Hey all,
This is the most recent article I wrote for my website Punching the Walls of Reality. Lemme know what you think. And if you agree or disagree with my argument or rant rather. Thanks!
For years, I’ve held the belief that Capcom hates its fighting game fans. But now that I’m older and more mature (lulz!), I realize that it’s not hate that they have for us, but a lack of respect. I realize that Capcom is not some sort of sentient entity. No, it’s made of a collective of assholes; from Yoshinori Ono to Seth Killian. That said, I must give credit where credit is due and those two should get props for reviving both the numbered Street Fighter series as well as the Marvel vs Capcom franchise. Bravo!
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Shouldn’t she have graduated by now? Oh? She’s on the ten year plan.
Instead of drawing entirely from the games that came before them, they instead created the sequels in their own image. Fair enough, it’s been 10+ years since the release of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Marvel vs Capcom 2 so I can’t gripe too much about making changes to the series. Of course in typical Capcom fashion, the releases of SFIV and MVC3 weren’t just one and done; subsequent revisions of both series came down the pike. With the release of SFIV: Arcade Edition, some love was finally shown to SF3: 3rd Strike with the inclusion of Dudley, Makoto and Ibuki( and later Yun and Yang). But the same can’t be said about some of my beloved characters from MVC2.
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What a goddamn slap in the face!
Since the release of the “vanilla” MVC3, fans have been clamoring for the inclusion of Mega Man. But even after adding several characters to Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mega Man is still MIA. Regardless, fans were still hopeful that the Blue Bomber would be made available via DLC, hell Jill and that eyeball alien thing received that treatment. To the dismay of Mega Man hopefuls, Seth Killian put an end to speculation that any DLC was planned. Effectively, it means no Mega Man. Only a couple of days later, there came the announcement that “bad box art” Mega Man, as well as Pacman (huh?), would be playable characters in Street Fighter X Tekken. What? Who the fuck asked for that? People have been waiting for the announcement of their favorite Street Fighter and Tekken characters; Sakura, Blanka, Steve Fox, Dragunov, Lars and so many more. Instead they keep giving us bullshit characters; there’s five of them now: In addition to Mega Man and Pacman(with mokujin-bot), there’s Cole from Infamous and two stupid ass cats! I can easily name at least 20 characters that Capcom would be remiss to not include in Street Fighter x Tekken. What the hell, Capcom?!
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Megaman has seen better days, like every other day prior
Capcom’s Rey Jimenez further drove the knife in the back when he announced that unless the DLC content was planned ahead of time, it would be near impossible to add content post release, to paraphrase. I find this interesting, because I had assumed that DLC functioned much like an expansion pack where content could easily be added post release. Alas, it seems like that isn’t the case.
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le sigh
Now, I’m known to jump the gun so maybe, just maybe, if they have all this time to work on PS3 exclusive characters, we can expect a plethora of characters to be announced between now and the game’s release date. According to Ono, this is in fact the case, he claims that the guest characters aren’t taking up “character space”, they’re simply being added on top of the planned roster.
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Read the words in the picture, dummy
I’d like to be hopeful but my faith in Capcom adhering to the wants of their fans is nearly non-existent. Conversely, Namco, who will later be releasing their version of the crossover series in Tekken X Street Fighter, will be allowing fans to vote on who they’d like to see in the game. Imagine that, getting input from the people who are actually planning to purchase your game. Thanks Namco, maybe Capcom will learn something from this crossover. Yeah, I know they won’t. -_-
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Here’s hoping for the future…
Moving on…back to everyone’s favorite perv, Ono. I’ve heard people go back and forth in both praising and condemning Ono. On one hand; if it weren’t for him there would be no Street Fighter IV. On the other hand; if it weren’t for him there would be no Street Fighter IV. So depending on how you slice it, he’s either the savior or the ire of Street Fighter fans. I had given him the benefit of the doubt until a recent interview where he claimed that the “gem system” is the future of fighting games. Again, what the hell? With all the backlash and negative reactions to the gem system, why the hell would he say that? More importantly, does he really believe that adding gems to future incarnations of fighting games will help these games evolve? I doubt it. I know he’s smart enough to realize that. No, instead it’s another gimmick to assist newbies. Sigh All the gems in the world aren’t going to save you from players who can kill you in one combo, and there are plenty of them online. Please Capcom, stop with this bullshit of spoon feeding people who are new to the fighting game genre. This isn’t “No Child Left Behind,” they’re not going to get any better if you keep holding their hand. It seems like every addition to SFxTekken is aimed at helping noobs be competitive; Pandora mode and programmable combos. I’ve made this argument previously but here it is again, FUCK YOU CAPCOM! Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant to say but I really don’t like to repeat myself.
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As J. Agamemnon once said, “Seriously Capcom, Fuck you!”
Gamers who are new to the fighting game genre, or simply suck at fighting games in general, aren’t going to suddenly be competitive because they’re given some new tools. Iron sharpens iron. Coddling will only hold back progress, not further it. Not to mention most fighting games for the past 10 years have included the option to play with a handicap. You’d think that having your opponent reduce their life to 50% would even the odds, but I guess not. The last time I checked, that’s what practice mode was for. As for single player mode, if you can’t even beat arcade mode on easy then you need more practice. It’s as simple as that. It’s not any different than any other game genre.
Every genre is challenging but it seems like fighting games, specifically Capcom developed fighting games, are the only ones getting this treatment. Hell if anything, the First Person Shooter genre has gotten more challenging. Codes for “God Mode” or unlimited ammo aren’t in abundance like they used to be. Nope, now you have to gasp get better! I haven’t heard anything about Soul Caliber V dumbing down its game play, only innovating and trying to make the game more competitive. I can only hope that moving forward, Capcom will realize what a rabid and loyal fan base they have and they’ll begin to acknowledge and appreciate us…yeah, I lol’d at that notion as well.
- The “Aghast” Prometheus