i thought of a hybrid anime/ufc gameplay control scheme for a potential 3d ufc fighting game based on anime fighting games like blazblue and persona 4 arena...



punch-light: is jab, punch-hard: is straight, kick-light: is low kick, and kick-hard: is body kick. holding forward while pressing these buttons makes you uppercut, hook, high kick & roundhouse kick respectively.



punch-2x: makes you clinch, which, if it actually grabs, lets you recover a tiny bit of health while holding the opponent for about 3 seconds. if the opponent techs your clinch with their own punch-2x: , they counter your clinch and pushes you away back to a neutral position, removing a bit of health from the person who clinched first (or not if both were on the same frame or so).



pressing kick_2x: makes you initiate a takedown. this requires an input of kick_2x: to tech, which gives a tiny bit of damage to the person who initiated the takedown (or not if they both happened on the same frame or so) and puts both players back at a neutral position. the tech window for takedowns is slightly longer than for clinches but for good reason: if they dont tech it, the person who gets taken down has 5 seconds to mash out of a submission (like being dizzy in street fighter) and if they dont get out by the end of the 5th second they get hit with a ton of damage, almost 70%. if they mash out of it they only take a bit of damage for each second it took for them to mash out.



pressing punch-light: + kick-light: dodges toward the foreground and pressing punch-hard: + kick-hard: dodges into the background, although these commands are switched for when you are playing on the player 2 side. side dodges are invincible to everything but hooks and roundhouses and usually allow a free punish if used correctly.



jabs are fast and combo into themselves or any other punch. uppercuts have invincibility on startup and a special stun value but small range and are unsafe on block plus only medium speed. straights reach far and are fast and hooks do good damage, beat side dodges but have only slightly more range than uppercuts.



low kicks must be blocked low and reach much farther than uppercuts, and high kicks must be blocked high, combo into jabs and straights (if it hits a non-ducking opponent) or hooks (if it's close-range enough), and are about the same speed as uppercuts with slightly more range. body kicks have good damage and good range and have even more special stun value than uppercuts. roundhouse kicks have good range, huge damage and beat side dodges but are very slow.



holding back walks backward, holding forward walks forward. holding down ducks jabs, uppercuts and straights and blocks low, plus makes you move slower if combined with back or forwards. holding up blocks high and makes you walk slightly faster than when ducking if combined with holding back or forwards. there is no jumping.



if a player is stunned they can mash out of it to end it quicker but they will be vulnerable for a short while no matter how fast they mash.



i think this control scheme would be especially fun if the timing and damage and range all varied between different characters. ufc fighters who focus on ground game would have faster takedowns with smaller tech windows, counter strikers would have better uppercuts, faster straights and quicker side dodges. heavy brawlers would have more range and damage but be overall slower.



c'mon EA, make a game like this! its the only way ufc games will appeal to the hardcore fgc crowd...