PS1/2 Fighter recommendations?

[Edmond Dantes]

I just got a new arcade stick and I want some games to break it in with.

I know that most of the time, the Saturn and Dreamcast are the systems for fighters, especially the classic 2D ones. But are there any classic 2D fighters where the PS1/PS2 versions are superior, or at least on equal standing with the Saturn/Dreamcast versions?

Thanks in advance.

[kupomogli]

I'm not hardcore into fighting games at all so don't take my opinions as such, but here are my favorite fighting games on the PSX.

Rival Schools(3d graphics, 2d plane.)
Ehrgeiz(3d fighter)
Bloody Roar 2(3d graphics, 2d/3d plane(similar to how the Tekken maps are.)
Street Fighter Alpha 3(2d fighter)

[ubersaurus]

There's a lot of PS2 fighter compilations that are superior to their PS1, Saturn and Dreamcast counterparts in arcade accuracy, honestly.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
World Heroes Anthology
Samurai Shodown Anthology
Fatal Fury Battle Archives vol. 1 and 2
Art of Fighting Anthology
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection

If you get into imports, you can also get nigh-arcade perfect collections of Vampire Darkstalkers Collection (Darkstalkers series), the Sunsoft Collection (Galaxy Fight/Waku Waku 7), KOF NESTs Collection (KOF 99-2k1), Last Blade collection, and the Savage Reign/Kizuna Encounter collection.

As far as standalone games go, KOF 98 Ultimate Match for PS2 includes the arcade version of KOF 98, and the KOF 2k2 Unlimited Match import does the same for KOF 2002 (so does the KOF 94 Rebout release, but KOF 94 has not aged well at all). Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is marginally less arcade perfect on PS2 compared to Dreamcast, but it's doubtful you'd notice any difference. As far as I know Guilty Gear X is the same on PS2 as it is on Dreamcast. Mark of the Wolves is superior on PS2 compared to Dreamcast compared to the arcade version.

What the Dreamcast and Saturn does have up on the PS1 and PS2 are Capcom Vs. SNK 1, the Marvel vs. series of fighters, CD-quality music on the Saturn KOF games (the PS2 KOF Orochi collections are different for US and Japan, and the US one gets screwed in that regard) and bonus hidden boss characters in the Saturn Galaxy Fight. Super Street Fighter II Turbo is nearly arcade perfect on Dreamcast, but there's no decent Playstation equivalent of that particular version of SF2 (Anniversary Edition pretty much has it covered, though.)

[Emuaust]

Pretty much what ubersaurus has said, the only other games I can think of off the top of me head that I had a lot of fun with:

PSX
Street Fighter EX 1 and 2 (they're fun)
Rival Schools (a must)
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (I would still recommend getting for the World Tour mode)
Tekken 3 (really, there is pretty little "3d" to these games)
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (as much hate as this gets with a group of friends its some fun)

PS2
Ubersaurus has it covered!

[Hwj_Chim]

I would go with Guilty Gear XX on the PS2 a fast fun 2D fighter.
Also check out Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 and 2, and if you can find them King of Fighters 2002/2003, King of Fighters 2000 & 2001. If you import check out a game called Melty Blood it is my favorite fighting game on the PS2:)

[G-Boobie]

I would go with Guilty Gear XX on the PS2 a fast fun 2D fighter.
Also check out Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 and 2, and if you can find them King of Fighters 2002/2003, King of Fighters 2000 & 2001. If you import check out a game called Melty Blood it is my favorite fighting game on the PS2:)

I'll second Melty Blood. The current PS2 version is subtitled "Actress Again", and its great. I wish more people played it.

[Edmond Dantes]

What about Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold (which comes in one of the SF Collections)? Is that worth getting or would I be better off with the Saturn version?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Import yourself a game called Melty Blood: Actress Again. I'm still not totally sure how the hell to play it myself, but it's a ton of fun if you're into anime. Just be prepared for a bit of a learning curve, and no, the Japanese manual doesn't really help.

[FrankSerpico]

PSX
Soul Blade
Pocket Fighter (extremely easy and masher-friendly, but the crazy special attacks and loads of obscure cameos in every background make it worthwhile if you're a Capcom fan)
Destrega-very unique and wrongly overlooked imo

[ubersaurus]

What about Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold (which comes in one of the SF Collections)? Is that worth getting or would I be better off with the Saturn version?

Alpha 2 gold is on the PS2 Alpha collection, and is a decidedly better version than either the PS1 or Saturn ports.

Actually Pocket Fighter is also on the PS2 Alpha collection, as well.

[WesternNYCollector]

I thought about asking something like this myself, except more of a "fighters for people who don't know anything about fighters" type thing. I played the crap out of Soul Calibur II on the GC and a little bit of Smash Bros back in the day but that's about it. I saw a copy of Guilty Gear X2 for fairly cheap but back when it came out I was told it was a pretty difficult game.

[Edmond Dantes]

Basically, as I understand it:

If there's a Collection/Anthology/Battle Archives/Greatest Hits/whatever release on the PS2, that's the best version of whatever games are included in it.

Does this hold true for the Mortal Kombat series on the Midway collections too?

Also, what exactly is different between Super Street Fighter II Turbo on the Dreamcast versus the version on Capcom Classics Collection?

[GameNinja]

I would go with Guilty Gear XX on the PS2 a fast fun 2D fighter.
Also check out Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1 and 2, and if you can find them King of Fighters 2002/2003, King of Fighters 2000 & 2001. If you import check out a game called Melty Blood it is my favorite fighting game on the PS2:)

Yes, I really enjoyed the hell out of GG XX, easily my favorite PS2 fighter. The characters are so....awesome?

[Tony Lama]

Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 is decent. The Dreamcast version is the closest to the arcade (and is used in tournaments), but the PS2 version is uncommon and is a great collector's item.

Arcana Heart is an obscure "girl fighter" released by Atlus for PS2. It's not bad. Not the greatest, but a surprising domestic release that's worth tracking down.

[G-Boobie]

Basically, as I understand it:

If there's a Collection/Anthology/Battle Archives/Greatest Hits/whatever release on the PS2, that's the best version of whatever games are included in it.

Does this hold true for the Mortal Kombat series on the Midway collections too?

Also, what exactly is different between Super Street Fighter II Turbo on the Dreamcast versus the version on Capcom Classics Collection?

The dreamcast version, as I understand it, sucks. It runs faster, and some set UPS and combos are different than the arcade board. This only matters if you care about the game being arcade perfect. If that is something you care about, the Capcom Classics Collection is better but still not quite there. I can't speak to the MK games on PS2.

The general consensus is that the PS2 ports of most fighting games are "good enough". Same thing with Dreamcast. They're not perfect, but you can work with them. Again, this only matters if you care about the games being arcade perfect, and THAT only matters because the competitive scene uses the arcade version of some games as a standard. Less so with current gen releases.

[Damaramu]

Capcom Vs. SNK 2 is marginally less arcade perfect on PS2 compared to Dreamcast, but it's doubtful you'd notice any difference.

Can you elaborate on this? What differences are there?

[ubersaurus]

The dreamcast version, as I understand it, sucks. It runs faster, and some set UPS and combos are different than the arcade board. This only matters if you care about the game being arcade perfect. If that is something you care about, the Capcom Classics Collection is better but still not quite there. I can't speak to the MK games on PS2.

The general consensus is that the PS2 ports of most fighting games are "good enough". Same thing with Dreamcast. They're not perfect, but you can work with them. Again, this only matters if you care about the games being arcade perfect, and THAT only matters because the competitive scene uses the arcade version of some games as a standard. Less so with current gen releases.

You have it kind of backwards. There was some hardcore testing over at Shoryuken about the Dreamcast vs Arcade ST years ago, and the end result was that although the DC version was slightly faster, it was still pretty damn close to the arcade version in all other respects if you tweak the DIP settings. Whereas the version on the Capcom Collection for PS2 runs really strange, going from too fast to WAY too fast seemingly at random. It's not a good version.

As far as CvS2 goes, if memory serves the PS2 version runs at a marginally different speed than the DC/arcade version, but it's really minor.

[G-Boobie]

You have it kind of backwards. There was some hardcore testing over at Shoryuken about the Dreamcast vs Arcade ST years ago, and the end result was that although the DC version was slightly faster, it was still pretty damn close to the arcade version in all other respects if you tweak the DIP settings. Whereas the version on the Capcom Collection for PS2 runs really strange, going from too fast to WAY too fast seemingly at random. It's not a good version.


You have it kind of backwards. There was some hardcore testing over at Shoryuken about the Dreamcast vs Arcade ST years ago, and the end result was that although the DC version was slightly faster, it was still pretty damn close to the arcade version in all other respects if you tweak the DIP settings. Whereas the version on the Capcom Collection for PS2 runs really strange, going from too fast to WAY too fast seemingly at random. It's not a good version.


Really? Ok. For some reason I thought the DC version of ST was the one with charge moves that sometimes fail to come out, and without Bisons touch of death combos, among other things. Is that the Capcom Classics version? Or am I thinking of a PS1 port or something?

[Nirvana]

Tekken 3 is super fun. But everyone knows I am a Capcom fanboy, so I'm definitely going to suggest the Alpha collection, even if its just for Alpha 3 itself. I love that game.

[Edmond Dantes]

So all the times I got my ass kicked by Zangief, I could blame it on a crappy emulation?

Ugh. and the whole reason I bought the Capcom collections was for SFII too. Maybe I should just get an adapter for my stick and just invest in a Supergun and some arcade boards instead.

[ubersaurus]

Really? Ok. For some reason I thought the DC version of ST was the one with charge moves that sometimes fail to come out, and without Bisons touch of death combos, among other things. Is that the Capcom Classics version? Or am I thinking of a PS1 port or something?

If I remember right the wonky speed on the PS2 collection is a pretty big issue with getting some combos to work. I believe there's a couple combos that don't work on the Dreamcast (notably some Machine Gun Upper ones with Dee Jay) but for the most part it's the only way to go on console. It's why they reused it for HD Remix's classic mode!

Regarding the Capcom collection that has the first three SF2 games on PS1 (I think they just reused it for the PS2 volume 1 collection) I've never noticed anything weird about it. But then, I've never really sat down and tried to see what inaccuracies are out there.

[G-Boobie]

If I remember right the wonky speed on the PS2 collection is a pretty big issue with getting some combos to work. I believe there's a couple combos that don't work on the Dreamcast (notably some Machine Gun Upper ones with Dee Jay) but for the most part it's the only way to go on console. It's why they reused it for HD Remix's classic mode!

Regarding the Capcom collection that has the first three SF2 games on PS1 (I think they just reused it for the PS2 volume 1 collection) I've never noticed anything weird about it. But then, I've never really sat down and tried to see what inaccuracies are out there.

Ok, thanks man! I appreciate the info, and sorry about the confusion, OP.