I played that before....I think...:Spiritual successors, clones, imitation and ripoffs in the world of fighting games.
When you have something as popular as say, video games, it's almost a guarantee that something will come down the pike within that field that will resemble a game or games in the same field. It's usually the subtle or very conspicuous differences that stand out within the game. But every now and again, there are games that are connected to other games in one of many ways. In some instances, the same company creates a new game that acts as a spiritual successor through certain connections (ex. an entity within one game appears in another). And in some instances, the game made is practically exactly like a game that around at the same time as another game. And, while imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there are times where there are blatant ripoffs of other games. That said, I'm going to look at a litany of games that fall under each of those categories.
Once again, using the Screwattack.com list of top fighting games, we'll look at the games that remind me of one or the other. It doesn't have to be a complete match. I'm just pointing out stuff that resonates with me when it comes to fighting games. So, some of this might be a bit far-fetched. Now, let's get to it:
The Last Blade
Relates to : Samurai Shodown
Samurai Shodown stands out as one of the very first fighting games that is completely weapon-based. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has a weapon. As it takes place during the Edo period of Japan at the birth of the Shogunate, the various fighters travel around the world to challenge each other and answer the grave challenge that looks to threaten the world. The best part of this game series is that they are based on historical individuals during that period. This is done over a litany of sequels, with various play style changes, violent finishes, and very vivid detail to the outfits and moves.
The Last Blade had come out after SS4 and before SS5 and 6, during the transition period of SNK or at least one of them. This game promoted a style very much reminiscent to Street Fighter, relying more on combos than well-placed attacks and timing. Story-wise, it takes place years after the events in SS. Character-wise, it's just as unique as SS. Just like SS, it's weapons based, through and through. Throw in the fact that the same company had made both games, and you have a spiritual successor here.
The various works of Arc Systems Works
Related to: Guilty Gear series
Guilty Gear as a series was a very bold change for a video games The music was unique. The characters were very enticing. More importantly, the battle system was very creative. It blended a bunch of fighting games ideas together. If you play it enough, you can see some aspects of Street Fighter, SNK fighting games, and even the Capcom Vs. games. In the end, you get a fighting game heavy on the offense, light on the defense but not non-existent, and an additional nuance called the "Instant Kill". With the proper button combination press, you can activate your super meter to become a meter that deteriorates over time. While still intact, you have a limited amount of time to input a special move that will defeat your opponent instantly, no matter how much energy they had.
As Guilty Gear went on to flesh out its series with great graphics, great music, and a litany of characters, Arc System Works would be hard at work making other games with something close to the same style of Guilty Gear. The first series that comes closest to, and is considered a spiritual successor is BlazBlue. It takes place in the distant future, "Magic" is the resource that is the center of the story (as it plays a factor in Guilty Gear), there are Astral Finishes (the instant kills of this game), and the characters are very unique. The series would go on to have sequels like Guilty Gear did.
The other games, Sengoku Basara X CROSS and Fist of the North Star played just as closely to both games with subtle differences. Fist of the North Star is practically an homage to the anime series, playing a lot like Guilty Gear. The original voice actors are being use as well as the music. The character sprites are re-drawn to be very much like the original series. They also have Fatal K.O.s for instant kills, utilizing the powerful attacks done from the show. Sengoku Basara X draws its inspiration from Japanese lore. As it is similar to GG, it has helper characters like Juda from FOTNS, and instant kills as well.
My belief: you have about one spiritual successor in the group, and two imitation games that flatter GG heavily. Arc System Works: thank you for these games.
Bloody Roar
Related to: Dead or Alive
Now, I know what you're thinking. How is this game related to the other? Better still, how is Bloody Roar related to DOA, when DOA surely came out after? To be honest, I wanted to look at both series, not by who came out before the other, but more based on what they bring to the table as games. OK, so DOA has a punch button, a kick button, a counter button, and I believe a block button along with regular blocking. Bloody Roar I believe has the exact same setup....which is a punch, kick, a defense button and something extra. But when it comes to these games, I think there's one thing that relates them: the main nuance to the game.
Sure, both games are practically utilizing the button style put into popularity by the father of all 3-D fighting games, Virtua Fighter. However, the main nuance to each game is what makes them stand out, and what makes them related. Dead or Alive is all about jiggle physics. Yup. It's main nuance is how the bodily features move so realistically. Since the game has more women than men, it's how much bounce the breasts have. I'm not kidding. That is the main selling point of the game. For Bloody Roar, it's the ability to change into a beast, via the Beast Drive. Each character has the ability to change into a humanoid beast form, with twice as much power and more vicious abilities.
In the end, what makes these game related is their selling points: beasts or breasts. Take your pick. In the pantheon of fighting games, as popular as they are, they stand alone with those nuances. When it comes to fighting game depth....well....that's another story...that may provide more evidence on how similar they are...and they aren't that deep.
Last Bronx, Toshinden Series
Related to: Soul Series (Soul Edge, Soul Calibur)
Toshinden and Last Bronx both came out either slightly before, way before, or just around the same time as Soul Edge. And yet, I'm relating the first two to the Soul series. I believe the call for this has to do more with the Soul series being the more qualitative 3-D fighting game with weapons. The first two did a tremendous job being great starting weapons games, but it was the Soul series that knocked it right out of the park. Toshinden did linger on after Soul Edge made its way to the PS1, with two more sequels. Last Bronx was a Sega Saturn exclusive. It's one of those titles that round out your Sega Saturn collection that had a ton of potential to be a very solid franchise. However, due to the Saturn's failure to succeed, Last Bronx was the only one of its kind.
As the Soul series does the best of each series, it can be said that it would not have even gotten off the ground had Last Bronx and Toshinden existed. They opened the door to weapons-based 3-D fighters. However, it is the Soul series that did the justice of taking the genre of fighting games and improving it to the fullest. So, in the cases of these games, I think it's safe to call them more like ground-breakers. Thanks for breaking ground. Sadly, more games could not have been made from your franchises.
Every possible 3-D fighting game that came out for home consoles after the advent of the PS1
(Specific: War Gods, Fighter's Destiny, Dark Rift, Vs.)
Related to: Tekken
Tekken, upon its debut, had become one of the most talked-about, entertaining, and out-and out impressive fighting games in the video game world. At first, it was just Virtua Fighter ruling the roost. Then, Tekken entered the frey, powered by Namco. Instead of a punch and kick button, however, there were two types of punches and kicks. Block was as easy as holding the back button. And the game was very, very combo heavy, as opposed to strategy and precision.
The reason I bring up these games is because, well, after Tekken became one of the few household words in fighting games, it didn't take long before various other fighting games followed suit, ranging in quality on various levels. Tekken became more popular once it was released for the PS1 on home consoles, I believe starting with Tekken 2. After this, it was only a matter of time before other fighting games would be released for home consoles. The games I mentioned earlier are definitely no exception. Each game was made by a developer or developers that didn't have the best of track records with fighting games of a 3-D variety. However, just like Street Fighter, the games, they were a-coming. Are they clones? Ripoffs? Honestly, they are games that might have drawn inspiration from games like Tekken, or fed off of its popularity.
Eternal Champions
Related to: Killer Instinct
During the fighting game craze of the 1990s, Street Fighter was at the top of the heap with popularity. Mortal Kombat ran a very close second, with everything else running a distant or close third. This was such a craze that even the home console makers of the time, Nintendo and Sega, got in on the action. Hence, we have Sega's Eternal Champions and Nintendo and Rare's (now just Rare's) Killer Instinct.
Eternal Champions was a fighting game where various characters from different times came together to fight for supremacy. From the prehistoric ages, to the distant future, these fighters were as tough and as nasty as they came. It was enough to merit a sequel and was wildly popular on the Sega Genesis. Years later, Nintendo and Rare came together to make Killer Instinct in arcades and later the SNES and N64 systems. An ominous corporation have put together the volatile KI tournament specifically to test their creations and discoveries in combat. This took place specifically in the distant future. The game merited a number of sequels as well as a continuation on the Xbox One system, exclusively for their respective systems.
What makes these games very similar is their approaches to the fighting game world. Specifically, they blended the two top fighting games at the time into one with their presentation: Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Eternal Champions adopted Street Fighter's 2-D animate look as well as obscure characters. Killer Instinct was more like Mortal Kombat in its presentation. However, instead of digitized characters, you had 3-D models. KI also utilized the 6 button approach, like Street Fighter, as well as combos. In fact, the big selling point behind KI was its monster combos. What they both had in common: finishing moves, be it for the stage or by character. Mortal Kombat can be thanked for that and these games can be thanked for their innovation on a very funny and violent level. So, consider these games related as console classics riding the wave of popular fighting games, and being as original as they can be.
Fighting Vipers
Related to: Virtua Fighter
Sega endeavored to be the first on the scene when the video game wars were on and running. They were first to go with the 16 bit system. They tried to be first in America with the 8 bit system as their system came out before the Nintendo in America. In this case, they were the very first to give the world a fighting game on the 3-D level. Virtua Fighter became the godfather of all 3-D fighters as it came out in arcades and the Sega Saturn. So, before Virtua Fighter even had a sequel, Sega gave us a spiritual successor in the form of Fighting Vipers. As both stories are not very clear to me, both games have enough of a following to both merit sequels, a need to own a Sega Saturn, even as a collector's item, and Fighter's Megamix, what may very well be the first 3-D fighting crossover game.
I also say there's some spiritual succession here because they both take place in the same universe, with Fighting Vipers acting as more of a rebellious little brother to Virtua Fighter. After seeing the commercial again, that's the idea I'm sticking with. Virtua Fighter was that straight-laced son who did what was asked, while Fighting Vipers was the expressive son who rebelled for the sake of his own existence. Sadly, Fighting Vipers only had one sequel and the crossover, while Virtua Fighter had 4 to 5.
Every gory fighting game of little to no quality released in the 1990s (ex. Time Killers, Kasumi Ninja, Way of the Warrior, Bloodstorm)
Related to: Mortal Kombat
Remember when Mortal Kombat was that ground-breaking arcade game that showed the gaming world that fighting games were here to stay? That showed not only the beauty of digitized graphics, but the gruesome, over-the-top violence that you could only see in a weekend afternoon martial arts movie? That gave Street Fighter a run for its money for arcade game supremacy, while facing the slings and arrows of the legal community, specifically Jack Thompson and Joseph Lieberman? Almost 2 decades later, MK is still one of the most popular fighting games in history. And like with most popular things, it had its share of ripoffs and clones.
You see, just like The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Sin City, Mortal Kombat was ahead of its time, breaking ground with a new approach. However, when it came to following that lead, like many clones, the message got lost in the shuffle. Instead of quality games like Killer Instinct or Eternal Champions, we get these classics. Yikes. Bloodstorm was gore, poor animation, and Daniel "Johnny Cage" Pesina promoting it due to a falling out with Midway. It was a forgettable title. Kasumi Ninja was more memorable, though. Specifically for ripping off Mortal Kombat more directly, right down to their soundalike theme song. Oh, and there was a Scottish fighter that shoots fireballs from under his kilt. Yea. Time Killers was known as a game more violent than that of Mortal Kombat. It actually had a home release on the Sega Genesis, unlike the previous two, with possibly no release and a release on the Atari Jaguar. Time Killers was a time waster to be sure, even if it did promote fighting while your limbs were severed. As for Way of the Warrior, well, it did have a more impressive graphical style than the others. Kasumi Ninja was digitized like Way of the Warrior, but WOTW was on a much stronger system, the Panasonic 3DO. It was better than the others, but that's not saying much.. at all. Congrats on ripping off, MK, you guys. Stay classy.
TMNT: Smash Up, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Cartoon Network: Punch-Time Xplosion
Related to: Super Smash Bros.
I've been a Smash Bros. fan from its inception. I mean, the idea of Nintendo mascots battling it out with various weapons, items, etc. from various Nintendo games just to see who's the toughest. It became its own genre of game as a competitive action game (Thanks, Masahiro Sakurai for that classification). After the N64 days, we got the sequel, Super Smash Bros Melee on the Gamecube. After that, Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii. After this, we got Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS at the same time. However, before this and after Brawl, we got....these wonderful clones.
Yes, I said it, clones. And you know what? I don't think they are ashamed to be known as such. All three of these games are literally clones of Smash, to the effect that they'll want you to play Smash after playing them. TMNT: Smash Up was made by one of the Brawl developers but it was missing just about any and everything Brawl had that kept its appeal. All-Stars Battle Royale drew a lot of similarities from Brawl, but the one thing they have failed at doing is providing ample mascot representation. If Brawl can have Sonic and Snake, and this game can't even have Cloud, what's going on? As for Cartoon Network's game, they had all the best mascots from the past and present, to be sure, but the game mechanics were heavily flawed.
I could go on and on, but the proof is in the pudding...and the game sales. CN was a budget title, All-Stars didn't sell nearly as well, and TMNT Smash up was a footnote. All these games were riding off of Smash's popularity, not really reinventing the wheel, but missing those key components that makes Smash much more compelling than these games. But, I give them credit. For what they brought to the table, they were novel approaches to be sure.
The King of Fighters
Related to: The Capcom Vs. Series (ex. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Capcom Vs. SNK 2)
The funny thing about this relation is that The King of Fighters came out before the Capcom Vs. series. It was 1994. SNK decided to branch Fatal Fury's King of Fighters tournament into another game, while Capcom had launched Darkstalkers, X-men: Children of the atom, and Super Street Fighter II. The King of Fighters gave the fighting game world a 3-on-3 fighting game using Fatal Fury's fighting game engine and style, in elimination format. To add to that, the characters mostly came from various SNK games like Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldier, Athena, Street Slam, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, and the like. As they represented different games, they were all grandfathered into this fighting game series. With a litany of games coming out after it, Capcom didn't respond, seemingly not trying to. Until 1996....
That year, 1996 saw the debut of X-men Vs. Street Fighter, where characters from Street Fighter Alpha did battle with characters from X-men: Children of the Atom. Quite a first for Capcom. Another first was the team dynamic in a Capcom game. Unlike King of Fighters, there was the ability to switch between fighters. There was also team super moves. The game draws more of its inspiration from the Marvel games made by Capcom. Afterward, there were two sequels, all in subsequent years. 1997 gave us Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, 1998 gave us Marvel Vs. Capcom and 1999 gave us the final and most prolific of the titles in 2-D form, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. MVC2 is the most popular of the games in the series, touting every character ever existing in the crossover games, the Marvel games, and new characters alike. Throw in a simplified system, delayed hyper combos, and some of the most impressive matches in gaming history, and you have a classic, bar none.
The two series are very much related in the sense that they are the definitive fighting games series that require team combat. Both are also still going strong, promoting crossover gaming as well as massive rosters, amazing combos, and a cornucopia of team-ups that you can throw a stick at. There are also some similarities in the sense that both games at times have teammates attacking whenever they can to create an advantage for you. Both games also are in self-contained stories, very ambitious ones too. Long story short, these are games I'd definitely want to write home about. On another note, they didn't do too much to compete with each other, either. Probably why the door was open for other crossover games like Capcom Vs. Snk to be made, but, I digress.
World Heroes, Art of Fighting, Fighter's History
Related to: Street Fighter
For our final entry, we have Street Fighter. This game is one of the innovators of the fighting game genre, making it not only viable, but one of the most popular genres in video games. It's definitely up there with sports games, open world action games, RPGs, platform games, and first person shooters. From 1988 up to now, Street Fighter has been the go-to game series for quarter-munching, combo-testing, super moving greatness. Almost every game in the franchise forced some sort of change in fighting games. Street Fighter Alpha gave us a more animated, "Anime" style, while 3rd Strike put a great deal of emphasis on strategy through offense and defense. Currently, it's Street Fighter 4 that has popularized the 2.5D fighting game rebirth. It might have started with Street Fighter EX, but come Street Fighter IV, series like MK, KI, and even KOF have had 2 to 2.5D games return to the forefront. However, just as Street Fighter brought about innovation, it brought about imitation.
I could go on and on about the horrible fighting games of the 1990s console era, like Doomsday Warrior, Power Moves, Tuff Enuff, and the like. But, this time, I'm going to cover the only games that came out during that era that rose above that horrid quality....only to be chastised for other reasons. Long story short, these have been seen as Street Fighter clones, imitations, and ripoffs, depending on who you talk to, what you observe, and how similar the games can be.
World Heroes was a joke fighting game of sorts that played it very, very seriously. Dr. Brown (Back to the Future?) wanted to see who the toughest hero is of all time. So, every fighter in this series represents a historical figure, by parody or by actuality. Be it Shinto priests, relations to Hattori Hanzo, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, or even Hulk Hogan, John Madden, Captain Kidd or Bruce Lee, this game holds nothing back. Nothing at all. And over four games, this remains true. In relation to Street Fighter, you could say a lot has been imitated. The energy bars? Some of the moves? Yea, that can be said. However, since the game is unique enough to stand on its own footing, it can be seen as a pale imitation. It also has a certain charm to it.
Art of Fighting is the more serious of the games here. Like World Heroes, it was released by SNK. Unlike World Heroes, it's definitely much more serious, and ties in as the predecessor to the Fatal Fury franchise. In Southtown, there's a ton of corruption and organized crime. No one has stepped up to do anything about it, until Ryo and Robert step in, after Ryo's sister and Robert's love interest, Yuri, was captured by the infamous Mr. Big and Mr. Karate. Ryo and Robert fight their way through Southtown (circa the 1970s or so) to save her. There were two more sequels after that where Ryo, Robert, and Yuri continue their fighting ways in order to free Southtown of corruption, setting the story and stage for Fatal Fury. In comparison with Street Fighter, this game gets a tremendously bad reputation of being a Street Fighter ripoff. Again, it's subjective, in my opinion although there are many similarities. Robert is rich, like Ken and Ryo and Ryu are different names separated by a vowel. Other characters resemble the likes of Guile, Vega, and the like. However, the reason its subjective is mostly due to the innovations that Art of Fighting brought to the fighting game world. Innovations that, for the most part, Capcom even copied. Yes, Capcom did some copying. Some say they were planned from the start, and some say these were done in a brazen attempt to shoot back at SNK for the poor imitations. Things like taunts, super moves, Sakura (resembling Yuri), Akuma and his air fireball (like Ryo and Takuma; wait, Takuma...Akuma?), and yes, the pink elephant in the room, Dan Hibiki. Long story short, Dan was a parody character made by Capcom to imitate both Ryo and Robert together as his moves are very similar to theirs, including his supers. He became more than a joke character as he saw more play during matches. Despite all this, both games have co-existed relatively in the fighting game world without any real bad blood.
When it does come to bad blood, look no further than Fighter's History. This game was actually threatened by Capcom along the lines of legal action. The game was a standard fighting game with characters from around the world fighting to get to the volatile bad guy known as Karnov (he was the titular character of an NES game, I believe). This game had two sequels, one as a rehash of the first, the other a direct sequel. Apparently, when this game came out, it was so much like Street Fighter, you'd swear they just decided to rip off, well, everything. Not just character design, level design, and such, but even right down to voice bytes and actual moves (ex. there was an army guy who did a move that looked 99% similar to a Sonic boom). This alone was enough for legal action to be called. Once taken to court, the verdict was made that Fighter's History was different enough to stand on its own. Ouch. Sorry, Capcom. You won't win this round. In the end, Capcom had the last laugh as the series was practically panned and avoided by fighting gamers everywhere. It's one of those situations where the bad stuff usually comes out in the end. And in the end, Fighter's History was bad stuff, all around.
And there you have it. These are the games that, in my opinion, are considered spiritual successors, clones, imitations (that may or may not flatter) or blatant ripoffs. Do you agree? Disagree? Anything? Feel free to comment. I don't mind and your voice matters, too. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this case, you can flatter and follow up strong, or you can flatter and fall flatter on your face than a pancake. Truth be told, every good thing brings about similar entities. Whether it works or doesn't, is mostly in the eye of the beholder.
As Guilty Gear went on to flesh out its series with great graphics, great music, and a litany of characters, Arc System Works would be hard at work making other games with something close to the same style of Guilty Gear. The first series that comes closest to, and is considered a spiritual successor is BlazBlue. It takes place in the distant future, "Magic" is the resource that is the center of the story (as it plays a factor in Guilty Gear), there are Astral Finishes (the instant kills of this game), and the characters are very unique. The series would go on to have sequels like Guilty Gear did.
The other games, Sengoku Basara X CROSS and Fist of the North Star played just as closely to both games with subtle differences. Fist of the North Star is practically an homage to the anime series, playing a lot like Guilty Gear. The original voice actors are being use as well as the music. The character sprites are re-drawn to be very much like the original series. They also have Fatal K.O.s for instant kills, utilizing the powerful attacks done from the show. Sengoku Basara X draws its inspiration from Japanese lore. As it is similar to GG, it has helper characters like Juda from FOTNS, and instant kills as well.
My belief: you have about one spiritual successor in the group, and two imitation games that flatter GG heavily. Arc System Works: thank you for these games.
Bloody Roar
Related to: Dead or Alive
Now, I know what you're thinking. How is this game related to the other? Better still, how is Bloody Roar related to DOA, when DOA surely came out after? To be honest, I wanted to look at both series, not by who came out before the other, but more based on what they bring to the table as games. OK, so DOA has a punch button, a kick button, a counter button, and I believe a block button along with regular blocking. Bloody Roar I believe has the exact same setup....which is a punch, kick, a defense button and something extra. But when it comes to these games, I think there's one thing that relates them: the main nuance to the game.
Sure, both games are practically utilizing the button style put into popularity by the father of all 3-D fighting games, Virtua Fighter. However, the main nuance to each game is what makes them stand out, and what makes them related. Dead or Alive is all about jiggle physics. Yup. It's main nuance is how the bodily features move so realistically. Since the game has more women than men, it's how much bounce the breasts have. I'm not kidding. That is the main selling point of the game. For Bloody Roar, it's the ability to change into a beast, via the Beast Drive. Each character has the ability to change into a humanoid beast form, with twice as much power and more vicious abilities.
In the end, what makes these game related is their selling points: beasts or breasts. Take your pick. In the pantheon of fighting games, as popular as they are, they stand alone with those nuances. When it comes to fighting game depth....well....that's another story...that may provide more evidence on how similar they are...and they aren't that deep.
Last Bronx, Toshinden Series
Related to: Soul Series (Soul Edge, Soul Calibur)
Toshinden and Last Bronx both came out either slightly before, way before, or just around the same time as Soul Edge. And yet, I'm relating the first two to the Soul series. I believe the call for this has to do more with the Soul series being the more qualitative 3-D fighting game with weapons. The first two did a tremendous job being great starting weapons games, but it was the Soul series that knocked it right out of the park. Toshinden did linger on after Soul Edge made its way to the PS1, with two more sequels. Last Bronx was a Sega Saturn exclusive. It's one of those titles that round out your Sega Saturn collection that had a ton of potential to be a very solid franchise. However, due to the Saturn's failure to succeed, Last Bronx was the only one of its kind.
As the Soul series does the best of each series, it can be said that it would not have even gotten off the ground had Last Bronx and Toshinden existed. They opened the door to weapons-based 3-D fighters. However, it is the Soul series that did the justice of taking the genre of fighting games and improving it to the fullest. So, in the cases of these games, I think it's safe to call them more like ground-breakers. Thanks for breaking ground. Sadly, more games could not have been made from your franchises.
Every possible 3-D fighting game that came out for home consoles after the advent of the PS1
(Specific: War Gods, Fighter's Destiny, Dark Rift, Vs.)
Related to: Tekken
Tekken, upon its debut, had become one of the most talked-about, entertaining, and out-and out impressive fighting games in the video game world. At first, it was just Virtua Fighter ruling the roost. Then, Tekken entered the frey, powered by Namco. Instead of a punch and kick button, however, there were two types of punches and kicks. Block was as easy as holding the back button. And the game was very, very combo heavy, as opposed to strategy and precision.
The reason I bring up these games is because, well, after Tekken became one of the few household words in fighting games, it didn't take long before various other fighting games followed suit, ranging in quality on various levels. Tekken became more popular once it was released for the PS1 on home consoles, I believe starting with Tekken 2. After this, it was only a matter of time before other fighting games would be released for home consoles. The games I mentioned earlier are definitely no exception. Each game was made by a developer or developers that didn't have the best of track records with fighting games of a 3-D variety. However, just like Street Fighter, the games, they were a-coming. Are they clones? Ripoffs? Honestly, they are games that might have drawn inspiration from games like Tekken, or fed off of its popularity.
Eternal Champions
Related to: Killer Instinct
During the fighting game craze of the 1990s, Street Fighter was at the top of the heap with popularity. Mortal Kombat ran a very close second, with everything else running a distant or close third. This was such a craze that even the home console makers of the time, Nintendo and Sega, got in on the action. Hence, we have Sega's Eternal Champions and Nintendo and Rare's (now just Rare's) Killer Instinct.
Eternal Champions was a fighting game where various characters from different times came together to fight for supremacy. From the prehistoric ages, to the distant future, these fighters were as tough and as nasty as they came. It was enough to merit a sequel and was wildly popular on the Sega Genesis. Years later, Nintendo and Rare came together to make Killer Instinct in arcades and later the SNES and N64 systems. An ominous corporation have put together the volatile KI tournament specifically to test their creations and discoveries in combat. This took place specifically in the distant future. The game merited a number of sequels as well as a continuation on the Xbox One system, exclusively for their respective systems.
What makes these games very similar is their approaches to the fighting game world. Specifically, they blended the two top fighting games at the time into one with their presentation: Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Eternal Champions adopted Street Fighter's 2-D animate look as well as obscure characters. Killer Instinct was more like Mortal Kombat in its presentation. However, instead of digitized characters, you had 3-D models. KI also utilized the 6 button approach, like Street Fighter, as well as combos. In fact, the big selling point behind KI was its monster combos. What they both had in common: finishing moves, be it for the stage or by character. Mortal Kombat can be thanked for that and these games can be thanked for their innovation on a very funny and violent level. So, consider these games related as console classics riding the wave of popular fighting games, and being as original as they can be.
Fighting Vipers
Related to: Virtua Fighter
Sega endeavored to be the first on the scene when the video game wars were on and running. They were first to go with the 16 bit system. They tried to be first in America with the 8 bit system as their system came out before the Nintendo in America. In this case, they were the very first to give the world a fighting game on the 3-D level. Virtua Fighter became the godfather of all 3-D fighters as it came out in arcades and the Sega Saturn. So, before Virtua Fighter even had a sequel, Sega gave us a spiritual successor in the form of Fighting Vipers. As both stories are not very clear to me, both games have enough of a following to both merit sequels, a need to own a Sega Saturn, even as a collector's item, and Fighter's Megamix, what may very well be the first 3-D fighting crossover game.
I also say there's some spiritual succession here because they both take place in the same universe, with Fighting Vipers acting as more of a rebellious little brother to Virtua Fighter. After seeing the commercial again, that's the idea I'm sticking with. Virtua Fighter was that straight-laced son who did what was asked, while Fighting Vipers was the expressive son who rebelled for the sake of his own existence. Sadly, Fighting Vipers only had one sequel and the crossover, while Virtua Fighter had 4 to 5.
Every gory fighting game of little to no quality released in the 1990s (ex. Time Killers, Kasumi Ninja, Way of the Warrior, Bloodstorm)
Related to: Mortal Kombat
Remember when Mortal Kombat was that ground-breaking arcade game that showed the gaming world that fighting games were here to stay? That showed not only the beauty of digitized graphics, but the gruesome, over-the-top violence that you could only see in a weekend afternoon martial arts movie? That gave Street Fighter a run for its money for arcade game supremacy, while facing the slings and arrows of the legal community, specifically Jack Thompson and Joseph Lieberman? Almost 2 decades later, MK is still one of the most popular fighting games in history. And like with most popular things, it had its share of ripoffs and clones.
You see, just like The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, and Sin City, Mortal Kombat was ahead of its time, breaking ground with a new approach. However, when it came to following that lead, like many clones, the message got lost in the shuffle. Instead of quality games like Killer Instinct or Eternal Champions, we get these classics. Yikes. Bloodstorm was gore, poor animation, and Daniel "Johnny Cage" Pesina promoting it due to a falling out with Midway. It was a forgettable title. Kasumi Ninja was more memorable, though. Specifically for ripping off Mortal Kombat more directly, right down to their soundalike theme song. Oh, and there was a Scottish fighter that shoots fireballs from under his kilt. Yea. Time Killers was known as a game more violent than that of Mortal Kombat. It actually had a home release on the Sega Genesis, unlike the previous two, with possibly no release and a release on the Atari Jaguar. Time Killers was a time waster to be sure, even if it did promote fighting while your limbs were severed. As for Way of the Warrior, well, it did have a more impressive graphical style than the others. Kasumi Ninja was digitized like Way of the Warrior, but WOTW was on a much stronger system, the Panasonic 3DO. It was better than the others, but that's not saying much.. at all. Congrats on ripping off, MK, you guys. Stay classy.
TMNT: Smash Up, Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, and Cartoon Network: Punch-Time Xplosion
Related to: Super Smash Bros.
I've been a Smash Bros. fan from its inception. I mean, the idea of Nintendo mascots battling it out with various weapons, items, etc. from various Nintendo games just to see who's the toughest. It became its own genre of game as a competitive action game (Thanks, Masahiro Sakurai for that classification). After the N64 days, we got the sequel, Super Smash Bros Melee on the Gamecube. After that, Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Nintendo Wii. After this, we got Smash Bros for the Wii U and 3DS at the same time. However, before this and after Brawl, we got....these wonderful clones.
Yes, I said it, clones. And you know what? I don't think they are ashamed to be known as such. All three of these games are literally clones of Smash, to the effect that they'll want you to play Smash after playing them. TMNT: Smash Up was made by one of the Brawl developers but it was missing just about any and everything Brawl had that kept its appeal. All-Stars Battle Royale drew a lot of similarities from Brawl, but the one thing they have failed at doing is providing ample mascot representation. If Brawl can have Sonic and Snake, and this game can't even have Cloud, what's going on? As for Cartoon Network's game, they had all the best mascots from the past and present, to be sure, but the game mechanics were heavily flawed.
I could go on and on, but the proof is in the pudding...and the game sales. CN was a budget title, All-Stars didn't sell nearly as well, and TMNT Smash up was a footnote. All these games were riding off of Smash's popularity, not really reinventing the wheel, but missing those key components that makes Smash much more compelling than these games. But, I give them credit. For what they brought to the table, they were novel approaches to be sure.
The King of Fighters
Related to: The Capcom Vs. Series (ex. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Capcom Vs. SNK 2)
The funny thing about this relation is that The King of Fighters came out before the Capcom Vs. series. It was 1994. SNK decided to branch Fatal Fury's King of Fighters tournament into another game, while Capcom had launched Darkstalkers, X-men: Children of the atom, and Super Street Fighter II. The King of Fighters gave the fighting game world a 3-on-3 fighting game using Fatal Fury's fighting game engine and style, in elimination format. To add to that, the characters mostly came from various SNK games like Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldier, Athena, Street Slam, Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, and the like. As they represented different games, they were all grandfathered into this fighting game series. With a litany of games coming out after it, Capcom didn't respond, seemingly not trying to. Until 1996....
That year, 1996 saw the debut of X-men Vs. Street Fighter, where characters from Street Fighter Alpha did battle with characters from X-men: Children of the Atom. Quite a first for Capcom. Another first was the team dynamic in a Capcom game. Unlike King of Fighters, there was the ability to switch between fighters. There was also team super moves. The game draws more of its inspiration from the Marvel games made by Capcom. Afterward, there were two sequels, all in subsequent years. 1997 gave us Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, 1998 gave us Marvel Vs. Capcom and 1999 gave us the final and most prolific of the titles in 2-D form, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. MVC2 is the most popular of the games in the series, touting every character ever existing in the crossover games, the Marvel games, and new characters alike. Throw in a simplified system, delayed hyper combos, and some of the most impressive matches in gaming history, and you have a classic, bar none.
The two series are very much related in the sense that they are the definitive fighting games series that require team combat. Both are also still going strong, promoting crossover gaming as well as massive rosters, amazing combos, and a cornucopia of team-ups that you can throw a stick at. There are also some similarities in the sense that both games at times have teammates attacking whenever they can to create an advantage for you. Both games also are in self-contained stories, very ambitious ones too. Long story short, these are games I'd definitely want to write home about. On another note, they didn't do too much to compete with each other, either. Probably why the door was open for other crossover games like Capcom Vs. Snk to be made, but, I digress.
World Heroes, Art of Fighting, Fighter's History
For our final entry, we have Street Fighter. This game is one of the innovators of the fighting game genre, making it not only viable, but one of the most popular genres in video games. It's definitely up there with sports games, open world action games, RPGs, platform games, and first person shooters. From 1988 up to now, Street Fighter has been the go-to game series for quarter-munching, combo-testing, super moving greatness. Almost every game in the franchise forced some sort of change in fighting games. Street Fighter Alpha gave us a more animated, "Anime" style, while 3rd Strike put a great deal of emphasis on strategy through offense and defense. Currently, it's Street Fighter 4 that has popularized the 2.5D fighting game rebirth. It might have started with Street Fighter EX, but come Street Fighter IV, series like MK, KI, and even KOF have had 2 to 2.5D games return to the forefront. However, just as Street Fighter brought about innovation, it brought about imitation.
I could go on and on about the horrible fighting games of the 1990s console era, like Doomsday Warrior, Power Moves, Tuff Enuff, and the like. But, this time, I'm going to cover the only games that came out during that era that rose above that horrid quality....only to be chastised for other reasons. Long story short, these have been seen as Street Fighter clones, imitations, and ripoffs, depending on who you talk to, what you observe, and how similar the games can be.
World Heroes was a joke fighting game of sorts that played it very, very seriously. Dr. Brown (Back to the Future?) wanted to see who the toughest hero is of all time. So, every fighter in this series represents a historical figure, by parody or by actuality. Be it Shinto priests, relations to Hattori Hanzo, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, or even Hulk Hogan, John Madden, Captain Kidd or Bruce Lee, this game holds nothing back. Nothing at all. And over four games, this remains true. In relation to Street Fighter, you could say a lot has been imitated. The energy bars? Some of the moves? Yea, that can be said. However, since the game is unique enough to stand on its own footing, it can be seen as a pale imitation. It also has a certain charm to it.
Art of Fighting is the more serious of the games here. Like World Heroes, it was released by SNK. Unlike World Heroes, it's definitely much more serious, and ties in as the predecessor to the Fatal Fury franchise. In Southtown, there's a ton of corruption and organized crime. No one has stepped up to do anything about it, until Ryo and Robert step in, after Ryo's sister and Robert's love interest, Yuri, was captured by the infamous Mr. Big and Mr. Karate. Ryo and Robert fight their way through Southtown (circa the 1970s or so) to save her. There were two more sequels after that where Ryo, Robert, and Yuri continue their fighting ways in order to free Southtown of corruption, setting the story and stage for Fatal Fury. In comparison with Street Fighter, this game gets a tremendously bad reputation of being a Street Fighter ripoff. Again, it's subjective, in my opinion although there are many similarities. Robert is rich, like Ken and Ryo and Ryu are different names separated by a vowel. Other characters resemble the likes of Guile, Vega, and the like. However, the reason its subjective is mostly due to the innovations that Art of Fighting brought to the fighting game world. Innovations that, for the most part, Capcom even copied. Yes, Capcom did some copying. Some say they were planned from the start, and some say these were done in a brazen attempt to shoot back at SNK for the poor imitations. Things like taunts, super moves, Sakura (resembling Yuri), Akuma and his air fireball (like Ryo and Takuma; wait, Takuma...Akuma?), and yes, the pink elephant in the room, Dan Hibiki. Long story short, Dan was a parody character made by Capcom to imitate both Ryo and Robert together as his moves are very similar to theirs, including his supers. He became more than a joke character as he saw more play during matches. Despite all this, both games have co-existed relatively in the fighting game world without any real bad blood.
When it does come to bad blood, look no further than Fighter's History. This game was actually threatened by Capcom along the lines of legal action. The game was a standard fighting game with characters from around the world fighting to get to the volatile bad guy known as Karnov (he was the titular character of an NES game, I believe). This game had two sequels, one as a rehash of the first, the other a direct sequel. Apparently, when this game came out, it was so much like Street Fighter, you'd swear they just decided to rip off, well, everything. Not just character design, level design, and such, but even right down to voice bytes and actual moves (ex. there was an army guy who did a move that looked 99% similar to a Sonic boom). This alone was enough for legal action to be called. Once taken to court, the verdict was made that Fighter's History was different enough to stand on its own. Ouch. Sorry, Capcom. You won't win this round. In the end, Capcom had the last laugh as the series was practically panned and avoided by fighting gamers everywhere. It's one of those situations where the bad stuff usually comes out in the end. And in the end, Fighter's History was bad stuff, all around.
And there you have it. These are the games that, in my opinion, are considered spiritual successors, clones, imitations (that may or may not flatter) or blatant ripoffs. Do you agree? Disagree? Anything? Feel free to comment. I don't mind and your voice matters, too. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this case, you can flatter and follow up strong, or you can flatter and fall flatter on your face than a pancake. Truth be told, every good thing brings about similar entities. Whether it works or doesn't, is mostly in the eye of the beholder.
Comments
Post a Comment