We don't talk much about games anymore.

What is your favorite fight game series? I guess by now there is a lot to choose from:

Street Fighter
Mortal Kombat
King of Fighters
Soul Calibur
Tekken
Virtua Fighter
Dead or Alive
Guilty Gear
Samurai Showdown
Darkstalkers
(and of course plenty of others)

Do you prefer 2D fighting games or 3D? What type of fighter do you tend to choose? (well-rounded, quick, slow & strong, female, etc...)


For me, I'm a bit old-fashioned and Street Fighter is still my favorite fighting game series. My favorite one was Street Fighter 3 Third Strike. I used to think 2D fighting games were better than 3D, but I've found that I really enjoy Soul Calibur, so I don't limit myself to 2D or 3D anymore. I find myself usually choosing the well-rounded characters, and for some reason I avoid the ugly or evil-looking ones. My most-used character has typically been Ryu from Street Fighter. Not original, I know, but I have him to fall back on in every Street Fighter game, which is nice.

I still find some of the doujin games I play I prefer over many of the commercial titles from recent years. I'd much rather be playing Eternal Fighter Zero or Queen of Heart over games like King of Fighters. I guess among commercial games I tend to prefer faster paced fighters like Arcana Heart and the vs series (although I find I would rather be playing X-men vs Street Fighter than any of the Marvel vs Capcom games). I prefer 2D fighters over 3D. They seem more honest and are less friendly to the button masher crowd for the most part (there are some exceptions, but usually skilled players will outclass newcomers). I'm very disappointed to see Samurai Showdown getting converted into a generic Soul Caliber knockoff.

I'm a big Soul Calibur fan. I main with Xianghua. She's so cool! <3

I love to make characters, too. I have a really cool female character who uses Zasalamel's discipline.

I guess I tend to use female characters. They're usually faster. I go more for speed and attack than defense or accuracy or things like that. I also avoid using broken characters *coughnightmarepuke* and sometimes try to use the worst character in the game (e.g., Mewtwo in SSBM).

And would you count the Smash Bros series to be in this category?

Fighting games with sexy girl characters :)

Except Dead or Alive. That ruined the sexy girl theme by massively overdoing it. The bouncing boobs were good in the intro movies.

Really, I like a variety of fighter types, but the gal ones have to be worth it. ;)

Soul calibur...

Soul Calibur. The only fighting game where you can actually pull off a combo without needing to obsess over the controls like a freak.

Anyone remember Killer Instinct? Spinal was my guy.

As for SC, Cassandra is my favorite... can't wait to get the new one (eventually) but nothing can ever replace Street Fighter with Ken... I remember the skin on my thumb peeled off after playing SF for so long... goodtimes.

the only fighting game that I enjoyed was Soul Calibur 2.

I didn't really like 3 mainly because they changed nightmare (and siegfried, both should be the same :P like in SC1) a lot.

And then I'm not really optimistic of Soul Calibur 4.

another note: nightmare isn't broken.
astoroth can kill with 4 hits, not soul charged or unblockables.

fern
Anyone remember Killer Instinct? Spinal was my guy.

Fulgore.

How about Pit Fighter? The game where you choose one of 3 fighters (or have 3 players at once), then go through a grueling 15 match where you fight various opponents for piles of money (which you get to stand on)? :)

Dead or Alive, totally. I think Dead or Alive 2 was the one I really got good at.

I loved that instead of relying on the "Block" button, you had to try to reverse your opponents moves, and then they'd try to reverse your reversals. I played a couple levels that it looked more like a kung-fu movie than a videogame because the fighting was so complex.

Yeah, I feel like DOA gets a bad rap because of the fanservicey nature of it (especially in the wake of DOA Volleyball games). Yes it does have really exaggerated jiggly physics, but it's also a good fighting game. Hell, even the volleyball game actually had pretty decent volleyball action (thought that clearly wasn't the focus of the title...)

Anyway, right now I'm pretty into Soul Calibur IV. It feels pretty different, especially for certain characters. Playing online, though, has really made me realize how shoddy of a player I actually am. The skills needed to get through the story mode on hard are very different than the skills needed to play people online. I'm at this point where basically all I can do now is memorize comboes and get better at reading the characters' animations.

I think that's my biggest problem with most fighting games; the need to memorize things. I guess that's why I was so drawn to the Smash Bros. series (which I'm going to go ahead and say is my favorite fighting game, if not necessarily "the best"). In, say, Soul Calibur, many comboes are just strings of attacks, but the most devastating ones need to be input through a specific button combination. There's certain moves you simply can't perform unless you perform another action immediately before it. In Smash Bros., though, a combo is just when you figure out how you can string together independantly existing moves. Some moves are tricky to land, but they're all easy to perform, and I find ease of play to be a very important aspect for me when it comes to fighting games. That's largely why I like Soul Calibur over Tekken, even though they're built on very similar engines by mostly the same people; for whatever reason, SC just behaves more naturally.

I feel like DOA gets a bad rap because of the fanservicey nature of it

Most of the criticism I've seen for the game tends to be more about how button masher friendly the game is and not about the fan service. That and the fact that the game has hardly changed at all since the second one.

kennatsu
How about Pit Fighter? The game where you choose one of 3 fighters (or have 3 players at once), then go through a grueling 15 match where you fight various opponents for piles of money (which you get to stand on)? :)

YES! Thank you. It was the first arcade game to use real actors and the blue-screen technique, which Mortal Kombat later "perfected". I remember when it first came out. It was freaking amazing. Oh, the quarters I wasted...



///EDIT - I guess it wasn't really a 'series" though.

I wish they'd make a sequel using today's current graphics. Imagine fighting in a put full of other fighters online. :)

Inkmonkey
Yeah, I feel like DOA gets a bad rap because of the fanservicey nature of it (especially in the wake of DOA Volleyball games). Yes it does have really exaggerated jiggly physics, but it's also a good fighting game. Hell, even the volleyball game actually had pretty decent volleyball action (thought that clearly wasn't the focus of the title...)

Anyway, right now I'm pretty into Soul Calibur IV. It feels pretty different, especially for certain characters. Playing online, though, has really made me realize how shoddy of a player I actually am. The skills needed to get through the story mode on hard are very different than the skills needed to play people online. I'm at this point where basically all I can do now is memorize comboes and get better at reading the characters' animations.

I think that's my biggest problem with most fighting games; the need to memorize things. I guess that's why I was so drawn to the Smash Bros. series (which I'm going to go ahead and say is my favorite fighting game, if not necessarily "the best"). In, say, Soul Calibur, many comboes are just strings of attacks, but the most devastating ones need to be input through a specific button combination. There's certain moves you simply can't perform unless you perform another action immediately before it. In Smash Bros., though, a combo is just when you figure out how you can string together independantly existing moves. Some moves are tricky to land, but they're all easy to perform, and I find ease of play to be a very important aspect for me when it comes to fighting games. That's largely why I like Soul Calibur over Tekken, even though they're built on very similar engines by mostly the same people; for whatever reason, SC just behaves more naturally.

hmmm... I guess I have to get sc4 just to play you!

2D - Samurai Shodown, because I love the pace and atmosphere. II was the best, because it was more about mind games and space rather than combos. III had the best graphics and atmosphere. It went downhill afterwards because the graphics regressed and the gameplay got combo-y.

3D - Virtua Fighter 4 Evo, because this is the one game in which I actually played enough to get real good. Not just in memorizing chains and combos, but in really knowing the characters I used. It's a testament to the game's depth that each fighter had a completely different feel that you needed to master in order to be good at the game. Knowing the fighter's combos isn't enough.
But in terms of pure enjoyment, I like DoA series. The fighting is cool, the characters are nice to look at (both sexes), and the presentation is just great.

In general, I go for the big slow strong characters. And after that, the weird ones with strange/evil attacks. Because they're usually the underdogs, and using them to beat up the overpowered Ryus and annoying Spidermans put a smile on my face. When the character is both big/slow/strong, and weird/evil, they're usually the hardest-to-use characters (e.g. Blackheart).

Eirikr
Soul Calibur. The only fighting game where you can actually pull off a combo without needing to obsess over the controls like a freak.

Yeah this is why I like the Soul Calibur series. You can be a button-masher and still manage to pull a win out of yer arse. I used to win with Seung-Mina, but in the newest one (SCIV) I am kicking butt with Amy. I'm a very agressive player; I never block. I just attack and attack and never give the other player a chance to think. Hey, it works. lol!

That's actually one of the things that bothers me about Soul Calibur. You can train and learn moves for quite a while and still be defeated by somebody who mashes buttons. In fact, until you get genuinely good, trying to use moves and a strategy is actually a detriment, and will cost you the match if you're up against a button masher.

Of course, if you learn the character well enough, you'll eventually be able to win.

I don't know where people heard of this magical "buttonmashing" I keep reading about. I've tried it; randomly hitting buttons doesn't do anything. It's a good way to accidentally do awkward moves that leave you wide open at times you don't want to. I've found that to play with, say, characters one isn't very familiar with still requires a bit of strategy. You have to plan things; high attacks, low attacks, blocks, etc. I'm not saying this as one of those people who feels the need to defend the game in order to justify liking it, I'm saying as someone who has tried to buttonmash and found it utterly useless.

What I did found to work (online, at least) was that spamming one powerful move could win a few matches. Is that what button mashing is? Because it really doesn't work that often. Occasionally you get people who don't catch on that they have to duck after the first hit, but that's about it.

Well, from my experience, the buttonmashers are those who have been lucky enough to find out which buttons attack, and and they just keep pressing them. Sometimes it's just one button, sometimes it's a few. And like you described, that can sometimes lead to the overuse of one good attack, if that attack is simple enough.

Really, in Soul Calibur the buttonmashers don't win because their moves are good, but because they're relentless and their opponent doesn't quite know how to get an attack in. Their opponent needs to learn a bit more.

I guess the case between the buttonmasher and the dude who has been practicing, the dude hasn't gotten to the point where they react instead of think.

Back in the days of SC2 I had a friend who was a buttonmasher, and another one, that was good, but not tourny level. So we did a test, we had the buttonmasher face away from the screen. We did 3 matches, best out of 5, and the buttonmasher oddly won all 3.

Usually I find buttonmashing helpful offline or in training mode, because I'll find out about the awkward move/cool looking one. Try and figure out which did what. And then find a way to use it online. It was how I got to know maxi's moves in SC2, cause every second was like a different stance and all that crap.

Oh yea, and Amy's/Scheherezade's B+K whilst facing away is pretty cool/useful, when you somehow manage to get pass each other's attack.

And inkmonkey kicked my ass when I first got the game. :P

@ Inkmonkey:

Buttonmashing is a talent. Some ppl have it, some don't. Those who don't, are usually methodical gamers who are inclined to play a game logically.

The most dangerous buttonmashers are those who've played the game for a while, know a couple of abusive moves that they can whip out in the appropriate situations, and know the "pace" of the game, and know when to adjust the speed/randomness of buttonmashing.

Does Bushido Blade count? While it is no brawler I'd be hard pressed to call it anything else then a fighting game.

If so I'd have to say Bushido Blade is one not mentioned here yet that makes my top list. Maybe it is an "at the time" thing but it was 3D with great controls & camera work well before most games and its cripple/kill game play was and still is very daring and different from most fighters. Two really refined the game two dropping the annoying "honor" opening where your enemy stupidly yapped at you. Adding lots new characters, sword in sheath and two weapon fighting styles as well as refining the weapons list removing dud weapons like the sledge hammer and really improving the game play on the rest.

Slash mode where you must fight 80 Ninjas & 20 bosses in under 10 minutes to clear it, effectively with only one life. (You could die and continue but they added like two minutes to your timer making it almost impossible to make up time.)

A couple of honorable mentions as very fun but in no way the best go to

Beast Wrestler - Cheezy but great game for the huge amount of character selection and ability to fuse monsters in story mode.
Weaponlord - Hugely inovative game with some cool charactes. Very Nintendo hard though which holds it back.
Eternal Champions - A decent fighting game with good control for its time but what stands out is the wierd mix of character which ensures their is something for everyone. Except Xavier whom I'm apparently banned from playing for all time.
DBZ - No seriously while most have been bombs there are some gems here too. Especially lately were they've taken a page form Super Smash brother and simplified the control, focused on simply high speed combat with lots of options & added more interactive battle fields. Allowing you to enjoy having an awsome power level of over 9000 without having to suffer the grunting and yelling.

Of course this is all moot because very soon the ultimate fighting game EVER is going to come out.....MK VS DC [en.wikipedia.org]!!!! Finally just like fans have been begging for for years we'll be able to see the Joker perform a fatality on Sub-Zero! Seriously I am not making this up! Someone actually thought it would be a good idea to have Superman and Green Lanter square off against Jax & Kano. I guess Ed Boone never read a DC comic when he was growing up.

Evil Emperor Nick
Finally just like fans have been begging for for years we'll be able to see the Joker perform a fatality on Sub-Zero!

I've heard they're not going to have fatalities because DC doesn't want their characters being ripped apart. :/

Last thing that was offically said (as far as I know) was that DC villians would have fatalities but DC heroes would not.

The Mortal Kombatants will still have fatalities that they can perform on each other or the superheroes. I think even the DC villians (are there more than Joker?) will also have fatalities. However, heroes like Batman and Superman will not have fatalities because it goes against their nature or something.

Edit: Evil Emperor Nick is a ninja.

My favorite fighting games are Guilty Gear and Bloody Roar: Primal Fury. BR mostly because it is one of the few games I bond with my siblings and cousins over. We all enjoy playing it, even though we know nothing about the combos, special moves or anything. The bat character is cheap...-_- I haven't played in a while...been too busy.

Oooh... fighting game discussion. This is about the only genre of game I play.

My favorite series has to be Darkstalkers. I love the unique characters in the game and the fighting engine. I always play Vampire Savior 2 on the DS collection.

My next favorite would be Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. Especially like it on the Alpha Anthology because of Myper SFA mode where I can play with the Darkstalker-ism

I always prefer 2d fighters over 3d ones. As days turn to months and turn to years I still enjoy the 2d fighter. 3d ones always grow stale to me. Battle Arena Toshinden was the best 3d fighter series IMO

I suppose Soul Caliber but man that game gets old so fast to me. I just get bored with them.

And button mashing is really easy. My I have a friend that never played the game, I let him try an online match and told him to pick Maxi. Just pressing buttons won him 3 different matches. Funny thing is he decided to buy the game, now he knows a bit more with Maxi and loses more ^^

I never was much on any of the marvel games. The physics and strategy are just too out there. I am trying to get used to all these dial a combo 2d fighters like Guilty Gear, Hokuto No Ken, Sengoku Basara X... but they just seem so insane.

Though I did like Arcana Heart a lot and it is pretty similar. Melty Blood would be my favorite doujin game. Though my favorite company has to be SNK. They still make lots of real good fighters such as KOF, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Samurai Shodown, etc

How many others are as excited about the new 2d fighter retro explosion?

SF4
KOF12
Tatsunoko vs Capcom [capcom.co.jp]

Not to mention a lot more I don't remember or have links to off hand like Melty Blood Actress Again, and Capcom's Fate Stay Night fighter.


Lastly, the fatalities the MKvsDC has will not be very gruesome. T+ deaths only. Not that that turns me against the game. MK1 was my 1st fighter and it got me into the genre.

mlai
@ Inkmonkey:

Buttonmashing is a talent. Some ppl have it, some don't. Those who don't, are usually methodical gamers who are inclined to play a game logically.

The most dangerous buttonmashers are those who've played the game for a while, know a couple of abusive moves that they can whip out in the appropriate situations, and know the "pace" of the game, and know when to adjust the speed/randomness of buttonmashing.

So... how is that different from just playing the game?