Idol Showdown: Some Day 1/2 Thoughts
Updated: May 08, 2023 @ 07:02AM
tl;dr: It's Good™️, if you've never played a fighting game it's totally fine to pick up, and if you're a vtuber fan it's an extra treat.
I've been playing a bit of Idol Showdown recently, I think you should too! It's a free (as in free beer) fan-made fighting game, with the characters being various Hololive vtuber girls. Simple concept, very very simple exectution, and it's done very very well. I'm way more used to the Guilty Gear/Blazblue style of fast-pased airdashers, but I never felt like I was particularly hamstrung by just normal jump-ins and running.
I actually really enjoy the meter(s) they give you. The STAR meter is your typical super bar, and you've got a few decent ways to spend it through a super + 3 EX moves + an assist call-in. Plus, there's a superchat meter, that fills up passively along side doing various actions such as anti-airing, doing motion inputs, and instant blocking. The neat part here is that the STAR meter stays between rounds while the superchat meter starts at 0 every round, giving you a reason to think about "Do I spend the bar for the heavy DP for more damage or just keep it for next round to call an assist" while also being able to do a lot of special cancels with the superchat bar.
The particular motion inputs aren't that hard too, which does help the superchat-meter situation. If you're a newbie, the jump from using the special button (which lets you do specials in a sorta smash-like way) to motion inputs can be relatively painless, you're not being expected to do anything too complex. Everything given to you is done by down-down-button, quarter circle forward button, or quarter circle back and button. Which is fine, honestly, I'm a little bored by it but it does help keep things feeling very standardized. If you play Korone you're not gonna be completely useless playing Sora, you'll be able to do a special move.
Overall my inital feel of the game feels a bit like Granblue Fantasy Versus. Honestly I like it more than I liked GBV, even excluding the whole netcode situation with that game. Meter's actually more useful in this! Wowee! I get to make decisions.