Support NeoGAF

[Cropduster89]

I want to love them, but the time it would take me to stay competitive against regular players, even in random matches, is too much.

I recently tried to get good at SF4, watched video's read tutorials, learning counters and punishers etc, and after like 50 hours I got to a point where I finally had a chance of beating people in random matches. Didn't play for week and I was terrible again.

It's still fun on a couch with IRL people, but for now I'll just save all my competitive instincts for Eve online. Still fun though, I'll probably pick up SFV at some point.

 

[TreIII]

I wish there were more players who weren't just going with the typical 2D with supers Street Fighter format. Genre is lacking in the 3D gameplay department. Tekken and Dead or Alive are the only two that we know for sure are still standing.

I'd chalk that up to the foreseeable majority of development for 3D games has gone to the likes of "arena fighters" a la Gundam Vs and Dissidia: AE, instead.

It's probably hard to come up with a reason to try getting into the "standard 3D fighter" space when Namco rules it almost unopposed, at this point. And even they would prefer sidelining SC as the "stepson" in favor of Tekken.

 

[Zekes!]

Probably one of my favourite genres to play casually with friends. SFV has me feeling a lot more committed, which I haven't been since Melee back in the early/mid 2000's.

 

[Artdayne]

Fighting games were EASILY my favorite genre of game growing up. I loved playing them because the combat was the most extensive and complex of any genre. I loved going to arcades as a kid and whooping up on random people. The greatest was when you had a line of people waiting to get their turn while you never gave up that spot. That's not to say I didn't lose badly at times too but I enjoyed that competitive aspect of those games.

I think I started to get away from them a little bit as I got older because some of the RPG and action/adventure games started to have more robust combat mechanics. I also became more interested in RPG story arcs in general. I have gotten back into fighting games again the past few years, watching EVO definitely helped that.

 

[shadowstar]

My favorite genre. I've been playing since I was a kid in the arcades. I still remember the first time I played SF2, I was hooked instantly. I'll pretty much play any type; SF style, anime, 3D, arena, whatever. I really want a new Samurai Shodown with GGXrd style 3D.

 

[Star Falcon]

I love them but i wish more of them were a little newcomer friendly. I think FTP model like Killer Instinct is best these days if you aren't going full out like Nintendo did for Smash 4.

 

[BadWolf]

The best.

Give me a good fighter and I can put in countless hours into it.

 

[Goldenroad]

Street Fighter 2 was probably in my top 5 games from the age of 10 (when it was released) through my high school years, but I just can't hang anymore. I don't have a fighting stick and there are too many other games that I can play without one.

 

[sixteen-bit]

The best genre around.

 

[woopWOOP]

I don't have the patience to get good at them. I liked playing them occasionally (and casually) with family and friends back then, but those moments are rare now and when we do come together for some gaming time then we'd rather play other genres. Last game I bought was SF4 for PS3 and I didn't get a whole lot of playtime out of it. Don't think I'll ever buy another fighting game unless they happened to be included in some bundle I want.

Altough I don't bother playing them, I really enjoy watching some of the best players go head to head in whatever fighting game. The lightning fast combos and techniques are really impressive, it's fun to watch.


PS: I'm talking strictly classic 2D fighters here. I love me some wacky FFA games like Smash Bros

 

[deadscreensky]

Do you love them?
Absolutely. Been a fan since SF2's release, and I've played a large enough variety to know that the common myth that the genre was dead before SF4's release is just that, a (probably unintentional) lie from certain casual Capcom fans.

Do you have fond memories of the genre?
I don't even know where I'd start. I guess the beginning? I remember the first time I saw SF2 in passing, I remember the first time I played it, I remember hours spent practicing and learning it, I remember HD Remix's release reinvigorating my love for that specific fighter. I remember playing Soulcalibur with my girlfriend (she found Xianghua adorable), going to DOA3 and 4 tournaments, importing VOOT for Dreamcast. I remember my struggles to finally get good with an arcade stick. I can remember tons of more niche favorites like Metal Combat or, errr, Metal Warriors. I'm sure I've spent literal days playing against friends online. Lots and lots of happy memories.

Do you think they'll survive?
Yes, if nothing else because they don't need to be that expensive to make. There's also a large enough audience to justify at least smaller productions. Worst comes to worst, I'm sure fans would put together their own games.

Do you still play?
Basically every week, yeah. Current favorites are Killer Instinct, Skullgirls, and BlazBlue Chronophantasma.

How would you improve them?
Honestly the genre feels like it's in a pretty healthy place, but innovation is an area I think lately it has fallen short. In particular there's been a move in the rest of multiplayer gaming towards two things, free to play and team experiences, and I don't feel fighting games have done a good job at either yet.

Team fighting games especially would dramatically change the genre, I get that (I own Virtual-On Force on 360), but I still think both things need to be attempted by more developers. Team games help introduce newbies/casuals to a game, and that's definitely something fighting games need more of. This doesn't even necessarily have to be a simultaneous competitive thing either, we could look at traditional team battles, tag matches (Dead or Alive was really innovative in this regard), even dedicated modes to fight against AI boss opponents.

Free to play seems like an obvious way to get past things like SF5's bombing in sales and player numbers, and clearly F2P can be profitable when done well.

Put in simple terms, I feel to some extent MOBAs have replaced fighting games, and I don't see why they can't shift a little closer to that model to reinvigorate the genre while not losing what makes them great in the first place. Look at a game like Awesomenauts (which seems at least partially modeled after Smash Bros.), it's not hard to imagine tweaking that a bit to create something a little closer to a traditional fighting game.

 

[Csr]

I think online events is the next step for fighting games to be successful and i don't mean only tournaments. For example events where players are ranked by consecutive wins and they win titles and cosmetic or other fun events like that and of course regular region and league specific tournaments. And i think it would be important for everything to be integrated in the game with no need for outside information or communication.

Has there been a fighting game with any online events besides a rare online tournament on one specific region?
Even those are badly done imo. They are not integrated in the game and most players don't even know they are happening.

I think a developer like blizzard or valve has to make a fighting game for them to become more popular and then hopefully later on japanese developers would copy their online features. Japanese developers are king when it comes to gameplay but they are far behind in other areas.
Street fighter v is a multiplayer focused game with laughable social features, no online events, 2 online modes only and no news hub to learn about recent tournaments or watch high level offline matches that happened in them.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

I still love 'em but none have had the impact on me SF3 and Tekken 3 did. I think in terms of being the "whole package", they were the pinnacle of their respective styles. Yes, certain games even at the time (let alone now) had better mechanics or balance (VF3, SFA2 etc.), or were better here or there, but for me those two just got everything right and in a sufficiently pleasing amount. I feel like they brought their respective styles into the modern era for which we take for granted today.

There's also the fact that there felt more experimentation in the genre back then as well. Stuff like Cyberbots, Darkstalkers, Last Blade 2, Star Gladiator, Tech Romancer, Rival Schools etc....that type of variety is not around anymore. It's just a few tentpole mega-franchises and the odd Skullgirls maybe once or twice a generation. That's greatly impacted my enjoyment in observing the genre both as a player and watcher.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Do you love them?

Yes, still buying and playing them today after over thirty years.

Do you have fond memories of the genre?

Yes, been playing them heavily since Activision's Boxing on the Atari 2600 and Data East & Technos Japan's Karate Champ. Street Fighter II and the '90s fighting game boom was a big part of my gaming existence.

Do you think they'll survive?

If you mean one-on-one melee-based versus games, yes, of course they will.

Do you still play?

Yes, but I'm much more selective and play them much less today because they are so relatively stagnant a video game genre.

How would you improve them?

Simply, stop patterning what came before too closely and stop ignoring the wider market of players in favor of doubling down on the niche minority of the hardcore FGC as it won't effectively encourage newer players or grow the genre's reach.

 

[Ginger Hail]

Fun, but I usually can't compete outside of friend circles lol.

 

[KevinCow]

I enjoy them, but I don't have anyone to play with locally and they usually have garbage single player content, so I wind up not playing them much. What usually happens is I'll pick up a big new fighting game like Mortal Kombat X or Street Fighter V, play whatever single player content it has in a few days, then try going to tournaments for a month or two. But I'll quickly realize that, because I have nobody to practice with locally, I have no chance of becoming good enough to even compete in tournaments, so I'll give up and just stop playing.

 

[jdstorm]

I want to love them, but I'm terrible so that kind of dampens it.

I'd love to see a pure 3D fighter embrace single player in such a way that we actually get to feel like Bruce Lee/jacking Chan ect. Since most brawlers are just. press triangle to counter

 

[CSX]

The only one i bother to learn how to play is Tekken. Other games are just for fun with friends to mash buttons around and single player content.

 

[oneida]

its my desert island genre. VF5FS is entering its fifth year snd im still competing (tourney this saturday!) and finding new stuff.

 

[Mephala]

I really like them however I cannot deny that they are best when you have a friend to play against who is at a comparable level of skill and when neither are sore losers.

Single player can be fun but it doesn't compare. Latency over online matches kills it for me. My internet isn't great so I lag quite a bit which really takes away from the experience.

 

[mitchlol]

Love them. It's what me and my buddies play when were sitting around drinking.

Smash
SFV
Fight Night Round 3
MKX

Nothing sweeter than vsing a friend and shit talking each other. Doesn't have the same feel when playing online.

I never play against CPU... not interested at all.

 

[RMI]

I like them but I have a hard time sitting down to play a fighting game against randoms online, and no local competition. I should get back to SFV.

 

[Nosgotham]

i used to love fighting games but i find them very uninspired these days. i have fond memories of all the old 2d capcom fighters and the earlier 3d ones.

my favorites are street fighter 3, tobal, rival schools, marvel vs capcom 2, soul calibur 2, mortal kombat 4, tatsunoku vs capcom.
i really hate the direction street fighter took after 3 and dead or alive and souk calibur just dont do it for me at all anymore. the last fighter i really really liked tatsunoku vs capcom.

p.s. i DO think smash is a fighter but for the sake of argument i only talked about traditional fighters above.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Developpers kind of forgot the casuals and offline modes, and some "hardcore gamers" seem to think it's fine.

As a result, the genre is slowly dying as 1V1 is pretty brutal, unforgiving and soul crushing with a long learning step.

I'm curious to see what Riot will do with their recent acquisition.

 

[cordy]

p.s. i DO think smash is a fighter but for the sake of argument i only talked about traditional fighters above.

Yeah I'm glad people are counting Smash for this as well. It's a fighter IMO.

 

[REDSLATE]

In general?
Boring
Two-Dimensional (figuratively and, in many instances, literally)

 

[Rathorial]

For me a huge aspect of the genres I love come from games within them featuring entirely new mechanics, huge changes to core mechanics, and/or interesting application of level design. Shooters, platformers, strategy games, and RPGs basically.

Most fighting games just don't fit into that criteria for me, as the bulk of them still follow the Street Fighter model of flat 2d arenas with backgrounds that could be anything because they don't matter. The new Mortal Kombats have some stage interaction, but it's still fairly minor.

So the depth has to come with various forms of combos, blocks and counters, but the differences in how games handle those things is often not large enough for me to get invested. I've heard good fighting game players describe how X game handles canceling differently than Y game, but it comes off like really small nuances than big differences.

Stuff like Power Stone and Smash Bros. grabbed me, even if some people wouldn't consider them in the same genre. They assuredly have simpler movesets or combos, but the actual level spaces you're in alter how you play more fundamentally. I like that aspect vs. variety just coming from I pick another character with different animations arcs.

 

[squidyj]

i find them to be impenetrable for the most part, I've tried on past occasions to learn to play some well but I never got very good and I eventually gave up.

 

[Choomp]

I'm not a massive fan of them. I think it can get sometimes repetitive.

Same kinda. Smash 4 is the only one I really fell in love with, the roster is insanely stacked and even if the gameplay might get stale after playing for a long time after taking a break for a day or so the game is just as extremely fun as it was originally. The rest always were too limited and repetitive for me.

 

[Brashnir]

Haven't been the slightest bit interested in them since the 90s.

 

[Mellahan]

I think more fighting games need better training modes that, you know, actually teach you how to play fighting games. Skull Girls did a bang-up job of this.

Point is, learning to play a fighting game you purchased should be a self-contained experience. You shouldn't have to Google "how to play" -- that's the game's job. A lack of true training modes, I feel, have created this walled garden around fighting games for a good while. For the genre to survive, to bring in new players, the games themselves have to be willing to provide context to learn.

 

[cheesekao]

For me, it's probably the genre with the highest barrier of entry. Sure, you can button mash or whatever but whenever I look at competent players, sometimes I feel like a complete scrub party brawlers notwithstanding.

 

[EulaCapra]

They're all fun to watch.
They're not all fun to play.

Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct are just too technical for me to enjoy but the latter two are especially fun to watch when the players know what they're doing. Smash and Vs. Capcom series are always fun to play and watch and Mortal Kombat has always been good about making the story matter and including diversions like chess and Test Your Luck match modifiers.

 

[Exentryk]

Used to play them a lot as a kid (Mortal Kombat, Wrestle Mania, Street Fighter, Tekken, etc.), but don't care for them at all now.

I've lost interest in most genres to be honest. Used to love racing games like NFS and Burnout, but not any more. Only really care for RPGs (non-shooters) nowadays.

 

[JimiNutz]

I love the idea of fighting games and often like the characters/storylines but unfortunately I don't have the time, patience or skill to really get good at them.

I think this may be a problem for the genre long term - it's going to be difficult for the genre to grow in popularity if there is such a big barrier to entry for new players.

I'm really hoping we see the genre evolve over the next few years. We really need to see something revolutionary in terms of the single player content because I'm sure many other gamers would give these games a go if there was some compelling and meaty single player content in these games. There also need to be better tools to teach the game to new players (in fun and interesting ways). Fighters also need to be more accessible - I'm surprised more developers haven't taken the Smash Bros approach in that regard. Fighters need to be easier to pick up and play, yet still retain their depth.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Used to play them a lot as a kid (Mortal Kombat, Wrestle Mania, Street Fighter, Tekken, etc.), but don't care for them at all now.

Same as me, loved Mortal Kombat, Tekken 3, and Dead or Alive 2, but around the age of 16/17 or so, I just lost all interest and don't really care for them now. Though my buddy and I will still play Fight Night Round 3 as a drinking game whenever we get together.

 

[Doc_Drop]

I really like fighting games in that I always had at least one or two go to games for whatever system I had at the time. Tekken (3) is my jam and I love MK, Soul Calibre, and the first couple of DoAs. However, this was when I had brothers to play against, friends to play against regularly, or times when a dozen of us would be together and stick on something. Since the dawn of online and me getting older my interest has definitely plummeted.

I pick up some stuff if they have a robust campaign like MK9/X or Injustice.

If they don't I tend to just mess around if there is one in front of me or cheap but don't go out of my way to buy them. Without couch co-op I lose any interest, I hate playing online with fighters as I cannot witness their tension and reaction to the match. Same with sports games, I need that real human feedback. The problem with getting mates together is that most of the time it is someone's game and they're better than everyone else. It's been an age since we were all on the same page with a game in order to have decent fights. I played Smash Bros on WiiU just a few days ago and could not get into it at all. Street Fighter V was good enough, but no decent single player is a no from me. Injustice was good fun but got rid after finishing the story mode

 

[danmaku]

I think online events is the next step for fighting games to be successful and i don't mean only tournaments. For example events where players are ranked by consecutive wins and they win titles and cosmetic or other fun events like that and of course regular region and league specific tournaments. And i think it would be important for everything to be integrated in the game with no need for outside information or communication.

Has there been a fighting game with any online events besides a rare online tournament on one specific region?
Even those are badly done imo. They are not integrated in the game and most players don't even know they are happening.

I think a developer like blizzard or valve has to make a fighting game for them to become more popular and then hopefully later on japanese developers would copy their online features. Japanese developers are king when it comes to gameplay but they are far behind in other areas.
Street fighter v is a multiplayer focused game with laughable social features, no online events, 2 online modes only and no news hub to learn about recent tournaments or watch high level offline matches that happened in them.

IF (that's a big IF) Riot is actually making a fighting game with the Rising Thunder devs, expect something similar to happen.

I like fighting games and I like to watch tournaments, too bad I don't have much time anymore to play them. I still love the hidden complexity that those games have. It's one of the best examples of iterative development taken to the extreme. Now we reached a point where almost ALL fighting games still alive have excellent mechanics and you could pick one at random and end up with a great competitive game.

 

[2+2=5]

I used to love 2d ones, but now the love is decreasing, the focus on combos and the competition mentality are killing them for me, for me they are exactly as other games, i want them to be accessible(and with accessible i mean being able to do EVERYTHING easily without the need to learn hundreds of buttons and times combinations) and fun in single player.

 

[Nottle]

I really wish I had people around that were into 3rd strike, persons 4 Ultimax, Tekken Tag, or UMVC.

I think fighting games can be a ton of fun, but the learning curb is a bit rough. Smash is the only thing that my friends will play which is fine because I love smash, but I want more.

Also I wish they had better single player sections. I wish all single player modes in fighters could be as good as MK9 but play better than MK.

 

[Imperfected]

I love them, but I think they're digging further and further into a dark niche due to the fetishization of mechanical skill.

I've got a pretty simple proposition: a fighting game's controls should not be so complicated that the best players in the world, who devote in some cases their entire adult life to playing them, still have relatively routine errors. Daigo should not be experiencing input errors or dropping combos multiple times in a single tournament.

That's not to say every fighting game needs to be Divekick, but if I'm watching Top 8 at a major tournament and seeing specials come out when the players obviously weren't trying to do them, then obviously the control scheme is not doing its job. The "fighting" part of a fighting game should be against the other player, not the controls.

 

[Spring Drive]

I wish they had better stories

 

[dude]

I used to be pretty big into SNK games - Garou, Last Blade and KoF.
But in recent years I find that I don't have the patience to fighting games and I find the core mechanics to be rather dull. But I do really like Smash-like fighting games. I like that I don't need to remember any special move or worry about executing them. It requires a sort of thinking that is quite different than when I played more traditional games. It brings the tactics and reading to the front. I don't play Smash itself much anymore though, because I didn't like the later iterations on the game, but I've been playing Rivals of Aether and loving it.

 

[YN12]

Rather than debating about different fighters, let's go to the genre.

Do you love them?
Do you have fond memories of the genre?
Do you think they'll survive?
Do you still play?
How would you improve them?

Personally I've love them for over 20 years, I remember playing SF2T and just falling in love with these unique games. There's something so satisfying about punching someone in the face in a game. Rather than physically fighting someone I'd rather beat them up in a game which also involves the mind, they're great. The "fighting game slump" we had for a while didn't really impact me. I'm a major Tekken fan so having T4, T5, T5DR was perfect and kept things rolling. I might be one of the only people who loved the MK games in the 2000s as well. Hell, Deception was dope.

As for how they'll improve I'm not sure but I imagine we're going to see a big improvement within the next few years. Probably a "boost" hopefully soon.

I love them, and have fond memories, especially of playing King of Fighter and Virtua Fighter with my brothers and friends. I dont play them as much anymore, mainly because I dont have people to play with nearby. Getting old, family, etc. takes away from that.

I think as a genre they will continue to exist, especially as there seems to be continued interest in 2D fighting games (at least in Japan!). I think 3D fighting games are not really popular right now, but mainly because they have painted themselves in a corner with long combos. I wish for a return to more traditional gameplay (think Virtua Fighter 3/4).

One game series that to me has never looked good is Guilty Gear. I favour the more methodical gameplay of Capcom and SNK staple series. The fact that Tekken, VF and to an extent Soul Calibur saw fit to borrow so heavily from GG was a mistake in my opinion.

 

[Mistouze]

I miss Shinkiro.

 

[Zafir]

My opinions have been all over the place really. I remember back when I was a kid my friend had Street Fighter 2 on the Megadrive(Otherwise known as the Genesis) and we used to play it quite a bit. Later he got Mortal Kombat on the Playstation and we played that quite a bit too, trying to figure out fatalities and stuff. I also remember playing Tekken 3 quite a bit too with them.

In terms of what I owned, I played a lot of Virtua Fighter 3 on Dreamcast. I remember when I went to go buy a Playstation 2, there was two bundles one with VF4 or one with Crash. I wanted VF4, but it had sold out so had to settle for Crash Bandicoot(which had utterly awful loading times) which I was gutted about.

Outside of that I think I only really played Souls Calibur 2 and 3 during that generation. By that point I didn't really have any friends who played fighters, so I was really reliant on single player. Soul Calibur was fantastic for that.

I don't think it was until Street Fighter IV I gave the genre another try really. I bought the CE because I got swept away in the hype for it.... I didn't like it at all. I tried the arcade mode for a bit, and it was just a bit urgh. Back then I never played online either, so the game got dropped and never went back. Blazblue came out not long after, and I bought it because I liked the art style and it was going to have a story mode. Didn't like that much either due to how fast paced it all seemed, and well, I wasn't very good. After those two I didn't touch a 2d fighter until Mortal Kombat. I still bought the Soul Caliburs but, they weren't that fantastic in my opinion.

Mortal Kombat I actually really enjoyed thanks to the Story Mode giving me a bit of interest. I did try and learn some moves but I got distracted and so it never ended up going anywhere.

It's not been until SFV (and KI coming out on PC) that I've actually put any effort into trying to get better at games. Really enjoyed both. It's just a shame it's such a mountain to overcome, and I don't have much spare time to dedicate.

Eitherway I think they'll survive. Mortal Kombat at the very least still sells quite a lot. The more niche ones are still successful despite not selling too much due to their modest budgets. Street Fighter V's success is probably questionable - tournament scene is doing extremely well, but the sales aren't anything to shout about. Completely depends on what Capcom's expectations are now whether it's considered a success.

Things I'd want improving? Wish every fighting game had better tutorials I guess. SFV was pretty barebones to start with, they've added some explanations, but there's nothing like Killer Instincts Dojo which allows you to practice what the tutorial is going over. Small issue but could go a long way to get more people interested.

 

[Acorn]

Nothing I'm shit at them and don't have the time or inclination to get better.

 

[Fugu]

I love fighting games, yes. I think becoming good at one is a fairly important thing for a well-rounded fan of videogames to achieve. While I disagree that fighting games are the epitome of head-to-head competition in videogames - I love Quake 3 even more - as a genre they're fairly close.

I have many fond memories of the genre. I remember the first time I went to an arcade and didn't suck. I remember losing repeatedly to my friend at Melee and then slowly turning the tide against him over the course of months.

The genre will survive. I think the only people saying otherwise are those not especially involved in the community.

I actively play Melee and BlazBlue. Indeed, I am on my way to the arcade right now.

The genre doesn't need to change. Players could stand to be paid better but that's an institutional problem that is slowly working itself out. I think the situation could perhaps be improved for beginners but the way it is now does a pretty good job of preparing people for the monumental effort it takes to get good at basically any fighting game.

 

[Mr. X]

Do you love them?
Yes, #1 genre for me

Do you have fond memories of the genre?
Lots of time with Alpha 2, then MvC2, then 3S, VF4EVO then GGXXAC

Do you think they'll survive?
Even if we get no new titles, the old ones still work and always find a way to play others

Do you still play?
Yes, I enjoy the local scene near me and I can pay old titles online. Spend time on SFV and Melee mostly.

How would you improve them?
Copy VF4 Evoltuion single player quest mode, training, tutorials and everything else + vf5fs chatacter customization.

Copy Skullgirls online features with ggpo, delay setting before match, color coded ping, all play and king of the hill lobbies.

Release on Steam and console a full price and f2p version.

Don't lock colors in a shitty survival mode.

 

[Zelias]

Fun to mess around with friends, but I have neither the talent nor the motivation to get good at them. Can respect the crazy amount of skill top players have though.