My all-time favorites were the Lucas Arts adventure games, real masterpieces. The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle, and Curse of Monkey Island.

I also played some adventures from Sierra OnLine (King's Quest VII, Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight 2, Larry 7) which were not as great, but good nonetheless. The Alone in the Dark series is also worth mentioning.

Apart from these, there was Sim City 2000, which was fantastic back then, and its sequel Sim City 3000. And of course Wolfenstein 3D.

Among platform games, there was Aladdin, The Lion King, Sonic CD and the original Duke Nukem. For fighting, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Mortal Kombat II, Virtua Fighter Remix, Battle Arena Toshinden, and 4D Sports Boxing. And Stunts, Screamer and Daytona USA for racing.

Sorry, I had understood otherwise. Arcade games were better, and consoles slowly closed the gap. Genesis and SNES were far less powerful, but I never played Street Fighter 2 on arcades again after I bought the SNES version (I played the Champion Edition, though). So, it did not matter to me as well, I guess, although I recognize the arcade version was better.

Even after Genesis and SNES were released, arcade machines were still better. The gap was seriously reduced, but both Genesis and SNES were inferior to the arcades at the time. Technical specifications were not on par, and the cost of ROM carts forced developers to "water down" many games. Neo Geo was the only videogame that could compete with arcades, but it was priced too high and had only SNK games, which were very expensive as well.

Back then, I preferred arcade games. They came out first, and they were far more powerful. Ports to home consoles were always lacking something in quality. And some of them never made it. I just loved to play TMNT, The Simpsons, Street Fighter II, Final Fight, Captain Commando, Mortal Kombat, Cruisin' USA, and so on.

But now I realize that some games for home consoles are really great, and have much more depth than games developed for arcades.

1970s

I was not even born at this time, and I doubt there were really any interesting fighting games out there.

1980s

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) released by Konami for the Arcades was mind-blowing and definitely my favorite fighting game of the decade (even though it was in fact a beat 'n up, and not strictly a fighting game). Final Fight (1989) was also very good, but I still prefer TMNT. I would also mention Double Dragon (1987), more for the nostalgia factor than anything else.

As for strictly fighting games, I would have to go with Street Smart (1989), from SNK, the first one that really caught my attention. For home consoles, it would have to be Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985) for NES, I spent countless hours on this one.

1990s

This is THE decade for fighting games. There are lots of great games, but I would have to go with Street Fighter II (1991) and its variations. It may not be the best, but Street Fighter II was the one that started it all, and the true really legendary game here. I played Street Fighter II for the first time in 1991, and I had never seen something like it before. That was a game changer. Among all of them, I would have to go with the definitive version, Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994) as my favorite in the whole decade. The other Capcom fighting games were also great, and I would have to mention at least the Darkstalkers (1994) series, and Marvel Super Heroes (1995).

Then there was Mortal Kombat (1992), with all its blood, and its sequel which I think it is even better, Mortal Kombat II (1993). Virtua Fighter (1993) was good, but not as good as Tekken (1994). The two best offerings from Namco would be Tekken 3 (1997) and Soul Calibur (1998), which are both really great. SNK games, although good, mostly paled in comparison to these offerings, but I think Samurai Shodown (1993) and The Last Blade (1997) series were among the best in the bunch.

2000s

I was not really into playing fighting games in this decade. I would probably have to go with Street Fighter IV (2008) and its derivatives. I know that there are great offerings from other series in this decade, and which may have been better, but I really did not play them too much.

This. I find it hard, very hard, to play most NES and Master System games. Very few remain enjoyable. Super Mario Bros. 3 is still great, and some Disney games are really fun to play (such as DuckTales and Chip N' Dale for NES, and Castle of Illusion and Lucky Dime Caper for Master System). But most of them I cannot play anymore, as they have not aged particularly well.

I bought an SNES in Christmas 1992, following the release of Street Fighter II.

Prior to that, I had a NES and a Master System, and they both paled in comparison to Sega Genesis. I used to drool over the graphics of Genesis games; Altered Beast and Golden Axe were fine, and Castle of Illusion, QuackShot, and Sonic the Hedgehog were just amazing.

But then Street Fighter II became a hit in the Arcades by the end of 1991, and everybody (including me) had to buy an SNES when it got a release in 1992. Street Fighter II, with its 16 Mb of technical perfection, seemed to suddenly have blown all Genesis library away. And more great games were being released for the SNES. TMNT 4 was a great conversion from Arcades, and I had been a great fan of the Konami TMNT games since the original in 1989 (The Hyperstone Heist for Genesis would only come out later). The SNES version was finally up to the Arcade, something which the NES could never achieve. And then Capcom released The Magical Quest by the end of 1992, and the excellent gameplay rivaled Castle of Illusion. The animations seemed to be better in Castle of Illusion, the sprites more Disney-like and the music was more recognizable, but Magical Quest made up with great use of colors, and groundbreaking backgrounds. Other great games came out, such as Hook and Batman Returns (at a time when games based on movies were good). And 1992 also saw the release of Super Mario Kart, which was incredibly fun to play.

Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992, which was better than the original and a fantastic, colorful and fun game. But I was willing to let it go. Sega also put out other interesting stuff at the time, such as Ecco the Dolphin. But the SNES, led by the all-powerful Street Fighter II, had the upper hand. As a child, I was not aware at the time, but Nintendo was giving Sega a run for its money after the release of the SNES in the U.S.

The dispute continued well into 1993. Nintendo released Starfox at the beginning of the year, and the Super FX looked promising. I expected Super FX to be released in more games, but it seldom did. And then Sega gave its own punches. For me, it became clear at Summer CES 1993 that the console wars was probably at its peak. Most major games were released for both the Genesis and the SNES. But the Genesis seemed to have the better exclusives.

Everybody knew at this point that both consoles would get a new Street Fighter II version, one which would enable playing with the bosses. The SNES got Street Fighter II Turbo in mid-1993, with 20 Mb. But the Genesis would get Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition, with 24 Mb, later the year. And people got wondered: what additional content was put in the Genesis cart to justify the additional 4 Mb? And why it was "special"? Later, it became clear to me that the Genesis version had additional animation on the backgrounds, but I am not sure if that alone would justify the extra memory.

Genesis also got Mortal Kombat with real blood, while the SNES version did not have any. And to be frank, at the time, Mortal Kombat only became a hit because of the blood. Speaking of fighting games, Genesis was the only one to get Eternal Champions, also a 24 Mb cart.

Then the Genesis got a jaw-dropping version of Aladdin by Virgin, with cartoonish animations. The SNES version by Capcom was a very good platform, with great gameplay and brilliant backgrounds, but there was simply no contest for the revolutionary Genesis game.

And Nintendo got its second Super FX game, Stunt Race FX, which looked OK but not a great improvement from Starfox. Sega showcased Virtua Racing for the Genesis, with its own chip, the SVP, which promised to blow the Super FX away.

What else did Nintendo had to offer? Not much. Super Mario All-Stars, a repackaging of old NES Mario games, was not really something brand new. Sega seemed to have won the battle.

In the following years, however, Sega seemed to have gone downhill. It probably focused on the development of 32X and Saturn, and the Genesis really seemed to have reached its peak at 1993-1994. There were more games, but hardly any exclusives. Most were also released for the SNES. Super Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat II, Lion King, Earthworm Jim, just name it.

Nintendo, on the other hand, gave the SNES an extra life while it was working on its Project Reality, which would only turn into Nintendo 64 later in 1996. The SNES got more exclusives. And then Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country, which was just basically seen as a glimpse of the 64-bit Silicon Graphics power ported to the SNES. Nothing in the 16-bit world had ever been like it. And it got two great sequels. Sega gave a few punches, especially during the peak of the wars, but Nintendo won in the long run.

As for my personal experience, well, some 25 years later, and out of the heat of the wars, I am happy that I bought an SNES instead of a Genesis. People might have complained that the SNES had a weaker processor. It might, perhaps, even though I have serious doubt whether it was really slower, as the SNES and Genesis had processors with different architectures. The SNES had more slowdowns, that is for sure. But the SNES got better graphics, better colors, and better sound. The Genesis may had a 6-button controller which was great, but used in only a few games.

And, more importantly, looking back, the SNES games were better in general. Super Mario World, the very first game, blew everything away. The gameplay was just wonderful. Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country series, they were all just great. Sonic games were good too, but they were simply not a contest to Mario World, even though it seemed so back in 1991. Sure, Genesis has Aladdin, Castle of Illusion, and Streets of Rage. But games such as Eternal Champions, Ecco the Dolphin, and Virtua Racing seemed to have aged badly. Not to mention Golden Axe and Altered Beast and (huh) Last Battle.

Time makes a difference, and it is clear to me now that Nintendo made superior games, and third party games were better on the SNES overall. Today, graphics and sounds in both SNES and Genesis are crap (even though the SNES still looks better), but gameplay makes all the difference. There are few 16-bit games that I still enjoy playing, and most of them are on the SNES.