Hot takes

[ciro64]

Butt attack is overrated

 

[Tonberry]

Speaking of fighting games, I think we're in an absolute poo age of fighting game character designs. Compare, say, Street Fighter 4's characters:

Ooh, look at them! They're colourful (even with a limited palette), they're wearing interesting clothing that other characters don't, and they've all got unique silhouettes. Even though they're all making similar poses and have similar expressions, you can tell that Dudley's a gentleman, and that Juri Han is mischievous and snarky, and that Rufus is a loudmouth. Even when they're not really "attractive", they have strong designs that make them appealing and fun to look at. The shading and distinct outlines make them look like 2D illustrations come to life. Talk about good character design! (And yes, I know Dudley is from a SF3 sequel, but work with me, here.)

Now, look at SF6's new characters:

What the fuck are these monsters. They look ugly, they look ugly, they look ugly! They look ugly because, in addition to having the most brutish, uncanniest faces and body types imaginable, they've just been given some weird fucking accoutrements.

Why does Marissa's mouth spread across the width of her face, literally extending past her eyes? Why does Luke have a unibrow and a comb-over? Why does Manon have massive gorilla hands (measure the tip of her forefinger to her wrist), and her hair looks like it's been photoshopped on a layer in front of her head? And they all have silhouettes that match existing characters, too – Marissa is Zangief, Manon is Chun-Li, Luke is Ryu/Ken. That isn't very original.

I don't know. All post-2015 fighting game characters look ugly as shit to me. (I sorta thought this about SF5, too.) Do the fans like this? I know it's only 35-year-olds+ playing this genre anymore, so are they kind of ugly-ing them up for millennials or something? Hoo boy, do they not make me want to put 15,000 hours into the game + 3 years' worth of paid online + a ticket and lodgings for EVO, that's for sure! I'm sticking with the French Bread pixel-art games about Fate characters.

Sorry for replying to a week old post, but I agree wholeheartedly about 6.

Yeah SF6 really looks like assholes. It's a shame because they clearly took notes from the cool streetwise vibe that 3rd Strike had that feels like the best shtick SF ever had since its "let's mash every 80s action movie trope together + Blanka" of SF2, but they just fumbled it completely aside from the sick character selection and VS screens.
It doesn't help that they sort of attempt to iterate on the style inbetween characters, because Mai looks way more stylized and cartoony compared to almost all of the previous ones in the SF6 style. Terry looks like a frankenstein monster. I hate how almost all the newcomers AND the redesigns in 6 look like they're wearing work-out clothes.

There are a few outliers I enjoy. I like how gigantic and threatening Zangief feels, and I thought Ed, Dee Jay's and Lili's designs are pretty good. I think Chun-Li has a cute face, but they gave her actual horse legs this time around and it just looks messed up. And even then most of the characters that have okay-ish designs in artwork just get ultra combo'd by the graphics engine.

SF5 was at least somewhat cohesive and some of the new outfits for returning characters like Cody were great, but the characters in 6 mostly feel like monsters. Like they're wacky for wacky's sake.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Rename the thread to "bad takes" instead of hot takes

 

[AkiraSO4]

Sorry for replying to a week old post, but I agree wholeheartedly about 6.

Yeah SF6 really looks like assholes. It's a shame because they clearly took notes from the cool streetwise vibe that 3rd Strike had that feels like the best shtick SF ever had since its "let's mash every 80s action movie trope together + Blanka" of SF2, but they just fumbled it completely aside from the sick character selection and VS screens.
It doesn't help that they sort of attempt to iterate on the style inbetween characters, because Mai looks way more stylized and cartoony compared to almost all of the previous ones in the SF6 style. Terry looks like a frankenstein monster. I hate how almost all the newcomers AND the redesigns in 6 look like they're wearing work-out clothes.

There are a few outliers I enjoy. I like how gigantic and threatening Zangief feels, and I thought Ed, Dee Jay's and Lili's designs are pretty good. I think Chun-Li has a cute face, but they gave her actual horse legs this time around and it just looks messed up. And even then most of the characters that have okay-ish designs in artwork just get ultra combo'd by the graphics engine.

SF5 was at least somewhat cohesive and some of the new outfits for returning characters like Cody were great, but the characters in 6 mostly feel like monsters. Like they're wacky for wacky's sake.

I can't help but feel they jumped the gun with Cody's story. His SFV story should have been about him getting his shit together, so then when he shows up as the mayor in SF6, it would feel earned. Going from prisoner to mayor out of nowhere just felt really strange.

 

[Gorse]

Speaking of fighting games, I have no idea how this is viewed in the FGC, but I really don't like how they're ALL crossing over with each other nowadays. Ryu's in Smash Brothers, Mai Shiranui's in Street Fighter, Punchbrain McGillicuddy's in Goonblasters 112. It really makes each IP less distinct – now there's not so much a variety of different fighting games as there is this big amorphous blob of fighting game culture that all the characters and worlds co-exist in. (At least in mainstream big-name fighting games.)

Do people like this? What if you only want to play Street Fighter characters in Street Fighter? It all seems a little goofy to me. The fighting game genre just seems to be getting more and more incestuous as time goes on. I like fighting games, but I can't imagine for a second getting into the modern AAA ones.

 

[AkiraSO4]

Speaking of fighting games, I have no idea how this is viewed in the FGC, but I really don't like how they're ALL crossing over with each other nowadays. Ryu's in Smash Brothers, Mai Shiranui's in Street Fighter, Punchbrain McGillicuddy's in Goonblasters 112. It really makes each IP less distinct – now there's not so much a variety of different fighting games as there is this big amorphous blob of fighting game culture that all the characters and worlds co-exist in. (At least in mainstream big-name fighting games.)

Do people like this? What if you only want to play Street Fighter characters in Street Fighter? It all seems a little goofy to me. The fighting game genre just seems to be getting more and more incestuous as time goes on. I like fighting games, but I can't imagine for a second getting into the modern AAA ones.

I never enjoyed that idea either. It was fine when only Mortal Kombat did it, and in most cases they've done a decent job, but now every damn fighting game needs a guest character whether it fits or not. Just look at all those 2D characters in Tekken 7 that everyone liked UNTIL they had to fight them online, some people even saying they shouldn't be in the game.

Guess it's cheaper to do this than an actual crossover game? Who knows.

But now we're getting stuff like Ronaldo and CoTW and I can't help but feel like this is an omen.

Oh yeah, and then there's the MK9 debacle where some say WB lost the license to Freddy hence the game getting delisted. Certainly adds fuel to the fire.

 

[Tonberry]

I can't help but feel they jumped the gun with Cody's story. His SFV story should have been about him getting his shit together, so then when he shows up as the mayor in SF6, it would feel earned.

I guess it's just sort of par for the course with games like Street Fighter where the story kind of happens between games. I always felt like it's worse whenever they try to focus on it, but I'm one of those sickos who enjoy the simple "big villain invited people to a cool tournament to kill them" thing.

I do kind of like how they went all-in on tying together Final Fight and Street Fighter in SF6, instead of just playing with the idea.

Speaking of fighting games, I have no idea how this is viewed in the FGC, but I really don't like how they're ALL crossing over with each other nowadays. Ryu's in Smash Brothers, Mai Shiranui's in Street Fighter, Punchbrain McGillicuddy's in Goonblasters 112. It really makes each IP less distinct – now there's not so much a variety of different fighting games as there is this big amorphous blob of fighting game culture that all the characters and worlds co-exist in. (At least in mainstream big-name fighting games.)

Do people like this? What if you only want to play Street Fighter characters in Street Fighter? It all seems a little goofy to me. The fighting game genre just seems to be getting more and more incestuous as time goes on. I like fighting games, but I can't imagine for a second getting into the modern AAA ones.

I like it when it's occasional. Aside from individual mechanics, fighting games are all about the characters, and (at least to me, I know it's different for everyone) I view them as sort of Fortnite kind of games (albeit to a MUCH lesser extent) where guest characters appearing doesn't feel like a huge deal as far as impact on the world goes. To me it's always felt sort of natural because they're not meant to be taken super seriously and reminds me of coin-op eras where you wanted a weird new character in the eyecatcher so people would check out the game. Cross-promotion to get eyeballs and purchases and all that.

It's annoying now though because so much resources go to developing characters, so when 50% of the season is compromised of guest characters (Mai and Terry in SF6) so early in the game's lifecycle it kind of feels like a waste of slots. It'd be more okay if it happened late and we weren't still hoping and praying our favorites would make the cut.

Then again, my favorite fighting game is Marvel 3, but that's specifically a cross-over game so I guess it doesn't count? It might be why I don't think it's much of a bother in other games though.

 

[AkiraSO4]

I guess it's just sort of par for the course with games like Street Fighter where the story kind of happens between games. I always felt like it's worse whenever they try to focus on it, but I'm one of those sickos who enjoy the simple "big villain invited people to a cool tournament to kill them" thing.

I do kind of like how they went all-in on tying together Final Fight and Street Fighter in SF6, instead of just playing with the idea.


I like it when it's occasional. Aside from individual mechanics, fighting games are all about the characters, and (at least to me, I know it's different for everyone) I view them as sort of Fortnite kind of games (albeit to a MUCH lesser extent) where guest characters appearing doesn't feel like a huge deal as far as impact on the world goes. To me it's always felt sort of natural because they're not meant to be taken super seriously and reminds me of coin-op eras where you wanted a weird new character in the eyecatcher so people would check out the game. Cross-promotion to get eyeballs and purchases and all that.

It's annoying now though because so much resources go to developing characters, so when 50% of the season is compromised of guest characters (Mai and Terry in SF6) so early in the game's lifecycle it kind of feels like a waste of slots. It'd be more okay if it happened late and we weren't still hoping and praying our favorites would make the cut.

Then again, my favorite fighting game is Marvel 3, but that's specifically a cross-over game so I guess it doesn't count? It might be why I don't think it's much of a bother in other games though.

It's one thing when it's a crossover game like MvC or the entire game is comprised of characters from other things like Smash.

I'm one of the few people who liked MK1, but goddamn if it didn't feel deflating to see a Kombat Pack where both times, half of the characters were guests. Especially KP1 where two guests (Homelander and Omni-Man) where pretty much the same kind of character, in a way.

It stopped being a novelty, nowadays it's just like "yeah, they'll throw a guest character in it, it's just a matter of time".

 

[Tonberry]

It's one thing when it's a crossover game like MvC or the entire game is comprised of characters from other things like Smash.

I'm one of the few people who liked MK1, but goddamn if it didn't feel deflating to see a Kombat Pack where both times, half of the characters were guests. Especially KP1 where two guests (Homelander and Omni-Man) where pretty much the same kind of character, in a way.

Yeah I edited it in the end, that it’s different for specifically crossover games.

I kind of think it’s okay if it means more people will try the game because it sucks when fighting games just die even when they’re good because people say the roster sucks. I’ll take the addition of Noctis or Big Chungus or whatever then.

I’ve never liked Mortal Kombat but I think it’s funny how they made it this weird amalgam of boomer action heroes fighting each other, with Conan and Rambo and stuff.
Kind of wish they’d make a separate game that would be just that in the MK engine so it doesn’t interfere with the world too much.

 

[Jeanfranc]

On the subject matter: I am seething immensely. what were they thinking?

 

[AkiraSO4]

Yeah I edited it in the end, that it’s different for specifically crossover games.

I kind of think it’s okay if it means more people will try the game because it sucks when fighting games just die even when they’re good because people say the roster sucks. I’ll take the addition of Noctis or Big Chungus or whatever then.

I’ve never liked Mortal Kombat but I think it’s funny how they made it this weird amalgam of boomer action heroes fighting each other, with Conan and Rambo and stuff.
Kind of wish they’d make a separate game that would be just that in the MK engine so it doesn’t interfere with the world too much.

The last guest characters I enjoyed were the ones in MKX. By far the best guest characters NRS ever did.
But even then people were cautious about the rights and stuff, especially with how the Friday 13th game turned out.

The problem with post MK11 guests is that they take half the kombat pack, especially when at the time, there's so many fan favorites missing. God knows we've all witnessed the MK11 Mileena situation.
And also they tend to be way too strong most of the time (overpowered in Alien's case). Look at MK9 Freddy, pre-patch Alien, MK11 Joker, the list goes on. Not to mention most MK11 characters were a case of "character that shoots a gun". (At least they made Robocop a true zoner)

I remember Noctis being a problem in T7 and Clive following suit in the next game, but to be fair Tekken 8 has done so many bad choices it would make a hot take thread in on itself.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

TEKKEN 3 is better than TEKKEN 5.

My reason being that, while 5 is more polished, 3 is no slouch itself while also having some incredible vibes on top of that which 5 lacks.

5 is still a great game though! The intro…

“Heihachi Mishima… is dead.”

^
So that was a lie.

Post automatically merged: Mar 31, 2025

It's one thing when it's a crossover game like MvC or the entire game is comprised of characters from other things like Smash.

I'm one of the few people who liked MK1, but goddamn if it didn't feel deflating to see a Kombat Pack where both times, half of the characters were guests. Especially KP1 where two guests (Homelander and Omni-Man) where pretty much the same kind of character, in a way.

It stopped being a novelty, nowadays it's just like "yeah, they'll throw a guest character in it, it's just a matter of time".

I love the MK guests A LOT but not at the expense of cutting other roster members.

MK definitely has too many characters, but even still, their rosters suffer heavily from “where is this person? Where is that person? My main is missing, now who do I play?”

 

[AkiraSO4]

TEKKEN 3 is better than TEKKEN 5.

My reason being that, while 5 is more polished, 3 is no slouch itself while also having some incredible vibes on top of that which 5 lacks.

5 is still a great game though! The intro…

“Heihachi Mishima… is dead.”

^
So that was a lie.

You could have just said that Tekken 3 doesn't have a BS final boss and that would have been enough.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

You could have just said that Tekken 3 doesn't have a BS final boss and that would have been enough.

I MEAN THAT IS ALSO FAIR!

But my other hot take is that I kinda love Jinpachi. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he’s BS. He’s unfair. But he’s SO BS and SO UNFAIR that it wraps back around to being funny. Not to mention, he looks the part. If he was just a normal looking guy but was still ridiculous, I would be singing a different tune.

 

[AkiraSO4]

I MEAN THAT IS ALSO FAIR!

But my other hot take is that I kinda love Jinpachi. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he’s BS. He’s unfair. But he’s SO BS and SO UNFAIR that it wraps back around to being funny. Not to mention, he looks the part. If he was just a normal looking guy but was still ridiculous, I would be singing a different tune.

Problem is he's an SNK boss in a 3D fighter. I mean, insta stun, the projectiles, teleports, taking health from you and giving it to him, faking a whiffed fireball only to throw another... And honestly, Azazel is just Jinpachi with super armor. They both suck. xD Tekken wasn't really known for their boss fights, but this is when it really started to go down the drain. People can like it if they want to, but it's objectively bad.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I suppose a different hot take is that, when it comes to the 16 bit game libraries, I tend to think the SNES is somewhat boring.
I acknowledge game quality is HIGH and respect many of the games up on offer! But, I also think the system as a whole is a fairly straightforward evolution of the NES and Famicom. Many games on both machines are upgrades where you go “well, of course that!”

Heading over to the Mega Drive/Genesis, things are a lot more wild. Experimental. Weird. SEGA had a lot to prove, so they poured their hearts into some insane projects. I would be the first to tell you that the Mega Drive library has more duds than the SNES! But, there’s something about the edge of the library. The grit. The excitement poured into many of its games that really gets to me. And, by far it’s my preferred option in the 16 bit war. At least in terms of both system’s western output, as I acknowledge that Japan definitely adds a lot more to this whole debate.

Post automatically merged: Mar 31, 2025

Also, not a hot take at all, but I would like to say that my favorite SNES/SFC title is Yoshi’s Island.
I think it’s the ultimate culmination of what the console was capable of and designed to do, done in a game that is extremely visually appealing and tight to control.
It’s fun, it’s difficult, it’s charming, and it’s worth playing no matter how you play it.
Aside from fantastic visual novels and text heavy software, which benefitted IMMENSELY from the upgrades brought to the table by the SFC, this is what I think the console was best at but personified into a playable video game. It’s brilliant!

 

[moonbits]

Rename the thread to "bad takes" instead of hot takes

we reached the moment where people say SF5 looks better than SF6
we reached nirvana of hot takes

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

we reached the moment where people say SF5 looks better than SF6
we reached nirvana of hot takes

Inb4 you get people defending that opinion. Can’t say I agree, as I think I adore SF6 more than most people. It IS my favorite Street Fighter, next to Third Strike after all. It makes sense I’d be defensive.

Still, to play devils advocate, I think SF5’s story of redemption is heartwarming history (weird to say that about a game still so new), and many of the characters and mechanical improvements that came in later seasons are second to none. There’s something to admire about how 5 was this weird test bed of ideas, and I’d be remiss to not respect if after giving the Sega Gene-Drive so much respect for doing the same thing.

 

[Gorse]

Speaking of SNES platformers, I was just thinking the other day about how much I enjoy Donkey Kong Country 3. It's often written off as the worst of the SNES games, and it's difficult for me to disagree with that, but the game has some truly beautiful presentation and fun as fuck boss battles. A lot of the levels are extremely classic and memorable, too, and the game's a technical marvel packed full of content on the SNES – just looking at screenshots from the game compared to, like, Super Mario World or something you wouldn't even think they were on the same console. I really love how you can freely walk around the overworld, too. I wouldn't say it's a better game, but I do think I prefer it to DKC2. (And I love DKC2!)

MARK MY WORDS: Had they just replaced that stupid Kiddy Kong with DK, the game would have instantly been considered the best DKC game. Oh well...!

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Speaking of SNES platformers, I was just thinking the other day about how much I enjoy Donkey Kong Country 3. It's often written off as the worst of the SNES games, and it's difficult for me to disagree with that, but the game has some truly beautiful presentation and fun as fuck boss battles. A lot of the levels are extremely classic and memorable, too, and the game's a technical marvel packed full of content on the SNES – just looking at screenshots from the game compared to, like, Super Mario World or something you wouldn't even think they were on the same console. I really love how you can freely walk around the overworld, too. I wouldn't say it's a better game, but I do think I prefer it to DKC2. (And I love DKC2!)

MARK MY WORDS: Had they just replaced that stupid Kiddy Kong with DK, the game would have instantly been considered the best DKC game. Oh well...!

And also if it didn’t release in 1996…

I feel so bad for poor DKC3. Even among Nintendo fans, especially among Nintendo fans, it’s completely disregarded.

 

[Gorse]

Also, just while we’re on the subject: every Donkey Kong Land game plus the GBC version of Country is effing atrocious, and I say that with immense, heart-stopping nostalgia for the second one. I don’t really think Rare ever understood handheld gaming.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Also, just while we’re on the subject: every Donkey Kong Land game plus the GBC version of Country is effing atrocious, and I say that with immense, heart-stopping nostalgia for the second one. I don’t really think Rare ever understood handheld gaming.

THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!
As a GameBoy fan, I’m CRUSHED that they never gave the handheld a game that was truly great. Even their original output for the device was… not good.

You’d think they’d be well equipped considering their history with the 8-bit computer market, but no…

 

[Tonberry]

Speaking of SNES platformers, I was just thinking the other day about how much I enjoy Donkey Kong Country 3. It's often written off as the worst of the SNES games, and it's difficult for me to disagree with that, but the game has some truly beautiful presentation and fun as fuck boss battles. A lot of the levels are extremely classic and memorable, too, and the game's a technical marvel packed full of content on the SNES – just looking at screenshots from the game compared to, like, Super Mario World or something you wouldn't even think they were on the same console. I really love how you can freely walk around the overworld, too. I wouldn't say it's a better game, but I do think I prefer it to DKC2. (And I love DKC2!)

MARK MY WORDS: Had they just replaced that stupid Kiddy Kong with DK, the game would have instantly been considered the best DKC game. Oh well...!

100%
The real Kongpill is that the entire DKC trilogy is solid as hell, and that favorite usually just boils down to which character you prefer.
I like 1 the most because of the sliiiightly more natural setting, and because you can play as DK, even if I’m well aware that DKC2 and probably 3 are mechanically superior.
3 probably has my favorite music since they leaned the hardest into ambient stuff with that one.

THATS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!
As a GameBoy fan, I’m CRUSHED that they never gave the handheld a game that was truly great. Even their original output for the device was… not good.

You’d think they’d be well equipped considering their history with the 8-bit computer market, but no…

Same here. I grew up with DKL2 and was mega jealous of my friend who had it on SNES.
At least we have the cute keygen music from them!

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

This’ll be a hot take for only a specific number of people, but…

I think the level up system of Sonic Heroes is one of my favorite elements of that game. It’s that and the fluidity of the team based gameplay that dang near save the game for me when the levels get to the middle portion of the game (I.E. the part of the game where they get super unfun).
There’s something about leveling up your character by beating enemies in the environment, strategizing who should be in the lead when you get to a checkpoint, knowing what each character can do at their specific level… it all comes together to be very fun for me. It actually developed into my love of level up mechanics in vertical shooters years later!

 

[Bakuma1997]

A really specific one, since seemingly only in Mexico we have this opinion

Cheese Maruchan is great, not only that, is the best flavor, yet there is people that dislike it, maybe they are literally eating it wrong (Try making it with milk, tried it once and OMG)
Maruchan de Queso my Beloved