Killer Instinct, Rare’s bombastic fighting game series, returns to combat after a 17 year hiatus. Last appearing on the Nintendo 64 as Killer Instinct Gold, Killer Instinct lied dormant until it was teased at Microsoft’s E3 2013 Xbox One press conference.

Killer Instinct, now under the guidance of developer Double Helix, has returned at the right time. Fighting games have enjoyed a renaissance that’s resulted in Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Dead or Alive, and Virtua Fighter receiving new series entries. The fighting game landscape hasn’t been this rich in decades, so its good to see Killer Instinct, one of the ’90s fighting game posterboys, contribute to this second coming.

Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection is the singer’s first greatest hits compilation. Released in November 1990, the album culled together The Material Girl’s most popular tracks from the early stage of her lengthy career, 1983-1990.

Capcom’s Street Fighter II is the game that put one-on-one versus fighting on the map and staved the arcade’s inevitable death by a decade. Released months after The Immaculate Collection in March 1991, Street Fighter II forever changed the video game industry.

What’s odd is that I discovered both the record and the game in the same place: Coney Island’s legendary Faber’s Fascination arcade.

Capcom’s Street Fighter II is the game that put one-on-one versus fighting on the map and staved the arcade’s inevitable death by a decade. Released months after The Immaculate Collection in March 1991, Street Fighter II forever changed the video game industry.

What’s odd is that I discovered both the record and the game in the same place: Coney Island’s legendary Faber’s Fascination arcade.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves is one of SNK’s finest moments. Street Fighter III: Third Strike is one of the greatest fighting games ever made. Both were under-appreciated classics upon their initial releases, but found dedicated fan bases thanks to excellent ports. But which is the best 2D fighting game? Third Strike fan Avion Foster-Jarvis and Garou lover Jeffrey L. Wilson debate the matter in an appropriate three round bout. But we want YOU to pick the winner. Leave a comment below. But for now–lets rumble!

Guilty Gear XX AC Plus is one of those fighters that many gamers gush over, but very few have played. Since the fall of 1998 and the dawn of the “anime fighter,” the Guilty Gear series has set a standard for deep and engaging combat that don’t involve Capcom characters. You’ve likely heard gamers talk about the series’ flashy fast- paced action and incredibly steep learning curve, but don’t let it sway you from jumping into the fray. If you missed Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus for Xbox 360 or PS3 (or any of the other games in the series), this newly updated and re-balanced PlayStation Vita game is a great place to start.

Injustice: Gods Among Us launched recently (check out our review here) to a hungry crowd of gamers who gobbled up the DC Comics fighter like Iron Man to whiskey. NetherRealm Studio announced that the game would feature 24 hard-hitters as well as some post-launch DLC characters, the number of them rumored to be between 8 and 10.

There are dozens of these Injustice DLC lists on the various lands of the interwebs, so I’m not going to list the most obvious (and probable) characters that will more than likely receive the DLC treatment, including Lobo (who happens to be already announced), Martian Manhunter, Swamp Thing, Firestorm, Huntress, Starfire (GO TITANS), Jason Todd, Zatanna or Jonah Hex (who has the potential to be AMAZING in it). But until then…

I’m going digging deep into my comic-brain-compendium for these characters. Here’s who I think would totally rock in Injustice:

Midway Games and WB Games released a fighter in 2008 that combined one of the most violent and controversial video game series of all time with one of the most popular comic book houses of all time: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. It appeared the perfect underdog pairing. Mortal Kombat lived in Street Fighter’s shadow since its inception, and DC Comics never carried the same swagger as Marvel Comics. Despite featuring several interesting gameplay elements — visual damage, Free-fall Kombat, Rage Mode — Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was met with mixed reception. Fast forward five years and the Warner Bros.-owned Midway Games is now the Ed Boon-fronted NetherRealm Studios, the development team behind Injustice: Gods Among Us, a second stab at a DC-based fighter.

It’s much better than its predecessor by leaps and bounds.

Everyone seemingly has their quips about the PS Vita’s small library of quality games — except the fighting game community. We’ve been spoiled with quality fighters since day one. Yes, most have been ports, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that most are quite good. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, and PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale are all very solid to excellent fighters — but none are 3D fighters. Enter Tecmo Koei’s Dead or Alive 5 Plus. It easily ranks in the upper echelon of graphically impressive Vita games. Not only that, it retains everything gamers love about the console version and puts it into a nice portable package.

Nestled in the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center’s west wing was an area — along with the Indie Megabooth — that defined my PAX East 2013 experience: the free-play classic console room. For old timers like me, or those who love the relative simplicity of games from yesteryear, it’s a must-visit destination as you can play anything from an Apple II to a Dreamcast.

In 2008, Midway Games and WB Games released a fighter that combined one of the most controversial video game series of all time with one of the most popular comic book houses of all time: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Despite carrying several interesting gameplay features — visual damage, Free-fall Kombat, Rage Mode — it was met with mixed reviews. Fast forward five years and the Warner Bros.-owned Midway Games is now the Ed Boon-fronted NetherRealm Studios, the development team behind Injustice: Gods Among Us, a second stab at a DC-based fighter.

It’s much better than its predecessor.

There’s a lot of money to be made by culling multiple familiar properties into a wholly original piece. It proved profitable for Hanna-Barbera with Wacky Races, ABC, CBS, and NBC with Battle of the Network Stars, and Disney/Marvel with The Avengers. It makes sense. If you take something that people like and add more things that people like, then you’ll have something that people really like.