Online gambling is the new common denominator in fighting games and, depending on which title, also its Achilles heel. Playing online games to the great current references, such as Street Fighter V, Dragon Ball FighterZ or Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, is not always a Satisfactory experience. There are exceptions, of course, like Guilty Gear Strive. And the reason that their online is so damn good has its own name: Rollback Netcode.
Let’s start from the essentials: in general, the big difference between competing on the same console -or PC- and through an internet connection, no matter how good it is, is latency. That is, the amount of time that elapses between an action and the response shown on the screen. In this aspect, the smallest fractions of a second count in fighting games.
There are games in which a small margin of latency in their online does not have great collateral effects. In titles like Mortal Kombat 11 or Tekken 7, however, this can be a real drama given the huge amount of instructions that both players execute simultaneously. The difference between a really tight block, setting up a counter, or missing the least super combo.
Because even if both players press a button at the same time, they do not know what their opponent has done until both actions are displayed on the screen. AND when the latency is bad, the experience of both goes to the fret regardless of who takes the initiative. Also, if the game supports the participation of more than two players, as is the case with Nintendo’s Brawler, chaos is assured.
Each game addresses this problem in a different way. Some with more success and others with greater room for improvement. And the way to deal with it Guilty Gear Strive is the most interesting of all: its system of retrospective netcode (in English, rollback) predict what we will do next with a very narrow timeframe, smoothing out any harshness in latency, creating the illusion that lag is eliminated and, in the process, offering an online that inevitably reminds us of our days in arcades.
Then,why rollback netcode is not implemented in games already available? Well, as we will see next, the matter is not as simple as changing a few lines of code.
How does the Rollback Netcode work?
To talk about Rollback Netcode, you must first understand how the most recurrent solution works when offering online play in fighting games: the Delay Netcode, or lag-based netcode, tries to balance the inevitable latency issues by syncing on screen and accommodating actions that we can refer to – badly and early – as our own rhythm of the game.
With Delay Netcode it seeks to offer a fair experience for both players, although this has a collateral effect: if there is a very high latency there is a marked delay, a notable drop in frames per second and even a short-lived freeze of the game that, logically, drastically reduces the emotion of the player. moment. Those kinds of experiences were precisely the germ of the Rollback Netcode.
The launch of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo HD Remix reopened Pandora’s box for lovers of fighting games: the great arcade classic returned with renewed graphics and, thanks to its online, it turned the consoles in that arcade room into world level that everyone who lived through the 90s had dreamed of. However, your Delay Netcode system totally broke with the original magic And in the process, it diluted the mind-blowing competitive experience of Capcom’s great classic.
Imagine the debacle that would have meant that the mythical EVO Moment # 37 had been weighed down and absolutely clouded by lag problems.
It was Tony cannon, one of the promoters of the EVO multi-wrestling tournament, who decided to take the initiative through the GGPO (Good Game, Peace Out), an alternative system whose differentiating point is to take the initiative instead of just waiting to receive information from the players. That is to say, predict the next moves they will make and start integrating these actions into the game.
That alternative meant a huge revolution The depth of which was soon implemented in more and more games and officially: by the time Capcom resurrected Street Fighter III Third Strike, the use of the GGPO was one of its biggest claims.
And what happens if that prediction is wrong? Basically the state of the game reverts in fractions of a second and the game continues from the new corrected state. As we commented, deep down the illusion is created that lag is eliminated in a very convincing and effective way, so that the correction occurs so extremely fleetingly that sometimes all you can perceive is a small jump.
Something that is much better illustrated in the following video of Code Mystics, responsible for several masterful adaptations of SNK classics.
Precisely for this reason, adapt the Rollback Netcode to current and already released games, such as Dragon Ball FigherZ or Tekken 7, it is a challenge in which there is more to lose than to gain: although in classic games (even in Super Smash Bros. Melee) it is relatively simple to implement, to make it work satisfactorily in today’s great fighting games it is necessary that the game engine can back quickly when predictions don’t come true. And that, depending on which games, it requires too great modifications.
Especially when loads of visual resources are required and there is also a lot of activity online. Something noted by Tomoko Hiroki, producer of Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Both the team and myself are aware of the feedback and comments from players regarding the possible implementation of Rollback Netcode. While this is a feature we would definitely like to implement, it is technically difficult for our game to implement.
That said, it is also possible to offer a combined solution in which both Delay-based Netcode and Rollback Netcode are used. In the end, each game must accommodate what works best with its playability and pace, so what benefits combat in interactive 3D scenarios from Dead or Alive or SoulCalibur VI may not work as well with fighting games for Marvel teams vs. Capcom or The King of Fighters. Despite the fact that in all the previous games a simple fraction of a second can decide the outcome of a long and intense game.
The solution adopted by Capcom in Street fighter v or Bandai Namco for Tekken 7 and Dragon ball fighterz goes through improving their own custom built Netcode systems. In fact, Netherrealm was more radical – as expected of Ed Boon’s team – and directly opted to completely redo the Netcode of Mortal Kombat X when you released the review Mortal Kombat XL. Luckily for everyone, the future of online fighting games looks better and better.
The future of the fighting genre goes through online gaming, and this through the predictive system
Rollback Netcode doesn’t work miracles, but it works. Enough so that when a new fighting game or the return of a classic saga is announced, the announcement of the implementation of this predictive system is especially celebrated. And not only that: without being the first to implement this technology, Guilty Gear Strive leads a new generation of games in which the quality of the online experience carries as much weight as the gameplay itself.
What’s more, than games like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, the Smash Bros. starring the Nicktoons, make use of this technology and makes us look at it with different eyes: it is no longer the umpteenth substitute for the nintendero crossover, but an alternative to your formula with an online to consider.
Because The King of Fighters XV will no longer be measured in graphics, presentation or popularity with Street fighter v or Mortal Kombat 11, but that bet on the Rollback Netcode already positions it in a very advantageous way compared to those two titans with which it has been competing for decades. And that already forces both Capcom and Netherrealm to move. Especially when the big tournaments, such as EVO, have opted for the format no presential to accommodate the times that run.
Will we get to enjoy a good enough netcode that the Rollback Netcode predictive system is no longer needed? Possibly. In fact, must be the top priority of the titans of the genre so that somewhat more modest games do not eat their toast simply by implementing the predictive system. But it’s clear that fighting game fans won’t get bored until that milestone is reached.