#toshinden series

[z2z-gaming-and-random-art-ai]

Console Fighting Games of 1996 Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Plus

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Plus is a Japanese only re-release of Battle Arena Toshinden 2, this version of the game was released as a part of Japan's The Best range of games, the Japanese equivalent of Pal regions Platinum range and the US's Greatest Hits re-releases.

[theguywithaplan]

List of Games Turning Thirty (30) Years Old in 2025

Battle Arena Toshinden (this was the very first 3D fighting game, and paved the way for games like Tekken and SoulCalibur).

Castlevania: Dracula X (a re-release of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for the SNES).

Chrono Trigger (one of the best games ever made. with a dream team made up of Hironobu Sakaguchi [Final Fantasy], Yuji Horii [Dragon Quest], and Akira Toriyama [Dragon Ball]).

Comix Zone (a pretty fun side scrolling beat 'em up from Sega).

Command & Conquer (the first in the series).

Descent

Destruction Derby

The Dig (a really unique graphic adventure game from LucasArts).

Discworld (based on the setting made by Terry Pratchett).

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (the last game in the Zenethian trilogy, and the last one to only release in Japan).

Fade to Black (a sequel to Flashback, which is a pioneer in the platformer genre).

Front Mission (the very first one. didn't release in the West until 2007).

Full Throttle (another LucasArts graphic adventure game centered around biker culture.)

Hexen: Beyond Heretic

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Jagged Alliance (another pioneer in the RTS genre)

Jumping Flash! (one of the very first 3D platformers, pre-dating Super Mario 64).

The King of Fighters '95

Kirby's Dream Land 2

Light Crusader (a really unique and interesting action-adventure fantasy game from the Sega Genesis).

Mario's Picross (is it pronounced "Pie-Cross" or Pih-Cross"?)

Marathon 2: Durandal (one of Bungie's earliest games)

Mega Man 7

Mortal Kombat 3

Panzer Dragoon

Phantasmagoria (yet another LucasArts graphic adventure game, this one centered on a haunted house. It had some pretty gnarly and gruesome death scenes. Look up at your own risk).

The PlayStation (the first one)

Rayman (RIP, Rayman. Ubisoft sucks too much to give you the support you deserve).

Ristar

Romancing SaGa 3

The Sega Saturn (it was supposed to launch in early September on a Saturday, dubbed "Saturnday". However, the PS1 was launching the same week and was $100 cheaper than the Saturn. So... Sega surprised launched the system at the very first E3).

Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier (the last game in a pretty silly and humorous series of graphic adventure games from Sierra Entertainment).

Star Wars: Dark Forces

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dream (also known as Street Fighter Zero. It was a prequel to Street Fighter II and featured younger versions of already existing characters).

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (do you consider this a Mario game or a Yoshi game)

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (the English version of this game wouldn't release until 1998. Three years after the original version).

Tales of Phantasia (the first game in the Tales of series from Namco).

Terranigma (an awesome RPG from Enix that never released in North America)

Twisted Metal

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness

[suzakucastle]

3D Fighters

Bear in mind that the cultural climate is not the same as it was back in the day. For some of these, it may be next to impossible for a proper return.

~R

[gear-project]

Last time I played VF, all the characters were doing a Dead or Alive crossover. I remember playing the Polygon version of this game a few times in Arcades, but it was always besieged by long lines at Arcade venues, so I almost never got to play this game.

Of course, nowadays games like Fighting Vipers, Toshinden, Bloody Roar, Tekken, and Soul Calibur have made their names in the 3D arena fighting scene (among many other lesser known anime styled games)... but Virtua was the first of them.

Virtua Fighter was the alpha 3D fighting game, back when many 2D sprite games aspired to be 3D (and many failed).

Of course, games like Guilty Gear and Samurai Shodown (and even BlazBlue) tried their hands at 3D, though they never did perfect it the way a game like VF has.

I personally am more of a Soul Calibur fan, but at the same time, I still respect the history of this series.

[beeskneescharacters]

CHARACTER OF THE DAY: Gaia

Series: Battle Arena Toshinden (Video game)

Gaia is the host and final boss of the first tournament in the Battle Arena Toshinden video game series.

[gonagaiworld]

Il gioco Bleach: Rebirth of Souls sarà sviluppato dallo studio che ha realizzato Battle Arena Toshinden e Senran Kagura Il lancio è previsto su PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 e Xbox Series X|S. Info:--> https://www.gonagaiworld.com/il-gioco-bleach-rebirth-of-souls-sara-sviluppato-dallo-studio-che-ha-realizzato-battle-arena-toshinden-e-senran-kagura/?feed_id=459301&_unique_id=668b6d9795c8a #BandaiNamcoEntertainment #BleachRebirthofSouls #PlayStation5

[ryunumber]

Earthworm Jim?

Earthworm Jim has a Ryu Number of 2/3/does not have a Ryu Number.

(CORRECTION: Per @skapokon, the situation with ClayFighter is... much weirder than I initially gave it credit for.)

(explanation below)

Earthworm Jim strikes me as a thing that has more perceived cultural impact than actual cultural impact, but even then, I'm a little surprised to report that all potential links are dead ends, but in bizarre ways.

Besides the games themselves, which seem to be self-contained, Jim's made two appearances of note. The first appearance is as a guest fighter in both versions of ClayFighter 63⅓.

There's a couple other dead end crossovers in the ClayFighter series, but it comes real close to having a properly eligible crossover with Blizzard's The Lost Vikings. Olaf is mentioned in Helga's ending in the first game, and the other two show up as faces in Tiny's stage in 2.

The second appearance is as a guest fighter in the PC version of Battle Arena Toshinden.

You would think this is a clear dead end, but it turns out that Toshinden's Eiji Shinjo himself guested in the Japan-only Saturn fighting game D-Xhird, which itself features as mid-boss and final boss... Venus and Izanagi?

So they're both deities, which tracks, but according to some lore I ran through a machine translator, Venus is the true mother of the protagonist and took part in an experiment to create Izanagi?

If I had a better grasp on anything that's going on here, I'd maybe be able to come down one way or another on Venus. (Izanagi seems hard to justify either way.) Until then, I'm leaning toward that not being the Roman goddess. But if you can read Japanese, feel free to look through this playlist and weigh in.

[edgeyberzerker]

Choose Your Fighter Ellis (Toshinden series)  Taki (SoulCalibur series) Dee Jay (Street Fighter series)

[thedestinysunknown]

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 - Sofia:

"Oh look, my original main of this series. When I was a kid, I used to play Battle Arena Toshinden 1 and 3 a lot, and Sarah was always one of my favorite characters, and I can tell why. Not only she has the looks, but also a really good moveset. She has such simple but fun combos to do, and some iconic special attacks."

PS: the gameplay used for this gifset is not mine. The original video belongs to the user: Raivop, on Youtube.

[starbrightstars]

Toshinden URA Trivia:

Ron Ron was a brand new character introduced in Battle Arena Toshinden: Ultimate Revenge Attack, alongside Ripper, Replicant and Wolf. She was chief scientist for the “Toshinhei Project” which was being conducted by Interpol. 

What is Toshinden? A game similar to Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Toshinden died out because they released the games in unison. Soon later to be overshadowed by Tekken and Soul Edge. 

Sofia from Toshinden was once the short-lived mascot for PlayStation. 

Toshinden URA is the sequel to Toshinden S.

She created Replicant, a warrior for peace enforcement and anti-terrorist use. When Ron Ron finished creating the prototype, it was stolen by her superior Wolf.

She is Chinese, in battle she throws bombs, uses a stun gun which also seems to be a wand and hammer. When using her weapon to spark fire while shouting out Biri Biri Wand! She is weak and slow in battle, but is also strong if used correctly. Her “Pin Ball” spinning attack is powerful. She’ll jump in the air and throw multiple bombs.

She alongside Ripper was a “Sega Saturn” exclusive and did not appear in the PlayStation sequels. The only PlayStation game she appeared in was Toshinden Card Quest. 

In Toshinden URA she ratios the female playable characters. Ellis, Sofia, Tracy, making four. 

The Toshinden series is defunct. 

The best Toshinden game is the Sega Saturn release URA. Especially Ellis’ new model. Which was only created because the Sega Saturn could not handle her usual detailed costume. But the Sega Saturn costume suits her more, and also makes her match Sofia. 

Toshinden is forgotten today. Nobody remembers it. New gamers have no idea what it is. There will probably never be a remake or remaster. 

War Budokai a Toshinden remake with no connection to the original series was released for the Wii in 2009 and was a Japanese exclusive. The game was said to have flopped. 

The original characters were “elderly” by Toshinden 4, and most of them retired from battle. The only character to appear in Toshinden 4 was Eiji Shinjo.

[pacdevil]

Characters named Leon Appreciation Post

Video Game Edition

Leon - Rune Factory 4

Leon - Brawl Stars

Leon D.S. Gehste - Star Ocean Series

Leon - Battle Arena Toshinden

Leon - Dead or Alive Series

Squall Leonhart - Final Fantasy 8 & Kingdom Hearts Series

Cervantes de Leon - Soul Caliber Series

Leon - Custom Robo Series

Chef Leon Vourain - Guild Wars 2

Leon - Guild Wars

Part 2/?

[z2z-gaming-and-random-art-ai]

Console Fighting Games of 1996 - Battle Arena NiToshinden

Battle Arena NiToshinden is a spin off of the Toshinden fighting games series from the mid to late 90s. Unlike other entries in the series NiToshinden is set in a high school with several mainstay characters featuring as well as new characters joining the roster.

[videogamequeens]

Ooh, then I wanna ask, who are some of your favorite ladies on those classic systems? I was a total Nintendo kid myself, so I’m curious. 😯

Sorry for delayed answer I seldom get to check this 😔

There are SO MANY! Brace yourself

GENESIS/SNES

Hilda from Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War, Dark Queen from Battletoads, Madam Woe from the Power Rangers fighting game, Blaze and Electra from Streets of Rage, Jetta and Shadow from Eternal Champions, Annet and Restiana from El Viento, the Vortex Queen from Ecco the dolphin (lol if she counts?), Mizuki from Samurai Shodown, Kitana and Sindel from MK2 and 3, Elizabeth Bartley from Castlevania…oooh almost forgot Dominique from Double Dragon and Bai Meiniang, Schirach and Undine from Romancing Saga series…

PS1

Pretty much all the Tekken gals (Nina, Anna, Michelle, Jun, Kunimitsu), Master, Shizuku, Cuiling, Miss Til and Zola from Toshinden series, Melissa from Parasite Eve, Helen and Jennifer from Clock Tower, Sarah, Leona, Viki, Lorelai, Hellion, Lotte and Eileen from Suikoden, Aeris, Jenova and Edea from FFVII and VIII(respectively), Rose, Pullum and Blaire from Street Fighter Alpha and EX Plus Alpha, Cecilia from Wild Arms.

SATURN

Cupido from Toshinden Remix, Dural and Pai from Virtua Fighter, Nagi from Last Bronx, Grace and Candy from Fighting Vipers, Poison from that Final Fight game.

N64

Pagan from War Gods, Black Orchid fromKiller Instinct

ARCADE

Freya from Dark Seal, Dora from Golden Axe, Chaos from Martial Champions.

I’m sure I’m forgetting tons more…🤗

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Any thoughts on these fighting games?

Tekken

DarkStalkers

Killer Instinct

Evil Zone

ClayFighter

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi (Dragon Ball Z Sparking in Japan)

Arcana Heart

Akatsuki Bllitzkamof/EN-Eins Perfektewelt

Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring

Tobal No.1 and Tobal 2

Fighting Vipers (PEPSIMAN!)

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax

Omen of Sorrow

Nitroplus Blasterz Heroines Infinite Duel

I've played Tekken 3 and Tekken 7 and that's it, but I wouldn't say I'm any good at the games.

Darkstalkers I've played a bit of, though I wouldn't say I'm any good, though I still hold out hope for a proper sequel with a full roster compared to the split off offshoots that currently exist.

I own Killer Instinct (the modern game), though it has far too much pay-to-own DLC for my liking, in addition to very unbalanced quest games, so I lost a lot of interest in it (though I will still mess with the characters now and then, it's been a while).

People have told me Evil Zone is good, though I have yet to play it myself, though I'd compare it to Battle Arena Toshinden in terms of style (maybe even Battle Fantasia).

I never found ClayFighter especially appealing, since there was never a version of the game that didn't seem "stiff" in animation, though I suppose it was a poor man's Street Fighter clone.

My history with DBZ games goes all the way back to Super Butoden and Hyper Dimension, though I have separate opinions between "Budokai" and "Budokai Tenkaichi" (or just Tenkaichi). Budokai is more commonly known as Dragonball Z3 in Japan (or just Z3, though we call it Budokai 3 here in the West). Unlike Tenkaichi, the original Budokai games had a 2D combat perspective, though they still played a bit with 3D plane. It was the Tenkaichi games onwards that focused more on 3D combat. I'd say I'm not "as interested" in the 3D combat compared to how much I enjoyed Budokai 3.

Also, with regard to Dragonball FighterZ, I'd say it isn't nearly as complex as the Budokai games were in tranformations and such, or even Beam Battles and clash battles which it had.

I don't exactly find the Arcana Heart series especially appealing (and I've said as much in older posts), though I did appreciate Mori bringing it to BlazBlue Crosstag as a small offering.

The mechanics of the game ARE interesting, but the gameplay itself just doesn't appeal to me by and large (sprites were very small, animations were simple, and the all-female roster was off-putting to me, so it's not my cup of tea).

I've had friends tell me how great the Akatsuki games are, and I'd dare say it's easy to compare it to older PC Doujins like Big Bang Beats and Melty Blood, but I don't actually have much experience with the Akatsuki games...

The fact French Bread insisted on bringing Akatsuki in to Under-Night as a guest character is amazing, however... along with the fact the Blitztank was added to BBTAG.

Ehrgeiz... there's a lot I can say about Idea-Factory's hidden gem in the rough: but to me the game was too much like a Wresting game or Power-Stone Clone... and the fact they used Final Fantasy characters kinda distracted from the other characters far too much for my liking.

Certainly it predates games like Dissidia Final Fantasy, but I feel like if someone was gonna make a Final Fantasy fighting game, it would happen eventually.

Ehrgeiz itself shouldn't be lauded for Final Fantasy, it should be lauded for its own story and unique characters. The fact it had a Dungeon RPG mode though... that's something few Fighting Games can brag about, and something I think more fighting games SHOULD consider (especially a game like DNF Duel... a spinoff of Dungeon Fighters, so I mean... where's the DUNGEON???)

The endings were cheesy, but that was the era back then.

That goes DOUBLE for the Tobal games... Tobal itself was everything Dragonball Z fighting games probably would have been if they turned it in to a Virtua Fighter spinoff.

There are far too many ideas in Tobal to really discuss in a paragraph here, but suffice to say it has a very odd roster... very massive roster too... so I'd argue they overdid it in some capacity.

Fighting Vipers... I can't really say much, since I've never sat down to play the game, though I do find SOME of the characters appealing.

If Fighting Vipers ever did a Dead or Alive Crossover like Virtua Fighter did with Tekken, that'd be pretty interesting.

Dengeki Bunko/Nitroplus... hmm... I don't have fond memories of these games (don't get me wrong I have higher opinions of it now than I used to, but it's still not my favorite kind of fighting game).

If ARC System Works or French Bread were approached in to making a Dengeki game, I think I'd be more eager to play it... just something about it that screams "cheap doujin fighter" to me, and that doesn't bode well in my history of playing fighting games.

I feel like Omen of Sorrow wishes it was Mortal Kombat and Castlevania Judgement... the latter of which was done by 8ing, and I still sincerely think is a great game.

Unfortunately some fighting games are fated for obscurity, though it's up to you if you want to play them or not.

Once again, I find All-Female rosters to be somewhat unappealing to my taste, though on the flipside of that, Skullgirls doesn't enforce that rule as adamantly as Nitroplus and Arcana Heart seem to. SNK Heroines is also an odd duck in that regard.

If you don't agree with my opinions, that's fine... but just understand that I have a predilection for weapon-based fighting games... so games with tiny sprites and moe cutsie characters are just NOT appealing to me...

Anyways, right now, to me the peak is probably Soul Calibur 6 and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, though even if I say that, I'm still waiting for the "egg" that is Guilty Gear Strive to finally hatch itself.

[fnlrndcllctv]

THE YEAR IN FIGHTING GAMES: 1994

As the original release of Street Fighter II turns 30 this year, we are taking a look at the landscape of fighting games between 1991 and 2021 on a year by year basis!

This week, Shaun Eddleston takes a look at 1994…

1994 was an eventful year for video games.

Nintendo was starting to wind down on its production of NES games, while celebrating the success of games such as Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo. SEGA’s Sonic The Hedgehog series was going strong with Sonic The Hedgehog 3, and games such as DOOM II and Warcraft were making their way onto computers all across the world.

It was also a year where Germany placed Mortal Kombat II on its index of media works deemed harmful to young people by Germany's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons effectively banning the game from sale in the country (and remained that way all the way up to 2005!).

Let’s take a look at 1994 in fighting games...

One of the more obscure Neo Geo titles, Aggressors Of Dark Kombat (known as Tsuukai GANGAN Koushinkyoku in Japan) was an interesting title that felt like a bit of an experiment in the genre. The game’s movement feels more like it would fit into your standard beat ‘em up game such as Final Fight and Streets Of Rage, and even drops weapons into the stage for fighters to use. 

The game also includes a fun comeback mechanic, the “GAN GAN attack”, which kicks in once a player’s health bar drops below a certain point, and their power bar is full. Once one of these mega attacks connects with an opponent, the player automatically wins the round.

Art of Fighting 2 continues the story that kicked off in the previous year’s entry, as we immediately learn that the identity of Yuri’s kidnapper, the tengu masked Mr Karate, is none other than Takuma Sakazaki, Yuri and Ryo’s father. This is all part of a much bigger criminal plot that ends up being spearheaded by a certain young crime lord from another popular SNK fighting title…

As for the game itself, almost every aspect of the Art Of Fighting experience was rebuilt and polished. The character sprites and stage art looked better, and a new “Rage” gauge mechanic was introduced into the mix. All of the game’s characters are immediately playable in arcade mode, and each have their own specific dialogue when interacting with other fighters.

The first 3D weapons-based fighting game was also one of the earlier releases on the Sony PlayStation, and was poised to be the game that would “outshine” the impressiveness of Virtua Fighter’s groundbreaking graphics.

While it didn’t quite beat out SEGA’s franchise, Battle Arena Toshinden still had a couple of interesting aspects to it that are still worth mentioning today. 

First of all, it is arguably the first “true” 3D fighting game, as it included the ability to side-step or dodge roll during a fight. This meant that the act of avoiding projectiles now had more options outside of blocking the hit or jumping over it, giving the game a little more depth (both mechanically and visually).

Thanks to the newly opened up 3D movement, ring outs are also possible in the game, where players can lose a round by simply falling off the side of the stage. This is an element that many gamers see as a bit of a cop out during a fight, but I personally see it as a fun way to humiliate opponents and even bring overly confident fighters back down to earth.

Capcom’s massive success with Street Fighter II was one of the most important moments in video game history, and the game was still going incredibly strong since its release 3 years prior (including this year, which we’ll touch on later in the article). There was a big question that lingered though; what non-Street Fighter fighting game would Capcom bring to the table next?

That game was Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors.

Darkstalkers wasn’t a million miles away from Street Fighter II in terms of gameplay. It utilised the same six-button L/M/H attack layout, and even used a Super Gauge that would be shared with the series.

The main strength of Darkstalkers that set it apart from its more famous older cousin, and that was its characters and theme. Instead of a tournament of worldwide fighters that many 2D fighting games utilised, Darkstalkers took inspiration from classic horror movies from the Universal era and offered a cast of 10 fighters that range from werewolves, sasquatches and vampires to Egyptian mummies, zombies and a Frankenstein’s monster for good measure. 

A spooky cult favourite!

1993’s Fighters History was a controversial entry in the fighting game genre. Not necessarily because of any violent content or especially iffy storyline, but for just how similar the game was to Street Fighter II. It was so similar, in fact, that Capcom attempted to sue Data East for just how much of a shameless ripoff the game was.

Capcom wasn’t successful with the lawsuit, and Data East went forward with a sequel, Fighters History Dynamite.

The game, perhaps more commonly known in some places as “Karnov’s Revenge”, added more characters (including the game’s boss fighters, Karnov and Clown) to the playable roster and spruced up the game's stage backgrounds.

Other than the slightly expanded range of fighters, and a hilarious hidden character to discover, not a lot else has changed from the first title, and still feels like it can’t shake off the original comparison that it got into trouble for.

Many 2D games up to this point were trying to mimic Street Fighter and Fatal Fury’s cartoonish graphics, there wasn’t really anything outside of Mortal Kombat’s digitised graphics that truly felt “next-gen” going into the middle of the decade.

Enter Killer Instinct.

While Rare as a developer was having a fantastic year already, with the success of Battletoads and Donkey Kong Country leaving long lasting impressions on the industry, their fighting game was a revelation in arcades, bringing a mix of 2D gameplay on 3D stages, strong bloody violence and a ridiculous new combo system to the table.

The characters were memorable, the animated FMV sequences were jawdropping to watch, and witnessing the game announce blare out “ULTRA COMBO!” whenever someone nailed a particularly savage sequence of hits just felt right.

Why not check out our thoughts on the game’s “killer” soundtrack?

Inspired by the popularity of Ryo Sakazaki (Art Of Fighting’s main protagonist) and his appearance as a guest character in Fatal Fury Special in 1993, SNK decided to go all out and start a crossover fighting series that brought together characters from their library of past games.

The game, named after the fighting tournament in Art Of Fighting and Fatal Fury, allows players to choose from a selection of 3-member teams that have been designated to different countries of the world, and matches revolve around an elimination system. In addition to a selection of original new characters, KOF ‘94 mixed together the Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldier, Art Of Fighting and Fatal Fury franchises to fill out one of the largest fighting game rosters around at this point.

The game’s music is the subject of our very first entry in the Soundtrack Sunday series, so check it out!

Of the slew of games that took direct inspiration from Mortal Kombat, very few actually left a lasting impression.

One of the exceptions to this was Primal Rage, which saw stop motion dinosaurs and prehistoric apes duke it out for supremacy in the new “Urth”.

The game, which also took inspiration from Taito’s Dino Rex from 1992, caused its own controversy with one of its fatalities. In 1996, a woman from Arizona said that her 11 year old son had bought the game, and used a strategy guide to execute the “Golden Shower” fatality (in which, as the title suggests, the character Chaos urinates all over the corpse of an opponent). She flipped out and started a grass-roots campaign against Primal Rage, which resulted in some US stores withdrawing copies of the game, including the already-censored SNES version, which didn’t even contain the offending move.

The game was also successful with its merchandise, and saw a line of toys and a board game to accompany it.

The first Samurai Shodown game was, and still is, one of the finest fighting games of the early 90’s, so SNK had a huge task on their hands when it came to creating a sequel.

With Samurai Shodown 2, they absolutely knocked it out of the park in pretty much every aspect. All of the sprites of the characters who reappeared from the first game had been completely remade, a bunch of new characters had been added in, everyone got amazing new moves and a number of new game mechanics were also introduced to make the game feel much more balanced and fun to play.

One of these new mechanics was the “Weapon break” system, which meant that if a player got hit with a particularly powerful attack, there was now a chance that it would knock their weapon clean out of their hands, leaving them unarmed until it was recovered. The sheer panic of scrambling to pick up your sword while the opponent is slashing away at you is a thrill that still feels as effective today as it did back then.

Street Fighter II’s reign as king of the arcade fighting games was starting to wind down by 1994, so the game saw a final upgrade in the form of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which added more game speeds, new animations and moves for all of the characters, a new “SUPER” gauge system and the introduction of  a hidden character that would quickly become one of the franchise’s most recognisable fighters; Akuma!

While many more casual players may not have felt the real impact of these changes (this was the third update in as many years since the original release), it remains as the “definitive” version of Street Fighter II, and is still used in tournaments to this day.

Developed by Namco (and ported to PlayStation in 1995), Tekken took the 3D fighting style that was pioneered by 1993’s Virtua Fighter, and added its own spin on things in regards to the control system.

Instead of using the traditional fighting game inputs that corresponded to the strength of the attacks, Tekken utilised a system that dedicates a button to each individual limb of the fighter. In doing this, the game became more of a learning process for players that wanted to do special moves and combos. This departure was so innovative, that experienced players could now figure out special moves by studying the fighters limb movements during their animations.

Known briefly as “RAVE WAR” during its beta test stage, Tekken quickly found itself as one of the most popular PlayStation games in history, and became the first game to sell over a million copies for the console.

Take a look at our thoughts about the game’s soundtrack!

Virtua Fighter was an incredibly important moment in gaming, so following up with a sequel that lived up to its predecessor was absolutely vital for SEGA.

Luckily, with Virtua Fighter 2, they managed to not only surpass the first game in the way it looked, but how it played too. Improved movesets ramped up how authentic each individual martial arts/fighting style felt, and with things running at 60FPS in the arcade version, the game felt like it was miles ahead of its competition.

The third entry in the World Heroes series was yet another improvement on the games that preceded it, but considering the sheer amount of solid competition it was facing in 1994, it still fell to the wayside.

The game added two new fighters and added a brand new boss to face off against, but things were starting to feel somewhat dated with the series now, and it suffered as a result.

While there were many action-adventure and side-scrolling beat-’em-ups based on characters from the Marvel universe, it wasn’t until the early 90’s until we got a fully fledged fighting game. It only made sense that Capcom, one of the heaviest hitters in the genre at the time stepped forward to fix this.

Released in arcades in late 1994, X-Men: Children of the Atom established what would become a beloved and fruitful relationship between Capcom and Marvel, and laid the foundations for the successful “Vs.” series that fighting game fans have played for nearly 25 years now.

The game is loosely based on 1993’s “Fatal Attractions” storyline, in which Magneto and his Acolytes return to confront the X-Men, tempting Professor Xavier to cross a moral line to stop them. It’s a pretty insane storyline with some fairly gnarly imagery (one such example sees Wolverine getting the adamantium ripped out of his skeleton!), and the good vs. evil dynamic lends itself perfectly to the setting of an arcade fighting game.

1994’s entries in the genre saw developers starting to take full advantage of the new 3D graphics that SEGA introduced with Virtua Fighter in the wake of a new console generation, while 2D fighting games kept on coming hard and fast to try and best Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat’s popularity.

Join us next week as we take a look at the games of 1995!

Did we miss anything from 1994 that’s worth mentioning?

Let us know in the comments below!

[murdercide626]

My SSBU Roster DLC Wish List

Decided to update my list of most wanted Smash Bros. fighters. And of course since Min Min was added to the roster, that means spirits officially do not deconfirm possible roster candidates! So this time, NO HOLDS BARRED! Also, I don't care how unlikely one of my selections is, this is my list, I do whuh I wan'! PLAUSIBILITY BE DAMNED!

I'll also be listing these in ascending order, building up to my #1 most wanted fighter!

Here we go!

=====================

#10:

PORKY MINCH

I think we could use another Earthbound/Mother rep, and who better than this lil bastard? He served as a major antagonist in both Earthbound/Mother 2 and Mother 3, and was also a boss in Brawl, so it seems like he'd be a pretty good choice for a future fighter!

=====================

#9:

GENO

Yeah, tons of people want Geno in the game, and I'm definitely among them! SMRPG is a fondly remembered classic, and I think Geno has good potential as a playable fighter! Hopefully we'll get to see this guy in action!

=====================

#8:

SCORPION

HEAR ME OUT! Yeah, Mortal Kombat is DEFINITELY NOT family friendly, but then again neither is Bayonetta. And I don't think it'd be difficult to incorporate Scorpion's familiar moveset without the gore. And come on, you know you want that kickass Mortal Kombat theme in the game! lol

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#7:

CAPTAIN SYRUP

Wario Land desperately needs more love, and I think Captain Syrup would be the perfect character to represent that series! And if they utilize callbacks well enough, then she could have a very fun and interesting moveset!

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#6:

SORA

Definitely a long shot considering Kingdom Hearts is a Disney franchise, but I'd personally love to see Sora rubbing elbows with some of gaming's most iconic characters!

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#5:

RAYMAN

I'm pretty damn fond of the Rayman series, and I think this guy has what it takes to be an awesome addition to the roster! Especially if they take full advantage of all the powerups throughout the series!

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#4:

SHANTAE

I'm also a big fan of the Shantae series of games! And considering all of Shantae's magical abilities and many transformations, I know she could be a fun and unique addition to the roster!

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#3:

EARTHWORM JIM

Yeah, this entry is pretty much just my inner child screaming out for one of my earliest video game obsessions. lol

But I really do think Jim would be an excellent addition to the roster with a fun and bizarre moveset and wacky animations! And this wouldn't even be Jim's first appearance as a guest character in a fighting game (having already appeared in Clayfighter 63 1/3 and Battle Arena Toshinden).

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#2:

DR. EGGMAN

The way I see it, if other third party series (such as Street Fighter and Castlevania) can have multiple reps, why not Sonic? And I personally wouldn't have anyone other than the nefarious Doctor himself filling that spot! And they could put him in a small mech to fight in (a la Sonic The Fighters)! Seriously though, I would freak the f*** out from sheer geeky joy if Eggman ever got added to the roster! :D

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AND MY #1 MOST WANTED DLC FIGHTER IS....

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CRASH BANDICOOT!

Seriously, Crash would be so frikkin PERFECT in Smash Bros.! He's a fun and unique character with great moveset potential, his game franchise is both celebrated and long lived (with a pretty strong resurgence in recent years), and the Crash Bandicoot series has had some good history of collaborating with Nintendo! Not to mention that Crash started out as a rival mascot to both Nintendo and Sega, so seeing him go toe-to-toe with Mario and Sonic would be pretty damn epic! :D

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So yeah, there's my list. lol

I can only hope at least one of these characters will make it onto the roster! *crosses fingers*