Is there a place for SFV: Arcade Edition's King Of Fighters-Like Mode?
By Jeff Kotuby ·
Street Fighter V has followed the same rule as all of the prior entries: One vs. one. With the addition of the Team Battle mode, players are having to change up their entire style and outlook on the game.
When Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition was announced, it brought along with it a number of new features, including a Team Battle mode. One interesting stipulation the mode possesses is the ability for characters to recover green and gray health based on a number of conditions. This bears a striking resemblance to the King of Fighters series, where teams of three battle in one-on-one combat, and the winning character recovers a bit of health before the next round starts.
I think an interesting side tournament would be to take advantage of this KoF-style game mode and challenge players to battle each other in three-versus-three combat, similar to Dragon Ball FighterZ. For now, it’s the closest thing to Capcom vs. SNK 2 we’ll have for (what we assume is) some time, so why not give it a try? After all, we’re getting Blanka and Sagat back, and along with Bison, that would give us a top-tier CvS2 team right there!
A KoF style Street Fighter V tournament would force character loyalists like Tokido, Itabashi, and Daigo to use multiple characters and see if their skills translate. It would potentially reveal an interesting list of side characters from players, like maybe a pocket F.A.N.G. or Ed? It would also potentially benefit players who use multiple characters at a high level, like Infiltration and Poongko, who would be able to use their three characters at a similarly high level, unlike others who might see a drop off in skill and execution when getting to their other characters.
Now, like Street Fighter IV’s Omega mode, this probably won’t catch on without some serious financial backing, but it might be a fun tournament to have at some high-stress majors as a way to unwind. I asked some members of the fighting game community (FGC) and found their opinions to be pretty split down the middle - some were in favor, some thought it was silly.
“I think it would be interesting, but I’m not sure how many people would participate,” said one anonymous FGC member. “I think the novelty would wear off pretty quickly.” Another member felt the opposite, saying it would, “be pretty exciting and challenging” to see players use three separate characters, rather than just one.
For more on fighting games, read here about how loyal fighting game players can be to their chosen characters.