Martial arts and combat in games

[Yukimura]

Well, those of you who know me know I'm a big fan of action games, and specificly fighting and combat games. recently, a jam session on Def Jam Fight for New York got me thinking about the representation of martial arts in games and how many martial arts in real life are actually poor methods for self defense.

In def jam, there are five fighting style, three of which are based on Street combat techniques like wrestling, Brawling, and Submission. Martial arts and Kickboxing are the other 2.

When you break it down, in a real fight, Martial arts is nearly worhtless. I know, having studied 3 different forms of it. When fighting a street brawler, the unpredictability and wild nature of there fighting style means that all the fancy stance and flashy moves mean nothing, you have to relay on reflexs and clear, direct blows to an oppenents open areas. Fighting someone who can grapple or use submission is even worse, cause once a martial artist is off his feet, they are very open to attack.

Having fought hand to hand with a master, who had full training in 9 different fighting styles, he taught me that all the fancy moves mean nothing in a real fight. it's about timing, precison, and control.

Which is why I love fighting games. They allow players to get all the fancy moves and styles going and make it look cool, somethign that doesn't work in real life.

So, what are some of your favorite games that feature cool fighting. This doesn't have to be just martial arts, any kind of cool fighting will do.

for me.

1. DOA 4
2. Def Jam Fight for NY
3. God Of war.
4. Shenmue 1,2
5. Budokai 3.

Thats just for starters. Your turn!:D

[steelcobra]

Bushido Blade. End of story.

[V-22 Osprey]

I'm going to come out of left field here and say True Crime: Streets of L.A. The controls took some getting used to, but boy was it a good feeling the first time I grabbed a criminal's leg and horribly dislocated it. Well, I'm sure it didn't feel good for the criminal...

[Thefremen]

Bushido Blade. End of story.

I lub that game! To bad the sequels sucked.

Virtua fighter 4. Praying mantis style ftw.

I disagree that martial arts are worthless, but to use them in street fighting one has to know moves and be pre-programmed to react correctly to attacks.

Wrestling could not match BG prana-bindu techniques, they'd be dead before they were finished saying "can you smell what I'm cooking brother?".

[Yukimura]

I lub that game! To bad the sequels sucked.

Virtua fighter 4. Praying mantis style ftw.

I disagree that martial arts are worthless, but to use them in street fighting one has to know moves and be pre-programmed to react correctly to attacks.

Wrestling could not match BG prana-bindu techniques, they'd be dead before they were finished saying "can you smell what I'm cooking brother?".

I' m not talking about Prowrestling, i'm talking about true grappling style. It isn't what you see on tv, it's all about close range slams, trips, and leverage.

You can use grappling to toss your oppenent around like a rag doll if you know how to use it. Trust me ,I beat black belts without throwing a single punch, using only grapples and submission techniques.

All the fancy moves and stances mean nothing to a skilled enough grappler. When your head hits a wall at 30 miles an hour, all that fancy martial arts crap doesn't mean jack.

[Thefremen]

I' m not talking about Prowrestling, i'm talking about true grappling style. It isn't what you see on tv, it's all about close range slams, trips, and leverage.

You can use grappling to toss your oppenent around like a rag doll if you know how to use it. Trust me ,I beat black belts without throwing a single punch, using only grapples and submission techniques.

All the fancy moves and stances mean nothing to a skilled enough grappler. When your head hits a wall at 30 miles an hour, all that fancy martial arts crap doesn't mean jack.

You never watched/read Dune did you?

To summarize, 20,000 years from now chicks can totally kick your ass and have reaction times that rival those of praying manti.

Yeah I know about wrestling my wife did it in High School but I tend to joke on just about every post.

[Garbage Pail Kid]

I' m not talking about Prowrestling, i'm talking about true grappling style. It isn't what you see on tv, it's all about close range slams, trips, and leverage.

The Def Jam game is the best I 've seen so far. There was a Pride Fighting Champoinships game for the PS2 that was really well done, but I liked DJ a lot better.

You can use grappling to toss your oppenent around like a rag doll if you know how to use it. Trust me ,I beat black belts without throwing a single punch, using only grapples and submission techniques.

All the fancy moves and stances mean nothing to a skilled enough grappler. When your head hits a wall at 30 miles an hour, all that fancy martial arts crap doesn't mean jack.

The reason people who only know striking based arts do poorly in freestyle situations is because most of their practioners don't know how to stop a takedown. Now, striking practioners who crosstrain in grappling for defensive purposes have been very successful in no holds barred fighting.

What grappling art do you practice, Yuki?

[steelcobra]

And just focusing in grappling without striking training renders you useless when you opponent can dance around you hitting you from all angles as well. My philosophy is this:
There is no perfect style. There are lots of excellent techniques. What makes a great style is a personal combination of techniques with the muscle memory to simply strike with them at will.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Frankly I hate 1 character having 20 thousand moves like on DOA and such I would be happy with 6-12 power moves,soemthign like soulcalbiuer but not as fancy.

[Yukimura]

The Def Jam game is the best I 've seen so far. There was a Pride Fighting Champoinships game for the PS2 that was really well done, but I liked DJ a lot better.



The reason people who only know striking based arts do poorly in freestyle situations is because most of their practioners don't know how to stop a takedown. Now, striking practioners who crosstrain in grappling for defensive purposes have been very successful in no holds barred fighting.

What grappling art do you practice, Yuki?

I use a mix of Kickboxing, Judo, Submission, and what might be losely termed as Powermoves, or, impact moves. Mainly, it's all close in hard hitting technique. I can use my size and strength to do hard throws and slams or go in close with knees and elbows, or go to the joints and snap them. ALl depends on the situation.

[Demontestament]

I still wonder to myself when playing DOA, how a girl with Z cup boobs can be a ninja. Or for that matter do a back flip or move for that matter.

Now to the subject at hand, I have liked the Tekken Series as it has evolved but I have to agree when it was said Bushido Blade ftw.

[Dagrak]

I still wonder to myself when playing DOA, how a girl with Z cup boobs can be a ninja. Or for that matter do a back flip or move for that matter.



You'd have thought purple hair would not be the best for concealment as well.

[Tollwutig]

Hmm wouldn't this be in Games you are playing? Why yes it would and there it shall move.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Hmm wouldn't this be in Games you are playing? Why yes it would and there it shall move.
only took me acouple days to figure it out 0-o
then I spend another few days pineing over to tell the mods are not *L*

[Kharne]

I've always perferred the brutally effective fighting styles myself.

Unfortunatly, outside of Ness I don't know of any game characters who are dedicated bat-fu users.

[Picho]

I lub that game! To bad the sequels sucked.





I liked Bushido blade two, it wasnt like mortal combat where you could fight at full power, only to be taken out by a light tap to the shin.

I think it would be pretty fun to figure out a way to make a 'MMO' fighter... Though it would be kinda hard to do. Then you also fall into the grab of 'got to put everything in MMO form'.

[steelcobra]

I've always perferred the brutally effective fighting styles myself.

Unfortunatly, outside of Ness I don't know of any game characters who are dedicated bat-fu users.

Heh, I like Bryan Fury from Tekken because of that.