I wasn’t prepared for how emotional and moved I felt seeing someone like me represented in a fighting game. A joyful blend of specific and generic to afford projection, genuinely touching Arcade mode narrative. (Also the rocking back and forth while thinking about coming out!!!) When I beat Bridget’s Arcade mode my partner said about the feeling of being represented, “See how easy this is!” Like 20 lines of dialog and some great animations is all it took for me to feel a deep emotional connection to this game.
Tiny spoilers for the end of arcade mode:
Thinking about transitioning is fighting for your life! Friends and idols encouraging you despite you knowing you don’t know how it will go and knowing it will be messy is literally the win state! I knew all this going in but seeing it actually happen in context (after about 2 hours of the tutorial and mission modes to learn the game) really moved me.