NUK: How have you managed to replicate a six button fighter on two buttons?

CS: There are actually fewer specials than in an NGPC game. We do have specials, for which you have to be on a diagonal and then hold the buttons for a certain amount of frames. We could’ve done quarter circles instead but we decided to make it more streamlined and make the inputs a bit easier.

A big barrier for 2D fighting games is just the execution itself. There are a lot of interesting things in 2D fighting games that require you to read your opponent and making the right calls, but a lot of people don’t even reach that point because they can’t even do the special moves. So we made a really strong effort to make sure that wasn’t going to happen in Pocket Rumble.

NUK: What’s the extent of the game mechanics that are in there? Are we talking special moves and a super-bar that you fill up, and do you get as complex as parries?

CS: Yes, all of that! We have basically everything a normal 2D fighting game has, but we have simplified as much as possible while keeping the core fundamentals. So you do have normals, you have special moves, you even have parries on some characters.

You have meters that you gain by doing certain things. Different characters gain meter in totally different ways, so, there’s one character, Tenchi, who gains meter just like Street Fighter if you do specials or hit someone. But then, there’s another character who you have to charge, like really old King of Fighters games.