Mega Knockdown cover
Mega Knockdown screenshot
Genre: Fighting, Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Indie

Mega Knockdown

Replay Update (Version 0.94)

This may be one of our biggest updates yet! See below for a full list of changes.

New Replay System!

  • The game will now save logs of your multiplayer matches to your machine.
  • The logs themselves are human-readable summaries of your matches, including the inputs chosen by each player on each of their turns.
  • Replays for each saved log may be played back within the game's Replay Browser, now accessible within the main menu.
  • Replay browsing and playback are likely to expand with new features depending on community feedback.


Mouse Controls

  • You may now play the game entirely with the mouse!
  • To bring up the clickable mouse controls, click anywhere on screen in-game. If you like using this control method, you can press the "pin" button to pin the mouse tray to the screen. You can also disable it entirely in the options.
  • The game will let you freely switch back and forth between using gamepad, keyboad and mouse inputs. Mix and match, do whatever you feel is most comfortable.
  • Although we don't recommend playing local versus with only the mouse, we're not going to stop you. The game will hide your clicked inputs if you're using the mouse controls in this mode.


Input System Improvements

  • While waiting for the next turn, you can press and hold down the buttons corresponding to your next input or movement choices. These choices will trigger immediately at the start of the next turn.
  • Reduced the cooldown between successive input choices from 6 to 3 frames.


Performance Improvements

  • Packed character sprites into Atlases. This has dramatically reduced the filesize of the game by about %35 overall and significantly improved load times.
  • The AI now selects its actions once per turn, not once per frame.
  • In-game music is now "Streamed" instead of preloaded. This should also help to cut down on load times.


New Music

  • There is a new music track by community member and one-time tournament winner Nabooli. The new track plays in the options and replay menus.
  • This track can now be enjoyed as part of the Official Soundtrack.


New Save System and Steam Cloud Compatibility

  • The game will now save data into AppData\LocalLow\Counter Hit Studios\Mega Knockdown instead of your device's registry. This is also where your replays are located.
  • This change should make the game compatible with Steam Cloud!
  • Most of your existing saved information will carry over to the new system.


UI Improvements

  • Certain two-player menus that required keyboard or gamepad input from player 2 can now be controlled with just the mouse.
  • You can now rebind the menu navigation horizontal/vertical axis buttons for the new menus.
  • After rebinding some UI menu controls, the selection cursor will now return to the confirmation buttton, as intended.
  • Improved the labeling of certain moves in the input display.
  • Sped up the animations of some of the older menus.
  • Fixed the wording of one of the Main menu tooltips.


New Prototype Stage: The Planetarium

  • Lewis' stage is The Planetarium, which has fallen into disrepair over the years through neglect and mismanagement.
  • You can preview an early version of Lewis' new stage by pressing the period key. The game will remember your choice, and you can switch between his two stages at any time.


Tutorial Changes

  • Tutorial prompts now ask you to hold, not press, the guide button to see the controls.
  • Tutorial mission 5 (throws) now includes an extra reminder to look at the controls.


Demo Changes

  • You can now play as Paul or Marv in this version of the demo.
  • Your save files and Steam Cloud from the Demo will carry over to the main game when you buy it.
  • Training mode is no longer playable in the demo.


Online Improvements

  • If you're playing online, you won't be able to lock in your inputs until the opponent has loaded the match. This will help prevent an uncommon type of softlock.


Balance changes

  • Billy's armor damage reduction kicks in at 500 hp instead of 900hp. Below this threshold, armor reduces incoming damage to a flat amount of half instead of increasing from 50% to a maximum of 75%.


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug where Billy could sometimes freeze in place during the Big Billy Buster animation and appear to slam the other player into the ground using the power of telekinesis.
  • You can no longer use the mouse click an invisible "next mission" button in the tutorial mode.
  • Fixed desync issue involving Noel's vine and Bullet mode.
  • Fixed an issue where navigating the training mode menu would lock in inputs for the following turn.
  • Fixed Jerma Nick morphing into Illustrated Nick during a throw tech.
  • Fixed Easy difficulty inputs not displaying correctly sometimes.
  • Fixed the input display not registering some of Paul's moves correctly on P2 side.
  • Fixed issues with some toggles not saving correctly in the options menu.
  • Fixed some minor UI glitches in the Rebinding menu.
  • Fixed a typo in Nick's story mode.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Mega Knockdown League (Special 1st Anniversary Edition)

Sign up here: https://challonge.com/tournaments/signup/SrmRd3gKkC#/signup/jpnz7igdn9a

The Mega Knockdown League is a friendly online competition that can be played at your own pace. Free to enter. No region restriction. Players must be on the Mega Knockdown Discord to receive communciations.

Prize: First place gets a minimum of $100 USD via Matcherino. Runner-up gets an extra key to Mega Knockdown to give away to a friend.

Format: Round Robin. Participants may be divided into groups if there are a large number of participants. Once the tournament begins, you will have until the end of the month to play a match with everyone else. Matches will be played either over the in game Lobbies. The player with the most match wins will win the league. If the top players are within 1 win of each other, a FT3 Grand Final may be scheduled by the TO.

Disqualification: If a scheduled match is not played by the end of the month, it is either a draw or a win, according to TO's discretion. It is understood that some player matchups may not be possible due to scheduling and time zones.

Tournament Rules




  • Best 2 out of 3 games per match.
  • Winner of prior game must keep same character
  • Loser of prior game may switch character
  • "Standard" time setting (15 second timer)
  • Strife mode off
  • Because this is a "friendly tournament," you may run your set with different rules by mutual prior agreement.

Blitz Update Now Live!

We overhauled Mega Knockdown's optional turn-timer, so now you can play the high-speed "BLITZ" and "BULLET" variants online! We've also added some improved animations for Paul, and reworked Billy's balance.

Improvements to Timed Variants

  • In online play, lobby hosts can now set a turn time limit.
  • Like in local play, the options are Unlimited, Standard (15 seconds), BLITZ (3 seconds) and BULLET (1 second). Once a player receives their opponent's inputs, the timer starts ticking down. As in local play, when time expires, the timed out player stands there and loses their turn.
  • The turn timer is now a progress bar integrated with the input display.
  • The turn timer now pauses when you're contemplating a punish.
  • Several under-the-hood changes were made to the "timed out" state for improved stability and online compatibility.


New art!

  • Improved art and animations for most of Paul's moveset, including his air throw, sweep, jumping A, jumping C, backflip, Paulcano, Firepaul, knockdown, blocks, throws, back walks and throw techs.


Balance Changes

  • Billy's A attack: Startup decreased from 30f->20f. First hit damage decreased 250->150
  • Billy's B attack: Startup decreased from 40f->30f. First hit damage decreased 250->150. No longer safe on block.
  • Billy air throw: Damage increased 400->500
  • Billy stomp: Chip damage increased 150->200
  • Billy HP: Decreased 1700->1600
  • Billy's extremely slow normals made him a very one dimensional character in neutral. He relied a lot on knockdowns and +20 situations to do much of anything. However at a high level, if the opponent wasn't making mistakes and handing him free punishes and frame advantage, he had to make very hard reads to not lose neutral. Now he should have more options in neutral, but his damage/HP advantages are being pulled back to compensate.


Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue where round win counts would be incorrect for a late joining spectator.


UI Improvements

  • The in-game input display now shows the full names of special moves, instead of their internal placeholder names.
  • You can now see players' ping in the online lobby.
  • Spectators in online games can now see which player(s) have locked in their moves, and an estimate of how much time is left on their turn timer.


Miscellaneous

  • Your saved key bindings have been given another one-time reset to defaults to fix a bug with the input system. Sorry!
  • All in-game sprites have been compressed (losslessly). This is intended to decrease load times.
  • You can no longer press Block to cancel a punish. This option didn't serve a gameplay purpose, and caused some unintended issues.
  • Some changes were made to the "training dummy" for improved stability.
  • Unless you're playing a Jerma mirror match, the overhead side switch icons will no longer display--they are no longer needed if you're using the new sprites.
  • Removed the ability to lock a keyboard in Versus mode. This was useful as an anti-cheat feature for Steam Remote Play, but these have been replaced by the newer Online Lobbies. On that note, the achievement for locking a keyboard has been removed.
  • The achievement that triggers when you use Steam Remote Play has been removed. You can still play online with Steam Remote Play, but the Online Lobbies are a much better option.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Version 0.931 Update

[B]Balance Changes

  • Firepaul damage reduced from 300->250.
  • This change is intended to bring the damage done by Firepaul more in line with other zoning moves.
  • Billy Stomp damage increased from 300->350 at range 2. It still does 400 damage at range 1.
  • Generally, Stomp is used at range 2. This change is intended to increase the reward for using Stomp at its most effective range.


[B]Netcode Fixes

  • Created a new internal variable to help keep track of when players will need to start listening for remote inputs. This will hopefully reduce the occurrence of desyncs.
  • Improved the internal logging of Commands/RCP's sent back and forth between players. These logs are automatically attached to bug reports sent to the developer by pressing F8, when problems are found.
  • Fixed a common 'null reference exception' in the matchmaker code.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

May Update (Version 0.93)

This update contains some updated in-game art for Paul and Billy, and balance tweaks for competitive play.

New art!

  • Updated animations for the Big Billy Buster, Paul A & B attacks and combos, Paul's Air Throw, and Paul's walk.


Balance Changes

  • Firepaul Chip reduced from 200->150.
  • Previously, this move did so much chip that opponents were forced to take overly big risks against Paul to avoid getting whittled down. Now players can afford to block a couple more fireballs during a match.
  • Noel Fightning Feet Chip reduced from 100->75 at max range, otherwise it still does 100.
  • In situations where noel can safely use raw legs, the reward is a little less. Closer up, when she has a knockdown or plant set up, she keeps the full benefit of her chip damage. This might prevent some checkmate situations.
  • Noel Fightning Feet base damage increased from 200->250, but it still does 200 at max range.
  • This slightly improves the move's damage when used as a punish, or during okizeme.
  • Noel setting a plant no longer makes you -10 if the opponent blocked
  • Setting a plant vs block is a good read, and now you're not penalized for it.
  • Nick jC chip reduced 150->100
  • This is in line with making chip a little weaker across the board.
  • If Billy's HP is below 900, he receives half damage from hits he armors through. If his HP is below 500, he receives 25% damage while his armor is active.
  • If Billy is at low health, he couldn't really benefit from armor, and he could get stuck in certain checkmate scenarios. Now he can survive an armor trade or two when at low when he still has ~1HP.


Bug Fixes

  • Put in a potential fix to an issue where some players sometimes had difficulty selecting Rematch in the online mode.
  • Players should no longer lose the round when at a very small, but nonzero, amount of HP.


Miscellaneous

  • Your saved key bindings have been given a one-time reset to defaults to account for some input system changes.
  • Sending the developer a bug report with F8 now sends me a log with more information about the game state, to help me isolate and fix issues.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Version 0.926 Update

This update is intended to improve the experience of navigating menus, and should allow for more consistent controller support.

Menu Navigation, UI and Mousing Improvements
  • Fixed issue where clicking outside of a button in the main menu would sometimes activate that button.
  • Fixed recent bug where an object was blocking raycasts to menu options near the bottom of the screen.
  • Fixed an issue where clicking stuff on the main menu would play the clicking sound twice.
  • In the newer menus using Unity's event system (main menu and online menus) you will more easily be able to resume keyboard/gamepad navigation after clicking away from the buttons.
  • If the game launches out of focus and you click the window, we've made it harder to accidentally click a menu option.
  • If you highlight something with your mouse and navigate to some other option with the keyboard/gamepad and you select something, the game will prioritize whichever button was actually pressed.
  • The Discord button is back, it is now navigable with a keyboard or gamepad.
  • In the rebinding menu, P2 will no longer 'forget' that they are using a gamepad the second time you open the menu. P2 will now appropriately return to the 'done' button after they are done rebinding.


Controller Support Improvements
  • The controller you're using in menus and online or single player modes should automatically become player 1. (This change was needed because depending on your user settings and hardware, sometimes Steam creates a virtual controller for player 1, and your actual controller would get assigned to player 2.)
  • You can now press L3 in the main menu to bring up a hidden debug menu to assign specific plugged in controllers to Player 1 or Player 2. For now, the goal is that you shouldn't need to use it. Smart controller assignment should 'just work.'


Other
  • Billy's stomp animation has improved line art. Later this month there will be more graphical/visual updates.


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Thanks to our community for reporting the various bugs that were fixed in this update. As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

HUD Update (Version 0.925)

This update continues our string of improvements to the game's graphics by introducing an all new HUD!



New HUD, graphics and audio

  • Redesigned health bars, round timer, text, input display, status popups and round transition graphics.
  • Greenville Forest (Mahogany Marv's stage) has been revamped!
  • When characters take damage, the health bar's depletion is now animated.
  • Character mini-portraits added to top of HUD.
  • All-new announcer lines for round start/KO
  • New round win markers.
  • Input fades out when locked in, turns red when you're being punished.


General Updates

  • Jerma Marv's throw now pushes back, same as normal Marv's throw.
  • On Steam Deck, the default runtime is now Linux. This should help compatibility with our online lobby system.
  • In Steam Deck and Big Picture Mode, fixed a bug where closing the onscreen keyboard without sending a Salty Chat message would cause the menu to get stuck.
  • During the Tutorial, some text has been adjusted for Steam Deck players for improved compatibility.
  • Steam Deck players will now see a unique version of the Controls guide popup.
  • Fixed Noel's name display in multiplayer lobbies
  • The current version # now displays on the Main menu.
  • A new Demo version has been released, bringing it up to date with recent gameplay additions.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Marv's Art Update (Version 0.92)

The graphical overhaul of Mega Knockdown continues with a set of hand-drawn sprites for Mahogany Marv, and the forest spirit Jayne! Now all six characters have a rough set of sprites which we will continue to update, improve and add to over time.

All new art for Marv!

  • Marv and Jayne are now animated in-game with several dozen character sprites hand-illustrated by artist Alan McMillian.
  • As before, players can choose between his new art style and the old ones ('Green Screen Jeremy' and 'Abstract') in character select.


Double KO Rules Change

  • If a double KO or draw occurs during the first round, both players will get a round win.
  • If a double KO or draw occurs during match point, sudden death will take place as usual.
  • If a double KO or draw occurs and the round count is 0-1 or 1-0, nobody will get a round win.
  • Hence is no longer possible to win a game outright on a double KO or draw, but otherwise the game will be pushed closer to a conclusion.


Gameplay and Balance

  • If Billy gets a knockdown, he gets more frame advantage than usual (+20, up from +10).
  • Previously Billy's knockdown was not that rewarding, since the opponent could use almost any attack to stop Billy from pressing the advantage. Now opponents might have to actually block him sometimes on wakeup, allowing Billy to keep the pressure going with meaty attacks or go in for a throw.
  • Marv's throw now pushes opponent back. This was mostly implemented for visual reasons, but it helps achieve his gameplan of making space between himself and the opponent. Marv players using the Jerma sprites will still get the typical throw behavior, at least for now.
  • Moves that side switch will no longer push the opponent back.


Graphics

  • Adjusted the arc of Paul's j.B to look more natural.
  • Fixed an issue where characters would flash their idle sprite for a single frame when recovering from a 'delayed' state.


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As always, if you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 in-game to notify the dev. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Marv Update now in Beta

Marv Update: Coming Next Week!
In the last update, we released a set of rough, hand-drawn character sprites for every character except Marv, which was the first phase of our ongoing art overhaul.



Why wasn't Marv in the last update? Well, our design for him is very ambitious and complex. In the placeholder graphics, his forest spirite Jayne appears during some of his special moves, but in the redesign, Jayne is always present, and, for story reasons, is doing basically all of the fighting. In a sense, Marv is a "reverse puppet character"!



We hope that you will enjoy this new addition, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to roll out updates to the game's visuals.

To access the public beta branch:
  • Right-click Mega Knockdown in your library and click Properties
  • Navigate to the Betas tab. Select the Marv Beta.
  • Launch the game. You are now playing the beta!


If you have comments or encounter any issues, please press F8 to notify the dev. Your feedback will ensure that this feature will launch as smoothly as possible. You can also hop on the discord (https://discord.com/invite/bGVftKK) to find matches and discuss the new update.

Version 0.9121 Update (Hotfix)

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Billy's jab not having the correct frame advantage on player 2 side.
  • Fixed Billy's jab not making any sound when blocked.
  • Fixed Lewis' new music track not playing on his stage.


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These bugs were found with the assistance of community members on the Mega Knockdown Discord. If you ever encounter a bug in-game, or you just have some feedback for the dev team, simply press F8 in-game to send us a message directly.