Street Fighter X Tekken is just under two months old, which is not that old in the competitive fighting game scene. I’m still very much enjoying it. Hope you’re enjoying it too if you’ve been playing this game of late. Not really sure where I want to go with this post yet, but I just had a few thoughts about the early days of Street Fighter X Tekken that I wanted to capture somewhere. I’m just going to write off the top of my head and see where this goes.
(UPDATE: Part 2 of the frame data sub-series of posts is now live. Click here to learn more about frame advantage!)
When most people play fighting games, they don’t think about the underlying mechanics that drive the on-screen action. Odds are, all they care about is whether or not they’re beating their opponent to a pulp. That’s all well and good. However, competitive fighting game players will go to great lengths to find any sort of advantage on their opponents. This can include learning advanced combos, specific tactics, or as deep as understanding the raw mathematics that drives how a fighting game works.
Yes, I did say mathematics. You see, behind the action are a series of mathematical constants, variables and calculations that drive how everything works. Most people never think about this side of a fighting game (or any game for that matter), but the math is there, whether you actively recognize it or not.
In this entry into the Universal Fighting Game Guide, let’s take a high-level stab at talking about one element of the math that drives a fighting game, which is frame data. Certain off-the-shelf guides will contain frame data for your game of choice, though online sites will likely be your best bet to find this type of information. To the untrained eye, frame data charts look like rocket science. If you’ve never tried to read frame data (or have attempted it and failed), this crash course in the basics may help.
For a number of reasons, Skullgirls is a blast of fresh air in the fighting game genre. Not bound by the design or gameplay standards of a renown publisher or developer, the team at Autumn Games laid the ideas on thick. However, unique thinking doesn’t always lead to a fun game. Does Skullgirls manage to pull it all together to provide an experience on the same level as the giants in the genre?
Pretty much since the inception of the genre, fighting games have been dominated by a handful of major publishers and developers, such as Capcom and SNK. Outside of the hack-fest known as Mugen, I can’t think of an indie fighting game that’s made any sort of impact on the scene. Skullgirls aims to kick history in the face by being an indie fighting game that makes a big splash. The game is available now on PSN and XBOX Live Arcade.
Did you ever play Street Fighter II on the Genesis with the default 3-button controller? I’m sure a lot of you did. Didn’t it suck to have to hit the start button every time you wanted to switch between punches and kicks? Imagine trying to sell a control scheme like that through now.
(image from iPlaywinner)
Razer is a household name in high-end gaming accessories such as keyboards and mice for a long time. This year, Razer plans on making their foray into the fighting game space with their Razer Arcade stick, due out later this year. However, you can get a chance to get your hands on an early prototype by signing up for the beta.
In this installment of the Universal Fighting Game Guide, let’s talk about the comebacks in fighting games. More specifically, tips to help you come back from a huge life deficit. We’ll use the classic EVO moment #37 video and the full match video to break down some overarching tips that you can use to turn the tides like Daigo did years ago.
The fighting game genre has no shortage of odd pairings. From Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe to Sonic the Hedgehog in Smash Bros, it seems like we’d seen it all. Then in 2011, Capcom shocked the fighting game world by announcing a crossover between the top 2D fighting game franchise and the top 3D fighting game franchise. Having seen how poorly 2D fighting games and 3D fighting games have mixed in the past, people had a lot of questions about how a Street Fighter and Tekken mash-up could possibly work. Is Street Fighter X Tekken the best of both worlds? A failure like past attempts to mix the genres? Or did it turn into it’s own thing?
In today’s Jett Vs. post, we’ve got a match between my Cammy and Gabriel6937’s Ryu. This was a slobber-knocker of a match that I had fun being a part of. Click through to see the fight and some match analysis from me!
On today’s edition of Jett vs., I face off against some lofty competition. CK0 Phantom at the time we fought, was the #7 ranked Dhalsim on XBOX Live. Going into the match, I was really nervous, as I was facing someone a few levels above me, and someone who had their mic plugged in and was freely cursing back at me. Hearing the person on the other side always puts me on edge, and sometimes it rattles me to the point where I play worse. Was I able to overcome my nerves to win?
In Third Person 
