As someone fairly passionate about fighting games this thread caught my eye. In terms of a Touhou fighter that would tickle my fancy (and is a good fighting game in general), I'd like to see some of the following:
Back to the ground.
No more flying fighters like HM, ULiL and AoCF. The old system of being on the ground by default, but having a lot of aerial mobility as well creates creates a much more engaging neutral game. The flight was fun because on one hand there's no high-committal jump arcs like in many other fighting games, but at the same time being in graze state comes with it's own disadvantages on top of having to manage your resources. The newer fighters don't have
bad movement, but I don't like how they took what they had going on which was amazing and watered it down to a downward jump and a long airdash.
More moves.
One other thing I don't quite like how the recent fighters are handling is the amount of moves that characters have. While the amount of command normals is fine (tasofro plz bring back 3a QAQ), the significantly reduced number of special moves and spell cards only seems to contribute to less variety. For the specials, just bringing motions back should to the trick (Why'd they get rid of those again???) and for the spell cards...
Different customization.
The trademark Touhou fighter mechanic of deck-building which even the new fighters have has never missed the mark in my opinion. Now I know I've been singing my praises for Soku this whole time, and while I do think it provides an interesting dynamic (either you cycle through your hand very fast or you let your opponent know what you're about to try, especially if you're hovering a high-cost reversal), this one could definitely have changes made without negative impact:
- Spell Cards: Spells could, for example, be made independent of the rest of the deck. Pick like 3 at the start of the match (out of more than three total please), and roll with them. A one button super is fine, we don't need to go back to playing IaMP or anything, but I'd personally merge this with the Soku system of changing which card you're currently "holding", with the super button executing whichever one you're currently on. You can even have the more traditional meter system like in the new games, but the main point here is that being locked into one super per set offers less variety within the match itself and takes away a lot of potential conversions that you could otherwise get.
- Other Cards: These can share a deck of sorts. You make a loadout like in Soku (probably smaller to account for the now separate spell slots), but something like this could be in place during the round itself: Instead of having your "hand" be a meter substitute, you'll draw a card and after a bit receive a preview of the next one, but you can't draw that one yet. To draw your next card, you can choose to either use or "hold" the current one for later. You can hold like 2 cards or something before you're forced to discard one that you're holding if you want to hold your next one without using it immediately. I feel this complements the new Spell Card system while still maintaining what made the original system fun and dynamic.
- Skill Cards: In terms of Skill Cards in particular, the idea of upgrading/changing your specials mid-set is really interesting. However, and this is more of a balancing issue than anything, I always felt that having some characters rely on Skill Cards more than others is just not very good? For instance, in Soku, I don't think I've ever lost to an Aya that didn't upgrade either Graceful Dash or Wind Standing to a sufficient level. This issue has two possible solutions in my opinion: either make upgrading specials it's own thing (maybe add a separate button done in conjunction with the desired motion) and make the Skill Cards simply switch them around, or add a sort of stance switching method with the individual Skill Cards upgrading the corresponding moves. I'd like to hear if anyone has additional input on this.
That's most of what I can think of off the top of my head. For the roster, maybe put Flandre, Cerberus Clipper from 17.5 looks like a good special move I guess.
