What lead to the decline of 3D Fighting games?

[Great_Dark_Hero]

DOA4 was… an anomaly to say the least. Imagine if Itagaki somehow had control over the general game mechanics of DOA5… shudders

[d3v]

That would make a bunch of scrubquotes regulars happy. Like, the crowd that keeps asking for air holds and wallbounce holds.

[Kecka]

I think it’s partially because 3d fighters generally aren’t as interesting to the more casual observer. I love Tekken and Soul Calibur, but you don’t really get the cool DPs, fireballs and EX moves in those games (aside from Akuma). You don’t really play with the entire screen because 3d movement hugely downplays any zoning, so you have characters just poking at relatively short ranges. If I’m watching Dhalsim in Street Fighter, I’ll instantly see him throwing out yoga fires and stretchy punches and understand that he generally wants to keep out, while Gief wants to get in. If I’m watching Jin versus Dragunov in Tekken, I might not appreciate the subtle differences in range. Not to mention that while 3d combo systems may be more lenient to complete beginners since you can often just mahs buttons and get something, the sheer amount of strings and moves can be really intimidating.

Early on, 3d fighters had an edge both because of the distinct visuals compared to sprite based 2d fighters and the novelty of 3d movement adding to the complexity. This allowed them to get a foothold that was expanded on, and the fact you didn’t really have strict links or motions like 2d fighters helped make them a casual favorite (seriously, who didn’t own Tekken 3?) because anyone could play. Not very well, but they could still get moves. Nowadays they don’t have the visual advantage, and 2d games gain a lot from generally having flashier and more distinct moves and characters with more visually distinct playstyles.

Soul Calibur died because they tried to fix this problem with a new cast and flashy super/EX moves. Except that’s not what anybody wanted out of SC. Not a single person went “Man, Kilik is so lame! I wish he was some young dude obsessed with food, that would be the best!” or “Why doesn’t Lizardman grow wings and slam into people?”

I really don’t think the addition of EX and Super moves was part of the reason it died. That was all on the roster changes (dumb as hell) and lack of casual content

I don’t think doing that was what killed it either, but I definitely think it was part of it. Too much too fast. It didn’t quite feel like Soul Calibur anymore. If you want to add a bunch of mechanics, do that but keep the roster. If you want to change the roster, keep the basic mechanics. Messing with everything that made people like the previous games didn’t work for Street Fighter 3, and it didn’t work for Soul Calibur 5. It’s cool to innovate, but at the same time you need to give something to the people who actually supported the previous iterations.

[d3v]

Cleaned the thread up because some people were acting like idiots and starting shit.

[keo-bas]

I’m a little hard press to dislike soul Calibur or any game that changes rooster because you have to make serie3s feel fresh or different. And as much people moan about losing character majority fo their play style was left intact but in different form. not to mention create a character is thing theory could use to have that character back. Only thing I can criticise soul Calibur 5 is for its story and even then soul Calibur story was never amazing.

even when character return in say game their nothing to stopped them from operating as a whole new character. So honestly is wiser to use new character and not deal with people complaining about how their character is different. There is also the possibility developer may not want to be strained to keep doing the same thing over and over again.

[Femto_1]

Parrys using meter and taking damage after a throw is pretty gross.

I agree with your other points. Especially new characters.

[NeverYouMind]

I have no need for making or using cookie cutter versions of my characters when I can experience the real deal in past installments. With nothing worthwhile to add the existence of the installment in question is redundant.