Fighting games are a rich and diverse genre of video games beloved by a loyal and devoted community of players. There are numerous fighting games with storied lineages, each possessing numerous strong entries. Series like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat will always have an iteration housed within the current consoles but not every fighting game series is so lucky.
For every long-running fighting series, there are those that have not received sequels and continuations in what may feel like forever. Today, we're going to shed some light on these less fortunate franchises and delve into 10 fighting games that are the most deserving of a sequel or reboot.
10 Darkstalkers
When discussing the most iconic women of fighting games, many tend to bring up Morrigan Aensland of Capcom's horror-themed fighting game series, Darkstalkers. Despite Morrigan's popularity, the series she originates from hasn't seen a new main-series entry since 1997.
Though characters such as Morrigan and Felicia have appeared in Marvel Vs. Capcom (and the first and third entries to the series were ported to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as Darkstalkers Resurrection in 2013), we've heard nothing about a new entry for the series that's home to one of the most iconic characters in Capcom's wheelhouse.
9 Rival Schools
It's truly a mystery how Rival Schools never exploded in popularity like many other fighting game, only receiving a single sequel in 2000 with Project Justice. As the name would suggest, Rival Schools is fighting game based around students and staff of different high schools, with each character serving as exaggerated versions of different tropes is a manner very similar to characters of Kill La Kill.
Though the game takes place in the same universe as Street Fighter and the series protagonist Batsu has appeared in Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, it's been 20 years since a new entry of Rival Schools has been released. As Street Fighter V seems to be nearing the end of its lifespan, perhaps the next major fighting game put out by Capcom could be a new Rival Schools.
8 Primal Rage
For the duration of the genre's existence, fighting games have traditionally featured practitioners of martial arts like in Tekken, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat, and characters wielding traditional weapons like those seen in games like Samurai Shodown and Soul Calibur. But what if we told you there was a fighting game that did away with human characters, instead utilizing giant dinosaurs, enormous beasts reminiscent of King Kong, and monsters that look as though they'd fit in within a classic Godzilla movie? Enter: Primal Rage.
While the first game was released in 1994, and a sequel had been planned, it was ultimately scrapped, meaning it's bee over 25 years since Primal Rage was released.
7 Power Stone
A niche title with a cult following, Power Stone is significantly different than any other fighting game released by Capcom. While the vast majority of traditional fighters feature two fighters duking it out in a two-dimensional plane, Powerstone uses the third dimension to great effect.
This allowed players to use different 3D stages and engage in combat very different from anything else on the fighting game market. Unfortunately, the series has not received any kind of update or new entry since the sequel, Power Stone 2 was ported to the PSP in 2006.
6 Capcom Vs. SNK
Capcom and SNK were two of the largest and most popular producers of fighting games throughout the 90's. They produced so many great fighting games in that era, that more than half of the entries of this list were produced by one of the two developers. So it was no shock that when these two titans of the genre came together to create a crossover fighting game, Capcom Vs. SNK, we'd have something special on our hands.
Unfortunately, while both companies are currently active, the series has not received an entry since 2001. Perhaps the inclusion of both series poster boys, Ryu and Terry Bogard in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may inspire these two developers to unite once again in order to create Capcom Vs. SNK 3.
5 Bloody Roar
Bloody Roar hasn't received a new entry since Bloody Roar 4 was released in 2003. Which is a shame, since it's a unique fighting game that features fighters that can transform into powerful bestial forms based upon different animals.
The series has many mechanical similarities to games like Dead or Alive and Tekken, but brings a very unique and individual flavor to the table through its transformation mechanic. Some fighting games such as Guilty Gear feature characters that can power themselves up, entering a different form. Bloody Roar puts this mechanic front and center making it an integral part of the game, shaking up gameplay from what might be expected.
4 The Last Blade
A classic series produced by veteran fighting game developer, SNK, The Last Blade is a series the features weapon focused combat like what may be expected from a game like Soul Calibur or Samurai Shodown.
The game shares a great deal of similarities to fellow SNK series Samurai Shodown. While Samurai Shodown is currently enjoying in renaissance with a successful and regularly supported new entry, we haven't seen Last Blade since its sequel was released in 1998. Perhaps the success of the most recent Samurai Shodown may prompt SNK to revitalize another of their much beloved series.
3 Fist Of The North Star
2005's Fist of the North Star developed by Arc System Works was lightning in a bottle. It's a traditional fighting game that utilizes iconic characters from the Fist of the North Star manga and anime, pairing them with the excellent fighting game design and mechanics that Arc System Works is known for. The game plays similarly to other games produced by the developer such as Guilty Gear and Blazblue and is one of the strongest adaptations of an anime into a fighting game.
While this game was a standalone release that never saw a sequel, more recent releases by Arc System Works such as Dragon Ball FighterZ and Granblue Fantasy Versus fill us with hope that perhaps the developer will some day produce another Fist of the North Star fighting game.
2 Weaponlord
There is no other way to say it: Weaponlord is the most metal fighting game of all time. While Mortal Kombat may tote over the top violence through its gruesome fatalities, every single character design and stage from Weaponlord looks like its straight out of an 80's metal album cover.
A weapon-based fighting game developed in 1995, Weaponlord features many mechanics which are before their time such as parrying opponents attacks and even player's weapons breaking. While a sequel had initially been planned, it never came to fruition. As of this writing, it's actually the 25th anniversary of Weaponlord. There's no better time to release a sequel or reboot!
1 Marvel Vs. Capcom
One may be wondering: "Marvel Vs. Capcom is dead? Didn't it just have a new release with Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite in 2017?" Thing is, Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite is the epitome of a game that was dead on arrival.
Sporting a significantly downgraded roster size compared to previous entries, numerous problems regarding aspects such as graphics, and a lack of iconic characters like the X-Men, the game was immediately panned. We're talking about a game that was not even present at Evo the year of its release! After the first batch of DLC characters, Capcom stopped supporting the game and little to no tournaments of note have been held for it.
As it stands, it's more than safe to declare Marvel Vs. Capcom as a dead franchise. As we've seen from the support from players following the announcement that Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is slated to be at Evo this year, we can see that the love for the franchise is still present. If we hope to see the series revived, Capcom is going to need to move forward and learn from the numerous mistakes that came alongside Marvel Vs Infinite, but due to numerous licensing intricacies regarding the use of Marvel characters, we're not going to hold our breath.