Rivals of Aether II

Best non-smash platform fighter I've played.

I really enjoyed this game for a very long time, but the developers seem to very clearly not care that their characters are actually fun to play (based on an extremely biased and openly hostile group of playtesters) and have recently made changes that absolutely sucked any fun I was having out of the game, while completely ignoring any sort of feedback from people who were affected. Specifically, they added a ridiculously short timer mechanic to one character that means if you aren't constantly pressing the special button every 3-5 seconds, you can't afford to interact with the opponent or your most important resource will run out right when you need it. It basically removed my ability to be aggressive and scrap and forced me to constantly run away and reset my resource, all while constantly experiencing stress over a timer. The community has also been incredibly hostile to the point of harassment outside of the game over the character I play.

this game sucks

Polished gameplay but incredible inconsistency in gameplay mechanics which shouldn't be possible and every character is a gimmick. also no one plays this god forsaken game. fun game otherwise.

Great game, great times. When I play game I'm reminded of the time I played Smash Bros. for the Wii U online, and I hit such a sweet game winning Ness combo against a Rosalina player that I impulsively leapt into the air out of joy! Unfortunately the Yoo-Hoo that I was drinking got caught in the crossfire and spilled all over the Wii U's gamepad. I rushed the gamepad into a bag of rice, but after a few hours of drying, it turned out the A button was unusable, and the screen had a strange yellow tinge on the right side from then on. Classic games like Mario Maker, and Kirby and the Rainbow Curse were never the same. I know now that drinking Yoo-Hoo while playing these kinds of games is dangerous. Still, when I land game winning combos with heroes like Loxodont, or fan-favorite Wrastor, I get the same feeling of elation from the Wii U days. Can't recommend Rivals of Aether II enough!

I like rivals 2, even though at times the removal of staple mechanics of the first game such as drift d.i. feels frustrating. the game is very rewarding and fun to learn and play and I hope it continues to improve into an even greater game.

Now that they've added the Casual content this game does in fact have it all. If you want to get crazy competitive you can do that, and if you don't you can just goof around with items and free for alls with online play that actually feels great. Character designs are top notch, OST is great, and the coming storm of the Workshop is going to offer no shortage of content when it drops.