A look at ComboFiend’s controversial “functions” quote, and the community backlash it caused.
Peter Rosas: If you were to actually think about it, these characters are just functions. They’re just doing things. Magneto, case and point, is a favorite because he has eight-way dash and he’s really fast, right? So our more technical players, all they want to do is triangle jump and that kind of stuff. Well guess what, Nova can do the same thing, Captain Marvel can do the same thing. Ultron can do the same thing. Go ahead and try them out.
Those are Peter “ComboFiend” Rosas’ words from a recent GameSpot interview, discussing many aspects of the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. As a producer on this title, Rosas is responding to GameSpot’s question regarding community desire to see X-Men in the new Vs. game. His reply, describing fighting game characters as “functions,” has not been very well-received by the general community. Despite being technically accurate from a design standpoint — and clearly intended to encourage players to try the game and new fighters, rather than lament a missing former main — it downplays how much fans and players enjoy these characters simply for their own sakes.
In the video below, VesperArcade discusses the idea of looking at fighting game characters as functions instead of fighters, and the fan aftermath of ComboFiend’s quote. He also speculates that marketing new characters instead of returning ones earlier on might have mitigated some on the “no X-Men” backlash.
Source: VesperArcade