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Skullgirls boppin' to PC digital distribution later this year
Reverge Labs' debut fighter Skullgirls is coming to major digital distribution channels later this year. The Windows PC port will be available on Steam, Origin, GameFly, GamersGate and GameStop PC Downloads.The PC version will ship with several updates built in – updates that will eventually be patched into the console versions. These include "in-game movelists, additional tutorials, retuned single player AI, enhanced leaderboards, in-game name display for online matches, and additional multi-player regions."
Skullgirls sells more than 50K to date, Reverge working on updates
Reverge Labs announced via Twitter that Skullgirls has sold over 50,000 copies in ten days of availability. That number doesn't include any European PSN sales, as that version arrives on May 2.The company thanked fans, and revealed that it's at work on "the first updates," the contents of which are currently unknown. However, Reverge has suggested that in-game move lists and input displays for training mode are among the updates it would want to add, if enough people bought the game to support the hosting costs.This is good news for the first-time developer, and good news for fans. It's good news for everyone but "Peacemillian," who made a statement in chat during a streaming event last September: "if this game breaks 50k sold I'll eat my own shit."
Skullgirls comes to Euro PSN May 2, original soundtrack available online
The Skullgirls will take their eternal, beautifully animated brawl to Europe and Australia next week, with the PSN version due in PAL territories on May 2. The XBLA version hit Europe April 11.If you want to listen to the game's soundtrack (featuring tracks by Castlevania's Michiru Yamane!) even when not in a pitched battle with a creepy nurse, it's now available from iTunes and CDBaby for $10. Publisher Autumn Games says it will be available on other digital music stores "in the coming days," if you have discriminating taste about where you like to procure your MP3s.
Skullgirls review: Close, but no cigar
Despite the fresh renaissance the fighting game genre has grown into over the last couple of years, the medium is still dominated by the superpowers that brought it to its knees during the late twentieth century: Capcom, Namco Bandai, SNK Playmore, etc. Now, however, a new challenger comes.Skullgirls, the debut title from Reverge Labs, is unique in that it's one of the very few original IP fighting games to come out since the genre regained its popularity. What's more, its also an anime-style 2D fighter from an American development studio, which is crazy. I've been following Skullgirls' production since it was announced last year, and as much as I wish it were the paradigm-shifting indie darling the fighting game scene so desperately needs, that is sadly not the case.%Gallery-153133%
PSN Tuesday: Skullgirls, Episodes from Liberty City, Persona 3 FES
This week's content drop is live on PSN. Skullgirls is the headliner, and is joined by World Gone Sour -- a game about some candy making its way into your stomach. We're sure that thought won't give you nightmares at all.In addition to the standalone PSN games, there's new Uncharted 3 DLC for download, Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes from Liberty City, and PS2 title Persona 3 FES. PlayStation Plus members get some free Minis: Canabalt and Defenders of the Mystic Garden.Hit up the source link below for the full list of this week's content.
PSA: Skullgirls heads to PSN today, XBLA tomorrow
In honor of Skullgirls' impending release, Reverge Labs released this trailer of Double, reminding us that there's a character who morphs into disgusting versions of the other characters through a process that looks kind of like turning inside out.If you want to pick up the only fighting game this year with a Gradius-inspired moai transformation, Skullgirls is out in North America today on the PS3's PlayStation Network, with XBLA following tomorrow, for $15.
Skullgirls hits PSN on April 10
Skullgirls' previously undetermined PSN release date has been totally determined, with the game now set to launch at $14.99 in the Americas on Tuesday, April 10 – one day ahead of the XBLA release. The game's PSN launch dates in Europe, Australia and New Zealand are unfortunately still a mystery, although Wednesday's XBLA release does include those territories.Skullgirls is also knee-deep in the tournament fighting scene and will be making appearances at several major tournaments around the country -- appropriate, considering that it's been designed specifically with serious competitive fighting in mind. This will be helpful for people who are curious about Reverge Labs' debut title, but are also strangely adverse to downloading trial versions of things. Finally, a way to support your local fighting game community and indulge your bizarre eccentricities simultaneously.
Skullgirls hits XBLA April 11, PSN release still undetermined
Skullgirls has just passed Microsoft's certification gauntlet and will be available for 1200 MS Points on Wednesday, April 11. The game's PSN release date has yet to be finalized, although it will "very probably be April 10th," according to an announcement made on neoGAF by Reverge Labs community manager Peter Bartholow.Bartholow was able to say, however, that the PSN version's price point will be a comparable $14.99 in North America.
Double is Skullgirls' final, grossest character
You didn't think the entire Skullgirls character roster was going to be comprised exclusively of buxom cartoon vixens, did you? Reverge Labs had to do something to balance this stuff out, so what better way to show that it's what's on the inside that counts than to add a character whose insides are on her outsides?Double, the terrible, moist hand/mouth creature above, is actually much more disgusting in motion, as you'll see in the walkthrough videos after the break. A shapeshifter, Double's fighting style is an amalgamation of the other styles in the game: She morphs into other characters to perform tweaked versions of their normals, and most of her specials are moves that didn't make it into their respective character's final moves list.She's got some really original stuff as well, like a level-5 super that transforms her into an Easter Island head that spews bullet-hell projectiles from its mouth. We're intrigued, but also a little nauseous.%Gallery-147971%
Skullgirls offers a terrifying Valentine
You know, despite the name, and the timing of this trailer's release, we don't really see anything romantic about this Skullgirls character.Maybe in a few years, someone out there will be able to tell the sweet love story of the special person who helped them get over the crippling fear of medical professionals caused by this character. Then she'll be a romantic character. Indirectly.%Gallery-147461%
Skullgirls reimagines anatomy in its story mode
This trailer introduces the story mode for the downloadable fighter Skullgirls -- and introduces some striking pieces of poster artwork at the same time. Each of the combatants has been cursed by the "Skull Heart," a wish-granting artifact. We're now left wondering if this is a heart shaped like a skull, or a heart that resides inside a skull, or just, like, the middle of a skull.A dev diary on the PlayStation Blog lays out this and the other modes found within the game, and also teases the inclusion of four exclusive Trophies in the PS3 version.
Meet Valentine, Skullgirls' phlebotomist femme fatale
Somewhere, someone once thought this exact thought: "I love going to the hospital to have my blood work done, but I wish the procedure could be performed by a ninjutsu-trained assassin wearing an extremely revealing outfit instead of Ethel Mertz's retired understudy." The result of that thought is Valentine, the seventh playable character to be announced for Reverge Labs' upcoming fighter Skullgirls. Both a ninja and a nurse, Valentine's arsenal includes bonesaws, defibrillators and dead human bodies. Previously part of an Anti-Skullgirl Labs group called "Last Hope" and partially responsible for the creation of cast compatriot Painwheel, Valentine now uses her martial/medical skills in service of the Skullgirl. She, along with seven other fighters, will be fighting for control of the Skull Heart some time in early 2012.%Gallery-140320%
Skullgirls and mastering the art of defense
It's a great time to be a fighting game fan. The genre is in the midst of a renaissance, meaning Skullgirls couldn't have come at a better time. But here's the thing: fighting game tutorials still suck. Before Skullgirls, that is. %Gallery-118997%
Skullgirls' Ms. Fortune separates skull from girl
Skullgirls' Ms. Fortune is an unusual mixture of influences. She's a cute, anime-style catgirl, but also sort of a zombie, given the ability to tear her own body apart and reassemble it without harm. She uses this ability to turn her head into a projectile, of course. She also appears to have Wolverine's "Berserker Barrage" attack from his appearances in Capcom fighters. Like, exactly. She even yells "berserker barrage" "furrserker purrage" when performing it. Does that make it a berserker homage? Update: Reverge Labs' Mike Z let us know that it's actually "furrserker purrage." Because she's a cat!
Skullgirls 'Move Primer' trailer primes your eventual moves
From everything we've seen before, and from the contents of this latest trailer, it looks as though Skullgirls will attempt to solve universal genre issues that plague fighting game enthusiasts the world over. That's a pretty tall order, considering that Capcom, Namco, SNK (R.I.P) and others have been attempting the same feat for nearly 25 years. Reverge Labs seems to understand that gameplay issues in fighters can't be solved by balancing alone, and as such will be implementing a number of mechanical systems in order to prevent abusive gameplay mechanics which can potentially taint a fighting experience. The Anti-Infinite Combo System, for instance, allows players to escape from combos that would otherwise guarantee a loss. Similarly, the game's blocking system protects unblockable high-low mix-up traps. Skullgirls' radically different failsafe systems have already sparked heavy debate among the die-hard fighters that run Joystiq's circles, a prevailing opinion being that the "problems" the game's systems attempt to correct are not problems at all, but rather accepted play-styles inherent to the genre. It will take months of extensive community involvement for the scene to render a verdict either way, which we can get started on sometime early next year.
Skullgirls trailer gives us a good look at Parasoul
Parasoul, the Skullgirls femme fatale shown in this trailer, is an umbrella-and-gun-wielding "crown princess of the Canopy Kingdom." She can also fight, but you probably already knew that considering this is a fighting game.
Skullgirls delayed, cracking craniums in 2012
Downloadable fighter Skullgirls will launch in early 2012, Reverge Labs has announced. The key reason for the delay, according to the developer, is that the team is polishing the game's features, based on feedback it received while showing the game off during 2011. "Some companies call this 'feature creep,' but we call it the extra polish that takes a game from 'good' to 'great,'" noted Peter Bartholow, Designer/Producer/Community Manager at Reverge Labs. Additions the studio is working on before launch include speeding up the game, adding many new effects, upgrading backgrounds to 3D, incorporating more music from Michiru Yamane, adding button macros for pad playing and "innumerable balance and gameplay tweaks." %Gallery-126006%
Castlevania's Michiru Yamane making the 'jazzy' sounds of Skullgirls
Composer Michiru Yamane is best known for her work on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and other Castlevania games. She also recently contributed to the bouncy soundtrack of Cave's iPhone game Mushihimesama Bug Panic. And now she's working on her first American-developed game: Reverge Labs' 2D fighter Skullgirls. Per the developers' request, Yamane is creating "jazzy" music for the game's "dark deco" world. "I love Jazz and have been wanting to create some of my own," she said, "so I played a bit with the rhythm and different sounds to try and heighten the impact and almost primal nature of the unique graphics." So don't expect the same range of Gothic, orchestral, synth, choral rock we came to know from her work on Castlevania. You can hear a bit of Skullgirls' music in the video statement by Yamane after the break.
Skullgirls preview: Strong foundation
Look past Skullgirls' big-breasted anime babes -- as seen in the announcement trailer -- and you'll find one of the most technical fighters out there. For fighting game fans, Skullgirls offers an interesting prospect: a predictive game engine designed to be a strong foundation to fix and avoid some of the biggest problems plaguing the genre. %Gallery-118997%
Skullgirls: a beautiful 2D fighter heading to PAX East
Have you heard of the Skullgirls? We hadn't either but after seeing this debut trailer, we desperately want to find out more. Thankfully, this brand new 2D fighter is heading to PAX East.
