Top 25

Top 25 Fighting Game Characters

Fighting games are my favourite way to unwind and let off steam.

I’ve been running a little survey on QMI’s websites about the greatest fighting game character — check it out here — and some of the feedback from readers has given me an idea: Which characters do I use the most?

That led me to think about my own list. So, the game I do play, or did play, I’ve gone over which characters I use the most. Then I broke it down to why.

Most of the fighters below come from the Tekken, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat and Darkstalkers series. I’ve stuck with characters that are specifically associated with their particular video game storyline. Unfortunately that rules out Ghost Rider from Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as Batman from DC Universe vs. Mortal Kombat as well.

So if you’re on the PSN, fighting a user named PuffinGod — probably kicking my ass no less — here are some of the characters you’ll see me using if at all relevant (Talim, J. Talbain excluded).

25. Name: Kano
Series: Mortal Kombat (Midway/Warner Bros.)
Reason: When the game was first released back in 1992 by Midway Games Kano was the first character I latched onto.
24. Name: Hitomi
Series: Dead or Alive (Tecmo Koei)
Reason: Since returning to the PS3, I find my third character of choice behind Helena and Christie has been Hitomi. It’s all about the move set, and ease of controls.
23. Name: Kilik
Series: Soul Calibur (Namco Bandai)
Reason: Before he became the Edge Master of the most recent Soul Calibur incarnation, I preferred his bo-staff wielding.
22. Name: Lili
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: The acrobatic moves are tough to string together sometimes, but once you master the moves, Lili is a fairly dynamic fighter akin the capoeira style I like with Eddy and Christie Monteiro.
21. Name: Ryu
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: The man who started it all. If someone is not used to fighting games, or the controls of Street Fighter, Ryu is the best character to start off with. Anyone who is a fighting game fan pays homage to the journeyman martial artist.
20. Name: Nina Williams
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: Bad ass. She’s obviously popular enough to have her own spin-off game, Death By Degrees, but Namco’s assassin who has sister problems, is a classic for any Tekken fan.
19. Name: Scorpion
Game: Mortal Kombat (Midway/Warner Bros.)
Reason: “Get over here” is probably the most simplest, but memorable lines from any video game franchise … that and “Hadouken”. But let’s not steal this undead ninja’s thunder shall we?
18. Name: Talim
Series: Soul Calibur
Reason: A little too anime for my liking, but with me it’s never about the animation. I preferred her tonfa act, up until the most recent Soul Calibur, where her character is absent. Speed was a major factor in using her, much like a lot of characters I lean towards.
17. Name: Eddy Gordo
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: The first capoeira maestre to hit the fighting game world, Eddy was my pick for Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament.
16. Name: Vega
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: Much like Sagat, when Super Street Fighter 2 came out, and you could play as the final four bosses — M. Bison, Sagat, Vega and Balrog — I opted for the Spanish pretty boy and Thai kick-boxer.
15. Name: Morrigan Aensland
Series: Darkstalkers (Capcom)
Reason: My lady-in-waiting to J. Talbain, she’s become a staple for me in the Marvel vs. Capcom series as well. In particular Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
14. Name: Sagat
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: Once Capcom decided to let gamers fight as the final four bosses in Street Fighter 2, I opted for the tiger-punching Muay Thai kickboxer, Sagat.
13. Name: Christie
Series: Dead or Alive (Tecmo Koei)
Reason: Really, it’s just her shequan kung fu that makes controlling the character so intriguing. Otherwise known as Snake Kung Fu the British assassin seems to pull off the antagonistic role quite well in the video game.
12. Name: Guile
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: My first mainstay before there was Street Fighter 2: Champions Edition, and you couldn’t play as the four final bosses, I opted for Guile. Sonic boom, baby. Sonic boom.
11. Name: Forest Law
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: Much like his dad, Marshall, the two share the Bruce Lee mannerisms, and Wing-chun kung fu.
10. Name: Lee Chaolan
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: Like I’ve noted throughout this list: I prefer Tekken to a lot of the other fighting game franchises. When I first picked up Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it was Christie and Lee that I used. Now that I have Marshall Law down, Lee’s taken a back seat.
9. Name: Julia Chang (a.k.a. Jaycee)
Series: Tekken
Reason: Ever since they changed Julia from her pseudo-First Nations look and diverted from her eco-activism, she’s lost that charm to me. But the unique moves had her as my number two behind Eddy Gordo back in my early Tekken days.
8. Name: Cammy
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: She was first introduced in Super Street Fighter II with three other new faces — Fei Long, T. Hawk and Dee Jay. I seem to pick the characters that have a lot of powerful kicks, and Cammy was no different.
7. Name: Sarah Bryant
Series: Virtua Fighter (Sega)
Reason: Virtua Fighter was the game that set the tone for 3D fighting games, and to be honest, I prefer 3D to the side-scrolling scrappers. My buddy Steve and I used to duke it out on his Sega Saturn and eventually Dreamcast, and I would pick Sarah as well as Wolf Hawkfield.
6. Name: J. Talbain
Game: Darkstalkers (Capcom)
Reason: One franchise that I love, and wish Capcom would bring back in a fourth installment — it hasn’t had a new release since 1997, is Darkstalkers. Being a werewolf fan, I stuck with Jon Talbain.
5. Name: Maxi
Series: Soul Calibur (Namco Bandai)
Reason: Nunchaku. Enough said. I’ve been playing Soul Calibur since its second installment and my go-to guy for it is the looks-like-an-Elvis-impersonator Maxi.
4. Name: Helena Douglas
Series: Dead or Alive (Tecmo Koei)
Reason: I’m not picky when it comes to fighting games. Most of the big series are in my collection, save for Dead or Alive, only because I own a Playstation 3, and for the longest time DOA was an XBox exclusive. When I owned Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, I used the unique style of Helena. Now with DOA 5 back on the PS3, I’ve returned to using her.
3. Name: Marshall Law
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: If I could pick one series of fighting games that I like the most, it would probably be Tekken. Though I started with Eddy Gordo, I made switches in my character cache. Christie might be the most used in the my arsenal, but Marshall Law is a close second.
2. Name: Crimson Viper
Series: Street Fighter (Capcom)
Reason: The Street Fighter series took a long time to create a fourth installment to its legendary cache. One of the new faces to the game was C. Viper who took a lot of heat for appearing too SNKish for traditional SF fans. I liked her move sets, so I converted from my usual Guile or Cammy usage to C. Viper.
1. Name: Christie Monteiro
Series: Tekken (Namco Bandai)
Reason: When I was first introduced to Tekken, it is during the third installment and I started using Eddy Gordo because the martial art of capoeira fascinates me. Then when Tekken 4 came out in 2002 I switched over to Christie.

One Comment

  1. I suggest anyone should post the info of Bruce Irvin from Tekken Tag Tournament 2 . He is the True Look-alike of Michael Jai White. His Famous movie Black Dynamite.