They should all have the same story and here it is, a tournament is held every x and the greatest warriors from x come fight to become the champion. Add franchise specific factoids as needed.

mortal kombat and injustice were awesome so i say yes

Yes!

no, all-stars battle royale, but some games would benefit from it, like injustice

Yes, otherwise there really isn't a point in my opinion.

I think many games can get by with no story at all, including fighters. It all depends how they design the game.

Sc5 story can be completed in 1 hour so thats very weak. I like my fightig games to have a story, but I rather they have content to back up the $60 purchase. An arcade mode and online play arent good enough.

Namco really dropped the ball with Sc5, but I heard the dev were forced to rush it so disappointment was pretty much inevitable...

Games, in general, do not NEED stories since their gameplay is what people play them for. Does a racing game need a story? Does a platformer need a story? Puzzle game? COD/Bf?

Stories to any game is a nice addition. Although I dislike Nether realm's fighting mechanics (primarily Mk9), I do love the story mode and other extras they have in the game. They turned a typical fighting game into a hefty fighting game. Not all people play games the same. Some people play fighting games by themselves and don't train to be the best. they just mess around.

Marvel vs Capcom 3 would've been amazing with a ROBUST story mode. Why? Because it would be the closest thing to a MVC movie/show/anime that we'd get. Wouldn't you want to see more character interaction beyond them just teasing each other and fighting? Japanese only games like the SRW and ACE series showed me tat the best part of a cross over is the interaction (dialogue) between these different characters. It made the cross-over feel complete.

Do fighting games NEED a story? Nope! A story mode (and other FREE NON-DLC BULL CRAP extras) make games go a little beyond what's expected and adds more value to the game. A story mode in a fighting game is good because it teaches newcomers how to play the game and eases them into the game all while entertaining them. Story mode is a way better tutorial than the standard training exercises they put into training mode these days. Today, fighting games are kinda expected to be more than just Arcade and vs mode. Games like MK9 and injustice are proof of that. Balancing could be fixed through patches and updates. Capcom does it all the time (Super street fighter 2 hyper turbo tournament HD edition).

Personally, I've played the heck out of Soulcalibur and SSB games and I did not need a story.

I remember some of the story modes and they felt mostly tacked on but enjoyable once you got past the Cheese-Factor.

I like knowing about the characters themselves but it's not really necessary to have a story that weaves beyond the fact that all of the characters are fighting for some reason.

MEANING:

“We are fighting because we want to be the best fighter or for money”

EQUALS

“I am fighting you because I am the half brother of that character, arguing over the inheritance of our father who also was Count Dracula who during WW2 grafted DNA samples of CThulhu into our bodies- only possible because of our half Vampire and Elf Ancestry. My brother believes that Power is all that is important; he wears black clothes and does not speak much except to say, "I am Powerful.” I on the other hand wear white and I fell in love with a human- I want to be more than my demonic parts... did I mention there was a prophesy? If you think my story is convoluted wait until you hear the story of that guy who has the Excalibur Sword that’s phase shifted (by Alien Technology) sticking out of his heart.”

I doubt any of us are in the minority, but I do play fighting games for the story. Mortal Kombat and Injustice have fantastic stories. Soul Calibur V, not so much. It is true, though, that fighting games can have a great story. If developers took the time to do it, then they can really give more replay value outside of multiplayer.

Mortal Kombat story >>>>>>>&g t;>> Your favorite fighting game story