Have you ever tried a 2D fighter before? Any of them, something like Street Fighter or Tekken. Something like Guilty Gear, or Skullgirls? If you have, then you probably know what it’s like to have your butt handed to you on a silver platter by someone who’s doing crazy inputs with impeccable timing that feel so beyond comprehension it makes you want to throw in the towel. (Definitely writing from personal experience there.) If you’ve been in that position, but are still enthralled with the intense fights, massive combos, and ultimate victory of a fighting game, go take a look at DNF Duel.
DNF Duel, made by Arc System Works, plays like a classic 2D fighter with a very simple twist: there’s no command inputs. Unlike nearly every other game in the genre, you never have to do any funky stick movements to use any of your character’s special moves. All you have to do is press a direction and one of your attack buttons and boom! Every move the character can do is available with absolutely zero mechanical talent required. Of course, you still have to learn how to make all of your moves connect with your opponent, but the path to mastery of a character starts much more simply than in other titles.
One of my long-time gamer friends from way back in high school, who goes by Fuzzee online, is an avid fighting game player. He has experience in many games including Brawlhalla, Guilty Gear: Strive, and of course DNF Duel. When it comes to command inputs, he finds them to be a divider in a game’s community. While they are rewarding to pull off, they can be extremely difficult to pull off in an actual match. As such, this creates the divide between skill levels of players. In high level play, these combos that require such precise movements and timings are utterly necessary. The time and dedication needed to make these inputs second nature can push newcomers away from a certain game, or in some cases the entire genre.
Fuzzee recommends DNF Duel to newer players. The nature of the game works to teach how fighting games work rather than expecting you to already understand the genre. For example, all 2D fighting games have a way to block your opponents attacks, which is normally holding your movement away from the opponent. This is an absolutely crucial skill to not get yourself knocked out instantly every match. DNF Duel introduces a block button that allows you to stand still and block instead of having to move away, letting you focus on how you’ll choose to punish (wait for them to finish hitting you, then hit back) an attack. By learning how to consistently block attacks, you can focus on learning to target the openings your opponent creates for you to fight back.
Another point towards DNF Duel’s favor is that by removing command inputs, each character has less moves to learn about. By reducing what you have to learn about each character, you can develop mastery of them sooner. You don’t have to learn some wild twist of the stick with precise timing in the middle of a combo, you just have to know which attacks flow into others. The game does an exceptional job allowing creativity with your combos. When Fuzzee and myself last played DNF Duel, we played the exact same character for most of the session, and both of us grew into completely different combos that felt equally effective. The game does an incredible job of letting you think “Will this work?” and very often rewarding you for experimenting.
Having said all this, it is still possible to begin your fighting game training arc with more difficult games. Think of DNF Duel as training wheels as you begin to understand the concepts of 2D fighters. You can absolutely choose to skip it, but you might find yourself falling a few times before you get the hang of it.
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