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Post by Ex on Feb 26, 2021 22:26:27 GMT -5
March's theme is flight simulators SCUBA diving King's Field 3D FIGHTERS. To clarify what "3D Fighters" means in this instance: The characters are polygonal like Dead or Alive or Soulcalibur. Not wrestling games. Not beat 'em ups. Having a Z-axis to the battlefield is okay. There is quite a breadth of games to play for this theme. We're talking games from this to this: I doubt anybody will have trouble finding 3D fighting games to play. But here's a little list from Wikipedia. Alright team, get out there and knock the texture maps off 'em.
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Post by toei on Feb 26, 2021 23:50:27 GMT -5
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah yeah. This my JAM. That's your pick, right? Glad you rescued this theme. I am going to make an effort to participate more this month, though I'll mostly be revisiting games rather than trying completely new games, cause I've tried almost everything there is that I can emulate in the genre. My first rec: I'm hoping everyone gives Tobal 2 a shot. I like the first game too, but some would say it was too basic; this can't be said about the second game, which introduces a bunch of new mechanics and moves, and has much more elaborate graphics (though the framerate does dip a bit sometimes). I think it's the best 3D fighter on the PSX; the only real rivals I acknowledge would be Tekken 3 (the first Tekken I really like) and Soul Edge. IMO Tobal 2 has the edge, and that's before you get into the full-fledged roguelike RPG it includes. The Hardcore Gaming 101 article has a lot more on the basic mechanics and appeal of the game. Also, I wrote it.
Which reminds me: back when I first started writing for that site, I had plans to write about a short-lived series of Japan-exclusive 3D fighters called Goiken Muyou. The games were created by a top Virtua Fighter player in Japan (which had, according to some sources, the first major competitive scene for any fighting game, before even Street Fighter 2) with input from other top players, and four of them were playable as hidden characters in the first game. At the time, I felt I wasn't knowledgeable enough about fighting games to adequately explain the mechanics. I also hoped to be able to set up an interview with the creator somehow; while he'd be easy enough to contact as he's active on the Internet, I don't speak Japanese, and I wouldn't go so far as to pay an interpreter out of pocket. I think I was hoping to persuade somebody to translate for free, but obviously that didn't happen. As I recall, they're a pair of competent VF clones (one on Saturn, one of Playstation) with a few then-unique mechanics clearly tailored to competitive players' complaints - for example, you can't finish the opponent with a weak attack (ie, a basic punch, say), and you can't backdash twice immediately in a row or you trip and fall down (so no running away, basically). Also, the first game's high school setting predated Capcom's Rival Schools by a couple months. Anyway, I'd like to play some of those again, though the first game was always rougher to emulate (you had to use a specific older version of SSF or it would crash - hopefully it's better now).
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Post by Sarge on Feb 27, 2021 0:53:42 GMT -5
Noice. I can dig this theme. While I'm definitely more of a 2D fighting fan, there are some really good 3D ones as well. I played the heck out of the first two Soul Calibur games, and I also found Dead or Alive 2 and onward a lot of fun.
One that I don't always see folks talk about is Fighters Megamix for Saturn. That's a really fun one, and it brings together a lot of Sega's 3D brawlers under one roof. If you've got a way to play it, definitely give it a try.
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Post by toei on Feb 27, 2021 1:50:05 GMT -5
Noice. I can dig this theme. While I'm definitely more of a 2D fighting fan, there are some really good 3D ones as well. I played the heck out of the first two Soul Calibur games, and I also found Dead or Alive 2 and onward a lot of fun. One that I don't always see folks talk about is Fighters Megamix for Saturn. That's a really fun one, and it brings together a lot of Sega's 3D brawlers under one roof. If you've got a way to play it, definitely give it a try. Yeah, Megamix was the King of Fighters of the 3D genre. Virtua Fighter + Fighting Vipers, plus a bunch of unlockable characters from AM2's history - Janet from Virtua Cop, Rent-A-Hero, the actual car from Daytona USA, some guys from Sonic the Fighter (now here's a 3D fighter that doesn't get talked about much - it's actually not bad) etc. My favorite was Siba, a prototype character conceived for Virtua Fighter 1 that had ended up being replaced by Akira. The 3D fighter with my favorite characters was Last Bronx, but unfortunately, that was AM3 instead of AM2, so they weren't part of it.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 27, 2021 7:05:50 GMT -5
This could definitely be interesting. I for one have found out over the years that I prefer 3D fighters to 2D. It just feels like they can be less defensive in nature, since you have more space and buttons/combos to work with usually (Tekken with the limbs per button, etc). I absolutely loved Tekken back in the day and still do. 3 and Tag got a lot of playtime with my friends and I. Soul Calibur is probably my #2, even though I only played the first two and now the latest one, but I absolutely loved the first two and their little quest/story mode. Bloody Roar is a funny series that one of my friends and I had a lot of fun with for a moment. I should see how those hold up. Ehrgeiz is a real oddball. I've been meaning to revisit that one haha.
I'm not sure what Street Fighter fans think of EX3, I'm not a big SF fan myself. But I owned EX3 on the PS2 and had a lot of fun with this odd entry:
There's probably a lot more I've played. I guess this is another genre I dipped into more back in the day, like racing games and others.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 27, 2021 19:18:35 GMT -5
Why is this the most INTENSE music ever for the opening? haha. Time capsule back to the 90's though:
toei: Dreamfactory developed this game... which turns out to be the same team behind these Tobal games you're talking about too. I guess they did The Bouncer as well, which I honestly never hated!
I remember digging the Quest Mode too. Funny to hear the Tobal games have them as well, interesting. Almost like Ehrgeiz is a Tobal game in all but name? But I hope Tobal is a little more complex. Dipping back into Ehrgeiz, the combat system is rather simplistic. I should do a full run though. Tifa is awesome in it.
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Post by Sarge on Feb 27, 2021 19:51:01 GMT -5
I think most folks were disappointed in The Bouncer because it was so ridiculously short.
I never did get around to Ehrgeiz. I had a friend that rented it when I visited, but the game was pretty scuffed up and we had issues getting it to stay working. I think we ended up swapping over to Tekken 2 (or maybe it was Tekken 3, dunno).
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Post by toei on Feb 27, 2021 20:24:08 GMT -5
Nah, Ehrgeiz plays very different from Tobal. It's more of an early arena fighter - it was the forerunner to Power Stone and so on - while Tobal is in the mold of regular 3D fighters like VF or Tekken. I don't think Ehrgeiz works very well as a fighting game. The Quest mode is a full-fledged action dungeon RPG that basically has nothing to do with the main game - I think it was added just because Squaresoft published it, along with the FF7 characters (Ehrgeiz did come out in the arcades first). It doesn't even use the same battle system. It's actually pretty good, though.
Tobal's Quest Mode is a roguelike, but it does use the same battle system as the main game. In the second game, the Quest has more different dungeons, a town, a little storyline, and it lets you capture monsters and import them back in the fighter. You can also import your leveled-up character back in the main game; a very high-level character can send a regular opponent out of the right with a single powerful hit. It feels, fittingly, like Dragon Ball.
Maybe what The Bouncer needed to get respect is a roguelike attached.
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Post by Xeogred on Feb 27, 2021 20:37:18 GMT -5
I indeed thought of Power Stone right away. I'm still beating myself up for not buying Power Stone 2 when I saw it for cheap out in the wild a long time ago, haha. But yeah, I read your HCG101 article and then glanced at the Ehrgeiz one, which the author does complain about its button mashy nature compared to the Tobal's. I'll definitely give those a look. I'm actually still not sure if I like Virtua Fighter or not. I always dip into them a bit via the Yakuza games. The 32x port of the first one is probably the coolest most impressive thing on that platform, I mean that earnestly (since the 32x wasn't exactly quality beyond that).
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Post by Sarge on Feb 27, 2021 20:46:50 GMT -5
Welp, there's a game I could pull out for this theme for sure. I do have a copy of Power Stone 2. I know it was bringing pretty good money for a while, there, and now... *checks prices* Holy Toledo, pandemic pricing wins the day!
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