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[Creaking]

For real, I'd love to see some kind of behind the scenes stuff covering the process of making those SNK stages.

 

[Sinatar]

Is there a way to play this game with gaf online? I miss it. It's such a pretty game.

Fightcade

 

[Grisby]

Don't have pics but I really liked Kokoro's stage from DOA5, the cherry blossom one.

Also, Killer Instinct has got some great levels. Hisako, Orchids, and Tj Combo's train deal come to mind. They have a real strong sense of personality (you could say that about KI as a whole I suppose).

 

[kogasu]

Its exclusion for Smash 4 on Wii U is saddening.

Yup! One of my favorites!

 

[Zee-Row]

I was always a fan of this one in KOF95

 

[Tangled Up in Blue]

Gotta love mid/late 90s SNK

 

[Bishop89]

Grass field level from Street Fighter Alpha 2.

This is my vote.

Most sfa2 stages were great though

 

[D.Lo]

SNK dominates this category.

I love SamSho4's stages, MOTW, Real Bout Special, Last Blade, and KOF 97-2000.

Capcom had some good ones but only in certain games. Zero 2 and 3 and 2I and CVS1 had some very 'SNK' like backgrounds.

Nothing has impressed me in 3D games for a while. Early 3D fighters had very barren stages. Dead or Alive 2 was very impressive when it was first out. Now they seem to be garish and poorly done in every 3D graphics fighter.

 

[Darknight]

MK has a bunch.

 

[kagamin]

The burning opera house in Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate:

 

[KdylanR92]

SNK always brings it.

I wish I could have this as my computer wallpaper with all the effects

 

[oneida]

Neo Geo thread? Neo Geo thread.

I like Kizuna Encounter a lot. Unfortunately, all the pictures I found were made for ants...

these are terrific

 

[SarusGray]

tekken 1 my faves.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

SNK always brings it.

Should have been the first post.

 

[Mr. Smiley]

WHENS FETUS OF GOD




RIGHT NOW

needs more gif

 

[Gleethor]

The Smash ones all look very sanitized, corporate and use direct references without fleshing them (e.g. Billy hanging out with his GF which he stole from Joe).

It's like the business suits from Mirror's Edge universe greenlit them.

Honestly dude I've got no idea what the hell youre talking about.

 

[Aztechnology]

 

[petghost]

WHENS FETUS OF GOD




RIGHT NOW

its a weird one cuz nobody can play on it iirc. think its banned due to being a different length than the rest of the stages. looks rad though.

 

[Maou]

Grass field level from Street Fighter Alpha 2.

This is my vote.

Most sfa2 stages were great though

Impeccable taste, both of you. Zero 2's stages are so gorgeous. Ryu's snowy stage is one of the all-time greats, mentioned above, and while the Australian thunderstorm field stage is almost unplayable since you can never see anything, it's a magnificent setting, straight out of the animated movie. Less dramatic, but I'd add Sakura's stage as one of the greats, oddly enough because it's so mundane yet evocative of home...it's a very normal neighborhood, yet a vivid design.

Rose's stages are a delight in both Zero 2 and 3.

Rolento's nutty "sexy Lady Liberty" stage is great as a high-concept stage, a repurposing of the classic rising platform elevator scene common to so many beat-em-ups like Final Fight.

 

[TheSeks]

KoF 99: Park

That's a park!? I thought it was a mansion/house.

In any case, what's amazing about that in KoF99 is that it transforms over the rounds.

It starts off sunny/rainy/cloudy after.

 

[Raitaro]

needs more gif

This one is absolutely fantastic indeed. Fits the tone of the game perfectly. As great are the SNK ones shown so far, Garou's especially.

I've always been a big fan of any stage that is set on a moving train or boat. If I could post a gif of it, I'd show Terry's train stage from Garou. It has a sun setting in round 1 and it even stops at a station in round 2 so you get two stages for the price of one!

I've also always been a fan of most Street Fighter 3: New Generation's stages, Sean's Christmas in NY one, Alex' Alley and Ryu/Ken's two part Onsen at Mt. Fuji stages in particular. 3rd Strike's stages have also grown on me despite most of them being very still or even lifeless/pre-rendered compared to NG's. Necro/Twelve's Russia stage, Urien's Mexican ruins, Chun-li's Chinese market and Akuma's moonlit shrine stage are ones that come to mind instantly.

Stages that I also really like but rarely hear anyone mention, are the ones in Capcom's Cyberbots. They are cool because they really show the size of the mechs as well as their power by featuring quite a bit of destructability (like skyscrapers toppling over when you get hit next to them). Some of them also take place in space or under water I believe, which is always cool.

Wish I could post pics of all of these but I can't (easily at least) due to device I'm on. If anyone can add a few, I'd be grateful.

On a final note, I have to agree with some of you that not many stages of polygonal 2D fighting games can measure up to those of the classic sprite-based games. Something seems to have gone lost with that transition. SFV's stages have been better than IV's though. I like them enough at least to keep wanting to have more of them and to see them implement more stage transitions into them (since only Bustling Side Street currently seems to have them). Apparently a Malaysian studio helped create them, and they did the Kanzuki one (see the dedicated thread). Speaking of IV, finally, a guilty pleasure of mine is the dinosaur stage, not because it looks great, but because it's so exotic for a SF game (as lifted from SFxT). The skyscraper under construction stage from IV is my actual favorite of that game by the way,

Edit:

Less dramatic, but I'd add Sakura's stage as one of the greats, oddly enough because it's so mundane yet evocative of home...it's a very normal neighborhood, yet a vivid design.

I've always liked this one as well (as I do most of Alpha 2's stages by the way). What I found especially cool about it, is that you can interpret the boy in the house to be controlling Sakura on the CPU side. Just watch how he'll stop using his controller whenever you defeat her and will then start looking at our screen in frustration. Cool touch, even if not intended!

 

[Dart]

OMG saw the title & before even clicking on thread, was thinking Moonlight wilderness! Great job OP

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

The best stage in all of Smash:

 

[supernormal]

Came in here thinking I would see a bunch of modern 3D stages. Left with new found knowledge on how much modern 3D sucks compared to godly sprite work.

 

[Renekton]

Honestly dude I've got no idea what the hell youre talking about.

Smash stages linked here look soulless.

 

[darkwing-buck]

The best stage in all of Smash:

My man.

 

[KAOS]

Fantastic stages! SNK of yester year where art thou!?!

 

[Via Purifico]

On mobile so can't link properly but TTTs interpretations of the T3 stages.

Honorable mentions being King's stage, (dat waterfall with the rainbow), Lei's Stage,Yoshimitsu and Ogres stage.

The music on Ogres stage hands down sells the stage and the mood it's trying to evoke.

 

[Choppasmith]

I like the New Zealand stage in Street Fighter V because of how the sheep in the background fall over when there's a big hit.

Wait what? There's a New Zealand stage in V? Got a good screenshot/video? I was beginning to think KoF 2003 would be the only fighting game to ever have a New Zealand stage.

 

[AgentOtaku]

love this thread (^_____^)

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Even though this thread has been done before, I still love it. 2D fighters in the 90s just had such incredible art.

This might be my favorite:

That, to me at least, symbolizes Japanese gaming during that era. Which I know sounds weird. The lights, the reflections in the water, the crowd activity -- it's all perfect.


Also love this one from Last Blade:

 

[EatinOlives]

Does anyone else mourn the fact that most fighting games today, especially street fighter, don't have a stage per character? I know it's because stages today are pretty elaborate and it's not cost to effective to have those stages, but to me a character's... well, character... is his or her stage and accompanying theme song. Playing the CPU means traveling to each character's "home" and getting a glimpse of them and their character. Having characters with no stage to me feels like having half-finished characters.

 

[Heretic Kazuma]

Everyone has posted a lot of the greats, so I'll just place this here.

This stage gave me the same feeling as many of those 16-bit SNK stages. My jaw dropped the first time I saw the roses being kicked up when players dash through the garden, along with the more artistic angle/modeling of the castle elements. I never thought that those weird angles/FOVs could be replicated in 3D models.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Does anyone else mourn the fact that most fighting games today, especially street fighter, don't have a stage per character? I know it's because stages today are pretty elaborate and it's not cost to effective to have those stages, but to me a character's... well, character... is his or her stage and accompanying theme song. Playing the CPU means traveling to each character's "home" and getting a glimpse of them and their character. Having characters with no stage to me feels like having half-finished characters.

Absolutely. It makes it feel like a distinct place rather than a generic arena.

 

[Speedwagon]

The Smash 3DS exclusive stages are my favorite.

 

[kraspkibble]

Soul Blade (PS1). I loved that game.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Basically anything from Killer Instinct 2013. Some of the most detailed 3D backgrounds you'll see in any fighting game. Stills just don't do them justice.

But I also love these classics

 

[AnnTiPa]

This. 4 players + super sudden death + 99 lives + Poke Floats = hours of fun.

 

[Raitaro]

Does anyone else mourn the fact that most fighting games today, especially street fighter, don't have a stage per character? I know it's because stages today are pretty elaborate and it's not cost to effective to have those stages, but to me a character's... well, character... is his or her stage and accompanying theme song. Playing the CPU means traveling to each character's "home" and getting a glimpse of them and their character. Having characters with no stage to me feels like having half-finished characters.

Yes, almost daily. I'm not even exaggerating that much actually. I never understood fighting game fans that see them as distractions at best, and who would easily trade them in for more characters, modes or even better online functionality.

To me the sense of value and polish of a fighting game increases tenfold if each character can call his or her own stage home, or at bare minimum gets to share a stage with another character (like in 3rd Strike, where each of them "lives" in a different variant of the stage). Like you said, having a stage helps greatly with establishing a character's personality and background (far more than forgettable story modes using anime or stills do!) and to make the world where the fighting is taking place feel more fleshed out and connected.

SF in particular should not have given this trend up as it always had a strong "travel the world to fight opponents on their home turf" feel that is now partially ruined. In SFIV and V (so far, though we might get stage DLC) what bothers me the most is that not even all of the newcomers got their own stage, making them far less memorable to me. And V's broken promise to include stage transitions for all stages (and not just the first they unveiled, i.e. Bustling Side Street) also still stings to be honest, as I was really looking forward to which side areas other stages would be getting (especially since many of them already have quite detailedly modelled sections on their edges already).

We can now add KI to the "stage-ly challenged" pile as well by the way - they just made clear that season 3 will only get 3 new stages...which is even more of a bummer considering how good some of the older stages are.

 

[mr_sockochris]

Not my favourite stage in terms of looks for music but as a teenager this used to blow my mind when it would zoom out when the fighters moved apart.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Darkstalkers and a bunch of SNK games already mentioned, what else to say...

Oh yeah, TvC has really good stages, but the one that stands out is Orbital Ring Systems Cargo Bay (based from Tekkaman Blade)

too bad there's no clear shot of it but it's the best stage of the series due to the action and music in the background

it's the first one on the third row

 

[Gleethor]

Let's get some MK love in here

Also more of those soulless, corporate Smash stages!

 

[King Kovu]

 

[Evilisk]

Happy to see Fetus of God already posted

Touhou 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo has some cool new stages (though the older stages are a lot more sparse since they lost the character sprites)

Kourindou

Shining Needle Castle

The

Spoiler

Outside World

stage is also cool in terms of story (it's admittedly not really a looker though)

Don't really feel like posting what I've posted in other fighting game stage threads but Red Earth has some great stages as well

 

[plasmawave]

I like pretty much everything from Darkstalkers.

 

[Raitaro]

I like pretty much everything from Darkstalkers.

Who doesn't? And not just the stages either - everything.

And yet, Capcom refuses to make true on their promise that this IP is not dead...

 

[KiteGr]

Looks like this thread will be taken over by SNK (the good and old SNK).
I can't find an animated gif of France from KoF12. (or ANY of the HD ones for that mater...)

without Athena.

With Athena.

EDIT: Why did 4 out of 5 of my images shrink?

 

[alienator]

since were talkin fighting stages.. nothing special really , but that stage always has me wondering.. from tekken:

what struck me is the clock on the hill with flowers, because the stage itself is downright stereotype 'this is holland'-stuff

but that clock on the hill ...

during summer:

It could be pure coincidence, or me wanting to believe the tekken team visite it here.

why so special? because i live practically next to it, and it always made me wonder!@!

 

[Mupod]

SNK always brings it.

well shit that's what I came here to post.

just look at it goddamn

 

[GinoFelino]

As someone who only really got into fighting games with the Third Strike PSN reissue....

Holy shit, those SNK stages are GORGEOUS. I never knew.

Up there with the best sprite work I've ever seen.

Thanks for introducing me to it!