They also may not be able to relate to the intense passion that the devs clearly feel for the under-the-hood, nuts and bolts that make the genre tick. Not every casual player will get all the subtle (or not so subtle) reference in these games. That knowledge and passion for the genre can be a double-edged sword. The kids who grew up playing, and eventually mastering, the fighting games of the 90’s and 00’s are now old enough to make games themselves.

In a lot of ways, Skullgirls, Divekick, Yatagarasu, and a few others recent releases are emblematic of distinctly modern approach to fighting game development, as they all have tournament level players of other fighting games on their dev teams. With an innovative combat engine spearheaded by top tier BlazBlue expert Mike Z, animation direction by Mariel Cartwright, and world and character design by Alex Ahad, the game has rightfully found a large and passionate audience since it was first released a few years ago.

Skullgirls is one of my favorite fighting games ever.