Back with another list, and this time we're looking at fighting games. There wasn't as much participation this month, participants for this list were myself, Whynotzoidberg, and Crabmaster2000. There were still some games that came across as consensus favorites, with two series conspicuously absent.
What makes a good fighter? Quick action, interesting move sets and combos, a variety of characters, among other criteria. With the lower participation, there were 10 games that stood out as the top of the genre.
One major note before we get to it, one of those absent series was
Street Fighter. While generally known as one of the most popular fighting game series of all time, picking one game from the series just didn't seem to work. The same thing happened when we did the Super Nintendo list in February of 2020. So here's a short list of Street Fighter games that got a single vote each among the three voters-
Street Fighter IV (PS3, XBox 360) 19th place vote
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES, PS1, Sega Saturn) 17th place vote
Super Street Fighter II (SNES, Sega Genesis) 16th place vote
Street Fighter II (many) 9th place vote
Street Fighter Alpha (PS1, Sega Saturn, GB Color) 3rd place vote
Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES) 3rd place vote
So here we go...
10. Killer InstinctReleased- 1995
Console- SNES, Game Boy
8. (tie) Virtua Fighter 2Released- 1995
Console- Sega Saturn
8. (tie) Injustice 2Released- 2017
Console- XBox One, PS4
6. (tie) Tekken Tag TournamentReleased- 2000
Console- PS2
6. (tie) King of Fighters XIIIReleased- 2011
Console- XBox 360, PS3
5. X-Men: Children of the AtomReleased- 1995
Console- Sega Saturn (PS1 subsequently)
4. WCW/nWo RevengeReleased- 1998
Console- N64
3. Soul Calibur IIReleased- 2002
Console- PS2, XBox, GameCube
2. Tekken 3Released- 1998
Console- PS1
1. Mortal Kombat IIReleased- 1994
Console- SNES, Sega Genesis (as well as several others)
Final ThoughtsSeveral long running franchises were represented here, and I should note that the only consensus two picks were
Mortal Kombat II and
Soul Calibur II. Happy fighting!