As a bit of backstory, two DLC Characters, Squigly and Umbrella, were originally planned to be released following the game itself. Due to Autumn Games getting caught up in unrelated legal turmoil (apparently over Def Jam Vendetta of all things), the Skullgirlsteam got screwed over pretty badly, funding and support for the game completely cut-off and leaving them hung out to dry, their two promised characters definitely not moving forward.

The Skullgirls Indiegogo campaign recently saw a frankly awe-inspiring success, however, and not only are they adding both Squigly and Big Band, but 3 more characters; Robo-Fortune and two fan-voted characters selected by those who contributed to the campaign. On top of that, they're all getting their own story modes and stages, along with themes by the always incredible Michiru Yamane. That's in addition to a number of oddball bonuses, including contributors being added to stages and new voice-packs (many of which are based on the antics of the Voice Actresses themselves. If you haven't seen them screaming and lewdly swearing at each other while they play the game, it's something else.)

The plan is for these DLC characters to be free for some amount of time after they're initially released, only becoming paid DLC after a week or more has passed. Essentially, if you have the game, you're getting five new characters and a bevvy of other bonuses for free. If buying it wasn't a big enough value proposition before, it might be about time to reconsider your position. I certainly hope that people will because the game itself is pretty great, and the developers got screwed over in a pretty big way. It's been great to see the community throw themselves behind this game and this team, but it'd be better still to see some fresh faces online!

The DLC will be temporarily free for those who own the game?

Hm...

@fluxwavez: If I remember right they said that generating download codes for everyone that donated would cost them more money. So the DLC is going to be free for a few months.

Edit: Yeah it was just 2 mystery characters, my bad.

@fluxwavez: On the Indiegogo page itself, it states that "Once Squigly’s complete, she’ll be released via a patch and made available using a character unlock. The unlock will initially be released free to everyone on all platforms, and the price will be increased to $5 three months later for anyone who hasn't picked it up yet."

"If you collectively decide to fund one or more DLC characters, we’ll release them one at a time so the game continues to grow. The release plan would be the same: download free to everyone for a period of three months, and once that time has passed, the price of the character will be increased to $5."

I've wanted to pick it up for quite some time, and this pretty much seals the deal. Will definitely buy before the dlc starts coming out.

Those voice packs sound great. I somehow missed that there was both a "Republican-Double" and a "Real Soviet Damage" voice pack.

Gettin' even more excited.

picked it up a couple weeks ago. feels to me like a mix of Mvc2 and Vsav and its pretty good but not sure im gonna really get into it. people have found some pretty broken stuff in this game and it seems like sometimes when you are getting combo-ed it can turn into a 1 player game real quick.

but more importantly i think this game deserves a lot of support seeing as how it is from the community (mike z) and made for the community and that is something i would definitely like to see a lot more of in the future.

I got weirdly excited watching them get their funding. It made me realized that I hadn't had anything to scratch that fighting game itch since Super Street Fighter 4 and that I love good 2D art. I was tempted to wait till the steam release and then I realized how long the wait would be. I'll probably get it off PSN in the next week or so.

Everyone on the planet should own Skullgirls because yeah.

@starvinggamer said:

I don't really like Skullgirls (to the point that I regret getting it day 1), but this DLC being given for free might make me give it another shot. It's pretty cool of them to do that.

I admire what they are doing with this game but just dude sorry fighters and me just nope I think I've just finally accepted that outside of a few games here and there they just aren't for me.

@fluxwavez: Yeah, actually very few people on the planet should own Skullgirls, I just happen to be one of them and the more of you I can sucker in, the bigger the chance I'm gonna get more of it.

I specifically remember you going bananas for DOA5. Is that the only fighting series you like?

Ya know I ended up liking DOA 5 but not as much as I'd hoped. The last fighting game that really has clicked with me on all levels was Mortal Kombat in 2011. I think its the most I've ever played any fighting game online. I mean the PSN outage happened and I went and bought a 360 copy just so I could play online because of the PSN situation. Ironically the last game before that I can remember playing online extensively was Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on PSN.

Yeah MK9 was the only fighting game I really enjoyed. Patrick kind of inspired me to try genres I've never given a chance so I'm trying to get into fighting games. This whole Skullgirls indiegogo thing has me curious if this game would be a good game to use to get into the overall genre.

@mariachimacabre: in some ways it might be a good entry point because the tutorials are really in depth and cover things a lot of base level things that apply to all fighters like blocking mix ups and teching throws. this is fundamental stuff that has never really been organized in an easily digestible way and skullgirls did it really well. on the other hand it might be kind of a lot to swallow all at once gameplay wise because its more focused on long combos and has kind of frantic pace.

Awesome. Thanks, man. I think I'll give it a shot!

You might find a better time. Which is when the PC version comes out. But yeah I'm not gonna tell anybody not to.

I'd like to try this I just hate fighting games, Except the idea of Dive Kick

@shadowmarth said:

The right time is now. It's available to pre-order for PC.