What the first fighting game to use "modern" combos was
What was the first fighting game to use modern combos? By "modern", I mean the usual, high-speed, multiple-hit (10+), combos that appear in fighting games (the ones you see in games like Marvel vs. Capcom/King of Fighters XIII). So what was the first fighting game to give us modern, high-speed, multiple-hit (10+), combos (I know it's definitely not Street Fighter II)?
You talking overall or 2D or 3D games? I'd think something like Tekken or Virtua Fighter with its button mashing style game play would fall into that, but with 2D street fighter style probably killer instinct or MK3 with that run button and hyper play it had.
Actually I think it was Street Fighter II, technically, but it was more of an unintended glitch.Originally Posted by NPham2005
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
So many fighters came out in such rapid succession... I know Killer Instinct and Clay Fighter TE both had 10+ hit combos, as did Street Fighter II Turbo if you were amazing at it (I was only okay). King of Fighters '94 had the potential, and so did Fatal Fury 3. Everything was building on the foundation of those two in one cancels from Street Fighter II, though.
I know Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 1994 had super combos, so it would have to be a game that came out before that since you said it's not Street Fighter II. It's not Killer Instinct because Killer Instinct came out after Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
Hrmm I think I was going down the wrong trail with that last post.
If we're just taking combos, technically it would be either SF2 or Mortal Kombat. SF2 as he said was kind of not intended but it was coded in there and people figured it out. MK1 was out a summer later in 1992, and that does intentionally have combos to let loose some devastating attacks if the first impact isn't blocked. Sub Zero for instance you could come in with a hard flying kick or if you were on the ground a strong high kick to the face to put someone on their ass. You'd follow that up dailing these moves in as the last is starting to animated -- jump kick to face, hold back/down to spin trip, come up into an ice ball, then press down and do an upper cut hard which removes around 50% of the life bar. Liu Kang had some 2 hit combos that were quite fast usually some kind of setup hit instantly as it goes dialing in that jet kick or fireball depending on the situation to lay someone out then chain something after that from there.
I suck hard at it now forgetting it all basically, but I used to school the crap out of people when it came out at the arcade as I'd trade off between SF2 and MK1 and I'd keep well versed later in the evening at home using the home versions(snes) on max difficulty using the snes advantage joystick.
I found this, which points to a Renegade and Double Dragon from 1987, years before SF2 or MK. Sounds right to me.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combo_%28video_gaming%29
When we're talking 'modern' combos, I assume we're talking about a game design to have combos as a core mechanic. In SFII it was unintentional, that's not part of the games design. Just an exploit.
The real question is probably the first game to display the number of your combo (or 'hit') string on screen.
New Comics for the Week of 10-03-12
Those are also beat em ups not fighting games
That article states that "The first game to count the hits of each combo, and reward the player for performing them, was Super Street Fighter II."
So as for fighting games, Super Street Fighter II was the first to implement the modern combo system.
Well, I just did some research, and I found that modern, high-speed, multiple-hit (10+) combos first appeared in 1994. The first three fighting games to have these types of combos were Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors (June 30, 1994), Killer Instinct (October 28, 1994), and X-Men: Children of the Atom (December 12(?), 1994). So, that would make Darkstalkers the first game to have such combos, thus in a way, cementing the template for modern fighting games once and for all.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo came out February 23, 1994. It had had high speed and multiple 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 hit combos. Combos performed were listed on the screen.
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo combo video
https://youtu.be/ft6lcEsyb9c
Last edited by buzz_n64; 05-03-2015 at 12:35 PM.
From what I've seen of the regular gameplay videos (as opposed to combo videos like the one you just linked to) of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the combos in that video are rare. I could be wrong though. But the truth is, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is an update to the original Street Fighter 2, not an actual game. Same goes for the Special Editions of the original Star Wars trilogy of movies: they are not different movies, but updates to the original. In order to be considered an entirely different game, it has to be made entirely from scratch.
Anyway, it seems combos in Darkstalkers are usually not as long as I originally thought. So apparently, it was Killer Instinct that made high-speed, multiple-hit (10+) combos the norm.
Okay man, whatever fits your additional required criteria.
Rare my ass. I never was excellent at that game, I was decent but for some reason that damned Hawk always tripped me up. Anyway I figured out the combo system on it too and I wasn't even really trying as I kept trying to play SF2 style with that one more or less. It's not rocket science, so stop being all tight arsed about it, it's a legit combo system, and if they're right on the dates, it appears to clearly be the first. Just accept it, or quietly not and go look elsewhere for an answer because if this group can agree on that, you're not going to probably get more help sticking your fingers in your ears and barking I can't hear you.
For specifically 10+ hit combos the first game I can think of is Killer Instinct.
In regular SSF2, you could use Deejay to get a quick multiple-hit combo with his machine gun upper, but other than that, combos in that game were usually the boring three-hitters. Quick, multi-hit combos were first introduced in the 1992 game Art of Fighting as desperation moves (moves that could only be used if a character's energy was 25% or less): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLY5ybA4_2E
Killer Instinct, however, was the first game to enable players to pull off quick, multi-hit combos at any time.
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