In the latter part of the 1990s, the fighting game genre began to decline in popularity, with specific franchises falling into difficulty. Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the excess of fighting games the "Most Appalling Trend" award of 1995.[54] Although the release of Street Fighter EX introduced 3D graphics to the series and continued the success of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha[55][56][57], the Street Fighter: The Movie arcade game was regarded as a failure. Street Fighter EX was also a commercial failure Street Fighter: The Movie used digitized images from the Street Fighter film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.[4] Capcom released Street Fighter III in 1997 which featured improved visuals and character depth, but was also unable to match the impact of Street Fighter II.[4] Despite excitement in Japan over Virtua Fighter 3 in arcades, the limited hardware capabilities of the Sega Saturn led Sega to delay a console release.[47] Sega eventually released the game for its Dreamcast console,[58] but the company became unprofitable and was forced to discontinue the console.[59] Meanwhile, SNK released several fighting games on their Neo-Geo platform, including Samurai Shodown II in 1994, Real Bout Fatal Fury in 1995, The Last Blade in 1997, and annual updates to their King of Fighters franchise.[60] Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves from 1999 was considered one of SNK's last great games,[61] and the company announced that it would close its doors in 2001.[62]
In retrospect, multiple developers attribute the decline of the fighting genre to its increasing complexity and specialization. This complexity shut out casual players, and the market for fighting games became smaller and more specialized.[63][64] Furthermore, arcades gradually became less profitable throughout the 1990s due to the increased technical power and popularity of home consoles.[16][60] Even as popularity dwindled, the fighting game genre continued to evolve; several strong 3D fighting games also emerged in the late 1990s. Namco's Tekken (released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995) proved critical to the PlayStation's early success, with its sequels also becoming some of the console's most important titles.[65] The Soul series of weapon-based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success, beginning with 1997's Soul Edge (known as Soul Blade on the original Playstation) to Soulcalibur IV in 2008.[66][67] Tecmo's Dead or Alive (released in 1996 in Japanese arcades and 1998 on the PlayStation) spawned a long running franchise, known for its fast paced control system and innovative counter attacks. The series again included titles important to the success of their respective consoles, the latest installment being Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360.[28][68][69]
Video game enthusiasts took an interest in gaming crossovers which feature characters from multiple franchises in a particular game.[70] An early example of this type of fighting game was the 1998 arcade release Marvel vs. Capcom, featuring comic book superheroes as well as Street Fighter characters.[4] In 1999, Nintendo released the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series, which allowed match-ups such as Pikachu versus Mario.[70]
In retrospect, multiple developers attribute the decline of the fighting genre to its increasing complexity and specialization. This complexity shut out casual players, and the market for fighting games became smaller and more specialized.[63][64] Furthermore, arcades gradually became less profitable throughout the 1990s due to the increased technical power and popularity of home consoles.[16][60] Even as popularity dwindled, the fighting game genre continued to evolve; several strong 3D fighting games also emerged in the late 1990s. Namco's Tekken (released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995) proved critical to the PlayStation's early success, with its sequels also becoming some of the console's most important titles.[65] The Soul series of weapon-based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success, beginning with 1997's Soul Edge (known as Soul Blade on the original Playstation) to Soulcalibur IV in 2008.[66][67] Tecmo's Dead or Alive (released in 1996 in Japanese arcades and 1998 on the PlayStation) spawned a long running franchise, known for its fast paced control system and innovative counter attacks. The series again included titles important to the success of their respective consoles, the latest installment being Dead or Alive 4 for the Xbox 360.[28][68][69]
Video game enthusiasts took an interest in gaming crossovers which feature characters from multiple franchises in a particular game.[70] An early example of this type of fighting game was the 1998 arcade release Marvel vs. Capcom, featuring comic book superheroes as well as Street Fighter characters.[4] In 1999, Nintendo released the first game in the Super Smash Bros. series, which allowed match-ups such as Pikachu versus Mario.[70]
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