Guilty Gear creator determined to continue Japan's fighting game dominance

How many American fighting game franchises can you name? Like me, you could probably count them on your hand. Japan’s fighting game dominance has always been quite apparent and Guilty Gear creator/talented composer Daisuke Ishiwatari plans to continue that trend.

“Our aim is to become the number-one maker of fighting games, though, so that’s what we’re devoting our resources to,” Ishiwatari told Gamasutra in a recent interview.

“If we don’t try new things and evolve, we’ll be left behind. Arc can’t make FPSes or RTSes, but I want it such that the fighters we make can’t be duplicated by overseas developers.”

I certainly wouldn’t worry about the latter. Although Midway’s fantastic Mortal Kombat reboot seems to have been developed with its Japanese competition in mind (my best evidence being getting my ass kicked by a guy who brought his own arcade stick to a local tournament), MK is the only American fighting game franchise that has even shown its face in years. Even though I adore Blazblue and Marvel Vs. Capcom, I personally would like a break from Japan’s less-than-a-year-later sequels and combo-driven fighting games in favor of something more fresh from our side of the pond. Or from their side. I just want to see something that redefines what a fighting game is. Or at least I’d like a Primal Rage reboot.

Either way, I wish Ishiwatari the best of luck in his endeavors with Arc System Works. You can check out the full interview here.

Via Gamasutra