Known as just Smash clones by most gamers, platform fighters
are a little known sub-genre of fighting games that has been growing in recent
years, the term itself created as way to distinguish itself as a genre of
non-traditional fighting games, but still, fighting games nonetheless. The
genre’s mechanics differ from traditional fighting games by focusing on placing
the characters in stages with differing sets of platforms and sometimes special
effects or hazards for each stage, giving them unique elements that are more
than just cosmetic. Instead of health meters, the characters have damage
counters and the more damage the character has, the easier they can get knocked
around. The object of a match its to knock the opponent out of bounds of the
arena.
While most well-known for Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers
series, there are several different games in this fighting sub-genre. For this
list, we’re highlighting the best games it has to offer. Only one game per
franchise will be included on this list and only officially released titles
or open betas will be included, which means no fan-made Smash Bros. games or mods.
10. Onimusha: Blade Warriors
If you’re not familiar with this series, you’ll be forgiven
for thinking this looks like a Soul Calibur game.
Releasing in 2003, Onimusha: Blade Warriors is a 4 player
platform fighter for the PlayStation 2. A spin-off of Capcom’s strategy RPG
series Onimusha, this fighting game takes several of the series characters and
places them in a platform fighting arena. The characters have health bars
instead of damage meters like in a standard fighting game, but each stage has
its own unique layout of platforms to create a plan of attack around.
The story takes place between the second and third game in
the main series with the heroes of the series teaming up to take down the
villains, who have also teamed up. A simple story, but the gameplay does make
up for it. The game has fast paced action and the characters, both major and
minor and from different parts of the series, all have several flashy moves
reminiscent of their appearances in the main series. MegaMan.EXE and Zero from
Mega Man X even appear as unlockable guest characters.
9. Battle Stadium D.O.N.
With the “D.O.N.” in the title standing for Dragon Ball, One
Piece, and Naruto, this 2006 GameCube and PS2 game is a crossover between these
three shonen anime series. There is no real story here; this game is purely
about seeing the martial artists of Dragon Ball, the pirates of One Piece, and
the ninjas of Naruto facing off against each other. Characters and locations
from each series are integrated as opponents fight to collect orbs that you
knock out of the other characters by attacking them. Collect them all or
collect the most before time runs out and you win. Characters could even enter
a burst mode by collecting enough orbs, which increases their speed and attack
power.
However, like a lot of anime crossover games, this one was
only officially released in Japan, so unless you live there, good luck finding
a copy of this.
8. Digimon Rumble Arena 2
While the Digimon franchise is known for a very successful
anime series, its video games don’t get nearly as much attention, which would
explain how this hidden gem was passed up. Digimon Rumble Arena 2 places
several Digimon from the first four series of the anime (Adventure, Adventure
02, Tamers, and Frontier) in different stages with their own hazards, which can
be turned off if you don’t feel like bothering with them. Like Battle Stadium
D.O.N., attacking your opponent can knock orbs of energy out for you to
collect. Collecting enough of them will cause your character to digivolve to a
more powerful form and use more effective attacks.
Despite being a bit slower-paced than most games in the
genre, fans of Digimon or the platform fighter genre will definitely find
something to like here.
7. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
This game may make some people wonder what an Xbox All-Stars
game would look like.
Released for the PlayStation 3 in 2012, PlayStation
All-Stars Battle Royale was released to be direct competition to Nintendo’s
popular Super Smash Brothers series. The game is a platform fighter featuring
characters, worlds, and other elements from some of Sony’s most well-known
series including God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Infamous, Sly
Cooper, and even third-party games like Tekken, Metal Gear Rising, and
Bioshock.
It seemed like it could be a serious contender to Smash, but
some criticized it for its lack of content, lack of real cutscenes during the
game’s story mode, and the game’s meter system in matches, using opponents
K.O’d by Super Moves to score points
instead of normal health or damage meters. The game is still fun to play
despite these flaws especially if you have a bunch of other friends who are
classic Sony fans.
6. TowerFall Ascension
The first indie game on the list, TowerFall Ascension is
actually more of a platform shooter than a platform fighter. Players control
different archers that jump around a 2D maze-like battlefield trying to shoot
each other with arrows. Players have a set number of lives and arrows and
getting hit by an arrow means one life lost, which leads to characters
running, jumping, shooting, and racing to pick up arrows as they try to be the
last archer standing. The campaign mode has your character traveling across a
medieval world, going from castle to castle to free them from invading
monsters.
Matches are very fast paced and the retro art style brings
to find the difficult but fun two player games of the 8-bit era. Just watch out
for falling arrows.
5. Brawlhalla
One of the highest rated indie fighting games on the market,
Brawhalla is a free-to-play fighting game for PC and PS4. The game plays
similarly to other platform fighters with several of its mechanics, including
K.O.s by ring-outs and items falling onto the stages for characters to use.
Competitive focus is placed on 1v1 game modes with other modes added for more
casual players. The characters themselves are given themes of warriors
throughout periods of history or fiction as the world of Brawlhalla is stated
as a sort of gathering place for warriors throughout time and space to duke it
out.
The game is currently in open beta with a full release
planned for 2017, but a tournament for the game was recently held in 2016 with a
$50,000 prize pool. For a game that’s not even technically finished yet, that’s
impressive.
4. Power Stone 2
Capcom did a lot of experimenting during the Dreamcast era
and one of its results was this 3D fighter. Picking up where the first game
left off, Power Stone 2 follows several treasure hunters from different parts
of the globe searching for a powerful wish granting artifact called the Power
Stone. Only this time, the treasure hunters are all trapped within a mysterious
castle and are now trying to fight their way out as well.
Up to four players can enter a match with two players being
declared the winner. Players fight on different stages that change and move as
the battle goes on so players need to remember to move when the stage decides
to change. Several items can be picked up during the match including three
Power Stones which, when collected, change a character into their super form
and let them unleash powerful attacks.
This franchise has received very little attention after the
Dreamcast era but many fans are hopeful to see it make a return.
3. Rivals of Aether
Get ready for a wild time with these animals.
Rivals of Aether is an indie platform fighter with an
original cast of animalistic characters, created by indie developer Dan Fornace,
who previously worked on the Super Smash Brothers fan game, Super Smash Land.
Inspired by Super Smash Bros.: Melee, Rivals of Aether is a game with a focus
on complex mechanics with dodging taking the place of blocking with shields and
no items in matches. With eight characters in the game, each with their own
unique movesets, fans of the genre will feel right at home here. The game has
also managed to create a large following on Steam, with players using the game’s
forums on Steam to exchange strategies, talk about tournaments, and even share
fan art.
The game technically isn’t finished yet, with it still being
in early access and some of the game’s features, like the game’s story mode
have yet to be added in, but for the game to have gotten this far and developed
such a community around it at this point shows how strong it looks to be.
2. Jump Ultimate Stars
All those people saying to add Goku to Super Smash Brothers
may want to take a look at this game.
Released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, Jump Ultimate Stars is
a crossover platform fighter featuring several anime and manga characters that
were featured in the monthly manga magazine Shonen Jump. This means characters
appear from series like Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Yu Yu
Hakusho, and even sports titles like Slam Dunk and Eyeshield 21. The game
utilizes a system designed around manga panels to aid players during matches
with different pictures added to the panels affecting a character’s special
attacks or providing support characters to help during a match.
The game is filled with fast paced action and several
references to every series involved as well as references to manga in general.
The game hasn’t officially been localized from Japan however, so some
translation is required.
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Before revealing the number one pick, here are a few
honorable mentions.
-Duck Game – A fun indie platform shooter with several
weapons available. You’ll have a lot of fun blowing the competition away, literally.
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up – This may not have
the fastest pace, but with a couple of developers of the Smash Brothers games
at the helm, this TMNT title still makes a good addition to the genre.
-One Piece: Grand Adventure – Based on the first few arcs of
the One Piece anime, this game lets you play with several characters, places,
items, and moves from the series in quick and fun battles.
-Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers – To those that haven’t played a
Guilty Gear game before, this little known platform fighter is a good
introduction to the series and its characters.
-DreamMix TV World Fighters – A crossover of Konami, Hudson
Soft, and Takara Toys, this game is a weird but fun party game with several
characters you wouldn’t expect to see in the same game.
And one dishonorable mention…
-Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion – This could have
been something great, but poor controls, a slow and boring pace, and lack of
content (except for one surprise character) make this a big wasted opportunity.
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1. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
It was a given that a Super Smash Brothers game was going to
make the top of this list. Started by Nintendo in 1998, the Super Smash
Brothers series is the one that popularized the platform fighting genre, to a
point where a lot of people simply refer to other platform fighters as “Smash
clones”. The game has a simple premise; bring up to 4 people together to pick
from a roster of Nintendo’s all-star characters from Mario to Link to Pikachu
and many, many more, put them in a stage from one of Nintendo’s many games, and
fight it out. Players can even include items from the different involved series
to up the chaos or customize the rules to their liking.
The only question was: which Smash title to put at the top?
The original game was the one that started it all and laid
the groundwork for the other games in the series. The second game, Melee, is a preferred
pick for competitive players due to the faster pace, capability for combos, and
countless intricate mechanics (intentional or otherwise) that players can make use of to
stay ahead of their opponents. Not to mention, it had more than double the
characters of the original. The third game, Brawl, changed several mechanics
from Melee and slowed down the pace to appeal more to casual audiences, but it introduced Final Smashes
(the super moves for each character), a cinematic story mode in the Subspace
Emissary, and the inclusion of third-party characters with Sega’s Sonic the
Hedgehog and Solid Snake from Konami’s Metal Gear Solid.
In the end though, the top spot went to the fourth entry in
the series, for striking a sort of midpoint between Melee’s competitive gaming
and Brawl’s casual appeal. The fourth game, released for both the Wii U and 3DS
and known by fans as Super Smash Brothers 4, has the most characters in the
roster to date, including more third-party characters than Brawl, and downloadable
content opened the doors for even more characters to be added. The online play
introduced in Brawl was revamped and is more stable than before, allowing
players to battle each other from across the world. While some modes were
removed from the game, others were added, including 8-Player Smash, which, as
the name implies, allows eight players to fight in a match at the same time.
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What did you think about this list? What is your favorite
platform fighter? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for
coming.
