TOP TEN FIGHTING GAME HOMBRES

A while ago I did my top ten fighting game femme fatales, my favorite ladies from fighting games. Now it's the guys turn. There are countless fighting game men out there (if anyone knows the exact answer it's Frank Yagami at THE FIGHTERS GENERATION. As always Mr. Yagami has the final say in all things fighting games.

I've been playing fighting games (and actually enjoying them) since my high school days. It's no secret that the reason I keep coming back to these games is because of the characters. I love their stories (what little there is in some cases) and I've built certain characters up in mind as supreme badasses of fiction. My preferences are most certainly Street Fighter, most anything from SNK, Guilty Gear, Soul Calibur, and a few odds and ends like Killer Instinct and Darkstalkers.

Here's my list of personal favorite billy badasses, heroes and villains alike...

1) Terry Bogard (first appeared in FATAL FURY on the SNES & SEGA GENESIS)

I didn't warm up to this guy immediately. My first love was Street Fighter so naturally I thought Fatal Fury Special on the Super Nintendo would be a blast. It was good but it didn't grab me like Street Fighter did. It wasn't until playing King of Fighters 2001 that I really became a fan of the series and the characters. Terry Bogard jumped up on my radar big time. But the game that cemented him as my all time favorite billy badass of fighting games was FATAL FURY: MARK OF THE WOLVES a.k.a. GAROU on the Sega Dreamcast. That version of Terry was ported over to King of Fighters 2003, another top choice fighter for me. The next great appearance of Terry well worth mentioning is CAPCOM VS SNK 2 on the PS2. I love Street Fighter but I tell you, I play that game more for the SNK characters than Capcom.

2) Fei Long (first appeared in SUPER STREET FIGHTER II on SNES/SEGA GENESIS)

Bruce Lee is truly a martial arts legend. Capcom didn't even try to hide that their character Fei Long is Bruce Lee from ENTER THE DRAGON. It is exactly this why he is one of my favorite Street Fighters. That and he has a fast and hard hitting move list. I always felt that most of the Street Fighter men were borderline caricatures of their respective fighting styles and nationalities. I love to play as them but they didn't grab like other franchises characters. Fei Long is one of the exceptions. While he is still a caricature it's a testament to how powerful a character Bruce Lee was, that even a blatant unoriginal copy is so cool and fun to play as. My favorite rendtion of him is hands down STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 for the PSOne or Dreamcast.

3) Haohmaru (first appeared in SAMURAI SHODOWN on the SNES & SEGA GENESIS)

I love samurai culture. Haohmaru is the finest example of a samurai in a fighting game. You take one look at his character design and you say to yourself, "Oh, I gotta play this." One of the most legendary samurai figures in Japanese history is MUSASHI MIYAMOTO. Haohmaru is Musashi and he is so so cool. You don't see him venture outside of the Samurai Shodown franchise too often but his two non-SS appearances are among my favorites: CAPCOM VS SNK 2 and NEO GEO BATTLE COLISEUM are fantastic renditions of the character. I hadn't the chance to play SAMURAI SHODOWN II until recent years but I must say that is without a doubt my favorite version of the character.

4) Sol Badguy (first appeared in GUILTY GEAR on the PSOne)

I have my buddy, Red, to thank for introducing the Guilty Gear franchise to our group of friends. That was nearly 15 years ago and ever since my buddies and I make it a point to play GG. There are a ton of great characters in the franchise but the one I can manipulate the best is anti-hero Sol Badguy. It's that devil may care attitude and his sheer intensity that make him so appealing. That and his move set is solid. He has a sort of steampunk anime design with a spaghetti western cowboy persona. There isn't a single part of that I don't like. Our game of choice for him and the franchise in general is GUILTY GEAR XX for the PS2. We have yet to play Guilty Gear Xrd but we are definitely going to.

5) Heishiro Mitsurugi (first appeared in SOUL EDGE a.k.a. SOUL BLADES for the PSOne)

Another classic samurai character, Mitsurugi's name literally translates to "Sword" in English. He's a lot like Haohmaru and is clearly another attempt at capturing Musashi Miyamoto in a video game. To me though he is classic chanbara actor TOSHIRO MIFUNE more than anyone else, and that is a good thing. Toshiro Mifune, just so you know, is like the Clint Eastwood of Japanese actors (yes, this man is that badass). He's got a great personality and a interesting story along with a great design. He's easily my favorite character in Soul Calibur and one of the most fun to play as. My favorite rendition of him is definitely from Soul Calibur one where you could pull off his Rising Phoenix easily. They changed that in the next game :( In SCV he plays more like he did in SC1.

6) K' (first appeared in THE KING OF FIGHTERS 99' on the PSOne)

The very first King of Fighters game I ever played was KOF 99' featuring the new hero known simply as K' or "Kay Dash" to some. I've never seen a cooler modern character than K'. From his posture to the clothes, the shades, and the move list, every single part of him bleeds cool. He's like the Fonz of fighting games (I think he even says "Ayyyy" doing one of his moves, haha). One of SNK's strengths in their franchises are frickin cool heroes to carry their games. Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Terry Bogard, all these dudes are ridiculously cool. And to have a new guy come in that is even more badass?! C'mon SNK, share some of the cool characters with the other companies, why don't ya?. In my opinion  K' never played better than he did in King of Fighters 2001 although he's pretty solid KOF 2003 too.

7) Genjuro Kibagami (first appeared in SAMURAI SHODOWN II on the Arcades and NEO GEO)

If my top ten list for female fighters was flooded with ninjas then this list's equivalent are the samurai. I couldn't decide who to put higher, Genjuro or Haohmaru. The latter won out by virtue of being the first, but Genjuro may be the most badass samurai ever to grace video games. His design is simply yet compelling. The fiery red hair reminds me of my favorite anime samurai KENSHIN HIMURA. But Genjuro has a bloody intensity that few characters possess. He exudes ferocity just by standing there. Through his story, his voice acting, his stance, his win poses, and move list you see he has a depth of character unlike any fighter. I first got to know him on the PSOne with Samurai Shodown III but his best representation would have to go to his debut game Samurai Shodown II. Seriously, get the SS Anthology and play SSII. Do it. Do it now.

8) Akuma (first appeared in SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO on the 3DO)

Street Fighter is flooded with "karate guys" just like Mortal Kombat is bursting with ninja clones. Of all of them the murderous intent of Akuma has always been the most interesting. He's Ryu & Ken's master's brother who went total demonic darkside of the force. He used to play identically to Ryu & Ken but with more moves and dealing higher damage. His original debut is the stuff of legend. He was a secret boss that came in and essentially murdered M.Bison right in front of you with one move. Like Genjuro, Akuma possesses an intensity and rage that makes him far more intriguing to me than boring old Ryu. In SF4 however they changed him up too much that he has lost something. My favorite Akuma rendition is hands down STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3.

9) Zato 1 (first appeared in GUILTY GEAR on the PSOne)

Here's where the list gets weird. Zato 1 or "Eddie" as he is known in Guilty Gear XX (his best rendition in my opinion, just getting that out of the way already) is one of the strangest characters in all fighting games (but not the strangest, that goes to Zappa). He's like a shadow manipulator or a guy with the Venom symbiote from the Spider-Man comics. He doesn't play like any fighter you know. His "shadows" can look like anything. He can turn them into massive swords, winged demons, giant drills, dragons, and more. It's just cool watching him shapeshift on screen as you destroy your opponent. I love nearly all of the Guilty Gear cast but Zato 1 is one of my mainstays.

10) Astaroth (first appeared in SOUL CALIBUR for the SEGA DREAMCAST)

I thought about this for a while. There are quite a few fighters from the Soul series that I enjoy. Nightmare & Siegfried, Kilik, Hwang, and Cervantes to name a few. But they just don't deliver a pounding like Astaroth does. Basically he was a clone of Rock that was developed further than his progenitor. He's a golem possessed by a demon that revels in killing. His spinning axe move that hooks the opponent and sends them flying through the air is hands down my favorite move of his. And my god is he deadly once he gets going. My buddy Chad has mastered this murderer and moves fluidly from one move to the other and lays the smackdown on just about anybody. I'm sure you can guess which game I feel he shines the most in: Soul Calibur 1 and SCII without a doubt. Namco usually keeps him the same from game to game without too many tweaks (unlike my precious Ivy).

Honorable mentions: With so many characters out there it is very hard to narrow it down to just 10. These guys here are my pocket aces.

Iori Yagami: Capcom Vs SNK 2 and any KOF game except 12

Kyo Kusanagi: Take your pick. He's a badass in every KOF game he's in

Hattori Hanzo: Samurai Shodown II (you didn't seriously think we'd go through all of this without a ninja represented, did you?

Ukyo Tachibana: Samurai Shodown II (yep, another samurai)

Rock Howard: Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Ky Kiske: Guilty Gear XX (this dude is basically a future samurai/knight)

Venom: Guilty Gear XX

Nightmare: Soul Calibur II

Siegfried Schtauffen: Soul Calibur V

Demitri Maximov: Darkstalkers 3

Guy: Super Street Fighter 4 or Street Fighter Alpha 3 (aww yeah! Another ninja!)

Cody: Super Street Fighter 4 or Street Fighter Alpha 3

You see? It's hard to stop at just 10!

Check out my Top Ten Fighting Femme Fatales in the link posted below

TOP TEN FIGHTING GAME FEMME FATALES 

And as always for the final word on everything fighting games you've got to check out  
THE FIGHTERS GENERATION

 FIGHT ON!