No one likes getting their digital butt kicked, but that can be a learning experience in itself. Players can read all the frame data, twiddle in the practice modes, and watch combo videos or tournament matches all day. It just won’t feel as fun or as rewarding as just playing the game and messing around. They may even discover something they overlooked in the process, or something will click, and they’ll finally pull off that tricky mode they had trouble with.
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Which can be twice as fun if it happens in one of the game’s extra modes. The ones meant for yuks rather than the local/online VS modes. Someone finally getting the hang ofStreet Fighter’s triangle motions in regular combat is cool. Managing it in the Smash the Car Bonus stage, or on a fridge inStreet Fighter 6is just crazy. Whether it’s single-player fun or multiplayer madness, these are some of thebest extra modes in fighting games.
By the late 1990s, the beat ‘em up genre was on its last legs. Soon to be replaced with hack ‘n slashers likeDevil May Cryuntil their indie revival 20 years later. But developers like Namco still had a soft spot for them, as they included aStreets of Rage-esque mode inTekken 3calledTekken Force Mode. It was pretty fun, thoughT3’s improved mobility was still much stiffer than classic brawlers likeDouble DragonorFinal Fight.
Tekken 4improved on it by making the players more mobile and moving the camera back for a better view. ButTekken 6went one further by zooming the view out further and renaming itScenario Campaign Mode. It had stages for each character in the game. Fun as it was, it was way too big, and it took the place of the Arcade Mode. If players wanted to see, say, Paul or Eddy’s endings, they had to reach and beat their stages in Scenario Campaign Mode first.
Ironically, while Force Mode would reappear in multiple games, it wasT3’s other big novelty,Tekken Ball Mode, that’s stuck in people’s minds. It puts players back in a 1-on-1 setup, where players had to smash a ball (either a beach ball, gum ball, or iron ball) either at each other or onto the ground on their opponent’s side. In other words, it combinedTekkenwith volleyball, andGon the orange dinosaur, as players had to beat him in this mode to unlock him.
Both players could stack damage each time they hit the ball too, meaning anyone who whiffed would get punished hard. By then, it would be safer for them to let it hit the ground for a less severe damage penalty instead. The mode didn’t return until 2012’s Wii U port ofTekken Tag Tournament 2. However, it’ll make its long-awaited return inTekken 8, where it’ll likely be just as strange as it was back in 1998.
Capcom took inspiration from Tekken Ball Mode to produce some of the features inStreet Fighter 6’sExtreme BattleMode. It’s basically a party mode where players can mess around and do simple but nutty stuff for laughs. They can dodge charging bulls, kick exploding balls at each other, or see who can knock the other player down up to 5 times first.
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It’s rather similar toMortal Kombat 2011’sTest Your Luck Mode, where players could fight each other based on specific or random conditions. They may have to dodge raining projectiles or fight with special moves disabled. There could be health pickups for players to fight over, or their characters could become zombies who throw their limbs at each other. No matter the luck of the draw, players would get some wild matches out of it.
T6’s Scenario Campaign mode was good in small bursts, but it was too big for its own good.Tekken 7over-corrected that by making its Netherrealm Studios-esqueStory Modetoo short. This mix of cutscenes and gameplay, switching from one character to another for chapters, was a highlight introduced byMortal Kombat Vs DC Universe. It would only get better once the newMortal KombatandInjusticegames got started, becoming their centerpieces.
Still, they could be improved upon in both writing and gameplay. For example,Guilty Gear X2’s Story Mode told different stories from the characters’ perspectives, had effects that carried over to gameplay (limited health, full meter, etc), and branching pathways that differed depending on how players won or lost matches. While not every fighting game fan is big on stories like this, it’s nice to see the characters beyond their frame data.
It says a lot when a mode can come with a very nasty bug, and still get fanswishing it could come back.Soulcalibur3’sChronicles of the Sword modemixed the traditional weapons-fighting experience with RTS and RPG elements. It told its own story separate from the games, as the player’s custom character and their party got involved in a war between the Grandall Empire, Kingdom of Dalkia, and the Halteese Republic.
They had to choose the right troops for the right job, attacking some strongholds while defending others, before taking on opponents in 1-on-1 or team-based combat. Experienced RTS fans might find it basic, but for casual fans, it was a good introduction to the genre. The problem was it had a bug where, if any other data was copied, deleted, or otherwise tweaked prior toSC3’s data, it could corrupt the data. As fun as it was, players had to be careful with it.
Chronicles of the Sword wasn’t the first mode to mix RPG elements with fighting games. BothTobalgames andEhrgeizcame with dungeon-crawling side modes. InStreet Fighter Alpha 3’s World Tour mode, the player can level up their character and earn new skills.Persona 4: Arena Ultimaxwas different as, being a spin-off of an RPG (which spans off from another RPG), it needed some RPG elements to appeal to the series' core audience.
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EnterGolden Arena Mode. In it, playerspick their characterand an ally, then select one of 5 increasingly tricky dungeon courses. By testing themselves, they could raise their stats high enough to earn new skills and build up their Social Link with their ally. The closer they were, the stronger their backup skill (recover HP, nullify elemental attacks, etc) was. It was interesting, intriguing, and as close to thePersonaexperience as a fighting game could provide.
Believe it or not, there’s lore toVirtua Fighter. But the games never really capitalized on it as, outside the novelty gameVirtua Fighter Kids, none of them featured endings or story modes. The series is practically the fighting game fan’s fighting game, as the gameplay is king above all else, hence itsextra attention to detail. This can also be seen inVirtua Fighter 4: Evolution’sQuest Mode, as it went meta.
Instead of an in-lore story, players told their own as an up-and-coming arcade player entering the tournament world. They had to pick a character, then get enough wins to go on to the next big arcade, and then the next, and the next, until they reached the big tournament at the end. The AI is modeled after real Japanese players and can get tricky. But players can take it at their own pace, and battle to earn customizable items to make their character more snazzy.
The ranking wouldn’t be complete without the most fascinating new mode for the genre.Street Fighter 6’sWorld Tour Modeessentially turns the game into a mini-Shenmue or an unarmedSaints Row, as players take their custom avatar to the streets and explore the world. They can learn the other main characters’ moves and beat-up mooks as they look into JP and what his NGO is doing in the fictional nation of Nayshall.
The mode offers plenty of customizable options and plenty of mini-games and side-missions. It’s both beginner-friendly and technical enough for veterans thanks to its Modern and Classic control schemes. Even the characters are given extra lore and personality (e.g. Cammy’s love of cats). As a bonus, the DLC characters appear as masters for free. This means players can technically try their move set before they buy them ifthey meet their standards.
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