Games with great 1-on-1 human/humanoid fights

[Breathe]

I'm going through Sifu right now and it reminded me how much I love 1-on-1 battles with a similar size adversary. For example, my favorite fights in Souls games are humanoid 1-on-1's like Lady Maria, Orphan of Kos, Gehrman, Artorias, Dancer (though not that humanlike), Friede, and Gael.

I'm sure there are lots more I've fought over the years that I can't think of off of the top of my head, but there's something inherently satisfying to conquering these. So I'm looking for more. Recommend or list any games with great 1-on-1 fights you enjoyed, are interesting, or think I should check out. Also, it doesn't have to be just souls combat. That's just what I'm most familiar with. It could be something like Cybrog Ninja from MGS.

[WhiteShark]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has many.

[Breathe]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has many.

Oh sweet I have this in my steam library, yet to be played.

[gerey]

Any of the Devil Mary Cry games (except the dogshit one made by Westerners). Bosses tend to be on the bigger side, but there's plenty of human-sized opponents, and the fights against Vergil are always a blast.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The Suikoden series has dramatic 1-on-1 duel sequences. The one in the first game where you dueled your father was pretty nervewracking, not just the story stakes but also picking the wrong move and him rip a huge chunk of your health bar while the tense music was playing. The prior duel where Pahn duels your father was also pretty nervewracking since there was the risk of permadeath for Pahn if he lost.





The Trails of Cold Steel games also have dramatic mech duel segments. The mech duels are the hardest fights of the Trails games, especially on nightmare/abyss difficulty. In regular battles you can use cheese strats like using shields or jacking everyone's evasion up to 100%, optimizing your team's speed and delaying enemy turns, spamming S-crafts to burst down bosses, etc, but you can't do that in the mech duels. I've breezed through Trails games on the highest difficulties only to get stuck on the duels. Finally beating the final mech duels was pretty satisfying. Also great music.

[Vergil]

The fight against The Boss in MGS3 is pretty legendary. The whole game has you fighting against weirdos with super powers but The Boss is pretty much your equal in every way including moveset.

[Breathe]

Any of the Devil Mary Cry games (except the dogshit one made by Westerners). Bosses tend to be on the bigger side, but there's plenty of human-sized opponents, and the fights against Vergil are always a blast.

I only played 2 back in the day. I have the HD collection (which is 1-3) so I'll have to play through them. I dropped 5 but enjoyed DmC. I think coming at the earlier entries with fresh eyes will be fun.

The Suikoden series has dramatic 1-on-1 duel sequences. The one in the first game where you dueled your father was pretty nervewracking, not just the story stakes but also picking the wrong move and him rip a huge chunk of your health bar while the tense music was playing. The prior duel where Pahn duels your father was also pretty nervewracking since there was the risk of permadeath for Pahn if he lost.

The Trails of Cold Steel games also have dramatic mech duel segments. The mech duels are the hardest fights of the Trails games, especially on nightmare/abyss difficulty. In regular battles you can use cheese strats like using shields or jacking everyone's evasion up to 100%, optimizing your team's speed and delaying enemy turns, spamming S-crafts to burst down bosses, etc, but you can't do that in the mech duels. I've breezed through Trails games on the highest difficulties only to get stuck on the duels. Finally beating the final mech duels was pretty satisfying. Also great music.

I've got the roms of these so they're definitely in the backlog now. I always have a problem staying with JRPG's long enough but when I do I usually enjoy them, especially the older ones that are 20-30hrs instead of 100. Thanks.

The fight against The Boss in MGS3 is pretty legendary. The whole game has you fighting against weirdos with super powers but The Boss is pretty much your equal in every way including moveset.

The epitome of a great 1v1.

[Axel_am]

I adored what the Jedi Knight series brought to the table, especially when it came to lightsaber combat. Granted it's not as grand and as epic as some of the titles that are coming out nowadays, but the simplicity of the game made the lightsaber duels all the more better. To this day the lightsaber combat is hard to match and I always can get a kick out of fighting other Force users. Might be why there are still PvP servers online.

I was hoping Fallen Order would replicate the same feeling, but there is a type of fluidity to the moves and combat there that made me feel like I was watching a movie and not playing a game.

[Breathe]

I adored what the Jedi Knight series brought to the table, especially when it came to lightsaber combat. Granted it's not as grand and as epic as some of the titles that are coming out nowadays, but the simplicity of the game made the lightsaber duels all the more better. To this day the lightsaber combat is hard to match and I always can get a kick out of fighting other Force users. Might be why there are still PvP servers online.

I was hoping Fallen Order would replicate the same feeling, but there is a type of fluidity to the moves and combat there that made me feel like I was watching a movie and not playing a game.

Ah that's a good one. I remember how fun the gameplay was in JK. I recently downloaded the Lego Skywalker Saga. I wonder if the combat is fluid. I figure it'll be simple, but it may still be entertaining.

[Vergil]

I was hoping Fallen Order would replicate the same feeling,

I don't know if the sequel fixed it or not but (aside from general nu-wars disney autism) the game felt awful to me. The lightsaber felt like a bat that you whack people ineffectually with.

[Axel_am]

Ah that's a good one. I remember how fun the gameplay was in JK. I recently downloaded the Lego Skywalker Saga. I wonder if the combat is fluid. I figure it'll be simple, but it may still be entertaining.

I've heard good things about Lego Star Wars and LOTR as well. Looks like a lot of fun if you've got a friend over and are playing duo. Lots of mayhem on the screen in a very familiar and cozy atmosphere. Most Lego games are also pretty funny too. Honestly, even if the combat is lacking I can see people still having fun with this one.

I don't know if the sequel fixed it or not but (aside from general nu-wars disney autism) the game felt awful to me. The lightsaber felt like a bat that you whack people ineffectually with.

I concur. I'll probably give it another shot sooner or later, but it really wasn't what I was expecting. I was surprised at how well both games were received. They are pretty and capture the Star Wars style, both in terms of visuals and audio, the voice acting is also very stellar, but somehow it all still felt soulless to me.