Skill Gate Characters: Difference between revisions
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Characters that are easy to use effectively for an amateur, but also easy to counter for an expert. These tend to be [[Mighty Glacier|extremely slow]], so that a faster character can bash them around without ever getting hit, or [[Glass Cannon|extremely frail]] (and possibly [[Fragile Speedster|fast]]), with sturdier characters demonstrating that the most important [[Hit Point]] is the [[Critical Existence Failure|last]]. [[Crippling Overspecialization]] may also be at play. However, these characters may sometimes stay solid past the end of their "glory days" if used well enough and not have their once powerful weapon expected to be a [[Game Breaker]].
Contrast the [[Lethal Joke Character]], which is weak unless used by an expert player who knows the trick(s). Also contrast [[Difficult but Awesome]], who is more obviously useful but appears worthless at first because (s)he/it is, well... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|difficult]] to use. Sometimes a Skill Gate can also be either, creating an inverted bell-curve where it does well at both the newbie and expert levels but appears to be horrid for average players. Not to be confused with a [[Crutch Character]], which starts strong, but is inferior to other characters, sometimes because they [[Can't Catch Up|have trouble keeping up]]. Compare [[Wake Up Call Boss]], which is a PvE encounter that similarly serves to separate new players from the experienced.
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* Zangief from ''[[Street Fighter]] IV''. He has a spammable spinning attack that average/new players will get creamed against, but it is severely punishable by expert players.
** [[That Damn Ken]] and his [[Hurricane Kick]] spam! Until you notice his upper body is completely unprotected...
** The [[Shotoclone|Shoto Clones]] are arguably an example of the "bell curve" type of
** Vega's speed and claw range would overwhelm new players until they learned his fairly simple patterns. He gets better in expert play though, because of the skill and timing required to perform his [[Difficult but Awesome]] tricks, such as the safe claw dive/grab mixup in ''II'' and ''IV'', and his infinite combo in the ''Alpha'' series.
* In ''[[Rise of Nations]]'', the Russians were mildly overpowered in matches between casual players but were considered one of the worst factions by expert players. The developers didn't think this was a problem because there were nearly 20 factions to choose from.
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** Iron Tager has become this in ''Continuum Shift''. His incredible power coupled with the fact that he is much easier to use than he looks makes him widely hated by new [[Blaz Blue]] players. Expert players who can keep him at arm's length and not get magnetized, however, can skillfully dissect him. Ironically he was firmly on the Difficult side of [[Difficult but Awesome]] in ''Calamity Trigger''.
*** It has reached a point where people at low levels are [[Rage Quit]] ing on the VS screen because of their opponent picking Tager.
* Gado in ''[[Bloody Roar]] 2'', degraded from a [[Game Breaker]] in the first game. [[Mighty Glacier|Hits like a truck, and has some nice combos that can chew off life if you don't know how to handle it, but moves so slow]]. Seems devastating when your first fight against him or unlocked, but seems less and less fearsome as you understand the game and get better at it. Still makes a helluva annoying boss for new players. Unfortunately, in later games he was [[Nerf
* There was a time during ''[[Starcraft]]'''s long lifespan when the (mostly average skilled) playerbase was complaining about how overpowered Zerg were (particularly Mutalisks) while many of the top players were playing Terran instead: Terran defenses combined with a sublime powers when microed (for example, the famous tank-and-dropship dance) made them far more powerful in skilled hands then the much simpler Zerg. Another example is stealth units: Against a good player, it's extremely difficult to pull off Dark Templars or nukes, but against a player who isn't good at detection management either can be an instant win.
** Near the end of the ''Starcraft'' era however, "Fast Mutas" were considered to be the best Zerg opening, and most Terran and Protoss builds were judged against this build. Said Terran and Protoss builds were only considered viable if they were fast enough to outproduce or counter the initial [[Zerg Rush]] of Mutalisks. Certainly an example of the "bell curve" Skill Gate.
** Most beginners and intermediate players gravitate to the Protoss because their playstyle is based around having fewer, stronger units without too many special abilities to make them 'work'. In armies of equal cost, it's typically easier to control 10 beefy units rather than 30 units that die instantly if you make a mistake. Add to this that building 30 units takes more work than building 10 and you'll see why most new players like the toss: easier micro and easier macro. Of course, once you get good ''none'' of that matters in any meaningful way anymore and player skill becomes increasingly important.
* Eddy Gordo got this reputation in ''[[Tekken]] 3''. Novice players would enjoy [[Button Mashing]] and the flips and spins he'd do, stymieing most others..except those who figured out his patterns. Or just picked Kuma and smashed him to bits before he could even get in range.
** Eddy is an interesting case, because of two reasons. One is that until mastered, most players will do better with him if they just employ [[Button Mashing]] and joystick waggling. The other is that it takes a disproportionately high degree of skill to beat button mashing Eddy players ''consistently''. Even ''experts'' that are below master caliber lose to button mashing Eddy players on occasion. This tends to start a lot of [[Trash Talk
* One team tends to take on this role every season in ''[[Madden NFL]]'', depending on whichever play or group of plays are considered Game Breakers that year.
* ''[[League of Legends]]'' has a few:
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