Why Fighting Games Should be Considered Sports Games

[RaychelSnr]

Sport
–noun
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

Not considering fighting games in the "sports" genre is a absolute farce in this gamer's opinion.

In addition to the definition of the word -- an athletic activity requiring skill of physical prowess and often of a competitive nature -- for proof one has to look no further than a Hollywood blockbuster released in 1988. You see, if you actually break down every fighting video game that has been released since the beginning of time, you notice one prevailing theme. Fighters from around the globe (or alternate dimension) compete in a tournament in hopes of becoming grand champion while defeating evil or taking over the universe in the process. Sound familiar? Heck yeah it does, ever seen the Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Bloodsport?

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[jkra0512]

Wait a second am I mistaken? Isn't Balrog the boxer from Las Vegas and Vega from Spain with the claw and mask. That picture doesn't look right...

Good write-up

[Layoneil]

that screenshot is from the original game, the names were switched when it was ported to English.

i'd say fighting games are not sports games the same way GTA is not a racing game. boxing, MMA, wrestling those are all fine, once you start throwing fireballs, turning people to ice and busting out moves like Voldo, as fun as those games might be, they are not sports games.

[Ikki]

that screenshot is from the original game, the names were switched when it was ported to English.

i'd say fighting games are not sports games the same way GTA is not a racing game. boxing, MMA, wrestling those are all fine, once you start throwing fireballs, turning people to ice and busting out moves like Voldo, as fun as those games might be, they are not sports games.

Wrestling (WWE) being a sport is debatable though.

[Ikki]

Wrestling games could be considered fighting games since they have power gauges and super moves (as far as I know).

[infam0us]

Wait a second am I mistaken? Isn't Balrog the boxer from Las Vegas and Vega from Spain with the claw and mask. That picture doesn't look right...

Good write-up

The names are different in Japan. I believe our Bison is Vega, Vega is Balrog, and Balrog is Bison.

[Layoneil]

Wrestling games could be considered fighting games since they have power gauges and super moves (as far as I know).

yea wrestling definitely straddles the line between the two. the recent ones don't exactly have supermoves as much as it has like signature dunks. i give them a nudge towards the sports area in that for the most part the actions are still physically possible.

there are some exaggerated wrestling games too just like there's NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. but the core "wrestling sims" i'd say are closer to sports game than fighting games.

[Ikki]

yea wrestling definitely straddles the line between the two. the recent ones don't exactly have supermoves as much as it has like signature dunks. i give them a nudge towards the sports area in that for the most part the actions are still physically possible.

there are some exaggerated wrestling games too just like there's NBA Jam and NFL Blitz. but the core "wrestling sims" i'd say are closer to sports game than fighting games.

Yeah, that makes sense.

[SHAKYR]

Fighting games should not be considered sports game for the shear fact that you don't see any of the unrealistic things in arcade fighters happening in real sports. When have you seen Bruce Lee throw a fireball?

This is the type of thinking that hampers sports games that where fans are looking for realism to the sport they like in a videogame.

[idrisguitar]

I'm a MASSIVE fan of both fighting games and sports games. I'm a regular visitor of both Shoryuken.com and this website. the fact is both audience are very different, both community look for different things.

I know when i pick up a fighting game like SSF4 im looking to play 100% online. (the only games I will probably ever play online.) They are deep games, but the 2D nature and the extreme balancing that goes into them makes the online fair, makes it very hard for people to abuse a certain mechanic. Once you play for a few weeks, the mashers and spammers become walkovers, and they usually stop playing after a few months.

I cant play sports games online. Games like NHL, The Show, Madden, have so many mechanics, so many options, and so many ways for potential cheating that the online can be cheated no matter what the developers do. It then becomes unfun whether i win or lose. I play sports games offline for realism. NBA 2k11 plays like real basketball offline, its challenging and very fun, online its a farce. (at least in my experience)

So to sum up, that is just one of many differences. to be honest the argument is pointless because mostly the two audiences for these genres are interested in different things. You tell most fighting game fans that OS is considering including their genre into their sporting website, and they wouldn't care, nor would they come here instead of Shoryuken.

Sure their are people like me that love both genres, but i dont really consider them the same even though i love both equally. This is my place for sports games, SRK is my place for fighting games, and no matter what either site choose to incorporate in the future that my preferences won change.

[joyi2011]

Re: Why Fighting Games Should be Considered Sports Games

BBS now is very strict, irritated dead,. Sometimes when I'm in a good mood in BBS see, or to send some things, but the results management personnel to tell us, sorry, you can't enter the mood is really can't describe

[Kruza]

Re: Why Fighting Games Should be Considered Sports Games

I'm a MASSIVE fan of both fighting games and sports games. I'm a regular visitor of both Shoryuken.com and this website. the fact is both audience are very different, both community look for different things.

I know when i pick up a fighting game like SSF4 im looking to play 100% online. (the only games I will probably ever play online.) They are deep games, but the 2D nature and the extreme balancing that goes into them makes the online fair, makes it very hard for people to abuse a certain mechanic. Once you play for a few weeks, the mashers and spammers become walkovers, and they usually stop playing after a few months.

I cant play sports games online. Games like NHL, The Show, Madden, have so many mechanics, so many options, and so many ways for potential cheating that the online can be cheated no matter what the developers do. It then becomes unfun whether i win or lose. I play sports games offline for realism. NBA 2k11 plays like real basketball offline, its challenging and very fun, online its a farce. (at least in my experience)

So to sum up, that is just one of many differences. to be honest the argument is pointless because mostly the two audiences for these genres are interested in different things. You tell most fighting game fans that OS is considering including their genre into their sporting website, and they wouldn't care, nor would they come here instead of Shoryuken.

Sure their are people like me that love both genres, but i dont really consider them the same even though i love both equally. This is my place for sports games, SRK is my place for fighting games, and no matter what either site choose to incorporate in the future that my preferences won change.

I mostly feel the same way as you do regarding the relationship between sports games and fighting games as I'm a big sports/motorsports fan and a huge longtime fan of the VF series. But I do not agree with your paragraph on playing sports games online at all. If you think NBA 2K11 cannot play like real basketball online, then you've been playing against the wrong people. Playing NBA 2K11 online against a competent human who knows the finer points of basketball will display a more realistic brand of basketball than the CPU could ever replicate, regardless of gameplay slider setups and accurate tendency settings.

Kruza

[mazhiwei85st]

Re: Why Fighting Games Should be Considered Sports Games

Fighting games, because they have the power meter and ultra-mobile and I like it! !

[Jukeman]

Technically it is a sport.

The category of "sim" and "arcade" should separate the two.

The early Virtual Fighter would def be consider a sport..


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[Springs2009]

Re: Why Fighting Games Should be Considered Sports Games

Fighting games should not be considered sports game for the shear fact that you don't see any of the unrealistic things in arcade fighters happening in real sports. When have you seen Bruce Lee throw a fireball?

This is the type of thinking that hampers sports games that where fans are looking for realism to the sport they like in a videogame.

Wow, great point, I didn't even think of that until I read your post!