The 16-bit era brought us many things. One of these was the fighting genre. Sure, these games existed prior to this era. They weren’t pretty though, nor did they play particularly well. It was Street Fighter II that created the basic foundation for the genre. For a time the only place to play it on home console was the Super Nintendo. At this point fighters started popping up everywhere, and from a variety of different sources. Most of these originated in the arcades, and the Super Nintendo saw the lions share of ports. Despite the genre being in its infancy the console managed to amass a decent library of now classic fighting games. Today we’re going to be talking about them. This is our list of the Top 15 Best SNES Fighters of All Time!
#15. – Fighter’s History
We’re kicking off this list with one of the most blatant Street Fighter II clones of all time. On the plus side I can’t think of a better game to follow the blueprint on. Fighter’s History uses the classic six button set up. You have light, medium and heavy punches/kicks all designated to a different input. The characters are blatant rip-offs of Ryu, Zangief, Chun-Li, and basically the entire cast of SFII. The same goes for the special moves with the same sweeps to fire off projectile attacks. It’s a similar story with the other skills. Let’s face it. Fighter’s History is derivative with a capital D. The only unique feature here is that if you hit an enemy’s weak point you can stun them temporarily. At least it’s something. If you love Street Fighter II then you’ll like Fighter’s History. It’s just disappointing that it is so basic.
#14. – Power Instinct
If I’m being honest this one is a little derivative too. Power Instinct is a very traditional fighting game but with an anime spin and some light humor thrown in. You wouldn’t guess it from that awful cover though. Regardless the game has nine playable characters, and surprise, they’re pretty much temu versions of the Street Fighter II crew. You’ll see this a lot in this list, and with Super Nintendo fighting games in general. That’s okay because they chose the perfect game to copy. Power Instinct plays pretty well for a second rate copycat. The action is smooth, and the gameplay familiar. I was up and running within minutes, and able to perform decent combos. The fighting engine isn’t particularly deep, and the roster is a bit limited. Regardless, Power Instinct is a decent time.
#13. – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition
In the 90s Power Rangers was everywhere. Even in video games. The show wasn’t particularly deep which makes it a perfect fit for the fighting genre. Rather than having the rangers duking it out hand to hand the developers decided to give us what we really wanted; the zords. These giant robots duking it out against the monster of the week was the absolute highlight of the show. Here that’s pretty much all you can play as. You won’t see me complaining though. The fighting engine is a little clunkier than in most fighting games. Come on, you’re playing as giant robots. It’s not hard to see why. I particularly liked the different handling between the zords, and though the character roster is small, it serves the premise well enough. My only complaint is that the original Megazord isn’t an option. I mean, really?
#12. – Samurai Shodown
Neo Geo ports typically didn’t fare well on the Super Nintendo. Let’s not sugarcoat it; they were often hot garbage. Samurai Shodown escapes this trap. This one feels like you’re not sacrificing too much with choosing this conversion over the original. Mostly it’s just not as pretty. On the plus side there’s samurai. As one of the early weapons this game really mixed things up. Because characters have vastly different reach distance from the enemy plays a huge role here. Of course you have your classic projectile attacks as well, and these are also quite useful. I really like the destructible elements in the environment. It adds a fantastic touch to the game. The biggest downside in this version is the lack of a zooming camera. I was never that big on it so it’s barely even an issue for me. Samurai Shodown on the SNES is a passable port.
#11. – Fatal Fury Special
Again with the Neo Geo ports. SNK were huge on the fighting game circuit so it’s unavoidable. While the first Fatal Fury was a travesty on the SNES developer Takara made up for it with this iteration. Special was a celebration of the first two games in the franchise. It included nearly all of the previous characters, special moves, and stages. Add to that a new emphasis on combination attacks, rebalancing, and faster gameplay and you have something really special. Pun intended. The Super Nintendo version is downgraded in some pretty obvious ways. It’s missing several frames of animation, the controls are stricter for special moves, and the bonus stages were cut. It’s still a good fighting game, and one of the best on the SNES. My biggest complaint here is that the music is pretty bad. It sounds hollow and tinny.
#10. – Super Chinese Fighter
Super Chinese was an RPG series created by Culture Brain, and most of these titles never left Japan. In North America we know them as either Little Ninja Brothers, or Ninja Boy. Regardless, the developer decided to try their hand at a fighter. The results, while derivative, are pretty good. Super Chinese Fighter includes various characters and enemies from the series in its roster. It pays really good homage to the franchise. Gameplay wise it’s pretty similar to Street Fighter II, only clunky and with choppier animation. What’s interesting is that in single player mode you must obtain scrolls to unlock your character’s special moves. It’s a neat concept, but kind of limiting. If I’m being honest this one is more for fans of the franchise than general fighting game enthusiasts. I had a lot of fun with it, but I can see how others wouldn’t really care.
#9. – Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
I’m not the biggest fan of Mortal Kombat 3. Nearly all of the changes made in that iteration were questionable. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 though? That’s a whole other ball game. Sure, things like the run command are hilariously bad, the MK3 characters are questionable at best, and the urban setting was a poor departure. What makes this version of the game so good is the roster. Midway brought back the ninja characters (which never should have been removed in the first place), threw in new finishing moves in the form of brutalities, and introduced brought several new (and old) characters into the mix. The end result was what Mortal Kombat 3 should have been in the first place. Unfortunately this one went up against the vastly superior (and more content rich) Mortal Kombat Trilogy, but if the SNES was all you had this wasn’t a bad choice.
#8. – Killer Instinct
Some consider this to be a poor man’s version of Mortal Kombat. Those people are wrong. Killer Instinct was developed by Rareware (of Donkey Kong Country fame) and brought enough new things to the table to make it interesting. First of all let’s talk about the graphics. The digitized graphics look great even today. Back then they were jaw dropping. The characters are also really interesting and unique. Who could forget the likes of Chief Thunder, Spinal, Glacius, and Cinder. The real highlight however is the combo system. It was over the top in the best way possible. You could unleash insane combination attacks that were made all the more great by the overly enthusiastic announcer. With some practice you could absolutely decimate opponents before they even have a chance to strike back. It might not be as deep as Street Fighter II, but Killer Instinct is still worth playing.
#7. – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
The TMNT beat em up games were great. No notes. On my money Tournament Fighters was even better. Let’s face it. The series is better suited for a fighting game. It even has the word ‘ninja’ in the title. With this release Konami made what many consider to be the best Street Fighter II clone of the era. It mirrors Capcom’s mechanics beautifully, and with enough flare to make you forget it’s derivative. Tournament Fighters is all about recovery frames, combo attacks, as well as spatial awareness. The special moves are pretty similar, as well as their inputs. I really love the graphics and music in this one. It’s very bright, colorful, and pays perfect homage to the animated series. The soundtrack also rocks with some amazing high energy synth work. There’s even some impressive voice samples used as well. This is definitely one of the best SNES fighters.
#6. – Super Street Fighter II
Who remembers the days when Capcom released so many new iterations of this franchise but refused to call it Street Fighter III? For all intents and purposes this was a sequel. Super Street Fighter II was the first graphical upgrade in the series, and brought back the amazing roster from the Turbo edition. Capcom even took things a step further by introducing four new characters to the mix. Among them I especially loved Cammy and T. Hawk. Some of the original fighters were even given new special moves which was awesome. Gameplay also featured some changes. There’s a new scoring mechanic (used primarily to highlight combo attacks), and the engine was re-balanced. At its heart this is still Street Fighter II, but ‘super.’ While I do love this iteration I prefer its predecessors which felt more well rounded and concise. Super Street Fighter II is still great though.
#5. – Gundam Wing: Endless Duel
This is the last import game on this list. I promise. Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is directly based on the anime series. I’m personally unfamiliar with it, but that didn’t matter because I had a great time with this one. Instead of hand to hand combat you duke it out with gigantic mecha robots piloted by various anime characters. Because of this I expected gameplay to be clunky here. It isn’t. The fighting engine is surprisingly solid. Characters move quickly, and you can pretty easily unleash crazy combo attacks. Special moves are the highlight here for me. I loved all of the graphically impressive effects with them. Sure, they’re performed with all the traditional sweeps and button presses, but they are an absolute treat to watch. There are some unique mechanics here such as double jumps, rushing attacks, and more. Few other fighting games feel as rewarding to learn.
#4. – Mortal Kombat II
I think we can all admit by now that the first Mortal Kombat game was not good. At the time I had little hope a sequel would fare any better. I was in for the surprise of a lifetime. Mortal Kombat II is the real deal. If it wasn’t for Trilogy (which contains all of the content from this game) then this would still be the best game in the series. Mortal Kombat II expanded the roster thoughtfully by introducing some of the most interesting characters in the franchise. The female ninjas fit the universe perfectly, and Baraka was the kind of thing nightmares are made of. Even Jax, a generic fighter whose only standout trait is metallic arms was really cool at the time. It also brought back all of the best guys from the first outing complete with new special moves and fatalities. The atmosphere was just perfect.
#3. – Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
And here we have it. The big cheese. Street Fighter II changed the entire genre with its release. It modernized fighting games. What’s more is that it still holds up remarkably well. The character roster, with combatants from all over the world, was just about perfect. Well, except for the fact that Ken and Ryu are basically the same. We can look past that one. Everything from the accidental combo system, to the special moves, throws, and more just works. It’s darn near flawless. I even love the pace of gameplay here. While slow to some I think it works quite well giving players enough time to react and plan. What’s more is that you can begin other inputs for special moves during recovery frames. Street Fighter II is still an exceptional spectacle to this day. Oh, and there’s Guile’s theme to consider as well. Amazing.
#2. – Street Fighter Alpha 2
This here is basically the impossible port. The Street Fighter Alpha series was designed for next gen hardware. The fact that they got it running on the Super Nintendo is beyond impressive, and you know what? It plays pretty well too. This game improved upon the foundation in some really neat ways. Everything from the re-worked combo system to the super moves fit the series very well. It also features an impressive 18 characters which was pretty insane for a 16-bit title. Of course some things were lost in the regression to the SNES. The characters don’t animate nearly as fluidly. They’re missing a ton of frames of animation. What’s more is that the game suffers from loading times. This was downright uncommon for cartridge based titles at the time. The music too doesn’t sound nearly as good. Regardless, the SNES version is still surprisingly playable and fun.
#1. – Street Fighter II: Turbo
Sick of hearing about Street Fighter yet? Well we aren’t done. Street Fighter II: Turbo isn’t a sequel. Instead it served as an enhanced version of the original release. Turbo’s main claim to fame was that it was faster, and indeed it was. You could toggle how rapidly you wanted the game to move and play. Personally I like the slower setting, but fast is frantic and still fun. Turbo included the original roster of eight characters and these remain virtually unchanged. The best part of the game however is that four bosses are now playable. Even M. Bison who appears as the final boss. It took an almost perfect game and kicked just about everything up a notch. My only complaint is that the graphics and music weren’t updated. Despite this Street Fighter II: Turbo is easily the best SNES fighting game of all time.
