18) – 9,900 (1,037,559)
11. [NSW] Darius Cozmic Collection (Limited Edition Included) (Taito, 02/28/19) – 9,495 (New)
12. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 07/21/17) – 8,986 (2,947,577)
13. [PS4] Jump Force (Bandai Namco, 02/14/19) – 8,655 (103,020)
14. [NSW] Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Bundle Version Included) (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 8,638 (624,521)
15. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Limited Edition Included) (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 7,694 (1,307,507)
16. [PS4] NieR: Automata Game of the YoRHa Edition (Square Enix, 02/21/19) – 6,625 (27,950)
17. [PS4] Far Cry: New Dawn (Ubisoft, 02/15/19) – 6,000 (44,668)
18. [PS4] Resident Evil 2 (Z Version and Limited Edition Included) (Capcom, 01/25/19) – 4,505 (348,778)
19. [NSW] Doraemon: Nobita’s Chronicle of the Moon Exploration (FuRyu, 02/28/19) – 3,370 (New)
20. [PS4] Catherine: Full Body (Limited Edition Included) (Atlus, 02/14/19) – 3,000 (61,855)

Hardware Sales (followed by last week’s sales)

1. Switch – 68,666 (53,270)
2. PlayStation 4 – 11,871 (10,632)
3. PlayStation 4 Pro – 7,986 (6,956)
4. New 2DS LL – 6,202 (3,388)
5. PlayStation Vita – 3,287 (3,600)
6. New 3DS LL – 1,203 (1,052)
7. 2DS – 116 (113)
8. Xbox One X – 67 (51)
9. Xbox One – 23 (21)

[Gematsu]