Are we in an era of the fall of fighters: Straight to games

[Dravenet7]

Summary is at the bottom for those who just want the gist.

Many people have said in the past that fighting games as a genre are dead. No longer mainstream. In the span of two and a half years, we have gotten a lot a lot and will get a lot of big titles. However, there has been a lot of twist and turns. This thread focuses maily on the games rather than the community, as the communities are a major subject

 

Killer Instinct

This game has ventured into a more free to start formula for fighting games. Instead of just buying all the content full on, you get to a couple of characters at the start and are given oppertunities to buy individual characters or all the content. This way, they can steadily support this game through a generation adding more and more content via seasons. Because of this, they are easily able to reconstruct the game fpr their playerbase and even possibly add better quality and details to the game. As well as introduce special guest characters

However, I am not sure how many people actually got a lot of the content or what the cocurrent userbase is. This game has been more off my radar than it has been on. 

I think that this is an interesting and honestly good practice if their focus is just to work on this for the generation. However, I think that it may have worked against their favor in terms of popularizing the franchise. Honestly, only time will tell by the end of development if this tactic payed off (launching a full version on disc or something of that nature)

 

Super Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS

This is easily the most content heavy game of the bunch as well as the most unique. The fighting mechanics are near non-existant in any other franchise. It both founded and dominated its fighting style. The only direct competition to Smash Bros is well... Smash Bros... very unfortunately... though I guess that's another story. Between to versions of the game, you have so many fighters, stages and characters at launch that I was very suprised to find they did DLC. They aimed at characters that fans desperately clamored to return and newer characters fans wanted or they would have a big impact. Between both versions of the game, you have a huge existing userbase and sales. And the DLC, especially the Smash Ballot extended the potential life and regenerated hype for the game

 

Street Fighter V

Capcom is taking a very interesting and controversial step with Street Fighter 5. Also known by friend as Street Fighter: 5 more months till you can grind or pay more for the full game, is very divisive natuarally

For its gameply and promise of content it has been heavily praised and defended.

For its... gameplay and lack of current content it has been heavily criticized. As well as its launch connection issues (which have been patched)

The promise of what's to come and issues of reality of what's there bring in to question is this is what is in store for THE staple fighting franchise and even perhaps future fighting games. On one had, content doled out may regarner interest of gamers and encourage longevity for the game, as Capcom promised it would be the only version. On the other hand, gamers may have felt scorned by the lack of content at the start and optional payment or playment one  to many times, and this being a staple fighting franchise may be one broken too many and my eventually cost the franchise. On to more, very positive points, what Street Figther V is doing very well in engaging and garnering players is allowing crossplay between PC and PS4 players. It even goes so far as to let you know which of the two you played.  Capcom's choices have make it clear they are betting on their real hardcore fans who seek competitive streaks over the modern hardcore gamer.

Now before I start I wanna get something out of the way. In spite of my sig and pic I posted would have you to beleive, I'm not on any SFV hate train. **It was just convienint for what I was doing on the side** Granted I still have a LOT to criticize though surrounding factors are what I find more troubling and perhaps thread worthy and I will reserve my opinions for now due to this. 

 

Naruto UNS 4

The Ninja Storm series has always been enjoyable. The story content given is honestly usually better than the show and it integrates gameplay rather than just having cinematics. It has an overworld typically in the series that you can explore in the story. It also boasts a huge roster that really went to the top in the latest ggame. It has even went out of its way to become more competitive and balanced. The last one in the franchise sold pretty well too from what I tell. The problem I find though, is that this game isn't really that much of a competitive fighting game against the rest, at least from my perspective. I never see it discussed competitvely, or hosted in tournaments. DLC was also criticized heavily too when season passes and the like were brought up. The biggest thing against it is that this is supposed to be the last game in the series, especially beleiveable considering its based off the manga. Beleive it!

 

Pokken Tournament

A mix of Pokemon and Tekken, but not really. A mix of Pokemon and Naruto UNS, but not really. This game is going to be a weird one to grasp for popularity in the fighting game genre for a while. Its defintely difficult for me to fully describe and detail, having not played the game in any capacity. The gameplay I've seen seems to look away from traditional fighting game combat and meld a lot of different elements. The combat also looks simplified lie Smash and has the potential to become complex like Smash as well. It will definitely have the ability to bring itself out due to previous enthusiasm for Pokemon games. Local multiplayer has two options: Gamepad and TV or Lan. The former comes with the convinence of having your own screeen without needing another TV. At the same comes with the cost of dropping to 30FPS. The Lan option requires 2 TVs, but maintains 60FPS and gives variable options for controllers.

 

Mortal Kombat

This game is getting a lot of praise compared to Street Fighter due to the launch content difference: Story, characters, modes, etc. A lot of depth is felt amongst fans for this one. This game, once considered to be the last Mortal Kombat nay make a robust return in the future due to the playerbase, sales and refined gameplay. However, there are still issues that people seem to forget they had and still do since launch. There was a lot of planned DLC announced well before launch. You had to preorder a character at launch or pay for him. The re-release, Mortal Kombat XL, still has preorder bonuses you have to pay for. And the game has a lot of microtransactions. Additionally the PC version was not treated well, and considering how complemntary or punishig the PC crowd can be in proportion to port efforts, MKX may not reach the potentinal for the future games.

Summary

Ultimately I pose the question are fighting games on their rise and fall because honestly I'm not sure where it will go. I lean toward that we may be entering a new renaissance of fighting games. We have older franchise taking risk by replacing old gameplay formulas, perfecting what is there, or both. We have cross collaborations that cater and draw in fans of other franchises. We even have brand new fighters doing brand new things instead of relying on traditional fighting formulas, which show that fighting games have room to expand, possibly innovate, and grow. At the same time I have this feeling crawling at the back of my mind that only select franchises will really survive. With terrible DLC and season pass practices that are being adopted by other genres, scorning the more traditional fighting game gamer may break the backbone of suppport for the genre. New methods of releasing content have also been adopted which range from great to downright scary with all things considered. What are your opinions? Do you think fighting games are ready for round 2, or is it game over?

**The right side of my sig is really just for Smash character jokes and stuff, maybe I'll change it so it shows the character and you can click the link to see a pic or gif. (partially because sigs can't hold my gifs)**