Fighting Games: Where it's Okay to Hit your Friends

You want a weird one most people probably haven’t heard of? Blade Arcus From Shining a fighting game from the Shining Force RPG franchise. For bonus points none of the games that the cast originated from were released outside of Japan but this one made it’s way to Steam.

Not just Steam, it’s also on PS4. I’ve been meaning to get it when I have some extra cash

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I have it on Steam. I recommend getting it there since it has online play (I think the console version doesn’t?). Actually, this thread might be a good way to get to play obscure fighting games that no one else plays online since I have several in my Steam library (Nitro Blasterz, Koihime Enbu, Battle Fantasia, etc)

The fighting game I always loved the most was King of Fighters XIII because the sprites were absolutely beautiful.

I hear KoF XIV is actually quite good but the loss of the beautiful and expensive spritework still gets me hard.

I also like watching Street Fighter of just about any kind. Basically, for me, a good fighting game has a fun martial arts aesthetic, is a good spectator game and, ideally, does not make you seasick to watch. (I’ve never been a fan of Marvel vs Capcom, for example. It’s too busy and I can’t track what’s going on.)

If you would some help learning to play it, I’m happy to sit down and run sets.

I would, but I’m too broke to afford XBL right now, and also my fight stick only works on my PS4. I’ve gotten too used to it and the d-pad on the XB1 controllers kinda blow.

Oh man I forgot that Battle Fantasia is on Steam. Love that game. Been meaning to pick up Koihime Enbu too (aka “don’t get counter hit: the game”). Unfortunately my current internet situation is very terrible so netplay isn’t something I could do.

Yeah once you look past the new 3D models (the visuals update is nice) it’s a very good KoF game. Arguably better than 13 was.

I’ll probably give it a try after I see it at EVO. For now, I continue to play my tiny violin for the sprites.

Did 14 keep the great jazz? Who Is Queen is one of my favorite songs.

I never had a big interest in fighting games, but to give them a fair shake I started playing Skullgirls a while back. I like it, but unfortunately, I can only play against one friend of mine, and I get my butt kicked if I go online.

I also have Melty Blood on Steam, and damn, the roster is overwhelming.

You can use Joy2Key or something similar for KI. I hate how stingy it is about sticks.

I would but my laptop would probably explode thinking about running KI, so I gotta stick on the xbone

I’ve tried a majority of Fighters, my two favourite series however(probably because I grew up with them) are by far Dead or Alive and Tekken.

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round is by far the most balanced and technical game in the franchise, unfortunately its overlooked by its female only fanservice costumes(although there is male fanservice from time to time too) and it’s little sister DOA Xtreme. I personally main Ein and sub hitomi, Hayate, Leifang and Hayabusa(yes, THAT Hayabusa).

Tekken 7 is also looking super hype cant wait xD

That song is great, but I don’t know about 14’s OST. I don’t own the game yet and have only played it once at a friends house and a few times at a local weekly FGC thing where we couldn’t really hear the music.

Not a huge DoA fan, but I do own the hilariously bad DoA movie… Tekken is fantastic though I’ve never even been able to get decent at it.

Dead or Alive 5 is really good mechanically and very easy to get into, but it’s a bit too creepy with some of the fanservice.

I’m a huge fan of the genre, but fairly poor when it comes to coordinated inputs and tricky executions; so I’ve tended to stray away from the more serious fighting games. I love the kind of thinking and mind games that go into it, so I’ve always appreciated the stuff with a lower barrier to entry.

Super Smash Brothers is the obvious forerunner in these games, and it’s one people have utterly failed to emulate. Lethal League is a simple & novel game that’s easy to get people into. Windjammers is also pretty frequently talked about in this kind of way. I’m always curious to know about other, similar games in this sub-genre.

Lethal League is my favorite fighting game right now, it’s pure hectic mayhem. I just wish more people I knew played it…

Yeah, I’m also in that weird spot where I’m good enough to easily beat my friends but not skilled enough to avoid getting wrecked in most online games. I suppose I could practice more, but eh.

As for games, I’m a huge Mortal Kombat fan (enough so to write a gigantic retrospective on the series a couple of years back) and I also really like the Xbone Killer Instinct, although I haven’t really played it since the end of season 2.

I feel like I’m always in the same position with fighting games–in this weird limbo where I beat 100% of my friends (no matter how much they practice) and 0% of the online community (no matter how much I practice).

Extra Credits made a video on this that was pretty enlightening. Essentially fighting games have gotten to the point where the people who play them regularly are several levels above the people who don’t.

I think if I’d add to their analysis, I’d say this might be because fighting games are among the last genres around that’s pretty prevalent in home console/PC markets AND arcades–they’re still getting a good bit of their market share from dedicated fans. They’re also very big on microtransactions, remakes, GOTY-esque re-releases, and so on. Even before it became a huge fad all throughout the gaming industry, their selling policy was built around milking dedicated fans.

My fighting game experience is limited to the Smash Bros. series and miscellaneous Mortal Kombat games. I enjoy them, but I’ve never been particularly skilled. I struggle with memorization when it comes to fighting games, and normally play them because a friend owns the game rather than me owning the game and having the option of constant practice.

I’d certainly like to give other fighting game series a chance though! Unsure of where to look as a newbie, though.

I’ll go ahead and say that while Guilty Gear is a hard game, it absolutely has the best tutorial mode in any fighting game to date. It also regularly goes for about $20 new on Amazon, and it’s getting an update soon.

The community is also good with helping out new players, too.

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