Propelled by the success of Capcom’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter 2, fighting games emerged as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a hugely popular genre in the 1990s. With their large character sprites, detailed animations, and highly technical gameplay, they showcased what was possible on cutting-edge arcade units and a new generation of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:powerful 16-bit home consoles.
But with 8-bit technology still alive on portable devices like the Game Boy or older systems, developers had to get creative with how to make suꦕch a technically demanding genre work on compromised hard💦ware. From successful ports to inspired bootleg creations, here are some low-tech fighting games that still managed to punch above their weight.
10
Karate Champ
A simple game by modern standards, Karate Champ (from Technos Japan and distributed by Data East) nonetheless gets credit for beiꦅn♏g one of the first games to pioneer the one-on-one fighting game genre.
Extremely popular in arcades and on home co🉐mputers, and with a surprisingly deep movelist based on the inputs of two joysticks, it paved the way for the mind games and move/counter move strategies of current fighting games. It’s still enjoyed by players today and was most recently .
9
Fatal Fury Special
Sega’s Game Gear had its share of flaws, from the way it devoured batteries to its less-than-streamlined design for a portable console, and the Game Boy vastly outsold it. But it 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:still had its share of good games, including a port of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fatal Fury Special that won critica🌃l praise and served as a competent mini alternative to the popular arcade🧔 game.
Given that the most authentic home version on the Neo Geo was essentially a luxury product (the original price of a Neo Geo was over $1300 in today’s U.S. dollars), many were willing to put up with the technical limitations if it meant getting to enjoy battles between 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:SNK’s classic characters outside the arcades.
8
Street Fighter 2
Street Fighter 2 got ported everywhere in the '90s, from the SNES to the Sega Saturn to the original 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation. It was so in demand, British publisher U.S. Gold (yes, the name is confusing) even tried to cram it onto ancient hardware like the C🦩ommodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, creating muddy or monochromatic messes that barely resembled the original game.
So it was extremely impressive when Brazilia꧒n developer TecToy created such a playable port onꦚ Sega’s Master System in 1997—12 years after the system’s debut.
7
Killer Instinct
Not all fighting games made a clean transition from the arcades to the black and white, low-resolution Game Boy screen. (Street Fighter 2’s attempt is playable but feels more like a valiant effort than a legitimately good time.) So it’s su❀rprising that the handheld version of Rare’s graphically intensive arcade hit𓆉 Killer Instinct turned out so well.
While it lacks the full roster and all the moves of its arcade and SNES counterparts, the characters&ꦡrsquo; 3D models are impressively intact, and the action is fluid and true to the source material.
6
King of Fighters ’96
SNK were pros at adapting their fighting games to their own handhelds, the Neo Geo Pocket and Neo Geo Pocket Color. Some of their original pocket-sized fighters, like SNK Vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium, are 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:terrific fighting games on their own terms, handheld or not. But their earlier ports for th꧟e less powerful Game Boy still turned out well.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:King of Fighters ’96, published by Takara, is particularly successfu🌟l as an 8-bit KOF experience, with a generous ✱roster, clean presentation, and the three-on-three matches the series is known for.
5
Queen Fighter 2000
is an obscure unlicensed title from Taiwanese developer Vast Fame, who used the King of Fighters Game Boy engine﷽ to create their own bootleg games.
While not an unofficial entry in SNK’s library, the game is a riff on SNK’s 16-bit Neo Geo Pocket game Gals’ Fighters, adapted with new character sprites and a diverse roster that is larger than the game that inspired it. Despite the obvious copyright infringement, the result is weirdly one of the most robust and technically sound fighting games ever made for the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Game Boy Color.
4
Soul Falchion
Another bootleg title from Vast Fame, is a loose unlicensed mashup of the Neo Geo Pocket editions of SNK’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Samurai Shodown and The Last Blade.
As with Queen Fighter 2000, the characters and their moves are all taken from preexisting characters that Vast Fame definitely didn’t have access to, but the result is an excellent weapons-based fighter tha😼t capably ports the 16-bit handheld action of the 🗹games it’s based on to the then-aging GBC hardware.
3
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter 2 struggled in its adaptation to the original Game Boy, but Nintendo’s audiences still got a terrific handheld Street Fighter with Street Fighter Alpha on the GBC.
While the moves are simplified to accommodate a two-button console, the full roster is present, the animation is smooth, and the gameplay is fun and faithful to ♛its arc𓃲ade counterpart. GameSpot even praised it as one of the best GBC games of the year for 1998.
2
Battle Arena Toshinden
Takara’s Battle Arena Toshinden, which started as a PlaySation exclusive in 1995 before receiving numerous ports and other entries in the series, claimed to be the first fully 3D fighting game. A weapons-based fighter that plays a bit like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Soul Calibur, it was graphicall🦂y impressive for its time, but it soon couldn’t compe🎃te critically or commercially as other, better 3D fighters emerged.
Time has been kind, however, to its Game Boy port, which holds up as a superb handheld fighter to this day, with🧸🅷 great spritework, precise controls, and plenty of secrets to unlock.
1
Power Quest
Capcom’s Power Quest plays like a combination of Street Fighter, Pokemon, and Custom Robo. It has a substantial story mode with RPG elements set in a world where robot battling is all the rage, and as your character wins bouts around town, he acquires parts to fuﷺrther upgrade his robot, defeat the crooked Hyena Gang, and win the national championship.
While the roster of robot fighters is small, the ൲gameplay is extremely polished, and the game retains a cult following to this day. Competitive matches are still he💖ld at tournaments like Combo Breaker, where the game is played on the SNES using the Super Game Boy peripheral.