If you have not already listened to the podcast of this category, this is the final results, so this will spoil the course of the discussion on that podcast! Be warned!
We love action games, and fighting games especially. And every year, when it comes time to create the way specific characters control and play, there are some really standout, incredible results. That’s what this category is about. Call it what you will: best action character design, best kit, whatever. We call it the Movelist of the Year.
The Winner
Kazuya Mishima (Super Smash Brothers Ultimate)
This shit don’t make no sense. Why does this work? Like, Ryu was neat, a fun imitation of the Street Fighter classic. Terry Bogard was better, he brought some real Fatal Fury flavor, but he still felt like a reference more than really like TERRY. But Kazuya… the most complex one turned out the best.
It’s not that Kazuya feels incredibly loyal to Tekken in his design. It’s that somehow he manages to feel like a Tekken character and a Smash character at the same time. I honestly don’t understand how they did it. It’s a feat that may never be equaled. And it’s DEFINITELY the Movelist of the Year.
The Runners-Up
Red Rider (Gundam Battle Operation 2)
One input can change everything. The Red Rider is one of the prestigious family of Pale Rider mobile suits, though until this year it wasn’t a particularly notable one. It doesn’t star in any Gundam games or manga. It just… is. Like all Pale Riders, it has a cool super mode where it goes all berserker, and even without that it’s well armored, looks cool, and has exceptional performance. But when imagining it for GBO2, the dev team had an idea.
What if it had a beam saber that combined with its shield to make a huge beam sword? Ok, that’s neat. That will make it stand out. But here’s the moment they changed everything: what if its down melee was a rushing spin attack? Bam. The meta has changed.
The Red Rider is a terror on the battlefield. It rushes packs of enemies and deals devastating damage. Unlike other raids, you don’t need to hide, or flank. You can charge in like a tokusatsu hero, like a proper Rider. And you can get. shit. done.
Ryu Ranger (Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid)
Sometimes all you need to make a design sing is to take a classic, and take the power limiters off. Ryu is the most well-known fighting game character in the world. He has a tool for every situation, every job. What he can’t usually do is go wicked sick.
That’s where Ryu Ranger steps in. The platonic ideal of Ryu is exaggerated, hyped up, and then given some wild extra moves and style to make a Ryu that other Ryus are jealous of. Ryu Ranger? Pretty dope.
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Every year, this is one of my favorite categories. There are so many cool ideas and designs going on in the gaming space, and nothing brings me joy quite like playing a character and seeing it represent a singular vision of how to play.
That’s all for today’s awards, but we’ll have plenty more for you tomorrow! And the day after that, and the day after that. So please stay tuned!
A big thank you to daanboii (@daanboii on Twitter) for our Game of the Year art!
