Tough Love Arena (TLA) is a 2D fighter that you can play on your browser or phone at school, at work, at church, or anywhere. Despite having simple controls and being accessible to beginners, Tough Love Arena has complex mechanics like Alpha Counter, Burst, and Roman Cancel. Instead of mixup or rushdown, fights are about punishes and making reads. What's really cool is creating and sharing mods is very easy because the developer built mod support into the game.
Helpful Resources
Play Tough Love Arena.The Tough Love Arena wiki.
The Tough Love Arena Discord server.
Notation
Attack Notation
L | Light Attack |
H | Medium Attack |
S | Special Attack |
T | Throw |
Directional Notation
up-back | up | up-forward |
back | neutral | forward |
down-back | down | down-forward |
Numpad Notation
7 | 8 | 9 |
4 | 5 | 6 |
1 | 2 | 3 |
Tough Love Arena uses Legacy frame data notation. If an attack has 7 frames of startup, it hits on the 8th frame.
LOVE is the super meter of Tough Love Arena. 1000 LOVE is a bar. LOVE does not carry over between rounds.
There is no crouching which means there are no high/low mixups. Characters automatically block all attacks while standing still or walking backwards. Blocking is beaten two ways. The attacker builds almost twice as much LOVE meter from a blocked attack than the defender and chip damage still inflicts some damage when blocked. Because chip damage is common, there is no chip kill in this game.
Walking forward builds LOVE meter. The amount built is based on time spent walking and not distance. It's common for players to squirm forward to build meter then squirm backwards to where they were before.
5L, the normal light attack, is +1 on block. It gives frame advantage on block and 5L into 5L is a frame trap. 5L cancels into 5H or 5S for a combo.
Counter hits inflict 50% more damage for the entire combo. The exception to this is air combos.
Combos in Tough Love Arena include chains, special cancels, links, and juggles. In the frame data section you'll see some attacks have the word launch and a number following it. The number indicates how many juggle points a launcher has. Launch3 means that the character can be juggled for 3 hits after being launched. After all the juggle points have been used, the defender becomes invincible until they land on the floor. Launch0 means the attack causes a hard knockdown even if there are juggle points remaining.
Jump Attack with 6S. It's not possible to empty jump or jump in a different direction. Jump Attack is used to jump over attacks and projectiles. On block it is around +10 and on hit it's around +20. Jumping is risky because anti-air attacks give 2 juggle points to the defender.
Throw is performed with 5T. There is a whiff animation if unsuccessful. All throws are back throws with 10 frames of startup and build 500 LOVE. There is no throw teching, instead strikes are throw-invulnerable and there are 3 frames of throw-invulnerability out of hitstun and blockstun. Throws inflict a lot of damage and build a lot of meter because they don't grant okizeme and throw the opponent out of the corner.
Armor absorbs attacks. Damage of absorbed attacks is halved. Armor is good for beating Jump Attacks.
There is also parrying.
Press 6T when an attack connects to RAPID Cancel. This costs 1000 LOVE and is a Roman Cancel. Attacks that were parried or armored cannot be RAPID Canceled. LOVE meter gain is reduced by 50% during the combo as shown by the combo counter turning purple. Certain attacks cannot be RAPID Canceled to prevent them from being too powerful.
REJECTION is this game's Alpha Counter. Press 6T in blockstun to perform it. It costs 1000 LOVE and is invincible. REJECTION is -2 on block, 0 on hit, and inflicts no damage.
With 2000 LOVE press 4T in hitstun to Burst. Burst has 20 frames of startup and is very unsafe on block. Burst beats armor. A failed Burst gives the opponent 4 juggle points.
The Carbs are zoners with long range attacks. Noodle's 4H quickly moves him forward. Noodle's 4S sets a bowl of soup that trips his opponent and 6S is armored. Rice's 5S is an anti-air throw and 6S is a teleport.
The meats are mid-range characters. Both characters have a 5HHH and 5HS chain. Beef has a projectile lemon and a parry. Pork has a command throw that juggles. Pork's other special attack is armored. It doesn't gain armor immediately except against Jump Attacks.
The spices are fast and mobile characters. Onion's 5S is a hopkick that moves him backwards to avoid attacks then jumps over attacks, projectiles, and throws. It is great for juggles and RAPID Cancel combos. Onion also has a parry. Garlic's 4S is a back flip that is invincible. Garlic's 5S special attack lets him move in three different directions before attacking.