GUILTY GEAR
I recommend this game ONLY to people who love Guilty Gear. If you’re just getting into the series, please for the Love of God start with Xrd or Accent Core.
This game is a 100% port of the original Guilty Gear for the PS1, and being a direct port is both it’s greatest strength and flaw. It’s a tough as nails fighter with mechanics that were questionable even during it’s release back in 1998. For example, you have two health bars per round, once one goes away you can just spam your Overdrive move an unlimited amount of times. Testament has a poison mechanic here that he has in other games, but the poison doesn’t stop at the magic pixel, it flat out KO’s you. The dust and instant kill mechanics that are popular in the series work VERY different here. There isn’t a dedicated dust button but there also isn’t a dedicated way to perform them, like pressing both Slash and Heavy Slash worked on X. Some character moves seem to do it on their own (I’ve seen May’s somersault move hit me with a Dust) In every game after this one, an Instant Kill only gave you a round. If you missed your instant kill, you lost your entire super meter and couldn’t instant kill for the rest of the round This game? You press Punch and Kick at the same time, hit the opponent, then if you input hadouken before the victim breaks free, you win the whole fricken match. If your opponent breaks free you can just freely try throwing out your instant kill to win again. Be warned, you can just as easily lose both rounds. This game is the only one in the franchise in which the AI also throws out Instant Kills. You still have your unlockable Justice, Testament and Baiken, however, just like the original release, you can ONLY use them in 2 player VS matches. This game unlike the future installments, does not feature a free battle mode to fight against a CPU opponents and lacks online multiplayer. The game loads very fast to the point where you can barely see the VS Screen with their movelist, thankfully pausing in this game lets you bring up your character’s move list.
– Real player with 23.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Fighter Action Games.
Guilty Gear: The Missing Link (Japan) is the very first game in the series that was on the original PlayStation console around 1998/99. Guilty Gear is an anime fighting game that has a more dark atmosphere to it aside from the cartoony art style and heavy metal music. Now I have played this game before and it’s my favorite one of the series, though the other installments I like as well. Guilty Gears is pretty fun to play against CPUs and with a friend. The game does not have the option to change difficulty. The difficulty is adaptive depending what stage you are on. From Stage 1 being the easiest and to Stage 10 being the most difficult. The game offers 10 playable characters to play as, and picking one of them you will battle against the other 9 in Stages 1-9 and lastly one of three bosses at Stage 10. Each character has their own fighting style, special abilities, as well as their weapons. The game features a Chaos Mode which is activated when a fighter’s health is at half point (Yellow Health). A red aura will surround the character and he/she is able to perform unlimited Chaos Attacks. All character possess an Instant Kill maneuver that will basically kill the opponent resulting an instant win even when the match just started at round 1. Some of these Instant Kills are more violent and brutal than others, with the exception of May’s Instant Kill having a different version of template being more kid friendly. They are the most powerful moves and you must commit quickly before missing the moment, or the opponent defends the attack. Basically press punch+kick at the same time and if it connects Sakkai (red screen) is activated for a moment, then roll the joystick down to right (if facing right) and an attack button to finish the sequence. If done successfully, you will see many cues and visual effects occur on screen. First usually is the attack the character will perform, followed by the Destroyed!! template will appear on screen, an audio cue that will say “Destroyed”, then the opponent’s Health flashes red and black while depleting resulting in a successful kill. Generally, this game has been one of my favorites since a child and it’s super fun. With my most played character as May since she is the youngest fighter and probably one of the difficult fighters to learn. I really recommend this if you missed this game or into fighting games and like to experience this classic.
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
I’m a huge fan of Street Fighter games, And I’m a huge fan of Thirdstrike, my favorite version of all Street Fighter games, so I’m feeling compelled to write down my thoughts.
30Th Anniversary is a collection of 12 Street Fighter games released before Street Fighter VI, classic and nolstalgic Arcade games, the training mode is ok, the sprites are clean, the games are more beutiful than on emulators, I’ts the perfect game for who is just looking to feel nostalgic and play old arcade games ofline, online the sync system is different than Fightcades, here on 30th there is no rollback, so it’s easier to confirm hits and supers, if you land a super on block is your fault not the games, but the input lag online feels weird, it seems heavier than Fightcades, I’ve messed up punishes that I would never miss on Fightcade.
– Real player with 428.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Fighter Fighting Games.
Nice Compilation of games based on its ARCADE CABINETS versions. A must have considering the games included.
Offline you get
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Street Fighter
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SF 2 The World Warrior
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SF 2 Champion Edition
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SF Turbo Hyper Fighting
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SF 2 Super
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SF 2 Super Turbo
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All the 3 Alpha Series (Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 3)
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All the 3 SF III Series (New Generation, 2nd Impact, 3rd Strike)
- The emulation/port is pretty decent considering all of them are based on the Arcades versions of its games and you get some enhancement to play all your favorite games with some different filters from the normally found on available emulators on the web.
– Real player with 97.7 hrs in game
SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL / サムライスピリッツ零スペシャル
It is often said that “Street Fighter” is a good starter serie/games in the middle of Versus Fightings Games, and It’s true. But Samurai Shodown (V Special, IV, II or VI) is in my opinion much better for that.
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The combos in this games are just simple links with a special when you hit your opponent or cancel recoil animation when you hit in the guard.
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The specials are very simple to execute, 90% of specials in the game consist to imput 236 (quarter circle) or 263 (dragon/Z).
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The mechanics are fews and very simple to learn, the “hardest” thing to understand that is your rage meter doesn’t just give you a super attack, but a super attack (called Weapon Flip Technique), the possibility of meditate, a time slow, a better sword jauge, a rage explosion (for fatalities and better sword jauge)… And it’s all you know almost everything of the game when you know that!
– Real player with 1059.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best 2D Fighter Action Games.
If you want a fun and unique fighting game with a varied roster that will test you in ways no other fighting game will, with a character for every playstyle, give this game a shot. Want a game with an active and dedicated playerbase that’s always ready to throw down and help a newcomer out? Give this game a shot. Want to play a game where you can possibly kill someone in two well-placed hits? Maybe even one if you’re lucky? Play Samurai Shodown V Special.
I cannot stress enough that this is without a doubt in my top favorites of the genre. Everything about it, even its jankier aspects, oozes elegance and refinement over the 11 years spanned between the first SamSho and this one. It is in my opinion the absolute definitive game in the franchise, even with the new one (that also looks absolutely fantastic, mind you) coming out.
– Real player with 255.3 hrs in game
THE KING OF FIGHTERS ‘98 ULTIMATE MATCH FINAL EDITION
The most complete version of KOF 98 ever finally hits PC.
Pros :
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There are EX version of half the cast, which make a lot of the characters play very differently. There are all the boss characters playable too!
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Has the original vanilla KOF 98 game with original menus, OST etc if you want to experience.
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Huge diverse roster, not many games like it.
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Universal defensive and movement options.
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Challenging and satisfying gameplay/combos, worth the training time. (This game is aimed at legacy KOF players but you won’t struggle with any 2d fighting games if you master the execution in this game)
– Real player with 58.9 hrs in game
Ah, KOF ‘98… One of the all-time greats of the fighting game genre,
and now, you got it here on steam at a much more affordable price than what I had to shell out for a Neo Geo CDZ, it even has online play to boot! So if you like fighters and wanted to check out KOF, make it this one.
The roster is made up of every single fighter featured from KOF ‘94 to ‘97
with the last couple of missing combatants being additions for the “Ultimate Match” update from some years back.
You got two different styles, or “Grooves” if you are so inclined.
– Real player with 44.0 hrs in game
THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2002 UNLIMITED MATCH
A very fun and fairly balenced KoF fighting game; a port from PS2. This game has some nice music (some songs I don’t like personally), a difficult trial mode (I can’t do an Overkill), and some fast pased fighting game action. This is for people that want to show off to their friends that they can do combos and look real cool while doing it.
Some cons:
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Fightcade exists, with their totally free KoF 2002. It’s not Unlimited Match, but it’s free.
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Online sucks. No one is one line and if they are, the game is wholly laggy.
– Real player with 197.7 hrs in game
This is one of the best fighting games I have played in a while. While this game is a big upgrade to a previous game, I could not help but compare the difference between it’s predecessor KOF02 for the neo geo and this game KOF02UM.
The Pros:
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Excellent soundtrack for each team and boss characters
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the teams seem to have their own stages.
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The bosses from KOF99 to KOF01 are present and playable
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The characters not found in KOF02 such as Lin, May Lee and Jhun are here in KOF02UM
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Many different modes to choose from such as practice, challenge and online
– Real player with 144.1 hrs in game
THE LAST BLADE
Beautiful Game, awful port.
Like the Garou Steam port this Last Blade Steam ed suffers from very much the same faults.
Again the game drops directional inputs making crouched chain combo input very unreliable and hi level play impossible.
Strange as Last Blade 2 doesn’t suffer this input bug. Dot emu, can you patch this please?
Edit:
There’s a fix for the buggy x-input. In BP go to controller steam input per game setting forced off. Save and exit.
Start the game and the game controls should work normal. This trick works for all of dot emus neogeo releases.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
The Last Blade is surprisingly understated for a fighting game, with a moody soundtrack and battles that sometimes forego background music entirely. The combat is fairly basic as far as 90s arcade fighters go, but it’s quite satisfying, especially the repel mechanic. It makes for a very tonally distinct fighting game experience.
However, the port job here isn’t great. Although it does have its fair share of bells and whistles (multiple difficulty options, training, online multiplayer, etc.), the game only gives you 9 credits per player per playthrough, and there are no save states. The emulation has its problems, too, notably with the responsiveness of the controls. It’s not a dealbreaker, but this game deserves better.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
From the Creators of BlazBlue, comes Guilty Gear. It is their First Series which also was the First Game for Designer/Composer Daisuke Ishiwatari.
Its a 2D Beat em Up like Street Fighter, etc. but it is much different, since it uses a heavy reference on Rock/Metal Music (kinda like Brutal Legend).
The Characters are awesome in their Ways. Here a short Description of them:
-Sol Badguy: Arrogant Badass Bounty Hunter (and Scientist!). Listens to Queen and is a perfect Role Model for all Men. He uses a Rectangular Sword for more Coolness. Good Allaround Char for Beginners
– Real player with 379.8 hrs in game
Guilty Gear XX #Reload also called “The Midnight Carnival” is a Japanese 2D fighting game developed by Arc System Works in 2003, at the beginning for acrade machines only, later for PC & consoles, and in september 2011 finally moved on Steam platform. This studio also created BlazBlue series. X2 #Reload was the most popular title from all GG series.
Game can offer 21 different fight-style playable characters and 2 special ones (Kliff and Justice) which unlocks after beating the Arcade mode. Pick your favourite and fight on one of 15 unique, beautifully designed maps, referring to events of the past (you can check out full, interesting and great considered story on Wiki fandom site). Also, every single character got individual theme made by awesome composer Daisuke Ishiwatari (music is fabulous, owners of the game receive OST in the MP3 format for free, along with other digital extras like gallery of fanarts). All characters got 6 color variants (excluding the simple color editor existence). There’s a total of 8 game modes (includes Arcade, Story, Challenges, M.O.M., Survival, VS CPU, VS 2P and Training to improve your fighting skills) and it’s great for every occasion f.e. to challange your friend (split screen PvP) or to relax after tough day at work.
– Real player with 65.1 hrs in game
Super GMA
So. I adore indie games. By far my favorite genre. And while I can get into some of the more main stream titles out there, there’s nothing quite like playing a game that a small group of people, if not just one person, pours their heart into.
Super GMA is an 8-bit fighting game with 8 characters to choose from. And that could have been all that was put into it, but it isn’t. Each character gets their own unique backstory in the campaign and once you beat it, you get to see the resolve to their story. Everything that you see and hear during the game was done by one person and that is where this game gets it’s charm. Great music, with an interesting twist on fighting games where once you hit the enemy, you gain a bit of health back. Nice fair fighting. I have yet to play the local multiplayer but I look forward to doing so.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
FrightShow Fighter
The unique hand drawn visuals are creepy, and cute. The gameplay is similar to a 16-bit era Street Fighter wanna be, in a good way. Although characters are either gimped or broken, playing the game is fun, and with rebalancing and reconfiguring of the inputs (which are on the way) this game and it’s kooky cast of characters could be a great entry level fighter. If you’re looking for Street Fighter, Tekken, or Guilty Gear level of complex gameplay systems… slow down buddy, this game was made for tablet. But it’s still vert fun to play!
– Real player with 20.2 hrs in game
An excellent fighter, with awesome music. Controls may be a bit difficult for some to wrap their heads around, but once you get acustemed to them the game becomes a whole lot easier. Great to play with friends!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbG6BhIBu0Q
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
Saboteur II: Avenging Angel
Saboteur II: Avenging Angel is a great-remastered version of the old classic. It is a hardcore game by today’s standards. It has no in-game map. You are a female saboteur infiltrating into a secret facility. So the lack of the map does give the player a feeling of being a real spy who is infiltrating into the secret facility on her own. It does make the gameplay truly hardcore, though. The game is hard, mainly due to lack of the map. The gameplay in this rerelease is almost identical to the original game.
– Real player with 63.9 hrs in game
I was happy with the remake or rather touched up and extended first Saboteur game, in my review pointing out that it seemed possibly how Clive would’ve made it if he’d been able to back then. The same was done for Saboteur II, but having played through the whole game, I’m a bit less satisfied. I know that the original Saboteur II was different to the original Saboteur, having missions rather than difficulty levels, though each mission was like a harder repeat of the previous mission. The fact that in the end you have to do the same as what you had to do in the original game, collect 14 code chips(paper tape codes in the original) feed them to the rocket’s computer, turn off the electric fence then escape by motorbike, makes all the added content, meant to give the game a bit story, a bit redundant and misleading. I mean at the final mission you can discover a wormhole and actually be teleported into space, but then you find that to complete the mission you still have to perform the relative drudgery of finding all the code fragments. So it reduces everything else to sort of fun, bonus content, not essential.
– Real player with 27.2 hrs in game