I’ve decided to revisit the top fighting games from my past and explore what the latest entries have to offer. The earliest fighting game I recall playing was Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2 when I was in elementary school. I have so many great memories playing those games with friends, I figured it was time to revisit them. My plan is to take another look at the following game series and explore entries I may have missed over the years.
The Plan
My plan is to revisit each game in the series below and gather fresh thoughts. In the fighting games specifically, I want to play through the story or arcade mode, depending on what’s offered. I also want to at least play as each character in the game. Regarding the non-fighting games, or more action focused games like MK Shaolin Monks, I will take a look at, but do not commit to finishing them.
Mortal Kombat / Injustice
I was a passionate fan of the MK series right up until it went 3d on mk4. 3d fighting games didn’t quite feel right around that time (n64 time period) and I lost touch with the series. MK took some odd twists and turns, making an action game I never really played (Shaolin Monks) and struggling to find its footing in a 3d gaming world. I came back to the series at MK9 (just renamed Mortal Kombat) and fell in love all over again. Around that time, MK started staggering releases with the Injustice series. MK and Injustice both raised the bar for single player story modes while (arguably) providing great gameplay.
Street Fighter
Street fighter 2 Turbo on the SNES was my primary street fighter game. While I checked in at street fighter 4, and played a bit of the story mode of street fighter 5, I never got into it nearly as much as I did back in the early to mid 90s with SF2.
Soulcalibur
I have great memories playing the Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur with my friend Aaron as a teenager. After Soulcalibur 1 I never really revisited the series (I’m shocked I missed out on the PS2 versions of Soulcalibur 2 and 3) until the release of Soulcalibur 6 which is a retelling of the first ~3 games.
Tekken
I initially played Tekken 3 on the original PlayStation in the late 90s / early 2000s while I was in college. I may have played Tekken 1 or 2 also, but the one I remember was Tekken 3. It was so much fun playing multiplayer with friends over. I was terrible at the game, but I recall beating the arcade mode with Law.
Marvel vs Capcom
I remember in the late 90s people going bananas for the arcade cabinets of Marvel vs Capcom, specifically I remember the movie theater and people crowding around to watch. I played once or twice. The game didn’t really impress me coming from MK’s brutality and realistic style, and comparing it against the MVC cell shaded animation style felt like a step back. I honestly didn’t understand people’s attraction to it until I was a bit older. I’m looking forward to taking another look.
