Super Tilt Bro for NES

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha5: everything is possible online!

What's new in the game?

You can now play any character on any stage online!

Pick your character, and select a stage before going online. That's it, no string attached. The actual stage will be picked at random between both players' selection.

This has been quite a bummer until now to be able to play only Sinbad on the simplest stages. Thanks to the netcode maturing, it is time to unleash its real power! Note however that stages The Pit, and The hunt are still experimental in netplay. If you encounter any issue please send your feedback.

New Character selection screen

It is prettier, by many orders of magnitude.

Enter the match, with style!​

It also comes with some long needed features! Notably, you can now pick CPU's character with controller one. No more need to have two controllers to play solo The stage selection is now integrated in the character selection. It is more comfortable, and allows to have a kind of summary of the match to come before starting it, showing which characters will fight on which stage.

Improved AI

The CPU will now avoid to be too easily infinitised. It will escape brainless up-tilt infinite combos, and Sinbad's infinite side-special.

The Sinbad's side special is hard to escape, so only the CPU in hard mode is good at it. It will shield it if possible, or often tech-slide to escape it.

Thanks tuck :) for your feedback on it! As the IA changed quite a lot, there may be new exploitable behaviors. If you find some, do not hesitate to alert me I'll do my best to fix most (no promise.)

Bug fixes

Sinbad's slide when landing during a down-special now slows with time. It avoids weird slides on a quarter of the stage.

Inputting a move at the exact out-of-shield frame no more skips shieldlag. Down-special and down-tilt are still allowed to be out-of-shield moves.

No more terribly buggy noise when starting an online match.

Fixed AI jumping without reason.

Fixed AI weird running at the beginning of a match on The Pit.

Playing on NTSC system is no more faster than on PAL.

What's new under the hood?

Added a C compiler to the toolchain

Super Tilt Bro. has always been fully developed in assembly. This is natural on systems from the 1980s, it allows to leverage any bit of power in their slow CPU. That said, there are parts of the game that don't need the extra performance.

The classical way on those systems is to code in C, and add some assembly where needed. Super Tilt Bro. does the opposite, it is implemented in assembly with bits of C where it does not matter. That way, the main game loop is in assembly, and we don't have to deal with C's footprint if we don't want it. This allows full performance, without any compromise, where it matters.

The goal is to use C for menus. Menus don't need top performance, but they are complex. A good menu has a lot of polished details. And to obtain a good design for a menu we have to iterate as fast as possible, trying things, trashing bad ideas, trying variants,... It makes sens to be able to program them rapidly, it is terrible for the creativity to spend days implementing an idea, just to trash it afterward.

STNP v3

STNP (Super Tilt Network Protocol) had to be extended quite consequently to adapt to any character on any stage. Notably, it allows for variable size of game state, so the stage and characters can add their data to it.

Having it works means the protocol reached the famous state of Minimal Viable Product. Buzzwords are arguable, but hey! That's actually a great achievement. Being able to say that something in Super Tilt Bro. is officially “viable”. Before, it was more of a “Black triangle”, which is less hype of a term, and terribly referenced on the internet.

 

[tuck :)]

Just played a few matches and the AI improvements are immediately noticeable. Great work! I didn't notice any flaws or anything really worth noting at this point, but I'll be sure to let you know if I see anything weird with the CPU's. Love the CSS update too!

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha6: Worldwide ranking!

What's new in the game?

Ranked play

You can now choose between “Casual” or “Ranked” mode. Casual plays just like before, while in ranked, your have a Match Making Rating (MMR). Winning a match gives you MMR points, while losing takes your MMR lower.

A worldwide leaderboard is available on the brand new official website: https://super-tilt-bro.com/leaderboard.html

Come, the top spot is waiting you!​

Private game

You can ensure to be matched with your friend in this mode. Simply share a password to be matched together.

Starting a private game​

Longer hitstun

When you receive a hit, there is a small time on which your character blinks and you cannot do anything. It is essential for combos, which consist of repeatedly hitting your opponent while in hitstun to maintain them in this state. Also kill moves, which send the opponent far away, rely on it to avoid the momentum being cancelled by a special move.

Hitstun duration has been slightly increased, it is now 1.5 times what it was. Before that, there was literally no true combo in the game. So, now Sinbad has more efficient combos, and Kiki's strong strikes are more dangerous.

Kiki's moveset change

Originally, Kiki's down-special put a wall bellow her while neutral-special was a counter strike. These moves swapped input, down-special is now the counter strike while neutral-special creates a platform.

It is a simple fix, as the platform is Kiki's main recovery move, and it is unintuitive to press “down” to avoid falling.

Kiki's counter strike revamp

The counter strike has now more active frames, and more end-lag frames. Moreover, if down in the air, it slows Kiki's fall. The counter strike is still active at frame one.

Kiki's new counter strike​

More active frames means your timing may be a bit less precise to pull it effectively. More end-lag, on the other hand, make it is easier to punish Kiki for missing it.

The slow fall forces Kiki to setup a proper bait. The sudden change in momentum may make the opponent miss a strike, leaving Kiki vulnerable. It also lessens the risk being KO-ed by falling too low while in end-lag.

What's new under the hood?

New servers

Originally, there was only one server per region. This server handled the matchmaking and the games.

Now there is a new login server, which handles user accounts, a ranking server that computes MMR and a website. This architecture has been intentionally split in tiny very specific servers. Very specific servers are easier to debug and operate than big ones.

It also allows for a future migration to cloud hosting, theoretically if we split the matchmaking from the game server, we could spawn as many game servers as needed to serve all players at any time. Spawnable game servers would have another advantage: the end of region server, just spawn the server near the player. Of course, all that is just wishful thinking for now but better be ready, it costs nothing.

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha7: Welcome Pepper & Carrot!

What's new in the game?

New character

Pepper is a young witch from the awesome online comic Pepper & Carrot. She lives a thrilling life, learning alchemy and witchcraft while exploring the world, and its dungeons. The comic itself is of excellent quality, and free (go read it!) It does not only mean that you don't pay money nor watch ads to access it. It is free as in freedom, you are free to read it, print it, improve it (if you can), to do fan-art, ... Actually, to put Pepper in Super Tilt Bro. is assumed fan art! (Did you know? Super Tilt Bro. share the same freedom ideas.)

Now, how does she play in Super Tilt Bro.?

Pepper is a fast-moving, short-ranged character with unrivaled combo ability. She can teleport around, and fly on her broomstick giving her the mobility to follow combos, even on strong hits. She also throws firework potions around, giving her a decent zoning and strong juggling.

Kiki changes

Kiki's recovery move is to draw a platform behind her feet. It was originally her down-special, which was unintuitive. In the last version it was change to be the neutral-special, which was not better. The only good mapping for a recovery move is up-special, so it is finally correctly, and definitely fixed!

Down-tilt had no startup-time nor end-lag. It was not on par with the design of Kiki, who should hit strongly but being punishable if she misses. It was also too strong, so there is now a little startup-time and some end-lag.

Counter-strike now keeps some momentum. It should not impact gameplay much, but feels more natural.

Formerly, you could fly by spamming up-special. It is fixed, try it and you will fall (while appearing ridiculous.)

Common gameplay changes

Fast-fall is now activated by releasing the down-button. It allows inputting down-aerial, and down-special without involuntarily fast-falling.

Input of down and up attacks has been eased, the game is more tolerant to other buttons being pressed at the same time. It is especially noticeable when attacking at the beginning of a jump, controls feel more responsive.

Fast-fall is now cancelled by mid-air jumps.

Online mode

Improved netcode on connections with high variance in ping. Because there is server-side prediction, on such connection it happened that the game receive inputs in the future. It was terribly handled, leading to big desynchronization between players.

Fixed being disconnected for being idle more than 30 seconds in game (only on the web client.)

Added a new menu “Settings” in online mode. From there you can create an account for ranked play, configure your Wi-Fi (only on real cartridges), or update the game (also on real carts.)

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha8: New musics, and fixes

What's new in the game?

New musics

Two new musics, by Kilirane, can be heard in game.

The first is inspired by Sinbad, while the second depicts Pepper's personality.

Super Tilt Bro. - Sinbad theme

Theme especially made for Sinbad, the pirate Orc!Super Tilt Bro. is a game for the NES being developped.Play the alpha: https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro

youtu.be

Super Tilt Bro. - Adventure theme

A joyful theme for a joyful battle!Super Tilt Bro. is an online NES game in development.Play the alpha here: https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro

youtu.be

You will also notice that the main theme is now played at correct pace in the menus. The audio engine has actually received some long-deserved love in this patch, including the feature of playing NTSC musics correctly on PAL system, and inversely.

Kiki

Kiki can now walljump​

While Kiki does not really need a walljump, it makes it available to all characters. Kiki was the only one unable to do it, disturbing after playing other characters. So walljump is now a standard move, like the double-jump, all future characters are expected to have it.

Fixes

Kiki can no more have a free jump by buffering the jump action during an aerial. Long-time bug, it was originally on all her moves, then reduced patch by patch. All should be squashed now.

Kiki no more ignores gravity when spamming side-special.

Kiki's AI no more KO itself when thrown out of screen. Before this fix, you could often have Kiki AI draw a platform out of screen, then run straight to the blast-line.

Sinbad cannot bufferize grounded moves when his side-tilt lands aside from the platform.

Pepper's teleport no more kill her randomly.

Pepper's teleport on-spot hitbox is now correctly placed at her starting position.

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha9: Redrawn menu, replays, and wishlist

What's new around the game?

Wishlist the cartridge now!

Ok, there is no Steam for retro game cartridges. We do it in the pure homebrew tradition: our wishlist system is crafted at home with love!

To wishlist your Super Tilt Bro. cartridge, go to https://super-tilt-bro.com/wishlist.html and fill your e-mail address. This is a notification system, you will receive one mail when the pre-orders are available. Nothing more, nothing less.

​

As soon as the mails are sent, the list will be deleted. We care about your privacy, and the well-being of your inbox. If you want to follow the game's development, you should also follow Super Tilt Bro.'s Twitter or join us on Discord.

Replays

You outrageously out-played your opponent but forgot to record your screen? That happens all the time!

We know this terrible feeling when you cannot show your best moves to the world. You deserve internet felicity for every win! So here comes the replay system.

After playing an online game, you can now head to https://super-tilt-bro.com/replay.html to watch the replay of the game. As simple as that!

It's then up to you to record your screen, and share the game. You can also use this page to watch games, it is kind of a Super Tilt Bro. TV channel.

What's new in the game?

Redrawn online menu

The online menu has been completely redrawn by Martin Le Borgne

Woah!​

Other menus have also been updated. It is more subtle but you may notice that there are more sound effects than before, the navigation is slightly better, and clouds' parallax is more consistent.

Bad ping is gone

About the infamous "bad ping" message when trying to connect to a server.

This message happens when the game decides that the network conditions are too bad to even try to connect. It originally was when ping was above 200 ms.

With time, and netcode improvements, this limit became too low. The game can handle 200 ms ping and still be playable. The limit has been raised to 800 ms.

Gameplay improvements

The fast-fall mechanics has been improved. Now, your character shines while fast-falling, and weird cases where you stayed in fast-fall mode for too long have been fixed.

Added sound effects for jump, fast-fall, and land moves.

Finally, the maximum time allowed on the respawn platform has been decreased, from five to four seconds.

Kiki changes

Most animations of Kiki have been extended. The goal is to smooth the animation, and to add end-lag to her moves. Kiki always has been a character with a good range, and strong attacks. The idea is that she is strong at punishing her opponent's mistakes, but should not spam here attacks. Search the weakness in your foo's play, and exploit it. Adding end-lag to her animations ensures that Kiki's player has to think twice before attacking.

Animations change details:

• Jab is now 16 frames instead of 12. It can still be cancelled by another jab at any point.
• Side-tilt: Added 4 frames of end-lag. The animation is now 20 frames instead of 16.
• Up-tilt: Added 4 frames of start-lag, and 4 frames of end-lag. Removed 8 frames with active hitbox. The animation's duration is unchanged, 16 frames.

Talking about animations, Kiki now has a proper animation for drawing a platform above her head.

When landing during an attack, Kiki slides on the ground performing the attack. This is not new, but has changed a little. Tilt-slide, and jab-slide distances are slightly reduced.

Finally, Kiki's platforms now last 2 seconds instead of 2.40 seconds previously.

This patch happens to be quite a nerf for Kiki. It will need some serious play-test to see if balance is not broken in the unusual way.

Sinbad changes

Slide attacks go slightly farther.

What's new under the hood?

Real NTSC compatibility

There are some differences between the PAL and NTSC NES. The most impacting one is the frame rate. An NTSC NES displays 60 frames per second, while the PAL version outputs only 50 frames per second.

Super Tilt Bro. has been primarily developed on PAL hardware. That said, since the beginning the game is playable on NTSC systems. Until now the trick has been to double one out of six frames, to virtually reduce NTSC frame rate to 50 frames per second.

Frame doubling trick to get 50 FPS on NTSC​

While it basically works, it is far from ideal. This trick not only loses the extra smoothness of 60 FPS, it adds extra bumpiness by oscillating between 60 and 30 FPS.

So, how do get rid of this doubled frame? There are three impacted domains: physics, animation, and audio.

In physics, all speeds have to be slower on NTSC. An object that moves 1 pixel per frame at 50 FPS needs to move at 0.83 pixels per frame at 60 FPS, to keep progressing at the same speed (50 pixels per second.) So speeds needs to be multiplied by 0.83 but here's the catch, the NES is very poor at two things: multiplications, and floating point arithmetic. Full description of the solution would not fit in this release note. Long story short: by decomposing the multiplication byte by byte, and reserving 1 KB of ROM for lookup tables, it is possible to multiply by any constant (even 0.83) blazing fast.

Characters animations also need to be slowed down. These animations actually do not run at 50 FPS, they are more like animated GIF: each encoded frame takes ROM space, so we limit it. For such animation, the frame doubling trick is completely unnoticeable, lightly extending one animation frame's duration from time to time. Just take care of always extending the same animation frames, so the animations are always played exactly the same. It is important to have consistent frame data in versus games.

And the audio engine. Yes, the audio is impacted by the frame rate: in the NES, the most reliable timing information we have is the periodic display of a new frame. We naturally use it to regulate music's beat. As most authors compose for the NTSC NES, Super Tilt Bro.'s audio engine has been converted to NTSC-native. On PAL, it occasionally plays two beats in one frame to simulate 60 FPS.

It is to be noted that while feeling the same, the game is slightly altered: 50/60 is not exactly 0.83, and frame data is not the same between PAL and NTSC. That sadly means that the netcode cannot accommodate a cross-play PAL/NTSC, desynchronizations would be terribly common. An option could be to fallback to the frame doubling trick only on cross-play, maybe better than nothing.

And voilà! You know the fun parts of being PAL/NTSC compatible (the right way.) It's been a long time without "under the hood" section in the release note. Please tell if it was a nice surprise, or "too technical, didn't read." Maybe this subject deserves a complete devlog entry?

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha10: Improved netcode, and movesets

What's new around the game?

Community is growing

The Super Tilt Bro.'s Discord server sees more and more active users. To the point it finally fills its initial purpose: to help find an online match. More than that, the community is striving. We debate the best characters, strategies, and tournament dates.

Thank you everybody in the community, seeing such enthusiasm is the best reward I could ever receive as a developer!

(If you are not yet part of it, join now: https://discord.gg/qkxHkfx)

Cartridge wishlist

If you want to see online NES gaming on real hardware: progress on this side is steady. Not yet ready, but once prototypes are stable we will start pre-orders.

Don't want to miss it? Here you can register to be notified when it happens (no spam included): https://super-tilt-bro.com/wishlist.html

What's new in the game?

Improved Netcode

The game received a big optimisation pass. While not touching netcode directly it impacts game's capability to rollback efficiently. There also are bug fixes in the netcode itself, those bugs occasionally caused you to see characters teleporting around the screen.

Lost with this "rollback" thing?

In a nutshell, the game predicts your opponent's inputs to stay smooth when it takes time to transit by the network. Sometimes, the game misspredicts, it then has to fix what is drawn on screen. This is done by internally re-playing all frames since the missprediction, and is called rollback.

You can read more about rollback here: https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro/devlog/154432/real-time-online-gaming-with-the-nes

What to expect from it? Playing Pepper vs Pepper on "The Hunt" suffered many slowdowns. It should now be playable perfectly with good connections. Playing on Flatland and Skyride with poor connections should be greatly improved.

We'll see how it behaves on real conditions, and may do another pass of optimisations if necessary.

General gameplay changes

There are two comfort changes in inputs.

First, you can now tech with the jump button in addition to the shield button. For reference "teching" is when you press one of those button just before crashing on ground, your character softens the crash to fasten their recovery.

Top: crash // Bottom: tech​

Pepper

Pepper's signature move (Plan 7-B) has been reworked.

Before this patch you would place Carrot on the stage with side-special, and teleport on him with neutral-special. Now, it is all on neutral-special, placing Carrot the first time, teleporting the second time. This makes sens since it is actually the same move, and both parts are useless and broken without the other.

It also frees the side-special which is now a long range attack. Ideal to follow-up on combos when your opponent has been sent too far away.

Spamming neutral-special, then playing around with side-special​

Sinbad

Sinbad's jab has been completely changed. It was an infinitely spammable light attack, it is now a three hits combo which deals good damage.

Sinbad's new jab (2.0-alpha10)

In Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha10, Sinbad's jab is completely reworked: * It is now a three hits combo * Getting all three hits inflicts good damage to the ...

youtu.be

Kiki

Fixed Kiki being unable to draw platforms after respawn.

NTSC online

The server now accepts NTSC clients.

This is done in anticipation for the physical release, when players cannot freely choose their system's region. For now the emulator is still configured in PAL by default, and changing it is not recomended. There notably is no crossplay between PAL and NTSC. If you want to experiment you a free to proceed, beware that the other player must also configure their emulator in NTSC mode.

More efficient satellite launch

In the online menu, the satellite now observe a prograde rotation. This requires less fuel to launch it from the surface, and feels more natural to space enthusiasts.

This satellite now orbits the "good" way!​

 

[Torgo the Bear]

Just tried this out, it's super fun!

 

[RogerBidon]

Thank you

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-alpha11: Skins, dreams, and rock'n roll!

What's new in the game?

New musics

Two new musics can be heard in game.

The first, inspired by the stage "The Hunt," is composed by Kilirane.

Super Tilt Bro. - Volcano theme

Feel the magma's heat!Super Tilt Bro. is an online NES game in development.Play the alpha here: https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro

youtu.be

The second, inspired by Kiki, is composed by Tuï.

Super Tilt Bro. - Kiki theme by Tuï

Cheerfully hop around with Kiki!Super Tilt Bro. is an online NES game in development.Play the alpha here: https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro

youtu.be

Improved menus

Some menus were hastily done placeholders, others missed notable features. A big pass has been done to globally level-up.

Matchmaking menu is now integrated in character selection screen.​

Notably, credits and matchmaking screen have been completely revamped. The title screen has a better animation, and your ranked play credentials are saved.

Gameplay

When both players select the same skin, now the second player is attributed a lightened variant of it. It is way easier to identify who is who.

Weird input handling during the final slowdown has been fixed.

Sinbad and Kiki skins also have been improved, they were almost random color swaps. Now they are carefully selected color swaps!

Pepper's down-special has a new hitbox at the end of the move. It allows to hit behind her, and is an excellent combo-starter.

What's new under the hood?

New cartridge prototypes

After weeks of efforts to fix race conditions between the game and the Wi-Fi chip, we finally got everything in order.

Broke Studio revised the hardware design, changed almost everything, and now things are nearing perfection!

With that and the netcode which becomes more robust everyday, biggest technical challenges seem to be behind us. Time to focus on making a great game!

Do not forget to wishlist

 

[RogerBidon]

International online tournament

Hey there, it's been a long time!

I am here to announce the biggest Super Tilt Bro. tournament to date. It happens on the VideoGameSage retrogaminc-centric forum ( in this thread to be exact), and even has prizes.

Prizes:

• Plushies,
• a special edition game cart,
• gift cards

Watch those beauties, handcrafted especially for the event!

The tournament will happen on July 22 to 24, will be entirely online, registration is open until July 9.

I hope to see those of you who follow the game here, it will be fun time

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-beta4: New musics, refined mechanics, and a terrible secret!

What's new in the game?

New musics

Two new musics by Tuï can be heard in the game.

Super Tilt Bro. - Sinbad the pirate

A life full of dance and adventure, this is the pirate orc's way!Super Tilt Bro. is a game for the NES being developped.Play the alpha: https://sgadrat.itch....

youtu.be

Super Tilt Bro. - Pepper's lab

Alchemy, adventure, and friendship. This is Pepper the witch's life.Super Tilt Bro. is a game for the NES being developped.Play the beta: https://sgadrat.itc...

youtu.be

We also hear that a half-baked jukebox is hidden somewhere. Useful to listen the soundtrack, if you can find it

New Stage

Name: The Plank
Environment: Jungle
Hazards: No
Feature: A big platform!

The platform can be reached with a single jump, which allow to rapidly switch between it and the main stage. Be it to retreat or to extend a combo.

Changes to the stages

Moving platforms in The Pit now stay lower, making them more reliable when trying to avoid falling in the terrible pit. Also, being on a moving platform is no more a voucher to pass through Kiki's platforms.

On The Hunt, characters now get a lighter version of their colors for a better contrast with the dark background.

Gameplay adjustments

There are some adjustments to gameplay. Nothing big by itself, but overall the game feels better. Here's the list.

The game can now be paused, by pressing START. When both characters are at the same place, they are slightly pushed apart. The screen shake has been improved. The ground friction physics has been refined, allowing more flexibility when designing characters. The most notable impact is on Sinbad who is now a bit more slippy.

VGSage

The Sage now has a hitbox on his side-special. This move is meant as a secondary recovery move, so having no hitbox seemed fine. It appears that it is troubling, so now there is a weak upward hitbox trailing behind The Sage.

The Sage can now slightly change his course when charging the punch midair. Having a very low air speed, it allows for subtle placement without being a big buff of the punch. Remember, The Sage shines on the ground, not in the air.

Online

NTSC vs PAL crossplay is now working.

It was a special beast because a PAL NES runs the game at 50 frames per second, while an NTSC one runs at 60 frames per second. All values about durations, and velocities are different in both systems to compensate. This is nice, it allows NTSC system to exploit the extra frames to feature smoother movements. It also means that these are two (very slightly) different games, sadly with netcodes every tinny difference is a big problem.

The solution is to detect crossplay situation. In this case, the NTSC system will skip one frame out of 6 (effectively running at 50 FPS), and use values of the PAL version. That's right, if needed, the game emulates PAL on NTSC systems for the sake of compatibility.

 

[RogerBidon]

Hey!

This is not an update like the others. Today I am here to announce the Kickstarter!

NES carts with a Wi-Fi chip inside will not produce themselves. We have working prototypes but we need your help to produce it in needed quantity, especially if we don't know you want one. So if you are interested, or know someone, go fund this project

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brokestudio/super-tilt-bro-new-online-nes-game

 

[Veca Gorebyss]

View attachment 346540​

•


what an interesting concept game!

look at dude get smacked up!

"youre ouuhtaa here!" | it means "you are out of here."

first time here.

is that all they do is tilt?


•

 

[---]

Congratulations on the Kickstarter!

I hope everything goes well. I'm curious to see the final project.

 

[RogerBidon]

Oops! Forgot to answer!

Thank you!

Veca Gorebyss I did not undestand everything. But if that's what you ask: they tilt because, you know, the NES has no joystick so they can't smash

--- Everything is starting very well. Thanks for the wish!

 

[Veca Gorebyss]

Oops! Forgot to answer!

Thank you!

Veca Gorebyss I did not undestand everything. But if that's what you ask: they tilt because, you know, the NES has no joystick so they can't smash

--- Everything is starting very well. Thanks for the wish!

•


we love it!

hey thanks!

haha.


•

 

[RogerBidon]

Super Tilt Bro. 2.0-beta6: Gameplay adjustments

What's new in the game?

Kickstarter is over

My first time on this side of the Kickstarter, and a huge success! Thank you!

Gameplay adjustments

This update focus on refining the base mechanics of the game. It is a lot of very small things that, put together, should noticeably improve the feeling of the game controller in hand. Because there are few things more annoying than a character not doing exactly what you want.

Of course, doing it right is especially hard when we developed the game for a long time and are accustomed to the current controls. So if you have feedback on what still feels weird controlling your character, I'll gladly take it

Now the list of these little things:
* It is now easier to input short-hop into aerial
* It is now possible to maneuvering left/right during most aerial attacks
* Hitting opponent's shield triggers a small hitpause
* Hitting opponent's shield pushes them slightly
* Out of shield animation can be cancelled by a jump
* Being hit reloads the wall jump
* Keeping down pressed after a tech buffers a shied
* Buffering the same move you are performing works more consistently
* It is now possible, and easy, to reverse up and down variants of tilts, specials and aerials

Sinbad

Sinbad received a big graphical update. Lots of details in this tiny sprite!

Did you see? The statues have been updated too!​

Pepper

Pepper can now change direction while flying on her broom. Sound's like a big change, it's actually a way to ease the input to fly in a specific direction. If you input the direction a bit too late, it will turn to move like you expected. Could have been in the "Gameplay adjustments" section, but it is specific to Pepper, and who knows, maybe you'll find other uses for this new ability.

Pepper also has new victory and defeat animations. I was about to put a GIF of that but, hey, guess you'll have to win and lose a game playing Pepper to see it!

Online

Laggy players can no more play from the past.

Due to internet latency, and the nature of rollback netcode, getting your opponent's input from the past is expected. But there is a limit, when a laggy player hits you several seconds in the past, it becomes unfair on top of being weird. Now the server checks for inputs too far in the past and move them to a more reasonable time.

Of course this is experimental, if you know one of those players who lags a lot while having a correct ping, please send feedback on how the patch impacts your experience.