Teaming Up

Ever since playing Marvel vs. Capcom (the original), I have toyed with design ideas surrounding team based fighting games. Characters on your team having passive abilities that work when tagged out; team attacks ala Project Justice (Rival Schools), but enhanced ones, in terms of both effectiveness and visuals, with certain members of the cast; having players pair up certain characters whose abilities, both active and passive mix well, much like a Magic player would pair strong cards in a combo deck.

RPG elements in fighting games have historically been a mixed bag; Gem Fighter, for instance, has items flying around the screen at times, and I never found it adding much to gameplay. On the other hand, Battle Fantasia characters have visible "hit points", which, when set against a background with an "Item Shop", makes a whole lot of sense. Warzard went so far as having an intricate password system, through which your character actually gained levels, growing stronger and learning new moves.

In my card game, with four characters per player and two characters "in play" at a time, I have a lot of design options to make in regards to incorporating card and team synergy. Characters which pay life to use their main attacks teaming with lifegain characters, characters who use only magic-based attacks amplified by magic boosting characters, and the aforementioned team attacks are all on the drawing board.