My Personal Guide To Fighting Games

[KeyranSolo]

Hi guys, I written this up as an essay a long time ago, I had to basically write up a guide to anything I wanted, so I chose fighting games, and this is what I came up with, so I hope it helps anyone looking to better themselves at the genre. I really love fighting games, so it wasn't difficult writing this, you might be asking why I have web links in an essay? Well, I was tolled I could write the guide in any way I wanted to, so I have written it as a sort of online guide, which would allow me to share it with people through the internet, just like this thread. All the links are to Amazon yes, but that's just where I buy my games from, you can find all the games mentioned on any good gaming website or auction websites such as Ebay, the only reason I used Amazon is because I find the games listed in this thread very cheap there, and is a website I use often.

Well, enjoy.

Section One: 2d

In fighting game circles, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is considered one of the earlier, and best-balanced, games. So, luckily for us, there's ways to get that game--AND one of the more current 2d balanced fighting games under the Street Fighter name - Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

Third Strike is actually the best part of this combo, as it is at the pinnacle of 2d animation and fighting engine. The parrying system often spoken about made it's appearance in this series, and is absolutely one of the best evolutions of a 2d fighting engine ever. Add to that a pretty awesome cast (I will always choose Urien) and you've got fighting game bliss, as far as 2d fighters go.

At the other end of the spectrum from Street Fighter was the "rival" company SNK's entry into fighting games. Previously releasing games such as Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, and Art of Fighting helped cement a character base to build the entire SNK universe off of. The apex of which was when SNK unveiled King of Fighters, a cross-title amalgamation of characters, all in a tournament to see who is the strongest (as fighting games go, naturally) - this allowed for a new storyline to form and also keep all of SNK's best characters in one place. Also, they were grouped into teams. Originally in the King of Fighters 94, they focused on country affiliation, which also coincided with game affiliation, as some of them took place in China, America, Japan, Korea, etc. SNK favoured good character design and story over Capcom's focus on gameplay balance, and it showed in the games. Tons of fun to play, but not as much of a tournament game as Capcom's outings. Over the years, King of Fighters has turned into a very well-polished but always flawed game. However, the fun it provides rivals any Street Fighter title's.

One of the most recent King of Fighters releases is King of Fighters XI, available on Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Of-Figh...6062335&sr=8-1 - definitely worth the money and it FEELS good and has a big amount of the cast returning. For the purist in you, KOF 2002 was a "Dream Match" title - a game where story is largely ignored, and it brings back dead characters for a mess of a fun time. Finally, my long-dead Shermie can bring the pain to some of the newer characters!

The PS2 has a release, KOF 2002/2003, it's definitely worth it in my eyes, for 2003 has enough improvements to be a solid game on it's own, and the inclusion of 2002 is a huge bonus. Dream Match games are definitely worth their money! Though, I have to imagine you could find this cheaper locally.

Earlier games, such as KOF2000 and 2001, dealt with a "Striker" system - a helper character can come out and perform an attack. Sadly, SNK never took that into much account when it comes to balance, as some insane infinite combos came of the Striker system, and it has been eliminated. It was fun while it lasted, though. Many SNK cameos were to be had with them.

Also, a recent contender by Sammy, the Guilty Gear series has been emerging as a contender for the competitive throne. One-hit kills, counters of counters, cancelling moves like nobody's business, leaves Guilty Gear as a game only for the hardcore. If you can manage to master other fighting systems and desire more, I recommend Guilty Gear X2 - very cheap at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guilty-Gear-...6062482&sr=8-1 and is worth a look to check out what insanity can come with it.

Section 2: 3d

3d fighting games really saw their entry with titles like Virtua Fighter. Since then, there have been many interesting additions to this chapter of gaming, like Soul Calibur, Tekken, and Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi. I was kidding about the Star Wars fighting game, that game was horrible. Let's get into it.

Currently, as far as balance is concerned, Virtua Fighter 5 is at the absolute top of the heap. Perfectly balanced, with counters for any kind of opponent, it is truly the thinking man's fighting game. A game where any kind of button mashing is punished brutally, and the kind of game where a beginner will NEVER "accidentally" beat a master. Or even someone competent. No move is overpowered, no combo ridiculous -this is truly the top of the heap when it comes to 3d fighters.

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution for PS2 is, in my opinion, the best technical fighter on that entire system. Add in items, a quest mode that has you going through arcades beating people, and more, this game easily "has it all".

I cannot encourage enough of you to pick up Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. It's amazing, and eclipsed only by Virtua Fighter 5, but that's one the current gen systems and much more expensive. VF4 Evo is definitely a must-have.

Tekken is a series by Namco, made to directly challenge Virtua Fighter. Tekken is traditionally about more radical character designs (a kangaroo? please.) and less on balance. A simple thing like looking for "Tekken infinite" on youtube will net you a handful of videos, where if you search for "virtua fighter infinite" you will get ZERO returns. This speaks about the balance between the two.

That being said, Tekken is still a very fun game, even with it's ridiculous story and technical flaws. Also, it favors people who learn juggle combos (hitting while in the air) and can be quite a pain for someone who prefers Virtua Fighter. The best of the bunch is most likely Tekken 5, as it returns a huge amount of the cast, and is a big step up from the unbalanced mess that Tekken 4 was.

Soul Calibur is another Namco creation, and in my opinion, is more balanced than Tekken ever was. It's weapons-based, and includes parrying and blocking differently than Tekken does. Also, position in the ring is much more important, as you move around a ring much more than in Tekken. A wonderful cast, gorgeous graphics, and extremely good balance makes the Soul Calibur franchise a worthy contender. You can find Soul Calibur 2 for extremely cheap on ebay, and I prefer SC2 to SC3 for balance reasons. Amazon has it REALLY cheap - Amazon.co.uk: (PS2/GC/XBOX versions)

Section 3: What to buy?

I'll keep this simple. If you want to understand the engines and the technical aspect behind fighting games and be a world-class fighter, I encourage you to pick up:

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution
Soul Calibur 2

If you're looking for fun fighting games and just like fighting, period, try these:

King of Fighters XI or 2002/2003 - both will suffice
Tekken 5
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

And if you're looking deep into the past, and don't mind poorly-designed games for the sake of reading up on fighting game history:

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Fatal Fury Battle Archives
Neogeo Battle Coliseum

The last 3 I just mentioned, I didn't get into detail in earlier. You'll have to take my word for it if you wanna try those out, They're mostly collections of older themes or games.

Anyway, that's enough for my basic guide. I hope it helps someone out there who might be interested in fighting games and feel like digging a little deeper. This post went on a lot longer than I thought, but I have a real passion for these kinds of things.

(My ending message: Please leave feedback, how is the structure of my writing, did you find it interesting at all to read as a gamer, do you think more information could be included?, etc...)

Thanks a lot for reading, I appreciate it a lot.

[Rocky]

Interesting read, I admire your passion on the subject.

Here are my opinions on some things that are written in your essay.

*A minor irritation on my part, but when you said something about "bettering themselves on the genre", I thought you meant you were going to actually talk about different tips and tactics for each game, and found that misleading. one of those IMO things I guess.

*Keep the information balanced. Less that two paragraphs for the Street Fighter series while four paragraphs for the KOF/SNK series is a little biased. Suggestion: Remedy this by talking about the history of the SF series, like you did with SNK.

*Keep thoughts organized. It's cool to talk about the striker mechanics and the special gameplay for each KoF game, but it needs to be done in a timely manner (and balanced for SF material as well).

*Stay consistant. I like how you divide the games between 2d and 3d, I would of done the same thing if I wrote the topic at hand as well. One thing I'd like to see is you covering the everything that you did in the 2d as well as in the 3d section though. I'd go through a rough draft, brainstorm a few things you'd like to cover, find info for those ideas, see if it is relatable to the subject, clean it up and keep the same format for the other section. It will be a much more effective for knowledge when the reader sees it in an organized manner.

Those are a few things I could think of at the top of my head. If you have questions or would like me to help you edit or anything like that, feel free to send me a pm. Cheers!

[Victoria]

Yeah, the 'bettering themselves on the genre' is misleading to me also. Rocky touched on a lot that I wanted to say, except that Guilty Gear series is made by Arc System Works, not Sammy.

And if you're going to talk about that, talk about BlazBlue, which was recently released. And also KOFXII, and SFIV and such. The essay could be so much more in depth and longer if you added in the new stuff as well.

But yeah. Balance your information for Capcom and SNK. Also, you failed to mention Darkstalkers too. and Marvel vs Capcom 2.

[KeyranSolo]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read it, and the feedback was great, I will definitely take it in for further improvement. Greatly appreciated.

[Victoria]

Also as an aside that I could probably edit into my post but it won't get noticed; is something else that bothers me.

Neo Geo Coliseum is not a crappy made game.

...Then again, that's just relative and all based on opinion. So.. I guess it can be crappy to some people, but, it's not to me, and that's all that matters. ^_^

[T.G. Oskar]

But yeah. Balance your information for Capcom and SNK. Also, you failed to mention Darkstalkers too. and Marvel vs Capcom 2.

Had to place emphasis on that. It's pretty much one of the legendary games around, so wanted that it actually had to be released again but in HD. Or rather, re-released (I haven't heard much about it once they mentioned the re-release, but I recall it's on HD)

Perhaps it's because it's considered one of the most broken games in existence; so broken, it's actually balanced. The top-tier fighters in the game essentially wash away the top-tier competition in every other game, because of the ridiculous capabilities of each; to make it worse, it's a one-round, three man battle, so you could simply fill your ranks with the top-tier characters and get an easy win.

The biggest offender, of course, is Cable. The repetitive combo of grenade-firearm-Viper Beam->Hyper Viper Beam, the Psimitar anti-aerial move, which gracefully set-ups the opponent for the combo move, and the ridiculous growth rate of the special moves bar make him near unbeatable.

Then, comes Sentinel. Big, burly, similar repetitive combo. Except, this one works against the blocking guys, because of the insane amount of cheap damage it provides. Essentially, it's interrupt him or die trying, no block for you.

And yet, with the variable assist system, you can steal a victory from the seemingly unbeatable guys the game has. With all the tools provided, having top-tier characters doesn't necessarily signals a victory.

Of course, most of this is opinion from other people I know that have gone to competitions around. Just a heads up.