Every genre in every medium has its bombs. Those entries that aimed high, but stumbled as they approached the finish line. Video game fans could tell people all day about all of the flaws in the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game. The Room entered movie buffs’ hearts for how ridiculous nearly every frame of it is, and music maestros would know all about how sad but influential the Shaggs were.
Still, not every underwhelming entry is a bust. Sometimes it just had a few fundamental flaws, fell out of fashion over time, or just didn’t stand up next to its competitors. They could be described as mediocre, yet there’s something about them that remains engaging and entertaining. These fighting games fell short of Street Fighter and paled beside Mortal Kombat, but still have their charms and are well-worth revisiting.
6 Killer Instinct (1994)
When Mortal Kombat caught on, it opened the cap on gory brawlers. The likes of Time Killers, Way of the Warrior, and Kasumi Ninja had the blood but played badly. When Rare teamed up with MK’s company Midway to produce Killer Instinct, they ended up creating a cult classic. Then, as more sophisticated fighters came along, the series was left behind in the dust after one sequel. Plus, despite its popularity with fans, its 2013 reboot didn’t take off as well as Microsoft had hoped either.
However, the original Killer Instinct's presentation was a league ahead of its rivals, especially with its moody rock soundtrack and overexcited announcer. Its sense of humor was also unique, if silly (Orchid kills her opponent by flashing them). The gameplay is dated, but influential in its own way, with Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter Alpha having Combo Breaker-style moves. Mortal Kombat Trilogy also tried to match its Ultra Combos with the original Brutalities, so, while Killer Instinct had charm, there was clearly something to its gameplay too.
5 SVC: SNK Vs Capcom Chaos
SNK went bankrupt in 2001, yet it managed to come back and regain all its most famous franchises. However, it still damaged the company. Most of its workforce found work elsewhere, leaving its last few Neo Geo games to be a very mixed bag. SVC is a good example of this, as its gameplay is scrappy and underdeveloped compared to Capcom’s crossovers with them, or SNK Vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium on the Neo Geo Pocket Color. The backgrounds and music were similarly dull and forgettable. The less said about Sagat and Hugo’s terrible animation quality the better.
That said, while the game is undercooked, there’s still fun to be had here. The gameplay is just as solid as the later King of Fighters games, with some mechanics from the Fatal Fury titles. It has Art of Fighting-style pre-match dialogues, beating Mortal Kombat X to the punch by over a decade. Plus, for the masochists who miss SNK Boss Syndrome, SVC requires the player to beat Shin Akuma or Serious Mr. Karate with enough points to get a single chance to beat the true final bosses. Those who can beat infamously difficult foes like Rugal, Igniz, or Magaki will find their next mountains to climb in SVC.
4 Primal Rage
Who doesn’t like a big monster mash? Gigabash is fulfilling that desire now, and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee scratched that itch in the early 2000s. But what satisfied monster fans in the 1990s? Enter Atari Games’ Primal Rage, where players pick from seven different giant beasts to become the strongest one of all on a post-apocalyptic ‘Urth’.
It was another Mortal Kombat clone, complete with Fatality-esque finishing moves (and some Friendship-style pranks). Only they were a little grosser, and not just because of the gore. Still, the game has its appeal. Players can scratch, claw, and bite at each other with each prehistoric-looking beast, and eat the random human minions that appear on-screen for a health boost. It’s not going to be an Evo classic any time soon, but it’s good for some old-school fun. The especially keen can also find its canceled sequel online if they look hard enough.
3 Hokuto No Ken
Arc System Works’ Dragonball FighterZ has caught on so well that the company is willing to produce another licensed brawler. However, before they made 11+ Gokus shout at each other, they worked their magic with Fist of the North Star. The result was Hokuto No Ken: Shinpan no Sōsōsei Kengō Retsuden, or just Hokuto No Ken for short. It was a fighter based on Kenshiro’s trek through the wasteland, and his battles against his various friends and foes.
It looked, animated, and played a lot like Guilty Gear X2, only players could boost-attack opponents into the wall, and could only do Instant Kill supers (‘Fatal KO’ moves) after emptying their Star Gauge. Its broken gameplay was so notorious that it earned the ‘kusoge’ (bad/weird game) label. However, the game is never boring. Its wild, loose gameplay is fun to watch and more so to control, especially when players get the hang of each character’s quirks. Some of its DNA can be found in its more polished successor, as some Fatal KOs double as FighterZ-esque Dramatic Finishes.
2 Eternal Champions
Despite the early 1990s being Sega’s highest point of success, the relationship between their Japanese and American divisions was like a couple shouting abuse at each other through the walls. Eternal Champions would be one of the children sadly caught in the crossfire. It was an animated 2D fighter by Sega Interactive about figures from history taking each other on for another chance at life.
The game followed in the wake of 1992’s Mortal Kombat while being as gory as 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot. The game didn’t please the squeamish, yet it played well enough to please the fans, earn a special edition, and get a comic strip. There was a sequel, but it was canceled to keep the shine on Sega AM2’s Virtua Fighter and its Saturn port. The chances of a reboot are low, so it’s best to revisit the original and test one's stomach’s might there.
1 Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe
Chances are this is the most controversial option, as it’s obviously neutered compared to other Mortal Kombat games. The ‘Heroic Brutalities’ and Fatalities were neither brutal nor fatal, the character models looked weird, and the move animations were poor. The subsequent MK and Injustice games by Midway survivors Netherrealm Studios improved on nearly all those points, though move animations are still a little rough. Nonetheless, there are some points in its favor.
Some fans still appreciate its 3D moving style over the 2D, ultraviolent flair of the follow-ups. It doesn’t have the maneuverable stage hazards of Deception and Armageddon, yet players can keep the hurt going when a player smashes another off-screen to another stage. It was also the first game to utilize the cinematic story mode that MK, Injustice, Tekken, and Street Fighter among others would subsequently use. So, while it’s more of a rough-looking diamond than a diamond in the rough, MK vs DC still has its appreciable qualities.