Top Ten 2-D Fighting Games

We posted the poll, and a good amount of you responded. One minor detail was Fatal Fury was missing from the poll completely, so I’d like to send out a personal apology to Terry Bogart (I know he’s real, I’ve seen his myspace). Without anymore hemming and hawing let’s get to the list that you built. Here are your 10 best 2-D fighting games of all time.

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#10 Guilty Gear

Unlike most of the list, Guilty Gear was primarily a console game, debuting on the O.G. Playstation and Sega Saturn gaming platforms in 1998. Even though the first game wasn’t a huge success, it did create a core audience. That audience continued to expand with subsequent installment in the series. The downside for going straight to console is the label of a Street Fighter clone, a label that almost killed the title early on in its history. While the controls are very similar to Street Fighter (But honestly, what fighting game doesn’t use some sort of SF fighting techniques), the similarities typically stop right there. Guilty Gear mixes unique character design, brilliant colors, and breathtaking art work in order to guarantee the games distinction from others in the genre.

#9 Dark Stalkers

A Capcom title that was essential in the further development of Capcom’s 2-D fighter dominance. Capcom used Dark Stalkers to introduce a couple of early concepts that were used in later Capcom games, namely the use of sixteen color animation sprites, as well as a system of powered up super moves. Even though the game only saw three official installments (with five total games released), many of the games characters would make appearances in other Capcom fighters. In the end, what’s most important is that Dark Stalkers was a surprise hit that paved the way for many great games after it.

#8 World Heroes 

World Heroes was the product of the now defunct ADK Games development team. Considered by most to be nothing more than (and you’re gonna hear this a lot) a Street Fighter clone, the game suffered from limited exposure and a professed difficulty with the controls, But the game did have a unique charm in the sense that most of the characters were based on real historical figures. World Heroes had three versions released on the Neo Geo game system before it made its way to a collected version for the PS2 in 2007.

#7 King of Fighters

Personally I feel like King of Fighters should have been ranked higher on this list. But you’re the reader, and your vote matters so here we are at #7 with a very revolutionary game. The biggest contribution that KOF brought to gaming was a team style battle system. This feature was only bolstered by a cast of selectable characters from various other SNK games that increased game after game. The fight system, plus the expanded amount of playable fighters made this game the top contender for Street Fighters throne. King of Fighters has come out with a whopping 12 titles since 1994. The rivalry between KOF and Street Fighter finally resulted in a game featuring characters from both games.

#6 Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct is the bastard child of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, almost literally. The control scheme and button layout are almost identical to that of Street Fighter, while the games graphics, gameplay and features are reminiscent of Mortal Kombat. The game was pretty fun with a cool group of playable characters. What really hurt Killer Instinct was that it was new to the scene when the mass exodus from the arcades was just beginning. The other fighting games on the market had several years (and games) in advance to build an audience, and multiple console support for the most part. The last nail in the coffin for KI was the fact that the Nintendo 64’s days were numbered.

#5 SNK vs. Capcom

An editorial error on the cover of a Japanese gaming magazine is what eventually created the SNK vs. Capcom series of games. The formula was simple, the company whose name came in front of the title developed the game with the later companies blessing. This formula proved successful and made for a bunch of titles that were a perfect blend of both KOF and SF in particular. Despite the great success of the ‘vs.’ series, the particulars of the deal didn’t make economic sense for the financially struggling SNK company and bankruptcy was in their future. SNK (under new ownership) has said that they have no plans on any more ‘vs.’ games in the future. The games won’t be known for their innovation necessarily, but they will be immortalized for giving fans what they had been asking for.

#4 Art of Fighting

I still remember looking at Art of Fighting with nothing but contempt. As a loyal Street Fighter player by then it took a while for me to warm up to a game where the main character actually looked like Ryu and Ken had sex and Ken managed to somehow give birth. They even named the awful bastard Ryo to make matters worse. When I finally stopped to pay attention I found out a lot about this series. One, it’s actually a prequel to the Fatal Fury series of games, which was pretty cool for a fighting game to bother setting up that much story just so two kids can know why their beating each other to a pulp. When I say pulp, I mean it, Art of Fighting was the first game I remember that made the choice to show the damage that the fighter was sustaining during the fight. Secondly, but for more importantly, Art of Fighting was the first game to feature the super, No, not Danny Divito (how did you get on this page?) the super move, the devastating attack that has become common place in most modern fighting games. Once the ‘vs.’ titles and the KOF series got under way Art of Fighting became a moot point, but thanks to those titles most of the characters from Art of Fighting are still available (Even though Ken Masters get’s totally weirded out when he see’s Ryo).

#3 Marvel vs. Capcom

This series made its debut in 1996 with X-Men vs. Street Fighter and introduced tag-team style fighting to the genre. The Marvel characters had been given a test run in their own games (X-Men: Children of the Atom, and Marvel Super Heroes) and made a smooth transition to the Street Fighter universe. Eventually XSF translated (after a sequel called Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter) into an expanded sequel titled Marvel vs. Capcom which kept refining both the gameplay, and the number of selectable fighters. Over the course of the series improvements were made to the color palette, frame rate, and (of course) the number of selectable characters continued to increase thanks to improvements to the tag team aspect of the game. The series created many game innovations, like being able to call on a third teammate for a quick assist, or bringing out the entire team for a massive super attack. This feature made a lasting impression on gamers and game developers alike.

#2 Mortal Kombat

Alright let’s get right to it, we loved Mortal Kombat for the one innovation they brought to the fighting game genre: the finishing move (dubbed a ‘Fatality’ in the game). The other aspect of the game that, according to some (me included) was unfortunate, but ultimately necessary, the graphics. Instead of the cartoon sprites used in pretty much all the other games of its kind. Personally I thought the use of the FMV characters made the movements choppy and the graphics just plain bad. But, it was ultimately necessary because the blood and gore in the game was much more graphic with the graphics being the way they were. The games controls got the best out of the graphic limitations and provided a gameplay experience that was unique and competitive to that of Street Fighter. As the years went on the series progressed considerably and in some respects even surpassed Street Fighter in some areas. The graphics came along with the controls to go from being piss poor to a highly competitive alternative to the cartoon graphics of the competition, but the aspect that made the game really stand out was the story. Capcom has admitted (after serious accusations from guys like me) that storytelling isn’t their strong suit, and Mortal Kombat proved to be the polar opposite. The story for Mortal Kombat was really well put together considering that most players could care less anyway, each game was a direct sequel to the first game and the storyline flowed consistently from game to game, (heck it even inspired a semi – not crappy movie and arguably the worst sequel ever to curse theaters with its presence.) with a storyline strong enough to support a few expanded universe games. The decline of the fighting game in the more ‘modern’ arcades has had a diverse effect on Mortal Kombat and even bowling alleys are becoming scarce.   

#1 Street Fighter

The granddaddy of them all, the game that pretty much recreated the genre of 2-D fighters in 1987. Looking back, one of the most important design aspects of the game almost never happened. Instead of the six button controls we’re all accustomed to, the first Street Fighter machine featured two giant red buttons that set the ground work for the later control scheme. In the beginning the player had to punch either the giant punch button or the giant kick button, hard the player hit the button affected how hard the character under control hit in the game (up to three levels, get it?). While this idea did seem cool in theory, in reality all Capcom got in return for their investment was a warehouse full of broken machines. The six button format was introduced to keep the game kiosks from being destroyed and also launched a gameplay style that would be worked to perfection or the next decade or so. The combo system, the super move system, and the actual strategy employed in the gameplay might have never gotten off the ground if Street Fighter had ended up as nothing more than a giant Nintendo controller hooked up to a kiosk.

The characters from Street Fighter along with the gameplay and format inspired a litany of imitators and competitors that over the years have gone to great lengths to improve upon the SF style and technique. Despite all the challengers to the throne, SF has maintained dominance by laying down a solid foundation and then constantly fine tuning their creation from then to now. Street Fighter 3 (3^rd Strike Edition) is really all the 2-D fighter you need. The controls are so solid that playing other fighting games can be infuriating. Be ready for a possible Street Fighter movie in 2008, and maybe yet another installment of the game itself.

So there you have it gang, be sure to come back on the 10th of September in order to vote on the best 3-D Fighter of all time.