Tag: Fighting game »

Earlier this month, a little game called Flappy Fighter hit the App Store and seemingly surprised everyone. What looked like a simple Flappy Bird send-up actually turned into the little mobile fighting game that could.

It seems like the only person who wasn't surprised by Flappy Fighter's success was the game's creator, Andrew Baxter. To learn more about the creative process that went into this breakout title, I reached out to Baxter. See our exchange below, where we discuss everything from the public reaction to the game as well as what the future of Flappy Fighter might look like:

When you first start playing the mobile version of Tekken, you have access to just enough fighters (three) so that you can participate in every game mode. But do you want to stop there? No, of course you don't.

See, Tekken includes characters from throughout the console/arcade/wherever you play video games franchise, and the only way to really appreciate that fact is to gather as many of the dozens of fighters already in the game at launch. Tekken is a free-to-play affair, so you can definitely pay to unlock fighters faster, but we'd rather focus on the ways you can do it by not spending money.

First, though, let's answer a question you might already have.

Marvel and Kabam have joined forces to create Contest of Champions: a fighting game based on the Marvel Universe that sets players against the Collector, who has trapped heroes in crystals. And so, players must beat the Collector's team to gather crystals and unlock heroes to form their own super-powered team.

During New York Comic-Con I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cuz Parry (the game's Creative Director) and Writer Sam Humphries to discuss their new creation.

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148Apps: Contest of Champions looks like a fantastic fighting game. Could you give us an overview of the story?
Sam Humphries (SH): The comics and the cartoon are very good angles on the Collector. He's a little badass, very mighty, and inscrutable. His motivations are not always understandable. That's been a lot of fun to play with because since day one Kabam has been very adamant in keeping the priority on the story and not just make a game to button mash and curse. They wanted to entice players with a really strong story with escalating stakes, reveals, mysteries, twists and turns, cliff hangers, and all that kinda stuff. So having someone like the Collector, we asked "What are his motivations?" "Why is he doing this?" That's an important mystery that we build over time, and as we pull all the layers back what we've come up with is something that, story-wise, stands up against a Marvel Comic, Marvel Movie, and Marvel TV show.

Cuz Parry (CP): In the Marvel Gaming universe there's this substance called Iso-8. That's the resource that basically everybody uses in all the marvel games, such as in Ultimate Spiderman you use it to level-up your characters. We're telling the story where there is this big, powerful weapon: the Iso-Sphere. We go to the source of the Iso-8 and the mystery behind it.

SH: What we find out about the Iso-Sphere and Iso-8 is that they are directly tied to the battle realm where you play the game, and to what the Collector's doing and why he's doing it. Also, maybe there's someone behind the the Collector pulling his strings and making this happen.

The Backstory
It’s tough to really pin down the goings-on in fighting games. Story isn’t a particularly big focus most of the time and can lead to all kinds of weird stuff. An evil dictator bent on world domination creating a female clone of himself is just one example. Suffice it to say, so long as there’s a reason for wacky folks to fight the hows and whys don’t matter so much. As is the case with Street Fighter. Ignoring the nitty gritty the important thing to understand here is that Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and the rest have gathered once again to beat the snot out of each other for their own personal reasons. And our amusement, of course.

The Gameplay
Street Fighter IV Volt (and by extension the original iOS release) had one major hurdle to overcome: controls. Virtual sticks and buttons just don’t compare to physical ones no matter how much someone might love their touch screen. Thankfully Capcom pulled them off quite well. While the overall action is a tad slower than most console offerings the fights are still frantic and movement is pretty tight. Whether it’s learning the ropes in Training, tackling the campaign, or taking on other players from across the globe in online matches there’s something for every kind of fighting aficionado. Having a roster of 22 playable characters is nice, too.

How does it Compare?
With practically an equivalent amount of content to its console counterpart and controls that aren’t a hindrance, Street Fighter IV Volt is as good as it gets on iOS. Aside from the concessions for controls and visuals (characters are no longer 3D, which affects the presentation and story segments) it’s pretty much the same game. It’s even got online multiplayer, which is something not even earlier Street Fighter console releases have sported until recently.

It’s not exactly 1:1, but Street Fighter IV Volt does a downright admirable job of giving iOS users a comparable experience to their console bretheren. It’s got the roster, the moves, the modes, and the multiplayer. What more could a fighting game lover on-the-go wish for?

*NOTE: “Console-quality” refers to the quality of the experience, not just the graphics. This is about the depth of gameplay, content, and in some cases how accurately it portrays the ideals of its console counterpart.*