The FIGHTING GAME Thread

Way to roll out the shit wagon, Jeb! KILLER INSTINCT, PRIMAL RAGE, and PIT FIGHTER all in one go.

People around here loved PIT FIGHTER. I remember lines at the arcade to play it. But god damn, that was a lousy fucking game. The thought of seeing those graphics again makes me sick.

YIE AR KUNG FU was awesome. I loved that game when I was a kid. No telling how many times I beat that fat fuck Bucho up.

KARATEKA...now we're going WAY back...

Yep. PIT FIGHTER is probably the worst one I've played. There are shittier ones to be sure, but this one is just such garbage. Maybe URBAN CHAMPION is worse. It's pretty bad when your competition is URBAN CHAMPION. KILLER INSTINCT was at least fun. Those 88 hit combos and stuff were colorful, and the game was pretty. PRIMAL RAGE was dogshit though.

I don't KARATEKA is older than KARATE CHAMP. That was probably the first you-stand-there I-stand-here 2D fighter.

I am DYING to get my hands on a copy of SFIV for the 360. I've heard amazing things and SFII is probably my favourite fighting game of all time (I also loved the first Mortal Kombat and the first two SuperSmashBros game)

But honestly guys, if we look at this as objectively as possible, the best fighting games ever are:

SoulCalibur and Tekken 3

they are perfect


hey is Bayonetta going to be a fighting game?

Space Ghost wrote:

We all know River City Ransom was the most groundbreaking game ever.

Shit Doug, this was the first game that came to mind when I saw this thread. It had the perfect combination of being an RPG, an adventure game and a fighting game. No other fighting game has come close to being as unique as RCR.

From discovering all the areas (like in the tunnel), to buying sushi, to increasing your fighting skills RCR had it all including the BEST ending of any fighting game ever.

Karateka was awesome. Who can forget fighting the hawk, or walking over to the chick you're rescuing in in fighting stance...

Michael Barnes wrote:

YIE AR KUNG FU was awesome. I loved that game when I was a kid. No telling how many times I beat that fat fuck Bucho up.

I hated Pole. I don't know if it was just the C64 version, but once he wacked you it was almost impossible to break free.

Oh another awesome game that is the sorely under appreciated is BUSHIDO BLADE for the PS.

The fact that you could run to different areas to do combat IN like a bamboo field or underground, you could disable opponent's limbs or score one hit kills gave you the sense that you were in a Japanese Samuarai movie.

Playing against the computer was fucking hard as you had to fight with the actions conducive of Bushido (no attacking from behind your opponent) or you wouldn't get the Best ending to your storyline.

The glory days of fighters were definitely when you'd walk up to a machine, see a row of quarters, and plop yours down in that line. "I GOT NEXT!"

Winner stays, loser pays, bitches.

It used to be so largely respected and now I keep running into people that just wanna play the single-player, wtf?

Like the other day, i walk up to a game of Virtual Tennis 2 or whatever and this one is playing, i bend down to put in a quarter and he moves his knee to block the slot and just starts shaking his head. What the hell is that? i wanna beat him in the game to earn the right to play the single player myself until another challenger arrives

If BUSHIDO BLADE had been more polished, it would have been hands down my favorite fighting game of all time. The idea was incredible, the gameplay was tense and thrilling thanks to the one hit kills, and it really captured the spirit of the idea. But it was so crudely presented, it had zero polish at all, and it controlled poorly. I'd love to see it come back for the HD generation.

Black Barney wrote:

It used to be so largely respected and now I keep running into people that just wanna play the single-player, wtf?

Like the other day, i walk up to a game of Virtual Tennis 2 or whatever and this one is playing, i bend down to put in a quarter and he moves his knee to block the slot and just starts shaking his head. What the hell is that? i wanna beat him in the game to earn the right to play the single player myself until another challenger arrives

Don't take it personally. Some people would rather play with themselves. And kids today seem generally lacking in social skills. I blame the internet.

I just don't get it, is all. Isn't it way better to test your skills against someone else? Isn't is more fun anyway? Even if I lose, i still have WAY more fun playing against a human than some stupid AI.

It just really pales to 15 years ago when we'd line up the quarters to prove ourselves worthy. It was so much fun

Black Barney wrote:

I just don't get it, is all. Isn't it way better to test your skills against someone else? Isn't is more fun anyway? Even if I lose, i still have WAY more fun playing against a human than some stupid AI.

It just really pales to 15 years ago when we'd line up the quarters to prove ourselves worthy. It was so much fun

Plus, if you were good, a quarter/fifty cents would last for waaaaay longer. "COME AND TAKE MY SPOT, PEONS!"

..until an Asian comes along.


/taps one mana for Circle of Protection: Inappropriate

I used to love fighting games; mostly Street Fighter but with a few others as well.

Street Fighter II: Turbo: In terms of the original series and engine, this was the pinnacle. Never really got too deep into Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which some point to as the actual apex, but it never ever felt properly balanced to me in the slightest.

As Jeb pointed out, you're thinking of Championship Edition. However, Jeb is semi-wrong; there was a Street Fighter II: Turbo Hyperfighting that was rushed out to combat all those crazy hack versions. It came out a bit before Super Street Fighter II. SF2T is generally considered to have the most balanced character roster. There's still tiers but they're not as widely spread out.

I do think that SSF2T is indeed the actual apex of the series, although I haven't gotten around to playing 4 yet. It's not tightly balanced in its original incarnation (although HD Remix, as Jeb points out, has been nicely tweaked) but balance is not everything -- if it was, then Karate Champ is the greatest fighter ever because all playable characters are 100% identical and therefore balanced.

As evidence of SSF2T's greatness, I will point out that it is the only original SF2 version that still has multiple annual tournaments in Japan. No one goes back to CE, HF, or plain old Super. Or for that matter any of the Alphas.

The blog curryallergy.blogspot.com/ is a great source of info for the modern Japanese tourney fighting scene. Mostly SF, but some Darkstalkers, Guilty Gear, etc. Oh and shoryuken.com is the main place for the US fighting game scene; the guys who run it are nice and have been around since the alt.games.sf2 days.

The YouTube users superturbor and supersf2turbo regularly post matches from the finals of the major Japanese tournaments. The Super Turbo Shenanigans video shows some absolutely crazy things in the game engine that are not that practical but nonetheless entertaining, although you might have to be pretty familiar with the game to appreciate some of the esoteric parts:



Street Fighter Alpha I thought was just okay. It messed with a lot of the stuff that made SF interesting to me and also had a lot of broken parts ("Valle combos" in SFA2 for example -- you could start a custom combo near a standing opponent and, because the opponent is briefly frozen during the start-up animation, trip him and then juggle for ~40% damage. A high price to pay for making the mistake of standing up.) SFA3 continued the process of the game becoming ever-more combo focused, which is not something I really like. Combos can be fun but they're also essentially a one-player game -- you hang out and wait while your opponents whales on you, then you can go back to the actually fun stuff like psychological play, positioning, etc. It's not a big deal when most combos are 3-4 hits, but it quickly gets ridiculous.

Darkstalkers I was always lukewarm on. It always seemed a little busy to me, so much stuff for stuff's sake. It was used by Capcom as a testing ground for a lot of the crazier stuff that they didn't want to put directly into SF without seeing how well it was received first. Much of the stuff in the Alphas first appeared in DS games.

Dead or Alive had its moments. I played a decent amount of DOA3 and it had some fun stuff and good ideas, but was too reversal-dependent at high levels, which made the gameplay passive and uninteresting.

Mortal Kombat I hated in all its many incarnations. Fake controversy. Without the blood and guts, no one would have cared. I don't mind the blood but it's not a substitute for an actual game.

Virtua Fighter is completely great. I played a decent amount of 2 and a ton of 3. It's everything a fighter should be. Elegant, stately, agonizing decisions, which all make it sound like a Eurogame. Great character design, great moves that are cinematic while still somewhat realistic. The best of the 3-D fighters by a country mile. The first time I pulled off Akira's "Stun Palm of Doom" canned combo I about pissed my pants in elation; that was really really hard on VF2.

Soul Caliber is pretty good as far as weapons fighters go. I never played the first one; 2 was a lot of fun though.

Marvel v. Capcom and the other games in the Vs. series are everything I don't like about fighting games. I did play MVC in the arcades for a while, mostly to torment this one local who would go into apoplectic tirades of swearing anytime anyone threw him. I used the characters with the throw-based super moves. After a while he stopped playing me. Oh, his preferred style of play was to play keepaway until he charged a super and then whittle away with block damage. So much more "honorable" than throwing.

Samurai Shodown was the best of the SNK games for me. The flavor was so, so good. Everything about it, from the graphic design to the character design, to the music etc., was a treat. I really really liked the first even though the second is considered better. I messed around with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th but they didn't have the same charm.

King of Fighters had the team concept and the huge character roster, but the Neo-Geo's hardware really just wasn't up to par to compete with Street Fighter. Wonkier controls, rougher animation, etc.

Tekken was just okay; I had a roommate with a PS for a while and we played this. Not my favorite though.

Killer Instinct blew. Shitty plastic-looking characters and bajillion-hit combos for the kiddies to drool over.

Yie-Ar Kung Fu was fun before Street Fighter 2 came out. I occasionally whip it out on MAME.

Capcom Vs. SNK and its ilk were okay; I played that for a while but that was when I started getting tired of video games in general (except for SF2).

I agree with Barnes that Bushido Blade was an amazing game and a great concept. I'd love to see it get a modern treatment.