Another year, another massively impressive hololive fan game. Besto Game Team's two years of effort now bear fruit, but not monetary one; as per the usual derivative work guidelines in effect for the streaming agency, you can freely make these sorts of projects but they can't be monetized for profit. It hasn't stemmed the tide for enthusiasts, and the results are clear for anyone to see and try for themselves: this is a great fighting game, regardless of the curve it's judged by for scale of production, its creative circumstances or its completely free price of entry.
Idol Showdown bases many generalities in terms of control layout and input style on Arc System Works and French Bread's offerings, but despite by appearance occupying the "anime fighter" niche that's often characterized by hyper-intensive air combat, manages a distinct character almost as if in opposition: airdashes, super and double jumps generally don't exist, and despite juggle combos very much being present, the focus is more on grounded footsies than anything, with specialized movement options available according to character instead of being a component of universal air ballet. Those are the qualities that at least I see in the game, and maybe more of said perspective can be laid out by briefly going over each member of the game's roster at launch. A disclaimer should be offered that I'm at best a below-average player, so it's likely more relevant and less basic impressions of the cast's capabilities are out there... but this is also the exciting time in a fighting game's lifecycle when everyone's learning from scratch, down to the fundamentals. Character title cards ripped by the Mizuumi Wiki.
Versatile Fox Spirit - Adaptable Gacha Mastery
Fubuki's about as direct a shoto as the game has--she's got a projectile, an anti-air, and an advancing, spinning special. Her quirks come in through her random element, evoking her gacha proclivities: sometimes her specials will come out as stronger, functionally EX versions, and it's down to sheer luck if they do... unless you buff her by eating a burger, which guarantees the effect. As hololive's spirit and pillar, she's about as reliable here as in real life.
Stellar Stylish Idol - Saikou Pressure
Most characters in this game can be slotted into pretty standard archetypes, but Suisei hovers somewhere inbetween claimed niches. She's not the purest grappler, but has her up-close and ranged tools to function as one; she's not the most intensive at rushdown lockdown, but her kit is always relevant no matter her range, and has some of the most useful air pressure in the game. As one of the absolute breakout stars of hololive as a vocalist and performer, Suisei's aura of being good at anything she sets her mind to comes across in her playstyle.
Half-Elf from Another World - Magical Pressure from Afar
Aki has excellent zoning tools with her angled lasers and teleport maneuvers, but also emphasizes bursts of high-impact melee by calling upon her alter ego Mukirose to set up gigantic wall and ground bounces. It's a somewhat unconventional combination in practice, but Aki has long been an underestimated factor within the hololive ranks despite her seniority.
4th Chairman of the Kiryu Clan - Dragon-style Grappling
Company graduate Coco reigns over the game as its foremost grappler, and her toolset is diverse for the role: there are the usual command grabs, but also anti-air grabs, off-the-ground grabs, and advancing super armour grabs. Some of her normals are limited while others are extremely long-reaching thanks to her stature, but anything she does is generally great fun to set up, making her my personal favourite to play.
Retro Fighting Dog - High-endurance Brawling
Korone's gameplay style is functionally very similar with Fubuki's, nicely connecting the two Gamers. Comparatively, Korone is more ground-oriented and has more emphasis on multi-hit pressure, but the fundamentals remain straightforward and direct in either case. In my experience, she has one of the best launchers in the game.
Virtuous Pure Idol - Sonnant Seiso Setplay
Sora is rated the most difficult character to play by the game's own estimation and it's not an off the mark evaluation; her abilities require a much more planned out means of approach with a degree of foresight in how and when to set up her lingering musical note traps and trailing projectiles. If the aptitude is there, her zoning and mix-ups are great, and her movement is also significantly aided by her specials, in addition to other technical tools like projectile reflection. The Great Senpai of the company makes you earn your victories.
Playful Giggling Ojou - Nonstop Oni Offense
Ayame is likely the easiest character to figure out a gameplan for: everything she does is in-your-face melee-range combo action, setting up openings for juggles and the continuation of multi-hit slicing and dicing both on the ground and in the air. Even players completely unfamiliar with linking attacks and canceling them from one to the next will probably find footing with those concepts playing her, as her single-mindedness doesn't really leave room for anything else. She has some of the goofiest walk and run cycles in the game.
Special Forces La~Lion - Tactical Space Control
Diverse ranged harassment is Botan's expertise, though she also has some of the most capable normals in the game for their greatly boosted range thanks to her arsenal of weapons that come out through them. Her spacing play also extends to herself, as her maneuvers often reposition herself out of harm's way while denying the opponent reprisal. Another favourite for integrating the actual person's interests and aptitude into a flexible, active playstyle.
In addition, the game has eight assist characters to pick from with two unique attacks each. Some of the concepts present are just cool and interesting fighting game design, like having a quarter-circle be the most complex input present and specials being mapped to a simplified shortcut on their dedicated button; should you perform the moves through their standard inputs, you'll be rewarded with increased meter gain as an incentive. The tutorials cover the fundamentals well, but the best aspects of the game's internal notation comes through in the movelists, which present each and every command normal, special, super and assist by previewing their animation and having the move's properties described by the developers with additional remarks or suggested use-cases. This is something I've always wanted fighting games to do--to talk about themselves and their complex minutiae, for flavour and functionality--and it's only recently that it's picking up as a trend in design and presentation.
On the fan side of things, this is a game chock full of referentiality and fan service--the better kind, because there isn't a hint of sexualization in the depiction which isn't inherently already present in the performers' designs themselves. This makes the game a rarity in the genre, in being a women-only fighting game that is not softcore exploitation at its heart and in creative direction--it's basically functioning at the idealized level of what vtubing is supposed to be about for many of the women who partake in it (the game's present state also doesn't bar men from eventually being included; Roberu already runs a shop in the game and other male members of hololive are in some other way present, such as Vesper). The game's genesis dating back to around 2020 coincides with the industry boom that occurred at the peak of COVID-related isolation, and so its referential texture can feel a little dated if you've kept up with the talents since, but maybe that in itself broaches nostalgia by this point considering how fast-seeming the hobby can sometimes be. While that kind of vintage material exists in the roster picks and their abilities, newer material colours all the additional details, like the extensive Virtual Frontier quest mode that presents a choose-your-own-adventure kind of set-up with odd multiple-choice encounters along the way with other hololive members, the results of those meetings helping or hindering your progress with various additional effects that manifest in the play mode's fights that make use of item and equipment-based modifiers for a light RPG structure.
More than anything, it's been a delight to see the subjects of the game embrace the game on an immediate basis. Ollie hosts the game's collection mode and recorded lines for it, when the standard practice for the all the battle clips heard in the game was for the developers to source them from any and every assorted stream the person had done over the years. Upon the game's release and as hololive members started playing it, Botan for example thought her clips could sound better and impromptu started reciting replacement lines on stream for the developers to grab if they wanted to; said clips have been implemented into the game within a day. Sora has done the same and provided new VA work with true professional air and aptitude. Fighting games are always exciting on launch for the fundamental possibilities and experimentation present as mutual discoveries are made on part of the playerbase, making the games very much living things--Idol Showdown is in a position to reach many people who would not ordinarily play the genre, including its present and future roster itself, and that's an incredibly fascinating dynamic to witness.
Idol Showdown bases many generalities in terms of control layout and input style on Arc System Works and French Bread's offerings, but despite by appearance occupying the "anime fighter" niche that's often characterized by hyper-intensive air combat, manages a distinct character almost as if in opposition: airdashes, super and double jumps generally don't exist, and despite juggle combos very much being present, the focus is more on grounded footsies than anything, with specialized movement options available according to character instead of being a component of universal air ballet. Those are the qualities that at least I see in the game, and maybe more of said perspective can be laid out by briefly going over each member of the game's roster at launch. A disclaimer should be offered that I'm at best a below-average player, so it's likely more relevant and less basic impressions of the cast's capabilities are out there... but this is also the exciting time in a fighting game's lifecycle when everyone's learning from scratch, down to the fundamentals. Character title cards ripped by the Mizuumi Wiki.
Versatile Fox Spirit - Adaptable Gacha Mastery
Fubuki's about as direct a shoto as the game has--she's got a projectile, an anti-air, and an advancing, spinning special. Her quirks come in through her random element, evoking her gacha proclivities: sometimes her specials will come out as stronger, functionally EX versions, and it's down to sheer luck if they do... unless you buff her by eating a burger, which guarantees the effect. As hololive's spirit and pillar, she's about as reliable here as in real life.
Stellar Stylish Idol - Saikou Pressure
Most characters in this game can be slotted into pretty standard archetypes, but Suisei hovers somewhere inbetween claimed niches. She's not the purest grappler, but has her up-close and ranged tools to function as one; she's not the most intensive at rushdown lockdown, but her kit is always relevant no matter her range, and has some of the most useful air pressure in the game. As one of the absolute breakout stars of hololive as a vocalist and performer, Suisei's aura of being good at anything she sets her mind to comes across in her playstyle.
Half-Elf from Another World - Magical Pressure from Afar
Aki has excellent zoning tools with her angled lasers and teleport maneuvers, but also emphasizes bursts of high-impact melee by calling upon her alter ego Mukirose to set up gigantic wall and ground bounces. It's a somewhat unconventional combination in practice, but Aki has long been an underestimated factor within the hololive ranks despite her seniority.
4th Chairman of the Kiryu Clan - Dragon-style Grappling
Company graduate Coco reigns over the game as its foremost grappler, and her toolset is diverse for the role: there are the usual command grabs, but also anti-air grabs, off-the-ground grabs, and advancing super armour grabs. Some of her normals are limited while others are extremely long-reaching thanks to her stature, but anything she does is generally great fun to set up, making her my personal favourite to play.
Retro Fighting Dog - High-endurance Brawling
Korone's gameplay style is functionally very similar with Fubuki's, nicely connecting the two Gamers. Comparatively, Korone is more ground-oriented and has more emphasis on multi-hit pressure, but the fundamentals remain straightforward and direct in either case. In my experience, she has one of the best launchers in the game.
Virtuous Pure Idol - Sonnant Seiso Setplay
Sora is rated the most difficult character to play by the game's own estimation and it's not an off the mark evaluation; her abilities require a much more planned out means of approach with a degree of foresight in how and when to set up her lingering musical note traps and trailing projectiles. If the aptitude is there, her zoning and mix-ups are great, and her movement is also significantly aided by her specials, in addition to other technical tools like projectile reflection. The Great Senpai of the company makes you earn your victories.
Playful Giggling Ojou - Nonstop Oni Offense
Ayame is likely the easiest character to figure out a gameplan for: everything she does is in-your-face melee-range combo action, setting up openings for juggles and the continuation of multi-hit slicing and dicing both on the ground and in the air. Even players completely unfamiliar with linking attacks and canceling them from one to the next will probably find footing with those concepts playing her, as her single-mindedness doesn't really leave room for anything else. She has some of the goofiest walk and run cycles in the game.
Special Forces La~Lion - Tactical Space Control
Diverse ranged harassment is Botan's expertise, though she also has some of the most capable normals in the game for their greatly boosted range thanks to her arsenal of weapons that come out through them. Her spacing play also extends to herself, as her maneuvers often reposition herself out of harm's way while denying the opponent reprisal. Another favourite for integrating the actual person's interests and aptitude into a flexible, active playstyle.
~~~
In addition, the game has eight assist characters to pick from with two unique attacks each. Some of the concepts present are just cool and interesting fighting game design, like having a quarter-circle be the most complex input present and specials being mapped to a simplified shortcut on their dedicated button; should you perform the moves through their standard inputs, you'll be rewarded with increased meter gain as an incentive. The tutorials cover the fundamentals well, but the best aspects of the game's internal notation comes through in the movelists, which present each and every command normal, special, super and assist by previewing their animation and having the move's properties described by the developers with additional remarks or suggested use-cases. This is something I've always wanted fighting games to do--to talk about themselves and their complex minutiae, for flavour and functionality--and it's only recently that it's picking up as a trend in design and presentation.
On the fan side of things, this is a game chock full of referentiality and fan service--the better kind, because there isn't a hint of sexualization in the depiction which isn't inherently already present in the performers' designs themselves. This makes the game a rarity in the genre, in being a women-only fighting game that is not softcore exploitation at its heart and in creative direction--it's basically functioning at the idealized level of what vtubing is supposed to be about for many of the women who partake in it (the game's present state also doesn't bar men from eventually being included; Roberu already runs a shop in the game and other male members of hololive are in some other way present, such as Vesper). The game's genesis dating back to around 2020 coincides with the industry boom that occurred at the peak of COVID-related isolation, and so its referential texture can feel a little dated if you've kept up with the talents since, but maybe that in itself broaches nostalgia by this point considering how fast-seeming the hobby can sometimes be. While that kind of vintage material exists in the roster picks and their abilities, newer material colours all the additional details, like the extensive Virtual Frontier quest mode that presents a choose-your-own-adventure kind of set-up with odd multiple-choice encounters along the way with other hololive members, the results of those meetings helping or hindering your progress with various additional effects that manifest in the play mode's fights that make use of item and equipment-based modifiers for a light RPG structure.
More than anything, it's been a delight to see the subjects of the game embrace the game on an immediate basis. Ollie hosts the game's collection mode and recorded lines for it, when the standard practice for the all the battle clips heard in the game was for the developers to source them from any and every assorted stream the person had done over the years. Upon the game's release and as hololive members started playing it, Botan for example thought her clips could sound better and impromptu started reciting replacement lines on stream for the developers to grab if they wanted to; said clips have been implemented into the game within a day. Sora has done the same and provided new VA work with true professional air and aptitude. Fighting games are always exciting on launch for the fundamental possibilities and experimentation present as mutual discoveries are made on part of the playerbase, making the games very much living things--Idol Showdown is in a position to reach many people who would not ordinarily play the genre, including its present and future roster itself, and that's an incredibly fascinating dynamic to witness.
