Top Ten Zoners in Fighting Games
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
- Of the famous fighting game archetypes, zoners stick out, both because they are in nearly every fighting game, and because it’s very noticeable when you’re hit by their game plan. They fight from a distance using whatever tools they have at their disposal, such as projectiles, long weapons, or even their own limbs. With how many cool tactics can arise from this playstyle, I wanted to find the most interesting zoners in fighting games. So let’s see who plays keepaway the best!
Songs used:
Classique by Francis Preve
Classic Rose 2 by Vibe Mountain
Zoners are the definition of "anyway, i started blasting".
Yeah, that's me
Hilda is the War Crime of UNIB, considering that it cames from the creators of Honest Mid Michael is not surprising
Mizuchi From Neo Geo is Way Worst, He’s Spamming His Zoner Nonstop! Once I Got Close to Him, He Push Me Back! So OP.
@@unclepaul1995 True but Mizuchi is most of the time unplayable and banned unlike Hilda who is in the base game and you can use her in any tournament
Hilda is also a War Crime with Adachi in BBTAG.
@@bolthesorcerer3570 So He's Banned from This List?
@@unclepaul1995 moreso, guess this was more about the regular playable characters, if not then Magaki would also be there.
"Standard, pew pew, gun guy". I'm dying
Unmasked Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat 3 fits the zoner category, ice ball, ice shower, ice clones and add the slide to keep the opponent away and there you go.
So that is what a character is called when fighting from a distance away in fighting games. Guess I learned something new, thanks MrTopTenList. Awesome list by the way.
There's a great resource called The Fighting Game Glossary by Infil that can tell you pretty much all the terms used in the FGC (Fighting Game Community). Highly recommend checking it out, especially if you are newer to Fighters.
Nice to see someone pickup the nomenclature
Tbh I thought they were called "Rangers"
Shout out to Chizuru of the King of Fighters series, her mirror moves and illusive zone game is uniquely bizarre and stylish.
As well as Ash Crimson from the same game series.
Axl from guilty gear will always be my favourite zoner, all his tools require hard reads from full screen, so he zones you but in a cool interactive way
I'm surprised that Dhalim is only No. 3. He's like the original Zoner.
He also kicks my ass in Streetfighter II Turbo.
I usually go with the most iconic character on topics like these, which is why Tekken and Street Fighter take so many Number 1 spots, but sometimes, if a character does something really cool, I'm like "ooh shiny" and give them number 1 because of that
@@MrTopTenList Very based approach
More Mr top ten list ✨ basically Great video 👍
Even though he isn’t I see Dhalsim as OP
Great job with the list Mr.TopTenList! Athena just HAD to be here. She’s one of the most versatile zoners in fighting game history. A projectile, a reflector, a teleport, a grab that works on both sides. I swear, you can’t go through one KOF game without hearing Psycho Ball in quick succession. XD
I'm glad that Morrigan Aensland is on this zoner list and it's true because I've been playing well in UMvsC3.
Glacius is still one of my favorite Zoners of all time. Mix in the hyper armor they can install to deal with folks who get too close and their puddle move to move about to set up placement, KI 2013 really hit the nail on the head with Glacius.
100% agreed! I'm shocked he isn't on the list! Really unfortunate...
Came here to say the same. Pour one out for our boy
I never thought Arcana Heart characters would make the list, glad I was wrong! I used to frustrate the hell out of my friend with Maori and her sisters, good times! 👍
Maori, Tsuzune, Koito and Kouta right?
@@HeartAino193 Yup, that's who I meant!
I have a love/hate relationship with zoners. I love playing as them, but hate playing against them!
I feel that is a fairly commonly shared sentiment. Lol.
JM would totally be a zoner
I never thought of Glacious as a zoner but... I guess you're right.
I didn't expect to see Maori and Hilda on the list!😆First Lieselotte and Chaos in Puppet Characters, then Kira and Waldstein in Grapplers, now Maori and Hilda in Zoners? In case you don't know, the names of Maori's sisters are Tsuzune, Koito and Kouta. Hilda usually appears as either a final boss or a sub-boss depending on who you're playing as in Story Mode. And please do more of these fighting game archetypes and fighting styles in the future:
Shoto
Rushdown
Charge
Kendo/Iaijutsu
Fencing/Jousting
Gunfu/Gunjutsu
Top iajutsu would be cool, Yuzuriha should be in
@@bolthesorcerer3570 as well as the likes of Baiken, Tachibana Ukyo, Takane Hibiki and Tokinomiya Kamui...
@@HeartAino193 don't forget Johnny from Guilty Gear
I play as Nu13 from time to time. I nickname her "sword storm", a reference to my fav gun from Custom Robo for gamecube. A gun that shoots swords
0:00 Intro
№10) 1:02 General Zodd ("Injustice 1")
№9) 4:10 Maori Kasuga ("Arcana Heart" series)
№8) 5:47 Cetrion ("Mortal Kombat 11")
№7) 8:49 Seong Mi-Na ("SoulCalibur series")
№6) 11:53 Morrigan ("Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3")
№5) 15:31 v-N.13- ("BlazBlue series")
№4) 17:21 Athena ("The King of Fighters" series)
№3) 19:49 Dhalsim ("Street Fighter" series)
№2) 22:46 Peacock ("Skullgirls")
25:58 HONORABLE MENTIONS (Basara "Samurai Shodown" series)(Axel "Guilty Gear" series)(Samus/Dark Samus "Super Smash Bros." series)(Radeck "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale")
(Hsien-Ko "Darkstalkers" series)(Dormamu/Arthur "Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3")
№1) 28:09 Hilda ("Under Night" series)
31:33 OUTRO
Never thought of Seong Mi-Na as a zoner…
Can understand peacock.
@@Ramsey276one the staff gave it away dude.
@@AnthonyKusanagi101 Astaroth has a Giant Ac and is far from a zoner. Size isn’t everything
XD
Ivy a better zonner than seing Mina he tripping
I'm pretty surprise that King from King of Fighters didn't even get a mention. Her Venom Strike is very commonly used for zoning.
She's only a decent zoner in the Ash saga. Her zoning wasn't so strong before.
@@uandresbrito5685 That is true. Good point.
Same for Joe he can zone you real heavy with his Hurricane Upper. Especially since the projectile itself is tall enough so you can't jump over it but you can roll past it.
The heavy version of the special move travels fast but what's more annoying is that the EX version travels even faster and he throws 3 of them. His keep away game is hella strong.
@@uandresbrito5685 My Fave Zoner:Shin Goku SSJ2(Supersonic Warriors 2)SUPREME SHOTS INTO SUPREME KAMEHAMEHA=DEATH!
@@chimuoma390 That's a boss tho. Most fighting game bosses have some seriously unfair zoning, even if they aren't zoners.
I think my only complaint with this list is the omission of Cable from MvC2. Possibly the greatest zoner in fighting game history.
Nah, you are just being a MvC2 fanboy. He is great and iconic, but the greatest?
@@carlosaugusto9821 mostly meant this in terms of their status in the game. Characters like Dhalsim are more iconic than Cable, but haven’t historically been top tiers. Cable meanwhile is a mostly undisputed top 4 character in MvC2, and his play-style in turn inspired future fighting game zoners (Including Peacock from Skull Girls).
Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, Laser Cannon... repeat
@@UberTahm Fun Fact: Birds name Avery is a reference to Tex Avery, one of legendary classic animators.
My immediate thought was Glacius in KI and Deadshot in Injustice 2
One of these days I'd like to see a list reference something from the X-Men Next Dimension fighting game. I don't know why, but it just crossed my mind.
A great list as always. Some of these games I haven't heard of. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.
Glad to always bring some new fighting games to people's attention! I always like to check out the "not as popular" games for topics since there are some gems hidden among the obscure characters
I loved using the Murakumo Units in the BlazBlue games
All this talk about zoners, but no mention of Cable from MvC2.
Top 15
Nu-13 is really cool!
She seems like a "you" type of design
@@MrTopTenList She's like a mystical dragon. That's how I would picture Lugia if they were a robot person
What about Cable from Marvel Vs Capcom 2, he has projectiles for basic punches
Played all of these games and for me Magaki from KOF (I forgot which one) turns the whole stage into bullet hell.
Although I'm not sure if he's playable normally, I would say yes because thats a thing with KOF but I doubt its fair.
Curiosity, Lambda is now more like Nu-13 than Nu herself, as she began the series as a zoner/rushdown mixed character. In Central Fiction, Nu was changed into a dedicated zoner while Lambda retained the zoner/rushdown mix (she is worse at zoning than current Nu).
Zoners are my favorite personally
Frieza isn't even in the top 50 characters in his own game. Man, why do I love this character
Oh, flip! Cetrion is on this list. SCORE
I feel like we can get some clips of more recent incarnations of some characters.
Mina fits for Samurai Shodown more, she's a literal archer.
No mention of Cable, one of the four top tier gods of MVC2, and his infamous Viper Beams.
I personally feel Ivy is the better zoner in the SoulCalibur series. It’s much harder to get in on Ivy than Seong Mina. But she’s easily the second best zoner.
I know that this character is not on this list but I for one would like to give a honorable mentioned to this character that is in this game that has just come out recently, and that character is Launcher from DNF Duel.
Many people hatye zoners, but I loved them. Even on a casual level when I didn't knew about archetypes I liked to pick characters with lots of proyectiles and/or had long range moves. While I don't play FGs for the moment (mainly due to bad internet) I'm still very interested in them, and this list is like a character suggestion for me, specially for some games I've never played before.
P.S: A bit bias from my side, but I feel Ash Crimson deserved an honorable mention
Great list! You definitely saved one of the coolest for last. Legacy seemed to take precedence (i.e. why Mina was picked over Ivy for Soul Calibur) and you went for a character that people generally liked in an archetype that is generally hated which seems to be why you picked Zod over Deadshot and Athena over Bao.
I was not expecting your pick for number one at all. I was convinced it was going to be Dhalsim.
I usually default to the most iconic character, but sometimes, if a character does something really cool, I'm like "ooh shiny" and rank them high
@@MrTopTenList that’s fair enough. Hilda’s zoning does look really cool because of how she just sits back and casually juggles you around in the air whilst chuckling to herself.
Hilda's theme is so goddamn cool.
I see Nu13 let’s go!
And also Lambda11...
@@HeartAino193 wait I think I know you from Twitter. Yo it’s been a few years.
@@mrmeteor64 yeah. And I'm kinda surprised to see Maori and Hilda end up on the list.
Great pick for your #1 spot!
I feel like MvC Sentinel in should've been mentioned. That guy is nutzo as a zoner and a character with the full screen shenanigans with the lasers, drones and rocket punches alongside their crazy close-up high-low mixups with flight mode. Also, a personal favorite of mine is Magolor from Kirby Fighters 2. It may partially be from a place of bias since Magolor is one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite series, but he is a fun and downright absurd zoner in Fighters 2. Despite relying on his purple orbs and gem apple bomb set ups, his dash attack is an incredible move with very good versatility for combos and using its priority to deal with pressure. It can even be stored by his frame 1 invincible teleport for further pressure. And his gem apples... Anti-air tools, combo extenders, and even an enabler for what is basically Snake's backthrow to c4 in Smash Ultimate. That one interaction does half your opponent's health, it's crazy. Honestly, Magolor is crazy, and I love it
I seen this video in my nightmares before even clicking the video.
1:42 without my glasses, Zod's life bar looks like it says "Zoo" on top of it. (I never played Injustice DLC)
I love zoners in fighting games and I love Athena she is such a wonderful King of Fighters characters and my favorite zoner. Cool video. ^_^
Maybe you did not add him because he is not a playable character, but Magaki (the final boss in KoF XI) is probably the avatar of zoners 🤣. Nice video!
This was great. I'm new to the channel but just wanted to request if you could make a top 10 "jack or all trades" fighters list that relies solely on multiple/random melee attacks, magic, or weapons if you haven't already done a video on that.
Thank you! That's been something I've wanted to try out for awhile. I was thinking of calling it "shotos in fighting games" but I'll see how my planning turns out before I decide on a name
@@MrTopTenList shotos, all rounders, you name them.
Jin.
This video came out 2 months ago and you know Happy Chaos exists.
A Zoner in a Fighting Game is the Amateur's favorite Archetype Character where they will have the Advantage of cheap Tactics like spamming Projectiles like Fireballs and Bullets etc,
But, while a Zoner is a Love or Hate kinda thing, if using it very Wisely, they can be Force to be Reckoned with.
Also sounds like me
But I would bombard you with bunnies. ALL of the bunnies
Seong Mi-Na! i played that Soul Caliber back in the day so i KNEW Jade’s (MK11) fighting style seemed super familiar to me. i just couldn’t put my finger on it, so thank you for that tidbit lol👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I was like, the heck is a Zoner? ... Ranged-Attack Focused. Got it.
What's a dhalsim?
I should've included that meme in his entry
Didn't know about Hilda. Had 1.0 V13 vibes, tuned up to the max.
While I understand using Mi-Na, I'm surprised that you didn't use Ivy as the Soul Cal rep
Picking Seong Mi-Na over Ivy because the latter didn't appear until the second SC game is straight up idiotic. Ivy is so iconic that even people who are not into fighting games would know who she is, same can't be said about Seong Mi-Na.
It was a very close call, which is why I put Ivy in the B-roll. There wasn't really a deciding factor outside of I liked some of the more subtle elements of Seong Mina's zoning, like holding out the weapon as she walks back, but I could totally understand why Ivy would go over Mina for some.
@@Aanon I never said I didn't pick Ivy because she wasn't in the first game. I was just saying Seong Mina was in the first game and wanted to make a comment about how Soulcalibur was not the first game in the series. Ivy has been in as many main series games as Mina with Mina missing SCV, so that would have been flawed logic if that was my reasoning. I just like Mina's playstyle better. I'm all for putting a character on a list because their iconic, but I just felt Mina was a more interesting character to talk about regarding the topic of zoning. Plus, she never got an entry before, while Ivy has been on 2 other lists, which is sometimes a deciding factor for when I can't decide on 2 characters from the same series.
@@MrTopTenList Oh yeah! I absolutely understand that! I think why I thought of Ivy first was because she's more about controlling her opponent, forcing them into peril, akin to more traditional zoners. Though Mi-Na's zoning coming from keeping *her* out of danger against her opponent rather than the approach Ivy takes makes her just that much more unique in comparison
Pretty sure the strategy in old Mortal Kombat is "get them lined up for an uppercut" and then "remember how to input a Fatality code"
My favorite zoner is Cable from MvC 2
Even though her tools might make it seem like she's a zoner (she even has a teleport dash, which wasn't mentioned), Hsien-Ko isn't actually played like a zoner much at all, at least in Vampire Savior. (VS doesn't really have a true zoner, the game is pretty highly rushdown-focused.) Her LP item toss is pretty weak and doesn't actually travel full screen distance, and the MP and HP variations are good but niche-use.
She's played more like a glass cannon-very poor defense but her offensive potential is great. Her super move Tenrai Ha is one of the best in the game.
I've never heard of Hilda or that game she comes from but *SHE IS MY NEW FAVORITE THING IN LIFE!!!!* I need this game in my life right, stinking NOW!!!
You forgot to mention "Cable" from MvC 2, and "H-Arms Custom" from Gundam battle assault
I never liked zoners until I found axl form gulity Gear. Now I love them 😂
Please do top ten dogs in fighting game
This is the second video I have watched about Zoners in as many days. Granted the one from Shoryugaming was about KoF Zoners only.
Im sorry, but I personally think that Ryu from Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition should be here. Literally every Ryu be it player or AI spams Hadoken at least 75% of the time. I understand most people think Guile is the main zoner but I personally think Ryu is in there too. Other than that. I completely agree with this.
That's a interesting type list on fighting game characters
Top 10 mimic characters in fighting games -
Mokujin (Tekken), Charade (Soul Calibur), 11 (Street Fighter), etc.
I was thinking maybe vatista instead of Hilda but either of them cover the archetype well
King k rool is so post to be a heavy but I use him as my zoner with this iconic gun
Love your lists
Thank you!
Hey I found a great top then list idea
How about
Top 10 edgy characters or top 10 rivals in fighting games?
Rivals is a great idea and I should cover that one eventually!
I have done a list on edgy characters before. Here it is: th-cam.com/video/Uy-gxRnpNWM/w-d-xo.html
@Zold Jesus dude I just made a typo
Its not that funny
I'm sure you have a list for fighting game characters with wips as weapons But until I find it if it does exist you need to add Wonder Woman from injustice Two At least as an honorable mention.
I have covered Whips before, but it's a bit of an old list, so I probably would have made some different presentation choices: th-cam.com/video/jfM7BPXGncs/w-d-xo.html
And not to spoil, but I had Catwoman as the whip rep for Injustice, so no Wonder Woman. Though, I think she would have been a great rep too. She was my original main in the first Injustice game.
@@MrTopTenList 😆 Catwom, Ivy, Poison, are obvious I was a Shock at how WW's used her Lasso. 😳
Also I was 747 whipping my Cuzin.
petshop from jojo
How about Hol Horse (Any JoJo fighting games), Tessa (Red Earth), Any cast from Marvel/Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Elizabeth or Yukari (Persona 4 Arena (Ultimax)) and Anonym/Anonym-Guard or Mycale or her Perfecti form (Akatsuki EN-Eins)?
Also why do you forgot about Sektor in Mortal Kombat Gold, who was moreorless zoner in that game where he constantly spams missiles in middle of nowhere.
Every single zoner will fear mk9 smoke.
I like your list and would like to add I-No from GUILTY GEAR X2 FINAL BOSS .
she's the reason i learned how to play game shark , codebreaker , etc for that inf health .
idc .
XD
Hilda was so freaking broken in blazblue Tag battles I hated and liked her lol 😆 😂 🙃
Love it, especially for the NetherRealm spots
Dont know of its up your alley but Top ten Cutest Yugioh monsters
That's very much up my alley! I've been working with one of my artist friends who wants to join to eventually cover the cutest archetypes.
MrTTL I hope you're doing well, mang. Always enjoy these lists.
Thank you! Glad to hear it!
16:08 Nu & Lambda were together in Chrono Phantasma Extend
Happy Chaos from Guilty Gear Strive is one hell of a zoner
Surprised a FighterZ character never came up since that's a big part of the game
In MVsC3 lead with Akuma to scramble cancels and have Morrigan level up your meter to five and switch into Phoenix and tank till you till you die and then revive and sweep was my favorite method.
Gaara from the fan game naruto vs bleach is a true zoner since all his moves can be used at a far distance (they even push the opponent back)
Reptile has ALWAYS been bout that zone.
Shout out to Vlov from Melty Blood
When I heard the word zoner i immediately think of Dhalsim. I wasn't good at fighting games at that time early 90s) so I always choose Dhalsim and spam that elastic arms attacks along with his slide to beat the opponents.
It might not count because he's not actually from a fighting game, but sephiroth in smash... man... he hits different.
seriously???
how are you gonna forget King from Art Of Fighting?
or Shiro Amakusa from Samurai Showdown?
or Geese Howard from Fatal Fury?
Wait...... this is u playing in all the games?!? Do you have a twitch coz the hard work and dedication u have to your videos is amazing!!! You gain a follower just on that dedication alone
Thank you! I do have a Twitch. I usually just do 1 or 2 streams a week if I have time, but I mostly do fighting games. All footage was captured by me. Sometimes the CPU was playing against me, like in the Nu13 segment (still captured by me), but in stuff like the Morrigan entry, that was me at the controller. My Twitch is www.twitch.tv/mrtoptenlist
For the next one do "Top Ten Stoners in Fighting Games"
I like Nu.
Certiorari the avatar
great work as always. how about top 10 badass adorable?
05:44 - No, Zoning was a legit option ever since MK2, and there were a ton of Zoners since MK2 as well: Reptile, Mileena, Kitana, Sektor, Shang Tsung etc; Even the 3D characters had some Zoners like Shang Tsung. It wasn't just MK9 that started with dedicated Zoners. Also, "dedicated Zoners" can still Rushdown too, Cetrion herself in MK11 was that, and so are all of the other Zoners in MK like Reptile. That's why in MKX, any archetype isn't "just an option", Reptile, Mileena, Kitana. and Liu Kang are all Zoners and can Zone extremely well regardless of the Variation, even if the Zoning itself is more preferred with specific Variation, the option is still there in all Variations and on it's own it is still extremely powerful. Reptile is the best example of it.
Mentioning cetrion instead of erron black surprises me considering he’s the biggest zoner
dizzy not being on this lane is a crime smh
Does Shikamaru In Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Count ????
Wouldnt that spot be more fitting for tenten?
Top 10
"Bruce Lee" characters
military characters
drunken fist characters
small characters
secret characters
character rivalries
sword users
axe users
nunchuck users
claw users
hammer users
knife users
Also top 10 captains like Capt. America & Capt. Planet,& top 10 robot versions of other characters like metal sonic & mecha godzilla
Hm, interesting, I pretty well made list.
Sogetsu must be on this video and 80% of Netherrealm.
9:45 we can call Soul Edge(Blade) SoulCalibur Prologue