Power Rangers Battle For the Grid is an upcoming indie fighting game developed by San Francisco-based nWay Games, a company whose previous work include a Power Rangers mobile game, and ChronoBlade. Based on early reporting, it'll have a fast and fleeting tag team feel similar to the Marvel vs Capcom series and Dragonball FighterZ, last year's smashing success fighting game. The staff has even brought aboard professional fighting game player Justin Wong to aid in balancing the mechanics. That's a very positive sign, it's similar to Peter "Combofiend" Rosas being on staff for Capcom and contributing efforts to Street Fighters VI and V before departing in 2017. Wong's involvement also shows that this will be efforts to ensure that Battle For the Grid is seeking to be as legitimate as possible, perhaps aiming to be an indie darling fighting game that Skullgirls was two years ago.

Now the choice of play that has been talked about piques my interest, that it will be adopting an input style mirroring Dragonball FighterZ or Blazblue Cross Tag Battle: doing away with complex inputs and relying on a straightforward philosophy. Arc System Works in a recent interview spoke about the reception to both FighterZ and Cross Tag, and would like to make their games easier to play for newcomers who may not have shown interest in Guilty Gear. This is more evident with the announcement of Granblue Fantasy Versus, which will follow the company's previous endeavors.

Growing up with Virtua Fighter 2, one of the most savvy fighters I've ever played and cemented my love of the genre, I personally am more in favor of a fighting game that aims to implement a deep roster with various play styles and intricate moves that emphasize calculated timing and serve a purpose for satisfying offensive and defensive play. Street Fighter II is the cornerstone upon which the success of fighting games is built. Balance, diversity, and matchups perhaps stemmed from Capcom's fighter, which can still be played at a high level today.

Even the various home ports of Street Fighter II, be it Champion Edition, Super SF2, or Turbo, each iteration incorporated further balances and enhancements to further enrich the experience. Sure, I've made fun of the multiple home ports myself, I'm on record for that, for purposes of satire. You took your time to learn the character and identify your personality as a competitive fighter, or even just someone who wished to improve. Then at some point, the people who continued to play fighters got better while those who preferred a more casual pace began to lose. Or perhaps other genres enticed them more. The explanation I heard often is fighters take too much time to play and are complicated. I can respect that, you want to turn on a game and have fun without feeling you have to do a great deal of homework in order to enjoy it. A streamlined manner of play is one of the reasons Marvel vs Capcom 2 is such a revered game

 While Marvel vs Capcom Infinite was an abomination (most of it for reasons beyond Capcom's control, save for those horrible visuals), the high octane tag team fighting genre has seen a resurgence. Even SNK Entertainment hopped into the fray with SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy, a "waifu fighter" that my wife still makes fun of me for buying. Imagine if you took the inputs of Super Smash Brothers and added King of Fighters' Mai Shiranui and Samurai Shodown's Nakoruru battling in short shorts and bikinis while teaming up with a female Terry Bogard. Despite how the game is built around a one button tap-tap auto-combo system, a match in SNK Heroines can only end by landing a Dream Cancel (essentially a Super Art) on your opponent.

Watching Cross Tag Battle in EVO Japan, the high caliber play showcases some nuance. While it's a different kind of intensity from the Blazblue series itself, it's retained its playing audience well more than I gave it credit. Stripping the series of its depth has been one of the criticisms of these wave of "easy mode fighters", but perhaps the benefit of their existence at a time where the genre has been rather busy with releases (Dead or Alive has just recently dropped and Mortal Kombat 11 is due in April) is making them accessible to as many as possible. One of the reasons Tekken dethroned Virtua Fighter in the late 90's is the latter was considered too stiff and ridged, and is now one of the top three fighter franchises worldwide. I once spoke in a contrarian manner on an article about how the fighting game genre can learn something from Super Smash Brothers. The belief being is that ALL fighting games should adopt more basic and novice approaches to their design. I feel more accurately that the player is drawn to fighting game's philosophy rather than demanding a fighter asking LESS of their audience. That's in no way a dig at Smash Brothers, merely suggesting that what works for each series is best implemented there.