>>2746732The combat system changes quite a bit between games, although it changes the least between 94 and 97 - the biggest difference between those 2 is than in 95 edit teams became possible, while in 94 they were all preset. Also everyone got a new special move in 95 except for the AoF team, who already had a pretty complete arsenal.
In 96 the series became more of its own beast. The sprites got bigger, rolls were introduced and projectiles deemphasized.
In 97 everyone got a 2nd super (in 96 few characters did), and most importantly, the choice between the Advanced (newer mechanics from 96 with the ability to store power bars) and Extra (94/95 system) modes.
98 refined 97's system, and extended your ability to use the power bar as you lost characters. Also, you can now whiff throw specials and supers.
99 introduced strikers, tried to make rolling more aggressive by making you move forward after you roll back, and introduced special modes to get super armor or unlimited use of supers for a while, IIRC.
2000 tweaked the 99 system but returned back rolls to normal, and I think it let you "reload" striker calls.
2001, like the 2 games before it, let you have 4-character teams, but this time up to 3 of them can be strikers.
2002 got back to the more traditional team mode, but introduced a MAX mode that let you cancel moves to extend combos, as well as hidden supers whhich you can only use with low life and MAX mode.
2003 introduced tag team mode and etam leader supers.
XI refined 2003's tag team system, but also enabled combos from switching characters. Most importantly, other than the power bar it also introduced a skill bar which is used for actions that aren't attacks, like guard cancel rolls.
XII was a back to basics with a attack clash system.
XIII boosted what 2002 did by enabling longer combos during its special mode, letting you use half the bar that enables that mode to let you cancel specials automatically as well as giving you EX specials.
