2016 was in my opinion, a very strong year for fighting games. Plenty of established franchises got a new entry, plenty of DLC characters (XD), and freaking EVO breaks records once again. More circuits, more prize pools and just pure awesomeness. Just like the 2015 list, I will be excluding ports and upgrades as well as being a Top 5 list. I’m going to throw in a few Honorable Mentions along the way. All games will be judged by North American release and console port. Who will come out on top? Hey, I’m Round1Aspie and this is my personal Top 5 Fighting Games of the Year.
Let’s start off this list with a few Honorable Mentions, and let’s see why they didn’t make the Top 5.
Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code: Guess why this is not in Top 5. If you guessed that it is a port, you are correct. However, Melty Blood does deserve some credit for finally being available in North America. Who thought it would see the light of day in the largest video game market ever. Good things come eventually, XD.
Combat Core: A Power Stone-inspired fighter which is still in Early Access, no FGC scene yet, so I’m going to have to put it in here. Characters look awesome though.
Koihime Enbu + Nitroplus Blasterz: Both are very niche anime fighting games that both have their own sense of charm. If you’re interested in waifus, then these are some games for you. Question is, they are pretty hard to get into as they are “poverty” fighters.
Now let’s get to the main dish.
But... R1A, why is Pokkén Tournament so low? It outsold SF5. BLAH BLAH BLAH. I don’t care internet. Pokkén is a competitive fighting game which is inspired and pays homage to Bandai Namco’s Tekken franchise (can you find all of the secrets). Instead of martial arts characters, you’re fighting with... Pokémon? Nice idea Namco, :D. However, the reason why Pokkén is held back at the #5 spot is due to the fact that #1: it’s dub is so goddamn awful, especially when it’s Nia’s voice (your navigator), #2: you need TWO Wii Us to play the game competitively, and #3: the Wii U version, which is the version that will be judged is missing four characters making it an obsolete version. The competitive scene is also dwindling because of the second reason and the fact that NOBODY is going to invest in a Wii U to play Pokkén, children don’t play traditional fighters (TPC found the wrong audience). All in all, it’s still an awesome game that can just be enjoyed, just don’t pick Gardevoir.
At the #4 spot, we have BlazBlue: Central Fiction. As with most anime fighters, it is a very technical game with lots of terminology. With the battle engine tweeked from BBCP, this version is looking to be the ultimate version. Seven newcomers join the battle including Hibiki, Nine, and Es (pictured on left in picture). The story is larger and way more difficult to complete than EVER before. But R1A... why is that? I’ll tell you good sir. BBCF is officially the first BlazBlue without an English dub. This was NOT Aksys decision but moreso Arc System Works’. Heck, the removal of a dub spawned a petition on Change.org which ended up doing NOTHING. My favorite of the newcomers is probably Nine the Phantom as she has all of these spells that just mess with your memory. If you like anime fighters with lots of technicality, pick this game up which is on PS4 and PS3.
At the #3 spot, we have the “sequelgrade” game, Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator. Revelator improved on everything that Sign did. Six new additions to the cel-shaded engine, improved graphics, improved gameplay engine, improved netcode, and more suspense. The one thing the game was missing from Sign was an English dub, which isn’t really a big deal considering it’s Guilty Gear, XD. The competitive scene is still strong to this day with CEOtaku 2016 becoming the largest GGXrd event not named EVO. It still says a lot as Guilty Gear relies on technical combos which have plenty of roman cancels, dust loops, and okizeme (the latter of which my main, Millia is really good at). If you love both anime and hard rock/metal music, then this game might be for you (available on PS4 and PS3).
We had to wait for half a decade for The King of Fighters XIV to happen. It sure paid off. Yes, people were upset about the graphics at the beginning, but the backlash sure made the game look even better. There will be a 1.10 update in January 2017 just to make the game look even more gorgeous. The characters animate very similar to their Neo Geo incarnations and just look as beautiful as before. Enough graphics talk, KOF 14 was directed by the battle director of Street Fighter IV, so there probably is some SF4 like similarities in the game. Newcomers look awesome, especially Luong, Kukri, and Shun’ei as they bring a lot of new to the table. The HD system from KOF 13 was replaced with the well known MAX Mode, in addition to Garou: Mark of the Wolves’ Just Defend mechanic. If you surely miss King of Fighters, pick this up for your PS4.
Let’s do a quick recap before we get to #1.
#4: BlazBlue: Central Fiction
#3: Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator
#2: The King of Fighters XIV
Go ahead and grab your pitchforks, I really don’t care about what you think. Street Fighter V is a solid title, that delivers a lot of action. You know Woshige (the Guilty Gear player who popped off too early at EVO 2015), he was actually the battle director for this game. Capcom actually bothered to hire a player with competitive expertise to make the battle engine. No more with the overrated Focus Attack and now we have the awesome Variable system. The devs sure focused a lot on eSports, but besides from initially being an incomplete product, the game has only improved overtime, which seems to be a huge factor into why I’m placing it as my #1 fighter of 2016. SF4 was becoming too much of a game where “who would counterpick Elena first”, and pretty much everyone got sick of it. SF5 however, has doubled in numbers from 2015 to 2016 and is the flagship fighting game. The newcomers feel like they have a bit of Street Fighter in them. The voice acting is actually pretty good for a Street Fighter game, and the soundtrack is as memorable as the other games. The stages look colorful and abstract especially if you’re in Skies of Honor where you’re fighting on a plane (which sadly got banned from tournaments).
Even though this fighter isn’t as technical as Super Smash Bros. Melee, SF5 feels more like a cross between Super Street Fighter II Turbo’s mental game while encouraging offensive play like Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. A perfect combination for an experienced casual player like myself. I mained Chun-Li in Season 1, and now in Season 2, I have ZERO clue who to main since Chunners got nerfed. I might go back to maining her but for right now, I’m trying out Laura and Akuma. Season 2 promises five newcomers, I’m feeling a bit skeptic on them, but if they turn out to be good in the coming year, I might pick up one of them, :D.Â
Who knows, this game might have the potential to look even more awesome by the end of 2017. As with The Game Awards I feel that Street Fighter V deserves the title of Fighting Game of 2016 as it just evolves as time goes by. If you’re interested in purchasing this game, then pick it up on PS4 or PC. I just wonder how awesome Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite will be... we’ll just have to wait and see.
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