Support NeoGAF

[nickgia]

It's obviously Soulcalibur II's Weapon Master Mode.

It has an interesting setup if you're willing to read the text before the fight, with a ton of weapon unlocks. I put hours into this mode as a kid (almost always as Link). Different scenarios made me think about the SC2 mechanics and made me think critically about how to win some battles.

What other fighting games have good single player modes? What makes a good single player fighting game?

 

[Izuna]

Soul Calibur

Virtua Fighter 4 (and 5)

 

[secretanchitman]

It's obviously Soulcalibur II's Weapon Master Mode.

It has an interesting setup if you're willing to read the text before the fight, with a ton of weapon unlocks. I put a hours into this mode as a kid (almost always as Link). Different scenarios made me think about the SC2 mechanics and made me think critically about how to win some battles.

What other fighting games have good single player modes? What makes a good single player fighting game?

Definitely Weapon Master mode from SCII. It's easily the best single player mode in a fighting game I've ever played.

 

[L Thammy]

One Must Fall 2097 is also in the running.

So is Street Fighter Alpha 3.

 

[Your Entertainer]

Soul calibur 2 as above

Also Tekken 5 and 6 iirc are packed w content

And DBZ games like budokai 2 and 3

 

[JusDoIt]

No fighting games have good single player modes.

 

[Luminaire]

I liked Soul Calibur 3's RTS-ish mode. Was a lot of fun with a group of chars from other games. I also liked the Diablo-esque mode in Ehrgeiz.

 

[Nekster]

Super Smash Bros

 

[FiveSide]

I remember Bushido Blade had a great campaign (or w/e it's called in fighting-game lingo, story mode i guess?)

I really wish a dev would do a 1:1 spiritual successor to Bushido Blade, with methodical weapon combat and realistic injury mechanics.

Such a fantastic game, probably my favorite fighting game that isn't Last Blade 2, Tatsunoko v. Capcom, or on the Sega Saturn.

 

[Creaking]

Gonna go with SoulCalibur III with the Chronicles of the Sword and Tales of Souls one-two punch. Not to mention all the smaller bonus modes.


That series deserved better.

 

[Numb]

Super Smash Bros

They said fighting game

 

[WrenchNinja]

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series

Specifically 2

 

[Mozendo]

Soul Calibur 3's custom character single player campaign, Tales of the blade or something was really damn fun.

I really miss Soul Calibur ;__;
Bring back Talim

 

[RedZaraki]

Flying Dragon - N64. Kid Mode.

 

[vala]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Super Story Mode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBT61Gx2RMA

 

[deadscreensky]

Killer Instinct, by a fair margin. It's like a strategic boardgame (kind of Pandemic-y) mixed with the character customization of SFA3 mixed with the user-derived AI opponents from Virtua Fighter 5 (though way smarter and more diverse).

 

[Numb]

Killer Instinct, by a fair margin. It's like a strategic boardgame mixed with the character customization of SFA3 mixed with the user-derived AI opponents from Virtua Fighter 5.

KI took extra steps in largely ignored areas by fighters nowadays

 

[Oneself]

I remember Bushido Blade had a great campaign (or w/e it's called in fighting-game lingo, story mode i guess?)

I really wish a dev would do a 1:1 spiritual successor to Bushido Blade, with methodical weapon combat and realistic injury mechanics.

Such a fantastic game, probably my favorite fighting game that isn't Last Blade 2, Tatsunoko v. Capcom, or on the Sega Saturn.

Yeah, Bushido Blade was stellar and had such an original take on the genre. I miss that time in gaming, also its overall ambiance was surreal and somewhat dark.

 

[Cartman86]

Mortal Kombat or Injustice if you are talking about a narrative experience and Soul Calibur, Tekken 3, and Smash Brawl for unlocks. Though you could argue Tekken 3 has an amazing narrative.

 

[deadscreensky]

KI took extra steps in largely ignored areas by fighters nowadays

Definitely. More people should really give it a chance.

Which is easy, because it's free to play. (Though I'd be lying if I didn't recommend everybody buy a season or two.) Like you suggest, KI is probably the most progressive and forward-thinking fighting game nowadays.

And while I was talking entirely about the Shadow Lords mode, you also get other awesome single player content like a survival mode against player-derived AIs, or the ability to train your own bot to fight against other people, or the fantastic tutorial. It even has a fairly solid arcade mode.

 

[osnameless]

Story-wise, it is MK9.

Modes-wide, I'd have to go with Budokai Tenchkai 3

 

[NoKisum]

They said fighting game

Heh, this didn't take long.

 

[DataBased]

Killer Instinct, by a fair margin. It's like a strategic boardgame (kind of Pandemic-y) mixed with the character customization of SFA3 mixed with the user-derived AI opponents from Virtua Fighter 5 (though way smarter and more diverse).

I was going to agree with the OP and say SC II, But I forgot about that cool mode in KI! Such a fun blend of two genres.

 

[Strangelove77]

MK9 as far as story mode.
Virtual Fighter 4 as far as non-story single player.

And I actually really liked Ehrgeiz's Quest Mode as far as being a really good and absolutely different mode from the main game. It's not even the same genre.

I bet it's aged terribly.

 

[Synth]

Still Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution imo.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

They said fighting game

They also said best single player mode lol

 

[rackham]

Mortal Kombat 9 story mode

 

[dancingphlower]

Weapon Master mode was indeed great. I really enjoy the cinematic story modes in the Netherrealm games post-MK9, they aren't great stories in terms of writing but the presentation is always great and the situations are fun. Injustice 2 is the pinnacle in that regard. Speaking of Injustice 2, I think having the loot system adds a great element to keeping single player gamers invested.

 

[Hubbl3]

Ergheiz

The fighting part is meh, but the single-player dungeon crawler mode is fun as hell. It's almost like a proper action-RPG

 

[Numb]

Definitely. More people should really give it a chance.

Which is easy, because it's free to play. (Though I'd be lying if I didn't recommend everybody buy a season or two.) Like you suggest, KI is probably the most progressive and forward-thinking fighting game nowadays.

And while I was talking entirely about the Shadow Lords mode, you also get other awesome single player content like a survival mode against player-derived AIs, or the ability to train your own bot to fight against other people, or the fantastic tutorial. It even has a fairly solid arcade mode.

People didn't even ask for alot of the things that make it so great

Heh, this didn't take long.

I like Smash
The 200hrs I put into 4 didn't come from single player tho

 

[kunonabi]

Tobal 2 and the japanese releases of the rival schools games were pretty damn solid.

 

[inner-G]

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series

Specifically 2

Easily this

I don't think there are many SP fighting game modes that can hold a candle to the NUNS games

 

[QisTopTier]

Soul Calibur 2
Street Fighter alpha 3
Dragon Ball Xenoverse stuff
Naruto Ultimate ninja strom games
MK9 and up NRS games
Any of the later BB games with Abyss mode
GGXrd Rev2 M.o.M mode



Lots of fun single player casual stuff in fighters it's mostly Tekken/SF/KOF/MVC that are lacking in single player stuff outside basic vs cpu stuff or the hit it and quit it basic story modes

 

[lucebuce12]

Killer Instinct, by a fair margin. It's like a strategic boardgame (kind of Pandemic-y) mixed with the character customization of SFA3 mixed with the user-derived AI opponents from Virtua Fighter 5 (though way smarter and more diverse).

Definitely. More people should really give it a chance.

Which is easy, because it's free to play. (Though I'd be lying if I didn't recommend everybody buy a season or two.) Like you suggest, KI is probably the most progressive and forward-thinking fighting game nowadays.

And while I was talking entirely about the Shadow Lords mode, you also get other awesome single player content like a survival mode against player-derived AIs, or the ability to train your own bot to fight against other people, or the fantastic tutorial. It even has a fairly solid arcade mode.

I don't know man, I think Killer Instinct is a great game but that Shadow Lords mode got really really repetitive after a while.

 

[Zolbrod]

Both PSP Dissidia games, hands-down, no contest.

In fact, it's the versus modes that kind of suck in those games.

 

[Numb]

Soul Calibur 2
Street Fighter alpha 3
Dragon Ball Xenoverse stuff
Naruto Ultimate ninja strom games
MK9 and up NRS games
Any of the later BB games with Abyss mode
GGXrd Rev2 M.o.M mode



Lots of fun single player stuff in fighters

Alpha 3 literally has a wall shit to do at the menu

 

[Aske]

Absolutely SC3. That custom character adventure mode was absurdly fun, and I even remember the story being good. I would love to see it come back.

MK9 has the best straight-up story mode though. It's so good that I'd love NRS to give it a graphical overhaul and re-release it on current systems.

Honourable mention to Alpha 3 too.

 

[Forward]

Tobal 2 and the japanese releases of the rival schools games were pretty damn solid.

I was going to say Tobal 2.

I never played it, obviously, but GameFan showed enough of it that I drooled back in the day. What a shame we never got it.

 

[QisTopTier]

Alpha 3 literally has a wall shit to do at the menu

Yeah it was freaking amazing back in the day, BBCF actually has almost as much shit in it these days for people to fiddle around with. The single player "rpg" mode is pretty nice

A tweaked mode for Central Fiction is Grim of Abyss, this is similar to Abyss of previous games where you fight numerous opponents descending levels as you land hits on your opponent. Roughly defeating each opponent takes you down 10 levels (unless you finish with your astral finish then you fly down) and every 20 levels is a sub boss. As you complete whole stages you level up your character and that's your character in general as all 30 odd characters level up together rather than having to complete each stage with each character. Now in Grim of Abyss you have Grimoires which give your character massive stat boosts, these are unlocked slowly as you beat sub bosses and bosses. You also unlock skills which you equip to your Grimoires giving you special abilities such as health regeneration and increased projectile damage. Each stage is 100 levels deep and there are 8 in total plus a boss rush which you complete slowly to unlock the 8 stages. The boss rush works a bit differently as you can start from where you left off, you don't actually need to treat it like a boss rush at all more a collection of one on one fights with bosses. Once you have beaten a stage it's beaten with all characters which is a change from previous games Abyss mode.

Among other things, so I like that they actually been putting effort into single player stuff like 30 hour long visual novels in the BB games or Basically a season of Anime in the Xrd games

Edit: People are always gonna overlook ASW stuff though even though they have been pumping their games full of fun single player stuff since GGX2 on ps2 *Mission mode and survival were the shit*

 

[Z..]

Definitely. More people should really give it a chance.

Which is easy, because it's free to play. (Though I'd be lying if I didn't recommend everybody buy a season or two.) Like you suggest, KI is probably the most progressive and forward-thinking fighting game nowadays.

I certainly will give it a chance as soon as I can. My current rig can't handle it and I have no reason whatsoever to own a Xbone so for the moment it's in the backburner but it does look stellar!

 

[LaNaranja]

Mortal Kombat 9 and it isn't even close. The unmatched spectacular story, the challenge tower, and the arcade mode with both vanilla and tag varieties. Nothing else has come even remotely close (not even NetherRealm's other games) and it bums me out.

Edit: I guess Smash Bros Brawl and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 are also fighting games with a ton of content. I was thinking traditional 1v1 games.

 

[Platy]

Soul Calibur 2

Honorable mention : break the targets

 

[RustyNails]

MK4

 

[lucebuce12]

MK4

The video is better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNkRvcUn6VM

 

[Raptomex]

Super Smash Bros

They said fighting game

What's your point? It's arguably the best fighting series. You fight, it's easy to pick up and play, hard to master, single player, multiplayer, it's got it all. And, yes, this is my pick. I've invested more time in single player in this series than any other. I would also throw up SF Alpha 3.

 

[nickgia]

Super Smash Bros

Adventure mode and event mode in Melee is my jam.

God, I'm such a Gamecube stan.

 

[Drillary Clinton]

MK9 and X have great story modes. Injustice's looks pretty good too.

 

[FreeMufasa]

 

[vulva]

What's your point? It's arguably the best fighting series. You fight, it's easy to pick up and play, hard to master, single player, multiplayer, it's got it all. And, yes, this is my pick. I've invested more time in single player in this series than any other. I would also throw up SF Alpha 3.

Ya but it's not a fighting game

 

[dippa]

OMF2097 or Sango Fighter for retro games, MK9 (not X) and Dragon Ball Xenoverse in the modern era.

The third Naruto Shippuden Burst Extra Ice Cream Truck (I can't remember all the specifics) game is actually quite good if you enjoyed the anime. It's like watching an episode, but the filler is replaced by a competent 3D fighter. Should be super cheap on Steam these days.