This is for nothing other than my own curiosity. I was talking to a friend trying to explain the evolution of fighting games to him and he asked me which one was the most important. I answered with the original SFII but then I wondered after SFII’s release what then? Which game had the biggest impact on the FG genre and why?
If we’re talking about in the US…probably MK. MK wasn’t even just about making an impact on the fighting game scene. It made an impact to games in general for obvious reasons.
After that I would say…Tekken. VF definitely wowed audiences in the US as well but it was Tekken that really got the US audience into 3d fighting games. Nobody liked the Saturn and Tekken was basically a flashy take on VF. I’m sure Tekken by far was one of the best selling games when the PS1 first launched. A lot of people liked Battle Arena Toshinden as well but it was obvious that the game was liked more so for its flash than actually being a good game.
IMO Tekken 1 wasn’t much better of a game but it had more replay value to it with a more extensive list of moves and many characters. This is also back when arcades were still big (well…way bigger than now) and Tekken having a release in the arcades helped to get it popular around the US. People were always crowded around the Tekken machines back in the day.
Assuming we’re talking about 2-D, after SF2 the most influential game currently would be…GG.
Most of the Japanese 2-D fighters released in the next 10 years will probably draw at least something from it.
sf2 - started fighting game boom
vf - first 3d fighting game
ggx - spawned ‘next generation’ of 2d fighting games, and kept the genre alive
FF Maximum IMPACT by default. amiright?
You are all fucking crazy.
MARVEL.
OK maybe not, but GG sure as hell introduced a lot of young and aspiring pad warriors.
I wrote something up about this a long time ago. Not 100% sure if I still agree with it or if it’s even accurate - but yeah, it’s a starting point for discussion.
Derek Daniels
Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were unquestionably the two most popular franchises in the fighting genre in the 90s, and after that, there’s a HUGE drop off to the next group of contenders.
For the 2000s, I’d say it’s Soul Calibur.
All other titles are either only currently big with the niche crowd, or were only ever big with the niche crowd–with the possible exception of Tekken, which still doesn’t reach Soul Calibur’s level of popularity.
I don’t know, but to me, popularity =/= influence.
Citizen Kane was highly unpopular when it was first released, but it influenced tons of movies and filmmakers in the following generation.
I guess we should clarify what exactly is meant by “impact”.
Tekken is certainly popular but I wouldn’t really call it influential at all.
Because basically just about everything from Tekken is a ripoff from something else. Don’t get me wrong, I like Tekken but the fact is that they really don’t come up with anything original. Instead, the brillance of Tekken is that it steals the best parts of other games/mediums and puts enough flash and polish and fanservice crap in the mix to appeal to both casuals and hardcore fans.
SF and MK for 2D gaming overall these 2 games and elements in them are seen in just about every game that came after it including GG, the game that is drawing a new generation to the 2D genre. One game I feel deserves some mention is Killer Instinct, it was one of the first games I knew of that had a system of parrying within it and how can we ever forget the combo breakers the game had that many games after it copied.
VF and (Soul Blade along with its sequel Soul Calibur) these games set the gold standard for all 3D games that came after it and these 2 games continue to be considered some of the best fighting games overall even now.
There were several:
#1- The original SFII- kicked off the 1-on-1 fighting genre, on 2D as well as led to the various 3D fighters out.
#2- X-Men COTA: Was the start of the whole Marvel/Capcom crossover craze, and Capcom’s second huge success run after SFII’s popularity finally waned down. At the time the animated visuals were incredible. Led to the Great MVC2 which is still played in arcades to this day, and no arcade still left out there is worth a crap unless it has at least 1 MVC2 machine.
#3- Mortal Kombat 1: You know, it milked the whole violence-in-gaming stuff, and helped boost the industry. Led to the ESRB and many clones, like Time Killers and Eternal Champions.
#4- Samurai Shodown 1: Probably the first GOOD weapons-based fighter released. Stuff like Soul Calibur series no doubt got inspiration from SS, as it is essentially a 3D Samurai Shodown clone. Thats right i said it!
#5- VF1 or Tekken 1: Whomever came first was that one big title that first took 1-on-1 fighting into 3D(pretty sure VF1 came first). For its time their 3D visuals were mind-blowing, seeing a VF1 arcade for the first time is also among my fondest arcade memories.
True…how could anyone forget about Samurai Showdown I?? Esp after Sam Sho II came out it became obvious that others were following after Sam Shos scheme…Battle Arena, Soul Cal…you name it…Sam Sho is the father of them ALL.
SF2 spawned years of amazing games. Then GG killed that. I love the GG games, but the games trying to mimic the style… are awful.
That’s basically my list of first played fighters. With the exception of Tekken 1, I started on 3. Everything else is golden. :tup:
Bikini Karate Babes
Impact? Dunno if KI would count since I’m pretty sure that they probably inspired the first combo video creators around that time.
Street fighter 2, Mortal kombat, Virtua Fighter, Tekken 2, and Soul Calibur on DC.
To me, impact necessarily includes both how it influenced what came after it, and how many people it affected–so popularity must be taken into account.
And Citizen Kane, while initially met with mixed reception, became hugely popular in subsequent years and remains so. Many masterpieces are not immediately understood.
SF2 = durr.
ST = classic gameplay
MvC2 = popularity is unequaled and consistent
3s = Renaissance of SF
GG = Kick in the butt in the gameplay and graphics
Tekken = consistent and loyal fanbase
VF series = cult following here, big over there
…i’d say MK series, but then somebody would slap the shit out of me.
KOF Anybody? the first team based fighting game, team based fighters force you to learn MANY more characters! Not too mention it was the first fighting game to compile fighting characters from many series.
SNK never gets any love 