The Big Update

Art done by @den3776

Seems like the people over at Hidden Variable have very ambitious plans for the coming year, and posted all the details on the Skullheart forums. Detailing how Marie is coming along for the 2nd Encore version alongside the newly released version of the Skullgirls Mobile version. Going into what happens behind the scenes, as well as big plans Hidden Variable detailed in the post to “Dominate the World” with upcoming Skullgirls Projects. As we detailed in the last newsletter, we already knew they had big plans for Skullgirls, but this post all but confirms those ideas, and it’s now just playing the waiting game.

The State of the Game

Hidden Variable in the past month made a huge post on what they have coming up for Skullgirls in the coming year. There are many projects they have their hands on, and they share some of that info with the masses to let everyone know what’s cooking in the oven. First, we have an update on Marie coming to 2nd Encore version in beta.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Marie is soon upon us, and details on when she will be released on the 2nd Encore version are imminent at this time of this newsletter. As stated in official communication, after the Skullgirls Mobile version of Marie officially is released (she’s out now!), she will soon make her way to the main game in the beta! When this happens, this will be the feedback portion of the character to fine-tune her and adjust anything to make her fit right with the rest of the cast of Skullgirls. Since the Skullgirls Mobile version of her is out now, we can expect her to be dropping this month on PC. So if you want to hop on board and get ready for the beta release of her, be sure to sign up for the season pass to get access to her early to check out what she can do! Alongside the character, we are also getting a new stage, and music as well for early adopters to check out in beta.

The Full Release of Marie

As detailed in the post, Hidden Variable is aiming to have Marie coming out this year in December before the end of the year hits. Of course, it will not only be Marie but also coming with her are a new stage, new music, the story mode, new colors for her, character tutorials, a new voice pack, and much more! Now it did say, that there is a chance she will miss the window this year, so we may not get the full release til’ next year. With all that being said, this is shaping up to finally conclude Marie’s story mode, and possibly the game’s main story.

The Balance Update

It was announced long ago that there would be a balance update to the game after Black Dahlia’s release, but since then we haven’t seen anything about this until now. As stated in the post, using the time to work on various projects at the same time is difficult. So the long-awaited balance update will arrive at the same time Marie comes out in full release. There will be adjustments that will happen during the beta version of Marie to not only adjust her but also other characters as well. More details are soon to come, but we wait with eager breath to see what adjustments will be made to the overall cast for this next big update.

Story Mode Update

After the release of Marie, the entire season 1 story will be voice-acted. For the lore lovers out there, it was indicated that Marie’s story mode will have a large amount of characters involved. This means whatever ideas they have for her story mode, seems like this is shaping up to possibly have huge implications for the Skullgirls universe. We will have to wait and find out how the story goes with Marie’s story line. I advise you to play the Black Dahlia story mode to get an idea of what’s to come.

Skulllgirls taking over the World?

One of the most interesting posts I saw when reading the details is that Hidden Variable has big plans past just the base games with 2nd Encore and Mobile. They have ideas in mind, and we will have to wait for what they have cooking. I am very curious to see how this goes (please bring me Skullgirls Anime).

Skullgirls Championship Series Returns!

After what seemed like we were never going to see this return, we were all surprised to see the return of the Skullgirls Championship Series announced at this year’s Evo. For those who don’t know, there was a short period of time when the Skullgirls Championship Series was made to help promote Skullgirls and have our own esports circuit by another company working with Hidden Variable. While we have our own community tournaments, and at one point a community-run championship series, we never had an official one on a huge scale. It was funded with tons of money for the year of tournaments that it would be part of, and at the time it was all online.

While it ran its course, we were not sure if we would see anything like this again. Thankfully, it has returned and the details are silent at this time as far as what is going to happen next year. Judging from the trailer, it looks like we have a mix of both online and offline tournaments to compete for. The other big question is also, will it just be all in America, or is this going to open up worldwide as shown on the playskullgirls website. Details are coming soon as we draw closer to 2024.

Eightysixed and the Skullgirls Webtoon Update

The last bit of news on this post was promoting the gaming clothing store, Eightysixed, with more plans for future Skullgirls merch to show up in the store. If any indication, we saw that already from Evo this year with their new Skullgirls Tee they are selling now. Hidden Variable and Eightysixed have always worked together since the very start of Skullgirls on Skullgirls merch with all kinds of ideas, so it’s no wonder that they plan to do more in the near future.

By the time of this posting the update had already been announced on the Skullgirls Webtoon. The comic was originally going to return this September, and it has been announced that it will be delayed again. The Skullgirls Webtoon was announced back in 2019, but due to the closing down of Lab Zero and the fallout of what had happened in 2020, we were not sure if it would become a reality. That is until last year when Hidden Variable announced its debut in November of 2022! The same artists they brought on to work on it originally, were brought back to work on the webtoon. Since then we have been enjoying the webtoon of the events prior to Marie becoming the Skullgirl, and the other character’s origin stories of how everything came to be in the main game. As we wait with bated breath, if you are into the lore of Skullgirls, be sure to read up on the webtoon to get caught up before the next several chapters are released!

Conclusion

Overall, I already had a feeling that Hidden Variable was aiming high, but with the updates on what they are planning, bringing back the SGC series, alongside more projects to come, I am very hopeful for the future of Skullgirls. This might be one of those aim for the fences moment and hope its a home run. And if it does, Skullgirls future is looking brighter than ever. Of course, we will have to wait and see how this all turns out in the coming years. I detail my full thoughts on all of this in our video below as well as talk about maybe Skullgirls is becoming more than just a game but possibly a platform. To read the full details of everything you just read, you can check them out over at the Skullheart forums.

Dekillsage’s Dominance at CEOtaku 2023

As we ramp up the end of this year, one of our last big pillars of Majors we show up for had a great showing at CEOtaku this year in Florida. Especially with the newly announced Skullgirls Championship Series returning in 2024, some players we didn’t expect to show up, did attend to compete. One of which was the Evo Champion Dekillsage making the trip to compete against the likes of Cloudking, Gelato, and many others. In this top 12, not only did we have old faces competing at a high level, but some new faces in the scene of the likes of Swergin, BicepsAtMid, and Mark Fafnir. In the end, Dekillsage takes it over Cloudking in a close set that only Cloudking knows how to lose in the most dramatic way. Shout outs to Tampa Never Sleeps for streaming all of Skullgirls! Be sure to check out all of the action below as we get ready for the Skullgirls Championship Series.

Spotlight: France vs Italy

For as long as Skullgirls existed, there have been many scenes around the world and often asked who is the best nation in Skullgirls. We had many teams go at one another from the Oceanic scene, to as far as Japan. But, for the first time, we are finally going to see what the France Skullgirls scene is like. This Sunday at around roughly 7 AM PST, Italy we be playing against France in a team battle live on twitch.tv/skullgirlseurope. If you want to see the best of what each scene has to offer, I highly suggest tuning in this Sunday!

Editorial Corner

With the Championship Series ramping up for next year, and the big ideas Hidden Variable is aiming for, it’s a really good time to be a Skullgirls fan, content creator, and competitor for the coming years. For me, I want to see how the new blood in the scene do in the series and see if they can compete with some of the old guard of Skullgirls that will for sure be competing next year. Not to mention my previous talks with Drexo on what to come for the game, feels like this game is going to get better, and looking to further its reach in other areas of the fandom. Skullgirls Anime? Skullgirls live action? Skullgirls lunch pals? Okay, that last one was an old reference, but it is safe to say that Skullgirls has been around for 10-plus years and from the looks of things, another 10 years in the future.

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