Post by Bytor on Apr 20, 2010 14:25:45 GMT -5
FVG: Fighting Games are by definition games in which one person is fighting solely against another (as opposed to Beat 'em Up Games in which one person fights against, typically, masses of much weaker enemies). Most often, even with the next-gen graphics going 3-D the antagonist are facing each other and the view being portrayed is from the side. FVG's also tend to be martial arts based, whether the game is based in such a culture is, however, irrelevant, the type of fighting defining the genre more than the "backgrounds". The fights are most often composed of moves which are pretty much physically impossible and the more impossible the move more often the greater damage done to the opponent. These moves are typically rendered by a complex series of button pushing and even the basic attacks and blocks are executed by using either single buttons or combinations of buttons and joystick movements. The goal is pretty much always the same, fight until you have mastered each and every enemy, often the story, if there is one is secondary at best. Most believe the first true FVG to be Karate Champ (released by Technō in 1984) although Heavyweight Champ (1976) was the first video game to use true hand to hand combat. The next great release was Street Fighter (released by Capcom in 1987) which added the first true complex move system and allowed players to actually get better than, not only their on screen enemies but other players as well, by practicing and perfecting this complex series of button mashing. One issue that begin to arise in the late 80's was that the very thing that was making the games popular was also detracting from them, that is to say as the moves got more and more complex the abilities of both the game players and the programming was being stretched to it's limits. This changed with the release of Street Fighter II (1991) which allowed players to really combine the joystick and the buttons in unprecedented combination's which actually worked incredibly well. The genre then exploded wide open with the release of Mortal Kombat (released by Midway Games in 1992) which introduced revolutionary acting, graphics and "fatalistic" finishes in the battle system. The genre began to decline in the late 90's however, as other types of games became more and more accessible on home systems and arcades began to decline. This all changed with the release of cross-over games such as Super Smash Brothers (1999) and Marvel vs Capcom (1998) and this is , at least so far, what is pushing the genre forward with the releases in 2008 of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (WII) and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PS3 and XBox) and the highly rated Super Smash Bros. Brawl (released for the WII in 2008).
