Pocket Rumble

Last Update was 2017 Waste of money

It's a very good early access game, but it essentially has been abandoned for years. Don't get this expecting a finished game.

This game was supposed to be a retro fighter in the same vein as games from the Neo-Geo Pocket (Color). The game had so much potential, but was abandoned by the developer(s). Steam even has a note now saying that the last update was 5 years ago. It's not worth buying.

I think this is the best fighting game ever made. It's so easy to pick up but still has incredible depth. Only 2 buttons. Special moves? Just hold down+(forward or backward) and give either attack button a long press. You can still play footsies and do sweeps by tapping the button lightly, or the game will let you use extra buttons for guaranteed quick taps so your normals always come out. A cast of 8 characters, with every fighting game character archetype and plenty of homage to the genre. There's a shoto, a KOF style rushdown with a run and shorthop, Dhalsim zoning, a puppet character, a grappler, a 3rd Strike parry, and John Talbain from Darkstalkers, and Vergil from MvC3 but not broken. The interface is fast, training mode has visual frame data and dummy record/playback, and playing with friends is super easy, just send an invite. Only bad thing about the game is the small playerbase. There's pretty much no one on ranked, you'll have to join the Discord and find opponents there. But in the quest to discover simple fighting games that are still more complex than Divekick, Fantasy Strike, and Rising Thunder, Pocket Rumble is the best midpoint we have yet.

I hate this game but my friend plays it so I am cursed to play this game

A Straightforward 2d fighting game with 2 attack buttons and 4 special moves on each character. Specials are done with a diagonal down input rather than command inputs like traditional 2d fighting games. That said the characters tend to be fairly unique despite the limited movelist. Easy to pick up though a few characters have some depth this game makes a great starting point for new players to 2d fighting games as well as a good side game for 2d fighting game veterans. A few character matchups require more work from one player than the other but even in those cases there is a way for either player to win. Also the netcode is really good making it good to play online with friends. Only real downside is that it's been unfinished for a long time but the roster is there and all the most important game modes are there as well Career/arcade mode, Online ranked, Online invite with steam friends, Vs local, Vs computer, Training mode, and some other ones I can't remember right now (challenges and something else I think). Only thing missing is a lobby system for multiple players to hang out in without being steam friends which would make the game easier to stream and play with viewers.

It's never going to be out of early access because the developers had the game stolen by the publisher and are straight up barred from developing for it. If you want to be mad at anyone for such a good game to be abandoned, point that at the publishers and not the devs who had their dream project snatched away. As it is it's a really fun fighting game to bust out locally every now and again - for 10 bucks it's worth picking up if you have people to play with. Just don't expect it to ever be "finished". Thanks DANGEN.

Cool game, too bad none plays it. It does have a "ranked" mode against bots tho. :'3

good game needs more online support.

This game is really great, of all the fighting games that are "simple and accessible" this is the only one that does it without removing fundamental mechanics, and it also goes much further in terms of QOL features that make the game easier to pick up. There's an infinitely large buffer on held inputs which means that while the game still has combos (and sometimes kinda long ones) they're very easy to execute, and since special moves are done by holding a diagonal input and holding the right button the buffer works on basically every action. Characters are all designed with pretty minimalist movesets, but the tools they have are generally really strong, so they don't feel lacking and it's pretty easy to figure out a character's "deal" just by eyeballing their moves (especially since frame data is always visible on screen). Damage and meter is really easy to read since it's separated into chunks and damage correlates 1-to-1 with how many "hits" a move does. You do everything with only 2 buttons, but because having as many actions as there are across only 2 buttons is kind of a lot you can bind extras to make execution easier. Everyone also has unique movement and meter mechanics, which gives the game a surprising amount of complexity overall, even if it's kinda low per-character. The way the game plays in matches also feels really good, it's kind of in the mold of something like super turbo, with really fast rounds and high damage into really scary pressure situations. It's a kind of fighting game that honestly doesn't get made much any more so it's great to see such a unique take on the concept. It's listed as early access but every character is complete and it has (very good!) functioning online, so I wouldn't hold that against it, especially for a 10 dollar game. The playerbase is not really high, but if you have someone to play against pocket rumble is kind of low-key one of the best modern fighting games and absolutely the best if you are specifically looking for a game that prioritizes accessibility.