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Fighters

Definition

Otherwise known as beat-em-ups, a fighter covers any game which involves, naturally, fighting, but without guns (shooters), significant interaction with in-game characters or scenery (adventure) or improving traits (role-playing game).

Fighters generally split between scrolling fighters, whereby you progress sideways taking on multiple opponents, often utilising weapons with the aim of killing, and fixed-screen fighters, which typically involve a number of bouts against a single opponent in a relatively small arena of play (in practice, some limited scrolling was possible), the aim usually being to knock out the enemy.  Some fighters will involve such prodigious use of a particular weapon that it may be reflected in the name of the sub-genre; for example, fighters involving significant swordplay may be known as slash-em-ups.

History (all formats)

Spaceman's earliest memories centre on the scrolling fighter Target: Renegade (1988) on the Spectrum, as well as its prequel Renegade (1986) and sequel Renegade 3 (1989).  These were all originally arcade games, before being ported onto various home computers.  In Target: Renegade, your character took to the streets to take out whatever lowlife he could get his hands on, using hand-to-hand combinations (including a memorable knee-to-the-nuts opportunity, uneasily used towards female assailants) or picking up weapons (pool cues, etc).  Other classic moments that spring to mind are flinging a sneaky elbow in the direction of those approaching from behind, utilising the jump-kick to relieve motorbike riders of their transport, and shaking free of a half-nelson hold.  Two-player action was possible, greatly enhancing the fun factor.  There were five levels, with the fifth ending in a showdown with Mr Big and his henchmen.

In between Renegade and Target: Renegade was Double Dragon (1987), which was made by the same programmers.  Like Target: Renegade, was a two-player scrolling fighter.  A couple of sequels followed, which were Double Dragon 2: The Revenge (1988) and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (1990).

The scrolling fighter became increasingly common in the arcades, with serial money-grabbers such as Golden Axe (1989), X-Men (1992) and The Simpsons (1991) particularly retaining spaceman's attention.  Golden Axe was also available on the Amiga (and other home computers), with the option for free-play compensating for the weaker graphics.  These types of games typically involved injudiciously hammering the attack buttons as much possible, benefiting from the inclusion of more human players (the arcade fighters usually had the option for four-way action), whilst simultaneously shoving as many 10p's into the machine as your parents would allow.  It spawned a series of sequels.

However, before all of the above, Way Of The Exploding Fist (1985), a fixed-screen fighter in which the player takes part in a series of one-on-one karate bouts.  This appears to have borrowed heavily from Karate Champ (1984), although the first ever fighter seems to be Heavyweight Champ (1976) a black and white boxing arcade game with a set of plastic boxing gloves attached to the arcade cabinet.

Another early, fond memory is of International Karate + (1987) or IK+, which was released in 1987 on the Spectrum (and followed International Karate (1986)), later being ported to the 16-bit computers, such as the Amiga (which is the version that spaceman remembers playing.  It was a fixed-screen fighter involving three combatants, two facing one way, and the third person the other.  One or two human players could compete with the remaining berths filled by AI opponents.  Each successfully landed kick or punch was greeted with an extremely satisfying whip-crack sound, like an overactive sound effects department on a cheesy fight film.  Every two or three bouts, there was an opportunity to engage in a short side-game for bonus points, which involved either deflecting bouncing heavy balls with a thin deflector or kicking away small bombs with rapidly shortening fuses.  Progress was rewarded with changing colour of belts.

But the most successful fixed-screen fighters were the Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken series, with the former two being successful and distinct enough to lead to Hollywood films.  Spaceman admits to not having played Mortal Kombat much and this commentary will focus on the other two.

The pinnacle of the Street Fighter series was undoubtedly Street Fighter II (1991) on the SNES, although there were many sequels and variants.  The first Street Fighter (1987) did not really do the business.  The key to Street Fighter II was the array of distinct, almost cartoon-esque characters and the use of special moves, the majority of which required an agile combination of joystick moves and button presses.

The classic eight Street Fighter II characters, each of which had their own story and subsequent reason for entering the fighting competition were: Japanese and American karate fighters Ryu & Ken ("hadouken!"), US army cadet Guile ("sonic boom!"), a Chinese martial artist Chun-Li ("spinning bird kick!"), steroid-filled Russian wrestler Zhangief, radioactive Brazilian half-man half-beast Blanka, Japanese Sumo wrestler E Honda and stretchy, gravity-defying Indian yoga master Dhalsim ("yoga fire!").  After choosing your character (spaceman's favourite: Guile), you fought the other 7 characters, before progressing to take on bruising US boxer Balrog, metallic-nailed Spanish acrobat Vega and Venezuelan kick-boxer Sagat ("tiger uppercut!").  Your final match-up was the quite-frankly-tricky-but-beatable M Bison.

While the Street Fighter series focussed on special moves, the Tekken series rewarded combination moves, keeping the opponent stunned while inflicting maximum damage.  It was also pseudo-3D as players could side-step into a different two-dimensional plane.  Spaceman had Tekken 3 (1998) on the PS1 and Tekken 5 (2005) on the PS2.  Spaceman's favourite Tekken character was Marshall Law.  Later versions included a variety of sub-games, such as the scrolling fighter game [tbc] plus time-based challenges, etc, etc.

Finally, there were slash-em-ups, such as God Of War (2005), which spaceman owned on the PS2.  God Of War was an epic quest as Kratos and his Blades Of Chaos.  Subtle blade combinations were required against hordes of enemies and large end-of-level bosses.  There was a sequel, God Of War 2 (2007) on the PS2, which was very well received by critics and arguably the last great game released exclusively on the PS2

Present day (PS3)

In 2009, the Street Fighter series was resurrected and revamped with the release of Streetfighter IV (PS3: 2009), which built on the best elements of the previous versions (special moves, classic characters) by employing the vastly improved graphics engine of the next generation consoles and adding in extra layers of strategy (in particular, enabling combinations, but also through the use of focus attacks, super and ultra moves, ex-attacks).  There was also the inevitable expansion of the character set, featuring 25 in all, including hidden bosses Akuma, Gouken and the multi-talented Seth.  Time attack, survival and combination challenges, plus the ability to unlock PS3 trophies, ensure decent repeat value and an honourable addition to the timeless series.

The slash-em-up genre also harnessed the power of the new consoles with the breathtakingly beautiful Heavenly Sword (2007), which saw you assume the role of Nariko (and occasionally sidekick Kai) who, as you might guess, is rather adept with a sword.  Heavenly Sword succeeded in rising above simple button-bashing by rewarding more subtle fighting techniques.  The finalé memorably sees Nariko take on a battlefield of hundreds (if not thousands) of enemies.

These games and others are considered in more detail in The Games section.

Operation_good_guys says

Never being a mega fan of fighters it is difficult for me to mention any others from the above spaceman had mentioned. 
The Renegade series was a classic, with Target: Renegade being one I remember pretty well from a 2-player point of view.

Of course, Street Fighter II was the main (if not only) reason why I bought a SNES - sometimes cheating with the auto-fire trigger on my (secondary, non-standard) control pad for an E Honda happy-slap.  Enjoyment was also gleaned from replacing key words in the saying for Sagat's special move.