So I think I should play fighting games... where to start?

[ninjainspandex]

Try the marvel vs games, the combos and supers are pretty easy to learn and are pretty noob friendly. If you get MVC 3 for the Xbox I'll play with you online, I'm not very good myself. My advice is to pick one and try to play it a little bit each day, use the training mode and play against the computer on max hard. practice the specials until you can just reflexively do them easily. Look up combos and strats for the characters you want to play as.

[Jmustang1968]

I am in the same boat as you Bone. Never really was much into the fighting games.

However, the ones I have enjoyed the most were the Soul Caliburs (my favorite), Tekkens, Samurai Shodown, and Super Smash. Though Smash isnt quite the same.

[noiseredux]

I think Dead or Alive 2 is really n00b-friendly. It's the only fighting game my wife will play actually. It's approachable with it's strike/block/throw setup.

King of Fighters series is great - especially since you've played SFII, so it's going to feel somewhat familiar, but different enough (4 buttons) to feel new. Of the ones you own, I'd go with maybe 99.

[3DSStrider]

Tekken is a good starter. It's pretty simple and noob/button masher friendly.

[isiolia]

I'd suggest starting with a newer title simply for the reason that many of them include tutorials, or challenge modes that are effectively tutorials (they start you off throwing basic attacks, blocking, etc, and progress to giving you combos to execute). Even a generation back or so, you have stuff like in-game move lists to peruse that the 16-bit games didn't tend to have.

Street Fighter IV, in its various editions, is very common/cheap, and plays a good bit like SFII so you won't be lost.

My general suggestion for this, like with the last time someone asked, is pick up a Street Fighter game and practice with Ryu or Ken or any of the other shotos. Really, you could do that with a KoF game (and Terry/etc), or whatever too. They've got widely copied special move motions and such, so you'll (almost) always find a character that you can pick up in games using those skills.


Though, for a different take, the Blazblue games have a Story mode that's basically a visual novel kind of setup, that will occasionally drop you in to do a fight. It can be too anime for some tastes, but if you like it, it might keep you interested in the game enough to learn it better.
Persona 4 Arena has that too.

[marurun]

Virtua Fighter Remix and Fighters Megamix aren't bad starters as long as you pick the right characters. Sarah and Lau are excellent starter characters in these games because they are potent without being overly complicated. Megamix is also a little forgiving on button-mashing when you get desperate, at least in the early stages.

I always loved fighter and I always sucked at them. Back with SFII came out on the SNES I could NOT reliably do a dragon punch. It wasn't until I got SFII on a different system with a better pad that I was able to finally learn to do the dragon punch reliably and my love of fighters finally started to blossom further.

[EvilRyu2099]

I don't consider Blazblue to be anywhere near as complex as Guilty Gear.. In fact I view BB as a beginners version, so as far as Ark System Air dashers go, it's a pretty good game to start with.. Tag 2 is actually pretty complex due to the roster, movements, oki and tag systems.. I think if you want to start off in a 3d fighter a non tag Tekken or Soul Calibur would be good starts to get you up to par on the basics.. As far as 2d fighters are concerned, I'd go with 3rd strike.. Not to say it's an easy fighter because it's not, but it's one of the semi retro fighters that are similar to the modern 2d fighters than can give you ideas on how to move, oki and play defense. The input system, while not easy is a great start as well.. Darkstalkers 3/VSav would be another good start as well. It's a great prelude to anime air dashers..


For newer fighters, I'd play those for the tutorials alone and the combo challenges.. Some games give you better combos than other to practice.. I'd say Ark Sys does a good job of giving you combos that you can actually use along with Tekken, but someone like KoF 13 is hit or miss.. Try looking up the wiki section of SRK or eventhubs for a basic idea on the mechanics and combos of each fighter..

[Erik_Twice]

I would simply play what your opponent will be playing

[BoneSnapDeez]

Battle Arena Toshinden (Game Boy)

Well, I beat this one. With Ellis.

The dialogue is hilariously bad.

[brunoafh]

I don't consider Blazblue to be anywhere near as complex as Guilty Gear.. In fact I view BB as a beginners version

I agree completely. But, I still would find it strange to suggest such a fast, frantic, and combo-centric game to someone new to fighters. It's not as complex as GG in the grand scale but the general flow of the game for the average player is still nothing to scoff at, and dependent on a pretty decent level of skill, even for playing just a middle-higher level arcade mode, let alone competing against someone that knows how to play well. Not insurmountable by any means, but for someone new to fighters there is definitely a fairly steep learning curve with BlazBlue if you want to be able to hold your own against anyone.

It's kind of like suggesting Cave games to a new shmup player. The SNK and Capcom VS fighters are just so much more welcoming to new players than any Arc Sys game.