Battle of the heavyweights: SSFIIT vs UMK3 vs KI

These three games are often considered tops in these fighter franchises (some would argue Hyper SFII, MK Trilogy and KI Gold, but these came out much later) so I'm asking - which do you find best and why?

Note I'm not asking which is "objectively" the best (it's pretty clear SFII wins in the fighting system depth by a wide margin) but which you find best.

Things like likable characters, music, stages, ect. come to play in here too.

You can also put some cool matches of the game of your choice to spice the thread.

Anyway, for me, SSFIIT is best but I also enjoy UMK3 and KI.

I was more into MK once but then SFII "clicked" with me.

KI was very good for me too but there was something "missing".

MK has the most "woody" combat system but in a way that is also it's charm.

In terms of characters, backgrounds and music, I find the SFII cast best but the MK cast and music is very appealing too (more "dark" and "edgy") and KI is pretty cool in this department too.

I played them all a lot, single-player and multi-player.

If I had to order the games, it would be SSFIIT first, KI second, UMK3 third.

So which you prefer and why?

Discuss.

Personally speaking.... back then, and now i perfer Street Fighter.  Not to discredit the other games, but Street Fighter felt more original, and the depth/gameplay to back it up.  I know it's quite small, but the little details they added, like Sagat yelling out "Tiger" during his speciality moves.  How most of the characters were different, and it was a challenge learning to play as each. You had your faster characters, your stronger guys, you powerful bosses.  Well thought out game.  Also each fighter, coming from a different part of the world, created a good enough story.  Hats off to SFII, a top ten all time game in my opinion.

Mortal Kombat was a very good franchise in the 90's ( and reborn with the latest game)  More focus on combo, brutality, and fatalities, they set themselves apart from Street Fighter.  I think they wanted to position themselves as more of a tougher "cooler" game than SF, and in some respects it worked.  I thought MK2, and 3 were great, but don't stand the test of time like SF did.  I do think the most recent MK, also has to be one of the greatest fighters of all time.  But MK3 was about a 9/10, and SF was a 10/10.

Killer Insinct.... I remember this game was way hyped, and wanted it to be the best fighter... but it fell short from expectations.  Not sure what it was, but i think it tried to mesh the SF style, wtih the MK style, and it just didn't work out.  Decent fighting game.  I thought the characters could have been a bit better, music, setting, special moves...everything was decent to good, but nothing stood out as great. 

I much prefer MK2 over UMK3 and UMK3 over all of the ones listed

Of those 3, Killer Instinct.

Killer Instinct

Street Fighter. It was just better. It didn't focus on button mashing combos, the characters were all pretty unique and somewhat balanced, and the gameplay was tight. 

Mortal Kombat is kind of embarrassing to play and feels absolutely slow in comparison to SF.  KI was a fun but somewhat flawed fighter that felt like a looser version of SF with waaaay more emphasis on combos.

These three games are often considered tops in these fighter franchisesnameless12345

Personally speaking.... back then, and now i perfer Street Fighter.  Not to discredit the other games, but Street Fighter felt more original, and the depth/gameplay to back it up.  I know it's quite small, but the little details they added, like Sagat yelling out "Tiger" during his speciality moves.  How most of the characters were different, and it was a challenge learning to play as each. You had your faster characters, your stronger guys, you powerful bosses. The-Butcher248

My favorite of the choices you gave is Killer Instinct, because what other fighting game lets you be a raptor?(which is why I prefer the SNES game over KIgold) It's also extremely satisfying when you pull off an ULTRA COMBO!!!!!!!!

Killer Instinct is almost my favorite fighting game ever, but not close to Super Smash Bros. Melee.

edit: the only MK game I really played was MKII on SNES and I hated it. I couldn't beat it, even on the easiest difficulty. Maybe I just suck at it, but it seemed like the gore was all it had to offer.

[QUOTE="The-Butcher248"]

Personally speaking.... back then, and now i perfer Street Fighter.  Not to discredit the other games, but Street Fighter felt more original, and the depth/gameplay to back it up.  I know it's quite small, but the little details they added, like Sagat yelling out "Tiger" during his speciality moves.  How most of the characters were different, and it was a challenge learning to play as each. You had your faster characters, your stronger guys, you powerful bosses. Jakandsigz

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Of those three, Street Fighter II Turbo is my favorite by far. However, no Street Fighter, Killer Instinct or MK game has touched most of SNK's fighting games in my opinion, especially KOF.

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Jag85

Of those three, Street Fighter II Turbo is my favorite by far. However, no Street Fighter, Killer Instinct or MK game has touched most of SNK's fighting games in my opinion, especially KOF.

Shenmue_Jehuty

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Jakandsigz

Actually, Fatal Fury was already in direct competition with Street Fighter II even before either of them released. Why? Because FF was created by the original duo behind the first SF, Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, both of whom left for SNK. In other words, FF was a spritual successor to the original SF, while at the same time a different team at Capcom was creating SFII. Both FF and SFII had s stake as successors to the original SF.

[QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

Of those three, Street Fighter II Turbo is my favorite by far. However, no Street Fighter, Killer Instinct or MK game has touched most of SNK's fighting games in my opinion, especially KOF.

Jakandsigz

I know what you mean :/. KOF13 was incredible, however it barely got any attention compared to many other fighters got plenty (MK7, SFvsTekken, ect). I really hope tjay any SNK fighting series gets the recognition it deserves.

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Jag85

They go into "other fighters" category in this thread.

I quite liked Fatal Fury Special and the first two Samurai Shodown games but I feel SNK's fighters are a little over-rated and not quite a match for Capcom's.

But that's just my opinion.

[QUOTE="Jakandsigz"][QUOTE="Jag85"]

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Jag85

Actually, Fatal Fury was already in direct competition with Street Fighter II even before either of them released. Why? Because FF was created by the original duo behind the first SF, Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, both of whom left for SNK. In other words, FF was a spritual successor to the original SF, while at the same time a different team at Capcom was creating SFII. Both FF and SFII had s stake as successors to the original SF.

[QUOTE="Jakandsigz"][QUOTE="Shenmue_Jehuty"]

Of those three, Street Fighter II Turbo is my favorite by far. However, no Street Fighter, Killer Instinct or MK game has touched most of SNK's fighting games in my opinion, especially KOF.

Shenmue_Jehuty

I know what you mean :/. KOF13 was incredible, however it barely got any attention compared to many other fighters got plenty (MK7, SFvsTekken, ect). I really hope tjay any SNK fighting series gets the recognition it deserves.

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

nameless12345

They go into "other fighters" category in this thread.

I quite liked Fatal Fury Special and the first two Samurai Shodown games but I feel SNK's fighters are a little over-rated and not quite a match for Capcom's.

But that's just my opinion.

Or you could just replace "Undecided" (which no one voted for) with "SNK"?

While you might think SNK fighters aren't as good as Capcom fighters, there are clearly gamers who think the complete opposite. The point is that SNK fighters are pretty much the closest thing to the deep combat systems of the Capcom fighters, due to both having a shared heritage with the original Street Fighter (as I explained earlier on).

If there's any games that Capcom fighters should be compared to, it's the SNK games. The Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct games, on the other hand, almost feel like a seperate sub-genre, as the core combat system clearly isn't the main focus like they are in Capcom or SNK fighters.

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

[QUOTE="Jakandsigz"] FF was not really competing with SF. To be honest neither was KOF. Heck, FF came out before SF was even a name to be heard.Jakandsigz

Actually, Fatal Fury was already in direct competition with Street Fighter II even before either of them released. Why? Because FF was created by the original duo behind the first SF, Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, both of whom left for SNK. In other words, FF was a spritual successor to the original SF, while at the same time a different team at Capcom was creating SFII. Both FF and SFII had s stake as successors to the original SF.

While FF was being developed before SFII released, it ended up releasing some months after SFII in 1991. So, while FF clearly was not imitating SFII in any way whatsoever, the reason why they had so many similarities was because FF was intended to be a spiritual successor to the original SF. How do I know this for sure? Because Takashi Nishiyama, the creator of both FF and the original SF, more or less said the same thing:

The Man Who Created Street Fighter

1UP: Were there other big ideas that didn't quite make it into the game?

TN: There were a lot of things that didn't make it in. But I was headhunted by SNK after its release, and many members of the development team and I moved over. So we went on to make Fatal Fury, and we put in a lot of the things we couldn't in Street Fighter. So for me, Fatal Fury is my "Street Fighter II." And the actual Street Fighter II was created by someone else at Capcom after I left. So that's where the vision for Street Fighter diverged; the continuation of Street Fighter that I had in mind with Fatal Fury, and the Street Fighter II that Capcom created.

I always preferred MK3 to UMK3.  I loved playing as Kabal until UMK3 ruined him.  Also, the AI in Ultimate is the biggest joke in fighting game history. 

Shaq Fu.

Shaq Fu.

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

What about the SNK games, like Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown, Art of Fighting, or King of Fighters? Those were in direct competition with Street Fighter back in the day.

Jag85

They go into "other fighters" category in this thread.

I quite liked Fatal Fury Special and the first two Samurai Shodown games but I feel SNK's fighters are a little over-rated and not quite a match for Capcom's.

But that's just my opinion.

Or you could just replace "Undecided" (which no one voted for) with "SNK"?

While you might think SNK fighters aren't as good as Capcom fighters, there are clearly gamers who think the complete opposite. The point is that SNK fighters are pretty much the closest thing to the deep combat systems of the Capcom fighters, due to both having a shared heritage with the original Street Fighter (as I explained earlier on).

If there's any games that Capcom fighters should be compared to, it's the SNK games. The Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct games, on the other hand, almost feel like a seperate sub-genre, as the core combat system clearly isn't the main focus like they are in Capcom or SNK fighters.

I understand that.

But there also used the be a pretty big rivalry between SF and MK once so I felt like re-living some of that time.

Even tho the arguments for MK were mostly that it's "cooler" because of the blood and killings and the realistic graphics and ninjas, it was still a fun rivalry.

Almost like the SNES versus Genesis/MD rivalry.

And ironically, the original SFII (The World Warrior) was console-exclusive to SNES and the first MK was uncensored on MD/Genny.

Both games were extremely popular, more so than SNK's fighters which were mostly enjoyed by the lucky Neo-Geo owners. (who had the superior versions)

KI was that "third player" which was also popular altho a little less due to the home console version being exclusive to the SNES.

SSFIIT and UMK3 are usually considered the best versions of these sub-series (i.e. SFII and 2D MK) so I thought I'd pitted them against each other, alongside KI, which also originates from that particular era.

[QUOTE="Jakandsigz"][QUOTE="Jag85"]

Actually, Fatal Fury was already in direct competition with Street Fighter II even before either of them released. Why? Because FF was created by the original duo behind the first SF, Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, both of whom left for SNK. In other words, FF was a spritual successor to the original SF, while at the same time a different team at Capcom was creating SFII. Both FF and SFII had s stake as successors to the original SF.

Jag85

While FF was being developed before SFII released, it ended up releasing some months after SFII in 1991. So, while FF clearly was not imitating SFII in any way whatsoever, the reason why they had so many similarities was because FF was intended to be a spiritual successor to the original SF. How do I know this for sure? Because Takashi Nishiyama, the creator of both FF and the original SF, more or less said the same thing:

The Man Who Created Street Fighter

1UP: Were there other big ideas that didn't quite make it into the game?

TN: There were a lot of things that didn't make it in. But I was headhunted by SNK after its release, and many members of the development team and I moved over. So we went on to make Fatal Fury, and we put in a lot of the things we couldn't in Street Fighter. So for me, Fatal Fury is my "Street Fighter II." And the actual Street Fighter II was created by someone else at Capcom after I left. So that's where the vision for Street Fighter diverged; the continuation of Street Fighter that I had in mind with Fatal Fury, and the Street Fighter II that Capcom created.

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

They go into "other fighters" category in this thread.

I quite liked Fatal Fury Special and the first two Samurai Shodown games but I feel SNK's fighters are a little over-rated and not quite a match for Capcom's.

But that's just my opinion.

nameless12345

Or you could just replace "Undecided" (which no one voted for) with "SNK"?

While you might think SNK fighters aren't as good as Capcom fighters, there are clearly gamers who think the complete opposite. The point is that SNK fighters are pretty much the closest thing to the deep combat systems of the Capcom fighters, due to both having a shared heritage with the original Street Fighter (as I explained earlier on).

If there's any games that Capcom fighters should be compared to, it's the SNK games. The Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct games, on the other hand, almost feel like a seperate sub-genre, as the core combat system clearly isn't the main focus like they are in Capcom or SNK fighters.

I understand that.

But there also used the be a pretty big rivalry between SF and MK once so I felt like re-living some of that time.

Even tho the arguments for MK were mostly that it's "cooler" because of the blood and killings and the realistic graphics and ninjas, it was still a fun rivalry.

Almost like the SNES versus Genesis/MD rivalry.

And ironically, the original SFII (The World Warrior) was console-exclusive to SNES and the first MK was uncensored on MD/Genny.

Both games were extremely popular, more so than SNK's fighters which were mostly enjoyed by the lucky Neo-Geo owners. (who had the superior versions)

KI was that "third player" which was also popular altho a little less due to the home console version being exclusive to the SNES.

SSFIIT and UMK3 are usually considered the best versions of these sub-series (i.e. SFII and 2D MK) so I thought I'd pitted them against each other, alongside KI, which also originates from that particular era.