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Fighting game: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Fighting game
The first video game to feature fist fighting was not a martial arts epic, but a simple black-and-white boxing game called Heavyweight Champ, released by Sega in 1976. While it is technically the first to show characters throwing punches, it was classified as a sports game rather than a fighting game. The true birth of the one-on-one fighting genre occurred in May 1984 with the release of Karate Champ by Technos Japan. This arcade cabinet introduced a dual-joystick control scheme that allowed players to perform a variety of moves, establishing the best-of-three matches format that would become standard. Karate Champ also featured training bonus stages and, in its Player vs Player edition released later that year, became the first fighting game to allow two-player duels. It set the stage for the genre by moving beyond the static nature of earlier boxing games and introducing the concept of a dedicated fighting arena.
The Health Meter Revolution
In October 1984, Konami released Yie Ar Kung-Fu, a game that drew heavily from Bruce Lee films and introduced the health meter system that remains the genre's defining visual element. The main player character, Oolong, was modeled after Bruce Lee, and the game moved the genre towards more fantastical, fast-paced action with high jumps and special moves. Unlike Karate Champ, which used a point-scoring system, Yie Ar Kung-Fu replaced it with a health bar that depleted as characters sustained blows, creating a knockout condition that defined the objective of the genre. The game allowed players to perform up to sixteen different moves, including projectile attacks, and pitted the player against a variety of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting style. This innovation became the standard for the genre, influencing countless developers to adopt the health bar mechanic as the primary method of tracking progress in a match.
The Street Fighter Standard
Capcom's Street Fighter, released in 1987, found its own niche in a gaming world dominated by beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups by introducing special moves that could only be discovered by experimenting with the game controls. This created a sense of mystique and invited players to practice the game, establishing the use of command-based hidden moves that would pervade other games in the rising fighting game genre. Street Fighter also introduced other staples of the genre, including the blocking technique, as well as the ability for a challenger to jump in and initiate a match against a player at any time. The game also introduced pressure-sensitive controls that determine the strength of an attack, though due to causing damaged arcade cabinets, Capcom replaced it soon after with a six-button control scheme offering light, medium, and hard punches and kicks, which became another staple of the genre. This six-button scheme would become the foundation for the genre's mechanical depth.
What was the first video game to feature fist fighting?
The first video game to feature fist fighting was Heavyweight Champ, released by Sega in 1976. Although it showed characters throwing punches, it was classified as a sports game rather than a fighting game.
When did the true birth of the one-on-one fighting game genre occur?
The true birth of the one-on-one fighting game genre occurred in May 1984 with the release of Karate Champ by Technos Japan. This arcade cabinet introduced a dual-joystick control scheme and established the best-of-three matches format.
Which game introduced the health meter system to the fighting game genre?
Konami released Yie Ar Kung-Fu in October 1984, which introduced the health meter system that remains the genre's defining visual element. The game replaced the point-scoring system with a health bar that depleted as characters sustained blows.
What was the significance of the Evo Moment 37 match between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong?
The Evo Moment 37 match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 is frequently described as the most iconic moment in the history of competitive video gaming. Daigo Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Justin Wong's Super Art move using Chun-Li.
Which game became the best-selling fighting game of all time?
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch became the best-selling fighting game of all time with 36.55 million copies sold. It was released in 2018 and set a new record in sales for the genre.
How did the release of Mortal Kombat change video game regulation in the United States?
The controversy surrounding the violence in Mortal Kombat led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). This organization changed how video games were marketed and regulated in the United States.
The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre, as it popularized the combo mechanic when skilled players learned that they could combine several attacks that left no time for the opponent to recover if they timed them correctly. Yoshiki Okamoto's team developed the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far, allowing players to reliably execute multi-button special moves, which had previously required an element of luck. The graphics took advantage of Capcom's CPS arcade chipset, with highly detailed characters and stages. Whereas previous games allowed players to combat a variety of computer-controlled fighters, Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other. The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry, as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand. Its success led to fighting games becoming the dominant genre in the arcade game industry of the early 1990s, which led to a resurgence of the arcade game industry. The popularity of Street Fighter II led it to be released for home game consoles and becoming the defining template for fighting games.
The Violence Backlash
Chicago's Midway Games achieved unprecedented notoriety when they released Mortal Kombat in 1992, featuring digital characters drawn from real actors and numerous secrets, including Fatality finishing maneuvers in which the player's character kills their opponent. The game earned a reputation for its gratuitous violence, and was adapted for home game consoles. The home version of Mortal Kombat was released on the 13th of September 1993, a day promoted as Mortal Monday, resulting in line-ups to purchase the game and a subsequent backlash from politicians concerned about the game's violence. The Mortal Kombat franchise would achieve iconic status similar to that of Street Fighter with several sequels as well as movies, television series, and extensive merchandising. The controversy surrounding the game's violence led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and changed how video games were marketed and regulated in the United States.
The Three-Dimensional Shift
Sega AM2 debuted in the genre with the 1993 arcade game Burning Rival, but they gained renown with the release of Virtua Fighter for the same platform the same year. It is the first fighting game with 3D polygon graphics and a viewpoint that zoomed and rotated with the action. Despite the graphics, players were confined to back and forth motion as seen in other fighting games. With only three buttons, it was easier to learn than Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, which has six and five buttons respectively. By the time the game was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan, the game and system were selling at almost a one-to-one ratio. In 1994, Namco released Tekken, the rival arcade game introducing cutting-edge 3D polygon technology at a revolutionary 60 frames per second. The 1995 PlayStation game Battle Arena Toshinden is credited for taking the genre into true 3D due to its introduction of the sidestep maneuver, which changed the fighter forever by allowing players to move in three-dimensional space rather than being confined to a two-dimensional plane.
The Daigo Parry
During a semi-final match held at Evolution Championship Series 2004 between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong, Umehara made an unexpected comeback by parrying 15 consecutive hits of Wong's Super Art move using Chun-Li while Umehara had only one pixel on his health bar. This moment, known as Evo Moment 37 or the Daigo Parry, is frequently described as the most iconic and memorable moment in the history of competitive video gaming, compared to sports moments such as Babe Ruth's called shot and the Ice Hockey Miracle on Ice. It inspired many to start playing 3rd Strike, which brought new life into the fighting game community during a time when the community was in a state of stagnation. The match demonstrated the depth of skill required in fighting games and helped to legitimize the genre as a serious competitive sport, leading to the rise of esports and major international fighting game tournaments.
The Golden Age Returns
The late 2000s featured a number of games that sparked another surge in fighting game popularity, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which set a new record in sales, and Street Fighter IV, which was the series' first mainline title since Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike in 1999. The console versions of Street Fighter IV, as well as the updated Super Street Fighter IV, sold more than 6 million copies over the next few years. The success of these two games, among others, sparked a renaissance for the genre, introducing new players to the genre and with the increased audience allowing other fighting game franchises to achieve successful revivals of their own. In 2018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch was released, becoming the best-selling fighting game of all time with 36.55 million copies sold. The 2020s have had a marked resurgence in fighting games that has been deemed a new golden age, with Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Tekken 8 all achieving massive commercial success within their first months of release.