Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart!

In the very tenth episode of Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart, the game is as petite as it is pleasurable, and it fits right in your pocket! You know, metaphorically, the Switch is kind of bulky. Your regular hosts dig into a gorgeous game that's fallen a little by the wayside over the past year's netplay festivities, but measures up with the best of them! If your faith was shaken by effusive praise for Skullgirls' nested complexities and 5th-order mechanical quirks, why not try Pocket Rumble? It's got just two buttons but squeezes more out of them than is remotely reasonable to expect, while looking and sounding like the handheld fighter dreams are made of. For a deeper look into the forgotten world of handheld fighting games, check out Sparring with Scarab! - https://www.youtube.com/user/EON689

In the very ninth episode of Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart, we're headed to the movies for a select-audiences-only sneak peek at Hollywood's premiere showstopper: Skullgirls!Join us in a world of wonder as we bask in the best-looking fighting game of the last 20 years, and wax off about the astonishing depth packed into its dainty install size. Laugh as Amr talks about how weird this game's combos are, and cry as Curly embarrasses themselves trying to justify that anything in this game qualifies as neat, elegant design.The download site seems to be down right now, but follow this twitter account for updates on Dance Dance Sensei, the fighting game combo training rhythm action app!: https://twitter.com/MacDoniel/status/1333781512672530432Click here to see someone have the happiest birthday of their life: https://twitter.com/NerdJosh/status/902561084611158018

After decades of ironclad rule by the Nintendo corporation, the genre of "Platform Fighter" has new voices, new faces and new visions. Come with us and explore life without ledges, where the laws of physics are just a suggestion - come and try Rivals of Aether and Slap City!Whether you want an ultra-slick, gorgeously animated game that reimagines the competitive platform brawler to be as accessible as it is deep, or you want a game with all the joy and abandon of smash bros with a little more of a smirk on its face and some stonking new ideas, this podcast has the games for you!Hit this link for a quick rundown on Slippi, the Melee state comparison engine working miracles worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbs-eWpGxQI

For our very seventh episode, we're headed to the stage of history with Soul Calibur 6!Bandamco and Project Soul have worked hard to bring us yet another installment in their 3D sword-'em-up, and we're pretty happy with the results! Netcode or no netcode, we had a pretty awesome time with this game.Come with us, and bask in the simple pleasure of running in eight directions, and waving big swords in hundreds more. Also, we get into the reeds about a bunch of dubiously relevant stuff, like modern super design and the relative concentration of Shreks online.Follow this link for a piece by Maddy Myers on Ivy's storied and, frankly, confusing sexuality: https://kotaku.com/the-inexplicable-sexiness-of-ivy-valentine-1830565103Follow this link for a primer on Devil May Cry STRIVE, an overhaul mod with PvP support for DMCV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC8Y9oJOIUAFollow this link to marvel at Castlevania Judgement's bewildering vision of Simon Belmont: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61bXHybjdVL._AC_.jpg

For our very sixth episode, it's like the 90s never ended as we hook up the subwoofer and turn the bass boost to 300% for Killer Instinct 2013!Double Helix and Iron Galaxy's Killer Instinct dares to imagine a world where combos are neutral, there's no such thing as 'too loud', some characters are actually three characters, and people play fighting games on the Xbox One.This game might not be free, but it sure is included with the Game Pass subscription you may well already have!Follow this link for a fantastic documentary on the history of Killer Instinct and how it led to the 2013 revival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks4eZoG94VsFollow this link for a brief explainer on how exactly rollback netcode works to make fighting game netplay tolerable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RI5scXYhK0

Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart! 03: The Zero-Irony MSPaint Game

With our fourth episode we enter the realms of bullet hell and return with a fighter circling ever smaller circles of niche, Senko no Ronde 2! From the crew that helped bring you Ikaruga and Gradius V, comes an arena fighter that blends bullet hell shooters and mech anime.Join us as we dance between missiles, dig into the absurd pilot backstories, and fight each other off by turning into space station sized weapons. We also dive into theological questions of Bullet Hell, Bullet Purgatory, and Bullet Heaven, and the finer points of...cooking rice?

For our very third episode, we get our fingers on the pulse of the contemporary anime fighter to decide once and for all whether Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] is a new disease or part of the cure.Come with us on this journey, hear tell of the behind-the-bike-sheds of videogames. Come and live in a world where the normals are long, the specials are longer, and the supers hit all four corners of the screen. You need only leave behind your ego.Click this link to see a man die (in Guilty Gear): https://clips.twitch.tv/TenderSplendidKangarooBIRB

The Hot-Blooded Hearts return for our second episode with an update from the Evolution World Championships and the powerful shojo energy of Sailor Moon S! Join us as we round up the human drama of the fighting game world, and bring in our perfect counterpoint to the shonen tempers of Street Fighter!We talk about the infamously broken mechanics of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jougai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsuden for the Super Famicom, and how the way that it breaks fighting game conventions allows it an expressive back and forth that captures the big swings and indomitable spirit of the show.

Join us in our opening bout, where Curly and Amr talk about the game that got them into fighting games, Street Fighter V! We talk about the powerful shonen energy of the series, the absurd histories of the characters and why it was this series that drew us in.We also answer your burning questions! Why are fighting games so damn hard? How can we make them better? When will Virtua Fighter come back from the war?Find out on today's episode of Hand to Hand, Heart to Heart!