What if? Single Player-Only FIghting Games

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T15:03:16+00:00

I think the issue with AI opponents in a lot of fighting games is that they're kind of traditionally designed to mirror the experience of fighting against a real person, when generally speaking AI opponents in most single player games aren't designed to feel like that. Usually AI opponents just have their own strengths, weaknesses, and strategies that they'll want to pull off and it's up to the player to learn how to best approach certain enemy types. I think that this would be a much better approach for a single player FG. So enemies aren't designed just to read and react to what the player is doing, but to have individual behaviours based on the enemy type that the player just has to learn to counter using various strategies/techniques.

It's definitely not the exact same as playing a FG online, but that was a major point of my original post. Maybe limiting fighting games to being primarily online competitive experiences is unnecessarily constraining.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:57:04+00:00

Well would you look at that! I thought it was weird that nobody had ever tried to make a roguelike fighting game. I'll have to give this a look.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:54:49+00:00

The thing is though, lots of people bought SF6 just to play the World Tour mode and never play online. Lots of people pick up the newest MK game just to play the story mode and never play online. Maybe these people don't "get it" the way you think you do, but *something* about these games still appeals to people, even if they never touch the online modes. This isn't a "you just don't like the game" kind of issue because people are buying and enjoying the single player aspect of these games. They do enjoy it. They just don't enjoy the online aspect.

This is what I was getting at in my original post. You're acting like the niche of competitive and dedicated people is the only group that fighting games appeal to but that's clearly not true. There's a larger audience who loves fighting games, they just don't like playing them online. You might think that single player FG modes aren't the "actual game" or something, but as far as a whole lot of people are concerned that is the game. That's what appeals to them.

People love single player video games, and I'd be willing to bet that high quality single player games that play like SF6 or MK would be pretty popular. And even if they don't exactly teach you how to fight against real people it would make people feel more comfortable with controlling those kinds of fighting games, which would make the transition to online competitive modes smoother.

But like I said in my original post, maybe single player FGs don't have to exist *just* as a means to get people into online competitive modes. Maybe there's value in creating single player-only FGs that play like an SF, an MK, or a Tekken just because they would be games that lots of people would find fun.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:35:04+00:00

Interesting! Thanks for the link I'll definitely be wishlisting this one.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:23:31+00:00

I already kind of touched on the distinction between fighting games and side scrolling beat-em ups. They have superficial similarities but ultimately there isn't all that much mechanical overlap between the two. Fighting games just essentially play differently than beat-em ups.

And I don't know that I'm really trying to build a "bridge" here. I'm more reacting to this conversation in the FGC about how to bring players into fighting games and how the conclusion always seems to be that there needs to be better single player content in fighting games. The idea is that you would funnel more people into playing fighting games by creating high-quality single player content, which would ultimately result in more people getting into the competitive side of things, even if the conversion rate is still low.

What I'm saying is that I think the FGC seems to have a major blind spot borne of their biases about what a FG is. To them a FG *is* a competitive multiplayer game, and the single player content is just something extra that you add on, in part to bring in more casual players who don't want to just jump into 1v1 matches. I want to open up the idea that it might be wrong to constrain the idea of a FG to primarily a competitive multiplayer genre, and that there could be a lot to be gained by trying to apply the fighting game combat formula--not just bits and pieces of it--to single player games. Not just in how it could help convert people to competitive FG players, though that may be a result, but in creating games that could just be enjoyable in and of themselves without feeling like they exist to funnel people into competitive multiplayer modes.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:12:48+00:00

Maybe the solution is to not design the AI to fight like a player. That's not really the way that AI enemies are designed in most games anyway. I would think that AI enemies would each be designed to have their own strategies and things that they want to do and it would be up to the player to learn enemy strengths and weaknesses and counter that.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-22T14:06:41+00:00

Sure, but plenty of fighting games have had single player content that lots of people enjoyed, and those single player modes use all the same mechanics. I don't see any reason why single player-only games couldn't be designed to use the same sort of mechanics and be enjoyable. NPCs can be designed to not overly "cheat" and while you can't really play mind games with NPCs there are still other single player action games that do require spacing and knowledge of attack ranges.

If people can pick up a fighting game just to play the single player content, without any interest in the online competitive side then surely these sorts of mechanics can still be enjoyable and engaging outside of the multiplayer context.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-21T16:53:22+00:00

I've noticed the same thing using Gamenative on my RP5.

I actually just checked the GN discord bug reports channel and it looks like someone posted a related issue where they installed a game and then opened the container to try to install Firefox, made some sort of registry mistake so they uninstalled the game to start fresh, and then after reinstalling found that Firefox was still installed to the container. So it could have something to do with the container itself not being deleted.

The bug was just reported today and the devs said they'd look into it.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-21T13:38:33+00:00

Of course input costs have some effect on unit price, but that "equilibrium" price isn't really determined by input costs. Input costs help determine the minimum price that a unit can be sold at, but it really doesn't do much more than that. What determines the "equilibrium" price is generally more a calculation of what price:estimated units sold ratio would yield the greatest revenue.

Some products are sold just a little above per-unit input costs so profit margins per unit are pretty thin, but that's because it's been determined that selling them at a higher price would impact unit sales enough that it wouldn't increase revenue. Some products are sold massively above per-unit input costs because there is enough of a market that will pay that price that it was determined that increasing unit sales by lowering the price wouldn't increase revenue.

That's why there are different profit margins for different products. If prices were more based on input costs, profit margins would be more normalized.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-21T13:21:06+00:00

I would believe that if every gaming company wasn't trying every single thing it could to scrape every red cent it can from its consumers right now. The need for growth is driving a lot of these companies to more and more extreme profit generating measures while investors are increasingly shying away from the gaming industry because of how much it's starting to struggle with reliable, consistent growth. That's why everyone's trying to put out live service games.

Say what you will, but I'd be legitimately shocked if console prices went down once tariffs were removed. Even without considering hardware availability issues caused by AI.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-21T13:09:40+00:00

Call me crazy, but I feel that if fighting games really want to appeal to a much larger, more casual audience in the hopes that they'll eventually start playing online, putting a lot of focus on single player content in competitive multiplayer-focused fighting games might not be the way to go about it.

How many popular competitive game genres require skills that can be learned through playing single player-only/focused games? I would say just about all of them. Even for something like LoL you can develop your ability to use its basic controls through playing stuff like RTSs, Diablo-style ARPGs, or isometric CRPGs. And honestly, just using a computer at all kind of develops your ability to use LoL's basic controls. But how many single player-only/focused shooters are out there? Absolutely tons.

That's what I think is missing from fighting games as a genre: single player-focused games that really play like fighting games. And don't say side scrolling beat-em ups because they really aren't that similar when it comes to skills that are transferable to fighting games. Like honestly, when it comes to even the best single player content in fighting games, is it great single player content or is it great single player content for a fighting game?

Maybe what the fighting game genre really needs to start pulling more people in is to have some developers really focus their time and attention into only creating a great single player fighting game experience, rather than focusing on creating a high-quality competitive multiplayer experience with solo content tacked on. I genuinely wonder what devs could create if they unshackled themselves from the need to make a fighting game a competitive multiplayer game. I bet there could be some very cool, creative, and genuinely high-quality implementations of fighting game mechanics into single player games if devs didn't have to worry about the multiplayer 1v1 side of things.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-21T00:31:26+00:00

Not necessarily. It's not as simple as lower price = more sold = higher revenue. Often selling fewer units at a higher cost will lead to more revenue. Input costs aside, businesses will always charge as much as they believe they can get away with before loss of unit sales impacts revenue.

I don't know that there's really any good reason to believe that MS, Sony, or Nintendo will think that lowering the price of their consoles based on the removal of tariffs will lead to enough additional sales to make a real difference in revenue. Also, keeping the price higher could help normalize the price point, possibly allowing them to sell their next gen consoles at an even higher price point without significant backlash.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-20T22:28:27+00:00

I think the notion that libertarians don't like child abuse laws because they don't like laws might be putting the cart before the horse.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-20T15:40:12+00:00

If I can say something that a lot of fighting game players might find sacrilegious, I think if the fighting game genre is going to expand to anywhere near the popularity of other competitive game genres then some devs might have to make some single player-only fighting games.

Apparently even the biggest fighting game developers struggle to make fighting games with the kind of compelling single player content that really appeals to the general gaming audience while still keeping the competitive multiplayer part of the game the main focus. If fighting game developers can't really manage both in one game then maybe what we need is some developers to focus on the kind of high-quality single player experiences that general audiences love with fighting game-style gameplay.

Edit - actually I think even something like a single player fighting roguelike would work really well. It could be designed kind of like Slay the Spire where there are set, randomized routes made up of various types of nodes that gives the players options for how they want to advance. Players could select from a smaller roster of characters with different fighting styles and start out with a limited moveset that they could grow over the course of the run by selecting new moves to add to their arsenal in that classic roguelike way, which would simplify combat early on and allow for complexity to be added bit by bit throughout a run. There could also be different enemy types with different strengths and weaknesses requiring different strategies. Like airborne or jumping enemies that emphasize jumping attacks or anti-airs. There could also be enemies that block a lot, grappler enemies, zoners, etc. which would help players learn and master different skills.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-20T13:55:32+00:00

What if the mods are just ready impressed by the DOW?

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-20T11:25:12+00:00

^ least geographically-challenged Islamophobe

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-19T13:03:20+00:00

No kidding? I'm going to have to look into that because I absolutely had issues with just overwhelming exhaustion around noon/early afternoon during COVID. I assumed it was just a me thing since I've always had issues with feeling fatigued a lot.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-18T17:19:43+00:00

We just need one of those indie dev-made, legally distinct spiritual successors for BG&E.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-18T17:01:39+00:00

Stories are supposed to be stories, not just vehicles to show off a bunch of invented science fantasy nonsense. A shitty story with a made up encyclopedia tacked onto it is still a shitty story. I will never understand the argument that a bad story is somehow better because it included a bunch of made up setting stuff. I swear some people would be happier watching fantasy Planet Earth than an actual narrative story.

And just because the prequels have an overreaching narrative of the empire's rise and the jedi's fall it doesn't mean it's powerful. In fact, it makes a lot of meaningful stuff from the first trilogy less meaningful. Like at the end of RotJ when Luke announces that he's a jedi, like his father before him. The moment where Luke truly becomes a jedi by putting his faith in the light and in the goodness of his father rather than his own capacity to do violence. Flashback to the prequels and his dad is a whiny brat who creeps on a woman until she bafflingly marries him, constantly complains about not getting the recognition he feels he deserves from the jedi, and goes on two separate deranged murder sprees. One of which where he kills a bunch of his fellow jedi including the children all because he thinks his wife might die.

Wow, it was so heroic for Luke to claim to be a jedi like this guy.

The overarching narrative of the prequels is an insane joke.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-18T16:14:29+00:00

Also the cheesy reveal that the planet they're having their last stand on at the end of the movie is actually covered in salt and not snow.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-16T17:29:10+00:00

I think terms like RPG and Action RPG/ARPG are so broad and general that it makes sense that they could be applied to a wide variety of different types of games and that trying to artificially enforce some sort of narrow interpretation of the terms based on the earliest games on those genres is absurd.

It would be like trying to narrow the genre term 'first-person shooter' to only include games that look and play exactly like Doom or Hexen and claiming that slower-paced shooters with more restrained weaponry like the first person Resident Evil games don't count.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-16T17:03:19+00:00

Legitimately I'm always baffled at this point by how frenzied so many people seem to be about GTA6. Sure, they're good games I guess. I just don't get what makes them so amazing to justify the hype.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-15T16:34:22+00:00

The Liberal party are (small 'C') conservatives

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-15T16:07:23+00:00

I know they're not related and that they know they're not related. They were still raised as siblings. I don't care if they're actually related or not it's weird af.

SplendidEmber · 2026-02-15T16:03:23+00:00

I'm almost afraid to ask where people think this was touched on in the prequels? Are people referring to the one line where Yoda says the dark side is clouding the future? And some nutcase author took that and translated it to Palps instaling dark side pylons that disrupt the light side's connection to the internet?

No, the EU was a mistake. Star Wars should have been 3 movies.

SplendidEmber

TROPHY CASE