"Ah?"
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, it needs 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 Super Smash Bros. 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 at 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 video on the screen.
"Indeed, we can start trying to develop some faster-paced works."
"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 aren't thorough enough."
Lin Lixin tapped Sam's head with his finger.
" Street Fighter focuses 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 extremely troublesome.
However, adjusting some parameters based on Street Fighter wouldn't waste much time.
Soon, the arcade machine was reinstalled with the game ROM and started.
Lin Lixin chose Fei Long, while Sam chose the classic Guile.
Just as Sam was squatting in the corner as usual, he saw Lin Lixin rapidly cranking the joystick, and the Fei Long rushed towards 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 Shoryuken.
Sam decisively pulled back to gather his strength and unleashed a Sonic Boom.
But Lin Lixin reacted the moment he saw Guile's forward sway.
The joystick is gently pulled up and quickly springs back.
During its high-speed sprint, Fei Long suddenly leaped into the air at an extremely low height, narrowly missing the Sonic Boom.
Sam was horrified and immediately tried to shake the Shoryuken.
But Lin Lixin, who was already pressing in front of him, naturally wouldn't give him that chance.
In the blink of Sam eye, Lin Lixin made several high-speed light jumps and canceled them with a light punch in mid-air to land quickly.
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 Shoryuken, resulting in a waste of health.
However, in modern times, Lin Lixin's every move relies heavily on jumping to soften the impact.
Even when crouching lightly, you should combine it with small jumps to quickly close the distance.
But Sam couldn't pull off a Shoryuken to break the deadlock like he used to.
Because it's too fast!
From a purely tactile perspective, the complete jump animation of Fei Long takes no more than 30 frames.
However, around frame 20, I was already within the detection range of the jump attack.
In other words, you 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 across the head.
Lin Lixin stopped at the right moment and looked at Sam 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, it's about seizing the initiative and getting 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 truly 'what you see is what you get,' hasn't appeared yet."
"Come on, let's play another round."
Sam, puzzled, re-selected Guile, waiting to see what other tricks Lin Lixin would come up with.
At the start, the situation for both sides was no different from the previous game.
Sam's attempt to stop him was futile, and he was quickly brought close.
The difference this time was that Lin Lixin's first light punch successfully locked Sam in place, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Then...
" Shoryuken! Cancel! Engekishu! Cancel! Rekkaken! Rekkukyaku! True Dragon Eight Destructions!..."
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.
Guile 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?!"
Damn it, my health bar disappeared in the Kung-Fu Master of an eye after just one touch?
"Forget about strategy, even if you hit me, I can go to the bathroom and come back without any problem."
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 nearby, nodded in agreement.
"I think it's pretty good, at least from Lin's perspective it's a lot of fun."
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 Master don't go this far!
"Okay, 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 Fei Long's skills and added an "interrupt" mechanism.
With a little refinement, it could become the core of skill smoothing and animation cancellation.
Combo attacks 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, Yagami, and Leona...
It may lack balance, but it's definitely entertaining and visually appealing!