I made a website for fighting game move lists

[the_77x42]

I made a website that consolidates a bunch of fighting game FAQs and move lists into a mobile friendly format:

https://arcade.besz.ca/

I plan on adding more games, but I feel the list is large enough that the website is ready for public release. The goal of the website is to present a readable notation in mobile format that the casual player can understand without having played a fighting game before. If the player wants a challenge, I've included combos for most games and characters. Combos require a little bit more of an understanding of the notation, but it is consistent across all games and all moves. The readable mobile format for everything means that you can rest your phone on the cabinet glass while you are playing and see all your character's moves.

The whole project has been extremely time consuming. Most FAQs have their quirky notation and format. Don't get me started on combo notation... Translating everything has been quite the process (regex, I love you). I've tweaked the notation several times. Furthermore, many of the character portraits have been ripped from each game. I also got rid of the unpleasing, red Neo Geo MVS marquees and made my own.

It's been quite a labour of love. When I was a preteen in the early 90's, I typed up the move lists I found in gaming magazines and tried to sell them at arcades for a couple dollars each. This new site isn't so different, but it is free. If you have any suggestions for games to add, I'll take a look. It takes days to markup one game and the website is not meant to be an exhaustive list. I'm not going to do every iteration of Street Fighter 2 or The King of Fighters.

Here are the games I plan on doing in the future:

• Killer Instinct 2 (kinst2)
• Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 - The Newcomers (rbff2) needs combos
• Samurai Shodown 2 (samsho2)
• Samurai Shodown V Special (samsh5sp) needs combos
• Soulcalibur (soulclbr)
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 (sfa3)
• Tekken 2 (tekken2)
• Tekken 3 (tekken3)
• The King of Fighters '98 (kof98) needs combos
• Marvel Super Heroes (msh)
• Marvel Super Heroes vs Street fighter (mshvsf)

Enjoy!

[MydknyteStyrm]

This is AWESOME. EXCELLENT WORK!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[tommyinajar]

LOOKS COOL!!

IDK If there is anything quite like that around. Nice- going to go plug in Marvel vs. Capcom right now!

[Howard_Casto]

https://emulationrealm.net/downloads/file/2838-command-dat-shorthand


Don't feel bad, I've done the same thing before.  I do like the fact that the url uses the rom name, that could be useful.

[the_77x42]

https://emulationrealm.net/downloads/file/2838-command-dat-shorthand


Don't feel bad, I've done the same thing before.  I do like the fact that the url uses the rom name, that could be useful.

For simple moves I do like the MAME command.dat files, but they are really only useful with MAME Plus. For learning more advanced moves like combos, having the button inputs in front of you on a phone without having to drop into an in-game menu is really beneficial. I also like having the portraits of the characters because in so many fighting games the name of your characters isn't immediately obvious. Ideally MAME would be able to overlay a combo onscreen for your selected character so you could practice it, but I don't think that's going to happen.

[Mike A]

I am definitely going to make use of this. Thanks.

I missed the whole fighting game era the first time around. I was busy playing pinball at the arcade and PC games at home.

I picked up a SFII CE PCB. I need to develop my skills in time for Zapcon.

I can shoot that fireball thing in Street Fighter and that is about it.

[MrNat]

Very nice! Thank you.

[yotsuya]

I am definitely going to make use of this. Thanks.

I missed the whole fighting game era the first time around. I was busy playing pinball at the arcade and PC games at home.

I picked up a SFII CE PCB. I need to develop my skills in time for Zapcon.

I can shoot that fireball thing in Street Fighter and that is about it.

Just mash all the buttons like the kids do. It works 90% of the time.

[Mike A]

I remember a friend of mine got SFII for the SNES when we were in high school.

He thought he was some kind of expert. The rest of us would button mash him into humiliating defeat.

[Howard_Casto]

https://emulationrealm.net/downloads/file/2838-command-dat-shorthand


Don't feel bad, I've done the same thing before.  I do like the fact that the url uses the rom name, that could be useful.

For simple moves I do like the MAME command.dat files, but they are really only useful with MAME Plus. For learning more advanced moves like combos, having the button inputs in front of you on a phone without having to drop into an in-game menu is really beneficial. I also like having the portraits of the characters because in so many fighting games the name of your characters isn't immediately obvious. Ideally MAME would be able to overlay a combo onscreen for your selected character so you could practice it, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Yeah man but the data is there... for a lot more games as well.  You can parse command.dat outside of mame.  Take what's in command.dat and convert it to html and aside from adding portraits if you want to you are done. 

[the_77x42]

Yeah man but the data is there... for a lot more games as well.  You can parse command.dat outside of mame.  Take what's in command.dat and convert it to html and aside from adding portraits if you want to you are done.

That's an excellent idea. (Just an aside, all the data I have is in JSON and I'll be releasing it all on GitHub soon.) Thanks!

[tommyinajar]

Just mash all the buttons like the kids do. It works 90% of the time.

SHHHHHHHHH! you gave away my Secret Technique.
 I do really hate that when after hours on practice I'm taken down by low punch mashing 10,000 times

[pbj]

Eddy Gordo got me uninvited from a few "let's play video games" sessions. 



Banana Way! Banana Way! Ba-nah-nah-nah.

[Mr. Peabody]

@the_77x42: look into using the lay file system to create overlays.

[the_77x42]

@the_77x42: look into using the lay file system to create overlays.

One of the goals of my arcade cabinet was to have as an authentic experience as possible. In this vein I got a multisync CRT and run groovymame to get as close to the original display as possible. While overlays would work great for high resolution LCDs, they wouldn't work in my cabinet.

While the primary goal of the website is to have a readable notation, I think along with that comes portability. I wouldn't want to create something MAME-specific as that would require maintenance down the road if whatever .dat or .lay specification I was using changed. Furthermore, there are other emulators out there and I wouldn't want to tie my work to one specific program.

I took a deep dive into command.dat files and they seem to play nice only with certain (older) versions of MAME Plus. An absolute ton of work went into these files I'm just hearing about them now. A website is easier to share among your friends and on message boards. Developing something so specific can get lost in all the noise. A pleasing interface accessible without any specific software should attract more usage.

I find the phone interface of the website both intuitive and universally accessible. Everyone has one and it's easy to hold up in front of whatever screen, emulator, or machine you are playing.

[onesikcoupe]

 

[the_77x42]

Thanks to Howard_Casto, I've written a utility to translate command.dat files into my notion. I'm slowly getting through my list in the first post. I'm posting games to the site as I complete them, with combos coming later.

[KenToad]

The website is excellent, fast and convenient on mobile.