The fighting game genre of video games involves combat between multiple characters, often one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into "combos". Characters generally engage hand-to-hand combat, often with martial arts, but some may include weaponry. Battles are usually set in a fixed-size arena along a two-dimensional plane, where characters navigate the plane horizontally by walking or dashing, and vertically by jumping. Some games allow limited movement in 3D space, such as Tekken, while some are set in fully three-dimensional environments without restricting characters' movement, such as Power Stone and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm; these are sometimes referred to as "3D arena" fighting games.
Tekken is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
Akuma, known in Japan as Gouki, is a fictional character from the Street Fighter series of fighting games created by Capcom. Akuma made his debut in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and an alternative boss to the villain M. Bison. In the storyline, he is the younger brother of Gouken, Ryu's and Ken's master. After defeating his brother, Akuma gains interest in several fighters, most notably Ryu as he senses that the protagonist has a similar power to him known as the Satsui no Hadou. In some games, he also has an alternate version named Shin Akuma or Shin Gouki in Japanese and Oni Akuma in Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.
Street Fighter III: New Generation is a 1997 fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game. The game, which was designed as a direct sequel to Street Fighter II (1991), initially discarded every previous character except for Ryu and Ken, introducing an all-new roster led by Alex. Likewise, a new antagonist named Gill took over M. Bison's role from the previous games as the new boss character.
X-Men vs. Street Fighter is a crossover fighting video game developed and published by Capcom. It is Capcom's third fighting game to feature Marvel Comics characters, following X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes, and is the first installment in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. As the title suggests, the game includes characters from Marvel's X-Men franchise and the cast from Capcom's Street Fighter series. Originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1996, it was ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 and the PlayStation in 1998. The original arcade version is included in the game lineup for Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2024.
Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1996 fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a remake of the previous year's Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and features a number of improvements, such as new attacks, stages, endings, and gameplay features. It was ported to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Super Nintendo home consoles globally in 1996, and later a Windows port. It was followed by Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1998.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo, released in Japan as Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge is a 1994 fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom. It is the fifth installment in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1993). Like its predecessor, it ran on the CP System II hardware.
The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the maiden Ki from Druaga, a demon with eight arms and four legs, who plans to use an artifact known as the Blue Crystal Rod to enslave all of mankind. It ran on the Namco Super Pac-Man arcade hardware, modified with a horizontal-scrolling video system used in Mappy.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes is a 1998 crossover fighting game produced by Capcom on the CP System II arcade system. It is the third installment in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, which features characters from Capcom's video game franchises and characters from Marvel Comics. Unlike the series' previous entry, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), this sequel features characters from numerous Capcom video game franchises, rather than strictly Street Fighter characters. While the gameplay is largely identical to its predecessor, Clash of Super Heroes features two distinct changes: the removal of the traditional character assist system and the introduction of the "Variable Cross" attack.
Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact - Giant Attack is a competitive fighting game produced by Capcom that was released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1997. It is an update of Street Fighter III: New Generation. Like its predecessor, it runs on the CP System III hardware. 2nd Impact introduced new gameplay mechanics, new characters, and new special moves. The game also brings back bonus rounds, not seen in the series since Super Street Fighter II. It is also the only CPS3 title to have a widescreen feature.
A side-scrolling video game is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics during the golden age of arcade games was a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.
Arika is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formed in 1995 by former Capcom employees. It was originally known as ARMtech K.K, but was later named Arika. The name of the company is the reverse of the name of the company's founder, Akira Nishitani, who along with Akira Yasuda, created Street Fighter II. Arika's first game was Street Fighter EX. It was successful and was followed up with two updates, and its two sequels Street Fighter EX2 and Street Fighter EX3. In 2018, they released a spiritual successor to both Street Fighter EX and Fighting Layer, titled Fighting EX Layer. From 2019 to 2021, Arika collaborated with Nintendo to create the battle royale games Tetris 99, Super Mario Bros. 35, and with Bandai Namco for Pac-Man 99. Arika is also known for the Tetris: The Grand Master series, the Dr. Mario series, starting with Dr. Mario Online Rx, and the Endless Ocean series.
Street Fighter EX2 is a 2D head-to-head fighting game with 3D graphics co-produced by Capcom and Arika and originally released in 1998 as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN-2 hardware. It is the sequel to the original Street Fighter EX, and the second spin-off game of the Street Fighter series. An updated version of the game titled Street Fighter EX2 Plus was released in 1999 in arcades as well and subsequently ported to the PlayStation the same year. Its sequel, Street Fighter EX3, was released in 2000.
Tekken (鉄拳) is a 1994 fighting game developed and published by Namco. It was originally released on arcades, then ported to the PlayStation home console in 1995. One of the earliest 3D polygon-based games of the genre, Tekken was Namco's answer to Virtua Fighter and was designed by Seiichi Ishii, who himself was also Virtua Fighter's designer when he worked at Sega previously. The game was developed on the purpose-built low-cost System 11 board, based on PlayStation hardware.
Street Fighter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six other main series games, various spin-offs and crossovers, and numerous appearances in other media. Its best-selling 1991 release Street Fighter II established many of the conventions of the one-on-one fighting genre.
Capcom Fighting Jam, released in the US as Capcom Fighting Evolution, is a 2004 head-to-head fighting game from Capcom. It was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Namco System 246 hardware and ported to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game features characters from three different incarnations of the Street Fighter series, as well as characters from the Darkstalkers series and the CPS III arcade game Red Earth, with each character employing the fighting system from the game which they represent.
Street Fighter EX is a 1996 fighting game originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Sony ZN hardware. It is a spin-off of the Street Fighter series co-produced by Capcom with Arika and was the first game in the series to feature 3D polygon graphics, although retains the 2D plane gameplay. An updated arcade version was released subtitled Plus, as well as a PlayStation-exclusive home console version titled Street Fighter EX Plus α, both released in 1997. The game received a sequel, Street Fighter EX2, in 1998.
Fighting EX Layer is a 2018 fighting video game produced by Arika. It is a spiritual successor to Fighting Layer (1998) and the Street Fighter EX series (1996–2000), which Arika had developed, and features many of the same characters from the latter. The game was released originally for PlayStation 4, with ports for Microsoft Windows and arcades following. A mobile version of the game, titled Fighting EX Layer -α, was later released for iOS and Android devices in 2019, and a port to Nintendo Switch titled Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash was released in 2021.
The 2018 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on August 3 to 5 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Dragon Ball FighterZ receiving the most entrants.
