Let talk about the second most popular genre in Ghana
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Fighting Games are a genre that have been around and enjoyed since the the very first 2-player fighting game Heaveyweight Champ, made by SEGA in 1976. The idea of a person or 2+ people fighting has been a basic human concept that was successfully channeled from the streets, neighborhoods and sports into videogames where people, less or more inclined to physically knock a person’s head off, can do so in safety and awe of what they are capable of with a joystick, few buttons and the right combination of timing and movesets to wipe the floor with your opponents and turning you into a ‘mini god of these electronic taverns called arcades’ or king of the neighborhood.
One of the first fighting games I remember getting started on was Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game seemed so life-like I couldn’t believe it. To watch these almost human-like characters (and the non-humans…looking at you Mutaro) pull off insane moves at the touch of a combination of buttons…I just HAD to try it! Of course I had my frantically-button-mashing-ass handed to me over and over and over (and over) again, but I persevered.
Would go to the gods of the internet to seek help and I was blessed with move sets and button sets to use that guided me to bloody victory! This was good, of course, until someone better came along and used a character most people did not bother giving a second look and would then proceed to slay me and whosoever deemed themselves part of my “MK possy”. Then it was back to the gods with an offering of money and data (an internet cafe) to look for the antidote to my sub-optimal skill in order to bring about my new opponent’s downfall.
Street Fighter was another popular franchise of genre, but second to Mortal Kombat. With characters that often shouted their specials, a lot of kids found a number of characters memorable just for that (and especially cos the noises made were more audible to players at the time, compared to the epileptic screaming of MK characters). Sure we mispronounced a lot of the moves, but who gives a *Sh-oryuuken*!? It was awesome shouting the move’s name just as it cleared the last of your opponent’s life meter! LOL
The fighting game genre holds a place of high esteem in Ghana and almost any gamer you meet has a game they are ‘good’ at or would prefer challenging people on. There are the few who prefer to be benchers and watch the glory of Guilty Gear or DragonBall FighterZ unfold before their eyes instead and would scream louder than the players involved themselves, but that’s just how much the thought of throwing your opponent into electronic dirt is loved. The limited number of eSports Tournament’s hosted in the country is built on the technical glory of these games and continues to be the go-to genre for many organizers and event holders.
The insanely technical nature of certain fighting games (such as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken) compared to comparatively less technical fighter games (such as Super Smash Bros, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm and Dragonball Xenoverse) make them a preferred measure of testing how good any gamers are in the genre. A diversification would be greatly appreciated though, allowing other fighting enthusiast that fall in the less technical part of the genre could have their moment to shine, similar to how EVO Tournaments had players shine with the Super Smash Bros game series.
GGN will continue to keep an eye out and watch as the fighting game scene in Ghana continues to evolve. Now go out there and dish out some Combos, Perfect Blocks, Parries, Brutalities and Ultimates!
Ready….FIGHT!!!
