Every day is the "End of the Week"

     One of the famous issues I’ve had with other people around me would have to be this – I love to play fighting games. Arcade Fighters, 3D Fighters, you name it. Namely, I like Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, and the Naruto Ultimate Ninja games. That’s perfectly fine, right? Nate loves Sonic the Hedgehog, Erik loves Metroid Prime, and Andrew loves the Elder Scrolls series. Those games have had major changes over the years, in gameplay, sound, and overall look; however, at the mere mention of an arcade fighter (primarily, Street Fighter), I am stormed with rants about how “Street Fighter never changes, you pick this character, you have to do a lot of inputs, and you win.” This is problematic, as being the only arcade fighter fan on the team, I constantly hear the same old rants, be it about new versions releasing, DLC prices, the game itself not changing, etc.

     Each time I hear these rants, I have to think – have arcade fighters really not changed in the 20 years they’ve existed?

     Here’s the lowdown: Street Fighter’s goal is simple – pick a character and defeat your opponent within the time limit, using your character-specific arsenal of attacks. This is also the basic formula for most all fighting games. Soul Calibur uses this. Dead or Alive uses it. Even Sonic Battle used this formula.

 

     Without this formula, fighting games wouldn’t be, well, fighting games. But has that really been the solidifying basis to claim that they never change? Here’s a little bit more to look at. Street Fighter 2 maintains the reputation as “most re-made” game. With each iteration of this game came new characters, new additions, including super combos, and other assorted gameplay changes. Within the Street Fighter universe lies many different universes and game styles, that piling them all into one classification would be like claiming that Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime are the same thing. It’s simply not true.

     Soul Calibur is a game that always twists its gameplay with each new title. Guard Crushes, Super Moves, Weapon classes, and more keep the gameplay sporadic for the most part. Dead or Alive, on the other hand, primarily changes characters, game speed, and effectiveness of certain combos. It also includes different amusing ending pieces for character stories. The Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series keeps one of the largest character rosters with each new title. This one maintains its solid gameplay through 2D fighting. With the Ultimate Ninja Storm game series, 3D fighting is taken to a whole new level with a new style of, well, everything.

     Perhaps some of the biggest changes in a fighting game from one iteration to the next would have to be the balancing and character rosters. Street Fighter 3 is perhaps a prime example of this. SF3 was released 3 times, first as SF3: New Generation, then as SF3: Second Impact, and finally as SF3: Third Strike. New Generation began with only two well-known fighters - Ryu and Ken, combined with a roster of completely new characters who had never been in a Street Fighter game before. Along with a new roster came new battle mechanics - Super Arts (AKA your strongest attacks), Parrying (press forward as your opponent attacks to block the attack and take no damage), and the Dash (tap forward or backward twice and you move faster in that direction for a moment; this can be used to get in close or retreat from your opponent).

 

     By the time Second Impact was released, only 3 new characters were included in this new build -- Hugo, Urien, and Akuma (yet another SF2 character rises to the stage). Along with this, the twins Yun and Yang were separated into their own character slots (they were essentially head-swaps in New Generation), and were then given two different play-styles. Naturally, characters were edited slightly to fit with the new roster. Upon the release of Third Strike, 5 more new characters graced the roster, including Chun Li, another SF2 classic. Joining in the new features were overall changes to the Parrying feature, adjusting the how-to on them, coupled with new stages, endings for older characters, and finally, voice acting.

     Perhaps the mild changes from version to version wouldn't constitute an entirely new game -- Why not form some sort of "updated" version of the game for a much cheaper price?  In SF3's case, that wouldn't be possible, as the older games couldn't install updates until the more recent machines in the 21st century.

     A better example for a game that could have been updated with new material but wasn't would be Street Fighter IV. Yes, the game that everyone marveled at for its first few years, being the first 3D Street Fighter that maintained the solid 2D formula of past games. People looked at the roster of both returning and new characters (Rose from SF Alpha 2, Balrog from SF2, and new character Abel just being certain examples), and weren't satisfied enough. Seth, the game's boss, was called cheap and gimmicky, and some characters just didn't feel like they belonged in the game. Granted, it was still the newest fighter, and people were still going to play it. I mean, as competitive fighting gamers, you've got to play the newest ones if you want to stay strong in the scene.

     Then 2010 rolled around. A new decade means it's time to revamp. And boy, did Street Fighter IV get a whole new look. Super Street Fighter IV released in April of 2010 for PS3 and 360. Included in this $40 game was essentially a brand new game. Included in this updated version were 10 new characters (T.Hawk from SF2, Makoto and Ibuki from SF3, and Juri as the first Korean fighter enter the arena), new stages, and large tweaks to existing characters' gameplay, such as the inclusion of a second Ultra Combo, though players can only choose between one or the other. Along with the above, several new online modes were added (Tournament Mode, Endless Battle, Team Battle, and the Replay Channel), and brand new music for each new character.

 

     Skip to 2011. Super Street Fighter IV has become popular enough not just to receive a 3DS version, but also a new updated version of the game - Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. If you already owned Super IV, you could pay $15 on Playstation Network or XBox Live to purchase the updated version, which included 4 new characters (Yun/Yang from SF3, and Oni/Evil Ryu, two newcomers), updated online modes, complete rebalancing, and backwards compatibility (you could switch between SSF4 and AE on the fly). For those who don't own it, it is a full $40 game on disk, or you could purchase the full game and the update online for a little over that price.

     Now, throughout this article, I've mentioned the word "rebalancing" every time. What does this mean? It simply means changing up how each character works to either make them better or worse. Here's an example. Rose in Super Street Fighter IV received a new Ultra, "Soul Satellite," which covers her in 2 orbs which can damage your opponent.


     In Super, you were able to perform the Ultra and go straight into blocking, in case your opponent had a response. Soul Satellite gave Rose some invincibility when she performed it. In Arcade Edition, however, Soul Satellite was updated, giving Rose some "Recovery Frames" after performing the Ultra. What does this mean? Simply said, after performing the Ultra, you were no longer perfectly safe, as an opponent has a half-second to respond and hit you, forcing your Soul Satellites to dissolve into nothing. That's one of many changes that can happen in a game's rebalancing.

     To finally answer my own question, have fighting games changed over the years they’ve been out? The basic formula has not. The core gameplay and style of execution is extremely different. Street Fighter has changed drastically over the years with new characters, new gameplay elements and attacks, and unique styles of character interaction. The same can essentially be said about all other fighting games that exist today. They do not change the basic formula, though they do change everything else.

     One other question that had been coming up over and over again - Is it worth it to keep buying the most updated version of games? Coming from someone who wants to play in the competitive scene, I can proudly say yes, it is worth it to me. If you're a casual player who likes fighting games but hates having to buy each new version, well, I'm sure you have some friends who buy the games. Sharing is caring.

     All I hope is that people eventually learn that, just because it’s a new game or an expansion of a fighting game doesn’t mean it’s the exact same thing – it isn’t. Just like how Sonic, Metroid, and Elder Scrolls have changed so much over the years, Street Fighter and the like have endured just as many changes.


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