Best Fighting Video Games

[kelcaine]

Where are all of the other gamers at? I’m a big gamer myself, and I have been very partial to fighting games since my teens, and really enjoy them to this day. My favourite are Street Fighter (2: yes the classic, not the first version, the second), Mortal Kombat (still one of the most graphic fighting games imo of all time), Soul Caliber (I still think this needs to be made into a movie… great story line), Tekken (the costumes, moves and weapons kick ass) and Injustice 2 (love love the characters and just super fun game to play, and I’m partial to DC comics).

What are your favourites and why? Past and present. Might need to brush up on my Tekken skills and begin playing online again!

 

[westwoody]

Oculus boxing games are the best fighting games. Instead of sitting at a desk eating junk food you get a real workout.

 

[Real Sonny Burnett]

I’m not a home gamer, but I used to play the arcade games back in the day. The one that got most of my money back in high school was “Karate Champ”. Old school graphics, old school sound.

 

[Lo-ki]

Commodore 64 International Karate

 

[kelcaine]

Oculus boxing games are the best fighting games. Instead of sitting at a desk eating junk food you get a real workout.

I have VR for my PS4, and I would say yes it is better than sitting around sometimes. My favourite game on it is Beatsaber… but it’s not a fighting game… slashing blocks doesn’t count.

 

[kelcaine]

I’m not a home gamer, but I used to play the arcade games back in the day. The one that got most of my money back in high school was “Karate Champ”. Old school graphics, old school sound.

Arcade games are awesome! I’ll be honest I don’t know this game. It looks fun!

 

[kelcaine]

Commodore 64 International Karate

View attachment 40079

What system was this on? Another game I’m not familiar with, and in big into retro games.

 

[Mishababy]

Meee! I love gaming! I’m more into RPG/ARPG than fighting/FPS games. The last of us, Witcher 3, red dead, fallout, death stranding etc etc

 

[Lo-ki]

What system was this on? Another game I’m not familiar with, and in big into retro games.

 

[Real Sonny Burnett]

Arcade games are awesome! I’ll be honest I don’t know this game. It looks fun!

It’s really old. I think it came out before the og Mortal Kombat. I used to play it at a mom and pop convenience store and they always got arcade games that you never heard of or knock offs of popular games. If we wanted to play the “A list” popular games we had to go to 7-11 or Mac’s stores.

 

[perbal rain]

I am big into gaming but have never really been into fighting games, probably because I'm terrible at them. I did used to like Street Fighter II, Clayfighter, and Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters on the SNES way back in the day though.

 

[emacky]

When I think about fighting games, I'd still think about the original Virtual Fighter, Killer Instinct, Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. Still remember most of those games getting Super Nintendo ports being a massive thing back in the day.

 

[kelcaine]

View attachment 40081

Oh wow, I actually think I see one of these on display every year at the retro gaming expo.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

QUOTE="westwoody, post: 2330259, member: 7249"]
Oculus boxing games are the best fighting games. Instead of sitting at a desk eating junk food you get a real workout.

I have VR for my PS4, and I would say yes it is better than sitting around sometimes. My favourite game on it is Beatsaber… but it’s not a fighting game… slashing blocks doesn’t count.

I got an Oculus early on in covid. Definitely not a gamer here but holy crap, the VR 'games?', workouts? are incredible. 10 minutes of VR boxing or beat sabering and I know I am having one great workout. I haven't dived into any fighting games yet - but am open for any suggestions.

 

[Newb808]

Samurai Showdown, on the Neogeo arcade machine, was my fave in the 90’s. Even though it was a cartoony game, the sound fx, music and blood animations were quite grim. The narrator’s and characters’ voices were all Japanese too so it added to the aesthetic. I looked it up and there’s an updated version on PS4, but doesn’t seem as gory.
It wouldn’t be considered a fighting game but shout out to Ninja Gaiden Sigma and to a lesser extent Sigma 2 both now on PS4 (previously released on PS3) One can change the difficulty settings but even on medium or whatever it’s HARD yet very gratifying when you figure a room or boss out. The moves and combos can be very technical coupled with the gory graphics and vivid gameplay…it’s a trip…or maybe I was just really stoned back in the day when I played 🤔 😂
Looks like it’s on PS5 too!

I haven’t played anything since Red Dead 2 and bought my PS4 for it. Will get a PS5 if a Red Dead story expansion is released or when GTA 6 comes out.

 

[MikeyLikey99]

I’m not a home gamer, but I used to play the arcade games back in the day. The one that got most of my money back in high school was “Karate Champ”. Old school graphics, old school sound.

ha - used a lot of quarters on that one. “Full point!” Lol

 

[CapnMaynards]

I'm definitely in the "loves fighters even though I'm terrible at them" camp.

My all-time favorite is probably X-Men vs Street Fighter, but I love Mortal Kombat II/III as well. For modern stuff my favorite is Dragon Ball FighterZ, which on top of being really fun has some of the most mindblowing visuals I've ever seen in a game (and I'm a huge fan of the franchise).

One of my goals is to build a bartop arcade machine to get the arcade experience at home.

 

[Mr. J]

I wasn't much for fighting games growing up, but I kicked ass in Killer Instinct for the Super Nintendo.

 

[charlesbliss001]

Where are all of the other gamers at? I’m a big gamer myself, and I have been very partial to fighting games since my teens, and really enjoy them to this day. My favourite are Street Fighter (2: yes the classic, not the first version, the second), Mortal Kombat (still one of the most graphic fighting games imo of all time), Soul Caliber (I still think this needs to be made into a movie… great story line), Tekken (the costumes, moves and weapons kick ass) and Injustice 2 (love love the characters and just super fun game to play, and I’m partial to DC comics).

What are your favourites and why? Past and present. Might need to brush up on my Tekken skills and begin playing online again!

Oh boy this gonna be long. I love fighting games with a passion. I'm not good at most of them but I'll play no matter what. Just the competitive aspect is a joy.
My top 5 would probably be:

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 (it gives an option with how to play as well as being an offense oriented game. Can't block forever because a block meter and the existence of custom combos keeps player interactions interesting.)
• Tekken 7 (I'm just a sucker for any Tekken period. And every iteration, they come up with new things to keep it fresh and exciting. The new crush moves and rage mechanic levels the playing field a little bit by making close matches be more tense. Although I don't appreciate that they allowed accessories that deal damage to be used in online ranked matches)
• Killer Instinct (the remake; not the original. It was made by people who absolutely loved the original and leaned into the craziness of it all. It's also a gold standard for online connectivity.)
• Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (it just looks cool and the characters have unique movesets. Also, it's incredibly fast. Block wrong once against someone good and you'll take 90-100% damage.)
• Dead or Alive 5 (it's a very dynamic game that gives the players a ton of mobility and a unique parry system that keeps it fresh. DoA6 has a more straightforward experience as far as combos go and it is still fun. But DoA5 allows for a little more creativity)

There's so many new fighting games that came out recently that it feels like the boom of fighting games again. Franchises like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Soul Calibur still going strong. And long time company Arc System Works finally getting full recognition with their newest entry Guilty Gear Strive.

New games like Skullgirls and the Under Night In Birth series have been well received by enthusiasts with how they accounted for the depth desired by hardcore players and approachability needed for newer players. There's silly ones that received favorable attention such as Fight of Gods, Fight of Animals and Them's Fighting Herds. They're pretty robust games with great online connectivity.

Fighting games based on IPs are still around but incredibly high quality; unlike back in the day (Street Fighter The Movie fighting game ughh). Games like Dragonball FighterZ being made in collaboration by both Bandai and Arc System works. Power Rangers Battle For The Grid is a great game but extremely wacky. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax feature very stylized characters and unique gameplay mechanics.

There's also a software now for the PC called Fightcade that allows online play for a LOT of classic arcade games. It was made for fighting games; but it grew from there to include other games.

 

[Gaius_Baltar]

Mike Tyson's Punch Out of course!