Chicago, IL – Earlier today, one of the Divekick developers Baron Webb revealed in an interview that the iconic kick mechanic was originally a glitch in the game.
“One day during development we were just playing some matches normally,” recalled Webb who was a junior developer brought on to assist with the full version of the game. “Then one of the testers accidentally hit the giant blue button on the official Divekick controller causing his character to perform a surprising downward-angled kick attack.”
“At first we didn’t know what to make of the kick,” explained Webb about the completely unintentional glitch. “But the more we played around with it, the more we realized how perfectly it fit in the context of the game’s mechanics, title, and control scheme. The dynamic between diving and kicking was immediately compelling and as a result, the lead designer decided to keep the kick as a major part of the game.”
The kick in Divekick is yet another example of a beloved fighting game mechanic that started out as an unintended glitch. It joins other happy accidents like the combo in Street Fighter, or back dash cancelling in Tekken. And now, like these other serendipitous discoveries that came before it, this diving kick mechanic has become a staple for not just the Divekick series, but for the entire fighting game genre.
