Persona 4 Arena ULTIMAX reminds me that being invited to the table is all that matters

gamepur.com:

Fighting games have always been tricky for me. For example, thanks to the overly detailed training mode in Mortal Kombat 11, I’ve discovered that many of the combos are unworkable because of my motor skill issues. I also feel locked out of Street Fighter because of how tight the quarter circles are to execute.

Thankfully, we are in a space where lots of different fighters can take the core of the 2D fighter and lower the skill floor. When a developer is making a fighting game that’s meant to appeal to a wider audience, they often add systems to make the game feel approachable. Anime fighters like Persona 4 Arena ULTIMAX are known for their outlandish combos and usually higher degree of movement options. This game was also the first time I was ever exposed to an ‘auto combo,’ a mechanic that lets you do a basic combo that ends in a Super Move by pushing just a single attack button. This one idea, that you can reduce a combination that would normally require five or six individual buttons to just pressing a single button four times, feels life changing. In some ways it’s like getting your first dishwasher.

This by no means makes the game easy to win, and it doesn’t give the player any distinct advantage other than pushing fewer buttons. These moves act exactly the same and can be avoided the same way they could be if the player was using regular inputs. Game knowledge will almost always overcome a button masher determined to do one thing. Yet, for some reason, the most vocal people who play fighting games will often insist that games are being “dumbed down” for a “casual” audience and that somehow the inclusion of an auto combo will erase all possible depth that any fighting game could ever have.

If there’s a game that