Top 10 best fighting game characters

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
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If I was to do a write up of my 10 best fighting game characters my criteria regarding what defines my list will be based mainly on factors such as cultural impact and strength of character design. So I am going to apologise in advance for my list being very heavily 90s fighting game and thus Capcom/Midway centred.

1) Ryu. I suppose Ken can be put alongside him, but if I am being honest, damn near every fighting game has a Ryu of their series. That lone warrior who fights for the love of the fight, a good natured soul who will often have the burden of the world or a large group on their shoulders and usually dresses in a simple gi and a headband. A solid all rounder in damn near all games, easy to pick up and play and whose design can be seen in damn near every fighting game. For example, of the top of my head, Ryu clones include Liu Kang, Ryuji from Fighters Destiny, Akira from VF, Jago Killer instinct.

2) Bruce lee. I suppose you could argue that he is not a fighting game character but I dare you to name a fighting game series without a Bruce Lee type character in its roster. VF has Jeet Kwon Do practitioners, Maxi from SC, Dead or Alive has them and do I even have to mention the three most iconic Bruce Lee rip-offs? Liu Kang despite what some people might say was the first Bruce Lee rip off with his WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA everywhere. Fei Long is tied for the most blatant rip off and IMO Martial Law was the best Bruce Lee Clone. Somersault kick spamming and one inch punch FTW!

  1. Bruce Lee just beat Chun Li. However Chun Li without a doubt is the premier lady of fighting games without exception, this is not without debate and probably top 3 female characters in gaming behind Lara Croft and Princess Peach. Ben Reed said all that needed to be said. With her simple design, yet with surprising depth she has as a charioteer make her a truly an exceptionally well designed character, and don?t get me started on her thighs. She has the body I measure all curvy women to.

**4) Sub Zero and Scorpion. **I think they are the premier ninjas of fighting games. Great names, great history and superb and simple character design. (Even Midway realise not to fuck with them too much as they have with other characters cough Sonya Blade,Jax ) Their rivalry just pips that between that between Ryu and Ken by the tiniest of margins. Plus I needed a little variety.

On a side note has anyone noted that the most well designed characters in the MK universe are those who Midway tend not to butcher too much. Barring Zombie Liu Kang, Liu kang, Kung Lao, Raiden Scorpion, Sub Zero and the other rainbow Ninjas.

**5) Dictator. **The premier bad guy in fighting games. He can run roughshod through your village, pillage its resources, cause the weeping and lamentation of your women, kill your father from 50 paces and he can only apologise for not remembering a damn thing because for him it was Tuesday. What do you expect from a guy who looks like a dictator and a Nazi officer concentration camp officer? A truly hard son of a bitch in World Warriors and a grade A bastard in canon and fanfiction.

**6)Boxer. **Where do we start with him, the guy can?t kick without pc modding and he laid the groundwork for boxers in all fighting games. How many boxers do you know in fighting games that can kick? He?s why. Plus Turbo?s raps explain why he is such an awesome character.

7) Vega. 5 words show all there is you need to know about the character. Handsome fighters never lose battles. This alongside go home and be a family man, you must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance and Boxer calling Abel an emo loser are some of the most iconic win quotes in fighting games (ok maybe not the last one but that one was too awesome). Vega is a well designed and divisive character, his design reflects your perceptions of him. If you love playing with him he is this bad ass Spanish ninja, that flies through the air, pokes you to high heaven so you can?t get near him, has a bad ass tattoo of a snake on his chest and wears a mask on his face so that should you be lucky enough to get close enough to hurt him you won?t harm his beautiful face. However if you hate him, he is this annoying gay effeminate, metrosexual, pretty boy that should be banned because he is too damn good and is too simple to play. A character with tonnes of personality and he has those little touches to him that make him such a great character to play and read about. As the most good looking guy in fighting games it makes you wonder what they were thinking casting Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas.

8)Eyedol. I have not really played SNK games but I need a truly evil boss to put in this list. Bison was a bastard and Akuma brought tears to my eyes in remix till I supered his broken ass with Vega and soon after I was greeted with the achievement unlocked screen. I would say that the most broken boss in video games, just pipping Akuma to the post (I have not played a SNK game so leave me alone) is Eyedol from Killer Instinct. A truly, truly truly, broken boss.

9)I really struggled to think of a character from a 3D fighting game franchise with character design so strong that I am like ?this guy deserves to be put on this list? I am looking at Tekken, SC and VFs cast and nothing stands out to me that has not been done before. This is not to say 3d fighters have bad character design, far from it, but nothing groundbreaking IMO. So I am going to have to paint with a broad brush and say all the women with F-cup breasts in fighting games. From the Dead or Alive chicks and Ivy it has been starting to get ridiculous. Especially since at times it feels like they want you to play the game one handed?. I should probably say Mai cos she started the whole insanely busty girl bullshit

**10) Akuma and Gouken. **With the whole Sheng Long EGM april fools day joke I suppose I had to put in these two characters that were spawned from it (yes I do realise gouken has existed in the SF time linebefore it but I want to OK). I am struggling to think of any other characters that came about as a result of fan reception.

Honourable mentions

Dan: The premier joke character of fighting games
Gen: The first old grandmaster of fighting games
Sakura: The first jailbait of fighting games
Zangief: I suppose the premier grappler of fighting games. He established that if you are huge you have to be slow.
Shang Tsung: the first character who was an amalgamation of other fighters.

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Lol…Dictator is on that list twice?

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  1. Ken Masters (Street Fighter)
  2. Sub-Zero(Mortal Kombat)
  3. Scorpion(Mortal Kombat)
  4. Terry Bogard(Fatal Fury)
  5. Ryu( Street Fighter)
  6. Ivy(Soul Calibur)
  7. Jin(Tekken)
  8. Chun Li(Street Fighter)
  9. Siegfried(Soul Calibur)
  10. Kung Lao(Mortal Kombat)
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:rofl::rofl:.

Sub Zero and Scorpion have great names? They seem pretty thrown together to me. Eyedol is not an SNK character. KI was made by Rare.

Ono- Yes. lol

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in no order

Dictator
Scorpion
Guile
Sub-Zero
Kazuya
Ryu
Shang Tsung
Shao Kahn
Paul
Chun-Li
Zangief
Heihachi
Goro
Gado (all of Bloody roar 2 Cast except alice rabbit)
Bakuryu
Shenlong
Stun
Xion
Johnny cage (you just being cage)
:wgrin::bgrin:

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No. Just fucking no.

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For me, that moment came a couple of lines later:

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Trying to order this thing would be a bitch for me. This is a combination of flavor, design, gameplay, etc. Please note I’m more experienced with 2D than 3D.

Ryu - Yeah. It’s been said. Ryu is also the world’s biggest nerd. For fighting. In addition, the embodiment of the competitive spirit. Respectful, and always up for a challenge and self-improvement. Always stable outside of marvel games in the gameplay department. Timeless.

Chun-Li - Again, it’s been said. Premiere female character, the original, and after nearly 20 years, still the strongest woman in the world. And again, usually solid gameplay wise, though she sees more changes than Ryu. Once more, timeless.

Bison/Dic - THE boss. But not out of reach to us the players (since CE at least). Drug and crime lord, mad with power, self-serving and evil to the core. Gameplay wise, he helped put charge characters on the map as something to be feared! Another usually strong character.

Terry Bogard - The street tough adopted son of a late martial artist. While bro chose to learn technique oversea’s, Terry sucked it up and became a real street fighter. A flagship character of SNK before the days of Kyo/Iori, Terry’s hat and hilarious Engrish mannerisms (ARE YOU OK?!) put him up there.

Yoshitora - A natural genius. To him the path of the sword is “Something else I can succeed at”. 7 Swords, one named after each of his girlfriends, and the last for himself. I appreciate his fighting style and gameplay, even in V special despite his nerf.

Spiral (Marvel 2) - Her character in the comics is alright, kinda cool. But her gameplay in Marvel? Wow. Can summon 6 swords around her. She can throw them vertical or horizontal. One at a time. Or make them circle around her expanding. A combo/anti-air command grab, ok. A (1/2?) frame teleport that can pretty much take her anywhere? Awesome! A fastfall from the air to fake out? Cool. FIVE supers too. A slow multi sword shot, eh. Speed and Power boosts kinda cool. An awesome level 3 where she does 1 hit as every marvel char in the game and a level 1 variation of same move? Cool. The mechanics of her trap are cool as well, though it’s not overpowered either. Fix me if I’m wrong here, but supposedly the only character advantaged against Cable? And yet, her only true purpose is just to raise that meter to 5. Still the best at what she does though! Supposedly she had some more weird moves in CoTA? Like a move that changes places with opponent? My fav. Dhalsim type character.

Slayer (GG) - So this all powerful vampire has come down to “observe”. An intro of his is to drain his wife’s blood before the match. When you beat him, he doesn’t get ko’d, he just chills on the ground looking annoyed. (in Ky’s win quote, he get’s up, laughs, and walks away). He punches people OFF THE SCREEN (top tier in Smash :party:), or slams them into walls. His crouch block is to blow smoke with his pipe. His crouch is to sit observingly on his cape. A jumping attack has him laugh at his opponent throwing his limbs about. Dude doesn’t even try when he fights. Gameplay wise, he deviates from the GG cast with a link based combo system. Usually a strong character in each game he’s in. Strong in all areas but footsies/zoning, with scary good frame advantage and abare.

Robo-ky (GG) - An arsenal. Filled with seeking missiles, bazookas, energy sucking, hammers, spiked balls, lasers, hot steam, guns, a sword, a robo flying horsie, and a self-destruct sequence. Can also go Kenshiro (ATATATATA) and have his speech bubble hit. Gameplay also requires managing his unique bar, with unique methods of gaining tension (super meter for non GG heads), as well as managing his temperature. Overheating with him grant extended hitstun and bonus damage, but will cause him hit himself for damage and knockdown if you overdo it. Personality wise, heheh. His taunt creates a “poolside table” for him to lean on and his winquotes…yes they are capslocked “YOU KNOW THAT SAYING THAT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT? WELL ITS STUPID AND YOURE STUPID FOR BELIEVING IT” (Venom) “NO UNSEXY LADIES ARE ALLOWED TO FIGHT ME” (May), yeah…

Jedah - The anti-christ. He’s even allowed to be “emo” (cuts himself open to attack with his blood…then regenerates. Top tier IIRC, some cool gameplay mechanics with his scythe. Disturbing stage full of potential nightmare fuel. And a super that involves his opponent signing over their soul to him signed by them personally in their own blood.

Despite the first 9 being in no order…#1
Venom (GG): Let’s start with design. Guy’s from England, looks of egyptian ancestry though. Bit of a rare thing in fighting I guess. Looks kinda like an average pretty boy with hair on face. Weapon is…a pool cue??? And of all characters in GG, he’s the gay one? (not Bridget, not Anji?)

But the real reason of #1 status to me is the gameplay. So yeah that pool cue. Venom can set pool balls on the screen. Up to 5 balls at once, with 5 unique formations, gives pool balls on of 25 spots to be by default. Not counting the fact you can set them in the air too. Once you set a ball, the rest of them on screen will move to support the chosen formation, though they’re “active” during that. Active meaning that any of Venom’s normals or specials, when they hit a ball, the ball will travel at an angle and speed depending on the move. They can also clash with the other balls changing speed and angles, or hit again. Looking at other special moves, we have unspectacular looking dashing pool cue spin (combo ender), and an air attack dive. He has a teleport that moves him straight to the last placed ball (if no balls, sends him straight above where he was). He can slam his pool balls on his opponent instead of placing them, if it hits, he gets a special electric ball that does 3 hits. He can shoot a slow or fast ball straight ahead, a 45 degree “bounce” ball at the ground, or a richochet ball.

He possesses the best super in the game in Dark Angel. A big energy ball that travels and carries opponent across the screen. Massive frame advantage. All in all, a balanced character for a thinking man, with a moveset full of synergy, delivering the best pressure in the game!

Honorable mentions:
Captain Falcon (SSBM): Would have made a list not a fighter -_-. Very Manly, and a true all or nothing gameplay style!

Various 3D fighters: Sorry, I haven’t gotten to know you guys well yet. Jin, Asuka, Mitsurugi, Akira, Goh, Aoi, Wolf Hawkfield (has every finishing move in pro wrestling from the 90’s :D) Miguel, Shun Di, etc.

Bang/Tager (BB) - interesting concepts, time will tell where you end up though.

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I never said he was, however i wanted to include a truly hard boss and Eyedol is probably the the hardest boss i have faced followed by Akuma. Have you heard of SNK boss syndrome?

I have never played an Snk game properly so i can’t include an SNK boss but Eyedol incorporates SNK boss syndrome to a tee. As for dictator being named twice, i switched his position from 7-5 and i forgot to remove the old part when i copied and pasted. I can understand you disagreeing with my list but i think my reasoning is solid.

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  1. Q (SF3)
  2. Makoto (SF3)
  3. Ryu (SF4)
  4. Christie (DoA)
  5. Sub Zero (MK)
  6. Monk with name I can’t remember (VF)
  7. Yoshimitsu (Tekken/SC)
  8. Luigi (SSB)
  9. Doctor guy with name I can’t remember (GG)
  10. Oro (SF3)
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Any 10 characters from Hokuto no Ken.

Kenshiro being #1!

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For me, that was the moment I came. :shy:

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lol?

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what the fuck is so funny?

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  1. Heidern
  2. Lucky Glauber
  3. Zangief
  4. Dee Jay
  5. That scottish guy from that 3do fighting game