For me… I admit I’m easy to please, so I tend to like a lot of things, but a few things I think a great fighting game should do:
-Emphasis on neutral game/footsies/spacing over all else. This is the most important part of what makes a fighter good in my mind (come to think of it… more than just fighters actually), and it’s the aspect of the game where fighters shine the most as a powerful, tense and competitive product. The strength of a fighting game period rides on the quality of its neutral game.
As part of that… Less emphasis on the gameplay after a hit confirm (but still enough combo options to allow for style and variety).
Decent options for a defender to put the game back at neutral while under pressure, but things like invincible reversals should be expensive, risky, or both. A game where a defender has completely free GTFO options is flawed, but so is one where the attacker has completely safe mixup options that lead into more completely safe mixup options even if they guess wrong. The attacker should be at an advantage, obviously, because he’s the one applying pressure. But in some games it can just be too free.
-A combo system that’s very balanced between creativity and control. I frankly don’t know enough game design to really tell people how to accomplish this, but for examples regarding Capcom games only, on one end you have SF4, where a too stifling system oftentimes the system is so restricting that going for overly advanced or expensive combos becomes a wasted effort. On the other you have MvC3, where a combo system is so free that with few exceptions, you can almost always convert into a standard BnB and the concept of changing your combo in order to establish better spacing (etc.) as opposed to going for max damage is nearly nonexistent.
-Character variety should be immense. There should be simple characters, complex characters and in between. Slow tanks and hyper mobile pixies. Fundamentals characters, zoning characters both mid and long range, combo video characters. Everything. The more options a player has, the better. As part of this, system wide mechanics should be left to a bare minimum. Movement options, defensive options, vitality, I don’t see why anything should be set in stone (other than a few hyper basic concepts)
-Limited comeback mechanics. Or none. But if you do want to stick this in a fighter. It should have limited effectiveness. An aid to help overcome a game’s “win more” mechanics can be fine. But a mechanic that suddenly turns a losing battle into an even match when you enter comeback mode is a terrible one. MvC3 and T6 are the worst offenders here IMO. Marvel’s has the worst impact on the game, but from a conceptual standpoint I think T6’s is far worse.
Secondly, if you’re going to throw a comeback mechanic in, at least make it meaningful in some way. Make using the comeback mechanic and fighting the comeback mechanic have some tactics or strategy involved. Again I point to Tekken 6 as the example of what not to do (it hits both points by simultaneously turning a significant life lead into effectively an even match and by adding virtually nothing thoughtful to the game)
These two are more subjective, but things I love
-Nuanced meter usage. I love meter in fighting games. I think it can add a lot of depth and make a game far more dynamic if implemented right. Three basic tenants I think need to be applied to meter though.
-Options off meter need to be varied. Roman cancels, multiple supers, power up modes, guard cancels, whatever. Binary super meter ( like SF2 ) doesn’t add much to the game. Forcing the player to make choices on how to use their meter is a huge part in what makes it compelling. Personally I like cancels and install supers… but I think that making sure you have options is the more important point here
-Meter generation needs to be reasonable. Too fast and resource management stops meaning anything. Too slow and it only becomes something to use in desperation or to force a win.
-Least importantly, I think meter needs to carry over between rounds in round based games, as again, it forces more choice upon the player on how to utilize meter.
Lastly, I’m a big sucker for extra customization options, Grooves, Arcana, assists, power ups, chaos code’s selectable skills, all that jazz. Done well it adds a lot more depth to each character. Not much else to say here. I just think more customization is better.
Either way this is a really interesting topic to discuss… Hope more people offer opinions
