Why Fighting Games?

[STORMS]

I would like to get into discussion about fighting games in general. The whole idea of this thread is simply "Why" do you like fighting games, but in a more in-depth reason behind it.

Talking to 9.95 before... we had a pretty interesting conversation about "twitch reflexes". Not sure if anyone know what "twitch reflexes" are, but they are basically reflexes for "instantanious decision-making". Baseball, he mentioned, is a perfect example as are racing games and fighting games.

Now, whether you enjoy MK, SF, BB, Tekken, etc... whether you're aware of it or not... you're using your "twitch reflexes" every time you play. Of course, the better your reflexes, the better you're going to play.

For me fighting games means one thing: Mortal Kombat. MK's been in my hands since MK1 on Gameboy. There's so other game I could play for 6-8+ hours straight and still want more as if it were only 45 mins passing. This isn't even about the community yet... we'll get there soon enough, but what is it about fighting games that sucks you in? Is it the fact that you can beat up on someone and/or kill them? Is it finding new ways to get better with a character or move on to different characters to get a wide feel of your ability? I suppose it may simply come down to "I just like fighting games"... but I don't exactly believe that; I think there's more to it. I think it's more along the lines of "I am this character", "What can I do to win"... is it in-a-way showing an artistic side of yourself? I think definitely... and there's where strategy comes.

Before I continue rambling though, I would like to hear some of your thoughts on this...

 

[Juggs]

Twitch reflexes are prevalent in most skilled based games. Such as FPS's, Call of Duty comes to mind.

I play fighters because they are 1v1 games. Unless it's a team tournament, you can't rely on teammates to carry you to victory. When it comes to my faith in relying on other people in games, I have little to none. Also, I don't like letting my team down for having a bad game. I just feel team games such as FPS's add unneeded pressure and stress. In most FPS's, if your team dominates another team, you'll often hear or receive a message saying "1v1?". It's because when you play 1v1, it's just your skill versus your opponents skill. The variance factor in team games are huge, especially in FPS's. How many times has the other team randomly chucked grenades in the air, and they guessed right? In fighters, I can't blame my loss on anyone but myself. I can't evade my bad play because someone else did worse than me on my team. When you lose in team games, it's almost as if YOU didn't really lose, your team did. So in a sense you don't strive to get better because you feel you weren't the reason why you lost. In a 1v1 situation, it can be no ones fault but your own.

I also think fighters take more skill than any other genre. The depth in most fighters crush all except RTS's. When I play someone good in CoD, I'm definitely not as impressed as when I play someone good in SSFIV. I'm really impressed when someone is good in UMK3, but you can't really compare UMK3 to SSFIV and CoD since only a few thousand plays UMK3.

 

[BOSSETTE]

I've always played fighting games since I was little when it first started with MK2 on the SNES. (At least, I think that was my first fighting game.)
Fighting games just help me take out my anger/stress/whatever.
I can honestly become really aggressive and I'd rather take it out on a game, rather than in real life.
Also, I just always thought the different fighters and moves in fighting games were "cool" and I'm into action.
They are also something that I can always finish. For example, I can usually never finish RPG's or shooting games with long ass story modes (unless I'm REALLY into it), because I'm just impatient as well. On the other hand, fighting games are just a quick "get it over with" kind of thing.

Idk if that made any sense, but yeah that's my story.

 

[Dr Doggystyle]

Fighting games is MK for me.
When it all begun with the 1st MK game there was blood and fatality and that was very cool.
It was also cool to learn the moves and do the fatality at the end.
The more i played the better i become and i always won from my friends.
it was a challenge to advance more in the game and to finish Goro and Shang Tsung in MK
The MK2 came and it was better, bloodier, faster, better graphics and i bought a gameconsole especially for the game.
I played more and more because i had a tv in my room.

for me it all started with MK and every 1vs1 fighting game was cool to play but MK was the best.
Street Fighter i didn't like because there wasn't any blood and violence in it just like MK

so you can say that i like fighting games were there is a lot of blood and violence inside.
i tried almost every one that was available here in NL
anybody ever heard of Thrill Kill that was a very freaky fighting game and had too much gore and violence in it
there were also characters in it with amputated limbs and other handicaps.
i have played it for a while, but it was too much insane stuff in it and i stopped playing it

rpg games is not my genre of games, takes too long for me.
But games like Scarface and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas i really played till the end,
maybe its also about the violence and shooting / fighting / stealing cars and advancing in the game

 

[MKF30]

Thrill Kill was pretty gory but overall I'll still give that to MK overall since it caused far more controversy(Sub's MK 1 fatality for example a bit much for the times at that point in time) lol(Kung Lao's fatalities to name a few are just brutal lol in the new MK especially), there was also another game that Midway made that was like Thrill Kill called Bio-Freaks where you could sever limbs in mid battle as well. Deadliest Warrior is kind of like that also. TK wasn't that great though it was alright I always though. I enjoyed KI and Eternal Champions more personally then Thrill Kill. Obviously MK inspired every bloody fighter that came out after it since MK was the first.

But to the thread's point, yeah twitch reflexes are key in sports and vid games but mainly baseball and hockey the most. Hitting a baseball is factually the hardest thing to do in sports. You have literally like .2 seconds to react or something ridiculous.


I think fighters, Sports games, FPS's IMO and racing too you need to have fast reflexes in general.

 

[Tim Static]

Better question is why not?

 

[sadistic_beauty]

I started to like fighting games when I was around 9 or 10 (one or the other). After playing MKT, I always wanted to play as a butt kicking chick. Fighting games have a variety of characters more than one player games. And I select the best chicks in my opinion and "portray" as them with my controller.

 

[Pooty Mack]

I just love how fighters demand you to think quicker than any other type of game. With FPSs, RPGs etc. you can formulate a basic strategy before or during the game, camp and recoup. But fighters, it's non-stop til one of you are dead. The only fps I like to play is GoW (love all the blood) and Halo 3 (1 shot = instant gratification).
I use to play Tekken back in the day, but gave it up. SF4 has been the only other fighter I've played since MK, and that's because becoming apart of this community has made me want something better from my fighters.

 

[Krayzie]

I love the fighting game community, which has become my number one reason for playing them.

I love the competition, and the friends I have made through them.

 

[SgtSektor]

i like being able to beat people up wihout getting my ass kicked

 

[sadistic_beauty]

i like being able to beat people up wihout getting my ass kicked

Oh definitely me too!!! In fact who doesn't?

 

[MKF30]

Not only fighting games are great for testing your reflexes but racing games as well, the fast paced ones I mean especially like Burnout 3, Split Second and NFS games...GT and Forza are slow in comparison but then again, they're not arcade sims like the others. They're more realistic, while the formers are made to be fast, test your reflexes. Fun stuff.

 

[Demonium]

1)Shooters 1stP & 3rdP

 

[BOSSETTE]

Yeah, I love racing and shooting games too.

 

[MK9]

the only real way to play a fighter, if you dont play on one of these you shouldnt be playing.

 

[ChaosTheory]

Ha, apparently not in MK. Even UMK3 is getting eaten up by (online) pad players.

 

[GamerBlake90]

Get ready for a long-winded answer from me, LOL.

First off, I'll admit right off the bat that originally I was never in to many fighting games since the start of my gaming life. The ONLY fighting series I ever played since growing up was Mortal Kombat, starting from the first game on the Sega Genesis. Aside from that, I generally lean toward RPGs and some few other variations here and there.

However, it wasn't until I picked up Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe last year that I found an incredible synergy with games of the fighting genre. Perhaps it's due to the fact that MK vs. DC is my first-ever online game I played, and that it led me to stumbling across the MK community on the Internet. It could also be that I can exert my emotions into a fighting game and can adapt wherever it is necessary in order to out-think and best the opponent. It's also that, like with any other video game I play, there is something about the characters in the game I can relate very well to, be it just one or a multitude of them.

As far as why I like fighting games, it's...for pretty much all of the reasons I stated above. Since picking up MK vs. DC and discovering how well I worked with it, I naturally proceeded to collect the other 3D Mortal Kombat games and did pretty well with them too, although I mainly focused on MK vs. DC, for both online play and just practicing offline. It's also that the character Scorpion holds a large place in my heart, mainly due that I can relate to his personality very well. Scorpion is more of a fictional side to me, if you wanna be technical, as he represents how much I want to vent my anger however possible. And what better way to do that than Mortal Kombat?

That, and I guess I get fascinated by the many differing abilities that each character wields, so being able to take the time to learn them, as a student would learn from a school subject, gives me something worthwhile to do and that requires me to think. I'll always be focused on mastering Scorpion for every MK game, but just the chance to explore new possibilities and learn new things is my kind of thing.