Fighting EX Layer Celebrates Anniversary With a Dramatic Price Drop

In his recent tweet, Ichiro Mihara, the vice president of Arika, has announced that they will be celebrating the company's 30th anniversary by drastically dropping the price just to one dollar.

He also teases that the 3.0 version might return in a form of a beta branch on Steam.

If you're not familiar with it, Fighting EX Layer is a spiritual successor to the Street Fighter EX series that was also developed by Arika. It wasn't too radically different from other Street Fighter games, but still had some unique systems with the Guard Breaks. 

Back when these games were coming out, one of the more distinct things about it was the switch to 3D. SFEX games still look gorgeous, and it was even more exciting back then to see the classic Street Fighter moves and characters move in a new dimension.

Arika's new characters were also a massive standout. Their designs were far more over the top than SF's roster, and their gameplay very much matched that.

Then, Fighting EX Layer finally continued this series after a nearly 20 year gap, and it returned with systems that were never seen before. 

While somewhat controversial, the game had a unique Gougi system. Essentially, you had a deck of special power-ups and abilities that had to be activated in the match. Behind each power-up was some specific challenge or risk that triggered the activation, and the more difficult it is, the more rewarding the power-up (usually).

While the game didn't perform too well, it still found the classic – a small but dedicated audience. Sadly, even some of those who wanted to play the game, didn't really get a chance to do so, because the online is virtually a desert, and the game didn't have rollback for the longest time.

Now's a good chance to at least experience the feel and systems of this game, and maybe check out what little single player content there is. Just experiencing FEXL at all is well worth a buck, and if the 3.0 version does make a comeback, you get to play an even more experimental iteration of the game, which takes away the Gougi, but emphasizes some of the legacy mechanics and the game's 3D aspect.