00:00Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're taking a look at 10 fighting games that went through some of the worst metas ever.
00:20God forbid we diversify servers and avoid using quote-unquote unbeatable characters, am I right?
00:30Before we begin we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:43Mortal Kombat
00:54Mortal Kombat the series has always had a history of cheap characters, but that was mostly with boss characters such as Shao Kahn and Noob Saibot.
01:04In an age where competition is more fierce than it ever has been though, MK9 saw some of the worst of it in the franchise's post-midway era.
01:13For the longest time, it was common to come across Cabal spamming Nomad Dash, Sheevas exploiting her broken stomp move, and every Cyrax main seemingly knowing how to execute a touch of death combo.
01:26Things got worse when Freddy Krueger was added into the game and proved to be an exceptional zoner.
01:31Basically, there was just never a good reason to jump into the online portion of MK9. There just wasn't.
01:47Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
01:57The thing about MVC is that there are so many characters with unique movesets to choose from that you would expect players to want to experiment with different teams.
02:06Alas, that was not the case with UMVC 3, nor its initial version Fate of Two Worlds.
02:13Even today, you are bound to come across several players using the same characters, those being Virgil, Zero, Wesker, Magneto, Morrigan, Nova, Doctor Doom, Wolverine, or Rad Spencer.
02:25The reason for this is because each of these characters boasts excellent speed or zoning abilities.
02:31Sure, they are also just super fun to play in general, but when most tournaments are showing this same group over and over and over again,
02:40man, we'd have more fun watching two dudes fight each other with Big Zam in Gundam Battle Assault.
02:46At least watching the infinites can be interesting sometimes.
02:49Tekken 7
02:50While great in several different ways, the online scene for Tekken 7 felt like it was rarely ever in an interesting spot.
03:05At launch, many folks were bullying others with Akuma's tactics, which broke just about all of the fundamentals of Tekken.
03:12However, the game found itself in a dire state throughout Season 3 when Leroy and Fakumram were added into the game.
03:20Leroy was trouncing so many players with his parries that it nearly killed the game,
03:25especially after EVO Japan 2020 was nothing but Leroy matches.
03:30As for Fakumram, he was getting tweaked for months, literally months after launch,
03:37with one patch being solely dedicated just to him.
03:41Tekken 7 did get in a better state afterwards, but those of us who were playing at the time
03:46still go through those Vietnam flashbacks every now and again.
03:50Tekken 7
03:53Super Slam
03:54This may seem like a bizarre game to cover, trust us, it is.
03:58But Shrek Super Slam does have a dedicated player base as small as it may seem.
04:03Trust us, the meta here is just as awful as our other entries though.
04:08See, Trek Super Slam has a pretty meaty roster of 20 playable characters,
04:14and yet, only 4 or 5 of them are ever considered to be viable to compete with.
04:19Those being Fiona, Robin Hood, Jinji, and Dronki.
04:24Red Riding Hood is also in that mix, but she's often banned from tournaments.
04:28But all 5 of these characters have consistently shown to be more versatile
04:33between their exceptional speed, their damage output, and their slam powers.
04:37You may see Luna or one of the A tier characters every now and again,
04:41but for the most part, you're going to be seeing a lot of the 4 aforementioned fighters
04:45in the competitive scene, which can excite or bore you,
04:49depending on what you're looking for and how much you love Shrek Super Slam.
04:53Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.
05:05Despite how it may appear, Persona 4 Arena is one of the easiest fighting games to jump into,
05:10no matter your skill level.
05:12Getting more people into the genre is great,
05:14however, this blessing is also P4A's curse,
05:17as some characters wound up becoming too easy to use,
05:20thus creating a really bad meta.
05:23Aegis was a strong fighter in both versions, same with Mitsuru.
05:27However, Yuu was frequently selected and often cited as the strongest character in the game,
05:32which quickly led to Arena becoming a spin-off specifically for Yuu.
05:37It's really like the rest of the cast didn't even exist.
05:39Injustice Gods Among Us.
05:50NetherRealm Studios found themselves in hot water yet again after MK9,
05:54and it got to the point where Injustice Gods Among Us was given the nickname Injustice Zoners Among Us.
06:01Indeed, this was a problem that should have been expected from the start,
06:04given that this is a superhero game starring characters that each had gadgets, guns, and the sort.
06:12That said, everybody was bound to have at least a couple of ranged attacks.
06:17Unfortunately, that is still no excuse for what transpired.
06:21Players found very little reason to actively engage in close combat
06:25when they could just spam projectiles until somebody got bored or timed out.
06:29The scene got even worse when Scorpion entered the fray with his teleporting ability as well as some moves that excel in zoning.
06:37Since then, NRS has struggled in mitigating players from exploiting zoning tactics across most of their games.
06:44Believe me, Injustice 2 was far more egregious.
06:48BlazBlue Calamity Trigger
06:58For the most part, BlazBlue has been relatively okay at keeping the game balanced.
07:09You may hear folks complain about the Ruby Gourd meta that played Cross Tag Battle
07:13or whine about Kokonoe for the hundredth time.
07:16However, Calamity Trigger was honestly the worst that things ever got with BlazBlue.
07:21Back in the days when Calamity Trigger had a more lively online scene, you would often run into one of two characters.
07:28New 13 or Rachel.
07:30New 13 had an immensely strong keep away game with a litany of ranged attacks, but was poor in close quarters.
07:38In other words, she was a glass cannon, though a glass cannon that was really tough to break than most.
07:43Rachel was deemed the most effective counterpick to deter new mains.
07:47Some were able to do fine with Jin, Tao, or Bang, but for the most part, New 13 and Rachel were stars of Calamity Trigger's online scene.
07:56Marvel vs. Capcom 2 New Age of Heroes
08:08Normally, we try not to double up on games in one particular franchise for lists like this, but full admittance, MVC2, for as insanely fun as it is to play, is infected with a meta worse than UMVC3.
08:22For starters, almost every competitive player uses at least one of the four horsemen, those being Storm, Sentinel, Cable, and Magneto.
08:31As for the other one or two slots for their team, it's almost always Cyclops, Doctor Doom, Strider, Iron Man, War Machine, Dalsim, or Blackheart.
08:41Variety is pretty much dead in MVC2's competitive scene, and while matches can still be fun to watch, the meta does lead to boredom much quicker than UMVC3.
08:52Super Smash Bros. Melee
08:54You know, you hear about how Melee is supposedly this superior game compared to the rest of the franchise, and how it plays so much better?
09:03More often than not though, the folks repeating this sentiment are the same ones playing the same four characters every single match.
09:11How many tournaments have we seen that are just littered with Jigglypuffs, Marths, Falcos, and Foxes?
09:17Yes, they have been proven to be the best fighters across decades of competitive melee tournaments, and sometimes you'll see a few Peach Mains, maybe some Sheiks, and a few Captain Falcons.
09:28But even so, you eventually wish to see somebody shake things up suddenly with a weird pick.
09:35Or maybe, see an organization say, hey, you can only play low tier characters only. It'd at least make things interesting for just a moment.
09:44And finally, Dragon Ball FighterZ
09:47Of every fighting game to ever exist, Dragon Ball FighterZ may have the worst meta of meta history.
09:56Ever since launch, it just seemed like Arc System Works could never get the balance just right, and the player base suffered greatly for it.
10:05To its credit, every character is still pretty strong overall, but once you get into the nuances, that's when you see why only a few characters are frequently picked.
10:15Goku Black, Super Baby 2, SSGSS Vegeta, SSGSS Vegito, LabCo Android 21, Nappa, Trunks, Super Saiyan Vegeta, and SSGSS Gogeta players were a dime a dozen to the point where playing online just got boring in a matter of minutes.
10:35The game is fun to play, it just gets really old seeing the same few characters get picked over and over and over and over again.
10:45Tell us, which fighting game do you think has the most egregious meta? Did it make our list?
10:50Let me tell you, I greatly feel the Smash Bros. Melee meta getting super, super stale.
10:57But let us know what you think down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great videos every day.
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