Guilty Gear really does do something different from Capcom’s or SNK’s games. When I play a non-SNK 2D fighter, I’m usually a little confused at how few moves the characters have, and how simple they are to pull off. Aside from the number of moves, though, Capcom’s games tend to feel roughly similar to SNK’s. They’re harder, meaner, they don’t take any nonsenses; otherwise, there’s a lot of common ground.

Guilty Gear, though — uh. Well, I hadn’t really spent a lot of time with the games themselves, until today. The most I had done was jump in, hit a bunch of buttons, study the animation and say, yes, that’s interesting. Now I’m trying to get into the game’s head. And. It’s weird. Each character’s movelist is maybe a dozen lines long at most. Most of those are command moves (forward+punch, say). You might have a quarter-circle or two. Or, rarely, a half-circle or a dragon punch motion. Most characters have the exact same motion for a DM-style move, and the exact same fatality. (That’s qcfx2+hs.) And that’s it, really. There are hardly any moves in the game. And yet, somehow the attacks tend to be more obscure than usual.

It’s hard to wrap the brain around in a few hours. I can’t tell whether or not it’s being different just to be different. The system does seem to work. It almost reminds me of Smash Bros., though. Maybe a slightly more erudite take on it. Suddenly Isuka makes more sense to me.

On the other end of the fence, there’s KOF2000. I hadn’t played a 2D KOF for a while. Going back to it after Max Impact, it’s almost like that same feeling; like I’m switching to a Capcom game. Everything feels so simplistic, by comparison. Max Impact requires so much more to play that I almost feel like I’m on cruise control with the main series. I don’t have to pay attention to the sidestepping, or the stylish moves, or safe falls (so much). The game moves so much more slowly; I have so much more time to react. I have so much less on my mind.

I’m more and more convinced SNK hit on something close to great with Max Impact. On the one hand, it’s more appealing to the casual eye than SNK’s 2D games — and if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s a lot easier to jump into and have fun with than the main series. At the same time, it’s also one of the most complex fighting games I’ve played. If you want to play it well, it’s going to occupy every bit of mental processing you’ve got.

The only problem is that it doesn’t go far enough in either direction. It’s not Soul Calibur, and it’s not Virtua Fighter 4. If it’s appealing, it’s not appealing enough to woo people who don’t already give a damn. Maybe it’s a good entry-level SNK game, for the SNK-curious. If it’s complex and challenging to play, it doesn’t have the intricacy and balance it needs for experts to take it seriously as a competitive platform. What it is is a sketch. It hints at the game SNK can make. That maybe they will make, someday, that will bridge some gap, plug some hole, tap some market that no one else has paid attention to. The game which will make them a household name.

It’s almost the most important game SNK’s made. Not quite. It does point in that game’s direction, though.