Nice to see other people liking Guilty Gear! XX (or X2, its American name) was the only thing I played for over a year...now I'm waiting for #Reload (ROBO KY WHOOOOOO).
I got to play Isuka for awhile when I was at Evolution, and it's pretty much what I expected. Way too broken for competition, but an extremely fun game nonetheless.
You know, speaking of Evolution, SSBM was actually supposed to be added to their tournament lineup this year, but they ran into some kind of legal issue with Nintendo at the last minute. This one spawned a HUGE debate much like the "is SSBM a fighting game" one. I say, if Tekken 4 (a.k.a. Jin: The Game) is worthy of inclusion, Smash Bros. definitely should be.
feitclub: Cool, another SNK fan! KoF'98, in my mind, is and will always be their finest work. Fatal Fury Special is a personal favorite, along with Last Blade 2 and Samurai Shodown 2. The Real Bout series seems interesting as well, I just haven't figured out how to actually play them yet.
I have to disagree with you about 3D fighters. I absolutely love the Virtua Fighter series (perhaps THE most well-crafted for tournament play), and Tekken 5 has me interested.
Never really "got" Darkstalkers the way some others do, cool games though. Evidently there still is a tournament scene for Vampire Savior in Japan, the game was included in this year's Super Battle Opera (humongous national tournament sponsored by Arcadia Magazine).
Now, to add something of my own here...check out
this site for movies showcasing combos for various fighting games.
More coming later,
Josh.
