I started watching the SaltyBet after watching last week’s GiantBomb’s Unprofessional Friday. NeoGAF was all over it for about a week now but I didn’t get around to hitting the site. The important thing is that I’m now watching this ridiculous stream and enjoying it.
SaltyBet is powered by M.U.G.E.N. fighting game engine. They just loaded a bunch of characters, stages and wrapped it around this simple but effective betting system. It’s automated, runs 24/7 and is accompanied by lots of video game or video game inspired music.
Like with all fighting games, it’s the characters that make the game what it is and M.U.G.E.N characters are ridiculous. I dabbled in this fighting game engine back when it first launched in 1999. I was trying to cobble up my dream fighting game and while there were flashes of ridiculousness, it pales in comparison to what is available now. I’m so very pleased to know that the community is still active after all these years.
I bailed out of M.U.G.E.N after its move to Linux for awhile. Apparently some time in the mid 2000’s it made a comeback on Windows. I’m very tempted to get back into these shenanigans again but as it turns out the most entertaining aspect of M.U.G.E.N for me isn’t the actual fighting, it’s observing the creativity and talent of character makers in action. And SaltyBet has that covered.
Folks ripped “sprites” of Street Fighter IV and threw it into M.U.G.E.N and it works surprisingly well. There are more original works than ever now as well. Sprites for Popeye, Super Mario and Homer Simpson are more impressive than ever. Some have even gone through the trouble of creating their own original sprites for games that have plenty of assets widely available including Goku of Dragon Ball Z fame and Subzero from Mortal Kombat.
But of course, for me the most entertaining aspect of M.U.G.E.N are people’s Frankenstein creations; the borrowing of move sets, effects or animations to bring other fighting game characters to life. However, sometimes they’re just enhanced, “mecha” or “evil” versions of established fighting game characters and that’s fine as well. When I see those creations — or abominations in some cases — in action, I see that dream fighting game I always wanted to assemble.
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I am playing through Dust: An Elysian Tale. I like the game but I just cannot play it for more than hour and a half at a time. It gets far too tedious after that. I keep waiting for additional gameplay depth to drop but it hasn’t happened yet.
Animal Crossing is still a thing that I indulge in everyday. Not much to report though. I want more money but that’s just the same as real life.
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