Recommendations for games to get started with Fighters

[racketboy]

So I’m planning on making a series of guides to go along with the 101 Genre series that give some good introductory games to get people started in a genre. The genre I probably know the most about (although, not tournament level or anything) is the fighting genre.

I didn't include any 3D fighters (except for SSFIV) because a) I don't have a lot of time invested in any and bK. 2D seems better to me for both learning and tournament playing. So feel free to give recommednations for 3D games if you think they fit.

I started this post as a fairly bare-bones outline, but as a I got typing this seemed to turn into a very rough draft of the actual guide Anyway, I’ll just run my initial thoughts by you all and see what changes and additions you recommend.


Level 1: Learning the Basics

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior – raw and polished – less complex then the predecessors, but a very solid system of rock/paper/scissors type thinking and a slow enough pace to get beginners to really think about their moves.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 – this is still one of my personal favorites as it has a solid roster without being too overwhelming and has a polished, but approachable fighting system. Probably a bit more forgiving than Street Fighter II.


Level 2: Intermediate

Super Street Fighter IV – To me, it seems like Super Street Fighter IV is a good, logical step from SF2 and SFA2. It’s a very well-rounded and mainstream game with a good selection of characters and an excellent learning curve. It’s a good game for people that are starting in the genre to really mature and grow into a game that is being used at tournaments.

King of Fighters ’97 or ’98 – seems like a good place to jump into the SNK world. A good way to jump into a game with a large roster and the team-based feature. ’97 and ’98 are probably the most classic and easiest to track down of the series.
Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves – is kinda SNK’s counterpart to Street Fighter 3 (see below) but not quite as intimidating. It does have some nice characteristics that will bring a fighting fan out of their beginner stages.


Level 3: Advanced

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike – one of my absolute favorites, but it often requires a bit more patience and discipline on the defense end to really succeed. It’s an excellent tournament game and is quite satisfying to play once you are used to it.

Samurai Shodown 2 or The Last Blade 2 – Seems like it would be good to transition to weapons fighters here and also learn the different pacing that these games often require.

Weaponlord – I have yet to actually play this one myself, but Ack talks about it all the time and it seems like a good fit for the “Advanced” category even though it is far from mainstream.


Bonus: Fun & Quirky

X-Men vs. Street Fighter or Marvel vs Capcom – personally, I really like X-Men vs Street Fighter quite a bit still as it isn’t too complex and has a nice balance of characters. Some may argue for just going ahead and going for the original Marvel vs. Capcom. Moving up to Marvel vs Capcom 2 will probably be a bit intimidating for newbies (although, against the CPU or an unskilled opponent, you can accomplish a lot by just mashing buttons)

Waku Waku 7 – a good Hidden Gem that I think everyone would have a ball with. Can anyone think of a better example?

[dsheinem]

Ball...

...nevermind.

[noiseredux]

how about MKII? Darkstalkers? Capcom Vs.?

[MrPopo]

I'd say a good intermediate would be the two Bleach fighting games for the DS. They both use the attack chaining system of light->medium->heavy and have a long enough timing window that you can pretty much guarantee that you'll get off the progression after the first hit. All characters have up to five special moves that all use the exact same button inputs (fireball, forward down forward, HCF, down down, down up) so changing characters is a breeze. Similarly, the supers all have a fairly simple input (either two fireballs or half circle + reverse) and all the moves can be shortcutted from the touch screen. The fighting system flows really well, as a result. There's also enough depth in the defensive options + cards to allow people to transition to harder games.

BlazBlue kind of sits between intermediate and advanced. All your basic attacks are very intuitive as to how they come out and chain, but since each character has a very unique distortion attack learning what you and your opponents can do takes a lot more time.

[racketboy]

how about MKII? Darkstalkers? Capcom Vs.?

I thought of those too... but I wanted to keep the list shorter to avoid turning into the defining games piece. Maybe I can fit them in as extra mentions. Where do you think each of those would fall?

[racketboy]

I'd say a good intermediate would be the two Bleach fighting games for the DS. They both use the attack chaining system of light->medium->heavy and have a long enough timing window that you can pretty much guarantee that you'll get off the progression after the first hit. All characters have up to five special moves that all use the exact same button inputs (fireball, forward down forward, HCF, down down, down up) so changing characters is a breeze. Similarly, the supers all have a fairly simple input (either two fireballs or half circle + reverse) and all the moves can be shortcutted from the touch screen. The fighting system flows really well, as a result. There's also enough depth in the defensive options + cards to allow people to transition to harder games.

BlazBlue kind of sits between intermediate and advanced. All your basic attacks are very intuitive as to how they come out and chain, but since each character has a very unique distortion attack learning what you and your opponents can do takes a lot more time.

Nice recommendations. I have yet to play Bleach and I've only played a bit of BlazBlue...

[noiseredux]

how about MKII? Darkstalkers? Capcom Vs.?

I thought of those too... but I wanted to keep the list shorter to avoid turning into the defining games piece. Maybe I can fit them in as extra mentions. Where do you think each of those would fall?

I'd put MKII under beginners. Capcom Vs I guess is a bit more advanced than that. Not quite sure. At any rate, I understand what you're going for, but at the same time you don't want to just make it a bunch of Street Fighter games in every category (even if they are awesome).

[Gnashvar]

I know this might sound weird but Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle for the SNES got me into fighters with it's simple moves and combos.

[swiftzx]

You should put Tatsunoko vs Capcom under beginners category. The two button system is easy to use for beginners, since it was my cousin's first fighting game and he grasped on to game's combat system quickly. Also, what about the smash bros series?

[Erik_Twice]

I think the most newbie-friendly fighter is Super Smash Bros, specially the latter versions. It also has a lively competitive scene.

SSB doesn't require learning complex inputs as each attack is mapped to a different button, making it easier to learn than most fighters. It's also a somewhat controllish game so the gameplay will make newbies focus on dodging, blocking and approaching, basic gameplay mechanics of the genre.

It also has popular characters in it so it easy to draw people to play it.

Concerning SSF IV, it's surprisingly newbie friendly, so I think it's a good pick.