Fighting games have grown over the years, but there is some concern over if that is actually a good thing. Fighting games have grown more complex but at the same time, they have began to hold our hands more as we play. For games that have online play, we can have fun but when games have their own netcode their often are issues. There are multiple characters but they often have similarities to each other, and so on. Maybe its time to look to the past for inspiration, and that is what Cardboard Robot did with Pocket Rumble.
Pocket Rumble is a game inspired by the classic SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color fighting games, when the fighters were two button affairs and yet had more substance to them than games today. This is something that is carried over to Pocket Rumble in an interesting way, as the game is indeed a two button affair, but doesn’t lack for any difficulty.. This is a game that will beat you down relentlessly even when you think the game is set to easy. The arcade mode, career mode and so on will not hold your hand in any way, and you will need to spend a lot of time in training mode in order to learn the characters. You will also realize that directional inputs are handled different here than in most games and need extra care and precaution. Indeed, this may in fact be one of the most technical fighting games out there.
The character roster may be limited, but the characters themselves are so diverse and different that the small roster doesn’t matter. Characters like Subject 11 and agent Parker are extremely different from each other, while characters like Tenchi and Naomi give some familiarity to fans of SNK games, while also being feeling very different. Each character needs to be learned and studied in order to master them, and there is no shortcut here. Once you learn the characters though, there is so much fun to be had. Some characters have SNK references as well, such as Naomi who has a color that makes her truly resemble Terry Bogard even more, which should excited KOF and Fatal Fury fans.
One last thing I must comment on is the online. Pocket Rumble uses GGPO and as such has amazing online play. It is shocking that an indie game made by a small team has better online than fighting games from major companies. GGPO needs to be implemented in most major releases, instead of these companies developing their own netcode. This is a fighter that understands what is needed and goes for it. It looked to the past and created a masterpiece.