Fighting Game

""Round One. Fight!""

In game parlance, the term fighting game is not used as a catch-all phrase to refer to any game which involves combat; it specifically refers to a style of combat-game which consists of a series of duels (or, occasionally, battles between four characters) typically fought using martial arts.

Fighting games are typically styled after martial arts tournaments, with a number of selectable characters competing in one on one, or tag team style fights. The tournament can either be a regular tournament with just a title or mundane prize up for grabs, or the fate of the world can be hanging in the balance. A Fighting Game based on an Anime will often take place during a Tournament Arc.

The two most common play modes in a fighting game are story mode, where you play as one character trying to win the tournament and versus, where two or more players fight each other. Many recent games released on consoles have longer, more involved storylines and as such will have both the regular Story Mode and an Arcade Mode, which takes out all the story-related elements and makes the opponent lineup more random.

In story mode you generally get to fight special boss characters not available for player selection after you beat the rest of the characters. These characters are either the previous tournament champions or the Big Bad and his Dragon. Rarer but still somewhat prevalent, you may instead end the mode fighting against another player character that is specifically your character's rival. Some games have both.

But most people don't play Fighting Games for their single-player modes, at least today; rather, the multiplayer is the meat and potatoes of most any Fighting Game today. If you go to a reputable arcade with Fighting Games, you'll often see many people playing these games. Depending on your skill level, playing against a random opponent can range from very easy to Nintendo Hard; the latter especially if you're a new player. This is one of the reasons arcades rely on fighters for profit: instead of just playing the same stages or CPU-controlled opponents over and over, a player can come across opponents of all skill levels and styles, and it's this aspect that makes fighting games very popular for multiplayer. This is also one of the reasons that home versions come out far more often on consoles; most PC monitors just aren't big enough for more than one person.

Generally the interface consists of a Life Meter with an optional Mana Meter of some kind, usually used for special power moves.

Early fighting games allowed the characters to move back and forth on a single axis, with some limited jumping. Modern games tend to have full 3D movement, with complex scenery that can be interacted with (for limited values of "interact" that include "throw through" and "beat heads against".)

Most Fighting Games give each character a set of special moves that are activated through different button command sequences. While one or two of these will sometimes be high power moves that drain the aforementioned Mana Meter, most of these can be executed at any time. These aren't Secret AI Moves; your computer opponents will assume you can use them and will use them themselves. Still, don't expect the game to actually tell you what they are, especially for any secret characters you may find.

See Fighting Series for the non-video game equivalent. Mascot Fighters have simpler mechanics and are somewhat like Platformers. If you walk around a level fighting against many opponents at once using techniques similar to a Fighting Game, it's a Beat Em Up.

Fighting games generally provide examples of:


 * Asskicking Pose
 * Assist Character
 * Bonus Boss
 * Climax Boss
 * Combos
 * Combo Breaker
 * Idiosyncratic Combo Levels
 * Dream Match Game
 * Fake Balance
 * Fighting Clown
 * Fixed Floor Fighting
 * Free Floor Fighting
 * Hitbox Dissonance
 * Immune to Flinching (also called Super Armor)
 * Intimidation Demonstration
 * Lag Cancel
 * Launcher Move
 * Life Meter
 * Joke Character
 * Lethal Joke Character
 * Mirror Match
 * Nintendo Hard: If the SNK Bosses don't get you, tournament-level players will.
 * Recovery Attack
 * Serious Business (both in-universe and sometimes in Real Life)
 * SNK Boss
 * Some Dexterity Required
 * Versus Character Splash
 * Victory Pose
 * Victory Quote

Examples:
 * Acceleration of SUGURI
 * Acceleration of SUGURI 2
 * Akatsuki Blitzkampf (Set in World War II)
 * Arcana Heart
 * Art of Fighting
 * Asura Series
 * Ballz
 * Battle Arena Toshinden
 * War Budokai
 * Battle Capacity
 * Battle Fantasia
 * Battle High
 * Battle Monsters
 * Battle Stadium D.O.N.
 * Big Bang Beat
 * Bikini Karate Babes (The Ur Example of Panty Fighters, oddly enough)
 * B.I.O.Freaks (created by the Mortal Kombat developers)
 * The Black Heart
 * Blaz Blue
 * Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger
 * Blaz Blue Continuum Shift
 * Blood Storm
 * Bloody Roar
 * Bushido Blade
 * Capcom Fighting Evolution (also known as Capcom Fighting Jam)
 * Capcom vs. Whatever
 * Marvel vs. Capcom
 * X Men Children of the Atom
 * Marvel Super Heroes
 * X-Men vs. Street Fighter
 * Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
 * Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of the Superheroes
 * Marvel vs. Capcom 2
 * Marvel vs. Capcom 3
 * SNK vs. Capcom
 * SNK vs. Capcom Match of the Millennium
 * Capcom vs. SNK Millennium Fight 2000
 * Capcom vs. SNK 2 Mark of the Millennium
 * SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos
 * Tatsunokovs Capcom
 * Street Fighter X Tekken
 * Card Saga Wars
 * Cardinal Syn
 * Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion
 * Castlevania Judgment
 * Cho Aniki: Bakuretsu Ranto Hen
 * Clay Fighter
 * Combat of Giants
 * The Con
 * Cyberbots
 * Daemon Bride (by the Arcana Heart developers)
 * Darkstalkers
 * Dead or Alive
 * Def Jam Series
 * Dissidia Final Fantasy
 * Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi
 * Dream Mix TV World Fighters (Crossover between Konami, Hudson Soft, and Takara)
 * Ehrgeiz
 * Eternal Champions
 * Eternal Fighter Zero
 * Evil Zone
 * Fatal Fury
 * Fate Unlimited Codes
 * Fighter's History
 * Fighters Megamix
 * Fighting Angels
 * Fighting Layer
 * Fighting Vipers
 * Flying Dragon
 * Fuun Series
 * Get Amped
 * Guilty Gear
 * Godzilla Atari Trilogy:
 * Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee
 * Godzilla Save the Earth
 * Godzilla Unleashed
 * Gundam vs. Series
 * Gundam Wing Endless Duel
 * Hammerfight
 * Indie Brawl
 * Jackie Chan: The Kung-Fu Master
 * Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire (rerelease)
 * Jingi Storm
 * Joy Mecha Fight
 * Jump Super Stars
 * Jump Ultimate Stars
 * Kamen Rider Climax Heroes
 * Karate Champ - the Ur Example
 * Kart Fighter (an unlicensed game featuring Mario Kart characters)
 * Kasumi Ninja
 * Killer Instinct
 * The King of Fighters
 * Last Blade
 * Lightning Legend Daigo no Daibouken
 * Little Fighter 2
 * Mace the Dark Age
 * Magical Battle Arena
 * Martial Masters
 * Melty Blood
 * Million Knights Vermillion
 * Mortal Kombat
 * Mortal Kombat
 * Mortal Kombat 2
 * Mortal Kombat 3
 * Mortal Kombat 4
 * Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance
 * Mortal Kombat Deception
 * Mortal Kombat Armageddon
 * Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
 * Mortal Kombat 9
 * MUGEN
 * My Brute
 * My Little Pony Fighting Is Magic
 * Naruto Clash of Ninja
 * Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
 * Neko Blade
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum
 * One Must Fall
 * Ougon Musoukyoku (The Golden Fantasia)
 * Persona 4 Arena
 * Pit-Fighter
 * Play Station All Stars Battle Royale
 * Power Instinct
 * Power Stone
 * Pray for Death
 * Primal Rage
 * Project G
 * Project M
 * Psychic Force
 * Rakugaki Showtime
 * Red Earth
 * Rise of the Robots
 * Rival Schools
 * Rumble Fighter
 * Rumble Roses
 * Samurai Shodown
 * Saturday Night Slam Masters (the third game, specially)
 * Senko no Ronde
 * Shadow War of Succession
 * Shaq Fu
 * Skullgirls
 * Sonic Battle
 * Sonic the Fighters
 * Soul Series (includes Soul Edge and the Soul Calibur games)
 * Star Gladiator
 * Street Fighter (series)
 * Street Fighter (the first game)
 * Street Fighter II (Trope Codifier)
 * Street Fighter the Movie
 * Street Fighter Alpha
 * Street Fighter EX
 * Street Fighter III
 * Street Fighter IV
 * Super Cosplay War Ultra
 * Super Smash Bros.
 * Tattoo Assassins
 * Tech Romancer
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters
 * Tekken
 * Thrill Kill
 * Time Killers
 * Timeslaughter
 * Toribash
 * Touhou (the spinoff games Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and Hisoutensoku)
 * Under Night In-Birth
 * The Unholy War
 * Vanguard Princess
 * Variable Geo
 * Virtua Fighter
 * Virtual On
 * Waku Waku 7
 * War Gods
 * War of the Monsters
 * The Way Of The Exploding Fist
 * Way of the Warrior
 * Windy X Windam
 * Windom XP
 * World Heroes
 * Yie Ar Kung-Fu
 * Zero Divide

Licensed fighting games include:
 * Beast Wars
 * Bleach (Blade of Fate, Dark Souls, and the Heat the Soul series)
 * Deadliest Warrior
 * Digimon
 * Digimon Rumble Arena
 * Digimon Battle Spirit
 * Dragon Ball Z
 * Fist of the North Star (aka Hokuto no Ken)
 * Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure
 * Warpath: Jurassic Park
 * Justice League: Task Force
 * Legend of the Dragon
 * Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As Portable - The Battle of Aces and The Gears of Destiny
 * Marvel Super Heroes
 * Naruto
 * Clash of Ninja series
 * Ultimate Ninja series, such as Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Ninja Destiny series
 * Ranma One Half
 * Sailor Moon
 * Saint Seiya
 * Sunday VS Magazine Shuuketsu Choujou Daikessen
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the Tournament Fighters series and TMNT: Smash-Up)
 * Transformers live-action film series
 * When They Cry
 * Higurashi Daybreak
 * Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Ougon Msou Kyoku)
 * X-Men: Children of the Atom
 * Both Mutant Academy games.
 * X-Men Next Dimension, the spiritual successor to the Mutant Academy games.
 * Yu Yu Hakusho

K.O. Troper Wins!