While fighting games have all but been replaced with online or co-op first/third person games, (dont deny it,) Mortal Kombat is still going strong with its latest release, Armageddon. The last thing Street Fighter has put out was its anthology series for the original and Alpha series.

Certain phrases stick with people as they grow up. Quotes from movies, books or family tend to hold meaning and stick with us for a long time. My quotes that hold meaning came from video games.

Hadouken from Street Fighter and Finish Him from Mortal Kombat were all I really thought about as a teenager. While both games are well-loved, in the words of Optimus Prime, One shall stand, one shall fall.

Both games are based on tournaments where the best fighters in the world come to compete. Mortal Kombats story can be pretty wild and complex (Noob Saibot is Sub Zeros brother?), whereas Street Fighter tends to just be about fighting. You can look up information on characters and their relations with each other, but for the most part its all about going for broke.

The first Street Fighter came in 1987, but it was what hit the arcades in 1991 that thrust Street Fighter into legendary status. Street Fighter II came with improved graphics, eight playable characters and fireballs. Mortal Kombat was introduced in 1992 and featured blood- lots and lots of blood. It was so gory that it was partly responsible for the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Any good fighting game has memorable characters and special moves. Both MK and SF have a reputation for creating the same characters with different aesthetics. For example, in the early MK games Reptile, Scorpion and Sub-Zero all looked the same, but their specialties were different.

Ken and Ryu, on the other hand, were exactly alike except for their color and their hair in SF II. As time went on, both games differentiated the characters more, with MK going the route of different costumes and appearances and SF altering the special moves a little bit.

Street Fighter is famous for its surge fist special (Hadouken, if you didnt know), and Mortal Kombat has its spear from Scorpion (Get over here!). Both are trademark moves, but Mortal Kombat took it one step further with fatalities. They were so ridiculous that it was common to see multiple skulls and femurs littered on the floor. From Animalities to Babalities, MK was over the top in its ways to finish the fight.

SF kept things simple by just KOing the opponent instead of blowing them to bloody pieces. Super Street Fighter II Turbo: The Ultimate Championship introduced super combos, and while it may have upped the level of violence, it was nowhere near what Mortal Kombat was doing.

So whats the verdict? Decisions, decisions. While fighting games have all but been replaced with online or co-op first/third person games (dont deny it), Mortal Kombat is still going strong with its latest release, Armageddon. The last thing Street Fighter has put out was its anthology series for the original and Alpha series.

While Street Fighter has ruled the 2-D realm, MK has made a very successful jump into 3-D. Street Fighter tried, but the EX series pretty much flopped. That means Mortal Kombat wins this one.

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