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Fighting Games of the 1990's: Is there a King?
Kubinator
June 4, 2010
The 1990's was a decade packed full of great video games. But the 1990's was when fighting games became a contender. For most gamers, their earliest memories are of two of the most recognizable games--Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. I was a Mortal Kombat junkie throughout the 1990s', but I played a fair amount of other fighting games in the arcades and at home--Mortal Kombat 2 and3, Street Fighter Alpha, and Super Street Fighter II, Soul Calibur, Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, Marvel vs. Capcom, Darkstalkers, Killer Instinct, and of course, Tekken.
In the way of the Street Fighter series, Street Fighter II sticks out the most in my mind. I remember walking into a local pizza place and. . .forget
about the dynamite pizza!!!!!! I was fascinated with a game that had a joystick with six directional movement and six buttons. There was a huge crowd
around the cabinet, young and old, shoving their way to the front. I was never great at any of the Street Fighter games. I preferred the Mortal Kombat
setup for executing special moves. But as an occasional Street Fighter player, I have to say Blanka and Ryu were my two favorite characters. Throughout
the 1990's Street Fighter saw quite a few releases of II, Hyper, Championship, and Turbo; gamers also got to break in their thumbs with the Alpha
series and Street Fighter III. That said, I think the worst of the series was either Street Fighter: The Movie or the overhyped Street Fighter EX.
The Mortal Kombat series was another big player in the mid-1990's. Although many gamers still consider Mortal Kombat 4 a rough patch, Mortal Kombat 2 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 were great games. I wasted so many hours as Scorpion on the Genesis/Arcade; I just couldn't go wrong with buckets of blood while battling my friends and strangers. I actually consider myself a decent Mortal Kombat player, even today. The first Mortal Kombat was a good start for the series but gamers owe the success of the Mortal Kombat franchise to the second installment. Mortal Kombat 2 was the game that opened the floodgate of financial success for Midway. But with success came the critics who began to question the amount of violence needed in video games.
SNK had a plethora of games in the 1990's, including Fatal Fury, Samurai Showdown, King of Fighters and the Art of Fighting. Fatal Fury pioneered the
idea of fighting on two planes and dodging attacks by moving into the background. At the time, King of Fighters was a standout because of its use of
multiple characters and player-selected teams! Samurai Showdown was one of the first games I played that featured weapons. Most of the SNK games were
much better in the arcade than most of their console ports. SNES ports just didn't do the SNK games justice. If you can't find the games in older
arcades or pizza joints shoot for the Neo-Geo or Dreamcast ports.
Darkstalkers was Capcom's other mid-90's success story. Who knew a game with such odd characters could be that much fun? Even today, Felicia, Rikuo, or Lord Raptor are a blast to play with. The game was first introduced in the arcades in 1994 and was ported to the PSX in 1996; the next few sequels went to the Saturn and PSX. Surprisingly the games are better to play on the Saturn, due in part to the 4MB memory expansion option.
The award for the "best crossover game" of the 1990's goes to Marvel vs. Capcom. However, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and X-men vs. Street Fighter all deserve mention and again, like Darkstalkers they play better on the Saturn because of the memory boost. Marvel vs. Capcom had an extensive roster with the perfect setup with the Duo Team Attack, which let gamers control two characters on the screen for a limited time. Personally, I have to recommend the Dreamcast version of Marvel vs. Capcom as it is a near perfect port. Of course, over time Marvel vs. Capcom will be remembered for giving gamers Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
As hardware became more powerful in the late 1990's, we saw many 3D fighters in games like Tekken, Soul Calibur, Virtual Fighter, and Dead or Alive. The Tekken series and Soul Calibur are the two games I feel had the greatest impact on 3D fighters. Tekken took what Virtual Fighter did and made it bigger and better. Soul Calibur was the kind of game that included an interesting single player game, a great deal of customization and a distinct character cast. I still love that game today and swear by the Dreamcast port.
The list of fighting games from the 1990's is long and for most gamers, full of fantastic memories of wasted weekends and afternoons. I could go on for hours about SNK games or Capcom's oddball fighting games. I forgot to mention games like Eternal Champions, Clay Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes, World Heroes, Gem Fighter, Rival Schools! The list is never-ending. But despite my love of Mortal Kombat, the award for the greatest fighting game of the 1990's comes down to two games--Street Fighter II and Soul Calibur. Street Fighter 2 is deserving of the award for making a fighting-game formula that made the genre popular and influenced the way other fighting games are made. Soul Calibur receives the award for making the single player story line in fighting games interesting, showing the depth fighting games can have, and finally, as an example of a near perfect arcade port. Even today some gamers still say the Dreamcast version is better than what the arcade offers.
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