GamerOS: Fighting Games

I talked about things like combat sports on here a lot. It's an interest I have outside of software and technology. Speaking of software and technology, did you know that a game called Karate Champ popularized combat sports in video games?

In 1984 a little-known game called The Way of the Empty Hand debuted in Japanese arcades. It was developed by Technōs Japan for Data East. We know it in the United States as karate champ. Soon after that another game hit the market place called Yie-Ar Kung Fu, which featured a protagonist who doing  a Bruce Lee-style of Kung Fu. The player faces many types of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting style. Both Karate Champ and Yie-Ar Kung Fu established the basis for modern fighting games.

Then in 1987 Capcom a company known for the shooter Vulgus, introduced Street fighter to the world. I remember playing it at a neighborhood convenient store. It was okay but I remember not being all that impressed. In Street fighter you played as martial artist named Ryu, who competed in martial arts tournament spanning five countries and battling against 10 opponents. It was in 1991 when the franchise changed everything with the introduction of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Street Fighter II was the first one-on-one fighting game that gave players a choice of what character they wanted to play. It wouldn't be until 1992 when I got the Sega Genesis version of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition which was the first of many updates of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. They didn't have DLC back then so you had to keep buying the new version of the game. My favorite update was called Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. I got it on sale at a KB toys for $10 USD

Fast forward to 2020 Street fighter along with other fighting games are still being played  til this day. Unfortunately none of the major fighting games have been ported to GamerOS so we're forced to use proton. For those who don't know, Proton is Valve’s combined solution forked out from Wine with additional patches and libraries like DXVK (DirectX on Vulkan). It makes it possible to run Microsoft’s Windows compatible software on a Linux-based operating system. 

Right now I'm testing out GamerOS which is based on Arch Linux. GamerOS purposefully does not include a desktop because the goal is to replicate a console experience. My original post here.

Test machine:

CPU: Ryzen™ 7 2700 

GPU: Powercolor Red Dragon RX 5700

RAM: 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 19200)

MOTHERBOARD: ASRock AB350M Pro4  (BIOS 5.90 2019/7/5)

STORAGE: Intel 545s Series 2.5" 256GB +WB Blue 1TB 7200 RPM 

I didn't use a keyboard or mouse. I played all my games with the HORI Fighting Commander Xbox One version wired USB controller.

Street Fighter V and Injustice 2 are a no-go in GamerOS.

These are the games I got to work. 

I don't compete online in fighting games. Online modes were never tested. Therefore I don't know how online multiplayer works on under proton. Keep in mind many games do not support multiplayer on GamerOS due to dependency on Windows-specific anti-cheat software, so your mileage will vary from game to game. King of fighters 14 is the only game I personally own. I have played it for more than 30 hours prior to GamerOS. All the other games I've played for around an hour.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is a compilation that collects the arcade versions of twelve fighting games from the Street Fighter series.

Works out of the box. Tried the mainline Street fighter games along with Alpha 1/2/3 with no issues. 

King of Fighters 14

King of Fighters 14 is packed with content with a massive selection of fighters A total of 50 individual fighters  Most of the men and women in the King of Fighters feel unique. The environments range from an abandoned church to an aircraft carrier to the Great Wall of China. The game runs perfect at a constant 60 frames a second. It is almost perfect under Proton 5.0-5 with no tweaks necessary. Menu and audio, options all worked fine. However the game many times starts minimized.

Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3 

One of my favorite fighting games of time. It is as good as Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. My only complaint is that some of my favorite characters are missing from Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 because it has a much smaller roster. However you do get Rocket Raccoon, Amaterasu and Francis Algernon "Frank" West. Under proton the game runs smooth at 60fps and it's the exact same game that came out in 2011. It has very basic graphics options.

Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition

The comics that were written about this game are great, and for fans of these iconic characters they will be in heaven. This game is set in an alternate reality, with many plot twists. Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition includes all six of the DLC characters, plus 60 additional S.T.A.R. Labs Missions and 47 DLC skins. I got it working well when using lunch option: PROTON_USE_D9VK=1 %command%