You know what’s great about PNCR?. This isn’t something I jumped to immediately–sure, it was obviously modeled after the genre, but as I played it more and more, I really began to see how this game captures that fighting game spirit, and I eventually found all kinds of reasons as to why PNCR is, indeed, a successful recreation of 2D fighting games on a tabletop. Here they are:

#1 – You don’t get it at first so you start button-mashing

So, the concept of PNCR is extremely easy to swallow. The rules aren’t hard, but the game is at first intimidating when you look at the variety of fighters and super moves in front of you. In most of my games, newer players didn’t want to sit down and mull over their choices, so we just kind of randomly placed our gems and looked up the moves as we went along.

We chose our attacks without precision or planning–“oh, these super moves don’t look very good right now. Guess I’ll use my brawl cards instead!” might be something you’ll hear from a new player, followed up by, “oops, I just used up all my cards and my last character only has one gem left. Uhhh…self destruct!” The truth is, unless you want to sit there and ponder strategically for a good amount of time, your actions will likely be fairly random and haphazard the first few times you play.

Random and haphazard attacks without planning or knowledge of the game…sound familiar? It does to me. In fact, it sounds exactly what every single new fighting game experience is like. You pick up the controller, you start mashing buttons, you die, you play again, you keep getting a feel for the general mechanics of the game, and once you’re a bit familiar with those, then you jump into that combo screen on the pause menu and start busting out your special moves.

Furthermore, experienced players can wipe the floor with new players, because they will know exactly where to put their gems. Unless they’re guiding their opponent through everything, it’s likely that they don’t stand a chance, just like in fighting games. That being said, even button mashing can bring down an experienced player, and that might just happen with a new player in PNCR…though I wouldn’t count on it.

#2 – It’s addicting once you figure it out

Herein lies the devilish genius of fighting games–they’re a pain to figure out, but once you start learning those sweet, sweet combos, you just want more. You find yourself dipping into the pause screen more and more to find your character’s more elusive combos. You turn on practice mode and start going against an AI. You analyze your opponent’s weaknesses so that you can exploit them next game. You memorize every special move and combo, and when to use them. If you’ve ever found yourself doing this, then you might have reason to fear Pocket Neon City Rumble, which might just inspire the same behavior.

This, as with most fighting games, depends on if you have a reliable opponent to play against. The thrill of fighting games is the challenge of matching your buddy, because winning at that game is just the most important thing of the day when he’s over. If you don’t have a consistent opponent in PNCR, the temptation to dive into it probably won’t be as enticing. This game is addicting when your opponent cleverly outwits you, inspiring pent up fury in your heart to go find the new deadly combination that will take him out next time. It’s a game of escalation, and figuring out how to counter your opponent is a lot of fun.

#3 – The Character Select Screen is full of variety

One of the great things about PNCR is its wildly creative character roster, that truly feels reminiscent of a 90s Street Fighter-esque game. The cast here is a veritable freakshow, and I mean that in a good way. You could play as Tiny Funaki, the classic Japanese fist-fighter, or go for Smith and Weston, the big buff two-headed dude, or go with the green and pink Fifi Omegazoid, and I can’t even tell you what she is.

The thing is, the fighters aren’t just varied in their looks and personality, each one has their own moveset and overall style. Fighters are divided into three basic categories: “balanced,” “brawler,” or “gem master.” Brawlers specialize in raw combat, relying on brawl cards to do their dirty work; their super moves will focus on giving them more cards, and more variety with how they can use those cards. The gem masters are on the other side, being beefed up with unique and powerful special abilities. These come at a cost–the obvious sacrifice of using up their own gems, and the fact that gem masters don’t draw any brawl cards. Their super moves are so potent that they have to rely on them to win. On the other hand, brawlers draw a hefty amount of brawl cards. The balanced fighters are somewhere in between.

Sound like a fighting game yet? It doesn’t matter which one you play, you’re going to find these archetypes. There are the brutal fist-fighters who depend on successive comboing attacks to win, and there are always complicated fighters that are stacked with special moves for the player to memorize. Of course, in between them, there are always the “in-betweeners,” the balanced fighters, of whom one always seems to be the game’s primary mascot. These guys are newbie friendly, being versatile in both areas.

It’s fun drawing characters in PNCR, and building your team based off these abilities. My friend and I, just for kicks, decided to play a brawlers vs. gem masters round. I recall drawing cards and prepping my round so that I could use an ability that could combo all of my brawl cards together. I launched my attack against Fifi Omegazoid, seeing that she was stacked to destroy one of my characters in a single move. He ended up playing “martyr,” forcing me to direct my attack at a different enemy with a much different gem set, rendering my cards almost useless. He then used Fifi Omegazoid to blast one of my remaining fighters off the board. I didn’t last for much longer after that. Had I paid attention to my opponent’s moves and gem gauges, that could have been avoided!

#4 – It’s quick and dirty

You know what’s one thing that sucks about multiplayer gaming these days? It just takes too damn long. Sometimes, I just want to pop open a game, start playing it, and be done when we feel like being done. No, I don’t want to connect online, wait around for the server, and then jump into a lobby and wait around some more. No, I don’t want 30 minute matches. Sometimes, I just want something short and sweet, and that’s something that can definitely be appreciated in classic fighting games. You turn the game on, play some rounds, and you can turn it off.

PNCR is very much the same way. This game, even more than its predecessor, was definitely designed for spur of the moment gameplay. You can bust this game out at any moment’s notice, play a round or two, and pack it back up. The fights are short and sweet–it doesn’t take a whole lot of time to knock those gems out. After you finish, you can pump out another round and the game is over! This game works excellently as a filler game because of how short and sweet it is. It might not be the mainstay of your game night, but you’ll probably find use for it if you carry it around with you, or keep it handy near your games. Someone setting up a new game? Play Pocket Neon City Rumble. Somebody taking too long to take their turn? Play Pocket Neon City Rumble. Waiting for your food at a restaurant? Bam, Pocket Neon City Rumble (this one got us weird looks from our waitress).

Overall, PNCR is a quick game by design, and in that respect, it handily imitates the brevity of the fighting games we know and love.

#5 – Secret Characters are waiting to be unlocked

Okay, that’s kind of a deceptive headline, because this doesn’t actually apply to the game, it applies to the Kickstarter. Currently, the game is working to meet its stretch goals, and many more characters are waiting along the way to be unlocked! If you love unlocking characters in your favorite game, head over to the Kickstarter page and give these guys a hand–you’l have some degree of influence over which characters get in and which ones don’t!