Fighting Video Games

Ubisoft's fighting series designed for boy gamers aged six to ten comes to the Wii for the first time with more mighty clashes between some of the most powerful and ferocious creatures to ever roam the earth in Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs Strike. Gamers select from a group of 18 different dinosaur breeds, including T-Rex, Velociraptor, and Stegasaurus, and then choose from 12 different colors and patterns. Players use their Wii Remote and Nunchuk to battle opponents in three-round bouts, taking advantage of each dinosaur's particular strengths and weaknesses. Those who win are rewarded with bonuses that unlock thorns, bones, and feathers to make their creatures stronger, tougher, and faster. In addition to battling fellow dinosaurs, combatants must also avoid taking damage from cataclysmic events plaguing the forest, desert, and mountain environments. Solo gamers can also take on the ladder-style "Domination" mode, while multiplayer fans can join up to three friends for the "Versus," "Tournament," and Tag Team" modes. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Swords is a Bushido Blade-esque 3D Fighting game in which players use their Wii Remote and Wii MotionPlus accessory to engage in real-time, first-person swordfighting. Gamers must travel through time to battle eight of the greatest warriors ever, including a Viking chieftain, an Arthurian knight, a violent princess, and hunter droid from the distant future. Players can sharpen their skills and learn important new combos through training challenges in which they learn carving, sparring, and blocking, and they can then put all of their skills into action by battling a horde of zombies. The true action comes in the form of tournaments, where gamers can earn powerful new swords by dispatching foes and defeating the powerful bosses. Multiplayer fans can also square off against a friend in head-to-head combat, or two players can team up to take on the training drills. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Tournament of Legends is a 3D fighting game starring ten characters inspired by mythology and folklore. Use a combination of edged weapons and magic to defeat your opponent in dramatic style. Play as or against a Minotaur, gladiator, demon, skeleton warrior, gorgon, stone golem, god of death, valkyrie, bronze statue, or a sun goddess. You can learn the moves in an interactive training arena before using the Wii Remote and/or Nunchuk to swing one of ten blades or unleash one of 50 magical attacks. The latter has your character summoning a lion, nest of snakes, lightning strike, giant fist, and more. As you clash with your rival, your character will receive head- and body-armor damage that can be repaired during battle. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

All Star Karate is designed to offer players a lighthearted and educational take on one of the world's most popular martial arts. Gamers can use their Wii Remote and Nunchuk (or two Wii Remotes) to act out real karate moves as they advance through seven different colored belts in "Career" mode. Though it aims to teach the terminology, structure, and discipline of karate, All Star Karate pursues its goal in a humorous fashion, asking players to participate in a variety of comical mini-games, such as catching annoying flies or slapping a dozing instructor. The single-player mode finds aspiring black belts eventually squaring off against a villainous ninja, while multiplayer fans can join friends for intense sparring matches. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars is a 2D fighting game featuring fantasy match-ups between fan-favorite franchise characters from the animation studio and the game publisher. More than a dozen characters from each corporately aligned faction are available for play. In Capcom's corner are Street Fighter veterans Ryu and Chun Li, Batsu Ichimonji from Rival Schools, the succubus Morrigan Aensland from the Darkstalkers series, and cinema-inspired superhero Viewtiful Joe, along with characters from the Mega Man, Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and Okami game series. Fighting for Tatsunoko are Ken the Eagle, Jun the Swan, and Joe the Condor from Gatchaman, Yatterman-1 and Doronjo from the Yatterman cartoons, Tekkaman and Tekkaman Blade, and heroes from Neo-Human Casshern, Golden Warrior Gold Lightan, Karas, and Hurricane Polymar anime series. As in earlier Vs. fighting games from the publisher (Capcom vs. SNK, Marvel vs. Capcom), several modes are available, including two-character team-ups and tag-out rules, but the focus of play is squarely on the one-on-one fighting between onscreen opponents. To keep the punches and kicks flowing for everyone, the game uses an accessible three-button control scheme, instead of the six button set-up found in many of Capcom's arcade-inspired fighters. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was designed for play on Wii. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

In Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution III, more than 35 playable characters from the Naruto: Shippunden manga and anime face off in martial arts battles, using hand-to-hand combat and jutsu special powers. In addition to one-off battles for quick, pick-up-and-play action, the game offers a single-player storyline mode that follows the plots of the comics and television series. Building on the mechanics of earlier games in the series, Clash of Ninja Revolution III allows players to control their characters with the motion-sensitive Wii Remote and Nunchuk, or by using the more traditional Wii Classic controller or GameCube controller. The game refines the fan-familiar control scheme and adds new and more powerful attacks and defensive maneuvers, as featured in the animated series Shippuden sequel. In addition to same-screen battles on a single console, the game supports multiplayer combat over the Internet, for Wi-Fi connected players across North America. Exclusive to Nintendo consoles, the Naruto: Clash of Ninja 3D fighting games began with two releases for GameCube in 2006, coming to Wii in 2007's Clash of Ninja Revolution, and then Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 in 2008. Clash of Ninja Revolution III is the first of the fighting game series set during the Shippuden "Hurricane Chronicles" Naruto sequel stories, which take place at a later time and feature complex plotlines and older, more mature characters. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Timed to celebrate 25 years of comics, cartoons, movies, toys, and video games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is a fighting game designed to give the franchise the full Super Smash Bros. treatment, complete with environmental attacks, eight-player battles, and a large roster of fighters. Players can select from more than 15 characters, including series mainstays Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Splinter, and Shredder, as well as a few characters from outside of the "Turtle" universe, such as publisher Ubisoft's unofficial mascot, Raving Rabbid. Each character has a unique fighting style, and gamers can also unleash projectiles and special ninja powers, such as fire, lightning, tornados, and earthquakes. The game makes use of detailed backgrounds and a 2.5D perspective, giving depth and interactivity to more than a dozen trap-filled stages. "Arcade" mode serves as the primary single-player feature, though solo gamers can also participate in "Battle Royale" and "Survival" modes, as well as the mini-game-filled "Mission Mode." Multiplayer fans can join up to seven friends for "Swap Out" and "Tournament" modes, or head online for one-on-one action. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Arc System Works celebrates the tenth anniversary of its 2D fighting series Guilty Gear in this updated remake of the 2007 game Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core. Accent Core Plus keeps the series' signature combo-heavy fighting and in-depth character backstories, but it also adds Guilty Gear mainstays Kliff and Justice to the mix, for a total of 25 playable fighters. Other additions include a re-tuned "Survival" mode with RPG-style character-leveling, three-man teams in the "Versus" mode, and a new "Story" mode that offers more than 350 potential scenarios. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Designed exclusively for Wii, Castlevania Judgment is a 3D fighting game spin-off of Konami's gothic horror hack-and-slash series. Players wield the motion-sensing Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers to perform lashes, slashes, and stabs with their onscreen counterparts. Battles play out across relatively large, castle-age settings, stocked with interactive objects that can be destroyed or thrown as weapons against the enemy. The zombies, golems, and other mindless minions and monsters that wander through battle stages can pose a both threat and opportunity, as fighters may defeat them for an energy boost. Certain characters can make use of special traps in certain stages. Plucking heroes and villains from the 22-year-old series' centuries-spanning timeline, the game's playable characters include Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, Alucard, Sypha Belnades, Grant DaNasty, Maria Renard, and Shanoa, as well as Carmilla, Death, and the evil Lord Dracula himself. The look of the characters was created for the game by award-winning manga artist Takeshi Obata (Hikaru no Go, Death Note). ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Based on the animated feature film and TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Lightsaber Duels lets gamers turn the Wii Remote into every Jedi Knight's most important weapon. With controls designed to be intuitive, players can re-create duels from the The Clone Wars by battling with characters such as Anakin Skywalker, General Grievous, Ahsoka Tano, and Asajj Ventress. Fights take place on familiar Star Wars locations, such as Tatooine and Teth, and players can make use of their surroundings by slicing down environmental objects and then using the Force to hurl them as projectiles. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide