Death of an Icon: 2D Capcom Fighters

I was originally going to call this article "Death of an Icon: 2D Fighters" but I realize that that would do a tremendous disservice to the fine folks at Aksys Games/Arc System Works and SNKPlaymore, makers of Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and the King of Fighters games who are still pumping out 2D sprite based fighters that are fantastic to play. But as much I like playing these games, the fighting system just isn't up to the same caliber, in my opinion, as classic 2D fighting.

Now don't get me wrong. I love me some Super Street Fighter IV (SSFIV). I am actually surprised that Capcom was able to pull off the hit detection, speed, and combo system to a near flawless degree. It is a game that I hold in very high regard, right up there next to Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting. But I will be the first to say that it's just not the same.

There is an incredible level of artistry in sprites. If SSFIV is like a Pixar movie, the very best of Capcom's sprite based work is like classic hand animated Disney. It just looks and feels different. Maybe it's all psychological but at times it feels like playing an animated movie. There's a level of fluidity that isn't too perfect, like that you'd get with polygons, where it seems almost too smooth. No. With sprites, sometimes you can see the individual frames, which gives the work a different feel.

I hadn't really thought much about this until the announcement of the newest entry in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. I must admit, I wasn't a huge fan of this series. The gameplay was too fast, too chaotic, and seemed to focus more on big super moves rather than pure combos. I don't mean to demean it in any way. Whereas I had many friends who were in love with the Vs. games Capcom was churning out, I was more into Street Fighter 3, a more methodical approach to fighting. To each his own.

But I must say that I was excited to hear that Capcom was bringing back the franchise after a 10 year break. Until I learned that it would be polygon based with cel shading, a la SSFIV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. I don't care how much you try to texture map a polygon model, it's never going to look like a cartoon-y sprite. And that was one of the best parts about Marvel vs. Capcom. The sprites allowed the Marvel characters to stay very true to their comic book counterparts, 4-color shading and all.

The look also helped sell the chaos going on in the screen. It was so over-the-top that the cartoon look really lent itself to it. Seeing gigantic guns pop out or huge pink optic blasts were satisfying in their cartoon-y way. But alas, Capcom has decided to go another way with this franchise, as they did with Street Fighter before it. Could this signal the end of 2D Capcom fighters?

I hope not. As the previously mentioned games developed by SNK and Arc Systems show, great 2D fighting games can still be made for today's audience. I am secretly hoping that Capcom goes the way of Megaman 9 and 10 and goes back to making a very retro styled 2D fighting game. It could happen. Kind of like Disney trying to do another 2D animated movie in The Frog Princess. And maybe then, reports of the death of this icon may be greatly exaggerated.

Hmm...maybe they should work on a new Darkstalkers game.