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What fighting game "feels" the best to play?

MVC3.

I've played alot of fighting games, and no other character controls or feels as good to play as Magneto IMO, especially when you get plink dashing down. Going back to another game that has no airdashers (USF4, MKX, etc) feels archaic and sluggish in comparison.


I've been trying to get into MKX for the last month, and while I like its presentation - I think it doesn't feel good to play. Things still feel rigid and stiff and the dial-a-combo system is just...just awful.
 
Dead or Alive 5:Last Round

Controls are smooth, it's environmental damage and style of play is unmatched. It has 2 variants of play being singles and tag which play completely different and that adds more variety to me. The character truly play different and for a game that goes ham with literal clones none of the iterations of Misty play the same despite sharing some moves and the same speed and weaknesses, they all play very differently.

The trinagle system works very well when you can set up mind games to make somebody mash counter and you take off 60% of their life for that one mistake. It has great character designs and a great theme about it and it has one of the darker character backstories within it.

I would also be remiss in saying the honkers and this game being the fighting game that started off the age of booty we are all enjoying. :E
 
3rd Strike. Everything is quick, responsive yet has a weightiness to it. I don't feel like I'm fighting to control the character and there's a real oomph when connect with a big hit.
 
It's the one they've played the most probably. I don't think SFIV feels bad personally

for 2D fighters I think I like the way KOF feels the most, running is cool as shit

Oh I get that, OP said as much. I'm just curious to hear from people who think it feels the best who have played plenty of other fighters. I don't think it's a bad game, I just don't like how it feels, and want to know why some people do.
 
Either I'm bad at ctrl+f, or really nobody gave that answer already : the Real Bout serie, and especially Real Bout 2 for me.
The hitstop animation is just perfect for me, and the whole feel of the engine makes it my all time favorite fighting game to play. I once sat down through 90+ credits at a friend's arcade cabinet with another RB2 lover, and those hours of play felt like only 15 minutes had passed.
 
I'm not good at fighting games but am looking to get into them. Street Fighter V looks so good. So I'm happy to stumble into this thread. And OP, I'm happy you said SF3: Third Strike. I planned on getting that for dreamcast soon. Didn't know it was so good.

That being said, should I take people's picks in this thread as good places to start playing? I thought Guilty Gear for PS4 looked amazing.
 
Ultra Counter!! Good point. Advanced players can utilize 'cancel techniques' and baiting as a coordinated strategy to force the opponent into various traps and such. Players on the receiving end can 'usually' break the combo chains with some sort of special ability, Arc Systems games often have like 17 different forms of 'counter breaks' each with their own on screen meter or gauge I think. But yes, there is method to the madness that my brazen QTE comment doesn't quite account for.

My point mostly adhered to the Trials once again where none of that flies and you are left with only the specific button-commands and the irritating timing windows to succeed. Unfair since they are mostly optional bullshit, but you know...

They're stupid for sure. There's one with ryu that's s.mp xx FADC xx s.mp xx FADC xx s.mp, srk.

I've done it before, but going through the trials again on PS4. There is no way anybody would ever choose to do this combo, but there it is. lol
 
I like the way that KoF feels. It's more fast-paced than SF and easier to pick up. I feel like SF players are required to use arcade pads and memorize all that frame data–it's just too much work for something that's supposed to be fun.
 
3rd Strike had a "weighty" feel to it when I played the digital release. I'm a Street Fighter scrub, though, so I don't know.

From a sound and visual perspective, I would go with Tekken for best "feel good" play. The hit and sound effects are unparalleled and I don't see any other fighting game replicating that feeling as well.

From a "control" perspective, I would go with MvC3.
 
Tough question. Easier for me to answer which don't feel as good.

Not MK, that's for sure. It always had a janky feel to it.

Especially not Injustice. I think back-to-block combined with them carrying over back-to-forward specials makes getting out special moves awkward. B-F only really worked in MK because the block button meant no L-R mixups so you didn't have to hold back preventatively. They need to drop those and just stick with quarter circle motions in the sequel. There's too much MK DNA in that game.

Not Skullgirls either. Mostly because the artstyle makes it difficult to tell what's going on. There's not as much visual separation between the characters, their attacks, effects, and backgrounds. I feel like I have to concentrate too hard on which black outlined spritework to focus on and not playing.

Current KI does feel real good to play.

I remember Alpha 2 feeling really good to play as with the SF2 series.
 
I think there needs to be a differentiation made between "feel good" play.

A lot of people are listing Virtua Fighter possibly for how it controls and animations but I wouldn't rank the series anywhere high as far as sound or hit effects go. Each hit sounds like somebody dropped a brick from a tall building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr5DFu3VhKM

Compare that to something like Tekken and the hit and sound effects are far superior.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrFAs51o6Vc
 
SF2 apart i could never get into Capcom fighting games, my nominees are kof98(or 2002) and guilty gear xx.
 
SF2 Hyper fighting. I like the speed of the game. Works on all characters, not really any weakness

OG Samurai Shodown. Pretty good graphics and the Slash hit. Major damage.

World Heroes- Death Match mode. Gotta think about how to attack opponent while avoiding the surrounding obstacles.
 
This is really hard and I'm not sure I can narrow it down to just one game to rule over them all.

I personally love old-school, 'chunky' kind of feel for my 2D fighters. Lots of hitstun and really bassy, big SFX that get across the crunch of an impact. I'm thinking along the lines of 3rd Strike (although maybe 2nd Impact does it better?). Skullgirls gets this right too, as does Akatsuki Blitzkampf. It's very hard to quantify though, yeah.

For 3D fighters, it's VF5 for sure. No other 3D fighter just feels as good. That's even harder to quantify, but it just is.
 
UMVC3, Feel like it all clicks just right, very easy to pick up, hard to master, has good flow and is more new comer friendly that most games.
 
3S, Blazblue CS1, Guilty Gear Xrd, AH3 are some of the games I remember now that controlled really well.

For 3D, SC2 and SC4 are my favorites along with T6. I also have VF5FS, but no one else to play it together =(
 
all 3D games have issues, so I'll stick with 2D

If it werent for those hellishly difficult shoryuken AB cancel moves in Garou (Terry, Marco and Don Hwang) it would deserve a place too

Vampire Savior too would deserve a spot but it has some impossible moves like DI/LI combos, IAD, dash and 720 etc so no.

My pick:


Breaker's Revenge


Most fluid 2D fighter I've played. Controls, inputs and specials are simple, animations feel smooth, there's humor and cheeziness all over the place and it is perfect for newbies.

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Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle

Same as Breaker's but with tag team addition.

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Kabuki Klash: Far East of Eden

Very underrated fighter by Hudson. Animation is on par with Garou and Darkstalkers. But it feels much smoother overall.

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Waku Waku 7

This game has still the best animation and fluid gameplay

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For SF, SFA2 and SFIII:3S felt really good even if I don't particularly care for 3S

Vampire Savior is probably tops as far as 2D goes. The rhythm, the animation, sound design, and control is just superb.

VF is up there. Personally I loved the feel of VF3 and VF4:final tuned the best.

DOA for the Dreamcast also felt really damn good. The later entries never had the same pop to me.

Kof felt it's best at 97/98. Everything after always felt off.

As great as the Guilty Gear series is I always hated how the series felt. The characters don't really have any weight and coupled with the poor animation they end up feeling like paper dolls. Xrd seems to have fixed this though and it feels much much better.
 
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core feels great. It really nails the sense of weight across its cast-- run with ABA in Moroha form or Order Sol and do a running jump and you'll know what I mean. Some attacks, like Big Bang Upper with Slayer or Sidewinder clean-hit with Sol just feel fantastically meaty and strong too.

I love how movement feels in Tekken as well. Wavedashing with a Mishima or doing backdash cancels and sidesteps feels wonderful. Nailing that one EWGF or JF move is always nice too. I like the way moves like Jaycee's 4~2,1 feel too. Just tapping out that input feels nice.

Capcom's 90s games feel really nice too: 3rd Strike, JoJo's, Darkstalkers 3, and MvC2 all feel really fluid. For a newer game I really like how UNIEL feels.

My least favorite ones in terms of feel are probably NRS games and Skullgirls.
 
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition.

Not too slow or too fast. Can easily play this fighter without serious concentration.
 
Parrying, love it or hate it, is extremely satisfying to pull off. Since no other fighting game has nailed parrying as well as 3S did, it further justifies its place at the top for me.

I'm going to agree completely. Third Strike is still my favorite Street Fighter, and while all the mechanics about it feel great, pulling off a parry is such a sublime feeling.
 
the new killer instinct is a blast to play.
The devs did an amazing job at introducing people to fighting game mechanics.
The game looks gorgeous and is cool to even watch.
It's noob friendly and deep at the same time
The characters animate very well
It's free to play system fit the genre
To me best fighting game in a while

This! Only problem too an extent is it's Boner only up until this point so it doesn't get the props it deserves. Thankfully this should change with the PC version coming!
 
I'm a latecomer to GG but I really like moving around in Xrd. IADs and dash momentum and stuff is really fun. I love wavedashing in Marvel and Melee, too.
 
It's either Smash Bros Melee/4, Skullgirls, MVC2 or Guilty Gear/Blazblue for me.

They feel so much more fluid and freeform than other fighters.
 
Capcom always just nails it for me. I feel like I'm glued to the character rather than floating about chaotically or similarly lost/disconnected from the action. Street Fighter IV has been their best effort so far.

I admit GGXrd surprised me though, and had that nice balance of weight and speed I like.
 
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