What Fighting Game should I get?

[chuckman1]

Let me first say I don't want this to be a flame war or a vs. thread alright.
I currently own a PS2, PSP, and will soon be purchasing a PS3.
I'm really considering buying Marvel vs. Capcom 2 but the fact that it costs more
than Street Fighter 4 concerns me.
I also want Capcom vs. SNK 2 because it's cheaper but it doesn't seem as "good" to me
as Marvel vs. Capcom.
I've also been considering buying SF slpha off the PSN and SF4.
One thing that sways me more towards SF4 is there's no PS2
fighting stick / controller that I'm aware of.
I also like the King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat.
I've never played Guilty Gear.
I also enjoyed the Last Blade.
I never really liked 3d fighters that much but go ahead and suggest some like Tekken or Virtua Fighter.
Are there any PS2 fighting sticks , arcade sticks , or anything along those lines?
Also on an unrelated note, do any of you know where I could buy arcade machines
like Capcom vs. SNK or Capcom vs. Marvel and about how much they would cost.
Thank you!

 

[FinalGamer]

For the love of Sheng Long, get Marvel VS Capcom 2. You will have WAY more fun with that game than Street Fighter IV or Capcom VS SNK 2 due to having 50-something awesome characters from various Capcom games and Marvel comics.
It's seriously one of the best fighting games ever other than the weird jazz music. But really, I promise you will have a lot of fun with it.

 

[chunkydude84]

If you had a Dreamcast, you could have gotten Marvel VS Capcom 2 for under 20. Muahaha.

 

[Woe Is You]

For the love of Sheng Long, get Marvel VS Capcom 2. You will have WAY more fun with that game than Street Fighter IV or Capcom VS SNK 2 due to having 50-something awesome characters from various Capcom games and Marvel comics.

Aaand the amount of characters make the game? CvS2 has about the same amount of characters and suffers far less from the MUGEN experience.

...but I personally consider Garou: Mark of the Wolves to be the best fighting game around and it only has a paltry 14 characters. SNK's best game by far, even beats Third Strike by a little since it's slightly easier to get hang of.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Street Fighter Alpha 3(PS1).

But ideally, get yourself a Dreamcast, then find:

1. Last Blade
2. Garou
3. Project Justice
4. ???
5. Profit!

 

[Johnnyallstar]

I hvae always enjoyed tekken myself, but that's just preference. Soul Calibur is good as well. SC2 should be really cheap by now if you can find it, and is worth playing around with.

 

[-Seraph-]

for your PSP they have guilty gear and another guilty gear is on its way, i think it's called accent core XX or something. Samurai showdown anthology is also coming to the PSP. If you don't hate final fantasy much Dissidia looks great.

 

[Nutcase]

Since you apparently have not tried it before, Virtua Fighter.

VF4 Evolution for the PS2 probably makes my top 5 games of all time. Incredibly, it was even originally released to the US as a $20 budget title. It takes a while to get into, but has a good training mode which helps.

I haven't played VF5 (PS3), but the word is it's good too.

Yes, there are arcade sticks for the PS2. Hori has made several models customized and themed to different fighting games, with the amount of buttons each game requires. I'm very happy with the high-end Hori Real Arcade Pro 2, which is not themed and has all the buttons. Get a PS2-USB converter (google first, not all of them are good apparently) and the PS2 sticks will work for the PS3 as well.

 

[FinalGamer]

For the love of Sheng Long, get Marvel VS Capcom 2. You will have WAY more fun with that game than Street Fighter IV or Capcom VS SNK 2 due to having 50-something awesome characters from various Capcom games and Marvel comics.

Aaand the amount of characters make the game? CvS2 has about the same amount of characters and suffers far less from the MUGEN experience.

...but I personally consider Garou: Mark of the Wolves to be the best fighting game around and it only has a paltry 14 characters. SNK's best game by far, even beats Third Strike by a little since it's slightly easier to get hang of.

Well I have no clue about Garou. I was just saying Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was more FUN because there's so many characters to play as, in the same way Smash Bros Brawl is fun, minus the items.

 

[Remleiz]

Power stone!

 

[Vortigar]

chuckman1:
It really depends on what you're looking for. I'll give you some titles and the most notable features about them and why the players of that title seem to play it.
- Street Fighter 4: has currently got the community and the tournaments going for it. Right now its the easiest game to get competition in.
- Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution: excellent single player experience. Has the most expansive set of tutorials and the best AI of any game out there. The first hurdle of getting used to it is a bit bigger, but its learning curve is way overestimated. (Don't pick Akira as your first character though, he looks like the straightforward poster boy character but he's the exact opposite, ie. the hardest character to master in the game.)
- Virtua Fighter 5: Doesn't have the single player appeal, nor the excellent teaching modes of its predecessor but has an active online community on the 360.
- Capcom vs SNK 2: An absolute must for the guy who's been playing fighting games for the last ten years. If you're not familiar with the SNK characters this one could be lost on you. Tricky to really get good at this game though.
- Street Fighter 3 Third Strike: The most fluidly animated of all the 2d fighters. Easy to get into, but the hop to truly mastering this game is toweringly high, some praise it exactly for that very reason.
- Dead or Alive 4: uhm, boobs? Straightforward, easy to get good at and get enjoyment from, if you're not planning on putting in countless hours this could be your game.
- Marvel vs Capcom 2: Just like CvS this game gives instant enjoyment due to the license characters (unless you don't know Marvel). Easy to pull off insane stuff in. Trying to get to a competing level in this game is frustrating though as only a select few characters are really viable in the tournament scene.
- Soul Calibur 2: The best in the series on your consoles. Infinitely enjoyable. There's no competition whatsoever in this game though. Very good single player mode.
- Soul Calibur 4: The flashy cousin of the one above. Lacks its single player mode but has an online component. If you ask me they broke more than they fixed in 3 and 4.
- Tekken 5: Insane combo's and awesome character designs. Rewards players with quick reflexes and steady input timing.
- Tekken 5 Dark Ressurection: Stripped and updated version of the above with online mode. I'd wait for Tekken 6.
- Guilty Gear X2 (I've got #Reload. Accent Core is the latest): Very fast with excellent graphics if you like anime character designs. Very easy to get the hang of in the early stages but has a steep learning curve later on. Rewards players who can think on their feet and keep the momentum of attacks going. Contains a character for every play style.

A few general notes:
MvC2, SC4 and DoA give instant gratification but can dry up unless you have players of equal skill around. They're great for some mucking about in every now and then. (CvS2 also falls into this category if you know the SNK cast.)

SC2 and VF4E have the best single player modes.

GG and SF3 feel a bit whack the first time around but become really enjoyable if you can hang in there for a little while.

SF4, SC4, DoA4 and VF5 have active online lives, with SF4 being the superior among them and SC4 being dominated by cheap shots.

The PS2 has the most arcade sticks of any console on the market. Picking and finding the one you want can be hard though.

aside:
I'm preparing myself for some flak now.