

Towards the end of the Han Dynasty, China was controlled by the Emperor Ling, who was in turn controlled by ten of his servants in the royal palace. This created a convenient atmosphere for bandits, and the land was in turmoil. Then the Emperor ordered the ten dukes to take it on themselves to restore peace in the land, but the dukes instead fought amongst themselves. Finally, the duke Cao Cao took the Emperor captive and he now controls the realm. Five fighters set out to take on Cao Cao's forces and restore equilibrium to the land.
Sango Fighter is a versus fighting game set in the Three Kingdoms era in China. The player can choose between five different characters from the time period, and fight other characters in either a one-on-one combat or a story mode. The story is loosely based on real historical events of the Three Kingdoms era: towards the end of the Han Dynasty, China was controlled by the Emperor Ling, who was in turn controlled by ten of his servants in the royal palace. This created a convenient atmosphere for bandits, and the land was in turmoil. Then the Emperor ordered the ten dukes to take it on themselves to restore peace in the land, but the dukes instead fought amongst themselves. Finally, the duke Cao Cao took the Emperor captive and he now controls the realm. The player, however, must use five fighters to take on Cao Cao's forces and restore equilibrium to the land.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is the second follow-up to Street Fighter III. The game increased the character roster by adding five new characters and also added further refinements to the previous game's play mechanics and rules. All the returning characters from the previous Street Fighter III games were given new stages, endings, and voice actors for certain characters, continuing the overall storyline from where the first two games left off.

The main fighting game is best described as a polygonal Marvel vs. Capcom game, with some notable differences. Control wise, the game varies from other Capcom fighting games by only having four buttons (two punches and two kicks, which is closer to the SNK game format) rather than the standard six. A player chooses a team of two characters, and fights against another two character team. The actual fights, however, are one-on-one fights, with the partner only participating by being called in when a player has enough 'vigor' for a Team Up attack, done by pressing a punch and kick button of the same pressure. The Team Ups would be some kind of double team attack by the character and partner, or (for most female characters' Team Ups) would heal the main character or give them more vigor. After the end of a round, a player (win or lose) has a choice to fight the next round with the partner from the previous round, or to keep their main character in play. The 'vigor' meter (essentially a super meter) could go up to 9 levels, with Team Ups costing two levels and super moves from a single person all costing one level of vigor. Much like the Marvel vs. Capcom games, launchers can be done that allow air combos to be performed, with all characters having universal low and high launchers. The game also had a few defensive techniques. Tardy Counters acted much like Alpha Counters from Street Fighter Alpha, allowing a player to immediately counter-attack from a blocking position. However, the restrictions on Tardy Counters are very lax; any hard normal, special or super attack can be used to Tardy counter (Alpha counters are only limited to certain special moves for each character), and Tardy Counters do not cost any extra vigor to perform (Alpha Counters required at least a level of Super Combo gauge to do). Attack Cancels allowed a player to cancel an incoming hit simply by timing their own hit with the attack, which would cancel out both attacks (though it does not nullify the remaining hits of a multi-hit move). Also, one additional level of vigor is awarded.

The King of Fighters '97 is a 1997 fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home console. It is the fourth game in The King of Fighters series. It was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in Japan only.

Fighting / Role-playing (RPG) / Hack and slash/Beat 'em up / Action / Fantasy
Guardian Heroes is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em up video game with RPG elements developed by Treasure and released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn. A band of young adventurers begin a quest to change the fate of their kingdom after an enchanted sword falls into their hands. Players may choose between four characters, each with their own unique fighting style, and embark on many different paths in the game's story mode. The game also includes a special versus mode wherein up to six players can compete against each other in arena combat.

The DarkStalkers have been unleashed! All the creatures from your darkest dreams have materialized to wage an eternal war for domination of the night. The fate of all humanity rests on who wins this epic struggle. You control the power of your favorite supernatural monster to combine their special attacks and unique abilities in a head to head fighting challenge. It's a fierce and brutal conflict for supremacy in the monster hit of the year!

Real Bout changes the play controls from the previous Fatal Fury games, reducing the number of attack buttons from four to three: a standard Punch and Kick button, a "Strong Attack" button which can be either a stronger punch or kick attack, depending on the character. The game retains the three-plane "oversway" system from Fatal Fury 3, which features a main lane for fighting, with foreground and background planes used to avoid attacks or leap towards the opponent. A dedicated button is now used to make an "oversway" (or change plane) towards the background or foreground. Real Bout introduces a Power Gauge, which fills up as the player performs normal or special techniques against their opponent or defend themselves, similar to many super move gauges featured in other fighting games. The Power Gauge allows players to perform one of three types of Special Techniques, depending of the level of the Power Gauge. Real Bout also introduces stages with ring-outs, a gameplay feature previously introduced in 3D fighting games such as Virtua Fighter. If the player performs certain attacks on their opponent while next to the boundaries, the character will eventually destroy the barrier keeping the opponent in the ring and be able to knock them out of the stage for an easy win.

Fighting / Sport / Arcade / Action / Horror
Darkstalkers 3 is the second sequel in the Darkstalkers series of fighting games by Capcom, originally released for the arcades in 1997. The game was originally planned to be released as Darkstalkers: Jedah's Damnation in the United States, but this title was only used in the arcade version. New characters added in this version are Donovan, Huitzil (Phobos in Japan), and Pyron, with hidden characters of Dark Talbain and Oboro Bishamon .

The All-Star dream battle is here at last: It's King of Fighters '98! Here come 38 of your favorite characters from the King of Fighters series. Your favorite characters and teams are back! Filled with new surprises like the Roulette Team Edit and Advantage System, King '98 will pop your cork with unrelenting excitement! The King of Fighters '98 is the fifth game in The King of Fighters series by SNK.