Top 10 best fighting game characters

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
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Wow, I don’t normally read long ass posts like that but I’m glad I did, more of this please.

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I guess I’ll explain some as well…

  1. Kyo Kusanagi (KOF) - At first glance he seems a bit basic but don’t let that fool you, it all started back in 94 when the first KOF game came out and bang here’s this new kid trading fists with the guys from Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldier, Fatal Fury, and Art of Fighting, so yeah it was like “Whose this mary-sue piece of trash!?” but in due time all that will change, for some time and even today some people think that Kyo is actually SNK’s Ryu… to any scrub that’s a “I guess your right” but to any dedicated KOF fan “Dems fighting words :mad:” because one of the main things that set them apart are movesets, R.E.D kick, 212 Shiki Kotoyuki, the many rekka variations, 75 Shiki, and the Final Showdown are to name a few, actually Kyo has so many moves that SNK decided to make clones of him story wise so you can play different version (K’ Dash is a clone but not moveset wise, neither is Kula, or Nameless/K999 but Kyo-1/Kyo-2/Kusunagi are) either way I can go on all day about the differences but it isn’t necessary if you’ll just play the games “You just ain’t got it. So stop whining and get lost.”

  2. Jin Saotome (Cyberbots/MvC) - From the not so well known series called Cyberbots (part of a series of mech games Capcom made such as Armored Warriors, and Tech Romancer) but Jin really made himself a name when Marvel vs Capcom came out, this man is a beast with a incredibly unique moveset to top it off, barrages of kicks and punches, transforming into a tornado, skiing on your ass as he drags across every corner on the screen and did I forget to mention he has a some moves that involves him using his giant robot “Blodia” as well? this guy is the definition of a beserker that just wants to kick to your ass and nothing more (granted that he was pretty calm in Cyberbots) it’s sad that he was only really in a couple games but Capcom did a good job on making him one of the few that really stand out… good stuff

  3. Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury) - Terry Bogard is the definition of American pride in fighting games even moreso than Guile (whose to busy sulking over Charlie Nash anyway lol), from orphan to foster child to kicking ass in the Streets of Southtown the lonely wolf has been throught it all, his trademark “Fatal Fury” hat is awesome and his goofy engrish quotes are just so off the wall that anyone can enjoy it, as being potrayed as the “American” he’s considered loud, annoying, and just plain obnoxious (opposite to his brother Andy Bogard who was raised in Japan who happens to be quiet, aware, and not as rash… go figure), he moveset ranges from ground projectiles to rushdown moves, nice pokes and some not so bad anti-airs, and his DM’s usual consist of “POWAH GEYSAH” and “BUSTAH WOOF” which get you really into the moment and there’s his MOTW form but that’s another story, regardless Mr. Bogard has been throught a lot and he’s retained his cozy spot in the main series of KOF (12 games strong) after the Fatal Fury series ended, and for the record I never considered him SNK’s as he’s not a #2 nah not even close… in fact he’s the 1 and only… now “Stand Up…” “It’s KOF dude enjoy it”

  4. Geese Howard (Fatal Fury) - “PREDICTABOWL!!!”, Geese “Raging Storm” Howard is the boss of bosses, no one can compare… as the ruler of Southtown he is the definition of “Mafian Don” when it comes to video game characters, Controling the events of both Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, and 2 times in KOF (in 96 and 97), and even in CvS1, and with his power he was able to hire a slew of subordinates (a couple are Mr. Big, Yamazaki, Raiden, Billy Kane, and even the powerful Wolfgang Krauser), he later became playable but just because he’s boss doesn’t mean he’s easy to use, he sometimes wields the dreaded pretzel formation when only mastered you can finally do the awesome “Raging Storm” and that’s not all he’s got counters moves that if you time correctly can flip your opponent on his ass without idea of what happended, besides that this man hasn’t fallen of of Geese Tower once but twice… or was it 3 or 4 times? (if you count CvS, and I think KOF EX) and even after dying he can come back as Nightmare Geese which is even more of a powerful than the former and just haunt you for eternity :S, so let’s see run that back shall we? he has flunkies, counters, reppukens, Rashomon, he can back from the dead, sounds like someone you don’t wanna mess with right? :sweat: “Time to pay you back for that boot out the window Terry/Andy baby!” :lol:… oh yeah his theme song “Geese ni” has been remixed numerous times for just about every game he’s been in so that’s just more for his ego…

  5. I-No (Guilty Gear) - I-no you make me sick but I still love you :bgrin:, she’s probably the most awesome, awkward, twisted, punk rocker bitch you’ll ever see, she goes from sweet to sour in a instant not to mention she pisses off all Guilty Gear noobs that don’t know how to Faultless Defense :looney:, your awesome I-no never change

  6. Ryu and Ken (Street Fighter) - Yes I listed 5 twice but it’s Ryu and Ken so who cares, the bro fist shotokan Capcom poster boys deserve respect as usual, while they’re not my absolute favs they’re still up there because they have a legacy… err no dynasty, that and SSF2 on Genesis brought me into fighting games, I love you Capcom no homo…

  7. Duke (Battle Arena Toshiden) - A personal favorite of mine as I never cared for Soul Blade’s/Soul Calibur’s Siegfried, but in all honest when I first played BAT Remix on the Saturn and picked Duke I was suprised because anyone that says “You fought well…” on the cracters selection screen before the fight even starts has balls, he has good range, good combos, and I’m pretty sure he’s high tier to boot…

  8. Jin Kazama (Tekken) - It’s Jin… they’re isn’t much to explain, he hates his dad, his grand-dad, his great grand-dad but besides that he’s still the leader of the Mishima Zaibatsu (for now), he’s the poster boy for Tekken (or at least was stares at Lars :bluu:) so either way you gotta give props where props are due, good luck Jin your gonna need it :tup:

  9. Haohmaru (Samurai Showdown) - Haohmaru, while his winning quotes are beyond cheesy he still gets to fight some of tough samurai’s along the way like Gaoh and Zankuro, hell some them aren’t samurai’s at all they’re just tough (Enja, Suija, Amakusa, Mizuki etc etc) he also has a Kusanagi like clone as well, and did I forget to mention he’s voiced by the same guy that does Ryo Sakazaki from AOF/KOF?

  10. B.M. (Fighters Megamix) - B. fucking M. is that dude, a badass with a dragon helm and shoulder pad that doesn’t talk but only grunts, he has a charge ppunch that sends your opponent across the ring, not mention he has like a 10 hit combo thingy and you get to bet up most of the Virtua Fighter cast along with it… did I forget to mention you get to beat up the Daytona USA car as well?

  11. Lilica Felchenerow (Arcana Heart) - She has loli-skates :3, bat wings, and the trademark anime character sharp fang thing… tl;dr she’s a loli vampire on rollerskates, she’s awesome

A few others
Iori (KOF)
Venom (GG)
Litchi (BB)
King Lion (Kizuna Encounter)
Neo-Dio (WHP)
Yoshitora Tokugawa (SS)
Tadakatsu (SBX)

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It really, truly depends on how you’re ranking them. Is this based on personality? Looks? Moveset design?

If it’s personality, Mitsurugi from SC deserves mentioning based on the fact that he’s probably the single most arrogant character in video game history. Hakumen from Blazblue also deserves some hype simply because of his talks with Ragna in his story mode. Ash from recent KOFs is easily one of the freakiest characters around.

For looks, Dizzy has one of the most unique looks in gaming history, as does Yoshimitsu from SC2. There are some others from various games like Tengu from DOA.

Moveset-wise, you’ve simply got to give it up to Venom from Guilty Gear, Oswald from KOFXI and Gouken in SF4.

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Oooh favorite character lists. I keep two and seperate them by males and females. The guys go like:

  1. K’ (KOF)
  2. Kain R. Heinlein (Garou)
  3. Asura (SS)
  4. Ragna (BB)
  5. Suija/Sogetsu Kazama (SS)
  6. Vega (SF)
  7. Kusanagi (KOF)
  8. K9999 (KOF)
  9. Geese Howard (Garou)
  10. Enja/Kazuki Kazama (SS)

The girls are:

  1. Blue Mary (Garou)
  2. Millia Rage (GG)
  3. Nina Williams (Tekken)
  4. Psylocke (CotA/MvC2)
  5. Vanessa Lewis (VF)
  6. Cammy White (SF)
  7. Ibuki (SF)
  8. Leona Heidern(KOF)
  9. Sonya Blade (MK)
  10. Noel Vermillion (BB)
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I love the review on Sent.

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The entire SF2 cast except for shitty ass T.hawk and Fei long.

Terry Bogard
bunch of others from KoF

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1-10. Ryu

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Ben Reed: Great read btw, only thing I haven’t seen on your list yet (I’ve only read up to 8). I have yet to see Ryu/Ken up there. IMO, these 2 characters pretty much paved the way for all these copy cat characters out there. Good shit on explaining your P.O.V.s much appreciated.

positive repped included (which I rarely ever give out)

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Many of these characters owe their design to other characters who are actually better characters. Sentinel - Dhalsim, Various Ryu clones on this list - Ryu

Dhalsim : The goto for weird characters, and effective as hell in his design. While he has exploitable holes in his design, he still has the tools that a really skilled player can use to plug them. He manages to memorable, playable, and cater to new players and more experienced players needs. Really everything you could hope for in a character design.

Ryu : There is a reason why there is a Ryu style character in the top tiers for any game that has one, his design is both super effective and recognizable. Just like Dhalsim ; Memorable, playable, caters to new players and pros alike. Ryu himself is such a barebones basic design who wins matches by being effective with a well designed small package of moves. It is hard to place any character who is a derivative of Ryu on this list unless they themselves really stand out.

Chun Li : Chun’s collection of really effective basic attacks and an easy to perform Lightning Leg make her a very good character to teach the basics of fighting games with. Her versitility of her basic attacks means that no matter how the designers choose to design her specials (charge or circular motions, what fireball to give her, upkicks or bird kick, whatever super they give her) she can still remain a very easy goto character for people to start with either as a new player or just trying a new Street Fighter game. The fact she wasn’t in SF3 was a mistake and the fact she is in SFIII:3S was the best fix possible albeit a tad to late.

Terry Bogard : Very memorable and recognizable character who also has a good enough basic design that swapping his specials around from game to game keeps the game fresh without horribly forcing his fans to learn a new character. Always playable at low and high end play.

Rugal Bernstein : For my Money, the best fighting game bosses are Bison and Rugal. Rugal is a Sagat Clone (low projectile, high projectile, uppercut move, tall with long limbs. Even has a missing eye) with more personality and versatile design. Rugal is better designed overall to Sagat I find, with possible exception to Sagat’s SF4 incarnation. He is also great for Ryu style players looking to vary their game up.

Clark Steel : In my opinion, the best straight Grappler ever made in a 2D fighter period. I love Gief, but Clark is just amazing. He has a recognizable wrestling style if you are a wrestling fan (Rolling Cradles, Shining Wizard, Suplexes and Lifts, Ground Fighting) and is accesable to newer plays as a grappler. New players trying to play a Grappler are often met with difficult to use grapples, Clark has well designed controls and the tools to connect with his grabs. Alex in SF3 feels alot like he was supposed to be aimed at Clark players but falls short.

Angel (KOF) : The design and feeling that went into this character deserves a mention. She is easily my favorite design in the SNK world and one of the most unique characters around. She deserves inclusion in more games

Gen : Gen is brilliant. The high level of technical skill needed to learn him fits his old master esthetics. He should be in every Street Fighter game released from now on.

King (Tekken) : King is the only reason to play Tekken. Nuff said. Aside from maybe Yoshimitsu. Where Clark is hands down the best Grappler, King is the most complete and rewarding to learn. He is so fun to play and see on the screen. When you see someone pick him in any Tekken match, most people will smile and have respect.

Iori : Varied enough in his design to not be just a Ryu copy, and extremely versatile. I love his style and personality. As mentioned, he is good in all levels of play. Even the new KOF12 Iori is amazing. Him and Terry are the catch all characters of the KOF series. If you come into a new KOF and start a team with Iori and Terry you are bound to have a decent team.

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No Order
1: Ryu (SF)
2: Dhalsim (SF)
3: Sent (MVC2)
4: Clark (KOF)
5: Sub-Zero (MK)
6: Athena (KOF)
7: Sogetsu (SS)
8: Genbu no Okina (LB2)
9: Chun-Li (SF)
10: Guile (SF)

I feel like any list of this sort needs atleast 3 SF characters before I start to take it seriously. (Not to be confused with SF3 characters)

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I can see that you have great respect for the art of the grappler.

Two great choices here, but I gotta say that Hugo is quite possibly THE most expressive, beautifully rendered grappler of them all. So, while Clark and King have Hugo beat in terms of wrestling authenticity and in-game effectiveness…no one conveys more personality onscreen than Hugo. Even his hair emotes.

And, what about female grapplers?

Shermie is awesome, because SNK took the least grappler-like personality (a cutesy little mallrat rock star, who talks on cell phones in the middle of fights) and randomly gave her Diamond Dusts and German Suplexes. How can anyone not like that?

And, Tina Armstrong from DOA has THE greatest movelist of any female grappler in any game. I think she even rivals King in terms of authenticity. Anyone partially modeled after Manami Toyota will go far in my book.

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1.Duck King(Fatal Fury)
2.Rosa(Kizuna Encounter)
3.Q(Third Strike)
4.Ryoko(Karnov’s Revenge)
5.Captain Kid(World Heroe’s)
6.Geese(Fatal Fury)
7.Rasputin (World Heroes)
8.Shen Woo(King Of Fighters)
9.Baiken(Guilty Gear)
10.Nanaya Shiki(Melty Blood)

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No Skullomania love up in this bitch?

What the FUCK?

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That’s because more than likely Skullomania owns his design(gameplay) heavily to someone else. That’s like me coming up in here and asking about no love for Sol Badguy. As much I like Sol, I gotta admit I can see many influences Ryu had in him. Now Order-Sol… that was better.

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I don’t agree with this. at all. >:/

Wtf at nightmare being no.2 Should have been Ivy or Talim if they wanted a soul calibur rep. Both of those are much more interesting than him.

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Dhalsim - Dhalsim just looks cool in every game he’s in. He’s deceptively weak, and back in the old school days everyone though he was a waste of character space. Dhalsim though, when played right looks so cool. So many Dhalsim players over the years has made this modest Indian look really good, from Fuusuke, Gian, Jason Cole, and most recently Iyo. He was always really cool even in his vs. game iterations as well. He’s one of those characters who is never truely bad or without options in a game. His design is so powerful, one or two small tweaks can straight up make him overpowering. This character captured me years ago when I first read a Gamepro article about the upcomming SF2 (yeah I’m old). I saw him spitting flames and i was like “I’m using that character”. The best character hands down.

Guile - The All-American military 80s stereotype.  no matter how much of a throwback his design is, there is something inheritedly cool about this man.   When played with finesse, Guile is a force to be reconned with.   His normals like so brutal, his airthrow can still get "OHHHs" after all of these years, and he serves our country well.   Guile's gameplay is a mix of defense, and great corner pressure.  I remember first when I was 14 in an arcade and being locked into a corner by a very skilled Guile (first time I've ever seen a Guile that good).  I was on a mission to learn this character, master him no matter how many losses I had to take.   

Baiken - Defensive master, with the coolest animation on her moves.   When you can figure out Baiken's great FRCs, IAD moves, and GC you can make yourself really annoying.  Baiken showed us that Guilty Gear isn't all about linear offense.  Her defensive tricks make her subject to your imagination.  Baiken is a horribly masculine female character, but she moves with grace.  Oh and her Baku counters just show her great mystic powers.

Sentinel -  Nuff said, the best character in MVC2.   He does everything and absorb a lot of damage.  One of my favorite X-men villians as well.  No one really cares how good your Storm, Magneto and Cable is, because when you have a deadly Sentinel, you get everyones respect.    In the words of Sanford:  "Work on that Sentinel".

Ling Xiayou - While I’m not a huge Lolicon fan, I love Xiayou. If you love to annoy your opponent with speed and tricks, she’s got it. The character you want to use for great setups. And while she’s not really that powerful in any game she’s in, once she builds momentum, she can make you guess the entire match.

Aoi -  Our akido shrine maiden.    Has a counter for everything, and really graceful movements.  Awesome grabs, and great mixup guessing games.  And yeah, she can fight at total disadvantages with good guesses.   The last thing you want to do is be unpredictable here.

Kyo - He wears leather jackets, chains, and he has flames. Kyo just looks cool with his relentless rushdown style. He’s so cocky and arrogant, but a total bad ass. Getting fucked up by Kyo in KOF isn’t like getting fucked up by anyone else. You just have to shake the guy’s hand who whoops your ass, because Kyo is the epitome of style.

Not sure if that is 10, but those are all the characters I need in my life.

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  1. Jin Kazama(Tekken) (I’ll tell you why, out of almost every fighting game I can remember, Jin was the only one that underwent a complete fighting style change and was still a badass. From Mishima Ryu to Kyokushin Karate)

  2. Feng Wei(Tekken)

  3. Akira(VF)

  4. Goh Hinogami(VF)

  5. Jacky Bryant(VF)

  6. Hwoarang(Tekken)

  7. Potemkin(GG)

  8. Kyo Kusanagi(KOF)

  9. Iori Yagami(KOF)

  10. Abel (SF4)

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  1. Ryu
  2. Guile
  3. Zangief
  4. Makoto
  5. Chun Li
  6. Dhalsim
  7. Guy
  8. Rolento
  9. M.Bison
  10. Vega
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  1. DeeJay (ST + HDR) (Everyone loves the Jamaican)
  2. King (Tekken) (Only grappler I like)
  3. Rose (A2) (PUNCH AC, LOW STRONG, STUPID LONG VALLE CC LOL)
  4. Dictator (any SF) (OH HO HO HO, norio wakamoto is irl bison)
  5. Dio Brando (Jojo’s) (his moves are too cool)
  6. Geese Howard (SNK) (He’ll stain his house with your brud)
  7. Bacon (GG) (counters, tatamis, whole raisins, you name it!)
  8. Buri (GG) (Everyone’s favorite crossdresser and his great pokes)
  9. Akatsuki (Jewpuncher) (He’s just a very fun character to play as)
  10. Yamato (Bleach DS games) (The old man with fire loops, and stupid easy infinites in some games)
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Tina is fun for sure, but DOA sux and her chains are easy as hell to escape. She is a bad King clone with less options and tits as a selling point.

<3 to Shermie and Vice. Both characters came close to finding places on my list.

What he said. Skullo is fun as hell, and hands down the best joke character ever made. Even after Dan, and I love Dan. I love Sentonel but do not list him because he is in essense a Dhalsim clone, he is the MVC2 Dhalsim.