The Unauthorized Arcade Review Guide to Fighting Games (July 1989-February 1995) v1.0 Preface: This is a guide to nearly every arcade fighting game ever released since the trend started a looong time ago. The games contained herein were the sole responsibility of their companies and the author is in no way affiliated with these companies. The author did his best to keep the games' releases in order (most of us know that Mortal Kombat came years after the first Street Fighter II) but there may be some discontinuity. Still, he hopes you find this guide informative and useful when looking for old games to satisfy a new hunger. Remember, these are reviews. Opinions. Furthermore, someone out there is not going to agree with some of them. That's all fine and dandy with me, but there's really no reason to cry over spilt milk. I believe I am making an accurate representation of each game. This is meant for those people who may not have played one of these games. Nothing new. First run! Author: Jonathan Winkler On with it now... Street Fighter II - The World Warriors (Capcom): Obviously, it all started here. It took a long time for this game to wear off with its many reincarnations which were, actually, the same game doctered up. Still, It would be unfair to knock on this game. This was the supreme innovator. Based loosely on the original Street Fighter game, which enjoyed questionable success in the mid-to-late 1980s, it sported much sharper graphics, much improved sound, and much smoother control than anything previously seen. It was the first game in which you could choose from a roster of more than four characters, and have them all move and act differently. It was the first to offer special techniques that were not simply button presses (excluding the original SF) and regular techniques that produced a range of effects. Finally, it was the first game that could be seriously competitive yet extremely diverse. All this combined to make a very inspirational game. Of course, for a long time, it was the only game in town. And sometimes it was easy to win by being cheap. But these were small gripes at the time. 9 Fatal Fury (SNK): Not too far from the release of Street Fighter II, came a system called Neo Geo. It was tested in arcades and although there was a home market, the arcade was certainly cheaper to play and easily more profitable in the long run. The fifth game released for Neo Geo, and the first fighting game, was of course Fatal Fury. Although the game only offered a selection of three people, the game was more of a showcase of what the Neo Geo could do rather than a great fighting game. However, it was the first alternative to Street Fighter II and because of that many people managed to get excited over it, although breifly. There was not much innovation except for a few background conditions and a two-player simultaneous option which might have been more interesting had it been executed well enough. True, the sound, music, and graphics were good for the time, but the replay value diminished because of the confusing controls, and it lost its following a few months after its release. 6 Street Fighter II - Champion Edition (Capcom): Although Capcom was not exactly fearing for its life with the grosses off Street Fighter II, an influx of letters with both ideas and complaints got them back to work on the game. Although not exactly a new game, it did offer the option of same player vs. same player, options to play as the four characters who could not be controlled in the original, a slightly buffed-up look and some new moves for the original characters. This game did not enjoy the prolonged success of its predecessor, but it was still a top-notch fighting game. 9 World Heroes (Alpha Densi): The second fighting game for the Neo Geo was World Heroes, and, like Fatal Fury, the game's style and slight differences from Street Fighter II did make it a formidable contendor for a while. Unlike Fatal Fury, the controls were a little cleaner, too. However, the style of the game was too much of a rip-off, since it used too many of the ideas that were originated by Street Fighter II. Not only that, but it was too easy as a one-player game, and too cheap as a two-player game. It faded out almost as quickly as Fatal Fury. 5 Art of Fighting (SNK): The third fighting game for the Neo Geo was Art of Fighting, arguably the best/worst fighting game for the system at that time. On the plus side, the graphics were large and well detailed, and the sounds were loud and clear. The controls were OK, although the play was a bit confusing. The one-player story mode only allowed you to choose from two characters, but the two-player mode let you choose any of the characters. The Artificial Intelligence of the game was pretty hard, and some of the special moves did way too much damage. Also, there was an annoying zoom-in and zoom-out which made the game even more confusing. With all its flaws, this game did not leave a lasting impression. 6 Fatal Fury 2 (SNK): Released on almost the same day as AOF, this was the first sequel of many for a Neo Geo fighting game. Some control improvements, more new characters, big moves and overall smoothness helped this game gain the attention that the first one lost. This time, the addition of a female character (a very hyperactive female character) helped it keep its popularity. All the makings of a great fighting game, but still, something was missing... originality and profundity. The whole lot of techniques involved in the game were mainly designed for the 2-D fighting field even though there was a foreground and background to the game which might have made it more fun if the programmers had spent more time on it. Also, the two-player simultaneous mode was not present in this sequel, another thing the programmers could have improved on. 7 Mortal Kombat (Midway): With only a few fighting games out as of yet, American companies were entering the fray, and Midway stepped in with their first fighting game. Instead of drawing and animating the characters, the programmers decided to use digitization, which would allow them to use actual film of actors doing punches and kicks, and incorporating it into the game. But that was certainly not the main attraction in the game. Mortal Kombat was the bloodiest fighting game to hit the market at that time. No game before it had ever had such an excessive amount. Gory fatalities involving decapitation, disembowelment, and conflagration were the most intriguing, innovative, and controversial features of the game. The game itself was pretty good, involving ways to "juggle" the opponent to get combo hits in, and some special moves with attitude. And instead of holding back to block in the game, there was a Block button, allowing the player to block while holding in almost any direction. The music was decent, offering high quality sound. Many people thought it better than Street Fighter II, though it did have its shortcomings, such as a selection of 7 characters in the game as opposed to SF2CE's 12. 8 Street Fighter II Turbo - Hyper Fighting (Capcom): Capcom's third installment of the Street Fighter II upgrades was a turbo chip for the Champion Edition. Although it didn't do too much for the game, the faster speed, slight alterations, and new moves made Street Fighter II peak in popularity. Unfortunately, the then new Mortal Kombat was taking a lot of attention away from the game, so profits were low. Nonetheless a decent installment. 9 Time Killers (Strata): Ouch. This game had more blood in it than a single human body could muster up, but that didn't keep a small crowd of hit- seekers away from it. It wasn't until it had been out for a few weeks that people began to realize that the game had lousy controls, ugly character sprites, lousy music, and some ridiculous moves (a "head" button? Wheee!!). It was possible to behead your opponent at any time during the round, which scored a win, and all you had to do was press all five buttons at once. You'd think that for something so devastating, Strata would have made it harder to do. I'm sorry blood-hungry fans, but considering the competition at the time, the game sucked...terribly. 4 World Heroes 2 (Alpha Densi): The second sequel to a Neo Geo fighting game, but the first from a third-party company. All the characters were present from the first one, with the addition of six new characters, bringing the character total up to 14, which was the largest selection in a fighting game thus far. Each character had at least 3 special moves, some had up to 6. New backgrounds, some humor, and overall size helped this game become the new standard among Neo Geo fighting games, and nothing has gone below it in terms of quality. Problems here? Not too many, other than the AI was very hard to overcome and the final boss was really hard. 8 Martial Champion (Konami): Capcom and Konami were once dead-even in the arcade market. But that was before Street Fighter II. So Konami sent its first attempt to close the gap with Capcom in the form of a fighting game called Martial Champion, but unfortunately, it just wasn't enough. The game wasn't too bad as some games go, with huge characters and great sound, but its best assets caused some of its biggest problems. First of all the characters fill up half of the entire screen but are animated poorly. The contols are quirky, with three attacks: High, Medium, and Low. Jumping with a high attack was pretty useless, since it almost never connected, and sometimes the button you press while jumping makes the dynamics change so it's hard to time moves and techniques, especially since the characters jump so high the ground scrolls off the screen. Konami seldom fails, but this was no victory for them. 6 Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (Capcom): The first SF2 was considered great by many. SF2CE was even better, with its anti- cheapness. Many people liked SF2 Turbo for its speed, but by then a lot of people wanted a SF3. Unfortunately, they got Super Street Fighter II. This marked the decline of an era. The first gripe many had with it was its speed, which was significantly slower than Turbo. Secondly, some of the characters' original moves were taken out, and their new moves didn't do much for them. Third, the change in audio got mixed results from everyone; while the voices were more diverse now, there was less passion in them, and a kick no longer had that bassy thump. Finally, the four new characters were a mixed bag. Although their personalities fit in with the rest of the gang, only two of them passed the test of balance. Of the other two, one was too cheap (T. Hawk), and one was almost useless (Cammy). When this game first arrived, people did get excited over it, but over time grew apathetic and started looking for something new. And boy did they get it. (Read on...) 8 Samurai Shodown (SNK): This game came out with almost no anticipation over it, no publicity, yet it fought its way to the top three just for being a top notch fighting game in every respect. Innovative, excellent controls, lots of techniques, great one-liners, detailed characters, outstanding music, and a winning personality all combined to make this game the best Neo Geo fighting game ever. SNK included the idea of fighting with weapons into a fighting game and even included some animal friends who could do their share of fighting too. Great throws too. There's even some blood and gore, but it's not as serious as Mortal Kombat. Still, this game helped the Neo Geo gain a lot of respect in the fighting game field, and exhibited the significant change in SNK's fighting game staff (some members of Capcom's staff came over to work for SNK). 9 Mortal Kombat II (Midway): One of the more unexpected releases of the year was the sequel to Mortal Kombat, since the original hadn't been out for one or two years. But, that aside, the sequel was a dramatic improvement over the original, even though the style remained intact. Not only was the gameplay dramatically sped up, but the control was much more responsive. The sound was an improvement in quality but the voices were a disappointment compared to the original. Of course, there were the standard improvements, all beginning with more: more graphic detail, more characters, more moves, more fatalities, and more secrets. There were even some humorous-at-first-sight Friendships and Babalities. The game concentrated mostly on secrets, but this was a slightly flawed idea, since once all the secrets were discovered, the game got tedious quickly. Still, while the game lasted, it was quite fun, and sometimes it still draws some people to it at arcades. 9 Fighter's History (Data East): Although many games before it had attempted to imitate Street Fighter II, Data East had to go to court with Capcom because of this game and its "similarities" to Street Fighter II. To tell the truth, the game was not too great. The control was very clean and quick, and the graphics were somewhat stylish. The sounds were okay but nothing too brutal and the challenge offered by the game was mediocre. There really isn't much new offered by Fighter's History other than each character has a "weak spot" that immobilized them if it's pummeled enough. Other than that, nothing to write home about. It may make one wonder why Capcom was so afraid of it. 6 Fatal Fury Special (SNK): Like Capcom with Street Fighter II, SNK upgraded the Fatal Fury series. This one came off a bit smoother than most upgrades, since it used some characters from the first Fatal Fury with all the guys from Fatal Fury 2, plus it made the four bosses from Fatal Fury 2 playable, bringing the roster up to fifteen characters. All those and a secret character from another Neo Geo game, Art of Fighting (who could be made playable in the home versions). The AI was dramatically improved, and other than a few improvements in the area of graphics, most of the stuff was just the same as in Fatal Fury 2. Still, A good upgrade. 8 Virtua Fighter (Sega): Although the Sega Virtua series had already debuted with a game called Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter was a game that unlike any other fighting game previously made. Using wireframe polygon graphics, the characters looked almost real in their fluid movements and many angles of viewing (which were nearly infinite), but up close they were blocky and their faces showed very little expression. The control of the game was both strange and innovative. Rather than have things like fireballs and teleports, Sega just tried to make the game with the most realistic fighting possible (except the jumping, where the characters would float in the air as if they ate six-hundred bean burritos). It was based more on timing and technique than quickness and response. The music was good, and the challenge was formidable. Probably the most innovative fighting game of its time. 8 Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Capcom): Another one from the did- they-really-need-to department. Arguably the least necessary upgrade in the SF2 series, SSF2 Turbo was not much better than its predecessors. It did add some neat little effects as well as some minor tweaks in play and speed, plus a secret character, but these could not revitalize this old game well enough. At this point it finally started showing its age. The graphics and sounds were just the same as SSF2 and so I need not go further. 7 Survival Arts (American Sammy): It should come as no surprise that the success of the Mortal Kombat series would spawn a few wannabes and that was exactly the case with Survival Arts. Yes, it had digitized characters. Yes, it had blood and carnage. But no, the gameplay was ridiculous. For one thing, you could jump at someone to attack them, but the hit detection was so weak, you might connect only 50% of the time. You could pick up weapons off the ground but you had to know exactly where to stand to pick them up. There were not a lot of special moves, and it was easy to beat the game by throwing fireballs the whole time. The music was terribly inappropriate, the sounds almost nonexistent, and the acting... let's just say no one's getting a movie contract out of this cast. I never knew a game could be this bad. This game made Time Killers look great. 4 Bloodstorm (Strata): Strata made a good move by leaving the words Time and Killers out of this title, even though the game was obviously a sequel to Time Killers. Bloodstorm was better than Time Killers (actually, almost anything could have been better than TK), but only a select group of people got to see the improved graphics, decent sounds, cool effects, and overdone blood, thanks to the low distribution. The controls were quirky, but much better than Time Killers although they were obviously ripped off of Mortal Kombat. (But then, this whole "blood" thing was started by that game anyway). Loads of secrets inhabited this game, including the ability to modify and save characters with a password, make taunts, discover secret characters, and of course Death Moves. Not a hit, but worth a few plays. One of those games that you had to get into to enjoy. 7 Art of Fighting 2 (SNK): With all the control flaws that plagued the first installment of AOF, this Neo Geo sequel was something of a disappointment, as it did not do much to correct them. There were a few improvements, such as full character selection (a range of 12 rather than 2), World Heroes-type controls (where the attack's strength depends on how long the button is held), and some additions in gameplay, such as throw prevention and defensive hops, but it just wasn't quite enough to provide the boost that other Neo Geo games had received in their sequels. Not only was the AI very cheap, but there was quite a lack of balance between each of the characters. It almost never got off the ground in popularity. 7 World Heroes 2 Jet (ADK): Like Capcom and SNK, ADK (formerly Alpha Densi) upgraded their hit World Heroes 2 game by adding 2 new characters and a tournament mode. Unfortunately, the game had no endings (strange...they were present in the predecessor), and it was seemingly easier. The home version offered more than the arcade version, such as modifying a character's speed, power, etc. With all the bad stuff that happened to this game, there were a few nice additions that brought it back up to former status, such as at least three new moves per character and new move dynamics that add some more technique to the game. Although it's quite different, it's only as good as it was before. 8 Power Instinct (Atlus): Power Instinct was a pretty decent fighting game. What makes it so? Solid controls. Nice graphics. Good music and sounds. Cool characters with some neat-looking moves. Innovation? Uh...well, not much. Power Instinct is the kind of game that comes along every once in a while where not much is wrong with it but it needs more of something. There wasn't enough moves in each character's arsenal to muster a big "wow" with players but there was some humor inherent in the game, and one of the characters can temporarily become a younger version of herself with different special moves. That seemed like a nice touch. Other than that, though, nothing too special about it. 7 Fighter's History Dynamite (Data East): Although this game held great similarities to Fighter's History, the backgrounds, sounds, and controls were very different. Not only that, but instead of being a stand-alone coin-op, Data East made the jump to the Neo Geo platform for this release. I really can't say much about this release. The controls were a bit more difficult than the original, thanks to the limited four buttons on the Neo Geo, and the clunky joystick made some of the overelaborate special moves a pain to perform. The graphics were OK, the sprites were pretty much the same, and all the backgrounds were new. The most noticable changes in sound were the music (it's actually a lot weaker than before) and the announcer's voice. Otherwise, Data East made the two original bosses playable, and added two more new characters to the roster. And, of course, they left the "weak spots" in. Not a bad showing from Data East, but I wish they had done more, since it has flaws. 6 Primal Rage (Atari/ Time Warner Interactive): Trying to add something significant to arcade fighters, TWI came up with a stop-motion technology and used it in Primal Rage. The game was based around big dinosaurs and a couple of sasquatches who were worshipped by tiny humans wearing odd- colored skins, but that aside, this game did draw quite a bit of attention with its rather large characters and difficult yet clean play mechanics (which required that the player hold down buttons and waggle the joystick in some way to perform special moves). The backgrounds did give a feeling of depth, and the sounds were loud and bassy. There were even a few added features: finishing moves (some humorous, some full of bloody carnage), the ability to eat humans (which gave the player more energy), and volleyball (it's a secret, of course). The game drew a crowd for some time, but even though an upgrade came out a few months following release, it didn't really last with some players. 8 Darkstalkers - The Night Warriors (Capcom): Finally, everyone thought, a Capcom fighting game that's not Street Fighter II! I wholely agree with that thought. The characters in this game were mostly horror-fiction characters, such as a zombie, a mummy, a wolfman, and of course, a vampire. The controls were clean (due to their similarities to previous Capcom games) and the characters were medium-sized and animated fluidly. The music was pretty good, though not eerie enough for the dark personality of the game, and the sounds were not bad either. The backgrounds were very active and the game had turbo speed. The sheer number of moves per character was great, and each had enhanced special moves as well as super moves. Still, it felt like more of the same. I'm sure Capcom wanted to make this the next Street Fighter II but that just didn't happen this time around. Still, it's a fun game and pretty challenging too. 8 King of Fighters '94 (SNK): The idea behind this game had great potential but the execution was fairly poor. The game worked with a selection of teams (each with three characters), with characters from previous SNK games like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Ikari Warriors, and even Athena (Athena?!). Although there were a total of twenty-two characters in the game, there was no option for customizing teams or choosing individual characters. Too bad...that would have been a great feature. The controls were a bit cleaner than any previous SNK games (with the exception of Samurai Shodown) but the character selections were really unbalanced. One character might have had speed, strengh, and reach, but another might have had none of these. The graphics were OK, but the character sprites were small and the backgrounds were somewhat plain. The music was pretty good, and each character had his/her individual voice. Otherwise, only average. 7 Killer Instinct (Nintendo/ Midway/ Rare): From a collaboration of some of the finest companies in the video game forum came Killer Instinct. Sporting a new look for fighting games, it used SGI rendered graphics instead of standard platforming or polygons. The effect was even more realistic than Mortal Kombat, another Midway product. Of course the main attraction of the game was that it combined the best of every major fighting game. The backgrounds seemed inspired by Virtua Fighter, albeit more detailed. The controls were every bit as clean as Street Fighter II, almost more so (a difficult accomplishment) and the characters were completely balanced, something that fighting games had had a hard time achieving since the beginning. The finishing moves were obviously the spawn of the Mortal Kombat series, and the humiliations as well. There was even some originality with the combo system. Rather than settle for three to five hit combos that do loads of damage, KI instead went the maximum with individually named combos that ranged from Triple (3 hit) Combos to Ultra (up to 44 hit) Combos. And just to be fair, there were Combo Breakers included which would stop any combo (except an Ultra). And finally, Ultimate Combos, which string a finishing move on the end of a combo. All that plus the standard secrets, like a stage select, turbo speed, and even a method to play as the final boss. My only criticism was that there should have been a way to play a game without the need for combos, but the sheer number of combos and techniques was probably what kept people playing. This was the game that took the top notch one step higher. 9 Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega): Using significant improvements in their texture mapping technology, Sega released Virtua Fighter 2, which was a lot like the first game, only smoother and unfortunately a bit slower. The characters were all the same as the ones in the original, with the inclusion of only two new characters. All the old characters got new moves and new animations (which seems to be the requirement for sequels) and new backgrounds were created (all much better than the original's big platform with 2-D backdrop). A lot of voice was added to this one, probably to give it personality, but most of the voice actors were B-rated and their lines were long and simplistic. The game played exactly the same as its predecessor, which could have been good or bad depending on whether or not the player was used to this conrol. It's not easy for me to say that I liked VF2 any more than I liked VF1. I have to say that 3-D does have its flaws, but at least they're less apparent in this sequel. 9 X-Men - Children of the Atom (Capcom): Adding a slight twist to fighting games, Capcom took an already-popular license and used its characters to create an intense, but unfortunately very unbalanced game. The combo system contained in the game was probably the loosest of any fighting game ever released. Basically you could hit your opponent anywhere: into the air, out of the air, and even while they're down. The AI could pull off some nasty tricks and cheap moves, and usually the super powered X-attacks were way too strong. But at least the action was fast (although the turbo was not adjustable) and intense, the characters were large and animated pretty smoothly (though, surprisingly, not as smoothly as in Darkstalkers) and the backgrounds had a lot of depth, (there is a lot of vertical movement, somewhat similar to Konami's Martial Champion). Capcom did put forth a lot of effort to get this game right. Unfortunately, it didn't come out quite as well as many would have hoped, but it was still pretty decent. 8 Mortal Kombat 3 (Midway): Well, MK3 could have been something new and exciting, but instead it used the exact same fighting engine as MK2 (which really is not that bad, but Midway did nothing to correct its flaws) with the addition of only a "run" button which only let the player run forward and a combo system not unlike the one found in Killer Instinct.. This version, although it has yet to be upgraded, contained fatalities, friendships, pits, mercy moves, and the stupid-rumor-turned-true Animalities. In total the overall feel of it was a game that thrived on mere cheapness, where most of the special moves could set up combos that may take away a LOT of energy, throws could be done repeatedly without much chance of reversal, and many people could beat anyone using only a jump-kick and a sweep (one of the flaws of MK2). The characters were VERY unbalanced (Sonya has the fewest useful moves) and the new characters looked pretty goofy. The jump from the first to the second had people writing up high expectations for the third, but unfortunately it failed to meet them. Still, those who never got their complete fill of MK2 found some enjoyment in this one. But talk about the Capcom fighting syndrome... 7 Missing from this section: Shogun Warriors Buster (Kaneko) Knuckle Heads (Taito) Blood Warrior (Kaneko) Battle K-Road (Jaleco) Agressors of Dark Kombat (ADK) Perfect Soldiers (Irem) Power Instinct 2 (Atlus) Tekken (Namco) Darkstalkers II: Night Warriors (Capcom) Yet to be released (as of 2/8/95): Kaiser Knuckle (Taito) Double Dragon (Technos) Tattoo Assassins (Data East) Gowcaizer (Technos) Galaxy Fight (Sunsoft) Street Fighter Legends (Capcom) Fatal Fury 3: Road To the Final Battle (SNK) Dark Legends (Data East)