The world of fighting games is wild. You have events like Evo that feature the likes of Tekken, Street Fighter, and even Dragon Ball Z on huge stages in arenas full of people, broadcast on multiple channels, and raking in thousands of dollars and more in brand visibility. But at the same time, there?s a group of dudes ignoring the main events and running sets of Melty Blood in their hotel bathroom with several different controllers and probably some illicit substances. The audiences for fighting games is diverse and wonderfully weird, and we?re living in an era in which just about anything can show up on a shelf or digital marketplace now. Earlier this year we had a small fighting game based on a pornographic version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, for goodness? sake. So now we have Blade Strangers, a game that looks like something a dedicated group of fans made in their spare time to flex on MUGEN nerds but is actually an officially licensed crossover fighter. It?s even pretty good! Go for Broke
Indie games aren?t just a risky way to break into the industry or make millions of dollars on Kickstarter that get absorbed by backer reward shipping costs. They also have this strange, interesting fandom that has come to treat many of the major, well-known titles as an almost Marvel-like collective. This is enabled in part by many games, such as Super Meat Boy or Runner 2 for example, featuring playable character cameos of each other. Publisher Nicalis has managed to, with ...