Hey guys! This year was a tough call. There were so many EXCELLENT brawlers this year…and a few strange ones…but mostly EXCELLENT. I actually had it narrowed down to about 5 for the #1 spot, but…well here goes.

Simpsons (Arcade)

4 player co-op, lots of references to the show, great animation, bright and vibrant environments, wide variety of enemies, bonus games, horizonal and vertical scrolling levels, combo partner attacks, lots of alternate weapons, humorous attacks and environments overall, perfect sound effects for a brawler…literally, this title has it all.

Again, it’s not the most graphically impressive of these titles, but it IS the most brawler-y. The Simpsons arcade game is one of the few titles I’m REALLY surprised hasn’t received any kind of remake or decent port (it did receive a PC port, but it was FAR from decent). Honestly, I’m really hoping with the rise of so many older arcade titles being ported to XBLA that it’s the next one.

Maybe it’s licensing issues that have been holding it back…don’t know…but it BELONGS on there. Hell, they even found a way to have zombies AND a dream sequence level! This is one of the best examples of a brawler I can think of and it definitely brings back lots of memories for me.

Runner Ups

This was a HUGE year for brawlers. I mean, hell, there are 31 runner ups! And to be honest, I can’t think of any (except for a bizarre few) that weren’t great. Besides that, even the ones that were bizarre showed some promise as far as trying something new and different. I’d highly recommend booting these in MAME and…err…cough, cough…I mean, FINDING THESE AT YOUR LOCAL ARCADE…yeah…and…uh, popping a shitload of quarters in them.

64th Street – A Detective Story (Arcade)
Battletoads (Arcade)
Blade Master (Arcade)
Burning Fight (Neo Geo)
Captain America and the Avengers (Arcade)
Captain Commando (Arcade)
D.D. Crew (Arcade)
Defenders of Dynatron City (NES)
Double Dragon 2/ Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun – Bangai Rantō-hen (Gameboy)
Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zenin Shūgō! (NES)
Eightman (Neo Geo)
Golden Axe 2 (Arcade)
Growl – Taito (Arcade)
International Ninja Rabbits (Amiga)
Karate Blazers (Arcade)
King of Dragons (Arcade)
Knights of the Round (Arcade)
Legend of Success Joe (Neo Geo)
Mutation Nation (Neo Geo)
Ninja Clowns (Arcade)
PuLiRuLa (Arcade)
Riot City (Arcade)
Robo Army (Neo Geo)
Sengoku (Neo Geo)
Spartan X 2 (NES)
Spider-Man – The Video Game (Arcade)
Streets of Rage (Genesis)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)
Two Crude Dudes (Arcade)
Vendetta / Crime Fighters 2 (Arcade)
Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga Episode 3 (Arcade)