Fighting games don’t have to be what they are, don’t you see that they are fundamentally flawed? Yeah, there is a small dedicated fanbase to arcade style fighting games, I grew up with all these games, I grew up playing Marvel vs Capcom, Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and all these games because I grew up playing in arcades, now I’m playing consoles and so is everybody else, it’s nice to revisit what we enjoyed in past video games, but we can’t keep making games like this until the end of time, it’s time to make fighting games bigger and better and not allow them to get left behind
I’m not trying to redefine fighting games, fighting games do not mean arcadey gameplay, you think that because fighting games is the only genre that won’t lose the arcade style gameplay and adapt to consoles, if Bushido Blade didn’t die then that would be how we are playing fighting games toady, sadly it did, and with it, originality, you wouldn’t think Street Fighter 2 was the only way
Sports games are still sports games even if there is skill building, which there is in every sports game today, games are not chess, chess is a board game, board games are a genre like fighting games are, should every board game play exactly like chess? That’s basically how it is for fighting games, Street Fighter 2 got made then everybody kept copying it over and over, we’ve seen that fighting games don’t have to copy Street Fighter 2, we saw it with Bushido Blade, and it was ideal.
I don’t see any problem with the way fighting games are going. Recently, I have been able to get a TON of my friends on Xbox Live to get into SFIV. Sure it took some intense tutorial sessions, but it’s surprising to see these people that only played FPSes and RPGs play fighters (decently too for that matter!). What you fail to comprehend is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I mean even FPSes are the same shit every time (snipers, shottys, smgs, lmgs, pistols, rifles, rockets, and flamethrowers), yet somehow they sell like hotcakes. It’s all in the small nuances (like how 3s favors CQC, SFII and IV favor heavy zoning, GG is all-out offence, and etc.)
All that 2D fighters needed was some GGPO and good marketing is all.
This is not to say that there aren’t things wrong with SFIV (like the lack of quarter matches and new characters). But for the most part Capcom played their cards right and Street Fighter is exciting to the casual market once again.
I see a problem, Street Fighter 4 is probably the biggest deal in fighting games in the last five years or more, all the Soul Caliburs and Mortal Kombats are getting very minimal buzz and then disappointing severely, this is a problem because you have huge hype for multiple RPGs, FPS, and Sports games in one year, 2008 was criticized for it’s lack of RPG competition and they had Fable 2, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and so many others, that’s just the top contenders, we’re lucky if we get that many fighting games total in one year
Street Fighter 4 is the most hyped fighting game in a long time, so yeah, people are playing it, but it’s still not as big as these games in other genres, that’s a mistake on the part of the fighting game developers, fighting games should not be overlooked like they have been, the small buzz is not going to last, Street Fighter 2 is still the peak of fighting games 20 years ago
FPS games are similar, but still way more varied than fighting games, you have tactical shooters, military like Call of Duty, Halo fantasy games, story based, online based, couch co-op based, and you have realistic ones like Swat, wouldn’t it be great to have that much variety in fighting games?
All I gotta say is when I look for variety in FGs I look at the games themselves. KOF, SF, GG, Vampire Savior, Garou MOTW, and Tekken are very different. They play different. Appear different. The whole 9 yards.
Believe me FGs are NOT the same. They have evolved over the years. What you seem to be complaining about are the fundamentals that are kept intact.
I think you just answered your own question there in a sense. Most of the examples provided are products of trends in video games:
Remember when Sidescroller brawlers were the shit? Now how come a game like Viewtiful Joe doesn’t get recognition?
Remember when platformers were everywhere? Why is it that Mario and Sonic are the only ones around now?
Remember when RTSes were all the rage? Well computers got expensive and now they’re trying to do a console comeback.
Remember when RPGs killed the competition? They now have their years here and there.
See the trend? Personally, I think FPSes are getting very boring atm and I think they’re going to be a backlash. But as far as I know it seems that this is definitely the year of the fighter. SFIV, KOFXII, T6, Blazblue, and the resurgence of MVC2…? I dunno sounds pretty solid to me.
i didn’t get to read the whole thread, but felt i had to post something.
first off, i think you would have to really get into fighting games to think you can just revolutionize how the game works. from the first post i could already tell you probably just picked up SF4 and thought it was the same as all the other street fighters. I mean come on you’re not gonna change the minds of ppl who have been player fighters for years (and enjoying it i might add) with your suggestions.
sure you can add some crazy RPG element to the arcade mode, interactive background, or realistic blood/bruises. In the long run all casual players will always get tired of fighting games because they’re just not going to try and get technical to beat ppl up, and all the hardcore players will play if the game is fun/deep/balanced.
no matter how hard you try fighting games is a niche genre. the casuals always dabble in a new game for fun then die off. SFIV just might have just picked up a few more hardcores than some of the other fighters.
Fighting games are not a niche genre, that’s probably the parts you missed, arcade style games are a niche genre because people don’t play them anymore, Bushido Blade is an example of how fighting games should be today, casual players are going to find that style of game enjoyable, you don’t have to go back in time to the 90’s to understand why the gameplay is the way it is, that’s the whole issue, casual fans can’t make sense of fighting games today because they don’t make sense, it’s a formula that was made for an outdated system and was never changed, so you have outdated mechanics on a system they don’t work on
You also missed the part where I said I am a huge fighting game fan, I love one on one gameplay, that’s what makes a fighting game, you take one on one gameplay and update it so it fits on consoles and you have what fighting games should be today
That’s also the reason Viewtiful Joe got overlooked, that’s my whole point, sidescrollers were made out of necessity, they don’t make sense anymore, you have games like Max Payne and Manslaughter, those games are the new beat 'em ups, they work on consoles and would never work in an arcade, fighting games need to make that transition too, when you got a fighting game that works better on consoles than it does in an arcade then you have an evolved fighting game.
fuck, this kid have shit on his brain, he cant even understand that the fighting games are arcade games, even now, all the fighting games that you find this days make their debut in arcades, and lately in consoles, name one game that you prise so much that are still played, name only one… bushido blad, def jam, all of them are in the oblivion
sounds to me like you would make a great “revolutionary” fighting game that may catch the eyes of casual players. the problem is the game would probably never see the light of day in the fighting game community. game company’s tried “revolutionary” things (mortal kombat vs DC comes to mind fighting through the air, also i think UFC is making some kinda fighting/wresting/mixed MA game) and i bet they sold/sell really well.
In japan fighting games/arcades are still pretty hot over as well. Capcom made a good move making the game graphically up to date while still mainainting it’s 2D fundamentals, as well as having good marketing. imo SF4 is revitalizing the fighting game scene. as they say if it’s not broke don’t fix it.
now that i think about it you probably came to the wrong forums with your ideas tbh. the majority of the people here love the 2D fighting games and wouldn’t want to see it significantly changed and are extremely picky about the fighting games that they find acceptable. gamefaqs.com or some other forum would probably be a better place to pitch your “revolutionary” idea. We’re old and don’t like change.
