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gear-project · 4 years

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Guilty Gear and... Capcom’s History Gaps

Lately I’ve come across people who seem to think that just because they’ve played on the competitive end of Guilty Gear for a while, that they know all there is to know about its history.

They also seem to think that things like the Dustloop combo are all that kept the game alive in an era when Fighting games (and FG content) weren’t coming out as frequently as they are today.

The “dark history” that people frequently refer to is mostly the dry period between Capcom’s Street Fighter games, particularly after Third Strike leading in to Street Fighter IV.

Which, if you can believe it, happened around the very “start” of the BlazBlue franchise.

Now, I’m not one to criticize too harshly if I can help it, but, the issue I have with this perspective some fighting game historians have is that it is heavily “Capcom-centric”.

Let’s rewind the clock a bit, to the year 1998.

Guilty Gear... was just one of MANY fighting games to come out in that very busy year. Street Fighter Alpha 3 arrived just at the tail end of that same year as well.

But, there were a ton of other fighting games just coming out there around that time: Tekken 3, Real Bout Fatal Fury 2, Tobal No.1, Super Smash Bros, Ehrgeiz, Soul Calibur, SNK Gals’ Fighters, Dead or Alive 2, Mortal Kombat 4, Battle Arena Toshinden, Tekken Tag Tournament, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Fighters Megamix, Dragonball Z Hyperdimension, KOF ‘98, Virtua Fighter 3, Sonic the Fighters, Fighting Vipers and I haven’t even mentioned Capcom versus SNK or Marvel Super Heroes or the X-Men Versus games.

From around 1996-2001 we had all these great games that WEREN’T made by Capcom. And by the time 2002 rolled around Guilty Gear XX had just “invented” said Dust Loop.

But was Guilty Gear the only fighting game in existence in 2002?

Gundam Battle Assault 2, Virtua Fighter 4, Bloody Roar 3, Smash Bros Melee, Twisted Metal Black (if you like fighting games with cars in them), Tekken 4, Legaia 2: Duel Saga (if you like fighting in your RPGs), Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Dragonball Z Budokai, Soul Calibur II, Cyber Troopers Virtua-On MARZ, Zone of the Enders 2nd Runner (if you enjoy hidden versus mech battles).

2004 you had Sonic Battle, TMNT2: Battle Nexus, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Godzilla: Save the Earth, Dragonball Z Budokai 3.

2005 had Darkstalkers Chronicles: The Chaos Tower, InuYasha Feudal Combat,Soul Calibur III, Dead or Alive 4, Tekken 5. ‘06 had Samurai Shodown V, Final Fight: Streetwise, Rumble Roses XX, Fight Night Round 3 (for a change of pace), 2007 had Odinsphere (if you like action beatemup games with a flair for combos), Bleach: Heat the Soul, Virtua Fighter 5, 2007 had Soul Calibur IV, Smash Bros Brawl, Battle Fantasia, and YES, Guilty Gear 2 Overture came out in 2008, infamous as it was.

Even if games like Castlevania Judgement aren’t your cup of tea, they came out in 2008, but so did Dissidia: Final Fantasy, in case you hadn’t noticed.

So yes, by the time 2009 rolled around and everybody in mainstream leapt on board with Street Fighter IV (breathing a collective false sigh of relief that fighting games had been “reborn” according to their false notions), meanwhile, they neglected games like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus on the PSP, Punch-Out!! on the Wii, Garou: Mark of the Wolves on XBox Live Arcade... oh and did I mention BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger that came out that exact same year? KOFXII, Soul Calibur Broken Destiny, TMNT: Smash-Up on the Wii, Samurai Shodown Sen, NeoGeo Battle Coliseum, later Arcana Heart 3, Dissidia Duodecim 012 as well... with Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3 just on the horizon.

Look... the point I’m trying to make here is that maybe those Blue and Yellow Capcom Lenses you wear aren’t showing you what’s really out there. What good games exist out there don’t always begin with the words “Street” and “Fighter” in their titles, or “Marvel” in them either for that matter.

While it’s true there was a gap between GG2 Overture and GGXrd, that “gap” had a ton of games in it: beatemups, action games, action-RPGs, and other cross-genre novelty games that you might have missed if all you were worried about was the “death of your game scene”.

But a single combo like Dustloop, or whatever mechanics you think Street Fighter was the progenitor of, do not define the era.

The so-called “dark history” of fighting games, was only dark if you looked at it through Capcom’s lenses. Even PC fan-made doujin fighting games were making strides back then, in case you weren’t paying attention. Melty Blood in 2002, Big Bang Beat in 2007, The Rumble Fish in 2005. I could list a whole lot more here, but I’ll let you do the digging. Heck, M.U.G.E.N. came out in 1999 and is still active to this VERY DAY.

As much as I tout and support ARC System Works games, and Guilty Gear in particular... that has allowed me to see more clearly what “REAL” good games have existed out there.

GG has always been a niche fighting game, but it’s not the only niche game in existence... but playing such a series has truly been an eye-opener about what games I’ve missed out on over the years.

I’m sure there’s plenty more I haven’t mentioned... but fundamentally, as much as people like to say Street Fighter was the progenitor of modern fighting games, and as much as they love to compare it to other games... I will perpetually state that Street Fighter isn’t everything... it does not DEFINE everything.

I mean, whatever happened to games like Double Dragon and Yie Ar Kung Fu? Do people mentally forget those games existed on purpose? In fact, the beat-em-up genre is closely tied to fighting games... one only need look. Action games, Action RPGs, Action Strategy games... all of these are connected in that huge family tree of games. Even Tetris is a versus battle game nowadays.

So, if you’ve learned anything from this long rant... it’s to look at all the games you’ve missed out on. Don’t just play the games you like just because you like them. Check out other stuff too!

#Long Post #GP Rants #Arcade Junkies are Crazy!#Capcom Junkies are Crazy!

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