I totally agree with you that timing is the critical element in any strategy employed in a fighting game. Special moves just add flavoring to the game. Lets face it, most fighing games are played because they aren''t totally realistic (you are not really hurt in combat, and your character''s physical abilities are enhanced, they can jump higher, hit harder, and take more punishment than a real person). The special moves like shooting fireballs or floating over the ground while doing a spin kick just go one step further from reality. A case could be made that a game might be more fun if it omitted these kinds of unrealistic effects, but the virtual fighter series tried this approach (apart from the fact that you can jump extra high and stay in the air longer than normal) and it didn''t seem to catch on (no offense to any Virtual Fighter fans). Special moves just add variety and make the game a little more strategicly unpredictable because things like long distance or impossibly fast attacks are made possible in a game.

As far as the click style freeform fighter, that would take an increadibly well made interface and some awesome mouse skills on the part of the player. It''s an interesting idea, but I don''t think it''s for me. Thanks for the comments. Anyone else have any thoughts?