Exploding Judo Federation

Exploding Judo Federation is a surprisingly deep fighting game hiding underneath the veneer of meme fighter. The premise "One grab (and nothing else) kills" at first glance puts into mind thoughts of games like Footsies: An aspect of fighting games, distilled and concentrated into a single gimmick that then becomes the foundation of a whole game. And upon first trying the game at a tournament, the vibe was a similar one: A Party Fighter. Everyone was rolling around, mashing raw grabs and occasionally triggering a special ability after landing a few non-grab stray hits. It was undiluted and fun chaos! I didn't think it was much deeper than that. I was wrong. Having now spent more time with the game, further layers did open up bit by bit. First was your typical 3D fighting game movement and area denial. Normals still beating grabs means the game suddenly turns a lot more defensive. Then came combo-ing into simple grabs, bringing the needed response to the offense. Suddenly the characters began feeling really distinct beyond their supers and basic movement. Being able to confirm into a grab super fast or with varied timing or grabs, or being able grab at a large distance, being able to build a lot of meter fast, having invulnerabilities or movement associated with attacks to set up dodges or undefendable back-grabs, it all begins to matter more and more. Or rather, we finally noticed it mattered all along. Down the rabbit hole. One of the game's biggest flaws, the fact that none of this depth was readily visible to us at the start, has been completely fixed with version 1.2 adding a trial mode and character tutorials that display a lot of the cool tech on offer for each character. And again, the game's feel has turned in response. Now with the full effectiveness of combos visible and therefore more available, suddenly it feels like a full-on 3D Fighting Game where you got only a few combos you can eat ere you'll have lost for sure. Evolving from the distilled idea all the way back to a fully formed game. A fun, chaotic "party fighter" at the start, a full fighting game one can be seriously invested in by the end, or rather the new beginning. What a journey. And all for the low, low price of absolutely FREE. I will make certain this will be a mainstay for side events at the local tournaments.