Where are fighters at, age-wise?

[solidshark]

Something Kane said in a XIII thread got me thinking about the age demographics of fighters now. I assmue most kids, teens, or early 20's game players are into the FPS, Sports, Strategy (PC), and other genres, where as gamers my age (25+) and older go back to Genesis, SNES, NeoGeo if you could afford, and Arcade, and are still avid fans of Fighting, Platform, and RPGs.

With fighting in particular, I know the industry has made things easier for fighting games (particlularly SSF4 & MVC3); whether or not that's good for sales, it's had an effect on the player-base and kind of fighters we see now. I see lots of players younger than me playing the Capcom games, occassionally SCIV or Tekken5/6, but that's about it. In my area (SE Michigan, Detroit mostly), I've seen people try to promote what would be the harder games, including GGXX, VF4&5, KOF, 3S, and very few, if any younger or unfamiliar ever tried.


Have others seen different trends with younger fighters anywhere else, or is it the same all over?

[PureYeti]

Some 18 and up does play old school games up to the current generation and mainstream. The main fighters here are Capcom, Mortal Kombat, and Tekken. The younger people are more into whatever is current or mainstream games. No one tries to promote other fighting games either because they are more focus on life and school, play it casually, or more into current fighters or other genres.

[Shinra Shiranui]

I think i am the youngest here lol. Well most of my generation are only concerned about games that is in the sport and shooters genre. and even if they do play fighting games they are playing the mainstream fighting games such as SSF4 or like you said SC4 and Tekken 5/6. For example when i asked a friend of who plays only Call of Duty and SSF4 i asked him "Hey have you ever heard of KOF or Melty Blood?" he said "huh? what is that?". But there are very few who play old and overshadowed fighting games where i stay(Florida). Out of my three closest friends i grew up with one plays 3rd strike(Kenn305), one plays Blazblue(FullautoDeath), and the last plays TvC(Pat1.0). So i think the younger generation would like other fighting games but since they are not exposed to nothing else its pretty much always gonna be the focus of next gen gaming to us and i really do not like the fact that we don't try to reach out to the older games like Samurai Showdown II or SF2.

[FataCon]

Well, to be honest, those of us who really followed/played KOF are the ones who grew up with it. We played the games in laundromats, liquor stores (okay so maybe that was just me as a kid... lol), or seedy arcades. The fighting game market wasn't on lockdown or highly branded as much as it is today. Similar to music or any form of art or literature, you can't expect the current generation to immediately take notice of a series that, for the most part, is a relic of the past. Combined with the exponential rate that fighting games, or even games in general, come out these days, it might be a bit much to ask the current generation to research or even go back to play the games that we loved all those years ago. I would have to say it's just a sign of the times and trend theory. FPS and simplified fighters are really what's in at the moment, so that's what people will focus on.

Also, to throw this out there, I think most of the people who really loved fighting games and took them seriously on a competitive level are at the age when gaming as a hobby has become less of an importance in the overall scheme of life. That passion and that drive to further bolster communities and game knowledge doesn't seem like it's being passed on to the new generation. Instead of taking years to define specific games, it's always "What new fighting game is there to look forward to this year/next year?" Whenever constructive talk happens about a fighting game (especially a KOF game) I feel like it's mostly a bunch of old dudes talking, sadly. Mind you that I personally enjoy contributing to discussions such as that. Gotta face it sooner or later though: most of us are like dinosaurs on Cybertron (not talking about the DinoBots).

*insert more rambling blah blah blah etc etc etc here*

[Custle]

I bet most fighting game fans today are about 20-30 years old in Finland. If you're over 30-years old, then everybody think you have no life...

[Gravelneed]

I'm 23. I first started playing SNK games when I was 6. There were cabs everywhere in NYC. The hairsalon/barber shop my mom went to had an MVS cab. My 1st games were ASO/Fatal Fury 2/Samurai Showdown. I would stand on a foot stool and play all afternoon while my mom got her hair done.

I've been playing SNK games ever since. I kinda slowed down in the early 2000's due to me moving so much. Around 2004 though, I got back into playing KOF and fighting games in general.

[Ash]

Gotta face it sooner or later though: most of us are like dinosaurs on Cybertron (not talking about the DinoBots).

I was about to reply "What about dinobots?" as I read it before the parenthesis =P

[marchefelix]

I guess the fighters tend to be older-aged. Luckily, I managed to get my 13-year-old bro interested in them.

[jinxhand]

I just turned 27 this past week, and I've been playing games since 3... My first fighters were actually Karate Champ and Urban Champion, and then it went to Samurai Shodown, then SF2...

I do notice that over the years, the young cats don't really cling to fighters as much, and those that do I feel aren't as serious as others (there are some exceptions though, as tons of younger high level players have been appearing)... There are younger players who just simply play and go with the motion, playing 1 game for a bit then hopping on the other game that comes out-- following the more "trendy" route like followers of FPS games and RPGs (not counting MMOs)...

There are others that do enter into the 3d realm, but there's not a whole lot to offer in terms of solid 3d fighters... SCIV could've been good, if there was more than one balance patch made, and if the team was dedicated... VF5 is good and solid, but too many people are waiting for Final Showdown to be released...

The older generation that's still playing fighters might get into newer fighters, but always refer back to the "golden age" of fighters, which is cool, but I personally like for fighters to evolve somewhat; but when you look at the fighters that come out now, it seems more like devolution more so than evolution... Everything is getting pushed as a dumb down game that leaves room for so much more, but that empty space is never filled I feel...

Hopefully, with these new games (Chaos Code, VF5FS, KoFXIII, AH3, MK9, and some other games to come), there will be a true sense of what a fighting game is all about... I'm hoping that these games will draw both new and old fighting game fans, and that they bridge the gap that's needed...

Gotta face it sooner or later though: most of us are like dinosaurs on Cybertron (not talking about the DinoBots).

I was about to reply "What about dinobots?" as I read it before the parenthesis =P

I was thinking about the DinoBots, but then again there were dinosaurs in Beast Wars as well, Megatron being one of them...

[solidshark]

I just turned 27 this past week, and I've been playing games since 3... My first fighters were actually Karate Champ and Urban Champion, and then it went to Samurai Shodown, then SF2...

Happy belated birthday Jinx!

[nilcam]

I'll be 39 in July. Technically my first fighting game was Karate Champ. My mom taught me how to be a gracious loser back then.

I didn't get into video games very much until SFII. Back then, I'd hit the arcade with $5 and enter any fighting game I could and played hardocre all night, trying to stretch that $5 as far as possible.

I'm saddened to think of how low the expectations are of the current fighting game fan. The most popular games are not very good, there are no arcades to play in and there's no great and cheap way to try out new fighters. It's really a sad state of affairs.

[Custle]

Well, I'll tell my gamer history.

It was 90's and we had PC and later we got original PlayStation. I didn't play games that much, that I would tell that "I started playing games when I was 6 or so". My first fighting game was Tekken. I lost all the time, but man I loved it.

2000's my brother bought Tekken 3 and I played that game to death. I also got my first touch to King of Fighters series, by looking at PlayStation magazine, where they listed every game they had reviewed and KOF 95' was one of them. I thought "Man, what a proud name to a series."

Through 2000 to 2009 I mostly played on PC's (I still rather play my games on PC). I had to satisfy my fighting game needs by playing Tekken 3 on PlayStation or play One Must Fall 2079 on PC (I still think that OMF 2097 one of the best fighters ever). Emulators were my gate to older games. I played Street Fighters, but they didn't blow me away like Tekken 3.

At 2010, I played my first SNK fighter, SVC Chaos. I originally bought for Capcom characters (mostly for Zero), but I ended up playing with Terry. And rest is pretty much history.

I'm almost 20 (next month), but you know what pisses me off? That modern gamers can't tell the difference between 2D and 3D. Most people say that SFIV is 2D fighter, but it is clearly in 3D. "But it plays like 2D fighter". Oh really, did first Tekken have that much 3D aspects in the gameplay? For me, 2D fighter must sprites instead of 3D models. 3D backgrounds are okay, but if the backgrounds are in 2D, it is a nice bonus.

[Gravelneed]

Hopefully, with these new games (Chaos Code, VF5FS, KoFXIII, AH3, MK9, and some other games to come), there will be a true sense of what a fighting game is all about... I'm hoping that these games will draw both new and old fighting game fans, and that they bridge the gap that's needed...

While I can't speak for most of these games as I haven't played them yet, Arcana Heart 3 is the most solid, balanced, and just simply fun game I have played in a long time. There is just so much in that game to experiment with. Now new players to the game will see that the ground game may be kinda of slow but playing the game properly means you shouldn't be on the ground that much anyway.

KOFXIII/VF5FS I know I would love. Looking at the changes made to those games from previous installments makes me wanna play so badly.

Personally, I don't think Mk9 will be good but we'll have to wait and see.

Chaos Code shows loads of potential. It looks like a mix of an air dasher and KOF. I can't wait to get my hands on that game.

[Xxenace]

Hopefully, with these new games (Chaos Code, VF5FS, KoFXIII, AH3, MK9, and some other games to come), there will be a true sense of what a fighting game is all about... I'm hoping that these games will draw both new and old fighting game fans, and that they bridge the gap that's needed...

While I can't speak for most of these games as I haven't played them yet, Arcana Heart 3 is the most solid, balanced, and just simply fun game I have played in a long time. There is just so much in that game to experiment with. Now new players to the game will see that the ground game may be kinda of slow but playing the game properly means you shouldn't be on the ground that much anyway.

KOFXIII/VF5FS I know I would love. Looking at the changes made to those games from previous installments makes me wanna play so badly.

Personally, I don't think Mk9 will be good but we'll have to wait and see.

Chaos Code shows loads of potential. It looks like a mix of an air dasher and KOF. I can't wait to get my hands on that game.

if you don't mind me asking why don't you think MK will be any good?

[jinxhand]

I think MK has potential, but there are some things that they might want to break away in terms of MK tradition, like how certain jump attacks count as overheads, but others don't, etc... Aris (former SC player, turned Tekken player) did a good review (although I felt he seemed over defensive) on MK9... There were some points that he made in terms of the system, like how you don't get really rewarded with meter for successful attacks, but the opponent does, and the opponent gets meter quickly at that... I see the meter really working like SF4's Ultra with a dash of KoF's Guard Cancel CD attack more than a conventional SNK "Pow" meter, and based on the combo's I'm seeing, it might very well be needed-- unless of course, the game gets even more balancing...

I just hope they still have cross-up jump kicks like in the old 2d MKs... Doing combos that way are kinda fun depending on the character... I also hope that this game gets the true shine it deserves...