Editing Fighting game (section)

==Definition==
Fighting games are a type of [[action game]] where two (in one-on-one fighting games) or more (in [[platform fighter]]s) on-screen characters fight each other.<ref name="NGen15">{{cite magazine|date=March 1996|title=The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Fighting Game|url=https://archive.org/details/nextgen-issue-015/page/n33/mode/2up|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|issue=15|page=33}}</ref><ref name="fundamentals">{{cite book|last1=Rollings|first1=Andrew|first2=Ernest | last2=Adams|title=Fundamentals of Game Design|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=2006|url=http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_gamedev_1/54/14053/3597646.cw/index.html|access-date=February 11, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231072651/http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_gamedev_1/54/14053/3597646.cw/index.html|archive-date=December 31, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ashcraft90">{{cite book | author = Ashcraft, Brian | year = 2008 | title = Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers | publisher = Kodansha International | page = 90}}</ref><ref name="tao">{{cite web|title=The Tao of Beat-'em-ups|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-tao-of-beat-em-ups-article|author=Spencer, Spanner|date=February 6, 2008|website=[[Eurogamer]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511090702/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/the-tao-of-beat-em-ups-article|archive-date=May 11, 2009|access-date=April 29, 2009}}</ref> These games typically feature special moves that are triggered using rapid sequences of carefully timed button presses and joystick movements. Games traditionally show fighters from a side view, even as the genre has progressed from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) graphics.<ref name="fundamentals" /> ''[[Street Fighter II]]'', though not the first fighting game, is considered to have standardized the genre,<ref name="sfhistory" /> and similar games released prior to ''Street Fighter II'' have since been more explicitly classified as fighting games.<ref name="tao" /><ref name="sfhistory" /> Fighting games typically involve hand-to-hand combat, though many games also feature characters with melee weapons.<ref name="xboxguide" /> Fighting characters are usually based on humans, but there are also games that are entirely based around [[mecha]] robot characters, for example the ''[[Gundam: Battle Assault]]'' series.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-11 |title=The X Button - Popular Mecha Nicks |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/the-x-button/2014-07-23/popular-mecha-nicks/.76948 |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=Anime News Network |language=en}}</ref>

This genre is distinctly related to beat 'em ups, another action genre involving combat, where the player character must fight many enemies at the same time. Beat 'em ups, like traditional fighting games, display player and enemy health in a bar, generally located at the top of the screen. However, beat 'em ups generally do not feature combat divided into separate "rounds".<ref name="tao" /> During the 1980s to 1990s, publications used the terms "fighting game" and "beat 'em up" interchangeably, along with other terms such as "[[martial arts]] simulation" (or more specific terms such as "[[judo]] simulator")<ref>{{cite web|date=May 28, 1986|title=Way of the Tiger|url=https://archive.org/details/crash-magazine-28/page/n115/mode/2up|publisher=[[Crash (magazine)|Crash]]|issue=28|pages=116}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Bielby, Matt|date=May 1990|title=Oriental Games|url=https://archive.org/details/your-sinclair-53/page/n29/mode/2up|publisher=[[Your Sinclair]]|issue=53|page=31}}</ref><ref name="runitagain"/> and "punch-kick" games.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Capcom |magazine=RePlay |date=May 1991 |volume=16 |issue=8 |page=74 |url=https://archive.org/details/re-play-volume-16-issue-no.-8-may-1991-600dpi/RePlay%20-%20Volume%2016%2C%20Issue%20No.%208%20-%20May%201991/page/74}}</ref> Fighting games were still being called "beat 'em up" games in [[video game magazines]] up until the end of the 1990s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Play Test: Soul Blade |journal=[[Official UK PlayStation Magazine]] |date=1999 |issue=Platinum Special |pages=82–5 |url=https://archive.org/details/Official_UK_Playstation_Magazine_1999_Future_Publishing_GB_platinum_special/page/n81/mode/2up}}</ref> With hindsight, critics have argued that the two types of game gradually became dichotomous as they evolved, though the two terms may still be conflated.<ref name="tao" /><ref name="edgee3">{{cite web|title=E3 Feature: Fighting Games Focus|url=http://www.next-gen.biz/features/e3-feature-fighting-games-focus|author=Staff|date=May 3, 2006|publisher=Edge Online|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505171555/http://www.edge-online.com/features/e3-feature-fighting-games-focus|archive-date=May 5, 2012|access-date=February 11, 2009}}</ref>

Sports-based combat games are games that feature [[boxing]], [[mixed martial arts]] (MMA), or [[Professional wrestling|wrestling]].<ref name="xboxguide" /><ref name="edgee3" /> Serious [[List of boxing video games|boxing games]] belong more to the [[Sports video game|sports game]] genre than the [[action game]] genre, as they aim for a more realistic model of boxing techniques, whereas moves in fighting games tend to be either highly exaggerated or outright fantastical models of [[Asian martial arts]] techniques.<ref name="fundamentals" /> As such, boxing games, mixed martial arts games, and [[List of wrestling video games|wrestling games]] are often described as distinct genres, without comparison to fighting games, and belong more in the sports game genre.<ref>{{cite web | author = Bramwell, Tom | url = http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/article_47405 | title = Fighting in the Backyard | website = Eurogamer | date = February 13, 2003 | access-date = February 11, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101227192229/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/article_47405 | archive-date = December 27, 2010 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author = Walters, Stefan | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/1855789.stm | title = Let's play: Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing | work = BBC Sport | date = April 26, 2004 | access-date = February 11, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071031095912/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/1855789.stm | archive-date = October 31, 2007 | url-status = live }}</ref>