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    Divekick

    Game » consists of 16 releases. Released Aug 20, 2013

    Rising to prominence through the American fighting game community, Divekick is an indie fighting game that distills the controls into two simple buttons, requiring clever strategy as players try to score the first hit with their divekick attack!

    Short summary describing this game.

    Divekick last edited by Galamoth on 02/14/23 12:35PM View full history

    Overview

    Select your character! Select your gem! Select your duds!
    Select your character! Select your gem! Select your duds!

    Divekick is a downloadable 2D indie fighting game developed and published by Iron Galaxy for the PlayStation 3 (via PlayStation Network), PlayStation Vita (also via PlayStation Network), and PC (via Steam) on August 20, 2013. Divekick: Addition Edition is set for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and released as a free downloadable update for existing PC, PS3 and Vita users on April 4, 2014.

    Billed both as "the first two-button fighting game" and a parody of competitive fighting game culture (featuring various inside jokes from the community), the game requires players to use Mind Games, special abilities, and a restricted control scheme (with no joystick or d-pad movement whatsoever) to knock out their opponents using one simple diving kick attack.

    No Caption Provided

    The game features parodies of fighting game characters infamous for their divekick abilities (such as Yun, Yang, Rufus, Kung Lao, Wolverine and Doctor Doom), and parodies of notable people in American fighting game culture (such as professional gamer "Marn", tournament organizer Alex Jebailey, and former Capcom community manager Seth Killian).

    The prototype for Divekick was originally developed in early 2012 by a group of fighting game fans (collectively dubbed One True Game Studios). After a successful debut at fighting game tournament events throughout the United States, a Kickstarter campaign to fund a PC release was announced (with a $30,000 goal within a 30 day deadline), which was later redacted after the original creator (and former editor-in-chief of Shoryuken.com), Adam 'Keits' Heart, had successfully made a deal with Iron Galaxy Studios for the game's further development and release (hyped up by friend-of-the-site and Iron Galaxy CEO Dave Lang).

    Death From Above! Round 1! Divekick!
    Death From Above! Round 1! Divekick!

    The PS3 and Vita versions feature both cross-buy and online cross-play between both systems. The PC version, released after a successful Steam Greenlight campaign, features Steam Cloud saving, native support for Big Picture mode, and Steam Trading Cards.

    Controller

    The Divekick Kickbox
    The Divekick Kickbox

    One of Divekick's unique features is its simplified control scheme featuring only two buttons, dive and kick. This minimalist style has resulted in the design of unique fight pads, referred to as Kickboxes, containing only the two buttons. The current limited models are made by HitBox. There are no current plans to mass-manufacture these HitBox fight pads for the initial release of the game (source), but Dave Lang has stated that talks are ongoing with multiple companies for a potential release.

    The PlayStation Vita version of the game supports local multi-player, with players diving and kicking with down and left on the D-pad and with the X and Circle face buttons.

    Gameplay

    Kick is kicking it
    Kick is kicking it

    Divekick is played by using only two buttons: Dive and Kick. The only way to strike your opponent is to divekick into them, which will instantly K.O. if it connects. Movement is handled by using the trajectory of your jump, the descent of your divekicks, and hopping backwards (known as "kickbacks"). This in conjunction with the fact there is no way to block or duck in the game makes the positioning of your character and the anticipation of the opponent's character paramount.

    Heart's view on what is important in fighting games takes a central role in Divekick saying that, "I don't think it's about buttons. The idea that depth has to be layered behind complexity is false. The fun part of a fighting game for me is controlling my opponent, not learning crazy combos."

    Judgement is cast upon thee by the god of Divekick
    Judgement is cast upon thee by the god of Divekick

    Matches are first to five rounds, with each round lasting 20 seconds. If there is no winner at the end of the round, the winner is judged to be the player who is closest to the middle of the screen, as indicated by a red line that appears during the final 5 seconds. Only if the players distance to the line is equal will a drawn round occur (in the form of a giant foot stomping on both players). Double knock outs are not beneficial in Divekick as neither players are awarded a round.

    Divekick also has optional subsystems like headshots and Kick Factor that can be turned on or off before matches.

    Kick Factor Gauge and Special Moves

    Kick Factor

    A parody of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's X-Factor comeback mechanic. Kicking will increase the meter (which is in the shape of a shoe) and, once full, Kick Factor will activate and characters (with the exception of Jefailey and The Baz) will become faster for a limited time. This effect persists through rounds, but will end abruptly if you are hit, including on a Double KO or a draw, however it will continue into the next round if you lose via the timer.

    Special Moves

    Each character has one ground move and one air move each, activated by pressing dive and kick at the same time. They cost varying amounts of Kick Factor meter, prolonging Kick Factor activation. Special moves can be used during Kick Factor but will shorten the amount of time that Kick Factor is activated for, as Kick Factor drains the gauge by nature.

    Each character's special move has an indicator on the gauge that shows how much meter you need before you can execute the ground (yellow) and the air (blue) moves. Greyed-out A and G letters will light up respectively to let the player know when they have enough meter to use the air and/or the ground moves.

    Concussion

    If a player wins a round with a headshot, their opponent will be inflicted with a concussion for the first few seconds of the next round. This reduces your character's jump height and speed drastically, reduces your Kick Factor gauge to zero, and prevents you from gaining meter until it wears off.

    FPS Doug would be proud
    FPS Doug would be proud

    Concussion does not persist through rounds, although if a character suffers a headshot in successive rounds, the concussion starts anew in the next round.

    If successive headshots do occur, the in-game announcer will reference Unreal Tournament, shouting "Double Kill!" for two, "Multi Kill!" for three, "On a Rampage!" for four and finally "TOTAL DOMINATION" for five.

    Gems

    A parody of Street Fighter X Tekken, gems are chosen after character selection. In the menu it says 10% for the Yellow, Blue, and Grey gems despite the fact that they provide bonuses of different percentages.

    GemNameEffectBoost %
    YellowDiveMax diving height increase6%
    BlueKickKicking speed increase12%
    GreyStyleKick Factor meter gain increase15%
    Double RedYOLOAll of the above (but the user starts 4 rounds down)30%

    Fraud Detection

    Dr. Shoals in danger of being a fraud
    Dr. Shoals in danger of being a fraud

    A parody of the Infinite Protection in Skullgirls, winning the first 4 rounds will cause a Fraud Detection warning to be displayed on screen. If the match is finished in the next round, the loser is declared a fraud. This is could be a reference to many sweeps in fighting game tournaments, most noticeably being Mike Ross's 5-0 defeat to Finger Cramp's Jago at the Bar Fights tournament in 2011.

    If a player in danger of being a fraud wins the 5th round, another message will appear signaling that the fraud detection has been averted.

    Choke Detection

    If a player activates Fraud Detection, but then loses the next 4 consecutive rounds, a Choke Detection warning will appear. This reference can be applied to all sports and video games, of players who almost win but fail to finish the match off when presented with the opportunity. Losing the final round against the person originally in danger of being a fraud, will result in the defeated player being declared a choker.

    Rankings

    Much like in Street Fighter IV, the winner is given a letter score in three categories after a match: diving, kicking, and not losing.

    Characters

    Divekick features 13 characters. 1 of the 13, Dive and Kick's mentor type character (and initially a NPC), Uncle Sensei, gives comedic hints before matches.

    Each character has one special move that can be used in the air and one while on the ground. Each move costs varying amounts of the Kick Factor meter. Characters like Jefailey and The Baz, have personal Kick Factor traits which are unique to them.

    Specific Divekick Addition Edition balance and gameplay changes can be found on their own character pages respectively.

    Dive

    Background - Parody of Street Fighter's Yang

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Terminal Velocity
    • Ground Special Move - Parabolic Arc

    One of two youths from West Philadelphia (born and raised) who are sent by their mother (Mama Kick nee Sensei) to move in with Uncle Sensei. Martial Arts is Dive's love but he often wonders if his father thinks he should become a doctor and put his academic mind to use. Instead Dive puts his thinking into the mind-games of Divekick, as evident by his catchphrase, "The limit is infinity!"

    Dive's design (specifically the hair) and divekick is based on Street Fighter's Yang and serves the role of Divekick's Ryu. As the name implies, Terminal Velocity sends Dive back down towards the ground very quickly, a useful fake-out tool and for correcting oneself if you've jumped into the opponent's divekick range. Parabolic Arc is the only forwards jumping special move in the game, if you can save up enough Kick Factor meter for it.

    Addition Edition

    Dive has been trying to solve the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problem in order to win the Millennium Prize to save Uncle Sensei's dojo. As a result, he has discovered a new use for Terminal Velocity, one of his signature moves.

    Kick

    Background - Parody of Street Fighter's Yun and real Hollywood actor Will Smith

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - New Angle
    • Ground Special Move - Party Starter

    One of two youths from West Philadelphia (also born and raised) who move in with Uncle Sensei. Kick is very much influenced by the culture of West Philadelphia and can be seen dropping mics and warning his opponents to leave before getting molly wopped.

    Kick's design (specifically the backwards cap) and divekick is based on Street Fighter's Yun and serves the role of Divekick's Ken Masters. New Angle is a special divekick that Kick has been working on, it is much faster than a normal divekick. Party Starter is an anti-close range special in which Kick will stomp on the ground, forcing anyone unlucky enough to be hit into the air where Kick can finish opponents off.

    Addition Edition

    Kick is Sick and Tired of starting a party, assuming it is good to go, and attending blindly. Instead, he would like to start the party, confirm that it has started and started well, and then decide on his attendance. Kick really doesn't think about anything important.

    Kung Pao

    Background - A female parody of Mortal Kombat's Kung Lao

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Dimension Break
    • Ground Special Move - Crack Kick

    The mysterious Kung Pao is a teleporting character from another dimension known as "Downworld." She is the leader of the resistance group fighting her step father Theodore Khan and his legion of palette swap ninjas.

    Kung Pao's design and divekick is based on Mortal Kombat's Kung Lao, as seen in his Mortal Kombat 9 movelist. Activating Dimension Break places a crack between dimensions (it can be kicked if you want to adjust its positioning). Crack Kick utilizes the Dimension Break as seen in the Portal video games. The Crack Kick and Dimension Break combine to form the entry point and exit point, allowing Kung Pao to maneuver about the screen (and into the opponents) in ways only she can.

    Addition Edition

    Kung is learning new ways to kick portals open, but still cannot find her way home.

    Mr. N

    Background - A parody of real pro fighting game player turned pro League of Legends player Marn mixed with Street Fighter's Rufus

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Marneto
    • Ground Special Move - GTFO

    Described as a horrible person who beats his dog and rigs the brackets, Mr. N is a trick character who uses tactics that are less than sportsmanlike to win. This is despite one of his win quotes which states, "Where do I see myself in 5 years? Being a millionaire from eSports!" He has a neck-pillow that prevents one concussion per match.

    Mr. N's divekick is based on Rufus as seen in Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter X Tekken. It is the fastest kick factor meter building divekick in the game. Using Marneto, Mr. N channels his inner Magneto as seen in various Marvel vs. Capcom games by temporarily floating in the air, avoiding dangerous situations and using it to his advantage to set-up divekicks of his own. Using GTFO, Mr. N channels his inner Dan Hibiki, running away from danger in the same manner of Dan's back-dash from Street Fighter IV.

    Addition Edition

    Mr. N has gained 30lbs... of pure muscle!

    Redacted

    Background - An actual anthropomorphic humanoid wolverine parody of Marvel Comic's Wolverine

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Cornered Beast
    • Ground Special Move - Feral Stance

    Redacted is a mutated Canadian skunk bear and a mother of three. She often finds herself at odds with Uncle Sensei because she keeps stealing his cigars. Most of her audio are varying growls, but will quote Wolverine's "Unacceptable!" upon selecting her.

    Her divekick is also based on Wolverine, connecting with it will bounce opponents off the ground and into the sky, a reference to Wolverine's strong divekick in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which ground bounces opponents in order for Wolverine to begin an extended combo. Cornered Beast is a wall jump special move, similar to famous fighting game characters such as Chun-Li. Feral Stance is a crouching special move, making Redacted the only character who can duck. This makes a temporary solution to her large size (commonly referred to as a hit-box in fighting games). Feral Stance is also unique as it is currently the only special move in the game which builds meter, albeit slowly.

    Addition Edition

    Redacted has been dating a male skunkbear named Bruce. The male of the species is a bit more timid, so Redacted learned how to better use Cornered Beast.

    Uncle Sensei

    Background - Dive and Kick's mentor who is the most famous Divekick world champion

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Stance Dance
    • Ground Special Move - Super Jump

    Uncle Sensei is a multiple time Divekick champion and he wears boots on both his hands and feet (and a pair of slippers under the boots). His only defeat was to Mr. N when he rigged the brackets and he hasn't been seen at a tournament since. Currently spends his days training Dive and Kick and giving hints before matches like "Don't play this underwater." He currently resides in the New Angle Dojo, but he may or may not be a squatter.

    Uncle Sensei is a multiple stance character and changes between the two stances (and divekicks) in mid-air using Stance Dance. In the standing stance he does a Superman, a slower, more horizontal moving divekick with the boots on his hands. In the handstand stance he does a faster, more vertical moving divekick in the form of Akuma's demon flip divekick with the boots on his feet. Super Jump allows Uncle Sensei to reach his maximum height much quicker than normal, useful for either positioning or escaping.

    Addition Edition

    Sensei is now higher than ever before.

    Dr. Shoals

    No Caption Provided

    Background - A female parody of Doctor Doom

    • Air Special Move - Death From Above
    • Ground Special Move - Brilliant Escape

    Dr. Victoria Shoals is the first person in history to contract the dreaded footdive disease on her face. To find a cure she becomes a professional divekicker using rocket boots in order to study divekicks and find a cure to footdive. She never stops writing notes.

    Dr. Shoals design and divekick is based on Marvel Comics' Doctor Doom as seen in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. She also features an extra trajectory altering kick after pressing kick a second time while in the air. Death From Above activates the rocket boots and Dr. Shoals will hover, allowing left and right movement with the dive and kick buttons. Death From Above can also cancel divekicks and allow Dr. Shoals to divekick again in mid-air. Brilliant Escape activates the rocket boots as a replacement for her kickback which will fly her up-back into the air.

    Addition Edition

    The medical precision she shows in the operating room now also shows in her deadly new kickfactor technique.

    Jefailey

    Background - A parody of the CEO tournament event organiser Alex Jebailey mixed with Mayor Mike Haggar.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Disqualification
    • Ground Special Move - Timer Scam

    Jefailey runs a community tournament all by himself, JEO (Jefailey Effort Orlando). Described as the Dan of Divekick, he thought the name of the game was dropkick (a wrestling move). The dropkick can also be charged (for up to five seconds) to get greater reach. When Jefailey activates Kick Factor, his dropkicks will automatically be charged instead of the usual Kick Factor bonuses.

    When Jefailey wins a round, his ego inflates, resulting his head literally getting bigger, making him easier to score headshots against and lessening the force of gravity of him. At the peak of his jump, Jefailey does a chicken wing flap. Disqualification is one of the tricks Jefailey learnt by running JEO, he literally spits out the words DISQUALIFIED like a fireball. If you're hit by the words, you lose all of your kick factor meter, which will also knock you out of kick factor. With the other trick, Timer Scam, Jefailey takes time out to show off his bobble head figure to you, freezing the game in place for two seconds, but the time continues counting down.

    Addition Edition

    Jefailey has been working out! You can call him Buff Failwell from now on.

    The Baz

    Background - A parody of both Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Zero and Taskmaster whose design is based on a rejected Street Fighter II character called Zubaz. His creation was part of the Kickstarter pledge level in which 2 pledgers could have their own characters added to the game. One of which was the YouTube channel, Two Best Friends Play, which was still honored despite the cancellation of the campaign and lead to The Baz.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Mighty Swing
    • Ground Special Move - The Shocker

    The Baz is an unorthodox Divekick character, born on a mountain under a blood red moon, who's failure to join any fighting tournaments lead him to Divekick. He is currently under contract by the mafia who have him chasing down Mr. N for the loan money that he owes them.

    His divekick has no effect on opponents. Rather the streaks of lightning (much like Zero's Raikousen - Lightning Bolt Flash) he leaves behind KO the enemies for him. The angle of the divekick itself is manually chosen by the player, pressing kick straight after dive results in a complete vertical divekick, while holding the kick button rotates The Baz to varying angles. The maximum is a 90 degrees angle, resulting in a complete Horizontal divekick. At 3 seconds, The Baz has the shortest Kick Factor in the game. Like Jefailey he also doesn't get any traditional bonuses. Instead, for those 3 seconds The Baz emits electricity, knocking out any who touch him. Using Mighty Swing, The Baz copies Taskmaster, who in turn is copying Spider-man. The Baz swings using his rope whip to kick enemies, making Mighty Swing the only move in which he can defeat an opponent (for a cost) by using an actual physical attack and headshot enemies. The longer dive and kick are held down for, the longer the Mighty Swing, resulting in longer loops. It can also be cancelled into more Mighty Swings and divekicks. The Shocker is The Baz's ground special that, like his Kick Factor activation, serves as an unconventional means to KO an opponent. It is a defensive move that summons lightning from the sky. If the opponent attempts to divekick into The Baz while The Shocker is active he/she will be KOed, though The Baz is wide-open for attack during the move's start-up and at the end of it.

    Addition Edition

    The Baz tier list used to say: "1.) Kenny, 2.) Bubblan87, 3.) The Baz." Finally, The Baz is the best Baz.

    MarkMan

    Background - A Parody of Mad Catz's Mark Julio mixed with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Phoenix Wright and Tekken's Kazuya Mishima.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Feignt / Up Kick
    • Ground Special Move - Search / Up Kick

    Entering Divekick tournaments utilising his kickbox invention, which improves divekicking precision, MarkMan hopes that by winning tournaments he will convince others to buy his product. But just incase that doesn't happen, MarkMan will try to talk you into buying it instead, much like a used car salesman. The interviewer who doesn't allow Mr. N to put his arm around her will allow MarkMan.

    He has a more powerful, electric, just-frame (extreme precise timing, often 1/60th or 1 frame of a second) version of his Divekick. The just-frame in question is the exact maximum height of his jump. Much like Kazuya's EWGF (Electric Wind God Fist), Markman's EWGF (Electric Wind God Foot), features lightning effects and its user shouting "DORYA!"

    In addition to diving and kicking during matches, MarkMan spends his time in search mode, in which he searches for kickbox parts to put together mid-match. He must find the box, the yellow button and the blue button as indicated by his extra kickbox UI next to his Kick Factor gauge (much like Phoenix Wright in UMvC3). Doing so, activates Upkick mode making MarkMan the only character with a shoryuken/dragon punch anti-air move. If MarkMan is unsuccessful in picking up either the kickbox, the yellow button or the blue button he will instead pick up one of five random throw-away items. Both the positive and negative effects of these items can affect MarkMan and his opponent. Items persist in rounds until it is activated, its stand-by time runs out or another item is thrown by MarkMan.

    S-Kill vs. MarkMan - JEO Stage
    S-Kill vs. MarkMan - JEO Stage
    1. Glue, which will stick opponents to the ground
    2. Oil slick, which will slide opponents along the ground
    3. A bottle of chemistry which will drain kick factor meter
    4. A spring (reminiscent of Rocket Raccoon's spring hyper combo in UMvC3) which will bounce characters half-way up the screen until they move away from it or lose
    5. A black hole, which has been used in many video games and TV shows over the years as teleporting devices. Characters who fall down the black hole will reappear falling from the sky

    In search mode, MarkMan's air special mode is the feignt, which allows to cancel dives and kicks into a down-back jump, very much like an opposite of each characters' kickbacks.

    In Upkick mode, MarkMan's air special is the ability to cancel the downwards moving divekick, into the upwards moving upkick (which can be divekicked into upkick continuously until the precision mode's timer wears off).

    Addition Edition

    Markman is spending a lot of time improving the Kickbox, but not a lot working out. As a result, precision mode is far more deadly, but Markman himself is a bit less so.

    Stream

    Background - A parody of Street Fighter's Dhalsim and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Firebrand.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Flame Bait
    • Ground Special Move - Spooby PLS

    Stream is a table flipping monster in a straitjacket, who has lived its (genderless) life in a prison made entirely out of keyboards. Now he has broken out in order to troll people in person.

    Based on the stream monster concept coined by tournament players, like EMP's EVO 2007 MvC2 Champion, Michael "IFC Yipes" Mendoza (of curleh mustache and mango sentinel fame). The term "stream monster" initially had more aggressive undertones towards "armchair fans." More recently "stream monster" has become more of a general pejorative, directed at purveyors of popular phrases and memes used in Twitch chats, such as "Call Spooky/Spooby pls ;_;" whenever any live-stream has unexpected downtime (based on Team Spooky's rise to popularity). Stream has an abundance of these references and isn't afraid to shout them out loud.

    Stream has several unique traits. These include double jumps (he can't divekick until he has jumped twice), a constantly shifting head (making him difficult to headshot), and an adjustable divekick, based on Dhalsim's yoga spear, which can be altered by holding dive to twist him upwards and kick to twist him downwards.

    MarkMan vs. Stream - Choke Detection
    MarkMan vs. Stream - Choke Detection

    Stream's air special is Flame Bait, a fireball very much like Firebrand's Hell Spitfire which upon landing on the ground forms a carpet of fire. If Stream lands in the Flame Bait his legs set on fire which increases his hitbox size, allowing for easier divekicks against opponents. If the opponent lands in the Flame Bait the heat forces them to jump in the air. Stream's ground special is Spooby PLS. When Spooby PLS is activated, Stream starts "buffering", making him invisible. Spooby PLS drains kick factor meter while active and lasts until all meter is drained.

    Addition Edition

    Monstering alone isn't nearly as fun as doing so with other monsters. Stream has invited his friends to play in his all new Kickfactor mode.

    S-Kill

    Background - The final boss of Divekick, a parody of former Capcom employee, current Sony Santa Monica employee and EVO champion and commentator, Seth Killian, and the Street Fighter IV final boss who shares Killian's first name, Seth.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Trick
    • Ground Special Move - Parry

    Codename: S-Kill is the head of criminal organisation that plans on rebalancing the world and selling it off. During matches S-Kill will shout many of Seth Killian's known phrases (during EVO commentary) such as,"mental guard crush," and "what an answer!" S-Kill's hands are crossed during matches, paying homage to Killian's style of playing fighting games on fighting game arcade sticks.

    Instead of dives and kickbacks, S-Kill teleports and can do so twice before kicking, both of which are based on Seth from SFIV. With Trick, regardless of the opponent's position on the screen, S-Kill will teleport directly above them. With Parry, S-Kill performs a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike style parry, which will activate after a successful parry anywhere from S-Kill's waist to head (anywhere below the waist will result in S-Kill being divekicked). Parrying a divekick results in S-Kill teleporting behind the opponent at head height, leaving opponents vulnerable to almost certain divekick attempts. This is a reference to the infamous Daigo Parry moment at EVO 2004, of which Killian was the excited voice behind the camera.

    Addition Edition

    Adelheid was right.

    Kenny

    Background - The top tier of pledges of the former Kickstarter campaign for Divekick was for two pledgers to create characters themselves which would become playable characters in the game. One of the two lead to the creation of The Baz. The other, was a pledger named Vincent who wished to immortalize his late brother in video game form. As with The Baz, Iron Galaxy honored the two character creation pledges, and so Kenny was created.

    No Caption Provided
    • Air Special Move - Spirit Bullet (Homing)
    • Ground Special Move - Spirit Bullet (Straight)

    Kenny is a move copying character, based on the Random Character Selection often seen in fighting games (the real Kenny was a big fan of using random select to play all characters), who is playable in the style of random move-list characters such as Mokujin, Charade, and Chameleon. Kenny died before his time but won 5 dive-kicking tournaments in Heaven so the god of Divekick, who's big blue foot can be seen casting judgement during red line draws, sent Kenny back for another chance at life.

    During his time in Heaven, Kenny observed all the Divekick competitors and copied all their dive-kicks. Kenny switches between all the dive-kicks between rounds, but retains his own custom stance, so players will only know who Kenny is copying in any given round once the round has begun. If Kenny is copying characters with flying or rocket abilities like Stream or Dr. Shoals, Kenny can sprout angel wings to facilitate the role.

    Kenny will adopt other Divekicker's jump speeds and gravity values, but not the height or width, Kenny will always be the shortest character in the game, regardless of who he is copying.

    When Kenny copies a character he has access to their

    Kenny Mirror Match - The left player's Kenny copying The Baz, the right player's Kenny copying Dr. Shoals
    Kenny Mirror Match - The left player's Kenny copying The Baz, the right player's Kenny copying Dr. Shoals
    • Dive
    • Kick
    • Kickback
    • Personal Kick Factor abilities (Jefailey's auto-charge, The Baz's 3-second death touch)

    When Kenny copies a character he doesn't have access to their

    • Special moves (Which includes MarkMan's item throw or Dr. Shoals' hover)
    • Personal traits (Like Jefailey's head growing after winning a round and Uncle Sensei's handstand, meaning Kenny can only use one of the two divekicks)

    Kenny's special move is the Spirit Bullet, which freezes opponents in place for one second if it connects. On the ground the Spirit Bullet fires straight forward no matter where the opponent is. In the air the Spirit Bullet homes in on the opponent.

    Addition Edition

    Kenny's abilities now more accurately represent a heavenly warrior's true skill level.

    Development

    Prototype Version

    Divekick began its life as a late night joke when Adam Heart suggested, “What if there was a game called DiveKick, and the characters were Dive and Kick, and the buttons were Dive and Kick?” It was initially created and developed independently by Heart and fellow fighting game players, known as One True Game Studios.

    Prototype Version Selection Screen - Kung Pao vs Mr. N
    Prototype Version Selection Screen - Kung Pao vs Mr. N

    The game debuted at Heart's UFGT8 (Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 8, a Road to EVO Championship Series season event) in May 2012, in Chicago, IL.

    The prototype build was played using a specially made controller with only two buttons, the dive button and the kick button. Selecting characters other than Dive and Kick required players to input different combinations of holding one button down (or both) while pressing another.

    A joke gem, selectable with a non-existent third button, gave a significant boost to both dive and kick speed and was available for $8.95, a reference to Capcom's DLC strategy for Street Fighter X Tekken and the price to watch an advertisement free stream during Canada Cup in 2011 (which would become a meme unto itself when the live-stream notoriously and accidentally cut to advertisements before the end of matches for users with time delays).

    Prototype Version - Dive vs. Kick
    Prototype Version - Dive vs. Kick

    Due to a large positive response from players and the community, Divekick returned for location testing In June 2012 at another Road to EVO event, CEO 2012 in Orlando, FL. The test involved a classic arcade style "winner stays on" format, with players paying $1 to play each time and those with the top 16 win streaks playing a tournament against each other. All proceeds would go towards development costs of the game.

    Divekick was officially announced for EVO 2012 (July 6th to 8th) as part of the (fighting game and non-fighting game) Indie titles Showcase. The $1 Top 16 streak tournament format returned and was covered in a video interview by video game website GameSpot.

    The Prototype Version's original design of Dr. Shoals
    The Prototype Version's original design of Dr. Shoals

    A Kickstarter campaign was announced on Monday July 2nd 2012 for a potential release on PC. During this time Dr Shoals was announced and Uncle Sensei was revealed to be a playable character. However after reaching its $30,000 goal several days before the end of its 30 day deadline, the campaign was cancelled by co-creator Heart, who announced that a publisher had been secured.

    One True Game Studios would like to thank everyone for their offer of support, but we have decided to close the Kickstarter despite reaching our funding goal. The reason for this is simple: the spirit of Kickstarter is as a creative “last resort,” if there is no way to get your game funded, hit up Kickstarter to see if there’s enough community interest in funding it. Well, we are happy to inform you today that we've made a deal with a publisher to help us both finish and release Divekick to the masses! The finished game will be loaded with features and characters, and we are sure you'll be pleased with the result. Keep your eye on OneTrueGame.com for updates.

    The publisher would be officially unveiled in January 2013 as Dave Lang's Iron Galaxy Studios (Heart's employer). Known for outsourcing games, including fighting games Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition and Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, Iron Galaxy will help co-develop and publish Divekick (complete with GGPO net-code support) for an eventual Summer 2013 release on PlayStation Network (PS3 and Vita) and PC.

    Console Version

    PAX East 2013 attendees lining up to play Divekick
    PAX East 2013 attendees lining up to play Divekick

    The console version was revealed in a new Iron Galaxy trailer featuring Heart and Lang in conjunction with the Divekick's Steam Greenlight page going live on March 19th.

    A few days later Divekick was on display and playable to the public at the Iron Galaxy booth in Boston during Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East 2013 from March 22nd through to the 24th. It also had several one hour-slots at the Mad Catz booth, streamed on their TwitchTV channel by Team Spooky. The next day it featured at the Game Developers Conference 2013, where Sony used Divekick as example of games in their Pub Fund program. The Iron Galaxy developers flew from Boston to San Francisco to continue showcasing the game at GDC from March 25th through to the 29th.

    Revealed in the March 2013 build was:

    March 2013 console build - Dive ends Kick's Kick Factor with a headshot
    March 2013 console build - Dive ends Kick's Kick Factor with a headshot
    • A complete graphics and UI overhaul
    • New designs for each characters, most notably Kung Pao and Dr. Shoals
    • New win-poses, such as Kick "dropping the mic"
    • New frames of animation, including defeated characters lying face-first on the ground after being divekicked from behind, idle stances and a dizzy animation for characters with concussions. Each character now has over 100 frames.
    • Wolverine was renamed to Redacted
    • The introduction of 2 special moves (1 ground, 1 air) per character
    • Additions to the gem system, including the Style gem and Man-Mode gem
    Jebailey meets Jefailey
    Jebailey meets Jefailey

    The Divekick #eSports Hour is a weekly live-stream on the Iron Galaxy TwitchTV channel. Said to be taking place every Monday up until the game's release, the show primarily features new character reveals such as Uncle Sensei and Jefailey. It also features development updates such as week-to-week balance changes, new stages and changes to existing stages. The show debuted on April 15th.

    The game had its first official major tournament with the Uncle Sensei and Jefailey build at NorCal Regionals 2013. Members of Iron Galaxy ran a booth at the C2E2 expo in Chicago the same weekend (April 26th-28th). Divekick returned for UFGT9 (May 24th - 26th) with an updated build featuring The Baz, MarkMan, Stream and S-Kill, the latter of which was unveiled (and as the story mode's final boss) at the event's pre-show.

    E3 2013 - Divekick Charity Tournament
    E3 2013 - Divekick Charity Tournament

    Divekick featured prominently at E3 2013 at both the Sony booth and the Mad Catz booth (June 11th-13th) as part of Sony's ongoing efforts to acquire and support indie titles for the PS4, PS3 and Vita. A charity tournament between game developers and press on the Sony PlayStation live-stream was held, presented by Seth Killian. Dave Lang was also interviewed after the tournament, detailing the concepts and history of the game.

    As per each year during E3 a new set of quests and rewards in PlayStation Home was made available with Divekick featured as an official PlayStation Home tie-in game. At the Divekick virtual kiosk, correctly answering Divekick related questions earned players the in-game wearable item, Mr. N's neck pillow.

    E3 2013 - Divekick Interview with Dave Lang on the Sony stage live-stream
    E3 2013 - Divekick Interview with Dave Lang on the Sony stage live-stream

    It was shown on several segments on the Mad Catz live-stream in which fighting game community members played hour-long tournaments and casual matches, featuring Adam Heart.

    Divekick returned at CEO 2013 (June 28th-30th), featuring a special challenge match in which MarkMan (playing as MarkMan) played against Alex Jebailey (playing as Jefailey) in a hair vs. hair match, which resulted in Jebailey getting his head shaved bald. The Orlando division of Iron Galaxy also constructed a classic arcade cabinet for players to play and brought it to the event. A new stage and costume colors were also debuted. It was at The Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX) 2013 in Austin, Texas (July 5th-7th).

    CEO 2013 - Divekick Arcade Cabinet
    CEO 2013 - Divekick Arcade Cabinet

    At EVO 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada (July 12th-14th) Divekick featured in a side-tournament with a $5000 pot bonus from Iron Galaxy. The game's official cross-buy, online cross-play release date on PS3 and Vita was announced at EVO, going on sale on August 20th. It made its Comic-Con debut at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013 (July 18th-21st).

    The Steam Greenlight campaign ended on July 24th when Steam added Divekick to its Greenlight line-up. Its PC release date was announced a day later, also August 20th. Divekick's release date for all 3 platforms was also confirmed to be August 21st for other territories such as Europe and Australia.

    At PAX Prime 2013, Adam Boyes, VP of Publisher and Developer Relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America, announced Divekick as a PlayStation 4 launch game for the console's November release (November 15th for USA, 29th for Europe). This didn't come to fruition, but is still planned.

    A Xbox One version was announced in December 2013.

    Divekick: Addition Edition

    In February 2014, Iron Galaxy announced Divekick: Addition Edition (a play on Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition), in which they announced "at least" one new character and stage as well as system changes, characters changes and balancing. It will be a free download for PC, PS3 and Vita users, going live in March 2014 after the tournament event Socal Regionals 2014 (February 28 – March 2, 2014), said to be the final tournament which uses the original version.

    Divekick: Addition Edition is the only version purchasable by PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users, with platform exclusive content for both. It got released on Oct 10 2014 for $9.99 USD

    PC System Requirements

    Minimum:

    • OS: Vista or later
    • Processor: Intel or AMD Dual Core Processor
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 compliant video card
    • DirectX: Version 10
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Hard Drive: 2 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX 10 compliant
    • Additional Notes: OS needs to be updated to have the DirectX 11 Runtime libraries
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