Backloggd Community Poll: Your Fighting Game Mains

It is often said that one's choice of fighting game character is a reflection of the soul: Are you conservative? Careful? Carefree? Brave? Afraid? Crazy? Strategic? Random? A person who likes big boobs? A soul who just wants to press buttons?

Please respond to this Backloggd Community Poll with a list of your fighting game mains (and other game "mains" u may have) and the community shall pronounce judgement on your soul.

“Mankind knew they cannot change society. So instead of reflecting on themselves, they blamed the Beasts.”

Akuma, Chun-Li

I like playing Chun more, but no one likes playing against Chun so I had to learn Akuma. Akuma is dirty as all hell and you can do so much cool-looking shit with him. He is really good at humbling people who want to show you that they can parry. I like that.
Wolverine/Wesker/Dr. Doom

I was actually pretty alright at this game! I won a few tournaments and made a UK Top 16, but my team was quite linear in its offense in comparison to folks who could play Magneto and other more technical characters, so I reached a skill plateau that left me in the dust eventually. Everyone knows how to block Wesker teleport H and divekicks. Wish I had stuck with Dormammu as an anchor because my Doom midscreen loops always dropped. Anyways, my friend got a verbal caution at a venue for drunkenly doing Wesker's moves irl, yelling "SUBMIT" and "I AM THE ONLY GOD", etc. during finals play and that marked the beginning of the end of our careers in the FGC.
Marshall Law

Kind of a sore spot for me, because I was doing a decent job of learning the game and playing in locals/ranked then covid came around the corner and car-crashed all my progress. An exceptionally sick game that makes me regret never touching 3D fighters in any serious capacity before 2019. I played Law because it was fun to upset my more proficient friends with slide shenanigans and his combos were easy as hell apart from that instant dragon kick which I somehow was able to do like 3 years after putting the game down. The subconscious mind is really interesting.
Forest Law

Coming back to this game after you've learned one of the newer Tekkens is kinda cathartic because a lot of the technique is backwards-compatible but with a much lower knowledge ceiling. This one is probably the perfect sweet spot where there are enough systems to make combat gratifying but not so complex that rookies will just say "fuck this" and walk away first time they pop the command list
May

I only started learning this game this year but it's Strive so you only really need a few days to get to a competitive baseline lol. They finally made a fighting game for four year olds and forty year olds and that's cool because I only have space in my head for about four normals and a couple of conversions. May is basically Balrog and that's fine by me because I love fucking around with charge shit and throwing crap in people's faces.
Cable/Storm/Capcom

Very very sleazy team that revolves around building meters by superjumping with Storm and mashing MP while off the top of the screen and then tagging Cable back in to spam instant hyper-viper beams. You can also layer in some Storm hail for good chip damage. Capcom is just here for Captain Corridor, a very good defensive assist that makes it easier for Storm to fly around unfussed. Very hard to deal with unless you are genuinely good at MVC2, which 99.9999% of the population are not.
Cyclops/Storm

Just a copy-paste of my MVC2 strategy but it's like 100 times more effective because Storm goes completely off the screen for upwards of 5 - 10 seconds and falls slower hehe. They had this at our local barcade on freeplay and people simply would not play me at it after a while because

CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW

OPTIC BLAST

CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW CAW

OPTIC BLAST

HYPER..... OPTIC BLAST!!
Balrog

Similar to UMVC3, my decision to pick a character with a low skill ceiling kinda bit me the longer this game existed. Balrog is up there with Ryu and Ken in the pantheon of characters that players know how to play against. Still very fun to play a slow, solid game with honest damage but honestly man fuck this game whenever you have to play against an Ibuki or Viper or other setplay god. Doing Balrog corner pressure against people without good reverse;s is among the most satisfying things you can do in a FG, probably.
Donkey Kong

Will never play this game with any modicum of seriousness, but I do like doing no-item fights because this game has fun neutral and I like playing it with my friends. DK is fun because big punch and you can kick people down into pits.
C-Groove 1-Guile/1-Chun/3-Sagat

I can do RC supers but don't ask me to actually apply them in a match. The way this game has kinda languished in awkward NAOMI emulation hellscape means I have never played it at any level other than the most casual of casual with my buds. Basically you just try and apply stuff you know about SF2 and KOF98 and hope for the best.
Balrog

Honestly just a dope time by virtue of how broken it is both mechanically and technically. Balrog has a five-hit corner combo that is just his cr.HK x5. You WILL see at least one match-breaking glitch if you play this for more than 20 mins. Great stuff.
Astaroth

downback horizontal -> forward vertical -> forever

20 Comments


1 year ago

I've been playing smash since brawl and my mains are Ike, Sephiroth, and Shiek... I also used to play a lot of zero suit samus in 4

I never actually faced a real person playing guilty gear but I loved playing as Testament in xx and Venom in xrd (:

1 year ago

I main Eltnum in Uni, Baiken in GG, Sheik in Melee, Corrin in the later Smash Bros, and Mitsuru/Yuzu in Cross Tag Battle

1 year ago

I'm not this cool
I do not play that many fighting games, but for those I've played:

Smash Bros Ultimate: King K.Rool
Smash 4: Yoshi
Street Fighter V: Dhalshim
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Majin Buu
Tekken 7: Kuma
Gulty Gear Stive: Faust
Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3: Shuma-Gorath
Oh wait I forgot I also played Pokken Tournament quite a lot in my firend's Wii U, for that one it's either Gengar or Pikachu

1 year ago

i suck ass at fighting games and don't even like playing them that much but

twinkle star sprites (it counts :^) ): tinker and linker
rivals of aether: shovel knight
skullgirls: eliza, valentine, big band
third strike: elena
heritage for the future: midler
smash: game & watch, jigglypuff, cpt falcon

1 year ago

Games I actually play:
Pick a Street Fighter 4, any Street Fighter 4: Vega
I initially picked him purely because I thought it would be easier to learn a charge character playing on stick and he's obviously the coolest one. Absolutely rotten decision that I have doggedly refused to go back on ever since. I love him, and when you get someone who wants to try and outplay you on the ground he's so fun, but whenever you come up against anyone with a decent jump-in button and a vortex you're thrust into the deepest pit of hell. Can't recommend picking him unless you exclusively play against T. Hawk players. Great kara throw though! In recent times I've messed around with Fei and he's obviously very good so we'll see how that goes.

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown: Goh
Bounced around a lot on mains in this game because it's easy to want to learn everyone but Goh is so straightforward and no-nonsense that I think I've finally settled. Very good for a simple mind like mine. Feels very good to get people scared of all your great throw options. Also don't think I could go back to a character that doesn't have crouch throws. 3K the god button.

The King of Fighters '98: Shingo/Kensou/Robert
The little boys blue!! The other team theme is proximity unblockables. I love proximity unblockables, it is criminal new KoFs don't have them. Shingo is very easy to use and sometimes you do an unblockable (non-proximity kind). Kensou's fireball is great, the slightly off startup timing and how it starts like slightly above him means that even if they jumped you can kind of anti-air with it depending on the strength you used. It's a good feeling! Also the way he triggers the fireball glitch is to cancel into his dumpling eating super. They have years to punish you for doing it but that's why it's a power move. Robert is just good and f+A is hilarious.

Games I fanny about in:
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3: Nova/Vergil/Taskmaster
Nova is super obnoxious and rules, Vergil is Vergil, Taskmaster is a true power performance from Steve Blum. I was never too into Marvel 3 as an actual competitive game and never bothered to learn it properly but DHCing into sword loops is cool.

Street Fighter Alpha 2: Chun-Li
I wanted to pick someone absurd but the person who asked me to play picks Rose and I didn't want to play Rose mirrors. Plus it's Chun's best look. Far HP is a thing of beauty.

Capcom vs SNK 2: C-Vega/Bison/Hibiki
A smart man would pick A-Groove with this team and so I don't. Not much to this other than Vega is good and I like Vega, Bison is good and I know how to do scissors, Hibiki is cool and has a halfscreen special. I like moves you can do from miles away!

Samurai Shodown II / Samurai Shodown V Special: Ukyo
tsubame gaeshi lol. counterhitting with his AB slash is proper OOF face stuff. great character.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike: Alex
I can't say I really like or enjoy this game but it nevertheless is central to one of my favourite memories from any tournament, which is OCVing another team in the 3v3 bracket at Hypespotting 3 and downing two members with Stun Gun and the space jam respectively. Maybe I'll never play it again.

Games I want nothing to do with but would otherwise pick this character:
Pick a Guilty Gear, any Guilty Gear: Venom
Literal poking!!

Super Smash Bros Ultimate: Mega Man
He's only in this one and the Wii U one, right? Well I'd pick him in that one too.

Tekken: Leo
Cool jacket, lovely hair.

1 year ago

My very first public list on this site was me listing out characters I mained in my favorite games in each series, but I deleted because it was so shoddy and got out of hand with all of the random ARC/PS1 era fighters.

Street Fighter Third Strike: Urien
Street Fighter Alpha 2/3: Sodom, Sakura
Night Warriors/Darkstalkers 3: L.Raptor, Morrigan, Anakaris
Tekken 2/3: Random Button
Tekkens Past PS1 Era: Yoshimitsu, Asuka, Bruce
KoF: K9999/Krohnen, Kula, Athena, Rugal, K', Geese, Clark, Mr. Big, etc
Garou: Gato, Marco Rodriguez
Soulcal: Cervantes, Yoshimitsu
Mortal Kombat Deception/Armageddon: Random Button
Mortal Kombat 2011: Random Button
Injustice: Solomon Grundy
Guilty Gear XX: I-No
Guilty Gear Xrd: I-No
Guilty Gear Strive: I-No
Dragon Ball FighterZ: Android 21/Cooler/Janemba
Smash Ultimate: Ridley
Killer Instinct: Glacius
Marvel Super Heroes: Shuma-Gorath, Blackheart
Virtua Fighter: Jeffry
Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee: Orga
Power Stone 2: Gourmand
Tom and Jerry War of the Whiskers: Eagle
Zero Divide: Nereid, IO, Zulu
Zero Divide 2: IO, Cancer, Draco

1 year ago

Mortal Kombat 3 Sheeva 😁😁😁 my broken queen

1 year ago

3rd Strike: Urien (I feel like a train playing him, love him my babygorl)
Guilty Gear Xrd: Venom (haha balls)
Strive: Sol (I am despicable I know I hit the big button)
SFV: Urien, Rashid (babygorl and mister wind)
Melee: Marth (only character I can somewhat competently play)
Ultimate: Dont have one
Rivals of Aether: Etalus (I love to freeze the enemies and predict where the roll out of and catch em with a mean one)

1 year ago

Strive: I-No
GGXRD: Dizzy
UNICLR - Nanase
Third Strike: Ibuki
DBFZ: Krillin/Base Goku/Yamcha (rep the classics)
KOFXV: Kula/King/Athena
Darkstalkers: B.B Hood
SSBU: Hero

I typically find myself drawn to the "silly" characters; ones that exude a sense of immaturity or outright playfulness, the kinds of characters you'd have a plushie of as your profile picture.
Either that, or a character like I-No that has a design I love so dearly I can't help but play them just to see them more, even if their playstyle doesn't quite work with me.
I play fighting games I've picked up like I play Pokemon, taking the ones I like the look of the most and figuring out how they tick later, and in most cases this is always more important to me than how they play, although I usually more enjoy characters that can hold down a solid neutral game and pressure the opponent into guessing what I'll do next.

The biggest exception to this is Hero. I play Hero because I really like Dragon Quest.

1 year ago

tekken 7: lee
ggxrd: axl
strive: axl
super turbo: guile
alpha 2: dhalsim, sagat
third strike: necro, aspiring twelve
sf4: abel, balrog
sf6: luke
samurai shodown v special: hanzo, gaira
samurai shodown 2019: rimururu
vf5 FS: vanessa
kof 98: yamazaki / yashiro/ saisyu
kof xv: yamazaki / yashiro / dolores

1 year ago

hsien ko in darkstalkers as well

1 year ago

Third Strike - Necro/Makoto
SFII/ST/etc - Guile
SF4 - Sakura/El Fuerte
Alpha 2 - Sakura
Samsho 5S - Shizumaru/Kazuki/Basara
Samsho 2019 - Yashamaru/Tam Tam
Xrd Rev 2 - Elphelt/Millia/Kum
Strive - Potemkin
V Sav - Hsien-Ko/Q-Bee
SSB (Brawl/4/Ultimate) - Ness
Jojo HftF - Hol Horse
KoF (all) - Kyo/Leona/Yuri

1 year ago

oh vega/marduk in strekken. vega was good in that.

1 year ago

Many interesting responses here.

1 year ago

I haven't played many fighting games but I'm hoping to get more into the genre soon.

Smash 4 - Shulk
I'm a big Xenoblade enjoyer

Smash Ultimate - Shulk, Pyra/Mythra, Incineroar
Again, I'm a big Xenoblade enjoyer, and I just think Incineroar is hype as hell plus I chose them in Sun and Ultra Sun.

Towerfall - Madeline
There are no character differences in this game but I like Madeline :)

Lethal League Blaze - Raptor
He's simple and he can be a baseball which is funny

Guilty Gear XX AC+R - Baiken, Justice
I haven't played much of this yet but I've enjoyed these characters and they have good vibes.
Virtua Fighter 5 - El Blaze
Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Mr. Game & Watch/Ice Climbers
Soul Calibur (all) - Voldo
Dead or Alive 2 - Leifang
Guilty Gear Strive - Happy Chaos
Cannon Spike - B.B Hood
Fortnite - Lebron James with the Purple Among Us Crewmate back bling
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - Andrew Reynolds
Fighting Vipers - Candy
Street Fighter (All, when possible) - Sakura & Vega
Mario Kart - Toad
Mortal Kombat (All) - Kabal, Rain & Johnny Cage
Pokemon Unite - Tsareena & Hoopa
Tekken 7 - Lars
Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee - Mechagodzilla
Sonic The Fighters - Amy
KOF (all, when possible) - King & Ash Crimson
3rd Strike: Dudley for the absolute disrespect, Ibuki cuz she's cute and I like characters with big goofy dash attacks.
SF2: Blanka and Balrog (Boxer) for similar reasons to the 3S guys, big dash attacks and boxers are cool.
SF6 I'm probably gonna main Dee Jay! But we'll see about the new characters!

Smash 64: Luigi, I love this man's up punch in this version the hitbox is gigantic it's hilarious. Falcon as a secondary because falcon punches are very fun to land
Smash Melee: Tough call but probably Fox? I'm not really a comp player I just really love his moveset and how stuff strings together specifically in this iteration.
Brawl: Toon Link, grew up with this one as a kid and always spammed down air
Ultimate: Falcon because I love his style but I also play a lot of Hero for the DQ rep, and Roy cuz he's so unga bunga sword man.
Oh I also forgot DBFZ:
Piccolo - Gotta rep my favorite!
Krillin - I really like his moveset plus the rock disrespect
Vegito - This character just has a lot of very satisfying moves and is easy to play
Yamcha - hilarious dash moves and winning with Yamcha is always peak


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