This was something I was thinking about a few weeks ago and now that we have a dedicated forum, I’m interested in asking people for ideas or whether this is even viable.
Basically, how would you go about doing a Let’s Play of a fighting game? The obvious answer might seem to just do arcade/story mode for all or one character and call it a day, but since these modes are usually considered the last thing you play a fighting game for, does it really showcase the game properly?
But then again, if you play online or show off each individual character’s strats and gameplay, does it stay a let’s play or does it turn into “random matches and/or guide”?
This might not actually be something that’s possible, but maybe a brainstorm thread will help with it? There are a few fighting games I’d like to go through in a serious format, I’m just not sure how.
Interpret as you wish. Many story modes & arcade modes are just a story woven inbetween the fighting game.
And while it will seem like a character profile, it is a let’s play. Instead of talking about the level, you’re talking the characters and strat and the story.
Of course, you could take it online and bring a friend over to talk about the game in versus match ups if you want. And discuss game mechanics, is there specials? Do you need to collect gems?
Things like Injustice had a story, but games like Divekick is barely there. But it’s up to you how you want to do it.
Honestly, both. Example, let’s say you do an LP of Skull Girls. You finish Filia’s story mode, you talk about how neat it is and what it all means and junk. Then for the second video, or maybe just the second half of the video depending on how long it takes, you talk about their various pro match strats, how strong they typically are considered tier list wise, and so on.
A good example of how one could go about this, funnily enough, is Chuggaaconroy’s LP of Splatoon. Yes, I know, he’s a yellboy, but his Splatoon LP actually goes about this really well. Each episode is one level of story mode, and a few matches using a specific weapon after he details all the metagame stuff of said weapon, talking pro strats and how it helps in each competitive mode.
Feinne did an LP of Persona 4 Arena, but that game’s plot was long. Soul Calibur games tend to have pretty involved modes to dig into as well; I remember one of them, either 2 or 3, had like a whole tactics game that almost behaved like Dynasty Warriors or Fire Emblem. So there’s quite a few out there that would take well to just the normal format. I’m distantly aware that Guilty Gear has a bunch of backstory that could be used to bludgeon it into that shape as well.
For other stuff like Smash or Street Fighter, it’s less immediately obvious. If you wanted to just do a “fightan 101 + neat tricks” series, I don’t think anyone would complain (or if they did, you could just ignore 'em), but when trying to sell it to an audience who isn’t necessarily interested in the minutae of such things you’d be taking a lot of the burden of being engaging onto yourself. The most straightforward thought I have that lines up with what you were angling for thoughts on is that you’d want some kind of progression to lean on, whether that be a gimmicky mode to clear or just some kind of goal you think could stay interesting as you push toward it.
I’ve been considering either doing the entirety of the Guilty Gear series this year, or doing an open-ended “Let’s Play Every Fighting Game Ever” and go through both old and new stuff (in no specific order). I have a few other things planned before I get around to this, but I think I need to figure out how to approach fighting games as a genre in an LP.
I didn’t say it because it seemed like a prohibitively large undertaking, but a “crash course on all the fighting games” thread also seems like it could carry itself, if one were up to the task. Beyond examples of mechanics and execution, you could dig around in the history of the genre and/or examine the difference between the different subgenres; what separates SF from Marvel from GG from Tekken. There’s definitely material to talk about wrt the genre as a whole that could interest a non-fightgame player that could be splashed in.
This actually sounds like a multi-year project haha. But it also sounds like something I’d like to do. I am definitely an advocate of showing off fighting games to new people because the people who are really into the genre are generally bad at introducing others to it.
@LaZodiac’s suggestion is pretty much what I was thinking. I would want to see specifically, how a character fares against different types of opponents, and their different playstyles.
I would also encourage thread participation, asking people to record their matches. If the thread becomes active enough, you might be able to pick out ones that showcase a progression of skill.
I would say a run through of a games arcade mode plus story mode if it has one. Additionally if you understand the technical bits, maybe you can do rundowns of how each character works.
I’ve been wondering about this sort of thing too. I was considering LP’ing a primarily online game and my plan was to do the tiny story then go over each character and how they play as others have suggested. Maybe for the let’s play element you could have people vote on what parts to show off when. Like a vote on what character to show off then recording a compilation with post commentary over footage of gameplay of just that character.