Sirlin on Game Design, Podcast Episode 12: Easy Special Moves (Patreon)

This episode is about fighting games that want to make special moves easier to do. Whether that's good or bad isn't really the main focus of the episode, it's more about what it means at all.

What is a game with "easy special moves" actually trying to do? Moves being easy—in and of itself—tells you nothing about whether the techniques and combos in a game are easy to do or not. Examples from Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur 5, Smash Bros (including a plea for modders to make Sirlin a mod with simpler controls for Smash), Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 4, Rising Thunder, and Fantasy Strike.

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