Top 10 Platform Fighters

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.

Nintendo NX Rumors So Far (My Thoughts)

For a long time now, the Internet has gone crazy with speculation about Nintendo’s newest console, currently codenamed the NX. Nintendo decided to skip E3 2016 and has said that they will be revealing the console in September. In the meantime, so many rumors and so much speculation has been circulating that people are getting sick of it all and just want Nintendo to reveal the thing and end it all. With September now being here and the Tokyo Game Show fast approaching, it stands to reason that Nintendo will finally reveal the console soon and answer everyone’s questions, of which there are plenty.

With the NX so close to its reveal, I would like to give my opinion on all the rumors we have heard so far about the console.

The Console

According to rumors from several different people across the web, the NX is supposed to be a console/handheld hybrid, that can be carried around and played anywhere, then potentially, placed into a console dock for on-TV play at home. The controller looks like a tablet with two controller pieces on both of its sides that can snap off of the tablet and snap into each other without the tablet to form a more standard-looking controller. The tablet also has a stand that can be used with the detached controller parts for away-from-home play. The console is also rumored to utilize SD card-like cartridges, like the kind used for the DS or 3DS, instead of discs to allow for more storage and faster game loads. While Amiibo support is likely to continue for the NX, with the NFC figurines being a high-selling item for Nintendo, it is unknown if the current Virtual Console system will continue to be supported or be replaced with a new system for the new console.

The NX is said to run on an Nvidia Tegra processor, likely to be either the X1 or X2 chips. The X1, which more people seem to believe is the one chosen, would put the console ahead of the PlayStation 3 in terms of power, but not the PlayStation 4, making it graphically underpowered compared to other current consoles. It also notably puts it ahead of current smartphones, which a lot of people are taking as a sign that Nintendo is moving away from making traditional consoles to compete more against the smartphone market. On the other hand, the X2 chip, if chosen, would put the console more on par with current generation systems like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, therefore, making it easier for third-party developers to port their games to the system.

The Games

Nintendo has stated that they have fused their console and handheld game development teams together to work on the NX. This has some wondering if the NX will serve not only as a replacement for the Wii U, but the 3DS as well, which is currently a big seller for Nintendo and still has various highly anticipated games being released for it in the future. It is also unknown if the system will have backwards compatibility with Wii U games. The simultaneous release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for both Wii U and NX would imply that backwards compatibility will not be included, which would be a break from Nintendo’s more recent systems which have it present.

As for the games themselves, six games have currently been completely confirmed for the system. Those games are:

• Dragon Quest IX
• Dragon Quest X
• Just Dance 2017
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Pikmin 4
• Project Sonic 2017 (not officially named yet)

Aside from that, rumored games for the system cover a wide range. The rumors have included ports of some of the Wii U’s most successful games like Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, and Super Smash Bros. 4. They have also included sequels to highly requested series like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime, F-Zero, Kid Icarus, and again, Splatoon. There have also been mentions of revivals of classic Nintendo series, ports of AAA third-party games already announced for other platforms, updated re-releases of hit third-party games from the past few years, and many more. As far as new IPs from Nintendo or exclusive new third-party titles, no one can guess as to what those will be, so everyone is hoping for the best on that front.

My Thoughts

The past couple of console generations almost make it seem like Nintendo wants more to leave software alone and innovate in hardware, while a lot of gamers want them to leave hardware alone and innovate in software. As far as the handheld/console hybrid idea goes, I think Nintendo actually needs something like this to differentiate themselves from the other consoles, but they need to be careful with it. If done well, this concept could catch on to a lot of people and help make this console a success, but if handled poorly, Nintendo may have another Wii U situation on their hands, so they need to make sure that their marketing is on point and the console launches with, and continues to receive, good, attention grabbing games.

Most of the people that are asking for a simple, more traditional console with a standard controller, the highest-definition graphics, and a big roster of serious, mature games; most of those people, at this point, already have a PlayStation 4, an Xbox One, or a PC that doesn’t crash if you try to use much more than Microsoft Office or an Internet browser. So, if Nintendo were to make a more traditional console, there wouldn’t be much to make it stand out from the crowd and convince gamers to turn away from their current consoles and pay attention to this new one.

The only draw would be the games and Nintendo would have to have the most jaw-dropping, eye-catching, slam-dunk lineup of games to get everyone’s attention, which again, wouldn’t be easy when everyone else has their own amazing lineups. The GameCube was their last traditional console and while it sold decently, it had to compete with the original Xbox, especially after the Halo series became a big hit, and the juggernaut that was the PlayStation 2, and as a result, it felt like the third wheel of that console generation.

Can Nintendo get enough amazing games to get the kind of attention they need? Hard to say. Having the kind of console that is easy to develop for is only part of the solution. In the past, Nintendo's main concern is how their own games would look on their consoles and they haven't been the friendliest to work with for third-parties.

Speaking of the games, there isn’t much to go on with only six games revealed for the NX so far, but of those six, most of them look like things that hardcore gamers would enjoy. The rumored games all sound like great ideas, but at this point, they are only just that: rumors, hearsay, unconfirmed ideas. No one outside of Nintendo’s circle knows if these games are being produced or not, so the most anyone can do is hope for the best. Only time will tell if the rest of the lineup looks this good.

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So, what do you all think about this? Do you think the NX will be Nintendo’s next big success or their next big flop? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming.