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What fighting game "feels" the best to play?

Killer Instinct and SF: 3rd Strike.

Not MKX certainly, although much better than previous MK games, it still fees weird and disconnected to me.

I enjoy MK for its characters, story, sound design, and legacy... but it feels like shit to play. No matter how hard they try, Netherrealm just can't make a game that feels responsive. Every action has a delay before it comes out and an overlong animation that can't be canceled, and the block button has always felt bad to me.
 
3D:

Soulcalibur and DoA. Most natural movement in a 3D fighter. You don't have to "learn" how to move. You just do it.

2D:

Could never narrow it down. Alpha 2/3 feel perfect in how things moves. I LOVE the CH system in Alpha 3 and am so happy SF5 is bringing that back. Garou feels great, perfectly weighty, hits sounds great and have wonderful impact. King of Fighters 2k2. Marvel Super Heroes and XvS all animate wonderfully and have some of the best movement and animation in the series.

I could go on forever about 2D games.
 
Alpha 3 and Capcom vs SNK 2.

One is the fastest feeling street fighter and the other is just intense. They both have the V-ism type skill giving you the ability to make custom combos where you can cancel almost anything into anything let's you do some hilarious shit.

Especially with Sakura.
 
I've actually never really played Tekken or VF. I've mostly stuck to SC and DOA for my 3D fighters.

How does VF compare to DOA? When you say less execution based, do you mean that it's less memorization? Less combo heavy? I'm trying to understand what you mean by that.

I haven't played VF5, but VF4 didn't really feature too much dial-a-combo chain link in the moves. The move list was staggering but it mostly provided an immense amount of animation shifting between various stances and basic attack strings. Only 2 attack buttons meant no crazy memorization or timing links. Well, timing was still a major hurdle to overcome, but I can't recall anything advanced that felt impossible to pull off.

As much as I love SF, its 'training' Trials Combo lessons are like the most elaborate and frustrating QTE motions ever crafted for a videogame. Irritating combo link timing is like purposefully built to keep newcomers from ever being able to 'get good' or become effective at the game...or to promote mashing since you kind of need to spray and pray those buttons even when consciously attempting. SNK and Arc fighters also suffer from "who can actually do any of this stuff?" BS combo moves.
 
3rd Strike would also be my pick.

Virtua Fighter in the 3D sub-category.

Which fighting games feel worst to play? Pick a random western fighter.
 
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax for me. Everything is so polished in that game: mechanics, balance, graphics. It is a joy to play. Runner-up: UNIEL.
 
2 years ago I would have said Street Fighter IV and it's expansions...

But I have to give the current crown to the new Killer Instinct. The game feels so fast while also smooth at the same time, and the input recognition is very very lenient for special moves. Combos likewise are easy for everyone to do... Meaning the game makes entry into it's systems a breeze, allowing you to get to the core mechanics of the fighting game genre: Mind games.

That said, I'm sure as soon as SFV drops, that will be the new king, but until then, Killer Instinct it is.
 
"As much as I love SF, its 'training' Trials Combo lessons are like the most elaborate and frustrating QTE motions ever crafted for a videogame."


The biggest crime SF4 ever committed was putting Trials under the training menu so we have to hear sentiments like this repeated for 6 years now. I'm not really aiming this at you specifically, but it is something that is said fairly often. They're not a tutorial. They're not training. They're similar to SFEX's trial mode which was mostly meant for dumb fun. 90% of the combos in the trials are not useful or practical with the exception of C. Viper.
 
To be fair, you can replace VF with any fighting game in that sentence and it still applies. Is smart play ever unrewarded in other fighting games? Is being good a mere suggestion but hardly a viable course for victory in any other popular genre entry?
In street fighter smart play is rewarded MOST of the time but definitely not all of the time. You could be playing on point making minimal to no mistakes and all it takes is one random Ass ultra and because most of them do a shit ton of damage ,you can go From a substantial life lead to being in chip range in one move. Especially if you're using someone with low health like Akuma Seth .I know a lot of people say " well don't get hit with it/ be more careful" but everyone gets hit with them ..it's like someone shooting a 3 pointer from the opposing free throw line ...and making it
 
3rd Strike would also be my pick.

Virtua Fighter in the 3D sub-category.

Which fighting games feel worst to play? Pick a random western fighter.

Aw, western fighters get shit on all day. While I don't think it qualifies for this thread, I'm having lots of fun with MKX! Predator is stupid, it's great.
 
Dead or Alive franchise for sure for best feeling. So damn elegant in motion and some of the hits feel super solid and tactile. Love the various martial arts implementations as well. Helena for life :P

Melee feels amazing as well, but the damage system in that game is variable on impact, so sometimes it feels super weak lol.
 
I haven't played VF5, but VF4 didn't really feature too much dial-a-combo chain link in the moves. The move list was staggering but it mostly provided an immense amount of animation shifting between various stances and basic attack strings. Only 2 attack buttons meant no crazy memorization or timing links. Well, timing was still a major hurdle to overcome, but I can't recall anything advanced that felt impossible to pull off.

As much as I love SF, its 'training' Trials Combo lessons are like the most elaborate and frustrating QTE motions ever crafted for a videogame. Irritating combo link timing is like purposefully built to keep newcomers from ever being able to 'get good' or become effective at the game...or to promote mashing since you kind of need to spray and pray those buttons even when consciously attempting. SNK and Arc fighters also suffer from "who can actually do any of this stuff?" BS combo moves.

This is the second time I've heard somebody call combos QTEs in a month. wtf.

The problem here is people thinking they need to be doing combos to be good or effective at a game.

In street fighter 4 smart play is rewarded MOST of the time but definitely not all of the time. You could be playing on point making minimal to no mistakes and all it takes is one random Ass ultra and because most of them do a shit ton of damage ,you can go From a substantial life lead to being in chip range in one move. Especially if you're using someone with low health like Akuma Seth .I know a lot of people say " well don't get hit with it/ be more careful" but everyone gets hit with them ..it's like someone shooting a 3 pointer from the opposing free throw line ...and making it

Bolded the relevant.
 
In street fighter smart play is rewarded MOST of the time but definitely not all of the time. You could be playing on point making minimal to no mistakes and all it takes is one random Ass ultra and because most of them do a shit ton of damage ,you can go From a substantial life lead to being in chip range in one move. Especially if you're using someone with low health like Akuma Seth .I know a lot of people say " well don't get hit with it/ be more careful" but everyone gets hit with them ..it's like someone shooting a 3 pointer from the opposing free throw line ...and making it

Yeah, Ultras are problematic. Always have been. Thankfully they've been removed for SFV.
 
3rd Strike is probably my favourite but Virtua Fighter "feels" the best for me.

Very hard to describe why - 3rd Strike I can sort of play on a surface level and not think about it too much but I can't do that with Virtua Fighter. VF feels like a game where you get completely locked into the flow of it, zone everything else out and focus entirely on the up-close guessing games.

Also love the movement - doing multiple crouching dashes at your opponent is strangely threatening.

Not Spaceghost said:

Very cool, haven't seen that ending to shoshosho before.
 
Always surprised at posts that mention SF4 or Smash 4 as out of all the dozens of fighting games I've played over the years they're the two I trust least to actually not screw me over in terms of my inputs.

I don't know what they were doing with the deadzones in smash 4 but apparently the simple act of letting go of the stick is sometimes enough to turn me around and up or down Bs seem to have a good chance of also turning me around so I'm guessing the left and right deadzones in general have been reduced compared to what I'm used to :s I've lost track of how many times I've been 'too close' to grab people too which confuzzles me as it was never a problem in previous entries. I appreciate some of these failings are on me but it just seems strange that these issues are purely localised to smash 4 for me and not any of the others in the series.

As for SF4, there's all the stuff with 1 frame links and whatnot but I also seem to just be wired in a way that fundamentally disagrees with it input-wise as well. I can't count how many times i've accidentally jumped or just gotten the wrong moves despite the fact I can do Dizzy's supers in GGXX 100% of the time under pressure and the games where inputs for things like dragonpunch or the like are supposed to be more 'exact' seem to be fine for me. I don't know if it's the shortcuts and the buffer tweaks but it's like the gaming equivalent of writing your CV and suddenly having clippy pop up saying "I see you're trying to write a suicide note, let me write it for you and delete all the content you had there oringally" :/

Again, I'm prone to thinking it's just a disagreement with how I 'work' and how these games expect me to rather than a failing of the games in question but it was enough to make me quit SF4 and have regular swearing fests during smash 4 despite the fact that i'm usually light and bubbly (and teasingly obnoxious) during most other fighting games :P
 
Edited: whoops i thought this thread said "game" and not specifically fighting game.

Id go with Street Fighter III for sure.
 
The biggest crime SF4 ever committed was putting Trials under the training menu so we have to hear sentiments like this repeated for 6 years now. I'm not really aiming this at you specifically, but it is something that is said fairly often. They're not a tutorial. They're not training. They're similar to SFEX's trial mode which was mostly meant for dumb fun. 90% of the combos in the trials are not useful or practical with the exception of C. Viper.

Doesn't mean other fighters don't use them as actual training. Challenges in ASW games are pretty much basic sub optimal combo training.

But hey it's not like Capcom didn't get a lot of things wrong with USF4.
 
Project M blows everything else I've played out of the water. The game just feels perfect, far more so than Melee or the other smash games. When I mistakenly side-B when I meant to up-B I never feel like it's the game's fault, only mine for playing a bit poorly. Plus with all of the controller options and the ability to turn tap jump off, it feels smooth and in control like no other game ever has for me.

But I love the fact that I can invite a friend who has never played before over and they can mash mindlessly and still have a good time. The game works even when people aren't trying to make it feel good.
 
Guilty Gear for me. The speed and the mobility almost all the characters have is great. All the system mechanics work nicely with each other. The characters all feel very unique.

UNIEL and Melty are pretty good too.

As are Melee and PM.
 
The new Killer Instinct just because I don't really have to know how to play all that well to be able to look like I know how to play all that well. They have very noob friendly combos.
 
Akatsuki Blitzkampf isn't on steam yet. I guess that might have gotten more exposure after getting a guest character into UNIEL though.
True as well as Big Bang Beat but I feel like those two still get more exposure than VP. Even though its all poverty. I'm sad that we crown Melty Blood as the Champion of poverty.

It should be
Vanguard Princess duh
.
 
Tekken feels the best to me due to the movement options, and it's largely why I play the game. I don't like a lot of things in Tekken, but the movement is too good. Virtua Fighter is a close 2nd, but I really dislike some of the hitboxes, especially when trying to move around up close.

For 2D games, anime games without stupid hitboxes(sorry Mvc3) feel great.
 
They're not a tutorial

Thank you.

The best tutorial sf5 could come with is one that penalises you for playing in a particular way, so you have to adapt your playstyle. Start them off slow, you can only jump forward ten times in a round, then move them down to eight, then six, then two, have a massive sign come up that says "yo stop fucking jumping in". You could have a load of other exercises that work on a similar basis. It's the only way some people are gonna learn.

On a related note I really enjoyed the stupid challenge thing they had in sf4, didn't they have some that worked like world warrior? Why did they get rid of that?
 
Super Smash Bros. Melee

The game gives you lots of control when it comes to positioning your character. It's also fairly fast and snappy. Even though I like Smash 4 and have been playing it regularly, I still come back to Melee every now and then just cause it feels great to play and move around in.

edit:

For 3D Fighters I've always liked how the Soul Calibur series felt. I think it's the combination of the fluid attack animations and the way the movement feels.
 
I enjoy MK for its characters, story, sound design, and legacy... but it feels like shit to play. No matter how hard they try, Netherrealm just can't make a game that feels responsive. Every action has a delay before it comes out and an overlong animation that can't be canceled, and the block button has always felt bad to me.
MKX is my main fighting competitive game I love it to bits.

But other than the block button I agree with you. Going by OPs points of look out I'd say MK is definite not for him, for all the reasons you said especially when you block something and there is a long ass block stun before you can punish is quite off putting based on the speed of the game

Although it prolly next toTekken has the most satisfying sound you hear from punching someone in the face
 
In street fighter smart play is rewarded MOST of the time but definitely not all of the time. You could be playing on point making minimal to no mistakes and all it takes is one random Ass ultra and because most of them do a shit ton of damage ,you can go From a substantial life lead to being in chip range in one move. Especially if you're using someone with low health like Akuma Seth .I know a lot of people say " well don't get hit with it/ be more careful" but everyone gets hit with them ..it's like someone shooting a 3 pointer from the opposing free throw line ...and making it

Yea, recently getting back into SFIV on PS4 it became very apparent to me how often matches conclude with insane Ultra comebacks which can feel a bit anti-climactic given their absurd damage output. I kind of like the new 'W' approach which lessens the damage output and allows the flexibility of both Ultra's for more situational use, but too often they are a critical decider in most of the fights.

This is the second time I've heard somebody call combos QTEs in a month. wtf.

The problem here is people thinking they need to be doing combos to be good or effective at a game.

Don't confuse my ineptitude at managing them as a slight against the game or a requirement for success. It mostly just stems from jealousy that my dexterity is not up to snuff to come across that fascinating in action.

But are they not elaborate QTE's though? Pass-Fail timing links by stringing very rigid button inputs together leading to opportune punishing failure states for the opponent. NeverRealm games probably take them to a more extreme degree though being severely wrapped up in the DNA of the core combat unlike many of the others.
 
Dead or Alive is the only fighting game that moves with the fluidity and grace of a martial arts film.

SC and VF are close when it comes to movement and speed, but the superb animation in DOA just seals it.

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Don't confuse my ineptitude at managing them as a slight against the game or a requirement for success. It mostly just stems from jealousy that my dexterity is not up to snuff to come across that fascinating in action.

But are they not elaborate QTE's though? Pass-Fail timing links by stringing very rigid button inputs together leading to opportune punishing failure states for the opponent. NeverRealm games probably take them to a more extreme degree though being severely wrapped up in the DNA of the core combat unlike many of the others.

No, they're not QTEs. There is not a predesigned outcome. They are not pass-fail timing. If you miss a link, you're not necessarily punished. You can use syncopated timing on links as a strategy to bait things from your opponent.

You could boil down any game to QTEs with your explanation (Are not all games pass-fail timing by stringing together inputs leading to opportune moments to bypass obstacles or succumb to a failure state in the game?), but it's not taking into account the moment to moment play of the players, the mindgames, the characters, and tons of other things.
 
Darkstalkers 3.

+Fast fluid animation
+Nearly every character is viable
+Fast paced game speed.
+Interesting cast of fighters
+Quick super moves
+All of the characters have unique movesets
+Was pretty much the testing ground for most of the modern 2D style fighting game system mechanics
 
Darkstalkers 3.

+Fast fluid animation
+Nearly every character is viable
+Fast paced game speed.
+Interesting cast of fighters
+Quick super moves
+All of the characters have unique movesets
+Was pretty much the testing ground for most of the modern 2D style fighting game system mechanics

VS was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of its time. For sure one of the best fighters ever.
 
third strike and smash.
nothing comes close. easy to learn, hard to master.

i love how guilty gear and blazblue look (awesome graphics) but i hate the soundtrack and the system is a pain in the ass to learn. its so hard to pull off the air battle whatever it is called.
 
I'm a fighting game rookie, so for me to 'get into' one it has to grab me pretty quickly before I'm scared aware due to the barrier of entry.

So for me, it would have to be Killer Instinct - the combos are easy-ish to pull off and make you feel really, really awesome.
 
No, they're not QTEs. There is not a predesigned outcome. They are not pass-fail timing. If you miss a link, you're not necessarily punished. You can use syncopated timing on links as a strategy to bait things from your opponent.

You could boil down any game to QTEs with your explanation (Are not all games pass-fail timing by stringing together inputs leading to opportune moments to bypass obstacles or succumb to a failure state in the game?), but it's not taking into account the moment to moment play of the players, the mindgames, the characters, and tons of other things.

Ultra Counter!! Good point. Advanced players can utilize 'cancel techniques' and baiting as a coordinated strategy to force the opponent into various traps and such. Players on the receiving end can 'usually' break the combo chains with some sort of special ability, Arc Systems games often have like 17 different forms of 'counter breaks' each with their own on screen meter or gauge I think. But yes, there is method to the madness that my brazen QTE comment doesn't quite account for.

My point mostly adhered to the Trials once again where none of that flies and you are left with only the specific button-commands and the irritating timing windows to succeed. Unfair comparison since they are mostly optional bullshit, but you know...

Mostly I just hate rigid timing windows, and much prefer a better flowing experience(as this thread kind of chooses to discuss). Often that leads to less punishment for button-mashing without such miniscule frame windows, but I can't get into games like MKX, Injustice, or many of the Arc releases for this reason, even when I put in the effort to nail the timing. Being off by even a fraction of a frame can be feel so demotivating as you ponder where in the string I failed. Same goes for certain extremely difficult move inputs(SNK!!!).
 
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