Fighting games have such a rich history, although it seems like most titles fall victim to simply not being Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. It’s difficult for a series to have longevity in the genre, which means that so many promising titles that were a sequel away from being great get forgotten over time. Since Samurai Shodown is getting another crack at greatness, here are 10 other forgotten fighting games that need to return.
I wanted to spotlight fighters that haven’t had a new installment in the past decade. Thus, potentially great sequels to games like Fight Night, Virtua Fighter, and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale weren’t eligible for this list.
10 Forgotten Fighting Games That Need to Return
King of the Monsters
While it’s not one of SNK’s best known fighting games, King of the Monsters will always have a fond spot in my heart. The game took a handful of Kaiju creatures (knock-offs of King Kong, Godzilla, and more), and let them duke it out in six different Japanese cities. From a gameplay perspective, it was almost like a wrestling game, and I’d love to see a remake with an expanded roster.
Power Stone
Power Stone is one of Capcom’s greatest, and underappreciated, fighting games. The arena brawler featured fast-paced action that had players collecting gems in order to transform into a more powerful version of themselves. It was a blast, and battles were always frantic thanks to the four-player battles. It really needs a new installment as it’d be perfect for the Nintendo Switch.
Capcom Fighting All-Stars
While Capcom Fighting All-Stars was canceled, I love the idea behind it. It was a 3D mash-up of different beloved Capcom characters, and a modern day incarnation could draw deep into the company’s IPs for a modern day installment. It’s all the wackiness of a Marvel vs. Capcom game without half the roster being superheroes.
Time Killers
I’m a sucker for a good gimmick, and Time Killers has a great one. The 1992 release brought together warriors from different time periods as they fought for immortality. The actual game by Incredible Technologies was trash, but the cool idea could be modernized into a good fighter. After all, we’ve seen Killer Instinct get turned into a fantastic fighting game so anything is possible.
Bloody Roar
Considering how popular furry culture is in 2018, it’s shocking that a new Bloody Roar game isn’t in development. The series’ main feature was that its cast of characters could transform into beasts during battle in order to unleash more powerful attacks. It was a cool gimmick, and was able to keep the series around for four installments despite being a pretty unspectacular fighter. The appeal is certainly there for a new iteration given how far fighting games have come.
Fighting Vipers
SEGA has a surprisingly great back catalog of fighters, and one of the more interesting titles is Fighting Vipers. Featuring a great cast of characters (including the main protagonist Bahn that looks shockingly similar to Jotaro Kujo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure) and a breakable armor system, it had more than enough to differentiate itself at arcades. It’s been MIA since the 1998 sequel, and a new entry is long overdue.
Fatal Fury
While many know Terry Bogard as the face of The King of Fighters, many forget that Geese Howard and other characters were originally from Fatal Fury. The series was designed by Street Fighter creator Takashi Nishiyama, who envisioned it as the spiritual successor to the original. The series’ last entry was an all-time classic as Garou: Mark of the Wolves is truly incredible, but it’d be great to see all of the Fatal Fury cast back in either a reboot or sequel.
Plus, Garou has a character named Butt, and that’s just funny.
Fighters Megamix
I really want a new Virtua Fighter game and I doubt I am alone. Since that series has been seen in the past decade, I guess Fighters Megamix is the next best thing. This crossover game by Sega was ridiculous as it featured characters from Sonic, Fighting Vipers, Virtua Fighter, and even one of the damn cars from Daytona USA. It was a bit of a mess since it wasn’t balanced properly, but the pure spectacle was amazing. Truly the Sega Saturn’s greatest fighting game, and I’d love to see an expanded roster with more ridiculous character suggestions, which, let’s be honest, means more car fighters.
Primal Rage
Primal Rage is the perfect showcase that a game doesn’t have to actually be good in order to sell well. It’s a terribly designed fighting game, but the core concept of dinosaurs duking it out to the death is so rad that it didn’t matter. It managed to get its own comic book novel, and a successful line of toys. So, if the title was tried again by a more talented development team then it could finally live up to its cool premise.
Eternal Champions
While the majority of fighting games that came out during the ’90s were made for arcades, Eternal Champions has the distinction of releasing exclusively on home consoles. It was a smart move by Sega as they could design a game for their hardware rather than giving players a less than optimal port. The cast of characters are all over the place from Russian circus performers to prehistoric cavemen and futuristic British vampires. It’s completely ridiculous in all of the best of ways, and Sega would have a great home for a new downloadable entry on Switch.
