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Down Right Fierce: The Fighting Game C-Blog. Games That Train You for Fighters II + Contest Winner!
 by casualweaponry on 02.21.2008      20 comments








Welcome again to Down Right Fierce. I want to start off by thanking everyone who read and left comments for the first DRF. Good to see so many fighting game fans still out there.

Now onto the contest.

Congrats CaptainApocalypse, A winner is YOU! Check your PM's.

Without further ado, part 2 of games that prepare you for fighters.

The Burnout series



Burnout is all about one thing: risk vs reward. The same dynamic is present in fighters. Drive in oncoming/attempt a jump-in cross-up? Or stay in my lane/throw a fireball to push 'em back?

Platformers: 2D and 3D



It's all why, when, and how to jump. There's jumps, small jumps, double jumps, triple jumps, flying, unfly mode, air dash, and dive kicks. Moves/special moves can alter your trajectory whether it's Mario's butt stomp or Akuma's dive kick. Here's a good reason to pay attention:


(Thanks Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

Platformers go especially well with my next point

SHMUPs

I love shoot-em-ups. While they sharpen your reflexes, that's not the reason they're included here. I want to talk about bullet hell, and the concept of the hitbox.


The little white dot is the hitbox. If enemy fire hits it, its over.


This is practice mode, believe it or not!

In bullet hell, your ship has a specific part that is vulnerable. The key to racking up high scores is to allow enemy fire to barely graze this spot. Pixel perfect positioning. This applies to fighters too.

Knowing the hitbox is the key to striking shallow, deep, or crossing-up to mess up their blocking. Here are a couple of video examples:

(TURN DOWN YOUR SPEAKERS! crowd noise.)

Sorry about the quality. Just watch from the 39 second mark onwards.


A really extreme example of the hitbox.

Know the hitbox, and you know where to strike.

Guitar Hero, or Rock Band, or any rhythm based game.

Timing. After all, a special move or a combo is nothing more than a timed sequence of button presses, right? Rhythm games also provide a great sense of tension. Trying to nail 100% on Through the Fire and Flames is the same as a final round do-or-die situation. For example:

(TURN DOWN YOUR SPEAKERS! crowd noise.)



That's it for this edition. Be on the lookout for more fighting game goodness next week.

Also, Should Dtoid fighting game fans have their own night? "Sweep the Leg" Thursdays or something? Leave your feedback in the comments.

There are 20 comments about this post:
Reaprar's Destructoid Blog
Sorry, I'm not even going to bother reading a blog that's entitled "Down right fierce" as apposed to "Quarter Circle Fierce" like it should be, you go try doing "down right fierce" in a street fighter game and let me know how that works out for ya.
Scape's Destructoid Blog
Reaprar makes an excellent point.
manta's Destructoid Blog
^Truf.
DaedHead8's Destructoid Blog
This series is shaping up nicely. You make a lot of good points about how various games can train you for fighters.

And don't listen to the peanut gallery. I love the name Down Right Fierce, what with its double meaning and all.

Keep up the Good Work
s0lesurviv0r's Destructoid Blog
I like the name also. Ha, seeing old school Chun-Li's pogo stick routine reminds me of way back when my sister used to torture me with it.
jdub28's Destructoid Blog
That last clip is got to be one of the best videogame moments ever
Shin Oni's Destructoid Blog
every fighting freak should've seen the Wong/Daigo match by now. That thing has had many people trying to parry the full SAII just to say "hey I can do that shit!"

I'm gonna have to come back for more on these. Very interesting. I also would love for fighters to have its own night. If it's just discussing tiers in a game, talking about a certain character's style of play, basic bread and butter combos and junk. There's more than enough crap to talk about in this genre.
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Destructoid Blog
I never get tired of watching that Brawl video ;) Great post, I'm really enjoying this series! What shooter is the video of? It looks ridiculous.
casualweaponry's Destructoid Blog
@Scary Womanizing Pig Mask
the game is Mushihime-sama.

Mushihime-sama Wikipedia page

Hands-down the most difficult bullet hell I've ever seen.
casualweaponry's Destructoid Blog
Whoop, I failed there:

Mushihime-sama
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Destructoid Blog
@casualweaponry
Heh, I think I might want to start off a little smaller then ;) What about the one above it with the Red Baron esque planes?
Wedge's Destructoid Blog
I think that is that game SWPM...

Also I sincerely hope Reaprar is joking.

Also those shenanigans made me realize how cheap T.Hawk is. Gawd I haven't played that game since my SNES in the 90's.
NihonTiger90's Destructoid Blog
I'm really liking this whole Down Right Fierce idea. Keep up the good work!
saddack's Destructoid Blog
I love the idea of a fighting game night but as of right now I don't have any games to play, hopefully that will change soon.
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Destructoid Blog
@Wedge
I thought so to, but the wikipedia page said that Mushihime-sama had an insect theme. I'll find out what it is eventually though.
casualweaponry's Destructoid Blog
@Scary

I'd actually start with Geometry Wars. Then maybe onto Giga Wing or something.
Shawnzzy's Destructoid Blog
well i think you bring a lot of good points but my favorite thing you said was sweep the leg Thursdays man i want to stomp up, but what games could we play?
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Destructoid Blog
@casualweaponry
Thanks for the tip! I've been playing Geo Wars for a while now and wasn't sure where to go from there. I'll make sure to check Giga Wing out!
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Destructoid Blog
Oh PS, the setting for Giga Wing looks incredible!
casualweaponry's Destructoid Blog
@Shawnzzy,

I have no idea, really. I need to take a quick poll of what everyone has.

I have all 3 systems, so I can host pretty much whatever.

- P O S T    A    C O M M E N T -

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I beat 3D Worldrunner bitches.

Top that.

Seriously though, I like games.
I have all 3 systems and a mid-range PC.
My favorite genre: fighting games, followed by FPS's

Live Gamertag: casualweaponry
PSN name: casualweaponry
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