Nevertheless, Killer Instinct Gold still holds a place in my heart as one of the best fighters of all time. It was fun to quickly pick up and play, and if you were willing to give it some of your time and train, then the game did a phenomenal job of allowing you to continue to increase your skills with complex comboes and parry moves. It never got stale, there was always room to grow, plus the A.I. was good enough to keep up with you when your friends no longer could. I got really good at this game, but the toughest difficulty settings always provided me with a worthy challenge without leaving me feeling cheated.

Depending on your definition of fighting game, you could include Konami’s Hybrid Heaven. It is like a turn-based fighting game/RPG. You run through bland environments until you come across an enemy. When you attack, a menu of possible moves pops up, and you select one. Arms and legs can be leveled up and new attacks/defenses learned.

It was a pretty tedious game otherwise, but the fighting mechanic was strangley satisfying.