One of the biggest debates in fighting circles today is actually whether or not one particular game even belongs in the genre. When Super Smash Bros. Melee first arrived in 2001, the thought of it as a competitive game, let alone part of the fighting genre, wasn't even seriously considered. It was a party game - a really good, beautifully-developed party game, but a party game nonetheless, which had more connections to the platform genre than anything else. Unlike a lot of major releases around that time, its popularity never waned, and eventually a community of players emerged who wanted to build a competitive scene on the game's foundation.
Seemingly overnight, sentiment within Smash fandom changed completely from "it's something completely new, different, and impossible to define with existing labels" to "it's a fighting game through and through!" Such a blatant change of position is easily understood, albeit unrespectable, considering how much the fighting genre has to offer its most popular games. This has kicked off an ongoing debate in recent years regarding Smash's genre definition. The only way to really come to a truly objective conclusion is to go back to what defined Street Fighter II as a fighting game when it seperated itself and its kin from the "Action/Arcade" pack in 1991, as well as what all fighters had in common immediately after the movement got underway. When you look at it in that light, you'll find that Street Fighter II and Smash have a couple of things very much in common, and the players trying to pass Smash off as a fighting game could actually be selling it short.
"A Place to Smash" will basically be a comparison study. The results may not necessarily be what some want to hear, but the criteria used and the historical basis thereof is extremely well-founded. Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you find it to be a good read when it is finished.
See you in the arena,
Patrick aka Neobeast
Seemingly overnight, sentiment within Smash fandom changed completely from "it's something completely new, different, and impossible to define with existing labels" to "it's a fighting game through and through!" Such a blatant change of position is easily understood, albeit unrespectable, considering how much the fighting genre has to offer its most popular games. This has kicked off an ongoing debate in recent years regarding Smash's genre definition. The only way to really come to a truly objective conclusion is to go back to what defined Street Fighter II as a fighting game when it seperated itself and its kin from the "Action/Arcade" pack in 1991, as well as what all fighters had in common immediately after the movement got underway. When you look at it in that light, you'll find that Street Fighter II and Smash have a couple of things very much in common, and the players trying to pass Smash off as a fighting game could actually be selling it short.
"A Place to Smash" will basically be a comparison study. The results may not necessarily be what some want to hear, but the criteria used and the historical basis thereof is extremely well-founded. Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you find it to be a good read when it is finished.
See you in the arena,
Patrick aka Neobeast
No comments:
Post a Comment