Finally, after having waited for several months, the Skullgirls patch is finally here (though unfortunately, only on the PS3 so far, but more on this later). The patch, dubbed “Skullgirls: Slightly Different Edition” is more than just slightly different, however. Hundreds of changes and tweaks have been made to improve the gameplay and overall feel of the game; the notes can be found here.
Some of the more notable changes include:
- A 3% increase in game speed via frame skipping
- A 5-frame input buffer to make blockstrings tighter and combos easier to pull off
- Double snapbacks ala MvC2
- Pushblock guard cancels
- 50% damage scaling off of throws
- Changes in the infinite prevention system (shorter combos, less touches of death)
- The ToD combos that do exist take more resources (typically three meters at the start of the combo, though it depends on the team sizes as well)
- Changes to Double’s Hornet Bomber assist, it’s still very good, just less dumb
- Extensive training mode options (including a move list)
- Awesome new colors such as Magneto Fillia, Sentinel Painwheel, and Kula Parasoul
- Vastly improved netcode – people are reporting that they have playable connections with players all the way in Japan
Characters were also given a few more fun tools to play with, such as Ms. Fortune gaining the ability to sneeze her head off (yes, you read that correctly) after an air super, Painwheel getting a change in her buer reaper attacks and Parasoul gaining the ability to rapid cancel her level 3 super. Even if your character received a nerf in some aspects, the potential for new combos, resets, and defensive maneuvers has increased, making for a new, more balanced, less Double butt-filled experience.
For those worried about the future of Skullgirls, you may be happy to know that there are still plans in the making for DLC characters. One of the reasons that the patch took so long to release was due to the fact that the entire Skullgirls team was laid off (sp) by Reverge Labs way back when. The long testing process and resubmissions of the patch to Sony and Microsoft did not help, either, and Microsoft is still in the process of testing the Xbox 360 version of the game. Thankfully, the Skullgirls team regrouped to form Lab Zero Games, and they plan on keeping Skullgirls relevant and enjoyable. More information can be found here.
Don’t give up hope on Skullgirls. If you’ve always wanted to try the game out but did not like the awfully long combos or Hornet Bomber, try the game out now! If you stopped playing the game but have always wanted to come back, come back now! If you stopped playing because you could not find anyone to play with, share this message and bring your friends or fellow SRK’ers/Dustloopers/Twitter…ers along with you and come back now! The game needs all of the support it can get, so support it.
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