With the recent release of Street Fighter IV, and with The King of Fighters XII and BlazBlue on the horizon, the next year is looking bright for gaming’s purest form of one on one competition.  The 2D fighting genre doesn’t garner the same respect as it’s 3D counterpart, but with the resurgence in popularity it’s sure to receive from the release of a new Street Fighter game, now’s as good a time as any to familiarize yourself with the high points in the genre’s history.  And they are, in no particular order:

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Street Fighter II is the classic that truly kicked off the entire genre.  HD Remix is a gorgeous update to the best version of said game.  As most gamers are aware, this game captured the arcade scene of the early nineties, devoured millions upon millions of quarters, and nearly made “shoryuken” a household term.  While the gameplay feels understandably dated (relying too heavily on a game of meaty attacks and reversals), it’s still the best fighter of its era and remains surprisingly playable to this day.  Whether you’re a SFII virgin or a seasoned vet, it’s certainly worth revisiting to see where it all began (in glorious HD, no less).

Samurai Showdown II

Another golden oldie- Samurai Showdown is different kind of 2D fighter, and it peaked at the second entry.  The gameplay is slower and more defensive; special moves are almost all useless, and combos are nearly nonexistent.  Instead, this weapons-based fighter was all about timing- bide your time and find an opening to land a heavy attack for some significant damage.  This gameplay philosophy is further illustrated by the inclusion of just defense, a technique in which you defend at the exact instant your opponent attacks you.  If done right, it leaves the opponent wide open for you to attack.  In truth, the game hasn’t aged as gracefully as Street Fighter II, but it’s fun to play simply for the unique experience it offers, and to play the game that put Capcom’s chief genre rival, SNK, on the map.

The King of Fighters 2002

Choosing one King of Fighters game over all the others may seem somewhat pointless (they are all fairly similar), but ‘02 offers something the others don’t: the (nearly) complete roster.  All the best characters from the series’ tremendous cast are present, offering the most complete KoF experience you can get from a single game.  So what exactly is the KoF experience?  Well, it’s basically the opposite of what you’d get out of a Street Fighter game.  The focus is less on controlling space and fighting from all ranges, and more on up-close and personal, combo-heavy combat.  The characters each have an impressively large set of special moves as complicated as they are unique, with some characters taking days, or even weeks to master at a basic level.  The input on commands is more demanding, or more finicky, depending on your perspective.  All that adds up to give the games a steep learning curve and a reputation of being for serious fighting fans only.  However, the experience can be quite rewarding if you’re willing to put in the time.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

The Street Fighter Alpha series is a prequel to Street Fighter in terms of  story (not that the story is all that important in a fighter), but a true successor in terms of gameplay.  Alpha 3 is the best in the series both for the impressive size of the cast and for depth given by its “-isms,” the variations of the super meter that gives each character three distinct play styles, dependent on both the style and skill of the player.  Scrubs may stick to X-ism for the simplicity, having only one solid meter and a single super move, similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo.  Intermediate players may prefer A-ism, which gives their super meter three levels and three unique versions of each super move for more flexibility, similar to the previous Alpha games.  Experts can use V-ism, which allows normal and special attacks to be strung together as long the meter lasts and the player can keep it going, to its fullest potential.

Last Blade 2

SNK’s lesser known weapons-based fighter is different in every way from Samurai Showdown, but almost entirely more fun in practice.  Like Alpha 3, and like its predecessor,  it offers unique play styles for each character, the main ones being Power and Speed.  Power is easier to use, makes the character’s attacks more damaging, and grants access to their second and more powerful Desperation Move, but in return does not feature many combo possibilities.  Speed is all about the combos, allowing the player to link several normal and special moves together, and to use speed combos similar in execution the Alpha 3’s custom V-ism combos.  The game is great to look at and easy to get into, but takes time to master, making it one of SNK’s best efforts overall.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2

It should be noted that 2D fighters fall into two distinct camps- there are the slower, more technical games like Street Fighter II and The King of Fighters, and there are the over-the-top, super-flashy and blindingly fast games at the other end of the spectrum.  For players who prefer the latter, this game is the messiah.  It features a tremendous cast of Marvel and Capcom icons- everyone from Ryu, Jill Valentine and Mega Man to Spider-Man, Wolverine and the Incredible Hulk.  Gameplay was whiplash inducing, allowing you to swap out characters on the fly from your team of 3, string together huge combos (if your reflexes could keep up), and execute several super moves in sequence or simultaneously.  The downside: for those who prefer the former style of 2D fighter, the game can prove more frustrating and confusing than fun.  Also, the soundtrack (featuring mostly mellow jazz tracks in contrast with the hyperactive action) is a love it or hate it experience.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (a game set in the near future of the Fatal Fury universe) is, in the opinion of this writer, SNK’s best fighter to date.  It’s relatively simple with a small but balanced cast, easily executed specials and supers, and a smooth, easy to get into feel.  The presentation is superb- characters animate well, the voice work is well done, and the gameplay feels heavy, responsive, and satisfying.  Due both to the animation and sound design, every hit given and received feels like it has a real and painful impact.  Really, Garou doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been done in other fighters.  It simply does everything very, very well, providing a fun and addictive game that keeps the player coming back for more.

Guilty Gear X2

Play any version you’d like of the heavy metal brawler, just make sure you play it.  Guilty Gear has the distinction of being the only non-SNK or Capcom developed game on the list and one of the only noteworthy 2D fighters of the last decade.  It boasts flashy hi-res graphics, gameplay speed that falls somewhere between the two camps, and some stunning depth.  The cast is large and completely off-the-wall crazy in their designs, and each brings a unique play style to the table.  It might be the only 2D fighter with a comprehensive story mode and plenty of other robust single-player modes, just in case you don’t happen to have any friends on hand.  Unfortunately, as is typical of the genre, the game isn’t very newbie-friendly, but it’s great if you’re tired of Capcom and SNK’s games and you’re looking for a different flavor.  If you’re a fan, keep an eye out for the team’s next project, BlazBlue, later this year.

Capcom vs. SNK 2

The dream match-up between the two biggest names in 2D fighting turned out just as great as it sounded.  The cast is fifty-strong, featuring mostly characters from the Street Fighter and The King of Fighters series’, but also a few from Samurai Showdown, The Last Blade, Rival Schools, and Garou.  There are six “grooves” (selectable styles affecting both the nature of the super meter and well as the characters basic moves, like dashing, running, air guards, parrying, just defense, and dodge rolling) lifted from the various games the characters hail from.  In addition to this, it features the option to customize and build your own groove.  The gameplay is about what one might expect from a Street Fighter/The King of Fighters crossover- skewing towards the slow/technical end of the spectrum, far away from the frantic gameplay of Marvel vs. Capcom.  There are the expected balance issues that come with a mash-up of this type, and the sprites were dated even for their time, but it’s an overall impressive and definitive entry in the genre.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike

If you’re skipping straight from Street Fighter II to Street Fighter IV, you may want to give this forgotten gem a try.  It’s been called the greatest fighting game ever made, and for good reason- deep, intiutive gameplay, amazing animations, a strangely fitting hip-hop soundtrack- it’s all here.  The inclusion of a parry, executed by tapping forward at the instant you’re attacked to eliminate both the chip damage and your recovery time (thus leaving the opponent wide open), and EX moves (upgraded special attacks that use up a bit of your super meter- these are also featured in Street Fighter IV) are simple and surprisingly effective methods of adding depth to the gameplay.  Both the control and the character animation are the smoothest in the genre.  All of this together make Third Strike both one of the easiest to pick up and ultimately deep and rewarding fighting games there is.  Unlike its sequel, the game has only a few returning characters from Street Fighter II (only Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Akuma), instead featuring a totally different and, in my opinion, better-designed roster of characters.  Third Strike is available for the Playstation 2 as part of the  Street Fighter Anniversery Collection, so be sure to check it out if you need a break from SFIV.