Shack Chat: Who is your favorite fighting game character of all time?

EVO 2021 Online is over, but the urge for battle always lingers. Maybe you feel it: the need to jump on your favorite fighter and pick up your familiar character of choice. Which one did you think about first? That's the question we talk about on this week's Shack Chat. The fighting game genre is vast and varied, featuring originals and popular crossover franchises throughout. With that in mind, the Shacknews staff looked at their favorite fighting game characters this week.

Question: Who is your favorite fighting game character of all time?

Scorpion (Mortal Kombat) - Ozzie Mejia, Senior EVO Spectator

I've played so many fighting games over the past 30 years, but no one character has stood out to me more than Scorpion. The human ninja who became a spectre of Hell, able to control its very flames, has such a cool and unique look. It's not easy to stand out among a bunch of similarly dressed ninjas, but Scorpion pulled it off. This love connection started with the iconic "Get over here!" spear and has evolved into straight up melting people with Mortal Kombat 11's Brutality. He isn't the series' main character, but he's easily its best.

Green Arrow (Injustice) - Donovan Erskine, Number One with an arrow

I love fighting games, but I’ve always played them in a non-competitive setting. Whether that be late night sessions during sleepovers or duking it out with friends for bragging rights, I rarely took my talents online to see how I stack up with other players around the world. That was until Injustice 2, however.

I loved that game so much, I ended up spending countless hours online fighting other players, looking to improve my rank. I was actually pretty decent as a dedicated Green Arrow main. His kit was so fun to use with the hurricane bow and boxing glove arrow being my favorites. Green Arrow is probably the fighting game character I’m the best with, which makes him an easy pick for my favorite. I hope that one day we get an Injustice 3 so that Oliver Queen and I can ride once again.

Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken) - Blake Morse, Co-EIC

Me and Ling have been throwing down in the King of the Iron Fist Tournament ever since the days of Tekken 3. I’ve always been a fan of quick fighters who chip away at opponents with a barrage of quick hits that may not do much damage on their own, but rather stack up the pain when delivered en masse. Tekken has always been my favorite fighting game and Ling is one of the first fighting game characters I actually bothered to hop into training mode with to learn the moves and combos.

Ling and I probably shined our brightest when me and my college roomies would hold Tekken Tag Tournament parties. I took out many a sucker with my mad skills. I was even able to take down our own fighting game guru TJ Denzer in an exhibition match during one of our Stimulus Games recently. Although he did kick my butt in our last meeting… I think I may actually get some more training in and try to kick his butt once again. Ling also scores bonus points for being best friends with a panda.

Spartan-458 (Dead or Alive/Halo) - Sam Chandler, No jiggle-physics detected

Dead or Alive is probably the only fighting series I’ve had much of an interest in. I’m not good at it, but damn if I didn’t want to take advantage of my Xbox 360 and play every launch title available. So, I popped in Dead or Alive 4 and discovered I could actually play as a Spartan from the Halo series. And thus my favorite fighting game character was discovered. It’s kind of ironic to have my favorite fighting game character being a fully-armored female Spartan that’s in a game known for it’s “jiggle physics”, but here we are. I still can’t quite believe this cross-over happened.

Michael Jackson (Ready 2 Rumble Boxing) - Chris Jarrard, Better Opinions Than Other Staff

An obvious choice here — the King of Pop only shows up in the best video games and this is no exception.

Honorable mention goes to Method Man. Def Jam Vendetta and its follow-up Fight for New York are some of the most underrated fighting games ever released. Back in college, Vendetta was a regular in our Gamecube rotation and Method Man was always my main, so he gets the nod here. His torture rack into neck breaker finisher was clean and he was also in How High, so Method Man was an easy choice here.

Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat) - Bill Lavoy, Awoken Knight

I don’t play a lot of fighting games, but I have spent time with several Mortal Kombat games over the years. A character that always stuck out to me was Johnny Cage. I couldn’t name a single move he has, or his fighting style, or much of the lore behind his character beyond him being a celebrity, but I’ve always found him to be kind of dorky in a hilarious way. When I think of Mortal Kombat, a few characters come to mind, but none more than Johnny Cage for me.

Hazama (Blazblue) - TJ Denzer, Smooth serpent snapping at news

There are a lot of things I like about Blazblue’s main villain from a merely conceptual standpoint. His design is based on a mix of Michael Jackson and Gin Ichimaru from Bleach (from the period in which that anime was good), so his moves are inspired by angry sarcasm and legendary pop. He’s even voiced by Gin’s English voice actor to an awesome effect. And with that, he has a venomous kindness and swagger to him that’s always on the verge of dipping into something more sinister. He’s a pure sh** talker and takes great comfort in messing with the other characters, often to a degree that amuses me. These characters are all very serious and Hazama is mostly having fun at their expense.

It lends itself to his combat style too. His core attacks with his kicks and butterfly knives aren’t all that long range. It’s his gimmicks that makes him dangerous. He can throw chains with snake heads at various angles and yank himself around the stage for ridiculous mobility and pure trolling. If he wants to come close, he can come close. If he wants to stay away, he can do that too. And the cherry on top is he has a super where he snaps his fingers to capture you in energy binds and then yoinks you in with his chain to absolutely wail on you with maniacal laughter. In every way, Hazama is stylish, silly, and sinister, and he fits me perfectly in the matches of some of my favorite games.

Wolverine (Vs Capcom) - Greg Burke, Head of Video

There is only one correct answer. HURRICANE BARRAGE!!!

Kung Lao (Mortal Kombat) - Steve Tyminski, Stevetendo show host, Hat-Thrower

My favorite fighting game character of all time has got to be Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat. First seen in Mortal Kombat 2, Kung Lao has always been my go to fighter. He was one of the first fighters in the Mortal Kombat series that I could actually perform his special moves and he attacks people with a bladed hat. If that isn’t one of the coolest things you’ve ever seen, than I don’t know what is. He was the first fighting character that I actually felt I could use and not be terrible with so Kung Lao will always be my fighter!

Dudley (Street Fighter)  - Dennis White, Community Manager

This one is actually really hard for me because I’ve had such a strong connection to so many fighting game characters over the years. Choosing one is basically like having to choose a favorite child. So I just want to point out that obviously Dr. Doom and Rose are two of my favs that could easily take the spot. But I gotta show some love to Dudley. My man has an absolute bop with his Street Fighter: 3rd Strike theme. I love his style and the counter and attack options that allow him to pressure the opponent in the corner. He also has some of the smoothest juggle/combos in SF4 that really made me a fan. I even ran far with him in Street Fighter x Tekken, a game we don’t really hear about much nowadays.

Dudley was also one of the first characters in Street Fighter that I really tried to learn seriously. Being able to toss a rose at people as the ultimate disrespect or actually chain into a combo on hit is just too good for somebody like me who likes some flare. The shoto style wasn’t really my thing so I love having alternative characters in the mix in games like Street Fighter. Dudley’s movement and class made him one of the most memorable characters to me and I hope he turns up in SF6!

That covers our list of favorite fighters for the Shacknews staff, but who are yours? Let us know who your go-to combatant is in the Shacknews Chatty comment section below!

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.