Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Assemble! - Fighting Game Archetype Roster - The Dancer



This is Assemble, where we look at several different characters across multiple series to form a perfect team-up. Whatever the case may be, whether it’s a fighting game roster or an RPG adventuring party, we’ll find the best team for the job. In a change of style from the more long-form articles featured here, these articles will be shorter entries, focusing on one or two characters each, and spread out over time until the complete roster is formed.



What would a fighting game be without a roster of several different, powerful, and engaging characters? In this batch of articles for Assemble, we will be assembling a fighting game roster using characters from several different fighting games based on different character archetypes.

The picks will be based on where the characters fit in terms of game mechanics and their place in the story and world of the game. Only characters that originated in fighting games will be observed here. That means no guest characters, no licensed fighting games (unless their roster includes original characters), and no crossover titles. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games or characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss all the fighting games out there, there should be at least some variety from just the major titles.


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THE DANCER


Fighting may be serious business to most, but to this fighter, it can seem like a party.

The Dancer is a fighter whose style of combat looks more like dancing than traditional fighting. They may be a practitioner of capoeira, which is a real martial art from Brazil that was designed to look like dancing or they may be a raver or b-boy translating their dance style into fighting moves, but these kinds of fighters make moving to the rhythm a viable martial art.

Our choice for the Dancer is…

Tiger Jackson from Tekken.

As stated before, a fighter can count as the Dancer if they are a capoeira practioner and that’s what Tiger is, being based on Tekken mainstay Eddy Gordo. Capoeria is a fighting style that uses a lot of kicks, flips, and big movements and those who use this style tend to be very quick and agile. When in a match, it is very easy to chain combos together as Tiger or Eddy. So easy, in fact, that some people say they’re cheap characters. Even their “idle” animations have them moving from side to side.

What gives Tiger this spot over Eddy is their appearance. With his colorful disco-themed outfit (that even lights up in some games), big sunglasses, and large afro, Tiger looks more ready to bust a move than bust some faces. His opening animation in some games like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 even literally has him dancing.

For being a character that is all about movement, agility, and fast footwork, both in the arena and on the dance floor, we now add Tiger Jackson to the roster.


ADDED!


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Honorable Mention: Eddy Gordo from Tekken

We already talked a bit about Eddy Gordo and while a character who could be stated as a palette swap got mentioned above him in our hypothetical roster, his role in his home series should not be understated. As a quick-moving and quick-hitting character, Eddy has been a recurring character for several of the Tekken games. As a more serious character to Tiger’s “just-for-fun” inclusion, Eddy has clear motivations and relations with other principle characters in the series.

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming.

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