Fighting with story? - The story elements in the fighting games I know and admire
I've always been a fan of fighting games. It's one of my favorite genres of video games. The complex motions. The unique characters. The art style. The gameplay mechanics. The vast sequels. The tournaments. It's all there. And it's all good. But, if there's one thing that really grabs me, it's the story. Yes, there's story in a fighting game.
Now, I know what some people already are thinking. How can there be story in a fighting game? There's no story in fighting games at all. Everyone has a different ending. What are you talking about? To that I say: Stop! Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. In fact, if there's one thing that makes sequels possible in the fighting game world, it's the fact that the story does have a continuation. How is that decided? In all honesty, the developers plan out how the story will move forward in case of a sequel. Or better still, they have a story planned already and don't reveal anything until the time is right. Once they do, the story ties together and all is right. So yea, there's a story in a fighting game. Now that we have that settled, here are my choices for what stories and/or story elements I like in the fighting game series I like. Now, when I say story elements, I mean the story ideas that are focused on when it comes to the game itself. For instance, if three games in a series have the same idea, story-wise, and I like it, I'll list it. So, let's get started!
Guilty Gear: The "Innocent" Gear
When I first got into Guilty Gear X, I was wowed by the graphics, the play-style, the music, and everything in between. It was a sight to behold. It wasn't until I started to dig into the story of Guilty Gear as a series that I saw what really interested me about this game. So, let's talk about the "Innocent" Gear, or Dizzy. What makes her special is the fact that she may very well be part human, and part gear. Now, as the story goes, Gears are humanoids (or actual machines, possibly) with enhanced abilities, when compared to humans. An all-out war between the humans and the Gears ensued once they were created with many deaths along the way. And then, there was Dizzy. No one knows for sure how she came into being, but it's been rumored that she's part human and part gear, with amazing powers that are seemingly out of her control. She is being hunted currently with a high price on her head. To top it off, Sol Badguy, one of the game's protagonists is drawn to her....very drawn. My estimation: Sol is the Guilty Gear and his quest (whether he knows it or not) is to seek out Dizzy as two polar opposites. And you know what they say: opposites attract.
Samurai Shodown: The Scourge of Ambrosia
Samurai Shodown is, by far, one of my most admired fighting game series to not have been made by Capcom. The art design, the unique system, the special moves: it's all great. So, when we talk story, I gotta show my love towards the Ambrosia Saga. Or, basically, the over-arching story that surrounds Samurai Shodown 1-4. I excluded 5 because, Ambrosia, the evil demon of Makai, was not a major player in that game. It was Gaoh, who was based on a living person and the situation was based on actual events and such. Anyhoo, back to the story at hand. Ambrosia was an evil demon from Makai that had immense, world-shattering power. In an attempt to bring it to our plane, a Shinto priest named Amakusa Shiro Tokisada (also an actual person), looked to do just that using the Palenke stone from Grenhell Island. It took the combined efforts of the various characters in the game to stop him. Once stopped, he retreated and looked to atone for his sins, while a clone of himself rose to power. This clone even brought back a powerful samurai named Zankurou from the dead to serve him. That didn't work, and then Mizuki, a uber-powerful Shinto priestess came forth to finish the job, but not before finishing off the actual Amakusa. In all instances, a collection of heroes from the game all rose up to save the world from destruction. And in all instances, I've never been more enthralled.
Soul series - The Saga of Siegfried
To be honest, Siegfried is my favorite character in the Soul fighting game series. Always has been, always will be. But, I'm not telling my interest in this story out of favoritism. I'm telling you about it to show you the depth of his character and its development. Here you have a man, who through heroism, blinded by ambition, took the Soul Edge weapon for himself and was corrupted by its power. Upon doing so, he became the most feared fighter in the series, looking to draw souls unto him for sustenance. It took the use of the Soul Calibur to stop him. Once stopped, however, the cravings didn't. He still remained very much enslaved by the power of the weapon. After finally finding a way to free himself, he would go about trying to atone for his sins, but the struggle to do so was intense. At times, he'd fall, at times he'd rise. In the end, his quest continues. His beginning were even documented in a side-story called Soul Calibur Legends, showing players his humble beginnings before being the owner of the most powerful weapon in history.
Tekken - The Mishima Family Curse
I think the dysfunction in the Mishshima family is well-documented when it comes to fighting games. If not, I think my favorite game in the series, Tekken 4, did a great job of bringing it all together full circle with the main members of the family. This alone is why I feel the Mishima Family curse is my favorite story told within the Tekken franchise. The main focal point: the Devil gene. Ok, so, Heihachi Mishima is the main boss of Tekken 1, and the father of main character, Kazuya. Other than utilizing and spreading his power through the Mishima Corporation, it was through the Tekken Zaibatsu that Heihachi looked to throw his weight around. However, it was through his research of his family bloodline that his hatred for his son reached a violent level. See, the Devil gene is a gene within the Mishima bloodline that allows the person to transform into a demon, with wings, horns, the ability to shoot lasers from your eyes, and all while maintaining what was left of your humanity. When Heihachi learned this of his son, he wanted him dead out of jealousy and in hopes to harvest the gene. Kazuya fought through the first King of the Iron Fist tournament to fight Heihachi and defeated him, tossing him off a cliff, learning of his father's intentions. You'd think this was the craziest it was going to get, but it got crazier. Some highlights include: tossing Kazuya into a volcano, hunting down Kazuya's son, Jin, who inherited the Devil gene, and all of them coming together via the fourth installment of the game to possibly close the circle of violence. This was big since Kazuya was thought dead, Jin went into seclusion and further training (I believe), and Heihachi had maintained his leadership of his company unchallenged. Father, son and grandfather all intertwined in combat over their bloodline and who would come out on top.
The King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga
The King of Fighters tournament was the main tournament represented in the game series, Fatal Fury. After Fatal Fury 2, the tournament was headed by a mysterious person named Rugal Bernstein. He wanted to see who was the strongest the world had to offer. Not content with it being one-on-one, Rugal accepted challenges from three fighters representing whatever country they represented. From this moment on, the King of Fighters Tournament would be held yearly, by numerous benefactors, where teams of 3 could come forth and test their mettle against each other as well as the benefactor of the tournament itself. When it comes to this series, the only story that strikes me with interest is the very first: the saga of Orochi. Starting with Rugal, a mysterious power force was surrounding the tournament. One year later, it was growing, with new characters and Rugal returning from the dead. There were priests worshiping Orochi, priestesses looking for heroes, and even a strange new music group....showing up out of nowhere..The Orochi Saga is the defining story that gets my interest piqued when it comes to this fighting game series. Although the main story lasted from KOF 1994 to KOF 1997, it returned in reference in later titles. Talk about staying power.
Virtua Fighter: Family Feuds
For as long as I can recall, I never figured Virtua Fighter had a story. In fact, I was this close in admitting that there was a fighting game with no story or even story elements of any kind. As it turns out, there actually is a story to Virtua Fighter. And, wouldn't you know it, it's family based. Firstly, the main villain, Dural, was once a woman from a village who had a son. She was taken and turned into a cybernetic fighting machine known as Dural (who looks very T-1000 like). Her son was Kage, the ninja fighter of the game. Spoiler Alert: he wins the first VF tournament by defeating Dural, whom he learns is his mother. Other family related feuds include the Chan Clan....er, family of Pai Chan and her misogynist, jerk of an uncle, Lau Chan. They have such a dysfunctional relationship it's practically uncomfortable how they describe it. Then, we have the Bryants, Jacky and Sarah. What makes this weird? They don't even know each other and they are brother and sister. I'm not even sure they figure this out yet at all during the series. What makes it even worse is that they fight each other on a number of occasions. Sheesh. I guess the family that fights together........well, fights some more.
Mortal Kombat: The Scorpion/Sub-Zero Rivalry
If there's one thing that Mortal Kombat has done better than most fighting games, it's fleshing out a story with a ton of depth to it. In fact, you could say that of all the games listed here, Mortal Kombat has done the best job in bringing fighting game story to a series. That said, my choice of story or story element is that of the rivalry between the two iconic ninjas who literally are synonymous with MK, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Their rivalry traverses every, and I mean every Mortal Kombat game, in one way or another. It started with a rivalry between their clans. This rivalry lead to the death of Scorpion. Filled with rage and vengeance, Scorpion came back to life to exact revenge on Sub-Zero. He got his wish and killed him, with Sub-Zero's little brother taking up his mantle and name. There's much, much more to the story, but I'd rather you read and/or see it yourself. And believe me, when I say it's deep, it's deep. New characters, old characters, spinoff games, reboots, they are all a canvas to the violent story that is the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Super Smash Bros.: The Subspace Emissary
The first Smash Bros. game had no real or pronounced story. It seemed like it was just a battle between mascots until ultimately, they fought the Master Hand, which for some reason, controlled the characters. Come Smash Bros. Melee, it still remained the same, until Adventure Mode was added to play up the platforming aspect of this competitive action game (nice new genre name for this game, Sakurai). As this addition did get some solid attention, it wasn't until Smash Bros. Brawl that the Adventure Mode would be fleshed out into a full-fledged story involving every character in the game, including Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. Interlaced with the stages are cinema scenes so well put together, you'd swear that this was a movie project that was in the works for years. As for the story itself, it goes like this: As the characters of Smash Bros do battle in respect and comraderie, they are invaded by various robots named Primids. Their mission: to eliminate the world via subspace implosion at the hands of a mysterious entity. How could it be possible that someone could access subspace, when it was believed to be just a dream in Mario's head? Who is this mysterious entity? And what of this emissary? All this and more....if you play through this story.
The Capcom Vs. Series: Massive Threats toward the fabric of two worlds
When Capcom came up with the idea of a dream match fighting game, combining two very good fighting game franchises, I was a little concerned. Street Fighter Alpha was a great new addition to the Street Fighter franchise, debuting in 1995 with a sequel in 1996. X-men: Children of the Atom burst onto the scene in 1994, as one innovative and wildly popular new fighting game to coincide with the debuting cartoon series on Fox networks. But, to combine the two? In 1996, our questions were answered, and we got X-men Vs. Street Fighter, blending both game franchises' systems together. It was a definite success as it spawned a number of sequels, including Marvel Vs. Capcom. It wouldn't be the end of the "Vs." games from Capcom as they did battle against the likes of the anime company, Tatsunoko, and their characters. They also did battle against video game company, SNK, and their characters. Now, in these dream match scenarios, the stories involved do not provide any connection to video game canon or for any other companies involved. Discounting this, the story that reaches out to me are the stories that deal with a massive threat looking to destroy the worlds involved. To sum it up, practically every game where Marvel and Capcom crossed over hits this mark pretty well. Whether it's Apocalypse, Cyber Akuma, Onslaught, or even Galactus, the story where two worlds come together to clash only to learn that there is a world-busting threat coming and they put their differences aside to stop it is what I find favor with. Out of specifics, though, I'm all for the Marvel stories than the other ones. If it's not just because it's Marvel and I'm a fan, but it's more because the threats are very massive and would make more sense to destroy both worlds. Yea, it's more of a personal preference, I guess, but boy are they threatening.
Street Fighter: The Dark Hadou
Street Fighter is one of my favorite fighting series of all times, if not my very favorite. When I discovered that there was a comprehensive backstory to this series, I was blown away. I had to get in on the story and see the goings-on behind every character, every game, every story, etc. And for what I saw and discovered, the only story that stands out to me is the story of the Dark Hadou. How did Akuma become so powerful? Why is Evil Ryu a possibility? Once I learned these things, I learned a lot more about the scar on Sagat's chest. I learned why Bison wanted to take Ryu in as his newest Shadaloo member. I also learned about the death of Gouken (or so I thought) and that Ryu found a new reason to fight: not to become stronger, but to become better; not to overpower, but to adapt. It was through this internal struggle that he found peace and strength. It shows me why Ryu is one of the strongest in the world, what makes him truly strong, and why as a fighter, he's an inspiration to those learning martial arts and such. Pretty deep, in my opinion. Oh, and to sum it up, it's also the only story that hasn't suffered any major changes with the change of storytelling.
And there you have it. Stories in fighting games that show me how story flourishes in fighting games and how they strengthen them in depth. But, don't just take my word for it. See for yourself. If you have a fighting game on this list or no, that has a great story behind it, show your love. Celebrate it. Go deeper into it, if you like. Just because the story isn't that pronounced in a fighting game, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
The King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga
The King of Fighters tournament was the main tournament represented in the game series, Fatal Fury. After Fatal Fury 2, the tournament was headed by a mysterious person named Rugal Bernstein. He wanted to see who was the strongest the world had to offer. Not content with it being one-on-one, Rugal accepted challenges from three fighters representing whatever country they represented. From this moment on, the King of Fighters Tournament would be held yearly, by numerous benefactors, where teams of 3 could come forth and test their mettle against each other as well as the benefactor of the tournament itself. When it comes to this series, the only story that strikes me with interest is the very first: the saga of Orochi. Starting with Rugal, a mysterious power force was surrounding the tournament. One year later, it was growing, with new characters and Rugal returning from the dead. There were priests worshiping Orochi, priestesses looking for heroes, and even a strange new music group....showing up out of nowhere..The Orochi Saga is the defining story that gets my interest piqued when it comes to this fighting game series. Although the main story lasted from KOF 1994 to KOF 1997, it returned in reference in later titles. Talk about staying power.
Virtua Fighter: Family Feuds
For as long as I can recall, I never figured Virtua Fighter had a story. In fact, I was this close in admitting that there was a fighting game with no story or even story elements of any kind. As it turns out, there actually is a story to Virtua Fighter. And, wouldn't you know it, it's family based. Firstly, the main villain, Dural, was once a woman from a village who had a son. She was taken and turned into a cybernetic fighting machine known as Dural (who looks very T-1000 like). Her son was Kage, the ninja fighter of the game. Spoiler Alert: he wins the first VF tournament by defeating Dural, whom he learns is his mother. Other family related feuds include the Chan Clan....er, family of Pai Chan and her misogynist, jerk of an uncle, Lau Chan. They have such a dysfunctional relationship it's practically uncomfortable how they describe it. Then, we have the Bryants, Jacky and Sarah. What makes this weird? They don't even know each other and they are brother and sister. I'm not even sure they figure this out yet at all during the series. What makes it even worse is that they fight each other on a number of occasions. Sheesh. I guess the family that fights together........well, fights some more.
Mortal Kombat: The Scorpion/Sub-Zero Rivalry
If there's one thing that Mortal Kombat has done better than most fighting games, it's fleshing out a story with a ton of depth to it. In fact, you could say that of all the games listed here, Mortal Kombat has done the best job in bringing fighting game story to a series. That said, my choice of story or story element is that of the rivalry between the two iconic ninjas who literally are synonymous with MK, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Their rivalry traverses every, and I mean every Mortal Kombat game, in one way or another. It started with a rivalry between their clans. This rivalry lead to the death of Scorpion. Filled with rage and vengeance, Scorpion came back to life to exact revenge on Sub-Zero. He got his wish and killed him, with Sub-Zero's little brother taking up his mantle and name. There's much, much more to the story, but I'd rather you read and/or see it yourself. And believe me, when I say it's deep, it's deep. New characters, old characters, spinoff games, reboots, they are all a canvas to the violent story that is the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Super Smash Bros.: The Subspace Emissary
The first Smash Bros. game had no real or pronounced story. It seemed like it was just a battle between mascots until ultimately, they fought the Master Hand, which for some reason, controlled the characters. Come Smash Bros. Melee, it still remained the same, until Adventure Mode was added to play up the platforming aspect of this competitive action game (nice new genre name for this game, Sakurai). As this addition did get some solid attention, it wasn't until Smash Bros. Brawl that the Adventure Mode would be fleshed out into a full-fledged story involving every character in the game, including Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog. Interlaced with the stages are cinema scenes so well put together, you'd swear that this was a movie project that was in the works for years. As for the story itself, it goes like this: As the characters of Smash Bros do battle in respect and comraderie, they are invaded by various robots named Primids. Their mission: to eliminate the world via subspace implosion at the hands of a mysterious entity. How could it be possible that someone could access subspace, when it was believed to be just a dream in Mario's head? Who is this mysterious entity? And what of this emissary? All this and more....if you play through this story.
The Capcom Vs. Series: Massive Threats toward the fabric of two worlds
When Capcom came up with the idea of a dream match fighting game, combining two very good fighting game franchises, I was a little concerned. Street Fighter Alpha was a great new addition to the Street Fighter franchise, debuting in 1995 with a sequel in 1996. X-men: Children of the Atom burst onto the scene in 1994, as one innovative and wildly popular new fighting game to coincide with the debuting cartoon series on Fox networks. But, to combine the two? In 1996, our questions were answered, and we got X-men Vs. Street Fighter, blending both game franchises' systems together. It was a definite success as it spawned a number of sequels, including Marvel Vs. Capcom. It wouldn't be the end of the "Vs." games from Capcom as they did battle against the likes of the anime company, Tatsunoko, and their characters. They also did battle against video game company, SNK, and their characters. Now, in these dream match scenarios, the stories involved do not provide any connection to video game canon or for any other companies involved. Discounting this, the story that reaches out to me are the stories that deal with a massive threat looking to destroy the worlds involved. To sum it up, practically every game where Marvel and Capcom crossed over hits this mark pretty well. Whether it's Apocalypse, Cyber Akuma, Onslaught, or even Galactus, the story where two worlds come together to clash only to learn that there is a world-busting threat coming and they put their differences aside to stop it is what I find favor with. Out of specifics, though, I'm all for the Marvel stories than the other ones. If it's not just because it's Marvel and I'm a fan, but it's more because the threats are very massive and would make more sense to destroy both worlds. Yea, it's more of a personal preference, I guess, but boy are they threatening.
Street Fighter: The Dark Hadou
Street Fighter is one of my favorite fighting series of all times, if not my very favorite. When I discovered that there was a comprehensive backstory to this series, I was blown away. I had to get in on the story and see the goings-on behind every character, every game, every story, etc. And for what I saw and discovered, the only story that stands out to me is the story of the Dark Hadou. How did Akuma become so powerful? Why is Evil Ryu a possibility? Once I learned these things, I learned a lot more about the scar on Sagat's chest. I learned why Bison wanted to take Ryu in as his newest Shadaloo member. I also learned about the death of Gouken (or so I thought) and that Ryu found a new reason to fight: not to become stronger, but to become better; not to overpower, but to adapt. It was through this internal struggle that he found peace and strength. It shows me why Ryu is one of the strongest in the world, what makes him truly strong, and why as a fighter, he's an inspiration to those learning martial arts and such. Pretty deep, in my opinion. Oh, and to sum it up, it's also the only story that hasn't suffered any major changes with the change of storytelling.
And there you have it. Stories in fighting games that show me how story flourishes in fighting games and how they strengthen them in depth. But, don't just take my word for it. See for yourself. If you have a fighting game on this list or no, that has a great story behind it, show your love. Celebrate it. Go deeper into it, if you like. Just because the story isn't that pronounced in a fighting game, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
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