Electric Underground Podcast

Electric Underground Podcast

By Mark MSXLeisure
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Electric Underground Podcast episodes

  • Are Fighting Games Improving? EVO 2023 Extensive Discussion with Quash (Guilty Gear XX Player)

    Are Fighting Games Improving? EVO 2023 Extensive Discussion with Quash

    (Guilty Gear XX Player).
    In today's epic video, Quash and I discuss the past, present, and future
    of fighting games, leading up to our thoughts on EVO 2023. And for the
    first time in a long time, I'm actually interested and excited to watch
    it this year. As of late I have been playing a lot more Tekken and
    Virtua Fighter, but I'm also interested in a lot of games being played.
    We go over our thoughts an avalanche of topics, such as: The decline and
    future of 3D fighting games, Sales vs Tournament entries, Steam Charts
    vs Tournament entries, the homogenization of game mechanics, the
    importance of netcode for upcoming pro players, sluggish UI Design, the
    issues with online Matchmaking, the function of rank modes and why they
    need fixed, Differences in perception in JP and NA scenes, is the EVO
    gladiator format still the best, or should they start to look more into
    leagues? The Final Year of Tekken 7, should Marvel happen every year,
    the sleeping giant that is the Street Fighter IP, the uncertain fate of
    Project L, the importance of graphical presentation, my love and concern
    for Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive, and so much more.
    The games and tournaments we discussed are:
    Street Fighter 6 - 7k entrants
    Guilty Gear -Strive- 2.4k entrants
    Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate - 449 entrants
    Tekken 7 - 1.5k entrants
    The King of Fighters XV - 666 entrants
    Melty Blood: Type Lumina - 554 entrants
    Dragon Ball FighterZ - 838 entrants
    Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 - 1.3k entrants


    5 hr 45 min
  • Shmups VS Speedrunning, Natural Vs. Fan-Made Meta | Ft. @neoxaquas

    Shmups VS Speedrunning, Natural Vs. Fan-Made Meta | Ft. @neoxaquas .

    Today's topic has been a subject that has fascinated me for a long time,
    the difference between shmup scoreplay meta and speedrunning time meta.
    What's interesting is that for a long time, I've heard speedrunners
    talk about scoreplay in the tone of an outdated style of competitive
    design. Like if you watch the history of speedrunning video by Karl
    Jobst, he describes score play as essentially the ooze from which the
    glory of speedrunning was born. This makes some sense if you only look
    at speedrunning from their community perspective. However, over the
    years I have become more skeptical of community / fan made meta (see my
    discussion of the subject with the Crimson Blur about Melee) and in
    today's video I am joined by Aquas who is the perfect guest on the topic
    as he has world records in both speedrunning and shmup score play (a
    rare accomplishment!). We cover a variety of fun topics, including his
    world record progression in Pink Sweets, and the heart of the
    conversation for me is what are the strengths and weaknesses of fan-made
    meta, like speedrunning, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of
    natural built in meta like scoreplay. In the end, I find that I greatly
    prefer the natural meta of scoreplay (and fighting game tournament play)
    because it is less arbitrary and prone to manipulation from fellow
    players and outside forces (besides the developer). However, this
    doesn't mean that I don't think speedrunning in itself isn't a cool
    idea, and I even offer what I think is the best solution for the issue
    in the form of what M2 Shottriggers have been doing with their shmup
    ports. Imagine if Nintendo actually put some care into their wave of
    ports and re-releases, and included speedrunning modes and leader boards
    in their ports. Also I love that Aquas brought up how heavily nostalgia
    plays into a speedrun game's popularity, because there are tons of
    speedruns that I think could be fascinating (Dead to Rights Super Cop),
    but sadly the non-nostalgic games tend to be extremely under-explored.
    That being said, there are also issues that can rise up from relying
    solely on the natural meta of a game, like Battle Garegga and its
    infinite milk, so again I think this is where having robust ports with
    patches really smooths out a lot of issues, other wise competitive score
    play is going to rely very heavily on replay analysis and community
    leader boards and we've seen enough "I GOT A CHEATED RUN PAST THE MODS!"
    vids for a lifetime.


    1 hr 9 min
  • The Crimson Blur, Has Smash Melee Sabotaged Itself?

    The Crimson Blur, Has Smash Melee Sabotaged Itself?This is a FANTASTIC

    Conversation, even if you aren't plugged into Melee we discuss a lot of
    relevant topics about game design and competitive integrity. In today's
    episode,  @TheCrimsonBlur 
    and I talk about the current state of Super Smash Bros Melee and have
    an open conversation about many of my thoughts and critiques of how
    things are going in competitive Smash right now. I have followed Melee
    for over a decade now and in this time I think the scene has become
    increasingly insular and unable to see some of its decisions and ideas
    from an outside perspective, so I think if you are a fan of Melee or not
    this conversation is going to be a breath of fresh air outside the
    usual talking points that you hear repeated on Twitter and on streams
    over and over.
    We cover a lot of subjects, but some of the main topics are: Who is
    Melee's REAL father? As I feel Sakurai is heavily over-creddited for the
    creation of what we love about Smash 64 and Melee. The nature of Melee
    as being a community made meta, rather than a natural meta, and how this
    leads to a lot of more radical decisions when it comes to rule sets
    (even going so far as to modify the game itself). I talk about the
    current culture of smash, that obsesses over the e-celeb aspects of its
    players and personalities, but largely ignores the actual tournament
    organizers and people who support the scene's infrastructure. Of course
    we touch on the Nintendo vs Melee community controversy and I share my
    thoughts on how the community should study Nintendo's motivations more,
    rather than always relying on social media and fan backlash to protect
    itself (which I do not believe will work forever). We talk about the
    recent ruleset changes to ban wobbling and add edge grab limits, and how
    I feel that these rule changes are reactionary and targeted, rather
    than being a fair case of assessing outliers in a ruleset.
    Then there is the sanctioned cheating that is occurring in the ruleset
    in terms of allowing macros and input processing in the Smash Box as
    well as the Goomwave. I explain my philosophy behind genuine hardware
    mods (physical mods) vs cheating mods (introduction of electronics and
    input processing) and remind the world that Blur, many years ago,
    predicted these issues but was ignored.
    Follow Blur at: https://twitter.com/OXY_Crimson
    Awesome thumbnail by  @boghogSTG 

    3 hr 32 min
  • The Tragedy Of Fighting Games.

    The Tragedy Of Fighting Games. Perhaps a spicy video, but I think it's

    important to keep it real (sometimes). Today I am talking about one of
    my favorite video game genres of all time, fighting games. Fighting
    games are in my top three alongside shmups and beat em' ups. I have been
    playing fighting games in a competitive and then semi-competitive since
    around 2010 or so, so I've been around and plugged into the genre for a
    long time. Today I am discussing what I like to call the tragedy of
    fighting games, in that no matter how good a fighting game is, no matter
    how much the player base loves that individual game, all fighting games
    are doomed to an early appointment with the grim reaper. Even games
    that have longstanding player bases like Super Smash Bros Melee and
    Street Fighter 3, Third Strike (or even Street Fighter 2, Super Turbo)
    cannot continue onward into future generations and be played in a full
    competitive manner. What I mean is that just being able to match make in
    a game every now and then is not good enough. In reality most fighting
    games are only intensely explored and played during a five year window
    or so, and then that game is put aside for the next iteration of the
    series.
    What I find tragic about this though, in the literal sense of the word,
    is that this fate is inescapable from what I have observed. No matter
    what approach a developer or fan base take, the end of the game being
    played at full capacity seems fated. I go into specific detail of why
    this is in the video.
    So this video is not meant to be a critique or warning against the
    genre, but rather a somber celebration of what makes the genre so
    special and also, ultimately, tragic.
    I thought it would be fun to discuss this video in light of the upcoming
    releases of Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. At this point I am fully
    planning on playing Tekken 8 unless it is some kind of abomination, and
    my interest in the Street Fighter franchise as it is currently being
    made is gone. But I think I will review and discuss both games here on
    the channel as I think that will be interesting, as fighting game
    reviews from impartial experienced players are rather rare. I also am
    really into Guilty Gear XX Accent Core right now as well as DOA, so I
    plan on doing some vids about those games in the future as well
    Thumbnail made by me this time! Though  @boghogSTG  still helped with advice on how to touch it up.

    36 min
  • GAME CRITIQUE IS DEAD: Why Reviewers SHOULD Be Skilled Players | The Definitive Discussion

    GAME CRITIQUE IS DEAD: Why Reviewers SHOULD Be Skilled Players | The Definitive Discussion. Today is a very special video where  @boghogSTG 

    and I discuss the current (and awful) state of video game reviews and
    critique. This isn't just a bunch of empty complaining, however (at
    least I hope so). Instead we discuss the nature of what is good
    critique, what is the role of the critic vs reviewer, what forces
    influence critics and reviewers, both conscious and unconscious. We also
    make our strongest case for why video game reviewers SHOULD be skilled
    players, why this is an important value a critic should strive for, and
    how being a skilled player not only improves reviews, but also is an
    important asset for game developers as well. We also get into the topic
    of access journalism that we see IGN and the major game publishers
    engaging in (such as IGN infamously "forgetting" to review Cyber Punk
    2077) and how the video game review space has more in common with the
    Yakuza than it does open artistic discourse. Sphere Hunter may be
    invited to Capcom events, but she's not at the IGN level of access to be
    allowed to review the game before the release date. Imagine all the
    NDA's that level of access would involve.
    Talking about IGN, eurogamer, Polygon, Kotaku, and Gamespot is one
    thing, but we also get into what is the role of the youtuber in this
    equation and how even if the youtuber is not directly being contacted by
    game publishers, he is still being indirectly shaped by the marketing
    of AAA games and their vocal fan bases. As a result, we see a cyclical
    trend of hype marketing around releases like Resident Evil 4 Remake, The
    Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (and soon to be Tears of the
    Kingdom), and Bayonetta 3, where all the reviews are going to fall in
    line with the marketing. And if you are more critical of these games
    during their release window, prepare to be hit by the hype train, which
    is not going to be a fun experience. As a result, I think we've seen a
    shift in the youtubing meta away from the over the top reviews that we
    saw in the Angry Video Game Nerd era of gaming youtube. Instead, we are
    now in the fluf**** era, where youtubers take games that are already
    hyped and highly anticipated, and then just dial the hype levels up even
    higher (as we see on Maxamillion Dood's channel). So now all average
    games are *amazing* and all good games are modern masterpieces.

    2 hr 34 min
  • JRPG Is NOT Discrimination and Why Genre Terms Matter (NOT POLITICAL)

    JRPG Is NOT Discrimination and Why Genre Terms Matter (NOT POLITICAL).

    All bad ideas seem to spring from RPGs, am I right ;-) Today I am
    discussing this viral topic of how Game Journalists are pushing for the
    genre term "JRPG" to be discontinued and why I think this phenomenon is
    happening. Additionally, I am making this video because I do think that
    accurate and objective genre terms are really important for
    communication, review, discussion, and especially discovery. Genre is
    how most players find new games that they like, and that having a
    natural network of games that share a core design is EXTREMELY
    important, no matter what my fellow hipster millennials say about living
    in a post genre world. So I am making this video because I find
    discussions of genre really interesting and how this trend of making
    regional based discussion of games some kind of taboo is very
    short-sighted and ultimately pointless. Also I explain that the term
    JRPG is not purely a regional description, it is an artistic movement
    just like German Expressionism. So a developer who is not from Japan can
    also make a JRPG, and a Japanese developer can make a western role
    playing game as well, it's about design composition, not nationality.
    Once again this whole discussion is mostly about giving people who
    consider themselves industry insiders some kind of artificial authority
    and credibility without having to discuss games and their actual game
    play mechanics or design.


    22 min
  • The History Of Beat Em' Ups - Part 2 (AVP Invented Character Action!)

    The History Of Beat Em' Ups - Part 2 (AVP Invented Character Action).

    The extensive history of one the greatest video game genres, Beat em'
    Ups, continues with our expert guest Kriegor! And we tackle the 90's
    golden era titles! In today's video we talk about the golden era of the
    genre (in my opinion) and we even see the birth of the mechanics and
    design that would go on to define "character action" and action rpg
    games like Dark Souls, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Godhand,
    Resident Evil 4, and so many more! What's great about today's discussion
    is that we are not just giving out release dates and behinds the scenes
    facts, what we are doing is heavily diving into the design and
    mechanics of the games and tracing the genre's design philosophy and
    evolution over the years, which I find deeply fascinating. If you are a
    fan of action games, character action, beat em' ups, and gaming I think
    this vid has a lot of fantastic insights that even I didn't know until
    talking to Kriegor.


    1 hr 7 min
  • UNPROFITABLE CONTENT: Why CAVE Doesn't Make Arcade Shoot Em' Ups Anymore :-(

    UNPROFITABLE CONTENT: Why CAVE Doesn't Make Arcade Shoot Em' Ups Anymore

    :-( Today I am digging into a question that has come up ever since I
    began playing shoot em' ups (shmups) as to how CAVE went from the "most
    prolific" shooter developer of all time (according to Guinness World
    Records) to a studio that hasn't made a new arcade game in the past
    decade. It's going to be a very long, depressing, and interesting
    journey and today I am doing my best to sort through all the public
    information I can come across. Most of the data is from financial
    reports that CAVE make to their shareholders, but I also dug through
    VGcharts to see the sales data of the Xbox 360 era releases (a high
    point in most bullet hell players minds). ONE IMPORTANT NOTE is that I
    do not claim that the information we review in this analysis is 100%
    accurate. @boghogstg and I did our best to sort through and analyze all
    the scattered information we could, but these reports are very difficult
    to interpret and then there could be all these crazy unknown factors
    that we aren't even aware of. However, I did do the best I could to
    cross verify the information we came to with stock value data and so
    forth. So if you watch this video and have more accurate information,
    please post in the comments and I'm going to make a pinned comments that
    compiles all updated info.
    For those new to CAVE, their famous games include: Dodonpachi, Guwange,
    Ketsui, Deathsmiles, Mushihimesama, Futari, Esp. Ra. De., Espgaluda,
    Dangun Feveron, Progear, Akai Katana, SaiDaiOujou, DaiOuJou, Dodonpachi
    Ressurection, and many more! Same CAVE didn't follow a touhou model, but
    that's the topic of another video.
    Link to raw data: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BPKoII4JKHGMlpAPkDHInKEsEbxZWot1


    54 min
  • You're NOT Too OLD to Play Difficult Games!

    You are NOT Too OLD to Play Difficult Games! Ever since I have started

    this channel and have covered difficult arcade genres like Shoot Em' Ups
    (shmups), Beat Em' Ups, Fighting Games, and Run N' Guns, I often notice
    in the comments section that many people will say that they can
    appreciate the difficulty and challenge of these video games, but sadly
    the are just TOO OLD to be able to keep up with them. Reaction times are
    often cited in these comments as well. In today's video I wanted to
    engage in a bit of a rant/pep talk with this mentality because I do not
    think it is actually accurate. Skill in these genres comes from many
    different areas such as visualization, mental planning, the ability to
    think abstractly, practice, experience, the study of routes and
    mechanics, and the development of automatic responses that don't require
    "frame perfect" execution. It is my hope that this video will help
    players who are stuggling against the difficulty walls of these genres
    break through them and enjoy the purest experience that these games have
    to offer. If you enjoy this topic and want to learn more, but sure to
    check out my "How to Shmup" tutorial series in the playlist.


    18 min
  • The History of Beat Em' Ups (Part 1 - The Pre-Final Fight Era 1980-1989)

    The History of Beat Em' Ups (Part 1 - The Pre-Final Fight Era  1980-1989). Beat Em' Ups is one of my favorite genres of gaming.  However, the history of this arcade staple isn't really widely known or  discussed. Today I am joined by Kriegor, a man who knows a ton about the  genre's history in detail, and we go through the first era Beat Em Ups,  the Pre-Final Fight Era. We have termed this era "Pre-Final Fight"  becuase, as we discuss at the end of the video, this Capcom classic  CHANGED EVERYTHING. Which is crazy to think about how important Capcom  is for the arcade genres. Not only did they define the fighting game  genre with Street Fighter 2, but they also defined the Beat Em' Up  formula with Final Fight 1. The games we discuss in this episode are:  Samuraï, Swashbuckler, Spartan X, Nekketsu Koha Kunio-Kun, Double  Dragon, The Ninja Warriors, P.O.W.: Prisoners of War, Ninja Gaiden,  Golden Axe, Dynasty Wars, River City Randsom, Teenage Mutant Ninja  Turtles, Crime Fighters, and FINAL FIGHT! I'm not sure how many of these are availible on modern consoles like  Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox, or Steam (PC), but I imagine a good  many :-) I know Final Fight is in the Capcom Beat Em' Up Collection,  which is pretty sweet!

    55 min

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