Fight of Animals is a weird beast to describe. Digital Crafter went from Jesus cross-ups to meme animals brawling in the span of just one year, but the level of additional polish Fight of Animals reached in such a small time (less than nine months between the two games) is stellar.
I’m not sure what the budget for Fight of Animals was, but all things considered there is an air of “doing the most with the smallest investment” that I can’t help but commend. This aura permeates the whole game and it’s equally charming and intriguing, especially under the lens of another developer.
One could think that such a downsized title cannot be that deep. However, they’d be totally wrong, because what’s left is more than enough and is the core of a very compelling fighting game experience—with a solid competitive community and an upcoming Vortex Gallery tournament in August!
Author Archive: Andrea "Jens" Demetrio
FOOTSIES — fighting games, distilled
According to Infil’s superb fighting game glossary, “footsies” is defined as:
“A complicated, often nebulous term that refers to the battle for controlling the space in front of you, often by using good pokes. In essence, you are trying to get to a range you like, while trying to deny your opponent getting to a range that they like. How you do this varies wildly based on the game, but it often involves using strong crouching kick attacks to pester your opponent as they are trying to walk around. This dance of playing mind games with your feet is the source of the term’s name.”
All fine and dandy. Playing footsies means measuring the space between you and your opponent, while trying to slowly, but surely, find an opening and keep them at a range where your options are better than theirs. What, one might ask, happens when someone takes this concept and builds a whole game around it? Well, the result is FOOTSIES — Rollback Edition, developed by HiFight, also known for his extensive coverage of fighting game tourneys and just-frame analysis of key matches!
Super Bout: Champion’s Tour – a 2D, 8-bit Virtua Fighter experience
If you ever wondered how it feels to play a 2D Virtua Fighter game, Super Bout: Champion’s Tour is exactly the game for you. It feels like a legitimate 3D fighter experience but flattened on a surface, down to its control system (Punch, Kick, Guard), the methodical spacing, emphasis on getting frame advantage and on juggling the opponent for large damage. There are very few links, most of which on counter attack, and low attacks are a luxury, more than the rule—useful for getting out of a pinch or having some decent frame advantage, but generally incapable of starting combos, except for a few outliers.
Super Bout is a game that fans of 3D fighter will definitely be able to enjoy, all for less than the price of a coffee.
Bearsus – Hibernation is CANCELED!
Not many games come back from being canceled. However, Bearsus did the unthinkable and resurrected from its own ashes. Today, we go through the history of this simplified, grizzly fighting game and what lead first to its premature death, then to its poetic rebirth. Hibernation is canceled, now it’s time to bear fangs!
Fighting Game Mysteries – Elecbyte
In 1999, M.U.G.E.N. would change forever the indie fighting game making scene. But who were the people behind it and Elecbyte? Why did they disappear into nothingness? Join us in a journey through the deep depths of the Wayback Machine, with a lot of trails gone cold, feral speculations and the words of some veteran M.U.G.E.N. content creators that were there when the story unfolded.
Fight of Steel (open beta) – war of the robots
This article is part of my ongoing “Indie Fighting Game Thursday” review/retrospective series, now on supercombo.gg! This week we talk about the first open beta of Fight of Steel: Infinity Warrior, the newest game by Digital Crafter —a full-metal robotic gem with customizable movesets that could fill a very specific niche. Artificial Life I like—no wait—I LOVE robots. One of my favorite movies of all times is Pacific Rim (yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but whatever), I used to binge Robot Wars, and every single one of my released fighting games has at least one robot as a playable character. Robot-centric fighting games aren’t that rare (see Zero Divide and Rising Thunder only to cite a few), but modern ones are. For a while, I played an early beta of Metal Revolution, but the feeling was kind of “off”: The mechs were too human-like and not robotic enough for my […]
The Indie FGC Developer Roundtable Round-Up – Part 2
In April 2022, streamer and YouTuber Mike Levesque (also known as MrMKL) had the idea to host an indie fighting game developer roundtable, inspired by the periodic Japan Fighting Game Publisher roundtable. I was one of the four panelists of the event, together with Mattrified (Battle High, MerFight, Drag Her), MonochromaticHermit (Heatwave) and Love, from team Kaizen Creed, currently developing 5 Force Fighters.
The Indie FGC Developer Roundtable Round-Up – Part 1
In the month of April, streamer and YouTuber Mike Levesque (also known as MrMKL) had the idea to host an indie fighting game developer roundtable, inspired by the periodic Japan Fighting Game Publisher roundtable. His rationale was that, even if indie fighting games do not reach the same amount of players as—say—Street Fighter or Tekken, they have their own hardcore audience. Furthermore, indie developers are constantly trying to push the boundaries of the genre, in directions that are often precluded to more commercial titles. So, in his eyes, that was the perfect opportunity to have 3-4 developers meet together and get them to talk about the current status of this amalgam of subgenres.
Head 2 Head – smashing skulls with style
For those who are familiar with the indie fighting game scene, ArcForged might be a household name. This small, independent development team has gained prominence thanks to their fan game Sonic Smackdown — a tribute to the Marvel Vs Capcom series that featured Sonic characters. ArcForged decided to test their new toy with a smaller project, all substance and straight to the point: The chaotical, fast paced, skull-twisting Head 2 Head!
Tiger Tournament – we have Mortal Kombat at home
Tiger Tournament is a tribute to the original Mortal Kombat games, with HD digitized actor sprites and a familiar gameplay. Its current bugs and issues do not detract to the exquisite nature of this one-man experiment.