Zeno Clash

Can't we solve our differences at range?

There are many reasons for a list such as the 1001 list to exist. Highlighting technological achievements, for example. Uncovering forgotten and overlooked gems. Introducing players to new and unforgettable experiences, even when they wish they'd rather forget about the weird first-person beat 'em up set in what must be the most unusual setting under the sun that is Zeno Clash.

Sorry, that might spoil what I think of this game ever so slightly...

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010

Biscuits and Gravy

Source // Giant Bomb

Now we're talking. The UFC might be entertaining to you, but the weird world of professional wrestling is entertaining to me. Or was. Still sort of is, but not so much the WWE.

Anyway, the point I'm making is that ever since WWF SmackDown! on the PlayStation (yeah, that's right, too late for the N64 greats), I have had, on and off, a damn good time with WWE video games. Professional Wrestling doesn't make sense, and so neither do the video games based on it. Whether you're making your own superstar, picking the coolest of finishing moves, or smashing your opponent through all the announcer tables in every single match, these games are about having fun.

I've not played them all of course - as my interest in the 'sport' comes and goes, so does my interest in the video games - and one of the (lengthy) lulls in my attention meant missing out on WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010.

What was happening in the WWE at this time? Who were the main eventers? This is as much a trip through video game history as it is wrestling history, and after my poor performance in UFC 2009, I'm ready to dive right in.

UFC 2009 Undisputed

0-2-0h no, please, no more.

Source // PlayStation

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is, I hear, pretty big. It's quite popular. If boxing isn't exciting enough for you, you might want to check out the UFC where the ring is now a cage and one of the boxers isn't even a boxer, but a martial artist, or a wrestler, or whatever.

Boxing isn't exciting to me, and neither is the UFC. I can name four people to have stepped inside the octagon for a fight. Three of them I know from the world of professional wrestling, and the other is Conor McGregor.

But there's potentially good news here, as UFC 2009 Undisputed comes to us from Yuke's and THQ, who are pretty much synonymous with the WWE games for the better part of a few decades. This will be a different experience for sure, but they must have learned something down the years.

The question is, will I learn anything?

Dissidia Final Fantasy

"Destiny is at hand. We might as well enjoy it."

The 1001 write up for Dissidia Final Fantasy does a far better job at introducing it than I ever could.

To paraphrase it, Final Fantasy combat involved characters standing in place, attacking nothing in particular, and watching numbers spring out of their opponent's heads, but Final Fantasy cutscenes or spin-off movies showed incredibly animated, over the top action where characters did the absolute opposite of sitting still.

Dissidia Final Fantasy is an attempt to merge those two things together. To let Final Fantasy characters fight it out in a way the RPG series hasn't seen before, all in a dense package on the PlayStation Portable.

It's one of the few physical PSP games I've got left, and coming to it 12 years late is better than never coming to it at all.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

[JUST... WHAT]

Source // Wikipedia

I still don't like Super Smash Bros. - I just want to make that clear before we start. I do not get the hype, I do not understand the devotion, I cannot contemplate how a fighting game that doesn't play as a fighting game can continue to make Nintendo console owners go nuts.

But here we are again, this time with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and it is the turn of the Nintendo Wii to show us a good time.

I hope there isn't any unnecessary waggling...

Street Fighter IV

"I'll make this quick and painless for you, kid!"

Hot on the tail of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was the console release of the next great leap in the Street Fighter series. Had it gone 3D yet? Sort of, yes. Was it easier for newcomers to pick up and dive into? I'm told so, yes. Would it kick the fighting genre into a higher gear than that which it had been wallowing in recent times? Yes indeed.

What is it called already? Simply, Street Fighter IV.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Because apparently, you can't have enough versions of Street Fighter II...

Source // MobyGames

There are more versions - not ports, necessarily, but versions - of Street Fighter II than there are games in an entire series of many well-loved IPs. Obviously, it's a little easier to release another version of a fighting game than it is to release another version of an action-RPG or something, but still, Street Fighter II has an awful lot of love, and the 1001 list wants us to experience it again.

Usually, the 1001 list is full of praise for a game, or it not full, heavily leaning towards the positive. If you can't avoid mentioning a negative aspect of the game, it'll get touched upon, but that's it. With the mouthful that is Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, however, the 1001 list was quite critical - well, it was critical of the distribution method and its limitations, at least.

Will this downloadable remix pass the time before Street Fighter IV comes to consoles? Does Street Fighter II deserve more than a cheap HD rerelease? Let's flex those button mashers at the end of our arms and find out.

SoulCalibur IV

"With our combined strength, we can end this destructive"... hang on, am I reading the right character here?

Source // PlayStation

The second fighter in quick succession is Tekken with swords 4, or SoulCalibur IV as it is properly known to the wider world. It was SoulCalibur II that was my introduction to the series, thanks to this 1001 list, and I came out of my time with it liking it a fair bit.

A console generation later and high definition graphics allow for character models to be insanely detailed (for 2008, remember) so that you can see all of Ivy's curve...d blade whip slicing through the air. Ahem.

Will I find this one as appealing as the earlier titles in the series? I hope so, I know that much.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

The Wheel of Fate is turning.

It has been a long time since the 1001 list has given us a fighter, and an even longer time since it has said we need to play one with two-dimensional sprites taking the spotlight, but two fighters are coming along at once here, starting with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.

'Calamity' might as well be a descriptor of my efforts in fighting games. Notoriously complex and deep, the fighting genre exists for passionate fans to devote hours and hours in search of true mastery of a single character, let alone a single game.

Me? Just give me the one and looks cool and show me where the do stuff button is...

Virtua Fighter 5

"Try again in a few years."

Source // PlayStation

Some 500 games ago, I played Virtua Fighter (or tried to - I played a remake in the end), the origin of fighting in the third dimension. The characters were blocky and laughable, but the series continued in the arcades for a long time to come, culminating in Virtua Fighter 5, a game that doesn't do the flashy of Tekken or the over-the-top of Street Fighter. Instead, it offers solid, hard-hitting fighting where every move matters.

Fight Night Round 3

0-0-1

Source // PlayStation

I am not a fan of boxing. Never have been, likely never will be. You might think that strange, given I am a lapsed wrasslin' fan, perhaps. It just doesn't appeal, no matter how sweaty and bloody EA can make their athlete models in Fight Night Round 3.

The game is simple: one vs one punch 'em up. But we're on shiny new consoles, and that means ridiculous control schemes to mimic the brutal reality of the sport. It means HD textures showing every cut and bruise. It means making this round the final round, the definitive round, the only round worth talking about.

Until the next one, of course.

Fire Pro Wrestling Returns

What a manoeuvre!

There are games for the masses and there are games for the fans. In recent times, we've seen an example of that in racing, with GT Legends most definitely welcoming fans of the sport more than casual consumers. Now, we see what game accommodates fans of the world of professional wrestling.

We can all name a WWE game, even if we have to think back to our childhoods when it was known as the WWF. Casual games for casual consumers. Nah. If you want to prove you know wrasslin, you list off one of the many games in the Fire Pro Wrestling series. You name something like Fire Pro Wrestling Returns.

So I'm told by all the smarks.

Dead or Alive 4

Dead or Alive Phwoar, amiright, lads?

Source // MobyGames

Everyone has a favourite fighter, and you should all know by now that mine is Tekken. I want to like other fighters, and some have come close, but they've never quite made the Tekken series redundant. There's comfort in the chunky combat it offers, though I have found myself enjoying other fighting games thanks to this 1001 list.

The question is simple: Can Dead or Alive 4 make an impression?

Def Jam: Fight for NY

Giving a new meaning to 'Rap Battles'

Among some circles (squared ones), the greatest wrestling game in video game history is WWF No Mercy. That didn't make the 1001 list, but developers AKI Corporation are represented by their rap-grappler, Def Jam: Fight for NY, the sequel to the perhaps unexpected hit, Def Jam Vendetta.

Rappers - and their lifestyles - are larger than life. What better way to portray their violent, street gang upbringings than by pitting famous figures against each other in a wrestling game full of audience interaction, improvised weaponry and a story mode that actually has a story - something no WWE game seems to get right to this day?

Let's hit the streets and hope the streets don't hit us back. Keep your eyes open for anyone you may recognise along the way.

SoulCalibur II

Need more souls!

Fighting games are a joy to watch, for the most part, even if you're useless when it comes to the details - like me. I've seen an awful lot more than I've played, but I must admit that I've seen barely anything of SoulCalibur II, and the SoulCalibur series as a whole.

I know of a few of its characters, of course (with measurements like they have, who hasn't?), and I may have once played a demo, but I'm just not sure. This is, effectively, a blind entry into Tekken with swords. Is it even right to call it Tekken with swords? I've no idea.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

[I LITERALLY CAN'T EVEN]

I don't like Super Smash Bros. - I thought I'd get that in early just so you know where I stand. Fighting games I can get into and get behind, but this kind of brawler... it has never worked for me. I simply can't get behind it in any way.

So, when the 1001 list says you must play Super Smash Bros. Melee, what do you do? You play Super Smash Bros. Melee and see if you can justify your stance on the series, else revise your position on the matter. Let's dive right in before we get kicked right back out.

Power Stone 2

HELP

Hidden Gems. Games that come out of nowhere to blow me away for one reason or another. I didn't think there'd be too many on this list, but I've been shown to be quite wrong before and will continue to be shown quite wrong in the future. This time around, arcade multiplayer mayhem comes to the home consoles, allowing you to smash your mates with mallets and magic in Power Stone 2.

I had actually seen Power Stone 2 on YouTube a few years ago but must have had it fall out of my mind for one reason or another. I probably cast it aside as 'fun for the moment, but there are better things to be seen', and it wasn't until coming across and looking into this unknown name on the 1001 list that I really knew what it was that I had seen.

So, join me as we get pulled onto a floating island castle to fight for some reason or another.

Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000

Nobody believed

When the two biggest 2D fighting franchises decide to team up and just have a good time, the result is, so I read, Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000.

Not the first, nor the last of the vs. line of games for these two juggernauts, it is the latest one to be put in front of me in the hopes of finding a fighting game I like to play as much as Tekken. I like to look at them and admire them in the hands of experts, but so far my time actually playing any of these 2D titles is not so good.

Will Capcom vs. SNK buck the trend?

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

I wanna take you for a ride!

I like Marvel. I like (the characters I recognise from) Capcom. I like fighting games. I should very much like to be taken for a ride in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, a fighting game that pits Marvel vs Capcom.

Who fancies Captain America vs Guile? Magneto vs M.Bison? Ryu vs Ken? They're all here, ready to team up with two other fighters to get stuck in, three on three, in a game that is so focused on the flashy moves that my capture methods can't even keep up with them, but I'll try my best anyway.

I'm ready for some button mashing.

Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves

Oh Gaaaaaaaawd!

Another fighter, another game in need of some Dreamcast emulation, though the Dreamcast wasn't the first home for Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, and that wasn't the first name for Garou: Mark of the Wolves either, but that's what we're playing.

Originally in the arcades and then on the Neo Geo, Mark of the Wolves simplifies some of the series' history to make it easier for newcomers to pick it up and play with any character they care for. That sounds like just what I need, so let's not waste time putting it to the test.