Cu-Neo
Achievement Psychopath
Darkstalkers 3
Under Night, Melty Blood, Mortal Kombat 9 and Tekken 6 are some of my favorites. I tend to value games that feel very "freeing" in the sense that character movement feels fast and fluid with a roster full of diverse functions that can be played in a number of ways. Under Night's grid system is the best attempt at purposefully pacing out matches that I have ever seen and I love that like many other anime fighters it just goes balls to the wall with its archetypes, letting characters do things that would be unthinkably overpowered in other franchises and yet are perfectly average in the context of UNI itself.
Melty Blood is also just attached to Tsukihime, a VN I adore. It maintains that fast and fluid movement that makes me love anime games whilst having more verticality than UNI. Raito also just composes some of the biggest bops in the entire genre, that man is a god damn genius.
I'm not very good at them but mostly i grew up playing KOF97, MK2 SF3, Killer Instinct gold, Rival School MVC, 1 and 2 MVSF.
- Capcom vs SNK 2 — A little of everything made up to that point from both companies. It's too complicated for noobs, but that's their problem.
- Tie: Street Fighter III: Third Strike and The Mark of the Wolves — Excellently crafted, high frame rate, well balanced fighting. Perfection achieved twice.
- Tie: King of Fighters 98 & 2K2 — Closest things to having the whole cast together.
- Street Fighter Alpha 3 — Actually has the whole cast. Gets more in later updates.
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2 — Dumb fun with Marvel before Marvel got dumbed down. Unique characters Capcom wouldn't bother with in later entries.
- Vampire Chronicles for Match Service — Every version of every character in the series is playable. Only Darkstalkers game you need.
- Project Justice — Capcom's best 3D fighter prior to SF4. Few fighting games balance 2D & 3D styles of fighting so well.
- Real Bout Fatal Fury 2 — Most solid entry before MotW. Only downside is they got rid of the ring-outs from RBFF1, resulting in no topless easter eggs.
- Tie: Samurai Shodown II & VI — Hard to choose between great balance with classic characters or bigger cast with HOLY ☠☢☣☠ IS THAT ANDREW JACKSON FIGHTING A BIG-♡☆♀☆♡ SAMURAI MAID?!
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure — Capcom tried something new with unique gameplay and characters the West needed to be familiarized with.
Ho another kof2003 lover! Nice !1. Capcom vs SNK 2
2. The King of Fighters 2003
3. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (don't kill me)
4. Bloody Roar Extreme
5. Waku Waku 7
Extra: WWE Wrestlemania 21
I am wondering why some people insist on Smash bros not being a fighting game.