It’s a pretty straightforward question. I didn’t watch them this evening because i was pulling my hair out. But when i heard Street Fighter V was Best Fighting Game of 2016, i was torn between being surprised and not surprised.
I wasn’t surprised because it’s Sony and Capcom throwing their money and weight, respectively, at the title. A la Capcom Pro Tour this weekend and the events leading to it. Plus, it’s got a player base that know the game, the characters, the lore just off of a glance. Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile and a few other Street Fighter characters are pretty commonly known outside of the FGC. And that isn’t small bones. That’s not something, i think, that could be said of the other games on the list outside of maybe Terry Bogard in KOF.
What did surprise me about Street Fighter V winning was just how wrecked of a game it was in the beginning, and how it’s STILL recovering. I have to wonder if a game that went out and did what it did … missed sales, infuriated players, the 8 frames of lag, rage quit issues, debatable censorship, so on and so forth. It did all of that, yet it was still the winner. Each of the other games had their issues and limits too, not saying it was ‘rigged’ per se. (Looking at you Nintendo, and how two fan made Nintendo game went ghost off the nomination list…) But i do wonder how a game that had that much vinegar at the start of its life, gets such high prestige.