Current Events > What fighting game character archetypes are there?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Everything that I've looked up says there's only three (rushdown, zoner and grappler), but I don't see how that can be the case.
---

The button mashy one
---

DK9292 posted...

Everything that I've looked up says there's only three (rushdown, zoner and grappler), but I don't see how that can be the case.

How so? Can you think of games with characters that don't fit one of those three archetypes?
---

MC_BatCommander posted...

DK9292 posted...

Everything that I've looked up says there's only three (rushdown, zoner and grappler), but I don't see how that can be the case.

How so? Can you think of games with characters that don't fit one of those three archetypes?

What about puppet fighters?
Minion summoners?
Stance characters?

If those aren't considered archetypes, what are they?
---

The one with 1000 combos
---

what does flowchart ken fall under?
---

UnholyMudcrab posted...

The button mashy one

---

DK9292 posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

DK9292 posted...

Everything that I've looked up says there's only three (rushdown, zoner and grappler), but I don't see how that can be the case.

How so? Can you think of games with characters that don't fit one of those three archetypes?

What about puppet fighters?
Minion summoners?
Stance characters?
Confusion based characters?

If those aren't considered archetypes, what are they?

Still waiting...
---

DK9292 posted...

What about puppet fighters?
Minion summoners?
Stance characters?
Confusion based characters?

If those aren't considered archetypes, what are they?

All of those would still fall under one of those three. Hell, the first two you mentioned are zoners.
---

Bandit_Keith posted...

DK9292 posted...

What about puppet fighters?
Minion summoners?
Stance characters?
Confusion based characters?

If those aren't considered archetypes, what are they?

All of those would still fall under one of those three. Hell, the first two you mentioned are zoners.

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?
---

DK9292 posted...

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?

Those are just styles.
---

Bandit_Keith posted...

DK9292 posted...

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?

Those are just styles.

Styles... okay.
---

DK9292 posted...

DK9292 posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

DK9292 posted...

Everything that I've looked up says there's only three (rushdown, zoner and grappler), but I don't see how that can be the case.

How so? Can you think of games with characters that don't fit one of those three archetypes?

What about puppet fighters?
Minion summoners?
Stance characters?
Confusion based characters?

If those aren't considered archetypes, what are they?

Still waiting...

Shoto (generic balanced fighter--Ryu, Ken, Sagat, Sakura, etc)

Zoner (attempts to control distance to opponent. Frequently features teleports, long range attacks/projectiles, abilities to cross or retreat large distances. Minion summoners are in this category)

Grappler (typically has a lot of counter type moves and is designed to secure safe damage through grabs that are inescapeable once initiated. tries to stay close at all time strong on meaty.)

Rushdown (fast relentless hitting character. lots of mix ups and cross ups. lots of moves that cause a large amount of chip damage)

those are the main ones.

There are more obscure ones like Stance Dancer and so on but some games won't even have them.
---

I'd say that there's more than just those 3.

Stance characters, for example are so dynamic that they can alter their range so they can be played as either a rush or zoning character.
---

What's the difference between a "rushdown" character and a "pressure" character?
---

DK9292 posted...

What's the difference between a "rushdown" character and a "pressure" character?

pressure is not an archetype

you can apply pressure as any character
---

ChromaticAngel posted...

pressure is not an archetype

Dude.
DK9292 posted...

Bandit_Keith posted...

DK9292 posted...

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?

Those are just styles.

Styles... okay.

---

That one character that you can reliably spam the same move over and over again with no skill and beat about 95% of opponents.
---

DK9292 posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

pressure is not an archetype

Dude.
DK9292 posted...

Bandit_Keith posted...

DK9292 posted...

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?

Those are just styles.

Styles... okay.

IDK what the fuck Bandit Keith is going on about.

Shoto, Zoner, Grappler, Rushdown are fighting character archetypes, or to use another analogous term, character classes.

"Pressure Character" is like saying "What kind of character are you playing" "I'm playing a dual wielder"

Like, a dual wielding what? Warrior? Rogue? Ranger?
---

ChromaticAngel posted...

DK9292 posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

pressure is not an archetype

Dude.
DK9292 posted...

Bandit_Keith posted...

DK9292 posted...

Then like I said, if those aren't archetypes, what's the term for them so I know what to look up?

Those are just styles.

Styles... okay.

IDK what the fuck Bandit Keith is going on about.

Shoto, Zoner, Grappler, Rushdown are fighting character archetypes, or to use another analogous term, character classes.

"Pressure Character" is like saying "What kind of character are you playing" "I'm playing a dual wielder"

Like, a dual wielding what? Warrior? Rogue? Ranger?

...alright fine.
---

I'd consider trapping/setups as a character archetype, even if it's mostly limited to anime fighters. I'd consider puppet characters one of these too. They're not necessarily rushdown (Carl from Blazblue, Zato from GG) or zoner types (Carmine from UNiB, Venom from GG, Nero from MBAACC), but they're rarely grapplers.

Actually, looking at that, I'm inclined to treat puppet types as a subset of aggro and trappers as a subset of zoners, in spite of the exceptions.

Then you have characters like Baiken, and Slayer who are counterpunchers with limited aggro and mix-up game who specialize in reacting to and punishing the other player. KOF characters with counters kind of become this by default even if those counters aren't their main game plan because in less chaotic fighters the poking game takes up a lot more of the play time. These counters make every button press a risk because you don't know when your opponent might read a poke, counter it and put you in knock down keeping you at a disadvantage.
---

how do divekick characters fit in here

UnholyMudcrab posted...

The button mashy one

Welcome to the stage of history!

I don't fucking know what I'm doing anymore.
---

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

how do divekick characters fit in here

Only Jeffaily matters
---

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

how do divekick characters fit in here

Divekicks are rush down tools. They hit high and must be blocked standing, but depending upon the game you can sometimes initiate them very early in a jump making them a quick overhead that often leads to a combo. The fact that they just be blocked standing often turns every jump you make towards your opponent a possible mixup. If I whiff the dive and land, depending upon the recovery I might be able to throw out a low attack and catch you while you were blocking high.

Edit: All of that is probably less important then the fact that dive kicks change air trajectory. That's a whole new angle (hah). Say I have a dive kick and I make a potentially profitable but super risky jump at someone with a strong anti-air like a dragon punch. My opponent can't feel safe throwing out their answer because I might alter my air trajectory and cause their counter to whiff. Depending upon the counter, take the aforementioned DP for instance, that could cost them the round.
---

hollow_shrine posted...

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

how do divekick characters fit in here

Divekicks are rush down tools. They hit high and must be blocked standing, but depending upon the game you can sometimes initiate them very early in a jump making them a quick overhead that often leads to a combo. The fact that they just be blocked standing often turns every jump you make towards your opponent a possible mixup. If I whiff the dive and land, depending upon the recovery I might be able to throw out a low attack and catch you while you were blocking high.

I think he's talking about the game.
---

ChromaticAngel posted...

hollow_shrine posted...

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

how do divekick characters fit in here

Divekicks are rush down tools. They hit high and must be blocked standing, but depending upon the game you can sometimes initiate them very early in a jump making them a quick overhead that often leads to a combo. The fact that they just be blocked standing often turns every jump you make towards your opponent a possible mixup. If I whiff the dive and land, depending upon the recovery I might be able to throw out a low attack and catch you while you were blocking high.

I think he's talking about the game.

yeah.

how would you put different characters from Divekick into these archetypes?

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

hollow_shrine posted...

yoloyoloswagEMP posted...

how do divekick characters fit in here

Divekicks are rush down tools. They hit high and must be blocked standing, but depending upon the game you can sometimes initiate them very early in a jump making them a quick overhead that often leads to a combo. The fact that they just be blocked standing often turns every jump you make towards your opponent a possible mixup. If I whiff the dive and land, depending upon the recovery I might be able to throw out a low attack and catch you while you were blocking high.

I think he's talking about the game.

yeah.

how would you put different characters from Divekick into these archetypes?

Divekick doesn't really have grapplers. Or zoners, since your normals aren't anymore or less safe than anyone else's. I'd say you have offensive and reactive archetypes. Characters with floaty jumps and show moving dives are ill-suited for rush down. The same is true for characters with narrow angles on their dives. Those are better for punishing incoming dives.

The more horizontal space your dive carries, and the faster it is, the more rush down oriented you are.
---