Fighting Games

In the 1987 one of the first fighting games 'Heavyweight Champs' was released by Sega. You played a boxer named 'Kid Crusher' as you fought against AI to become the world heavyweight champion. These early types of fighting games included titles like Karate Champ, Super Punchout, and the many WWE games. Most of these games placed the player against AI controlled fighters. That said, it is a common complaint of gamers that the game AI behaves either in boring ways or is too strong or too weak to provide interesting and entertaining game play (Graepel, Herbrich, & Gold, 2004). This sentiment is the reason newer games such as 'Street Fighter' became the ultimate in e-sports fighting games.

As arcades grew in popularity so did fighting games. But now players wanted to fight each other not the AI. In 1992 'Mortal Kombat' hit the arcade scene. The game was a huge hit. Players had the chance to master more moves than just kick or punch. Secret combos that let your character unleash super moves as finishers caught many peoples attention. Also the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) was created as a response to 'Mortal Kombat'. The games single player allowed you to fight a series of AI that grew in difficulty but the real attraction was the player versus player combat.

Street Fighter is the mainstay of e-sports fighting games. Street Fighter hit it big in it sequel Street Fighter II. This game had blocking, throwing, as well as different combos such as the famous Hadoken. The second game was more noticed by competitive gamers because, in SD I, competitive play was a built in bonus. For II, players turned head-to-head combat into the primary game mode (Rus McLaughlin 2009).

With the newest release of Street Fighter IV, this genre is still thriving in the e-sports community. Many other fighter games are played as well. The Marvel vs Capcom series, Tekken, Super Smash, and Mortal Kombat are still going strong. But Street Fighter is still the most dominant in the e-sports community. 

 

References

Graepel, Herbrich, Gold. (2004). Learning To Fight. Cambridge, UK: Microsoft Research Ltd.

McLaughlin, R. (2009). IGN Presents the History of Street Fighter. Retrieved from http://retro.ign.com/articles/954/954426p1.html