Yeah, yeah, y’all ready?
It's time for the S4 League
We're about to explode like a bomb
It's time for the S4 League
We're about to explode like a bomb
Everybody who ever played S4 League knows those words. S4 League is a game with a complicated history, and I’m proud to say that I was part of that history. I mean, I wasn’t anything particularly big or anything, but I’ve interacted plenty with the Stylish eSper Shooting Sports. Are you interested? Then grab your weapons and join me in the ride across my memories with S4 League.
SHOW ME YOUR S4!
I don't know who the artist is but I want to give them a kiss.
S4 League was a free-to-play Korean MMO third person shooter with sci-fi elements set in the future. Players control unnamed virtual characters in a virtual world where they compete in several modes through the use of weapons. It’s a game that’s competitive by nature (there’s a mode that’s literally American football), so having good movement and aim is key to being the best. S4 League complements its gameplay through an anime aesthetic and a kickass soundtrack that gets you pumped to kill your enemies.
As I already mentioned, the game was free-to-play. This is good because, well, it’s free! I like things that cost 0 or less. However, this brought some problems, which I’ll explain later.
WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT IT?
1. The weapons
The Assault Rifle was a simple but satisfying weapon to use.
But it’s not all about the shooty-shooty, no. You also had… melee weapons! And just like the ranged weapons, there’s room for creativity here. The most popular weapon was the Plasma Sword, a multi-purpose weapon with low skill floor and high skill ceiling. You also had the Storm Bat, the Hammer, the Twin Blades, the Spy Dagger… Even the simplest ones were a load of fun, and a big part of what made S4 League so great. Learning to use one or two melee weapons did a lot for your skill.
2. The modes
You are the chaser! Bring it!
S4 League had plenty of game modes to keep you entertained. The most popular ones were Deathmatch (team based massacre, the team who kills the most wins) and Touchdown (you had to pick up the Fumbi [which was the mascot of the game] and take it to the enemy goal. These modes were great and everything, but personally I was very partial of Chaser. In this mode, one player becomes the Chaser and gets possessed by a virus, granting them immense strength. The Chaser had to kill every single player (the order doesn’t matter, but if you do it from score order you get extra points) to win the round. You COULD kill the Chaser, but it required great skill and a collaborative effort since the Chase could kill you in one or two hits. There were others such as Battle Royale or Captain, but I didn’t indulge in them as much, as I preferred Touchdown or Chaser.
Additionally, you had the chance of making the rooms ranged only, melee only (this one in particular was very popular) or everything goes. Perfect for players of each skill levels and preferences!
3. The movement
The basics of the movement consist of running, dodging, air running, air dodging and wall jumping; all of them tied to a resource called SP. They are easy to execute, usually pressing a button twice in a row. However, they interact one with another seamlessly, as well as with the weapons. The limit lies in the skill of the player; and there were plenty of cool things you can do. For example, after a wall jump, if you reload at the right time, you could climb certain walls without the need for another wall; or you could use a specific quirk of the Counter Sword to reach certain places with an air dodge. The possibilities are endless, and the mastery of the movement is testament of a skill of a player. It’s sooooo cool!
4. The community
The pre-match lobbies were a great way of making friends.
The sense of community was immense, and you could make the most unlikely friends from anywhere in the world: from Brazil, to Peru, the United States, your own country… Anywhere! Well, kind of. You see, there were actually several branches of S4 League: one for Asia and one for Europe (which for some reason also included USA players). In this last one you’d find players from Africa and South America. That is, until they were IP banned permanently (because it’s not where they belonged). I know that at some point they opened a branch in South America, but I’m not so sure for Africa. Nevertheless, S4 League was a great way of making friends, from the safety of your home.
5. The aesthetics
Minor in comparison to everything else, but one must mention how good the artistical department was in this game. Sure, the aesthetic was anime, but it felt very unique because a lot of the designs were so badass. And the music… my god, the music! In this case it’s because the company that created S4 League was a music producer, so it kind of makes sense. I know they made plenty of rhythm games for the PSP. I should give them a try at some point…
Related to the visual aspect, each season had a theme. The first one was a mixture of darkness and lightning (as in, thunderstorm lightning), while the second one was industrial themed. I don’t remember what the other seasons were about, but one in particular was about Alice in Wonderland. My favorite was the second season because it introduced my favorite costume and weapon skin in the whole game. Ah, good times…
AND WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
1. Free-to-play, pay-to-win
One of the most popular weapons back then.
Oh, yeah, by the way: THE MONETIZATION SUCKS. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO GET WEAPONS IN OLD S4 LEAGUE???? YOU BUY CAPSULES, AND THEY MAY HAVE PREMIUM WEAPON OR COSTUME. KEYWORD: MAY.
Yes, getting premium content was a gamble, very much akin to a gacha game or a casino. It sucked. Badly. It was unhealthy, and it promoted whaling in order to be better than the rest without actually developing proper skills.
2. The community
I don't have an image of a vote kick in effect, so look at the results screen, just so you know how it is.
One of the strengths of the game is also one of its biggest weaknesses. The community was very toxic and restrictive. For whatever reason, a lot of weapons were “banned” by the players. This meant that if you use a “forbidden” weapon, you’d most likely get kicked. This mostly applied to melee weapons (ranged weapons did not have any limitations except the Rocket Launcher, which was one of the last weapons introduced before the game shut down and MAYBE the bombs). As a result, in melee-only lobbies, you’d only see Plasma Sword, Storm Bat, Spy Dagger and Counter Sword. But God forbit you use the jump attack of the Plasma Sword and the Bat more than once in a row! That’s spamming and will get you kicked. And don’t think this was a vocal minority, oh no no. If you looked at the lobbies, 9 out of 10 melee-only lobbies had the title PS/BAT/CS only or some derivate of it.
3. Hackers galore!
I don’t know how, and I definitely don’t know why, but S4 League was insultingly easy to hack, or at least I assume that’s the case because the game was riddled with hackers. They were already prevalent in Season 1, but in Season 2 it was, quite literally, unplayable. Every single room had at least 5 hackers. At least some of them were chill so you could joke with them, but still, they made the game pretty unfun. Even when they finally “fixed” the problem midway Season 2, you could still find hackers in later seasons. And those weren’t as chill, which made the game even less fun.
To this day, I doubt the game had some sort of anti-piracy measure, because it was unacceptable.
4. Poor management
Alaplaya also published other games such as Fantasy Tennis 2 and Come on Baby.
At some point, the rights were passed to Aeria Games. From my recollection, things got better, but they still focused too much on monetization. They also made some weird decisions, such as implementing a voting system to kick out players that didn’t work properly (sometimes everybody would decide to kick a player and said player would remain on the match). I remember that sometimes it was impossible to access certain servers because they down, and this happened somewhat often.
Last, but not least, when they Aeria Games IP banned South Americans and Africans, they game almost died, because they were the bulk of the population. I understand why they did it, but it was still a stupid move. Never seen the game as empty as that since that day.
SO… WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS?
In case you were wondering, this was my favorite skin for a weapon.
Sometimes, I’d be trying to sleep in the middle of the night and get hit by a wave of nostalgia, and a feeling of wanting to go back to the game. That however, is no longer possible, because in 2021 S4 League got closed permanently because it was no longer giving profit. Guess killing your player base and making stupid decisions wasn’t as great of an idea as you thought, huh? But, what if I told you…
THERE’S A SOLUTION!
If you like, you can support them by buying exclusive cosmetic content.
S4 League is not completely dead! There’s actually two ways of experiencing this stylish shooter nowadays: S4 Max and Xero.
S4 Max is pretty much S4 League prior to a certain update, so it has everything up to that point. You can also buy premium content with in-game coin, so everybody is broken but cool. It’s hardly populated, so playing matches was difficult. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it disappeared completely as well.
Xero is the definitive way of playing S4 League. Unlike S4 Max, it’s decently populated (although you’d be hard pressed to find matches outside of Death Match, melee-only Chaser and melee-only Touchdown on Station-2, the most popular map), and all premium content is purely cosmetic, giving the same amount of power as the base weapons. Aside from all of that, the game is balanced every now and then (sometimes the balancing decisions are stupid, but it is what it is). Not all content is present, however. Some modes are outright missing and some weapons removed (even classic ones, such as the Bombs). Nevertheless, if you wish to experience this classic title again and put your skills to the test, Xero is your best bet. You can create an account and download the client here. .
CONCLUSION
To finish this off, enjoy the half-time, featuring the Fumbi.
Pentavision.. I KNEEL!
