While all eyes are turned to (or perhaps rather, encased in) virtual reality as being the next breakout gaming trend, there's a smaller, quieter, but arguably equally exciting shift brewing. As the release calendar currently stands, 2016 is poised to be the year when fighting games make a strident resurgence -- and that could be a very good thing for gaming as a whole.

Fighting games aren't quite the contender they used to be in the glory days of the 1990s, when arcades thrived, practically everyone owned a home copy of Street Fighter II, and playground social leverage was determined by a strict hierarchical understanding of where Mortal Kombat ranked against it (the correct answer, of course, being below). Now, arcades in the west are all but dead, Street Fighter was on life support for a few years, and kids are more likely to be interested in Minecraft or Age-Inappropriate Shooter VII.


Yet in the inherently competitive nature of fighters lies the roots of esports and let's play videos, the birth of gaming tournaments, and a player community that, although not as numerous or vocal as the FPS clan loyalists, is one of the most fiercely committed and rigorously trained in all of gaming. With the year ahead fortunate enough to have three major fighting games scheduled, plus several more niche titles arriving, those ranks could swell as players either discover or rekindle their love of beat-'em-ups.

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The first -- and arguably biggest -- will be Street Fighter V, which launches on PlayStation 4 and PC in February. Maintaining the same 2.5D aesthetic as the Street Fighter IV titles -- 3D character models battling on a traditional 2D plane -- it arrives with a roster of 16 playable fighters, four of whom are brand new to the series. Connoisseurs will find it plays markedly differently from its predecessor though -- among numerous subtle refinements to the system, focus attacks are gone, replaced with V-skills. Short for "Variable skills", these differ between fighters but offer unique ways to super-charge your character. Franchise mainstay Ryu can parry, for instance, while Nash can absorb projectiles and add their energy to his own V-gauge. Once full, more powerful V-Trigger attacks can be unleashed, drastically shifting the flow of battle.

Later in 2016, we'll also see Tekken 7 -- currently an arcade hit in Japan and on the tournament scene, having been a main title at Evo 2015, the Olympics of fighting games -- and The King of Fighters XIV arrive on PS4, although both are currently undated. Tekken 7 is already a strong game based on its arcade release, but the home version will be based on the enhanced Fated Retribution build, with a few extra modes and new characters planned for inclusion. KoF XIV is likely the least familiar to players not already entrenched in the genre, but the series was once a strong contender for Street Fighter's crown. The new game also adopts a 2.5D approach, but will feature team battles as well as one on one bouts.


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These aren't games resting on laurels and entrenched fanbases, though. The latest entries see them all evolving in some manner. For Street Fighter V, Capcom is adopting a progressive updates policy, rolling out balance fixes and system changes into the core game, rather than release successive modified versions at full price. New characters will also be added as DLC, and can be bought with either real money or earned through an in-game currency. That means players can pick up the game on release and grow with it, rather than wonder if a Super Street Fighter V is coming out a month later. Meanwhile, Tekken 7 is experimenting with virtual reality integration -- although it won't be what you might expect -- and KoF XIV is planning on delivering a huge amount of variety, with 50 characters and a deep story mode.

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That's just a trio of what could be considered core titles, too -- next year will also see Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator, perhaps the ultimate expression of the hard rock-meets-anime fighter, land on PS4 and PS3, hopefully joined by BlazBlue: CentralFiction, the currently arcade-only fourth entry in the series. Final Fantasy is getting in on the action with a new Dissidia brawler, which will surely eventually transition to home consoles too. Even Mortal Kombat X -- the pinnacle of the series to date -- is keeping things fresh with a new "Kombat Pack" of extra characters, including movie monsters Leatherface and the Alien Xenomorph for crossover appeal, while Xbox One gamers have a third season of Killer Instinct to look forward to. Wherever you look, there's a rush of vibrancy and excitement surrounding fighting games.


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The biggest indicator that 2016 will be the year of the fighting game though is in the growning communal approach to the genre. This can already be seen in the collaboration between creators -- Street Fighter character Akuma is going to be playable in Tekken 7, while King of Fighters' development team count Yasuyuki Oda, battle designer on Street Fighter IV and a veteran of SNK's earlier games, among its number. The shared experience extends to the player level, with Street Fighter V pushing cross-platform play over PS4 and PC versions expressly to build the community -- Capcom's Matt Dahlgren said in July that "this is going to be the first time we've ever united our community into a centralised player base."

It's no surprise why the majority of titles are PS4 exclusive either. Sony's console is an unstoppable sales juggernaut at this point, with more than 30m units sold to date. If you're looking to build (or rebuild) a player community, you're going to go where the players are. Throw in robust online features to facilitate competitive play and Sony's support for fighters as a genre -- Dahlgren said Sony is "very committed to the scene, and they want to make sure they're approaching this in the correct way, they want to do it right" -- and it's easy to see why the PS4 is the home of choice for fighting games, at least for this generation.

Even outside of Sony's auspices though, the scene looks set to grow. Nintendo is still supporting Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, recently announcing a new round of fighters (and crucially, accompanying amiibo figures) coming to the game, including Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife and Bayonetta's eponymous hair-witch. The game is an evergreen favourite, despite launching over a year ago, and a regular fixture in tournaments.


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It's not all Smash though, as Pokémon brawler Pokkén Tournament arrives on the Wii U in the spring. Another case of collaboration -- developed by Bandai Namco and loosely based on Tekken -- it's a strange entry to be sure but one that's surprisingly solid as a fighting game, rather than a cutesy curiosity. The arcade version plays well, and we have high hopes for the home release.

Obviously, not all of these games will be breakthrough successes. Some will likely fail to even register with some players. But with the industry finally embracing online play as a serious way to build player communities and the sheer wealth and variety of content on offer, a new golden age of fighting games could be upon us. Ding ding, fight!