What's your fighting game series?
 

Why not?

Fighting games. Not everyone loves them or has the patience to master its characters, but it's a big genre regardless.

Street Fighter: The one that started the fighting craze. SF II remains fresh after all these years and I always go back to it. And unlike other series, it's not that tough to pick up and play, so it appeals to both casuals and hardcore players. It also has good characters. A great balance overall. My favorite after all these years.

Mortal Kombat: Pretty fun back in the day, but the classic games haven't aged so well and the violence seems mild compared to the games we have today. Gameplay wise it was quite behind Street Fighter, but didn't let down in the cool characters department. Also, the MK universe is cool as a whole. I like Street Fighter characters but don't care that much for their backstories, whilst MK characters have more interesting ones.

Tekken: A more technical fighter. A good game and all but I find it boring and all flash and no substance. Don't care for the characters either.

Virtua Fighter: Another technical fighter, but this one I like. Virtua Fighter 2 being one of my favorite fighting games of all time. In fact, the Saturn was full of great fighters.

King of Fighters: The closest fighting game to Street Fighter I've played. SNK's fighting series seems pretty similar to SF in terms of artwork and gameplay. The characters are also quite varied. Some are cool, others not so much, but overall a good mix.

Super Smash Bros.: The perfect game for any Nintendo fanboy such as myself. It's fun as hell to play both solo and co-op. The replay value is pretty high due to there being so many ways you can beat your opponents. Man, I must have spent hundreds of hours playing Melee back in the day. This game is a ****ing party, dude!

What about you? What is your favorite fighting game series?

Smash Bros. takes the #1 spot for me. The only fighter game I ever got into prior to that was TMNT Tournament Fighters for SNES & Killer Instinct at the laser tag joint. Not big on the genre outside of SSB, though I do play SF & MK's SNES installments from time to time.

Also, damn. Missed the word "favorite" in the title and now can't edit it. Oh well, people know what I mean.

Super Smash Bros for me. There's plenty to like about other fighting games, but I'm just not that GOOD at them. :lol:

The ones I'm the best at are SSB and Street Fighter.

Are you trying to take Ninjinister's spot as fighting game guy? Not happening.

My vote goes to Smash Brothers, also. Mortal Kombat would be second.

Nah man. While I do like fighting games, I'm far from being an expert at them. I've just been in a mood of playing them lately for an odd reason. Been playing Street Fighter II and Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO Millenium Fight lately again.

Mortal Kombat as a kid, then Soul Calibur as we moved into the Gamecube era. Of course I've played and loved every Smash series.

Street Fighter IV was my first Street Fighter, believe it or not, so I didn't get into that series until very late.

Well that's certainly curious. Usually people who grew up with the 16 bit generation have played both MK and SF at some point or another. Where you just not interested in SF as a kid or had other priorities at the time?

I was a kid and wasn't able to buy games without my parents money or whatever I got for my birthday/holidays. Mortal Kombat was what I got as a kid because of the blood/violence and the first movie.

By the time the N64 came out and I was a teen with my own money Street Fighter left Nintendo consoles so I had none to purchase.

And how did you convince your parents to buy you MK? My brother was able to convince our mom to buy him MK3 for Christmas back in the 90s and he was only 12 at the time. Then again our mom knows absolutely nothing about video games so she probably had no idea what kind of game it was.

My father bought me Mortal Kombat, he didn't care at all about the blood. I think I was only 9 or 10 when I got it too.

How good were you at MK? For some reason I've always been a lot worse at MK than I was at SF. I could cruise through the lowest difficulty levels in SF II, especially if I played with M. Bison or Ryu, but in MK games I even struggled at the Very Easy. I'd beat the first 3 opponents and then get my ass kicked by the 4th one. Also those challenges were a torture and I don't think I've ever gotten past Motaro in MK 3.

ughh
 

Waay too close to chose one.

was leaning towards Mortal Kombat but then i saw Dragon Ball z, and that was like all i used to play. Loved them. so i'll say like a 5 way tie between

Mortal Kombat, Dragon balls z, street fighter, & tekken,

i really enjoy smash bros but honestly i've only played it a few times. So i'd throw it with my highly reccommended 2nd teir including Playstation All-stars, & Marvel vs Capcom.

if Cartoon Network Punchtime Xplosion had another game besides XL that'd be up there too. With MK DBZ SF & Tekken.

Oh man this discussion about MK and SF, I didn't get to play SF until later myself [but it was still SF II]. I had the Genesis Mortal Kombat when I was really young because it was a hand-me-down from one of my brothers. :lol: I played it a lot but I was so awful at it.

For more traditional fighting games though my favourite has to be Marvel vs Capcom. I've never played fighting games much, but every instalment in that series is great.

Oh, and since its on the poll and nobody else mentioned it, I love Killer Instinct.

I've definitely played more Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur than anything but I'm not really very good at any of them.

Marvel vs Capcom for me. It's got a huge character selection and you don't really need to be a hardcore gamer to have fun with it. The visuals are hands-down the best of the group.

King of Fighters. 98, 02, and XIII.

Street & Virtua Fighter on the podium.

Mortal Kombat for sure, I catch myself playing that game more than any other fighting game I own. I do not care much for the blood, but just each character and how different they are, fighting wise, really draws me further in with every new game that comes out.

If I had a 2nd choice, it would defiantly be Soul Caliber.

You don't have "Yes" as an answer.

SoulCalibur! and even Street Fighter to an extent ^_^

I haven't played MK since UMK3 on the Sega Saturn, but the classic 2d games seemed to have aged poorly. I can't play them solo for more than a couple of rounds before getting bored, unlike Street Fighter 2 and KoF '94.

I couldn't add anymore options. :(

Tekken is my jam. But, I follow nearly every series in the poll.

Do you play competitively and/or with friends?

Am I the only one who actually enjoys playing fighting games solo for long periods of time? Because every year I set up my SNES to play some SF II for old times sake. And never get tired of it. I always seem to come back to it.

Persona 4 Arena. Who wants a mess?! I'll play you :)

Clayfighters.....but mainly for the premise/style not the execution....that and I don't play many fighters and it's the one I owned as a kid.

Marvel fighters are fun because of all of the fun characters.

I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but if I have to choose, it's always going to be Street Fighter for me.

Actually, growing up as an only child, I didn't really get into playing against people until college. I liked playing at the arcade, but I'm certainly not "competitive." Eventually, the game starts to feel like work, and I stop having fun.

I have one friend who's still really into games (I'm 28 ), and I've just gotten used to him beating me at all my favorite fighters - literally 90% of the time. I could spend hours training, and devising techniques to beat him, but that's no fun.

Ye. Like you, I grew up playing fighting games solo as well.

I've never become good at a fighting game to the point of being a local tournament contender.

Competitive fighting is what turns people away from the genre. Going online and getting your ass whooped doesn't exactly make you like a game. Per example, I loved Virtua Fighter 2 back in the day, but I dunno if I'd ever want to play it online or try to master a character or more. That game is a bit too deep for most people. I mean, Tekken characters have deep and diverse movesets, but you don't need to learn every damn move and many combos are simple stuff such as "Press X twice" or "Press X twice and Triangle once".

I guess everyone has that genre they just cant' get into. My "genre I ca't get into" is FPS. I've enjoyed games of the genre such as Borderlands 2 and Deus EX: HR(although it's better not to actually not shoot in most situations in that game) but I've never gotten into military shooters such as Medal of Honor or Call of Duty. Also, I'm terrible at aiming.

always has been and forever shall be Mortal Kombat FTW

I have two. I can't get into FPS myself, mostly because the majority of first person games in general annoy me, but I actually can't really get most fighting games, either. Most fighting games I've ever picked up didn't have any clear directions on how to play or a tutorial or anything. THAT'S NOT EXACTLY WELCOMING. UMvC3 really pissed me off in that regard. I only learned what the ****ing buttons do because I had a friend that remembered.

I found that MK V, VI, and VII were all really great at teaching you to play the game through the Story mode. I always started those games pretty poorly but would be a boss at everyone by the end of it. The Challenge Tower of the last MK was good for that, too.

Yeah, I've found fighting games with story modes in general to be better at teaching you how to actually play the damn thing. The DBZ Budokai games immediately spring to my mind here.

I think all fighters have a training mode nowadays. But they didn't back in the early 90s. Classic SF and MK definitely didn't have them. You either had to look up the moves in the manual or ask someone else how to pull some moves. And speaking of that... did the manuals of old MK games explain you how to do the fatalities/babalities/animalities, etc? Because I didn't know how to do them as a kid and know some people who couldn't either. I mean, if it wasn't in the manual then how did people find out how to do them? The internet wasn't exactly very accessible back in 1994-1995...

Sega Saturn fighters had the best training modes, imo. SFIV has a cool training mode but it's frustrating having to pause the game every time you want to remind yourself how to pull off a certain move.

Another genre I'm not a fan of is racing simulation. I LOVE racing games such as Mario Kart and F-Zero. And also liked Diddy Kong Racing and Micro Machines a lot as a kid, but realistic racing games such as Forza, Gran Turismo, etc.? Boring as hell and I suck at them. Also, unlike dozens of millions of straight dudes all over the world, I just don't really care much about cars and driving. I did like the Saturn racing games such as Daytona USA and Sega Rally Championship, though.

Sports simulators get boring fast, too. No point in buying FIFA or PES every year when the game only changes its style every 4-5 years or so.

And lastly, I have a bit of a love and hate relationship for JRPGs. If only they didn't have grinding...

Ahhh, tough one. I love fighters, but if I have to pick a a favorite, it's King of Fighters. Garou: Mark of the Wolves is my single favorite fighting game ever, but most of my favorite characters were ported to KoF XI and enhanced. I love the cast and the hybridized fun. Plus, Terry is my spirit animal.
Guilty Gear would be my second fav. Its just so faaaast. I love the new one even though they dropped all my characters. I would actually tie this here with Skullgirls. That game is so underappreciated. I wish more people played.
I like Street Fighter, but my fav is 3rd Strike, which isn't quite as widely played anymore. I enjoy the new ones, but 3rd Strike is my jam.
I used to play Tekken competitively, but quit because the circuits got a little too crazy for me. I still love Tekken fav and TT. They're just fun as hell. Same with Smash. I never played competitively, but Smash is nice because its a fighting game anyone can play and everyone has fun playing. And it has a cast anyone can enjoy. Mortal Kombat falls into this category too now, for me. Its so over-the-top that its hilarious. It's great. I did a Kabal cosplay that I use as my profile pic here. XD

I guess an honorable mention that I truly enjoy that I didn't see listed would be Melty Blood. Its insanely simple, but I love the stupid-easymode combos.
And as far as nodtalgia value, absolutely Primal Rage. I am so in love with Primal Rage.


I basically play anything and everything fighting games, but those are my favs.

I've heard people saying that Skullgirls has a great tutorial/training mode.

Never played Guilty Gear. Has a kick ass OST, but it's quite a tough game, isn't it?

And isn't Tekken easier to play competitively than, let's say, Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter?

Training mode doesn't teach you what the buttons do. I mean an actual tutorial, like this:


Which, ironically, is called a training mode in this game... but it's a tutorial.

It has a pretty fun tutorial mode. They have a teacher character who teaches everything. It makes it easy to learn, but its not a difficult fighter to pick up and play if you know classic FG controls. Its almost a parody game. For example, Filia is based on Milia from Guilty Gear (they both fight with their hair and have similar movesets.), Miss Fortune is based on Wolverine from MvC2 (even has Berserker Barrage as her special attack and says it JUST like Wolvie.) And so on. Just another reason its so fun.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the slew of palette colors for characters that are inspired by characters from other fighters. I exclusively play Miss Fortune in her Blue Mary colors, but she has a Leona skin too.

GG has a high learning curve, yea. I had a good group to play with in college so I was pretty good in old formats. And yes, the OST is killer.

It was more the players than the actual skill level as far as competitive events that drove me away.

Do you really need a tutorial explaining you that if you press "up" you jump? You can just look up the basic controls in the instruction booklet/manual. And even if you don't, you can quickly find out which buttons are kicks, which ones are for punches and how to run/dash or jump. You can figure all of that out in one match. They aren't rocket science unlike special moves and such.