History Of 3D Fighting Games Explored

Thanks to GameSpy.com for their ongoing series of articles on fighting games, including 'A Brief History Of 3D Fighters' - Part 1 and Part 2. As the article notes, "It's been ten long years since 3D fighters first appeared. In that time, we've seen the genre toddle from flat-shaded polygons and floaty jumps to extremely realistic texture-mapping and gameplay depth that can exceed some of the best 2D fighters". although the piece points out "...things have been somewhat slow [within the genre] in recent times." There are also histories of the Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur series, all thanks to the recent release of the budget-priced Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution for PS2, and next week's release of Soul Calibur 2 for PS2/Xbox/GameCube.

Comments

Power Stone

[dead sun]

They make a pretty good history, but only touch on the Dreamcast as a part. I for one thought that Power Stone/Power Stone 2 were pretty cool 3D fighters for the Dreamcast.

And don't say they aren't fighters. Super Smash Bros. was mentioned as a fighter right after the Dreamcast bit.

Re:Power Stone

[andy_fish]

I think the rule they used was that a "fighter" involves two characters that can only move in 2D.

Well, I guess that rule doesn't work cause some fighters allow you to move towards/away from the camera. But you have to agree there is some line between that and full 3d movement.

I mean, if you want to call every game with 2 or more characters fighting a "fighter" then you'll have to include a lot more than just Power Stone.

Re:Power Stone

[dead sun]

I don't think so because throughout both articles they're referring to games that break the 2D fighter genre. For instance there's the reference to Super Smash Bros. that I mention in my original post. There's also mention of Bushido Blade if I remember correctly, a game that is very non-"fighter" in that there are so many one hit kills it isn't funny.

Power Stone 2 is the game from the Power Stone family I'm more familiar with, but the genius of the game is the interaction with the environment. The ability to string together combos of various moves isn't that great like in 2D fighters with a 3rd dimension, but with the plethora of weaponry as well as the ability to take advantage of your surroundings you have a very immersive fighting game.

I agree it isn't a 2D fighter with some 3D afterthought, but I don't think that's what the article is talking about.

Oh for God's Sake

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I getting that old where there needs to be a history of 3D fighting games!?!

Re:Oh for God's Sake

[Anonymous Coward]

Particularly when said "brief history" has a Part 1 and a Part 2 (and more to come).

Meh

[Milkhorse]

3D fighters are usually fun, I certainly love DOA2 & 3, but they just dont seem to have the same visceral feel and amazing variety as the old 2D stuff. It has always seemed to me that the old school 2D fighters had tons more personality, and for some reason, smacking down some Chun Li whore with a loser like Balrog or Dhalsim hasn't yet been equaled.

Tekken???

[saden1]

You are a lover not a fight if you can't play Tekken. Seriously, there aren't any fighting games that require as much skills as Tekken series. If i can't pummel it, juggle it, chicken it, pile drive it, and super combo it, it ain't worth playing.

Re:Tekken???

[Anonymous Coward]

Compared to Virtua Fighter and the other old school AM2 fighters, Namco fighters are a dialer's paradise.

Do you really think you're hot shit because you think you have become skillful at playing Tekken? I hope not, because that would make you appear foolish to people who know better. Well, either foolish or just youthfully ignorant (as well as vain).

Re:Tekken???

[markimusk]

Speaking of old school, how come the article didn't mention Data East's Karate Champ? Some "history of fighters".

Re:Tekken???

[lidocaineus]

I can't tell if this is meant in sarcasm, or just stupidity. Or maybe it's just stupid sarcasm.

Re:Tekken???

[bmorton]

Speaking of old school, how come the article didn't mention Data East's Karate Champ? Some "history of fighters".

If I recall correctly, Karate Champ wasn't a 3d fighter. :)

http://www.ggdb.com/GGDB/Details.asp?VID=1410&Ca t= TechRoot.KB.HK

Re:Tekken???

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. I agree that Tekken is good. But it's not the best out there, and it's certainly not even good in terms of realism. As the article says, it's a very accessible game. However, it's not very realistic. VF and DoA both do a much better job of replicating real-world fighting styles and techniques.

3D shmee-D.

[digeratus]

Ahh Doom. You can keep your pantsy realistic 3d models thankyou-very-much, I prefer my 2D floating monster shapes in square rooms.

Oh, and I just want to see what this "extrans" thing is.<i> hello</i>

Hmm.

Nope

[bsd troll]

It's Slashdot, it's just plain stupidity.

Hmm.

[usotsuki]

And speaking of Chun Li.

She's Chinese, right? (And her name in Kanji does read "Chun Li" in Chinese.) But how come when she wins she says "Yatta", which is a purely Japanese word (i.e., not of Chinese origin)? O_o Also, when she says that "Spinning Bird Kick" or whatever, that's with a Japanese accent, not a Chinese accent. (And I think in Super and later she even does Hadoken?!) WTF. Only thing Chinese about her is her name, might as well call her "Shun Rei".

-uso.

Re:Hmm.

[Milkhorse]

You big nerd. I mean, honestly. I think Capcom is trying to give us an example of a CHUGOKUJIN coming to Japan, realizing that they are FAR SUPERIOR in every way, then adopting their language and idioms. Right.

*BSD is dying

[Anonymous Coward]

It is official; Netcraft now confirms: *BSD is dying

One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.

Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

Fact: *BSD is dying

very last post

[muirhead]

last post!
i'm so +1:bad
Baby Ruby says "bwarghhhhh!"