What can Capcom's SFV learn from NRS's Mortal Kombat X

Street Fighter V
1

No, this is NOT a let’s turn SF into MK thread. Here’s what this is, MKX just sold millions of copies, breaking the franchise’s own record for the biggest debut in its history, and has received generally positive critical reviews all round. Whatever your opinion of the game and NRS has been, they are doing something right to be able to have this level of attention and cash in on it like this. SF can learn a thing or two from MK and there is no shame in that. I want SF5 to make money because I don’t want to see my favorite series die again. Anyway, MK is very gimmicky, which SF thankfully has never been and it is why SF (even older SF games) continue to be the premium fighting game experience IMO. However, there are few gimmicks SF could borrow from MK without compromising its integrity.[list=1]

[*] Motherfucking Marketing!

Did you see that Charlie trailer, ‘a street fighter legend is reborn’ in that ugly 3D typeface, wtf was that!? Capcom needs BETTER trailers if they wanna get people’s attention. I mean LOOK AT THIS MOTHERFUCKER:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNH2k5fwmqo

and this motherfucker too…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm8DOcm2RBA

And these are only a sample of the Hollywood level of bullshit marketing power NRS wields courtesy of their Warner Bros. Overlords, the MK Hype Machine is real. Will Sony not save us from oblivion?

[*] Appearances Can Be Deceiving.

2a. Changing up characters appearances (within reason while remaining faithful to the character’s color palette) gives people the illusion that this game is different (even if it isn’t), it’s like a Jedi mindtrick and companies have been doing this to their products for DECADES because it bloody works! Arguably one of the main criticisms against the SF5 gameplay we’ve seen so far is how similar it looks to SF4 (even though it is superior in every way), this could’ve been completely or partially alleviated by changing the character’s costumes up just enough to make them different but not too much that they are unrecognizable. Capcom is very much afraid of this and needs to get over its fear of superficial change. Not everyone can see changes to frame data and mechanics, most cannot actually and they do not care. This point caters to those shallow fools (self included :()! MUWAHAHAHA!

2b. MKX’s attention to detail is also incredible. Many costumes but especially the stages are incredibly well detailed and the effort put into them is very apparent. MKX also went very far with the stage interactions, something Capcom has already included in some capacity. Thankfully, you can turn off these stage interactions online in MKX, something I also hope Capcom picks on. The one stage we’ve seen so far from SFV is great, but nothing to brag about.

Note: *‘Appearances can be deceiving’ goes both ways, ergo the reversal of this point also is true. If the character appearances do not look different enough or at all, it will be assumed that this game is exactly the same even if it actually and truly isn’t; which happens to be the case for SF5 so far. *

[*] The Superior Single Player SEXPERIENCE!

3a. MKX’s story mode took a generic and typical MK story (which is practically a rehash of MK4’s story) and recycled it, reimagined it, repackaged it into something ceaselessly entertaining for a fighting game IMO. MKX’s presentation and execution of story mode is unparalleled for a fighting game (critics also agree) and if you need proof of its effect look no further than all the youtube videos. The interest by casuals is very real, something many gaming sites and gaming youtube channels have picked up on. I would wager that MANY gamers bought MKX because the story mode (established in MK9 and Injustice) was a strong selling point and if it never was, guess what? NOW IT IS. If this wasn’t enough, NRS went the extra mile and included ‘MAYBE CANON’ individual endings for every single character alongside the canon story mode. That level of dedication has sadly been absent in the SF franchise, but is arguably needed more than ever before. It doesn’t matter what the story is, as much as it matters how well the story is told and executed (look at the SF2 Animated Movie, a perfect example of execution over substance that produced one of the best game animes EVER). The good news is SF4’s ‘story mode’ (loosely speaking) was actually the best in the SF franchise’s history, so Capcom picked up on this point, how far they will go remains to be seen.

3b. More game modes! Ok so maybe the Faction Mode isn’t completely fleshed out yet, but it’s creative and has great potential and so does the Living Tower. NRS are using both modes as possible platforms for new and free DLC that can be unlocked by completing certain challenges and gaining certain number of points for you and/or your faction. It’s a great concept that will be streamlined more as time goes on. SF5 could certainly use modes like this, SFA3’s world tour mode was fucking fantastic why was it dropped? I’d love it if Capcom pays a little attention to this aspect of the game because 1v1 ranked isn’t everything.

[*] Blood and Fatalities

Street Fighter should finally include blood and give characters FATALITIES in the form of ultra moves that eviscerate opponents on knock out! Just kidding, but it would be cool right? Right? Ok, I’ll go now…

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2

I’d say everyone in this forum would rather have a game that is fun and competitive, with godlike netcode.

But all that is very much true and we (and Capcom) could only gain from casual interest.

3

Agreed completely. I wouldn’t want SF5 to sacrifice the quality of the actual fighting in favor of everything I mentioned. But it is a false dilemma to believe that we have to choose between the two, YOU CAN HAVE BOTH and SF4’s commercial success should allow us to have both.

4

Man that MKX trailer was fucking shit IMO

when it comes to trailers I think Capcom is doing it better than NetherRealm

Like man, I can feel the hype for the game with each of the trailers :smiley:

5

I’ll concede that the music was shit in the first trailer, but it was still visually very appealing and set the stage for what people were to expect from MKX for the following year.

But let’s compare MKX’s launch trailer with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uOt-XmNrQw

5 minutes of terrible English voice acting and a generic montage of literally everything. Really, they put everything in there and just hoped for the best. The trailer had no sense of drama, which is what a trailer ought to have to be effective. MKX’s launch trailer had that, it’s almost like a movie trailer which have over many generations perfected the formula of brainwashing you into paying your money for their crap.

6

Yeah they did a brilliant job with MKX. It drew in tons of people who never even picked up a fighting game, casual fighting game fans, as well.

SFV. Again…someone who isn’t some hardcore SF fan, or even big into fighting games, what is drawing them to pick it up? SFV is superior looking to SF4, no doubt, and there seem to be some gameplay differences (V triggers, characters having different amounts of meter) but people here are fooling themselves if they think your average casual gamer is going to see any reason to pick this up. 99% of people aren’t going to deeply analyze the trailer, and aren’t experts on everything street fighter. The job of a game trailer is to grab people, not for people to analyze and watch a hundred times and see some potential. In this so far SFV has failed.

7

I’ll tell you what they can learn. They can learn what NOT to do for online. MKX online is such garbage. In SF when searching for matches you get a selection of players to choose from where you can see all there connection values and pretty much start your games within 10 seconds of searching. In MKX you have to wait for a couple of minutes just for it to find one random person. I know ppl hate on SF online, but it really is eons ahead of the MK’s primitive online system.

Bitching aside, I’d say the one thing that SF can actually learn from MKX is how to make a story that incorporates all of the characters. Even though I didn’t particularly like MKX’s story, I commend them for how well all the characters fit into it. It may not work for SF where characters can have singular story arcs, but they still need to up the quality of their story mode.

8

Another thing they can learn not to do, aside from online, is not to take the game into a gameplay direction that players didn’t like in the last game. For MKX, it’s something they took from Injustice that is surprisingly also something in SFIV - 50/50 set play Injustice, even more so than the SFIV series, ended up being dominated by a couple of characters with safe 50/50 vortex setups. Now, for some reason, NRS has made it so that alot of MKX revolves around 50/50 vortex setups. I’d hate for SFV to go in that direction and become as set-plat centric or even more about set-play than SFIV.

9

MKX made several of my friends buy a fighting game for the first time, and at least one of them has started trying to learn it seriously. For the rest of them we had a beer-filled fatality fest last weekend that we’re planning to repeat quite soon. The game is fast-paced, accessible and extremely cathartic, and the additional game modes are great(drunken test your luck <3). The brand name obviously helped, but the game is actually good on top of that.

Also, while at some point I’m probably going to get tired of the fact that that everyone and their dog has a safe vortex, that’s currently way less of a problem than I though it would be. In fact, my reaction to the game wasn’t as much “aaaah everyone has setplays” as it was “what the fuck, the neutral game is surprisingly interesting”. It’s not something I’d want in every game, but it actually works for MKX. It’s also, sadly, a lot easier to learn a couple of setups and win with that than it is to get a good neutral game, on top of the fact that for an untrained spectator it’s easier (and often more entertaining) to understand and appreciate canned offense than footsies and zoning(look at everyone complaining about ChrisG in the comments of UMvC3-videos for examples of that).

I wouldn’t want SFV to be a setplay-centric game though. SF should be about the ground game. If I want setplays I can play something else. Like MKX.

10

MKX still has a bad taste in my mouth from that awful PC launch and poor optimization. But that’s a bias from my preferred platform. I think the only things I agree capcom could learn from MKX would be story mode, and the idea of unlockable costumes/content through something similar to the crypt. Visually I think MKX has done to much dodges thrown popcorn and boot its really distracting, as if they want you to spend more time staring at the set dressing then on the action, some stages even have obnoxious lighting effects that obscure the fight. … OH! Environmental hazards are fun tho, that could be neat as long as it could be turned off for tourneys and such.
alternate game modes sounds great to, but I think it’d be better if it was in the sense of stuff like test your luck. The goofier the better. Personally I think omega mode was the best thing since fireballs and gravity defying uppercuts, but it didn’t have its own matchmaking :<

11

Things Capcom could learn?

  1. Don’t use input delay netcode ever again
  2. Don’t outsource the PC version
  3. Don’t do something stupid like making it a console exclusi…nvm

2/3 ain’t bad to shoot for

12

Its not console exclusive, its on PC as well. And tbh I don’t think a lot of that was on capcom, and I also don’t believe sony shoved money down their throat until they agreed. It feels more like Microsoft didn’t want it enough, why bother when they could foster the following KI has? At any rate, if theres anything capcom should look at MKX and learn its “make sure your PC version is working ya idjit”. But with the plans for cross platform play I don’t think they would let that be an issue.

13

Hopefully nothing

14

psh, financial desperation X Japan more like it.
But if that Q-Loc logo appears on the PC version, be afraid, be very afraid…

15

I also like has NRS has multiple unique intros for every character vs every character. It’s crazy how much dialogue that amounts to.

16

Yeah they went all out with the characters this time and the voice acting is great. Kotal, Shinnok, Quan, Reptile, Cage, and very honorable mention goes to Dvorah. Top notch english voice acting.

17
  1. Don’t use delay based netcode
  2. Give a huge amount of single player content, different and FUN modes, for example MKX allows for modefiers which are a blast and not too serious. Just having standard story, arcade mode, versus, trials, online aren’t enough. A lot of unlockable stuff, character themes, costumes, taunts, player icons, character intro’s etc
  3. No cheap-ass anime endings, tell the story with in-game characters.
  4. Make the game fast paced, SF is sometimes a real bore fest to watch, though i guess that is what you get when the game focuses a lot on the neutral.
  5. Market the game hard, CG trailers are absolutely fine, doing an invitational like Fatal 8 did for MKX
  6. Attention to detail, great stage design also with weather effects, character specific intro’s, great voice acting. Honestly SFV should graphically be pushed a lot more, even if it is only “20%” finished.
  7. MKX has good music but all are very unmemorable, hope Capcom sticks with character and stage themes.
  8. Make anti-airs STRONG, anti-airing in MKX is really difficult for a lot of characters, and it negates a lot of the neutral game
  9. No unnecessary inputs, which SFIV already mostly did. No reason for double quarter or half circle inputs or delta inputs for charge characters. Inputs for legs and hands are dated and obnoxious.
  10. Add an input buffer of 1-2 extra frames for performing links, they already did this for certain moves in omega mode.
  11. Add a run, i like it in MKX, i like it in KOF, it speeds up the game and it just looks cool. I play Guy also and it honestly is a very fun mechanic.
  12. Don’t add rolls or delayed wakeups

Points 6 and 7 are probably ones a lot of people don’t like, mainly old school players i guess. Why make something double quarter or half circle why it could have simply been made one quarter or half circle +3p/3k. The motion is so that it is atleast deliberate. Everyone is plinking anyway so adding an input buffer by default so it isn’t a big deal at all.

*Do i sound like a casual with this post, great, because that is what it takes for Capcom to atleast get noticed by this crowd.

18

That’s because they got Kelly Hu to play the part. Hollywood talent right there.

19

you’re wrong OP MKX sold millions because of this commercial alone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H_xXxPsbpw

20

…

You’re a clown, man.