Preferably with justification.
I'm sure some of your lists will be much more versatile than mine, as I've only REALLY gotten into a handful of fighters, despite it being my favorite genre.
*edit*
If you're breaking your favorites down into categories, you're just being lazy. The title suggests listing your favorite fighting game characters all things considered. If you're placing a unique character into each unique consideration, you're just not willing to think about it hard enough.
I sat on this topic for months before I was able to create a top 5 for myself.
5. Soulcalibur 2: Yun Sung:
Seriously, fuck Hwang.
Ive always been a Yun Sung fan. Hwangs personality is a 2011 NeoGaf emoticon in relation to Yun Sung. His cockiness/confidence simply fits my personality more. His move set in SC2 was outstanding and he was RIDICULOUSLY fun to play in said game, despite his supposed low tier-ness.
SC2 Yun Sung was a character that put a lot of that games mechanics to great use. He had a plethora of Soul Charge LvL 1 Guard Break moves, making him very rush-down capable. Unfortunately, his biggest problem was having an extremely punishable low to start his mixups, and a somewhat slow horizontal A attack. Regardless, dedicated Yuns could route a player inexperienced against the character.
Also, Yuns B4, or Vertical ~ B, A.K.A. Wagging Tail - a move where he swings the sword at his opponent from behind his back and between his legs - was the coolest move in the game.
God, I miss Soulcalibur 2.
Notable vids:
Evo2k3 DTN (Nightmare) vs. Hayate (Yun) 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJRPwE4_Ndw
Evo2k3 DTN (Nightmare) vs. Hayate (Yun) 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JOYy_1VrPc
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee: Marth
I played this game competitively for around 6 years, and this character was my main. The irony was that I thought he was the cheapest peace of shit before I got introduced to competitive Smash. His forward smash was too godly for my scrub-like demeanor.
Plus, he kinda looked homosexual:
(not that theres anything wrong with that!).
It wasnt until 2004 that I was introduced to competitive Smash through Kens Marth. 2004s Game Over Ken vs Chillin was to a lot of the competitive Smash community what the Daigo parry video was to the general fighting game community at large.
Game Over: Ken (Marth) vs. Chillin (Fox) KEN DEFEATED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKkoF_MHQ4
While this vid doesnt have the hype of the Daigo parry vid, it had impact for a few reasons: 1. It was one of the few competitive Melee matches recorded and began getting widely circulated. 2. Ken losing was very rare at this time.
No Forward Smash spamming. He was using grabs. And there were combos that followed from these grabs. The character looked so controlled and methodical. He looked cool. After seeing that video, I decided to give the character a shot and I was instantly hooked. Just the methodical feel of his combos and swinging his sword. Once I found out about his elaborate Forward Air combos into Down Air through experimentation I was completely sold on him being my main.
More Notable Vids
Some vids of me playing Marth (and losing :3. To be fair to myself, this was my first tourney after almost a year in retirement):
SynikaL (Marth) vs. Linguini (Ganondorf) 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86RYypMAkk
SynikaL (Marth) vs. Linguini (Ganondorf) 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpFvE-_yqbc&feature=related
And of course, some Mew2King vids:
Revival of Melee M2K (Marth) vs. Shiz (Falco):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qna80MbcAAc
Here, you can find a playlist of M2K generally raping with Marth:
http://www.youtube.com/user/UsurperKingZant#p/c/1D5C5B24B4925BB3/8/GtMKFfH2h4c
3. Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Ken
Ken has always been my favorite Street Fighter character. Confident and flashy is what I'm all about. Ken feeds on your interpretation of him being arrogant. Hes probably my most favorite fighting game character overall, but because Im being specific in my choices regarding which version of each character Im choosing, 3S Ken manages to come in at # 3 on my list.
I simply loved his versatility in this game. Im all about versatility when it comes to fighting games, and Ken is the swiss-army knife of Third Strike assuming hes using his Shippu Super. With 101 different ways to hit-confirm combo into it, Ken with meter is always a threat. He does great damage even without meter due to his Target Combo and his ability to land two LP Dragon Punches in the corner or mid-screen.
Notable Vids:
Daigo vs Justin Evo 2k4 (of course):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_AnZ0k8zOs
Alex Valle vs Daigo Evo 2k6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDYANa9a-mU
3rd Strike Ken combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z-LP-6yGvg
2. Soulcalibur 2: Cervantes
He's a fucking zombie-pirate.
That shouldn't need any soaking in.
Zombie. Pirate.
Okay.
SC2 Cervantes was a fucking blender. Stupid high-damage with high mixup potential. I used to nick-name this character Half-Life because Cervantes had what was termed a Relaunch combo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LMfzJnrqW0
When Cervantes lands his Back Turned A+B on an opponent, it causes a stun that allows him to launch the opponent again and comboing them. What youre seeing here, is Cervy landing a counter hit launcher (the launcher only launches this high on Counter) running beneath the character to the other side, and landing the BT A+B. Cervantes has a 1 frame window to land this launcher because for only 1 frame, the character being comboed is considered by the game to still be in a juggle state, yet at the same time grounded.
Landing this combo consistently was very hard but very rewarding. Through a stupid amount of practice, I was able to get the combo around 75% - 80% of the time. You felt like a badass every time you landed this.
Outside this combo, SC2 was generally fun as all hell. Again, an extremely versatile character, which I love. He had great range (which was often deceptive), made great use of the Soul Charge system through myriad level 1, 2 and 3 Soul Charge Guard Breaks and Unblockables, did awesome damage and had great mixup potential. Not only that, but he had hidden Just Frames, that allowed one to put his Back Turn A+B (previously mentioned) into block strings, which set the opponent up for HUGE damage. He has an expansive moveset with a response for every situation with many natural Unblockable moves, one of them being extremely fast.
Most Notable Cervy early in the game very short competitive lifespan was Fetz. Heres a great Evolution 2k3 match with Kageh:
Fetz Vs. Kageh Evo 2k3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-fEU9jEG4
Soulcalibur 2 Cervy is largely a product of that games versatility. Namco, if you want my money when SC5 is released, make sure you look to this game for inspiration.
1. Super Smash Bros. Melee: Captain Falcon
Here he is. My most favorite fighting game character of all time. Melee Falcon embodies everything I want from not only a great fighting game character, but from a fighting game period: speed, power, combo capacity and overall: versatility.
As far as character goes: Falcon is a man's man. Falcon holds the twin suns of Tatooine in his left and right palms and holds Zeus and Chuck Norris hostage within his kneecaps. Whenever he knees an opponent, they traverse a blackhole of pain to an alternate universe where they warn themselves not to become a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee just to avoid a fight with Captain Falcon. If Captain Falcon were ever wrong about anything, he wouldn't eat crow, he'd pluck the plumage off a phoenix, swallow it whole and stick the flaming feathers in his helmet like a combustible Chief Thunder to ensure he was never wrong about anything, ever again.
Then he'd devour your universe with a right hook:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw
Mario may have been the out-of-the-box template character, but Falcon was the competitive template.
Melee Falcon could exploit just about every facet of this games impressive engine and it made him incredibly fun to play. From engine exploits, to the developers intentions, Falcon had it all. Good Wavedash? Check. Chain Grab? Check. Great tech-punish game? Check. Walljump? Double and Triple Check. Best Moon Walk in the game??
Checks across the board.
In the competitive Melee community everyone plays Falcon, and all-Falcon side tournaments/challenges are not a rare site at all in tournament venues. Not only is the character fun to play, but hes just fun to watch. Watching a Falcon main play Falcon was impressive, because you knew the player/character was doing things you/your character could only dream of. Kind of like watching Viper players in SSF4 (but not really).
Crazy combos, crazy speed, crazy confidence that took a lot of skill to realize.
Yeah, Melee Falcon was the shit.
Notable vids:
Isai was the OG Falcon in the competitive community. He was the first to realize the characters potential and after winning MOAST 3 in 2005, EVERYONE was inspired to play the character through his beating Ken (Melee champ at the time) in the most spectacular fashion:
Ken Vs. Isai MOAST Grand Finals Match 4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjZGmB2w1KQ
Darkrain was next out of the gate with Falcon. He was Isai cranked to 11 in his nascence. He was ferocious with his comboing and tech reading abilities:
Mind Reader Darkrain combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxgk2NfqOoM
Then theres Silentspectre, who was the first to bring Falcons Moonwalking capabilities to the forefront, and introduced a very unorthodox style of Falcon:
Silence Silent Specter combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vziStKcg6g
*To be Updated*
Guilty Gear: Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske and Potemkin:
Guilty Gear. I just never got a chance to get into it because I was too busy with Smash. Buy the time I was done with Melee, BlazBlue gutted the community. I can't stand anime, but I love Guilty Gear's character designs. Don't know why. Despite liking BB's gameplay, the character designs are the main barrier to my enjoyment of that series.
I'm sure some of your lists will be much more versatile than mine, as I've only REALLY gotten into a handful of fighters, despite it being my favorite genre.
*edit*
If you're breaking your favorites down into categories, you're just being lazy. The title suggests listing your favorite fighting game characters all things considered. If you're placing a unique character into each unique consideration, you're just not willing to think about it hard enough.
I sat on this topic for months before I was able to create a top 5 for myself.
5. Soulcalibur 2: Yun Sung:
Seriously, fuck Hwang.
Ive always been a Yun Sung fan. Hwangs personality is a 2011 NeoGaf emoticon in relation to Yun Sung. His cockiness/confidence simply fits my personality more. His move set in SC2 was outstanding and he was RIDICULOUSLY fun to play in said game, despite his supposed low tier-ness.
SC2 Yun Sung was a character that put a lot of that games mechanics to great use. He had a plethora of Soul Charge LvL 1 Guard Break moves, making him very rush-down capable. Unfortunately, his biggest problem was having an extremely punishable low to start his mixups, and a somewhat slow horizontal A attack. Regardless, dedicated Yuns could route a player inexperienced against the character.
Also, Yuns B4, or Vertical ~ B, A.K.A. Wagging Tail - a move where he swings the sword at his opponent from behind his back and between his legs - was the coolest move in the game.
God, I miss Soulcalibur 2.
Notable vids:
Evo2k3 DTN (Nightmare) vs. Hayate (Yun) 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJRPwE4_Ndw
Evo2k3 DTN (Nightmare) vs. Hayate (Yun) 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JOYy_1VrPc
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee: Marth
I played this game competitively for around 6 years, and this character was my main. The irony was that I thought he was the cheapest peace of shit before I got introduced to competitive Smash. His forward smash was too godly for my scrub-like demeanor.
Plus, he kinda looked homosexual:
(not that theres anything wrong with that!).
It wasnt until 2004 that I was introduced to competitive Smash through Kens Marth. 2004s Game Over Ken vs Chillin was to a lot of the competitive Smash community what the Daigo parry video was to the general fighting game community at large.
Game Over: Ken (Marth) vs. Chillin (Fox) KEN DEFEATED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKkoF_MHQ4
While this vid doesnt have the hype of the Daigo parry vid, it had impact for a few reasons: 1. It was one of the few competitive Melee matches recorded and began getting widely circulated. 2. Ken losing was very rare at this time.
No Forward Smash spamming. He was using grabs. And there were combos that followed from these grabs. The character looked so controlled and methodical. He looked cool. After seeing that video, I decided to give the character a shot and I was instantly hooked. Just the methodical feel of his combos and swinging his sword. Once I found out about his elaborate Forward Air combos into Down Air through experimentation I was completely sold on him being my main.
More Notable Vids
Some vids of me playing Marth (and losing :3. To be fair to myself, this was my first tourney after almost a year in retirement):
SynikaL (Marth) vs. Linguini (Ganondorf) 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m86RYypMAkk
SynikaL (Marth) vs. Linguini (Ganondorf) 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpFvE-_yqbc&feature=related
And of course, some Mew2King vids:
Revival of Melee M2K (Marth) vs. Shiz (Falco):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qna80MbcAAc
Here, you can find a playlist of M2K generally raping with Marth:
http://www.youtube.com/user/UsurperKingZant#p/c/1D5C5B24B4925BB3/8/GtMKFfH2h4c
3. Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Ken
Ken has always been my favorite Street Fighter character. Confident and flashy is what I'm all about. Ken feeds on your interpretation of him being arrogant. Hes probably my most favorite fighting game character overall, but because Im being specific in my choices regarding which version of each character Im choosing, 3S Ken manages to come in at # 3 on my list.
I simply loved his versatility in this game. Im all about versatility when it comes to fighting games, and Ken is the swiss-army knife of Third Strike assuming hes using his Shippu Super. With 101 different ways to hit-confirm combo into it, Ken with meter is always a threat. He does great damage even without meter due to his Target Combo and his ability to land two LP Dragon Punches in the corner or mid-screen.
Notable Vids:
Daigo vs Justin Evo 2k4 (of course):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_AnZ0k8zOs
Alex Valle vs Daigo Evo 2k6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDYANa9a-mU
3rd Strike Ken combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z-LP-6yGvg
2. Soulcalibur 2: Cervantes
He's a fucking zombie-pirate.
That shouldn't need any soaking in.
Zombie. Pirate.
Okay.
SC2 Cervantes was a fucking blender. Stupid high-damage with high mixup potential. I used to nick-name this character Half-Life because Cervantes had what was termed a Relaunch combo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LMfzJnrqW0
When Cervantes lands his Back Turned A+B on an opponent, it causes a stun that allows him to launch the opponent again and comboing them. What youre seeing here, is Cervy landing a counter hit launcher (the launcher only launches this high on Counter) running beneath the character to the other side, and landing the BT A+B. Cervantes has a 1 frame window to land this launcher because for only 1 frame, the character being comboed is considered by the game to still be in a juggle state, yet at the same time grounded.
Landing this combo consistently was very hard but very rewarding. Through a stupid amount of practice, I was able to get the combo around 75% - 80% of the time. You felt like a badass every time you landed this.
Outside this combo, SC2 was generally fun as all hell. Again, an extremely versatile character, which I love. He had great range (which was often deceptive), made great use of the Soul Charge system through myriad level 1, 2 and 3 Soul Charge Guard Breaks and Unblockables, did awesome damage and had great mixup potential. Not only that, but he had hidden Just Frames, that allowed one to put his Back Turn A+B (previously mentioned) into block strings, which set the opponent up for HUGE damage. He has an expansive moveset with a response for every situation with many natural Unblockable moves, one of them being extremely fast.
Most Notable Cervy early in the game very short competitive lifespan was Fetz. Heres a great Evolution 2k3 match with Kageh:
Fetz Vs. Kageh Evo 2k3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-fEU9jEG4
Soulcalibur 2 Cervy is largely a product of that games versatility. Namco, if you want my money when SC5 is released, make sure you look to this game for inspiration.
1. Super Smash Bros. Melee: Captain Falcon
Here he is. My most favorite fighting game character of all time. Melee Falcon embodies everything I want from not only a great fighting game character, but from a fighting game period: speed, power, combo capacity and overall: versatility.
As far as character goes: Falcon is a man's man. Falcon holds the twin suns of Tatooine in his left and right palms and holds Zeus and Chuck Norris hostage within his kneecaps. Whenever he knees an opponent, they traverse a blackhole of pain to an alternate universe where they warn themselves not to become a character in Super Smash Bros. Melee just to avoid a fight with Captain Falcon. If Captain Falcon were ever wrong about anything, he wouldn't eat crow, he'd pluck the plumage off a phoenix, swallow it whole and stick the flaming feathers in his helmet like a combustible Chief Thunder to ensure he was never wrong about anything, ever again.
Then he'd devour your universe with a right hook:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw
Mario may have been the out-of-the-box template character, but Falcon was the competitive template.
Melee Falcon could exploit just about every facet of this games impressive engine and it made him incredibly fun to play. From engine exploits, to the developers intentions, Falcon had it all. Good Wavedash? Check. Chain Grab? Check. Great tech-punish game? Check. Walljump? Double and Triple Check. Best Moon Walk in the game??
Checks across the board.
In the competitive Melee community everyone plays Falcon, and all-Falcon side tournaments/challenges are not a rare site at all in tournament venues. Not only is the character fun to play, but hes just fun to watch. Watching a Falcon main play Falcon was impressive, because you knew the player/character was doing things you/your character could only dream of. Kind of like watching Viper players in SSF4 (but not really).
Crazy combos, crazy speed, crazy confidence that took a lot of skill to realize.
Yeah, Melee Falcon was the shit.
Notable vids:
Isai was the OG Falcon in the competitive community. He was the first to realize the characters potential and after winning MOAST 3 in 2005, EVERYONE was inspired to play the character through his beating Ken (Melee champ at the time) in the most spectacular fashion:
Ken Vs. Isai MOAST Grand Finals Match 4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjZGmB2w1KQ
Darkrain was next out of the gate with Falcon. He was Isai cranked to 11 in his nascence. He was ferocious with his comboing and tech reading abilities:
Mind Reader Darkrain combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxgk2NfqOoM
Then theres Silentspectre, who was the first to bring Falcons Moonwalking capabilities to the forefront, and introduced a very unorthodox style of Falcon:
Silence Silent Specter combo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vziStKcg6g
*To be Updated*
Guilty Gear: Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske and Potemkin:
Guilty Gear. I just never got a chance to get into it because I was too busy with Smash. Buy the time I was done with Melee, BlazBlue gutted the community. I can't stand anime, but I love Guilty Gear's character designs. Don't know why. Despite liking BB's gameplay, the character designs are the main barrier to my enjoyment of that series.
