October Update: SUPLEX

New Animations, Visual Improvements & Fixes

• Billy has an all-new back throw animation.

• New reaction animations have been added to Billy and Paul's back throws.

• Billy now has a proper idle animation.

• Several of Billy's sprites have been updated to fix pixelation/edge effects.

• Compression has been turned off for some sprites to improve quality (at the cost of a little disk space/possibly performance).

• Fixed an issue where an attacker's sprite would be flipped in the wrong direction for a single frame after landing a back throw.

• Fixed an issue where the fling at the end of the Bily Buster would display a hitspark if it beat another throw.

• Fixed the sort ordering of Maria ground throw/Noel back throw/paul back throw so the grabbed opponent is properly drawn behind the grabbing player.

New Time Setting: Rapid

• The "Rapid" time setting may now be chosen in character select. Currently this gives 5 seconds of thinking time per turn after one player locks in, but it may be adjusted upward with testing.

• Most players queue up their next action quickly each turn, but time controls can help keep the game moving at a quick pace. The default thinking time (Standard) is 15 seconds, which is sufficient to prevent stalling, and the next fastest time was the much faster "BLITZ" at 3 seconds. This left a gap for a "moderately fast" time setting for competitive play.

Balance Changes

• All characters except Nick and Lewis now push their opponent 1 space backward after their back throws. Lewis' forward/neutral throw (which side switches) will carry him an additional space forward.

• In general we're trying to weaken midscreen throw loops that involve N+Throw as an oki option. After most forward throws were given extra push, Back Throw became a very strong option as a midscreen punish because it left the opponent in a point blank KD. Now it should still be worth it to hit a back throw to put the opponent in the corner, but other midscreen punish options should be back on the table. This will also help most back throws look better visually.

• Marv Blazing Ent is now -10 at range 3 (round start range).

• This should open up some lower-commitment counterplay to this move, especially for characters like Billy and Paul with no zoning tools.

• Marv Blazing Ent damage reduced (300->275).

• This will put its damage more in line with other zoning tools like Firepaul (250 damage).

• If Nils only has half charge (back charge), Natural Light will be -10 at range 2 and will only do 225 damage (instead of 250).

• This will help create a more meaningful difference between the two charge levels (and the two variations of Natural Light), and gives a slight drawback to whiffing Advance Base.

New Music Tracks

• AddedThe win/lose menu now has two new music tracks by Naboolione for winning (THE RUSH), one for losing (ON THE EDGE). These new tracks will be added to the soundtrack pretty soon.

• Currently RUSH will play in local VS after either player wins, but it might be changed to ON THE EDGE later.

Chinese Localization now in beta

• Warlocs Localization has been working with me on Chinese localization, they previously did our Japanese translation. They are currently testing the Chinese--and you can too! You can select Chinese from Options or the main menu language selection. Press F8 at any time in game to send me feedback on the translation.