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Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee

:For detailed, thorough information, see [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Super_Smash_Bros._Melee SSBM on Wikibooks] Super Smash Bros. Melee (Japanese: 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズDX, Dairantou Smash Brothers Deluxe) is a colorful fighting game released for the Nintendo GameCube, shortly after its launch in 2001. It is the sequel to 1999's Nintendo 64 fighter Super Smash Bros., and builds on that game's broad appeal and involved multiplayer mode, while improving overall quality and adding new features. The story is similar to the original, except Trophies come to life instead of Plush Dolls.

Gameplay

Super Smash Bros. Melee, like its predecessor, is different from most traditional fighting games in that simply inflicting damage does not guarantee victory. In normal play, a player must force the opponent off the stage's boundaries; this can be likened to a ring out in standard fighting games. Attacks both inflict damage and knock back the enemy; inflicted damage increases that distance, and so sufficient damage must be accumulated before attempting to KO an opponent (often with a forceful "Smash" attack). If the opponent is insufficiently damaged, he or she can "recover" (through mid-air jumps) from off-stage and resume normal combat. The other player, however, can "edge-guard": using attacks or other means to prevent his enemy from reaching the stage. ring out, Kirby, and Donkey Kong in the Great Bay stage.]] The controls for Melee are easy to learn; every single move in the game can be accessed via one button press and a joystick direction. Melee takes advantage of the GameCube's analog joystick by performing different attacks based on whether the stick is slightly tilted or quickly tapped to one side. This contrasts to most other fighting games, which require the player to memorize complicated and sometimes lengthy sequences of button inputs. Items typically appear randomly around the arena, where they may be picked up and used by anyone. The items are derived from a number of Nintendo games and peripheral accessories: for example, Super Mushrooms, which increase a character's size, Super Scopes, which can be charged up to cause extreme damage, and Poké Balls, which release a variety of Pokémon. Single-player mode provides the player with a variety of fighting and side-scrolling challenges. One can also practice in Training mode, or use the Stadium to play various mini-games: Target Test, Home Run Contest, and Multi Man Melee. Finally, the Events mode allows the player to attempt to negotiate various scripted challenges (fighting a Pokémon-themed match, for instance, or defeating an enemy in less than seven seconds). In versus mode, up to four characters may fight, either in a free-for-all or on teams. All characters may be controlled either by humans or AIs of varying difficulty. The victor may be determined in any of four ways, the most popular of which are "stock" mode, in which the last man (or team) standing is declared the winner, and "time" mode, in which the winner is the person with the most KO's and fewest falls at the end of a certain time limit. A variety of other options are available, such as determining the number and kind of items, or playing a match in slow motion. It is the versus mode that remains by far the most popular part of the game and has lead to an infamously devoted fanbase. This is best exemplified in the GameFAQs message boards and guides and Smashboards.com where the most advanced competitive techniques are devised. This fanbase is also known to frequently organize large 1-on-1 tournaments, including 2005's FC3 in which the best players from Japan, America, and Europe competed. There have been many tournaments throughout the years, most following the format of four- or five-stock, eight to ten-minute time limit, no items battle (often on the Final Destination stage). Major League Gaming added Super Smash Brothers Melee to its roster of tournament games in 2004.

Playable characters

All eight original and four secret characters from Super Smash Bros. return along with four new characters available from the start of the game. Two of the secret characters from the original game are now automatically available from the start in Melee. Nine new secret characters have been added in addition to the two remaining secret characters.

Characters available from the start of the game

Super Smash Bros.
- Bowser – from the Mario series-Bowser is slow and difficult to control - however, skilled users can make use of his overwhelming power and wide attack hitboxes. His best move is the fast and defensive Whirling Fortress.
- Captain Falcon – from the F-Zero series²-Captain Falcon is characterized in the competitive fields by the fastest running speed in the game, one of the fastest falling speeds and his aerial combos into his deadly knee attack (Forward + A in mid-air). He is also well-known for his powerful but very slow Falcon Punch.
- Donkey Kong – from the Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Country series¹-Although the second heaviest character in the game, Donkey Kong's playstyle is actually fairly mobile and combo-based. He is well known for his up aerial, an attack that can both combo and kill enemies.
- Fox McCloud – from the Star Fox series¹-One of the fastest characters in the game, his down + B Reflector (often called "shine" in competitive circles), although ostensibly a mere reflecting move, is an attack that's fast and lethal in comboing, edge-guarding and interrupting enemy attacks due to Fox's ability to jump-cancel the attack.
- Ice Climbers – from Ice Climber- The secondary Ice Climber, which changes depending on the user's choice of color, is computer-controlled when separated from the primary, human-controlled Climber but mimics the main Ice Climber's moves when together. Proficient Ice Climber users can combine both aspects of the second Climber to perform extremely high-damage combos on their enemies.
- Kirby – from the Kirby series¹-Quite light and characterized by his swallow attack, which gives him the ability to perform his enemies' neutral B attacks.
- Link – from the Legend of Zelda series¹- A character whose main strength is long range and comboability, Link is widely derided as "cheap" by poor players for various reasons (his up-B whirling blade and his down-aerial swordplant in particular), but is actually only considered a middle-tier character by most competitive players.
- Mario – from the Mario series¹- Mario is built to be a simple and easy character to use. He is, however, relatively fast and very combo-heavy at high-level play, making him a difficult character to master.
- Ness – from the EarthBound series²- A difficult-to-control character from Earthbound, characterized by his swinging second jump and his low range.
- Pikachu – from the Pokémon series¹- An electric mouse that can shock opponents. Pikachu's up smash is effectively the most powerful up smash in the game (only surpassed by Sheik's sweet-spot fully charged up smash, which is difficult to connect with). Pikachu is fast but has low range.
- Princess Peach – from the Mario series-Peach is characterized by her ability to float, her various and useful aerials and her devastating down-smash, which can inflict up to 88% damage. Her forward smash is a random weapon, varying in strength and range: The Frying Pan from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Tennis Racket from Mario Tennis, and a Golf Club from Mario Golf. Her dress is most similar to that in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
- Samus Aran – from the Metroid series¹-Despite many players' first impressions, Samus is a woman, not a man or a robot. Her Screw Attack (up + B), grappling hook (Z in mid-air) and bombs (down + B) help give her a very flexible and long recovery from off-stage.
- Yoshi – from the Mario series¹ and Yoshi's Island series- Yoshi lacks a third jump (besides his air dodge), but his second jump is very high and is invulnerable to many weaker attacks. Yoshi's shield is different from any other characters, in that it darkens instead of shrinking and that it cannot be jump-cancelled.
- Princess Zelda/Sheik – from the Legend of Zelda She uses magic and powerful back and forward aerial attacks to attack. Using down-b she transforms into Sheik, her alter-ego from "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time". Sheik has moves that are geared towards comboing an opponent then finishing them by utilizing her powerful foward-air or her down-smash. Sheik is considered a top-tier character. ¹ These characters appeared as starter characters in the original Super Smash Bros.
² Captain Falcon and Ness were available as unlockable characters in the original Super Smash Bros..
Unlockable characters
tier
- Dr. Mario (unlock Dr. Mario by clearing 1-Player Classic or Adventure Mode with Mario without continuing or by playing more than 100 VS Mode matches); from the Dr. Mario series- Stronger but less-ranged than Mario. He throws Megavitamins, not Fireballs.
- Falco Lombardi (unlock Falco Lombardi by defeating all enemies on 100-Man Melee, or by playing more than 300 VS Mode matches); from the Star Fox series- His laser has a stun effect similar to Fox's in the original Super Smash Bros. He's slower, falls faster, and jumps higher; his forward and down-smash attacks are more powerful than Fox's, and his up-smash weaker.
- Ganondorf (unlock Ganondorf by clearing Event Match #29: Triforce Gathering, which is hard, or by playing more than 600 VS Mode matches); from the Legend of Zelda series- A "clone" of Captain Falcon, his playstyle is actually very distinct from Falcon's. Ganondorf is very slow but very powerful; a single combo can bring the enemy into killing range.
- Jigglypuff (Purin) (easiest to unlock: clear 1-Player Mode Classic or Adventure Mode with any character, except Mario, without continuing, or by playing more than 50 VS Mode matches); from the Pokémon series³- It is slow and weak on the ground, but extremely mobile in mid-air. Its Sing move puts opponents to sleep. Its Rest attack deals an incredibly powerful blow the instant it activates but leaves Jigglypuff sleeping for a few seconds.
- Luigi (unlock Luigi by clearing Adventure Mode with Stage 1-1 at XX:X2:XX and defeat him and Peach in less than a minute, or by playing more than 800 VS Mode matches); from the Mario series³- He is Mario's brother. His playstyle is different - Luigi is much more "slippery" (literally, with the lowest traction in the game) and more floaty than Mario. Although an unlockable character, his icon is placed next to Mario's when he is unlocked (switching places with Pikachu).
- Marth (unlock Marth by clearing 1-Player Mode Classic or Adventure Mode with at least 14 characters, or by playing more than 400 VS Mode matches); from the Fire Emblem series- A deadly comboer with the longest reach in the game due to his sword, the "Falchion". The tip of the sword is generally its strongest point. When he uses forward smash while holding a wieldable item, he swings with his sword first, before swinging again with his item. He is considered a top-tier character.
- Mewtwo (unlock Mewtwo by playing 1-Player Mode or VS Mode for more than 20 hours, or by playing more than 700 VS Mode matches) (; from the Pokémon series- Despite his size, he's light, apparently because he floats telekinetically. His psychic powers let him hold items with his mind. He is a bottom tier character because of his inability to effectively start an attack on the enemy - some speculate that HAL overcompensated in trying to prevent Mewtwo from becoming an overpowered character.
- Mr. Game & Watch (unlock Mr. Game & Watch by clearing Target Test with all the 24 other characters, or by playing more than 1000 VS Mode matches); from the Game & Watch games- Characterized by being essentially 2-dimensional (a thin black sheet within a 3D metal frame), Mr. Game & Watch uses various attacks from Game & Watch games.
- Pichu (unlock Pichu by clearing Event Match #37: Legendary Poke'mon, or by playing more than 200 VS Mode matches); from the Pokémon series- He is the lightest character. Because he hasn't learned to fully control his electricity, Pichu's electric attacks hurt him a few percentage points. Pichu is bottom tier because of his overwhelmingly low range and power.
- Roy (unlock Roy by clearing 1-Player Mode Classic or Adventure Mode with Marth, without continuing, or by playing more than 900 VS Mode matches); from the Fire Emblem series- Considered by low-level players to be a strong but slow version of Marth, he is actually probably better described as weaker and faster at a high level of play. Roy's sword is most powerful in the center of the blade. In addition, his counter attack (Down + B) can block an incoming attack and reverse it with 1.5 times the damage of the original attack.
- Young Link(unlock Young Link (this version of Link) clearing 1-Player Mode Classic or Adventure Mode with Link, Zelda, and at least 12 more characters, or by playing more than 500 VS Mode matches); from the Legend of Zelda series- Weaker but more spry than adolescent Link, he handles projectiles more effectively than his older counterpart but has trouble killing the enemy. Young Link's Deku Shield can also block projectile attacks, but he drops his guard briefly during his standing animation. Young Link can also wall-jump - in fact, wall-jumping is the most convenient way to clear his Target Test. ³ These characters, Luigi and Jigglypuff, also appeared as unlockable characters in the original Super Smash Bros.
Non-playable characters
There are many non-playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, though through usage of a Debug menu, these characters may become playable:
- Master Hand: Originally starring as the final boss of the original Super Smash Bros., Master Hand makes a return as the last enemy in Melee's classic mode and Event Match 50. Unlike other characters, Master Hand does not accumulate damage but rather has a set amount of HP, depending on where and at what difficulty the player fights him. Master Hand floats over the right-hand side of Final Destination.
- Crazy Hand: Crazy hand is the left-hand counterpart to Master Hand and is impulsively destructive. He is reached by reaching Master Hand and halving his HP within 15 minutes without using continues on Normal difficulty or higher. Crazy Hand floats over the left-hand side of Final Destination.
- Giga Bowser: Giga Bowser is a huge version of Bowser that can be reached in two ways: either by clearing Adventure Mode in less than 18 minutes without using continues on Normal difficulty or higher, or by unlocking and attempting Event Match 51. Though much larger than Bowser, Giga Bowser is not appreciably heavier or stronger (except in Adventure mode, when he, as well as the other ending Bowser, is given a handicap), but his attacks are much longer-ranged, some of his attacks have elemental side-effects and different knockback/damage qualities, and he cannot be grabbed.
- Wireframes: Possibly descendants of the original Super Smash Bros.' Fighting Polygon Team, the Wireframes are wire replicas of Captain Falcon (Male Wireframes) and Zelda (Female Wireframes) who lack special moves. They generally appear in Event Matches or Multi-man Melees under handicaps that greatly weaken them, although Cruel Melee reverses this situation, allowing the Wireframes to one-hit KO the player character with many attacks.
- Sandbag: a tall sandbag characterized by a pair of eyes. Player characters wallop on him in Home-run Contest, racking damage and ultimately hitting him thousands of feet away with the home-run bat or other attacks. Fortunately for him, Sandbag enjoys seeing other characters let loose on him - he doesn't seem to be injured by other characters' home-run endeavors.
New Mechanics

- Throwing - Upon grappling an opponent, a player now has the ability to attack during the grapple, and are also now able to throw in all four directions.
- Healing Items - Healing items can now be picked up even if a character is holding a weapon item
- Smash + B Attacks - A fourth B special attack has been added, which is used by pressing Left or Right + B. Some of the older characters' B attacks have now become Smash + B attacks.
- Dodging - A character can now sidestep to dodge progectiles. This can also be used in mid-air.
- The Grappling Beam/Hook can now be used in mid-air and grapple onto walls.
- Shield - Taking advantage of the L and R buttons' sensitivity feature, Shields can be made larger by holding the L or R button very lightly
- Item Catching - Airborne items can now be caught by pressing A (Or Z in mid-air).
- Charged Smash Attacks - By holding the A button, a Smash Attack can be charged up for more power.
- Handling Large Items - All characters can now move while holding a large item (like a barrel). However, all characters are slowed down while holding that item to different extents.
- Edge Recovery - Along with doing a rolling dodge and attacking, you can now jump while climbing up from a ledge.
- Power Shielding - By pressing L or R before you are hit, you can power shield, which will block the attack without draining your shield, and reflect attacks.
- Scrolling Levels - Some levels now scroll, the entire level moving during the battle. In these levels a border can be seen at the very edges to indicate how far you can go before being KO'd.
- Off-Screen Damage - You take 1% Damage for every second you remain off screen.
- Smash Shortcuts - Tilting the C-Stick will do a Smash Attack in that direction
- Zoom in - In one player games, you can use the C-Stick to zoom in and out of your character in battle.
Trophies
As another way to incorporate retro references into the game, "trophies" of various Nintendo characters and objects can be collected. These trophies include statuettes of various characters, accessories and items associated with them, and secondary characters not otherwise included in the game. The trophies range from the well-known to the obscure, and include many references that are lost on international (not Japanese) gamers. There are 290 trophies in all versions of Super Smash Bros. Melee except the Japanese version, which has 293. One trophy, the character Tamagon from a game called Devil World that was released only in Japan, was removed likely because of the religious reference. There are also two trophies that were awarded at a promotional event in Japan (Mario riding Yoshi, and Samus Aran without her helmet) that are not available in other versions. However, all three of the missing trophies can be unlocked with use of the Action Replay cheating device. (Except in the PAL version, in which Tamagon cannot be got at all.) The Motion-Sensor Bomb trophy originally bore a resemblance to the proximity mine in the game Perfect Dark; the trophy was altered in the U.S. version to resemble a proximity mine from the N64 game GoldenEye 007 for unknown reasons, and its game of origin was changed to "TOP SECRET", akin to the Cloaking Device. Presumably this is due to the M-rating of Perfect Dark. One of the ending credits clearly states that "Certain characters and items from Perfect Dark[...]", implying, if not outright stating, the source of these items. There is no way to obtain the original Motion-Sensor Bomb trophy outside of the Japanese version; setting the U.S. version's language to Japanese will not work.
Trophy errata

- Samus Aran (trophy number 10) appeared in Metroid when it first came out in August 1986, but Super Smash Bros. Melee erroneously lists 1989 in the description.
- Meta Knight (trophy number 240) first appeared in Kirby's Adventure, not Kirby Super Star. However, he was not mentioned by name in Kirby's Adventure, which may have caused this oversight.
- Ayumi Tachibana (trophy number 286) was the protagonist of the original Detective Club game, even though the trophy description states that she appeared only in the sequel.
- The "Coin" trophy description speculates that they may be the currency of the Mushroom Kingdom; however, this was confirmed in Super Mario RPG and again in Paper Mario.
- The Master Sword is listed as first appearing in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, although it was first seen in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. This was corrected in SSBM's PAL version.
- The Poison Mushrooms debuted in Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), not Super Mario All-Stars, as the trophy claims in the North American version of Super Smash Bros. Melee, even though Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is the first release of Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2 in Super Mario All-Stars in North America.
- Princess Daisy's reintroduction was in Mario Tennis, not Mario Golf as her trophy claims. She did, however, appear in the NES game NES Open Tournament Golf.
- Waluigi is Wario's brother; his relationship to Wario is not "unclear" as his trophy claims.
- Birdo's last appearance before Super Smash Bros. Melees release was Mario Tennis, not Super Mario Advance as her trophy claims. Super Mario Advance was a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 ported from Super Mario All-Stars; the only new character appearance was "Robirdo". Additionally, Birdo was not "long missing from the Nintendo scene" since her Super Mario Bros. 2 debut; she had also appeared in Wario's Woods and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
- The Great Fox first appeared in Star Fox 64, not the original Star Fox.

Stages

Star Fox 64 Eighteen stages are initially available when you begin the game. Through completing various tasks, you can unlock eleven hidden stages to reveal 29 stages. It is of note that the name Mushroom Kingdom II is something of a misnomer. That stage is derived from Super Mario Bros. 2, the events of which took place in Subcon and not in the Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mario Bros. 2

Sonic and Tails hoax

In 2002, the April edition of the video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly included a "cheat" for the game that would baffle people for years to come. The issue claimed that the Sega characters Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower were hidden characters in the game. In order to be able to play as them, the player was required to eliminate 20 of the wire-frame characters in the Cruel Melee mode. Then, both Sonic and Tails would supposedly fight the player simultaneously and, if they lost, would then become playable. The magazine also said that if a player completed Classic mode with either character, they would be given "a special surprise". To convince readers, they included some screenshots of Sonic and Tails in play. However, this was revealed to be a hoax shortly after one of the readers discovered the date in one of the photos 'EGM' placed. It was included in the April edition for the sole purpose of being an April Fool's joke, reminiscent of their similarly executed Sheng Long joke for Street Fighter II. There are also several other factors that also prove this false, such as Nintendo not collaborating with Sega until after the game was released and that there is a screen that tells the player that they have achieved all of the hidden characters. Also, these characters were not included in any strategy guide. Nintendo Power recently released the results of a poll for the character subscribers most wanted in the next Super Smash Bros. It is interesting to note that one of the most popular choices was Sonic and Tails, followed closely by Tekken's Jin Kazama, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Cloud Strife and Mortal Kombat's hero Liu Kang and the four armed enforcer, Goro.

Toad hoax

A small servant or advisor of Princess Peach found throughout the Super Mario Brothers series. Toad appears briefly in Super Smash Bros. Melee as one of Princess Peach's special attacks and in the Mushroom Kingdom stage in Adventure Mode. There was a rumor following the Sonic and Tails hoax that Toad was a playable character, unlocked after shooting all the names in the credits. However, this has been disproved; the screenshots of Toad in action were taken out of the adventure section of the game.[http://www.geocities.com/demeterpictures/secret.html The Toad hoax]

Amateur and Pro Tournaments

The depth of this game has led to the development of a large, devoted tournament community. Smash World Forums, or Smashboards (linked below), slowly grew into the home for these competitive players. In 2002 and 2003, the first tournaments began appearing on smashboards. Many of these tournaments were held in a member's basement, and open invitations were placed on the website. Early on, some people would drive 5-6 hours to get to a location where there might only be 10 players. The scene began to transform with the arrival of the Tournament Go (TG) series of tournaments, hosted by a moderator with the handle of "MattDeezie." At the time, MattDeezie had been placing very high in California tournaments, and also placed in the Top 3 at the IGVF Seattle Smash national tournament. He invited anyone who would attend to come out to California, and he both rented out the building for the tournament out of his own pocket and allowed everyone who came to stay at his personal residence. The series quickly grew, and soon, one of the top 2 smashers in the Midwest, Eddie, traveled from Chicago to California for it, setting the precedent for the TG series as the unofficial national championships of Super Smash Brothers Melee. The TG series had 6 incarnations, the last being in the summer of 2004. It, perhaps singlehandedly, contributed more to the development of this nation-wide community more than any other tournament. The community grew from perhaps 100 traveling members to over 1500. The end of this tournament series was not the end of competitive Smash by far, though. The same summer as TG6, the Ship of Fools, a crew located in Mishawaka, Indiana, hosted MELEE-FC, Misunderstood Enthusiasts Living an Extrodinary Existance, For Cash. Though the name was humorous in nature, the tournament was promoted heavily due to the fact that TG5 was supposed to be the last of the series. Even the late announcement of TG6 did not prevent this tournament from being the largest to date. It's central location and hospitable enviroment attracted players from all over the country. Around the same time, Major League Gaming (MLG) added Smash to its tournament line-up, offering thousands of dollars in prize money. The first MLG season concluded successfully, with Ken, the universally acknowledged best player in the world, winning the title, over Captain Jack from Japan. MELEE-FC had another incarnation the next summer, and is the largest independent tournament to date, at 186 entrants for singles. It also was the site for the first Regional Crew Battle, when the East Coast, West Coast, South, and Midwest brought their top 10 players and competed. Even with Ken (who incidentally won the singles tournament as well) on the West Coast team, the East Coast showed its depth and came out the overwhelming winner, destroying every opponent. MLG continues to run Smash tournaments, and the independent scene thrives. For all of its simple appearances, there is no end in sight to competitive tournament play for this surprisingly deep and involved fighting game.

Future

Goro At E3 2005, the President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, announced a third game in the Super Smash Bros. series that is currently in development for the Nintendo Revolution. The game was confirmed to be playable online by taking advantage of the system's Wi-Fi capabilities. This title could be seen as early as the second half of 2006 as a launch title for the Revolution, but the release date is currently unannounced. On November 16, 2005, Nintendo announced that Masahiro Sakurai, the director of previous Smash Bros outings, will once again be at the helm as director and game designer. The move came as somewhat of a surprise as Sakurai left Nintendo to head his own independent company, Sora.

Soundtrack

Nintendo released a special soundtrack album in 2004 called Smashing...Live! which it gave away as a bonus for subscribing to Nintendo Power magazine in North America. It was released for sale only in Japan.

External links

-
-
- (The IMDb uses the Japanese titles for video games of Japanese origin.)
- [http://www.nintendorks.com/ssbmguide/characters/all.html Super Smash Bros. Melee guide: Nintendorks.com]
- [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/game/516492.html Super Smash Bros. Melee - GameFAQs.com]
- [http://www.smashboards.com Smash World Forums]
- [http://www.n-philes.com/features.php?id=174 Description of the Debug Menu]
- [http://www.planetnintendo.com/supersmashbrothers/ Super Smash Bros. Melee website]
- [http://www.themushroomkingdom.net/ssbm.shtml Super Smash Bros. Melee On The Mushroom Kingdom Page] (Click this link and scroll down to "Errors and Technicalities" to see the errors on the trophies) Category:Nintendo games Category:GameCube only games Category:2001 computer and video games Category:Smash Bros.

Japanese language

Japanese (Japanese: 日本語（にほんご Nihongo, ) is a language spoken by over 127 million people, mainly in Japan, but also by Japanese emigrant communities around the world. It is considered an agglutinative language and is distinguished by a system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary which indicate the relative status of speaker and listener. The sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small, and it has a lexically-distinctive pitch accent system. Though the two languages are completely unrelated, Japanese has been heavily influenced by Chinese over a period of at least 1,500 years. Japanese is written with a mix of Chinese characters (kanji) and a modified syllabary, kana, also originally based on Chinese characters. Much vocabulary has been imported from Chinese, or created on Chinese models.

Classification

Historical linguists who specialize in Japanese agree that it is one of the two members of the Japonic language family, but remain divided as to the origins of the Japonic languages. An older view, still widely held by some linguists and many non-linguists, is that Japanese is a language isolate. As for its relation to other languages, there are several theories (presented roughly in descending order of certainty):
- Japanese is a relative of extinct languages spoken by historic cultures in what are now the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. The best attested of these is the language of Goguryeo (a.k.a. Koguryo), with the more poorly-attested languages of Baekje (a.k.a. Paekche) and Buyeo (a.k.a Puyo) hypothesized to also be related. The limited data on these languages, as well as these cultures' historic ties, are the primary evidence.
- Japanese is a relative of Korean. This theory is based on the high degree of similarity between Japanese and Korean grammar. Proponents of this theory have also put proposed Japanese-Korean cognates. The idea of a Japanese-Korean relationship has been largely subsumed into the Altaic theory.
- Japanese is a member of the Altaic language family. Other languages in this group include Mongolian, Tungusic, Turkish, and (according to most proponents) Korean. Evidence for this theory lies in the fact that like Turkish and Korean, Japanese is an agglutinative language. Additionally, there are a suggestive number of apparently regular correspondences in basic vocabulary, such as ishi "stone" to Turkic daş, yon "four" to Turkic dört, kura "saddle" to Turkic kürtün, kiru "to cut" to Turkic kir-, inu "dog" to Turkic it, kumo "cloud" to Turkic köl "shadow", etc. These examples originate from [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=config&basename=\data\alt\altet this database], which contains a comprehensive list of comparisons and theoretical Altaic etymologies.
- Japanese is a creole language. Phonological similarities and geographical proximity to Austronesian languages have led to the theory that Japanese may be a kind of creole, with an Altaic substratum and an Austronesian superstratum, or vice versa.
- Japanese is a purely Austronesian language. This theory enjoys little currency, since the grammar and lexis of Japanese are vastly different from those of any known Austronesian language.
- Ono Susumu has suggested a possible relationship between Japanese and Tamil, a member of the Dravidian language family spoken in southern India. Specialists in Japanese historical linguistics all agree that Japanese is related to the Ryukyuan languages (including Okinawan); together, Japanese and Ryukyuan are grouped in the Japonic languages. Among these specialists, the possibility of a genetic relation to Goguryeo has the most evidence; relationship to Korean is considered plausible but is still up to debate; the Altaic hypothesis has somewhat less currency, though it has grown significantly more respectable in recent years, primarily due to the work of Sergei Starostin, et al. Almost all specialists reject the idea that Japanese could be genetically related to Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages or Sino-Tibetan languages, and the idea that Japanese could be related to Tamil is almost entirely excluded. It should be noted that linguistic studies, like all fields, can be strongly affected by national politics and other non-academic factors. For example, most linguists would say that Romanian and Moldovan are essentially the same language, and that they are known as two different languages for political reasons. Japan's long-standing rivalries and enmities with virtually all of its neighbours make the study of linguistic connection particularly fraught with such political tensions. However, these tensions are less prevalent among non-Japanese researchers.

Geographic distribution

Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been and is still sometimes spoken in countries besides Japan. When Japan occupied Korea, Taiwan, parts of China, and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries were forced to learn Japanese in empire-building programmes. As a result, there are still many people in these countries who speak Japanese instead of or as well as the local languages. In addition, emigrants from Japan, the majority of whom are found in Brazil, where the biggest Japanese community outside Japan is found, Australia (especially Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne), and the United States (notably California and Hawaii), also frequently speak Japanese. There is also a small community in Davao, Philippines. Their descendants (known as nikkei 日系, literally Japanese descendants), however, rarely speak Japanese fluently. There are estimated to be several million non-Japanese studying the language as well.

Official status

Japanese is the de facto official language of Japan, and Japan is the only country to have Japanese as an official working language. There are two forms of the language considered standard: or standard Japanese, and or the common language. As government policy has modernized Japanese, many of the distinctions between the two have blurred. Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications, and is the version of Japanese discussed in this article.

Dialects

Dozens of dialects are spoken in Japan. The profusion is due to the mountainous island terrain and Japan's long history of both external and internal isolation. Dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent, inflectional morphology, vocabulary, particle usage, and pronunciation. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is uncommon. Dialects from less central regions, such as the Tōhoku or Tsushima dialect may be unintelligible to speakers from other parts of the country. The dialect used in Kagoshima in southern Kyūshū is famous for being unintelligible not only to speakers of standard Japanese but to speakers of nearby dialects elsewhere in Kyūshū as well. Kagoshima dialect is 84% cognate with standard Tokyo dialect. The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the islands of Okinawa Prefecture. Not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryukyuan languages. Due to the close relationship of Ryukyuan and Japanese, they are still sometimes said to be only dialects of one language, but modern scholars consider them to be separate languages. Recently, Standard Japanese has become prevalent nationwide, due not only to television and radio, but also to increased mobility within Japan due to its system of roads, railways, and airports. Young people usually speak their local dialect and the standard language, though in most cases, the local dialect is influenced by the standard, and regional versions of "standard" Japanese have local-dialect influence.

Sounds

Japanese vowels are "pure" sounds, similar to their Italian or Spanish counterparts. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel , which is like , but unrounded. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, so each one has both a short and a long version. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese of the first half of the twentieth century, was palatalized to , approximately chi; however, now and are distinct, as evidenced by words like paatii "party" and tii "tea." The syllabic structure and the phonotactics are very simple: the only consonant clusters allowed within a syllable consist of one of a subset of the consonants plus /y/. However, consonant clusters across syllables within the word are common, though limited in type.

Grammar

The basic Japanese word order is Subject Object Verb. Subject and object are usually marked by particles which come after the word. The basic sentence structure is topic-comment. For example, Kochira wa Tanaka san desu. Kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by the particle wa. The verb is desu ("be"). As a phrase, Tanaka san desu is the comment. This sentence loosely translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mr./Mrs./Ms. Tanaka". Thus Japanese, like Chinese and Korean, is often called a topic-prominent language, which means it indicates the topic separately from the subject, and the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai. literally means, "As for elephants, the nose is long." The topic is zō "elephant," and the subject is hana "nose." Japanese nouns have neither number nor gender. Thus hon may mean "book" or "books". It is possible to explicitly indicate more than one, either by using numbers, often with a counter. Words for people are usually singular. Thus Tanaka san usually means Mr/Ms Tanaka. Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate groups with noun suffixes that indicate groups, such as -tachi. Though some words, like hitobito "people," always refer to more than one, Japanese has no true plurals. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present, or non-past, which is used for the present and the future. For some verbs, that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) tense. For others, that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect tense. For example, kite iru means "He has come (and is still here)", but tabete iru means "He is eating". Questions are formed by adding a question element to the end of the verb, usually ka. For example, :Kore de ii desu. "This is OK." becomes :Kore de ii desu ka. "Is this OK?" Negatives are formed with verb endings. For example, :Pan o taberu. "I will eat bread." becomes :Pan o tabenai. "I will not eat bread." with taberu "to eat" changing to the negative form tabenai "to not eat". The word desu/da is the copula verb. It corresponds approximately to the English be, but often takes on other roles. A separate function of "to be" is to indicate existence, as in "there is", for which the verbs aru and iru are used for inanimate and animate things, respectively. For example, :Neko ga iru. "There's a cat.", and :Ii kangae ga nai. "I haven't got a good idea." The verb "to do" (suru, polite form shimasu) is often used to make verbs from nouns (ai suru "to love", benkyō suru "to study", etc.). Japanese also has a huge number of compound verbs (e.g. tobidasu "to fly out, to flee," from tobu "to fly, to jump" + dasu "to go out"). There are three types of adjective: #keiyōshi, or i adjectives, which have a conjugating ending i which can become, for example, past, or negative. For example atsui ("to be hot") #:atsui hi "a hot day". #keiyōdōshi, or na adjectives, which are followed by a form of the copula, usually na. For example hen (strange) #:hen na hito "a strange person". #rentaishi, also called true adjectives, such as onaji "the same" #:onaji hi "the same day". Both keiyōshi and keiyōdōshi may predicate sentences. For example, :Gohan ga atsui. "The rice is hot." :Kare wa hen da. "He's strange." Both inflect, though they do not show the full range of conjugation found in true verbs. The rentaishi are few in number, and unlike the other words, are limited to modifying nouns. They never predicate sentences. Examples include ookina "big" and onaji "the same" (although there is a noun onaji that can be followed by da, as in onaji da). Both keiyōdōshi and keiyōshi form adverbs, by following with ni in the case of keiyōdōshi: :hen ni naru "become strange", and by changing i to ku in the case of keiyōshi: :atsuku naru "become hot". The grammatical function of nouns is indicated by postpositions, also called particles. These include
- no for possession, :watashi no kamera "my camera"
- ga for subject, :Kare ga yatta. "He did it."
- o for direct object :Nani o tabemasu ka? "What will (you) eat?"
- ni for indirect object, :Tanaka san ni kiite kudasai "Please ask Mr./Ms. Tanaka",
- wa for the topic and many others. Japanese has many words that are translated as pronouns in English, such as watashi or boku, both meaning "I". Which is used depends upon many factors, including the sex and status of the speaker, who is being spoken to, and the social setting. Their use is often optional, since Japanese is described as a so-called pro-drop language, i.e., one in which the subject of a sentence does not always need to be stated. For example, instead of saying :Watashi wa byōki desu. "I am sick.", if the speaker is understood to be the subject, one could simply say Byōki desu. A single verb can be a complete sentence: :yatta! "(I / we / they / etc) did (it)!".

Politeness

Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain form (kudaketa 砕けた), the simple polite form (teineigo 丁寧語) and the advanced polite form (keigo 敬語). Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position. This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favour tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until they are teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. See uchi-soto The plain form in Japanese is recognized by the shorter, dictionary form of verbs, and the da form of the copula. At the teinei level, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu is used. The advanced polite form, keigo, actually consists of two kinds of politeness: honorific language (sonkeigo) and humble (kenjōgo) language. Whereas teineigo is an inflectional system, keigo often employs many special (often irregular) honorific and humble verb forms. The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and his group. For example, the -san suffix ("Mr", "Mrs" or "Ms") is an example of honorific language. It is not used to talk about oneself or when talking about someone from one's company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's "group". Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made polite by the addition of o- or go-; as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word, and is included even in regular speech, such as gohan 'cooked rice; meal.' Such a construction often indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi 'friend,' would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status (though mothers often use this form to refer to their children's friends). On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu 'water' as o-mizu merely to show politeness; this contrasts with the more abrupt speech of men (though men may also use very polite forms when speaking to superiors). See Gender differences in spoken Japanese. Many researchers report that since the 1990s, the use of polite forms has become rarer. Needless to say, many older people disapprove of this trend. Most Japanese people employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but if a relationship becomes more intimate, they no longer use them. This occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender. Young people usually receive extensive training in the "proper" use of polite language when they start to work for a company.

Vocabulary

The original language of Japan was the so-called yamato kotoba. In addition to this original language, Japanese also has a great number of words that were either borrowed from Chinese or constructed on Chinese patterns. These words entered the language from the fifth century onwards via contact with Chinese culture. Chinese based words comprise as much as seventy percent of the total vocabulary of the Japanese language and form as much as thirty to forty percent of words used in speech. A much smaller number of words has been borrowed from Korean and Ainu. Japan has also borrowed a number of words from other languages, gairaigo. This began with borrowings from Portuguese in the 16th century, followed by borrowing from Dutch during Japan's long isolation of the Edo period. With the Meiji restoration and the reopening of Japan in the 19th century, borrowing occurred from German, French and English. Currently, words of English origin are the most commonly borrowed. In the Meiji era, the Japanese also coined many neologisms using Chinese patterns to translate Western concepts. The Chinese and Koreans imported many of these pseudo-Chinese words into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese via their kanji characters in the late 19th and early 20th century. For example, 政治 seiji ("politics"), and 化学 kagaku ("chemistry"). As a result, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese share a large common corpus of vocabulary in the same way a large number of Greco-Roman words is shared among European languages. In the past few decades, wasei-eigo (made-in-Japan English) has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such as wanpataan (< one + pattern, "to be in a rut", "to have a one-track mind") and sukinshippu (< skin + -ship, "physical contact"), although coined from English, are nonsensical in a non-Japanese context. A small number of such words, such as anime and cosplay, have been borrowed back into English. Additionally, many native Japanese words have become commonplace in English, due to the popularity of many Japanese cultural exports. Words such as sushi, judo, karate, sumo, karaoke, origami, samurai, haiku, ninja, sayonara, rickshaw (from 人力車 jinrikisha), futon, and many others have become part of the English language. See list of English words of Japanese origin for more.

Writing system

Modern Japanese is written in a mixture of three main scripts: kanji, characters of Chinese origin used to represent both Chinese loanwords into Japanese and a number of native Japanese morphemes; and two syllabaries: hiragana and katakana. The Roman alphabet (romaji) is also sometimes used.

Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese involves understanding grammar, pronunciation, the writing system, and acquiring adequate vocabulary. While the sound system is simple to master compared with those of other languages, the writing system poses a challenge for those not used to Chinese characters. On the other hand one learns a lot about Japanese culture by studying kanji characters. Japanese students begin to learn kanji characters from their first grade of an elementary school. A guideline created by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the kyōiku kanji, specifies the 1,006 simple characters a child is to learn by the end of sixth grade. Children continue to study another 939 characters in a junior high school, which totally covers 1,945 jōyō kanji (common kanji) characters, which are usually considered sufficient for everyday life. Japanese can be learned without studying Chinese characters. However, Japanese borrowed thousands upon thousands of words from Chinese, and for various reasons, many of these Chinese-based words are now homophones (words pronounced identically) in Japanese. This may make it necessary to learn the characters if one wants to learn an extended vocabulary, although blind Japanese people who cannot read any characters are able to function in the spoken language without problems, since most words, even if not written down, can be understood by the context. "Nihon" (にほん) can mean "two long, thin objects" (二本) as well as "Japan" (日本). However, these two words have different accents, and are distinct even in isolation. Major universities throughout the world provide Japanese language courses. Moreover, South Korea, Australia, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Denmark and some states of the United States provide the language course at high schools or lower level schools. About 2.3 million people studied the language worldwide in 2003. 900,000 South Koreans, 389,000 Chinese people, 381,000 Australians, and 140,000 Americans study Japanese in lower and higher educational institutions. The Japanese government provides standard tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The Japanese External Trade Organization JETRO organizes the Business Japanese Proficiency Test, to test ability to understand Japanese in a business setting. In Japan, more than 90,000 foreign students study at Japanese universities and Japanese language schools, including 77,000 Chinese and 15,000 South Koreans in 2003. Furthermore, local governments and some NPO groups provide free Japanese language classes for foreign residents, including Japanese Brazilians and foreign wives married to Japanese nationals. See also List of resources for learning Japanese.

External links

- [http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/jpp/japor.html Origin of the Japanese People and Language]
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20030618070124/http%3A//www-lib.icu.ac.jp/LibShuppan/lecture/6-2-1.html North Kyushu Creole] – A hypothesis concerning the multilingual formation of Japanese
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1263 Ethnologue report for Japanese]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=jpn Ethnologue report for language code JPN]

Bibliography

- Bloch, Bernard. (1946). Studies in colloquial Japanese I: Inflection. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 66, 97-109.
- Bloch, Bernard. (1946). Studies in colloquial Japanese II: Syntax. Language, 22, 200-248.
- Chafe, William L. (1976). Giveness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics, and point of view. In C. Li (Ed.), Subject and topic (pp. 25-56). New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-1244-7350-4.
- Kuno, Susumu. (1973). The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-2621-1049-0.
- Kuno, Susumu. (1976). Subject, theme, and the speaker's empathy: A re-examination of relativization phenomena. In Charles N. Li (Ed.), Subject and topic (pp. 417-444). New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-1244-7350-4.
- Martin, Samuel E. (1975). A reference grammar of Japanese. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-3000-1813-4.
- McClain, Yoko Matsuoka. (1981). Handbook of modern Japanese grammar: 口語日本文法便覧 [Kōgo Nihon bumpō]. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press. ISBN 4-5900-0570-0; ISBN 0-8934-6149-0.
- Miller, Roy. (1967). The Japanese language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Miller, Roy. (1980). Origins of the Japanese language: Lectures in Japan during the academic year, 1977-78. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-2959-5766-2.
- Mizutani, Osmau; & Mizutani, Nobuko. (1987). How to be polite in Japanese: 日本語の敬語 [Nihongo no keigo]. Tokyo: Japan Times. ISBN 4-7890-0338-8; ISBN 4-7890-0338-9.
- Shibatani, Masayoshi. (1990). Japanese. In B. Comrie (Ed.), The major languages of east and south-east Asia. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-4150-4739-0.
- Shibatani, Masayoshi. (1990). The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-5213-6070-6 (hbk); ISBN 0-5213-6918-5 (pbk).
- Shibamoto, Janet S. (1985). Japanese women's language. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-1264-0030-X. Graduate Level
- Tsujimura, Natsuko. (1996). An introduction to Japanese linguistics. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-6311-9855-5 (hbk); ISBN 0-6311-9856-3 (pbk). Upper Level Textbooks
- Tsujimura, Natsuko. (Ed.) (1999). The handbook of Japanese linguistics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-6312-0504-7. Readings/Anthologies zh-min-nan:Ji̍t-pún-oē ko:일본어 ms:Bahasa Jepun ja:日本語 simple:Japanese language th:ภาษาญี่ปุ่น

Fighting game

Fighting games or fighters are video games in which players fight each other or computer enemies, usually employing some variation of the martial arts. Along with fixed shooters, they are traditionally at home in the arcades, and are considered separate from sports games such as wrestling, boxing and "ultimate fighting" games. :Note on naming:
:The term beat 'em up is commonly used to specifically describe games in the scrolling fighting game sub-genre. However, among some players (particularly those from the UK), the phrase can refer to versus fighting games.

Scrolling fighting game

UK In this type of fighting game, also known as a beat 'em up, scrolling beat 'em up or occasionally brawler, one or more players (most often two, but sometimes as many as six) each choose a unique character, and team up to punch, kick, throw and slash their way through a horde of computer-controlled enemies. The fighting occurs in a series of side scrolling stages, some with a powerful boss enemy at the end. In the most common variation, players can move away and toward the screen as well as left and right, although earlier scrolling fighting games such as Kung Fu were more likely to allow only one-dimensional movement plus jumping. There are two main variations on the style of gameplay: a fisticuffs and martial arts emphasized, or a weapons emphasized. Fisticuff emphasized games generally have more martial arts moves available, while weapons-emphasized games have a plethroa of martial-arts weapons (such as nunchaku and ninja stars), stage debris, and ballistic weapons. Example martial arts emphasized: Streets of Rage series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, River City Ransom, Double Dragon series Example weapons emphasized: Alien vs. Predator, Captain Commando, Dynamite Cop, Magic Sword

Golden age of Scrolling Fighting games

Starting in the mid 1980s, particularly with Double Dragon, the ability to move sideways via perspective was added. Two major milestones, which utilize this perspective approach are Double Dragon and Final Fight;both of these games spawned franchises that survive today. Some of the most popular games from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s followed utilized the same gameplay approach. At its height, the side-scroller was one of the most popular kinds of arcade games, but they have since fallen out of fashion. Capcom was known for making several popular scrolling fighting games, ranging from original titles such as Captain Commando and the Final Fight series to licenced works such as Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, Knights of the Round and Alien vs. Predator Capcom's most recent scrolling fighting game is Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance, which incorporates RPG-like gameplay. Video game consoles also had some very popular scrolling-fighting games, particularly River City Ransom for the NES, and the Streets of Rage series for the Sega Genesis.

Modern Scrolling Fighting games

While a few 3D scrolling fighting games exist (notably Sega's Die Hard Arcade and Spikeout, Squaresoft's The Bouncer and Konami's remake of 1989's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), they are much more a niche genre than the 2D iterations were. Increasingly, modern games have taken elements of scrolling fighting games and created original hybrid gameplay. These games are charterized by added depth via a variety of missions, much more gunplay (and fighting abilities that involve guns such as disarming moves), and slow-down/"berserk mode" abilities. Games that take this unified approach include Bloodrayne, The Warriors, and Dead to Rights.

Versus fighting game

Dead to Rights In the versus, or competitive, type of fighting game, two players (sometimes more) each choose a character, then fight against each other over several rounds. The winner of a round either knocks out his opponent (usually by depleting an energy bar to zero), comes closest to knocking him out, or (in some 3D titles) sends him out of the ring. In contrast to side-scrolling fighting games, most versus fighting games are competitive rather than co-operative. Some offer players the chance to battle as teams (2v2 or 3v3 being most common) instead of one-on-one. The characters can be alternated in either a tag team (characters can be switched out in the middle of the round) or elimination mode (team whose members lose the individual rounds loses the match). In a few of these team versus games, players can opt to play on the same team, usually in a tag team fashion. Because of their competitive nature, versus fighting games are conducive to tournament play. One of the main attractions of this game type is the large number of characters each game has, all of whom usually have a distinct appearance and fighting style: for example, the characters of the Street Fighter series come from around the world; characters of The King of Fighters series have very well defined personalities and backstories, as well as distinct and differing abilities; those of Eternal Champions were taken from distinct historical periods; the cast of the Guilty Gear series simply seem to differ wildly from one another; and characters from the Mortal Kombat series range from criminals to Shaolin monks to gods. Depending on their discipline, characters may be unarmed or armed with mêlée weapons (swords, sticks, nunchaku, etc.). Due to the fall in popularity of scrolling fighting games, the terms fighting game and fighter are generally taken to refer to versus fighting games.

The 2D/3D difference

nunchaku nunchaku Versus fighting games can be either two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D). Characters in 2D fighting games (Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, early Mortal Kombat, Guilty Gear, Killer Instinct) are hand-drawn/digitized and animated sprites, and can move left and right and duck and jump, but in many games they can't sidestep or move 'closer to the screen'. The player's viewpoint scrolls in various directions but stays at a fixed angle. The 2D fighter's characteristic gameplay mechanics are exaggerated jumps, projectile attacks, and an "air/ground/low" attack/block system. In 3D titles (Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibur, Tekken, Dead or Alive, later Mortal Kombat games), the characters and stages are 3D polygon-based models. The camera's viewpoint is not fixed and can rotate and move in any direction, and the characters can sidestep as well as duck and jump. In contrast with the gameplay of 2D titles, jumping and projectile attacks are minor elements. Often a "high/mid/low" system is used for attacking and blocking. Thus, the gameplay in 3D fighters is generally two-dimensional as well, although in the XZ dimensions instead of XY, although there are exceptions such as Power Stone and Tobal No. 1. These games usually have slower attack speeds than two dimesional fighting games, because instead of a punch being represented by a two frame animation, a 3D game usually has a motion captured punch animation which is allowed to play fully, causing the overall attack to be slower-but more realistic.

External links

- [http://www.snk-capcom.com/ SNK-Capcom dot com]- fansite Category:Fighting games Category:Computer and video game genres ko:대전 격투 게임 ja:対戦型格闘ゲーム

Category:2001 computer and video games

1999

1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations.

Events

- Kosovo War
- Y2K preparation was a major event in 1999 both in actual events and in media over-reporting.
- The human population of the world surpassed six billion. The United Nations Population Fund designated October 12 as the approximate date for this event.

January

- January 1 - Euro currency introduced.
- January 1 - An avalanche destroys a school gymnasium during New Year celebrations in Kangiqsualujjuaq in far northern Quebec, killing nine.
- January 2 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- January 4 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people and injuring 25.
- January 12 - The remains of Christina Marie Williams were found three miles (5 km) from her home on the old Fort Ord military base.
- January 20 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafes.
- January 21 - War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4.3 t) of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed for Houston, Texas.
- January 25 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000

February

- February 4 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
- February 5 - Mike Tyson is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, fined $5,000, and ordered to serve 2 years probation and perform 200 hours of community service for the August 31, 1998 assault on two people after a car accident.
- February 7 - King of Jordan, Hussein of Jordan, dies from cancer. His son Abdullah II then inherits the throne, and becomes King of Jordan.
- February 10 - Avalanches in the French Alps near Geneva kill at least ten.
- February 11 - Pluto, a planet with an irregular orbit, changes from the eighth to ninth planet furthest from the Sun. It had been the eighth furthest since 1979, and will become again in 2231.
- February 12 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
- February 12 - John Myatt and John Drewe are sentenced for art forgery for one and six years, respectively.
- February 16 - In Uzbekistan a bomb explodes and gunfire is heard at the government headquarters in an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov.
- February 16 - Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
- February 16 - In Jasper, Texas, testimony begins in the trial of John William King who is accused of dragging African American James Byrd Jr. to death in an apparent hate crime. King was later convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
- February 22 - Moderate Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr is assassinated.
- February 23 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- February 23 - White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles (3 km).
- February 23 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
- February 24 - LaGrand Case: The State of Arizona executes Karl LaGrand, a German national involved in an armed robbery that led to a death. Karl's brother Walter is executed a week later, in spite of Germany's legal action in the International Court of Justice to attempt to save him.
- February 27 - While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.
- February 27 - Olusegun Obasanjo becomes Nigeria's first elected president since mid-1983.

March

- March 1 - One of four bombs detonated in Lusaka, Zambia, destroys the Angolan Embassy.
- March 1 - Rwandan Hutu rebels kill and hack to pieces eight foreign tourists at the Buhoma homestead, Uganda
- March 1 - The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines comes into force.
- March 3 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping. Their journey ended in success on March 21.
- March 4 - Monica Lewinsky's book detailing her affair with Bill Clinton goes on sale in the United States
- March 4 - In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
- March 12 - Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic join NATO.
- March 15 - The European Commission under the presidency of Jacques Santer resigns over allegations of corruption.
- March 17 - The [http://www.roth-401k-forum.com/ Roth 401k] is introduced by Sen Roth Jr., William V.
- March 20 - Serbs launch an offensive in Bosnia
- March 21 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- March 22 - US pro-euthanasia doctor Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan. He is later convicted of second-degree murder
- March 23 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña
- March 24 - NATO launches air strikes in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which was refusing to sign a peace treaty. This marks the first time NATO attacked a sovereign country
- March 24 - Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly 3 years.
- March 26 - The Melissa worm attacks the Internet.
- March 26 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man (the incident was videotaped and aired on September 17, 1998 edition of 60 Minutes)
- March 29 - For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10000 mark at 10006.78.

April

- April 1 - Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, part of the Northwest Territories becomes Canada's third territory.
- April 5 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over to Scottish authorities for eventual trial in the Netherlands. The United Nations suspends sanctions against Libya
- April 5 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the apparent hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard
- April 7 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving
- April 7 - Bomb explodes in the Valley of the Fallen church in Spain - GRAPO claims responsibility
- April 9 - Ibrahim Baré Maînassara, president of Nigeria, is assassinated
- April 17 - A nail bomb explodes in the middle of a busy market in Brixton, South London
- April 18 - "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky plays his final game in the NHL.
- April 20 - Two Littleton, Colorado teenagers named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire on their teachers and fellow students. The teenagers killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and then killed themselves. See Columbine High School massacre.
- April 25 - End of term for Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman as the 10th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- April 26 - Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor becomes the 11th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- April 28 - The first comic of Sexy Losers (then called "The Thin H Line") goes online. This webcomic would go on to be one of the most popular webcomics ever made, with a sustained level of unique IP address hits of approximately 1 million a week. It would also popularize the word "fap" as an onomatopoeia for masturbation, a sound effect widely used in anime-themed comics since.
- April 30 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.
- April 30 - A third nail bomb (see April 17) explodes in the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, London, killing a pregnant woman and two friends and injuring 70 others, including her husband. This was part of a hate campaign against ethnic minorities and gay people by David Copeland

May

David Copeland
- May 2 - Oliver Reed, British actor famous for starring in The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Assassination Bureau, dies of a heart attack in Malta while filming Gladiator.
- May 2 - Norman J. Sirnic and Karen Sirnic are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in a parsonage in Weimar, Texas. They were his fourth and fifth victims in his fourth incident.
- May 3 - Photo driver licences and banknotes made out of polymer substrate are introduced to New Zealand.
- May 3 - A F5 tornado slams in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma killing 38 people. This was the strongest tornado ever. (See Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak)
- May 3 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 for the first time. It closes at 11,014.70.
- May 6 - Elections are held in Scotland and Wales for the new Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales
- May 7 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode.
- May 7 - Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
- May 7 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup
- May 8 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Military College of South Carolina.
- May 12 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament
- May 13 - in Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is elected President of the republic
- May 17 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.
- May 19 - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released in theaters.
- May 20 - Bluetooth announced.
- May 23 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet (30 m) to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring
- May 26 - Indian Air Force launches attack on intruding Pakistan backed militants in Kashmir sparking the Kargil War.
- May 26 - Manchester United win the UEFA Champions League at the Nou Camp stadium, Barcelona, beating Bayern Munich to lift their third major trophy in their unprecedented Treble, after winning the English Premier League and FA Cup.
- May 26 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted, Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot
- May 26 - first Welsh Assembly for over 600 years opens in Cardiff
- May 27 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
- May 28 - In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo de Vinci's newly-restored masterpiece "The Last Supper" is put back on display.

June

- 'solid - the socialist youth is formed in Hannover, Germany
- June 2 - After decades of fighting off outside technological influences like television, the King of Bhutan allows television transmissions to commence in the Kingdom for the first time, coinciding with the King's silver jubilee (see Bhutan Broadcasting Service).
- June 5 - The AIS, the armed wing of FIS, agrees in principle to disband in Algeria.
- June 6 - In Brazil, 345 prisoners escape from Putim prison through the front gate
- June 7 - Garfield daily strips in colour.
- June 8 - The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- June 9 - Kosovo War: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
- June 10 - Kosovo War: NATO suspends its air strikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
- June 12 - Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins - NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force KFor enter the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Texas Governor George W. Bush announces his intention to seek the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States.
- June 15 - George Morber Senior and Carolyn Frederick are murdered by Angel Maturino Resendiz in Gorham, Illinois. They are his eighth and ninth victims, in his seventh and final incident.
- June 19 - Torino is picked as the host city of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

July

- July 4 - David Beckham and Victoria Adams are married.
- July 11 - India recaptures Kargil as Pakistan pulls out its troops and militants after international condemnation. India claim victory in the two-month conflict.
- July 16 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette on board. All three are killed in the crash
- July 20 - Mercury program: Liberty Bell 7 is raised from the Atlantic Ocean.
- July 23 - Mohammed VI becomes King of Morocco.
- July 23 to July 25 - Woodstock 99 festival held in New York.
- July 23 - Hijack of ANA Flight 61 in Tokyo.
- July 25 - Lance Armstrong wins first Tour de France.
- July 27 - 21 die in a canyoning disaster near Interlaken, Switzerland.
- July 31 - Mark O. Barton kills 9 in Atlanta, Georgia
- July 31 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

August

- August 8 - The first edition of the