Fighting Game Archetypes (and the Problems with Classifying Them)

 

Archetypes are one of the oldest, dynamic and hotly-debated elements of the fighting game genre. Archetypes are one of the foundations of fighting games: they help us group similar characters together, discuss universal strategies, and they give us a starting point when we try new fighting games based on ones we’ve already played. 

In this essay, I want to analyze the different fighting game archetypes, the strategies behind each archetype, and which archetypes are considered subgroups or hybrid groups of one-another. 

…But HOLY FUCK, this subject is confusing. I bit off waaaaaaay more than I can chew with this one. 

Turns out, there is absolutely zero consensus among the fighting game community as to how many archetypes there are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, if there are sub-archetypes, even what to call some of these archetypes. So, this essay is gonna be structured a bit weird. I’m basically going to be presenting my own framework of fighting game archetypes, then looking into why it's so difficult to construct this framework in the first place. 

If you’re relatively new to fighting games, I recommend first reading my essay on Fighting Game Terminology before reading this. If you’ve already read it or you’re more well-versed in fighting games, then let’s get into it! 

The Big Five and Spacing:

Let’s start by defining what an archetype is, as that seems to be where a lot of confusion comes from. For the purposes of this essay, I’m defining an archetype as a group of characters across the genre that all share a common goal, similar tools to achieve that goal, operate in the same range, and a similar playstyle. Characters can still be considered members of archetypes if they have slightly different tools, but the thing we’re really looking at is the goal of the archetype. In other words, what is their win condition? 

Generally, fans of fighting games can agree on four main archetypes that appear in just about every fighting game. Each of these characters have distinct toolkits, strengths, weaknesses, and a preferable range that they can work in (except for the All-Rounder). 

The Zoner, who uses a variety of projectiles to create and control space. They operate best at long range. Classica examples include Peacock from Skullgirls, Simon and Richter Belmont from Super Smash Bros, Jaina from Fantasy Strike and Hilda from Under Night In-Birth. 

• The Trapper is a complex sub-archetype of the Zoner. In most fighting games, Zoning creates pressure by forcing the opponent to block the projectile, get hit by the projectile, or jump and risk an anti air. Of course, in Anime and Platform Fighters, there are a lot more mobility tools such as midair jumps, air dashes and air dodges, so a slow-moving horizontal fireball isn’t nearly as much of a problem. As such, the Trapper archetype is found only in these subgenres, and instead of using projectiles to distance themselves from the opponent, a Trapper uses weaker projectiles to maneuver opponents into the line of fire of a more devastating projectile. Examples include Snake and Pac-Man in Smash; Testament and Bedman in Guilty Gear; and Carmine in Under Night In-Birth. 

The Grappler, who often struggles with a slower moveset that makes it difficult to get in close range, but tends to have higher-than-average reach on their normals and health to balance it out. (Though that’s not always the case.) Once they do get in close range, they bombard their opponent with a variety of command grabs that do explosive damage. Classic examples include Rainbow Mika and Zangief from Street Fighter, Potemkin from Guilty Gear, King and Armor King from Tekken, Tager from BlazBlue, Ladiva from Granblue Fantasy Versus, and Incineroar from Super Smash Bros. 

• The Half-Grappler (also called a Semi-Grappler) is exactly what they sound like: a sub-archetype of Grapplers and someone who has command grabs, but not as many as a traditional Grappler. Or, to put it another way, they are often the result of combining a Grappler with one of the other major archetypes. Instead of forcing the opponent into a 50-50 between two command grabs, they force their opponent into a 50-50 between a command grab and some other type of move. The other “half” of their playstyle can be almost anything, but it’s usually All-Rounder, Footsie or some slight variation on Poking. Examples include Donkey Kong and Luigi in Smash; Alex and Abel in Street Fighter; Blue Mary in King of Fighters; and She-Hulk in Marvel vs Capcom. (Indeed, MVC3 is a game without true Grapplers, and so pretty much everyone who seems like they should be a Grappler is actually just a Half-Grappler. Also, I should note that Platform Fighters lack true Grapplers due to how their grab game varies, so it's a bit hard to classify where characters like Incineroar, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Luigi fit into things.)

The Rushdowner, an offensive character whose only goal is to get into close range (like the Grappler), but instead of forcing their opponent to guess between different command throws, they simply overwhelm the opponent with blistering offense and long, high-damaging combos. Examples include Charlotta from Granblue Fantasy Versus; Nina from Tekken; Ibuki and Cammy from Street Fighter; Magneto, Strider and Spider-Man from Marvel vs Capcom; and Arcueid from Melty Blood. 

• Speed Demons (called Pixies when the Speed Demon is also a Glass Cannon) are a Rushdown sub-archetype, and they are exactly what they sound like. These are characters whose offense comes out at a blistering speed. Pixies are characterized by their fast walking and running speeds, high-damaging normals and specials with little startup, in some cases even sidesteps, extra midair jumps and air dashes, all of which they use to apply pressure. (Though, we need to remember that “high mobility” is relative to the universal mobility tools and dash speeds in the game, so keep that in mind.) Obvious examples include Captain Falcon from Smash, Twelve from SFIII: 3rd Strike, Filia from Skullgirls, Tianhuo from Them’s Fightin’ Herds, and Chipp from Guilty Gear, the latter of whom is probably the most well-known example. 

• Dominating characters (aka Oppressive characters, Beatdown characters, Gorillas or Juggernauts) are a slight variation on normal Rushdowners, and effectively the antithesis to High-Mobility characters. Dominating characters have slower walking, dashing and falling speeds (in Platform Fighters), and they pair this with slower, heavier attacks that deal more damage but also leave them vulnerable for longer. Dominating characters have shorter combos to balance out the higher damage-per-hit, but the high damage often scares opponents into making mistakes. Therefore, using a Dominating character actually has some similarities to using a Grappler: you have to start slow and condition your opponent into doing what you want, then guide them into situations where you can capitalize on their mistakes. As such, many Dominating characters are also Half-Grapplers. Examples include Dragunov, Bryan and Negan from Tekken; Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear; Abigail from Street Fighter; and Bowser from Super Smash Bros. The aforementioned Charlotta from Granblue is arguably an example as well. 

• Mixup characters, aka 50-50 characters, are a Rushdown sub-archetype named so because their goal is to mixup the opponent. Usually this is by putting them in a 50-50 where they have to guess between blocking high and low. If the Mixup character is also a Floater, they may be applying their pressure from the air, in which case the mixup can instead come from guessing whether to block left or right. If the Mixup character is a Half-Grappler instead, the mixup comes from blocking an attack or teching a throw. Examples include Kazuya, Lidia and Anna from Tekken; Blue Goku from Dragon Ball FighterZ; Sub-Zero and Kabal from Mortal Kombat, especially MK11; Rachel Alucard from BlazBlue; and I-No from Guilty Gear. 

The All-Rounder, a versatile, flexible character that can work at close or long range. All-Rounders are often called “Shotos,” which is short for “Shotokan Karate,” the real-life fighting style that served as the basis for Ryu and Ken’s movesets in Street Fighter. They have decent walking speed, running speed, damage output and combos. Even if their individual tools aren’t the best, they cover all sorts of functions, which makes All-Rounders great characters for newcomers to learn the system mechanics. Using Ryu and Ken as a basis, almost all other All-Rounders are characterized by three things: a meterless Reversal akin to the Shoryuken, a projectile similar to the Hadoken, and an additional Tatsumaki-esque move to close space. In some cases, Mixups and Command Throws will be given as well, just for safe measure. Examples include Ryu from Street Fighter, Terry from Fatal Fury, Jago from Killer Instinct, Mario from Super Smash Bros, Gran from Granblue Fantasy Versus, Super Saiyan Goku from Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Hyde from Under Night In-Birth. Slight variations on the archetype exist, such as BlazBlue’s Jin, who is a Meter-Reliant All-Rounder; Persona 4 Arena’s Yu Narukami, who is obviously also a Puppet character; Guilty Gear’s Sol Badguy, who prefers to go on the offensive; and Ken, who favors Rushdown tactics. 

• Sometimes, people use the phrase Shoto as a subset of All-Rounder to mean that they are All-Rounders whose inputs are the same as Ryu and Ken’s Hadouken, Tatsumaki Senpukken and Shoryuken: the quarter-circle forward, quarter-circle back, and Z-motion, respectively. Naturally, most Shotos exist only in Street Fighter. Shotos obviously include Ryu and Ken, as well as Akuma, Luke, Dan and Sakura. 

For the longest time the FGC referred to these as the only four archetypes, but in recent years, many fighting game fans have also been coming to a consensus on a fifth archetype, brought to my attention by Hydro’s wonderful video on the topic: the Footsie character, who specializes in the midrange. They’re aggressive, but not as much so as Rushdown characters. They’re the most reactive and defensive archetype of the five, capitalizing on opponent’s actions to enact big damage. Examples include Karin from Street Fighter; Little Mac, Chrom, Lucina and especially Marth from Super Smash Bros; Sin Kiske from Guilty Gear Xrd; and Charlotte from Samurai Shodown. 

• Pokers are the most common type of Footsie character. Pokes employ a “death by 1000 cuts” style of play, using quick jabs to chip away at their opponent’s health before fleeing to avoid retaliation. They are the most common form of Footsie characters, to the point that many people who acknowledge a Footsie archetype consider them synonymous with Pokers. Chun-Li from Street Fighter is the originator of this group. Other examples include Kano from Mortal Kombat, Shiki Tohno from Melty Blood, Kazumi and Katarina from Tekken, and Arakune from BlazBlue. 

• The Counter Hit archetype is a Footsie subarchetype that relies heavily on “Counter Hits,” which is when you try to hit an opponent during their active frames. These Counter Hits often give new properties on hit. Counter Hits have different properties depending on the game; BlazBlue gives extra damage, King of Fighters gives new juggle opportunities, and so on. Examples of this archetype include Steve, Josie and Katarina and Bryan from Tekken; and Izayoi, Makoto and Naoto Kurogane from BlazBlue. 

• Bait & Punish characters, also called Opportunists, are another Footsie sub-archetype, similar to Counter Hit characters, but with a slight difference. Rather than trying to hit an opponent during their active frames (which results in a Counter Hit), they use quick, evasive tactics to avoid the attack entirely then attack during the recovery frames to punish their opponent. This is most common in games that don’t reward players for Counter Hits, like Super Smash Bros and other Platform Fighters. Examples include Donkey Kong, Pyra, Ganondorf and K. Rool from Smash; Trunks from Dragon Ball FighterZ; Giovanna from Guilty Gear; and Juri and Blanka from Street Fighter. 

• Turn Steal characters are all reactive characters that utilize unique special moves to “steal” an opponent’s turn, instantly switching them from a defensive position into an offensive one. They have several smaller sub-sub-archetypes based on what they are using to steal turns. (They are arguably related to the Evasive archetype in 3D games like Tekken, where sidestepping allows someone to both evade enemy pressure and steal a turn without making contact with the enemy.) Again, as with Mixups, I would not fault you for treating this as a separate archetype entirely. 

• Reversal characters do this with, well, Reversals. Since a lot of All-Rounder characters have Reversals as well, this one is something of a hybrid archetype between All-Rounder and Footsie. The Reversal can be a great way to reset the game to the neutral, or it can give the user a chance to get in their opponent’s face and apply some more hands-on pressure. The All-Rounders I mentioned before like Ryu, Ken, Ky, Gran and Hyde fall into this category. Of the top of my head, so do Londreika from Under Night, Karin and Juri from Street Fighter, Adult Gohan and Super Saiyan Vegeta from Dragon Ball FighterZ…look, take my word for it, a lot of characters have invincible reversals.

• Armored characters do this with “armored” moves, which all have a certain amount of invincibility frames that still take damage but do not have knockback. Hulk, Sentinel and Colossus from Marvel vs Capcom all fall in this sub-archetype, as do Bowser and Ganondorf in Smash (particularly Ultimate), Wonder Woman in MultiVersus, Negan in Tekken 7, and Jason from Mortal Kombat X. 

• Guard Point characters take the concept of Armored moves even further with “guard point” frames. These are frames in their special moves during which they take neither damage nor knockback. Examples include Roshi and Tien in DBFZ, Anji Mito in Guilty Gear and Bang Shishigami in BlazBlue. 

• Parry characters steal turns with parries and automatic counterattacks. Examples include Geese Howard from Fatal Fury and King of Fighters; Hit in Dragon Ball FighterZ; Hakumen in BlazBlue; and Shiki Ryougi from Melty Blood. Smash Bros absolutely loves these characters, with tons of characters getting parries (or Counters as they’re called in platform fighters). Marth and Roy were the first Counter-users in Smash, and almost every Fire Emblem character in Smash since then has gotten one.

_______

Rushdown characters, Grapplers and Zoners all exist in a triangular relationship. Generally speaking, Rushdown characters beat Zoners because they have the tools to evade their projectiles; Zoners beat Grapplers, because their projectiles are fast enough to keep them out; and Grapplers beat Rushdown characters because the same tools that Rushdowners have to evade projectiles can’t protect them from command grabs. Each of these three tests different parts of a player’s strategy. To quote GekkoSquirrel’s video about zoning: Rushdown characters test your physical ability to block and reaction time, Grapplers test your mental ability to stay calm under pressure, and Zoners test your patience. 

We don’t often see as many Footsie characters in a roster as we do Rushdown, Zoner and Grappler characters, and it’s usually for these reasons. Footsie characters operate at a range where zoning isn’t as effective but they’re too far for command grabs or fast, high-damaging combos, which can make them tough to design. Similarly, we don’t see as many All-Rounders besides the one or two “starting characters” that are designed to help newcomers, just because they can do so much. It’s harder to design those two archetypes because they don’t have as many inherent weaknesses and they’re not testing a specific part of your strategy. 

Hybrid Archetypes and Difficult to Classify Archetypes:

I need to clarify that All-Rounders, Grapplers, Footsie characters, Rushdown characters and Zoners exist in a spectrum, not a vacuum. Characters can’t just neatly be put in one category because most fighters will have tools and goals that cover multiple archetypes, even if they lean heaviest in one particular direction. With that in mind, this next section will be going over hybrid archetypes of the main five I just mentioned, as well as adjacent but difficult to classify archetypes. 

Evaders, also called High-Mobility characters, are a new archetype that does not fit super well into the ones I’ve established above. They do not have command grabs like Grapplers or projectiles like Zoners, which also means they are not versatile jack-of-all-trades like All-Rounders. They are often lumped together with Rushdown characters, though this feels like a stretch to me since they are usually a bit more reactive than that; but they also aren’t as reactive as Footsie characters, nor are they as reliant on pokes. In essence, Evaders excel in weaving through pressure, getting the opponent to lose confidence in their approach, frustrating them, and then capitalizing on their mistakes. Evaders are characterized by fast backdashes, quick and long sidesteps (in 3D games), high traction and long wavedashes (in platform fighters), stances that shrink their hitboxes, and swift low attacks that they can transition into with ease. The term “slippery” is tossed around by fans referring to this archetype. This might sound similar to the Rushdown subarchetype of Speed Demons, but the distinction is that Speed Demons are using overwhelming speed as a means to apply offense, whereas Evaders are using tactics to avoid enemy offense and react accordingly. Evaders are most common in 3D games, with Zafina, Ling, Feng and Lili from Tekken probably being the best examples. To a lesser extent, we also have characters like Hibiki Kohaku from BlazBlue and possibly Lancelot from Granblue Fantasy Versus. 

• Hit and Run characters can be thought of as the Speed Demon combined with the Evader. They switch between two extreme states: closing distance between themselves and the opponent so they can overwhelm them with powerful combos, then fleeing and evading any retaliation. Rinse and repeat. This is all different from other Rushdown characters, who always want to stay close to the opponent and stick to them like glue. Examples include Sonic from Super Smash Bros, Nash from Street Fighter, Taokaka and Hazama from BlazBlue, and possibly Raiden from Mortal Kombat. 

Long Reachers can be thought of as a Footsie and Zoner hybrid that plays more like traditional Zoners, but instead of using projectiles to create space, they do so with long, obnoxious normals. I also wouldn’t fault you for just classifying them as a new archetype altogether. Depending on the game and character, they can poke from midrange or even fullscreen. The problem with this is that, just like with Zoners, their gameplan tends to fall apart at close range, often because their obnoxiously long normals whiff at close range. In a lot of 3D games Long Reach characters can overlap with Grapplers, Big Bodies and/or Armored characters. Dhalsim from Street Fighter is the originator. Other examples include Axl and Ramlethal from Guilty Gear, Billy Kane from King of Fighters, Gigas and Jack-7 from Tekken, Percival from Granblue Fantasy Versus, Min-Min (and arguably Marth) from Super Smash Bros, and Ghost Rider from Marvel vs Capcom. 

Turtles, also called Keep Out characters, have similar tools but with a distinct gameplan. Rather than throwing out projectiles offensively, they are doing so defensively and preemptively, forcing the opponent to react to their projectiles (blocking, dodging, jumping or trading fireballs, etc.) in a way that halts their progress, slows down the pace of the match and gives the Turtle time to act. Once the opponent finally gets close, they react quickly with reversals to reset the game to neutral. The archetypal Turtle is Guile from Street Fighter, with his Sonic Boom projectile to annoy opponents and Sonic Kick to punish those who successfully approach. Samus and Dark Samus from Smash are also well-known examples in the realm of platform fighters, using missiles, charge shots and tethers to push back the opponent, then launching them with a Screw Attack once they get in. Bryan, Alisa and Paul from Tekken are also good examples, as is Jax in Mortal Kombat 11. 

Pressure characters are adjacent to this. They bombard the opponent with a barrage of attacks (oftentimes from the midrange or close range) that puts the opponent in a perpetual state of block, known as a “block string” among fans, waiting for mistakes in their guard before they can act. M. Bison is the archetypal Pressure character, with Jax from Mortal Kombat, Onimaru from Fantasy Strike and Emporeon from Pokken being additional examples. 

Setplay characters (sometimes called Setup characters) are an unusual archetype that all share the same gameplan of trying to apply Okizeme, but how that Okizeme is applied varies dramatically from character-to-character. Examples include Venom and Ky Kiske in Guilty Gear; Rose and Juri in Street Fighter; Ling Xiaoyu in Tekken; Rachel Alucard in BlazBlue; and Nappa in Dragon Ball FighterZ. 

As you can see, a lot of these sub-archetypes are a bit hard to classify because the tools that might define a sub-archetype are already built into some games, like parries, armored moves, counter hits and evasive techniques. Plus, some of the archetypes above refer to techniques that everyone is theoretically capable of, like setplay or corner carrying. However, going by our earlier definition, an archetype refers not just to characters using similar tools, but using those tools in service of a specific goal. Even if a game has armored moves built into it, not every character is trying to use those armored moves to steal a turn, so Armored is still a valid sub-archetype. Even if a game has dodges or sidesteps built into it, not every character is trying to dodge and weave through pressure, so Evasive is still valid. Even if everyone can do setplay, not everyone is specifically built for it, so Setplay is still valid, and so on and so forth. 

Character Traits:

This section of the essay is going to cover “archetypes” in a somewhat loose sense of the word. Hydro’s wonderful video (linked below) brought up a valuable difference between an Archetype and a character’s Trait. 

To reiterate, an archetype refers to how a character plays, what space they play at, what their goal is, and how to achieve that goal. A “Trait” refers more so to the overall design of the character, giving us information on what they look like, how they act and how their special moves are inputted without actually telling us what that goal is, what those special moves do or what range they operate at. 

The Big Body characters are exactly what they sound like. They are massive, lumbering characters whose long limbs give them the ability to hit targets from far away. The archetypal Big Body character is Zangief from Street Fighter, but just because he was also the original Grappler doesn’t mean all Big Body characters are Grapplers. While it might be tempting to group them in with Long Reach characters because of their long limbs, that’s not exactly right either, because some of them can also be Zoners or even Turtles. Examples include Abigail and Zangief from Street Fighter; Mike Haggar and Sentinel from Marvel vs Capcom; Bowser and Donkey Kong from Smash; Goldlewis and Nagoriyuki in Guilty Gear; and Big Band from Skullgirls. 

Glass Cannons are a character trait found often in Rushdown and Zoner characters. These characters are capable of explosive damage but have very low health, leading to a unique strategy where either they or their opponent can die to a single combo. We often see these characters get high-level play, in which case they can dominate the metagame. Examples include Akuma in Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom; Jean Grey in Marvel vs Capcom; Chipp in Guilty Gear; Seth in Under Night In-Birth; and Pichu in Smash Ultimate. 

Corner characters were initially something I considered leaving them out of this essay entirely, but I’ve slowly begun to warm up to the idea. Corner characters excel in using either their long combos and high-knockback specials to push the opponent into the corner, at which point their offensive capabilities explode. Nearly every fighting game archetype benefits from the opponent being pushed in the corner in some way, but Corner characters have this as a central part of their gameplay. Examples include G, Rashid, Laura and Birdie in Street Fighter V; Vegito, Blue Vegeta and Teen Gohan in Dragon Ball FighterZ; and Venom in Guilty Gear. 

Floaters are a unique category, in that their presence and implementation varies wildly depending on the game. Basically, Floaters are the aerial equivalent of a High-Mobility Rushdown character, using 8-way airdashes, flying, hovering and other airborne gimmicks to maneuver the stage. As with a few other categories I’ve mentioned, Floaters basically don’t exist in 3D games given their focus on grounded movement, but even in the games that have them they will vary wildly. But if High-Mobility is a Rushdown subarchetype, then why is Floater a character Trait? Well, it’s because almost all High-Mobility characters are using their tools to evade pressure while applying their own at a close range. But Floaters use their aerial gimmicks for any number of other things. Sometimes it's to corner carry, but other times it is solely as a defensive option, or to blast the opponent with projectiles. In any event, examples of this include Bedman with his 8-way airdash and I-No with her unique dash in Guilty Gear; Daisy and Peach in Smash; and Sentinel and Magneto in Marvel vs Capcom. 

Charge characters all have special moves that require a “charge” input, where the joystick is held back in a certain direction before the move can begin. Charge inputs were introduced with Guile in Street Fighter, and because they have to hold a certain direction before attacking, this often makes Charge characters slower, more defensive characters. However, that’s not always the case, as Potemkin demonstrates in Guilty Gear. Other examples include Vatista from Under Night and Parasoul from Skullgirls. 

Puppet characters are a unique situation, in that you are essentially controlling multiple characters. One of them is the “core” character, and the other is a character that they (and by extension the player) are controlling with limited inputs. The puppeteer has all of the mobility options and system mechanics of the game, but in most cases they are practically useless without their Puppet. These are some of the most complex characters in the game, because you’re essentially controlling two characters mapped to a button layout designed for a single fighter. Examples include Zato-1 from Guilty Gear, Carl and Relius Clover from BlazBlue, Rosalina & Luma from Smash, and Shadow Labrys from Persona 4 Arena. (Though, to an extent, all P4A characters qualify. Shadow Labrys is just the only one whose Persona is always active.) Puppet characters also have two main subtypes:

• Assist characters are where the puppet participates in only a handful of special moves, and their movements are much more rigid and pre-programmed. Essentially, they are to Puppet characters what Half-Grapplers are to Grapplers. Examples include R. Mika and Akira from Street Fighter V, Android 18 in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Parasoul from Skullgirls, Zod from Injustice, and Harley Quinn from Injustice 2. 

• Swarm characters have puppets with similar rigidity, but they go for quantity instead of quality, overwhelming the opponent with tons of tiny, weaker enemies that have tremendous power when working together. Examples include Tron and Servbot from Marvel vs Capcom, Nappa from Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Jack-O from Guilty Gear. 

Unorthodox characters were brought to my attention rather recently. They were something I had recognized, but never really thought too much about. Essentially, these are characters that have strange designs, disjointed hurtboxes and odd hitboxes, all of which feed into one-another. Whereas Grapplers inspire fear and Zoners force you to be patient, Unorthodox characters elicit confusion and uncertainty. Unless you’ve studied them beforehand, you don’t know how they work, so you don’t know how they’ll hit you or how you can hit them back. Examples include FANG and Twelve from Street Fighter, Arakune from BlazBlue, Yoshimitsu from Tekken and Valdo from Soulcalibur. 

Mimic characters are characters who can copy the abilities of the rest of the cast. Sometimes they can only copy one special move from one character (Kirby in Smash), sometimes they can copy multiple special moves from multiple characters (Seth from Street Fighter IV), and sometimes they outright transform into the character (Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat). Double from Skullgirls took this archetype to the extreme, with almost every frame of her animation being taken from every other member of the cast. How much is copied and how much control the player has is a matter of the game, with Mokujin from Tekken being an extreme example in that his moveset is randomized to completely copy any member of the cast. 

Kamikaze characters harm themselves in the process of attacking the opponent. The harm usually comes as a result of special moves, though occasionally self-damaging occurs due to normals or Super Moves. In any event, Kamikaze characters force their player to constantly make sure their own health isn’t getting too low. Skarlet from Mortal Kombat, Pichu from Smash, Yoshimitsu from Tekken, and Android 16 from Dragon Ball FighterZ are examples. 

Meter-Reliant characters are something I debated about for a long time. I considered leaving them out of this essay because I felt like the phrase “Meter-Reliant” did little to indicate their playstyle or goals, plus it felt a bit redundant because we already have a phrase for this in Tag-Team fighters: Anchor characters. Then I realized that even if the descriptor was too vague for an archetype, it was perfect to describe a character Trait! Basically, Meter-Reliant characters are exactly what the name sounds like: characters with average or below-average health and damage output on their own, but who become explosive powerhouses once they get Meter. Most of them tend to be All-Rounders or Rushdowners whose good pressure options are either Super Moves, EX Moves or special moves that require Meter. As you can imagine, their strengths and weaknesses vary depending on how much Meter they have and whether or not they’re in a position to get more. Examples include Akuma from Street Fighter, Yamcha from Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Terumi and Jin from BlazBlue. 

While most Rekka characters are also Rushdowners (and often Mix-Up characters at that), I decided to not include it as a sub-archetype because some Rekka characters are also Long Reachers or All-Rounders. In any event, all Rekka characters are distinguished by their use of “Rekkas,” branching multi-step combos and special moves with multiple follow-ups that can be cancelled at any time. Examples include Ramlethal Valentine from Guilty Gear (a rare Long Reach example), Blue Vegeta from Dragon Ball FighterZ, Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, Shiki Ryougi from Melty Blood, and the originator of the archetype, Fei Long from Street Fighter. These guys make for good Mix-Up characters when the different routes of their Rekkas hit at different heights, forcing the opponent into a 50-50 where they aren’t sure how to block. 

Stance characters can flip between multiple “stances” at the tip of a hat, altering their normals (and in some cases, their special moves and mobility) and giving them a new playstyle entirely. The archetype Stance character is Gen from Street Fighter. Other Stance characters include Lei Wulong from Tekken; Shulk from Smash; Phoenix Wright in Marvel vs Capcom, though once could make the argument he’s more of a Level-Up character; Kagura and Litchi from BlazBlue; and Nightwing and Zatanna from Injustice. 

Negative Edge characters have their special moves activated by releasing buttons as opposed to holding them. In all fairness, Negative Edge can be done with any character’s special moves, but certain characters require their inputs to be a Negative Edge. This unconventional style of button input makes them a popular choice for developers creating Puppet characters. Carl Clover from BlazBlue and Zato-1 from Guilty Gear are examples, as is Balrog from Street Fighter. 

Joke characters are characters that are designed to be weak, often comically so. However, in the process of being weak, they often have some sort of gimmick to their moveset that makes them a potential cut above the rest. Examples include Dan in Street Fighter, Neko-Arc in Melty Blood and Jigglypuff and Pichu in Smash. 

Dynamic characters are an interesting Trait, and one that I’ve been trying to hone in one for a while. They’re an extremely broad group of characters with tools for many different situations, but they often don’t have access to all of their tools at once, either because it’s locked behind a resource, because the tools only become available over time, because the tools only become available when they’re at low health, or any number of other things. Examples include Susano’o unlocking new special moves with his Drive in BlazBlue, Siegfried getting access to his Dark Legacy install at low health in SoulCalibur, Steve mining resources in Smash, Robin only being able to use his tomes a limited number of times in Smash, and Shovel Knight gathering gems in Rivals of Aether. I would also argue that Junpei’s baseball-themed system from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax fits into this. 

In any event, Dynamic characters have a few smaller sub-Traits:

• Level-Up characters are exactly what they sound like. Their Dynamic nature comes from the fact that their power increases at a consistent rate throughout the match. Their overall raw damage output might increase, or we might only see damage increase in a single special move or super move. In any event, the act of leveling up can happen passively (ex: Frank West in MVC), with the aid of a special move (ex: SSJ4 Gogeta in DBFZ), or with the aid of a Super Move (ex: Adult Gohan in DBFZ). 

• Install characters have transformations (or “Installs”) that they can go into in order to get their best results. Examples include Sol and Ky from Guilty Gear, Joker from Smash Bros, and Dante and Vergil from Marvel vs Capcom. 

• Limited-Use characters build their gameplan around a single, extremely useful special move that can only be used a limited number of times per match. Examples include Johnny in Guilty Gear, Leroy in Tekken, Eltnum in Melty Blood and Under Night, and Banjo & Kazooie in Smash. 

Extra Meter refers to a character trait where the fighter has an additional meter on top of the game’s existing mechanics. This Extra Meter often fills and is drained in really peculiar ways, and it has deep ties to their special moves. Examples include Eliza, Akuma and Geese in Tekken 7; Nagoriyuki, Happy Chaos, Sin Kiske and Goldlewis in Guilty Gear; G in Street Fighter V; and Joker, Little Mac and Cloud in Super Smash Bros. Alternative Meter characters are a slight variation found in games that already have a built-in Super Meter (so excluding most 3D or Platform Fighters), and these are characters whose Super Meter functions differently than the rest of the cast in some major way. Robo-Ky in Guilty Gear, Hakumen in BlazBlue and Fulgore in Killer Instinct are examples. 

Out of everything I’ve just said, RNG characters are the character trait with the most unpredictability. These are characters with special moves that have heavily altered properties depending on sheer random chance, and there’s no way to predict how a character’s moveset will change because of that. These characters are often rather low-tier due to their sheer inconsistency, but they can steal kills against high-tier characters. Examples include Hero from Smash, Faust from Guilty Gear, and Platinum the Trinity from BlazBlue. 

Rejected Archetypes:

I had a few ideas for other archetypes that I was considering, but I didn’t include for a variety of reasons. 

Technical fighters are characters who require a lot of precise inputs to perform their special moves, like Kazuya from Super Smash Bros, Devil Jin and Eliza in Tekken, and Naoto Kurogane in BlazBlue. However, I rejected this because it was too broad and vague. What constitutes a “complex input?” Should there be another archetype of brain-dead characters? (Just kidding, those are Rushdowners.) 

Gimmick characters have some sort of unique gimmick that separates them from the rest of the cast. Obviously, this was too broad of a term. It encompassed several archetypes I’ve already mentioned and it left no room for what constituted a gimmick. Besides, most BlazBlue and Guilty Gear characters have something that could make them unique in other fighting games, and it doesn’t seem right for an archetype to be so loose that it encompasses entire games. 

Problems with Classifying Archetypes:

Whew! That took a while to write. 

Now that we’ve laid out a framework for character archetypes, let’s look at all the reasons why this is so difficult to classify in the first place. 

Reason 1: Archetypes vary tremendously across subgenres of the FGC, between titles, and even within the same series. Just to rattle off a few examples: Zoning plays out very differently in Tekken compared to 2D fighting games, because of how rare it is and because it can be sidestepped. At the same time, Zoning is extremely common in Smash Bros without characters actually being called “Zoners” because the game’s platforms and aerial mobility making avoiding projectiles much easier. Rushdown characters in Guilty Gear are in a similarly awkward position because everyone is capable of rushdown strategies to some degree, so only the most unga bunga characters are ever referred to as such. 

Reason 2: After those five main archetypes, there’s a lot of confusion amongst those sub-archetypes. People disagree on whether certain sub-archetypes overlap, whether certain strategies are part of one main archetype or another, whether some sub-archetypes should be considered separate entities altogether…you get the idea. I tried to list as many as possible so you guys can come to your own conclusion, but obviously there’s no perfect answer here. This is especially the case with Footsies characters: because their archetype is very vaguely defined, that means the parameters of their sub-archetypes are also vaguely defined. The very nature of a Footsie character is that they operate in the range between Zoners and Rushdown fighters, often inheriting traits of both and creating all kinds of confusing questions. Are Long Reach characters a subtype of Zoners or Footsies characters? Are they an archetype of their own? Are Turtles, Pressure characters and Long Reachers the same? Are Counter Hitters and Bait & Punish characters the same? However, this is also the case 

Reason 3: On that topic, entire sub-archetypes only exist in certain games or genres. The “Trapper” sub-archetype of Zoners is based around using complex projectiles that lock the opponent in place. It’s totally nonexistent in 3D and even most 2D fighters, existing mainly in Anime, Platform and Tag-Team fighters, all of which have more complex aerial movement to justify more complex projectile arcs. On the other hand, as I touched on briefly, the “Counter Hit” archetype doesn’t really exist in Platform Fighters as those rarely reward characters for (or even acknowledge) counter hits. 

Reason 4: Just as certain sub-archetypes only exist in certain genres, certain Character Traits only exist in certain genres. Conventional Puppet characters straight up don’t exist in 3D fighting games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter. The idea of a “Floater” character only really exists in Platform and Anime fighter subgenres due to the aforementioned complex aerial movement; but even then, “Floaters” don’t really exist in Arcana Heart and Dragon Ball FighterZ (except for Zamasu) because those games already have aerial superdashes built into the system. 

Reason 5: Because a lot of archetypes and sub archetypes are distinguished by the existence of certain special moves, there isn’t a clear line about which special moves create a whole new archetype. Zoners use projectiles and Grapplers use command grabs, but there are still many people who argue that Guard Point, Rekka, Reversal, Parry and Armored characters don’t exist in the same way. Plus, how many of these special moves do you need to be considered a part of the archetype? How many projectiles do you need to be considered a Zoner? It’s part of why I mentioned “Half-Grappler” as an archetype: a lot of characters have a single command grab, and instead of trying to put you in a 50-50 between two command grabs, they put you in a 50-50 between a command grab and something else. 

Reason 6: On that note, sometimes those same archetypes are muddled because certain tools are already built into the game. Using the phrase “Armored characters” in Street Fighter IV feels like a bit of a weird label, since everyone has an armored Focus Attack. Similarly, calling anyone a “Parry character” in Street Fighter III is odd because everyone can parry as a universal mechanic. 

Reason 7: It’s difficult to distinguish between archetype and playstyle at times. For instance, a lot of the tools that a high-mobility character can use to apply pressure can also be used to evade it, but this does not necessarily mean an Evasive archetype exists. However, Mixup and Bait & Punish absolutely are archetypes because certain characters absolutely excel at that even though almost everyone in a given fighting game is theoretically capable of both. 

Conclusion and Final Framework:

To summarize, my proposed archetype framework would attempt to solve all of these problems by emphasizing a few things:

1. Grapplers, All-Rounders, Zoners, Rushdowners and Footsie characters exist on a spectrum, and they are separated from one-another by playstyle, goals and preferred spacing. 

2. Because this is a spectrum, hybrid archetypes and sub-archetypes occur as well. While we can talk about generalities, which ones are present and where they fall on that spectrum depends on the game. System mechanics can dramatically alter or interfere with the goal of a sub-archetype, and the existence or absence of certain tools can blur the lines between archetypes even further. 

3. In addition, there are some archetypes that don’t fit super neatly in the five main archetypes. 

4. Finally, Character Traits are not necessarily the same as Archetypes. These refer to elements of character design that are important to consider but not indicative on their own of how an individual will play. 

The best way to describe archetypes is not to use overly-specific labels, but to use a variety of labels for each character. Z Broly in Dragon Ball FighterZ, for instance, is both a Grappler and a Zoner; Sol Badguy is an All-Rounder with Rushdown qualities; Yu Narukami is an All-Rounder and a Puppet fighter; and so on. 

Only when we start considering all of these things will we be able to have a meaningful discussion about fighting game characters that doesn’t devolve into semantics and angry rants. Thank you for reading, and I am signing off for now. 

Sources:

Hydro’s amazing video, which I’ve mentioned a couple times already, was not only the first time I heard someone articulate the Footsie archetype but specifically distinguish between a character archetype and a character trait. 

In general, I ended up consulting a lot of forums on Shoryuken and the FGC subreddit to get some of my information. Some of the more notable posts and forums were this one on Shoryuken, and these three on Reddit. 

This video about archetypes in Smash, the archetype triangle used as the thumbnail, and this page on the Super Smash Bros wiki were all tremendously helpful in sorting Smash characters. 

That Blasted Salami’s video on archetypes in Tekken introduced me to a lot of sub-archetype ideas. Also, his character overviews of Tekken 7, and his two character overviews of Dragon Ball FighterZ were all immensely valuable. 

Leon Massey’s wonderful video on archetypes in Guilty Gear Xrd was one of the videos that inspired me to write this, and it did a great job explaining how everyone in Guilty Gear is Rushdown-oriented.