Learn The Origin of The Mighty Skullgirls

i have this quest

Want this game now!!

First!
Ohh fuck :0

I'll probably end up using Valentine or Parasoul cause they look the most "normal". Man, some of those character designs...

Looks almost as good as this.

Kidding, this game looks great. I'm going to be buying a LOT of fighting games in the near future.

@Dtat said:

Want this game now!!

Me too!!!

Thats pretty cool didn't expect this game to have any sort of story in it.

Still not that into the art style. I'll need to play a demo first before thinking about buying it.

There is a story mode? Was not expecting that.

looks cool, I feel i may have my fill of fighters, but this might make some space for itself.

Panty-shots, tits, and sexual suggestion: the game!

"But wait! That guy put his hands all over her, and she punched him. She's assertive!"

Nah, it's pandering, regardless of how you dress it up.

I like Reverge Labs's moxy, but I hate and loathe the design of this game. At least those dirty Japan only games about firing your hearts at little girls don't try to dress themselves up as a legitimate game or story. This just feels like it's one of the designers' fetishes or worse they think all fighting fanatics love looking at giant tits and mound at every waking moment like a bunch of neanderthals.

Lots of games do pander to this base attitude, but they usually just leave it to one or two characters and then might also give you a revealing dude as well to mix it up. Here, save for the cartoon girl, it's fucking peaches and melons day at the fruit stand and everything's half off.

game still creeps me out

I never really care about stories in fighting games. Mortal Kombat 9's was excellent, but this looks bland. At least the gameplay is still looking good.

I really like what this game is trying to do , but I don't care for the art style or the roster at all

@Goldanas said:

Nah, it's pandering, regardless of how you dress it up.

I like Reverge Labs's moxy, but I hate and loathe the design of this game. At least those dirty Japan only games about firing your hearts at little girls don't try to dress themselves up as a legitimate game or story. This just feels like it's one of the designers' fetishes...

I agree totally. I like the training modes they've talked about, the design philosophy of the combat, etc. but the artstyle and weirdly off-putting sexuality are real bummers. There's almost always a level of pandering in fighting games (see: the Dead or Alive series) but it's usually not so...in your face? Aside from Ivy in SoulCalibur IV, I mean.

@Goldanas said:

Panty-shots, tits, and sexual suggestion: the game!

"But wait! That guy put his hands all over her, and she punched him. She's assertive!"

Nah, it's pandering, regardless of how you dress it up.

I like Reverge Labs's moxy, but I hate and loathe the design of this game. At least those dirty Japan only games about firing your hearts at little girls don't try to dress themselves up as a legitimate game or story. This just feels like it's one of the designers' fetishes or worse they think all fighting fanatics love looking at giant tits and mound at every waking moment like a bunch of neanderthals.

Lots of games do pander to this base attitude, but they usually just leave it to one or two characters and then might also give you a revealing dude as well to mix it up. Here, save for the cartoon girl, it's fucking peaches and melons day at the fruit stand and everything's half off.

WHY DO YOU HATE FUN?

Also, everybody buy this game. It is pure goodness of the highest degree made by and for people who care about fighting games.

Valentine looks like she's in a porn movie freaking hell, I thought they were just going to make them semi skimpy but nooo go full on! Konami probably made them do this :D, also PC please!

I am still absolutely not digging the "Slutmare Before Christmas" vibe this game seems to be going for. Is there anyone who finds these character designs appealing?

It's like they saw Mileena and decided, "We want an entire game of that, except with more of a knock-off anime aesthetic."

Seriously, who is this for?

@onan said:

Seriously, who is this for?

People who want to play a good fighting game. And newcomers to fighting games in general, considering the comprehensive training modes and mechanics like the "anti-infinite" system.

@onan said:

Seriously, who is this for?

Me. :D

All for me.

I like the girl who can detach her head.

Hopefully they have her work that into some combos or supers.

The art style doesn't matter to me. This could be the first fighting game where I can actually get more than a beginner's grasp on the mechanics, and that excites me.

@Vigorousjammer said:

I like the girl who can detach her head.

Hopefully they have her work that into some combos or supers.

Ms. Fortune can do both of those things. At least one of her supers has a different animation depending on whether the head is attached or not at the time. You also have control over the head when it is detached for all sorts of mixups and unconventional strategies. :)

@HerbieBug said:

@Vigorousjammer said:

I like the girl who can detach her head.

Hopefully they have her work that into some combos or supers.

Ms. Fortune can do both of those things. At least one of her supers has a different animation depending on whether the head is attached or not at the time. You also have control over the head when it is detached for all sorts of mixups and unconventional strategies. :)

Oh man! a detached head stance?! That's so fucking awesome, especially in 2D.

I'm liking to character designs all around, really. People need to stop complaining about the weird little sexual things in the game. Is it odd? Yes... but, not any more-so than any other fighting game. It's to be expected from the genre, really.

@Goldanas said:

Panty-shots, tits, and sexual suggestion: the game!

"But wait! That guy put his hands all over her, and she punched him. She's assertive!"

Nah, it's pandering, regardless of how you dress it up.

So? Are games... not allowed to be pandering? Some people would argue that games like this destroy the legitimacy of the artform, but it's a load of bullocks. Films pander. Some of the greatest films pander (Tarantino's whole career, anyone?). Comics pander, almost all of them. In the long run, a handful of games are made like this every year that "pander" to the fetishistic, dirty side of gamers, and I don't know how it's a bad thing. I don't think I'll ever understand why it's okay to cater to the man-on-man violence crowd, but as soon as anything even remotely "sexually demeaning" (whatever the hell that means) people need to rise to arms before it sullies the name of videogames forever. It's... silly.

People complain about sexism all the time too. It's never the women, either. It's always men - critics - who complain about sexism in games. It's elitist and it's weird. "Oh, this game is demeaning to women!" Yeah? You standing up on women's behalf is demeaning to women too.

Honestly, this game looks incredibly fun and - well - harmless. It has a cute art style and seems like a solid fighter. It's not Dead or Alive-level pandering, it's no dirtier than a prime-time anime, and certainly seems more inventive and charming than that. If it offends you, that a game is released that "panders," go and play Bioshock or Deus Ex or whatever it is pro-games-are-art people playing nowadays.

Addendum: Games can pander to gun fetishists. Games can pander to car fetishists. Games can pander to explosion fetishists. But as soon as games pander to fetish fetishists, suddenly it's an issue...

@Andy_117: Wow. That's a pretty damn good stance on the issue. Certainly better than just yelling that it is or isn't pandering.

Art style is awesome, don't really understand what everyone is complaining about.

My lord, that was a painful video to listen to and watch

@Andy_117 said:

So? Are games... not allowed to be pandering? Some people would argue that games like this destroy the legitimacy of the artform, but it's a load of bullocks. Films pander. Some of the greatest films pander (Tarantino's whole career, anyone?). Comics pander, almost all of them. In the long run, a handful of games are made like this every year that "pander" to the fetishistic, dirty side of gamers, and I don't know how it's a bad thing. I don't think I'll ever understand why it's okay to cater to the man-on-man violence crowd, but as soon as anything even remotely "sexually demeaning" (whatever the hell that means) people need to rise to arms before it sullies the name of videogames forever. It's... silly.

People complain about sexism all the time too. It's never the women, either. It's always men - critics - who complain about sexism in games. It's elitist and it's weird. "Oh, this game is demeaning to women!" Yeah? You standing up on women's behalf is demeaning to women too.

Honestly, this game looks incredibly fun and - well - harmless. It has a cute art style and seems like a solid fighter. It's not Dead or Alive-level pandering, it's no dirtier than a prime-time anime, and certainly seems more inventive and charming than that. If it offends you, that a game is released that "panders," go and play Bioshock or Deus Ex or whatever it is pro-games-are-art people playing nowadays.

Addendum: Games can pander to gun fetishists. Games can pander to car fetishists. Games can pander to explosion fetishists. But as soon as games pander to fetish fetishists, suddenly it's an issue...

That's a Hell a lot of talk, a lot of which seems to ignore where I'm coming from.

I don't like it when games insult me as a male by relentlessly throwing sexuality in my face. I'm not "standing up for women", nor do I mention anywhere that it's "demeaning". I don't even mention games as art. You quoted my post and talked about a lot of stuff that I made no mention of. If you want to go on a rant about that stuff, that's fine and that's your opinion, just don't quote me in an accusatory launching point.

I think the pandering is insulting to men because it is so prevalent in media in general. It suggests that we as a sex (and as an age demographic as it turns out) aren't capable of enjoying anything that doesn't have cunt and nip in at least the first 15 minutes.

While I could bring up movies, comics, and all the shit you brought in, this is a video game board, and I just want to focus on the on-topic point. Apart from that, video games are a medium of their own and have no need to follow the suit of other forms of media.

What really has me incensed about this pandering, apart from everything I've mentioned is that you're right about the combat and style of play. It all looks fantastic and seems to be aimed to advance the community in a healthy manner. However, that amazing combat that is intelligently beyond the standards that Street Fighter and their clones adhere to is unfortunately wrapped in a horrendous affront to the audience that would probably most appreciate it. Instead of advancing, it panders.

"It's never the women, either. It's always men - critics - who complain about sexism in games." Goddamn, dude, suggesting that woman don't care about how they are portrayed in games is incredibly fucking ignorant. You want to talk about insulting, man, holy shit.

I'm probably just getting all pissy for nothing. You were probably just using absolutes to express your distaste for general liberal prevalence in media, which is a fair notion (it's your opinion), but just be more careful with how you wish to express your point.

Anyway, man, if you get off to this style, more power to you. It's not my thing. It's not my fetish. You want to know what my fetish is? Smart and relatable women that are complex and interesting and don't necessarily have a romantic relationship portrayed in the story or necessarily show any skin.

Oh, yeah, that shit gets me hard.

@Andy_117: I'm all for smut in my videogames, but there's a chick in this game that looks like Betty Boop with no eyes in her head, but arms made of eyes. It's like the polar opposite of titillating.

If you're going to pander, pander. Just don't put in the girl from The Ring in lingerie and call it a day.

If it's your thing, whatever, but I always avoid games that are just naked girls doing w/e. It isn't offensive to me, but it does turn me away from the game, every single time. Also, pandering happens yes, but it's just so blatant, it makes it gross. Just like Ivy in soul caliber games. If a game is great, then it should stand on it's own merits.

Those hips are just way too much for me! I don't think my body is ready...

Where's my skull! girl!

@onan said:

Seriously, who is this for?

Women, at least according to the developer.

"Our lead animator is a woman," Bartholow told Eurogamer. "She intentionally lavishes attention on the breasts herself because she thinks it's cool. All the people who seem bothered by it are guys. It's a weird chivalry intent thing that's sort of misplaced and maybe shallow, even, because they see breasts and panty flashes and they go, that's sexist, but I've yet to meet a woman who has complained about it.

I'm not going to get into the whole sexism/pandering debate as I don't have any strong opinions on it, but I really really don't like the art style on a purely visual level. Things I've heard about the mechanics and design philosophy sound smart, and the fights seem to move well, but I'm not going to buy a game I don't like to look at.

Can't wait for this, looks great. Plus its being made by a bunch of people who get fighting games.

Boobs

@Vigorousjammer said:

@HerbieBug said:

@Vigorousjammer said:

I like the girl who can detach her head.

Hopefully they have her work that into some combos or supers.

Ms. Fortune can do both of those things. At least one of her supers has a different animation depending on whether the head is attached or not at the time. You also have control over the head when it is detached for all sorts of mixups and unconventional strategies. :)

Oh man! a detached head stance?! That's so fucking awesome, especially in 2D.

I'm liking to character designs all around, really. People need to stop complaining about the weird little sexual things in the game. Is it odd? Yes... but, not any more-so than any other fighting game. It's to be expected from the genre, really.

@Goldanas:

Did you ever stop to consider that the art style in this game may not be derived from a desire to appeal to a specific audience? You wrongly assume the style is the way that it is purely for the purpose of consumer titillation. You say that it is pandering, but don't take into account the lead artist's (Alex Ahad) portfolio. Ahad is all about sexy girls and monsters and combinations of the two. His portfolio revolves around those subjects, I assume, because that's what he likes to draw. It isn't about trying to appeal to a particular audience or trying to boost sales. There is a big difference between this, and say, Capcom's treatment of Jill Valentine in the latest batch of Resident Evil games. Artistic intent is an important consideration to whether something fits the label of pandering.

@Jerr said:

Boobs

Some of these comments ..Haha.

This is what happens to kids when they're sheltered by soccer moms and raised by wanna-be hard-ass conservative dads. I would be scared if I wasn't too busy laughing my ass off. One of the animators is a girl too? Wow. Seriously, the haters in here need to loosen up and grow a pair.

Game looks awesome btw.

Some of you act like you've never seen anime before.

Yep people still bitching about sexuality in video games, same old story.

@Goldanas: I agree with you. On most points. I bring up other mediums because they aren't usually judged for their smut, but videogames almost always are; it feels a weird double-standard that gaming needs "defending" from these sort of things. And I bought up the sexism thing because, well, you hadn't really made clear what you meant by "pandering," so I thought I'd cover all bases. If it doesn't apply to you, then that's fine. ...I really should have said it's usually only males that rise up against female sexism, this does seem to often be the case, I didn't mean it to come off like women don't care about being objectified, and I apologize.

I don't get off on this style. And I don't actually think this game is anywhere near as smutty as either we, or it, thinks it is. I certainly see the point, but this is a rather prevalent sub-genre and it'll find a home with many people who will either really dig the style, or just not care. And I agree that videogames as a whole need to evolve; there are issues with the way we both make and judge games that need to be addressed here. But a niche, downloadable fighter doing these sort of things is really no cause for panic or complaint.

Thanks for taking your time to respond though, I really feel like this is a debate that needs to be had.

@HerbieBug: I had typed out a modest reply that conceded to your point, but I accidentally navigated away from the page before I posted it. It mentioned how I should have researched the dude beforehand, and how you're right about intent, but all the same he likes naked chicks similarly to just about all heterosexual dudes: it's a basic instinct. I'm sure the designers dig how broad an appeal the base application gives them. I'm sure the controversy helps out a fucking ton, as well.

Of course, there's always the issue of saying, "oh it's all okay now: a dude drew it, sure, but a chick animated it!", but fuck, this is video games. I don't want to get into a whole semantics argument over an aspect of the game I don't even think is there. Sexism was never there to begin with.

But the artist still wants it to be "sexy". There are many ways to be sexy, and his version is bigass tatas and warm, plump mounds on absolutely every playable character in the game save for one or two.

If "pandering" has a negative connotation that one may find derisive, I could just say that it appeals to a desire for physical sexuality through ample display of mammaries and genitalia.

Now it's collegiate and upclass.

@Andy_117 Yeah, I wasn't very clear in that first post. I suppose my angst in this subject merely stems from a desire to see games evolve in the way that films and television already have, and then surpass them. And you're right, it's not that smutty. It is certainly not pornagraphic, and for the most part the characters don't sexualize themselves, though they are themselves sexualized. It's that very fine, cryptic divide that makes the style acceptable in the first place. I still don't care for it, and find it irksome, but there is nothing "politically" or "artistically" wrong with it in the least.

That's some pretty detailed ass and face grabbing there, I had to pause the video to take it all in.

Honestly, I don't care if this looks like a solid fighting game. I loathe the art style and the whole aesthetic it goes for.

This game looks and sounds bloody cool

It's ridiculous how people are crucifying this game for over-sexualizing the characters when that's a huge issue of the entire industry. If you're gonna get up on that soapbox over this game then make sure you boycott/bash the 90 other games pulling the same shit otherwise piss off.

@Goldanas: Just a quick question. What if the designer was a girl and did it because she wants to draw that way? I ask because my own girlfriend is a talented artist and one of her favorite things to draw is women because she thinks the woman body is beutiful even though she is hetero. She can draw everything from classy and dressed up stuff to sexy stuff. If she get's to decide if she should draw a man or a female she always prefers a female and that has nothing to do with pandering or sexual preferences. it's just what she likes doing.

And just to be clear. I also really like it when characters, male or females have depth and are depicted strong but is not really a bad thing if the artist want to make them attractive (or way crazy in this case!), it doesen't have to be someone with an angenda everytime.

@MormonWarrior:

I don't care much at all for anything about this game except the artstyle.