This is fighting game slang that a few friends and I started using recently. The phrase refers to a character who has one or more of the following traits:
- Is generally more powerful than any other character (in the instance of some unlockable boss characters, especially).
- Has combos that do more damage than is reasonable for the trouble of pulling off the move.
- Is capable of, even when controlled by an unskilled player, beating an experienced player.
- Is, even if terrible, played by more people than any other character (this usually occurs locally, or within a certain clique, as I once saw Kano become a Mortal Kombat favorite on X-Band, and he wasn't even good. But, one of the higher ups had been playing him as a joke and everyone was convinced that Kano was the best. That's very funny, to me).
- Is, even if not overpowered offensively, very hard to kill, either by being very resistant to physical damage, or by being very fast.
The above rules apply to a lot of characters, and these seperate the good, wholesome characters (Ryu, Megaman, Paul Phoenix), from bitch characters (Shin Akuma, Cable, Hwaorang). My friends and I always try to stay away from playing the bitch characters, because it's either,
A) Not fair.
B) Just plain stupid.
Notable bitch characters include, but are not limited to:
- Sub Zero: (On the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat, my experience comes from the X-Band)
He could ice someone, then throw them and ice them again before they hit the ground. Seriously, this game should've been playtested more. Getting a throw plus an uppercut in that game was devastating.
- Chun Li: Well, at the arcade where I was playing Street Fighter 2, all the little kids played Chun Li. Note that this was before the advent of everyone being able to know the moves of anyone through magazines or the internet. GamePro was one of a few, and they weren't nearly as read as Nintendo Power, at least not in the groups that I knew. So, without a working knowledge of how to do anything, people would come in and play the fastest character possible. Chris and I played Blanka, because he was green. When Championship Edition came out, some people had figured out how to really play, and some people switched to...
- Vega: He was very fast. Not incredibly powerful, but very very fast.
Oh yeah, he was also retarded.
- Kabal: In MK3, the guy with the tong things and the gas mask. Yeah, the pseudo-Tusken Raider guy. I played this guy until I realized what I was doing.
1. Spin, lift combo, air punch, air fireball, ground blade... 43% damage (or something ridiculous like that).
2. Jumpkick.
3. Repeat 1.
They toned down the damage that that combo did later, but still. Characters who immobolize all strike me as kind of cheap, and the way Kabal's worked, well... it was even worse than most of the ninja characters.
- Ibuki: From SF3, this is the character for which I invented the term. I'm still not sure why she's such an arcade favorite, as although a lot of people played her, swore by her, and seemed really good with her, I've never been beaten by someone playing her. Apart from me though, I've seen firm beatings delivered by this girl, and way more people played her than any other character. She was also really fast, and therefore easy to play for beginners. Carrying a few of the traits, the term was coined, and then other people were added to the minority. Mmmmm... unbalance.
- Shin Akuma: I don't get it. They actually let people get at (in a few games) a character who was twice as fast as everyone else, threw air fireballs, and had a combo that did over a quarter of the lifebar in damage and was unblockable. Sure, he was a secret, but... what a dumb secret to let people play with.
I stick to Ryu when playing Street Fighters, Paul when playing Tekkens, and Iceman when playing Versus games with Marvel in them. People who will play whoever someone else tells them is "the best," are sad.
Sad and Dumb as Shit. |
