News

Patch 1.1.2 – Ori and Sein

Today is a monumental day for Rivals of Aether players everywhere. One of the most prevalent questions of our times (“When’s Ori?”) can finally be answered. That’s right, Ori is now.

Tonight we’re releasing major patches on two systems at once. PC players will get access to the Ori and Sein DLC along with some balance changes, while Xbox One players will move from Game Preview to Full Release. Read on for patch 1.1.2 notes or head here for what to expect on Xbox One.

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New Content – Ori and Sein + The Spirit Tree

Ori and Sein along with The Spirit Tree stage are now available! These are our first guest characters, visiting Aether from the world of Ori and the Blind Forest. They are purchasable for $4.99 as DLC on Steam or the Microsoft Store .

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Ori and Sein bring their abilities learned throughout Ori and the Blind Forest and put them to the test in Rivals of Aether. While Ori works to Bash, Stomp and Glide their way to victory, Sein can use the Spirit Flame or the Charged Flame to put enemies between a rock and a hard place.

  • SPIRIT FLAMESein follows Ori around the battlefield. Ori can tap Neutral Special to have Sein quickly fire a Spirit Flame from wherever Sein is. Ori can hold Neutral Special to have Sein use the Charged Flame.
  • BASHOri can use Down Special to Bash nearly anything in Rivals of Aether – from characters to projectiles to rocks and plants. Ori can also move around the stage by bashing the Light Grenade that is thrown by using Forward Special.
  • TAG TEAMWhen Ori and Sein are close enough, Ori can use Strong Attacks to initiate tag team combos. These Strong Attacks have more powerful properties as Sein assists Ori for a more devastating blow.

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The new Spirit Tree stage comes with both a casual Aether version and competitive Basic version. On the Aether version, players will have to look out for Kuro as she dives toward the screen, striking those who have not taken cover under the platforms. Gumo, a fan favorite from Ori and the Blind Forest, also makes an appearance on the Aether version of the stage as he moves a platform around. Competitive players can play on the Basic version for a fair fight while enjoying some great music inspired by Ori and the Blind Forest.

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We’ve made lots of changes since our last major patch, so a few screens you’re familiar with might look a bit different. We’ve also updated dev mode to fix some of the moves that were outdated along with some other quality of life changes.

  • Community News – The main menu now shows news and other things of interest to the community. Use your mouse to view sections you’d like to read more about. If the web pages don’t open for you, follow this quick guide.
  • Profile Icons – Profile icons now save from session to session so you don’t have to select one every time. Ori and Burrito Kragg icons have been added and can be unlocked with their respective DLC.
  • Respawn Invincibility Time – Invincibility time on respawn has been reduced from 120 frames to 90. Two seconds of invincibility was proving a bit long (especially on the smaller stages) which is why we’re reducing it to 1.5.
  • Hurtbox Updates – Many animations that use the default hurtbox rectangle (jump, double jump, airdodge, walljump, hurt sprites) have been re-positioned to match the hurtboxes better. There are no framedata or other gameplay changes around this, the intent is only to give more visual clarity.
  • Reverse Hits – Many kill moves that could reverse (sending a character the opposite way that the attack faced) have been changed to disallow this. You’ll see it mentioned on multiple Rivals below but this is a change across the board and not targeting any specific character.
  • Character Select Screen – We’ve got an extra character to fit in! Ori and Sein have been added to the roster. Selecting Ori will allow you to purchase them right from the Steam overlay.
  • Stage Select – The stage select layout has been changed with The Spirit Tree and future stages in mind. If you own The CEO Ring you can also now select this stage directly by toggling using the icon over The Rock Wall.
  • Dev Mode – Updated the properties and data for some character’s moves to bring them up to date with current gameplay.

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Zetterburn has been seeing a lot of play lately at the highest level. While his strong offense on stage is something we intended, we think his recovery options off stage are a little too good right now, especially when that was supposed to balance out his strengths.

  • Dspecial no longer gives back your double jump immediately. Instead, it gives you your double jump 20 frames after the dive starts (noted by a white flash on Zetterburn)
  • After 30 frames of Dspecial’s dive, you can cancel it with a double jump, an air dodge, or Uspecial (you can still walljump out as usual).
  • Dspecial no longer spawns a fire puddle when parried
  • Dspecial hit 1 no longer stuns grounded opponents for unecessary lengths of time when trading
  • Fair sweetspot can no longer reverse

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Orcane was perfect last patch and has been perfect for a long time. However, he is now EVEN MORE perfect after we decided to add 1 more damage to his Dair hits.

  • All hits of Dair now do 1 more damage
  • Dstrong angle flippers changed to avoid strange reverse hits
  • Fair can no longer reverse

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We’ve given Wrastor a little more kill power on his Fstrong’s sourspot. He also got a visual upgrade on his Ftilt to give him the style he deserves.

  • Ftilt has a new, smoother animation (less reach, same frame data, same knockback)
  • Fstrong sourspot scaling increased from 1.0 > 1.1
  • Utilt can no longer reverse

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Kragg is a simple Rival who doesn’t need much. With the addition of his Burrito skin and this rock throw change below, he’s one happy bug.

  • Neutral rock throw can now be reversed
  • Fair can no longer reverse

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Forsburn’s specials are really cool right now and hitting all of our marks for a deception based character. Some of his other moves however were a little lackluster, so we’ve decided to make a few changes that give him more options.

  • UpStrong hit 1 (cape) replaced with a shorter, wider cape swing
  • Bair sweetspot active frames increased from 2 > 3
  • Bair sourspot active frames increased from 6 > 13
  • Both Bair hitboxes made bigger and moved to match animation better
  • Bair whifflag decreased from 7 > 3
  • Nair1 front hitbox active frames increased from 1 > 3
  • Up Strong Startup has been increased from 12 to 14 frames.
  • Uspecial hitstun modifier increased from .85 > 1.0
  • Uspecial base knockback increased from 6 > 8
  • Fspecial is now hidden/silent when used behind smoke (so sneaky)

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Even with the addition of Ori, Maypul is still the fastest Rival around. We’ve cleaned up a few of her hitboxes this patch to make certain moves match their animations better.

  • Fstrong hitbox made slightly bigger
  • Added 2 hitboxes to Dstrong in order to match the animation better
  • Strong attack wrap time scaling increased from .1 > .13
  • Fair can no longer reverse

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Absa has started to show up consistently in tournaments which is nice to see. We’ve made a few QoL changes to her in addition to making Ftilt1 slightly harder to abuse, since the move shouldn’t be so good that it’s all she wants to do.

  • Ftilt 1 startup increased from 4 > 7, hitbox moved VERY slightly forward and narrowed (removed about 4px of backward range)
  • Ustrong hitboxes made taller to reach crouching Orcane
  • Bair sweetspot can no longer reverse
  • Fstrong can no longer reverse
  • Interrupting Absa while she’s charging her cloud pop will now cancel the cloud pop instead of having the cloud auto-charge into the strong hitbox

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Etalus’s presence on stage is big and that’s just how we like him. We’ve made a small change to ice armor this patch to keep him from getting overwhelming.

  • Ice armor is now eaiser to break, damage needed decreased from 50% > 40%
  • Fstrong (both with ice armor and without) can no longer reverse
  • Uair now functions correctly when hitting multiple enemies

Thanks for playing, and we hope everyone enjoys Ori and patch 1.1.2. If you’re looking for some more Rivals action this weekend make sure you tune into Shine to watch the top 8 on twitch.tv/BigBlueGG at 9EDT / 8 CDT/ 6 PDT.

Shine Interview Series: Last Words

Shine 2017 is nearly here. There have been stacked Rivals tournaments in the past, but none quite like this. Thanks to the generosity of the RoA community, we will have one of the most noteworthy tournaments, including international competition, in the game’s history. Earlier in our series, you heard from Australia and Europe’s challengers Gabe and Kaos. Now, it’s time for the home team to give their insight.

We asked many of the top competitors traveling to Shine about their thoughts and preparations leading into the tournament. Today, you’ll hear from Burrito | LiveBreatheOwn, T2 | CakeAssault, VexX Gaming’s AZCards and Dolphinbrick, Fable | MSB, Penguin, and, of course, Edax | Fullstream. If you don’t already, be sure to follow all our competitors on Twitter, links will be available at the end of the article.

What are your thoughts on the current Rivals metagame?

LBO: The meta game is in a good state right now. I’ve predicted in the past that the meta will include heavy use of character counter picks and that is starting to show as true which I’m excited to see as it continues.

DolphinBrick: The current metagame is usually defined by either a small group of characters (Fox/Falco in melee) or by a certain role or a character (tank meta in LoL). RoA is interesting because right now, there still isn’t any particular meta. Each character is viable in a tournament setting and we’re seeing new and innovative strategies arising at every tournament.

FullStream: The current Rivals metagame is mostly based on platform movement and approaching above your opponent or just with aerials in general. This means that the majority of players don’t have the best ground game footsies/neutral, but they excel at baiting options from above their opponent. A lot of people will just find a couple of approaches and find ways to mix them up, and they mostly rely on being in the air to do so.

MSB: Current rivals meta is very balanced with the exception of Maypul. She’s totally absent! Hoping one day Lz is able to come back, and if he did I’m sure his Maypul is as good as ever. Wrastor is also pretty sparse, but as seen by the legend Pepe at smashcon, that character can still make some impact.

AZCards: Right now the current metagame is still being developed and I think that is amazing. It’s fun to watch playstyles evolve into something competitive and different from someone else. With a lot of high level players coming out to Shine, you’ll be able to see that live. Watch LBO’s playstyle vs Kisuno’s and you’ll see completely different approaches to Zetterburn, that work in their own way. It’s great that Rivals of Aether gives you the ability to play your favorite Rival and make your own playstyle that is competitive and fun for you as well.

CakeAssault: In the current metagame, my tier list looks like:

A: Absa, Zetter, Wrastor
B: Etalus, Kragg, Orcane
B-: Fors, Maypul

With Absa’s up b movement and mixups, she has possibly the best neutral game in the game, with one of the best combo games and recoveries in the game. And, without Lz actively in the scene anymore, and with no other Maypul’s nearly at his level of expertise with the character, Maypul has dropped from best in the game to worst in the game. Also shoutout to MSB for being the best Kragg and representing what the character could be. If other players picked up on his creative combos and recovery mixups, Kragg could easily be one of the best characters.

How are you preparing for Shine? Any special practice strategies or plans for the tournament?

LBO: Shine will be a test of my nerves more than my skill. When I’m comfortable I feel unstoppable and I’m capable of beating any player in the world. My preparation is staying calm and not putting pressure on myself. If I can have fun, I can win.

FullStream: I’m not doing anything special to prepare, just continuing to play these other characters and try to make sure that I play my best. It’s been tougher for me to do that recently but that all can change at any given tournament. This is just another tournament.

Penguin: I’ve been doing a lot of work on the Zetterburn matchup since so many great Zetters are going to Shine, like Kisuno, FullStream, LBO, Kaos, Gabe, and Gaming. I’ve also been doing some work on the Kragg, Orcane, and Etalus matchups because many of the other players going main one of those characters.

AZCards: To prepare for Shine, I’ve just been getting in as many friendlies as possible against high level players. So fortunately for me, that means playing games against ICE since it’s mostly West Coast players. I’m also going to watch VODs of Super Smash Con, so I can study player’s habits. And lastly, just putting myself in the right mindset before I even play in the tournament. That’s something I’ve been working on a lot since I started playing Rivals and it improves every tournament I go to.

Dbrick: In order to prep for Shine, I watch VoDs of anyone that I’ll run into and take notes on any habits I could exploit. Watching VoDs is a large part of prepping against any one person.

CakeAssault: My wifi has been out for either 12 weeks or 2 weeks – I can’t really tell – and my grandpop has been letting me chill at his house to use his wifi to practice for Smashcon and Shine. Currently, I have my boy Willby analyzing other top players’ sets so he can tell me their habits and give me tips on how to counter their playstyles. When I’m not playing online, I’m trying out new tactics and followups for edgeguarding and comboing. If I’m playing well at Shine, I think you’ll definitely see new things from me when I win in Grand Finals.

MSB: Rooming with Gabe, Kaos, and Handbutt. Lots of Zetter and Etalus practice.

Which players are you hoping to avoid in bracket and why?

LBO: I’m not worried about facing anyone particularly. I should have a high seed going in so I expect the first few rounds to be able to warm me up nicely. Then I’ll be ready to go for the challenging rounds.

Dbrick: I’m hoping to avoid Penguin and Kisuno. I personally excel against players that I’ve played before, as I’m good as picking up on habits…but sometimes the set is over before I can adapt! I’ve never played either of these two in bracket before and they’re both a huge threat.

MSB: I’ve had a horrifying time against Kisuno and LBO both locally and online. Unsure how I’d do against them this time around, but dodging them in bracket would certainly benefit me. Fullstream’s been beating me around at basically every event, but I’ve been getting closer! I’m confident I’d do better against Cake at Shine than I did at smashcon, so I wouldn’t mind him.

AZCards: Looking at the bracket, there isn’t anyone I want to avoid. Nobody wins a tournament going in trying to avoid a certain player. What if you bump into them in the bracket? You’ll just be thinking about it as you play and it’ll just mess with your strategy. I actually want to do the opposite. The best way to grow as a player is to overcome those challenges. It’s never easy getting the gold.

Penguins: There’s no one in particular I hope to avoid the most, because I think I have at least a chance against everyone. I do hope to avoid the other ace members because I don’t want either of us to have to knock the other out, but that’s how tournaments go.

CakeAssault: I’m hoping to avoid Penguin and LBO in bracket. I don’t like playing them.

Who are you most excited to play in the tournament and why?

LBO: Any of the top Zetter players. I made it a goal of mine to be the people’s Zetter. I want to be the flashiest and most fun to watch of all the Zetter players. So direct comparison helps people know who they should be supporting in the chat. 🙂

Dbrick: I’m most excited to play FullStream, we had a very close set at Bigger Balc and I’ve been itching for revenge…

Fullstream: No one I necessarily hope I play. I’m just there to play who I am feeling and see how it all goes.

Penguin: I’m most excited to play FullStream in tourney, if I get the chance to. I’ve been practicing the Absa/Zetterburn matchup a lot and I’ve gotten to play FullStream a lot online. And I know Ceztellz took him to game 5 at Super Smash Con, so I really think I have a chance to take that game 5 in my favor.

MSB: Not especially excited to play against anyone, but if I got AZ on stream the Kragg Bowl would be hype. I’d be looking forward to playing Dbrick again. Both our matches on local have been decisive 3-0s but the set count is split 1-1. I’m sure he wasn’t happy with how he played last Saturday, so he’s looking for redemption there. And personally I’d like to go up in sets against him and show that it wasn’t a fluke at smashcon. Expect something brutal if we meet at shine.

AZCards: I’m actually really excited to play Gabe and MSB. Gabe is Australia’s best player and I would like to see what their meta is like. I’m also a really competitive player so if I’m able to say I’m better than an entire continent at a video game, I’ll take that opportunity while I’m still able to. I’m always going to want to play against MSB. He’s my biggest rival right now since I would consider him to be the #1 Kragg, and quite frankly that should be my spot. I’ve been training a lot for Shine and have learned some new things so hopefully I’ll be able to show why I deserve to be #1.

CakeAssault: I’m excited to play FullStream in bracket because I’m gonna talk so much trash on him on Twitter before the tournament. I can’t risk doing that two tournaments in a row and then losing again.

Can you give us any predictions of what you expect top 8 to look like at Shine 2017?

LBO: Me. DolphinBrick. AZCards. The others don’t matter. ICE for life.

Dbrick: Top 8 in no particular order will probably be: LBO, AZCards, FullStream, Kisuno, Penguin, CakeAssault, MSB and me.

Fullstream: Looking at who is attending the tournament without seeding being done I have no idea who will be top 8 lol. Lot of good players.

MSB: Expect Full, and Kaos to all do very well. LBO and Cake tend to vary so they could both kill it, but might end up losing early. Dbrick and Az will do well if they get good brackets. Gabe, Alexis, Turq, Penguin, and Handbutt are strong contenders for top 8 but I don’t think they could win it all. And of course, I’ll be getting 3rd. Also: Aurecia or Gaming could make upsets happen, so watch out for them too. VERY stacked bracket, tournament is going to be wild.

AZCards: In no particular order: Kaos, Fullstream, MSB, LBO, DolphinBrick, Me, CakeAssualt, Penguin

Penguin: I expect FullStream to win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone upsets him. I’ve been practicing the matchup a lot and I remember LBO and FullStream had a game 5 set last time they played in RCS. From there it gets difficult due to so many great players going. I would expect Dolphinbrick, MSB, LBO, Kisuno, CakeAssault, AZCards and myself in no particular order. But, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see some other names in the top 8, like Handbutt and Turquoise.

CakeAssault: In order — CakeAssault, Penguin, MSB, LBO, DolphinBrick, FullStream, Kaos, Turquoise.

Huge thanks to everyone for sharing their insight today! Check out all their Twitter links below, and follow all the action this weekend at Shine 2017! See where and when to watch with the full Shine stream schedule.

@RoA_Penguin
@notMSB
@XFullStream
@LiveBreatheOwn
@T2CakeAssault
@VexX_AZCards
@VexX_Dbrick

Shine Interview Series: Kaos

by Trent Murray

Kaos at G4 Rivals doublesIn Rivals of Aether, most of the competitive conversation revolves around the United States. This is where all the major tournaments take place and where, most believe, all the best players in the world currently reside. However, thanks to the generosity of the Rivals community, two players will be traveling across the world to challenge that claim. Shine 2017 offered a Rivals of Aether compendium with ambitious goals to fly out the best player in Europe, and the best in Australia. Surpassing all expectations, the Rivals community stepped up in a big way, funding every compendium goal, including our two world warriors.

Today, we’re talking to Europe’s premier player, Kaos. At Genesis 4, Kaos blew through the home crowd, taking 5th place at his first-ever U.S. tournament. He shares the lessons he learned from that event, his unique history with competitive gaming, and how he plans to dethrone the best player in the world.

Trent: Tell us a little about your competitive history before Rivals?

Kaos: I played a little bit of Brawl back when it came out in 2009, until my last tournament in 2011. I remember drowning in pools at my first local. I quickly improved after that and was one of the best, if not the best, player in EU for some time. I was mostly known for my strong fundamentals and that carried over in Rivals.

I slowly got better at League of Legends and moved on to playing competitively in season 1 & 2. I’m relatively unknown to the general public but my team and I always managed to reach the #1 spot in the 5v5 ladder and I was consistently somewhere in the top 10 in solo Q.

We joined the organization Na’Vi at the time, but the scene was getting more and more competitive, every serious team started training every day in gaming houses, and we were losing to teams that we used to beat consistently. At that point we had to make a choice between going pro and leaving the competitive scene. I wanted to focus on my career and I wasn’t interested in playing LoL casually so I simply quit.

There are a few others games that I played “seriously” at least for some time but these are the two main ones.

Kaos defeating Mr. R at TSL4

Trent: What made you want to be a serious competitor in Rivals?

Kaos: Just like any other game I played competitively, it’s not something that I planned. I just really like the game, and I enjoy getting better at it, so I just play and do what I can to improve.

Trent: You mention that you competed a lot in Brawl, did you have any Melee experience before moving to Rivals? What aspects of Rivals specifically drew you in rather than another platform fighter?

Kaos: The only Melee experience I have is participating in tournaments at events with both Brawl & Melee, so not that much.

I tried [Smash 4] when it came out, I even thought about playing it seriously, but in the end I didn’t like the game and didn’t feel like grinding it at all so I quickly quit.

Rivals really spoils you with how fluid and natural the controls feel compared to other smash titles. It makes the game a little easier, but after you get used to horizontal wavedashes or platform drops out of dash for example, anything else feels stiff in comparison. I also like how every character has unique mechanics and can influence the stage in some way.

Trent: What other hobbies do you have outside the game?

Kaos: I mostly play games, program stuff and watch series. Hyped for the 7th season of Game of Thrones! I also enjoy traveling and seeing new places. It’s crazy how thanks to Brawl, LoL, and now RoA, I ended up having so many opportunities to travel around the world to play games.

Trent: Is there anything aside from the tournament you’re excited about during your visit to the US?

Kaos: I had to adapt to the prices of the plane tickets but I’ll have one day to visit Boston/Cambridge so that’s already quite nice. Being kind of a science/tech nerd I mostly just want to see the MIT. I’m also really happy that I’ll get to meet the #1 player in Australia, Gabe. I honestly thought this would never happen.


Gabe being #1

Trent: What were your biggest takeaways from the event at Genesis 4?

Kaos: My biggest takeaway is definitely that I really needed to train for specific match-ups if I wanted to stand a chance against certain NA players. The scene is much smaller in EU so my method so far has been to play every character, but that has proven not to be enough because I mostly just scratch the surface of each character’s specifics and just win with good fundamentals. I have to study them much more extensively if I want to compensate for the lack of an available top player with some characters.

Also, because the pool of top players is considerably bigger in NA, you mustn’t lower your guard against anyone. Even players who aren’t in the top 15 can take games off the very best ones, so everyone is a potential threat.

Trent: Which players are you most excited to face in bracket?

Kaos: FullStream obviously, as he has proven to be the #1 player to beat. [He] and I actually played some friendlies at G4. Him being the best player and me not having any experience against Wrastor, let’s say it didn’t go too well for me. I might have taken games off him if we met in bracket but it was very unlikely that I would win a set.

However I really improved since G4 and I labbed Wrastor a lot, especially his combo options, so I have a much better feeling of what to expect against him. I definitely have more chances than at G4, I guess the biggest factor will be how much he has improved as well.

If I end up winning it would definitely add more legitimacy to the EU scene, and I hope it would motivate more people here to grow their own local scene.

Trent: Which players are you hoping to avoid in bracket?

Kaos: Since [Grand Finals] will obviously be Gabe vs me I just want us to be on opposite sides of the bracket.

Trent: What does it mean to you that your compendium goal got funded?

Kaos: Before it started, I really hoped that Gabe would get funded, that alone would have been crazy, even though to be honest I was a little pessimistic. So obviously, I didn’t even imagine that I had a single chance. I couldn’t be more wrong, the compendium was absolutely insane. In just a few days he got funded, then Lord Bagel got funded in a few days too, and then same thing for me! Huge wtf moment. I find it really cool that a community sponsors its players through the equivalent of crowdfunding. I am extremely grateful to the community for giving me this chance, and I’ll do my best to win.

Group Photo after Rivals of Aether grand finals

Trent: What are your expectations for your performance at the tournament at Shine?

Kaos: I think I’m expected to be somewhere in the top 5, but that won’t hold me back. I aim for the gold, and I won’t be satisfied with anything else. And LBO and I will win doubles. I was always better in doubles than in singles in Smash games in general and I think that still holds true in Rivals.

Trent: Tell us a little bit about the EU scene. Are there any other players that you think would compete with the top of the US if they got to travel?

Kaos: Because the community is small and scattered, the scene is mostly online, with generally two tournaments a week. We have gathered players in the Paris region a few times but it’s not something that we consistently do yet. In EU we have a strong core of [about] 10 players, with a clear top 3 who pretty much only loses to other players in the top 3.

After playing in NA I’m confident that Transco & Neylax are somewhere in the global top 15, just not sure where exactly. They would definitely be scary opponents for top NA players.

Trent: Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?

Kaos: A huge thank you to everyone who bought stuff just to support the compendium, and to the RoA dev team who didn’t even get any money from it. Best business model?!

I know my EU brothers won’t go to bed at a reasonable hour so they can watch the stream so shoutouts to them in advance.

One last thing. Mark my words, I’m going to win Shine.

A huge thank you to Kaos for sharing his time with us. Give him a follow @KaosSmash and be sure to cheer him on at Shine 2017, August 25th-27th. Be sure to keep your eyes right here on rivalsofaether.com for more interviews leading up to Shine 2017.

Editor’s note: Tune into Rivals at Shine on twitch.tv/BigBlueGG on August 26th at 6PM EDT / 4PM CDT / 3PM PDT. We’ll be streaming all the way from pools until the conclusion of the tournament that night.

If you’re interesting in playing in any of the free, online Rivals events Kaos mentioned check out smash.gg/RCS-2 and discord.gg/RoA.

Community Roundup: Ranno Edition

Last weekend we unveiled Ranno – The Poisonous Pacifist, and the community went crazy for him. We got so much Ranno fan art (in so many different styles) that we’ve got enough frogs for a Ranno-only roundup! With that in mind, here are some of our favorite Ranno pieces.

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The whole team (especially the concept artist behind Ranno) was overwhelmed with all of these awesome takes on the character. We loved seeing these and all the excitement around the reveal. We can’t wait for the next one!

Rivals of Aether Leaves Game Preview on August 23rd

Edit 8/23/17: The upcoming content mentioned in this article is now live! You can pick up the full release of Rivals of Aether for Xbox One and the Ori and Sein DLC on the Microsoft store.

If you missed our announcement at Super Smash Con, we now have an official launch date for Rivals on Xbox One and it’s right around the corner. We’re pleased to share that the full version of Rivals will be available in less than one week on August 23rd.

xbox-one-launch-preview

This update comes packed with content, features and polish to bring our Xbox players all the way past version 1.0 in one fell swoop. The full launch includes:

  • Story Mode
  • Abyss Mode
  • New Single Player and Co-op Leaderboards
  • Currency / Unlockables (New skins, custom color slots, and more)
  • New Music
  • A New Ranked Season
  • Achievements
  • Player Icons

Our first new character DLC, Ori and Sein, along with The Spirit Tree stage will also become available on August 23rd. We worked with Microsoft and Moon Studios to bring these guest characters into the world of Rivals and you can read all about them in our post on Ori and Sein.

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Thanks to everyone who supported us by picking up Rivals early in Game Preview. We’re excited to launch and hope it was worth the wait!