20 Criminally Overlooked Arcade Fighting Games From the 90s

In 1991 there was a turning point in the arcade scene. Street Fighter II was introduced to the world, focusing all the attention on the arcades and determining the future of the console war. It also, of course, set the trend for fighting games to be released.
Somewhat similar to the effect Doom had on the first-person shooter genre, Street Fighter 2 was followed, cloned and cross-dressed by a number of games from rival companies seeking to replicate Capcom's unprecedented success. Some developers knew how to find their place in the history of video games, for example Midway with its Mortal Kombat, but most failed at mere copying.
But there are also exceptions, companies that brought to the fighting genre a series of innovative and original ideas that would set new trends and revitalize the genre. Good fighting games that unfortunately have been relegated to oblivion over the years.
The titles on this list are just a few of the forgotten games that would be spawned from Capcom's fighting masterpiece. They showcase many different styles and sub-genres of the 2D fighter, while also showcasing different art styles, controls, and techniques within the genre. It's highly likely that fighting fans will find at least one title on this list worth checking out, and though this list is forty titles long, it is by no means definitive.
In some cases other titles have been referenced, or series mentioned; these are also worth exploring for the fighter fan who wants to find something new to play, or those just interested in what the genre has to offer. And there are many quality games beyond that.
Intro and Outro Music
Aries Beats "Synthwave Dreams 2020" is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: free-songs.de/synthwave-2020/
Games Featured
0:00 Intro
0:13 1993 Monster Maulers
0:49 1994 Kaiser Knuckle
1:58 1994 Aggressors of Dark Kombat
2:44 1995 Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
3:20 1995 Dragoon Might
4:06 1995 Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors
4:47 1995 Metamoqester
5:34 1995 Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty
6:05 1996 Waku Waku 7
7:03 1996 Touki Denshou: Angel Eyes
8:17 1996 Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
9:10 1996 Ninja Master's: Haou Ninpou-ko
9:59 1996 Red Earth
11:17 1997 Rabbit
11:57 1997 Groove on Fight: Gouketsuji Ichizoku 3
12:28 1997 The Last Blade
13:02 1998 The Killing Blade
14:09 1998 Asura Blade: Sword of Dynasty
14:59 1998 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future
15:45 1999 Martial Masters
16:39 Outro
⚠️ All gameplay recording, game curation and opinions included in this video, as well as editing is completely done by me
Bits & Beats creates videos about the history of video games. In this channel you'll find comparisons, retrospectives, technical analysis, but, mostly, game curations with the idea of having an important task of preserving video games, and make them relevant to society at large.
Curation isn't just about digging up neat games, but it's also about preservation, interpretation, and using one's knowledge to make it relevant to people. With my videos I want older gamers to look back and remember the influence of video games on their lives, and new gamers to understand the larger context of the series they're playing for the first time today.
I put significant time and creative effort into each one of my videos, including research, digging into archives, playing video games and recording hours of footage, selecting specific clips, writing reviews for each title, and making a very careful video editing in the way to transmit both educational and entertaining values to my audience. Every video takes a lot of hours to produce, because I strive to give my audience a consistent, high-quality content.
Fidelity and preservation of the video games is essential in Bits & Beats, so the recordings are made with the highest bitrate quality. It is done this way to preserve original game look and sound through modern footage, with no superfluous additions. I recommend you watch the video at 4K and 60 frames per second to get the best possible viewing experience.
I hope you enjoy my videos and find them useful!
#BITSANDBEATS #arcade #fightinggames

[@BitsBeats]

If you liked the video and are looking forward to more fantastic arcade games, here's *18 Licensed Arcade Games Based on 80s and 90s Movie Blockbusters* 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXrOZ4mkd8xrnpI

[@puubd3370]

Do you remember which 90's arcade had a female fighter whose move was called/named BUTT BOOST!! I never forgot that as a kid. i would just BUTT BOOST my way to a 'healthy mind and body.' (

[@hairy_cornflake]

There are so many little gems in the SNK fighting games, outside of their most well known ones (King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown or Fatal Fury).

[@zuhaibuddin]

yes...but i feel none of them are really that good except kizuna encounter....there was another one called double dragon....and it was a reallslid fighting game...

[@Aminoriko]

The last blade 2

[@saiko_oro]

@@zuhaibuddin That's not true

[@michaelliimatta5463]

Wish they would appear in kof. If not as characters, then at least as costumes.

[@lilwyvern4]

Martial Masters has some incredible-looking animation! That is some smooooooth spritework. Most of these games I've at least passingly heard of, but a few of them are so obscure that even Saltybet's lacking them in their roster.

[@TheHumanPurpleTape]

Too true. I remember the first time I played it... I picked Crane purely because her idle was so gorgeously animated.

[@eddymadison9655]

The sprites kinda remind me of Street Fighter Alpha or Darkstalkers

[@3Rayfire]

@@eddymadison9655 Looks more like Street Fighter III honestly.

[@tomiarndt1708]

@@3Rayfire a total copy I would say, look at the sprites on the hitbox and the specials showed on this video

[@paxhumana2015]

@@gabeiana speaking of things that are rigid and unresponsive, i think that your case of erectile dysfunction might qualify as such.

[@jjenk911]

Cyberbots and Red Earth can be found in Capcom's Fighting Game Collection. Unfortunately you can't fight as the Akuma mech in that one :(

[@captainkg5910]

Aye, that one was a PSX exclusive. :P

[@3Rayfire]

@@captainkg5910 Considering all the hub bub between Microsoft and Sony around the Activision purchase, it's hilarious that Sony exclusives are still biting us in the tail.

[@HellTantrumbull]

@@captainkg5910 The Akuma Mech is playable in the sega saturn version too.

[@davidcbeaudoin]

I haven't heard of a lot of these games, but I think the one that impresses me the most is Martial Masters. The animation is super smooth.

[@RogerioPereiradaSilva77]

The Last Blade 1 & 2 are *criminally* underrated!! These are probably the most beautiful games ever produced by SNK! The attention to detail was everywhere: in the incredibly detailed character sprites to the never-static backgrounds to the fantastic cinematic intros... SNK squeezed every pixel that they could out of their at-the-time rapidly losing steam custom MVS/AES hardware to produce those masterpieces. Last Blade was capable of gorgeous graphics that were thought impossible outside of Capcom's CPS3 hardware that came much later and it was a worthy sucessor to Samurai Shodown indeed. Too bad that by the time that they came out, SNK was already struggling financially and thus couldn't give the franchise the push it needed...

[@zuhaibuddin]

yes...but they were overshadowed by the samurai shodown series....and i have to admit samurai shodown does everything that last blade did a little bit better....but last blade did introduce a more combo heavy version of samurai shodown....

[@TheHailstorm77]

Yeah it also had a knock of Jet li and also Martial Masters. Last Blade was released too bad towards the end of arcade era when PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 came out and started to catch up with near arcade perfect games.

[@robertmanes9333]

You heard about the Garou sequel that is in production?

[@shishioh]

@@zuhaibuddin Honestly, I feel like Samsho 6 was the successor to Last Blade.

[@ShadowSumac]

Last Blade (1997) was released after release of CPS3 (Red Earth, 1996).

[@diondesouza8846]

In the 90s there were several arcades in my city but none of them carried any of these obscure games except for Last Blade 1 & 2. It’s a shame though a lot of people never got to play these fighting gems growing up.

[@BridgetGX]

You had me at the thumbnail. I LOVE Kizuna Encounter.

[@lionhinder]

How blessed I am to have played 10 of these games growing up

[@Cake989]

Red Earth is legit my favorite out of this list. What overlay are you using when you showcase the intro screens for some of these games?

[@miketucson456]

Kizuna Encounter is very underrated. I'm glad to see that game in this top here :3

[@thanonyx]

This is why I love digging around for new games to learn about. You never know what kinds of hidden gems you're gonna find. Special mention to Martial Masters for their character sprites' fluid animations.

[@isanqbik]

Me faltó ver Golden Axe The duel. La recuerdo muy vistosa también. Enhorabuena por el vídeo!!!!

[@BitsBeats]

Es un juegazo. Perfectamente podía entrar en la lista!

[@Vx403]

I had JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures on Dreamcast. Still one of my favorite games.

[@seanmyster6]

My personal speculation regarding the seemingly random 3D characters in Touki Denshou is that they're rejected character models from the original Dead Or Alive. (Both made by Tecmo, and were released in the same year so thus had to have been in development simultaneously)

[@Delta_Maverick]

bro arcade games are so wonderfull, pixel games are just amazing.. thanks bites and beats for just existing.

[@anttam117]

Good memories of being a gamer at the arcades in the 90s, the noise, the shadows and the lights, the smells and all the overstimulation of all those flashy lights and sounds…

[@kratos_pt1121]

SNK made some of the most beautiful 2D games that I remember. The golden days of arcades were great!

[@luisreyes1963]

A collection of slept on fighting games. A shame that none of them (except Cyberbots & Red Earth) were made for home consoles. Waku Waku 7 & Galaxy Fight were only released for the Japanese SEGA Saturn.

[@lonewolffang]

Sadly enough, only a certain number of these games have hit digital storefronts. As a kid and to this day I've always wanted to try every fighting game, good or bad because they all deserved to be played regardless of being called clones.

[@snkgeneral1004]

Based

[@mskiara18]

Thank you for taking the time to share. Good to see a lot of intriguing games I am not familiar with while also seeing games that I enjoy like Red Earth.

[@kylestyle5693]

Recently subscribed to your channel, and I am lovin the content. This one especially! Cheers!

[@BitsBeats]

Thank you very much for your subscription. I hope I don't lower the level and continue to provide content that you like!

[@violenceg]

The Last Blade & Martial Masters were highly underrated. Both games are sick!

[@davidwatkins6307]

Just watched the video love it thank you very much please make more I will watch them

[@KageVII]

Was hoping to see Martial Champion on this list.

[@ivangarcia3182]

Another arcade fighting 💪games 🕹 oh yeah got to check and play em Niice👍

[@BitsBeats]

They are all very good fighting games, I totally recommend them

[@ivangarcia3182]

@@BitsBeats ok because I got a 3d pandora box its got all neo geo..nes...snes...sega...has about 4500 games i can't go thru em all so having you do videos on great games and not so great..is awesome and just playing arcade games 🕹 your the 1 im looking for...for great games thanks again keep up the great work 👍 👏 💪

[@Trve_Uncle_Shoto]

My goodness so much to play this video is a Gem of knowledge thanks a lot for it

[@jashinslayer]

It's crazy how the huge majority of these games were made in a span of just 1-3 years, almost all of them trying to capitalize off the Street Fighter 2/Mortal Kombat craze or the 90s.

[@BitsBeats]

Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat really created a tidal wave of fighting video games. Many have been forgotten, but there are excellent games within the genre.

[@anchorpoint3631]

But it worked. Killer Instinct, King Of Fighters, Primal Rage (to name a few) have managed to win the hearts of many people.

[@PedroSantos_83]

I simply love your work! You have a great sense of style! Waku Waku 7 has a special place in my heart. Just like Metal Slug, Super Side Kicks and Sega Rally. Great memories!

[@reviewswithhughes]

great video always nice to find new arcade games I have not played yet monster maulers is a fantastic game more people should play

[@BitsBeats]

Thank you very much! My purpose is to preserve video games and, hopefully, to discover some good ones to my audience.

[@l0stndamned]

Interesting selection. Glad to see Monster Maulers get a mention.

[@Zusse]

Man I am so happy I watched this video got some brand new gems to play

[@residentrump3271]

Nice! Lots of games listed here I've never heard of

[@wbl_unlimited]

Proud to say I've played every single one of these.

[@chrissharron4739]

Thank u I didn't know about 75% of these

[@antoniettols]

Galaxy Fight was ridiculously appealing back in 1995. Insane opening...

[@ThomasTheLord]

So many memories playing The Last Blade 1 & 2, excellent games! Some of the best imo.

[@mariowario5945]

Fighting games with destructible environments are my favortie

[@Bangcat]

Many don't know that Kaiser Knuckle has an ultimate update version that you can now find on Fightcade.

[@nemopouncey3827]

the guy even went super sayian.

[@Bangcat]

@@nemopouncey3827 Level 4 cornholio

[@nemopouncey3827]

@@Bangcat lol.

[@matheusaugusto5710]

Man, i miss the arcades.. Here in town is almost impossible to find one with good games.

[@robertmanes9333]

Arcades these days are full of sit down titles and other bs like “slap the monkey’s ass” or “tickle the hippo” for tickets.. no love for actual games

[@minechaftgamer288]

Great list, I'd been collecting fighting games along times before I knew many of these existed. Still haven't been able to get Martial Masters, Groove on Fight or Rabbit running. Some others to add could be Alien Challenge, Superior Soldiers, Asura Buster and the arcade DBZ.

[@sannsan33]

The arcade parlour that i use to play only have street fighter 2, fatal fury(kof), samurai shodown in total of 10 fighting game machine, and they only change and replace fatal fury 2 into KoF'94-95 and i stuck and love this game up until now, KoF is much more poppular than street fighter in my country before 3D fighting game came out.. i wish arcade parlour that i use to play introduce more fighting game, but anyway i still can play this unknown fighting game on emulator.. Thx 4 sharing these list of gems..😁👍

[@BitsBeats]

Thanks to you for your viewing, time and comment. I hope the video has helped you to discover a new game!

[@sannsan33]

@@BitsBeats thank you for providing us a good retro Arcade content, you are #1 content creator who can bring me nostalgia and relieving my wild childhood memory also providing us with a game that i never heard before back in my day.. i realy appreciate it😄 Thank you for your hard work sir.. i love it😍

[@420haxx]

I really think Red Earth has the best pixel artwork ever!

[@virescentzero]

Waku Waku 7 and Kabuki Klash are soooo good!

[@soulreaver1983]

Outstanding 😎 👍👍👍

[@BitsBeats]

Many thanks 👌👌

[@soulreaver1983]

@@BitsBeats No problem 🙂👍🏻

[@AzureSymbiote]

Most of these have been rightfully overlooked.

[@BitsBeats]

😂

[@paulosantiago7457]

Overlooked (in America). Here in Brazil, and I guess all over latin América, we played these games a lot

[@Longlostpuss]

One thing I learned very early on, was that mainstream games were extremely overrated. Now I'm not saying I wasn't impressed by and didn't enjoy the Street Fighter 2 series when it first dropped, because I absolutely did. However, when you look at alot of these titles, it really does make you realise just how basic a 2D fighter Street Fighter 2 really was, and yet, it was the most popular. Much to be said about "accessibility" and "promotion".

[@snkgeneral1004]

Ikr. Honestly street fighter 2 is not that good and the cpu is a cheater. Surprised Sf 1 gets all the hate for the CPU being a cheater yet Street Fighter 2 gets off the hook . Just goes to show how overrated street fighter 2 is and how biased people and critics are.

[@KamenRiderSeiryuXV0]

Bakumatsu Roman Gekka no Kenshi, Jojo, Red Earth and Cyberbots are my fave arcade games of all time, did manage to win and cleared the game. But to Kaiser Knuckle and other arcade games which notoriously when comes to highest difficulty ever, that is biggest regret ever of trauma PTSD signs.

[@SlayerHank]

the red dragon roar in monster maulers straight up sounded like godzilla.

[@greensun1334]

Galaxy Fight from '95 is Sunsoft's first original fighting game indeed, but I just want to mention they made a fighting game before - the SNES port of World Heroes was from '93!

[@35TheDarkknight]

Wow i never seen almost all of this before

[@maddestmike5791]

Never knew of some of these.

[@khomantes4418]

Mate,thank you! I'm looking for a mame complete pack right now..

[@user-tw3rh9po4t]

I immediately recognized Kizuna Encounter from the thumbnail.

[@mogunloye]

Ok Fam I'm convinced you are right, now put all these games uncut on an SD card and take my money!!

[@Zahir658]

Fun Fact: I played all of them 😁

[@HellTantrumbull]

Some of these games actually get played a lot these days on fightcade. might even see some pop up from time to time on the arcade channels that are on youtube that do live streams all the time.

[@Shinobi33]

Thankfully I have most of these. Well digitally that is. All that were re-released on console

[@yundadoom]

At least some of these got a console release.

[@ZZtheDark]

Nice putting Cyberbots in there. Galaxy Fight is a good one too. Also, James Rolf. Hehehe. 6:08, 'sigh' Arina-chan~ 7:15, before Dead or Alive, there was this. And it was reported that Reika in this game was somebody else in Dead or Alive but that was never confirmed. 10:05, with the release of Capcom Fighting Collection on all major consoles now, it will be a matter of time... 12:00, a game that rivals Street Fighter 3's grooviness. JJBA the arcade game was known to make a LOT of memes before the anime was even a thing. Martial Master's title screen is just boss.

[@JUYAN16]

Well, the reason they were overlooked is because you needed a NEO-GEO or a moded system just to play the damn things. You could only play these in Japan. Hell, Last Blade was even available until a few years ago when was released as a part of a SNK collection.

[@alejandrominero3692]

Ninja Masters is a must highly recommend I was bad ass at that game and the only place I’ve ever played it was Mexico when I used to lived over there

[@wardstyle9184]

I loved the Gouki bot in Cyberbots.

[@RogerioPereiradaSilva77]

What? No Breakers Revenge? While not as good in terms or graphics compared to some of these games - by design I think; it actually tried VERY HARD to emulate SF2 graphics and play style - it was very fun, easy to pick up and play and had all the typical fighting games archetypes covered.

[@BladeCuttervita]

I came in expecting to own maybe all but two of the games that would be on the list but I was pleasantly surprised that I only owned just over half the games listed.

[@DJDanceClassic]

this videos is awesome! may I ask you how do youget the beautiful scaliness in attract mode, especially visible in the intros of the games? how?

[@rustyshack155]

A good ol decade where games were easier to create and companies had more freedom to be creative

[@StomachPlug]

Asura Blade actually has a sequel called _Asura Busters - Eternal Warriors._

[@dirkb9788]

The first time i played The Last Blade was on the Neo Geo X gold. Now i never heard of the game before i got to own that thing. And although i see its not the best way to enjoy Neo Geo. I stil like it for that game. I don't think i would have played it without this handheld. I realy love that game. I like it more then Samurai showdown.

[@3Rayfire]

Nobody really cared about Cyberbots until Jin "Blodia" Saotome showed up in MvC1.

[@tazzlocc4473]

thank god mame exists and i can play all of these for free

[@SwuadeTV]

I feel like the guyver should've had a fighting game

[@DJ-ob8sk]

Great video, but was hoping to see Konami's "Martial Champion" on the list.

[@nobodyimportant8859]

The Aggressors of dark kombat ninja looks like fuma from world heroes.

[@snkgeneral1004]

That's because it is Fuma .

[@Tungdil_01]

I came here to find a SNES 2D fighting game I played during the 90s. The only thing I can remember are two characters: a panda and an old man.

[@marooned4835]

Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle?

[@Tungdil_01]

@@marooned4835 thank you!

[@PhntmStudios]

Martial Masters = Street Fighter 3 double impact and 3rd strike

[@sanguis5410]

The Music for Touki Denshou is good

[@Guto_Loco_Gushek_Brasil]

4:34 They fighting in the Soul Cairn?

[@alecaquino4306]

You can tell that these guys were the rich kids on the block who owned a Neo Geo AES. Yes, I am bitter...

[@nickparsons337]

I never knew ANY kid growing up who had a Neo-Geo, even the rich ones; but hell yeah, I would be bitter too if I had.

[@toryficarola]

Great list but what about Kizuna Enxounter's lesser known prequel Savage Reign? And also The Last Blade 2?

[@nemopouncey3827]

Kaiser went super sayian.😂

[@RoyArkon]

Red Earth is easily the best of the bunch. This game should get a sequel or a remake.

[@ripplecutter233]

cyberbots is my fave in this list

[@eddymadison9655]

SNK made a lot of hidden gem fighting games, since the announcement of a new Fatal Fury/Garou game I hope someday they bring back their other fighting game in the future

[@teh1archon]

Hot damn, I thought I was familiar with all the fighters but I really never heard of more than half of the games on this list. Really worth checking'em out since none of them seems like a poverty fighters.

[@evilblader7]

Ese Kizuna enconter era chivisimo, también el ninja Master... Recuerdo que cuando tenía el emulador de Neo geoby MAME si le si carreta q varios juegos de pelea. Ese de los robots solo recordé una frase de otro youtuber la poción roja xDDDD el le dice juego de roboses xDDDD Last blade es increíble, así debió ser Samurai Shadow... Aunque no le quejo de este, Samurai Shadow es mi tercer juego de lucha favorito, superdo solo por Killer instinct y Street fighter jejejejejejejeje... xDDDD No sé si soy yo pero, no te parece irónico que muchos juegos de peleas con gráficos pixeles de infarto y mecánicas novedosas, son los que más quedaron en la infravaloración y en el olvido 🤔🤔🤔🤔 a veces el mundo gamer también puede ser muy injusto.

[@BitsBeats]

Yo creo que hay varios títulos injustamente olvidados en este vídeo, incluso de la misma Capcom o SNK! Si no los has probado, dale una oportunidad a Martial Masters y Asura Blade. Son dos joyitas a la altura de los mejores juegos de lucha de la década... y realmente poco conocidos.

[@evilblader7]

@@BitsBeats Para eso estamos aquí compañero para sacar a esos juegos de la oscuridad 🤜🤛

[@Kaalverink]

Sadly am missing Far East of Eden: Kabuki Clash on this list from SNK

[@solouno2280]

oh yes, I remember that both Darkstalkers and X-Men where originally handled by Konami

[@AR-xd3dp]

All these games suffer from the same problem, little to no advertising of their existence. If they made them known,some of these games would be almost as popular. Especially if they're made aware that these games are made by the same gaming companies that made SF and MK

[@partybarge]

No Breakers Revenge?!

[@90s-Trance_86]

Awsome games!! Never heard of them. Cool Sunsoft made a fighting game!

[@thetru-drushow8412]

MM is A Beat em up Fighting Game fusion game.

[@AlexOjideagu2]

2:18 isn't that dude from World Heroes

[@snkgeneral1004]

Yep. That's him.

[@SnDFrostey]

Although this is a great video, I feel the need to point out that in Warzard/ Red Earth, much of the characters in the game are bosses, even if the 1-on-1 aspect very much exists.

[@kidwaryodproduction]

Rosa from Kizuna Encounter can easily be friends or rival with Mikami Reiko from Ghost Sweeper Mikami. Both are sexy, hotheaded female protagonist. Also wearing necklace in same style 😄 Gongsun Sheng from Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty also remind me of Shujinko from Mortal Kombat Deception. Gongsun Sheng theme also easily mashup with Mortal Kombat 3 Subway Theme :)

[@scarvello]

I want martial masters to come back.

[@JomasterTheSecond]

No mention of poor old Bloody Roar/Beastorizer? D:

[@LawandOrder-fi5xk]

They should have made Kizuna Encounter 2.

[@jordanjackson6151]

I have Angel Eyes on PS1 where it is much more mind blowing.