Skullgirls (2D Tag-em-outs Girly Type Fighter)

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I'm liking it so far! Game is early early early into the alpha stage (temp backgrounds, temp UI stuff), but the design and animation of the characters is looking real alright. Feels like someone said "hey, let's go ahead and just make a new Darkstalkers game".

Looks like only two characters are up and running, but it's nice to see somebody's out there making something like this.
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-...girls/17-3845/

No word on platform or anything, just "Summer 2011", which means "Spring 2012".

so they finally got something up and working? This has been in production for like 5 years or something

According to the Giant Bomb thing, they've stepped it up and have started bringing in outside artists to hurry the thing along, which sounds like they found some startup money!

Looks like the western version of any random doujin fighter.

I kind of hate the art style =/

Stills don't really sell it so well. Definitely watch the quicklook, looks great in motion.

I want to support any small group putting in the effort for a 2d fighter, but the hair monster bit isn't appealing to me in the slightest. The problem with fighters is you have the hardcore group who are going to be super critical on the mechanics, and the artsy group who just want to see gratuitously cool pictures.

Watchin the quick look now, looks a lot better than stills.

Here's all the characters planned. Further down the thread there's some concepts for some male characters they might eventually implement.
http://goborobo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=43

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Looks like the western version of any random doujin fighter.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I kind of hate the art style =/

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This.

And seeing it in motion changes nothing.

Yeah I need to see more of everything before I start getting excited for this.

I just love that art style and it looks spectacular in motion. It's interesting that there appears to be a revival of Western fighting games going on, between this, Mortal Kombat, and Chaos Code.

Plus that's Mike Z discussing the game, so it's comforting to know that somebody who really understands fighters is working on one.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I kind of hate the art style =/

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Art style aside, I like the way the sprites look and would be interested to learn more about how they're made. They appear to be neither traditional pixel art, nor vector-based, and the technique looks very nice. They're well rendered, if not necessarily well designed. It seems like these guys come from an animation background beyond just games.

EDIT: And wow, look at the lighting in the second stage. It looks like they have a separate lighting mask for highlights, and it looks really great in action.

"Drawings, animated, with an alpha channel" would be my guess. The pixel art still is a red herring, I believe.

I really don't get what everybody around the net seems to be so harsh on this game's art style. It has a nice look that seems to work for what they're doing with it, and kind of reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon or something.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

"Drawings, animated, with an alpha channel" would be my guess.

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That's what it looks like in the video, but neither that nor the screens are high enough res to really say for sure. It looks nice though.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

I really don't get what everybody around the net seems to be so harsh on this game's art style. It has a nice look that seems to work for what they're doing with it, and kind of reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon or something.

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Most Saturday morning cartoons looked like dogshit.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

I really don't get what everybody around the net seems to be so harsh on this game's art style. It has a nice look that seems to work for what they're doing with it, and kind of reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon or something.

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Nerds scared by thick thighs, IMO. :lol:

I like it! Looks like something lively out of somebody's sketchbook instead of LIFELESS ANIME DRONE FIGHTER 2000

I don't hate the art, but the saturday morning cartoon comparison is apt, and not necessarily flattering. It's also got that westernized anime thing going that is very passe right now.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

Nerds scared by thick thighs, IMO. :lol:

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Chun Li says sup.

Straight to the bargain bin IMO.

It's for XBLA/PSN. It starts in the bargain bin.

Also it was confirmed this will use GGPO.

No Marvel characters?

Needs more Skullomania.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

I like it! Looks like something lively out of somebody's sketchbook

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I was about to say this.

It reminds me of the kind of stuff "the" good artist chubby girl would draw in her notebook with markers. You know the girl, she was either skinny and wouldn't date any guys in her league, or fat and wanted to date all of her friends. And had a weird obsession with TNBC. not projecting, I swear

having said that, I still like it. I like art that mixes styles and mixes dark and cute images.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

It's also got that westernized anime thing going that is very passe right now.

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maybe you just like dicks and don't know what you're talking about? Xenophobe.

I like it all right, it's pretty creative. I find it a lot more likable than, say, Scott Pilgrim art, so I'm surprised some here are so down on it. Certainly appreciate the attention-to-detail breast wobble at the end of every move.

Animation is inconsistent, some moves look great, others have the BlazBlue'esque choppiness. Worse is how floaty it all seems. Attacks don't really seem to have any weight, giving or receiving, and the sprites just seem to be moving along paths rather than being propelled by their animated movement.

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I kind of hate the art style =/

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You're crazy. The sprites are great.

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Needs more Skullomania.

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Needs more rival schools.

I played this at PAX. Not very impressed. (They only had 2 playable characters though)

So Michiru Yamane is doing the soundtrack for this. Pretty big get.

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Originally Posted by Cheebs

You're crazy. The sprites are great.

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It's no SVC lawl.

This just solidified my stance as correct.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

So Michiru Yamane is doing the soundtrack for this. Pretty big get.

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Awesome.

So glad she's doing something new.
Frankly having her arrange Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears for the 15th fucking time is a waste of talent. I'm thrilled she's done with Konami, and I can't wait for this.

This fell off my radar for a while. Wow, things have progressed.





Suck it, all 'yall non-Skullgirls sprite like'n yahoos. This looks fucking amazing.

They're putting a lot of love into this thing, it's good to see. Rough spots here and there, but nothing major. Looking forward to playing the finished version!

I believe some acquaintances from college are doing cleanup drawings on it now, pretty neat!

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Originally Posted by Mzo

I kind of hate the art style =/

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Agreed.

Everything else looks fucking great, though.

I'm actually pretty psyched for this game. Been following it on SRK.

Man if the animators behind Street Fighter III used this kind of animation process, I think it'd be about the best looking fighter of all time.

On technical merits, this is the best looking 2D fighter I've ever seen. It loses a few style points for the "amerimanga" art style that reminds me of too many bad Saturday morning cartoons from the early 2000s.

I hate everyone who hates the art style. I just don't like the characters, but i'm sure that could change!

I don't get the hate either - "amerimanga" that looks fun like this is far better than generic animu weeaboo bullshit uninspired, stiff, and cookie-cutter "zany Japanese" design, aka Guilty Gear and Blazblu.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Man if the animators behind Street Fighter III used this kind of animation process, I think it'd be about the best looking fighter of all time.

On technical merits, this is the best looking 2D fighter I've ever seen. It loses a few style points for the "amerimanga" art style that reminds me of too many bad Saturday morning cartoons from the early 2000s.

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I don't think we watched the same video. This game looks good, but the animation is nowhere near SF3 quality, and the art style is pretty simplistic.
It's obviously better than the glut of doujin fighters and stiffly animated animu games, but let's not get carried away.

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Originally Posted by kedawa

I don't think we watched the same video. This game looks good, but the animation is nowhere near SF3 quality, and the art style is pretty simplistic.
It's obviously better than the glut of doujin fighters and stiffly animated animu games, but let's not get carried away.

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Well what impresses me is that this has neither the limitations associated with pixel art nor vector/flash animation. It looks as good as it would have if they were animating it for film or TV. I feel like this is the "right" way to handle 2D animation in modern day gaming.

That's not a judgement on the quality of the animation itself, but rather the way the animation is realized, if that makes sense.

Yeah. Vectors don't work in HD because it comes out looking like a bad flash game. And pixel art seems both impossibly tedious (to the point where detail suffers) and out of place in HD. But this looks great. Game art design revolution plz. I'll take a Metal Slug in this flavor.

Am I correct in thinking that they are using art with an alpha channel at perhaps twice the resolution they need so it can easily be scaled down in-game to whatever resolution is called for?

I'm going to have to guess that's not the case. Giving each quadrant of each pixel its own opacity value would be incredibly wonky.

But how would it antialias the edges if the sprites didn't have semi-transparent pixels lining the edges?

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Originally Posted by Cheebs

Am I correct in thinking that they are using art with an alpha channel at perhaps twice the resolution they need so it can easily be scaled down in-game to whatever resolution is called for?

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They're creating art in a way that doesn't seem particularly resolution dependent, and it seems as though they're using a proper alpha channel rather than a one-bit alpha mask like most games.

So kinda? But I don't think they're downsampling to antialias in order to get there, that shouldn't really be necessary.

I think I'll hate the artwork significantly less once we can see the whole cast and they're hopefully not all identically deformed like the first two.

I love the cartoon chick.

Yeah, that Steamboat Willy style chick is pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by Cheebs

But how would it antialias the edges if the sprites didn't have semi-transparent pixels lining the edges?

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Antialiasing on the edges using an alpha channel would be done at the same resolution as the actual artwork.
An 8bit alpha channel gives you 256 different levels of opacity to work with, which is more than enough to give the inpression of smooth edges.

I'd play this for free. Maybe. Probably not.

I still don't like the new character and the fireballs look like they were ripped out of something fan-made for Mugen. The technical aspects like what Frog was mentioning are really well done, I hope they get put to use on something else.

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Originally Posted by kedawa

Antialiasing on the edges using an alpha channel would be done at the same resolution as the actual artwork.
An 8bit alpha channel gives you 256 different levels of opacity to work with, which is more than enough to give the inpression of smooth edges.

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I think he's thinking of antialiasing the way you would with 3D full scene antialiasing, where you start with something higher res and then downsample it to the screen. Which isn't necessary with 2D art.

But even though his reason for thinking that isn't right, he's not entirely off on this either, since the art is actually created at much higher res (or resolution independent) and then downsampled to screen res, which has the added side effect of antialiasing the sprite.

So this is out.

First impressions: load times suck. I'm not even sure why they seem long, it doesn't feel like there's a lot there to load. It does look very pretty, with smooth animations and colorful characters and backgrounds, and it plays pretty smoothly.

SMALL list of characters. 8 I think? And 2 of them are online only it seems until you unlock them somehow for single player. Speaking of that, story mode is very short. You don't even fight all 7 of the characters you don't choose, and then there is a final boss who I don't see how she'd be playable in the main game. Reminded me of Apocalypse from whatever Marvel game he was the boss in.

Multiplayer seems to connect without many problems, and you can choose to fight with 1 really powerful person, 2 kinda powerful people, or 3 normal people. The tag mechanics seem ok, raw tags aren't as totally unsafe because they come in doing an attack, and using them as assists is similar to MvC in that you pick one of 3 assist moves at the start (2 presets and then a third that you can apparently set yourself, interesting). Played several matches with JM before either of us really knew what we were doing, and there was no real lag that I noticed. The game gives you some options upon entering a match that let you choose to have either a more laggy match or a better animated match. I didn't change the value from it's default so not sure how that plays into it. Really sad thing is that it's strictly VS multi, meaning just you and whoever you're playing against. There are no lobbies, no watching other people play, just join with a friend or a random and that's who you play until you quit and find someone else. That sucks. How are lobbies not a day one feature in any fighting game these days?

The inputs feel pretty good except for things like DP motions, which just seem to come out as fireball motions half the time. Moves are fun and interesting with easy links and good combo potential, and after a couple of minutes of trying it out it's not hard to start a combo from the ground, move it into the air, and make it look great. The training area doesn't have character specific trials, instead opting to give a general overview that has you trying different characters but doing things they can all kind of do. One thing about the moves though, there is NO move list in the game. Not in the menus, not in the trials, not in the game at all. They tell you specifically if you want to look up the moves, go to skullgirls.com/strategy/guides or something stupid like that. So for people like me with the 360 and the computer in totally different rooms, if I want to check what my level 3 super is or what that cool move someone did was, I have to get up and walk away from the game, go sit on the computer, and find out that way. Just seems completely retarded, and another thing I would have thought would be a normal feature in any current fighting game.


Yeah yeah TLDR I know.

It plays like marvel 2 so it's awesome

oh hey there's a thread


yeah this game owns; go buy it by selling SFxT to buy a $20 psn/xbla card for it

On topic.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...3&d=1334205891

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

No word on platform or anything, just "Summer 2011", which means "Spring 2012".

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Nice call.

I think I've seen that GIF about 100 times now and it never gets old.

I bought this game and I'm trying to play it and... yeah, I think I'm getting too old for this shit. D: Tons of buttons that need to be pushed to do any real damage. In a weird way though, I don't really mind the small roster, since there's a lot of effort made to vary the cast. It's refreshing, compared to most fighting games that are on their 10th+ version that have 243,532,532 match-ups to worry about.

The game feels... incomplete, though. For example, there are some really nice features in training mode (like hitbox/hitstun viewing), but there's no way to set the opponent to block, never mind some of the advanced features (I swore to God I saw replays (and being able to take control back during one) in an older build). It feels like the game ran out of budget halfway through production -- but at least they realized this enough to polish up what they had (but not to add anything else). I get why it happened this way... but still.

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Originally Posted by shidoshi

I really don't get what everybody around the net seems to be so harsh on this game's art style. It has a nice look that seems to work for what they're doing with it, and kind of reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoon or something.

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Haters gonna hate.

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Originally Posted by ChaoofNee

On topic.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...3&d=1334205891

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This just made the thread full of win.

• Skullgirls is a solid effort for Mike Z and the team at Autumn Games.
• It's unfortunate the game was rushed and left to reside on PSN/XBL.
• $15.00 isn't really hurting the wallet, especially since they openly acknowledged that there would be more to come in the immediate future.
• 8 characters is a HUGE cry from the robust variety found in retail competitors, thankfully there is some distinction with the current cast.
• Art style is unique, but you'll either love it or hate it (seems it's easier for those to just say "bleh, this sucks")
• Music won't resonate with everyone. Jazz in fighters? Hey -- at least it's not "Gonna Take You for a Ride!":chick:
• Training mode is a great step in the right direction. Larger corporate entities could learn a thing or two about educating the mainstream how to properly play their games.
• No movelist? Strange omission, but at least it's available on the official website
• Online mode mirrors similar issues at SF x Tekken. (Having to relive that again makes me want to avoid online altogether, regardless of GGPO support)
• Kudos to an infinite detection system to prevent the game from becoming a broken mess.
• No gems to help players block, tech throws and wipe their ass.
• Most will pick this up to support the community, others MAY get it because *gasp* the game is actually fun and deep.
• Capcom didn't create this, a fellow member of the community who actually KNOWS how to create a solid fighter should make this instantly more appealing to anyone casual or diehard gamer.

Edit: Like Dipstick, I am also not pleased with the lack of basic training mode tools to have recording dummy do what I'd desire to practice on, or that input display is also missing.

Here's hoping all of this gets fixed when they can get another budget to polish up the game a bit further.

Looking forward to the patch, but rest assured, titles like this give me hope that there's still some creativity left in the industry.

Man, I can FEEL the areas without polish. Load times, stuttering credits, the lack of moves lists...
Luckily, the gameplay itself is the solid part.

Also, need to learn to play as Parasoul so I can use that Kneesocks color palette!

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Originally Posted by ChaoofNee

On topic.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...3&d=1334205891

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for some of us, a more appropriate image:

http://i.imgur.com/DofDR.gif

e:

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Originally Posted by bahn

Online mode mirrors similar issues at SF x Tekken. (Having to relive that again makes me want to avoid online altogether, regardless of GGPO support)

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what issues? the only problem I've had is the lack of lobby support and that's coming in an update or two (the games I've played online were all silky smooth and didn't have dropped audio or anything super dumb like that)


e2: also lol at all the negative opinions because you gotta put in work to win, that's cute

Downloaded the demo and wasn't feeling it. Fighting was too slow and heavy for my tastes. I'll just stick with KOF. Real nice art though.

So it's the KOFXII of doujin fighters?

No, because even though this only has 3 playable characters it's still fun.

OH SHIT TAKE THAT KOF.

It's fun as hell. BODYBAG

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Originally Posted by Dipstick

I bought this game and I'm trying to play it and... yeah, I think I'm getting too old for this shit. D: Tons of buttons that need to be pushed to do any real damage.

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Yeah this I why I pretty much only play Mortal Kombat these days.

I'm not hardcore enough to play real fighting games anymore.

Reminds me of BlazBlu - small cast of highly distinguishable characters.

That said I'm more "casual" in fighters (hur) in that I'm not dexterous enough to do agile button gymnastics. I understand how it all works, but the tighter button input timing gets, the worse I am. Which is why stuff like SFxT and SF4 feel fair enough on my level while KoF13 and this rate in the this-stuff-is-impressive-but-good-luck-lol category.

I also felt compelled to get it - a few people I know worked on it! It's a very solid fighter too. I really like that the tutorial isn't just a string of combos or systems you mimic and that's it. There's discussion on community terminology, tying new concepts into old ones, and how to be a thoughtful defender. Way better than what Capcom and SNK have been trying.

Here's what the developers are saying about some of the issues:

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Move List

Unfortunately we ran out of time and were not able to get this in for release. It will be in the first real patch, and is not dependent on sales like Mike said somewhere.

360 Load Times

This one snuck up on us, because something about MS's package encryption slows our loading down considerably. Since you don't actually start packing and encrypting games until the very end, by the time we learned about it it was too late to address it. We think we can improve this with a patch, but it's unknown how long it will take because, well, fundamentally altering your data retrieval routines comes with a high degree of risk.

We've been doing some polling on forums, and it's also widely disparate between people. Some people are reporting loads in 4-5 seconds, while others are multiples of that. Since development is usually done on empty HDDs and we didn't experience it, the going theory is that the game is highly sensitive to HDD fragmentation.

Be sure that your game is installed to the HDD, BTW - flash drives and the internal 4GB of storage are significantly slower.

Blinking Characters

Related to the loading issues, sometimes characters will disappear for a short period of time and show only as hitboxes. This is because gameplay had to continue before the game finished streaming and decompressing the animation in. Due to the general loading situation on 360, this is happening a lot more on that system, and hopefully it will improve if we are able to improve load times in a patch.

Training Room Options

Again, we ran out of time before we could implement all of the training room options we wanted. We will definitely expand on these in updates, but these are lower priority than the Move List and Load Times. Among the features we are planning, though, are basically everything you see in other games, as well as and the ability to invite an online friend into your room to join you.

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Which makes me wonder why rush the release?

It's nice that he seems to be frank and honest about the issues the game is having. Much better than the company either pretending the issues don't exist or stating something generic.

I can wait until they fix it up.

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Originally Posted by Chux

Which makes me wonder why rush the release?

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For the same reasons that Yellerdog said a Spring 2011 release means 2012...they were kinda running out of time to remain relevant. So it may have seemed more prudent to release now and patch after. Or Konami may have set hard deadlines when they took on publishing.

Konami's only publishing the JP release.

But still, the people who were looking for this game will find this game and understand delays. I blame Konami more than anything.

Edit: Now that I'm seeing what Bacon said, it just doesn't make sense. Most of the community was willing to wait because it was just a handful of dudes making a nice 2d sprite fighter.

Yeah, but the slightly larger gamer niche (that includes the fighting game community) woulda forgotten that this was relevant if it was pushed back again. This isn't the media-anointed-savior Fez we're talking about.

Nobody was talking about Fez. Shut the fuck up.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

Konami's only publishing the JP release.

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The Konami logo pops up when you boot the game, and they're in the credits, so I'm not so sure about that.

Basically what everyone else has already said is more or less true. What little is there is super-polished, but it definitely feels like it's incomplete. If you're willing to look past that and buy the game on good faith that the major omissions (move lists) and issues (load times) will be addressed, it's pretty amazing. I don't think it would be hyperbole to say it animates on the same level as Third Strike, or maybe even a little better. The sprites are absolutely huge, way bigger than I was expecting them to be. I am strongly reminded of Darkstalkers by both the bizarre character designs and some of the special moves. Seems heavy on the fan service. I haven't played enough yet to really comment on the gameplay, other than that it's methodical and slower-paced. I only messed around with Parasoul, but she appears to have a strong zoning game which was quite effective both in single player and the few matches I had online. GGPO works beautifully in this.

I'll post more impressions as I get into it more.

Edit: Nevermind, Bacon's correct and I can't read. Operative word there being "published".

They show you an actual ping when you get matched up online. I want to give them all of the money for that alone.

Mike Z aims for real fighting game players with this game. He would like casuals to get it but ultimately didn't design this game with them in mind. I'd rather take a game like this for the community than some dumbed down shit for the casuals.

I think that's probably right, and it shows in the game. It borrows pretty liberally from Capcom's past in terms of mechanics, and unless you're grounded in the basics, I think it would be overwhelming. I like some of the little touches that indicate a FGC vet was involved, like having to hold down start for a couple seconds before the game actually pauses.

I always hate when people think a fighting game is only for true vets. Everyone started somewhere. I didn't understand MvC2's controls but gave it the time and dedication it asked for and I got favorable results. I can do the same for MK or Soul Calibur but only if I give it the time it deserves. Oh, and just because a game is easy to pick up doesn't mean it's fun to play or any good.

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Originally Posted by No One

I think that's probably right, and it shows in the game. It borrows pretty liberally from Capcom's past in terms of mechanics, and unless you're grounded in the basics, I think it would be overwhelming.

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a good thing the tutorial mode does a pretty good job of going over the basics, then

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Everyone started somewhere. I didn't understand MvC2's controls but gave it the time and dedication it asked for and I got favorable results.

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True, but I think that sort of persistence is more the exception than the rule. What you expect to get out of a fighting game will also influence how much you enjoy certain titles. Even the easiest difficulty level in Skullgirls will beat your ass if you mash buttons or spam the same move over and over again. If you pick it up thinking you'll have a casual match every once in a while without really dedicating yourself, I can't imagine it would be very fun. And of course, that only gets worse when you take it online unless you have friends at a comparable skill level. I wouldn't even see the point in owning MvC if you weren't willing to properly learn how to play it.

Those games aren't "only" for hardcore players, but they're definitely geared towards them.

They always should be. I don't have time for lazy assholes crying about losing.

I don't call Madden up complaining some asshat scored a touchdown on me because he knows the stats in the game better.

For the record, I don't disagree with you at all. I was just pointing out that it's not surprising some games would be considered "only for true vets". Gamers that casually enjoy fighters far outnumber those that dedicate themselves (as evidenced by taking pretty much any of the current ones online).

HDD fragmentation came up earlier in this thread... this is something I definitely suffer from as my XBLA games list takes forever to populate. Is there any way to fix this?

http://www.ehow.com/how_6668855_defr...ard-drive.html

Technically not defragging, but clearing the cache is as close as your going to get on a 360 drive.

If you move everything to a different storage device, and then back again, there won't be any fragmented files. Most people don't have multiple XBOX360 HDDs just laying around, though, so there really ought to be a defrag utility.

I think it's more of a money issue than a time issue. To my understanding, the developers of the game are pretty much broke at this point -- and this seems to be a common thread with the independent developers I have talked to.

I guess as a crazy ideal, I still think you can make a game that's relatively easy to get into while not compromising the breadth and depth of options in the game. I like where they were going with the tutorials, but it doesn't even go over everything (they don't mention things like pushblock and the infinite protection system -- and those are kind of important) -- that and I wonder how many people would even bother going through all of that? I know that at one point the developers of the game were working on the SP modes as a way to have people learn the mechanics in a more emergent manner. Then again, I think the biggest problem now is that videogame players in this day and age don't want to be reminded of how bad they may be -- the market seems to favor games where time spent playing is the biggest factor in how good you and your in-game character are. It's like every multiplayer game nowadays has turned into some bad J-RPG.

I don't know how you guys play this garbage. There are only 8 characters, and none of them are a bear. And no moves list? Seriously?

Thank goodness SFxT is here to save us.

There's also the fact that LOL Tekken.

The artwork in this game is delightful, especially all those background people. Oh man, there are fishes!

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Originally Posted by Finch

The artwork in this game is delightful, especially all those background people. Oh man, there are fishes!

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I have actually thought to myself while playing that you in particular would probably love the presentation. I think this is the first fighting game I've ever played where I've wished some of the background characters were selectable as well (cameos notwithstanding).

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Originally Posted by No One

I have actually thought to myself while playing that you in particular would probably the love the presentation. I think this is the first fighting game I've ever played where I've wished some of the background characters were selectable as well (cameos notwithstanding).

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Agreed on all fronts, after my initial angry thought about load times the first thing I thought about the game was "Finch would love this!"

It's fun to look at!

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Originally Posted by Chux

Edit: Now that I'm seeing what Bacon said, it just doesn't make sense. Most of the community was willing to wait because it was just a handful of dudes making a nice 2d sprite fighter.

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It certainly would have been worth the wait, but clearly there were some undisclosed business factors that forced their hand. As long as the game gets patched to make the game more complete, I'll be pleased... however, (as I will point out in my review, developers really need to get away from making this a standard business practice. Consumers aren't always willing to be that forgiving, especially when money is involved.

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Originally Posted by No One

The Konami logo pops up when you boot the game, and they're in the credits, so I'm not so sure about that.

Basically what everyone else has already said is more or less true. What little is there is super-polished, but it definitely feels like it's incomplete. If you're willing to look past that and buy the game on good faith that the major omissions (move lists) and issues (load times) will be addressed, it's pretty amazing. I don't think it would be hyperbole to say it animates on the same level as Third Strike, or maybe even a little better. The sprites are absolutely huge, way bigger than I was expecting them to be. I am strongly reminded of Darkstalkers by both the bizarre character designs and some of the special moves. Seems heavy on the fan service. I haven't played enough yet to really comment on the gameplay, other than that it's methodical and slower-paced. I only messed around with Parasoul, but she appears to have a strong zoning game which was quite effective both in single player and the few matches I had online. GGPO works beautifully in this.

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Anyone who thinks this game FEELS polished either hasn't played enough fighters or is just living in complete denial. Yes, it's only got 8 characters -- but I'd rather have several complete characters than having a larger cookie-cutter cast as seen in several Soul Calibur titles (including part V). Of course, when you've been accustomed to be such a robust selection, even casual types are bound to find this a bit underwhelming. Get over it

- Spent some time online and the flow is definitely slower... made me feel like it was SF2: World Warrior all over again :p
- I agree with the animation quality being fairly close to Third Strike/Darkstalkers -- wish more fighting games were like this.
- I love methodical games, so it's refreshing to revisit a fighter that focuses heavily on this and less on brainless tactics/unblockables/dumbed down mechanics to make ultra novice players feel like they're doing something.
- Parasoul is a sick character. Great range and mixup options. While pretty straightforward, her oki can be a pain if you can create some solid team 2 v 2/3 v 3 synergy (Ms. Fortune and Valentine are strong contenders). Mike Z has definitely put a great amount of thought into ensuring that novice players can get into the game, while rewarding diehard players for being able to execute some of the more advanced tactics.

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Originally Posted by FirstBlood

They show you an actual ping when you get matched up online. I want to give them all of the money for that alone.

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YES. Wish all fighers offered this as a standard feature.

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Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

I always hate when people think a fighting game is only for true vets. Everyone started somewhere. I didn't understand MvC2's controls but gave it the time and dedication it asked for and I got favorable results. I can do the same for MK or Soul Calibur but only if I give it the time it deserves. Oh, and just because a game is easy to pick up doesn't mean it's fun to play or any good.

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Some think that established players just naturally became godlike. They just don't know, man.
Definitely agree with you on that last statement: SF x T is SUPPOSED to be good and fun to play, but you know the community's pulse on that one.

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Originally Posted by Korly

I don't know how you guys play this garbage. There are only 8 characters, and none of them are a bear. And no moves list? Seriously?

Thank goodness SFxT is here to save us.

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Can't lie -- move list is inexcusable... but hey, it's on the website and if you got a tablet, you can download the PDF for easy reference that you can always study on the go (IF you're into theory fighting). Is it REALLY that much of a convenience? I wish I could get some frame data.

Please tell me your trolling, lol.

Anyone who says that publishers need to stop uses patches as a crutch hasn't been living in the gaming world for the last 5 years... longer if you count PC. Unless you are just continuing to state what's we've been saying this whole time that it sucks.

No, many have been living in the gaming world much longer -- they are just acknowledging that it sucks, and it's unlikely that such complaints will stop anytime soon.

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Originally Posted by bahn

- I agree with the animation quality being fairly close to Third Strike/Darkstalkers -- wish more fighting games were like this.

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They're comparable in that the animation quality in the Capcom games isn't close at all.

Also it's 8 girls, which is as good as any fighter with 50 characters but only 8 girls. Therefore this game actually has 50 characters.