Launching enemies into the air and keeping them suspended by either hitting them from the ground with proper timing or straight-up jumping after them for an air combo has been a thing in games for a while -- my question is, how long exactly? I'm doing research on this subject for a video I'm working on for my channel; Street Fighter 2 famously KIND OF allowed juggling through glitches, but the game credited with properly introducing the concept is the original Mortal Kombat in '92.
I feel like there must've been at least a few side-scrolling Beat 'em Ups where juggles are possible before then though? Doesn't seem to be case looking over footage for Streets of Rage or River City Ransom again. As far as 3D games go, I haven't played the original Tekken or Virtua Fighter in a while, but it seems like juggling wasn't a thing here until VF2 in '94. You can get in the odd hit while your opponent is falling to the ground in each respective first entry of those series, but it can hardly be referred to as juggling.
Lastly, we obviously have the original Devil May Cry for full-3D games. Famously, a glitch discovered by director Hideki Kamyia while playtesting Onimusha (which ended up being removed from the final game) formed the basis for what is essentially the birth of the stylish action genre.
As far as air combos go, Guilty Gear (1998) seems to be the first 2D fighter to popularize the concept? But we wouldn't see anything similar in a full 3D game until 2002's Otogi for the Xbox. DMC1 didn't have any kind of proper air combos, DMC2 didn't come out until 2003 (if it even counts) and Ninja Gaiden only released a year after that in 2004. There's actually a full-3D game that pre-dates Otogi by about nine months that DOES feature air combos, but I'm conveniently leaving it out here to see if you guys are gonna mention it. ;) I'm mostly wondering if there's a 3D game with air combos BEFORE the one I'm thinking of.
Anyway, this is what I've come up with, would love to know what other people can add!
EDIT: OK, I just remembered that The Bouncer for PS2 exists. Is this it???
I feel like there must've been at least a few side-scrolling Beat 'em Ups where juggles are possible before then though? Doesn't seem to be case looking over footage for Streets of Rage or River City Ransom again. As far as 3D games go, I haven't played the original Tekken or Virtua Fighter in a while, but it seems like juggling wasn't a thing here until VF2 in '94. You can get in the odd hit while your opponent is falling to the ground in each respective first entry of those series, but it can hardly be referred to as juggling.
Lastly, we obviously have the original Devil May Cry for full-3D games. Famously, a glitch discovered by director Hideki Kamyia while playtesting Onimusha (which ended up being removed from the final game) formed the basis for what is essentially the birth of the stylish action genre.
As far as air combos go, Guilty Gear (1998) seems to be the first 2D fighter to popularize the concept? But we wouldn't see anything similar in a full 3D game until 2002's Otogi for the Xbox. DMC1 didn't have any kind of proper air combos, DMC2 didn't come out until 2003 (if it even counts) and Ninja Gaiden only released a year after that in 2004. There's actually a full-3D game that pre-dates Otogi by about nine months that DOES feature air combos, but I'm conveniently leaving it out here to see if you guys are gonna mention it. ;) I'm mostly wondering if there's a 3D game with air combos BEFORE the one I'm thinking of.
Anyway, this is what I've come up with, would love to know what other people can add!
EDIT: OK, I just remembered that The Bouncer for PS2 exists. Is this it???
