gamesecosse

Low, Mid, High

A basic principle of the offensive techniques with respect to one-on-one fighting games is the differing attack heights - low, mid and high. This fairly sensible and indeed obvious gameplay system is really the building blocks of the genre. It allows for the depth and diversity the players crave, and in turn allows for the many play styles along with their individual strengths and weaknesses.
It's strange that this should be the foundation of the fighting genre, as it's a basic concept within Shotokai Karate and indeed all martial arts. (They are all the same to me...! Maybe I'll explain that later!) During certain training drills, attacks are aimed at 3 heights: The area above the groin (ouch) or belt height, referred to as gedan, The solar plexus, referred to as chudan, and the throat or face, referred to as jodan.
Do not misunderstand the simplicity of this! This is a very simplified mechanic, and for the purposes of training only. Naturally, an assailant in the street is never going to attack obviously gedan, chudan, or jodan, but practicing with this basic system gives you the dexterity and skills to deal with a more realistic confrontation. It's a generic mechanism and was developed over many years and must not be taken at face value. Shotokai requires a great deal of spirit and use of the imagination, which allows the practitioner to see beyond the raw, simplistic seeming methods. There are many other skills within the martial arts which work off similar principles.
I'm once again relating video games to the martial arts, and it's very apparent here. Okay, so a game shows the mechanism in its raw form, and could never truly include the mind, body, spirit idea of Shotokai (well, maybe...) but there's a very good reason the low, mid, high system works - it is Karate...

posted by qmchaz64 @ 3:40 pm