there's always one of those in a crowd...

In my experience in organizing and hosting tournaments, I've met a number of different people, both good and bad. That's basically what you get when you have a game that a lot of people are interested in - you get a lot of different personalities. So here's my list of 'people you can expect to see in a fighting game tournament.'Of course this applies to all players of all genders, races, and creeds and one person doesn't necessarily fit into one single category. Moving on...

The Genius - the Genius is the Tiger Woods of your little game circle. He wins almost every tournament and game seemingly effortlessly and crushes his opponents without mercy. He emanates the genius aura (see here) that causes otherwise worthy players to underperform. Everyone wants to beat him for personal glory, because to beat him in a battle is a sign that you are personally a higher tier than the rest of the group. Or you just got lucky. He's the player who has attained the highest level of game sense and player sense. He may be usually unassuming, and if he's watching a match, he's probably absorbing those tactics into his genius head. Don't be surprised if he suddenly pulls out your own freaking strategy in the middle of your own match.

The Genius' rival - the Genius' rival is a player with almost the same (or the same) skill level as the Genius, but isn't recognized as the top person in the game circle. Every tournament you see him and the Genius in first and second place. In a tournament, the metagame is usually up to who can beat the strategies of these two players. The Genius' rival is full of sheer determination powered by balls of steel.

The Comedian - it's always a fun tournament or session with one of these guys around. Ever had a grim tourney where no one ever talked and the mood was worse than the atmosphere in a funeral? That sucks. Recruit a comedian in your group and expect fun times ahead. Have more fun at the game and you learn more, so it's all good.

The Guy with the Food - he either supplied the food for the tourney or he's cooking for all of you sorry bastards. Give him props. Not only is he probably a good player, he has kitchen skills that can pwn your ass.



The Noisy Guy - if you were to transcribe what he was saying during tourneys, you can expect them all to be in CAPS LOCK. May or may not also be the comedian of the group. Sessions and tournaments become wild and boisterous with this guy.


The Professor - this dude knows everything about the game and the game system. He might not be the best player in the group, but he has a grasp of all aspects of the game that not even the Genius possesses. Tends to overthink things and that's one of the reasons why he might lose in matchups. Can also be a Genius, in which case you can call him a Genius Professor.
The know-it-all - this is a much more annoying version of the Professor. While the Professor only gives data when he is asked to, the know it all volunteers information in an annoying way. Like during a match with another player he says something about the priority of x-dash blah blah blah. Since he knows his shit anyway, just take in the information. Or just say an annoyed "I KNOW BITCH" and keep on playing.

The asshole - this kind of player is argumentative, is usually BM to other players, and doesn't care about what you think. Sometimes the drivel he spouts is actually constructive and you should take everything he says with a grain or salt. Or maybe a whole sack of salt. Tournaments with him are not that fun. Inviting him or not is up to you.


The troll - the asshole version 2.0 beta. He might not actually be an asshole overtly, which is way more freaky. He seeks fights to troll and if he wins against you, he uses that win as gratification and shoves it in your face. It he loses, it's not because of him, it's because of you. Somehow. Tournaments with trolls are generally less fun than tournaments with assholes, because at least assholes had something constructive to say.
The Weirdo - an eccentric player comes up every once in a while. Some of his comments during a tourney are astounding for their ability to make you say "what... the... FUCK!?" in no time. Has a low EQ. You may have trouble with these kinds of players at the start, but once you get used to their weirdness it's all good. IF that ever happens.

The eager newbie - Fresh from his first few bouts from the CPU, the eager newbie is always eager to absorb whatever information he has and catch up to the scene. For the lulz, he is sometimes paired up against a Genius during a tourney and we watch him get completely steamrolled. But it's okay, because these guys do catch up. Thinking about it, we were all eager newbies once.

The dude who didn't take a bath - Seriously dudes. Take a bath. Seriously.







The organizer - they guy who fixed the whole event. Will act like the host and answer the door or something everytime someone comes in. He usually has the pen and brackets in his hand unless he's the one fighting. He can also be one of the above. lol at the prospect of a Troll Organizer.



Well there you have it. I'm sure there are a few more that I haven't covered. Till next time.

A look at Narutimate Accel 1 and 2

Narutimate Accel Series

It took almost forever for a successor to NH3 to arrive, partly due to the extremely long time it took for the first part of the Naruto anime to end. The long wait finally ended with the release of Narutimate Accel, the first Narutimate game to feature characters from the timeskip era. This entry is about my perceptions about Accel and its successor, Narutimate Accel 2, which is currently the most popular and playable of the series.

Narutimate Accel 1

Accel 1 was pretty much a work in progress. Adding to the difficulties in topping whatever advances NH3 had was the fact that the programmers had to add 16 new characters. That's a lot of characters to balance and fit to the new system. With Accel, the games began to stray from the conventions of NH3. That makes for a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff.

First off, the teching system was made less streamlined. Some attacks didn't connect as reliably as they used to after a hit. This made gamers seek different attack options in battle. Jutsu could still be used but you couldn't just append a jutsu at the end of a hit anymore. This led to more tech traps, untechable combos and combos straight into jutsu without finishers involved.

Second, the new characters introduced were still suffering from imbalance issues. This either made some characters completely overpowered or extremely weak. Take TS Shikamaru. His awakening special status goes up so fast, deals tons of damage on hit, was hard to knj and was a definite advantage against any other character. Shikamaru dominated tournaments here and abroad, leading to his eventual ban (or at least the ban of his awakening status.) On the other hand we go to Kisame. Kisame was a monster in NH2 and NH3. He could drain chakra extremely easily and did tons of damage even on block lock (leading to the first "block lock infinite.") In NA1, he was barely playable. He was slow as hell, his chakra drain status was nerfed so much as to become negligible and, even when his moves hit, they did lesser damage.

Third, speaking of awakening statuses, these special statuses were no longer activated solely by hitting an ougi. In previous games, at a high enough level of play, hitting an ougi became exceedingly rare. That would translate to less opportunities to get into a special status. Now, awakenings could be activated by doing certain things, tailored to the individual character. This was a huge and beneficial leap forward in the series, as it made awakenings a more integral part of game strategy. On the other hand, some awakenings were much too powerful, or gave the character a steeper curve to learn to beat. One case in hand is TS Naruto. By himself, TS Naruto by himslef was a powerhouse with his many tools. But when he reached low life, he would activate his special awakening status, which constituted a buff to all stats (attack, damage and speed.) It often happened that when playing against an experienced Naruto Player, people had to get their own character at least 75% life by the time the attack hits. This wan't the worst of the awakening statuses, but I'm citing this one as the best example.

Fourth, they revamped the ougi system. They took out the customizable ougi system, which never really worked, and replaced it with a situational ougi system. This added another dimension of tactics to the game. Reversal ougis are pretty powerful, but they take up a lot of chakra, and they can only be used at half life or less. Players could get beaten to lower than half life, then do the ougi and catch up. Their opponents would then do everything they can to drain chakra, which is used for the reversal ougi. Some players would do an ougi-based playstyle on their normal level 1 ougis (available at above half life and without special statuses) and continue to do ougis. Some would work towards getting an awakening to be able to perform an awakening ougi and hit the enemy for massive damage. (hihi)

In the end, NA1 ended up feeling like an NH3.5 - it really wasn't a complete game, and there were certain aspects to the game that did not translate well or were not fully refined. Moving on...

Narutimate Accel 2

Accel 2 was a true sequel to NH3. It included a lot of new characters, made fixes to the NH3 characters that made them still viable contenders to the new roster, and made various changes to the system that improved the overall gameplay.

There was one thing, however, that would potentially have brought it all down - the Assist System.

In theory, the assist system was a good thing. It was semi-implemented in NH2, and it gave assists a limit based on the number of assist items in the inventory. If balanced correctly, it offered another means of escape to the player, in a game that emphasized escape.

The problem was that the finished product emphasized escape way too much.

Like I said before, the Narutimate series always made a fine balance between attack, defense, and escape. In attack the NH/NA player proceeds to disrupt enemy flow, pin them in a state of continuous defense (for example, pinning them via block lock) and cause as much damage to the enemy as possible, both to the chakra and life bar. The endpoint is either a KO or an infinite combo. In defense, one tries to minimize the damage by blocking or backing off. In escape, one tries to break enemy momentum via attack (through KnJ or techs,) counterattack, and basically avoid getting hit (as opposed to simply reducing damage.)

The new assist system destroyed this very delicate balance. It was spammable, it destroyed the game mechanic and some combinations brought imbalance to relatively balanced characters. It interferes with attack (making infinites impossibly hard to perform, defeating block lock in some cases.) It also interferes with escape, making escape too prominent, straying into the "get out of jail free card" status. It was too much of a good thing. There was no penalty with using it, as opposed to KnJ, which ate up the chakra bar. Chakra management necessitated judicious use of KnJ and jutsu. But with assists, it could be spammable all day long. If it were up to me, I would always choose the best combination and use assists over and over again. No flow or rhythm would be materialized within a match: if played as is, NA2 would devolve into a button mashing fest.

Thankfully, the scene for NA2 unilaterally banned this system in competitive play.

Some of the imbalances in NA1 characters were removed in NA2. But some characters were still hard to play. If anything, the imbalances between some NA2 characters were more pronounced than those with NH3 characters. My NH3 Itachi and Lee have both lost to an insanely skilled Kurenai, but rarely could any Kisame beat a high tiered character in NA2.

Then there's the issue of Gai. I'm going to devote two whole entries on this subject, so watch out for that.

NA2 was a good game, a fun game even up to now. More than three years after its release, the scene is alive and a lot people still play it today. It's easy to pick up and doesn't have NH3's high learning curve for fighting against certain characters.

Again, it took a long time for the next, and probably last Accel game to be released. The community as a whole waited on it with baited breath. But was Narutimate Accel 3 worth it? That's for the next entry.

a look at NH3

The Narutimate Series experienced the largest change with NH2 and NH3. What was once a simple brawler type game gained surprising depth and developed into a game that can truly be played competitively. While NH2 added a lot to the existing system, it was NH3 that added concepts making it, in my opinion, a cornerstone of achievement in the entire series of games so far.

In this piece lets see the pros and cons of NH3 as a fighting game and as a part of the Narutimate series in general, and see why this is still one of my favorite games.

Pros:

1. NH3 fixed some of the imbalances of NH2

NH2 was an okay game for its time, and is still fun to play even now. In some ways it can be played competitively, but there were some disadvantages to that game that brought it down.

First of all, characters in NH2 gain too much chakra. Too much chakra can lead to increased use of jutsus, so much so that it becomes customary in some games to use jutsu over and over, and then retreat. Charging time for chakra was extremely fast, so it was easy to gain chakra, then reuse jutsu. Integrating the concept of escape (as I mentioned in my previous post) was crucial to achieving the unique gameplay mechanic of the Narutimate series. This chakra imbalance in NH2 caused the game to overemphasize this strategy.

Second, the above issue is compounded by the fact that KnJ was way too easy to use. KnJs work by allowing you to press the appropriate button before you are hit by whatever move the enemy does against you. If used incorrectly, this leads to faster chakra drain, which balances out the chakra issue, on the other hand, if used wisely, it confers some difficulty in getting damage. Some parameters were predictably increased to get higher damage output, and that led to...

Third, poison was way too imbalanced in NH2. The effect lasts forever and could drain your life so much that you take a large hit to your life before you could do anything about it. Add to the fact that poison jutsu were spammable thanks to the high chakra availability, and you have a bunch of banned characters.

These are basically the three things that NH2 did wrong. How did NH3 fix this?

First, NH3 scaled back the way you get chakra to the way it should be. Chakra in NH3 is a precious resource. Charging it takes a long time, and lull periods in NH3 are rare. It is easy to run out of chakra in NH3, so the emphasis on chakra conservation is made greater. This created a very good balance between escape and defense. Too much escape is a bad thing; with it, players don't get damaged enough. Too much defense is a bad thing too for the same reasons, which was why...

Second, it is harder to KnJ moves in NH3. That scales up the damage factor and makes spamming jutsu less important. Jutsu costs chakra, so they become a weapon a skilled player uses sparingly. This usage inpsires tactics to use jutsu as efficiently as possible. In addition, it places emphasis on attack, but attacking the right way.

Third, poison damage was scaled down in NH3, but not to the point where poison was more or less harmless. Poison could still cripple a foe used properly.

2. NH3 added a lot of new things... and they were good

NH3 was the origin of a lot of gameplay mechanics that we can still see today in recent games. Here's what I thought up:

• Command-style ougi seal inputs - before, when you were hit with an ougi, you took the damage whether you liked it or not, you mashed buttons or spun the sticks to possibly reduce the damage (and destroy your controller in the process) and aside from the button mashing there was no skill involved. The Command inputs changed all that. Command inputs gave the player a means to turn the tables on his opponent by putting in more seals (escape!), it didn't ruin your controller, and skill was a large part in doing it. If you were better in seal inputs than your opponent, you could dominate him. In NH3, strategy and an actual metagame formed during the whole process of getting hit by an ougi. You can 1) cancel the ougi, draining your opponents chakra, 2) get hit but reduce the damage, wasting away one or two of his bars, hoping to get him thanks to the chakra advantage you now have after getting hit, or 3) get hit by an ougi and allow a cancel to nullify an undesirable enemy power-up effect.
• Button Locks - this was probably a programmer bug. A certain sequence of moves renders an enemy character unable to use most buttons except to run and kawarimi. Button locks were an indispensable part of an NH3 player's arsenal. It provided a player a setup to get in attacks, jutsu, ougi, anything. Much effort was made by both players to prevent such setups from happening to themselves and making the same setups work against their enemies. It was an added option for attack potential, and in my opinion it improved the game a lot. The newer games may not have these locks in their current form, but strategies and tactics are still being created for the ones that still remain.
  
• Customizable Ougi - there were many special character effects in NH3. NH3 was also the first game to be able to make you choose your ougi. You can choose how much chakra your player used for an ougi. Players used level 1 ougis for either an ougi based playstyle or a consistent offensive weapon, level 3 for maximum damage output, and level two for a good balance. You could also determine if your ougi had an effect to it. Example: Sasuke had a level 1 ougi with no effect, a level 1 with Curse Seal Level 1, a level 2 with Sharingan status, and a level 3 that leads to Curse Seal Level 2. Although many players used the level two, there were some that used level 1 because it suited their playstyle more. The bottom line is, players could customize their strategy and tactics by choosing their respective ougis.
  
• Accessible infinites - not exactly new to NH3, the infinite is the one endpoint in a NH player's game. Using an infinite usually ends the match - it's almost equivalent to a KO. NH3 made the infinite a staple for many characters instead of just a handful. It emphasized the importance of chakra conservation, making an empty chakra bar extremely punishable, effectively making it a second life bar. It further balanced attack, defense and escape. Up to NA3, infinites are a dangerous weapon and an essential part of a player's arsenal.
  
• the teching system - before NH3, there were only two things your character did after getting hit by a combo finisher or a jutsu: get splatted to the wall or ground, or get launched. A spin was inescapable and was guaranteed damage to many followups. NH3 introduced the wall spin, the bounce and the vertical launch. With this, it also introduced a way for characters to escape from this: the wall tech, the launch tech and the bounce tech. Spins and bounces made it easy to connect moves together, but is balanced out by teching. If you tech and recover, you usually cannot get hit by the follow up. It added other defensive options in addition to KnJ. Plus, it added the opportunity to do mindgames.

Cons:

NH3 isn't without its faults.

1. Some characters were nightmares to fight against for noob players

My personal opinion for NH3 (or any game in the Narutimate series) is that any character, given enough skill, can win against any other character. The game is still relatively balanced, and I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this.

The fact is, that for a handful of characters, the skill curve needed to fight against them could at times be too steep.

Take Itachi. Itachi had an awesome two-bar ougi (Magen: Kuroyume) that gave him Tsukuyomi as a status. Because of the unbelievably fast animation, the ougi could be hit in any number of ways; players from both the US and abroad had ways to use the Ougi in battle, so much so that one could get hit by the ougi by as much as three or four times. And after that damage was over, the opponent had to go through Tsukuyomi mode, which gives Itachi priority over almost everything AND potential for extra damage, leading to a total damage potential of around 80% of your life.

Was Itachi impossible to beat? No. In fact, knowing his strategy made him completely manageable by many characters. Was he considered bannable? It depends on who you ask. Personally I didn't think that these character traits were enough to get him banned.

The problem was, many players new to the game would have the hardest time trying to beat him. The learning curve to beat them was quite high. That's why some communities at least soft banned the character.

And Itachi is only one character among many with ridiculous damage potential. Kisame, Jiraiya, Lee, a lot of characters did a ton of damage. This led to many players choosing only from a few characters instead of from the complete list. This was a perceived imbalance, in my opinion, but nevertheless it led to the game stagnating. The game at a competitive level was not receptive to new players, and it would hurt the recruitment of new players if they kept on losing to the same guy. Counterpicking would be a possible outcome of this. On the other hand, communities learned to adapt to the character before picking up a newer guy. The issue is a point of division among many players of the game/game series.

2. Miscellaneous stuff

• Customizable Ougis - huh? Wasn't this a pro instead of a con? Well, the thing is, most players tended to stick to the best ougi for their character. With only a few minor exceptions, many players chose the same ougi for their character, as the other ougis didn't really have that much advantage over the "standard" ougi. So there really wasn't that much customization at all. Despite the choice being available, the other choices kinda sucked.
• Unlocking the Characters was a damn chore - yes, there is a code to unlock most characters. But unlocking all these characters was hard, and most players, who genuinely wanted to play the game had problems with unlocking. Look at the gamefaqs forum for the Japanese game and see how many questions there were for the RPG mode which was cumbersome to begin with. Thus, most players settled on playing with an incomplete roster and an incomplete selection of ougis, which didn't hook them into the game that much.
  
• Customizable Jutsu - nobody used this feature because it really wasn't thought out, as some jutsu could harbor great potential for insane damage by switching to jutsus they shouldn't have access to in the first place.
  
• Maito Suit Naruto - Maito Suit Naruto is basically an NH2 character trapped in NH3. NH2 in the fact that he can get chakra like in NH2: very easily. Compare it to the scarcity of chakra in NH3 and you get a recipe for disaster.
  
• P1/P2 inequalities - this is a mortal sin in a fighting game. In a fighting game, all fighting gameplay mechanics should be equal to both players. There should be no handicap whatsoever to ensure a fair fight. In NH3, some button locks were P1 only, some moves could only be KnJed by P1 and so on. Rules had to be made to prevent a P1 advantage in a competitive match. The point is, this shouldn't have happened in the first place.

That's pretty much it. NH3 was a great game, and it endured so well here in the Philippines that some people still play it today. But then newer games came along and that really led to an explosion in the number of players for the game. Next up is the Accel series.

something completely different: NH/NA Series

In my previous post, I made a little description of fighting gamedom and the different games that the genre had to offer. We now move on to the meat of the matter.

The Narutimate Hero/Accel Series is different from all the games I described previously. In its most simplest interpretation, it is a straight up Brawler type game in the style of Smash Brothers. But there are a few things about the game that help set it apart from the rest of these games and make it into a completely different monster entirely.

1. The Narutimate Games are fighting games oriented not only on attack or defense, but on escape.

Isn't escape a form of defense you say? In the Narutimate series, not exactly. Let me introduce a few concepts that Narutimate players know by heart.

Kawarimi no Jutsu (KnJ) - basically a teleporting move that puts you at the other side of an enemy. This move effectively cancels blockstun and breaks a combo, preventing any further damage. Unlike other defense mechanisms in fighting games, it does not interrupt the enemy momentum in comboing, so he must either cancel his action with a shuriken or some other thing to prevent getting counterattacked. Otherwise he is completely open to any kind of retaliation.

The thing about KnJ is that unlike any other burst/combo breaker-like defense mechanisms, it 1) is easy enough to do, but not too easy to be able to spam and do it 100% of the time 2) can be used frequently and successively 3) can be used an infinite times in a match provided there is chakra to do so 4) is applicable to most enemy attacks 5) and aside from the chakra drain, it does not confer any penalty to the player using it.

Basically, it's a method of escape. It renders long, strung-together combos less effective but not impossible, puts emphasis of defensive play and makes the attacker think before attacking: is my attack going to connect? Should I take the risk? It's more or less a glorified parry that both players can do again and again.

The developers of the game could have screwed this up in so many ways. If KnJ were limitless, matches would never finish (or take 20 minutes to play) So they balanced it by using shuriken and the chakra system, two innovations that improved the game system as a whole.

Shuriken - despite being technically an attack, shurikens are used to cancel moves or interrupt animations, preventing retaliation post-knj by attacking the freshly knj-ed player first. They can also be used to "pin" people in place and allow a player to back off. Again, it is a defensive option as much as it is an escape option.

Chakra System - basically an "energy bar" where some attacks and defensive options get their juice. This is basically your second lifebar in the Narutimate series. If you run out of this bar, you 1) lose many defensive options 2) are susceptible to more damage, as chained attacks are infinitely more effective (leading to infinite attacks that can kill you outright, and lol pardon the pun) 3) lose momentum as you struggle to regain lost chakra.

That's the thing with the Narutimate series. Each player is given so many options of escape (not just defense as in blocking or parrying) that defensive play can be done. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that attacking is useless; on the contrary, players are tasked with finding more effective ways of dealing damage, as damage in the Narutimate series increases with every hit in the combo (as compared to other games, where chained hits deal less damage.) And indeed, some moves safer to do than others (more on that later) some are harder to KnJ than others, and out of these moves, some cause more damage.

Escape makes it that attacks (or at the very least, few attacks) are neither 100% guaranteed nor 100% safe. Fighting games in the past have implemented similar moves before, but making them easily accessible at this level of play is something not many fighting games do - this might actually be the first.

The player who escapes better and escapes wisely, (NOT the player who attempts the most attacks, nor the player who just blocks the most) has the winning advantage in the game. Along with this, judicious use of attacks that deal optimal damage, while employing better defense than the other player, wins the game. If you do 100 attacks and the opponent dodges all 100 of them, that effort would matter little. If you do 5 attacks and all of them hit, 5 hits is better than none. There is a caveat to this, however, as I will discuss in another topic: Chakra Management.

So again, NA/NH is all about escape.

2. 'Simpler' attacks do not necessarily mean simpler strategy

In the Narutimate series, attacks are seemingly limited to the circle button. Pressing circle in some combination with the arrow buttons makes any number of attacks. Down + down or Up + up circle unleashes a jutsu.

Does that mean the attacks are simpler? In a sense, yes. Narutimate series moves are not as hard as performing that coveted BnB 36 hit combo. But there are more attack options available.

Shuriken/Items - can serve any number of purposes in the game. You can use it defensively, interrupt another player's attacking rhythm (Kimimaro and Kidomaru offer excellent examples of this) deal lots of damage by abusing damage modifiers (explosive tag,) create a barrier to prevent your enemy from pursuing you (fire pot, caltrops) provide a distraction or handicap to your opponent (seals) and so on. Winning tactics rely on when to properly use the right item or not.

Ougi - basically a one-hit move that causes tons of damage and can facilitate a reversal of match momentum. However, following my first point, the game gives the victim of this move another chance to escape - by way of ougi seal inputs.

With all these tools at the players disposal, one can make any sort of strategy to work around an opponent's defense. NH/NA isn't simply about mashing the circle button, the technical aspect of attacking takes second place to the tactical execution of attacking. Simply punching an opponent is different than punching an opponent closer to a firepot or exploding tag, or luring an enemy towards a trap or unfavorable terrain.

Sometimes escape itself becomes a tactical method of attacking. Take an exploding kunai. To be safe from the resulting explosion, the item user throws this at medium range from the enemy. But some players throw exploding kunai right next to the enemy, THEN KnJ away from the explosion to safety. Not only can this throw off the expectation of the enemy "he'll never throw an exploding kunai at this range" but it gives him the momentum to attack and follow up (especially if the opponent techs.)

3. same button layouts does not mean all the characters play the same

Sure, every one of the characters in the Narutimate series have the same move layout. Everyone has at least two jutsu, an ougi, and a standard movelist.

The thing is, that each character is specialized for a unique function or is geared towards a specific type of play. There are characters that are used only for taijutsu, characters that are more long range oriented, and characters that act as walking tanks that sacrifice mobility for a solid defense and good keepaway attacks.

So no two characters in the Narutimate series play exactly the same. Some may play similar to each other but there's always something that sets them apart. Other games fall into the pit of having similar moves all around PLUS having simplified movesets. With the Narutimate series there is variety all around.

That's all I have to say for now. Next up is a look at the individual titles of the Narutimate series. We'll start off with Narutimate Hero 3, known in the west as Ultimate Ninja 3.

two dudes beating the crap out of each other

a long time ago, some guy decided that it would be totally cool to have a game where one dude beats beat the crap out of another dude. Henceforth, the fighting game was born.














BALLS TO THE WALL EXCITEMENT

We've come a long way since then. Fighting games have both flourished and declined, with Street Fighter 2 being one of the biggest breakthroughs of the genre. With SFII, the arcade fighting game scene began to take root.

Why do we like to beat the crap out of other dudes (at least, in a virtual manner?) Well, first off, playing with another person beats playing by yourself more often than not. Second, any 1 vs. 1 match, with a good enough game and set of rules, is fun. As with any kind of competition, the thrill of winning and the adrenaline rush from fighting is there, as is the agony of defeat.

Now there are a lot of fighting games out there, each with their own specific quirks. I'll post a few examples of some fighting games below, and a description of how the fighting system works for them.

Street Fighter 2 and 4 - these two games are based on tactics, with simple attacks and combos in short bursts, but extremely deep in terms of mindgames and strategy. Capable of both defensive and offensive play.

Doujin Games, Melty Blood Series, Guilty Gear, etc etc. - These 2D games focus on high technical skill, with more attacking and defensive options available to the user. Combos are long and are flashy, with action happening all over the screen.) Some may even deal 100% damage (Hokuto no Ken for example) but most are scaled for damage so that doesn't happen. This is taken to the extreme in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which is basically chaos on screen.

Tekken - Tekken, in my humble opinion, is a race where you have to figure out when to attack first, and take advantage of moves that have more priority over others. One combo eats a lot of life, which makes comebacks possible. As the game is in 3D, dodging attacks adds another dimension (pardon the pun) to the gameplay, as your character can avoid in more than one plane. This sets the score for attacks that hit in arcs, or attacks that can catch sidestepping characters.

Soul Series - like above, but less offensive and more defensive-oriented. In SC, you have to find an opening to attack, take advantage, then wait again. There isn't much room for long continuous combos or juggles that win the game like in Tekken.

SSBB - Brawler type games are like the above, but with simplified attack options. That doesn't mean strategy is out of the question, however.

UFC 2009 - These games are a mix of fighting game, and fighting simulation.

Most of these games, predictably, are about attack. Defensive options are limited to a blocking or running away. When you block in some fighting games, you have no option to retaliate and continue to be "block locked" until you retaliate with a higher priority move, counter, or move the hell out of the way. Some games implement a parry feature where you time a parry to deflect an attack, leaving you to be able to perform a counterattack. Some implement a combo breaking move that completely ends an opponent's attack, and in some cases, rewards the player for doing so.

That's basically what fighting games are. Many rely on momentum, with "attack before getting attacked" the motto of the day. Others rely on long and/or damaging combos, desperation moves and so on for momentum reversal. Granted, there were some games that break this mold...

Philippine NA2 Players Directory

PHILIPPINES PLAYER DIRECTORY

TEAM LOCATION LIST


Team Tsukuyomi
Location: Manila, QC

Team Jinchuuriki
Location: Central Manila & Down South

Team Akatsuki - Cavite
Location: (Cavite)

Genin Boys
Location: Antipolo, Rizal

Team Jigen
Location: San Pablo City, Laguna

Hokage Team
Location: Binan, Laguna

Los Banos NA2 Players
Location: Los Banos, Laguna

No Face, No Fear, No Soul, No Mercy Team
Location: Sta. Maria, Bulacan

Quezon City NA2 Players
Location: Quezon City

Shiranai Sempai Clan
Location: Binangonan, Rizal



PLAYER DIRECTORY









1. Joseph (eunisesa)
Yahoo ID: eunisesa
Cel. #: 09163863134

2. Genzo (James)

3. Kristian (RiSK)
Y! ID: einlanzer07
Roaming: +63 919 248 0161
Singapore number (+65 8301 9936)

4. Gelo (afterdark)
Y!ID: afterdark_deathgrimmer
Cel: 09154901974

5. John T.(hfolkner)
Y!ID: get_your_fix (pero di ginagamit)
Cel 09272459181

6. Matthew (Dragonthorn)
Y!ID: m1ck_8
Cel 09175113400

7. Timothy Tiu (Zhang Khai-En) (INACTIVE)
YM: motsinaction
Email: [email]ZhangKhaiEn@gmail.com[/email]
Cel#: 09228250817

8. Don (Oversoul) (INACTIVE)
Cel:09274799297








TEAM JINCHUURIKI

1. Eman ("Treyn")
Contact no.: +639109398147
E-Mail / Y! Mess: nevahmyndme@yahoo.com

2. Patrick ("Payts")
Contact no.: +639063141616
E-Mail / Y! Mess: payts56@yahoo.com

3. Uy So ("Crimson Slash")
Contact no.: +639396449002
E-Mail / Y! Mess: bahamutzero_omnislash@yahoo.com

4. Jerald ("Drex")
Contact no.: 09194088328
E-Mail / Y! Mess: dre_x22@yahoo.com

5. Josan ("Captain Jay")
Contact no.: 09062876212
E-Mail / Y! Mess: the_wanderer0403@yahoo.com

6. Tony G. ("Hibachi")
Contact no.: 09157200082

7. Ryan Jay ("Shadow")
Contact no.: 09094385514
E-Mail / Y! Mess: ryanjaysebastian@yahoo.com

8. Jean Paul ("Zanmato")
E-Mail / Y! Mess: jeanpaul_santillana@yahoo.com

9. Ray ("Measter Godaime")
Contact no.: 09064210245
E-Mail / Y! Mess: ray_haigler30@yahoo.com

10. Andrew ("Hero-sama")
Contact no.: +65 9845 7596 (Singapore)
E-Mail: andrewserafico@yahoo.com (Y! Mess), Hero-sama@hotmail.com

11. Levi ("Aiyumigo")
Contact no.: 09063410322
E-Mail / Y! Mess: ai_mex@yahoo.com









Antipolo Geninboys (Antipolo, Rizal)

1) genin02 (Richard)

2) genin03 (JR)

3) genin04 (Rham)

4) genin05/Virgil (Feb)

5) genin06 (Michael)

6) Victor (spidertrickstar)
Contact no. 09156537277
Email:Spidertrickstar@yahoo.com

7) Charles (charman)









San Pablo City Laguna NA2 Players (a.k.a. Team Jigen)

1. jigen7
e-mail: i_love_jigen@yahoo.com

2. anjo

3. paopao

4. kevin








Binan, Laguna NA2 Players (Hokage Team)
1) Yoscharo








Los Banos, Laguna NA2 Players

1)








NO FACE, NO FEAR, NO SOUL, NO MERCY TEAM (Sta. Maria, Bulacan)

0. Gary
Y! ID: garytuazon01
Contact No. 0916 430 9129

1. Jr
Y! ID:
Contact No.

2. Jet
Y! ID: xXweaslesXx
Contact No. 0916 401 6895

3. King
Y! ID: Lerey_07
Contact No. 0916 242 6723

4. G.A.
Y! ID: dark_dartzgene
Contact No. 0915 203 1275

5. Emman
Y! ID: kylesaber568
Contact No.

6. Erlou
Y! ID:
Contact No. 0927 340 7531

7. Mike
Y! ID: mike_jedah
Contact No. 0927 961 6380

8. J.A.
Y! ID:
Contact No.

9. Topher
Y! ID:
Contact No.

10. Renz
Y! ID:
Contact No.

11. Prince
Y! ID: prince_tidus69
Contact No.

12. James
Y! ID:
Contact No.

13. john carlo tuazon (carlo1421)
email: rendering_shniedery14@yahoo.com

14. agri2dude
email: karakuri_sensei1989@yahoo.com








1. James (CyborgHitokiri)
Location: Manila
cell - 09173290776

2. Kris (red scorpion)
Location: QC?
cell - 09157746483
YM: sacred_dogh

3. Rave
Location: Brunei
Contact: raveymicheku@yahoo.com
cell#: 09286281463

4. Kidsworth (Z)
Location: Manila
Contact:

5. foreverrasengan
Location: Quezon City
Cell #: 09162934598
Y! ID: genesis_rave09@Yahoo.com

6. Rahchin
Location: Lucena City, Quezon
E-Mail / Y! Mess: rahchin_31@yahoo.com

7. PINOY01
Location: Cebu
Cell#: 09063472201
conatct: kalimtanun@yahoo.com.au

8. vins

9. the_third

10. laulauknowhow

11. seph (nery_cubone)
Location: Pampanga
Cell#:09153802633

12. Joco ("Jocop5")
E-Mail / Y! Mess: joco_panganiban@yahoo.com

13. darkgene07

14. kakashirinobito

15. kyoyahibari hitman

16. Albatross (Jason)
Location: Tarlac

Other Players

1. Tako-Y

INACTIVE PLAYERS









Team Akatsuki-Cavite

0. Law/Leader/Daisuke (inactive)

1. Elmer/Yui Haru (semi-active)
09228895884

2. Windy/Ukiha
09159837970
ym:masterfunker13

3. - defected

4. Sid/Shiddomaru
09159683127
ym/mobile: skam_22003

5. Garci/Iori
09153802070

6. Anthone/Sei
09277230988
ym/mobile: add_yugi

7. Raymond/Kokushu
09159499591

8. Jeff/Shin Lee
09165525829

9. Angela/Kyoishiaimi
09155516246








Quezon City NA2 Players

1) KonohaRasengan

2) Mangprokopyo








Shiranai Sempai Clan (Binangonan, Rizal)

1) Braindead - Neil
Contact no. 0905-241-3375

2) Zero-Type - Ron-Ron
Contact no. 0915-654-5379

3) Sasuke - Tapi

4) Tiramisu - Jay-Jay

5) Tiramiki - Allan

6) Gimli - Norvie

7) Blade - Mark