Usually when you hear talk about their playstyle, most of the time people will say “rushdown” regardless of how offensive they are. Very few players call themselves “turtley”. Which got me thinking how many general styles are there? Im sure different games have their little sub categories, but overall how many different types are their? Just 2 rushdown and turtling (aka offensive and defensive). 3? with the 3rd being a mix of the two? Or is their more?
My personal ones are…
Mix-up rushdown - speaks for itself (think viper)
frame trap rushdown - puts the opponent into situations where they either hit buttons or don’t (think grapplers)
“explosion” style - footsies until there is an opening and the player gets large damage and escapes again (fei long)
“pressure” style - minor zoning but the opponent still feels pressured, usually takes place at mid - 3/4 screen (ryu)
full zoning style - dhalsim in a nutshell (dhalsim…duh)
Granted I’m a scrub so…
Character archetype and play style are two separate things. One relies on a characters strengths/weaknesses, largely how they net the majority of their damage, while the other relies on what the player does themselves. e.g. Turtling is a play style, not a character archetype.
So which one are you asking for?
play style
Turtle (Chun 3S)
Tank (Hulk MvC3)
RTSD (Magneto anything)
Trap (Spiral MvC2)
Grappler (Gief)
Mix (Shotos, most GG characters, etc.)
How many is simply too vast. Zoning and Rushdown are more general goals than playstyle. Lambda-11 is a zoner in Blazeblue, but she isn’t like Dhalsim. She can and will get next to you to mix-up.
I like rushdown, but not reckless rushdown. I like being patient and blowing them up when I get that hit. Examples of characters include
One-Hit KO (Someone once called this “bruiser”) (Miyako, 3S Makoto, BB Makoto, Jam, Fire Elsa. Characters with relatively short reach but massive damage. They only need to get you once to win)
The list I am sure can go on forever as you get into individual playstyles for both characters and players.
i think that Ultima did a rundown of different gameplay styles that you can find on fighting games
he made 2 posts about the subject, where are they, i dont remember
btw what happened to him, i havent se him around like in years or something