Best fighting game(s) on the console?

[Dartful Dodger]

I didn't want to derail another thread so I started this one.

I figured a poll would be useless because SF = 40%, MK = 40%, WWF = 10%... isn't what I want to know.

I'm looking for a fun multiplayer game that has a good single player campaign.

I’m itching for a game with challenging moves but you can lose against a stronger guy who only knows simple moves. Knowing advanced moves won’t give you an impossible advantage over a person who has never played the game. This way you can handicap yourself or handicap a better player allowing different gamer levels to enjoy competing against each other.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw and UFC are the ones I was considering, but I haven’t played either game long enough to get a real idea of their replay and multiplayer value. I follow the UFC so seeing and playing with and against real fighters is a plus. I don't know any of the fighters in the WWE, but a royal rumble and beating people with chairs and ladders sounds like a lot of fun.

I know there are a few a highly rated boxing games, a new Mortal Kombat and I’m sure there are new Street Fighters and Tekken games too, but I haven’t played them.

What fighting games do you like?  and why?
What fighting games do you hate?  and why?

[Donkbaca]

Tekken - if you have skill you can win most of the time, but you will lose to button mashers who have no idea what they are doing. PLus, you can pick up tekken 6 for under ten bucks on ebay since so many people bought the wireless bundle for the sticks and are just dumping this game. 

Super Smash Brothers

The new WWE game is pretty fun

The UFC game has more of a learning curve, a good player will win ever time in that one.

[Howard_Casto]

Heh.. let me help.

Tekken, WWE games and UFC games are grapplers, not fighters.  It's a different genre.  The traditional "street fighter" relies mostly on special moves (usually fantasy based) and combos.  These games aren't realistic in the least, but they are certainly more fun.

Grapplers on the other hand focus on "the lockup" and performing special moves (if any) by out button mashing your opponent after said lockup.  I suppose they are more realistic, but they certainly don't take as much skill nor are they as much fun (with the exception being the 4 player n64 wrestling games). 


Smash Bros, at least for me, falls into the "Fighting Game for slow people" genre.  It isn't to say that it can't be fun, it can especially with multiplayer, but there is zero challenge there. 

Strong Multiplayer depends soley on how much you like the game.  Your only multiplayer experience is going to come from versus matches, until you get sick of versus matches.  So there is no way for any person to tell you which game has a strong multplayer campaign.  Mind you the wrestling games offer more modes and some of the newer games like MK offer cooperative mode, but they don't add THAT much to the experience. 

As for single player you have three options, MK9, Smash Bros. and The Wrestling games.  The other game's single player consists of playing with one character for a series of versus matches ultimately leading to a match with an impossibly hard boss character.  Rinse and repeat 20 some times to get the ending for each character. 


As for what you are asking for in terms of balance it isn't happening.  With fighting games (and grapplers) either the game has a learning curve and the more you know the harder it is for a noob to beat you, or the game is so easy that anyone can play it and it becomes a match of "press the buttons rapidly". 

I would avoid Capcom for a while unless you can get the games at a great discount.  Other fighting game manufacturers have realized that either you add a butt-load of content or reduce the price as 60 bucks is a little high for a fighting game.  Capcom still essentially gives you the exact same game, same level of content and same modes of play that they did in 1991 when street fighter II was released.  I'm not so sure that this is a bad thing, but it is when you pay full retail. 

I hope that helps some. 

[derep]

The new Mortal Kombat (MK9) is the best of the series and my favorite fighting game.
Each character has somewhat different fighting styles and they have anywhere from 3-7 special moves and a enhanced version of each move (requires hitting block with the last button of the move) that uses "meter" which is built up by doing combos and specials etc, these moves are usually easy to pull off you just have to practice and remember them.

If your good and playing against a noob button smasher, you will easily win.
There are some people who just know one or 2 moves and keep doing them repeatedly which can be annoying to other noobies who dont know how to deal with that.( block, dash, jump over projectiles)

Then theres the great combo system that incorporate normal moves which are single buttons hits or holding a certain direction and with a button hit.
 3-4 hits which can then be linked to a special move which will allow you to juggle the opponent and do another combo.

The more you practice the better you get at pulling off higher hit combos. (damage can range around 10%-50%)
 theres also the "x-ray" move which is a 30-38% slow mo intense beating combo which uses all 3 bars of your meter and is done by just hitting 2 buttons at the same time
just goto youtube and search for mk9 vids you'll see what im talking about.

You don't necessarily need to know more combos then the person your playing against either. You can read your opponent and counter. then catch them off guard.
2 Noobs playing against each other will be a pretty even match, but if your playing against someone who has serious time into learning the game they will dominate you.

If you've played mk1-3 before you've got a head start. i haven't played since mk3 and picked it up quickly and have been improving.

I'll like a lot of fighters. smash bros is cool for its basic moves and strategy fighting.
i never got too much into SF but i like it.
not too much of a tekken fan, but i did have it for ps1

edit:
forgot to mention mk9 has a great story mode to go through, you learn to play as you go trough it. Along with 300 challenge tower matches, which also teach you how to play the game.
i beat the story mode over the course of a few days playing also made it to the 230th challenge, at which point i've just been playing multi-player, normal mode 1p and using the practice mode (which has some great practice options)

[Donkbaca]

The descriptions of Tekken and UFC are not at all accurate.  Tekken is not a "grappler" not by any means, neither is the UFC.  THe new WWE game is a bit of a grappler, but even then its not like the old hit buttons as fast as you can gameplay that HC is talking about.

Tekken is a fighting game, like virtua fighter, where the focus is striking and stringing together moves for combos, there are no projectiles like in MK or SF, so that means that you have to get up close to fight, and so, a noob can get lucky and punch and kick their way to victory.  A skilled fighter will still usually win, but its got the best noob - skilled balance of the fighters.  Soul Caliber IV is another one that comes to mind, an oldie but goody.  Virtua Fighter 5 too.  Just stay away from anything that has fireballs.

Mk9 has the best story mode, but is not noob friendly, a skilled player will ALWAYS beat a noob at MK.

[Dartful Dodger]

Thanks for the replies, I guess what I'm looking for in fair and balanced game play is a game that has characters that are unevenly matched.

In Mortal Kombat (and similiar fighters) the characters are more or less equally matched. A fast guy can’t hit as hard, a strong guy has slower reflexes, a guy with good "ranged weapons" has weak close combat hits . . .and so on.
Two players with equal skills should be able to pick any two character and have a relatively equal fight and a noob doesn't stand a chance with any combination of characters.

In the real UFC, George St-Pierre is unstoppable. When you watch him fight you aren't watching to see if he'll win, you're watching to see how quickly he’ll win.

I'm assuming the UFC game has the same range in fighters. There will be match ups that are unfair to players of equal playing skills. On the flip side of that coin a noob should be able to play as a champion heavy weight and have a chance against an experienced player fighting with an amateur light weight.

I’m not sure if this is actually true in the UFC game or not, since I’ve only played the demo and the demo didn’t seem to have characters on the strong/weak extremes.

Since WWE lets you customize and create characters I’m assuming you start with a weak guy and you have to work your way up. Fighting weaker characters and advance to stronger ones, so I'm hoping the built in characters are unevenly matched against each other as well.

[Donkbaca]

No its not the case in the UFC game, I don't think they let you mix weight classes, and if they do, the characters are pretty even

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

First, I want to reiterate that neither Tekken or UFC are "grapplers."  They're fighting games without projectiles (well, mostly, in Tekken's case) and they're pretty similar on the surface, until you get into UFC's ground game, which is actually a fairly unique mechanic within the genre.

I LOVE Tekken... but Tekken is NOT a "balanced" fighter at all.  (Pick any character with the last name "Mishima" or "Kazama" and you're pretty much set...)  And yet, it has a very steep learning curve (not as ploddingly slow and onerous as Virtua Fighter's, but not too far from it) before you get to the point that a button-masher actually stands no chance against you. Paradoxical, I know, but that's how it is!

It sounds to me that UFC is right up your alley.  It's a good game, with familiar characters, an unpredictable fun element (Flash KOs/tap-outs, etc.)  I haven't played 2010, but I played the hell out of 2009, and I think it fits your criteria of possessing balance for players of equal skill while also providing enough depth that a noob cannot just button-mash and win (they *might* win with a well-timed HEAD KICK, though, just like real life!)  In general though, in the UFC games, if somebody is button mashing, you shoot on them, get the takedown, wear them down, and make them tap like the bitches they are!    I think all  fighting games have those certain things people will want to spam (that damn HEAD KICK!) but there are finesse counters available to someone who takes the time to learn the engine.  UFC most reminds me of Bushido Blade for the PS1... if you've ever played it, you probably understand what I mean. No matter what your skill level, you might lose, but it never feels "cheap."

By the way, I know UFC 2009 didn't allow weight class mixing (2010 might,) but I know for a fact the Fight Night series does (Ali vs. Pacquiao, either way, is FUN FTW!)  That said, in much the same way UFC has uprooted boxing's dominance, the UFC games just have more Fun value than the traditional boxing games (unless you're REALLY invested in boxing.) I'd leave Fight Night on the shelf if I were you...

The good news is that all of the games mentioned at this point can be found for less than full retail prices (the only "new" fighter right now is SSF4AE) so I don't think it'll hurt you too much to try more than one!

[kalars123]

Ohhh man Bushido Blade that brings back memory's, and your right it didn't matter how good you were, if the person you were fighting got in a good hit you were dead. Bushido Blade and THPS2 were the reason's i vanished from my friends sight for days on end.... well that and my GF/now wife LOL ahhh teenage hormones.

[Howard_Casto]

First, I want to reiterate that neither Tekken or UFC are "grapplers."  They're fighting games without projectiles (well, mostly, in Tekken's case)

Yup, that, by the very definition is a grappler.  I'm not saying you can't punch or kick or do some rather lame specials, I'm saying that the majority of your moves involve the lockup.  And unless tekken has drastically changed since the last one I played seriously (I think it was 3?) The gameplay mechanic revolves around grappling and/or close quarters moves.  I can't comment on the WWE games much since I haven't been involved with them since the xbox days when they released the same damn game for the 4th time. 

A street fighter without projectiles isn't a street fighter. 

There's no such thing as a "fighting game" btw.  Because that would be any game in which a fight breaks out, IE 90% of them.    When people say fighting game, they mean "street fighter" typically.

[Donkbaca]

There is no lock up mechanism in Tekken except for the throws. I think the OP is looking for an unbalanced fighting game so that his noob buddies can button mash and win, while he can play a more finess character with skill. That sounds like Tekken to me. It is a very strep learning curve with tiered fighters, some are more powerful than others. Get Tekken 6 if you hate it you are out 8 bucks or less, but it's got a ton of characters, is pretty deep and is very accessible

[Donkbaca]

Or get SF and master Dan

[amendonz]

Def Jam Fight For New York on XBOX/PS2

awesome game, brawler, awesome finishers, 4 players at once, plus the story mode is really good....

played the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of this game. gonna go play it now that i'm thinking about it.


edit: if you haven't play sf4 series yet you should give it a try, its pretty noob friendly these days..

[Malenko]

How far back we going?

Would PowerStone / Powerstone 2 count? If you want more than 2 players at once that axes a ton of games. wrestling, def jam, and WuTang (PS1) are all that come to mind.

From what you describe (other than more than 2 players) I'd go with Tekken and Soul Calibur

Also, HC, there were only 3 WWE wrestling games released for the XBOX, RAW,RAW 2, and Wrestlemania, all were terrible (WM being amazingly ---smurfy---). Legends of Wrestling 1 and 2, and Backyard wrestling also all sucked. The smackdown rehashes were on PS2 and actually quite fun.

[Necroticart]

honestly take the time to learn learn SSF4AE or MK while they take some time to master they are going to give you the best replay value which will last 20-30 years just look at SSF2T same goes for all other fighting games even the old arcade MK games to a lesser extent. As for wrestling and UFC games I don't care for them as most are a joke compared to real fighters basically no balancing, simple mechanics and button mashing  is a bore hence why they don't stack up.

[Bootay]

Soul Caliber IV is another one that comes to mind, an oldie but goody. 

Did you just call a game that came out 3 years ago "an oldie but goodie"? LOL

[Mikezilla]

In the real UFC, George St-Pierre is unstoppable. When you watch him fight you aren't watching to see if he'll win, you're watching to see how quickly he’ll win.

Uhh...Matt "the terra" Serra might have something to say against that.  God I hate that clown.

Anyway. Back to the thread. I used to love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters on SNES. It sorta falls into the catagory that a noob has a chance at mashing buttons, while a skilled player could still win.

Tell you the truth, the new Marvel vs Capcom 3 has a "simple" mode, that challenges me all the time. I play with my sister, who sucks at fighting games, and she is just mashing buttons, and I am a skilled MvC vet, and she beats me sometimes. The cool thing about that game, is that there are differences in the characters, there is a new mode called X factor, and everyone has the same launch button. Its infuriating to play online though.

[SNAAKE]

[Dartful Dodger]

This weekend I picked up UFC 2010 at Gamestop for $19.99. So far I like it.

When I ran it the first time I found out the online game play requires a onetime registration code or a $4.99 add-on, so if you want to play online it will cost you $25, not 20.

I like it, but I can only win by knockout. I could be beating the crud out of the computer but if I take down the opponent the computer will reverse the hold and win by submission.

When I play against a friend it's the same thing, neither of us can get a lock, we just end up punching each other.

I'm not sure what we're doing wrong. Even in the tutorial we couldn't get the holds to work.

[Ginsu Victim]

The ground game, clinch, and submission system have a definite learning curve.