Rivals of Aether II News

[h3]‘Super Rivals 3D’ - November Event[/h3][p]Dust off your cartridges as the beloved Rivals 3D event returns on its one year anniversary! This time experience the next dimension with SUPER Rivals 3D. [/p][p][/p][p]The paid bundle includes 3 new Low Poly skins - Low Poly Etalus, Low Poly Orcane, and Low Poly Olympia with their own Low Poly icons to match, plus coins and bucks. The free event track includes the Low Poly Zetterburn Skin and Icon, the Low Poly Platform, Orcane emote, ‘Game Over’ critical hit effect, plus coins and bucks.[/p][p][/p][p]All Low Poly skins also include a custom victory jingle, with stylistic bitcrush effects in their sound effects and voice overs! [/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Players equipping any event skins above, or any previous Low Poly event skins, will receive 20% Bonus EXP on the event track. Speaking of past event skins - we're also excited to share that the old Low Poly Ranno skin has gotten a graphics update to bring him up to the SUPER Rivals 3D level. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]New Stage Skin - Low Poly Fire Capital[/h3][p]Give Fire Capital a retro makeover with its brand new Low Poly stage skin. The Low Poly Fire Capital bundle is just $4.99 in the Featured Shop and includes an exclusive icon. You can also pick up the stage skin by itself in the bucks shop for 1000 AB, or for 100k coins in the Featured Shop.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]New Crews Functionality in Lobbies and Local Modes[/h3][p]After our rollout of crews a few weeks ago, we are happy to bring lobby and local functionality for Team of One to crews! This means you can now play as multiple Rivals as a single player offline or in lobbies, just like you could in the 'Team of One' queue. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]New Audio Feature - Ambient Audio [/h3][p]Stages now have ambient audio! This means beautiful environmental audio is now included on every stage to bring even more life to the world of Aether. For example, in Merchant Port you can now hear the ocean, birds, and the sound of raindrops hitting the deck and water. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]November Ranked Shop Addition - Orcane[/h3][p]Champion Orcane has been added to the Ranked Shop! This includes a skin, two emotes, and two icons for the adorable Puddle Jumper. Get these with your medals that you earn from playing ranked. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Other November Shop Additions[/h3]

• [p]Midnight Abyss Loxodont[/p]
• [p]Yellow Smokeclan Forsburn[/p]
• [p]Black Spotted Olympia[/p]
• [p]Orange Axolotl Orcane[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Orange Low Poly Wrastor[/p]
• [p]Orange Low Poly Ranno[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Freyden Icon[/p]
• [p]Firefang Icon[/p]
• [p]Porcuber Icon[/p]
• [p]Maypul Up Air Emote[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h3]New Quality of Life Feature - Backfill 4 Player Matchmaking Queues[/h3][p]When someone leaves in Casual 2v2 or FFA mode, the matchmaking server will now automatically find more players via our new backfill feature. [/p][p][/p][h3]November R2CS Events[/h3][p]November is kicking off with a bang and a blitz week! Three events are happening in quick succession: [/p]

• [p]This weekend the circuit visits the legendary Port Priority 9 in Seattle on 11/8 - 11/9.[/p]
• [p]Followed by a brand new Hungrybox Online Qualifier on 11/12 with a voucher to Genesis X3.[/p]
• [p]Then returning to the storied grassroots Rivals major, Heat Wave 8 in Phoenix on 11/14 - 11/16![/p]

[p][/p][p]Esports Palettes[/p][p]Rep Port Priority 9 with the all new Port Priority Lovers Zetterburn palette, available now in the Featured Shop:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Similar to the previous Hungrybox Qualifier Events, participants will receive the HungryBox Baseball Clairen palette for free. Registration will be available soon for this event in a separate post: [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Finally, the Heat Wave Baseball Clairen is here to celebrate the tournament’s 8th installment. The event is on the cusp of breaking yet another attendance record, so check it out if you want something a bit more focused on Rivals of Aether![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]General Gameplay Changes[/h2][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Right stick down/backward on ledge will now be processed after left stick down/backward and grab.[/p]
  • [p]This makes sure the right stick input results in an aerial if it is in the buffer at the same time as the left stick input or grab. Previously, the right stick input would be processed first, causing the character to drop from ledge without performing an aerial.[/p]
• [p]Joystick downward hard press inputs will now be cleared when entering the Land state.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents an extremely niche bug where a frame-perfect fastfall input that is held for exactly one frame directly above a platform would cause a buffered platdrop after landing.[/p]
• [p]The input buffer will no longer be cleared when ledge canceling a waveland.[/p]
• [p]Grab trades will now restore all resources for both characters.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents situations such as Etalus Up Air trading with another grab and leaving him with no Up Special resource.[/p]
• [p]Anti-infinite pushback velocity is now capped at 48 cm/frame. Sorry :([/p]
  • [p]This prevents some weird situations where holdable moves like Galvan's Jab finisher could build up enough momentum to teleport through solid objects, like Kragg's pillar.[/p]

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• [p]Bug fix: Critical Hit Effects and Death Effects selections for your profiles will now be saved properly between game sessions. [/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Fixed a bug that prevented characters from being grabbed if they were performing a throw.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Getting bounced off the ground by an untechable spike will no longer retain that untechable status after bouncing.[/p]
  • [p]Ground bounces are always supposed to be techable. This was a very niche situation, but could happen with attacks like Forsburn's Ledge Special.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Fixed a bug that caused hurtboxes to shift unintentionally when a character rotated around their center.[/p]
  • [p]For example, Galvan's Forward Special was more disjointed when angling it upward and vice versa. Now it should be consistent regardless of his rotation.[/p]
  [p][/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3][/h3]

• [p]Added a low-reaching hitbox to his standing grab.[/p]
  • [p]This helps prevent it from whiffing against shorter characters that are extremely close to him.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Added a hitbox to the center of Up Special that reaches higher than the other hitboxes.[/p]
  • [p]This allows Galvan to break a rock on a platform above it.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Up Special can now ledge cancel before going into the Special Fall window.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: Aerial Down Special can now be ledge canceled properly.[/p]
• [p]Added a low-reaching hitbox to its standing grab.[/p]
  • [p]This helps prevent it from whiffing against shorter characters that are extremely close to it.[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Drills can now only hit the player that activated them or their teammates.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents a weird situation in doubles where Galvan's teammates could get hit by a drill after knocking an opponent into it.[/p]
• [p]Drill hitbox radius: 60 > 75.[/p]
  • [p]This makes it less likely for a drill to detect a player and then fail to hit them, since the hitbox is now larger than the detection box.[/p]
• [p]Galvan's head hurtbox is now intangible during Forward Special's active frames.[/p]

[p][/p][p]That's all for this update! As always, feel free to drop any suggestions for new features over on our nolt board. Make sure to join the discord to chat all things Rivals, report bugs, and keep up with the latest events! [/p]

[p]This hotfix includes some small crew mode improvements before we head out for the weekend. We hope you're all enjoying the new mode![/p][p][/p][h3]Hotfix 1.4.1.3 Notes[/h3]

• [p]Team of One players should no longer auto-ready-up as soon as they select their final character, and similarly will no longer auto-ready when returning to the Character Select Screen from gameplay.[/p]
• [p]Character-specific hud elements should no longer stack on top of each other over the course of a crew session, it will properly only show the active character's specific ui.[/p]
• [p]Made improvements to some logic adjustments around how crew ordering is maintained and reset when moving back to the CSS. This should fix the out-of-order crews bug that happened occasionally after game 1 (and could lead to bad game states / hangs).[/p]

[p]It’s hard to believe, but today marks the 1 Year Anniversary since the launch of Rivals of Aether II! After four new characters, 12 months of events, hundreds of tournaments, 75 million matches, and so much more, we want to thank all of our players and supporters for an amazing first year.[/p][p][/p][p]Here's some fun stats that show just a little about what everyone's been up to this first year: [/p][carousel][/carousel][p][/p][p]As many of you may know, we've shared an updated roadmap for our second year of Rivals II, and we're incredibly excited to start our second year of post-launch support. We just released Crew Battles as a beta game mode on Tuesday and are working hard on a closed beta program for Steam Workshop behind the scenes. Other big highlights for next year's plans include four more characters, item mode, and much more.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]One Year Anniversary Items[/h2][p][/p][p]To further celebrate our One Year Anniversary, we’re releasing multiple bundles, the first being a FREE one that anyone can pick up in the shop. This includes the new ‘Game On’ icon and the ‘1 Year Anniversary’ icon to commemorate our first year of Rivals II. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Year 1 Characters Retro Skin Bundle[/h2][p][/p][p]Players have been asking us about the Retro Skin Line for our four newest characters, and we’re happy to announce that they’re finally here! These Retro skins return to our roots, and each come with their own matching icons, feeling right at home with our pre-existing 10 retro character skins.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Launch Retro Skin Bundle[/h2][p][/p][p]Last but not least, a hotly requested bundle is here! Retro skins were initially available for free as a pre-order bonus that Kickstarter backers or Pledgemanager late pledges got with their game purchase. After a full year of Rivals II, we’re excited to make these skins available for purchase to newer fans in the coin and buck shop![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Brand new to the bundle are these adorable animated icons, sporting a classic look with looping idle animations for a special flair. If you already own the launch retro skins from backing or pre-ordering, our standard bundle protection applies here, and you'll receive 1,000 Aether Bucks for each skin in the bundle (10k total), plus the new icons if you decide to pick it up.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]We've been investigating that pesky rollback bug players have been reporting, and finally tracked it down! We're happy to report that players should no longer receive excessive rollback in Crew Battle mode. We also improved re-queueing with a Team of Friends and fixed a few other small issues in this hotfix: [/p][p][/p][h2]CREW BATTLES[/h2]

• [p]Fixed a bug that caused excessive rollbacks when playing as a Team of One or against a Team of One.[/p]
  • [p]The rollbacks were caused by a discrepancy between hurtboxes on the server and client, making the client say you hit things you did not.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a matchmaking issue that made it impossible to matchmake again after your first match when re-queuing an existing lobby of 3.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a hang that could occur when spawning the next character in a lineup inside of an article (such as a Kragg rock sitting on top platform)[/p]

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• [p]In Doubles and Crews matchmaking, when matchmaking with friends, your lobby will no longer be disbanded after the match ends.[/p]
• [p]Bug fix: If a player gets KOd while grabbed, the grabbing player will now immediately go into the grab release state.[/p]
  • [p]Previously, they would act as if they were still grabbing the dead player, and could throw them into the blastzone to take a 2nd stock from them.[/p]
• [p]Allow players to change their teams in matchmade Doubles (returning to the behavior before the mid-month patch) (For the people who
• really* wanted to be on the Green Team).[/p]

[p]
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• [p]Bug fix: Aerial Down Special will no longer crash the game when trading with another grab.[/p]
• [p]Down Special can no longer grab opponents who have chaingrab protection.[/p]
  • [p]This prevents an infinite when two Galvans surrounded their opponent with Down Specials.[/p]

[h3]Monstrous Bundle - Franken Etalus[/h3][h3] [/h3][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]IT’S ALIVE! A grizzly monster has been turned loose just before the most horrifying night of the year. Our latest bundle includes the Franken Etalus skin, emote, icon, and the amazing new ‘IT’S ALIVE’ taunt! The bundle also includes 25,000 coins and 250 Aether bucks. Franken Etalus also features custom voicework in his taunt, new victory lines, and a new win screen jingle![/p][p]
[/p][h2]New Mode - Crew Battles[/h2][p]
A brand new game mode is here! Team up with your friends in a new kind of crew battle, where each stock in the game is controlled by a different player. Unlike teams, only 1 player per crew is active at a time, and the next player in the lineup spawns as the previous is eliminated. Find out which friends can hold their own, or be the hero they need as you battle against other crews online. [/p][p]
This new mode allows players to queue up as a Team of Friends, with each player controlling a single Rival, OR as a Team of One controlling 3 different characters yourself.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Here are some details on how match queues will work:[/p]

• [p]Teams of One and Teams of Friends are all placed in the same matchmaking queue, and can be matched in any configuration that results in 6 total Rivals in the match.[/p]
  • [p]E.g. 2 Teams of One, 1 Team of One and 1 Team of Friends, 2 Teams of Friends[/p]
• [p]You have an Elo known as Crew Score.  It functions similarly to our other modes and will soft reset each season rollover.[/p]
• [p]Crew Battles are a best of 3 battle just like Ranked.[/p]
• [p]Crew Battles have stage striking and stage banning just like normal matches, but anyone in the crew can strike/ban for their team.[/p]
• [p]As a Team of Friends you can change your order on the CSS by hitting your Right Stick Left or Right to shift yourself in that direction in the crew.[/p]
• [p]As a Team of One you play your selected rivals in the order you selected them - first selected plays first, last selected plays last.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Crew Battles in Lobbies[/h3][p][/p][p]You might be thinking, “Crew battles sound amazing! I wish I could host my own :(”[/p][p]Well don’t be sad, because crew battles are fully supported in lobbies of up to 8 players with customizable rulesets! Lobbies can be set to Crews in the same way setting up Team Battles works, just cycle the teams button between “None, Teams, Crews” as you see fit.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Lobbies are a bit more flexible on the rules, allowing players to freely organize themselves into any configuration of up to 4 crews (e.g. 4 crews of 2 players, a crew of 1 vs. a crew of 7, etc.) with stock count per Rival being changeable to whatever you want, instead of just the default 1 stock.[/p][p][/p][p]Note: We are currently working on a Team of One  mode for lobbies where 1 player can play as multiple characters. This will be added as an option for lobbies in the future.[/p][p][/p][h3]New Shop Items[/h3]

• [p]Purple Blowup Galvan Palette[/p]
• [p]Purple Skeleton Forsburn Palette[/p]
• [p]Spooky Witch Absa Palette[/p]
• [p]White Vampire Zetterburn Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Yellow Clairen Palette[/p]
• [p]Midnight Abyss Kragg Palette[/p]

[p][/p]

• [p]Avatar Weedwing Icon[/p]
• [p]Iffy Fleet Icon[/p]
• [p]Mad Ayala Icon[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]Black Hole Death Effect[/p]
• [p]Full Moon Critical Hit (Full Moon + Werewolf)[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Next R2CS Live Events: Arrival 3 & Somnio Noctem[/h3][p]
Closing out October are two huge European events, Arrival 3 and Somnio Noctem. This Saturday, the European Rivals only event, Arrival 3, has a whopping 79 entrants ready to duke it out on the official Rivals of Aether Twitch channel. Then, just a week later on Halloween day, we have Somnio Noctem in the Netherlands featuring some of the scariest talent Europe has to offer!.[/p][p]
Both EU events have new palettes joining the shop today, with Arrival 3 Soccer Kragg and Somnio Lovers Zetterburn sporting a fresh new look for players to rock.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]If you buy these bundles but already own the base skins, you’ll receive an Aether Bucks refund to make it even just like with our other bundles. Keep an eye out for more circuit palettes in the future as the second R2CS gets down to the wire! These palettes are FREE for all players attending the respective events.[/p][p][/p][h2]November NA Events on the Horizon[/h2][p][/p][p]Last weekend, North America hosted its October LAN event, Portland Retro Gaming Expo, with a $4,000 Pot Bonus and a R2CS circuit championship on the line. Once the dust settled, CakeAssault returned to the throne, ousting two other R2CS tournament champions, Sophilo and Stango to do it! The race for number 1 is red hot with the next NA events being Port Priority and Heat Wave in November. Who will rise up with the first ever season approaching its finale?[/p][p][/p][p]You can check out upcoming & past events and the region leaderboards on our official league page.[/p][p][/p][h2]It’s Our Birthday - One Year Anniversary 10/23/25[/h2][p]We’re hitting an exciting milestone later this week. On Thursday it’ll officially be our 1 year anniversary since launch! We want to say a huge thank you to all of our players (both new and old) who have supported us this year. [/p][p][/p][p]To celebrate, tune in this Thursday as we put together a crew of devs to roam the queues and play the new Crew Battle mode together. We hope to see you online! In addition, Rivals 2 is also on sale from 10/20 - 10/27 for our deepest discount yet at 40% off. Pick up the game for a limited time for just $17.99.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Balance/Menu Updates[/h2][p][/p][p][/p]

• [p]The Store now loads all at once so there is less of a delay when players switch between tabs.[/p]
• [p]Doubles stage select properly shows all 10 stages (including the 2 doubles variants of Tempest Peak and Aetherian Forest).[/p]
• [p]DSR is applied across all skins of a stage (fixes players being able to go back to the alternate skin of Aetherean Forest/Metal Graveyard than they’d won on prior).[/p]
• [p]Tourney Mode Match History on Stage Select properly colors the border of the box by the winning player.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an intermittent issue when trying to tab left or right from the favorites tab of the Emotes menu.[/p]

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• [p]Drills can now be destroyed by hitboxes that cannot break projectiles.[/p]
  • [p]Previously, moves such as Kragg Forward Special and Wrastor Neutral Special would not break drills. Now, any non-projectile hitbox can break drills, which matches other stationary articles like Kragg’s rock or Olympia’s gem.[/p]
• [p]Reduced the frequency of voice lines playing.[/p]
• [p]Galvan has new voice lines in a few of its moves.[/p]
• [p]Galvan’s Victory VO volume has been lowered slightly to match other Rivals.[/p]