Ever since my uncle blessed my eyes to the beauty of Soulcalibur 3 on the Playstation 2, I was in love. The way in which one and another player were pitted against each other, with no luck factor, the complex movesets, character design, beautiful music and stages blew me away. It felt as though I was able to play through a fight I could only see in film or television. Ever since that day I have devoted my time and passion into this genre, competing in tournaments, researching the history and changing with every major fighting game release. With time however, this genre has become a mere fragment of what it used to be, as greedy corporate tactics and a toxic player base is slowly causing the decline of the genre I once loved, and in a time in which I feel my favorite genre is dying before my eyes, I have a shred of optimism for the future as more releases are announced.
The fighting game is one that simply puts you and another player against each other, with the simple goal of depleting their health bar in order to declare a winner. This genre has been around as long as video games have existed, as in 1976 SEGA released Heavyweight Champ which many consider to be the first major fighting game. However, the tides were not shifted until the release of capcom’s Street Fighter that the series took off. Despite Street Fighter’s impact within the fighting game scene, it is more so viewed as a beat ’em up rather than a fighting game. Street Fighter laid the foundation for a strong universe which exploded in the second game in the series. Street Fighter 2 is viewed by many in the fighting game community (FGC) as a revolutionary release in which the idea of mastering a character on the diverse roster and competing against others took off. Arcades were flooded with passionate fans, waiting to test their skills against other players. Since the groundbreaking release of SF2, many games have joined the now oversaturated market of fighting games. Most notably Tekken and Mortal Kombat were able to change the way these games were made and played as both were implementing ideas which revolutionized the genre. Tekken was released in 1994 and popularized the idea of the 3D fighter, which made it so you had not only the x-axis to worry about but the y-axis as well, as the 3D style made it so you had entire freedom on the map and created a new opportunity for players to change their style of play. Those who understood the Y axis would see the most success in this game as understanding this new evolution would allow you to create new combos and strategies not possible in a 2D fighter. Mortal Kombat was also able to push boundaries. Ed Boon, the creator of the game, used photo rendering to create his characters and implemented the fatality, which was an ultraviolent sequence to finish off your opponent. Mortal Kombat sent society into outrage, as the graphic violence was very unpopular with those outside of the community, creating a strict ratings system for games. Despite this, its popularity outshined the hatred as Boon and his team continued to make these games for years. Since these two groundbreaking releases fighting games have evolved into multiple sub genres in which players are able to pick the style they want within their game, as well as the sort of character style and aesthetic that each game seems to differ and excel at.
The growing popularity of fighting games caused Tom Cannon to create the Evolution Championship Series. This is the biggest fighting game and gaming tournament to date, and it all began as a way for the best Street Fighter players to test their skills against one another.The tournament grew in popularity and eventually rebranded to EVO in 2002. It was then that the tournament began to include different games in the genre, and arcade rats became stars within the community. Justin Wong was one such man, he is a multi time EVO winner with historic moments such as his Cyclops come back in Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and his parry of Daigo’s super art in Street Fighter 3rd Strike stand as legendary moments that are widely known within the community. It is moments like this that grew exposure to EVO and the genre itself, paving the way for a bright future filled with new innovation within the genre.
I consider the mid-2000s to be the golden age of the fighting game, as EVO was a massive player in video game competition and many new releases shook up the ways these games were played. So many great releases came from this time such as Soulcalibur 2, Tekken 5, Dead or Alive and Marvel vs Capcom 2 are just a few big names in a packed list of great fighters that came out during this time. This was a period of innovation, as each game tried to differentiate themselves from others, Soulcalibur 2 was known for its use of weapons and strong character writing, which popularized the series. Dead or Alive was known for its provocative aesthetic that over-sexualized its female characters and its fast paced 3D fighting that competed with the slower pace the Tekken series was known for. The biggest release from this age is Street Fighter IV, which introduced many new mechanics such as ultra combos and focus attacks, which changed the way the game was played while maintaining the old school Street Fighter style.
Nowadays, the fighting game industry is a fragment of what it used to be. Mortal Kombat 9 was a great return to form for the series however, and before the decline is discussed, it is necessary to talk about the short period in the 2010s in which fighting games were seemingly still getting better. We had so many hits during this period, such as MK9, which returned Mortal Kombat to its form and broke away from the errors of the 2000s NetherRealm made. They truly made a good Mortal Kombat game, as the roster was great as was the fighting. This continued with MKX which is a cult classic amongst the community, praised for its fighting mechanics and guest characters which the series is known for today. Dead or Alive 5 was also a significant game, introducing new characters to the cast that fit right in while maintaining its core style amongst modern graphics. Tekken 7 was an underdog hit as well, as Tekken 6 was a flop due to poor changes made by Bandai Namco. Tekken 7 fixed many of the issues with its predecessor, providing a great product that many still prefer over today’s Tekken 8. This all started to change as microtransactions in video games became the most profitable means for making money for these companies. This all began around the release of Mortal Kombat 11 which was a great game, however the game decided to switch its cosmetic items to gear pieces you could equip for different characters. There were also skins that you could unlock, not without hours of grinding however, which resulted in some criticism of the game, but despite this, the great roster and fighting made the game enjoyable. Unfortunately NetherRealm completely dropped the ball with their latest release of Mortal Kombat 1. There are many reasons why this game failed, and is now out of the professional competitive scene, the first being the ridiculous edition of cameo fighters. With the cameo system, players can choose another character to fight by your side, and with the click of a button they can attack to disrupt combos and in general benefit the player’s performance. This could have been a decent inclusion if the characters were not so unbalanced. Certain cameo picks make a huge difference to the fight and it completely disregards the skill factor, as there is no skill with using these characters, just a push of a button and they will automatically attack. Many did not like this addition, as Mortal Kombat to many is the prime example of a 1v1 fighter, and by taking that aspect away it feels like you could win due to a cop out through your cameo fighter. What makes this worse is the fact that many powerful cameos are locked behind paywalls, making this game feel like a pay-to-win experience rather than basing it off of skill. This factor also ties into the main roster as many powerful characters such as Peacemaker are completely overpowered and simple, making the game feel as though you need to pick a certain character combo to win, which is not right in these types of games. I would mention the latest Dead or Alive game (DOA6), however that game just is an absolute mess, filled with hundreds of microtransactions, and practically being a reskin of the fifth game with the new things being locked through a paywall. The lone game is worth sixty dollars but, there are many cosmetics and characters who are locked, and you can only obtain these through paying. This game had a peak that was shorter than the reign of Louis XIX, however we still saw many players giving into these microtransactions which is another big piece of the problem. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I consider myself to be driven by optimism and that theory of thought extends to my opinions about the future of the genre. As more people are growing frustrated with the monetization of games, we are seeing slow steps away from this idea. Despite the microtransactions, Street Fighter 6 serves as a great return to form, and within the game’s subsequent updates there has been change made that has improved the game for the cult following it garners. The Fatal Fury crossover was in particular a solid idea, not overpricing a very good choice for guest characters was a splendid choice, and the balancing is as good as it can be in contemporary gaming. As things seem to change every week with that game, Fatal Fury plans on releasing a new game as well, and it is slated to come out this year. This comes after Terry grew very popular within Super Smash Bros and Street Fighter respectively. We don’t know much in regards to its monetization, but many have hope they will not ruin this return to a beloved series. Virtua Fighter is getting a new release as well, and we know little to nothing about this, however many hope SEGA will stay true to the old school style this game brings and limit the modern day tactics used to drive profit. I may be blind due to bias or my hope for this genre, and I cannot say for sure how these games are going to be monetized. I do believe the gaming industry is changing, straying away from lazy money making methods, as the public opinion on them declines greatly.