I remember the first time I got my hands on the joypad of the new NES my parents had bought me for Christmas and I must say, even though a few years later I replaced it with a mouse and keyboard, I still like the occasional console fighting game. The sheer rush you get from beating up an opponent, especially as they get more and more difficult with every event is what has always drawn me to fighting games. Sadly, in the last few years, even though there have been great releases (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken), I feel like some of the classics have been lost or changed too much along the way, here is what I want to see in the fighting genre when the next-gen consoles arrive.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

Back in the day, there were very few fighting games better than this one, especially on the NES. When it came out in 1993, it was one of the most played games in my neighbourhood. My friends and I would gather in one of the houses with a NES console and play for hours making tournaments of our own. The game could be played against the AI or against a person. We were taking our tournaments very seriously. What is it about this game that it should be recreated for next-gen?

First of all, it was tons of fun, OK? Any game in which you can beat the heck out of your friend for picking an overpowered character (like the Shredder). Of course, the game gave you incomparable satisfaction when you actually managed to win against him. Second of all, the game was objectively good and was a new take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Konami certainly took leap of faith but it was worth it. The end result was a magnificent game and even though there were very few playable characters (at least in the NES version) it was still one of the best fighting games you could play on a friend’s birthday party.

There wasn’t a wide variety of characters to pick from. The four turtles were there, of course, as well as Casey Jones (my favourite), Hothead and the Shredder. In the story mode, the player has to defeat all in order to face the Shredder. But the real fun of the game was defeating your friends in the ultimate button mashing contest.

Urban Champion

Now this game is a proper classic taking drunken brawls to the next level, this is not your conventional fighting game, it’s a title that bids you against the AI (or your friends) in order to test your wits, as well your brawn. The objective of the game is to push the other player into a sewer, the way you can do this is with a series of light and heavy punches. If you’re not careful, though, your punches might be blocked. This is where strategy comes into play. This NES classic definitely deserves a next-gen release in my book because it’s one of the simplest yet most addictive fighting games I’ve played. It doesn’t have flashy moves but the level of challenge it represents, as well as the sole premise of the game were enough to make it one of the most fondly remembered games on the NES console. Even though it’s not one of the big titles Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, I would really love to see this game reaching next-gen with new graphics and improved mechanics, while in the same time keeping that awesome feeling of accomplishment when you finally manage to win.