Digital game-purveying charitysmiths Humble Bundle have just added a big ol’ boatload of Capcom titles to their catalog, and they’re celebrating with a week-long sale !  

Head over to the Humble Store and grab a bundle of great games for cheap. And remember, 10% of the proceeds from each purchase will go to a charity of your choosing from a database of over 35,000 charities. 

UDON Entertainment’s English-localized version of  Devil May Cry 3142 Graphic Arts   drops tomorrow (Amazon is offering it at a discounted price just under $32), and it’s absolutely  excellent– a must-read for any avid follower of the series. 

I managed to snag an early copy from the small stash UDON brought to San Diego Comic Con this past July, and even with my high expectations I was amazed at the degree of depth and candor this book offers. Much more than an artbook,  DMC3142GA  is loaded with juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits from numerous key staff members from throughout the series. 

(Note: All scans below are low-res images created for sample purposes. The actual pages are crystal-clear, of course!)

↑ “Look closely and you’ll notice that Dante’s leg is cut off.” – Naru Omori, promotional art illustrator.

The book is  full of this sort of earnest self-deprecation, and really helps convey the imperfect, gradual, and collaborative process that led to the creation of such a distinct and beloved series. 

↑ “Even the fans were shocked by the choice to have Dante bare-chested underneath his coat. In truth, his hair and face models weren’t even done at this point, so we just had to fudge it.” – Naru Omori, promotional art illustrator.

Mind you, this “fudged” piece is the one that would eventually be used for the game’s box art, now a well loved classic in Capcom’s portfolio. 

↑ “Ancient portrayals of demons rarely incorporated elements that weren’t already known to people at the time, so they might have the head of a lion but the body of a human, for instance. It was in that spirit that we decided to make most of our monsters proper chimeras.” – Ikeno, character designer (DMC2)

I’m sure I’m not the only series fan who’d never given much thought to the enemy design in  Devil May Cry 2, but Ikeno-san’s insightful tidbits and awesome concept art are enough to make me want to revisit the troubled second installment. All of a sudden that giant orangutan demon seems a lot less arbitrary. 

↑ Note the illustration of the baby twins draped in the Umbrella logo in the bottom right. Even when Devil May Cry was still being conceived as the next  Resident Evil,  they were considering the Dante-Vergil twin concept. Amazing! 

↑ “At the time, someone on the team said my backgrounds looked like oil paintings, which made them pretty unusual compared to other video game concept art….Looking back, I think that style really fits well with the ‘Devil May Cry’ universe.” – Yasuko Shimodo, background designer (DMC1)

It’s pretty mind-blowing to me that even as early as the conceptual stages of the original game, they were exploring an oil painting-like aesthetic–one which would be revisited in Ninja Theory’s take. 

Also, Shimoda-san’s background pieces are freaking incredible. 

↑  “There was also a time when ‘DMC’ was titled ‘Karnival.’ Kamiya-san was adamant that it be ‘Karnival’ with a ‘K,’ not a ‘C.'”  – Yuichiro Hiraki, motion artist (DMC1)

In addition to nearly 200 pages of incredible art, this book also features more than twenty pages (in small font!) of exclusive, incredibly insightful interviews with illustrators, scenario writers, character animators, and even series director Hideaki Itsuno. 

Sooo in conclusion, Devil May Cry fans should buy this book. We’re lucky to live in an age where information can be exchanged so quickly and easily, and with the rise of independent archivist efforts like shmuplations.com ,  we are getting a lot more glimpses behind the curtain of Japanese game development than ever before, but it’s still not that common to see valuable resources like this get localized via an official avenue. When it happens, it’s really special and, I feel, a cause well worth supporting.   

I have pretty much  every Capcom-related UDON book, but I must say, this one is my new favorite. 

Hey everyone!

Exciting news coming straight from Tokyo Game Show today! First off, the character that many of you have been waiting for to return to the Street Fighter series is finally back: Karin Kanzuki!

Two years ago, we held a worldwide character popularity poll to find out who the fans liked the most, and Karin came in 7 ^th worldwide (1 ^st when just looking at Japan results), despite having only appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 3. Today, we’re happy to reintroduce her to the series with a brand new design and play style.

Above: Karin in Street Fighter Alpha 3

Karin is the young heiress to the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, a global financial conglomerate that possesses vast wealth and resources. Her regal and pampered upbringing is what led to her high-maintenance attitude and razer-sharp wit. But behind her flowing golden locks lies a true martial artist obsessed with upholding her family motto, “In all things be victorious!” Karin is well versed in numerous martial arts, which she and her family combined to create a unique “Kanzuki style” of fighting. 

Above: Karin in Street Fighter Alpha 3

In Street Fighter V, Karin is a well-rounded character, possessing a wide array of strikes and moves at her disposal for any situation. Utilizing her new dash move allows her to close the distance quickly between her opponents and go in for a quick high-low attack or throw. 

And just when the opponent thinks they’ve figured out how to deal with the pressure, Karin’s V-Trigger completely changes up her gameplan by allowing her to perform her signature Guren Ken multi-string attacks and variations. Players who enjoy attacking with speed and a large variety of tools will find Karin to be extremely satisfying to utilize.

V-Skill: Meioken

• Karin lunges forward with a devastating palm strike that dissipates projectiles and knocks down the opponent if it connects, all while helping to build her V-Trigger gauge. By holding down the buttons, players can charge the move for a split second, giving it better hit and block properties.

V-Trigger: Kanzuki-Ryu Guren No Kata

• Karin channels her inner Ki to unlock the true potential of the Kanzuki fighting style, giving her access to the Guren Ken attack, which in itself possesses over half a dozen different follow ups and variations. After the initial Guren Ken, she is able to transition immediately into an overhead attack, a low sweep, a flying throw, another quick set of strikes, or even a backdash to bait out counterattacks. This gives her immense flexibility in controlling the flow of the fight, ensuring that she comes out on top.

Karin is playable at Tokyo Game Show, so be sure to stop by the Capcom booth if you are able to!

And if the return of one of the most popular characters in the series wasn’t enough, we have another big announcement: the Capcom Fighters Network!

* work-in-progress logo

The Capcom Fighters Network (CFN) is a community building tool that will be directly built into the online infrastructure of Street Fighter V .

Here is a list of some of the things that you’ll be able to do in-game via CFN:

• See where battles are happening all over the world on a “heat map”

• View player profiles and detailed match statistics

• Designate “rivals” throughout the world and monitor their performance

• Register friends and follow your favorite players

• Search and watch replay files

• Send online battle invitations

• Check out the latest patch and tournament news

• And much more!

We’ll have more concrete details on all the various CFN features at a later date, but just to whet your appetite, here are some work-in-progress screenshots. The main CFN screen shows the “heat map” and will look something like this:

*work-in-progress screen

Each blinking light on the world map represents a pocket of active users that are engaged in online battles. With the heat map, you’ll be able see where all the action is taking place and even be able to drill down to the individual players who are fighting, in order to check out their profile information, past match history, replays and even send them a fight request.

As Street Fighter V will be at the forefront of our eSports activities upon release, we wanted to make sure that players had access to all the statistical data possible to help analyze their weaknesses and improve their game. 

*work-in-progress screen

The game tracks not only online win/loss records, but fine detail stats such as “how many light punches did you land,” “how many throws did you tech,” “in what ways did you win the match,” and much, much more. We are confident that players will appreciate this new knowledge and use it to push themselves to the next level and rise above the competition.

Hope you all enjoyed this double dose of SFV news! Stay tuned for the next announcement because we still have a lot of surprises in store. Until next time!

The fun-filled  Super Mario Maker  from Nintendo has arrived on Wii U, and it took players approximately five seconds to start recreating Mega Man 2 using its robust stage creation toolset. 

YouTuber megacocorock   has already uploaded some excellent videos of Metal Man and Wily Stage 1 replicas:

Though these stages adhere to the templates laid out in the original  Mega Man 2 , there is commendable ingenuity at work in coming up with ways to represent each of the original game’s concepts using tools that exist in Super Mario Maker. Perhaps trying to replicate other works is a good way to get the creative juices flowing! 

Look out for more Capcom-themed user stages, and give us a holler if you find any cool ones!

(Thanks Mega Man Network !)

One of the coolest features about the new Mega Man Legacy Collection is its Challenge Mode, which stitches together various areas and moments from throughout the six classic games and weaves them into new, fast-paced challenges that players can play again and again to improve their times and best their friends’ times.

The Challenge Mode will have something a little special for Nintendo 3DS’ owners when the Nintendo 3DS version of the collection drops early next year. Read on to see!

The Nintendo 3DS version of MMLC willinclude not one, not two, but ten additional challenges designed by you, the players. These challenges will be unlockable using the Mega Man amiibo’, which is available in stores now. Yep, that’s right—the Nintendo 3DS version of MMLC has amiibo integration.

How will these player-created challenges be selected, you ask? Why, via the Challenge Contest which starts…NOW!

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

How to Submit:
-This contest is open to residents of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Central America and South America aged 18 or over. Each person may submit once, so make your submission count!

-Design your own Mega Man challenge! Your challenge may include up to ten “sections.” These sections may span any of the six games—they can all be from one game, or you can mix up sections from various games. Your challenge may of course include fewer than ten sections, but should include at least five.

-Please use this template for your submission. Each “section” of your challenge must include two timestamped YouTube links: one to indicate the start point, and one to indicate the end point. There are countless YouTube videos showing the games in action, but for your convenience, here are some examples:

Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6

Please be sure to also indicate if Mega Man has access to all weapons (from the corresponding game), or just his trusty buster.

-Once you have your filled-out template, email it to contest@capcom.com . Please use “MMLC CHALLENGE COMPETITION” as your email’s subject line.

Competition Period:
Submission period for this contest is from now until Friday, September 25 ^th at 9:00am PT.

Winners:
Ten winners will be selected by a panel of Capcom staff based on overall quality and how well the challenge compliments the existing challenge list. So try to be creative and think of challenges that have some kind of running theme or motif.

All ten winning submissions will be made into challenges in the Nintendo 3DS version of Mega Man Legacy Collection, which will release in early 2016.

Good luck! We can’t wait to see what challenges you create!

Note: Nintendo is not a sponsor of this promotion.

The Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with YouTube.

What happens when a super fighting robot has no one left to fight? That’s just the question posed by issue #53 of the awesome, ongoing Mega Man comic series. 

Back from the events of the “Worlds Unite” arc, Mega Man finds himself in a world finally at peace. But has he become so accustomed to battle that he…misses it?

Meanwhile, Dr. Wily is of  course cooking up something sinister to up the ante once again. Don’t miss this “extended curtain call” as the excellent Mega Man series comes to its end. 

Look for issues #53, “Blue Shift,” starting September 16th, featuring cover art from Jason Piperberg and a BOT UNDER FIRE variant from superstar Thomas Pitilli!

Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Ryan Jampole, Gary Martin, John Workman and Elaina Unger
Cover: Jason Piperberg
Variant Cover: Thomas Pitilli
On Sale Date: 9/16
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S

Samples!

Hey everyone, I’d like to introduce the second all-new character to Street Fighter V: Rashid! 

This character was announced by Ono-san at the Games 15 event in Dubai, and we have all of the details to share with you now.

Hailing from the Middle East, Rashid is a fun, easy going individual who has an affinity for technology. Although his fighting style is casual, it’s anything but laid back! Using the power of wind, Rashid is definitely one of the more difficult characters to catch. 

Players can look forward to parkour inspired, fast-paced attacks, which will leave opponents scratching their heads and wondering what’s coming next!

V-Skill 1 (MP+MK) – Front Flip

Rashid performs a high flying flip over the opponent. Pressing kick during the Front Flip results in Rashid performing a divekick.

 V-Skill 2 (Down+MP+MK) – Rolling Assault

Rashid closes the gap between himself and the opponent with a quick front roll. Pressing kick during Rolling Assault results in Rashid kicking upward at the opponent.

V-Trigger (HP+HK) – Ysaar

Rashid throws out a slow moving whirlwind that closes in on the opponent and causes damage to them if they touch it. While the whirlwind is out, Rashid can use it to increase his movement on any attack that propels him forward.

Get ready to soar to new heights with Rashid and leave the competition in the dust!  We still have many more characters left to reveal, so stay tuned for more information in the near future. Until next time!

Earlier this summer we ran a ‘ re-imagine Mega Man box art ‘ contest and received numerous outstanding pieces. Of course, only six could win the contest… but we ended up with so many great entries, we had to post s’more!

Submitted by: Jevan

Really digging the crazy eyes and flowing energy / ribbon pattern in the back, plus some slightly Manga-esque touches on the armor.

Submitted by: NiO

I love how this entry walks the line between “surreal interpretation” and “sprite-accurate presentation.” All three of the main actors in this scene are striking poses right outta the game, but each have a twist… an interesting approach!

Submitted by: Alfredo

Very stylized, very cool. Love seeing Mecha Dragon looming in the distance as Mega Man leaps away. The floating eyebrows really make this one feel distinct.

Submitted by: Terence

Whoa – this one’s huge! This wall-scroll-sized MM3 art goes for broke by showing off both the MM3 bosses  and  the MM2 bosses that would appear through the Doc Robots later in the game. The Archie influence helps make this feel like a ‘fun’ poster despite being cloaked in flames, haha.

Submitted by: Anthony

Speaking of stylized approaches… this MM4 piece gives everyone a somewhat creepy, intense vibe and I love it. For some reason I’m reminded of Aeon Flux or maybe even comic artist Frank Quitely?

Submitted by: vizcan

Closing out our first look at honorable mentions is this super-stylized, stained-glass vision of the Mega Man 4 roster. The goal was to convey the gameplay / action / overall vibe of the game in a new way, and while the geometric shapes might not do that directly, the boss arrangement around Mega Man does suggest the center hero will have to take down the foes surrounding him. You can further infer that, maybe, there is some kind of relationship between the bosses since they’re arranged in a circle… art, man!

This is just the first look at some of our additional entries – more to come, and thanks again everyone for entering!

Mega Man Legacy Collection is out now for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, with a 3DS version coming in 2016 – alongside physical versions of XBO, PS4 and 3DS!

The PlayStation is twenty years old in North America, which I guess means I’m getting old. Nevertheless, this is a festive time! Let us celebrate by partaking in the North American PlayStation Store’s massive Anniversary Sale . Tons of Capcom deals, listed after the jump.