There are certain moments within the Fighting Game Community that players simply enjoy. There’s the legendary ‘EVO Moment 37’, Justin Wong having the ultimate comeback against Chris G in Ultimate Marvel VS. Capcom 3, and many more moments within F.G.C history that fans can enjoy. However, nothing makes the F.G.C go wild like certain reveals when it comes to fighting games. These reveal trailers or world premiers can happen at conventions, major tournaments, press conferences, just about anywhere and when the F.G.C gets wind of it, all aboard the hype train. These reveals revitalize the F.G.C and gets everyone excited for one reason, to see the release of a new game or a new character. We’ve decided to markdown, on a top ten list, the best reveals of fighting games or characters that got the F.G.C hyped. Note, classic fighting game commercials are certainly trailers; plus, Super Smash Brothers character announcements will be counted. So without further ado, let’s see which reveals are the top ten.
10. Super Smash Brothers
This choice will probably get a few confused looks and laughs; however, there is a reason for it. The original Smash is incredibly important to the Smash Community. If it wasn’t for the success of this commercial/trailer/game then not only would the Smash Community be nonexistent, but the F.G.C would not be as popular as it is today. Smash brings a lot to the table in terms of gameplay/style, but it also brings views to fighting game tournaments. So be thankful for this commercial.
9. Guilty Gear
A franchise that was pretty much forgotten about came out of nowhere one night in May 2013. Guilty Gear started off this trailer with some dialogue between the title characters ‘Sol’ and ‘Ky’ and once the dialogue came to an end, the fighting began. Kick start the blasting rock n’ roll music that the series is known for and you’ll have all the fans come back to the franchise in a heartbeat. This trailer certainly showcased why Guilty Gear is the anime fighting game to be a part of.
8. Cloud Reveal
Here’s our reasoning with this choice. We chose ‘Cloud’s reveal for Smash instead of ‘Banjo Kazooie’s reveal because nobody was expecting and it caught us all off guard. People knew that ‘Banjo’ would be in Smash Ultimate because of the cooperation people were seeing between Nintendo and Microsoft; the reveal was only a matter of time. Though, ‘Cloud’s reveal for Smash Wii-U was something to be unheard of. He was a character seen as a Sony representative with no ties to Nintendo, unlike other Smash character ‘Snake’. ‘Cloud’s addition to the cast showed us that Nintendo was not afraid to make surprise decisions and that anybody could be made into a Smash character.
7. Geese Howard Reveal
When ‘Geese Howard’ was announced at EVO 2017 during the Tekken 7 top eight, we’re pretty sure everybody had lost their mind. Since then Tekken 7 has featured guest characters like ‘Noctis’ from Final Fantasy 15, and ‘Negan’ from The Walking Dead, plus ‘Akuma’ was already in the game but putting ‘Geese’ in the game was the best call. You have the trailer starting out with ‘Geese’ mocking ‘Heihachi Mishima’, Tekken‘s series-long antagonist as if he’s nothing but a bug. You can’t help but get chills from a character that does that sort of thing.
6. Mortal Kombat
Sure, this is a commercial, but it acts like a reveal since it’s revealing the fact that Mortal Kombat would be moving out of the arcade and into homes on gaming consoles. Plus, a kid screaming “Mortal Kombat” into the air as a call to arms gets your blood boiling and makes you want to join in the combat and show everyone else that your serious about winning.
5. Street Fighter IV
Short, simple, and features the fighting game that revitalized the entire fighting game genre, we have Street Fighter IV. Showcased in 2007, this trailer brought back a franchise that had gone quiet with virtually no news about what was happening. When this trailer dropped, fighters dusted off their fightsticks and started that practice grind to be prepared for the next installment.
4. Super Street Fighter II
The game that popularized the fighting game genre. Sure, it’s an “intro” to the game; however, this “intro” in the arcades is the trailer that got people interested in playing the game. The image of ‘Ryu’ getting geared up and then throwing the ‘Hadouken’ got everyone in the arcades psyched to play the game and face off against one another. Years later and we still love this trailer.
3. Marvel vs. Capcom 3
When MVC3 was announced no one believed it. It had been years since the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and everyone was so sure that the verses series was gone. Though, when this trailer, and the ones after it, dropped people became hyped and were excited about the release. Each trailer showcased a set amount of characters, fighting each other at first, but later started to work together because of a bigger threat approaching these two worlds. With an all-star cast of characters from Marvel and Capcom, how couldn’t you be hyped?
2. Killer Instinct (2013)
All it took was 47 seconds to get everyone within the F.G.C hyped for a revival of a dead franchise. This trailer does one thing three different times. Have a great announcer announce a badass character and then have said character start doing cool stuff. Finishing the trailer match with an ‘Ultra Combo’ leaves everyone at home wanting to do the same thing.
1. Street Fighter X Tekken
Sure, the game’s reputation is less than stellar; however, the trailers for this game were absolutely amazing. The trailers showed you which characters were going to be in the game, the music for each trailer was choreographed to all the fighting, the character interaction fit perfectly to each character’s personality, and they showed you who was going to be in each tag-team since this was a 2-vs-2 fighting game. Multiple trailers were released in episodic form and showcased new music and characters. Each trailer was different; though, the element of ‘water’ was a dynamic theme for each new trailer. Crowds were hyped for this game because of the trailers. It’s just upsetting that the game didn’t deliver what was shown; that being two fighting game titans going head to head.
Fighting game trailers, character reveals, intros, and commercials are all important to the F.G.C. Not just to promote sales for consumers, rather these things reinvigorate how the F.G.C feels about fighting games when they are announced. These announcements keep the hype memories of the F.G.C alive and we can always watch them whenever we want to get those feelings back. Below is our poll to see which you think is the best fighting game reveal.