When it comes to fighters the most important aspect for most avid players is the gameplay. Me I feel the animation for characters in a fighter is just as important as the gameplay. Gameplay can be great but if the characters don’t look fluid in their movements, or there’s notable missing frames, it’s a turn off for me. IMO Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers 3 has the best animation even though the sprites look dated.
Animation wise, the characters look like something straight from Disney with how bright and vibrant they look and all the squashing and stretching they do when moving and attacking. Not to mention the hallarious damage animations. Which fighter do you believe has the best animation and why?
I would definitely say third strike. Personally, I find the redesign of existing characters and older characters to emphasize movement and the execution still holds up quite well to this day. I loved playing the shotos in this game simply because of the way they animated the clothing.
I would draw a parallel to Classic Disney animation in films from the 50’s-70’s, but in the fighting game genre. Perhaps there are some that match it, but as far as how it influenced a shift in thinking, I can’t think of any games that emphasized weight and movement so well. SF2 to Alpha to III was a striking (no pun intended) difference.
I’m sure there are plenty of differing opinions and quantifying and qualifying “best” is subject to taste, but that would be mine.
Yeah I can definitely see alot of votes for SF Third Strike. Those characters are fluid like water. Especially when Ken does his Super Art with the kicks. Those kicks just look so nice buttery and smooth.
These are all in no particular order except Red Earth which is clearly the best animated fighting game I have ever seen. Imagine a fluidity similar to 3S with “pop” and creativity of VSav. That said, did not like the game. I do not understand it; just couldn’t hack it.
