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Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - Sega Genesis and Mega Drive
I like: the gritty, moody tone, dial-a-combos, they are too scripted but at least don't take over the entire gameplay system like in other games. Arena transitions when you uppercut the enemy in some places, run button, great soundtrack and sound effects and a lot of (cool) characters to choose. Soundtrack and sound effects are also spectacular. The functions the special moves of the characters have. Of the home versions that have extra characters and secret characters unlocked, Genesis's is the best one, with better sounds, more arenas and better gameplay. Even better on the hacked 0.71 version.
Similar versions on SNES, Sega Saturn, PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
Arcade is also a good edition, and there's the balanced (by fans) version, Tournament Edition.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
KoF is my favorite fighting game series and this is my favorite one.
I like: sleek moves, neat counter-throw, unique 3 people battles, dodges and supers. Also has choice between two types of meter (Extra and Advanced). The roster is immense and memorable, music tracks are awesome. The locales are exotic and evocative and change from round to round and your teamates appear there and have reactions.... Even though this is a dream match, it has cutscenes so it doesn't feel lacking in this department. This also has some of the best versions of these characters, with the best movesets.
I like: sleek moves, neat counter-throw, unique 3 people battles, dodges and supers. Also has choice between two types of meter (Extra and Advanced). The roster is immense and memorable, music tracks are awesome. The locales are exotic and evocative and change from round to round and your teamates appear there and have reactions.... Even though this is a dream match, it has cutscenes so it doesn't feel lacking in this department. This also has some of the best versions of these characters, with the best movesets.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
The King of Fighters 2000 - NEOGEO
Much better implementation of strikers. No pre-fight special character interactions and soundtrack's just decent, though. Has the same improved graphics and sleek presentation of 99, but with a good roster and the dodge mechanic fixed. I like its style.
Also on PS2 (NESTS Collection) and GOG.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Garou: Mark of the Wolves - PlayStation 2
It has a great cast, great graphics and sound both art-wise and technical-wise. It's also stylish. Ther best-looking SNK fighter, perhaps the best-looking fighter period. It also features a dodge and a parrying system that's much better than the excessively technical implementation in SFIII and a system where some options are opened to you when your life is at a point of the bar of your choosing.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Mortal Kombat - PlayStation 3
It was really, objectively, the best MK to date. I like the idea of supers in MK (in the form of x-ray moves), but I don't like the implementation, it's too long and hurts the pacing of the matches. It's especially too long considering it's so easy to execute. Animations are also below average graphically, which is baffling considering MK had the best animations of all fighting games during the original trilogy. Apparently, it even has combo break mechanism.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
The original outstanding-looking and awesome-sounding moody arcade beast. The roster is cool and combos are fun. It even has combo breakers, it created them! It's abit too bureaucratic in these breakers though, they're too much of a hassle to pull of. It's repetitive, though.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle - NEOGEO
Great atmosphere. Kinda like AoF (zooming inlcuded) but the game's not excessively hard. It's a tag game though.
Tuff E Nuff - Super famicom and SNES
I'm not much of a fan of planes, and that's why you won't see many Fatal Fury games here. This one is an awesome game, perhaps the best FF game other than MotW (but that is almost a spinoff). Although it feels dated to me, simplistic even.
Also on PS2 and PS4 on Fatal Fury Battle Archives 2.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
The Last Blade 2 - Arcade
This has dashing, enhanced special moves and a parry system that's easy to grasp. I also think the cast is rather bland. Each character has two modes for the player to choose from: Power or Speed, which changes certain characteristics of how they play. The use of stages without music, with only ambient noise, works well in this game and helps give it personality.
Also released on the PS2.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
The King of Fighters XIII - PlayStation 3
It looks stunning, although definitely lacking in visual content compared to older KoFs (team partners in scenario background, differences in the arenas from round to round). The engine is fast, furious and faithful to how a KoF should play (not too combo-based and with short supers that don't hurt the pacing of matches). The interactions through textboxes are nice, but I'd like sprite animations too. Combo timings are very weird and tight though.
Also on Steam.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
King of Fighters 2002, The: Unlimited Match - Tougeki Ver.... - PlayStation 2
Love that this is a "Dream Match" game with 99's graphics style, great big roster, decent soundtrack and good arenas. And I also like the introduction of Super Movie Portrait Attacks. Lack of character interactions before fights and no change in the stages between rounds hurt it, IMO. Combat system also starts getting too combo-focused for a KoF game. And although combos in KoF aren't repetitive, the defending player is helpless during them. 2002UM does have great characters that 98 lacks, though.
Also on Steam.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
YūYū Hakusho: Makyō Toitsusen - Sega Genesis and Mega Drive
2 planes, possibly four characters, transitions in some stages, Desperation Moves, some characters can double jump, there are dashes and dodges.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR - PlayStation 3
I like: great tutorial mode, deep systems, the roman cancel system (I especially love the added slowdown to this iteration of it), great characters and movesets, great graphics and sounds. Burst and dead angle attack are combo break mechanisms.
I dislike: way too strict timings for inputs, unecessary clutter mechanics, excessive focus on combos and excessive hitstops. I actually prefer XX #REload, but that might be due to nostalgia. Xrd wins, in the end, due to the tutorials.
Also on Steam.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload - PC Games
It has not only dashes, also air dashes, air combos, special defenses of all kinds and also defense-breaks. Steep learning curve. It's also somewhat moody, it has sort of a grit to it that I like. Also, extreme emphasis on combos makes the game very repetitive. I don't like this combo ideology where combos are too contextual, cancelled moves that can only be cancelled on hit, it makes them too detached from the rest of the gameplay; it's like they are a mini-game shoehorned into the system. Burst and dead angle attack are combo break mechanisms.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
Eternal Champions - Sega Genesis and Mega Drive
Too hard, but with good 16-bit graphics, cool roster and arenas, cool soundtrack, nice unique special moves and the best "fatalities" ever. I also really like the visual style that sits between the cartoony of most 2D fighting games and the gritty realism of MK/KI.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
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Best but not the bestest
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Promising
I need to play 'em more to judge.
Mortal Kombat 1
I find the kameo system unappealing and a lot of stages look un-atmospheric but the gameplay seems like the best in MK to date, graphics are spectacular and the new story seems really well done. It even has combo break mechanism (sadly tied to bar, though).
Guilty Gear Strive
It's streamlined, seems like it has a more elegant gameplay design, more intuititve but not less complex. It also has stage transitions.
Killer Instinct - PC Games
Although I prefer the old artstyle. But I like the gameplay style and the tutorials seem awesome. It even has a system that analyses the player's playstyle and turns into an AI, and a mode where players can fight offline against other players AIs. Combos seem to add repetitiveness, though. Has combo breaker, at least.
Also on X-Box One.
Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] - PlayStation 4
Groove on Fight - Arcade
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - PlayStation 3
Visual novel story with choices and branching paths. The fighting system is good too, graphics are amazing. And there's a button that makes a different thing per character. I just think the inputs being simply light, medium and heavy is way too vague and confusing. Its tone also has some grit that I like.
Also on Steam.
The King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match - PlayStation 2
I've played it a bit but need to play more. It's nice to have all the new characters. Also on Steam.
Paulo Júnior's rating:
X-Men vs. Street Fighter - Arcade
The sequels got too crazy for me. I like the verticality in this and how any special move can be made in the air.
Also on Saturn.
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I love 2D fighting games. I also suck at them. Nevertheless, I like their dashing pixel art and how modern they can feel.
To understand this, it's probably better to explain my personal preferences. I like games that feel fast, that have dashes to close in on the opponent. I also enjoy flashy super moves, but not if they're so long that they hurt the pacing of matches. I also prefer them to not be too cinematic that they feel detached from the rest of the gameplay (that unfortunately has become the norm nowadayas). I like big rosters, I won't play with most of them but I'll at least get to fight against varied opponents. I like games that give personality to the characters through means of character interactions pre-fights and such (SNK is king at that). Of course I like good graphics, good soundtrack. I also for some reason like dodges, air defense and throw-escaping/teching in games. They make games feel modern and bold, along with things like air dashes. Stage transitions be it from one stage to another (UMK) or changes inbetween rounds (KoF98) are nice, too. I prefer games that don't feel repetitive, so I prefer games less combo-based, because combos are usually pretty boring chaining of similar-looking, similar-feeling normals (GG) and that means I prefer melee-based fighting games, cause white weapons-based ones are even more repetitive. A combo break mechanism is appreciated. I also like special moves with unique properties such as a weird hitbox pattern or, better yet, an effect like the ones in MK (freezing, pulling, etc). A good story is desired but neither required nor expected. A story mode, however, is a must. And in old games where arcade is the story mode, each character having a unique ending is a plus. I also don't like overly convoluted systems. That doesn't mean I like simplicity, cause I definitely don't. I like complex but elegant systems, intuitive systems, systems that are deep, which means easy to get and hard to master. Atmosphere is also something I love and need.
The order is defined by which games I think are most interesting to play with someone else in what I believe to be the optimal way to play this type of game: local multiplayer.
To understand this, it's probably better to explain my personal preferences. I like games that feel fast, that have dashes to close in on the opponent. I also enjoy flashy super moves, but not if they're so long that they hurt the pacing of matches. I also prefer them to not be too cinematic that they feel detached from the rest of the gameplay (that unfortunately has become the norm nowadayas). I like big rosters, I won't play with most of them but I'll at least get to fight against varied opponents. I like games that give personality to the characters through means of character interactions pre-fights and such (SNK is king at that). Of course I like good graphics, good soundtrack. I also for some reason like dodges, air defense and throw-escaping/teching in games. They make games feel modern and bold, along with things like air dashes. Stage transitions be it from one stage to another (UMK) or changes inbetween rounds (KoF98) are nice, too. I prefer games that don't feel repetitive, so I prefer games less combo-based, because combos are usually pretty boring chaining of similar-looking, similar-feeling normals (GG) and that means I prefer melee-based fighting games, cause white weapons-based ones are even more repetitive. A combo break mechanism is appreciated. I also like special moves with unique properties such as a weird hitbox pattern or, better yet, an effect like the ones in MK (freezing, pulling, etc). A good story is desired but neither required nor expected. A story mode, however, is a must. And in old games where arcade is the story mode, each character having a unique ending is a plus. I also don't like overly convoluted systems. That doesn't mean I like simplicity, cause I definitely don't. I like complex but elegant systems, intuitive systems, systems that are deep, which means easy to get and hard to master. Atmosphere is also something I love and need.
The order is defined by which games I think are most interesting to play with someone else in what I believe to be the optimal way to play this type of game: local multiplayer.