Character Archetypes in Fighting Games | Full Breakdown/Video Essay

[00:01] [Music]

[00:08] we as humans

[00:09] tend to like stereotypes it helps us put

[00:11] things in easily understandable

[00:13] categories

[00:14] and more easily make predictions and

[00:15] guesses based on what we think we know

[00:17] it makes sense that these stereotypes

[00:19] would find their way into popular

[00:20] culture as well

[00:22] many people would call batman a

[00:23] vigilante but less people would consider

[00:25] superman a vigilante

[00:26] even though technically he is that's

[00:29] because our idea of a vigilante is a

[00:31] small time hero protecting his community

[00:33] and not a space warrior fighting gods

[00:36] stereotypes also find their way into

[00:38] video games but appear in a slightly

[00:40] different form

[00:41] a stereotype is usually about a

[00:43] character's well

[00:44] character obviously one's personality

[00:47] can only affect gameplay so much

[00:49] which is why oftentimes video game

[00:51] characters fall into archetypes

[00:53] think of the tank a strong powerful

[00:56] character who specializes in protecting

[00:58] himself and his teammates while the

[01:00] glass cannon kills quickly but dies just

[01:02] as fast

[01:03] these archetypes play a big role in many

[01:05] popular video game franchises but in

[01:07] fighting games the scene is a little bit

[01:08] different

[01:10] it's not as easy to assign archetypes to

[01:12] characters who exist in such limited

[01:13] spaces

[01:14] being on a 2d plane instead of a

[01:16] battlefield or a capture point

[01:17] that's why character archetypes in

[01:19] fighting games tend to fit a little

[01:20] looser than

[01:21] roles in an fps usually a character

[01:24] archetype in a fighting game refers to

[01:26] the general game plan the character

[01:28] wants to run

[01:29] for example a grappler wants to get

[01:30] close up and grab you

[01:32] that being said in most cases one

[01:34] archetype doesn't encompass a character

[01:36] fully

[01:36] lots of times you'll see combination

[01:38] characters who do one or more things

[01:40] exceptionally well

[01:42] i like to envision fighting game

[01:43] characters as a recipe

[01:45] each character takes varying amounts of

[01:47] ingredients from their archetypes

[01:48] and then are prepared in a way that

[01:49] makes them unique for example if you

[01:51] were to cook a soul bad pie you would

[01:54] need fifty percent rush down

[01:55] thirty percent grappler twenty percent

[01:57] shadow and a hint of states change

[02:01] for this video i will briefly discuss

[02:03] what i think each type

[02:04] is and what i believe to be their

[02:06] strengths and their weaknesses

[02:15] first up we have shoto's named after ryu

[02:18] and ken from street fighter's fighting

[02:19] style of shotokan karate

[02:21] shoto's are designed to be all-around

[02:23] characters they are usually the type of

[02:25] character who generally falls into the

[02:27] jack of all trades master of none

[02:29] stereotype and generally excel at

[02:31] footsies using their wide array of tools

[02:33] to win the mid-range game

[02:35] most shadows typically have access to a

[02:38] strong fireball

[02:39] an invincible reversal a strong anti-air

[02:42] a projectile invincible attack good and

[02:45] honest buttons

[02:46] and finally a decent walk speed and

[02:48] health pool

[02:50] examples of the shoto archetype would be

[02:51] ryu from street fighter

[02:53] kai from guilty gear or even mario from

[02:55] [Music]

[03:02] smash

[03:09] grapplers are a powerful bossing class

[03:12] that specialize in getting up close to

[03:13] the opponent and dealing massive damage

[03:15] with just one mix-up

[03:17] the name grappler comes from their

[03:18] trademark command gram which is a main

[03:21] staple of practically every grappler's

[03:23] toolkit

[03:24] grapplers are designed to strike fear in

[03:26] the hearts of their opponents

[03:27] then squeeze the most they can out of

[03:28] their opponent's every mistake

[03:31] usually these characters have a tough

[03:32] time getting close to an opponent but

[03:34] once they do

[03:34] it's game over a grappler's major

[03:37] weakness tends to be its lack of range

[03:39] grapplers are usually slow and tend to

[03:41] not have moves to circumvent projectiles

[03:43] or keep away

[03:45] because of this grapplers lives hard to

[03:47] the zoner archetype

[03:48] that being said grapplers tend to

[03:50] perform very well against the rushdown

[03:52] character archetype

[03:53] as both need to be close range to

[03:55] function well and the rushdown character

[03:57] often does the work of closing in on the

[03:58] grappler for them

[04:00] examples of grapplers would be zangief

[04:02] from street fighter

[04:04] potemkin from guilty gear and cerebella

[04:07] from skullgirls

[04:30] zoners love to keep their distance while

[04:32] a grappler excels at close range

[04:34] zoners like being half screen or more

[04:35] from their opponent

[04:37] zoners typically have lots of long range

[04:40] attacks at their disposal to pressure

[04:41] their opponent from afar

[04:43] a very strong projectile and a tool used

[04:45] to knock the opponent back once they've

[04:47] closed in

[04:48] inside the zoner archetype there are two

[04:50] smaller categories of zoners those being

[04:52] projectiles owners and normal based

[04:54] sellers

[04:55] the key difference between these two

[04:56] archetypes are the tools that they use

[04:58] to sell

[04:59] the projectiles owner uses two or more

[05:01] strong fireballs to keep the opponent at

[05:03] bay

[05:04] then they abuse these strong fireballs

[05:06] by making the opponent want to jump in

[05:08] then countering with a powerful anti-air

[05:10] attack

[05:11] the normal base zoner usually uses long

[05:13] range normals

[05:14] by way of a long-range weapon or

[05:16] extendable limbs to make sure the

[05:17] opponent can't close in

[05:19] these characters tend to have extremely

[05:21] slow attacks but ones that cover pretty

[05:23] much anywhere on the screen if you know

[05:24] how to use them

[05:25] a unique weakness of the normal bass

[05:27] sonar is that their extended hitboxes

[05:29] can normally be attacked by the opponent

[05:31] leading to a counter hit that allows the

[05:32] opponent to close it

[05:34] zoners tend to struggle when the enemy

[05:36] gets in usually lacking strong up close

[05:38] buttons or a reversal of any kind

[05:40] because of this the rushdown character

[05:42] archetype tends to be designer

[05:44] adversely the zoner dominates over the

[05:46] grappler keeping him at bay

[05:48] and forcing him to take what the zoner

[05:50] dishes out

[05:52] examples of a projectiles owner would be

[05:54] guile from street fighter

[05:55] or peacock from skullgirls examples of a

[05:58] normal base owner would be dalson from

[06:00] street fighter or axel from guilty gear

[06:19] [Music]

[06:24] they want in and they want in now

[06:28] rush down or the less flattering unga

[06:30] bunga play style revolves around

[06:32] charging headfirst at your opponent

[06:34] with little regard for your own safety

[06:36] rush down characters want to close in on

[06:38] their opponent similar to a grappler

[06:39] but functions differently in the fact

[06:41] that a rushdown character tends to need

[06:42] to get in multiple times to win

[06:44] and usually has more tools to do it than

[06:46] a grappler a grappler's main

[06:48] weakness is getting in but once they're

[06:49] in they win

[06:51] a rushdown's main strength is getting in

[06:54] but this is usually balanced out with a

[06:55] low health bar poor footsies and poor

[06:58] range

[06:58] rushdown characters typically have very

[07:00] fast buttons

[07:02] lots of ambiguous cross-ups and mix-ups

[07:04] a way to negate the effects of a

[07:06] fireball

[07:07] extremely fast movement speed and strong

[07:09] up close pressure

[07:11] the matchups for a rushdown character

[07:13] typically are dependent on the game

[07:14] you're playing

[07:15] as in some games grapplers shut down the

[07:17] rushdown's close game

[07:18] and in other games it's the exact

[07:19] opposite generally though

[07:21] rushdown loses to grapplers and beats

[07:23] his owners and shoulders

[07:25] examples of rushdown characters would be

[07:27] kami from street fighter

[07:28] leo from guilty gear and everyone from

[07:31] dragon ball fighters

[07:37] puppet characters only for the most

[07:40] skilled of players

[07:41] truly the most difficult fighting game

[07:44] archetype

[07:45] and no bash did not pay me to saints

[07:49] puppet characters are unique in that

[07:51] they control two characters with just

[07:53] one controller this can be done in many

[07:55] different ways but typically we see both

[07:57] characters moving at different spots

[07:58] with the same inputs

[07:59] for example you input a move to summon a

[08:01] dummy full screen then make both

[08:03] characters walk forward

[08:04] press punch and the dummy and you both

[08:06] attack covering two different positions

[08:08] the enemy could be in

[08:09] this simple concept builds on itself so

[08:11] much and ends up becoming an incredibly

[08:13] difficult concept to master

[08:15] as characters with this strength usually

[08:17] have major weaknesses elsewhere

[08:19] puppet characters generally excel at

[08:21] pressure from anywhere and everywhere

[08:23] while they tend to have extremely poor

[08:24] defense it also doesn't help that by

[08:27] themselves

[08:28] each character's normals and specials

[08:29] tend to be underwhelming at best

[08:31] you really have to learn how to use your

[08:33] characters in tandem with each other to

[08:35] get the most out of them

[08:36] puppet characters tend to lose to rush

[08:38] down characters and win against

[08:39] grapplers

[08:40] examples of a puppet character would be

[08:42] zotto one from guilty gear

[08:44] misfortune from skullgirls and rosalina

[08:47] and luma from smash brothers

[09:00] an admittedly similar archetype to the

[09:02] puppet character

[09:03] stance characters split their utility

[09:05] not between two bodies but between

[09:07] two modes usually stance characters will

[09:10] be focused around a single input that

[09:12] changes most if not all of their moveset

[09:14] a stance character could be a rushed

[09:16] down character one second but transition

[09:18] into a grappler or his own or the next

[09:21] the weakness of a stance character tends

[09:22] to come from being in the wrong place at

[09:24] the wrong time

[09:25] as it takes time to switch move sets and

[09:27] in a genre where matches can be decided

[09:28] in seconds

[09:29] usually is not a good thing to waste to

[09:32] help balance this out

[09:33] stance characters are usually given

[09:34] overwhelmingly strong tools for the

[09:36] function they try to perform in their

[09:37] stance

[09:38] while having next to no tools for

[09:39] anything else because of the nature of

[09:42] stance characters being a combo of two

[09:43] archetypes there are no really

[09:45] any good matchups or bad matchups for

[09:47] the archetype

[09:48] that will come down to what two move

[09:50] sets they switch between

[09:52] examples of a stance character would be

[09:53] gen from street fighter

[09:55] vega also from street fighter and leo

[09:58] again

[09:58] from guilty gear

[10:08] another very niche archetype composite

[10:10] characters are characters that are made

[10:12] out of other characters

[10:14] now you might be tempted to think that

[10:15] these are clone characters or that i

[10:17] might be saying the word character too

[10:18] much

[10:19] but you would actually be incorrect

[10:20] idiot a clone character takes

[10:23] one character's toolkit and animations

[10:24] and repurposes them slightly to fit a

[10:26] different set of skills

[10:28] a composite character takes exactly the

[10:31] same attacks of many characters

[10:33] and matches them all together in one big

[10:35] goopy pile

[10:37] these characters are rarely seen as it

[10:39] is hard to make them make sense by a

[10:41] lore perspective

[10:42] how can you have one character that is

[10:44] 18 different characters

[10:47] these characters typically have attacks

[10:49] with the exact same animations and frame

[10:51] data as the character they're ripped

[10:52] from

[10:53] but function entirely differently in the

[10:54] context of their move kit as a whole

[10:57] the only real notable example of a

[10:58] composite character would be double from

[11:00] skullgirls

[11:01] while some lesser examples include kirby

[11:03] from smash and seth

[11:04] specifically his street fighter iv

[11:06] appearance from street fighter

[11:08] okay i'm done saying character so much

[11:10] you can you can rest

[11:11] now sorry i didn't mean to call you an

[11:14] idiot either

[11:15] sorry subscribe

[11:17] [Music]

[11:24] a much rarer archetype the mix-up

[11:27] character is built around hitting the

[11:28] opponent in ways they don't expect to be

[11:30] hit

[11:30] this includes lots of high-low mix-ups

[11:33] cross-ups and unders

[11:34] and grabs or unblockables usually these

[11:37] moves will share a similar animation to

[11:39] each other to make it hard for the

[11:40] opponent to tell which one they're going

[11:42] for

[11:43] a general weakness of the school of

[11:45] design is that the new player

[11:47] won't understand what a mix-up character

[11:48] is doing and will get frustrated

[11:51] while the high-level player will see

[11:53] through all of the mix-ups and destroy

[11:55] that same character

[11:56] because of this mix-up characters tend

[11:59] to be avoided by fighting game

[12:00] developers

[12:02] examples of mix-up characters would be

[12:04] el fuerte from street fighter

[12:06] lohane from grambling fantasy versus and

[12:09] anji from guilty gear

[12:11] although anji was the only one that was

[12:13] actually done right

[12:14] but that's a topic for another video

[12:24] many people define a gimmick character

[12:26] as one that abuses one or two strong

[12:28] options in a kit that makes them strong

[12:29] but i believe this definition to be

[12:31] false my definition of a gimmick

[12:33] character

[12:34] is one that relies on a mechanic not

[12:35] defined by the universal mechanics of

[12:37] the game

[12:38] for an example say you walk outside and

[12:41] you expect to be

[12:42] following the rules of gravity right but

[12:44] then old jimbulis iii comes up

[12:47] and he has a special meter that lets him

[12:49] float for a certain amount of time

[12:51] disregarding everything you previously

[12:53] knew about how the world works

[12:56] jongulus or whatever i said would be a

[12:58] gimmick character

[12:59] gimmick characters in my opinion are

[13:02] characters that

[13:03] don't follow the rules previously set by

[13:05] the game

[13:06] now lots of people would tell you this

[13:08] is a bad thing but i personally don't

[13:10] believe that to be true

[13:11] i think gimmick characters if done

[13:13] correctly can be really fun to play as

[13:16] and extremely fun to watch

[13:19] examples of gimmick characters would be

[13:21] bed man from guilty gear

[13:24] actually just a lot of the characters

[13:26] from guilty gear

[13:37] our final fighting game character

[13:39] archetype set play characters generally

[13:41] have very strong options for any

[13:43] situation

[13:44] with the drawback being that they have

[13:45] to set them up by way of a separate

[13:47] special move input or specific

[13:48] application

[13:50] these characters tend to fish for early

[13:51] knockdowns in the neutral with which

[13:53] they use the free time from to set up

[13:55] their abilities

[13:55] making it hard for the opponent to deal

[13:57] with them a major weakness of this

[13:59] character type is that if the enemy

[14:01] never lets them get set up

[14:02] they tend to have pretty weak options in

[14:04] general setplay characters want to

[14:06] snowball on you

[14:07] and you want to snowball on them

[14:10] examples of set play characters would be

[14:12] jacko from guilty gear

[14:13] answer also from guilty gear and jury

[14:16] from street fighter

[14:21] understanding each of these archetypes

[14:22] and how they apply to the characters you

[14:24] play

[14:24] can help new players figure out what

[14:26] types of characters they enjoy

[14:28] as well as how to deal with certain

[14:29] other characters i'm planning on making

[14:32] a character guide slash recipe book for

[14:34] guilty gear exart rev2 in the future

[14:36] and we'll go in more detail about what

[14:38] each of these archetypes mean to each

[14:39] character it applies to

[14:41] for now though that's all this has been

[14:43] adventure and i hope to see you in the

[14:45] next one

[14:56] peace

[15:05] [Music]

[15:10] [Music]

[15:22] [Music]

[15:40] you