PFC Chapter 84: Sam beat him so badly he was flying in the air and couldn't get down!
Chapter 84: Sam beat him so badly he was flying in the air and couldn't get down!
"what?"
Sam was stunned; he hadn't expected Lin Lixin to approve of this so much.
"Are you going to make a Street Fighter spin-off?"
"No, to differentiate itself, it will be a work with a completely different positioning."
Lin Lixin patted Sam on the shoulder.
Fighting games have never been a one-size-fits-all genre.
Besides Street Fighter, a core esports title with a rigorous system, there are also other works that have made their own unique contributions.
GGST, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Samurai Shodown, Granblue Fantasy, and even Nintendo each have their own unique characteristics.
The most classic example is, of course, The King of Fighters, which focuses on combos.
It completely abandons the rigorous gameplay and back-and-forth counter-moves advocated by Street Fighter.
The most typical change is that the jump speed is almost twice as fast and the forward dash is high speed.
Such incredible mobility would be criticized if it were in Street Fighter.
If Street Fighter is like rock-paper-scissors, then The King of Fighters is a rhythm game.
Lin Lixin nodded as he looked at the smooth screen.
"Indeed, we can start developing some faster-paced works now."
"Am I a genius too?" Sam chuckled, scratching his head. "But what did you mean earlier? What do you mean by 'not radical enough'?"
After adjustments, the frame rate for a small jump is now only slightly over 20 frames, which is unbelievable compared to before.
Sam could hardly imagine what it would look like if it were pulled any higher.
"I mean, the changes to the mechanism are not thorough enough."
Lin Lixin tapped Sam's head with his finger.
"Street Fighter focuses more on this, so why don't we change our approach and create a game that purely tests reaction speed?"
Seeing that the others all looked like they understood but not quite, Lin Lixin didn't explain further and simply sat down in front of the computer.
Creating a demo from scratch is very troublesome.
However, adjusting some parameters based on Street Fighter won't waste much time.
Soon, the arcade machine was reinstalled with the game ROM and started.
Lin Lixin chose Flying Dragon, while Sam chose the classic Guile.
Just as Sam was squatting in the corner as usual, he saw Lin Lixin rapidly shaking the joystick, and the flying dragon was rapidly approaching him as if it didn't care about its own life.
Such an aggressive style of play would have been fatal in the past, as it would have resulted in the opponent being defeated by a rising dragon.
Sam decisively pulled back to gather his strength and unleashed a sonic chop.
But Lin Lixin reacted the moment he saw Gu Lie's forward movement.
Pull the joystick up gently and it will spring back quickly.
During its high-speed sprint, Feilong suddenly leaped into the air at an extremely low height, barely grazing the Sonic Hand Blade.
Sam was horrified and immediately tried to shake the dragon.
But Lin Lixin, who was already pressing in front of him, naturally wouldn't give him that chance.
Amidst Sam's dazzling display, Lin Lixin made several high-speed light jumps and canceled them with a quick mid-air punch to land rapidly.
Sam had never seen anything like this before.
In traditional Street Fighter matches, jumping is definitely an action that should not be used casually unless absolutely necessary.
Lengthy aerial maneuvers are easily intercepted by anti-air skills like the Rising Dragon, resulting in a waste of health.
However, in modern times, Lin Lixin's moves rely heavily on jumps to soften them.
Even when crouching lightly, you should combine it with small jumps to quickly close the distance.
But Sam couldn't pull off a rising dragon to break the deadlock like he used to.
Because it's too fast!
From a purely tactile perspective, the complete jumping motion of a dragon takes no more than 30 frames.
However, around frame 20, I was already within the range of the jump attack detection.
In other words, you only have less than 20 frames of reaction time to dodge it!
Sam realized that if he continued to be suppressed, something bad would definitely happen, so he immediately decided to follow Sam's example and jump off the edge of the building.
But then a punch was swung back at him hard.
Lin Lixin stopped at the right moment and looked at Sam, who was somewhat annoyed by the beating.
"Understood?"
"I think I understand. Because the moves are fast enough, the benefit of countering them is reduced. Instead, we need to seize the initiative and get the first move."
Sam was savoring the game he had just played.
He finally understood what Lin Lixin meant by "not radical enough".
It's not that we're not moving fast enough, but rather that we haven't completely let go of the old ways.
"But... wouldn't that make it less fun?"
Sam's original intention was simply to find a viable alternative for players who didn't like the rigid, predictable combat style.
But he had no intention of destroying the entire game.
It's faster, but it also loses its fun.
That's because we're not extreme enough.
Lin Lixin chuckled, "The biggest selling point of The King of Fighters, the one that truly delivers what you see, hasn't appeared yet."
"Come on, let's play another round."
Sam doubtfully selected Guile again, waiting to see what tricks Lin Lixin could come up with next.
At the start, the situation for both sides was not much different from the previous game.
Sam's attempts to stop him were futile, and he was quickly brought close.
The difference this time was that Lin Lixin's first light punch successfully confirmed the target, causing Sam to stagger.
Then...
"Rising Dragon! Cancel! Long-Range Kick! Cancel! Fiery Fist! Sky-Splitting Kick! True Dragon Eight Breaks!..."
No matter how hard Sam pounded on the button or shook the joystick, it was all in vain.
He could only watch helplessly as his character was swung around to the edge of the screen, flying in the air for a long time without being able to land.
Gu Lie only collapsed to the ground, dragging a mouthful of blood, when Lin Lixin's energy was completely exhausted and there was no way to continue the cycle.
"Dude... what's the point of playing this game?!"
Damn it, how did my health bar disappear in the blink of an eye after just one touch?
"Forget about strategy, even if you hit me, it won't take me long to go to the bathroom and come back."
This thing has absolutely nothing to do with the word "fun".
"No, I actually enjoyed watching it."
Vivian suddenly burst out laughing.
Carmack, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement.
"I think it's pretty good, at least it's fun from Lin's perspective."
"..."
Sam was speechless, but he realized that others must have their reasons for their attitudes.
Putting myself in their shoes, if I were the one who just executed such a spectacular combo, I would definitely feel great too!
He got beaten so badly he flew through the air and couldn't fall down; even kung fu movies don't go this far!
"Hey, that's about it. We can design all the characters and the game mechanics around the concept of 'combos'."
To demonstrate the combo, he just drastically increased the speed of all of the dragon's skills and added an "interrupt" mechanism.
With a little refinement, it could become the core of skill smoothing and pre- and post-cast animation cancellation.
Combo moves are definitely one of the core charms of "The King of Fighters".
Ryo Sakazaki's EX infinite combo, and the absurd suppression from high-speed characters like Chris, Iori, and Leona...
It may lack balance, but it's definitely entertaining and visually appealing!