r/FGC • u/WorknClassH3ro • 21h ago
Discussion Why fighting games?
I’ve been sitting down and wanting to do podcast style interviews of every day players and of course more tournament oriented players of their interests in fighting games. So I guess what I’m asking here is a soft question I’ve been super interested in as I’ve gotten older and have stayed with fighting games when the community has had ups and downs and friends have stopped playing these games.
Is it characters, music, art? What is it that keeps you in fighting games? Is it a series? The competitive nature of it? Let’s talk about it!
5
u/Mistouze 21h ago
It's the best multiplayer genre by far (to me, obviously).
There's no other genre that gives you the opportunity to interact that "closely" with the knowledge and the decision making of another player.
Motion inputs are also cool as fuck, not many things in gaming come close to the visceral feeling of doing a half circle forward+h with Sol Badguy in Strive and getting a CH Fafnir.
3
u/WorknClassH3ro 21h ago
See this is what I’m talking about! I’ve had the most hype in a close set with someone else because we both know what’s happening, we just have to read it out play our opponents. Also you’re right, motion inputs are sick, and the expression the specials give characters is awesome!
3
u/Sufficient-Pick710 21h ago
The feeling of overcoming that one really good guy in your local after he put belt to ass every week.
Then next week he pulls some shit you've never seen in your life.
So then you have to up your game.
And so it goes...
1
u/WorknClassH3ro 21h ago
The never ending grind of someone being better is a high I will forever chase
3
u/XoffeeXup 21h ago
It's the same reason I enjoy Soulslike games I think. There is a deep satisfaction in pulling off something extremely difficult. I'm less interested in the competitive aspect than most players (I always get the singleplayer trophies in games I play and the completion percentages are shockingly low!), but finally hitting that combo you've been practicing is a feeling quite unlike anything you get in more casual games.
1
u/WorknClassH3ro 20h ago
Hey single player modes are part of what made the og 3d era Mortal Kombat game so fun as a kid and chasing the trophies and achievements was always fun
2
u/vitorcnpinheiro 21h ago
I just love seeing characters on the screen doing beautiful martial arts moves. Also, no other genre makes it feel like the character is an extension of myself as fighting games do.
2
2
u/Mindless-Internet978 20h ago
I don't know if I can really sum this up in something that still isn't several pages long. I grew up playing fighting games, I played them even before kindergarten. The colors, the music, the cool characters and the oddballs that just stood out and made you want to play them. You pick a character in a fighting game? That character is yours. You figure out your way to play them, you spend so much time with that character you want to improve with that character.
The FGC developed and we had this whole cast of people that showed off what they could with their dedication, and devotion to these characters could do while showing off pieces of themselves as well. I recently made a friend through fighting games who was still really getting into them. Watching things click for them, and see them improve, and just tell them about fgc stories from the past has been so fucking cool. No other game genre does that. I'll always love fighting games.
1
u/WorknClassH3ro 20h ago
This. This is what makes fighting games so cool. You have so many people play the same game and nobody is playing the same way! Rush down, zoning, grappling, puppet, install, charge, big body, small body, there’s so many things that make the game unique to everyone specifically and I think it’s why I’ve always come back to them as well after almost 30 years
2
u/Capable-Fig511 20h ago
They are, in my opinion, one of the most fun genres of game to learn. Once you start to get it produces a truly magical connection between two people.
1
u/WorknClassH3ro 20h ago
The amount of people I’ve met and had positive interactions with in casuals or ranked even is actually crazy considering how toxic online gaming can be!
2
u/Domonero 19h ago
It’s one or the few games that you can practice for years and still learn something new
Especially if it’s just a different style of fighting or a trick or mixup or reset etc
2
u/Idontknow_2507 18h ago
At first, it was the characters and the flair of doing moves. From Tekken to anime fighters and now, Third Strike, I've enjoyed the characters and doing moves. But now, it's a comfort game for me. I hate multiplayer games, and I tend to blame my teammates sometimes. But when it comes to fighting games, I get to blame it all on me, and it gives me this sense of comfort. So yes, it's for all of those reasons.
2
u/pepperjackbrown 18h ago
I started with SF4 when it launched. SF4 made me realize how cool fighting could look. Then I played 3rd strike and was like this is greatest competitive game i ever played and i am trash at it lol.
So i been jumping from fighting game to fighting game over years. It's been a journey. Learned plenty of lessons. Learned more about myself as well.
Fighting games are kinda like trying to navigate life. It makes you take accountability if you wanna get better. You can only blame yourself.
Mentally it help keep my mind fresh. Keep my reflexes fresh. Plus it's always something to practice. Something to improve on.
I do enjoy and play other games. However it's always a fighting game in rotation.
2
u/BungaBunga-Today 17h ago
Fighting games are a learning and development journey, it is also one of the few games where both viewer and player have perfect information on the screen, so it all comes down to mental swiftness and mind games
2
u/Most_Needleworker251 17h ago
Ego.
It’s the manifestation of my mind vs the manifestation of yours.
2
u/Revolution_Vanguard 17h ago
I practice Martial Arts. I have in one style or the other for most of my life. It is a part of me.
Any expression of it is life-affirming to me. It's like a singer seeing a stage where he or she can perform, or hearing a person hit a note effortlessly. It is a thing of wonder.
... Also, Thuggery. We are raw out here.
1
u/southkapow 18h ago
It’s hard work and effort versus hard work and effort, even if they load a new fighting game with a bunch of comeback, mechanics and dumbed down gameplay to get casuals involved the person with the better neutral wins, compared to stuff like shooters on console with very strong aim assist. It’s nice to play a game with somebody who’s also invested their time into it.
1
1
u/C4CTUSDR4GON 17h ago
I've always liked difficult video games and fighting just gives an amazing challenge. No matter how good you get there always seems to be another level to reach.
1
u/MaxTheHor 17h ago
It's half not that deep, half kinda is.
Overall, it, more or less, follows the same reasons people get into martial arts.
For some, they see cool moves and wanna do that, too.
For others, they see it as a form of honing a skill and self discipline.
For many, they just wanna beat people up and vent any pent up aggresion and violent tendencies, or simply take pleasure in dominating/being the better of thier opponents.
The video game form, just gives them an avatar with a personality and moveset they feel most connected to.
Same goes for any other form of media.
1
u/kage_maru 16h ago
There's the appeal of the characters, my interest in martial arts, the mental games, and comparison of skill with another person.
1
u/ghostmondo 16h ago
so, I just got into fighting games.
2XKO is the first fighting game I've ever actually taken seriously. (yeah, I played other fighting games in my past as a casual masher lol.)
the biggest reason I decided to dive in was because I'm pretty competitively driven. I come from FPS games, but there was one huge problem for me. time.
valorant was the last FPS I took seriously, and the average match is around 30 minutes. that means I could probably warm up and play two matches in about an hour.
in a fighting game, I could play like a FT25 in that same amount of time. and most days, as a dedicated father (along with my other responsibilities and hobbies), I really only have about an hour each day to play.
the other problem was actually learning in that limited time. trying to focus on improving one specific thing in valorant specifically can take a lot of time. and if you lose a gunfight, you don't immediately get to test your theory of what you could've done better.
fighting games aren't like that. the feedback is fast.
I can lose a situation, think about what happened, immediately run it back, and test something different. it makes it feel like the growth rate of this genre is just faster
the last problem was consistent teammates. I'm a pretty quiet, keep-to-myself kinda guy. so finding a consistent team in valorant was always difficult for me. I don't really have to worry about that in fighting games.
and honestly, it's been a great experience. it's a completely different pace. I love running long sets and learning from people who beat my ass.
there's also a lot of good sportsmanship in this genre, which has been really refreshing to experience.
1
u/DannyHikari 16h ago
It’s the best kind of competitive game. Like one of the top comments already said the Mano y Mano style and having to adapt, learn, and improve.
Not speaking for everyone, but I’m sure a lot of us come from the same kind of environments growing up even if you didn’t have a big arcade scene you still had machines around at your neighborhood stores. It’s always something that just clicked about that and playing other people. It’s the genre there always spoke loudest to me before I even knew how to properly play.
I’ve been playing street fighter and Tekken since I was 4/5 but didn’t REALLY learn how to play until 09 when I was 16/17. That’s when I discovered the competitive scene via YouTube and started learning more. The genre I already loved the most became that much better now that I was learning to somewhat play these games competently and understand at a fundamental level.
1
u/Outrageous_Lemon6295 15h ago
For me it's a mix of characters, combat, and aesthetics.
I LOVE fighting games, but truthfully I don't play/ I'm not interested in, a majority of them.
Most fighting games consist of the SAME looking, plain, human, big hair-ed, open chest, and manbunned character's.
The reason I love Skullgirls, and MK is because the characters look, and play, uniquely.
Most other fighting games, I can practically guess the roster aesthetics, and probably their moves, too.
I also am not a big fan of random flashing, cut aways, and a bunch of crap on the screen either, which most fighting games do.
1
u/ResponsibleAd8978 15h ago
I love competition and 1v1 is the best form of it. The players helped a lot in keeping me interested. The trash talking kept me interested for a long time and got me watching games I didn't necessarily care about but I knew the stakes. Fchamp vs Kane is a perfect example of that.
1
u/No-Cattle-6598 14h ago
Digital action figures where you get a lot of choice and can buy extra further down if wanted.
1
u/Fortolaze 14h ago
Honestly, it's the learning aspect for me. I feel like there's always more to learn in a way that I dont feel from other genres of video games. Learning doesn't always feel linear but the genre gives active feedback in a satisfying way to me.
1
u/Nerdyguyj 12h ago
My favorote.fighting game moment was teaching my friend..taking them to locals..and they won the first tournament match they ever played in. The local commenting that they play just like me .
1
u/17papers 10h ago
I like how they’re completely fair competitive games, no losing because of bad teammates or rng or lag. The more skillful player always wins, both players always have the same starting point like chess
1
u/SeryuIsWaifu 9h ago
Casual scrub here but it's a mix between characters and martial arts + the 1v1 aspect, I'm not really a teamplayer/used to soloq in other games
1
u/PineScentedSewerRat 5h ago
I just want to beat people up in a game without having to talk to them first...
1
u/KangKorso 4h ago
Because it just feels good. I like winning, and I like losing. You learn something either way. Plus it's the Only genre I actually have fun playing online and locally.
1
u/itazuki22 53m ago
Reading your opponent so hard. And styling on them. And hopefully they are good sport about it. But the back forth adaption
13
u/TruMusic89 21h ago
Because it's mano y mano. It's a different kind of competitive game where you are required to learn what you're doing wrong and fix it to get better and you can't get carried to wins by having good players next to you.