The Future of Fighting games (keep it coming)

[Brian]

Let us chat about all fighting games coming up. So far we have Soul Calibur 4 heading to our consoles soon and the delayed Super Turbo HD heading through the PSN and Live Arcade. Here's a list of what's coming to us(sooner or waaay later) :

Soul Calibur 4
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
Sengoku Basara X (for those who don't import, sorry )
Tekken 6
Street Fighter 4
Samurai Spirits Sen
The King of Fighters XII
Midway vs DC Universe
Battle Fantasia
Arcana Hearts 2
Capcom vs Tatsumoko ( VS series that'll be more crazy then MvsC2
Blaz Blue (Sega Sammy/Arc systems)
Fate/Unlimited Codes (great job in getting rights to it! )



Of all the companies, Capcom's making a lot of great moves .First they make a crazy 2d fighter of Sengoku, then we get news on Tatsumoko vs Capcom, now out of the blue, they aquire rights to Type Moon characters and created Fate Stay Night Unlimited Codes. Looks like they're doing a great move with Arc Systems helping out.

Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se1duEmsTqk

For those true fighting gamers out there. How do you like capcom making all these crazy fighters? What are you anticipating and from lookin at videos, what are you disliking or worrying about?

[Luisfe]

I am worried about the lack of sprites. The gameplay vids lookdamn fine, though.

I just hope that KoF XII uses high res sprites. That would be pretty sweet.

[King Zeal]

These days, it's not very easy being a fighting game fan. There aren't that many games out there which obey the three cardinal rules for making a great fighting game: accessibility, depth, and balance. For a fighting to be truly magnificent, and not just a quick flash in the pan (like Bloody Roar or the latest MK games), it has to both satisfy the casual gamers and have a way for the hardcore gamers to set their skill apart from the casuals.

The first way to do this is to make the game Accessible enough for people to want to play it. As fun as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 looks, it's impossible to play it at any sort of serious level of competition unless you've been competing since the game was first released. You doubt me? Watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOK2di_fvI) before you tell me I'm wrong.

The second thing a fighting game needs is Depth. Most games these days have the whole High-Mid-Low mixup that creates a basic level of rock-paper-scissors. However, a great fighting game has to go beyond that. Virtua Fighter is something that comes to mind. The game has Offensive Movement, Defensive Movement, Reversals, Sabakis, Delayed Attacks, Fuzzy Guarding, ETEG (don't ask), and about a billion other options at players' disposals. The downside to this, however, is that the more technical the game is, the harder it is to keep it accessible.

And finally, the last thing that a great fighter needs is Balance. This is the element that most fighters mess up. A lack of balance was the downfall of the competitive life of Tekken 4. Jin Kazama was so overpowered in that game that there was no point to picking any other character. In Soul Calibur 3, every other character had to work a thousand times harder to keep up with Xianghua or Sophitia. In those types of cases, a lack of variety makes the game quickly turn stale. Why have over twenty characters if only three have a fair chance at winning?

I apologize for turning this into an editorial, but I think that it's impossible to discuss the topic without bringing this up. One thing that I'm concerned about is that the fighting games of the present and future are relying more and more on straight-to-console releases. Since arcades in the USA are dead, the only real competitive community is online. However, it's difficult to accurately test the game without releasing multiple versions and upgrading as needed (which was a lot easier at the arcade). I'm worried that future games are going to suffer for that.

[Brian]

The first way to do this is to make the game Accessible enough for people to want to play it. As fun as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 looks, it's impossible to play it at any sort of serious level of competition unless you've been competing since the game was first released. You doubt me? Watch this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOK2di_fvI) before you tell me I'm wrong.


Who can forget that unbelievable match. Gotta understand though, that's Justin Wong he's facing. A few friends of mine and including myself faced him in some tourney during the last days of our arcade before it shut down. On joystick, he's unbelievable. Instead of focusing on the fight, I look at his hands. He's freakin quick on the joystick. At one point, I argued on the balance but in reality, they aren't going to care about balance because if you get caught in the trap, you get caught. He may have won that tourney but alot of people were hating on him. Telling him how he's still a flop in third strike lol. Our gift to him was a dvd of the match he lost against Daigo as our personal reward >=p.


And finally, the last thing that a great fighter needs is Balance. This is the element that most fighters mess up. A lack of balance was the downfall of the competitive life of Tekken 4. Jin Kazama was so overpowered in that game that there was no point to picking any other character. In Soul Calibur 3, every other character had to work a thousand times harder to keep up with Xianghua or Sophitia. In those types of cases, a lack of variety makes the game quickly turn stale. Why have over twenty characters if only three have a fair chance at winning?


Oh god, tekken 4 was a huge disaster >.<. Nothing else to say since you hit the nail on its coffin. As for SC3, I never tried it out. Thanks for letting me know though. I'll have to look into part 4 when it comes out.


I apologize for turning this into an editorial, but I think that it's impossible to discuss the topic without bringing this up. One thing that I'm concerned about is that the fighting games of the present and future are relying more and more on straight-to-console releases. Since arcades in the USA are dead, the only real competitive community is online. However, it's difficult to accurately test the game without releasing multiple versions and upgrading as needed (which was a lot easier at the arcade). I'm worried that future games are going to suffer for that.

Heh, you have every right to point that out, Z. Honestly, of all these fighting games I mentioned, we have to see some kind of balance for the next two years. Tekken 6 is definately one of them. You have seen the location test vids, right?

[Raidou]

A Fate/Stay Night fighting game? Alright. I want to play as Saber!!! Cool.

[Brian]

Looks like they aren't the only ones. We're getting a Castlevania fighting game. So far, it looks too much like Soul Calibur for the DC.

EDIT : 2 more fighting games announcend.... for PSP .

Katekyo Hitman Reborn Battle Arena - 2.5d fighter. No vids yet but comes out in japan september 19

Guilty Gear Accent Core PLUS

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080630/ggxxap01.jpg

Tell you what, I'll get it just because there's 3vs3 mode. Why the hell not =/.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080630/ggxxap02.jpg

I mean it's basically the final (part X3) game.