The fighting game genre houses a ton of video game history, with games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Tekken — among many others — paving the way for this genre to take over the mainstream in a truly resounding manner. Some of the most legendary gaming moments of all time are present in the video game fighting scene, with Esports featuring these fighting games being beloved by many. Of course, given the massive developments in the video game industry, it was only a given that the fighting genre has to evolve as well to keep up with the times.

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As a result, there are several age-old tropes present in fighting games that have started fizzling out. In fact, some of these facets of the genre have completely disappeared, with purists of these games lamenting the same. However, these changes are certainly quite subjective and were somewhat inevitable with the evolution of the video game industry.

7 A Throwaway Story Mode

Injustice: Gods Among Us cover art

Given the nature of most fighting games, it was only a given that the fighting mechanics and multiplayer matchups were the major focus of most fighting games. For the most part, the story was nothing more than an excuse to just pad out the length of the game as opposed to actually provide a meaningful narrative.

However, as gaming has developed over time, more and more players want their story modes across all genres to feature way more content than what was originally on offer. This is why most modern fighting games feature story modes that have way more thought and effort put into them — a fact that is appreciated by most longtime fans of fighting games who want to see the characters they've grown up with in a bevy of engaging scenarios.

6 Movement Solely Limited To A 2D Plane

A battle in Tekken

Due to the limited hardware at the time, most fighting games were restricted to 2D planes with limited movement. For what it's worth, most fighting games still adopt this facet of gameplay to this day. However, there are various modern fighting games that now allow players to move around an entirely 3D space with little to no issues whatsoever.

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Games like the Ultimate Ninja Storm series and Jump Force end up using this perspective to great effect, allowing players to make the most of the extra space offered to them to engage in some earth-shattering battles. It's a great way to add more variety to fights instead of conducting them from the same repetitious angle over and over again.

5 Downright Unfair AI

Mortal Kombat 11 Juggling An Opponent In The Air

A rather annoying aspect of most old fighting games was that the AI in the story or arcade mode was absolutely unforgiving at times. Players would progress through levels and deal with fighters at varying levels of difficulty... only to hit a massive roadblock in the form of an absolutely unfair boss who would wipe the floor with the player at a moment's notice. It was easily one of the most frustrating aspects of the single-player modes in these games.

Thankfully, fighting games have become more and more balanced over time. Now, the AI present in these games is still quite challenging, but not at the cost of being completely unfair. Players who have total mastery over the mechanics in these fighting games will have no issue dealing with higher-level AI opponents.

4 Easily Spammable Moves

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

While classic fighting games definitely have an allure of their own that is hard to resist, there are still several annoying gameplay elements present in these titles that are more of a product of their time than anything else. One such annoying facet of these old fighting games is the fact that players could spam one annoying move all the time and completely decimate a helpless opponent.

Thankfully, modern fighting games are more balanced and see to it that most spammable moves can be blocked or countered easily. In fact, some games actually punish players for spamming moves with creative punishments that opponents can exploit to great effect.

3 The Arcade Fighting Experience

Arcade Scorpion Vs. Sub Zero

Back in the golden age of fighting games, most gamers tended to flock arcades in droves as they fought for the chance to use the quarters they'd saved up to fight against other avid fighting game enthusiasts too. This was one of the major reasons why the fighting game community is one of the most tight-knit gaming communities around.

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However, as arcades have become more and more archaic with home consoles ruling the gaming scene, the allure of playing these games in an arcade has certainly died down quite a bit. As a result, the manner in which fighting games are played has also changed, with arcade cabinets being shelved in favor of handheld controllers instead.

2 Limited Number Of Playable Fighters

Tekken 7 character selection screen

With the hardware limitations of the time, there was only so much content that people could cram into the games they made. Fighting games had to adhere to these restrictions as well, resulting in titles that didn't feature too many fighters. While most players didn't really have any complaints at that time, modern gamers would definitely have issues with this limited cast of characters... especially since they're so spoilt for choice in modern fighting games!

The sheer number of playable fighters present in modern fighting games is quite immense. Players have a wealth of options to choose from, with each character featuring excellent move sets and attacks that are bound to be quite entertaining indeed... barring a few exceptions to this norm, of course.

1 Stiff And Slow Gameplay

Both Gogeta's fighting in Dragon Ball FighterZ

Perhaps the most noticeable aspect of old fighting games that is completely absent in modern titles is the polish and quality present in these titles. Fighting games of the past feature extremely slow and stiff movement, with each move, dodge, and block being a more measured and calculative move instead of something that players could easily spam without any worries.

Now, modern fighting games feature smooth movement, an extensive move list, and amazing combos that can be quite a treat to experiment with. It's a far cry from the fighting games of old that were extremely clunky to play around with.

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