In my opinion, "Fighter's Destiny" is the best combat game in single player. By far. I admit that I am not the greatest fan of the genre tho. But I always found it extremely challenging in a rewarding way.

Good luck laying your hand on it :S

As someone mentioned, fighters were supposed to be quarter/token takers at the arcade, so the difficulty is high even on easy modes. Fighters also have the reputation of being a 2player genre since that's what makes them so popular to begin with, you versus another person and kicking their ass in front of a crowd. The loser walks off and someone takes his spot.

They are highly competitive and highly technical. The genre hasn't really adapted to the single player because there simply isn't much demand for it. I don't really know why, I guess most people looking for a single player experience generally stay away from fighters since they're pretty intimidating to learn. Or perhaps half the magic is gone because a computer could never be as technical or exciting as another human opponent. It doesn't feel as great defeating a CPU as it does a human who knows what they're doing.

I really do think there are some games out there that are at their best with other people only, take Counter-Strike for example. Playing against bots in that game feels soulless and empty. I think that's the main issue with fighters, they don't make the CPU feel "alive", like another breathing person sitting next to you trying his/her absolute best to pummel your ass and stay alive.

But on the other hand, a game like Unreal Tournament has bots that do feel very alive. They bunny hop, use alt fire modes on their weapons, use special items, strafe around, and it even feels like they form grudges against whoever kills them over and over. So it is possible to make an AI feel like another person.

If you get sick of looking for a fighting game that fits your needs, you can always try a brawler, which is similar in concept and generally include combos to learn. Or you can play something like Devil May Cry, which also relies on combos to learn and flashy fighting. It has been a long time so anyone is free to correct me, but I remember emulating a Neo-Geo and playing through King of Fighters quite a bit, sometimes alone and it felt fine.

And who knows OP, things might be set to change since there is a vocal bunch upset at the lack of single player content in the new Street Fighter 5 just released. Only time will tell, but for now you just gotta get good c:

I think I've played every fighter from SF2 onward (even Shaq Fu), most of it against the CPU. It seems like the old MK era games were really bad in the specific way you are describing, even compared to other fighters made around the same time. Getting through them is very dependent on spamming the AI with something you find they are weak to, and it's never really the same experience as playing people.

The current MK game is much better at simulating people for the most part. I've been playing it a lot lately (160 hours since new years) and 98% of it against the CPU or in practice. It's still a computer when you get down to it. Med is basically a punching bag, hard seems hard until you notice it only blocks about 75% of what you throw at it, therefore long combo strings of 4-5 hits will typically break their block at some point. In Very Hard things turn cheap real fast and start to look a lot like what you are describing.

At max, safe characters block a good 95% of what you do making it near impossible to get a lucky hit in, and throws are almost all teched. You end up being taught to not throw and just turtle until they do something just a little unsafe and then try and seize the window (both bad habits for the game.) They will also do things that seem risky, but then do instant reactions that invalidate the risk and wreck you for doing what would probably be smart against a human. A good example is jumping on top of you then only doing an airborne super if you tap a button - the very frame you tap it, every single time. They don't anticipate things, they flat out know what is going on. You can't really 50/50 a computer when it knows if you are going low or overhead, so basically the whole mind game thing is still totally absent.

All that said it feels much, much more honest than the very early MK games, and bouncing between hard and very hard for different characters does provide a challenge that doesn't feel totally unfair (OK, many of the characters do feel unfair at max) or inhuman. I would say the levels jump too much between settings, and it would be nice if there was one between the top two difficulties. For someone playing at the mid or lower levels, being really aggressive will typically power through whatever non-sense they are doing.

As far as adapting AI's go, the only game I've ever noticed changing its behavior was the Saturn version of X-Men: Children of the Atom. I used to set it to low, and over time it would get super hard. Deleting the save data would reset it, but it always ended up being really tough at some point. I seem to recall Virtua Fighter 2 maybe saying something about having some sort of adaptive AI in one of the modes or something, but I may be miss remembering. I do remember it being frustrating in general, so maybe that's not a good example.

In the end though, playing a computer will always be a bit like fighting a computer. We can't do what they can, and they can't do what we can. That makes things a bit weird.

I thought that was called "baiting" when your opponent can see you doing it.

Thank you for some really good comments. I am considering getting MKX and I will almost surely buy it at some point.

I have to agree with all that you said, and I like mostly the comment
'In the end though, playing a computer will always be a bit like fighting a computer. We can't do what they can, and they can't do what we can. That makes things a bit weird.'

This is so true and can be felt all the way when playing fighting games solo. I realize all this, however I do like to play them because I love animation and fast pace in these games. In the end it creates a love-hate relationship. I come back, learn something, got beaten and take a break for a few weeks and so on.

I am very curious on what you think about Street Fighter and Guilty Gear games. have you tried them?
I agree here, however it's not that easy as it sounds. One has to have a really good eye to do this. The game is very fast and it's hard to recognize an opponent's move in an instant.
I guess it takes some practice...

There's no such thing as "smart" or "adaptive" AI, that's pure science-fiction. AI is nothing but a pile of what-if scripts.

I would advise against buying the PC version of MKX as it has been abandoned. It will be missing out on new netcode and all future dlc.

Edit: Though I guess it's fine if you just want to play against AI and don't mind missing content/Warner Bros being pricks.

I know , I heard about them abandoning the game. They won't release XL edition for PC. That's a really great shame :(
If I had a console, then I would wait for XL, but I have to get whatever is available for PC.

Well, first thing is: there is no such thing as AI. Therefore there cannot be anything as "smart" AI. We are talking here about algorithms (call them scripts if you like) controlling CPU's behaviour. However people (gamers?) coined a term "AI" for it, so I use it too.
Of course, the algorithm can be better or worse and can "learn" or not. We aren't talking here about something impossible and I can even give you a real example of what I mean.

Play the first Mortal Kombat, the one available here on GOG, and you can observe that computer is pretending to learn. Here's how it works:
1 ) In a first fight, first round, it pretends to be clueless. You can connect most of the moves without trouble, so
2 ) you hit it with upper-cut easily
3 ) next time you try uppercut, it will know and avoid it, but
4 ) you can hit it wit roundhouse kick easily, but only once or twice, because
5 ) if you try to abuse it now, it won't work either. It can work only one or two times at most.
So one can say that "AI is learning" (of course, it only pretends). And this game was made in early 90s! Now think about expanding the idea plus giving the "AI" more random moves instead of following the same scheme. It would surely feel more like a human opponent.

Come to think about this now, maybe someone knows a game where it's possible to mod CPU's behavior? I would love to try to "implement" (script) my own AI. That could be some fun :)

I share your recollection. I think I saw it there, but I played so little of it...

Synapses are also biological if-else scripts, determined by the neuron topology of the brain. If we are "meat machines" and can be intelligent, I don't see why computers can't be also.

If you are looking for "real" AI in games, you won't find much state of the art examples. That is because it takes a long time to learn, seen as computers lack the tiniest bit of common sense. The cost/reward the developers face leans towards getting the game out the door ASAP.

Plus, learning a somewhat "static system" versus learning against a human opponent can be compared to shooting a still target versus shooting a moving target. So, who has the patience for that? (I do have the idea of making a web game to see if I can collect hundreds of plays per day against humans. Maybe that would work.)

Here are some fun links for you to check out (still toys at this stage):
Genetic Algorithms on a shooting game
Genetic Algorithms plus Neural Networks playing Super Mario

Take a look at Paintown http://paintown.org/[http://paintown.org/url]. You get the source code to the engine, games and everything else! Have fun! Long live Free Software!

I started playing fighters with Street Fighter 2 and played them a bunch over the years. I don't really feel that I understand them all that well and that really showed up with SF4. I had a lot of difficulty understanding how it worked and why things that used to work for me didn't anymore. As a whole, I just don't like SF4 for some reason. I think some of that is not understanding how it works, and to some extent the overly strict input system that seemed to cater to a pretty limited skill group. I also find it lacking in the creativity and showmanship areas. I'm liking the look SF5 for the most part, but I probably won't play it for some time.

SF games I do like are Alpha 2 and 3, and Third Strike.

Guilty Gear is a really frantic, fun series. I believe it has a deceptive amount of depth to it, but I can't say I've done much more than just hit a bunch of buttons. It is super creative and beautiful. I couldn't believe Xrd uses 3D models. Nobody has so successfully translated their 2D look into 3D with such accuracy (not actually played this one, just twitch streaming.) One thing GG and MK have over SF is showmanship. Guilty Gear is very flashy in comparison. It does have some additional visual noise to cut through, but the versions I've played feel very good and score well on the “just being fun” meter.

I also like some of the King of Fighters games, but they are hard to recommend in some respects. The input system tends to be stiff compared to a lot of other games (Injustice feels similarly) which make doing stuff, not so much hard as uncomfortable. And since AI was the main topic, the games tend to be easy until you get to whatever boss you fight and then it's some of the cheapest bosses in the business. I do like a lot about the series, but I think it takes more of a commitment than some, and is best played with people. There is the SNK fighter “Mark of the Wolves” that is a great fighter that doesn't feel near as stiff as most of their others, but I just don't know that the AI is anything better than what you've been dealing with.

THEN there is Capcom vs SNK 2 which integrates some of what makes KOF great into basically a SF game. You get to select various game play mechanics you want from both franchises like short jumps and counters. Definitely one of the best fighting games ever. It's probably harder to get a hold of than some.

I feel like I understand MKX the best out of all fighters though. Its input system is very easy to work with, and it has a lot of tools to aid in learning it well. It also makes it easy to see the basic mechanics of the game at work. Things like visual and audio cues for reversals, wake ups, and armor; along with all the training settings and data you could ask for. The game does reward aggression, and can be VERY momentum heavy. If you are dealing with someone that understands the game better than you do it is pretty common to just get turned into a punching bag and have no idea what to do about it. That can be frustrating. That said, it is my all time favorite fighting game, and likely my favorite game of all time. Furthermore, I think it represents the final potential of the MK franchise where all the little ideas and things they have tried over the years finally comes together in the right way. With MKXL coming out in a week or so and the new net code coming out soon after, next month is probably going to be a good time to get into it. Just avoid the PC version if you can (says the PC version owner. Reason from above)

- edit after seeing..

I've got like 160 hours or so on the PC. Initially people hated it for bugs, but I've not had any issues outside of the character endings and credits being choppy. Stability wise it's been rock solid for me.

I personally feel like I got what I paid for. I got pretty much everything but Goro for 30$ and I have definitely gotten 30$ worth of entertainment out of it. The only thing I've lost is the ability to buy more stuff and I won't get the net code. Playing on-line is really rough and as good as the update looks it makes it sadder not to get it. I know a lot of people are really pissed about it. I think it's valid in certain respects, but if you pick it up on a sale there is more than enough content to enjoy as long as you don't feel the need to have the latest character balance or have an real need to play Triborg or something.

I'm into the game enough that I want to get a PS4 and rebuy it at some point, but if it wasn't something I was going to pump hundreds of hours into then I could probably be happy with the amount of content in the PC version.

What you described is AI input reading, a common thing in fighting games. The problem is you either get braindead easy cpu opponent or braindead hard.

Thank you so much for a great post.
Now I want to play MKX even more than before :P
I am looking for a retail edition now (it includes the base game and Goro DLC). What I care at most is to have "classic" character line-up, i.e. the "good old" Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya and rest of the bunch. I am not really that much into these new special DLC characters (of course, I'd love to play with Predator or Xenomorph, as I love that franchise too, but I guess the rest is not really of much concern to me). And I do not worry much about character balance, as I will enjoy it alone or with my girl-friend, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Of course, I would really like to have XL edition. I am sad that they just abandon PC. Furthermore, it may mean also that their future games won't land on PC either, but I hope that this won't be the case. It would be a great loss to PC community.

I do not plan on getting a console, so I have to stay with what I can get on PC.
I already have Injustice, but I haven't tried it yet.
I played MK9 a little (got through the story mode and did some tag matches with my gf). I like it a lot, although I was really frustrated about Tower Mode, where I couldn't get past some stupid zombie/graveyard level :(
However I intend to return to it later and get a closer look at everything once again.
Right now, I am trying my luck in MK3, I even got to Shao Kahn once, so I start to believe that I can finish the story with at least one character.

I tried SF4 and I agree that it is very "stiff" about controls and doing any combos was damn hard for me, not to mention the complexity of "Focus-Attack"-thing. I can see how many interesting things one can do with that, but this comes only from reading, as my skill is way, WAY below putting that knowledge into practice.
I am very curious though about older games in this series. Probably I will look around and see what I can emulate. Also, it seems that GOG had one of SF games in their library - I am still waiting to get it.

Finally, Guilty Gear. I played only a little of X2 Reload. It is really weird, but not as weird as BlazBlue. But I think I will get to like it, once I see how it works.

Oh, and I tried Dead Or Alive 5 on PC. The combat alone was fine. Definitely slower, but I liked that for a change (no high jumping etc). However, I didn't like esthetics (half-naked blondes and overall a very naive setting) and ultra-childish and ultimately-boring story (well, that is my opinion anyway). I uninstalled and won't be going back to this.

Anyway, I am sticking to MK for now mostly because I prefer its dark setting over anime style of others.

Ah, and Capcom vs SNK 2. Wasn't it on Playstation 1? I think I have it somewhere along the PSX emulator.
Also, from PSX, I remember pretty cool fighting games, like Bloody Roar 2 (turn your fighter into a monster!), Battle Arena Toshinden or Soul Blade. Hell, consoles have many more fighting games than PC ...

I would recommend Skullgirls. It has an extensive tutorial that slowly eases you in.

Yes, I heard a lot good about it and I even played it a bit myself (on a free weekend). It was nice, but somehow it also felt a bit poor. The quality is alright, but one can instantly see that this game has a long way to big games like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. So for now , I focus on other titles.