Preparing yourself for the Skullgirls

Are you wanting to play this legendary fighting game but confused by the four identical entries in the session creator? No worries! This guide is for you + some extra things to help you on the way Firstly, the number of games with this name can become confusing for anyone who hasn't followed the franchise since it's inception in 2012 and even for SG players who weren't around for the first release. First before anything else let's clear up the mess for anyone unfamiliar to For clarity, all games listed below obviously feature online multiplayer, multiplayer against the CPU and are made on the in-house Z-Engine which were later used for both Indivisible and Them's Fightin' Herds Warning: By default Skullgirls doesn't allow you to alt-tab. Prepare to use your phone to comment in the session if your game is open Entry: 1 Name: Skullgirls Is on Gamedate: Yes Platforms: PC, PS3, 360 Release date: November 14, 2012 Price: 14,99$ in Steam, dropping to to 7.49$ during sales Obtained at: Steam (formerly), PlayStation Store (formerly) and Xbox 360 Marketplace (formerly) Characters: Cerebella, Double, Filia, Ms. Fortune, Painwheel, Parasoul, Peacock, Valentine Overlap: On PS3 both Skullgirls and Skullgirls Encore are treated as seperate titles each with their own trophies, leaderboards, multiplayer, save data and ingame stats. Those who owned the original game were given a copy of Skullgirls Encore for free. Those on the 360 however were automatically upgraded from Skullgirls to Skullgirls Encore, both their achievements, stats, save data and the leaderboards and multiplayer intact Multiplayer: Yes but two player only Crossplay: PC, PS3 and 360: None DLC: Yes but "palette swaps" only Game modes: Training Room, Arcade, Story and Versus Overlap: On PS3 both Skullgirls and Skullgirls Encore are treated as seperate titles each with their own seperate trophies, leaderboards, multiplayer, save data and ingame stats. Those who owned the original game were given a copy of Skullgirls Encore for free. Those on PC and 360 however were automatically upgraded from Skullgirls to Skullgirls Encore, leaving both their achievements, stats, save data and the leaderboards and multiplayer intact. Playability: Only PS3 and the old version of Skullgirls on Xenia remains playable as both the PC/360 versions were upgrades to Skullgirls Encore automatically. There might be a way on PC to downgrade to the launch edition without simply downloading a cracked copy but i am not aware of any such methods and in any case multiplayer likely wouldn't work anyways defeating the purpose Downsides: Universal: No voice acting in story mode. PS3 and 360: Game suffer from severe loading times when transitioning from the character select screen to the actual fight. 360 only: Noticeable micro-stutters and frame skips during visually intense combos. Survival Mode, Character Combo Trials, and the advanced Challenges from the modern versions are missing entirely. Downsides fixed in emulation: Running the game through RPCS3 or Xenia fixes the loading time. Xenia also fixes the micro-stutters and frame skips during visually intense, however you likely will still encounter shader compilation stutter until you have played the game for a a bit Downsides that were later fixed in patches: No in-game command lists forcing you to look them up online on your phone beforehand (this was fixed in a late 2012 update). Max lobby size is capped at only two compared to todays eight. While SG have always had the the Infinite Prevention System (IPS) to stop literal infinite combo loops, it did not have the green "Undizzy" gauge. This meant that skilled players could perform agonizingly long, 100-to-0 "Touch of Death" combos that didn't technically trigger the IPS, essentially preventing the opponent from even being allowed to play the game at all Should you choose game for your session?: Only if you own Skullgirls on PS3 or if you want to emulate this specific version through RPCS3 or Xenia Entry: 2 Name: Skullgirls Encore Is on Gamedate: No Platforms: PC, PS3, 360 Release date: 11 February 2014 Price: 14.99$ on Steam, dropping to to 3.74$ or 2.99$ during sales Obtained at: Steam (formerly), PlayStation Store (formerly) and Xbox 360 Marketplace/Microsoft Store (formerly) Characters: Cerebella, Double, Filia, Ms. Fortune, Painwheel, Parasoul, Peacock, Valentine, Squigly (DLC), Big Band (DLC), Fukua (after launch), Eliza (DLC), Beowulf (DLC) and Robo-Fortune (DLC) Multiplayer: Yes, up to eight players Crossplay: PC: None, PS3: Yes but only with Skullgirls 2nd Encore for the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. Years later when the PS3 hardware failed to handle the modern Season 1 Pass (Annie, Umbrella, etc.), version mismatches broke this connection meaning only PS3/Vita can play together today. 360: None DLC: Yes, all of them being characters. The DLC was free for a limited period at their launch though, rewarding early adapters (many of whom were also the Kickstarter backers for Encore) Game modes: Training Room (improved and with online play this time!), Arcade, Story, Versus, Marie 300%, Typing of the Skullgirls (easter egg game mode) Should you use this game for your session?: Only if you are on PS3 or 360 or if you want to emulate this specific edition through RPCS3 or Xenia Overlap: On PS3 both Skullgirls and Skullgirls Encore are treated as seperate titles each with their own seperate trophies, leaderboards, multiplayer, save data and ingame stats. Those who owned the original game were given a copy of Skullgirls Encore for free. Those on PC and 360 however were automatically upgraded from Skullgirls to Skullgirls Encore, leaving both their achievements, stats, save data, leaderboards and multiplayer intact. Playability: Only the PS3 and 360 port remains available. There might be a way on PC to downgrade to the launch edition without simply downloading a cracked copy but i am not aware of any such methods and in any case multiplayer likely wouldn't work anyways defeating the purpose Downsides: Survival Mode, Challenge Mode and Character Combo Trials are missing. Still no voice acting in the campaign. PS3 and 360: Game STILL suffer from severe loading times when transitioning from the character select screen to the actual fight. 360: The game STILL sufferes from noticeable micro-stutters and frame skips during visually intense combos (it's unknown to me if the issue persists on Xenia). Downsides fixed in emulation: Running the game through RPCS3 or Xenia fixes the loading time. Xenia also fixes the micro-stutters and frame skips during visually intense, however you likely will still encounter shader compilation stutter until you have played the game a bit Should you choose this game for your session?: Only if you own Skullgirls on PS3/360 or if you want to emulate this specific version through RPCS3 or Xenia Entry: 3 Name: Skullgirls ∞Endless Beta∞ Platforms: PC Entry: 4 Name: Skullgirls: 2nd Encore Platforms: PC, Playstation 5 (backwards compatibility), Playstation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch and arcade machines Is on Gamedate: Yes Release date: 7 July 2015 Price: 24.99$ on Steam, dropping to to 2.49$ during major sales and 12.49$ or 9.99$ in between Obtained at: Steam (formerly), PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Nintendo eShop Characters: Cerebella, Double, Filia, Ms. Fortune, Painwheel, Parasoul, Peacock, Valentine, Squigly, Big Band, Fukua, Eliza, Beowulf, Robo-Fortune, Marie (DLC), Black Dahlia (DLC), Annie (DLC) and Umbrella (DLC) Multiplayer: Yes, up to eight players Crossplay: PC: None at all to the dismay of the playerbase. Playstation 5/Playstation 4: Both PS5 and PS4 originally had crossplay with the PS3 (Skullgirls) and Vita (Skullgirls 2nd Encore). Years later when the PS3 hardware failed to handle the modern Season 1 Pass (Annie, Umbrella, etc.), version mismatches broke this connection meaning only PS3 (Skullgirls) and Vita (Skullgirls 2nd Encore) can play together today. Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One: Yes but only with each other. Vita: Originally had crossplay with PS5/PS4 (2nd Encore) and PS3 (Skullgirls. However the port was abandoned before the DLC updates, meaning it is now permanently stuck on an older game version which can no longer match with PS5/PS4 players. Switch: None at all. Suffer from low player count like the many other Switch third party multiplayer games without crossplay (this makes it an ideal candidate for Gamedate!). Arcade machines: None obviously DLC: Yes, the Digital Art Compendium (free), soundtrack, characters (Marie, Black Dahlia, Annie and Umbrella) and a season pass containing the previously mentioned content Game modes: Training Room (improved once again from the previous edition), Arcade, Story (fully voiced!), Versus (local multiplayer), Trials (Combo Trials), Challenges, Marie 300% (boss fight meant to be unfair), CPU Quick Match (immediately throws you into a match against a random AI opponent. More of a QoL shortcut than a game mode though), Typing of the Skullgirls (easter egg game mode), Art Gallery (unlockable concept art, production stills, and character sheets) Should you use this game for your session?: Absolutely unless you are stuck on seventh gen or just really wanna see what the older editions were like Overlap: When the PC port came out in April 2016 you had to purchase the "Skullgirls 2nd Encore Upgrade" (14.99$ on Steam, dropping to to 3.74$ during sales). In February 2021 the "2nd Encore Upgrade" was given to everyone on PC for free. leaving both their achievements, stats, save data and the leaderboards and multiplayer intact. Playability: Yes on all the listed platforms Downsides: None, it's the newest and current edition (with caveats. Read longer below) Downsides fixed in emulation: See above Should you choose this game for your session?: Absolutely unless you are stuck on Seventh console generation or just really wanna see what the older editions was like Entry: 5 Name: Skullgirls: Fighting RPG Platforms: Android and iOS Is on Gamedate: No Release date: 25 May 2017 Price: Free to play with microtransactions (of course, it's a mobile game) Crossplay: Yes between Android and iOS Playability: Yes Downsides: None, it's a spin-off title that shouldn't be compared to the original Downsides fixed in emulation: See above Should you choose this game for your session?: If you are playing the mobile spin-off. If not, obviously not. Keep in mind Gamedate doesn't allow you to set a session to "Skullgirls: Fighting RPG" so you will just have to choose Skullgirls, put "Skullgirls: Fighting RPG" in the session title and use the description to explain the difference between the title and game indicated * Here is the 2nd Encore caveat: In June 2023, both current developers (Autumn Games and Hidden Variable) pushed a mandatory update on Steam and home consoles (arcade machine status is unknown) that retroactively censored or removed several pieces of artwork and frames. They later justified the action by claiming that the content in the game was in poor taste, hadn't aged well and no longer aligned their current values for the franchise. Certain "panty shot" frames during attacks, throws, and hit-stun animations were painted over with dark voids or extended clothing (Filia, Cerebella, Parasoul, In one of Filia’s animations, her parasite Samson turned into a hair comb. The "hair comb" were changed from a Afro-comb into a generic brush (https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fnliopbu4gkgb1.jpg) Dozens of pieces of unlockable concept art in the Art Gallery and "Digital Art Compendium" DLC (most drawn by Alex Ahad aka ) were either cropped or censored. Several pieces were outright removed (including ones made by the R34 animator Zone-Tan) The Soviet Announcer voice pack voiced by the game’s original lead designer, Mike Z was removed Multiple voice lines were cut. Those include: You little in the middle, but you got much back" (Big Band), "I've seen enough Doujin to know where this is going" (Peacock) In Skullgirls, as your combo grows longer, a title appears under the hit counter (e.g., 10 hits is "Glorious"). The title "Barely Legal" (18 hit combo) was changed into "Rated R" Parasoul’s bodyguards and the Canopy Kingdom's soldiers, the Black Egrets, originally wore prominent red armbands. The developers systematically removed these red armbands from every sprite (Parasoul), background character, concept art and cutscene illustration in order to remove the nazi chic origin (why they are all still wearing German WWII military uniforms, don't ask me) Two illustrations from Big Band's story mode shows him as a human being betrayed and beaten to near-death by his corrupt squad mates, with one of the images showing a bloodied Ben on the ground with a tooth missing while a group of corrupt officers (one literally drawn with a pig-like face) smiles and laughs over his body. These two scenes were instead replaced with much vaguer, darkened illustration that implies a struggle occurred while refusing to depict the actual violence in question. If this bothers you, read below for a fix (Windows): Warning: Doing this will break online gameplay. Honestly you are far better off either keeping a cracked uncensored version of the game on your PC to when you want to play uncensored or to emulate the Skullgirls or Skullgirls: Encore on RPCS3/Xenia or the Skullgirls: Second Encore on Vita3K for online play (obviously those have their own down sides as mention above. Pick your poison) Press Win + R to open the Windows Run dialog. Type "steam://open/console" and hit Enter Your Steam client will open with a new, hidden tab at the top labeled Console. Click it. In the console enter "download_depot 245170 245171 2462631669275661615" Note: there will be no download bar, speed indicator, or notification in your standard downloads page. The uncensorship happens entirely in the background. Wait until a new line of text appears in the console that says: Depot download complete: followed by a file path (usually something like C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content\app_245170\depot_245171). Navigate to the folder path provided by the console. Copy everything inside it. Go to your Steam Library, right-click Skullgirls 2nd Encore, click Manage, and select Browse local files. Delete the contents of your current Skullgirls folder, and paste in the copied files from the downgrade depot (don't worry Steam Cloud is enabled. You won't risk anything except having to spend time to redownload the game) NOTE: Any update to Skullgirls will "recensor" the game forcing you to redo the above steps. To avoid this there are two things you can do: Navigate to your "Steamapps" folder Look for a file named appmanifest_245170.acf. Right-click the file and select Properties. Check the box for Read-only and click Apply. Result: When Steam tries to start a patch, it will attempt to write data to this file. Because it’s locked, the update will fail or simply won't trigger, allowing you to launch the game. Open the Skullgirls folder Find the Skullgirls.exe. Right-click and choose "Create Shortcut to your desktop" Launch the game only through this shortcut. Note: You must have Steam already running in the background for the game to boot, but as long as you don't click "Play" in the Steam UI, it usually won't force the update. However this is not a 100% guarantee * What are the easiest characters to play? Meta changes between updates but Peacock, Annie (DLC), Filia, Fukua and Cerebella have traditionally been regarded as the easiest characters in recent years with Eliza, Double and Big Band coming in in second. Watch this video for a better explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdFp82KIzM * But what if don't wanna worry about boring meta and just want a jack-of-all trade character? Valentine. Pick Valentine * Should i go with one, two or three players? Three characters gives the most access to assists and DHCs (“Delayed Hyper Combo") but obviously that not gonna matter if you only know how to play character. Two characters offer a good balance between access to assists and DHCs and individual character health. One is easiest and offers the most health per character for obvious reasons but is also the hardest with against good players due to the lack of any assists * Who are the "meta" characters to play The game have been relatively balanced across characters when it comes to character viabilities since the 2nd Encore release. So just do your Waifu/Husbando whichever fits your fighting game playstyle. Even the worst characters aren't necessarily bad in the traditional way but rather they just have a harder time getting value, are harder to learn or are more punishing towards mistakes. This isn't the type of fighting game where your the outcome of the match is predetermined at the character select screen * How do i get good at Skullgirls / I never touched a fighting game before! / Fighting games are too difficult what should i do?? Sorry but i am nowhere qualified to help with that. My suggestion would be to check out https://mizuumi.wiki/w/Skullgirls or any of the character and game mechanic guides on Steam (https://steamcommunity.com/app/245170/guides). There isn't really a point in me just copy pasting the content here. Thankfully the game have some of the best character, game mechanic and fighting game basics and B-n-B tutorials on the market so completing them before doing the campaign is always gonna be a help. I wouldn't worry about the campaign. The lower difficulty scales down well enough that anyone can win, even if you can't perform combos, assists or remember game or character mechanics from memory * What launch options do i use for the game on Steam? I use "-fs -nomenuwrap -useclipboard -enablereplays -ggposhowinfo -disablewifidot -screenCapture -tourneyHUD -ascendhigher -enablerollbackcamera -noonlineconfirm -showonlinebars -novsync -oldunfocusbehavior -extrasupershadows"