Hello all, as of late I have felt the need to say something…
Perhaps part of why SNK players don’t get respect is the need for some of them to ban all kinds of shit that other communities would never stoop to.
Blatantly broken hidden characters? Fine. Capcom has ST Akuma, SNK has its infamously overpowered bosses.
But INFINITES?!? Are you fucking serious? Nobody is arguing that we should ban other 100% combos, and I still fail to see how infinites are any different. The Capcom community hasn’t banned infinites (except deadbody ones in Marvel, as those run out the clock forever and are wrong in many other ways)…hell, even the fucking DOA people allowed infinites in 3!
Even more hilariously, the SNK scene currently allows infinites in some games but not others. Mizuchi in NGBC? A-okay! But Akari in LB2? OH NOES! Seriously, I defy anybody to give me a coherent explanation for this.
You’re also not allowed to use Oswald’s unblockable in XI. Yes, he’s top tier (or very close, anyway), but so is Eddie in XX/#r/AC, and unblockables have always been allowed as a critical part of his game. And I don’t see how unblockables are any worse than infinites - both require you to work for that initial hit, and unblockables may not even be able to kill you!
And best of all, some people are clamoring to ban some of the characters in 98UM, BEFORE THE GAME EVEN FUCKING COMES OUT. I’ll let that speak for itself.
Of course, I know that there are two real reasons for all this:
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Asian worship. This is the same disease that commonly afflicts the Guilty Gear community - the idea that whatever Japan (& China in SNK’s case) does is the best way to do it. This is what has led many GGXX players to seriously argue for team tournaments (and even a couple to argue for single-elimination tournaments!), and it is what has led to many of the various bans for SNK games.
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The fear that these games will be ruined if such powerful tactics are allowed. This may be valid in some cases, but certainly not in others, as explained below.
So, what to do about this?
For starters, quit with the foreign dickriding. With how different our fighting-game scene is, trying to be just like the Asians is a losing route. Instead, I would recommend an “(almost) anything goes” policy; we 100% allow Old Sagat and Japan doesn’t, and that certainly hasn’t hurt our skill level in ST. Those who survive the bullshit are stronger players as a result of it, plain and simple.
And this will indeed hurt some games. Last Blade 2 stands out as an example, and another one is Ninja Master’s. SS Tenka, to a lesser extent.
So what, I say? If this really is the case, then these games do not deserve to be played competitively. There are so many other quality SNK fighters, even ones that have infinites and are still great tournament games (RB2, for starters)…and those are what we should focus on!
I truly believe that American SNK can become a force, something worth respecting…but we must first get past these mental barriers!
Just my .02,
Josh.
