In 1991 there was a turning point in the arcade scene. Street Fighter II was introduced to the world, focusing all the attention on the arcades and determining the future of the console war. It also, of course, set the trend for fighting games to be released.

Somewhat similar to the effect Doom had on the first-person shooter genre, Street Fighter 2 was followed, cloned and cross-dressed by a number of games from rival companies seeking to replicate Capcom’s unprecedented success. Some developers knew how to find their place in the history of video games, for example Midway with its Mortal Kombat, but most failed at mere copying.

But there are also exceptions, companies that brought to the fighting genre a series of innovative and original ideas that would set new trends and revitalize the genre. Good fighting games that unfortunately have been relegated to oblivion over the years.

The titles on this list are just a few of the forgotten games that would be spawned from Capcom’s fighting masterpiece. They showcase many different styles and sub-genres of the 2D fighter, while also showcasing different art styles, controls, and techniques within the genre. It’s highly likely that fighting fans will find at least one title on this list worth checking out, and though this list is forty titles long, it is by no means definitive.

In some cases other titles have been referenced, or series mentioned; these are also worth exploring for the fighter fan who wants to find something new to play, or those just interested in what the genre has to offer. And there are many quality games beyond that.

Intro and Outro Music

Aries Beats “Synthwave Dreams 2020” is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license …
Source:

Games Featured

0:00 Intro
0:13 1993 Monster Maulers
0:49 1994 Kaiser Knuckle
1:58 1994 Aggressors of Dark Kombat
2:44 1995 Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
3:20 1995 Dragoon Might
4:06 1995 Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors
4:47 1995 Metamoqester
5:34 1995 Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty
6:05 1996 Waku Waku 7
7:03 1996 Touki Denshou: Angel Eyes
8:17 1996 Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
9:10 1996 Ninja Master’s: Haou Ninpou-ko
9:59 1996 Red Earth
11:17 1997 Rabbit
11:57 1997 Groove on Fight: Gouketsuji Ichizoku 3
12:28 1997 The Last Blade
13:02 1998 The Killing Blade
14:09 1998 Asura Blade: Sword of Dynasty
14:59 1998 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future
15:45 1999 Martial Masters
16:39 Outro

⚠️ All gameplay recording, game curation and opinions included in this video, as well as editing is completely done by me

Bits & Beats creates videos about the history of video games. In this channel you’ll find comparisons, retrospectives, technical analysis, but, mostly, game curations with the idea of having an important task of preserving video games, and make them relevant to society at large.

Curation isn’t just about digging up neat games, but it’s also about preservation, interpretation, and using one’s knowledge to make it relevant to people. With my videos I want older gamers to look back and remember the influence of video games on their lives, and new gamers to understand the larger context of the series they’re playing for the first time today.

I put significant time and creative effort into each one of my videos, including research, digging into archives, playing video games and recording hours of footage, selecting specific clips, writing reviews for each title, and making a very careful video editing in the way to transmit both educational and entertaining values to my audience. Every video takes a lot of hours to produce, because I strive to give my audience a consistent, high-quality content.

Fidelity and preservation of the video games is essential in Bits & Beats, so the recordings are made with the highest bitrate quality. It is done this way to preserve original game look and sound through modern footage, with no superfluous additions. I recommend you watch the video at 4K and 60 frames per second to get the best possible viewing experience.

I hope you enjoy my videos and find them useful!

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