Another topic idea thrust into my head by BlazBlue.
Fighting games have a very, very weird relationship with stories. They've hit an incredible range from no stories at all, to convoluted messes that need companion guides to fully comprehend.
This thread is more than just the quality of the story in a game, however, it's also about how that story is told. For example, Dissidia has a story that's only so-so (the original Dissida, anyway, Duodecim was a lot better), but the storytelling in the game is excellent. It has a very nice story-to-gameplay ratio, and makes good use of animation to help enhance its story. While BlazBlue had a much more solid story, but does not do very well at the actual storytelling. Story Mode for Continuum Trigger has about five to ten minutes of dialogue between every fight, and feels as though half the team just wanted to make an anime.
So, what fighting games do you feel handle storytelling the best, and what sorts of storytelling mechanics and tricks would you like to see spread across the fighting genre?