6 Best SNES Fighting Games That Still Hold Up Today

Videos by ComicBook.com

Here are six great Super Nintendo fighters that are still worth playing.

6) Saturday Night Slam Masters

Image courtesy of Capcom

Feel free to tell me Saturday Night Slam Masters doesn’t count because it’s a wrestling game and not a fighter, but just know that I will be plugging my ears and running away, so I’ll never hear you. Look, Slam Masters takes place in the Street Fighter continuity, and Final Fight‘s Mike Haggar enters the squared circle as a playable character. That’s more than good enough for me.

Plus, if you’re looking for a game that emulates the late ’80s wrestling scene with fighting game adjacent gameplay, you don’t need to look any further. It’s delightfully colorful and features physics-defying special moves. Just an all-timer fighting game that everyone should try.

5) Weaponlord

Weaponlord is one of the more intriguing games in Namco’s catalog. It’s a weapons-based fighter that features relatively choppy gameplay, but you can pull off some jaw-dropping combos once you get the hang of it. The combat is slower-paced, as you’re looking for that one big attack to turn the tide, while properly parrying your enemy’s attacks.

Unfortunately, the tough-to-master gameplay and lackluster animation meant this was a one-off game for the developer. However, a lot of what works in Weaponlord was brought to the Soulcalibur series. That makes this somewhat rough game neat to go back from a historical perspective. It might not feel as good as most of the other games on this list, but seeing Soulcalibur’s roots is a neat exercise.

4) Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct on the Super Nintendo was not supposed to be much of a thing. Originally, Midway was going to port the arcade version to the Nintendo 64, making it a major part of the console’s marketing push. However, the console was delayed, which meant that Midway converted the port to the SNES.

Thankfully, it’s still a solid game. Yes, the team had to downgrade Killer Instinct visually to fit on the 16-bit console, but the fighting action was still top-tier. Plus, that cast of characters remains one of the best we’ve seen in the fighting game space. It’s filled with tons of fun characters, including a cyborg boxer and a cloned dinosaur. It doesn’t get much more ’90s than that.

3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had several great games on the SNES, with Turtles in Time taking the top spot for most players. That said, the Super Nintendo version of Tournament Fighters is also a contender. It was kind of a surprise, given how poorly the NES and Genesis versions were received, but the developers knocked this port out of the park.

Sure, it’s basically a clone of Street Fighter 2, but so were several games at the time. The difference is that Tournament Fighters actually did a good job of copying Capcom’s homework. It also doesn’t hurt that the team dug deep into TMNT‘s long history for its roster, which means we get a few deep pulls. And don’t forget all the special moves, something that was kind of rare on the SNES.

2) Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

You could easily replace this with Mortal Kombat II, but one of those games has to be on this list. For me, Ultimate MK3 takes the top spot. You don’t want to play the original version of the fighter, as it’s missing quite a few features and a ton of characters, but the updated version brings all of that back, giving players the best version of MK3.

Again, there’s a solid case to be made for MK2 taking this spot. I wouldn’t fight you too much because both games are exceptional. That said, I prefer how over-the-top Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 gets, which is saying something given how wild this series tends to be.

1) Super Street Fighter II

Similar to Mortal Kombat 3, if you picked a different version of Street Fighter, I wouldn’t get too mad. Street Fighter II Turbo has a great turbo gimmick, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 is an excellent port. That said, I’m going with Super Street Fighter II thanks to the additions to its fight roster. Between Cammy, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, and Fei Long, there are a few greats in this cast.

Granted, the SNES port’s audio isn’t nearly up to the standard of the arcade version, but I’m willing to take that hit for the added characters. If you want to go with another version, that’s understandable. Either way, it would be a huge miss not to have some version of Street Fighter on top of this list.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!