Toasty

I was having a good conversation the other day with my Father on competitive gaming. At age 60, he isn't one to sit down and play a round of Instagib CTF. He enjoyed his foray into less strenuous video games such as Wii Bowling, which he soundly thrashed me at, being an ex-bowler himself. (He made me look terrible.) My Dad is an actuary, spending lots of time with numbers all week long, and is a fan of math / odds based games like Blackjack and (especially) Backgammon.

During our talk, he looks at me and says, "I just don't get it, what's the point of Fighting Games?" It hit me like a sack of bricks. To me, a solid Fighting Game is the blending of chess and action movie. To my Dad watching some guys play a fighter, they mash a bunch of buttons, they beat the shit out of each other on the screen, and someone goes home happy. The whole underlying ruleset is unknown to the outsider - not just my Dad, but to the bulk of fighting game consumers. Spacing, mixups, footsies, oki; an entire language goes unknown to most people that actually buy the fighter. (Except 'wakeup'. Believe me, SF4 XBOX Live Ken knows ALL about wakeups.)

But, is 'Eye Candy Button Masher X' really what sells? It used to. Mortal Kombat II was wildly popular in arcades, and while I have fond memories of the game and it has achieved a cult fanbase, it is by no means a structurally sound game. Mortal Kombat vs. DC is similar; Superman really IS the Superman of that game. His ground pound combos into itself, and if he wins one round, he can bug it so the match doesn't go on to another round; he just wins. MKvDC is sluggish, broken, and created not for a community to delve into, learn, and compete with, but rather made to earn a quick buck off of gamers who want to answer that "timeless" question, who would win between Batman and Sub-Zero? Find out in: Mortal Kombat vs. DC! You know what? Go buy a Wrestling Game, create Batman and Sub-Zero or whoever else you want, and stop funding Midway's awful product. Companies like Midway can get the fuck out of the Fighting Game market. (And they will, too! )

With Street Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, and so on, the designers understand that visuals are important in drawing in the casual fan to the purchase, but they also set out to craft a system that is fun, intriguing, and balanced. These games are sent in early beta phases to arcades for testing amongst the best fighting gamers. You originally had to block C. Viper's Flame Kick while standing; with how good she's proven to be now, imagine how godly Viper would be if that change never happened.

Similarly it's important to note that if you make a game with too many complex inputs, or inaccessible characters / fighting styles, you won't gain the rich fanbase you need to sell copies, much less play your game. But the fact stands; gamers are getting smarter. Competitive games are growing in market and in number. There are game leagues with logos ripped straight from professional sports, prize pools are growing in digits, and there are Starcraft players you might confuse for NASCAR racers with all the logos on their uniforms.



The competitive gaming community is on the rise, and as it spreads, so does its language. While I can't be sure that Fighting Games can ever overcome the burden of the 'Button Masher' branding in the public eye, a man can dream.