The Lone Gamer

Playable in TTT2 Console? She’d better be.

WHOA! Looks like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is starting to make some waves online again. Just recently, the above render of TTT2′s gorgeous goo-covered final boss, Unknown, appeared online. But heck, that she’d be playable and in the console version of Tekken Tag 2 is kinda expected. Well, Harada has been saying for a while now that the home version of TTT2 will have a LOT more fighters- more than 50, and here’s what looks like the first solid looks at perhaps some of these newcomers. The images below have supposedly been leaked online originally from Gamespot (they’ve since been taken down), showing pretty legit-looking (and downright awesome) renders of long-time MIA Tekken characters Kunimitsu, Ogre and Angel. Are these indeed our first look at TTT2′s console challengers? If so… FREAKIN’ AWESOME. You can find larger versions of these character arts over at Shoryuken.

Shrek’s back! Now players can finally have their Ogre/True Ogre tag team. Yikes!

The Manji renegade is back and looking even hotter than ever.

Elysium- er, Angel is back and looking fine. Hoping she’s not just a Mishima clone this time around.

We’ll need to hear actual confirmation from Harada, which should be forthcoming… perhaps we’ll see these returning faces in action during next months’ E3? I really hope these guys all have unique fighting styles. My, oh my… June is turning out to be quite an exciting month. More as we get it then!

Here are a couple more doubletake-inducing custom mod skins for Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition for PC. This time you can outfit a couple of fighters to look as characters from Square’s latest RPG, Final Fantasy XIII!
The first FFXIII skin is for Ibuki, and it turns the cute kunoichi into the also-cute but-much-too-shrill Oerba Dia Vanille. The detail is excellent and fans of this FF vixen will surely squeal in delight to see this in action.

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Now gamers can do something they’ve always dreamed of- punch Vanille in the face.

The other FFXIII mod is for Ibuki’s fellow 3rd Striker, Makoto, and it turns the karate kid into none other than pink-haired heroine Lightning! In all fairness, I was incredulous at first at the thought of tomboy Makoto in this role, but once I saw the actual mod in action, I think it’s pretty awesome. Makoto’s fierce expressions fit the combative Lightning perfectly, and the details of the mod are pretty much spot-on. Perhaps the only gripe may be that Makoto’s buff build is a world away from the waif-ish Lightning, but heck- this is Streetfighter, so she needs the muscle!

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Who’d ever thought Makoto would look great with pink hair?

Of course, the FFXIII novelty aside, these skins are absolute fan service masterpieces, with Makoto showing off perhaps the most skin she’s ever shown off with the ‘underwear’ variant of the Lightning mod, and both FFXIII skins feature scandalously short skirts that DOA girls would be too shy to wear (heh). The modder responsible for these artistic add-ons is the very prolific Sloth86, who also brought is the Chun-Li SF2 Anime mod recently. Man, that dude is busy! Who knows what else he’s got coming up?

The more I see these cool customs, the more I find myself wanting to get into this modding action… so… anyone got a powerful gaming laptop they wanna sell me extra-extra cheap? Heheh…

Back in the mid-90′s, even before the lovable lunacy that was the Van Damme Streetfighter movie, the real and totally legit cinematic World Warrior flick was the Japanese-made Streetfighter II: The Animated Movie. It was awesome for many reasons- the animation was of exceptional quality, the fight scenes were hard-hitting and awesomely directed, and it showed for the first time a truly dark, evil and powerful M.Bison.

But of course, the most awesome action in the original SF2 movie wasn’t the Double Shotokan vs Psycho Power Finale Battle… it was the vicious but sexy apartment fight between Chun-li and Vega. That scene, in which the half-dressed Chunster is ambushed fresh out of the shower by the Spanish Ninja, is pure fan service, punctuated by copious shots of the heroine’s panties with every high kick and tumble. Man, those were the days of sexy anime. For those who haven’t seen it, you can check out this animated battle of the sexes in the vid below.

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Still crazy-awesome after all these years.

Suffice to say that ever since, there’s always been a little whisper at the back of my head wishing that Capcom would make Chun-li’s look in the anime as an in-game outfit. Of course, that would never happen formally, as it probably won’t do these days for the Flagship Femme of Capcom’s leading franchise to traipse around in her undies. Well, the key word is ‘formally’. Thanks to the creative artists and modders who’ve been tinkering with SSFIV for the PC, the ultimate guilty-pleasure Chun-li custom costume (well, the one we can show in public) is now available for gamers to recreate the sexy battle in actual gameplay!

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The classic anime fight, in game form!

On an extra note, I noticed that Chun-li’s finishing move in the movie- a lighting leg barrage that ends with a final kick with both feet- is incredibly similar to her Hosenka Ultra in SSFIV… coincidence? Or did the game devs take a cue from the anime flick?

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The Chun-li SF2 mod comes in both clean and ‘wounded’ versions. Cool!

Created by modder Sloth86, the custom SF2 anime skin for Chun-li (which, like all mods, is free to find and download online) comes in 10 variants, including alternate colors for her nightshirt, clean and ‘wounded’ versions, and a couple sans the shirt (just her bra and panties). It’s quite a wonderful piece of fan service and I salute these artsy mods for their fine work. Capcom should hire these guys and replace those hacks who take months to produce color swap ‘alternate costumes’ in MVC3…

Now, if only I had a freakin’ PC to use these darn custom skins… sigh.

You’re a fighting game fan like me, and you love stuff like extra outfits and cool alternate duds for your fighter dudes. Well, sadly, if you’re on console you’re at the mercy of the impenetrability of the medium- but as we’ve seen with SSFIV on PS3 or Xbox360, Alternate Outfits (or Colors) are as rare as truffles. Capcom’s dev team seem to take forever just to make some pretty unspectacular or even frumpy mods (Farmer Makoto? WTF?) and they never come for free. Mortal Kombat alts and skins are slightly better, but they’re often paid DLC and again, much too infrequent.

Well, for PC players, they just say DLC, Schmee-hell-see (or something like that)! Particularly for the recently-released Super Streetfighter IV Arcade Edition for PC, modding and creating custom skins is a very intriguing pastime in a very creative community of artistic gamers. And these aren’t simple or amateurish-looking custom skins either- most of the ones I’ve seen online look just as legit as any in-game costume for SSFIV or SFIV, with the sole difference that they’re AWESOME.

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Some relatively ‘simple’ mods: No-Mask Ibuki and ‘Battle-Damaged’ Makoto.

If you haven’t seen mods before, you’ll be amazed at the variety and creativity of a lot of these digital works. Some add more elaborate designs or colors on existing costumes, or different textures on fighters (fancy Seth or Blanka with SCALES?).

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This ‘Cutie’ Makoto mod is just too… CUTE!

Some of the newer, more advanced ones though go farther than that, actually adding or removing some articles of clothing or even involve swapping parts from other characters to create new looks for long-established characters. There are of course NSFW ones (nude mods) which I won’t take up here, but there are some very cool fan servicey mods such as Cammy sans her usual beret, gauntlets and boots (loosk like she’s going diving), or Sakura dressed up like Ryu in a Gi, which I feel SHOULD be official outfits. It’s amazing what a little switching around of some limbs and photoshopping can do!

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‘Escape from Shadaloo’ Cammy (Cammy sans beret, gloves and boots) is based on a scene that came out in the SF Udon Comics. Gymnast Chun-Li however is all-new (and awesome!).

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Talk about awesome mods- Sakura in Ryu’s outfit! Amazing!

These artistic mods probably aren’t something any Ryu-Dick-or-Harry can do, but if you’ve got a copy of SSFIV AE on PC, these mods are free for download and easily installed; you just have to keep a back-up of the original game files handy, just in case.
Man, these mods are damn awesome. I’m basically a console player but some of these outfits seem worth getting a new PC for. Say- any bargains for cheap gaming laptops out there..?