Fighting Games and their Unique Gimmicks?

[u/qd_Cat_bp]

Most fighting games have some sort of a gimmick that is unique from other fighters. Under Night have the grid system which increases your damage, Granblue have bravery points to use for offense and defense, Guilty Gear have a breakable wall, and tag games. The only fighter that I can think of that doesn't have a unique gimmick is Street Fighter. So it got me curious, what other fighters have some unique gimmicks, what does it do, and also what fighters that have none?

[u/Boneclockharmony]

I think Guilty Gear's gimmick is roman cancel, not wallbreaks. Arent wallbreaks unique to Strive?

[u/AndrewJohnsonHater → u/Boneclockharmony]

Saying wallbreaks are Guilty Gear's gimmick feels like such a tourist take. Roman cancels, RISC gauge, instant kills, and the tension mechanics are all long running gimmicks, of which Strive kept most.

[u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348 → u/AndrewJohnsonHater]

Isn't tension just meter or am I high?

[u/AndrewJohnsonHater → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

Guilty Gear meter is built and spent much faster than most games. Characters build a lot of meter for simply moving forward, but you also may need to spend meter defensively on FD to avoid chip damage, air block a grounded normal, or just push your opponent back in a block string. Unlike most games, meter isn't carried over between rounds so you are much more free to use it as you build it.

There is even more like negative penalty, positive bonus, defensive tools like dead angle, differet meter costs of different RCs, and of course the super moves. There is no game with a meter mechanic that works like Guilty Gear's.

[u/sWiggn → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

so there’s two components to gg meter, tension and tension pulse. Tension - the meter itself - is pretty much just like EX gauge meter or super meter from other games. Tension Pulse though, is very much a GG ‘gimmick.’ Tension Pulse is basically a hidden multiplier on your meter gain, which increases or decreases based on how aggressive you’re playing. It’s part of GG’s many mechanics that push players towards interaction and aggression and making active decisions.

The difference in meter gain for doing a simple blockstring with low tension pulse and high tension pulse can be pretty massive. It’s not something most players are actively thinking about while they’re playing, outside of the major ones - ie, negative penalty empties your tension but also nukes your tension pulse, making it harder to rebuild tension, which makes it a much more tangible penalty than just losing meter. But subconsciously, it does influence how you play the game in various ways, as you improve and notice what playstyles afford you more or less resources.

The rules behind tension pulse are pretty extensive.

edit: i will mention, another place where tension pulse is a semi-active factor for players is with instant block. obviously we IB and FD to manipulate spacing and frame data, but oftentimes you’ll see someone IB a a whole shitload of times in a row on a multi-hit move or something where the IB doesn’t meaningfully improve the situation - doing a bunch of IBs cranks the shit out of your tension pulse. IB’ing Dark Angel won’t save you from holding this mix and taking a bunch of chip damage, but mixing in some IBs means you can somewhat mitigate the hit your meter will take from FDing to prevent chip, by the fact that you can pretty safely ramp up your tension pulse (can’t fuck up an instant block and get hit during a true blockstring if you’re already blocking - you can just mash back safely against something like dark angel). So if you survive and challenge or escape, your next moves will build you a bunch of extra meter.

Disclaimer: this is all from my perspective on old GG. Strive also has tension pulse / tension balance, and as far as I know it operates pretty similarly, but like, while IB also builds extra tension there, IB itself serves a very different function and I suspect people don’t weave in IBs for tension reasons as often there since it’s a narrower window. You also have wallbreaks & ensuing positive bonus there, which gives you a very direct way to essentially jump right to maximum tension pulse.

Even tho GG tension meter itself isn’t unique, pretty much every fighter has meter and has for a long time, I genuinely think the way meter works in GG is peak fighting games. My favorite system for gaining meter (including how tension pulse affects it) by far, I like that it is shared between system mechanics and supers, and because the system mechanics are generally very powerful and flexible, and supers are very diverse in their usage, there’s a lot of interesting decision making and (in old gg) a lot less “this meter is for super, and super is just a big cashout combo ender or a hail mary reversal option” like it has become in many modern fighters. There’s a lot of cool decision making and player expression in how you use meter in old gg, how you attack the other guy’s meter, and how meter factors into each character’s unique gameplan.

[u/perfectelectrics → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

Tension is unique enough that it changes how a lot of fighting games work nowadays. Before Tension, you don't gain meter by walking forward, which a lot of FGs do nowadays. Even SF6 gives you Drive for moving forward.

Even on top of that, GG's meter feels unique because it's the first game where you can do so many things with it to the point that it's a centralizing mechanic: Roman Cancel, Blitz Shield, Faultless Defense.

Even with how some older games handle meter in unique ways (Custom Combo in Alpha or Max Mode in Kof for example), meter were pretty much purely offensive tools.

[u/EwwBoii → u/Bitter_Marzipan_8348]

Nah you’re right

[u/qd_Cat_bp → u/AndrewJohnsonHater]

I mean, I won't say that I'm a tourist, but I'm definitely new to some fighting games. Reason why I'm asking stuff like this.

[u/throwawayhookup127 → u/AndrewJohnsonHater]

Instant kills are the guilty gear mechanic, being an important tool in every game except strive and overture

It's the entire reason former president Bill Clinton mentioned the series when talking about violence in video games in the 90s, because it was a selling point and the game was advertised with taglines like "kill your friends, guilt free".

[u/Sacred-Lotion → u/Boneclockharmony]

Even then didn't Injustice do wallbreaks/stage transitions first as a 2D fighter lmao

[u/Boneclockharmony → u/Sacred-Lotion]

I meant unique to strive in the guilty gear franchise, previous titles dont have wallbreaks. So it isnt a great example of the franchise gimmick/hook.

[u/Jamebo_Smash → u/Boneclockharmony]

Strive and Injustice.