Popular fighting game competitor and black, nonbinary furry SonicFox is now an NPC in Skullgirls.
SonicFox can be seen in a variation of the Class Notes stage in the game.
Here they is in action:
IVE BEEN SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THIS BUT YEAH
SONICFOX IS FINALLY AN NPC IN SKULLGIRLS! AAAA IM SO HAPPY pic.twitter.com/GO2fV2yNi1
— SonicFox (@SonicFox) May 22, 2020
SonicFox is a five-time EVO champion and is regarded by many as the best Skullgirls player in the world. The Game Awards 2018 named them Esports player of the year and ESPN named them their player of the year. They’re not only known for kicking serious butt in fighting games, but doing so dressed in a furry costume. The NPC in Skullgirls is based off their fursona.
SonicFox took to Twitter to celebrate their NPC in Skullgirls and to thank the team as well as pixel artist and animator @SuckMcJones. They also showed off an Easter Egg on the inside of their NPC’s jacket: a tiny trans pride flag.
ALSO IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY INSIDE OF SF'S JACKET, YOULL NOTICE A LITTLE EASTER EGG WHEN YOU SHAKE THE SCREEN
AGAIN
TRANS RIGHTS!!! pic.twitter.com/xzDAhOEByB— SonicFox (@SonicFox) May 22, 2020
They also pointed out how Developer Lab Zero Games changed another NPC based on a community member to reflect their gender transition.
Also skullgirls updated one of our community members NPC's from her transitioning to reflect how she looks today and im so HERE FOR IT
TRANS RIGHTS!!— SonicFox (@SonicFox) May 22, 2020
In addition to SonicFox being added as an NPC, the new update to Skullgirls also added new intro animations for Beowulf, Double and Squigly; KO screams for all characters when knocked out in the air and touched-up sprite art.
Specific to the 2nd Encore Upgrade Steam DLC, they added over 40 additional colors to characters, including two new colors per character from the Nintendo Switch version, more colors from Skullgirls Mobile and previously-removed colors. They also added a new stage, No Man’s Land.
This is all for the PC edition of the game. The update will come soon to PS4 and Switch.
Here are the rest of the patch notes:
Removed the cap of 3 wins in Quick Match – now you can rematch forever!
The first hit of Beowulf’s snapback no longer wrongly breaks all hyper armor. It still correctly breaks Sekhmet.
Beowulf’s Geatish Trepak correctly deals only recoverable damage.
Cerebella’s Grab Bag now properly scales followups to 55%, if you somehow manage to follow up.
Fixed the frame of Grab Bag recovery where Cerebella would not go into hitstun if she got hit.
Double’s airthrow correctly deals only recoverable damage.
Added half-circle-forward (41236) overrides to Double’s Lugers, so dashing forward and performing a half-circle using an assist input correctly gives Luger instead of Hornet Bomber.
Increased the size of the hitboxes on snapbacks for Filia, Fukua, Painwheel, Parasoul, and Peacock, in order to better match the animation and/or be able to properly OTG opponents during certain frames.
Remove the last possibility of a Happy Holidays after hitting Fukua’s air Drill of my Dreams.
Fixed the bug where Painwheel’s Hatred Install would not end after a properly-timed sliding knockdown.
The last hit of Peacock’s Lv3 correctly deals only recoverable damage.
Peacock’s Lonesome Lenny can no longer be lifted off the ground by certain attacks, e.g. Big Band’s Cymbal Clash.
Robo’s Magnetic Trap no longer affects opponents after a snapback, removing a timeout exploit.
Removed extraneous DP (623) motions for Robo’s Danger specials and Magnetic Trap, they are now properly QCT (236) only.
Added electric palette effect on opponents hit by Robo’s s.HK because it looks cool.
Reduced the duration of Robo’s taunt by 20f to bring it more in line with other taunts. Even with the reduction, it is still the longest taunt in the game.
Squigly can now cancel held stances between Downs in a 1v1 fight.
Squigly’s Seria Sing->SBO now properly activates air-unblockable protection on the opponent, removing the unblockable Seria Sing setups using the choice of Daisy Pusher or SBO+(antiair grab).
Solo Squigly’s Inferno of Leviathan properly disappears if she is snapped by a duo or trio.
Reduced the duration of Squigly’s taunt by 15f to bring it more in line with other taunts.
Added ground-tech voice lines for Double.
Headless Fortune properly plays tag in/out voice lines.
Fixed the button functions in Replay Theater to match the rest of the game.
Fixed a bug where Cilia Slide, Updo, Fiber Uppercut. and Countervenom could become airborne under extremely specific circumstances.
Fixed a rare bug where characters who were KO’d, hit a wall, and then got revived were no longer able to be juggled the next time they were KO’d.
SonicFox was added to the game to coincide with what would have been Combo Breaker 2020, the biggest competitive fighting game convention in Illinois and one of the largest of its kind in the world. The physical event was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic, though they are streaming a retrospective of memories and favorite matches from the convention.