The Fighting Game topic

Smash is a special case because its main draw is that it has the strongest roster of all fighting games. It is the only (high budget) place where Link, Cloud, Mario, and Sonic can beat up each other.

That's perfectly fine, but I don't think that's it. Mario is definitely the most popular video game hero period, but if Pikachu is from the 2nd most popular video game franchise, wouldn't its sister fighting game Pokken be just as wildly successful? But it's not. It's doing okay for a fighter, maybe even better than okay all thins considered, but compared to the massively successful Smash 4 it's only just getting by.

Mortal Kombat, on the other hand, while a big name in American pop culture in the early 90s, is hardly that big in the grand scheme of things. And yet, MKX sold millions and is among the most successful fighting games of the past few years. An IP alone will only take your fighter so far.

Pokken only has 2 "popular" character while Smash has like 10? 15?

Mortal Kombat has a different appeal than Smash.

edited 1st Oct '17 4:34:11 PM by RAlexa21th

Some weird Japanese fighter with Goku, Luffy, Naruto... all the big name shonen warriors in it was released in the west....

And no on bought it because it sucks. Characters and an IP alone aren't going to sell a game. MK "having a different kind of appeal" proves that because aside from Scorpion and Sub-Zero most people don't even know any Mortal Kombat characters.

I never said that Smash only has its roster and company name.

All things being equal, Smash' roster is what put it head and shoulder above its competitors. Same with MK's Fatality.

edited 1st Oct '17 4:40:22 PM by RAlexa21th

Everything's gotta have a gimmick. Something that makes it stand out.

It helps a lot, but all things aren't equal in reality, is the thing. I don't think the game would be as universally loved if it didn't also have a ton of other features and content to sink into. The gameplay itself, with items on and/or on a non-competitive stage, is the most approachable, palatable, least stressful high quality fighting gameplay on the market.

Mortal Kombat's fatalities are almost irrelevant. They're a cute novelty, but its towers, story mode, krypts, and more... content, are what make it so successful, on top of being a functional, decent looking fighting game. I'd argue all the brutalities, more or less easter egg fatalities with special conditions, contribute to MKX's success more than the classic fatalities.

edited 1st Oct '17 4:45:29 PM by Hashil

Oh yeah boy is that true.

Really makes ya want to keep playing the game. Seeing all the nice unlockables & activities.

Same with Injustice. The gear system really makes ya want to play all the characters to get the best shit even if its a character you don't like.

Solid core gameplay, tons of content, and a personality. There’s little things like the challenges, like the character banter, etc, that all add up. Sure it’s fun to fight Jason Vorhees but the game that lets you do so is solid. The overall product is viewed as a value.

edited 1st Oct '17 4:59:38 PM by Beatman1

I would find myself caring more for anime fighters, Soul Calibur, and Tekken than Netherrealms Studios' games.

I dunno if you play these games competitively or not, but with the exception of Tekken with its bowling and character customization, and Blazblue and GG with their impenetrable stories, that's pretty much all they have, and that's part of why they're not as successful as NRS or Smash.

I still don't know what the hell an anime fighter is supposed to be? Really sounds the community is just trying to differentiate the category as much possible.

Well I play Guilty Gear, Splatoon 2, MVCI and Tekken competitively (in that order); with KOF, Rivals of Aether, Pokken and Smash on the side, AMA.

Casual-Competitive Conflict is a thing. I mean, I still think that SFV and MVCI could've been better if the story mode wasn't being developed at all so they can put the money in the graphics, netcode and gameplay.

Speaking of easy enough fighting games, Fantasy Strike is on Steam early access right now for $20. And Rising Thunder, I think the problem with it is knowledge of the combo/juggling system is still needed, which is why it ended up still kinda complicated. Which makes all its characters feel like SFV's Ed but with a timer on each move.

I feel like Ed should've been a base roster character in SFV. He is really the best character to use for a new player.

Story time: I know I take the Hadouken motion for granted now... but I think I had an epiphany about new fighting players about a month ago. I met a Tekken player who really wants to learn and is insistent in starting as Hwoarang. While I normally would tell him to go with someone EZ like Paul, I quickly realized the problem with this player: He can't do a standard uppercut (df+2). He can't even do an advancing hopkick (uf+4) and has to do a neutral jump hopkick (u+4). He just has a problem doing diagonals.

He otherwise learned quickly and in minutes, he can do a decent and cool-looking Hwoarang juggle that doesn't have any diagonals: b+3, f+4, b+4, S! ff+4, 3,4, b+4 (stance switch notations removed for brevity).

After this thread, I now think the most objective way to look at it is art style. Anything else mechanic-based like judging it by presence of air dash and "roman cancel" is just way too subjective.

edited 1st Oct '17 9:06:17 PM by Malco

Yeah I think an anime fighter refers to a game with an artsyle say similar to Blaz Blue or Arcana Heart.

I think stuff you stereo-typically categorize to anime like uhhhh I assume stuff like a lot lot of fanservice, waifu's & moe.

Street Fighter has plenty of that.

I was thinking that anime fighters referred to fighting games based on anime like DBZ, Naruto, Inu Yasha, Sailor Moon, or the crossover fighting games like J Stars Victory VS, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Dangeki Bunko Fighting Climax. Granted, Blaz Blue is very rooted in anime.

I don't quite know how possible it is to make a fighting game for casuals. Though, the competitive base are the people who keep the game alive after the casuals have moved onto another game.

SF also has the thing of being a phenomenon in the 90s when the second game came out.

edited 1st Oct '17 10:09:00 PM by powerpuffbats

Yeah but it also has a lot of muscle aside from being born in a manly age like the 90's.

I think anime fighters also involve a lot of bishie's with barely any muscle tone aside from the one or so big guy.

Ooooh I got it: Has Street Fighter ever had a loli character? I think your an anime fighter if you have a loli.

edited 1st Oct '17 10:10:30 PM by slimcoder

Yes it has.

Street Fighter confirmed anime.

anime fighters confirmed to have a stupid, useless category name.

edited 1st Oct '17 10:16:48 PM by Hashil

Street Fighter does have waifus but none of the entire playable cast are quite young (or naive or short or vulnerable-looking) enough to be a Moe.

But then Mortal Kombat would be anime. Since it has Ferra.

edited 1st Oct '17 10:18:30 PM by Malco

Gotta be honest, I'm having fun with topic. Any other anime stereotypes out there?

Huh Street Fighter has a loli?

Oh shit that's true but does it have everything else.

edited 1st Oct '17 10:22:38 PM by slimcoder

Siblings that love to fight each other.

Forget her name, but she's from Capcom Fight Jam and I think the PSP version of SFA 3. Token magical know it all mary sue loli.

I guess King of Fighters are anime fighters too considering the very anime art style and storytelling conventions.

Truth be told I always assumed that of Ko F. Helps that the only character I know from that game is Mai who is famous for obvious reasons.

Then again I don't play Ko F so forgive my assumptions.

At first KOF's non-spirte art was more realistic looking when the art was done by that Shinkiro guy. (Example, CVS 2 character portraits when using SNK grooves.)

Mai is the first think people think about when SNK or KOF are brought up yeah, so don't worry about it.

It also has some children: Bao, Momoko come to mind. Not sure about Malin's age, but she is short and flat.

You mean Ingrid? She never struck me as a loli—or at least not the type of loli most people who use the term refer to; her physique is fairly similar to any of the other teen characters in Capcom games at the time, like Sakura and Ibuki. Personally she always seemed to be a knock-off version of Kula from King of Fighters to me.

And aside from her appearance, she's said to speak in a really old dialect in Japanese, because she's supposed to be some sort of ancient Physical Goddess or something. Her appearance in the PSP version of Alpha 3 Max seemed like it was meant to canonize her into the Street Fighter universe (I think it heavily implied that Bison's Psycho Power was a corrupted form of Ingrid's powers or something similarly vague).

But anyway, I'd say that while Ingrid is pretty much the most anime character in Street Fighter (to recap, she's a literal goddess in the form of a young woman who seems so obnoxiously powerful that I'm surprised they didn't give her "I don't give a fuck" sprites like Slayer), she isn't a loli character that's in the same vein as other characters with the label, like Platinum from Blazblue or May from Guilty Gear. She does fit the overused "absurdly young-looking yet powerful possibly ancient being" aspect though. EDIT: Looking over her wiki page, it seems like her Alpha 3 story was discarded at some point, but her redrawn backstory (if you could call it that) still has her as someone very powerful (while giving her a male counterpart named Death).

And I'll also say that I didn't quite got the hate she seems to get from SF fans, especially when she showed up in Alpha 3, but I suppose it's mostly due to her aesthetics rubbing people the wrong way. I personally wouldn't mind seeing her in a playable role again (though I'd prefer it if it was in a crossover title like MVC, SF X T [which I think actually implied that she was involved in the plot somewhere], or Tatsunoko, or even in Project X Zone).

As for the term "anime fighter", I've come to accept it as a meaningless buzzword that's generally used to (derogatorily) refer to fighters whose anime aesthetics are clearly visible. As far as the FGC and stream monsters are concerned, it's just a shorthand to tell people that the fighter in question doesn't play like any of the more beloved/most played games in the community (i.e. SF). Outside of the FGC, it seems to just refer to heavily anime-influenced games like Blazblue and Arcana Heart.

edited 2nd Oct '17 1:08:02 AM by Customer