Skullgirls: The Little Fighting Game That Could

I love a lot of fighting games. I wrote a whole list just a few weeks ago. Smash Bros, Guilty Gear, Marvel VS Capcom, Soul Calibur, Tekken, the list is long. Am I good at any of them? Oh, absolutely not. But I love playing them regardless.

But of them all, one has had an unusually rough time of it. And that game is Skullgirls.

This little indie fighting game has had one hell of a journey over the years. Fans tried for years to get it into the EVO lineup. For years, they failed. Then, when EVO proper was canceled and EVO Online was announced, we finally got our day. Skullgirls, one of the few fighting games out there with good netcode, was in the main lineup!

Aaaand then the online tournament was cancelled. The pain Skullgirls fans are willing to suffer through for their game is endless.

At least it seemed to be. Then this happened.

This game came out in 2012. Original development ended around 2013/2014. For nearly a decade, this game was a done deal. What you bought was what you got. No balance changes, no new content, nothing. The game was over.

But people kept playing. Even years later, you could still hop online and find a match pretty quickly. And the quality of that match would be pretty good!

Even if you’d get stomped. Turns out, people who stick with a game for nearly ten years get pretty good at it. They get even better when the online is as smooth as this one.

And their dedication was rewarded. Out of nowhere, Skullgirls came right back.

This is a testament to what happens to a good game with a dedicated fanbase. Skullgirls doesn’t have the biggest roster. It doesn’t have the most insane GPU consuming graphics. It’s a simple, solid fighting game. It had enough depth to keep playing for years and it was fun enough to do so. Just a solid game that people love.

Even better yet: now is the perfect time to get into the game. Yes, the old guard are still monsters and they’ll more than happily whoop your ass. But here’s the thing: the game’s about to change. We’re getting new characters. Which will inevitably lead to new balance changes. The old meta is about to go the way of the dodo. If you’re gonna learn the game, now is the time.

Just so long as you’ve got the patience. And determination. And the willpower to avoid smashing your controller to pieces.

It’s an easy game to learn, I promise.