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Hello fellow Tropers who are reading this:

Creator of the following pages:

DR (DT), Leviathans, Ogdru Jahad, Father (FMA), DG (GG), Angels (NGE), Shub-Niggurath + Nyarlathotep, MIB, DM (Jak & Daxter), Aku, Ungoliant (LOTR), Rake, Slenderman (13)

ÀÇÎÑÜĐÉŠØ- Uchūbitostan

  • Sc H A P
  • Darth Wiki/ Yes These Tropes Deserve To Die
  • Progressive Fallacy
  • Arthur Godfrey Effect
  • Bring on the Hate

    Comic Books 
DC: Image:
  • And don’t get us started on the bulk of the “New 52” relaunch, which seemed to largely consist of the ailing DC realizing that “comics sold well during the nineties, eh? Eh?” and so flooding the market with questionable anatomy and grimdark storytelling. There have also been some comparisons of with the early days of Image Comics — which may be something to be expected when you've got Image co-founders Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld working for you.
    • In particular, Superman is far more angsty and brooding than he was in the old continuity, and most of the superheroes seem to be far more violent as well.
    • During Grant Morrison's run on Action Comics, in one alternate universe Lois Lane, Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen created a device that would allow the user to create a super powered Tulpa. They wanted to create The Cape, however the executives thought this trope would have more wide-market appeal, and deliberately attempted to invoke it. It didn't go quite right though.
      • Except this is exactly what the executive who stole the idea from them wanted, to create a ridiculously over-the-top parody of Superman to kill him with, being as he was a demon from the 5th Dimension with a major grudge against the Man of Steel.
  • Superman and Batman got Anti-Hero Substitutes. For Superman, it was the Eradicator, one of the four replacement Supermen who appeared after he died. For Batman, it was Jean-Paul Valley, the man formerly (at the time), known as Azrael, who replaced him after Bane broke his back. Nightwing chewed Bruce out over it and Bruce himself admits it was one of his worse mistakes.
    • Interestingly, both the Eradicator and Azrael are portrayed as being examples of this trope being bad. The Eradicator found himself being lauded by Guy Gardner, which made him question things, and chewed out by Lois Lane and Steel for using the S-Shield and causing death and destruction in its name. Azrael, especially his time as Batman, was made as a Take That! towards those who wanted Batman to act more like The Punisher. They got it and when he took his first life, everyone agreed that Bruce is the better Batman and Azrael needed to go.
    • In Jean-Paul Valley's case, it should be pointed out that while he was an unfavorable deconstruction, but he was also written as a sympathetic deconstruction in that he is shown to suffer from mental illness from his brutal upbringing by the Order of St. Dumas' Program rather than being a Tautological Templar Jerkass like many other examples of this archetype were. From the moment after he meets and befriends psychiatrist Brian Bryan, Valley becomes more of reconstruction of the trope.
  • Superman himself became this in the Else World story Superman: At Earth's End.
  • Likewise, another Batman-related character in The DCU, Jason Todd (Batman's second Robin) has been a Nineties Anti Hero type ever since he came Back from the Dead. Amusingly, he was absent for the entire decade.
  • Aquaman became a version of this in The '90s and lasting until Infinite Crisis. He grew his beard out to adopt a Father Neptune look, and lost one of his hands and had it replaced first by a hook and then by a form-changing magical water-hand. He also adopted a more aggressive attitude on behalf of Atlantis. These changes were actually very well-received by much of the DCU's fanbase, and is considered an implementation of this trope that actually worked, as the goal of Peter David's revamp was to essentially rescue Aquaman from the scrappy heap that Superfriends had left him in. Unfortunately, years later much of the general public is still unaware of the revamp, and still picture poor Arthur as he was in Superfriends. (One thing that saved Aquaman from the negative qualities of the 90s anti-hero is that the book was often funny and while he might have had more of an edge, he didn't take himself too seriously either. Because, you know, Peter David.)
  • The Authority represent an entire Justice League of Nineties Anti-Heroes. They are, however, unusually idealistic for their kind, as part of their remit is to "make the world a better place". Their methods, however, seem to involve copious amounts of ultra-graphic violence (no Thou Shalt Not Kill for them), ruthless cynicism towards their enemies, and disdain for opposing points of view — they once overthrew the government of the United States.
  • Black Adam: He was never this in the original Fawcett owned Captain Marvel comics, but under DC's revival has sometimes portrayed as this archetype, being someone who has joined and fought alongside the Justice League as many times as joining battles against the league, depending on whether which side benefits his own goal to regain the power of Shazam from Billy Batson to enact justice as he sees fit.
  • During the early '90s, Bloodlines, one of the most loathed Crisis Crossover to hit The DCU, produced a glut of Nineties Anti Heroes, few of whom lasted more than a couple years, including Gunfire, Mongrel, Razorsharp, Edge, Shadowstryke, etc., etc. Probably the only one to be remembered fondly is Hitman, a, well, super-powered hitman, who alternated between being a paragon of the trope and a clever send-up.
    • Hitman also blatantly parodies this trope when Tommy encounters Nightfist, a Batman ripoff who takes out drug dealers with a pair of giant metal fists (which he wears over his normal fists) and then steals their drugs.
    • Ironically, the Bloodline character now most remembered as a Nineties Anti Hero, Gunfire, was actually a subversion. He had the name, the appearance (tacky armor, green goggles, and a ponytail mullet), and the powers (the ridiculous ability to turn any object into a gun), the actual character turned out to be an old-school Reluctant Hero who rescues bystanders and fanboys over the Justice League. Naturally enough, Hitman still parodied him with a future version who accidentally shoots himself with a med pack and then turns his own ass into a hand grenade.
  • In 1994, DC turned Doctor Fate into an Anti-Hero named Fate who was a grave robber and had melted Dr. Fate's helmet into a knife.
  • Around 1994, Guy Gardner, a roughnecked, "macho" member of the Green Lantern Corps, was reinvented as "Warrior," with ridiculously huge muscles, tattoos all over his body, and the ability to form his arms into any kind of weapon he could think of, mainly gargantuan guns. Rumor has it that the reinvention was the result of writer Beau Smith writing the pitch as a joke and accidentally having it approved. He eventually reverted to his old (but still roughnecked) Green Lantern persona after the fad played itself out.
  • Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, was in part a savage denouncement of Nineties Anti Heroes, and was one of the things that caused the changeover from the Dark Age to the Modern Age. One of the themes of the comic was the classic generation of superheroes fighting the violent "modern" heroes. Of course, the "classic" heroes shared some of the blame as well; many became just-as-violent Knight Templars attempting to deal with it. The "face" of the anti-heroes, Magog, is practically every Dark Age stereotype rolled into one cybernetic, sacrilegious package (though Waid and Ross admitted a certain fondness for him due to how over-the-top he was). In a brilliant twist of idealism, Magog realizes how screwed up he is, turns himself in, renounces violence, and is one of the people left alive at the end; in the prose novelization of the story, he becomes the Dean of Students at Paradise Island!
    • Magog himself was able to pull a Canon Immigrant, and was introduced in the Main DCU in a JSA storyline. In 2009 he got his own solo series, which is something of an Affectionate Parody of the old school Nineties Anti-Hero. His Rogues Gallery includes an insane homeless man with mind control powers and a silver haired woman who talks like a 1980s valley girl.
  • Lobo was created to parody this sort of character, even though he came out of the early 80s. Later played straight at times after he got a lot of Misaimed Fandom popularity.
  • The late eighties and early nineties had the Teen Titans sister team, the "Team Titans," who were this to the point that one of them took to calling himself Deathwing.
    • Though that probably doesn't count since adopting the Deathwing identity marked the character's descent into villainy.

Marvel:

  • The second-tier Marvel superheroes Darkhawk and Sleepwalker, both of whom had their heyday in the early 1990s, are arguably subversions of this trope. While they have strange and bizarre appearances, neither one was especially dark in their tone, at least compared to titles like Spawn, or the other characters that exemplify the Nineties Anti Hero. Darkhawk was about a kid who followed in his policeman father's footsteps by fighting crime with the mysterious alien armor he had obtained, while simultaneously keeping his Nuclear Family from falling apart. Sleepwalker was about an alien from another dimension that became trapped in a human's mind and manifested to fight crime while he was asleep, carrying on the similar role he had carried in his home world. There were, both in the letter columns of the old Sleepwalker comics and more recent web postings, positive responses from fans who liked the fact that Sleepwalker wasn't a violent antihero.
    • Darkhawk is actually an interesting case of this, as he at one point finds a journal of his father's, the last entry stopping with him and his partner preparing to go in pursuit of a hit-and-run driver before seeking medical attention for his victim. Chris refers back to this several times to remind himself to take a harder edge, before discovering the journal had a stuck page, in which his father hesitates, calls an ambulance, and makes sure the old woman who was hit survives.

  • A strange example is Deathlok the Demolisher, who was created well over two decades before the heyday of the trope. Each of the various version of Deathlok have very 90's Anti-Hero traits to them: he is always a dead man resurrected as a cyborg (cyborgs being common in 90's comics), and turned into an unliving cybernetic weapon that uses huge guns as it's primary method of offense. Usually however the plot often involves Deathlok's unwillingness to succumb to his programming and kill wantonly, instead struggling to non-lethally dispatch his foes.
  • Ghost Rider: The various holders of the mantle have had varying degrees of this with most having Demonic/Infernal derived powers received via a Deal with the Devil (Actually Mephisto, but you get the point) and leather clad biker outfits, complete with chains and spikes. The most blatantly exaggerated example is Vengeance who can see here.
  • At the end of the "Omega Effect" The Punisher/Daredevil crossover, Daredevil defies and deconstructs this to Frank Castle's partner, Rachel Cole.
    Rachel: You know what gives me strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it: nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
    Matt: Never... *throws one of his sticks at a wall so hard behind her it plants in it* ... Don't you ever say that to me again. That is a repellent statement. It is a vomitous insult to every cop — every fireman — every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss! But if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause... then get your pathetic, cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!
  • Penance in the Marvel Universe, originally the happy-go-lucky character Speedball, is a strange version of this. After believing himself responsible for the death of 612 people in Civil War, he designs a costume in dark colors designed to give himself constant pain with 612 spikes. This was intended seriously, but having happened long after the 1990s, is treated like a parody in most of his appearances outside Thunderbolts.
  • Speaking of The Punisher, he definitely fits this trope when written by certain authors. He's vacillated between a somewhat reasonable vigilante fully willing to abide by other heroes no-killing rules during team-ups, to an frothing lunatic who'll murder jaywalkers (retconned into being due to drugs he was exposed to without his knowledge), to being a serial killer who uses his family's deaths as a justification for the endless war he wages to sate his bloodlust.
  • Spider-Man:
    • Venom. First there was the "black suit" Spider-Man, basically a Nineties Anti-Hero before his time, caused by an alien symbiote bonding to him. He later removes the symbiote, and it bonds to another man, becoming Venom, basically an Evil Spider-Man. That would have all been well and good, except Venom proved to be something of an Ensemble Dark Horse, and entered his peak of popularity during the peak of the Nineties Anti-Hero's popularity, and thus Venom was given his own Comic and re-worked into one. Then they have Venom's Symbiote give birth to a second one, which bonded with a Serial Killer to become Carnage, an evil(er) Venom. This opened the floodgates. Venom's symbiote gave birth to 4 more Symbiotes, but these fused into a single one which bonded with a police officer to become another Nineties Anti-Hero Hybrid, meanwhile Carnage's Symbiote gives birth to yet another symbiote which bonded with another police officer to become yet another Nineties Anti-Hero called Toxin. Since then, however, the original Venom symbiote has exchanged hands a few times and and its current host is a normal Anti-Hero.
    • Kaine. Seriously, just look at him.◊ (At least he was salvaged in Spider-Girl.) And in the 2012 Scarlet Spider comic series written by Chris Yost, Kaine is now trying to be more of a traditional super-hero and move away from the Nineties Anti-Hero motif altogether.
    • Morbius. Edgy leather gimp suit, magical demonic powers, slaughtering bad guys by the dozen, less moping and more badass-itude and even more exaggerated 90's villains to fight with... Only aversion might be that the 90's comic made him more generic handsome.
    • The entire plot of Superior Spider-Man sees Doc Ock stealing Peter Parker's body and using it to become a darker, more "badass" version of Spidey. He even has a black and red costume that was originally designed by Alex Ross for the first movie (since Movie Superheroes Wear Black). The entire thing is a bit of an Idiot Plot, since it requires all of Spider-Man's friends and teammates somehow not realizing that Peter Parker has been replaced. But like Azrael was to Batman, it ends up being a deconstruction; as Doc Ock slowly loses control over the situation until he's forced to concede that Peter Parker is, in fact, the "superior" hero.
    • Spider-Girl has April Parker, that is simply a jerk version of main protagonist with the powers of Venom. She fits this trope perfectly, right to the point that a woman she once saved from bandits run away, because she is more violent than they. Oh, and she killed Tombstone too.
    • One of Spider-Man's lesser villains, Cardiac, was one of these.
  • The "Winter Soldier" mega-arc by Ed Brubaker in Captain America subverts a lot of these tropes. When Cap's sidekick Comic Book/Bucky|Barnes turned out to be Not Quite Dead after all, he was revived as a brainwashed assassin with a cyborg arm; it could have been really stupid, but it wasn't. Then, when Bucky took over as Captain America, he seemed poised to be a Grim and Gritty alternative to the more traditional model, with much made of him carrying a gun — however, Bucky almost never uses the gun, and in fact tries overcome his past and be a more traditional superhero.
  • The X-Men has featured plenty of these:
    • Cable, of the New Mutants, X-Force, and the X-Men was a major Trope Codifier. Tragic and mysterious past? Check. BFGs coming out the ass? Check. A "Badass" look that used to be reserved for villains? Check. His first appearance was even in 1990. Over time, though, he's been developed into a more heroic/complex character, somewhere between Messianic Archetype and A God Am I.
      • According to the rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks FAQ, Rob Liefeld originally designed him as a villain, but later reused the original design when he was asked to create a "New Leader".
      • Cable's leadership was also a catalyst in giving the existing members of the New Mutants a 90's Anti-Hero look, even though many of them did not have the personality traits.
      • Not long after Cable's introduction, Liefeld followed up with Feral and Shatterstar, who were basically 90's Anti-Hero expies of Wolfsbane and Longshot respectively.
    • Cyclops, of the X-Men, had his personality largely unchanged, but despite having been nicknamed "Slim" his whole life suddenly developed a chest that pro wrestlers would find intimidating.
      • His personality has changed later though. During Grant Morrison's New X-Men and especially after he became pretty much Nineties Anti-Hero despite the fact that it started in 2003.
    • Deadpool (created by none other than Liefeld himself) started out as a villain, then moved into Anti-Hero territory, and when a non-Liefield writer got a hold of him became more of an Affectionate Parody.
  • Wolverine went from being a complicated, interesting character in the 80's to "stabby stabby stabby!" in the 90's. It took "Enemy of the State" and "Wolverine: Origin" stories to restore his former glory.
  • There's an obscure X-Men character named "Random", who started out as a recurring character for the second incarnation of X-Factor and can turn his arm into a gun. In Generation Hope #15, Pixie calls him "Johnny '90s". What's generally forgotten in later appearances is that Random is a shapeshifter who was actually a 13-year-old kid when first introduced, and took the form of a muscular giant with gun-arms because it's what he thought a badass was supposed to look like.

Image:

  • Image Comics specialized in these for as long as the fad lasted:
    • Spawn, quite possibly the most popular Nineties Anti-Hero. Edgy one-word name, grim-n-gritty Backstory (an assassinated mercenary damned to Hell and sent back as a soldier of Satan), killing bad guys who were slightly worse than him, and written and drawn by Todd McFarlane.
      • Spawn is a very interesting example, as a lot of effort is put into humanizing him and he comes off as a far better character than the average Nineties Anti-Hero. But then, being around for a while tends to do that.
      • The first issue of Spawn also had a little parody of the tropes common appearance. Entertainment TV Talking Heads commenting that while the spikes and chains are "totally gauche", trying to bring back capes is a bad idea.
      • The Chase Lawlyer version of Manhunter from DC and Nightwatch from Marvel, both of whom were rather shameless rip-offs of Spawn.
    • The Darkness and Witchblade both exemplified this trope. The former is a former mafia hitman who becomes a living vessel of the world's dark energies, complete with an army of flippant, happy-go-lucky demons who delight in every opportunity to torture someone; the second is a pornolicious detective with powers both lethal and which rip her clothes off whenever she uses them.
      • The former, however, is a Reconstruction of this trope, since he's much more subtle and complex than many other examples.
    • Youngblood, Rob Liefeld's Magnum Opus. What this implies about Liefeld's abilities is for the reader to decide.
  • Shadowhawk was an Image Comics title about a successful, scrupulously honest African-American attorney who refused to fix a case for an organized crime outfit and, in revenge, was kidnapped by them and dumped after being given an injection of the AIDS virus... which prompted him, in a fit of rage and desire to try and make some sense out of the world, to don exoskeletal armor and start brutalizing thugs as a vaguely Batmanish vigilante. The suits got more and more elaborate as the disease took its toll, to help compensate for his weakness, but he ended up dying of the disease anyway. Apparently even series creator Jim Valentino hated the character, and killed him off purely out of spite. Why he even bothered with the whole affair in the first place is anyone's guess. That may be why the second Shadowhawk ended up so... different.
  • Comic Book/Supreme, who eventually moved from a Nineties Anti-Hero ripoff of Superman into an affectionate homage to the Silver Age Superman (largely because Alan Moore took control of the character).

Others:

  • Pretty much everyone in Dark Age arc of Astro City, as one might expect in a deconstruction of The Dark Age Of Comic Books. There is also lampshading aplenty. There is a notable subversion in the character of Hellhound who, despite having the demonic background, monstrous appearance, torn leather and chains costume and "edgy" name, is actually a Noble Demon, and a respected ally of the local Captain America and Spider-Man expies.
  • The Doctor Who Magazine comic introduced a full-blown Nineties Anti Hero to the Doctor Who universe in the shape of Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer. He's a "chainsword"-loving professional criminal and multiple murderer who was exiled by a future Earth society to a Dalek-occupied world to kill as many Daleks as possible before his inevitable death (although he turned out to be Badass enough to survive). Of course, he first appeared in 1980 and in some ways was a deconstruction, so could be considered an Unbuilt Trope.
  • Doom has the Doomguy going around and punching and/or shooting things...just because. He's also borderline psychopathic.
  • Holy Terror: As one of the individuals who influenced the Dark Age of Comics, it was the natural evolution of Frank Miller that he would eventually create a Dark Age Anti-Hero of his own in the form of "The Fixer". He is a Blood Knight so psychopathic that even the darkest iterations of Batman (of which he is a Captain Ersatz), including even those by Miller himself, would seem saintly by comparison. This is demonstrated with The Fixer's slaughter of the Al-Qaeda cell in the underground of Empire City with a multitude of guns, ranging from pistols to bazookas, as well as a chemical weapon of some sort (and yes, you read correctly). Granted, while the setting tries to justify his methods in that he is fighting a Terrorist group who is orchestrating an act of war rather than the typical mobsters and other criminals that would be the purview of the Justice system to try and punish,note  but this comic's portrayal of Al-Qaeda, and Islam in general for that matter, is so cartoonishly over the top that it resembles something out of a Chick Tracts, thus ultimately detracting from the serious message that is supposed to be expressed, thus unintentionally reminding audiences why this archetype fell out of favor in the first place and could possibly end Miller's own career.
  • Johnny the Homicidal Maniac parodied both the male and female versions of this trope in one of its "Meanwhile" stories.
  • Lady Death: She is a Stripperific Dark Action Girl with a BFS who coincidentally first appeared in print in 1991.
  • Marshal Law is an Anti-Hero who specializes in hunting heroes, though as he always says, "I haven't found any yet."
  • Joe Martin did a Deconstructive Parody of this in the one-shot comic book, Boffo in Hell, starring the two main characters from his newspaper comic strip, Mister Boffo (although everyone and everything except these two were drawn in a more-realistic, superhero style); the title was a reference to Spawn. In it, the government suspects that people are mean and violent because of self-esteem issues. As an experiment, they take a bunch of psychotics, give them a bunch of super-powers so that they'll feel "special" and then have them do community service among the public. Needless to say, it doesn't go as they planned. Earl Boffo, the dim-witted title character, winds up gaining super-powers of his own (with a Spawn-like appearance to match) and - completely by accident - manages to subdue and kill the murderous anti-heroes.
  • After Dark Empire revealed that Boba Fett survived falling into the Sarlacc, Fett was given various one-shots and miniseries and basically acted like the Star Wars equivalent of this.
  • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were originally like this: later versions made them more unambiguously heroic and less feral.
  • Valiant Comics had a number of Nineties Anti Heroes.
    • Bloodshot: Mobster Angelo Mortalli was framed by the Carboni crime family, forcing him to become a witness for the state. While under Federal protection, Mortalli was betrayed by his protectors and sold to Hideyoshi Iwatsu to become a test subject for Project Rising Spirit.
    • H.A.R.D. Corps: A group of Vietnam veterans who where revived from comas by a corporation who fits them with brain implants that give them psionic powers, and explodes if they're killed, or caught. One of them dies in every other issue, so they're always being replaced.
  • Warrior Nun Areala: "Shotgun" Mary Delacroix, who was created specifically to complement the protagonist Shannon Masters. Though Delacroix has many elements that other examples of the archetype (as can be read and seen here) such as her disdain for authority (particularly the Catholic Church for its disapproval of homosexuality) and her preference for guns (with blessed bullets) to fight demons and other supernatural threats, she is a Lighter and Softer downplayed example and also a mild subversion in that she is more a Knight in Sour Armor rather than an Unscrupulous Hero In Name Only like others on this list.
  • In the Dark Horse Comics superhero line Comics Greatest World, X filled this role. He was at least willing to give you one warning, a vertical slash across the face. If the X across your face or an image of your face was completed, however, he killed you. No exceptions. He was willing to do whatever it took to cleanse the city of Arcadia of its crime and corruption.
  • The Tick: Big Shot, who also appeared in the animated series, was originally introduced as a one-off character in the comic as someone hanging out at the vigilante table in the superhero club. While other vigilantes had complicated backstories, Big Shot's reasons for being a gun-wielding vigilante? "I just like to kill people."

Video Game/ Genei Tougi Shadow Struggle (provisional name until a better name, if possible, can be chosen)

A duology of Fighting Games by Racjiin (then known as "Racdym") and Banpresto in the 1990s. Each of the games feature fully rendered 3D polygonal characters and arenas fought in two dimensional battles (a la Street Fighter EX). In addition, each game features modes that allow players to customize the movesets of characters on the roster. Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle was released in 1996 while the sequel, Critical Blow, came out the following year.

The storylines of the games are set during what is known as the Power of Solid Tournament. The first tournament is held by a group known as the Phillips Konzern in which a cash prize is awarded to the winner. The second tourney is conducted by a shadowy syndicate known as the Merkuar Conglomerate.

Character designs for both games were made by Ryōji Minagawa of Spriggan fame.

This series provides examples of:

  • Character Customization: Each game has a mode that allows customizing the characters movesets. Critical Blow used a more advanced form of this in its "Trading Mode". In this mode, the fighters movesets could be modified by adding new moves or upgrading attacks that have been unlocked.
  • Darker and Edgier: Critical Blow becomes this in comparison to the first game. Whereas the Power of Solid tournament in the first game is a widely publicized event, the tournament in the second game is a more shadowy and brutul affair. Notably the Merkuar Conglomerate allows the use of weapons which the Phillips Konzern sanctioned tourney prohibited.
  • Excuse Plot: In the first game, a group, the Phillips Konzern, puts on a highly publicized tournament with a high cash prize reward for the winner. Critical Blow is somewhat less blatant in that it is at the very least has more a character-driven plot as well as a story mode, called "Theatre Mode" which primarily focuses on a Hong Kong based fighters named Rickey and Mao seeking to confront the Merkuar Conglomerate, who take over the Power of Solid Tournament from the Phillips Konzern, and seek vengeance for the killing of the former hero's grandmother.
  • Super Mode: Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle had this in the form of "Hyper mode". It primarily functions to make a character able to dish out faster punches and kicks. The hyper mode ability did not return in the sequel.

YMMV related entries provisionally here:

  • Even Better Sequel / Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While Genei Tougi:Shadow Struggle is regarded as either somewhat of a hidden gem or So Okay, It's Average, its sequel Critical Blow managed to attain better critical (no pun intended) acclaim.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Hagane Ichinomoya is someone who has a strong resemblance to Tekken's Kazuya Mishima, physically and, to a lesser extent, characterization-wise. In an amusing turn of events Bandai, the company that published the Genei Tougi duology under its Banpresto subsidiary, would merge with Namco in 2006 to make Bandai Namco Entertainment. Thus, Hagane now is under the same proverbial roof as the character from a franchise that he is modeled after.
  • Sequel Displacement: Critical Blow is more well known than the prior game, Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle. Case in point, on TV Tropes' Fighting Game page for a long time, Critical Blow was listed without any acknowledgement that it was the sequel of a prior game.

Character page entries provisionally here:

    open/close all folders 

    Characters introduced in Genei Tougi Shadow Struggle 
Initiator Imitators/Competitors Description Implementation Winner?
International Karate (1985) The Way of the Exploding Fist (1985) Serial Numbers Filed Off ports of Karate Champ released for the Commodore 64 in 1985. They're pretty much indistinguishable gameplay-wise, but International Karate is notable for featuring one of the most popular SID tunes ever written, courtesy of Rob Hubbard. International Karate sold more and is now more famous thanks largely to its music.
Street Fighter II (1991) Fatal Fury (1991)

Art of Fighting (1992)

The King of Fighters (1994) 		2D Fighting Games developed as spiritual sequels to the first Street Fighter, with many former developers of the original game moving from Capcom to SNK. Street Fighter II, created by Capcom developers Akira Nishitani and Akiman (of Forgotten Worlds and Final Fight fame), was a direct sequel to the original game, with the new feature to play as eight characters instead of the original two, thus emphasizing co-op play.
Fatal Fury, directed by Takashi Nishiyama of SFI, developed at the same time as SFII, focused on interactive stages and gimmicky enemies, at the cost of having only three playable characters.
Art of Fighting, directed by Hiroshi Matsumoto of SFI, emphasized a cinematic story / presentation and stamina bars — unlike FF, it came out when SFII was already a success and it was accused of being a much more direct copy.
The latter two had sequels which were much more similar to SFII, and eventually had a crossover in The King of Fighters which would end up overshadowing both franchises. 		Street Fighter II is the clear winner, since it became an instantaneous hit worldwide and the Trope Codifier of the fighting game genre, and established one of gaming's best-selling franchises.
SNK's games, while not on the level of Street Fighter's fame, became cult classics in the fighting game genre and beloved in many countries, although the company would have to deal with various financial issues that kept them out of the spotlight.
Both companies would end up in a Friendly Rivalry which culminated in the SNK vs. Capcom series. While Street Fighter is the clear winner in terms of pop culture relevance, nowadays both it and The King of Fighters series have healthy fanbases and keep pushing titles out.
Street Fighter II (1991) Mortal Kombat 1 (1992) The Samurai vs. Knight of fighting games. Mortal Kombat brought a Bloodier and Gorier style, Fatalities, and a much more brutal combat system. During their heyday in the early 90s, "SF vs. MK" was the equivalent of "WRPG vs JRPG" nowadays, with the same amount of prevalent (and annoying) topics devoted to it. Mortal Kombat had more unique games churned out for it than Street Fighter. Mortal Kombat 1 did well initially, and Mortal Kombat 2 saw it briefly take the lead in the fighters' market. In the long term though, Street Fighter was the winner by a long shot as most of the Mortal Kombat games after the second proved to be the laughing stock for competitive fighting game players due to poor balancing of its characters and the series was later fed to the Polygon Ceiling, further destroying its reputation with casual gamers. However, Mortal Kombat 9 not only cleared that reputation away but also proved to be not a laughing stock for competitive fighting game players, effectively bringing the bloodbath back to square one.
Virtua Fighter (1993) Tekken (1994)

Dead or Alive (1996) 		3D Fighting Games with an emphasis on realistic martial arts styles. Virtua Fighter is considered the Ur-Example of 3D fighters, like Street Fighter was for 2D fighters, and most games made after it deliberately ape it. Tekken combined VF's realistic gameplay with a Street Fighter-like cast of misfits. Dead or Alive took VF's gameplay, added a strange exploding arena gimmick called the "Danger Zone" in addition to traditional Ring Outs (which would be replaced by more freeform stages in subsequent titles), and utilized some very fascinating character concepts. Tekken has remained as the top selling 3D fighting game series. Virtua Fighter is lauded by tournament players but only has a very small competitive scene in the west. DOA has slowly mounted a comeback a steadily growing competitive scene since its fifth installment came out.
Eternal Champions (1993) Killer Instinct (1994) Dark, violent fighting games made by the leading console manufacturers at the time as a Follow the Leader answer to Mortal Kombat 1, with outlandish character designs and gallons of Rule of Cool. Though spearheaded by Sega and Nintendo, respectively, each game was actually made by a western developer (Eternal Champions was developed by Sega's America-based Interactive Development Division, whereas Killer Instinct was made by Nintendo's newly-acquired second-party developer Rare.) Eternal Champions was developed specifically for the Mega Drive/Genesis, while Killer Instinct was released in arcades first, and later ported to the SNES (rather ironic, since Sega's primary market have always been arcades, whereas Nintendo had otherwise stopped making arcade games by that point). Gameplay-wise, Killer Instinct relied heavily on combos, while Eternal Champions played more similarly to Street Fighter II with the addition of a "special attack meter" to prevent players from abusing special attacks. In lieu of Mortal Kombat, both games also had violent Finishing Moves, though the ones in Killer Instict, while featuring large amounts of blood, had relatively little gore compared to both Mortal Kombat and Eternal Champions. Killer Instinct. Both games followed a similar curve after release (a highly successful original game, a single sequel that wasn't as well received, and then promptly disappearing off the face of the Earth). In terms of legacy, Killer Instinct is much better remembered and retains a cult following, while Eternal Champions is largely forgotten and is usually only brought up in "Anyone Remember Pogs?" kind of conversations. Killer Instinct was also successfully revived in 2013, further cementing this.
The Outfoxies (1994) Super Smash Bros. (1999) Arena fighting games with weapon pickups. The former is an arcade game with original characters, while the latter is a console game featuring characters from Nintendo's franchises, released 5 years apart from each other. Smash wins this one easily. It is the more well-known of the two and the series is still living on to this very day, whereas The Outfoxies has faded into obscurity (though those who are aware of its existence recognize the game as laying the foundation for the Platform Fighter subgenre and serving as Smash's Spiritual Predecessor).
Marvel Super Heroes (1995) Avengers in Galactic Storm (1995) Arcade fighting games based on Marvel Comics. Something so unusual as dueling titles made by rivaling companies (Capcom and Data East, respectively) based around the same license. Both games featured Captain America and Iron Man as playable characters, but otherwise had very little in common. Marvel Super Heroes was a sequel to X-Men: Children of the Atom, was loosely based on the Infinity Gauntlet storyline from the comics, had traditional sprite-based 2D graphics, and a special "Gem" system that gave your character temporary perks by fulfilling certain criteria during the match. Avengers in Galactic Storm was based on the Operation: Galactic Storm storyline, had pre-rendered CG characters and backgrounds on a two-dimensional playing field and was the first fighting game to feature Assist Characters. Marvel Super Heroes by far: its success eventually led to the beloved Marvel vs. Capcom games. Avengers in Galactic Storm slipped by almost unnoticed, and didn't even receive a home port.
Battle Arena Toshinden (1995) Soul Edge (1995) Early 3D weapons-based fighting games. Both were released in 1995; Toshinden for the Play Station, Soul for arcades (and ported to PlayStation the following year, rebranded as Soul Blade for the North American and European markets due to trademark issues). Although not obvious at first, Toshinden actually takes place in the (then-)present, while Soul takes place in the 16th century. Toshinden also has a clear anime-based style while Soul went with more stylized realism (similar to its sibling series Tekken). Soul Edge, without a doubt. Battle Arena Toshinden gained a lot of acclaim and sales at first, thanks to novel features like sidestepping, lots of promotion by Sony and being one of the only fighting games for the PlayStation at launch. It became the official pack-in game with the PlayStation for a while, was ported to PC, Sega Saturn and Game Boy and had three sequels, the first of which even got an arcade release. Despite all this, the game was quickly forgotten. There were many internal issues regarding its development, as Takara screwed itself over by having the series developed by an umbrella of smaller developers who were severely underpaid, and that they focused more on merchandise than the actual game. As newer, better and more refined fighting games came out, the series faded into obscurity. Among nostalgic early PlayStation owners, the series has a bit of a Cult Classic status, though. Soul Edge, on the other hand, was very successful both in arcades and on the PlayStation, and, thanks to the awesome Dreamcast sequel Soulcalibur, managed to keep the momentum going and has become one of the most popular and beloved fighting game series around.
Soul Edge (1995) Mace: The Dark Age (1997) Arcade weapons-based fighting games in a Historical Fantasy setting revolving around a titular Artifact of Doom weapon. East vs. West, Namco vs. Midway, Samurai vs. Knight (literally, in this case). To oversimplify: Soul Edge is Tekken with swords, Mace is Mortal Kombat with swords. It's also worth noting that the home port of each game was released exclusively on the Play Station and Nintendo 64 respectively. Soul Edge spawned a very successful franchise still going strong. Mace was largely overlooked and had no sequel.
Marvel vs. Capcom (1996) Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008) Established fighting franchise crossing over with established comic universe. Capcom achieved such success with this formula back in The '90s. While Capcom lost the rights to make more games a few years back, they were finally able to convince Marvel to let them make Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Midway's Mortal Kombat staff, on the other hand was bought by Warner Bros., DC's parent company, shortly after MKvsDCU came out. No contest. Marvel vs. Capcom, specifically Marvel vs. Capcom 2, has been a tournament staple for over a decade now and still sees more serious (and casual) play than MKvsDCU ever did. In fact, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom on one side and Mortal Kombat 9 on the other are seen as bigger and more comparable rivals to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (though more so the latter because of release time frames) in the competitive community than MKvsDCU.
Street Fighter III (1997) Mortal Kombat 4 (1997)

Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999) 		After playing it safe for several years, in the brave new year of 1997 the premier fighting game series were ready to take their next installment in bold new directions. Two years later, SNK followed suit with the final game in their earliest fighting game franchise. Mortal Kombat 4 took the step into the third dimension, while Street Fighter III stayed in and perfected 2D (it was one of the best-looking 2D games ever at the time of its release). Both games did away with a substantial part of their established cast in favor of new faces, but Street Fighter III especially so (only Ryu and Ken returned, although later updates reintroduced Akuma and Chun-Li). While Mortal Kombat 4 was now 3D, the gameplay still largely took place on a two-dimensional playing field and, with the exception of a sidestep maneuver and the introduction of a weapon system, the gameplay was largely unchanged. Street Fighter III on the other hand had substantially altered gameplay with the introduction of dashing, "Super Arts" (players were given a choice of one of three Super Combos pre-match, with their selection also affecting how large their super gauge was and how many supers they could stock), and the new parry system. Meanwhile, Garou: Mark of the Wolves followed in Street Fighter III's footsteps, replacing the roster with a new generation of fighters (with Terry being the only returning character) and featuring some beautifully animated 2D artwork. The game also forsook Fatal Fury's iconic plane-shifting mechanic in favor of traditional 2D movement, and also features a "Just Defense" mechanic similar to Street Fighter III's parrying. At the time of release, Mortal Kombat 4 was the winner, performing well in arcades and being a financial success for Midway. Street Fighter III on the other hand was met with widespread apathy, with factors including it coming out too late after the Street Fighter-craze had largely died off, being a 2D-game at the height of the Video Game 3D Leap, having a really expensive arcade board meaning few arcade operators could afford it, being too inaccessible for beginners, and players finding it too different and with almost no familiar characters (ironically the very things people had complained about with the countless updates for Street Fighter II). It also didn't help matters that Mortal Kombat 4 was ported to every system available at the time but Street Fighter III was originally only ported to the ill-fated Dreamcast more than two years after its release. In the long run, the situation has reversed. Mortal Kombat 4 did not age well and is now regarded as the weakest entry in the series due to the Polygon Ceiling and Narm-filled cutscenes, while Street Fighter III has become Vindicated by History is now an incredibly well-regarded game, a Tournament Play staple and a Cult Classic. It goes to tell when Mortal Kombat 4 was excluded from the digital compilation Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection whereas Street Fighter III is one of the consistently best-selling digital download-titles around. Garou: Mark of the Wolves, meanwhile, quietly picked up its status as a Cult Classic, regarded as one of the best fighters SNK ever made, and regularly maintains its presence at EVO tournaments, but unfortunately SNK as a whole wouldn't gain widespread recognition in the western market like the other two properties would until 2 years later with Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium. Street Fighter III is the clear winner against Mortal Kombat 4, but with Garou: Mark of the Wolves it wins more on the basis of being the more recognizable brand.
Super Smash Bros. (1999) PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012) Console-specific Mascot Fighters, each with a roster of characters associated with the console it is on. You defeat opponents in Smash with Ring Outs. In PSASBR, however, you defeat opponents with Limit Breaks instead. The deeper mechanics of the two are very different as well. Sony acknowledges their game's inspiration from Smash, though they also note that many other fighting games served as inspiration as well. Smash wins, financially speaking, on account of being unopposed for so long that no other game could hope to dethrone it. PSASBR received generally favorable reviews in comparison to Smash's unanimous critical acclaim. To PSASBR's credit, however, it has gained a significant following and online community by those who played it. After PSASBR "outlived its cycle," Sony cut ties with Superbot Entertainment, though a sequel is still possible as Shuhei Yoshida himself basically said to never give up hope.
Capcom Fighting Evolution (2004) NeoGeo Battle Coliseum (2005) 2D fighting games that were made by their respective companies, Capcom and SNK, as their own respective Spiritual Successors to the Capcom Vs SNK crossovers (and in the the case of the former, Capcom vs. series more generally) in which the respective companies crossover their own respective franchises. CFE features one on one fights while the latter features tag team fights done in a manner similar to SNK's own Kizuna Encounter. CFE focuses exclusively on certain fighting games (Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter III, Darkstalkers, and Red Earth while NGBC features characters from a broad part of SNK's catalogue including those not of the fighting game genre such as Metal Slug. In addition, each game also features some Original Generation characters on their respective rosters, those being Ingrid for the former and Yuki and Ai in the latter. NeoGeo Battle Coliseum takes the edge. Though NGBC is no critical darling by any stretch of the imagination, it is far more difficult to find any critics who have anything good to say about Capcom Fighting Evolution. The fact that characters in CFE retain their respective mechanics from their original games (thus characters originating from Street Fighter II are at a disadvantage to those representing Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III who have defensive maneuvers such as air guards, rolls or dashes, parries, custom combos, double meters, and other features) whereas NGBC features a fairly standardized set of mechanics contributes to this difference of critical reception.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (2009) Mascot Fighters with similar combat systems. TMNT Smash Up was developed by one of the teams who worked on Smash Bros. Brawl. TMNT Smash-Up is widely considered inferior to Smash Bros., though some argue that it's a decent game on its own and the comparison to Smash Bros. only hurts it.
Super Smash Flash 2 (Began 2007) Super Smash Bros. Crusade (Began 2014) Fan-made Super Smash Bros. games. Super Smash Flash 2 is a sequel to Super Smash Flash, which hasn't aged well and is best forgotten. Both games are very impressive replications of Super Smash Bros. gameplay, especially in the case of Super Smash Flash 2, which runs Adobe Flash. Overall, SSF2 has more polished graphics, well-balanced game-play, and is more well known. Super Smash Bros. Crusade has a stronger Game Engine, having a larger roster that includes gimmicky, memory-intensive fighters such as the Ice Climbers and Capt. Olimar.
Brawl- (Verison 1.0, 2010) Project M (Version 1.0, 2011) Game Mods of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that seek to create more dynamic game-=play and better balance the roster. Both Mods rose from the failed Brawl+, the first attempt at a major Brawl Mod. Brawl-, created by a standalone team, seeks to balance the game by making everything a Game-Breaker. Project M, made by former Brawl+ modders, more or less embraced the "Melee 2.0" criticisms aimed at Brawl+ by replicating the more Metagame-oriented physics of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and re-balancing the cast to match. Project M also goes even further by restoring removed stages, creating new alt-costumes, and even bringing back two characters cut from Brawl, Roy and Mewtwo. Brawl- followed suit by restoring Roy and Pichu. Project M wins by a country mile, if its coverage by major gaming news sites and appearance in tournaments is any indication. This ended up being its undoing, though, as it got so big that the makers ended up shutting Project M down upon learning that Nintendo would now have grounds to sue instead of issuing a Cease and Desist. So in terms of longevity, Brawl- wins.
(Ultimate) Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011) Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013) 2½D Fighting games with rosters featuring comic book superheroes and supervillains. Another Marvel vs. DC squabble, akin to Marvel vs. Capcom and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe above. While MvC3 crosses the Marvel universe with a cast of Capcom characters, Injustice has a roster composed entirely of DC characters note , despite being made by the studio behind Mortal Kombat 9. MvC3 is more of a traditional Capcom vs. fighting game, while Injustice experiments with a number of gimmicks that are either uncommon in fighting games or new to the genre as a whole. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has a several-year lead and a very strong franchise history to back it up, but Injustice may have time to grow its fandom, as Marvel vs. Capcom 3's update cycle has ceased and its core development team members have moved on to other projects. Both games have received similarly high critical acclaim from reviewers, although the fighting game community is more wary of Injustice's viability as a competitive fighter due to its stage-based gimmicks.
Injustice 2 (2017) Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017) Sequels to 2½D Fighting games with rosters featuring comic book superheroes and supervillains for The Eighth Generation Of Console Video Games. The sequel (no pun intended) to the squabble between these two same franchises from last generation. This time, both games came out within 12 months of each other. Additionally both made an attempt to be more casual-friendly compared to other games in their developers' stable. Injustice 2 introduced the gear system that allows casual players to customize their characters, though it is banned in Tournament Play, whereas MvC: Infinite goes back to the 2-on-2 format of earlier games, while ditching a lot of old mechanics in favor of a new freeform tag system while bringing back the Infinity Gems from Marvel Super Heroes. Injustice 2 was lauded for its graphics, roster, and content, all of which were major criticisms of Infinite, but Infinite has been called a good follow-up to UMvC3 in terms of gameplay, if not outright superior. In terms of immediate sales and reception, though, it was an outright squash, with Infinite currently sitting at a quarter of its rival's sales and averaging around 10-15 points lower on Metacritic. Furthermore, Injustice 2 was able to compete at EVO 2018 while Infinite failed to qualify.
Pokkén Tournament DX (2017) Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017) 2017 released fighting games released on the week of September 22nd, 2017, featuring popular characters from outside the regular fighting genre (Marvel heroes and Pokémon) fighting on mutually exclusive hardware. Pokkén DX was not significantly hyped but maintained a steady amount of attention, while Marvel vs. Capcom suffered significant controversies in a number of areas including animations, roster choices, and developer commentaries Pokkén had notably better review scores, and sold nearly twice as much despite being a Switch exclusive.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017) Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018) Tag Team tournament-viable fighting games featuring super-powered combatants from immensely popular long-running franchises. After Infinite suffered from several controversies, PR mess-ups, and severe issues regarding presentation, FighterZ got the attention of many who were soured on the latest Marvel vs. Capcom by boasting 3v3 gameplay (Infinite dropped down to 2v2 in contrast with the two previous MvC games) and phenomenal presentation, as is expected from Arc System Works. However, FighterZ did eventually suffer from controversy of its own regarding its DLC practices. FighterZ. Infinite received mixed reviews and flopped in sales. By contrast, critical and audience reception for FighterZ was overwhelmingly positive, and it became the fastest-selling Dragon Ball video game in history, shifting 2 million copies in just five days. In addition, the lineup for EVO 2018 was confirmed to include FighterZ, but not Infinite, marking the first time in 17 years that EVO has not had a Marvel vs. Capcom game as one of its main events.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017) BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (2018) 2v2 tag-team tournament-competitive fighting games featuring ensemble casts of super-powered characters from multiple different properties Coming onto the scene a month before EVO 2018 is due and with FighterZ is still hugely popular, BBTAG is the second Arc System Works game to be competing with MvCI. BBTAG is also a 2v2 crossover fighter featuring an ensemble cast from four of their popular fighting game franchises: BlazBlue, Persona 4, Under Night In-Birth and the highly popular Rooster Teeth anime-styled web animation series RWBY. note  The announcement that BBTAG would be present at EVO 2018 and MvCI would not when the former hadn't even been released came as a massive shock to the FGC. Though early hype for BBTAG was damaged by a controversy surrounding DLC practices, reception to early release builds and demos were highly positive with players praising the new RWBY characters, the netcode and online play, the combat system (which is said to be very easy to pick up for new players but offers a surprising degree of depth to veterans due to character interplay) and the voice acting note . In the end, though, while both series underperformed, the fact that Cross Tag Battle had better reception and slightly better sales than Infinite makes it the clear winner, even if it was an Acclaimed Flop.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (2018) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) Massive Multiplayer Crossover fighting games released six months from each other that are easy to pick up and play. BBTAG is a 2v2 tag-team fighter featuring characters from seven different franchises: Blazblue, Persona 4, Under Night In-Birth, RWBY, Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, and Akatsuki Blitzkampf. Ultimate is more or less a Platform Fighter reuniting all the first- and third-party franchises represented in the Super Smash Bros. series with four more universes added later on: Persona 5 (ironically enough), Dragon Quest, Banjo-Kazooie, Fatal Fury, Minecraft, Tekken, and Kingdom Hearts. On a more somber note, both games were influenced by two different creators that died the same year in 2015, as BBTAG had RWBY creator Monty Oum, who was a fan of BlazBlue, passed away on February that year (Team RWBY and later representatives of the series were added as tribute) while Ultimate was the final request given to Masahiro Sakurai by former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, though Iwata had a much longer impact on people worldwide than Oum. Cross Tag Battle, despite positive reviews, was marred at launch due to Arc System Works' decision to lock half of the starting roster as DLC (though the remaining RWBY characters were free) causing poor sales at launch. Ultimate on the other hand was praised for the novelty of EVERYONE IS HERE!, thus reuniting all the characters that were dropped between the last Smash games. Ultimate ultimately won this duel, with 17 million copies sold worldwide making it the highest selling fighting game of all time, a feat Cross Tag Battle failed to accomplish.
Slap City (2018) Icons: Combat Arena (2018) Platform Fighter games developed by independent teams, intended to become a PC alternative for the Nintendo-exclusive Super Smash Bros. series, while also appealing to its competitive scene. Both were also first released as Early Access. Slap City, much like Super Smash Bros., is a Mascot Fighter featuring many of the developer's characters. Icons, on the other hand, has its roster entirely composed of original characters. Notably, the latter's development team had people that previously worked on the famous Game Mod Project M. Slap City, no contest. Winning fans over with its fresh characters and creative game modes, and having its own unique identity to distinguish it from Smash, it has remained overwhelmingly praised since its release. Icons instead was heavily criticized for aspects such as very blatantly trying to copy Super Smash Bros. Melee's gameplay, having a small roster mostly composed of very blatant expies of Melee's fighters that even straightup copied many moves from the characters they were cribbing, its sterile and unimaginative art direction with characters that looked like they were from a bootleg League Of Legends, having janky-looking move animations and terrible sound effects with no impact whatsoever, matches being exclusively 1v1, and an abusive microtransaction system. Because of that, the game had pretty much nothing to appeal to people that didn't play competitive Melee, while most of those that did had little interest in playing a third rate knockoff of the game they were already playing and enjoying for years, so Icons flopped out of the gate and struggled with a perpetually shrinking playerbase in its short lifespan. Ultimately its servers were put down on November 2018, rendering it unplayable since then.
Soulcalibur VI (2018) Dead or Alive 6 (2019) 3D fighting games from series that are very well-known for fanservice, coming off a Sequel Gap with both having their last mainline installment in 2012, and set to be the big comeback for both franchises. Both games feature new graphics, new gameplay mechanics, and are the sixth numbered sequel of their respective series, but a major difference in terms of execution is how they go about their trademark fanservice — Whereas Dead or Alive 6 chose to severely cut back on the sex appeal in hopes of being taken more seriously, Soulcalibur VI decided to fully embrace it as a core part of its identity. Soulcalibur VI. Upon release, Soulcalibur VI received positive reviews across the board and became widely celebrated by fans, and having practically no real controversy to deter it, whereas Dead or Alive 6 had considerably less favorable reviews and all the way up to launch was Overshadowed by Controversy over many things including the tamer fanservice, the constant Flip-Flop of God, the shady tactics used to drive sales (including a 93 dollar season pass at launch), and missing core features, among others, while changing very little in any positive way. Soulcalibur VI got an easy ticket to EVO 2019, whereas Dead or Alive 6 was completely passed up by EVO despite specifically aiming for it, effectively killing its tournament scene before it could begin, and sales were not good as it debuted at a mere #21 on the UK charts alone, compared to SCVI reaching #5 and DOA6's direct predecessor selling over twice as much. The US wasn't much kinder, either — whereas SCVI placed at #8 on the monthly NPD Top 10 chart for October, DOA6 failed to even make the Top 10 at all. Japan was slightly more favorable, as DOA6 launched at #1 but only at just over 26,000 retail copies (considerably lower than past games), and only 2,000 more than what SCVI launched with, but the difference is very negligible overall as digital isn't counted in the equation. Ultimately, SCVI performed far better than DOA6, selling over 400,000 units in the first week and over a million after a month. In comparison, DOA6 merely shipped 350,000 units within nearly two months after the game's release.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) Jump Force (2019) Crossover fighting games in which characters from Nintendo's history (Smash Bros.) or multiple Shonen Jump franchises (Jump Force) come together to fight against each other.   Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by a country mile. While the roster of Smash Bros. welcomed back everyone included in the series, past and present, including long-awaited fighters like Ridley and King K. Rool, the roster of Jump Force was divisive from the moment that the game was finalized. This included the divisive Created Character, which people have grown tired of now, as well as original characters, Kane and Galena, which are mainly seen as expies of Mira and Towa. In terms of sales, despite Ultimate being a Switch exclusive and Jump Force coming out on every console that wasn't the Switch (namely PS4, Xbox One and PC), the former managed to blow the competition out of the water in Japan by selling 1.2 million copies during its first week, eventually managing to sell over 15.71 million copies by November 2019 and become the highest selling fighting game of all time, while the latter could only muster barely a tenth of those figures in its launch week and despite a steady stream of DLC and getting a Deluxe Edition for the Switch, has largely been forgotten by most people, only being mentioned to be made fun of.
Samurai Shodown (2019) Granblue Fantasy Versus (2019) 2D fighting games that return to a more classically grounded style with high damage, stricter movement and shorter combos compared to the "anime" fighting games that have dominated the genre since the late 2000s.   Both games were well received; however, they also fell victim to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Samurai Shodown was released in mid-2019, which allowed the game to have some offline tourney presence while being available to everyone. Granblue Fantasy Versus was released in mid-March 2020, a time when measures against the pandemic started appearing, cutting off potential offline tourney presence for the game. Compounded with both games providing a lacking online experience, the drive for both games eventually shrank; with more public attention shifting towards The King of Fighters XV, Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, and DNF Duel instead, and only kept attention through their DLC releases.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (2021) The two biggest Platform Fighters of The Ninth Generation Of Console Video Games, both of them also being Massive Multiplayer Crossovers. The two games take different approaches to their design, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate designed for as wide an audience as possible while Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is aimed primarily at hardcore players, namely those who prefer the combo-based, high-execution style of Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ludosity, creator of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, deliberately cultivated this rivalry with its fans. By coincidence, the release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl was also the day of the reveal of the final character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sora, making that day a Passing the Torch moment, of sorts. Though Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl maintains a small but very dedicated base of players and sees appearances at fighting game tournaments, it has struggled to find an audience outside of it, despite the Nickelodeon branding, promotions by large retail chains, and release on many different platforms; while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate continues to be the juggernaut the series has proven itself to be since it debuted. That being said, the people at Ludosity are satisfied with the game's sales and critical reception, so in a sense, both games came out as winners in this one.
Guilty Gear Strive (2021) Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles (2021) 2021 Cel Shaded Fighting Games that have gained massive popularity worldwide and include colorful casts of characters. Guilty Gear Strive is a traditional 2D Fighting Game and a sequel to its predecessor, Guilty Gear XRD, that improves upon its 2.5D graphics and brings back fan-favorite characters while also introducing new members to the cast. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles is a 3D Arena Fighting Game and the first of its game series that also implements 2.5D graphics and has most heroes and villains from its anime's first season as playable characters in the roster. Both series are massively popular in Japan and have gained much-needed attention worldwide. While Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles ultimately released to a general amount of success, Guilty Gear Strive has completely eclipsed it in turns of relevance to the general populace noticing it. To this end, Guilty Gear Strive has consistently had its trailers for DLC characters reach over 400K views on YouTube and being trending on Twitter, compared to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles having its reveals often fly under the radar, even if videos of it have decently good views on YouTube.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (2021) Multi Versus (2022) New Platform Fighters of The Ninth Generation Of Console Video Games, both of them also being Massive Multiplayer Crossovers consisting of a non-video game studio's various series (Nickelodeon for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, Warner Bros. for Multi Versus. Both Platform Fighters were revealed after all DLC was showcased by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl being mainly designed around that of a game similar to a standard Super Smash Bros. game (in particular Super Smash Bros. Melee), with a high focus on a static moveset close to that of its inspiration, is a game that one has to buy for money, and while at first lacking in some areas of content (namely voice acting and story), the developers, Ludosity, have done their part to add more as the game develops. Meanwhile, MultiVersus is designed to do several things differently and with a noticeably higher budget than its rival, with a 2V2 focus on fighting, the game being a F2P game with various perks existing to swap moveset elements around, and having voice acting and story elements right off the bat. While Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl has the advantage of being the older game, its waning viewerbase of actively playing fans could leave the game vulnerable to MultiVersus. TBA

Vs. is a Play Station video game developed by Polygon Magic and published by THQ in 1997. The game, a 3D fighter, features 20 polygonal, gang-based characters (designed by former Marvel Comics artist Kurtis Fujita) brawling in a two-dimensional environment. Players select different members of each gang to fight rival gangs on their respective turfs.

The gangs and their members consist of the following:

  • Streets: Mia, Vikram, Oleg, Slim Daddy
  • Hood: Ramos, Jalil, Thana, Paco
  • Campus: Harold, Kathleen, Leath, O'Doul
  • Beach: Kenny, Calucag, Mineo, Kara

In addition to those fighters, there are also four unlockable boss characters that are associated with each gang: Eric O, Hendrickson, Joel, Niege

The title is a port and an American localized version of Fighters' Impact, which was released only on the Japanese Play Station and in Japanese arcades. It retained the game engine, most of the play mechanics, and some animations and other elements, but introduced an entirely new lineup of characters, new arenas, and a soundtrack of licensed music (by Razed in Black, Los Infernos, Suicide Machines, and Pigs in Space). It was met with an underwhelming critical response, being said to offer little new over the recent top-tier games in the fighting genre and dropped into obscurity.

For a Spiritual Successor of sorts, check out Slap Happy Rhythm Busters

This Game Provides Examples Of:

  • Bald Head of Toughness: Characters with this look include Vikram and Joel. O'Doul is partly balding.
  • Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Mia, Leath, and Kara are female fighters with midriff baring outfits. Averted in the case of Kathleen. Also, gender inverted with Vikram of the Streets gang.
  • Cool Old Guy: O'Doul of the Campus gang who is a senior citizen.
  • Dreadlock Warrior: Jalil of the Hood gang has this hair style.
  • Foreign Exchange Student: Harold of the Campus gang who is from New Zealand.
  • McNinja: Jalil is a Black American guy who tries to dress the part. At the very least he has a Scarf of Asskicking that gives him the mysterious look of a ninja. Also, for what it's worth, his fighting style is Taekwondo.
  • Mighty Glacier: Oleg of the Streets and Kenny of the Beach as well as all the bosses.
  • Mirror Match: In the arcade mode, called "Survival", the very first opponent for every character to fight is against him/herself before going up against the other members of their respective faction before taking on the members of the other gangs.
  • Pimp Duds: Slim Daddy of the Streets gang wears such an outfit. Though his occupation in his bio states he's a "businessman", his attire gives a pretty clear idea what his business is without having to state it.
  • Pretty Boy: Thana of the Hood gang. Their ending mentions him as being the subject of ribbing by fellow Hood members.
  • Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: Each of the members of the gangs have their occupations included in their biographies. This reveals some individuals as having backgrounds that one would not associate with gang culture. Some individuals who some fairly odd occupations include Mineo of the Beach gang who is a Mime as well as O'Doul who is a school principal.
  • Stripperiffic: Mia, the poster girl for Vs., is this to a hilarious degree, fighting in a top with her Underboobs hanging out and her pants hanging low enough to show off her panties. Her 2P outfit, with its crop top, short-shorts, and tall Doc Martens, is in that rare camp of being more modest despite technically showing off more skin.
  • Surfer Dude: Calucag of the Beach gang.
  • This Means War Paint: Oleg has the left part of his face painted like a checkered flag (in reference to his occupation as a taxi driver). Arguably subverted in the case of Mineo, who though also having face paint, but that is part of Mime outfit.
  • Versus Title: Yup, the sole word in the title.

YMMV

  • Cliché Storm: One major criticism in regard to its gameplay and aesthetics. A reviewer for Game Pro stated that "Vs. is an extremely competent game with the misfortune of stumbling into some bad timing. If it had been released, say, 18 months ago, it would've been the greatest thing since sliced bread and probably could've started its own religion. Unfortunately, Vs. offers nothing new to the already solid lineup of 32-bit 3D fighting games established by Tekken 2, Soul Blade, and Fighters Megamix."
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: The fact that one of the fighters, Slim Daddy, was a pimp brought about condemnation from religious leaders and other Moral Guardians did bring a mild backlash by some of the video gaming audience and thus unwittingly provided some visibility for the game. However, again due to the overall mediocre reception of Vs., the exposure brought by the controversy subsided shortly after.
  • Squick: According to Larry Bundy Jr., Mia, the Stripperiffic poster girl of Vs., was based on the daughter of the head of THQ.

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