So I’ve FINALLY talked my girlfriend into trying out 2d fighters. Normally she only reads visual novels and plays J-RPG’s but after my severe depressive streak living in a foreign country she’s taken pity and has decided to help get my fix for a rival at fighting games. Currently I’m working on KOF but she has heard too much of Juicebox’s Don’t Drop That Combo style talk and refuses to touch it. As a result I’m here to ask, what fighting games would you recommend to start your girlfriend on? Obviously she would prefer games with cuter character designs (she’s a fan of Gothic Lolita stuff, ie Perona from One Piece especially post time skip) however the only games that really cater to that are Guilty Gear and BlazBlue (both of which I don’t think she’ll be patient enough to learn). I’m thinking of skullgirls, especially since it has a wonderful tutorial system. Any other suggestions?
PS. Ease of entry and simplicity are more important than character designs but cute shit won’t hurt.
PPS. Low end PC (GGPO, Mame, Mugen[stop sighing]) and PS3 are our platforms.
The sheer amount of 2d fighters I have is HUGE, I’m just trying to get some input. She’s the kinda girl who will respond: I don’t care/Whatever’s fine, then let me know later that she did/didn’t enjoy it.
I’m going to let her try Alpha 3 and Third Strike. They are nice because they can be played like ST at first and then the possibilities of truly taking advantage of the system allow for some true learning experiences. I’m thinking she might enjoy Sonic Council if she doesn’t find its presentation too dated.
Persona is certainly the most popular entry-level fighter in the anime genre, but it still might be difficult for someone with no fighting game experience.
My recommendation would be Aquapazza, which is coming out on NA PSN next week, and it’s a much slower, more footsies-oriented game with no execution requirements.
Lastly, there’s Phantom Breaker Extra, which is somewhere between the two.
AE doesn’t have a low entry barrier, that game is hard as fuck.
Took me 3 fucking month to get down basic hit confirms.
Holy shit all those people that say AE has a low entry barrier, probably never actually played the fucking game and think it’s easy because it uses shortcuts for special moves.
Guess what that game is not easy and you gotta be able to do hard link combos very early on.
I jumped on Skullgirls couple of days ago and was able to get a basic midscreen and a basic corner combo done consistently in an hour of training mode, I play AE since over 3 month and I still struggle with FADC combos and basic hit confirms.
Also the Skullgirls tutorial is THE SHIT!
I thought I’m mentally retarded while trying to get good at AE and was afraid I can never play combo heavy fighters like Skullgirls and Marvel, but seems I’m not and the mechanics of AE are just retarded.
Skullgirls is fun as hell, just suffers from a low player base because it doesn’t have Ken and Ryu, Kazuya or that guy with the stupid red hat from KoF on its cover.
Damn, calm down and stop assuming. I’ve been playing SF4 since console release, and it took me several months to get competent. But it’s still got a lower entry barrier:
Less systems than other modern games.
Rewards fundamentals that carry across games.
Less states to memorize than other games.
The one thing that you do have in your favor is that:
FADC combos aren’t easy for entry level players to learn. Solution? Learn them later.
Single frame links are tough to consistently hit at first. Solution? Practice.
The latter takes more time, but you’re taking what I said way too personally.
Combos aren’t the best way to judge a game’s entry barrier. Skullgirls is very fast paced. You need to know how to block, you need to navigate some really oppressive neutral, and you’ll get ToD’ed and reset all day while you’re trying to learn against people who are competent. I wouldn’t say it’s a terrible game for beginners, but it is much more unforgiving than AE.
No sweat then. If you’re enjoying Skullgirls, awesome, have fun with it. If you feel more rewarded for your effort than in SF4, then awesome, maybe SF4 wasn’t your forte when SG was, keep it up! But I do still think that SF4 is one of the best entry-level games of this generation of fighters. SG gets complex, but they make up for it by having a great training/tutorial mode, so it can still be considered more entry level than most.
KOF is not a very low entry level game, Marvel…kinda because the basics are so easy, but there is so much more to that game that you have to factor in that I just don’t see it as a very entry-level friendly game.
I honestly have touched SG. Wanted to, but being in China has but hamper on getting funds on XBL. Actually there’s a ton of games I haven’t gotten to play just because I haven’t been able to procure them.
I still mainly play Street Fighter 4 because I’m a fucking masochist and feel like the game has beaten me when I give up before I’m really fucking good at it.
I just play Skullgirls on the side whenever I want to learn a cool combo and want to see some anime boobies.
I seriously think Skullgirls is way better than Marvel though and the only thing that stands in its way of success is that its a new franchise without characters people already know and recognize and the low budget that leads to a relatively small roster.
Also wanna give MK9 a special mention because my girlfriend isn’t hardcore about fighting games but loves that game.
She loves the gore, the story and the character design and rightfully so.
Also the basic 3-hit combos made her instantly feel like a pro.
"Oh damn look, a 3-hit combo! I’m so pro."
While the game isn’t very deep, it’s a nice starting point and even if you quit it, you don’t feel like you wasted your time since all the single player elements were so immensely fun that it’s hard to stay salty for a long time about its retarded multiplayer.
Wow, thank you guys for all the responses! I’m so used to shit communities it seems because every seemingly trivial/deadbeat topic I start on this board gets quite a bit of attention! I’m located in Shanghai, China (So Missing Person, hit me up if you wanna hang or need tips on procuring things here such as arcade parts/games/a custom all button controller )
First off, I want to say that ALL games have a high level of skill in them. Think about ST, super basic system mechanics but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t punishing. At the top tier level there are such demanding requirements for skill (such as on frame inputs for O. Ryu’s unblockable air Tatsu’s). AE is rewarding even at the basic level just because it’s flashy as fuck, and in that regard she may enjoy.
I’ve got Arcane Hearts 3 and Big Bang Beat Revolve in my queue’s so I’ll be testing them in the next two days to see their suitability for her. Difficulty of input and number of factors/resources to worry about are my main concern when I talk about simplicity of mechanics. She’ll also only be playing against me for a very long time so I can slow it down to her pace. The level of competition online will not be a concern initially simply because I will be player 2. An example of how I would practice with her at AE:
First is just get her to learn footsies and specials. The specials will razzle dazzle her but I’ll punish her to hell with basic footsies till she learns to chill on that shit. I will only use normals with the occaisional special.
Then teach her Ultra’s and Supers. This will let her feel like she’s progressing with the visuals and the more complicated inputs so the additional month or so spent subtly reinforcing the importance of good normals will feel like she’s making big progress. My MO will be the same, only committing the occaisional ultra to let her punish.
Then I will go to EX moves, teaching her their different properties and the concepts behind meter management. At this point we’ll start to talk about meta gameplay such as meter management, frame counts, frame traps, etc. By now she should have a firm grasp on such basics that it won’t feel overwhelming and she’ll intrinsically be able to imagine WHY a certain Hp to c.Mk could be a great frame trap, etc. etc. etc.
I probably won’t get P4A till after new years because it’s so expensive here in China and air dashing/game speed is ridiculous.
Thank you guys so much. I’m so happy that the person I love can finally be a part of the hobby I love. Thanks for making this a reality.
I know you say 2D fighters, but I’ve found teaching someone the extreme basics in VF and DoA5 is far easier than any 2D fighter. You can make your gf a VF scrub-killer in like an hour, with no execution requirements. ST is also good if they don’t mind the speed of the game, and Skullgirls is definitely worth trying.
Persona may be worth trying, but I never had any luck when we tried it… all the shit on the screen at the time can be confusing for someone who doesn’t play any fighters.
The lead character “Mikoto” is Lolita Gothic swordswoman. While I’m not sure if can lumped the cast as cute but it is 80% female that catered to majority of anime tropes. In additional two guest character appear from well known franchise that also have visual novel heritage.
Rimi= Chaos Head
Kurisu: Stein gate
The game is really easy and accessible in regards to execution and options. It has control similar to Super smash bros where you have button for three normal attack and special button for commands
breif tutorial
their is currently three version of the game. Phantom breaker which is xbox 360 region locked. its the vanilla version, Has pretty okay story mode. moderate price at the moment.
Phantom breaker extra which is the latest version that has additional character and slightly changes game play. Its region free and available both ps3 and xbox360 retail and digital. pretty expensive since it only few months old but improved game play.
Phantom breaker battle grounds which is a xbla spin off that plays more beat em up. While a different genre it does play like its predecessor with similar controls though majority of the cast is missing. It also have coop and vs mode. The character are chibiified so it looks adorable too. being XBLA buget game wont take a large monetary investment.
one thing to be weary though is that phantom breaker does have a lot special effects. Could be intimidating to the untrained eye.
edit:Just seen how you dont have xbox360, sorry for not noticing, though phantom breaker battle ground is getting a sequel for the ps vita next year. so if can get her into extra, you get her another game too look forward to if invest in vita.
as for pc end. only game i would recommend may be snk’s last blade series for passive play or breaker revenge for aggressive play. Both have ease of execution and pretty simple.
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