Category Archives: Spotlights

Footsies Resources

It’s been like 12 years since i wrote the Footsies Handbook, but it still comes up in FGC threads sometimes. In retrospect, i indulged in way too much thesaurus creativity for what should’ve been a clear guide. I prefer simpler writing now.

They weren’t my ideas to begin with, and a lot of them have been developed further and expressed more clearly since then. We just have better words for things, like saying hitbox vs hurtbox, instead of calling everything a hitbox. Someone had to be clever enough to find a precise term that stuck, which is an ongoing process that takes time and effort. So here are a few articles and videos that have done a better job of capturing and expanding the concepts i tried to convey. I’ll keep adding to this list from time to time.

Footsies Trilemma by HiFight
  – Simplified rundown of the most common fundamentals of footsies: hit attack (advancing attack), cover attack (preemptive poke), and whiff punish attack

The Art of Footsies, Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 by Johnny Worms
  – Concise and eloquent breakdown of the “footsies triangle” as whiff punishment, approaching, and poking – along with feinting as a half-layer for each option

The Rules of Footsies by Celia Wagar
  – An expanded overview of the various rock-paper-scissors triangles involved in footsies, with detailed examples of ground-run-centric anime fighting game interactions

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Matador (Evo2k14 Premiere)

Matador premiered earlier today at Evolution 2014, immediately after UMvC3 semi-finals. If you missed it, you can now watch the entire short film in HD-quality for free.

Matador

It was written by Brett D. Bayonne, produced by Greg Gertmenian, and directed by Vahe Gabuchian – the team that brought you Balrog: Behind the Glory. However, Matador is a gritty drama with an all-new cast; focusing on Street Fighter’s sociopathic and self-adoring Spanish ninja, Vega.

A marked deviation from its comedic predecessor, the film takes an unflinching look at Claw’s traumatic childhood and the events that made him into the rage-fueled assassin he is today. In addition to the massive audience in attendance at the event, over 80,000 viewers from all over the world watched Matador live-streamed online.

If you enjoyed it, please follow @ChubbyBoyFilms on twitter, and let them know what you thought of the film. And of course, share it with your friends!

CV Spotlight: Keiko & izumojin’s SFA2 Combo Movie

It’s been two years since i’ve highlighted a combo video here; mainly because ComboVid.com serves that purpose now. But this particular release was simply too good to resist. It’s the result of a two-year collaboration between Keiko and izumojin, both experts in the Street Fighter Alpha series – and the outcome is absolutely astounding!

SFA2 Keiko & Izumojin Final Combo Movie

Containing over ten minutes of Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha combos, the sheer amount of style on display is off the charts. There are so many crazy setups and new discoveries that it’s impossible to keep count.

This is a definite must-watch for any oldschool Street Fighter player. Magnetro did the editing, keeping it clean and simple, with fitting music choices. And according to the transcript, it may be Keiko’s final SFA2 series video. Well, it’s certainly a strong conclusion!

Game Spotlight: FGC Indie Projects of 2012

Over the past year, the fighting game community has seen several promising independent game projects revealed by its own members. These extremely talented groups have invested their own time and resources into developing games that draw upon the FGC’s language and culture, with core gameplay mechanics heavily inspired by classic fighting game conventions. I want to highlight a few of these titles, because i think this is a very interesting trend.

Super Comboman is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up featuring a customizable combat system based on unlocking and arranging special abilities, in the form of colorful stickers. The story follows an energetic islander named Struggles, as he takes on odd jobs to support his little brother. (Un)fortunately he tends to get carried away with practicing his spectacular combos, and usually ends up destroying everything in sight! Apparently this project has been in development at Interabang Entertainment for over 1½ years. They’re currently putting the finishing touches on the game, so it’s already available for pre-order through their website.

Señor Footsies is a simplified 2D fighting game by Luke Esquivel, featuring two identical characters with very limited movesets. They can walk back and forth, perform a quick low kick, commit to a longer range sweep with more recovery, or build meter to use a pistol. Whoever lands the first kick wins the round, so the entire match revolves around cautious mobility, space control, and – you guessed it, footsies. What began with hand-drawn sprites has evolved into 3D models and a complete visual overhaul, but no release date has been set.

Street Sweeper is another minimalist fighting game built around a streamlined version of traditional footsies, developed by Robin Ramirez. The goal of the match is to connect a low roundhouse sweep, by using a quick high kick as bait, performing a well-timed parry, or simply outmaneuvering the opponent. There’s a free playable PC version available for download, including a second character recently added to the mix – and many more on the way. The character sprites and backgrounds are adapted from SNK’s various Neo Geo Pocket fighters.

Lastly, i’m sure everyone in the FGC has heard of Divekick since it was featured at MWC2012 and Evo2k12. The combat system revolves around the somewhat polarizing fighting game concept of divekicks, recently popularized by SF4’s Rufus and MvC3’s Doctor Doom. It was developed by One True Game Studios and successfully funded via Kickstarter, before picking up a publisher and refunding everyone’s donations. A release date hasn’t been announced yet, but i’m sure we’ll be hearing more details soon!

Introducing … PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale

Well, i guess the cat is officially out of the bag. I finally get to show you guys the game i’ve quietly been working on for the past eight months!

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a new four-player fighting game developed by SuperBot Entertainment, studio presidented by Chan Park and game directored by Omar Kendall. I’ve been working in the combat design department under lead combat designer Paul Edwards.

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