Exactly one year ago, Niantic and the Pokemon Company unleashed Pokemon Go onto the Earth. It became a supernova of a game that everyone was talking about and playing. Then, almost as quickly as it arrived, it fizzled out. While the game will never hit the highs of its early days, it still has a large and loyal following, including yours truly.
Mighty Gunvolt: Burst is the amalgamation of two indie franchises that were heavily influenced by the Blue Bomber. Despite being conceived by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and backed by a multi-million dollar Kickstarter campaign, Mighty No. 9 will go down in history as one of the largest flops in gaming history. As for the Gunvolt half, Azure Striker: Gunvolt has been a more successful IP in terms of critical reception, though I’d never heard of the franchise until this mash-up.
Wouldn’t blame you for feeling skeptical about any game featuring the now-toxic Mighty No. 9 brand, even if it looks like the 8-bit platformer backers of the original Kickstarter wanted in the first place. While I can’t speak for the quality of that game, I can say that Mighty Gunvolt: Burst is actually a pretty decent game.
Character choice means everything in a fighting game. It’s about the moves that your character has. The strengths and weaknesses they have. Their look. Their back story. All of this ends up being a reflection of you and how you like to play any given fighting game.
For the fighting games I play, this very much applies to me. Characters that I use need to look cool and fit my play style. If they don’t fit both, I have a hard time being effective with them or finding the motivation to get better. As such, here’s my five favourite fighting game characters!
During the Global Testpunch, I thought ARMS was going to be a walk in the park. I was throwing hands like Kimbo Slice, dropping almost every opponent in sight while collecting 100+ coins during each hourly interval. Figured that I would waltz my way to the top of the rankings in no time.
It didn’t take long for reality to smack me in the face with fists powered by springy arms. Everything past rank 6 has been a struggle. I touched rank 10, only to be beat down dozens of times in a row and fall back down to Earth. Just like every other fighting game out there, I’m gonna have to earn it just like everyone else.
As it stands, the Wii U will go down in history as Nintendo’s biggest home console flop. Confusing hardware, poor messaging and continued lack of third party support sunk this one from the start. That being said, there were still a number of games worth playing on the Wii U. In no particular order, here’s a list of my favourites.
I am currently smitten with ARMS. Nintendo’s newest title is a novel take on the fighting game that is one of the most accessible fighters in quite some time. For a brief moment, I thought that maybe this would be the game that magically conquers the genre’s accessibility problem. After browsing online to see the response from players on message boards, Reddit, and Twitter, it was clear that this was not the case.
Just like with any other fighting game, there were complaints about throws being too cheap. About certain characters (coughcoughNinjaracoughcough) being too overpowered. Some were calling the game a mindless waggle-fest or button-masher. Â You don’t have to look far to find opinions rooted in conjecture. The reality is that getting a wider audience to understand and enjoy fighting games at a satisfying level far more complicated than just creating a simplified game.
The Super Nintendo Classic is launching with a bevy of timeless classics. It will be well worth the suggested retail price upon it’s release in September. However, I couldn’t help but notice a few large omissions from this list. Wish the following games could have made it on the console!
Following the success (or at least rampant demand for) the NES Classic, Nintendo returns with the Super Nintendo Classic. Featuring two controllers (with longer cables) and 21 stellar titles (including the unreleased Star Fox 2), this is going to be a must-have item this holiday season.
Welcome to Hell. On Mars. In the world of Doom, it’s just another day at the office. As a reboot to the seminal shooter of the same name, Doom tries its hardest to make its original formula work in modern times. Somehow, Id and Bethesda pulled it off with flying colours.
Nintendo’s latest fighting game is far from a waggle fest. Players who master the ins-and-outs of ARMS will dominate, while button mashing and arm flailing will almost certainly guarantee defeat. These tips may not make you the Daigo of ARMS, but they should get you on the right track to success!
In Third Person 