What *really* counts as a fighting game?
Rehosted from Cohost, 2024 Aug 30.
this is a question that's been on my mind for a hot second. like, obviously something like Street Fighter or Tekken counts as one, but, like, could you call the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series a fighting game? because it's got fighting?
or what about stuff like Fortnite box fights or Minecraft PvP? because they have neutral, punish, and disadv states? could those count, too? or do they not since they aren't explicitly made for the feel of fighting games?
let me know your thoughts in the comments and reposts, i wanna answer this question once and for all and create a definitive definition for a fighting game
[Brilliant analysis by amaranth-witch on Cohost]
So this is a very interesting question to me because obviously there are a lot of overlaps across multiple genres here, this is something applicable to my favorite genre of video games (is Into The Breach a TURN BASED TACTICS game or a PUZZLE GAME that uses adorable mech violence? What about Tactical Breach Wizards?) and 100% bleeds into the TTRPG sphere where I do most of my work (where are the lines between RPG, skirmish game, and boardgame really, when you think about it, what is the difference between boardgame-with-facilitator and RPG-with-heavy-props-and-clear-goals, etc) and I had earlier today been playfully having the "haha actually fighting games are literally just rhythm games lmao" joke discussion
(side note: no they aren't, this is "hot dog is soup" level semantics where a hot dog CLEARLY isn't soup but you're constructing arguments to prove that if you look at it THIS WAY, it obviously is/must be)
So from the outside, as an appreciator/observer, the things that make me consider something a Fighting Game:
- Generally, one-on-one. Exceptions exist in Smash Bros and their ilk, but getting into the 4-for-all territory really starts pushing it out of "fighting game" categorization and towards "PvP beatemup" in my head.
- A clearly bounded, visible arena. The boundaries can be mutable; the DoA series played around with breakable walls providing a "stage transfer (and damage)" effect to both reset corner-trapping and make the game more vibrant and whether or not you like this, it doesn't negate the category. The boundaries can be fatal, as in Virtua Fighter and Soul Calibur's ring-out loss conditions unless you're Yoshimitsu, or they can be obstructions, as with the classic Street Fighter Corner Trap Walls. "Visible" means that unless your opponent is using an tool from their kit or their skill to obscure what they're doing, the stage itself will not stop you from seeing the whole stage (or at least the whole relevant stage)
- The primary purpose of the main game mode must be direct combat until one side is incapacitated. If the game has a capture-the-flag mode that's great, but the MAIN game mode has to be a fight. Someone recreating Street Fighter in minecraft doesn't make minecraft a fighting game, but it means you can play a fighting game in minecraft.
- Information about your enemy's status has to be clear and legible. It doesn't have to be "an HP bar" specifically, but the HP bar is a good example of what I'm talking about: here is a direct representation of how many hits it will take to incapacitate the enemy. This is because...
- The core conflict of the main game mode should be player-skill vs. player-skill through the character toolkits and movesets in the context of the fight itself. Hidden information abstracts the player-skill (at least) one step too far. Obviously there will be information discrepancies between experienced players and new players, but there's a difference between "I can't read the game-state because I don't know what I'm looking at" and "I can't read the game-state because the information isn't there to read".
- The core conflict of the gameplay is expressed through direct combat and counterplay through combat moves. This most frequently takes the form of a martial-arts match (often with fantastical elements or weaponry), but is not required to. However, some direct-combat games do not flag as "fighting games" to me: a 1v1 first-person shooter deathmatch does not feel like a fighting game, as the counterplay distills to "do not let your opponent shoot at you" and it's called a FIGHTING game, not a hiding-behind-a-wall-until-the-other-guy-thinks-you're-gone game (or until-the-other-guy-runs-out-of-ammo).
I think there are probably more, but this is the limit of my brainfog right about now.
[By chicanery on Cohost]
It's a fighting game if I'm bad at it.
[By Sumac on Cohost]
Trying to stop someone from merging into your lane on the freeway is a fighting game