Here are my top 12 most essential 2D fighters. I’m limiting this list to game that came out in North America.
#12. Mortal Kombat Trilogy (or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3)
Back in the early 1990’s, it was either Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat. You picked a side. You stood by it. I picked SFII. Nevertheless, I liked MK, but never really followed it beyond MKII. This game is essentially the final upgrade to Mortal Kombat 3 (and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3). It boasts every character from the Mortal Kombat universe up until that point and was the final 2D game in the series.
#11. Fatal Fury Special
Before The King of Fighters was an actual game, the tournament in Southtown was found in Fatal Fury. Terry, Andy, Mai, etc, owe their existance to the first couple Fatal Fury games. Fatal Fury Special was sort of a meshing of the first couple games, with additions and tweaks (sort of like the 3 versions of SFIII). Sure, many people (including myself) wrote Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury off as just another Street Fighter clone, but SNK had something here. Where would we be now without Terry Bogard?
#10. Marvel vs. Capcom 2
I actually don’t like MvC2 that much, but considering it’s popularity, I had to put it on the list. Despite my personal distaste for this iteration, MvC2 has one of the largest casts of pretty much any fighter out there, 2D or 3D. The action is fast, furious, and eye-catching. Which brings me to my gripes about the game. While button mashing will get you nowhere in a fighter, the gameplay sometimes feels like mashing (which is probably why I don’t like this game as much). Plus, many characters feel unbalanced. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter is my favorite in the series.
#9. Darkstalkers 3 (aka, Vampire Savior)
After Street Fighter II, but before Street Fighter Alpha, there was this things called Darkstalkers. Unbeknownist to many people, a lot of what makes the Alpha series special was taken from or experimented in Darkstalkers. Dashing, super combos, etc, really started out in Darkstalkers. Being the final game in the series, Darstakers 3 had the largest cast and a much more balanced feel than Darkstalkers 1 or 2.
#8. Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
Some call this game the best fighter SNK ever made. I wouldn’t go as far as call it the best, but it’s up there. It does have the smoothest gameplay out of the SNK fighters, and it really is one of the prettiest ones to play! The T.O.P. system works quite well and the introduction to the Just Defend mechanism (which was found later in CvS2) was great. The two downfalls though are the lack of unlockables and the smaller cast of fighters to use.
#7. Samurai Shodown (aka, Samurai Spirts)
Samurai Shodown II is considered the best in the series, but this one shouldn’t be neglected. Plus, I haven’t played Samurai Shodown II since like 1993 or something (It was released in the US on the PC anf NeoGeo only). Now here is a classic. Before Soul Calibur really made weapon-based fighters mainstream, there was Samurai Shodown. Sporting amazing graphics at the time and featuring a number of gameplay mechanism, made this one a lot of fun to play when you weren’t dropping quarters into Capcom machines.
#6. Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold
I purposely did not include Street Fighter Alpha 3 on this list. Why? Because I like Alpha 2 Gold better (this is me making up for having MvC2 on the list). Alpha 3 had a much larger cast of characters and a lot of gameplay inovations, such as the -isms, but regardless, Alpha 2 was just that much more fun to play. Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 were good games, but it wasn’t until Alpha 2 Gold was released that the Alpha series finally broke through.
#5. Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
Being the only non-Capcom or non-SNK game on this list is a feat (well, there was Mortal Kombat, but still…). Guilty Gear plays like no other fighter out there. It’s really hard to compare it to anything really. First and foremost, Guilty Gear is like sheer beauty. The high-quality animation is pure eye candy and seeing it in action is like eye candy nude. But beyond that is a fighter that is EXTREMELY deep, diverse, and challenging. You name it, and it’s here. One of the best fighters out there, hands down. Guilty Gear Slash is actually an upgrade to this game, but because it was never released outside of Japan, it’s excluded from the list.
#4. The King of Fighters Dream Match 1999 (aka, King of Fighters ‘98)
This is often called the best King of Fighters game and rightfully so. This was the first “dream match” game in the King of Fighter series. It includes every character from the Orochi Arc (KOF 94-97). It’s basically the most refined version from that story arc. Even compared to newer KOF games, Dream Match 1999 (which is really KOF 98), is still a joy to play and still challenging.
#3. Super Street Fighter II Turbo (aka, Street Fighter 2X)
After the original Street Fighter II, after Champion Edition, after Turbo, after the New Challengers, there was Super Turbo (or commonly known as Street Fighter 2X). The 5th and final “upgrade” to Street Fighter II had a number of tweaks that made SFII truly grand. The super combos were first introduced here, and each character was optimized here. Put of all the SFII games, this one was the most balanced and most refined. Plus, Akuma made his first appearance in this game.
#2. Street Fighter III: Third Strike
The best Street Fighter game that so few played. We all know SFII, but SFIII was way better. The only other fighter that looks better than this is Guilty Gear. But beyond the visual orgy is one of the best fighting systems out there. Everything is responsive, from controls to super combos to parrying to blocking. You name it, it’s damn near perfect in this game. Although only a handful of SFII characters were available (Ken, Ryu, Chun Li, Akuma), the roster was still fabulous with the inclusion of Hugo, Sean, Ibiki, Elena, Yun, and Yang…
#1. Capcom vs. SNK 2
Take the two companies that have dominated the 2D fighting genre since it’s induction and put their most popular characters in a game to duke it out. That’s CvS2. CvS1 was already a great game, but CvS2 took everything broken and fixed it and took everything good and made it great. Large cast or popular characters, varied gameplay, 6 different grooves (i.e., fighting systems), great music, and a tightness only dreamed out. CvS2 does EVERYTHING a 2D fighter should do and excels at it.
Worst 2D fighter? Shaq-Fu.
