Here is what I would say: I would like to join the SNK community, enter a couple tournaments, whatever. Which of these should I practice?
Which are the best or the most popular? What is the community focused around? I’m not saying that any of these are bad games, just that it’s difficult to jump on when given a big list. I’m not even sure how these games differ.
I’ve played KOF98 and MOTW, but not the other three, and I don’t know much about them.
All I’m asking is make it easy for people like to me get going. I entered a tournament or two back for KOF98 and SS2 on Kaillera…for example I didn’t even know that GGPO supported KOF98. Is playing KOF98 over GGPO a good place to start?
How is Breakers Revenge a ‘great’ game? It’s fun to screw around in, and it’s really close to being solid, but there’s some shit in it that makes it really dumb, imo. Like how ridiculously good supers are, the way moves sometimes seem to do totally random damage, Saizo being ridiculous, the graphics and general presentation being absolutely horrible, etc…
Does it seriously have a following that rivals that of KOF98, XI, Garou, NGBC etc.? Because that seems really fucking weird to me.
There is shit in EVERY game that makes it ‘dumb’. Show me one fighter that, when played on a high level, doesnt have ‘dumb’ shit. Breaker’s dumb stuff in no way runs the show. Saizo is totally beatable. ST has tons of random damage too.
The sprites are very large and unique, even if they do not suit your tastes. A lot of people just really enjoy competing in Breakers.
I don’t really know enough about the game to argue with you so I’ll have to take your word for it re: the dumb stuff. That said, I have trouble seeing the game as something worthy of promoting simply because of how ugly it is. This isn’t just about the sprites (although I certainly do find them awkward, dull and derivative) but the terrible sound effects, voices, music, character portraits, moves that are blatant knockoffs of SF moves… just about every aesthetic feature of the game really. It just seems like it’d be a really hard sell, because most people unfamiliar with the game are going to take one look at it and think “is this a joke?”
Once again, I do actually like the game, I just find it hard to believe that it’s worth promoting on the level of KOF98, XI et al.
I am not a serious snk player (although I appreciate a lot of the games and characters), and to be blunt it seems that the attitude and tastes of the average snk fan is incompatible with serious play or a tournament scene. That said, it would be interesting to see more games develop serious competition/scenes, and people around here seem earnest about it. But -
If you don’t settle on a very small number of games to try and establish, you’ll never get anywhere.
Seriously, pick 1 or 2 games, encourage people to play them seriously, throw tourneys, hype what you’re doing. That’s basically all you can do, and all you need to do. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. Having between 4-10 games everyone is trying to play is not going to lead to serious competition or a competitive scene. Start with a solid base, build from there. It’s not a problem to have tourneys for other games at a given event, but it needs to be clear to everyone what the “major” games are. Again, I stress that the number of “major” games needs to be extremely small.
I suggest a poll to determine what people would like to have as the majors. A lot of people might be hard pressed to pick just 1 game however, so I suggest 2 polls. The first “What is your first choice for a major snk game?” The second, “What is your second choice for a major snk game?” Assign each game 2 points for votes from the first poll, 1 point for votes from the second. Whichever games have the 2 highest totals are the 2 games you go with.
That way, you avoid all the “we need 1 old kof, 1 new kof, 1 ss, etc” People just pick the 2 games they would most like to see. I’d be pretty shocked if one of the top 2 choices wasn’t a kof game anyway. Maybe you oughta have a discussion thread a day or two before the poll, so people can make their last arguments for or against games. Oh yeah, one last thing -
If you don’t settle on a very small number of games to try and establish, you’ll never get anywhere.
While I agree that a few breaker’s characters have VERY SF knockoff moves (re: Dao Long and Tia), the rest of them are unique enough (re: Condor, Saizo, Maherl, Alsion).
But, if we do choose a “street fighter like” game to promote, it needs to be WHP. This game has some of the most unique characters in any fighting game. And its chock full of the dumbest stuff you’ve ever seen. But it strikes a balance, because EVERY character has tons of dumb stuff. Imagine if in MvC2, every character could do what Storm can do. Yeah.
Ehh, maybe I made a bad analogy. Imagine a game where every character has a similar ammount of BS to abuse, and are all wildly unique. (except janne)
Lukas - I travel to fighting game tournaments to play fighting games. I DO NOT travel to SNK tournaments or capcom tournaments or namco tournaments or smash tournaments. Im sure you know by now, my taste in fighting games is very non-discriminatory. So, no, I would not travel for SNK alone.
Again, I think Garou could be a huge game for the SNK scene. If it had more exposure, it could constantly get people interested in it and wanting to learn it at a competitive level ala 3s.
As long as there is a SamSho game in the mix im all about it… SST or SSVsp whatever. The SamSho series to me has to be considered a pillar in the SNK community.
of course there a garbage iterations but what game hasn’t had that happen? KOF 98 is a definite but like a lot of people have been saying having a “new” KOF is also good…
Garou needs love simply cause its 3s but not 3s… if you understand my vernacular
I honestly think since the US scene is so scattered its gonna be hard to find that sweet spot on what should be the “final 3” or two or whatever number you guys decide but if we at least try to create a scene in our own local spots we can have better national gatherings.
seriously tho, i think a big part of the issue is the fragmented scene on a whole is basically a gang of two or three friends that play casuals with each other whenever the chance arises… and thats understandable some of us have lives and shit, if we want to create a real “scene” people need to step up host gatherings like my boy wicked did recently for SoCal.
