The Dialog Box: Muscle Memories

You start up your favorite game, right? You might watch the intro cinematic to get yourself hype, or because it's just a visual treat that draws you in even further. Once you press Start, load your file and double-check your settings, you're off an running. Once you're in-game, there's just something about the mechanics or the responsiveness of the controls that just makes it feel like you're going on instinct, but not necessarily going through the motions.

This is the type of vibe that, I think, games should really strive for. I'll give some examples, in no particular order, of games with great gameplay/combat mechanics that I always return to. Feel free to reply in the comments with some of your own examples.


Xenogears

Fei goes ham with the martial arts

I'm currently replaying this classic on my PSP and if there's one thing that always makes me keep coming back to this game and keeps me hooked over the course of the narrative, it's the combat. The "Deathblow system" employed in Xenogears turns the standard turn-based fare into a balance between managing your team's stamina (or fuel when piloting your awesome anime mechs) and unleashing relentless combos ranging from piledrivers to "shadowboxing" and all the 90s nonsense in between.

As it stands, there are other JRPGs out there that revolutionized action combat. Yet, even to this day for fans that're trying to build their own games and those that simply wish to see this game make a return (I count in both categories), if there's one artefact from this title that deserves another moment in the sun, it's the Deathblow system. Perhaps, even an evolved/updated take.


Legend of Dragoon

Dart wreaks acrobatic havoc

What is there to be said about Legend of Dragoon that hasn't been said elsewhere already. Dart's rise from simple "hometown boy" to divine hero status is 4 discs of nothing-short-of-LEGENDARY. Much like the classic mentioned above, what helps the story sink its hooks even deeper into the hearts and memories of gamers the world over is what the game calls the "Additional Skill" system.

In yet another creative subversion of traditional, turn-based combat, Additions give each character a set of signature combos that require timing and accuracy to perform successfully. Even greater acuity is necessary to get the most damage you can out of each strike. What's more? Enemies have a chance a counterattacking mid-combo, so you have to stay on your toes. There's no simple button-mashing, here. Should the fans receive this dream-come-true remake (ala FF7), then realizing the Additional Skill system in a real-time setting would be, I'd imagine, a walk in the park.



Street Fighter 3

With fighting games reaching massive arcade market saturation, the late 90s was a battleground in multiple senses of the word. It was in the early months of 1997 that Capcom went on to reinvent their flagship title and, in return, fighting games as a whole. With the release of Street Fighter THREE, not only did they mostly stop the "counting to 3" jokes, but they also added a new defensive countermeasure to the martial-arts-chess-game that is Street Fighter: the Parry.

If you were to tap toward your opponent on the joystick with precise timing to meet an incoming attack, you'd successfully parry it, taking no damage and putting yourself in prime attacking position. What's more is that you can do so for multi-hit assaults. With the system being further refined in future iterations of Street Fighter 3, it was 3rd Strike that came onto the scene as the fighting game "Belle of the Ball," but also ingrained this moment into the gaming zeitgeist forever:

EVO. MOMENT. 37

There are so many more examples of games out there where the mechanics just feel "right." Games where simply going hands on with them after so many years brings back a flood of memories from the time you first played. Take note, said feeling is quite subjective. So, any game can do the same for others as these three have done for me. Feel free to comment below or hit me up on social media (@BlazinAceNelsonon Twitter) and let me know which games evoke awesome "Muscle Memories" for you. Until next time:

~ Stay Good, Neighborhood.