Two buttons, two kicks, and two banditos. Luke Esquivel explains how his indie fighter Senor Footsies is reimagining fighting games with minimalist design.

“Footsies” is oldschool slang for the mid-range ground-based aspect of fighting game strategy. The ultimate goal is to control the flow of the match, bait the opponent into committing errors, and punish everything.

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Under the blazing sun of a nameless desert, two poncho-wearing banditos square off in mortal combat. They do not fight with guns or knives, only kicks. One kick, one kill. Two men enter, one man--well, you get the idea. This is the simplicity of Senor Footsies.

Described as an 'instantly learnable fighting game' by its creator, Luke 'A-Rival' Esquivel, this game distills the conventional fighting formula down to one of its fundamentals: spacing. It's a simple, fast-paced game that bucks the trend of an increasingly mechanics-heavy genre.