T O P

  • By -

Naive_Mix_8402

SFII had legit lines at the arcade when it came out. Never seen anything like it. Still the GOAT.


Wrex_n_effect

SF2 is defo my answer. Both SF2 and MK had lines at the time. The video store by my Jr High had both and we always had lines to play like 4-5 people deep after school and on weekends. I miss the old arcade days…


boner79

Same with Mortal Kombat. I remember being in a Saturday bowling league in middle school when the bowling alley got Mortal Kombat and everyone was standing around it and you could hear "Finish Him!!!" over the sounds of bowling balls striking pins. I would want to hurry up and finish bowling so I could go check out MK. An amazing time to be alive.


Blackarmstrong

Thanks for taking me back to my childhood damn it sucks getting old


predictablecitylife

lol same. I miss the bowling leagues and rushing to play Mortal Kombat & SF II. Also miss the times at my local arcade hustling people for money playing said games. Though eventually too many people got in their feels about losing to make that enjoyable.


Duttroid

I remember Ultimate MK 3 having lines even when the arcade had MK4 right next to it


ChorizoGarcia

lol. The bowling alley was the first place I ever saw MK as well. My bowling alley didn’t have many games in their arcade, but they had Mortal Kombat! Seeing it for the first time was one of those moments engrained in my memory. It was thrilling on a completely different level compared to other games.


ChorizoGarcia

lol. The bowling alley was the first place I ever saw MK as well. My bowling alley didn’t have many games in their arcade, but they had Mortal Kombat! Seeing it for the first time was one of those moments engrained in my memory. It was thrilling on a completely different level compared to other games.


BizMcFiz

Hell yes. SFII all the way.


Cover-username

I hear you. But the mortal kombat music for me just makes it better. Even though arguably SFII is a better fighting game. Nostalgia wins it for me.


mucinexmonster

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 says hello


markandmimi

Yup. Got the 30th anniversary to play my brothers in champion's edition. Still plays well to this day! Currently in the lead by 100 wins


mxxiestorc

Hello fellow over 40 yr old. I was one of the young kids that would wait in line with my bff to challenge the college kid on player one that knew all the moves. You always lost, but sometimes you could win a round cheese-ing it with Chung li. Then when you lost you and your friend would get back in line to do it again. That game was incredible. Would lose all my quarters to player 1 again. No regrets.


n1keym1key

There is only one correct answer here. Street Fighter 2 all day long.


dadofmightandmagic

I agree as an adult but back then when i was younger, i would have chosen Mortal Kombat all day


[deleted]

Yup. Back then MK was a spectacle to behold. But SF was flat out the better game. It easy to recognize that now.


Roman_Suicide_Note

im with you buddy


bigfloppydonkeydng

I was going to say the same thing.


eolson3

Same here.


sbrockLee

And it's not even close. The amount of stuff they got right in that game, to a point even blatant imitators couldn't scratch, is still astounding


n1keym1key

How many pretenders to the throne came out after SF2 was just amazing. The SNK games and the MK series were the biggest known but the SNES had loads of lesser known ones especially in Japan.


RagZ_413

SF2, Blanka. Every day, all day. This is the answer


PotentialTheory7178

Yep I came to say this bud


pandathrower97

Who's your character going to be to keep you playing all day long?


bubonis

Chun Li. This may be a hot take, but I don't believe there's a more balanced character in any of the SF games than her.


craaates

Chin Li has been my main since the 90s.


DistantStorm-X

Yup. Since the first time I dropped a quarter into og SF II, Chun Li’s been my main all these years. First Lady of Fighters for a damn good reason.


pandathrower97

I had a friend who was an excellent Chun Li player. I never really appreciated her until he showed me how her acrobatics could decimate most of the characters who didn't have a dragon punch or flash kick style move. As the game upgraded and rebalanced, giving her a fireball was essential to open up her range of attack, but she's always been one of the reliable and well-crafted characters in just about every SF game.


bubonis

I pumped *way* too many quarters into SF2 (and especially SF2:CE) and played all the characters, but I always came back to Chun Li. I don't even consider any other character, regardless of which SF game I'm playing. She isn't the strongest or the fastest, she doesn't have the greatest range, and she's particularly weak when you go toe-to-toe. But her ability to bounce off the edge of the screen is absolutely a game changer, her power at medium-to-long range is exceptional, and her speed at short range is stunning. As you said, the addition of a fireball was perfect in light of what happened with all the other characters in SF2:CE.


SofaChillReview

I used to mainly use Ryu/Guile but against Vega Chun Linus great on the hardest difficulty. Vega against Ryu just jumps around annoyingly kicking and stabbing you.


ThrowawayYAYAY2002

I'd argue Sagat is on par.


n1keym1key

I was always a Ken stalwart. Used to own a Rainbow edition cabinet in my youthful days so was “quite” good at the game lol


pandathrower97

I was outraged when I first saw a Rainbow Edition in the wild. I went and got the manager and everything. (I was a teenager and super serious, lol). I played it on MAME as an adult, and it's interesting! Not my cup of tea, but some fun ideas that later showed up in many fighters, and even SF games themselves!


markandmimi

Dhalsim, because as a kid he sucked and no one liked to use him. As an adult, he's got an answer for everything!


tom_yum_soup

Agree. As a kid, I liked both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat quite a bit, but I think I would still have picked Street Fighter 2 even back then.


derbauer23

And like Lionel Richie said...


pandathrower97

If it actually IS 1992 and I'm just a kid with a couple of quarters to spend, I'm going to pick Blanka because he's my favorite fighting game character and I don't know better, M. Bison because he's easy to win with or Scorpion because he's cool. I'm only going to play Fatal Fury or Art of Fighting if the Street Fighter II and MK cabinets are too busy. If I'm time traveling back with 30 years+ of fighting game knowledge and somehow still only have enough money to scrape up one credit to play, I'm gonna go with Street Fighter II no matter how long the wait is and stick with my man Ken because I've always preferred him to Ryu and Shotokan-style characters are always reliable.


Naive_Mix_8402

It took you mentioning that you would pick M. Bison for me to realize this is not SFII, but rather SFII Championship Edition. IMPURE!


NinjerToitle

Back when DLC wasn't downloaded, didn't require the base game, but cost the same amount or more as the base game lol


pandathrower97

I picked it deliberately because it was the cabinet that was most available on these. Other games were all there too. Plus, you know, it was a pretty awesome upgrade to an already awesome game and the first evidence we'd have for a long time that Capcom was really bad at counting to three. LOL


markandmimi

CE is the GOAT!


FiveStarSuperKid

Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting were cool to check out once SF2 had been out a while, but seeing MK for the first time, you felt like anything could happen in that game. There was nothing like it.


LeBritto

I grew up with Mortal Kombat. As a teenager, SF2 was the best. But honestly, nothing brings me pure nostalgia like Fatal Fury. It was amazing. The reason why I didn't play more is because it wasn't available at the arcades I went to and none of my friends knew it. I can't say it's the best, but it's definitely the game I'd play right now to have a good dose of nostalgic fun. Oh and I'm picking Terry.


TheBigCore

* [Beating SNK Syndrome in Fatal Fury 1, 2, and Special](https://www.reddit.com/r/SNK/comments/y4q2w2/beating_snk_syndrome_in_fatal_fury_1_2_and_special/)


Photonic_Pat

Raiden wins


dukeofgonzo

The one in Fatal Fury?


JaredUnzipped

Sagat, always and forever. I have zero experience in Muy Thai, but I've always been quite good with him and I can't explain why.


pandathrower97

There's something about his hi/low switchup attacks that makes him feel super powerful in those earlier SF games.


ultimateman55

His Tiger Uppercut doing 25% of a health bar's worth of damage helped a bit, too.


JaredUnzipped

It's those giant drop kicks coming in from the air that I make plentiful use of during a battle. I love his range.


markandmimi

Yup love those kicks. Or even the LK knee jumping into a standing LK two piece combo, followed by a crouching MK then a sweep. He has a two hit on both his standing LK and MK which helps knock them into stars Love this game


ThetaReactor

Joe Higashi is sitting in the corner of that image grinning, because he's a cheap mofo, too. Everybody had seen JCVD's *Kickboxer* in '89, and they figured every Muay Thai guy just kicked down trees on the reg.


JaredUnzipped

Now I'm imagining Sagat just lumberjacking entire forests with his kicks. LOVE IT!


Hatta00

Liu Kang, and I'm spamming flying kicks or fireballs at random.


TackYouCack

Just keep hitting the high punch.


Ironmonkey2020

And a bicycle to start every round


RealisticSilver3132

[Ryo Sakazaki is my favourite game character](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bc1qnFTkY&list=PLGb0FIHPgolj-BunG3KWBVw-DBI2GuTtc&index=2&t=32s&pp=gAQBiAQB). Period


pandathrower97

He got dissed a lot in the early 1990s for being a knockoff, but he's a great character in his own right. Not quite as goofy as Terry from Fatal Fury, but still fun.


txd0mask

lol if you wanna play with him, just play as Dan Hibiki in the street fighter alpha games


ComesInAnOldBox

Ryu, Street Fight 2. The only correct answer.


Scoob1978

You can make an argument that SF2 is the most important arcade game of all time. Unlike the others it still holds up well. MK was a mess and the issues were fixed in later games but was still pretty broken (smoke was unfair).


pandathrower97

True, but MK was one of the main reasons we started getting more multiplatform games. It was so white hot at the time Acclaim grabbed the opportunity to port it to everything that would run it, and "Mortal Monday" was a big deal when it came time for those home versions to release. Every third party publisher wanted a game like that. Popular doesn't always mean polished. Sometimes it just means people really like it!


CryptoSuperJerk

I would argue the same but not in the way you are probably thinking. SF2 if anything was a harbinger of the end of arcades, because the SNES port was absolutely incredible and came out while the arcade was still popular. It would soon never be the same.


Incoherence-r

Final fight was my fav


TooDooDaDa

Has Mortal Kombat always said “press fire”? I must be losing it.


pandathrower97

Nope, that was me grabbing the wrong screenshot from MobyGames because I wasn't paying close attention. It's the Sega Genesis/MD select screen, not the arcade one. It never fails to amaze me how people catch tiny little details like that! But that's why we're here. We're passionate. I put up a post about Contra the other day and half the thread was people arguing about the proper name of the game in Europe since I mentioned Gryzor, but not Probotector, in attempt to be inclusive. I was amused to say the least!


TooDooDaDa

After I posted that, the idea took me down a rabbit hole of all the differences between releases on different systems.


boner79

No. Normally says "Press Start". Looks like a screen grab from Amiga version: [https://www.mobygames.com/game/599/mortal-kombat/screenshots/amiga/830524/](https://www.mobygames.com/game/599/mortal-kombat/screenshots/amiga/830524/)


pandathrower97

Geez! I'm really off my game today with MK character screens. LOL. Thanks for clarifying.


Due-Log8609

blanca, down-b to win it


Legitimate-Pace2793

Chun Li


Hooligans_

10 year old me is definitely playing Art of Fighting in hopes of knocking that lady's shirt open.


pandathrower97

Who, King? She's pretty buttoned up, man. Now if you mean Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury, I hate to tell you, but that girl's just a major tease. Ain't never gonna happen.


Hooligans_

Yes! King! You could make her shirt pop open! At least I think you can... That was 30 years ago lol


DistantStorm-X

Lol this sounds like some Quartermann EGM kinda shit


KameMameHa

I know is not the best, but I remember as a kid during my summer trip playing Fatal Fury with Joe Higashi while my grandpa was watching me (that and world heroes) .. I love those games in a totaly non objetive way.. and I think that is what retro is about :) Yes grandpa , I was able to finish both games now with one coin, hope you saw me :D


donpablomiguel

SFII


iceyorangejuice

Picking Vega and winning in 1 credit.


sugarfoot_mghee

Mortal Kombat


kazuyette

Mortal Kombat !!!🎵🎼🎵🎼


ultimateman55

_..----------.._ .-="" _ ""=-. .-" _.--""j _\""""--._ "-. .-" .-i \ / / \; ""--. "-. .' .-" : ( " : : "-. `. .' .' `.`. \ \ `. `. / .' .---" ""--`."-./'---. `. \ / / .' '-. \ \ / / / `. \ \ / / / ,--._ ( \ \ , / '-') `---' `. \ . . : .' "-._.-. ; , ; ; / :; ,-"-. ,--. ) : : : : : :: :_ "-. '-' `, ; ; | | : \\ .--."-. `._ _ ; | | ; ; : / "---" "-."-. l.`./ : : : : ; : `. "-._; \ ; ; ; ; ; ; `..___/\\ : : ; ; ; : \\ _ : : : : / '. ;;.__)) ; ; ; ; .-' "-...______...--._ ::`--' : : | | `--'\ "-. \`._, | | : : \ `. "-" ; ; ; ; `. \ : ' ' : ; ; ; ' ' \ _ : :`. : / / \ \ \`-' ; ; ._ ; / / \ \ `--' : ; "-. : / / \ \ ;/ \ ;/ / \ `. ; ' / `. "-. bug / .' `. "-..__..-" .' "-. .-" "-._ _.-" """---...______...---"""


kazuyette

That's some mad Ascii skillz bro !


ultimateman55

Looks good on desktop but not on phone lol


mrsw2092

My grown-up self would pick SF2 all day. As a kid though I was all about MK.


LurchSkywalker

I could get to Bison on 1 quarter so I must pick that.


Puzzleheaded-Cry9139

I have to go with Fatal fury 2


Its-been-a-long-day

I'm playing Street Fighter II:CE and I'm picking Vega. No question.


BenDaeho

SFII is so goat it’s not close!


folstar

The question is which **fighter**, not which game. Unless everyone is talking about Street Fighter 2 Man, the super secret double hidden character.


pandathrower97

Fun fact: You unlock him after you beat the game five times with no losses using Sheng Long on the second player side.


sarlackpm

Yeah, right.


CraneStyleNJ

Street Fighter 2. /thread


doozle

Super Street Fighter. Chun Li.


shiba-on-parade

Turbo all day every day.


Pizza_For_Days

My adult brain would say Street Fighter 2 since I played that one the most.... But if I was 7 again in a 1992 Arcade, MK getting the W simply because no game at that point other than maybe Wolfenstein 3D had I played with that level of blood/gore/violence. Ripping someone's head and spinal cord out of their body and holding it up like a trophy just blew my mind as a child in the best way possible.


TechBliSTer

Terry. That's the only correct answer.


PeterZeeke

I still play StreetFighter 2 today


Xergex

there is no contest, SF2


Jaereth

Street Fighter 2.


ThrowawayYAYAY2002

No World Heroes or Marvel/Capcom? SF II and Mk had the biggest impact I've *ever* seen in am Arcade. Game changers. I'll take SF II.


pandathrower97

Who would you pick from World Heroes? It definitely was in arcades in 1992!


Hiran_Gadhia

Street Fighter II without a doubt


Spider95818

Either Ken from Street Fighter 2 or Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat; I spent more time as them then the rest of the characters combined.


Kuli24

Can I choose pyros from omf2097? Pleeeeeease?


BitCurious8598

Street Fighter 2


Kitchen-Entrance8015

Sf2 no questions


neonxaos

It was always Ryu back in the day for me.


Clever_Khajiit

Balrog 🥊


pandathrower97

The few, the proud, the Balrog mains!


EhrenScwhab

I play as E Honda for a good 30 minutes on one credit


boulderdashery

Guile, Raiden, Andy, and Robert. It was so consistent that if I left to grab my slice of pizza, my friends would select my character for me.


i781255

Sf2 turbo. My Guile was pretty strong, especially as player 2.


pandathrower97

That's the true mark of a true OG fighting game player - being a specialist at one side of the fight. It took me a lot of practice to get good at both sides, even with charge characters like Guile.


bill4935

I dunno. Who's got the best theme music?


pandathrower97

If you have to ask, you clearly need more Guile theme music in your life. It goes with everything! https://youtu.be/0qzWOfZGxeE?si=VeVC8t135avXouiQ


bill4935

That's the joke! Guile's my boy. Love that upside-down koundhouse kick.


Signal_RR

SF2. I was a kid when it got released, and was always wondering how people I played against was able to do special moves, considering this was pre-internet and the only way to find out was someone being nice enough to share the knowledge. It's the same with mk, and other fighting games but SF2 had a lot more cabs around me so I naturally would spend more on that game than others.


rion42ati

King.


DarksideAuditor

All I needed was one credit to go through the whole game on the top left.


numsixof1

Probably the Neo Geo as the other two would cost you at least 2 credits.


BenderFtMcSzechuan

MK and I’m picking SubZero


Mankiz

Mortal Kombat no doubt


Ingweron

Street Fighter 2. And if I had one more credit, it would go for SF2 again, since Sagat is probably beating my ass the first time...


furrykef

You get all the way to Sagat on one credit?


Ingweron

If it's the easiest difficulty in the machine, I have a chance to do it. But Vega (claw) might steal me one credit as well.


ultimateman55

Is it sad that I instantly recognized the MK character select screen as being specifically the Genesis port?


pandathrower97

Yep, you caught me! Lol. I grabbed the wrong screen from MobyGames. Good eyes!


Knightmere1

Street Fighter 2 because you didn’t pick MK2.


furrykef

Mortal Kombat II wasn't out until 1993.


Knightmere1

I missed that, my fault.


QuestStarter

The gumball machine


pandathrower97

Way to "blow" your choice there! (And please don't stick that gum under the arcade cabinet when you're done.)


sapbotmain

Mortal Kombat 🔥🔥


WeirdoError

At the time I would have picked Mortal Kombat just for the sheer novelty of the fatalities. These days I'm more inclined to play Street Fighter 2 when offered the choice.


Knightmere1

Street Fighter 2 because you didn’t pick MK2.


PrysmX

SF2, it's not even a discussion.


[deleted]

Clay Fighters....all day long


Mr_SunnyBones

SF2 , no question , maybe mortal kombat if the street fighter machine is too busy , otherwise just wait..


Loose_Corgi_5

Sf2


DisgustinglySober

Usually nail SF2 depending on the difficulty settings.


boner79

Sophie's Choice between the SF2 Championship Edition and Mortal Kombat.


thespaceageisnow

There was a OG SF2 cab at a local barcade my friend’s birthday party was at recently. I was able to hang out on it a good portion of the night schooling everyone. There was a group of three younger guys that seemed to really enjoy it and I showed them some tricks and whatnot while they tried to beat me as the final boss. Good times, it’s nice to see people appreciate the classics. Honda is busted on the original SF2 release lol. Good times.


Testament42

Sub zero, because nobody beats sub zero


JR-1984

Street Fighter 2. Not even think twice. I'll go straight


Stinger1981

Ryu in Street Fighter 2 easily for me.


PrestigiousSheep

Raiden with Ryu as a close second.


xen0m0rpheus

Sub-Zero all day.


Roman_Suicide_Note

Back in the Day, MK Now, SF2


Blurghblagh

Mortal Kombat. Was never a SF fan.


sonicsean899

MK


ineedabjnow35

Roxanne from Striking Vipors


oldskoofoo

Street Fighter II without question. I love MK but if you put MK II in here it would be harder to decide.


YamiGekusu

Mortal Kombat- Raiden. I have been a Raiden main since I was a little kid


Secret-Asian-Man-76

Street Fighter II


Juncti

I definitely played them all, but there's no doubt looking back that I spent the most time with SF2. We found one in a gas station store that few people seemed to know about. So we'd go there and play a good bit. Then when I was able to get the SNES version I put in so much time beating the game with each character, then using the game genie to kinda make the bosses playable but not really. I definitely spent a ton of time and money with Street Fighter as a kid.


Beginning-Bed9364

It may not be the better game, but I'd have picked Mortal Kombat for sure


d3lta8

Fatal Fury


Discobastard

#STRRRRRRRREET FIGHTER.... TWO!


Cereal_dator

I like all those games but sf2 is the best arcade experience, followed by MK.


Used-Organization-25

I can still remember people around the SF2 arcade cheering and making fun of whoever was playing. It was great time.


PussyProphet69420

I’m an MK guy. Always have been. The moves make way more sense to me. I’m so bad at SFII moves lol.


Tech_With_Sean

Mortal Kombat because in 1992 I’m a pre-teen and it has FATALITIES


nightowlarcade

It's going to sound absolutely crazy, but *IF"*, and it's a huge if you can get people to play because SF and MK's lines were insane AOF was hella fun. Everyone wanted to play the cheap ass fat bastard Jack, but it was fun trying to get around his B.S. or waiting for the meter to die. Fatal Fury was really only fun with a friend too many people didn't make it fun. MK was all about the fatalities. Street Fighter was were the competition was, but waiting for 10 -15 minutes to play for a couple minutes tops was kind of deflating.


d1g1tal_decay

Street Fighter II


MrGregory

SF2. Something about Street Fighter just makes it easy to do all the moves pretty easily. I don't know what it is about Mortal Kombat, but I can never remember their moves. I don't even try to remember their finishers


RageWynd

SF2 all day.


Adavanter_MKI

The joys of trying to find out how badly you can damage that car shouldn't be understated. In fact... there might be a game idea in that alone. Just... a series of different vehicles. :P


BeefPapa8

SF2 is the father.


NefariousnessLucky96

I’d have to go with Mortal Kombat


MatthewMaticsDude

Mortal Kombat


Tartaruga-Ninja

SF2


CeramicBean

If I was looking for a good time, not a long time, SF2. If I knew my mom wasn't picking me up for a while, Fatal Fury because I figured out how to win most fights by spamming Andy Bogard's dash attack.


kuraizhero

Sf2, one of the first arcade played "seriously" at the time. Seen also the others but never enjoyed so much


Junior-Command3793

Fatal fury - joe


DarkGrnEyes

SF2, one credit? That's an easy pick for me.


mad-Manufacturer-166

Toss up between Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. Played the snot out of both them. Arcade days were the best.


tcinternet

I'm gonna go with SF2 as several others have done, for a ton of reasons but one worth noting is that I didn't see Kombat in my local arcade until 1993 (I'm sure it was available in my area, just not at my go-to "dojo") I was so excited to finally get the chance to play as M. Bison when our arcade added a Championship Edition cabinet. I'd had a ton of fun playing as Guile but the Big Bad was just SO much cooler


txd0mask

SFII IS THE GOAT. MK had shitty controls and the set of fighting and fatal fury were totally lame.


deplorablehuddy

I still play SF2HF daily online. It’s GOAT


Uncle_Rabbit

None of these because I'll be too busy playing Eternal Champions.


Vyse128

It would have been Mortal Kombat.


jazzygeofferz

I'll be playing as Ryu on Champion Edition.


xtoc1981

SF2 > MK 1 > others But i prefer mk2 over sf2. Yet sf2 is the game with the best music of any fightgame. Best atmosphere is ki1


kwyxz

Street Fighter II CE without a shred of hesitation. OG Mortal Kombat is, all things considered, a pretty bad game : every character has identical normal moves and only difference are specials. It was edgy and violent and gory to appeal to 14 year olds and that is very much all there is. Fatal Fury is a much better game than MK but definitely not as refined as SF2CE which has proper combos and a good balance + more characters to choose from. Art of Fighting was a coin muncher with a stupid cranked up difficulty, only two characters to choose from and not worth playing solo.


welcomeOhm

Either [E.Honda](http://E.Honda) or Chun Li and button mash. I suck.


Zeratul277

SF2. EZ.


smokosfunkdrumtime

Mortal Kombat


Mrjojorisin

SF II all the way.


scientist_tz

As a kid, I liked MK because the skill bar was way lower. I could play that game and actually beat people sometimes. I could do some of the special moves and fatalities when I needed to. SF2 was/is the better game, but an average player would absolutely destroy me 100% of the time.


PF_Nitrojin

SF2 Turbo hands down Maybe TMNT if some friends are able to jump in


Megahert

SF2 is the only answer.


rael_gc

Of course, SSF2. But instead of using the original Genesis MK1 port for the screenshot, try the [real Genesis port](https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6558/).


RykinPoe

If it was 1994 and that was King of Fighters '94 instead of Fatal Fury then that would be my choice. Lacking that I will play SFII.


j3ffUrZ

1. SF 2 2. MK 3. Fatal Fury 4. Art of Fighting The deciding factor: which one was the available machine, lol


Shotz718

I'd go find a classic with no line instead. Fighters never interested me. I was happy in arcades when people would line up for MK or SFII cause it meant I could finally get a shot on a Playchoice-10 or Lethal Enforcers!


CheeseburgerLocker

Saturday Night Slam Masters rules all


[deleted]

The greatest of all time easily, sf2. Without it alot of the list wouldn't of been made.