What does POT's style mean?

[Number09]

For someone who has been playing around in Mugen since 2006 I am embarrassed to say I don't actually know what this means. I have seen the designation "POTS" after characters in directories, either as a author or as a play style. 

 

Per example, what is the difference between POTS style R. Mika and SFA3 R. Mika? 

[Kazagami]

Excerpt from the MUGEN Database:

 

Quote

Phantom of the Server (often abbreviated to PotS) was a Portuguese M.U.G.E.N creator best known for making conversions of characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2 and the infamous Rare Akuma, as well as his expertise regarding the technical specifics of traditional 2D fighting games and general willingness to help other creators improve; he also made a large array of stages and a number of bonus games, along with updates to Reuben Kee's three characters to take advantage of M.U.G.E.N 1.0's features.

 

The majority of PotS' characters were made in what is commonly referred to as 'PotS style', which is primarily based on the gameplay of Capcom vs. SNK 2 with different mechanics pulled from each of the game's Grooves, such as the A-Groove's Custom Combo, the P-Groove's Parry, and the S-Groove's Power Charge, as well as mechanics from other titles such as EX Specials from Street Fighter III, though each character may also feature mechanics that were borrowed from their source games, as demonstrated by the Darkstalkers characters being able to perform Chain Combos; the moveset of each character is often a combination of movesets from all iterations of said character, typically featuring every move they had ever used. Though the style may seem simple in practice, very few creators have been able to accurately recreate it, with many imitators simply using the style's aesthetics and basic mechanics instead of accurately replicating it.

 

TL;DR: It's a gameplay style popularized by a MUGEN creator called PotS (Phantom of the Server) that is largely based on CVS2, and one that many - I repeat, many other creators and editors have been trying to emulate to this day with varying degree of success.