Thats talking about the animations in the cinematics which has nothing to do with the complaints about animations during the gameplay.
Even in the damn video the guy says theres nothing wrong with the cutscenes
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Video explains why the animation of Mortal Kombat X (and Injustice) looks weird
- Thread starter jett
- Start date
Even in the damn video the guy says theres nothing wrong with the cutscenes
Peroroncino
Member
Well the guy in the video stated pretty early on that facial animations are good and his focus is entirely on the gameplay part.
edit: oh boy, what a combo
If the actual fighting was trash, it wouldn't be receiving all the praise it's getting. You can spin it anyway you want, but it won't make it real.
thanks for sharing the video ! I never realized there was something wrong with the animation, but the video makes a lot of valid points. I guess it's something causal fans will never notice. As a graphic designer, it bugs me to see terrible designed menu's and user interfaces, that most people never notice, but I guess the same goes for animation and animators
A Pretty Panda
fuckin' called it, man
That's about the facial animation which was a common criticism since at least MK9
The video deals with character animation in relation to attacks
Aka the fighting game part
Peroroncino
Member
It gets reallyyyy good from this point onwards: https://youtu.be/t06Dkdg6fEo?t=8m50s
And that almost made me choke with laughter, lol.
And that almost made me choke with laughter, lol.
jasminlovesyoux
Banned
But even Street Fighter feels and plays differently than my personal favorites (Guilty Gear and Blazblue). Every fighting game franchise has its distinct gameplay and it's why I gravitated towards certain ones over others. For example I prefer Virtua Fighter over Tekken even though there are obvious similarities. Mortal Kombat has always played the way it has even though there have been differences in mechanics, commands and other game play changes. It's that one certain stiff feeling that makes me dislike the MK franchise.
...I mean you can have a good fighting game with awkward combat animation. SF5's character models are generally pretty hideous, but just because it plays well doesn't mean that character model criticism is suddenly null in void.
He said the core game, as in the actual fighting.
...Pretty sure he's talking about the animations of the core game, as is the subject of the actual thread.
If not, disregard.
I've been watching Maximilian and crew play through Injustice 2's story mode and I agree with the video even more now.
It's really puzzling how that game can go back and forth so seamlessly between state-of-the-art choreography and animation in cutscenes, and fights where every fighter looks like a stiff robot with a stick up their ass. Kicks especially look terrible overall, with the worst examples being something like Wonder Woman's high kick where her hips, supporting leg and upper body barely move but her kicking leg simply shoots up as if pulled up by a string. It really is like looking at two different games.
NetherRealm's teams clearly know how to animate people going by those spectacular cutscenes, so just like SugarPunch in the video I can't help but wonder why their in-battle stuff continues to look so stilted. That is outside of the possibility that they actually choose to do them this way to perhaps mimic the old MK games' look.
It's really puzzling how that game can go back and forth so seamlessly between state-of-the-art choreography and animation in cutscenes, and fights where every fighter looks like a stiff robot with a stick up their ass. Kicks especially look terrible overall, with the worst examples being something like Wonder Woman's high kick where her hips, supporting leg and upper body barely move but her kicking leg simply shoots up as if pulled up by a string. It really is like looking at two different games.
NetherRealm's teams clearly know how to animate people going by those spectacular cutscenes, so just like SugarPunch in the video I can't help but wonder why their in-battle stuff continues to look so stilted. That is outside of the possibility that they actually choose to do them this way to perhaps mimic the old MK games' look.
sixteen-bit
Member
get to steppin
I can't even tell if she's trying to do high kicks or just stomping on the ground awkwardly
gutter_trash
Banned
Loved this video so much!
a good back to bacics for any video game animator
a good back to bacics for any video game animator
Besides the funny attack, I noticed that Batman's idle animation is pretty wonky too! He, like, pelvic thrusts and moves strangely, kinda like the OP's video's example of Scorpion's idle animation. I feel like he'd be better off having a more calm/composed stance vs whatever the hell he's doing in Injustice 2, but I also haven't read or seen anything Batman since the animated series so maybe this fits him well and I'm just out of the loop.
edit: I'm looking at Batman's animation in the character select screen and it looks great! It's a similar problem to the Liu Kang deal in MKX where the character select does a better justice in showing the character.
Sword Of Doom
Member
I'm not a fighting game expert by any means but I'm finding it difficult to defend in Injustice 2. The attacks seem all over the place and make it difficult to defend. They're hard to read
the animations in modern street fighter are so stiff In comparison to this gif
Loved this video so much!
a good back to bacics for any video game animator
the animations in modern street fighter are so stiff In comparison to this gif
In all fairness, she's not actually walking. Anyone who moves forwards by way of kicking will look stupid.
The problem is that she isn't kicking. There's no swing, no force, she just rises her leg, hence it looks like she's making a big, weird step instead of attacking.
It's not that it's not accurate, it's that it looks bad. Those kicks don't look like strong kicks performed by a fit, strong, agile, athletic character like Catwoman.
Animation isn't necessarily realistic either. Realism isn't the point.
It's lame though. But it detracts from his point about the animations, so he should have left that out.
FinaruDensetsu
Member
Yeah except these animations look both unreal and stupid.
From all accounts it seems like this game sold super well though. So because casuals don't have much in the way of standards, they'll never have an incentive to fix these things.
As far as I know, Catwoman is neither a superhuman nor an alien - she is a normal human being, just with few gadgets and a sexy cat costume.
And no one expects martial arts accuracy of a kick; I just expect a kick to look and feel like a kick, not like someone taking a huge step forward. Seriously, no one here talks about the animations being realistic, just feeling right, have proper physics and force. It's like saying just because DC comics is about meta humans and aliens, you can disregard basic anatomy and proportions (besides simple exaggeration) and do whatever you want with Superman's and co. bodies. Sure, you can, but it will look bad.
Remember the classic tagline from the first Superman movie -"You will believe a man can fly"? We know that a man cannot fly, but the movie - through special effects and acting, including proper poses and moves - was to make you believe that Christopher Reeve was flying. Here, I don't believe Catwoman can do any damage with that kick of hers.
toddhunter
Member
You are not supposed to talk about the fighting game part for NRS games, it is all about the loot and story mode.
It is now essentially the skullgirls of fighting games.
TheTylerRob
Member
No they're not.
gutter_trash
Banned
SF4 and SF5 and not as awesome but they are still well animated with strong posing, weight and style
The video was a bit long (the fatality animations isn't that bad), but he mades a good point - the animation in MK/Injustice is bad because of their artists lack the skills. It's not an artistic style, it's just bad animation. Period. Netherrealms can do better.
That said, the facial animation in Injustice 2 is amazing. The character's expressiveness just draws you into the story, too bad the fighting is just... serviceable.
That said, the facial animation in Injustice 2 is amazing. The character's expressiveness just draws you into the story, too bad the fighting is just... serviceable.
They make heavy use of motion/face capture, right? That's probably why their cut scenes look good while in-game animations look disjointed. Cut scenes, x-rays and fatalities can just be acted out straight so movements flow into the next naturally, but game play is just a bits of mocap animation recorded separately and out of context then stitched together with little regard to transitions between one animation to the next.
Yeah, being superhuman aliens or alleged tributes to old kung fu flicks doesn't explain these dog balls animations. Even if you think MK is supposed to be corny and over the top, games like Martial Masters prove that there are ways to do that without resorting to bad animations.
Yeah, being superhuman aliens or alleged tributes to old kung fu flicks doesn't explain these dog balls animations. Even if you think MK is supposed to be corny and over the top, games like Martial Masters prove that there are ways to do that without resorting to bad animations.
UcchedavÄda
Member
Here are a few examples of forward moving kicks from SFV. None of the look that stupid:
Cammy's f+HK: https://youtu.be/RcgyXOV5o_4?t=2m08s
Ken's stHK: https://youtu.be/D28b45kBTF4?t=1m18s
Juri's stHK: https://youtu.be/0KlH39hk5QE?t=1m16s
R. Mika's stHK (uncharged and charged): https://youtu.be/Gg2CG7ENFO4?t=1m16s
You don't need to look like a reject from Monty Python's Flying Circus to accomplish this.
What makes it even weirder is that the round ending knockdowns have the appropriate struggling and failing to get up from the ground animations. Which then transition awkwardly to them bolting up but still, it's there and looks more devastating than the actual end of match animations.
What on earth is she trying to do? Looks like some country dance move.
Jaded Alyx
Member
No, they're pretty much exactly the same.
SpiceMelange
Member
It's a very common complain since at least Deadly Alliance, they clearly improved a bit after each iteration by why now would they finally take notes and completely rethink how their animations work? They can't be this oblivious for 15-20 years, that it took a youtube video for them to understand the complaints. At this point I'm pretty sure it's either someone high placed in NRS very stubborn with this stylistic choice or they don't think it's a big priority.
gutter_trash
Banned
The biggest offense of this kick is that the body's center of mass is out to lunch.While it looks awkward it's not as outrageous as that Kitana kick
It's just a feeling i have.
gutter_trash
Banned
Even phantasy characters with superpowers must respect good posing, impact. weight, timing and silhouette
I saw this on Reddit recently and thought it was a good analysis of the animations in Injustice 2.
Credit: XXXCheckmate
"I think most of us have seen this video...
https://youtu.be/t06Dkdg6fEo
...explaining why MKXs animations are pretty bad. Seeing as how Injustice 2 has just come out and their animations are a relevant topic, I thought Id explain why these animations are considered to be subpar. I dont have any experience in art or animation but Ive played plenty of fighting games so I have an idea of how a fighting game character should move. This piece was going to cover more than just the idle animations but going through the roster I realized that so many of them were awful they warranted their own post. I might do a part 2 sometime in the future but for now Im just going to stick to covering these lazy/placeholder idle stances that somehow made it to the final release.
Deadshot:
So there are a number of things wrong with Deadshots idle animation...
Supermans isnt perfect either but theres a lot worse stuff to cover in this game so Ill just focus on those instead.
First of all, Deadshots stance just looks lazy. A lot of this games animations can really be pinned down to one key aspect; these are not fighting poses. This is a fighting game so characters should be in the proper stance to not only throw an attack but to also take one. If you can convey personality over utility thats fine too but Deadshot does neither. For example, Superman is excusable in this scene because invincibility is part of his character. No one can actually hurt him so he has no real reason to actually prepare for a blow. Deadshot, however, is a mere human as well as a trained assassin. Even if you dont know martial arts, youre basic instinct would put you in a pose that wouldnt have you fall over from one punch and youd position yourself in such a way that would protect vulnerable parts of your body. His legs are erect, making him easier to knock down since his knees arent bent to support him. His chests and face are exposed and theyre all facing his opponent almost head on. Hes essentially asking to get hit. You think someone who is trained in killing would understand that this is not how youre supposed to fight.
Deadshot is also an assassin that incorporates a lot of weapons into his fighting style. Him leaving his body exposed would be OK if that meant he looked as if he was in a position to pull out the proper weapon at any given moment. Too bad he clearly isnt. He doesnt have a hand near his shoulder to pull the rifle off his back. It doesnt look like hes trying to take aim with his wrist cannons since theyre moving around so much and his hands are nowhere near his legs to pull out the knives on the side of his body. It looks more like hes in an awkward conversation at a club rather than trying to kill someone.
I couldnt think of a fighting game character that also used wrist cannons in a way that Deadshot does, but there are plenty that use guns in combat. Jill Valentine...
...does the mercenary stance right. She has an actual fighting stance; something that a trained officer would actually use. Chris Redfield is the same way...
His body is protected but at the same time hes ready to fire his gun. These two characters arent quite the same as Deadshot in terms of fighting style but at least you can tell that they are by their stances. If you they were just stick figures or silhouettes you would get an idea of what exactly they did and how they fought. With Deadshot you wouldnt even be sure if he was in a fighting game or a background character in Dance Dance Revolution.
Cheetah:
I dont know much about the character Cheetah but with a name as blatant as that, youd think itd be easy to animate that character properly. But of course NRS chooses the lazy route and gives her the poise of a lazy house cat rather than a ferocious predator...
Actually, if this movement was placed on Catwoman it would actually be passable (unfortunately NRS thought she would be better off with the traditional wading in water...
...stance that everyone in their games seems to have). Anyway, theres another DC fighting game that came out waaaaaay before Injustice called Justice League Task Force. It was for the SNES and Genesis and was developed by Blizzard and is their only fighting game. I honestly think that game has a better stance for Cheetah than Injustice 2.
The way her knees are bent shows that shes ready to pounce at any moment (just like a real cheetah), and her claws are in a proper position to actually slash at opponent instead of trying to do the Egyptian dance. Seems like even the NRS animators felt that her stance was weak because if enough time passes youll see her do a little roar so that you dont forget that shes actually supposed to be a Cheetah. Plenty of animal characters exist in fighting games so it should be too hard to get an idea of a proper stance. Is she savage like Talbain?
Or is she more playful like Felicia and Taokaka?
I dont know much about the character but from what I can tell by her mannerisms in game, a Talbain pose would be more appropriate than this.
Flash:
The Flash seems to have the exact opposite problem as every other character mentioned.
He moves way too much. At least NRS attempted to express personality through an idle stance but they failed in animating it a sensible manner. Here, the Flashs bottom half is completely out of rhythm with his top half. His legs move up and down quickly but his arms out of sync with the rest of his movement. Not to mention that his legs are just bouncing up and down. Hes not taking a step or lifting his foot off the ground. Hes just shaking his legs. And what exactly is his right hand doing? It doesnt look like hes prepping or stretching; it just looks like hes moving his hand around for the sake of looking active. We get it. Hes the flash and hes fast. But at least put some rhythm and coherency into his movement.
I couldnt think of another fighting game character that was comparable to the Flash in terms of speed but the idea of a quick and nimble character is not new to the genre. There are plenty examples of characters that agile and you can tell just by their idle animations. Vanessa is a great example.
Shes anxious to fight so she keeps herself moving. Her entire body is in sync in terms of movement so it looks natural. She even manages to take a couple of steps to show that she is on the move and thatll shell be all over the place during the fight. El Fuerte also does this right.
He puts his energy into natural movement. His legs are moving which shows that hes a runner and it compliments his playstyle perfectly.
Cyborg:
Out of all the characters in the game, Cyborg probably has the worst idle stance.
I have no idea what this character is trying to convey. Hes half-robot and half-human, so he stands like hes about to throw a football? There are so many things wrong with this stance its hard to decide to where to begin. First and foremost, this is not a fighting stance in the slightest. He arms arent ready to throw a punch. His face if forward just asking to get hit since his arms are pointed downwards at an awkward angle and his body facing towards the front making it impossible for his right to be of any use in actual combat.
Secondly, he is completely facing forward so when he inevitably turns around his entire back is to the screen.
A couple of other fighting game characters have been animated with their back to the players (Kim Kapwhan in the Real Bout games and Kouryu in Last Blade 2) but you can tell that they were designed with that pose in mind.
You can clearly see their legs and at least one arm at all times, not to mention that Kim uses mostly kicks so his attacks are all still depicted properly while Kouryus sword is always shown to the viewer. In Cyborgs case, his entire body is hiding his limbs which in turn hide some of his attacks.
The worst part of this, however, is the fact that the idle animation on the character select screen is significantly better than what is present in game! He looks calm and calculating just like how a cyborg should be. His cannon is ready to fire but his other arm is near it so he can steady his shots as well potentially protect his face. I have no idea why they went with the quarterback pose over the Megaman/Samus Aran style pose."
I'll post the second half later as it is too long.
Credit: XXXCheckmate
"I think most of us have seen this video...
https://youtu.be/t06Dkdg6fEo
...explaining why MKXs animations are pretty bad. Seeing as how Injustice 2 has just come out and their animations are a relevant topic, I thought Id explain why these animations are considered to be subpar. I dont have any experience in art or animation but Ive played plenty of fighting games so I have an idea of how a fighting game character should move. This piece was going to cover more than just the idle animations but going through the roster I realized that so many of them were awful they warranted their own post. I might do a part 2 sometime in the future but for now Im just going to stick to covering these lazy/placeholder idle stances that somehow made it to the final release.
Deadshot:
So there are a number of things wrong with Deadshots idle animation...
Supermans isnt perfect either but theres a lot worse stuff to cover in this game so Ill just focus on those instead.
First of all, Deadshots stance just looks lazy. A lot of this games animations can really be pinned down to one key aspect; these are not fighting poses. This is a fighting game so characters should be in the proper stance to not only throw an attack but to also take one. If you can convey personality over utility thats fine too but Deadshot does neither. For example, Superman is excusable in this scene because invincibility is part of his character. No one can actually hurt him so he has no real reason to actually prepare for a blow. Deadshot, however, is a mere human as well as a trained assassin. Even if you dont know martial arts, youre basic instinct would put you in a pose that wouldnt have you fall over from one punch and youd position yourself in such a way that would protect vulnerable parts of your body. His legs are erect, making him easier to knock down since his knees arent bent to support him. His chests and face are exposed and theyre all facing his opponent almost head on. Hes essentially asking to get hit. You think someone who is trained in killing would understand that this is not how youre supposed to fight.
Deadshot is also an assassin that incorporates a lot of weapons into his fighting style. Him leaving his body exposed would be OK if that meant he looked as if he was in a position to pull out the proper weapon at any given moment. Too bad he clearly isnt. He doesnt have a hand near his shoulder to pull the rifle off his back. It doesnt look like hes trying to take aim with his wrist cannons since theyre moving around so much and his hands are nowhere near his legs to pull out the knives on the side of his body. It looks more like hes in an awkward conversation at a club rather than trying to kill someone.
I couldnt think of a fighting game character that also used wrist cannons in a way that Deadshot does, but there are plenty that use guns in combat. Jill Valentine...
...does the mercenary stance right. She has an actual fighting stance; something that a trained officer would actually use. Chris Redfield is the same way...
His body is protected but at the same time hes ready to fire his gun. These two characters arent quite the same as Deadshot in terms of fighting style but at least you can tell that they are by their stances. If you they were just stick figures or silhouettes you would get an idea of what exactly they did and how they fought. With Deadshot you wouldnt even be sure if he was in a fighting game or a background character in Dance Dance Revolution.
Cheetah:
I dont know much about the character Cheetah but with a name as blatant as that, youd think itd be easy to animate that character properly. But of course NRS chooses the lazy route and gives her the poise of a lazy house cat rather than a ferocious predator...
Actually, if this movement was placed on Catwoman it would actually be passable (unfortunately NRS thought she would be better off with the traditional wading in water...
...stance that everyone in their games seems to have). Anyway, theres another DC fighting game that came out waaaaaay before Injustice called Justice League Task Force. It was for the SNES and Genesis and was developed by Blizzard and is their only fighting game. I honestly think that game has a better stance for Cheetah than Injustice 2.
The way her knees are bent shows that shes ready to pounce at any moment (just like a real cheetah), and her claws are in a proper position to actually slash at opponent instead of trying to do the Egyptian dance. Seems like even the NRS animators felt that her stance was weak because if enough time passes youll see her do a little roar so that you dont forget that shes actually supposed to be a Cheetah. Plenty of animal characters exist in fighting games so it should be too hard to get an idea of a proper stance. Is she savage like Talbain?
Or is she more playful like Felicia and Taokaka?
I dont know much about the character but from what I can tell by her mannerisms in game, a Talbain pose would be more appropriate than this.
Flash:
The Flash seems to have the exact opposite problem as every other character mentioned.
He moves way too much. At least NRS attempted to express personality through an idle stance but they failed in animating it a sensible manner. Here, the Flashs bottom half is completely out of rhythm with his top half. His legs move up and down quickly but his arms out of sync with the rest of his movement. Not to mention that his legs are just bouncing up and down. Hes not taking a step or lifting his foot off the ground. Hes just shaking his legs. And what exactly is his right hand doing? It doesnt look like hes prepping or stretching; it just looks like hes moving his hand around for the sake of looking active. We get it. Hes the flash and hes fast. But at least put some rhythm and coherency into his movement.
I couldnt think of another fighting game character that was comparable to the Flash in terms of speed but the idea of a quick and nimble character is not new to the genre. There are plenty examples of characters that agile and you can tell just by their idle animations. Vanessa is a great example.
Shes anxious to fight so she keeps herself moving. Her entire body is in sync in terms of movement so it looks natural. She even manages to take a couple of steps to show that she is on the move and thatll shell be all over the place during the fight. El Fuerte also does this right.
He puts his energy into natural movement. His legs are moving which shows that hes a runner and it compliments his playstyle perfectly.
Cyborg:
Out of all the characters in the game, Cyborg probably has the worst idle stance.
I have no idea what this character is trying to convey. Hes half-robot and half-human, so he stands like hes about to throw a football? There are so many things wrong with this stance its hard to decide to where to begin. First and foremost, this is not a fighting stance in the slightest. He arms arent ready to throw a punch. His face if forward just asking to get hit since his arms are pointed downwards at an awkward angle and his body facing towards the front making it impossible for his right to be of any use in actual combat.
Secondly, he is completely facing forward so when he inevitably turns around his entire back is to the screen.
A couple of other fighting game characters have been animated with their back to the players (Kim Kapwhan in the Real Bout games and Kouryu in Last Blade 2) but you can tell that they were designed with that pose in mind.
You can clearly see their legs and at least one arm at all times, not to mention that Kim uses mostly kicks so his attacks are all still depicted properly while Kouryus sword is always shown to the viewer. In Cyborgs case, his entire body is hiding his limbs which in turn hide some of his attacks.
The worst part of this, however, is the fact that the idle animation on the character select screen is significantly better than what is present in game! He looks calm and calculating just like how a cyborg should be. His cannon is ready to fire but his other arm is near it so he can steady his shots as well potentially protect his face. I have no idea why they went with the quarterback pose over the Megaman/Samus Aran style pose."
I'll post the second half later as it is too long.
Finaika
Member
I saw this on Reddit recently and thought it was a good analysis of the animations in Injustice 2.
Credit: XXXCheckmate
"I think most of us have seen this video...
https://youtu.be/t06Dkdg6fEo
...explaining why MKX's animations are pretty bad. Seeing as how Injustice 2 has just come out and their animations are a relevant topic, I thought I'd explain why these animations are considered to be subpar. I don't have any experience in art or animation but I've played plenty of fighting games so I have an idea of how a fighting game character should move. This piece was going to cover more than just the idle animations but going through the roster I realized that so many of them were awful they warranted their own post. I might do a part 2 sometime in the future but for now I'm just going to stick to covering these lazy/placeholder idle stances that somehow made it to the final release.
Deadshot:
So there are a number of things wrong with Deadshot's idle animation...
Superman's isn't perfect either but there's a lot worse stuff to cover in this game so I'll just focus on those instead.
First of all, Deadshots stance just looks lazy. A lot of this game's animations can really be pinned down to one key aspect; these are not fighting poses. This is a fighting game so characters should be in the proper stance to not only throw an attack but to also take one. If you can convey personality over utility that's fine too but Deadshot does neither. For example, Superman is excusable in this scene because invincibility is part of his character. No one can actually hurt him so he has no real reason to actually prepare for a blow. Deadshot, however, is a mere human as well as a trained assassin. Even if you don't know martial arts, you're basic instinct would put you in a pose that wouldn't have you fall over from one punch and you'd position yourself in such a way that would protect vulnerable parts of your body. His legs are erect, making him easier to knock down since his knees aren't bent to support him. His chests and face are exposed and they're all facing his opponent almost head on. He's essentially asking to get hit. You think someone who is trained in killing would understand that this is not how you're supposed to fight.
Deadshot is also an assassin that incorporates a lot of weapons into his fighting style. Him leaving his body exposed would be OK if that meant he looked as if he was in a position to pull out the proper weapon at any given moment. Too bad he clearly isn't. He doesn't have a hand near his shoulder to pull the rifle off his back. It doesn't look like he's trying to take aim with his wrist cannons since they're moving around so much and his hands are nowhere near his legs to pull out the knives on the side of his body. It looks more like he's in an awkward conversation at a club rather than trying to kill someone.
I couldn't think of a fighting game character that also used wrist cannons in a way that Deadshot does, but there are plenty that use guns in combat. Jill Valentine...
...does the mercenary stance right. She has an actual fighting stance; something that a trained officer would actually use. Chris Redfield is the same way...
His body is protected but at the same time he's ready to fire his gun. These two characters aren't quite the same as Deadshot in terms of fighting style but at least you can tell that they are by their stances. If you they were just stick figures or silhouettes you would get an idea of what exactly they did and how they fought. With Deadshot you wouldn't even be sure if he was in a fighting game or a background character in Dance Dance Revolution.
Cheetah:
I don't know much about the character Cheetah but with a name as blatant as that, you'd think it'd be easy to animate that character properly. But of course NRS chooses the lazy route and gives her the poise of a lazy house cat rather than a ferocious predator...
Actually, if this movement was placed on Catwoman it would actually be passable (unfortunately NRS thought she would be better off with the traditional ”wading in water"...
...stance that everyone in their games seems to have). Anyway, there's another DC fighting game that came out waaaaaay before Injustice called Justice League Task Force. It was for the SNES and Genesis and was developed by Blizzard and is their only fighting game. I honestly think that game has a better stance for Cheetah than Injustice 2.
The way her knees are bent shows that she's ready to pounce at any moment (just like a real cheetah), and her claws are in a proper position to actually slash at opponent instead of trying to do the Egyptian dance. Seems like even the NRS animators felt that her stance was weak because if enough time passes you'll see her do a little roar so that you don't forget that she's actually supposed to be a Cheetah. Plenty of animal characters exist in fighting games so it should be too hard to get an idea of a proper stance. Is she savage like Talbain?
Or is she more playful like Felicia and Taokaka?
I don't know much about the character but from what I can tell by her mannerisms in game, a Talbain pose would be more appropriate than this.
Flash:
The Flash seems to have the exact opposite problem as every other character mentioned.
He moves way too much. At least NRS attempted to express personality through an idle stance but they failed in animating it a sensible manner. Here, the Flash's bottom half is completely out of rhythm with his top half. His legs move up and down quickly but his arms out of sync with the rest of his movement. Not to mention that his legs are just bouncing up and down. He's not taking a step or lifting his foot off the ground. He's just shaking his legs. And what exactly is his right hand doing? It doesn't look like he's prepping or stretching; it just looks like he's moving his hand around for the sake of looking active. We get it. He's the flash and he's fast. But at least put some rhythm and coherency into his movement.
I couldn't think of another fighting game character that was comparable to the Flash in terms of speed but the idea of a quick and nimble character is not new to the genre. There are plenty examples of characters that agile and you can tell just by their idle animations. Vanessa is a great example.
She's anxious to fight so she keeps herself moving. Her entire body is in sync in terms of movement so it looks natural. She even manages to take a couple of steps to show that she is on the move and that'll she'll be all over the place during the fight. El Fuerte also does this right.
He puts his energy into natural movement. His legs are moving which shows that he's a runner and it compliments his playstyle perfectly.
Cyborg:
Out of all the characters in the game, Cyborg probably has the worst idle stance.
I have no idea what this character is trying to convey. He's half-robot and half-human, so he stands like he's about to throw a football? There are so many things wrong with this stance it's hard to decide to where to begin. First and foremost, this is not a fighting stance in the slightest. He arms aren't ready to throw a punch. His face if forward just asking to get hit since his arms are pointed downwards at an awkward angle and his body facing towards the front making it impossible for his right to be of any use in actual combat.
Secondly, he is completely facing forward so when he inevitably turns around his entire back is to the screen.
A couple of other fighting game characters have been animated with their back to the players (Kim Kapwhan in the Real Bout games and Kouryu in Last Blade 2) but you can tell that they were designed with that pose in mind.
You can clearly see their legs and at least one arm at all times, not to mention that Kim uses mostly kicks so his attacks are all still depicted properly while Kouryu's sword is always shown to the viewer. In Cyborg's case, his entire body is hiding his limbs which in turn hide some of his attacks.
The worst part of this, however, is the fact that the idle animation on the character select screen is significantly better than what is present in game! He looks calm and calculating just like how a cyborg should be. His cannon is ready to fire but his other arm is near it so he can steady his shots as well potentially protect his face. I have no idea why they went with the quarterback pose over the Megaman/Samus Aran style pose."
I'll post the second half later as it is too long.
What do you think of Supergirl's idle animation?
Her and Superman have a good enough stance, it suits thier character but the rest of the cast is very inconsistent. I'll post the second half of his Reddit post later.
matrix-cat
Member
Finaika
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Cyborg:
Out of all the characters in the game, Cyborg probably has the worst idle stance.
I have no idea what this character is trying to convey. Hes half-robot and half-human, so he stands like hes about to throw a football?
Cyborg is actually a football star during high school.
I mean, do you think that is a good justification for that absurd stance?
What's the deal with Bane's stance here. It looks like kind of like Catwoman's.
Dunno. You'd think hed have both his arms forward looking like hes ready to "grapple" his opponent since hes a grappler and a masked wrestler.
Edit: Come to think of it, Bane was a bit more top-heavy in IJ1 and had huge arms so that stance suits him in that game, not so much in this one with the less exaggerated proportions in this game.