It’s not a demographic that matters very much though. SF can be (and was!) a mainstream breakthrough that vitalizes the scene, MK can be one, maybe Tekken, the rest of these games don’t have the heft. Skullgirls will appeal to the anime game scene and will have a few crossovers, there’s no reason to believe any influence beyond that…
Except in the sense that it’s an independently developed game, and if it succeeds, you’ll see a nice positive effect that way. So its not the nature or mechanics of the game that really matters at all for ‘influence’, its that it’s been developed and exists.
It should be noted that the Smash Bros. games have nostalgia behind them. The characters are already established from back when these players were little kids and manly men rep didn’t matter.
I do think aesthetics matter, it’s just that I really love the aesthetics in this game. It’s all got a delicious Darkstalkers vibe to it with one part attractive ten parts creepy and coupled with those lovely art deco backgrounds it is just beautiful to look at. But hey, what do I know, I’m the guy who wouldn’t try fighting games because I didn’t like Ryu’s design.
Should go without saying really. It makes people easy targets, but if people like the looks of Arcana Heart say (not comparing SkG to AH aesthetically, but it’s the most extreme example I can think of offhand), they shouldn’t have to be embarrassed about it.
Yeah, easier said than done, but still. A lot of people like the skullgirls aesthetic, a lot of people don’t, and that’s totally fine. The problem is when you start saying ‘you’re a perv for liking that’ or ‘you should be able to see beyond the look to the gameplay!’ Neither of those is accurate or helpful.
I guess my point is this: Not liking the look is a valid reason not to get the game. On the other hand, free demo! You can’t really know for sure until you’ve tried it.
There’s such a huge difference IMO between Mike Z and Sirloin that it…I’m not even sure why I’d have to bring it up.
Americans have spoken and as far ask the public is concerned…it seems the casual player is most comfortable with the way Mortal Kombat is doing fighting games. Which whaddyakno, is US based.
Well yeah I didn’t point that out because it’s obvious that nostalgia is behind it but…even with the nostalgia there’s definitely people who have gotten over it and just see it as little men fighting little animals.
You people are thinking to much about this and the reason is very simple:
I don’t give a shit about aesthetics (i have my personal preferences but they are not impediment for enjoying the game to an extent), i will buy it because i love the genre and i am interested on trying new things on the genre, if it turns out to be good it will be a great investment (15$, this doesn’t even need an explanation), aesthetics didn’t stop me from playing AH or other Fighting games (although is a valid complaint and some people could feel uncomfortable), personally i care about having a good time playing FG.
The art style is old school American art. Love Peacock! Such an amazing concept! I love it. My only real issue is that its sexualized. But its not TOO sexualized. It’s not like Arcana Heart where I feel like a pedo when I play it.
On Sirlin: The man did a kick ass job with HDR. Stop belittling his work.
I should start crowing in every thread about how awesome Guilty Gear XX AC is and how it’s so much better than these current games we’re playing and that we should all be saving up our fight money to get the PSN/XBLA release instead of the next Capcom fighting game.
I’m LOL’ing at the folks who are saying that the gameplay is great and everything but the characters are so wacky and weird and fetish-y and everything (like it’s not part of the game or anything)
…and then go and play the steaming pile of excrement known as Street Fighter X Tekken because Street Fighter. And Capcom. [S]Fuck Tekken[/S]
[S]Street Fighter X Tekken looks and plays like glazed doo-doo[/S]
Skullgirls fans…we get it. Skullgirls. It’s hip, it’s hop, it’s happening. No need to shove it down our fucking throats. There’s a demo coming, right? Those still on the fence should download it, play it, see if it’s something you want to sink your teeth into. Those who have already decided to get it, good for you. Those who have decided not to, good for you too. [S][/S]
Except that Fanatiq, Combofiend, Justin Wong, MK community(they are interested in this game, they support this game on Test Your Might.), Dustloop,etc are interested in this game. There has been literally no recent fighting game has can capture all of these communities in one game.
Combine that this game caters more to the American fighting game scene’s demand for a fighter, and you got a interesting fighter in your hands. There is no fighting game that actually does this at all.
Surely you guys are lying to yourselves if art work has completely nothing to do with picking games out. Anyway, my point has been made. I’m definitely not hating on the game for the art, it’s just a first impression when I pick games out. I like games with some depth to technical play. Nothing too basic, nothing too deep where it’d take you forever to learn. I’m getting old, I don’t wanna try and play a game for months and months before I get decent. Games coming out now like Skullgirls is on the right track with tutorials and stuff. You want people to get into the nitty gritty asap. Challenge modes and etc in SF4/SFxT are bland and they don’t teach too much to people that are just buying the game for the sake of it.
Just random figures off the bat, a huge demograph of people buying Capcom games probably buy it cuz it’s new and it’s from Capcom. The other half is broken down into tournament players that don’t win, tournament players that win, and just enthusiasts (which I consider myself to be a part of.) I think Skullgirls would have enough depth to attract at least the enthusiasts and tournament players.
Once cool things start to happen, the huge demograph that just buy games for the franchise and whatnot will probably give newer games some chance for how it plays rather than how it looked to them initially. So just blatantly screaming at people “YO SKULLGIRLS IT’S MAD GOOD, GO GET IT” is overdoing it and nobody in that camp cares if you keep pressing it. It just comes off as annoying. Just because you have a loud voice, doesn’t make it the most coherent one. It’s kind of like this topic that people need to make to keep telling people to try it.
Let the game release and mature.
Anyways, see you guys Tuesday afternoon.
Shots fired?!?! Nah. This is a new IP. Sirlin butchered ST, something that was already an established IP. Two totally different things.
Yeah every fighting game is sexualized to some degree. Even the men are designed to be physically perfect and stuff that women wouldn’t have problems looking at. One of my female friends saw Lion in VF5 and the first thing she said was “oh…that guy is cute” and I’m just like “ugggh…”. If we wanted to get more girls into fighting games I guess we could just get a bunch of Justin Bieber looking ass men in the games and cute bitches to go with them.
I can understand why some may not like it…but again it’s the same reason why some people don’t like 2 sweaty men wrestling or like little men and animals fighting each other also.
I really don’t care about Mike Z the person, and won’t buy a game just because he made it. What I do care about is that this person seems to deliver the goods (knows what we want and implements it well, with no bad compromises) when you look at the raw facts.
So from a strictly business point of view, I’m a pleased customer for what he has to offer.
Yeah I’m not really buying the game blindly on MikeZ. It’s just it happens to be that cool guy that I remember seeing at the first Evo I went to that used SA3 Makoto in 3S. It’s just easier to get associated with him through history I guess. It just so happens that he’s putting in all this stuff that I’ve been hoping past fighting games would have been more about for years.
At least when they’re fighting…the girls even in Arcana Heart are more modest than people give it credit for. In the actual storyline it starts getting into lesbian innuendos and stuff but unless you follow the story and all of that stuff you don’t even really initially get that. At least visually during the matches the characters just worry about fighting each other.
Melty Blood somehow gets crap sometimes too when all of the girls are VERY modestly dressed and the game has several male characters.
Yo. A lot of you guys in here are killing me. You like the game because it isn’t Capcom/you like the gameplay/you like the designs/etc…? Cool. Buy it and shut up. You don’t like the game because it isn’t Capcom/you don’t like the gameplay/you don’t like the design/etc…? Cool. Don’t buy it and shut up. Simple, no?
Look, Skullgirls supporters: I understand your excitement and enthusiasm and I respect your attempts to build up a scene for this game. However, using propaganda and strong arm tactics to convince people to your side is not the way. The way you build a community is by going to local meetups, bringing a setup and playing a few rounds with people to give them a feel for it and get them interested by-GASP- actually PLAYING THE GAME. Novel concept, right? Try more of that rather than ‘support Skullgirls because MikeZ is the bestest, Capcom sucks donkey balls, and your current game of choice is ass’. You get more flies with sugar than with vinegar.
Skullgirls detractors: Why are you guys even here? Are you afraid Skullgirls is going to take numbers away from your scenes? I don’t like MK all that much, but you don’t see me wandering into MK-centric topics bashing that game or its players. Look, I know some of the SG faithful can be a bit overzealous, but don’t let the actions of a few color your perception. You’d be doing the same thing the mainstream gaming media does everytime a negative story comes out of the FGC… I know you’re all better than the staff at Kotaku, so don’t become that guy.
TL;DR version: If you like Skullgirls, awesome. Buy it and play the hell out of it. Show it to your friends and get them interested. No need to soapbox on an internet forum preaching to people who won’t support it anyway. Find like-minded peers(like in this site’s SG forum!) and support it that way. If you don’t like Skullgirls, awesome. Don’t buy it and stay away from it. Don’t go into places where the SG faithful are and attack them. Continue to play the games you do enjoy and let other people enjoy theirs. There’s room for both of you.
