The differences in the various 2D fighters, to a newbie

[Paul_B-C]

The subtleties, if you will.

I've just recently got into the whole 2D fighting game thing after years of only playing Tekken and Soul Calibur, and the number of games that I've never tried is pretty amazing.

I own:

Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition - Mega Drive
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload - PS2
King of Fighters 2000/2001 - PS2

I've played Darkstalkers 1, Samurai Shodown 2, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 before as well, but not for very long.

As far as I can tell, the Guilty Gear series is all about speed and ridiculous attacks, the Street Fighter games are more about combos and in the Alpha series, lots of Supers, and King of Fighters has a focus on evasion. I could be completely wrong, but that's what I've noticed so far.

To be honest I'm not even touching all the cancels and such yet, all seems a little overwhelming I think. If anyone can help me out in explaining what makes each of the major series unique, that would be great

[Zero Kyori]

Virtua Fighter - Uber Deep gameplay that takes years to learn I kid you not.
Arc System Fighters (GGXX, BB) Deep 2D gameplay w/ huge pressure and combo heavy attics
Samurai Spirits - Focuses on patience gameplay
King of Fighters - Short jump rushdown pressure gameplay
Street Fighter - depends which one. Any where from zoning, pressure, or character match ups
Tekken - Technical fighter revolving around mistake punishers and juggle combos

[the7k]

The Beginner's Incomplete Guide to KOF:



Glad to know you've played Darkstalkers, although I'd have to recommend you try Night Warriors/Vampire Hunter and Darkstalkers 3/Vampire Savior instead. Don't get me wrong, Darkstalkers was a great game for its time (especially when you consider Capcom was still milking Street Fighter II for all it was worth back then), but the improvements made in the subsequent entries really make it seem outdated.

If you get good at the Vampire series, you'll be prepared to tear up fools at the Marvel vs. series, as it was built right on top of the Vampire Hunter mechanics.

Samurai Showdown II is, of course, classic. Seems to me the SamSho series has always had a focus on extremely powerful strikes as opposed to long and complicated combos. It's all about waiting for your opponent to slip up and make a mistake - not to say that rush downs are impossible, especially if you are using a character like Ukyo or Cham Cham.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 is also a lot more balanced than Alpha 3, but they're both really good games. I just prefer Alpha 2 in a competitive environment.

I'd recommend that you get a copy of a Street Fighter III sometime. Regardless of whether you plan to just play for fun or play to win, SF3 seems to always get a load of play. Of course, unless you have a Dreamcast, the only entry you can play is Third Strike, which is kinda a shame. I personally really love Double Impact.

[DCsegaDH]

The Beginner's Incomplete Guide to KOF:



Glad to know you've played Darkstalkers, although I'd have to recommend you try Night Warriors/Vampire Hunter and Darkstalkers 3/Vampire Savior instead. Don't get me wrong, Darkstalkers was a great game for its time (especially when you consider Capcom was still milking Street Fighter II for all it was worth back then), but the improvements made in the subsequent entries really make it seem outdated.

If you get good at the Vampire series, you'll be prepared to tear up fools at the Marvel vs. series, as it was built right on top of the Vampire Hunter mechanics.

Samurai Showdown II is, of course, classic. Seems to me the SamSho series has always had a focus on extremely powerful strikes as opposed to long and complicated combos. It's all about waiting for your opponent to slip up and make a mistake - not to say that rush downs are impossible, especially if you are using a character like Ukyo or Cham Cham.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 is also a lot more balanced than Alpha 3, but they're both really good games. I just prefer Alpha 2 in a competitive environment.

I'd recommend that you get a copy of a Street Fighter III sometime. Regardless of whether you plan to just play for fun or play to win, SF3 seems to always get a load of play. Of course, unless you have a Dreamcast, the only entry you can play is Third Strike, which is kinda a shame. I personally really love Double Impact.

Darkstalkers is one of the best fighters out besides SF.I think Vampire Savior is the best of the series.Sasquatch is one of my favorite fighters.
The first 2 SF3 games came out on a compilation on DC its called Double Impact,I own it and play once in awhile.Amazon says its on PS,but its only on DC.

[jfrost]

Differences between franchises are pretty radical, although you probably will notice a certain feel to different games from the same company.

About the Vampire series, you should probably try to get hold of a copy of the Japan-exclusive Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection. It really is worth it. If that's too difficult, there's also Darkstalkers Chronicle for the PSP, which is a port of Vampire Chronicle for the Dreamcast and includes Vampire Savior 2 and Vampire Hunter 2 (in fact, these are the same games as the first ones, with slight changes, different characters and so on).

[Ack]

Yeah, but the load times are pretty atrocious on that PSP port, so keep that in mind.

Different companies also have preferred control styles that will not change much. Capcom prefers a six button layout(three punch, three kick), while SNK uses a four(two punch, two kick). Some companies will copy one or the other, but make tweaks in such a way, so while Rare's Killer Instinct is a six-button fighter like a Capcom game, the combo system plays different.

There's also special moves to consider. Does the game use rolls on the D-pad, or do they go for straight direction presses? From what I've noticed, Eastern companies favored rolls(like Guilty Gear) while Western favored straight directions(like Mortal Kombat). Eastern controls seem to have eventually won out. I always felt they were more comfortable, but maybe that's just me.

[jfrost]

Mortal Kombat also favored button defenses and runs, instead of using only directional inputs. Compared to other 2D fighters, it's a rather clunky setup, and maybe that's one of the reasons its popularity is not so high anymore.

About SNK, only in KOF it uses the four button layout (two punches, two kicks). In Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, and Fatal Fury, there are three action buttons and usually one accessory button (usually for taunting, or changing planes in the case of Fatal Fury games).

[Paul_B-C]

Wow, this has been a very informative topic, especially the beginner's KOF videos. Thanks to everyone who posted!

I'm starting to think I might need to find myself a Dreamcast or a Saturn for some gems I've missed out on! I've also been reading some of the HG101 articles on KOF, Guilty Gear, and Darkstalkers. Darkstalkers seems to have a lot of charm and humour, so I'm going to attempt to track down a copy of Darkstalkers 3, as well as Street Fighter Alpha 3 for the PSX, just for the World Tour mode I've heard so much about.

[MrPopo]

I've also started noticing the four button pattern of light, medium, heavy attack and then some kind of magic button. In Arcana Heart it triggers your Arcana effects, in BlazBlue it triggers your drive and in Bleach DS it triggers your flash step (the plane changing only matters in 3-4 man battles).

[Ack]

About SNK, only in KOF it uses the four button layout (two punches, two kicks). In Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, and Fatal Fury, there are three action buttons and usually one accessory button (usually for taunting, or changing planes in the case of Fatal Fury games).

I still consider that a four button layout, and some of the Samurai Shodown ports were truly four button. The poor SNES port had two slash and two kick buttons, for instance.

As for Mortal Kombat, you're right about runs and button defense, so I should clarify what I meant. For most special attacks, MK wanted a mixture of straight direction presses, such as the famous "back back B" for Scorpion in the home ports. Killer Instinct also went for this approach. There's one other style for executing special moves that I've seen show up in more than one game off the top of my head, and that's the style used in both Primal Rage and Battleblaze, which is to hold down a button, execute the command, and then release. I'm really not a fan of that system.

In general I'm more comfortable with Capcom's six buttons, since it's what I was used to. It's what happens when you grow up playing Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha 2, and then Marvel vs. Capcom. If you think SNK was devoid in the states, it was practically nonexistent in certain sections of the South.