Virtua Fighter (Sega) versus Tekken (Namco)

Choosing sides: Alien or Aliens? Your preference for either of those films could easily translate to Virtua Fighter and Tekken - both seem the same, but one is more of a down-to-earth discipline and the other is all about looking cool. The standing rule is that "real" fighters flock to the paced, calculated movements of Virtua Fighter, while the combo-memorizing, eccentric-fighter-loving crowd sticks with Tekken.

Highlights: This contest got started the moment the very first Tekken arrived in arcades. Many Sega fanatics were baffled by its popularity and considered it a pale imitation of Virtua Fighter's 3D fisticuffs. The parallels are quite easy to spot - just look at dead-ringer fighters like Wolf/King and Sarah/Nina. The Sega/Namco feud was further fueled by arcade one-uppings like Virtua Cop/Time Crisis and Daytona/Ridge Racer, making it appear like Namco was just aping Sega's arcade popularity without adding anything to the pile.

The outcome: Virtua Fighter remains the ultra-hardcore fighter of choice, though it's lost ground to the more accessible and mainstream Tekken franchise. The latter has split from its clear copycatting, however, and become its own sustainable series with unique characters and nonsensical storyline. Virtua Fighter 5 appearing on PS3 and 360 could propel it back into the spotlight, and Tekken 6 is still on the way. The real kicker is that Namco's own Soul Calibur series has supplanted both of these bickering brawlers. Its flashy, weapon-based combat is both deep as the sea and button-mashtastic, luring countless combatants away from a fight that once cut arcades in half.