Fighting Game Thread

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Is this game running under the SFIII engine?

And it's probably my favourite Dio voice next to the OVA's.

 

[LaserMoose]

Is this game running under the SFIII engine?

And it's probably my favourite Dio voice next to the OVA's.

Yes, Jojo HFTF runs on Capcom's CPS3 board just like SF3, which is why they look similar.

Is the typical fighting game player at all interested in the design decisions behind a game's single player modes?

I missed this earlier, but personally speaking I like having options for single player modes, and things like +R's mission mode help add variety to the game. @AkiraSO4 mentioned MK's chess and Motor Kombat game modes, which similarly are fun alternatives from the standard gameplay loop.

The casual player base seem to like those sorts of features and extras like MK's Krypt, but in many fighters (SF before 6, KOF, etc.) the single player was limited to a Survival mode, arcade mode, and trials to learn character combos, with little else on offer. Because of that, the typical longtime SF or other FG fan is unlikely to be interested in the single player too much, as it has never been the genre's strong suit in general.

 

[solnK!]

Yes, Jojo HFTF runs on Capcom's CPS3 board just like SF3, which is why they look similar.

Knowing that always made me sad for the lack of a ps1 port of SF3

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

On a side note even if the competitive crowd is the bread and butter of video game companies I still think that the removal of many single player and bonus modes created a hole in modern fighting games.

 

[Yousef]

On a side note even if the competitive crowd is the bread and butter of video game companies I still think that the removal of many single player and bonus modes created a hole in modern fighting games.

Exactly, it’s why I fell out of the genre. By the time 6 brought it back, it was too little too late as I already ingrained the habit of just going into online right off the gate. SFV really tanked it, amongst other sins. I think SF4 did it best, you play arcade mode while you wait for an online opponent to connect. It was really fun.

 

[Yousef]

Is this game running under the SFIII engine?

I think so.

And it's probably my favourite Dio voice next to the OVA's.

I like them more than the anime.

 

[AkiraSO4]

Knowing that always made me sad for the lack of a ps1 port of SF3

I think Gill alone would have made it impossible. They always had to cut some corners when it comes to PS1 ports, just look at the VS. games.

 

[solnK!]

I think Gill alone would have made it impossible. They always had to cut some corners when it comes to PS1 ports, just look at the VS. games.

Don´t forget the Alpha 3 port too, they also had to cut a lot of character´s animations.

 

[AkiraSO4]

Don´t forget the Alpha 3 port too, they also had to cut a lot of character´s animations.

Alpha 3 was probably one of the success stories, while there were frames cut, they also replaced the hitsparks so they wouldn't cut too many of them. Add the previously secret characters, Fei-Long, Dee Jay, T.Hawk, Guile, Evil Ryu, and the World Tour Mode, I'd say Alpha 3 was one of the better ports. Nothing was lost in the transition.

 

[solnK!]

Agree
I love that port with every fiber of my being.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Exactly, it’s why I fell out of the genre. By the time 6 brought it back, it was too little too late as I already ingrained the habit of just going into online right off the gate. SFV really tanked it, amongst other sins. I think SF4 did it best, you play arcade mode while you wait for an online opponent to connect. It was really fun.

When games started to cost more around the PS360 era devs had to do some compromises.

SF IV is the first (non third party) 3D Street Fighter game and since it was the HD era they had to spend time and ressources on making good models rather than recycling their older sprites.

It's like how KoF XII has rebuilt the entire sprite sheet from scratch (to the point of almost killing SNK a second time in the process) and ultimately ended up being the only KoF without an actual story mode nor final boss (as I heard). XIII could've been called XII.5 or Ultimate Edition it would've probably been better. Similarly how KoF XIV also ditched stuff because of the jump to 3D (big mistake imo, they should've had at least kept these sprites until XV or even XVI instead).

Back to single player modes: it sometimes showed experimentations that devs were willing to do to add some flavour to their already good game without having to force it on players who just wanna do 1v1 or playing Arcade mode.

Speaking of Arcade, even SF II was basically a smaller scaled "journey mode" where you fought people around the world and then the bosses showed up, almost like a surprise for any newer players (which was quite novel back then) and they were more powerful opponents that even had gimmicks (like Balrog/Vega/Claw climbing on the wall for his most powerful attack) and were unplayable then.

I do miss boss characters even if making some of them playable would've brought some inconsistencies (thus why things like Shin Akuma became a thing).

SF VI tried something which I salute in a modern context for the genre but I don't see myself spending all the money for it. SF 4 did what Arcade did back then, you played the Arcade mode until a random dude came and challenged you.

Before I forget: even if it's janky as hell (like the Tekken Force mode) I do miss the weird yet interesting solo mode such as Tobal #1's Quest Mode

Even Smash Bros despite being a party game mostly was nice with Melee's Adventure mode (I regret the lack of more than two massive solo stages with Mario and Zelda because they had time constraints) and Brawl's SSE. World of Light in the latest game was fine but not that great and got repetitive quite fast. Ultimate even ditched 4's most interesting modes like Master/Crazy Order and a proper Event Mode.

Post automatically merged: Jul 19, 2025

Addendum: I also love the bonus mode added for the credits which turned SF into a beat'em up

I liked Sakurai's mini game during credits and I salute any game dev doing that ever since Altered Beast's credits where you punched the names.

 

[LaserMoose]

Alpha 3 was probably one of the success stories, while there were frames cut, they also replaced the hitsparks so they wouldn't cut too many of them. Add the previously secret characters, Fei-Long, Dee Jay, T.Hawk, Guile, Evil Ryu, and the World Tour Mode, I'd say Alpha 3 was one of the better ports. Nothing was lost in the transition.

I'd agree, the PSX port of Alpha 3 is one of the better ports on the system. It feels better than the Dreamcast release, as that one suffers from extra input lag, causing the game to feel less responsive compared to PSX or Saturn.

A3 Upper with the rest of the ST cast is a neat curiosity, albeit the balance leaves a bit to be desired for those used to vanilla A3 (crouch canceling is removed, Dee Jay seemingly has 0f recovery on his fireballs (?!), T.Hawk feels unfinished with moves punishable on hit and very weak command grabs, etc).

Even with those changes, I do miss having extra characters added in the ports. I go back to Vampire Savior on Saturn frequently, since that one (and I believe the PSX version) brings back the cut Hunter characters of Donovan, Phobos, and Pyron.

 

[AkiraSO4]

I'd agree, the PSX port of Alpha 3 is one of the better ports on the system. It feels better than the Dreamcast release, as that one suffers from extra input lag, causing the game to feel less responsive compared to PSX or Saturn.

A3 Upper with the rest of the ST cast is a neat curiosity, albeit the balance leaves a bit to be desired for those used to vanilla A3 (crouch canceling is removed, Dee Jay seemingly has 0f recovery on his fireballs (?!), T.Hawk feels unfinished with moves punishable on hit and very weak command grabs, etc).

Even with those changes, I do miss having extra characters added in the ports. I go back to Vampire Savior on Saturn frequently, since that one (and I believe the PSX version) brings back the cut Hunter characters of Donovan, Phobos, and Pyron.

Honestly, not even 0f recovery could save Dee Jay in this game because- oh look, his kick anti-air is gone in A/Z-ISM, lol. Seriously, why do they do this?

I know people like the PSP version but at that point it felt a bit too messy, like, grabbing characters from a totally different game and just throwing them on Alpha 3. And the less said about Ingrid, the better, lol. I still stand by Alpha 3 Upper being the "definitive" version of Alpha 3, which the latest collection seems to agree as well.

 

[LaserMoose]

Honestly, not even 0f recovery could save Dee Jay in this game because- oh look, his kick anti-air is gone in A/Z-ISM, lol. Seriously, why do they do this?

I know people like the PSP version but at that point it felt a bit too messy, like, grabbing characters from a totally different game and just throwing them on Alpha 3. And the less said about Ingrid, the better, lol. I still stand by Alpha 3 Upper being the "definitive" version of Alpha 3, which the latest collection seems to agree as well.

I would've preferred an online capable release of Hyper SF Alpha over an Alpha 3 Upper release in that collection, honestly. Especially since we didn't get the good world tour content in CFC2, which is normally the highlight of A3's home ports.

This would've also made sense to match CFC1's re-release of Hyper SF2 AE.

 

[AkiraSO4]

I would've preferred an online capable release of Hyper SF Alpha over an Alpha 3 Upper release in that collection, honestly. Especially since we didn't get the good world tour content in CFC2, which is normally the highlight of A3's home ports.

View attachment 91909
This would've also made sense to match CFC1's re-release of Hyper SF2 AE.

I'm only guessing they didn't mess with HSFA because it's a console exclusive thing, just like Alpha 3 MAX is. Also while Alpha 3 Upper didn't come with World Tour Mode, guess what? HSFA doesn't have a single player mode AT ALL. It's VS and Training mode, and THAT'S IT.

 

[LaserMoose]

I'm only guessing they didn't mess with HSFA because it's a console exclusive thing, just like Alpha 3 MAX is. Also while Alpha 3 Upper didn't come with World Tour Mode, guess what? HSFA doesn't have a single player mode AT ALL. It's VS and Training mode, and THAT'S IT.

You're right, and it likely would've required more work to port it over and add an arcade mode of sorts. I personally still would've preferred going that extra mile if possible.

 

[AkiraSO4]

It would have been cool but I really don't see it happening, sadly. They don't tend to mess with specific things that are exclusive to consoles and stuff. Hell, even things like Project Justice, Power Stone and Plasma Sword use the arcade releases on CFC2. The only ones I've seen going specifically for home versions in collections it's going to be the MK Legacy Collection, and so far they're only going for the 16 bit stuff. Hoping they reveal stuff like Trilogy, Gold and the console versions of MK4.

 

[KaiserMk7]

Would a cutaway random encounters RPG with a battle system that's basically just a normal, high skill ceiling, 1v1, 2D fighting game be an objectively terrible idea?

 

[solnK!]

Would a cutaway random encounters RPG with a battle system that's basically just a normal, high skill ceiling, 1v1, 2D fighting game be an objectively terrible idea?

That´s actually a pretty good idea!

 

[LaserMoose]

Would a cutaway random encounters RPG with a battle system that's basically just a normal, high skill ceiling, 1v1, 2D fighting game be an objectively terrible idea?

Hmm... I think that the random encounters would need to test the player in particular mechanics, such as how well one can anti-air or whiff punish.

Red Earth (Warzard) is a game that can be used for reference, as that is a rare instance of an arcade fighter prioritizing its single player experience. It has a password and level system, so characters gain moves as you play.

 

[AkiraSO4]

Would a cutaway random encounters RPG with a battle system that's basically just a normal, high skill ceiling, 1v1, 2D fighting game be an objectively terrible idea?

That's ALMOST the Konquest mode in MK Deception. The encounters aren't random, except they're in fixed points of the maps, and save for unlockimg Shujino's special moves, you don't really get to unlock anything. But I don't really enjoy those turn based RPGs with random encounters anymore, so I'm not the right person to answer that, lol.

 

[Octopus]

Hmm... I think that the random encounters would need to test the player in particular mechanics, such as how well one can anti-air or whiff punish.

I second that, it could be a cool little mechanic to have some random challenge encounters like that mixed in with the normal 1v1 matches. You fail if you let an opponent land after jumping, or the only way to damage them is with punishes or something like that.

 

[KaiserMk7]

I second that, it could be a cool little mechanic to have some random challenge encounters like that mixed in with the normal 1v1 matches. You fail if you let an opponent land after jumping, or the only way to damage them is with punishes or something like that.

Hmm... I think that the random encounters would need to test the player in particular mechanics, such as how well one can anti-air or whiff punish.

Maybe we have progressively more unbalanced enemy kits for you to contend with as well as new moves and combos unlocked for your own use as you advance to new areas and engage with the growth systems, respectively, with fewer straight challenge fights and more overspecialized special enemies and "if you see the tells and let the enemy follow through with them you're going to regret it and probably die if your health is low enough" moments, the bosses in particular calling for lategame Elden Ring levels of responding to many different animations in very specific ways.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I remember a video talking about making a "Metroidvania fighting game" where you get moves gradually and learn to use them. It was meant to be aimed at beginners to show them how fighting games could work.

I would think of something like Sonic Battles with Emerl but less grindy and maybe having better RPG system.

Would a cutaway random encounters RPG with a battle system that's basically just a normal, high skill ceiling, 1v1, 2D fighting game be an objectively terrible idea?

Or something akin to Yakuza in a way? You free roam in a city until a guy challenges you?

 

[KaiserMk7]

Is it objectively a bad thing if the entire multiplayer experience in a fighting game boils down to "who can true combo first"?