Recommend a 2D fighting game for a gameplay with friends

[alf]

OK guys, here's the thing.
I am going to graduate from University of Technology next week (final exam is coming) and after that, i would like to invite some of my friends to play my japanese Sega Saturn. I think about a small 2D fighting games tournament, but i am not exactly sure which game (or games) should i choose. The thing is, that my friends are not really into Saturn, because they don't even know what it is.
I need your help, what game or games do you recommend ? Here's a list of games of my interest:
--------------------------------------------
x-men children of the atom
marvel super heroes
x-men vs street fighter
marvel super heroes vs street fighter
street fighter alpha: warriors dreams
street fighter alpha 2
street fighter zero 3
Vampire Hunter Darkstalkers Revenge [JAP] or Night Warriors Darkstalkers Revenge [NTSC-U]
Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire [JAP] or Darkstalkers 3 [NTSC-U]
King of Fighters 96
King of Fighters 97
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Street Fighter Collection
Street Fighter Collection 2
Golden Axe The Duel
Waku Waku 7
Real Bout Garou Densetsu
Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Samurai Showdown III
Samurai Showdown IV
World Heroes Perfect
Asuka 120% Burning Feed
Metal Slug (i know it's not a typical vs fighting game, but for a cooperation gameplay it may be cool)
advanced v.g.
astra superstars
------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe there is a cool game which is not present on the above list ?

[NeoGeoNinja]

My personal recommendations for some entry level 2D fighting action would be:

Street Fighter Alpha 1 (as Alpha 2's Character select screen is a basic text list of characters. Not very interesting for the uninitiated and pretty f*cking poor effort tbh!)

XMEN Children of the Atom: Most people will obviously jump up and say XMvsSF or MSHvsSF, but, for the unitiated, I think XMEN is much more grounded in how it feels and how it plays. XMvsSF & MSHvsSF is much more reliant on combo's and aerial raves etc to get the best results.

Vampire Hunter: Same reasons as above titles. More simplistic and accessible than their sequels.

ALSO, none of the above games require the 4MB RAM to run either.

I'd also add that I think KOF 96 or 97 would also be good for people to pick up and play.

OF COURSE...

If these people are fighting game people, but just aren't up on the Saturn, I'd recommend: SFZ3, MSHvsSF, XMvsSF, Real Bout Special, Samurai Shodown III, Vampire Savior & KOF97 instead

And, just for your own personal reference Bartosz:http://www.satakore.com/saturndb.php?page=1&type=G&countrysearch=JPN&genresearch=Fighting%202D&showrating=1

[kiechi]

Vampire Savior is quite enjoyable! And cheap as hell to pick up. Costs pennies to get.

[alf]

Yup the problem with this people is that they might complain about a fact that they dont know street fighter universum at all so they gonna ask me questions like "which character is the best one ?"
So at the first moment, i just thought about Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter or X-Men vs Street Fighter, because i could play with Ryu and they can choose between some of the marvel universum characters, which they should know.

The problem with X-Men COTA may be a small amount of selectable characters (just 10 characters) and my friends got used to the modern games when they have about 30 characters to choose from.

X-Men COTA is also quite old game comparing to Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter... Is it really that cool ? How about the movement list ? Does the less character roster means that they have more movements ? (this is typical to mortal kombat games)

[sych]

Oct 1, 2015 11:07:10 GMT alf said:

Yup the problem with this people is that they might complain about a fact that they dont know street fighter universum at all so they gonna ask me questions like "which character is the best one ?"
So at the first moment, i just thought about Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter or X-Men vs Street Fighter, because i could play with Ryu and they can choose between some of the marvel universum characters, which they should know.

The problem with X-Men COTA may be a small amount of selectable characters (just 10 characters) and my friends got used to the modern games when they have about 30 characters to choose from.

X-Men COTA is also quite old game comparing to Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter... Is it really that cool ? How about the movement list ? Does the less character roster means that they have more movements ? (this is typical to mortal kombat games)

The characters from X-Men Cota do indeed have a wider range of moves than they do in the later sequels. Alot of the Marvel characters had to be severly powered down to balance with the SF's. There is greater versatility in the X-Men Cota roster than there is in the VS Series.

However, If fun is the main objective then I would go with X-Men vs SF over MSH vs SF. The character rooster is stronger. MSH VS SF may be the better game of the two but you'll find more versatility in the X-Men vs SF.

X-Men Cota and Vampire Saviour are only more fun if you're playing with someone on the same technical level your at.

So personally I'd go with X-Men VS SF or Astra Superstars. Astra Superstars is great for button bashers with no knowledge of the Streetfighter system. Pulling off moves are so simple. Plus either one of those games will show off the Saturn's supreme 2D ability, so your mates will be impressed.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Oct 1, 2015 19:37:51 GMT sych said:

However, If fun is the main objective then I would go with X-Men vs SF over MSH vs SF. The character roster is stronger. MSH VS SF may be the better game of the two but you'll find more versatility in the X-Men vs SF.

See, I can never make my mind up about this, officially:

-

XMEN vs STREET FIGHTER Roster:





-

MARVEL vs STREET FIGHTER Roster





-

Pro's for me in XM vs SF: Sabretooth, Charlie, Cammy, Magneto, Gambit

Pro's for me in MSH vs SF: Cap America, Spiderman, Hulk, Omega Red, Sakura

Con's for me in XM vs SF: Juggernaut (too OP), Ken less interesting than his crazy MSH vs SF counterpart, Storm & Rogue insipid, No final/amazing showdown with Mech Gouki, sorely missing after playing them back to back imo.

Con's for me in MSH vs SF: Shuma & Blackheart too weird, Dan instead of Cammy (Charlie accessible as Shadow).

It REALLY is a matter of preference, but I prefer the overall feel, polish and roster of MSH vs SF > XM vs SF overall. Literally, by a hairs breadth. I mean... it' snot like we have to choose nowadays anyway, is it :-P

If I'm honest, would have really liked to have seen Iceman, Psylocke, Silver Samurai & Colossus in either of those two games too (esp. as Psylocke in MSH game!). Meh.

Sentinel would have been cool in XM vs SF, as I really like fighting him in XMEN COTA. So epic! Yeah... I really love the original XMEN. Was just so well put together, right out of the gate

[sych]

Oct 1, 2015 20:16:01 GMT NeoGeoNinja said:

Oct 1, 2015 19:37:51 GMT sych said:

However, If fun is the main objective then I would go with X-Men vs SF over MSH vs SF. The character roster is stronger. MSH VS SF may be the better game of the two but you'll find more versatility in the X-Men vs SF.

See, I can never make my mind up about this, officially:

-

XMEN vs STREET FIGHTER Roster:





-

MARVEL vs STREET FIGHTER Roster





-

Pro's for me in XM vs SF: Sabretooth, Charlie, Cammy, Magneto, Gambit

Pro's for me in MSH vs SF: Cap America, Spiderman, Hulk, Omega Red, Sakura

Con's for me in XM vs SF: Juggernaut (too OP), Ken less interesting than his crazy MSH vs SF counterpart, Storm & Rogue insipid, No final/amazing showdown with Mech Gouki, sorely missing after playing them back to back imo.

Con's for me in MSH vs SF: Shuma & Blackheart too weird, Dan instead of Cammy (Charlie accessible as Shadow).

It REALLY is a matter of preference, but I prefer the overall feel, polish and roster of MSH vs SF > XM vs SF overall. Literally, by a hairs breadth. I mean... it' snot like we have to choose nowadays anyway, is it :-P

If I'm honest, would have really liked to have seen Iceman, Psylocke, Silver Samurai & Colossus in either of those two games too (esp. as Psylocke in MSH game!). Meh.

Sentinel would have been cool in XM vs SF, as I really like fighting him in XMEN COTA. So epic! Yeah... I really love the original XMEN. Was just so well put together, right out of the gate

You make a good plea for MSH VS SF but for me the roster just doesn't make any sense. Starting with the Marvel characters: I don't understand what Cyclops and Omega Red are doing in that game. That roster is SCREAMING for Iron Man and Dr. Doom. As for Normario the comedian, if they wanted to put him in the game that's fine but atleast put him as a hidden feature at the top like they did with Akuma in X-Men vs SF. That way he's not wasting a Marvel Slot. Thanos or a Fantastic Four member could have taken that slot. Maybe the licensing for the Fantastic Four was held by another games company at the time but the opportunity to think outside the box was wasted. What about Daredevil, Thor or Black Panther? e.t.c They created Rogue, Gambit and Sabretooth from scratch for X-Men vs SF, why not do the same for MSH VS SF?

As for the Sreetfighters: 70% of them are Ryu clones. Do we really need Ryu, Ken, Dan, Akuma AND Sakura? They are all too similar. Characters like Rolento, Guy, Rose, Fei-Long or Akon could have easily filled those slots. There's just so much versatility in the Streetfighter catalogue that the roster on MSH vs SF just feels extremley lazy. So to me MSH vs Streetfighter just feels very 'Copy' and 'Paste' of X-Men vs Streetfighter and it really didn't have to be that way.

What's wrong with Storm and Rogue btw?

[alf]

oh yeah i almost forgot that there is an additional character - Normario in the MSHvsSF. That gives a wider roster of characters, but by looking at these screenshots above, i have to admit Sych that in MSHvsSF there are 3 characters of the same type: Ryu, Dan and Ken. And also characters like Blackheart, Shuma-Gorath, Omega Red are totally new for me and for my friends, i had to check google to find who they really are. X-Men characters are better known by society. So for now, maybe X-menvsSF may be a better choice.

So the first typo may be X-Men vs Street Fighter.
But i have to have another ace in my pocket, so how about a second game ?
Maybe something from SNK ? or is it better to stay with Capcom, for example Vampire Savior ?

[barryburton]

Played Marvel Super Heroes last night for the first time and loved it. Nice and easy to pick up and play, and still looks impressive and vibrant. Highly recommended.

King of Fighters '95 is a lot more complex to play (well) so might not have the same crowd pleasing effect you're looking for.

[sych]

Oct 2, 2015 8:33:51 GMT alf said:

oh yeah i almost forgot that there is an additional character - Normario in the MSHvsSF. That gives a wider roster of characters, but by looking at these screenshots above, i have to admit Sych that in MSHvsSF there are 3 characters of the same type: Ryu, Dan and Ken. And also characters like Blackheart, Shuma-Gorath, Omega Red are totally new for me and for my friends, i had to check google to find who they really are. X-Men characters are better known by society. So for now, maybe X-menvsSF may be a better choice.

So the first typo may be X-Men vs Street Fighter.
But i have to have another ace in my pocket, so how about a second game ?
Maybe something from SNK ? or is it better to stay with Capcom, for example Vampire Savior ?

Cool. For second one, as I mentioned earlier I'd go with Sunsofts 'Astra Superstars'. It's different enough, fun enough and easy enough to get into. Very different gameplay to the Streefighter series but still just as enjoyable and graphically impressive.

[mick_aka]

Criticom.

*runs away*

[dtss]

Oct 2, 2015 12:18:59 GMT barryburton said:

Played Marvel Super Heroes last night for the first time and loved it. Nice and easy to pick up and play, and still looks impressive and vibrant. Highly recommended.

King of Fighters '95 is a lot more complex to play (well) so might not have the same crowd pleasing effect you're looking for.

MSH is a great game! Love the roster in it too. I have KOF95 would love to play it more but I'm scared to play it. Haha. My cartridge slot like most Saturns is very sensitive, the last time I took out my action replay to put in the KOF cart it took me about an hour and 50 goes to get my action replay to work again.

[alf]

wow, owning the KOF95 ROM cart is quite impressive as i see that people who offer kof95, often separates the cart from the cd, trying to make more money. I saw an auctions in my country with KOF95, none of them had ROM cart included...

I see that astra superstars is quite a freaky game! Freaky characters who fly in the air and the whole game looks quite chaotic, as i see that the game basis on doing special movements all the time, which gives a lot of sparks and graphical effects.

[Anthaemia.]

My top three 2D fighters on the Saturn are as follows:

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
I'd rent this one for a week, return it then immediately get it back out for another spin, which happened so much that in the end I got my local rental store's copy given to me for nothing - they told me it would actually have been cheaper if I'd just gone out and bought it new!

Marvel Super Heroes
While the later titles requiring the 4MB RAM upgrade cartridge have more varied rosters, the official Sega Saturn Magazine was absolutely right to champion this as a vastly superior game to its spiritual predecessor, not that Children Of The Atom was terrible, I should point out.

Street Fighter Alpha
The original and still best, in my opinion, with a lean yet balanced character lineup, plus the pace of play hadn't yet become too overly breakneck. Although I've no problem keeping up with Zero 3, this one somehow always gets dusted off whenever someone wants to challenge me.

P.S. Yes, I'm still alive...

[NeoGeoNinja]

Oct 3, 2015 15:58:38 GMT Anthaemia. said:

Marvel Super Heroes
The official Sega Saturn Magazine was absolutely right to champion this as a vastly superior game to its spiritual predecessor (Children Of The Atom)

Absolutely not.

Oct 3, 2015 15:58:38 GMT Anthaemia. said:

Street Fighter Alpha
The original and still best, in my opinion, with a lean yet balanced character lineup, plus the pace of play hadn't yet become too overly breakneck. Although I've no problem keeping up with Zero 3, this one somehow always gets dusted off whenever someone wants to challenge me.

Absolutely.

Still my overall favourite. I felt the overall style, music, backgrounds etc were all on point vs the style of the graphics and what Capcom set-out to achieve.

Plays better than Zero 2 and has the beauty of being more simplistic and less rigid than both Z2 & Z3.

Like SNK's Real Bout series (RBFF, RBS & RB2), I feel each and every iteration of Zero has individual validity.