Little Fighter 2 Remastered news & patch notes

Hi all,

I have just promoted version 2.12 to the default build. Thank you to everyone who tested the beta and provided feedback Updates:

• Steam Overlay is now supported (Windows only; unfortunately not supported on Mac, possibly due to a Steamworks.js issue). You can now take screenshots or record video more conveniently.

• Steam Remote Play is now supported (Windows only, as it requires Steam Overlay. Audio may not work for connected players—this might be fixable through Steam settings on the player’s side without any game code changes. Please let me know if you find a solution.)

• Allow the player to zoom out the gameplay screen slightly to better match the original LF2 screen view. Press F10 or click the zoom button at the upper right corner (after expanding the setting buttons). Previously, the background displayed at 712x400 units. Now, after zooming out, it is 794x400, leaving black bars at the top and bottom. This was done in response to many complaints that the narrower field of view affected the gameplay feel and control.

• The Coliseum stage has been reverted back to 794x400 (previously 712x400 in v2.11), and when the game starts on the Coliseum stage, zoom-out will now be triggered automatically (and restored after the game ends) to ensure no horizontal scrolling occurs on that background.

• Increased the default z-width of the hit box from 15 units to 17 units. Since characters are now slightly taller than in the original LF2, players started to feel that the hit box z-width was reduced. With this change, it should now be a bit easier to fight against AI, as the AI isn’t aware of this adjustment.

• Input registration and control feel improvements: 　– Pressing D → → J will no longer trigger D → J. 　– Pressing → and then pressing D → J simultaneously will no longer trigger the unintended dash + defend bug. (This issue, before being fixed, might not have been reproducible on some keyboards that jam when multiple keys are pressed simultaneously. However, I'm confident this fix will improve the experience when control pad support is added in the future.) 　– Pressing → → to run, and then pressing J + A simultaneously will now correctly trigger a dash-jump attack (previously it triggered a run attack and ignored jump because the attack key registered first). 　– If J or A triggers an action, the key will now be consumed and won’t trigger further moves (this is different from the original LF2). 　– However, the A key used for rolling + item pickup will not be consumed, to prevent situations where rolling + pickup unintentionally blocks special moves from being triggered.

• Fixed a rare startup crash on Windows with the error "A JavaScript error occurred in the main process..." by including the Visual C++ Redistributable package in the game via SteamWorks settings.

• Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash on Survival Stage 25.

• Added a blinking HP bar effect when a character is being healed.

• Fixed an item-stuck issue (when a player was picking up an item and got hit, the item would become stuck mid-air and unresponsive).

• Potential fix for the crash when picking up an item and getting hit (I couldn’t reproduce this after hours of testing, but identified a potential root cause and added safeguards. Please report if the issue still occurs).

• Fixed a bug where Julian jumps extremely high when using upper attack.

• Fixed a bug where Henry’s weapon gets stuck mid-air when shooting backward during a dash while holding a weapon.

• Fixed a bug where holding a stone and colliding with John’s shield causes the stone to disappear and then reappear in the player’s hand instead of dropping to the ground.

• Fixed an issue where Alt+Tabbing out of the game and back in would cause the game to mistakenly think the Alt key was still being held.

• Stage achievements will now unlock at lower difficulties automatically. For example, if you earn Stage 3 - Difficult, you will also receive Stage 3 - Normal and Easy. When you launch v2.12 for the first time, it will auto-check and unlock any missing easier achievements accordingly.

• Potential fix for the issue where the right Shift key doesn’t work on some keyboards (I couldn’t verify this myself, but now when a Shift key is detected and the system can’t distinguish left or right, it defaults to right Shift. This should not cause regressions as such keys weren’t recognized before anyway).

• Function key changes: 　– ESC now also serves as a pause key. 　– Pause + Q now restarts the game. 　– Pause + N now performs a step-pause. 　– Pause + H now hides the pause and info text. 　– Pause + Z now toggles zoom.

These changes were made due to reports that function keys can be inconvenient to use, especially on keyboards that require pressing the ‘Fn’ key to trigger function keys.

• Setting buttons are now collapsible/expandable to save space, as they are used in less than 1% of playtime.

• Game icons on Windows now look slightly better. However, it still shows the default Electron icon in the task manager. I tried fixing this for 2 hours but couldn’t resolve it.

• Fixed achievement-related issues when switching user accounts and restarting the game: 　– Achievements could leak between accounts. 　– The achievement count was incorrect until restarting the game or earning new achievements.

• Localized Chinese achievement names and descriptions

• Fixed a bug where the unlock code wasn’t recognized correctly on certain foreign keyboard layouts where '.' is not registered as 'Period'.

• Added a debug log (saved locally and kept under 1MB) to help investigate white screen issue and other subtle bugs.

• Minor fixes/changes: 　– The refresh button in the network play room list has been moved to the upper-left corner to avoid overlapping with setting buttons. 　– Background now won’t scroll while paused. 　– Removed the horizontal gray line at the bottom of the screen in fullscreen mode. 　– Fixed edge case where pause/speedup states could leak when gameplay ends. 　– Fixed an English typo in Jan’s move list. 　– Added "MP: 5" for "Mirror Image" in Julian’s move list. 　– In the Basic Moves list, changed "Somersault" to "Breakfall," which is a more commonly used term in games.

I originally planned to fix bugs in 2–3 days and then move on to improving network play. However, some personal distractions have made it hard to stay focused for long stretches. So I used fragmented time to fix the most severe or commonly reported issues. I'm also waiting to receive my Steam Deck before working on control pad support. If I find a quick fix for control pad, I might prioritize that before the network work. Thanks so much for your support!

Hi everyone,

Today I made some little updates to the Steam settings for Little Fighter 2 Remastered:

As we reach the end of the first week since launch, After working all day long this week, the latest patch is now live, with many bugs fixed: • Fixed the character stats issues. Movement stats now vary between characters. • Fixed Louis’s jump height issue (was too low). • Fixed keyboard input issues:    – Input now works with Caps Lock on.    – Shift and Ctrl keys are now supported. (Alt is still restricted due to conflicts with the system menu.) • Changed function key shortcuts:    – Now uses F1~F9 instead of Shift 1~9.    – Alt adjusts SFX volume; Alt , or Alt . adjusts BGM volume. • Added a BGM/SFX volume control UI to the top-right corner, with initial values set to BGM: 40 and SFX: 60. • Added a Move List button to the top-right corner for easier access, as some players found it inconvenient to open it from the menu bar or control settings. • Coliseum stage now matches the screen width, preventing horizontal scrolling. • Bronze and Silver achievements now unlock on higher difficulties too (e.g. playing with 2 teammates and clearing Stage 5 on Difficult now grants all 3 achievements: GOLD, SILVER, and BRONZE). • Added an QUIT button to the Game Mode menu (bottom right). • Accessibility for visually impaired players:    – Stereo sound added (previously mono). For example, if something happens on the left side of the screen, it will sound louder in the left speaker.    – The main menu now supports keyboard input for starting a game. (Press 1 to start local play, 2 for network play) • 'Unlock code' can now be entered on the character selection screen (so even if a key overlaps with an attack key, it still works). • Allow Crazy difficulty in VS mode. • Multiple players can now share the same input key. (Conflicts will be highlighted with a red box, but you can still click “OK” to confirm.) • Fixed a crash when too many items are dropped (e.g. pressing F8 repeatedly in VS Mode). • Fixed a crash that occurred during the final phase of Stage 1 (when the two Marks appear) if defeated. • F5 speed boost changed from 30x to 5x, as many found 30x too fast and uncontrollable. • Slightly reduced scrolling speed to improve comfort and reduce motion sickness. • In Network Mode, if lag occurs and the slower machine needs to catch up, it now fast-forwards for a much shorter duration, helping reduce discomfort. • Fixed a Chinese typo in Jack’s move list. • Fixed a UI typo in the 1-on-1 Championship (it incorrectly showed 2-on-2). • Fixed an issue where the player name input boxes in Control Settings appeared too small on high-resolution displays.

If you were hesitant to buy the game due to some of these early bugs, I hope this update might give you a reason to reconsider.

At the same time, I want to sincerely apologize for the bugs in the initial release — especially issues like Louis’s jump being too low and character stat problems. Some of these bugs should have been caught earlier. This was indeed something I didn’t handle well.

If you're wondering how these issues slipped through, the truth is that I had limited testing capacity at the time — as a solo developer, I was overwhelmed and couldn’t thoroughly test the entire game repeatedly on my own. Internal testing was also quite limited in scale.

Limited testing partly stemmed from past experience: about ten years ago, my indie game Hero Fighter was cracked just days after release. Pirated versions quickly spread far beyond the official ones, effectively wiping out most of the game’s revenue and ultimately forcing me to abandon my indie journey. (Even now, a search for “Hero Fighter crack” returns over two million results.) I also experienced leaks of unreleased content when seeking help during the Hero Fighter project.

These experiences made me overly cautious about sharing test builds, out of fear that the game might be cracked even before its official launch. If that were to happen, it would be like cutting off my only lifeline, especially since I had already left my job to pursue this project full-time. In hindsight, this limited broader testing — something I now recognize and hope to improve on. Because this update was quite urgent, I once again relied on a small group of testers. But moving forward, I plan to release beta builds for major updates, and I’d love to involve more of you in the process, if you're open to helping.

Looking ahead, my next priorities are improving network play, followed by adding controller support, new features, and eventually new backgrounds, stage, and characters. Your feedback means a lot to me — I hear your voices, read your comments, and will continue working hard every day to make the game better.

Thank you again for being part of this journey. Stay tuned.

Thank you so much for getting the game on Steam and reporting issues. I'm truly sorry about the bugs.

• I'll be fixing the bug where Louis jumps too low, and the one where all characters share the same stats (like running speed). Yes, that’s definitely a bug... not a feature.

• The next thing I’ll address is keyboard support. I’ll try to bring back Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Enter, and using function keys F1-F9 instead of Shift + Number. Also working on a fix for the issue where input doesn't work when Caps Lock is on. However, support for F12 (screenshot) may take a bit more time.

• I’ll try to fix the urgent issues mentioned above with an update in the next few days (along with some other bug fixes). F12 screenshot support may come later.

Regarding the lag issues, they generally fall into three main types:

(1) Network Play Lag:

Why does the game lag during online matches?

Please refer to this article: https://lf2.net/_/about_network_mode.html

The reason is that LF2 does not use rollback netcode. Because of this, any internet latency will be directly reflected in gameplay. This is due to the nature of how the game handles networking, not because of poor implementation.

That means delays from any of the following can cause lag: router hops, Wi-Fi stability, signal interference, ISP routing, data center distance, server load... even solar activity or a cat walking past your Wi-Fi router.

(2) Lag in Standalone Mode:

Some users report lag even in offline mode. This could be related to how the game engine (Pixi.js) manages textures and memory.

If you have browser windows open playing video, or if other applications are consuming a lot of memory, it may force the engine to frequently swap graphical assets in and out of memory, leading to stuttering.

Try closing unnecessary background apps or browser tabs to reduce this issue.

(3) Keyboard Input Delay:

Some players have reported input lag. Today, many people use Bluetooth keyboards, which typically have a delay of 30–80ms. While this usually doesn’t matter, expert players might notice the difference. If you're sensitive to this, a wired keyboard is recommended.

That said, there may still be room for optimization on my side. Especially to improve input handling under laggy conditions (as described in 1 and 2). I hope to address this in a future update.

Stay tuned — I'm working hard on the next update patch to improve the game. Thank you, as always, for your support!