THE FIGHTER'S
MISERY BALLOT

SHADOW: WAR OF SUCCESSION "Is that all you got?  IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!"  If you're referring to this game, the answer is yes.  Shadow is like Mortal Kombat in the same way that carob (ick) is like chocolate.	TEKKEN Namco used to make the best games in the business.  Of course, that was before some lazy jerk in the company decided that it'd be a lot easier to steal ideas from Sega.
MARTIAL CHAMPIONS It seems like Konami could have taken as large a piece of the fighting game genre as Capcom or SNK had, but judging from this I guess their heart just wasn't in it.	STRIP FIGHTER II Strip Fighter!  Strip, Strip Fighter! Graphics, gameplay, we don't care! Strip Fighter!  Strip, Strip Fighter! Just take off your underwear!
KARATE OK, so it's a little unreasonable to expect a quality tournament fighting game from a system like the 2600.  But it's just as unfair to make me play this instead of Solaris.	WORLD HEROES The most obvious Street Fighter II rip-off... EVER.  Forget Fighter's History... it's amazing that Capcom didn't sue over this.  On top of that, the first World Heroes is pretty weak.
BRUTAL I like furry cartoon characters, and I like fighting games... so why on Earth didn't I like this?  I guess the bad animation and even worse control had something to do with it...	DOUBLE DRAGON: THE MOVIE This Neo-Geo release had as much in common with the REAL Double Dragon as Street Fighter: The Movie had with its own alleged inspiration.
FINAL FIGHT REVENGE This American designed 3D fighter makes Capcom's popular series look so ridiculous you can't tell if it's a spinoff or a really unflattering parody.	FATAL FURY: REAL BOUT SPECIAL What kind of idiot thought it would be a great idea to give players only one punch and kick?  The same idiot who ruined the Fatal Fury series, that's who.
FIGHT FOR LIFE Proof that you can't squeeze blood from a stone... or a decent Virtua Fighter clone from a single programmer struggling with Atari's worst game system.	KASUMI NINJA The piece of cloth included with this Mortal Kombat rip-off isn't actually a headband... it's a tourniquet, in case your friend decides to slit his wrists after playing this.
FIGHT FEVER Hey, look!  I finally found a fighting game on the Neo-Geo that's worse than Shinoken!  In fact, I'm convinced it's a poorly disguised- and just plain poor- Genesis release.	AGGRESSORS OF DARK KOMBAT Mix the play styles of Final Fight and Street Fighter II and you get... something fun and innovative?  Well, it could've been, but ADK screwed up this promising idea big-time.
RAGING FIGHTER Remember how, before Match of the Millennium, people said you just couldn't make a great fighting game on a handheld system?  Here's the reason they said that.	DOOMSDAY WARRIOR "Quirky but dull, with unnecessarily convoluted gameplay" could describe ANY Renovation game, but in this case I'm talking about Doomsday Warrior.
BATTLE MONSTERS The only way you could make a film like Clash of the Titans any cheesier is to turn it into a video game.  Add lame characters, and presto!  It's so bad it's gouda!	KING OF FIGHTERS '95 I love the King of Fighters series, but the 1995 edition was a huge mistake.  I have to give it credit for introducing Iori and the team edit option, but it's just not fun to play.
PRIMAL RAGE A fighting game with dinosaurs was a clever idea, and the digitized claymation made it look terrific.  However, the lousy control (especially for special moves) doomed it.	SHAQ FU This proves that Shaquille O'Neal can't make free throws, or films, or music, OR video games.  I'm starting to wonder if the guy is good for anything...
DOUBLE DRAGON V This game, based on the cartoon series, not only tainted the Double Dragon license but a lot of game systems as well, including the Genesis, Super NES, and even the Jaguar.	DEADLY MOVES This was the closest thing Genesis owners had to Street Fighter II for a painfully long time.  Well, maybe it wasn't that long, but Deadly Moves sure made the wait painful.
TMNT: TOURNAMENT FIGHTERS Genesis owners could probably sympathize with Rosa Parks after Konami stuffed them in the back of the bus with this Genesis game, which was entirely inferior to the SNES title.	FIGHTING STREET The first Street Fighter is mighty tough to find in arcades... Capcom should be thankful for this, because anyone who played this wouldn't have dared to try the sequel.
CAPCOM VS. SNK PRO Gee, Capcom!  Thanks for adding two new characters, and absolutely nothing else, to a game which needed dozens of improvements!  You're ever so lazy- er, kind!	SAMURAI SHODOWN III This game not only stuck a blade in the heart of the Samurai Shodown series, but singlehandedly ruined the Playstation's reputation as a 2D graphics handler.