The Fighting Styles of Characters. (High Concept Discussion)

[Xeras]

Hello. As I have been playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl I have started to wonder about not only my own playstyle but also the fighting styles of each characters and I began to wonder about which Archetypes each character fits into. Now what I mean by this is that in the pantheon of history hundreds of different fighting styles have popped up but especially in gaming and film each one falls into a few specific categories. Now the best representations of this is actually found in Anime. Let's take the show Bleach for a moment and I will try to explain two basic archetypes.

Ichigo- Ichigo falls into the archetype of Reckless. A fighting style with large movements which causes him to expend enourmous amounts of energy to win a fight. His style is wild and cocky ussually relying on brute force and some skill to defeat an opponent. This style is oftentimes seen by the Hero characters in shows more so than anyone else and seems to have the unique ability to go from wild to calm in desperate situations but still always consists of the person expending a lot of energy.

Byakuya- Byakuya's style is in direct contrast to Ichigo's and is personally one of my favorite styles. His style involves expending as little energy as possible and being precise with his strikes. His ability to predict and pinpoint his actions and movements causes him to barely move and yet still come out the victor. He is also a bit subversive in his actions which is unique to the neutral characters as opposed to villains who are extremely direct with this style.

As of now I have come up with only a few styles that are definite as far as how the characters were developed and I would like some opinions on the others.

Marth- Fighting style based on Elegance and Grace. Much of his movements do not expend much energy as his defense is based on not getting hit.

This list will grow as the discussion goes on as a reference for anyone trying to find characters matching their preferred fighting style.

~Xeras

 

[NeoHippie41]

I probably wouldn't have made this thread until I had some ideas for characters other than my main.

 

[Xeras]

I probably wouldn't have made this thread until I had some ideas for characters other than my main.

I have other ideas. If you wish me to post them I shall I simply only felt comfortable posting Marth's because of the obviousness of it. I would like to hear some opinions from other people before I post the styles that have more nuances.

 

[Shapechanger]

As an Ike mainer, I can safely say that Ike is all about movement prediction. If you try to attack your opponent head-on, you won't stand a chance. You have to use your few quick attacks to fend off any aggression and wait for a moment when you see that your opponent is going to move in a certain direction or to a certain spot that allows you to wind up and execute your power attacks. There's a wide variety of places you can thwack your enemy, due to Ike's wide variety of power moves, but you have to be one step ahead of them, or they'll either see it coming and avoid it, or flinch you before you can execute.

 

[Unholycyclone]

haha this makes me think of Metaknight, his goal in a fight seems to be...float towards an opponent swinging his sword rapidly around him hoping to land a hit or two

 

[Fonz]

Toon link's play style is based around the skull crusher, from this move he draws his power.

 

[Xeras]

As an Ike mainer, I can safely say that Ike is all about movement prediction. If you try to attack your opponent head-on, you won't stand a chance. You have to use your few quick attacks to fend off any aggression and wait for a moment when you see that your opponent is going to move in a certain direction or to a certain spot that allows you to wind up and execute your power attacks. There's a wide variety of places you can thwack your enemy, due to Ike's wide variety of power moves, but you have to be one step ahead of them, or they'll either see it coming and avoid it, or flinch you before you can execute.

I agree with you about Ike being about prediction. As far as I can tell he seems to be a character which expends a lot of energy but is also quite intent on forethought. His take on a battle seems to be one of doing whatever it takes to win but putting just as much energy into not losing as well as simply winning.

 

[MajinNecro69]

So, if we're comparing Bleach characters to Smash characters...

Yoruichi/Soifon = Sheik? (Ninja-like in their fighting style, all about evasion and controlling the opponent with fast movements)

Kurotsuchi = Olimar? (Uses a variety of subtle nuances in attack to de-habilitate the opponent)

Renji = Wolf? (Uses tearing, violent attacks, along with ranged weaponry)

Kenpachi = Ganondorf? (Use pure, blunt power, hard to knock off)

Yamamoto = Snake? (Somewhat slow, but packs plenty of firepower)

Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[Xeras]

So, if we're comparing Bleach characters to Smash characters...

Yoruichi/Soifon = Sheik? (Ninja-like in their fighting style, all about evasion and controlling the opponent with fast movements)

Kurotsuchi = Olimar? (Uses a variety of subtle nuances in attack to de-habilitate the opponent)

Renji = Wolf? (Uses tearing, violent attacks, along with ranged weaponry)

Kenpachi = Ganondorf? (Use pure, blunt power, hard to knock off)

Yamamoto = Snake? (Somewhat slow, but packs plenty of firepower)

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Well the discussion isn't necessarily about comparing them to Bleach characters but more to discern the characters' natural playstyle. Though I do think for most of those I would agree with the styles though I think the most accurate would be Ganondorf. His mentality is definitly one of pure strength which really makes him fall under the villain archetype of brute better than almost any other charcter in history with the small exception of someone like Solmen Grundy who not only is the brute Archetype but is actually a simple minded Brute.