No, this isn’t the most mind-boggling team up of all time. This is an example entry for this month’s Bitmob Writing Challenge – This or That.  The prompt is to pick two games of the same genre and explain why you prefer one over the other.  For more ideas, check out this submissions list, as well as Brendon Morz’s article on Dante’s Inferno and God of War 3.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom – Ultimate All-Stars.  Both are fighting games that focus on fast game play and screen-covering special attacks. Both games have characters taken from or inspired by Japanese animation. Both share similar mechanics and design philosophy, and as a bonus my friends are willing to play both games.

So why do I like TVC, but not BlazBlue?

Who to Play?

Having a character you like to play as has a huge effect on the effort you put into learning a game. In TVC I use Casshan, an android with a robot dog and powerful combos. It’s satisfying to wade through an offense, finish my opponent off in two combos, and soak in a victory as Casshan pets his dog on screen. He isn’t the most dramatic design ever, but I like his efficiency and it took me a week to settle on using him.

On BlazBlue I’m still searching for a “main.” Originally I played as Litchi Faye-Ling, who switches between fighting with a staff and using martial arts, but I had trouble getting used to the two stances. Back then I thought my forte was using technical characters that were hard-to-learn, but I never got to a level that would actually impress people.

I then tried the masked swordsman Haku-men.  Haku-men uses the same game plan as Casshan, which is to get in close and destroy. However, Haku-men has the mobility of a shopping cart: He can move if he wants to with his air dash, but it’s usually very risky. Haku-man is also a pure close-range fighter, while Casshan’s dog and drill kicks give him at least some options at a distance. 

Currently I’m on main character Ragna The Bloodedge, who has more mobility than Haku-men at the expense of weaker damage and health.  I was really impressed by a Ragna player who won a tournament I watched online, but by then my interest in the game was almost zero.

Be Aggressive

Both TVC and BlazBlue encourage aggressive play, one more subtly than the other.  In TVC every character has one or two really damaging combos, and you can use your partner’s assist attack to continue combos or pressure the opponent. While this encourages offense, there are also characters like Saki who can use her beam cannon and grenades to create strong defensives.   

BlazBlue's characters have the same qualities as TVC, but the game itself is obsessed with punishing people for defense. Players get a damage penalty just for not attacking enough, and there’s also a tug-of-war guard meter that punishes you for blocking too much.  Fighting is hard enough without worrying if you’re playing the way the game wants you to.