Technically, it wouldn't be so niche if the games weren't so niche.
Many of us have simply outgrown them because they haven't changed in three decades. The input lag has been reduced and the graphics have improved, but they're the exact same games we've played since the 1990s.
I've recently been replaying Mortal Kombat 9 and Virtua Fighter 5, and by far, Virtua Fighter 5 is the most polished-playing 3D fighter ever made, and that game came out 20 years ago!
In 20 years, there has been approximately ZERO innovations in the fighting game space. It's the exact same thing, over, and over, and over again.
I think a lot more people would be interested in fighting games maybe resembled fight scenes in movies, or properly rekindled classics like the Shaw Bros., films. Indie titles like Wu-Tang vs Shaolin 2 is a neat entry, but even it is more about the novelty of heroic martial artists doing battle than anything innovative.
Sega rolled out a pretty cool concept video for the upcoming Virtua Fighter that does kind of play into what I was talking about, making the fights look like they come out of movies, but I doubt the actual game will be anything remotely close to that.
In Riot's case, they basically took yet another tired old concept and threw League of Legends characters into the game and expected it to carry on brand name alone. At least Diesel Legacy had the gumption to try a multi-lane system and had some innovations in the story mode for different characters. From what I've seen of Riot's fighting game, it had absolutely nothing new about its design.
Technically, it wouldn't be so niche if the games weren't so niche.
Many of us have simply outgrown them because they haven't changed in three decades. The input lag has been reduced and the graphics have improved, but they're the exact same games we've played since the 1990s.
I've recently been replaying Mortal Kombat 9 and Virtua Fighter 5, and by far, Virtua Fighter 5 is the most polished-playing 3D fighter ever made, and that game came out 20 years ago!
In 20 years, there has been approximately ZERO innovations in the fighting game space. It's the exact same thing, over, and over, and over again.
I think a lot more people would be interested in fighting games maybe resembled fight scenes in movies, or properly rekindled classics like the Shaw Bros., films. Indie titles like Wu-Tang vs Shaolin 2 is a neat entry, but even it is more about the novelty of heroic martial artists doing battle than anything innovative.
Sega rolled out a pretty cool concept video for the upcoming Virtua Fighter that does kind of play into what I was talking about, making the fights look like they come out of movies, but I doubt the actual game will be anything remotely close to that.
In Riot's case, they basically took yet another tired old concept and threw League of Legends characters into the game and expected it to carry on brand name alone. At least Diesel Legacy had the gumption to try a multi-lane system and had some innovations in the story mode for different characters. From what I've seen of Riot's fighting game, it had absolutely nothing new about its design.