So for today I thought we would do something fun, and talk about some of the Greatest Stages in all of Fighting Games! The stage can be just as much part of the soul of a fighter as any character can be, so lets talk about some of the real bangers over the decades! Thank you very much to Ten/o for sponsoring the video, and check out merch.ten-o.gg/creators/rooflemonger to see their FGC merch, created by FGC people
Not gonna lie capturing this footage I got kinda sad when I got around to some of the Dead or Alive stuff. With Virtua Fighter coming back it its really awesome, but we ain't free until all of us are free! Tina needs to ride again!
I dunno, do we trust the current gaming landscape/mood/culture/devs with a modern DoA? Girls with jawlines that put Superman to shame? Outfits with only the tiniest hint of cleavage? Un-jiggle physics? I'm afraid of what the end result would actually be. Hrm, maybe if they farmed it out to a Korean studio...
Fetus of God was on the original list, but when i started making cuts to bring it down to 10 compared to Tower of Arrogance well... didn't make the cut. Like its legit great in its weird way but it doesn't strike as hard imo
KOF 99's Rainy Park is my absolute favorite stage of all time. The pixel art, the vibes, the transitions. I live in a place where it rains and becomes overcast often so maybe I'm biased.
That pixel art selling a sudden downpour so well is the most impressive part. I've experienced sudden torrential rain like that and that stage is *exactly* how it looks and feels. Incredible.
@@Darkkfated Damn, I really miss the feeling of those games. remember the backroll in 99? it's unique to all the KoFs, I used to think it was the stupidest new mechanic to be added because of being so used to just doing the normal back roll that the other KoFs had, I would instinctively back roll to get away but then my character would bounce back forward again and I'd just get blown up by the opponent... But distinctly remembering the feeling of first learning how to use it. OMG my mind was blown so hard I felt like I was playing a new game all together, my mind instantly got flooded with new ways to play different characters, that combined with the armor mode and counter mode. Nah KoF games were goated so hard really there were so many different ways to play each character it was expressive AF.
@@Darkkfated plus that guitar riff playing in the background as the rounds get closer and closer to your final character... PURE PERFECTION IN THE EXECUTION. Imagine being from the modern age where you didn't experience the arcade era, you will never know how good it felt playing those games... I would love SNK to make a new KoF but like the 2001 system where you can pick the amount of strikers you want... They clearly sleeping on so many amazing concepts.
When I fought in the Park stage for the first time, I fought against the Art of Fighting team, and I found their theme fitting for it, more so their Arranged version.
For rainy park, not even just for spritework, I can't think of a single game that has managed to make a downpour look so viscerally wet. That's legitimately amazing.
I really appreciate your channel as where I go to for FGC news, but seeing these videos where you just gush about cool shit in fighting games is so awesome. Keep it up, man.
This is the exact comment I had to leave when I watched this. No body works harder to keep the FGC up to date, but these videos that just celebrate cool stuff in FGs are so comfy. Hard to explain. I know they’re a lot of work though. It must be more work on you for less payout often..
When I was a teenager in the 90's, I thought that Darkstalkers 3 stage was a space ship and that helicopter was a giant fan in the bay. I (rightfully) felt like a dumbass when I realized they're on the side of a building.
It's nothing special but the KOF2000 Aquarium stage will always be memorable in my mind. It's probably the most calming stage for a fighting game I know of.
The Last Blade 2 mentioned!! My fav fighting game. That stage is so iconic - and others too, honestly. The stages in lb2 do a great job at creating distinct environments!
Like sure we got the burning house and the opening cliffside, but damn I also like that rainy field (usually stage 7) and the war-torn coastline. The music (when it kicks in) adds a lot too.
Speaking of the London stage in CVS2, there aren't any Christmas decorations on the first round. However, later rounds add the Christmas decorations, change out the background crowd, and headlights on the bus turn on.
Man, that DoA museum stage is just great and also instantly shows what I am missing from Tekken: The impact. Like when you knock someone over the rails, it just looks so rough in a good way. They're not softly going over it, they're just crashing into it. Give me more of that, please.
You could name basically half the snk game stages and be correct. Some amazing ones. Samurai shodown 1 and 2, motw, last blade, and even art of fighting stages.... all crazy amazing. There are, of course, more, but my god did they put so much artistry into their games.
I am glad Rooflemonger shows love to Last Blade 2. That game is a masterpiece that has been forgotten. I recently felt in love with it while playing it on my switch
Immaculate choices. I love stages that tell a story. Kazuya/Devil's "Mirror" stage subverts your expectations and delivers a somber tone that makes beating the final boss feel almost tragic. Samurai Shodown IV's stages all show the final boss's ominous castle in the background getting closer as your journey leads you to a deadly confrontation. The fact that these already moody stages fade mostly to black when you're low on health heightens the "duel to the death" vibe that you called out for Last Blade 2. Hugo's 3rd Strike stage is full of personal stuff (trophies, pets, meat) that bounces whenever he slams you. The whole thing highlights his personality and his massive size.
Snow town from blazblue Giant igloo houses, penguins wearing jackets having a snowball fight, and when you walk over the snow it disappears, such a nice detail
I kinda like War Agony from Darkstalkers 3 For all the supernatural and weird that's in that game, I find it most fascinating and chilling, cause it's the most realistic too in stark contrast to fighting on the side of a building or in Lord Raptor's dungeon/torture chamber
I know it's hard to pick with SNK but the stages in Fatal Fury 3 blew me away, even now, the way they change also, I never seen it done on that level, it was like the backgrounds were part of the story, the Geese stage is epic.
To shout out some personal favorites SFA3: has a lot of my favorite stages, but special attention goes to Guy's stage under the shady overpass, Gen's stage at the Hong Kong docks, and Honda's dusk-lit stage right outside of his restaurant. All just feel like they really emphasize the "street" feel of the fight. Melty Blood (og): W.Arc's Iron Maiden stage and Kouma's burning forest stage (both get extra points for their iconic tracks). GGXX: Paris stage in the rainy church, Japan colony stage (especially the night version with the spirits in the back), Nirvana stage with the giant creature being chained up...a lot of great picks to go around.
When I first clicked on your video I thought "Tower of Arrogance " HAS to be on this list. Sure enough, it is. An iconic and completely original stage design that has yet to be topped.
In Guilty Gear XX there's a stage (I think it's in London?) where a dog paces back and forth in the background. If you win as the dog is turning around it'll glitch and the dog will moonwalk for the rest of the match. Clearly this is the best stage of all time.
I’m sure someone’s said it but as a kid when you saw the MK pit stage you were on high alert for Easter egg stuff on the far ledge in the back the silhouettes on the moon and of course pit fatality was mind blowing the first time you saw it growing up (Or maybe I’m mashing together like 7 stages from foggy memories
Great choices. Rainy park is the goat. Field of Fate and Moonlit Wildernes are classic. Let's not forget ( iirc) Samurai Shodown 2 or 3 Genjuro's stage, which was also a field.
I'm glad Moonlit Wilderness made the list. My bros and I have considered it our favorite stage since Tekken 5. Another stage I love in that game is Urban Jungle (The cage stage). The crowd outside of the cage chanting "Woot Woot Woot!" in tandem with the stage's music completes the aesthetic. A favorite of mine from Tekken 6 has to be Hidden Retreat (the sheep stage). It doesn't appear in the stage select so you have to get it through random, but just being next to a flock of sheep with funny yodeling music playing cracked me up the first time fighting there! XD
It's not the flashiest choice, but I always loved Skullgirls's Under the Bridge stage. Jazzy music and a fairly down-to-earth vibe really help it fit stick out imo.
Surprised there isn't more Samurai Shodown representation on this list. You could make an entire list out of stages from that series, but especially Gairyu Isle is damn near iconic.
Field of Fate and Moonlit Wilderness have a thing in common which makes them so great: They're simple. You don't need alot to make a stage memorable. Just this very feeling of "this is just us, you and me, only one of us will leave" is so incredibly strong that you do not need much else. Pig advantage is cool. A park drenched in rain is absolutely beautiful. But there is nothing beating "you, me, in the middle of nowhere".
Not only was the sponsor FGC-specific, but even then you STILL timestamped it for busy people to skip past?! Rooflemonger keeping it so classy that I thought I was taking a Rolling Thunder for a second there.
If you got hit by a police car in Gambler's Paradise in DOA 4, there'll be a special replay where the camera follows the car till the character got hit. I used to yell "POLICE BRUTALITY!" LOL!
Heres the thing, I actually thought hyrule castle originally as a potential for the video, but then I was like "wait, I hate that stage" it does not bring good vibes lol
@@Rooflemonger i like melee's version of fountain of dreams, amazing orchestral arrangement for its theme... it involves water and it affects the platforms so theres gameplay implication for a legal stage
For me personally theres two stages vying for my all time fave. 1: the Japan stage in the Guilty Gear Xrd games, because I just love the imagery of fighting on this outcropping of rock at the edge of this impossible deep crater in the middle of the ocean. 2: KOF 13 Egypt. I know India is probably the more notable stage but Egypt for me is my favorite use of the KOF 13 art style on the elaborate moving backgrounds
Shout outs to the Sakazaki Stage from CvS1 - Complete with a stage intro, a few Easter Eggs, and a LOT of interactivity...to the point where the stage has different levels of destruction by the end of the fight (the damage carries over per round). It's almost literally a stage with its own life bar.
While there are many stages I could talk about, the mention of hype pig brought to me a memory I'm a big fan of Blazblue, and while there are many noteworthy stages, only one is Bascule Only one is home to HYPE DOG And as was said in the video, I think that is what's really important about stages, why they are noteworthy beyond a gameplay function. The fact this random background character got so much love because of how they were integrated into it, to the point of being acknowledged by the creators themselves, is amazing! As a lot of aspects in fighting games, there's a surprising amount of beauty to be found in the places we throw down, which this video perfectly shows. Didn't know about half of these, and many are just gorgeous Man I love this genre
My favorites stages in obscure fighting games are: Ray McDougal's stage from Fighter's History Dynamite Bobby Nelson's from Aggressors of Dark Kombat Samchay's from Fighter's History (1993) Genesis and Megalithic Age Stages from World Heroes Perfect Kang Pung's from Master's Fury Iron Hell Stage from KOF Maximum Impact (2004)
I’ll say this- For more recent new stages, Tekken 8’s Into the Stratosphere absolutely kills it. It is beyond hype as heck and the default music makes everything so much cooler. Definitely a favorite amongst more recent ones.
I have so many favorite fighting game stages. Major props to you for having CvS2’s London stage, The Living Forest and Rainy Park as a part of this wonderful video. For me, what really got me into fighting game stages is Cammy’s SSF2 stage. Now known today as ‘English Manor’, this stage captivated a younger me. The Northern Lights, the lush colors, fighting on top of a manor bridge, and the mansion down below….so many amazing details. As well as the great song that went with the stage, which would become Cammy’s main theme. I could go on and on about more of my favorite stages. But I’d be here all day and night. So, I had to highlight Cammy’s SSF2 stage: English Manor. It simply is a beautiful stage all the way around.
Remember the cliffhangers from Dead or Alive 5? First of all one of the coolest gimmicks in Dead or Alive history but only one stage uses it Imagine how cool it would be if we had more multi lair stages but we use the cliffhanger as a form of stage select. The cliffhanger itself is kind of rock paper scissors but depending on how you kick the person off the edge you might land somewhere different
Shoutout to Dinosaur World in KoF99 for being so cool with a Dinosaur on it. Also Factory in KoF 2000 which becomes Frozen Factory when you fight Kula. In fact Top 30 KoF Stages I'm requesting from you Rooflemonger!
The rainy park stage is so impressive, especially considering the limitations of the Neo Geo. It couldn't do transparency so the little blurs of the rain coming down on the things and making a little bit of steam is just done through sheer color wizardry.
Good choices for the stages, but as a SNK head, I have some stages which resonate more with me, Geese's Stage in Real Bout Special for instance, the settings, color pallet and of course the music(wich is the best fg theme of all time) its all so good. But in terms of settings i gotta give it to Goenitz stage, just for the build up that the story sets up to be, the stage destroyed, that epic tune, I remembered seeing that at my 12 years and saying to myself, that's peak art
i've actually never played DOA and the museum stage is a great concept idea whoever came up with it! also the Tiger Dojo stage in Tekken 3 was my most memorable stage from the Tekken series. i remember going to the arcades and seeing the stage every time
You are the hardest working FGC News outlet going man, it’s mad easy to count on you to stay up to date on the scene without effort of my own 😂 But for real dude, when you release something like this that’s just fun fighting game stuff I click so fast my hand cramps. It’s such a comfort watch putting on some rooflemonger content about T Hawk or the entire NESTS saga of KOF. Maybe the coolest stages in fighting games? Thank you for being you bro.
@rooflemonger don’t thank me bro 👍 just cover the plot of BlazBlue for us for the next vid 👍👍. Haha thank you, you are appreciated. Don’t forget to sleep and eat and everything.
Amazing choices! I also love me some Street Fighter III's painting-looking backgrounds, particularly the African one in NG and the Savannah in 3S (might just be because of the beats in my head!).
My answer for favorite stage has some caveats. It requires you to change the OST and its specifically the 3rd round variant of the stage If you put the console version of the track "Solitude" on the evening version of Tekken 8's time square stage, it turns into the best "vibes" stage since CVS2's London stage imo. Wish there was a way to have the nighttime setting as all 3 rounds because I could just run sets all night to it if you could
Alrighty, I know my way around some fighting games so allow me to noiminate some: Lost Cathedral from Soul Calibur 3. A beautiful ruined church fighting at sunset, the intertwined blades of Soul Edge and soul Calibur gleaming in the sunlight aa beautiful decisive melody plays over the background. whether fighting Nightmare, Seigfried, or Zasalamel, it screams "Destiny and Fate meets here." Urban Jungle from Tekken 5: This one i under the shadow of Moonlit Castle, but still a great stage. There is an unruly crowd cheering own the fight the entire time, hooting and hollering to the beat of the OST, to the point where the OST itself feels rather naked without the SFX of the crowd joining in. Landing big hits also draws cheers or oos from the crowd as well, great feeling stage to have. River King Casino: Chill music, beautiful colors and lighting, and a bunch of unique background characters taking a break from their winnings to watch the fight. what could make it better? Oh, some of the watchers are actually backers from the campaign to help fund more DLC characters? Including WoolieVersus and MattMcmuscles of Super Best Friend fame? alright this stage rules.
My favorite stages of all time are the field of fate from alpha 2 and the arcade stage from cvs1! I LOVE the fact you can step in and out of the arcade and I love the rain that falls during the intro.
The final stage of Dead Or Alive 2 lives rent free in my head as one of the coolest fighting stages ever made. It’s even cooler when Tengu starts his shenanigans up.
Great video . My all time favorite is the train stage from street fight alpha 3 . Was always amazed at the soldiers running in the background with machine guns
Stages are also opportunities for, like in CvS2 London, to include characters who didn't make the roster so we can see what they do when they're not punching people.
I always felt "the Pit" from Mortal Kombat was the most recognizable stage. Knocking your opponent down into Shang Tsung's Spike Pit is something that really drew you in during the original MK days.
This was so much fun! Would like to see a part 2 with honorable mentions, or common stage tropes like rings/tournament arenas/underground fight club stage etc.
Not a KOF player, but I saw Rainy Park a lot before, thanks to MUGEN, and it is probably one of the rarest times that I liked a scenery that is dark, cloudy and rainy so much that I want to BE there. I usually prefer clear blue skies and sunny mornings (and probably nights in busy cities).
It feels good to see some KOF 99 love!! I feel like it can get overlooked sometimes just because people usually flock into Last Blade or Garou for stages for SNK games. So I'm happy to see it recognized
So for today I thought we would do something fun, and talk about some of the Greatest Stages in all of Fighting Games! The stage can be just as much part of the soul of a fighter as any character can be, so lets talk about some of the real bangers over the decades! Thank you very much to Ten/o for sponsoring the video, and check out merch.ten-o.gg/creators/rooflemonger to see their FGC merch, created by FGC people
Just started the video, not looking at chapters because I wanna be surprised. I hope I hear "beats in my head" before the end of this video
I love how you mostly picked a "Wrestler" to use in this video!🤘🏾✊🏾
@@Kinshinobi elena's 3s track is really strong, but the stage is just kinda... alright? Its not even her best stage imo.
@@Rooflemonger Yeah true monkey Daddy, but at least you included field of fate and that won me back over 🖤
Not gonna lie capturing this footage I got kinda sad when I got around to some of the Dead or Alive stuff. With Virtua Fighter coming back it its really awesome, but we ain't free until all of us are free! Tina needs to ride again!
DoA always had the coolest stages. It's a genuine travesty that there hasn't been another game yet :(
The world yearns for more of that guy doing a bulldog to a teenage girl off a skyscraper!!!
Give me Brad or give me death!
I dunno, do we trust the current gaming landscape/mood/culture/devs with a modern DoA? Girls with jawlines that put Superman to shame? Outfits with only the tiniest hint of cleavage? Un-jiggle physics? I'm afraid of what the end result would actually be. Hrm, maybe if they farmed it out to a Korean studio...
Give DOA5 rollback
The fact you put moonlit wilderness here shows you're a man of culture!
Men of culture once again we meet.
Congratulations on making what might be the first "Fighting Game Stages" video that mentions Darkstalkers without talking about Fetus of God.
Fetus of God was on the original list, but when i started making cuts to bring it down to 10 compared to Tower of Arrogance well... didn't make the cut. Like its legit great in its weird way but it doesn't strike as hard imo
Darkstalkers 3 has so many great stages, was expecting to hear about the train
KOF 99's Rainy Park is my absolute favorite stage of all time. The pixel art, the vibes, the transitions. I live in a place where it rains and becomes overcast often so maybe I'm biased.
You live in South Africa?
That pixel art selling a sudden downpour so well is the most impressive part. I've experienced sudden torrential rain like that and that stage is *exactly* how it looks and feels. Incredible.
@@Darkkfated Damn, I really miss the feeling of those games. remember the backroll in 99? it's unique to all the KoFs, I used to think it was the stupidest new mechanic to be added because of being so used to just doing the normal back roll that the other KoFs had, I would instinctively back roll to get away but then my character would bounce back forward again and I'd just get blown up by the opponent... But distinctly remembering the feeling of first learning how to use it. OMG my mind was blown so hard I felt like I was playing a new game all together, my mind instantly got flooded with new ways to play different characters, that combined with the armor mode and counter mode. Nah KoF games were goated so hard really there were so many different ways to play each character it was expressive AF.
@@Darkkfated plus that guitar riff playing in the background as the rounds get closer and closer to your final character... PURE PERFECTION IN THE EXECUTION. Imagine being from the modern age where you didn't experience the arcade era, you will never know how good it felt playing those games... I would love SNK to make a new KoF but like the 2001 system where you can pick the amount of strikers you want... They clearly sleeping on so many amazing concepts.
When I fought in the Park stage for the first time, I fought against the Art of Fighting team, and I found their theme fitting for it, more so their Arranged version.
SNK is clearly the goat of stages, they went so hard
The fact he didn't include John Crawley's stage from Art of Fighting 1 or the Japan team stage from King of Fighters '94 is disappointing
My favorite music for any KoF game is the Japan stage
For rainy park, not even just for spritework, I can't think of a single game that has managed to make a downpour look so viscerally wet. That's legitimately amazing.
They were trying to do it since the early 90's. Tung Fu Rue stage from Fatal Fury 1 was their first attempt.
I really appreciate your channel as where I go to for FGC news, but seeing these videos where you just gush about cool shit in fighting games is so awesome. Keep it up, man.
These kinda vids take a LOT longer to make so I can only do them every now and then, but glad people appreciate them
This is the exact comment I had to leave when I watched this. No body works harder to keep the FGC up to date, but these videos that just celebrate cool stuff in FGs are so comfy. Hard to explain.
I know they’re a lot of work though. It must be more work on you for less payout often..
When I was a teenager in the 90's, I thought that Darkstalkers 3 stage was a space ship and that helicopter was a giant fan in the bay. I (rightfully) felt like a dumbass when I realized they're on the side of a building.
I don't think anyone realizes what that stage really is the first time to be honest.
I had never seen the stage before and thought it was spaship until it was mentioned. Hehe
Same here 😭 i always thought it was a spaceship until this video.
It's nothing special but the KOF2000 Aquarium stage will always be memorable in my mind. It's probably the most calming stage for a fighting game I know of.
also reminds me of Mai’s stage in Fatal fury 3!!
it goes so well with her theme in that game!
Of course it's special.
The Last Blade 2 mentioned!! My fav fighting game. That stage is so iconic - and others too, honestly. The stages in lb2 do a great job at creating distinct environments!
The Last Blade series has an incredible selection of stages. Really happy to see them shouted out here.
Like sure we got the burning house and the opening cliffside, but damn I also like that rainy field (usually stage 7) and the war-torn coastline. The music (when it kicks in) adds a lot too.
KOF 13 had absolutely gorgeous stages!
Speaking of the London stage in CVS2, there aren't any Christmas decorations on the first round. However, later rounds add the Christmas decorations, change out the background crowd, and headlights on the bus turn on.
Moonlit Wilderness was one of my favorites.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Keep up the great work, Roof.
Peace.
Glad to do so and sincerely thank you for the support
Man, that DoA museum stage is just great and also instantly shows what I am missing from Tekken: The impact. Like when you knock someone over the rails, it just looks so rough in a good way. They're not softly going over it, they're just crashing into it.
Give me more of that, please.
Damn remember how hard KoF stages cooked during the sprites era...
You could name basically half the snk game stages and be correct. Some amazing ones. Samurai shodown 1 and 2, motw, last blade, and even art of fighting stages.... all crazy amazing. There are, of course, more, but my god did they put so much artistry into their games.
Samurai Showdown series and Soul Caliber series has some fantastic backgrounds
3:30 - Oh my God! That's the Rooflemonger Theme!
So glad u called out the Kof 99 stage, love how it keeps transitioning👌🔥
Wolverine's stage from Marvel Super Heroes is also a fantastic stage, the transition with the bridge falling into the water is awesome
that was on the original list before I shortened down to 10 stages
I am glad Rooflemonger shows love to Last Blade 2. That game is a masterpiece that has been forgotten. I recently felt in love with it while playing it on my switch
Immaculate choices.
I love stages that tell a story. Kazuya/Devil's "Mirror" stage subverts your expectations and delivers a somber tone that makes beating the final boss feel almost tragic.
Samurai Shodown IV's stages all show the final boss's ominous castle in the background getting closer as your journey leads you to a deadly confrontation. The fact that these already moody stages fade mostly to black when you're low on health heightens the "duel to the death" vibe that you called out for Last Blade 2.
Hugo's 3rd Strike stage is full of personal stuff (trophies, pets, meat) that bounces whenever he slams you. The whole thing highlights his personality and his massive size.
Snow town from blazblue
Giant igloo houses, penguins wearing jackets having a snowball fight, and when you walk over the snow it disappears, such a nice detail
I kinda like War Agony from Darkstalkers 3
For all the supernatural and weird that's in that game, I find it most fascinating and chilling, cause it's the most realistic too in stark contrast to fighting on the side of a building or in Lord Raptor's dungeon/torture chamber
I know it's hard to pick with SNK but the stages in Fatal Fury 3 blew me away, even now, the way they change also, I never seen it done on that level, it was like the backgrounds were part of the story, the Geese stage is epic.
Geese Tower and Delta Park are both incredible
To shout out some personal favorites
SFA3: has a lot of my favorite stages, but special attention goes to Guy's stage under the shady overpass, Gen's stage at the Hong Kong docks, and Honda's dusk-lit stage right outside of his restaurant. All just feel like they really emphasize the "street" feel of the fight.
Melty Blood (og): W.Arc's Iron Maiden stage and Kouma's burning forest stage (both get extra points for their iconic tracks).
GGXX: Paris stage in the rainy church, Japan colony stage (especially the night version with the spirits in the back), Nirvana stage with the giant creature being chained up...a lot of great picks to go around.
The living forest and fighting against baraka was horrifying to me as a kid
When I first clicked on your video I thought "Tower of Arrogance " HAS to be on this list. Sure enough, it is. An iconic and completely original stage design that has yet to be topped.
Ryu stage Street Fighter 2. The music. The moon. The set up. Killer stuff.
The night-time lightning windy grass stage in SF Alpha is the best stage.
In Guilty Gear XX there's a stage (I think it's in London?) where a dog paces back and forth in the background. If you win as the dog is turning around it'll glitch and the dog will moonwalk for the rest of the match. Clearly this is the best stage of all time.
Field of Fate is SUCH a good stage. Brings back memories of fighting my brother all afternoon.
This stage combined with its use in the Street Fighter movie got me into and kept me into fighting games for life 👏
I’m sure someone’s said it but as a kid when you saw the MK pit stage you were on high alert for Easter egg stuff on the far ledge in the back the silhouettes on the moon and of course pit fatality was mind blowing the first time you saw it growing up (Or maybe I’m mashing together like 7 stages from foggy memories
I love the grass field in Samurai Shodown 2. That game has a lot of great stages.
Shout out to those who were hoping for balrog Vegas stage
Great choices. Rainy park is the goat. Field of Fate and Moonlit Wildernes are classic. Let's not forget ( iirc) Samurai Shodown 2 or 3 Genjuro's stage, which was also a field.
I'm glad Moonlit Wilderness made the list. My bros and I have considered it our favorite stage since Tekken 5. Another stage I love in that game is Urban Jungle (The cage stage). The crowd outside of the cage chanting "Woot Woot Woot!" in tandem with the stage's music completes the aesthetic.
A favorite of mine from Tekken 6 has to be Hidden Retreat (the sheep stage). It doesn't appear in the stage select so you have to get it through random, but just being next to a flock of sheep with funny yodeling music playing cracked me up the first time fighting there! XD
It's not the flashiest choice, but I always loved Skullgirls's Under the Bridge stage.
Jazzy music and a fairly down-to-earth vibe really help it fit stick out imo.
Surprised there isn't more Samurai Shodown representation on this list. You could make an entire list out of stages from that series, but especially Gairyu Isle is damn near iconic.
I had some samsho on the original list, but i had to cut like 35 stages down to 10
Field of Fate and Moonlit Wilderness have a thing in common which makes them so great: They're simple.
You don't need alot to make a stage memorable. Just this very feeling of "this is just us, you and me, only one of us will leave" is so incredibly strong that you do not need much else.
Pig advantage is cool. A park drenched in rain is absolutely beautiful. But there is nothing beating "you, me, in the middle of nowhere".
Not only was the sponsor FGC-specific, but even then you STILL timestamped it for busy people to skip past?!
Rooflemonger keeping it so classy that I thought I was taking a Rolling Thunder for a second there.
If you got hit by a police car in Gambler's Paradise in DOA 4, there'll be a special replay where the camera follows the car till the character got hit. I used to yell "POLICE BRUTALITY!" LOL!
Darkstalkers 3… “Iron Horse Iron Terror” and “War Agony”. But great video.. you have good taste
"Iron Horse Iron Terror" feels like the game going all the way off the rails... even for Darkstalkers. That place is so bizarre, I love it
Dead or alive 2 - 4 had the absolute best stages in fighting games
Jesus Christ... I really miss Dead or Alive. 😢
Smash may not be Rooflemonger's cup of tea, but Melee's Hyrule Castle for sure is an all timer
Heres the thing, I actually thought hyrule castle originally as a potential for the video, but then I was like "wait, I hate that stage" it does not bring good vibes lol
@@Rooflemonger i like melee's version of fountain of dreams, amazing orchestral arrangement for its theme... it involves water and it affects the platforms so theres gameplay implication for a legal stage
For me personally theres two stages vying for my all time fave.
1: the Japan stage in the Guilty Gear Xrd games, because I just love the imagery of fighting on this outcropping of rock at the edge of this impossible deep crater in the middle of the ocean.
2: KOF 13 Egypt. I know India is probably the more notable stage but Egypt for me is my favorite use of the KOF 13 art style on the elaborate moving backgrounds
Shout outs to the Sakazaki Stage from CvS1 - Complete with a stage intro, a few Easter Eggs, and a LOT of interactivity...to the point where the stage has different levels of destruction by the end of the fight (the damage carries over per round). It's almost literally a stage with its own life bar.
While there are many stages I could talk about, the mention of hype pig brought to me a memory
I'm a big fan of Blazblue, and while there are many noteworthy stages, only one is Bascule
Only one is home to HYPE DOG
And as was said in the video, I think that is what's really important about stages, why they are noteworthy beyond a gameplay function. The fact this random background character got so much love because of how they were integrated into it, to the point of being acknowledged by the creators themselves, is amazing! As a lot of aspects in fighting games, there's a surprising amount of beauty to be found in the places we throw down, which this video perfectly shows. Didn't know about half of these, and many are just gorgeous
Man I love this genre
What was fun about Vega's stage is that IIRC the cage comes crashing down only as the fight starts
Always been a big fan of The Forsaken Sanctuary Stage from Soul Caliber 3
I knew Tower Of Arrogance would be here! That stage is always the first one I think of!
My favorites stages in obscure fighting games are:
Ray McDougal's stage from Fighter's History Dynamite
Bobby Nelson's from Aggressors of Dark Kombat
Samchay's from Fighter's History (1993)
Genesis and Megalithic Age Stages from World Heroes Perfect
Kang Pung's from Master's Fury
Iron Hell Stage from KOF Maximum Impact (2004)
I'm basic: Ryu's stage in SF2.
Great video!
Rainy day is my favorite kof stage. KOF 96 art of fighting team stage is also great for the colors and theme.
I’ll say this-
For more recent new stages, Tekken 8’s Into the Stratosphere absolutely kills it. It is beyond hype as heck and the default music makes everything so much cooler. Definitely a favorite amongst more recent ones.
It's _Tekken 8's_ own rendition of "Final Destination" from the _Smash Brothers_ series. What's not to like?
Seems to me like DoA stages are kind of what Tekken's could be like now if T4 had been received better. That museum stage is just mindblowing
Field of Fate is more significant! It was lifted from the SFII: The Animated Movie. It really tied things together during that era. It's also in SFV
My personal MK stage is the Dead Pool from MK2, it was so visually unsettling and the acid pool looked dangerous... And that pit fatality!
Fuckin love rainy park
I have so many favorite fighting game stages. Major props to you for having CvS2’s London stage, The Living Forest and Rainy Park as a part of this wonderful video.
For me, what really got me into fighting game stages is Cammy’s SSF2 stage. Now known today as ‘English Manor’, this stage captivated a younger me. The Northern Lights, the lush colors, fighting on top of a manor bridge, and the mansion down below….so many amazing details. As well as the great song that went with the stage, which would become Cammy’s main theme.
I could go on and on about more of my favorite stages. But I’d be here all day and night. So, I had to highlight Cammy’s SSF2 stage: English Manor. It simply is a beautiful stage all the way around.
I'd just like to give a shoutout to a couple of my favorite stages: Port Town in Fatal Fury 3 and Spider-Man's stage in Marvel Superheroes
Remember the cliffhangers from Dead or Alive 5?
First of all one of the coolest gimmicks in Dead or Alive history but only one stage uses it
Imagine how cool it would be if we had more multi lair stages but we use the cliffhanger as a form of stage select. The cliffhanger itself is kind of rock paper scissors but depending on how you kick the person off the edge you might land somewhere different
I'd say that NYC from third strike is a good contender too, the music is iconic, the background is really nice, and of course, evo moment 37.
Shoutout to Dinosaur World in KoF99 for being so cool with a Dinosaur on it. Also Factory in KoF 2000 which becomes Frozen Factory when you fight Kula. In fact Top 30 KoF Stages I'm requesting from you Rooflemonger!
The rainy park stage is so impressive, especially considering the limitations of the Neo Geo. It couldn't do transparency so the little blurs of the rain coming down on the things and making a little bit of steam is just done through sheer color wizardry.
Good choices for the stages, but as a SNK head, I have some stages which resonate more with me, Geese's Stage in Real Bout Special for instance, the settings, color pallet and of course the music(wich is the best fg theme of all time) its all so good.
But in terms of settings i gotta give it to Goenitz stage, just for the build up that the story sets up to be, the stage destroyed, that epic tune, I remembered seeing that at my 12 years and saying to myself, that's peak art
over the years it becomes semi-easy to understand that a stage with water and/or big patches of grass are really good. Bar stages too.
Water Labyrinth and Takamatsu Castle from Soulcalibur are all time greats.
More people should understand the beauty of fg stages, they are modern day Mona Lisas and Starry Nights
i've actually never played DOA and the museum stage is a great concept idea whoever came up with it! also the Tiger Dojo stage in Tekken 3 was my most memorable stage from the Tekken series. i remember going to the arcades and seeing the stage every time
3:38 I love you for this. You understand that how great that song and stage is 😭, dude you’re my best friend . subscribed
The raft stage in Soul Edge was mind blowing for me back in the day. That game is so good
Thanks for making this! I love the great details to find !
You are the hardest working FGC News outlet going man, it’s mad easy to count on you to stay up to date on the scene without effort of my own 😂
But for real dude, when you release something like this that’s just fun fighting game stuff I click so fast my hand cramps. It’s such a comfort watch putting on some rooflemonger content about T Hawk or the entire NESTS saga of KOF. Maybe the coolest stages in fighting games?
Thank you for being you bro.
Thank you very much for the kind words 🙏
@rooflemonger don’t thank me bro 👍 just cover the plot of BlazBlue for us for the next vid 👍👍.
Haha thank you, you are appreciated. Don’t forget to sleep and eat and everything.
Amazing choices! I also love me some Street Fighter III's painting-looking
backgrounds, particularly the African one in NG and the Savannah in 3S (might just be because of the beats in my head!).
My answer for favorite stage has some caveats. It requires you to change the OST and its specifically the 3rd round variant of the stage
If you put the console version of the track "Solitude" on the evening version of Tekken 8's time square stage, it turns into the best "vibes" stage since CVS2's London stage imo. Wish there was a way to have the nighttime setting as all 3 rounds because I could just run sets all night to it if you could
Alrighty, I know my way around some fighting games so allow me to noiminate some:
Lost Cathedral from Soul Calibur 3. A beautiful ruined church fighting at sunset, the intertwined blades of Soul Edge and soul Calibur gleaming in the sunlight aa beautiful decisive melody plays over the background. whether fighting Nightmare, Seigfried, or Zasalamel, it screams "Destiny and Fate meets here."
Urban Jungle from Tekken 5: This one i under the shadow of Moonlit Castle, but still a great stage. There is an unruly crowd cheering own the fight the entire time, hooting and hollering to the beat of the OST, to the point where the OST itself feels rather naked without the SFX of the crowd joining in. Landing big hits also draws cheers or oos from the crowd as well, great feeling stage to have.
River King Casino: Chill music, beautiful colors and lighting, and a bunch of unique background characters taking a break from their winnings to watch the fight. what could make it better? Oh, some of the watchers are actually backers from the campaign to help fund more DLC characters? Including WoolieVersus and MattMcmuscles of Super Best Friend fame? alright this stage rules.
Cool vid. Also really reminded me once again just how awesome those old SNK games still look after all those years!
My favorite stages of all time are the field of fate from alpha 2 and the arcade stage from cvs1! I LOVE the fact you can step in and out of the arcade and I love the rain that falls during the intro.
Now this is a great video, might boot up DoA 6 and CvS 2 again.
The final stage of Dead Or Alive 2 lives rent free in my head as one of the coolest fighting stages ever made.
It’s even cooler when Tengu starts his shenanigans up.
Would love to see this become a series
Quixotec Temple - Art of Fighting 3
Xian - Samurai Shodown
Mexico - The King of Fighters 94
Port Town - Fatal Fury 3
Great video . My all time favorite is the train stage from street fight alpha 3 . Was always amazed at the soldiers running in the background with machine guns
The cvs2 stage also changes time of day in round 2 😊
Stages are also opportunities for, like in CvS2 London, to include characters who didn't make the roster so we can see what they do when they're not punching people.
I always felt "the Pit" from Mortal Kombat was the most recognizable stage. Knocking your opponent down into Shang Tsung's Spike Pit is something that really drew you in during the original MK days.
Low-key diesel legacy is gonna have some crazy stages
diesel legacy has some fantastic art to it
This was so much fun! Would like to see a part 2 with honorable mentions, or common stage tropes like rings/tournament arenas/underground fight club stage etc.
Thanks for mentioning KOF 99 and Last Blade 2. I was jamming both of those around the same time; the sprite work is so good.
This is a True Love We Making 😅🎉❤😂😊
Not a KOF player, but I saw Rainy Park a lot before, thanks to MUGEN, and it is probably one of the rarest times that I liked a scenery that is dark, cloudy and rainy so much that I want to BE there. I usually prefer clear blue skies and sunny mornings (and probably nights in busy cities).
This is an incredibly dope video.
yeeeeeessss..... moonlight wilderness yes yes yes the best track in video game history no doubt about it I still get goosebumps when I hear it
It feels good to see some KOF 99 love!!
I feel like it can get overlooked sometimes just because people usually flock into Last Blade or Garou for stages for SNK games.
So I'm happy to see it recognized
this video si incredible roofle! i loved every second of it and showed me LOTS of cool stages i didnt know about !
🙏
Mk11 kotal kolosseum is one of the most fun stages ever for me, it's actually half the reason why I play mk11
That's where your music came from huh!? That's wild! Very Cool. 👊😎