Fighting Games! By Jared Garraway Table of Contents What are fighting games? What are fighting games? (cont) What makes a fighting game a fighting game? Fighting Games Today Super Smash Bros Ultimate: A Fighting Game? Fighting Game COmmunity In conclusion Work Cited What are fighting games? A fighting game is, to put it simply, a game where characters fight each other. Two players are met with a roster of different fighters, and they are to choose who they want to play as based on how they fight, or if the player just likes the character for their personality or background. What are fighting games? (cont) Most fighting games allow to choose 2-3 fighters to battle in a tag-team style game, or they can only choose one character. Some games give the choice of both. The amount of characters one can use in a fight is an important factor because it changes up how the game plays out, and the ways each team plays in terms of offense and defense What makes a fighting game a fighting game? Each fighting game looks rather simple and easy to understand from the surface. They each include a diverse variety of characters, each equipped with their own playstyle, traits, and special moves. However fighting games are deeper than that. When playing a fighting game, you need to be able to adapt to the high-paced battle, and come up with tactics to win the game. Fighting Games today There are many fighting games that have a great amount of popularity today. Such games include Dragon Ball FighterZ, Mortal Kombat 11, and Street Fighter 5, all of which share similarities with each other, but have enough differences to tell them apart, besides thr graphics. The gameplay in Dragon Ball FighterZ is more high-paced than other fighting games, much like the fights from the show that this game is based on. Street Fighter 5 sticks more to the roots of fighting games, with more basic movements and fighting gameplay. Mortal Kombat 11 is well known for its rather gory gameplay, and bloody fatalities. However, there’s a fighting game franchise that isn’t like the these games: The Super Smash Bros franchise. Super Smash Bros Ultimate: A Fighting Game? There has been a ongoing debate on whether or not Super Smash Bros Ultimate is a fighting game or a party game, and for a fair reason. Unlike most fighting games, the default rules for the Super Smash Bros series is to knock your opponent off the screen. Furthermore, instead of a health bar that you need to bring down to 0 through attacking the opponent, you have a damage percentage that rises up the more attacks are dealt. The higher the percentage, the farther you are sent flying from an attack. The game also gives you the option to fight using a variety items that spawn at a rate depending on your settings, and there are also option to play a time battle to see who can get the most scores by killing your foes and not being killed in turn, or to play a stock battle where each fighter has a set amount of lives, and losing all those lives meaning you lose the game. However, the game has been a part of many fighting game events such as EVO, and is treated as a fighting game amongst the FGC (fighting game community) Fighting Game Community The FGC (Fighting Game Community) is a large community centered around fighting games. It’s a place where people go to learn about video games, compete in video games, or just to have fun. The FGC has many events as well, such as EVO, one of the largest gaming tournaments in gaming. There are multiple game tournaments during EVO, each tournament for a certain game. The game lineup changes each year, and sometimes old classics like Marvel vs Capcom 2 will be “brought back from the dead” so to speak. However, while the community does indeed enjoy fighting games, they can take the games too far, making them look awful and unapproachable by outsiders. However, you may still be able to find someone in the FGC you can get along with. Why I chose the fighting game topic I chose the fighting game topic because the fighting game genre is something I feel connected with. My favorite game is a part of the fighting game genre, and the genre has many other interesting and fun games that I’ve seen and played, with developers working hard to improve them for players to enjoy. In conclusion... The fighting game genre is a large genre filled with great games anyone can play, either due to a competitive spirit or the will to just have fun doing what they’re doing. Fighting games have something for everyone. Works Cited https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/30/we-asked-experts-what-makes-great-fighting-game-three-clear-concepts-emerged/ https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/yes-super-smash-bros-ultimate-is-a-real-fighting-game https://www.cgmagonline.com/2015/04/15/ko-the-history-of-fighting-games/ https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/17/4531320/opinion-why-you-should-love-the-fighting-game-community https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/best-fighting-games/