I have a long off-and-on history with the fighting game genre, dating back to the halcyon days of its arcade dominance in the early-to-mid 90's. One thing that has always drawn me to the genre is its strong focus on distinct characters and the application of their unique abilities. Tons of iconic characters have been spawned by the various fighting game series that remain popular to this very day, after dozens of sequels, iterations, and reboots.
Looking back over the past few decades of one-off fighting games, enduring series, crossover titles with licensed characters... etc., there is a staggering number of characters who call this genre home. I'd like to hear about all of your favorites from each of the games or series that you've enjoyed over the years. I'm especially looking forward to being reminded of some of the more obscure characters from games past that have slipped my mind.
I'll start us off with some of mine to give us sort of a template to work off of. Let's try to segment our favorite characters by series, preferably narrowing down our top pick to only one or two per series. Maybe at the end of this thread we can comb through it and see if there's any sort of meaningful throughline with regard to the types of character designs that appeal to players.
Mortal Kombat series - Reptile
While time (and the MK team) have not always been kind to Reptile over the years (thanks to some horrible redesigns along the way), Reptile has been my favorite MK character ever since his appearance in MK1 as a secret character. My love for Reptile began when a friend of mine showed me how to find him in the SNES release of MK1. I was young at the time, and this was the first time I'd come across a hidden character in a video game. The MK games back in their arcade heyday were amazing at inciting discussion about secrets, hidden characters and moves, and an assortment of rumors that would eventually prove to be false before being implemented by the MK team in future games (e.g. animalities, brutalities... etc.). I adored all of the mystery and gossip that surrounded the MK games and that whole scene in the 90's, and Reptile was an early embodiment of that attribute of the series.
The fact that he was my favorite color (green), the way he'd he would pop up at random times and give cryptic clues, his lair being the bottom of The Pit, him having the moves of both Scorpion and Sub-Zero... it was all just too cool for my five-year-old mind. He became even better in MK2 and beyond when they made him a playable character and fleshed him out with his own backstory and moveset that reflected his secret, reptilian nature.
Street Fighter mainline series - Akuma
When Akuma made his debut in SF2: Turbo, I had a similar reaction toward him as I did to Reptile. Here again we had a hidden AI character who was a palette-swap of sorts of the two most iconic characters in the game (Ryu/Ken) only with an overpowered moveset and more badass attitude. Much like Reptile in MK1, Akuma was no joke when you managed to unlock the fight against him, and that just drove home how cool/powerful he was compared to the rest of the cast. As he's been fleshed out throughout every other iteration of the mainline SF games over the years, I have continued to appreciate the flashy, glass-cannon character that he's become. He still sports the intimidating look that made him stand out to begin with, and trademark abilities like his air fireballs and Raging Demon make him a unique, iconic character all his own.
Tekken Series series - Bryan
I've never played the Tekken games seriously, but I have dabbled a little in all of the mainline entries. Over the years the Tekken roster has grown to be absolutely humongous, but in every new iteration I find myself favoring Bryan among my shifting roster of preferred characters. I'm not entirely sure what it is about his design or moveset that appeals to me so much, but there is just something deliciously brutal about the way he looks and is animated. He seems to throw everything with very bad intentions. All of his attacks carry a confident-but-quick heft behind them that I find really clicks with the way that I play Tekken. This was a tough one to narrow down as I have a few other characters that are also consistently among my favorites, but Bryan narrowly edges out the rest for the purposes of this thread.
Soul Calibur series - Maxi
I've never been a hardcore SC by any stretch of the imagination, so my reasons for choosing Maxi are more straightforward/shallow than some of the others I've mentioned thus far. Quite simply, I've just always been impressed by Maxi's nunchaku animations. While other characters in the series have more interesting overall designs, I find myself transfixed and ceaselessly impressed by the Maxi's incredible animation. I can only imagine that animating two independent nunchucks and all of the movements associated with them must be incredibly difficult, especially considering how quickly one move transitions into a number of others in this genre.
Maxi is kind of like the SC equivalent of Eddy Gordo for me. It's fun to both watch and play as him because the flashy animation work on display is nothing short of amazing.
Guilty Gear series - Johnny
For me, it is an unforgivable sin that Arc System Works decided to leave Johnny out of GG: Xrd. While I understand that Xrd is meant to be an initial reboot of the series, I'd make the argument that Johnny was essential/iconic enough to have made the cut for this first true sequel in over a decade. He's my favorite mainly because he's just cool as shit, and I really like his play style. Flicking coins to build up his specials is a great mechanic unique to him, and I like that he has slow movement speed that contrasts with the fast, flashy nature of his moves. Guilty Gear is home to some of the most creative character designs in the genre, so for Johnny to be my favorite among them speaks highly of the character.
Other Favorites
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I'll give it a rest for now. I look forward to hearing all of your favorites. I know that there's a sizeable, passionate fighting game fanbase here on GAF, so I expect some quality write-ups. Pictures and anecdotal stories as to how characters became your favorites are highly encourage.
It was really hard just picking one character per series for my OP, so I'll gladly participate in praising other characters as they are mentioned in the thread. I'm in the mood to celebrate the rich history of the genre and the sprawling rosters of characters that have amassed over the decades.
Looking back over the past few decades of one-off fighting games, enduring series, crossover titles with licensed characters... etc., there is a staggering number of characters who call this genre home. I'd like to hear about all of your favorites from each of the games or series that you've enjoyed over the years. I'm especially looking forward to being reminded of some of the more obscure characters from games past that have slipped my mind.
I'll start us off with some of mine to give us sort of a template to work off of. Let's try to segment our favorite characters by series, preferably narrowing down our top pick to only one or two per series. Maybe at the end of this thread we can comb through it and see if there's any sort of meaningful throughline with regard to the types of character designs that appeal to players.
Mortal Kombat series - Reptile
While time (and the MK team) have not always been kind to Reptile over the years (thanks to some horrible redesigns along the way), Reptile has been my favorite MK character ever since his appearance in MK1 as a secret character. My love for Reptile began when a friend of mine showed me how to find him in the SNES release of MK1. I was young at the time, and this was the first time I'd come across a hidden character in a video game. The MK games back in their arcade heyday were amazing at inciting discussion about secrets, hidden characters and moves, and an assortment of rumors that would eventually prove to be false before being implemented by the MK team in future games (e.g. animalities, brutalities... etc.). I adored all of the mystery and gossip that surrounded the MK games and that whole scene in the 90's, and Reptile was an early embodiment of that attribute of the series.
The fact that he was my favorite color (green), the way he'd he would pop up at random times and give cryptic clues, his lair being the bottom of The Pit, him having the moves of both Scorpion and Sub-Zero... it was all just too cool for my five-year-old mind. He became even better in MK2 and beyond when they made him a playable character and fleshed him out with his own backstory and moveset that reflected his secret, reptilian nature.
Street Fighter mainline series - Akuma
.jpg/800px-SF3_Shin_Akuma_vs_Akuma_(S_Akuma_Stage).jpg)
When Akuma made his debut in SF2: Turbo, I had a similar reaction toward him as I did to Reptile. Here again we had a hidden AI character who was a palette-swap of sorts of the two most iconic characters in the game (Ryu/Ken) only with an overpowered moveset and more badass attitude. Much like Reptile in MK1, Akuma was no joke when you managed to unlock the fight against him, and that just drove home how cool/powerful he was compared to the rest of the cast. As he's been fleshed out throughout every other iteration of the mainline SF games over the years, I have continued to appreciate the flashy, glass-cannon character that he's become. He still sports the intimidating look that made him stand out to begin with, and trademark abilities like his air fireballs and Raging Demon make him a unique, iconic character all his own.
Tekken Series series - Bryan
I've never played the Tekken games seriously, but I have dabbled a little in all of the mainline entries. Over the years the Tekken roster has grown to be absolutely humongous, but in every new iteration I find myself favoring Bryan among my shifting roster of preferred characters. I'm not entirely sure what it is about his design or moveset that appeals to me so much, but there is just something deliciously brutal about the way he looks and is animated. He seems to throw everything with very bad intentions. All of his attacks carry a confident-but-quick heft behind them that I find really clicks with the way that I play Tekken. This was a tough one to narrow down as I have a few other characters that are also consistently among my favorites, but Bryan narrowly edges out the rest for the purposes of this thread.
Soul Calibur series - Maxi
I've never been a hardcore SC by any stretch of the imagination, so my reasons for choosing Maxi are more straightforward/shallow than some of the others I've mentioned thus far. Quite simply, I've just always been impressed by Maxi's nunchaku animations. While other characters in the series have more interesting overall designs, I find myself transfixed and ceaselessly impressed by the Maxi's incredible animation. I can only imagine that animating two independent nunchucks and all of the movements associated with them must be incredibly difficult, especially considering how quickly one move transitions into a number of others in this genre.
Maxi is kind of like the SC equivalent of Eddy Gordo for me. It's fun to both watch and play as him because the flashy animation work on display is nothing short of amazing.
Guilty Gear series - Johnny
For me, it is an unforgivable sin that Arc System Works decided to leave Johnny out of GG: Xrd. While I understand that Xrd is meant to be an initial reboot of the series, I'd make the argument that Johnny was essential/iconic enough to have made the cut for this first true sequel in over a decade. He's my favorite mainly because he's just cool as shit, and I really like his play style. Flicking coins to build up his specials is a great mechanic unique to him, and I like that he has slow movement speed that contrasts with the fast, flashy nature of his moves. Guilty Gear is home to some of the most creative character designs in the genre, so for Johnny to be my favorite among them speaks highly of the character.
Other Favorites
- Samurai Shodown - Genjuro
- The Last Blade - Setsuna
- King of Fighters - Kim
_________________
I'll give it a rest for now. I look forward to hearing all of your favorites. I know that there's a sizeable, passionate fighting game fanbase here on GAF, so I expect some quality write-ups. Pictures and anecdotal stories as to how characters became your favorites are highly encourage.
It was really hard just picking one character per series for my OP, so I'll gladly participate in praising other characters as they are mentioned in the thread. I'm in the mood to celebrate the rich history of the genre and the sprawling rosters of characters that have amassed over the decades.
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