Return of Fighting Games

In the 90s and early 2000's, fighting games where a big deal. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter ruled the arcades which are now nonexistent. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 brought all of your favourite characters from each universe into the ultimate throw down in the year 2000. But then fighting games started to die off. More fighting games did come out but they never reached the height of popularity that they did before. But with the release of Street Fighter 4 in 2009 fighting games have come back in a big way and have captured the hearts and minds of many once again. But will fighting game have the strength to stay in the eyes of the masses or will they again fall to the wayside.

I remember when I used to play fighting games on the PS2, games like Soul Calibur 2 and Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore. But fighting games never gripped me like RPGs or Action Adventure games did. Fighting games to me were something to do when friends were over because it's the easiest choice for a multiplayer game. This was also in a time where the arcade scene was dying here in North America and the wild popularity of games like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Mortal Kombat have long since passed. Recently fighting games have made a big comeback and have even stopped me from playing big name releases like Uncharted 2 because I'm having so much fun playing them.

If there is one thing that will represent how big fighting games have become it is EVO. EVO is the world's fighting game championships and since the release of Street Fighter 4 it has gained a massive spike in popularity. The most recent one was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in none other than Caesars Palace. Not only was it held in such a grand arena, the conference hall was packed wall to wall with people from all over the world. People even flew from different continents to be a part of the action. Simpler reasons are just the shear mass of people who are playing these games now. Other than the few friends I mentioned before I would play DOA2 with it took a lot to try and get other friends to play fighting games. But now many gamers are using resources like shoryuken.com and their favourite gaming websites to play with other and improve their game.

What surprises me the most about the popularity is the fact that fighting game are relatively hardcore games. There are many things to think about other than just what combos you're going to use in a match with another person. Things like the match up, other player's relative skill, mix-ups, mind games. How to counter certain situations, and all these things have to be thought of on the fly. It feels like an MMO, there always something new to learn and discover, new combos to try, new characters to master and overcome. It is a game that takes dedication and the fact that so many people are trying to become the best tells me that fighting games are back.

With games getting easier and more accessible to more people it is a surprise how popular a hardcore genre like fighting games has come but into such popularity. And with other even more hardcore fighting games coming out like Blazblue, it seems fighting games have come back in full force, and are here to stay for a while.