If a character suddenly splits in half when they’re hit by a fireball or disappears from the screen after doing a certain combo in modern fighting games developers will simply roll out a new patch and fix whatever glitch or bug is afflicting the experience, but this wasn’t always the case.
In his latest video Rooflemonger takes a look back at some older fighting game titles that have some egregious glitches. You’ll recognize some while others will have you scratching your head in disbelief, but either way watching these game breakers makes for a fun time.
Roof kicks off the list with perhaps the most famous fighting game glitch: Guile’s Street Fighter 2 handcuffs. This now-historical hiccup sees Guile suddenly tethered to his opponent, rendering them unable to perform any actions as they are helplessly dragged about the stage by the American hero.
The glitch that impressed us the most, however, was the King of Fighters 95’s certain death for Chin stage. The KoF franchise is rife with bugs and odd happenings, but this example combines two oversights to make for a hilariously bad time for Chin players.
SNK developers went out of their way to make interesting stage introductions for KoF 95, and on the Italian water stage that includes having the combatants leap from a dock into ankle-deep water before the fight begins.
This is a cool animation and all, but not all characters make the transition at the same rate. One fighter in particular, Chin, takes a second or so longer than Iori, and it just so happens that the fight begins the moment the first character lands. The result? Iori can score a free hit on Chin at the start of any fight on this stage, and he just so happens to have a rekka juggle that lops off an insane 85% health by itself.
We’ll let Rooflemonger show you what this looks like in action along with a handful of other crazy fighting game glitches that more than likely caused some real life fights to break out.