***I posted this on Shoryuken.com, I am just relaying the message to here***
I've been planning this for about 2 years now, but I didn't have the resources (money) to be able to tackle this on. What this thread is about is trying to form a tournament league for fighting games that could stand toe to toe with some of the tournament games that are being played presently, but just weren't popular enough. I have consistently talked with various players on trying to get an ideal list; the criteria was that the game couldn't be broken, the game play level didn't stall or get boring when reached at a certain point, and that there is a variety of characters to be chosen in the cast of the game (not necessarily balanced, but not a one-character show.) Now, I plan on hosting these tournaments as side tournaments for most of the major tournaments, I don't expect these games to get that many entrants (some of these games are almost 10 years old, if they weren't popular then, they won't be popular now,) I would expect that the number of entrants would be from 4-16; all I'm doing is just trying to give these games the missing credit that they deserve, as well as spawn some diamond in the rough players (players that might not be heard of, but are waiting to burst out of their bubble.)
After extensive researching on many "obscure" games, I've came up with a list that would fit this criterion, here are the games (THIS IS NOT A FINALIZED LIST):
Akatsuki BLITZKAMPF (PC)
Arcana Heart (PS2)
Battle Fantasia (ARC)
Big Bang Beat (PC)
Cyberbots (ARC)
(Still questioning the integrity of this one)
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road (PSP)
(Still questioning the integrity of this one)
Eternal Fighter Zero (PC)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (DC)
Monster (PC)
Psychic Force 2012 (DC)
Senko No Ronde Rev. X (X360)
Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition (ARC)
(Not sure, it will likely be done after SC4 comes out)
Street Fighter EX2+ (PS)
Super Dragon Ball Z (PS2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (SNES)
Tobal 2 (PS)
Touhou Suimusou: Immaterial and Missing Power (PC)
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (ARC/X360?)
Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire (ARC/PS2?)
WeaponLord (SNES)
Akatsuki BLITZKAMPF is a doujin fighter that has been proving itself to be worthy of this list, Arcana Heart probably might not be in this list after a while, since it is expected to get popular after the PS2 release, but for now, I see no reason why not to include it here. Battle Fantasia is an arcade only fighter, so it is going to be hard to have this game in tournaments (unless someone has a board, which is expensive.) I'm not too sure if Cyberbots should be on this list, as well as Shin Budokai. My questions for Cyberbots are: How come there wasn't really a tournaments scene for when the game came out (In Japan, America didn't touch the game, because it was rare,) it was a Capcom Mech Fighter during the times where games like SF2, SFA, Darkstalkers, and even the VS series were getting played. For Shin Budokai, and in general, the Budokai series, the game sales almost (or over) one million copies, but there isn't really a tournament scene, even though the game has been out for a few years now. SSBM, which sold over one million copies has a tournament scene, and that game is broken with everything default, but they tried their best into making it to one of the most technical fighting games ever, and was able to succeed; a game that is not a traditional arcade fighter (which is usually where the competition is) and they usually sport the highest turnouts of any fighter, rivaling 3S and MvC2 in turnouts. Shin Budokai is also a handheld fighter, which makes it hard to control, which hurts it quite a bit.
Eternal Fighter Zero, Monster, and Immaterial and Missing Power is the same with Akatsuki BLITZKAMPF. Psychic Force 2012 is another game that has shown that it has depth, as well as Senko No Ronde (which is a brand new fighter released in North America, that is different from other fighters, but still has similar fundamentals, like spacing, blocking, etc...) I'm not sure about SC3: Arcade Edition, as it will most likely be dead when SC4 comes out, and the game is Arcade only, which makes it very hard for people to play (I don't think either version was well received.) Street Fighter EX2+ is a game that didn't get received well, because it came during the time when people played the Alpha series, VS series, or 3 series, the gameplay is solid, and probably has the least abusive form (but still good) of custom combos out of any of the Capcom fighters. Super Dragon Ball Z is a game that came out recently that caters to the older style fighters, with a mix of new, the game is pretty solid, as far as things go. TMNT: Tournament Fighters (SNES Version,) is almost like a SF2 clone, but in a good way. If you can play SF2, then this game wouldn't be too hard to get into; it's a solid fighter.
Tobal 2 is considered to be on the level (or just below) of Virtua Fighter and Tekken, the game wasn't released in America, so it didn't get as many sales, but the game is very solid, and many consider it to have the best throw system of all time. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is by far the best MK version out of any MK, and with the 360 release, it might get slightly more popular. Some of the best players in the world still play this game; it even has international scenes in places like Latin America. Vampire Savior, there shouldn't be much questioning; this is one of the best fighters ever. WeaponLord (SNES version) is considered to be one of the most traditional technical fighters ever made; with one of the first parry systems. It was made by the person who is responsible for making Hyper Fighting happen.
Some games I didn't include, like HF, A3, TTT, the reason why I didn't include them on the list, even though they are some of the best fighting games ever made, is because some of the best players for those games don't even play the game anymore. It is hard (In my opinion) to play a game where it is obvious that the best players don't even play anymore, and because of the lack of competition in the said game isn't there, it is likely that you won't ever reach that level. I do hope that these games get some sort of revival, especially A3, which finally has an arcade perfect port.
If you want to suggest a game that isn't on the list, or you think a game on the list shouldn't be there, then please respond with your reasoning. If you suggest a game that is obviously broken, then I'll read past it, if you suggest a game without any reasoning, then I'll read past it, but if you suggest a game that should be on the list and be detailed about it (stating the pluses and minuses of the game,) then I will take it into huge consideration.
Another thing that will be the main reason I am doing this, is to have a unified power ranking. If you check Dark Geese’s thread, on the first post, you’ll see a ranking for different kinds of games, and this has so far been proven successful (it’s been one year.) The only place rankings are to be done is in where major tournaments are located at (won’t count local tournaments, not sure about the regional level either.) After each major tournament, we will recalculate the rankings for whatever games were played, and then there will be a new list.
Here are the major tournaments so far (in North America,) if you think there are any majors that I am missing, or you want to add a major, but it is from other country, please suggest it.
Major Tournaments
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Seasons Beatings 2, Columbus, OH: November 3, 2007
Northeast Championship, Philadelphia, PA: December 1 and 2, 2007
Pacific Northwest Regional, Seattle, WA/Portland, OR: Date Unknown
Midwest Challenge, Chicago, Il: February? 2008
Final Round, Atlanta, GA: March? 2008
EVO South? Houston, TX: March? 2008
Montreal Annual Tournament, Montreal, Quebec, CA: Date Unknown
Texas Showdown, Houston, TX: April? 2008
EVO East, Stamford, CT: Memorial Day 2008
EVO North, Northbrook, Il: Late June 2008
Toronto 9, Toronto, ON, CAN: July 2008
Juarez Tournament, Juarez, MX: July 2008
EVO West, San Diego/Los Angeles, CA: July 2008
EVO World, Las Vegas, NV: August 2008
About SNK Games, I was going to include SNK games, but Dark Geese is handling that. If Dark Geese doesn’t mind or needs extra hardware to share the load and make the tournaments run faster, I will help host some SNK tournaments (Especially a couple of the games that he hasn’t hosted yet.)
I am going to evaluate how this was handled overall at the end of the “season,” and determine whether to continue this, and if I do continue, where I went wrong… there is nothing really to lose doing this, and many to gain. I plan on posting this in selected websites to get the word out, if you have any website suggestions, then post them up. Also, when there is a tournament, it would be helpful (but not required) that you bring your own hardware (and label it as your own, so you can track it.) It would make things run faster.
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Here are some games that have a chance at being added to the list, although I've prioritized the games.
1. Street Fighter EX3
2. Marvel Vs. Capcom
3. Bleach DS 2
4. Sonic the Fighters
Here are games that are in danger of being taken off the list, unless someone is able to step up to why it should be on there:
Cyberbots: It's feel is too similar to the VS series, and it doesn't seem to do it as good as the VS series. Was made during the year that the VS series kicked off, so that is probably the reason why.
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road: This is considered to be the best of the "Budokai" series, but handheld fighters don't translate well as fighters. This probably has more potential to stay on the list.
Soul Calibur 3: Arcade Edition: This game, unlike Arcade only fighters like Battle Fantasia will probably become obsolete in the next few months, due to SC4 coming out.
Topic: UFGL: Underrated Fighting Game League (Read 2807 times)