This planet is no stranger to horrible fighting games. While we may specialize in the Saturn, there are so many subpar Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter clones out there. These games do nothing to add to the genre, but subtract from the fun factor on many fronts. Graphics may not be the biggest factor, far from it, but even that is somehow part of some of these games' downfall. We'll be covering some of the bigger titles, but also going at the games that are the largest criminals in their respective faults. This is going for games that are primarily 1 vs 1, not beat'em ups or wrestling games. The fighting games masquerading as wrestling games, however, are not off of the radar!
These are games I've played and have at least played through the Arcade Modes/Story Modes. If you got some you hate worse, it's time to fight! Get your dukes up! Let's go!
Sonic the Fighters (Gamecube)
Sometimes, when we say worst, we mean the ones with crap mechanics but the most charming characters. This charm goes over to the mistakes the game makes, sometimes, and this is one of those times. Sonic has a large cast and this game takes advantage of many of them. When you play as Amy, you get to use a hammer and when you're Knuckles, you get to use his fists! The gameplay is completely unbalanced, the attacks have no skill on show to put to use, so any thought of competition is out the window. You can play with a toddler and the toddler can literally win by button mashing because they button mashed with more vigor. This makes it a poorly executed button bashing fighting frenzy and that's got some playability, especially at parties. If you enjoy Sonic games, don't pass up a chance to play this terrible little gem.
Dragon Ball GT Final Bout (PS1)
Once again, we find ourselves covering a large franchise, and once again, the game was so terrible it's loveable. The controls in this, the attacks and the blocky graphics only make fans love it more. You see characters you love (from a divisive part of the series) and you will either love or hate how they are presented here. It really helps when a friend is making fun of you, and you get the upper hand to bash their brains. Finding out the scope of these characters they cover is an utter joy, if you find a way to button mash your way through the roster. Another guilty pleasure for your consideration.
Battle Arena Toshinden 4 (PS1)
The great thing about not caring about a story or its characters is that if they are poorly used or not treated well in later sequels, it's really not a big deal. If you attempt to keep up with this story and its gameplay through the Playstation, you'll see why this was worse than Battle Arena Toshinden URA. Just because the second game for the PS1 was better does not mean that this series went a favorable route. Characters are meaninglessly killed between games and the story basically goes nowhere. The gameplay is just as bad, if not worse than all of the other ones, which is saying a great deal. Sorry if you had any sort of investment in this series, for whatever reason.
Street Fighter (Anniversary)
Fighting Games had their start in the very late 80's, but they didn't truly hit the mainstream until this very strangely nostalgic game hit the arcades. Why this drew such a crowd is anyone's guess, but it put Capcom on the map and Street Fighter II skyrocketed them through the stratosphere. How did it start like this? This game is so limited, and its controls are heartbreaking, even if you play the updated versions. They were very adamant about keeping its clumsy charm about it. I've played the original version in the arcades, previously, but this was back decades ago. I do remember comparing it very starkly to its sequel and there was only one quarter spent as I played Ken against my brother's Ryu. Needless to say, we stuck to TURBO!
Rise of the Robots (Genesis)
I mostly played the sequel, thinking that it was the worse of the two. This was false, as the first iteration was recently attempted. Well, attempted meaning I made a feeble attempt to play and dominated the entire game by spamming one attack. One thing that really puts this below Rise 2 is that you can only play one character against generic, shapeless machines that you can knock back with a light tap. You can make a pretty good joke that the most powerful opponent is the laziest bipedal hunk of chrome metal plating of all the robot things.
Battle Monsters (Saturn)
When you play a fighting game, normally you like to actually see what you are playing. This game begs to differ. Not only does the camera have a spaz attack at a moment's notice, but the character designs and graphics are so terrible, it's hard to make out anything. You attack in the opponent's general direction and you hope that it hit something, because the detection is beyond abysmal. The candles for lifebars is charmingly dark, and there is something decently cool about the horror theme, but this was a boring and laborious experience.
Celebrity Deathmatch (PS2)
If you wanted quotes repeated over and over again, terrible controls along with gruesome graphics, you've come to the right game! Slogging through this game is like a gauntlet of what horrific images and poorly represented celebrities that you may or may not have heard of. The show was grotesque and and had stupidly funny jokes, but none of that crude charm is presented in this game. I understand that this was supposed to be fought in a ring, but did every single level need to be a ring? Yes, they differentiated them by the outer exterior, but that does not help them from feeling samey. In fact, every match is samey.
The Simpsons Wrestling (PS2)
This is a reason why your characters need some sort of mass and physicality in your game. Each and every character in this game is made of balloons. The controls don't matter because you can just jump onto someone until they are down. If you try to actually fight someone legitimately, you will find that you are juggled over and over again. Always get the faster, smaller characters because they can swing faster and it doesn't matter that they are weaker, they still do tons of damage. Fighting in a bouncing castle is fun, but this was a dismal experience. There is something fun about how loose the fighting rules are and weightless the characters are. This can be a good party game, much like some of these others. Any of them are fun to laugh at, honesty
Time Killers (Genesis)
This game will give you motion sickness with how shallow and stilted it is. The controls are stiff and the graphics do not mesh at all with the background. It's very different looking at it against playing it for yourself. Limbs randomly fall off your character, and if your arms fall off, obviously, your kicks are not your one defence. You may as well say goodbye to yourhead, because that means you can't block your opponent's headshots. It has some morbid charm, at first, but it becomes a slog very quickly. You either need to be very lucky when fighting the final guy, or you are going to be fighting him again and again. He is required to be beheaded at the end of the match, so here's hoping.
Pit-Fighter (SNES)
If you thought you could win, guess what? You're wrong! Even the most gifted and talented players at their peak would be troubled to even bother with this game. You push buttons and it is a miracle if you even make it past the first bout. All you do is pound each others faces with punches and kicks and you move onto the next fighter where you are thoroughly turned into a gray mass of dead body. This game thought it had to be hard to get more quarters, but it missd the fact that it was on the Super Nintendo! This terrible experience is topped off with horrible graphics, acres of wasted screen space, and an all around very unpleasant soundtrack.
Mortal Kombat Advance
Here is the missing link between Tyger Electronics and the Gameboy Advance. Some unknown developers LIED and told the public that they could, in fact, create a fighting game fitting for the MK title. This was supposed to be Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the GBA, but for some reason, the fighters move as if their frames were slowed to a crawl. Many special moves do not work and the entire game is nothing but a glitch. Even regular moves feel wrong and do not even present correctly half the time. The frames are so bad that it looks like you're blinking in and out of existence. Their inputs just don't react correctly, it is very hard to describe how jank the controls feel. The AI blocks continuously and even seems to go in fast motion compared to your own movement.
There are plenty more fighting games that belong on this list, but these are the games that were readily available here on Planet Virtua. Each one of them has their shortcomings that pretty much ruin them, but that doesn't mean they're without merit. Some of them were just underdeveloped, while some of them just didn't have much of a gimmick to keep it interesting. There are still some great fun to be had from these titles, especially Sonic the Fighters. They can just be mindless fighting fun, or they can be fun to laugh and poke fun at. As bad as they are, we can still play them and have a good time. Virtua Soft Spot.