Kros
4
I’m playing my Super Nintendo and Arcade stuff way more than my 360 that I just got.
Tone_1
5
It never left, it just got pushed out of the spotlight.
Kinda like how FPS games weren’t nearly as prominent as they were a couple of years back.
jubeh
6
Excuse me sir, but I noticed that some of these newer games are implementing something of a donjon style engine. Also, could anyone help me purchase an arcade paddle and locate a fellow named Diego?
The dorjan-style games are very popular, so people are playing more fighting games.
Seriously tho, this year has been huge for bringing people back into fighting games. Even in Japan, people had kind of started to move away from them a little before this huge wave of them hit over the last year or so. And thanks to these high profile games hitting (eventually) in the US, there’s a huge hype about them. SF4 brings back the nostalgia people like SF3 couldn’t cuz it uses the old characters, and of course the SRK crowd is gonna play it no matter what. And tekken and soul calibur always hit in america pretty well. Stuff like F/UC, Blazblue, and Melty Blood: AA are also getting big playtime in Japan, even if we’re not seeing them in America. Plus there’s a new VS game, and we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes over on either side of the pacific. So basically yeah, it’s definitely a comeback period for fighters.
Anakron
8
Just because there are plenty of fighting games coming out doesn’t mean that the genre is returning to the mainsteam.
I think the online capabilities and some fresh titles are giving the genre a little cpr, but it isn’t in the main spotlight yet. Online RPGs and FPS are still taking the big piece of the market. But anyways this feel pretty good, all this new hype around the SF4 and STHDR are great.
Exactly.
SF4 may be one of the biggest things to happen to the industry in a good while, and we’ve had a lot of great stuff come out this last year, but this is NOT 1992-1996 all over again, either. 
Besides the likes of Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat, FGs are still going to be very much a niche thing that appeals mostly (if not only) to its demographic and little else.
Online play is just doing more to add more of a “glue” to that demographic, which for the longest time was splintered apart due to arcades dying out (more so in the West than in Japan).
I agree.
I think that depends on the game. Street Fighter still has huge name recognition outside of hardcore FG players, and has a simplicity that a lot of other, less ‘mainstream’ games lack. Two meters, recognizable characters, inputs that damn near everyone who’s played games in the last fifteen years knows… HD remix has been pretty huge, and SF IV looks like it’ll be a monster.
Soul Calibur and Tekken work in that way too, to a lesser extent. Even folks who don’t play hardcore will pick up the controller/stick and play a few matches. Yeah, games like King of Fighters XII and Blazblue will stay niche titles, but the Street Fighter games at least could help and broaden the overall fanbase for fighting games.
Just like what happened with SF2. Every company is going to try to ride the coat tails of SFIV and make something to shake it’s grip on the fighting game community.
So yes.
No, fighting games suck. What is people’s fascination with pressing buttons and watching dudes hit each other?
Ya I know, srsly. If I wanted to see dudes hittin each other, I’d watch a Bruce Lee flick or something.
Monte
15
don’t call it a comeback.
am still playing my Dreamcast and PS2, more then my PS3 and 360.
RLP
17
It’s starting to hit more of the causal gaming scene recently.
I’m always hearing people talk about Street fighter and Soul Caliber at Gamestop and other gaming stores, and people are talking a lot about SFIV at my school.
FG fans are like metal fans. THey’re loyal, rabid, organize their own stuff, etc. So in a way, FGs never left, just moved to a new location so to speak.
I think Melee is the closest any fighting game has come to achieving the level of popularity that SF2 held at its peak.
TaZaR
20
It’s not just metal fans, it’s any subculture.
That’s why the dudes are being replaced by animated girls. Somebody somewhere in the chain of command realized something was wrong.
Mixah
22
Don’t forget cheap fighting games…
KoFXI for $7 at KB
NGBC for $5 at KB
AoF Anthology for $8 at Circuit City
Tekken 5 for PS2 at $3 at EB
You can get so many old school fighters now SUPER fucking cheap, it’s great
@ a local game store, I just picked up SFAC for $2.88… you CAN’T go wrong with a price like that.
where are u from lol my gamestop charges 14 for tekken 5 and 25 for SF:AC and 30 for the Alpha collection.
but back on the subject, yea alot of my arcades closed down, we had some huge spots around south jersey, but the fighting games is making the biggest comeback ever. starting with Soul Calibur IV, then HD remix, and finishing strong with Tekken 6, i dont know whats coming after that, but i hope they keep em coming. 09’ is the year for Fighting games
