The King of Fighters 2000

SNK has given its long-running scrapping series a new lease on life by reimagining it, and in the process, it has also given the genre a new lease on life. The game features some beautiful backdrops, including a lush aquarium. It is necessary to make strategic use of the striker character to make progress, and there are a lot of possible candidates who rush on and launch a searing attack, then vanish after a bit of taunting. There are 35 slickly animated playable characters for you to choose from and the same number of strikers, so there is a lot for you to sink your teeth (and fists) into. Just do your best to fight off the impulse to use the desperation maneuver until necessary.