Different Tournament Format Ideas

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
1

I’m more than a bit tired of seeing the same subset of characters used over and over in the top tournaments, and another subset of characters completely absent in the top tournaments.

So, I decided to look at the mechanic and behavior considerations of tournaments and figure out what variations in tournament formats could produce a diverse character usage.

In addition to putting forth my own ideas for discussion/scrutiny, I would love to open this up to anyone who has ideas in this realm.

In addition, the idea of setting up a format to encourage a wider base of characters used is only one type of thing to consider.
I’d love to have other people put forth what other types of tournament behavior they would like to see so that we can analyze mechanic and behavior considerations to make those happen.

Anyway, enough gab, here’s the tournament format idea.:

MATCHUP WEIGHTED TOURNAMENT

Each round, players play a #matches against their opponent until one of them wins 1 more match than their character is supposed to win according to the character tier list.

I propose using the tier list here:


(here is an older version of this chart in English: http://streetfighterdojo.com/sf4/data/charactermatchup.html)
… until a BETTER/UPDATED tier list comes out from the results of the tournaments themselves.

You want to play Sagat? Ryu? Rufus?
Fine, but you are gonna have to beat a Dan/Sakura/Vega player 8 matches and they only have to beat you 4.

What if the format makes tournies require too many matches?
Then divide the tier number by 2 (rounded up): Now Sagat has to win 4 and Vega has to win 2.

Still too long?
Divide by 3, or count number of rounds instead of matches.

I expect most people to still play their mains, which will be high ranked chars.
But you should see a lot more participation (and success) from people who main or use the off characters.

2

All this will make is a new tier list. Characters that will be top tier in this format will most likely be ones that have generally even or slightly negative matchups. You’ll just create some bizarro world where everyone is playing Chun-Li and Dhalsim, while Sagat and Zangeif become high-risk, high-reward characters.

3

You’re under the assumption that most people will agree with those tier lists, which I don’t think it’s true.

4

I don’t really like this. The tier list is just an idea made up by the players theorizing who will win a certain match, and how many times. It’s just really weird ENFORCING the tier list in tournies and handing out penalties to people based on the characters they play.

The real way to keep the game balanced is to play team tournies. Japan already does this. 1 Game means even a 7-3 matchup has a decent chance of being an upset.

5

i dont really think anyone will go for a match where if it’s 7-4 the 4 wins.

6

Right now most tier lists are “peer review” tier lists where data is pulled from opinion polls.
I don’t trust opinions, I trust data.

This is why the first few tournaments would use the ballpark, stab-in-the-dark peer review charts, and then they would use the charts compiled by the actual tournament data. (weighted by final standings)

Also, let me express that I DO NOT advocate the format I suggested becoming any sort of popular standard.
It’s a novelty format.

I really like team tournaments, and think they encourage a more diverse subset of characters.
However, they too suffer from advantages in configuring teams to meet/beat matchups.
I still don’t see many Guile or Claw showing (or advancing) at many of the Japanese team tournies.

In addition, you could run the format I suggested within the team tourney format.

Actually, mathmatically, the higher ranked character still has the advantage in the proposed format.
Each character is odds on to get to the number for the match break, but to get the additional match win the character with the better ranking is statistically more likely to get it.

I don’t think it would cut it as a mainsteam format because ignorant fans won’t be able to appreciate matchup difficulties.

But I think it would be a great side format to test skill, spotlight/celebrate the best player in each character, and get a more legit tier list out of the deal at the end.

7

SF4 is great because it’s not just good chars vs bad chars. Thats 3rd Strike. In this game the bad chars can do well against some of the good chars. Guile is definitely a shitty character but he can give Dictator or Gief hell. Because the team format is 1 game…basically you can almost rely on the bullshit factor. If you can read your opponent pretty well you can beat him and eliminate him. He only has 2 rounds to fuck it up. You dont have to worry about consistency at all, thats why the 1 game format is kinda nice here.

8

Omg im sick of people whining about the characters. Let people use whoever they want. if someone wants to use sagat then let him use sagat or w/e. You should respect all characters that are chosen if u respect and like the game a least bit -_-

9

This isnt really about SF4. Its about tournaments and tournament formats. I’m going to move it somewhere more appropriate.

10

Random character select?

How about simply using the random character select button? This would then not test who has the best character, but who is best at the game overall. You could get any character, and your opponent can as well. You’d probably want it to be best of 9 or something, rather than single-match, but in the long run it would definitely average out.

This would work especially well for older games, and would also work well for games with smaller rosters.

11

ahahahahahahaha this is gay

12

Seeding based on tiers? I threw up a little…

13

Actually I propose DDR pad, 1handed or feet tournament formats.

14

I feel like I get a little braindamaged every time I read SRK I swear

15

I’m no 3rd Strike fan on many levels.
And I totally hear you on the relief that SF4 is not as unbalanced as 3rd Strike.

All good stuff. :slight_smile:

I like the team format, I like the 1 match format, etc.

And I totally agree that it encourages a much more diverse character base than more traditional formats.

Gotcha, makes sense.

I like that format under a “Russian Roulette” vibe, and I really like that format for what it brings to the table as far as match footage.

Some players will get lucky with a great matchup or with a character they know well.
Some will get unlucky on the other side.

And it’s a fun format to mix things up, and it definitely:

  1. gets more characters into play
  2. gives you the chance to see great players using different characters and see what they bring to that character
  3. gets people to start practicing with more characters so they can hang with whoever they have to play

Good stuff!

Back in the day, some people used to play the game in the arcade with one hand.

It was definitely a mix of smack talk and showing off.

16

There’s some dude in chicago that beats people in marvel with no hands real talk

17

I like watching Sagat vs. <insert character here> matches.
I want to see top level play of all matchups.

Such a great study tool.
And all we need to do to get these cool vids is find some way to get the top players to take a crack at it.

Maybe some exhibition format would be more appropriate.

Also, I like the XBLA HF rankings that listed best by character.

18

So the tier list influences the results, and then the results influence the tier list… Seems like a dangerous spiral somehow.

19

how about everyone plays as each character once in each match up and when u win u change ur character and if u lose u stay so that u have to beat ur opponent with every character in the game cuz that will show who the best at the game is. race to 25

^^ this is how dumb the ideas in this thread are

20

I’m working on a ‘Random Select Round Robin’ tourney idea that I think is a lot of fun. It’s by no means the best way to measure who is the best, but it’s a fun way to put your overall skill with the game to the test.