Fighting Games – What We’ve Gained, What We’ve Lost
By Louis Bedigian

Risks, as Ed Boon learned more than 15 years ago, are very much worth taking

When I first sat down to write about the state of what used to be a key video-game genre – fighting games – I had this nearly uncontrollable urge to talk about arcades. No matter how relevant, to write about arcades today would be extremely repetitive. It is a topic that, no matter how important to those who remember "the good old days," should finally be put to rest.

Regardless, I couldn't bring myself to write about something else. Call it a response to the genre's own repetitive content or my irreparable love for public gaming venues. Whatever the case, that's not really what I want to talk about. This is the story of how fighting games have evolved from their once side-scrolling format to the sequels and offshoots/"inspired by" content we have today: two-player, side-scrolling, side-step (pseudo-3D) fighters like Tekken and Dead or Alive; and single-player, open-world hack-n-slash adventure games like Dynasty Warriors and the upcoming Soulcalibur Legends.

This game’s got Soul.

Plus or Minus?

The number of crappy sequels and franchise clones has dropped tremendously since the release of PlayStation 2. That's an improvement, no question. But we have also received fewer original properties and sequels since PS2's release. Excluding Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, which was a huge departure from Mortal Kombat 4, most of the PS2/Xbox-era sequels have not attempted a major redesign, all but eliminating any chance for a combat engine that's significantly different from the last.

It would be foolish for a developer to alter a franchise just for the sake of change. But if they fail to do so, what are we left with? Refinements are great, but they can only go on for so long. When we’ve spent 200+ hours with a particular game, and another 100 with a "refined" sequel, it makes us question the validity of a third installment. Or in the case of some franchises, a tenth installment.

So Beautiful It’s Viewtiful

Lower sales of fighting games and increased sales of others (primarily shooters, sports, and adventure games) have prompted our industry to move away from the genre. But before the transition was made, developers from all around the world decided to take a piece of the action. Starting with Zelda's N64 outing, expanded with Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe, and perfected in God of War, successive attacks – the button-linked moves we refer to as combos – have become a key ingredient in today's non-shooter action and adventure games. And it all started with the world's first polygon-based fighting game: Virtua Fighter.

The one and only. (Actually it’s Virtua Fighter 2, but who’s counting?)

Ultimately, we wouldn't have today's great single-player experiences had it not been for past fighting game innovations. But at the same time I wonder – if developers had continued to push boundaries within the fighting genre (as they did in the '90s), how much further could we have come?

Virtually Fighting: The Other Side of the Iron Fist

Action hits like Devil May Cry are not the only ones influenced by fighting games. The highly repetitive (and impossible to escape) hack-n-slash genre has recently adopted a 3D fighting-game style. Attacks are entirely combo-based. Projectiles, character designs, and weapon choices have a distinct fighting game look and feel. Dynasty Warriors is less flashy than Soul Calibur or Mace: The Dark Age (an ill-fated Soul Blade clone), but its weapon-based combat was not invented until Soul Blade showed them the way.

This winter that unofficial, developer-to-developer inspiration will come full circle in Soulcalibur Legends.

Legendary action – just eight months away?

A brand-new adventure game for Nintendo Wii, Soulcalibur Legends is a game where you, as the press release reads, “Sword fighting capabilities are pushed to the limit as gamers unleash special attacks to crush scores of enemies and large bosses.” Yeah, I’m thinking that sounds just a tiny bit like Dynasty Warriors.

While Legends has no official affiliation with KOEI’s franchise, the upcoming Dynasty Warriors: Gundam is a joint project between KOEI and Namco Bandai.

Before closing their North American office, Sammy Studios released Iron Phoenix – an open-world, 16-player weapons-based fighting game – for the original Xbox. And who could forget Shenmue, the 3D adventure/fighter that was hyped to no end?

Though the results are not typically spectacular, hack-n-slash games are one of the few places that fighting game developers can turn without completely leaving the genre. Knowing their sales potential (and how much we crave a great, open-ended experience with huge worlds and multiple enemies), developers will continue to explore this area of development.

Equalized and Sequalized

Is there a slab of stone somewhere that reads, “All fighting games must be created equal”? If not, could someone please wake up our industry and remind developers that it’s a myth?

Dead or Alive 4, Tekken 5, Virtua Fighter 5, Super Smash Bros. Melee – no matter how much you love these games, no matter how much I personally love these games – there are not any significantly different or groundbreaking gameplay mechanics to be found.

Dead or Alive 4: new box, same taste.

Jump back a generation to DoA3, Tekken 4, FV4, and the first Smash Bros. I’ll give Smash Bros., a fighting game trapped in a platformer world, credit for its fresh idea. Bear in mind that the series had just begun.

DoA3, however, was an Xbox launch title. Its only original contribution was a greater emphasis on destructive and multi-tiered environments – a small change that enhanced the presentation but not the gameplay. Hoping to bank on the success of the sidestep-heavy Soul Calibur, Tekken 4 added a ridiculous, gameplay-slowing sidestep move that nearly crushed the franchise. Had it not been for Tekken 5, which renewed gamers’ interest by mimicking and enhancing Tekken 3’s beloved gameplay, that series might not have had a bright future.

There again we encounter the problem. Tekken 5 succeeded by “mimicking” what its predecessors had accomplished, which made up for the disappointment we experienced when its producer attempted to do something different.

Although Tekken 4 was not successful in its change, we – the demanding gamers – might be a part of the problem. I am not suggesting that we stop expecting the best from our developers. But when you consider how much we expect, and how swiftly we’ll react when disappointed, it doesn’t create the best situation for developers and publishers looking to turn a profit. They want to assume ahead of time that we are at least partially on board with what they are doing. If we loved Tekken 5, the PSP port, and the PlayStation 3 upgrade, why wouldn’t we love another?

Tekken’s first PSP outing.

No More Than One More

Games take time to evolve. And lots of money. Given the long-standing enjoyment of the leading game franchises, most series could probably sustain one more similarly designed sequel. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is one possibility Namco Bandai could examine. Just think of how easy it would be for them to kick the game up a few notches using the power of PlayStation 3.

Imagine a three-on-three tag battle where fighters could be swapped in and out of the game in one second (as opposed to the first game’s 2.5 seconds). With three fighters available, they could add a feature that allows you to tag in a second simultaneously playable character whenever your first playable character is in trouble. For example, you’re playing as Jin, Paul, and Nina. Jin is uppercut into the jaw by Heihachi and receives a lengthy combo assault. While the assault is in progress, you tag in Paul or Nina (indicated by L2 or R2) and may either hit your opponent for an unblockable strike (because Heihachi is mid-combo and cannot retaliate) or you could grab the juggled teammate and throw him off-screen to safety.

That is just one crazy, wishful idea from a diehard fighting fan. Every scenario I’ve described is possible within the series’ existing framework. In other words, the developers could implement potentially groundbreaking changes without altering the game’s award-winning style. It would allow them to release another Tekken game that’s similar to the existing titles without disappointing the fans, which would be faster and less risky than another Tekken 4, and earn revenue that could be used to create an innovative sequel that truly stands apart from the rest.

If Nights Into Dreams can get a sequel after 11 years of industry hoopla, there might be hope for another Tekken Tag.

The same could be said for Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive, Smash Bros., or any other fighting franchise.

After that one last hurrah, do what I and other hardcore gamers usually ask you not to do and take a year off. Walk away from the franchise. Let your developers and brainstorming teams think about something else. Once refreshed, bring them back with a multi-year, experiment-based development plan that would allow them to innovate and revitalize our dying genre. If that sounds like too much to ask from the employees of this increasingly competitive industry, then you need to go back a decade. Think about the first time you played the first Tekken, Virtua Fighter, or Mortal Kombat game. Or Killer Instinct or Primal Rage. Or Street Fighter, a series that, after many consecutive upgrades, has not seen a sequel in several years.

The one thing that all of those games have in common is that they were not created from trends or safe bets. They were made with the purpose of creating something different, exciting, and fun. Were they risky? You bet. Tekken crammed more moves into a four-button joystick layout than any previous fighting game. The learning curve was massive. What if it had proven to be too difficult for gamers who were used to playing simpler fighting games? Had Namco not been able to see the brilliance behind the concept, we might not have had a single Iron Fist Tournament to enter.

Likewise, Mortal Kombat was a ridiculous idea with cheesy, digitized characters and finishing moves called Fatalities. But it worked flawlessly. I can’t imagine what would have happened to the franchise had Ed Boon been told, “You know, that game just doesn’t sound like what the other guys are doing. Change it. We want to compete with Street Fighter.”

Thankfully Midway made the right choice, creating millions of new fans and a hit series that has thwarted the competition at almost every turn. Risks, as Mr. Boon learned more than 15 years ago, are very much worth taking.