The Best Fighting Games for the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii

The fighting game genre has been around since the earliest days of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Mike Tyson's punchout. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter brought it into the limelight in arcades and then to our homes on the SNES and Sega Genesis. The genre has evolved over time and yet still there sits a substantial percentage of us that find the greatest joy in the simple 2D fighters of days' past. Whatever your favorites, the fighting genre is a classic and long standing tradition among gamers that brings them together to swear, drink, and break things in frustration because "he's being cheap!"

Nintendo was once the king of all things fighting, with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Punchout to keep its fans sedated. Now adays, they're relying on innovation and the inhouse brand name to bring the fighting games to the masses, and though they have a diluted line up, there are some gems in there, including the best version of Soul Calibur II, if only because of the inclusion of a certain green clad Hylian. The Wii has endless potential as well, offering the option to not only be involved in the action, but get tired doing so. If Wii boxing is a sign of things to come, fighting games could get very interesting indeed.

Soul Calibur II
Soul Calibur II released for all three major consoles, but many regarded the Gamecube edition as the one true best game to own, mainly because it offered the opportunity to play as Link, in his full adult form (Twilight Princess was not even announced at this point) and he kicked a decent amount of rear end. The gameplay, like the other two editions was astounding. Multiple weapons, hours long quest mode, countless multiplayer modes and one of the best fighting game engines around made Soul Calibur II a must own for any fighting fan. If you happened to be a Nintendo supporter at the time, you got that much luckier with Link.