History Main / TheGreatestStyle

* The early UsefulNotes/UltimateFightingChampionship events were ostensibly designed to determine which fighting style was most effective in an environment with (almost) no rules. Smallish Royce Gracie went undefeated through the first four tournaments (withdrawing from one due to injury), winning respect for his family's variety of jiu-jitsu, which had previously been far less well-known than disciplines like kung-fu or karate. Though the sport has since moved in the direction of cross-training between the Gracie style and wrestling, UsefulNotes/MuayThai, UsefulNotes/Boxing, and other disciplines, the influence of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts cannot be overstated.

->"Let me say it again. Hokuto Shinken is ''invincible!''"

# The style [[MetaGame counters, or exploits a weakness, in the other predominant style(s) of the time.]] Since most people use these other styles, this one becomes "the best" only by a relative technicality. Outside of that context, however, the practitioner may fall under CripplingOverspecialization.

* Val Armorr of ''Comicbook/TheLegionOfSuperheroes'' (known as "The Karate Kid"), uses a future style of Karate that has been refined after one thousand years of progress in a universe of superhumans. Val is completely human, but his style is ''not''. It enables him to smash through extremely tough constructs, and damage or restrain superhuman opponents as if he had power equal to theirs.
* In the modern day DCUniverse, both Comicbook/LadyShiva and [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain]] (mother and child) have a fighting style which depends on their natural gift in CombatClairvoyance. This style enables them to act and react with borderline-superhuman speed and efficiency, making them the two greatest [[WorldsBestWarrior martial artists in the world.]]

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Ranma is a practitioner of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, a style that gives him the skills and flexibility to not only learn but master many of the most difficult and dangerous fighting styles in the world. Genma, who taught Ranma much of what he knows, also used it to develop his own devastating techniques, the Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken. Of Genma also teands to parody this, coming up with such moves as the Crouch of the Wild Tiger (begging for forgiveness), the Howl of the Demon Dog (hurling insults) and the Saotome ultimate move (running away).

* A meta-example in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': the various bending types use moves from martial arts. Earthbending is based on the real-world Hung Ga, but Toph's Earthbending is miles above anyone else's, was self-taught (or rather taught by being around giant badgermoles) , allows her to use metalbending (no one else in the series can), and is based on one called Southern Mantis style.

* In the modern day DCUniverse, both Comicbook/LadyShiva and [[Comicbook/{{Batgirl 2000}} Cassandra Cain]] (mother and child) have a fighting style which depends on their natural gift in CombatClairvoyance. This style enables them to act and react with borderline-human speed and efficiency, making them the two greatest [[WorldsBestWarrior martial artists in the world.]]

** Karin's Kanzuki-style martial arts is apparently one of the most elite styles in the Street Fighter world. Karin's story mode states that the best techniques of the style are those which are rare even for the heads of the family ([[AuthorityEqualsAssKicking by design, its strongest member]]) to fully master. Amongst its abilities is the skill to defeat enemies with nothing but a Battle Aura, and ([[UnreliableNarrator according to Karin herself]]), the ability to levitate like Dhalsim. It's telling that, on Street Fighter V's stat chart, Karin is amongst Zeku and Akuma in technical skill ranking.

** Teras Kasi, from the PS1 fighting game "Masters of Teras Kasi" was developed by survivors of Palawa, a planet that challenged the Jedi Council and was destroyed in the ensuing war. Those who trained in it developed the sheer speed needed to match the Jedi, while closing their minds to avoid influence or revealing their intentions, thus they could fight Jedi armed with lightsabers hand-to-hand and could utterly ''destroy'' normal martial artists. Legends ran with this, claiming in various prequel books that Darth Maul and some of the greatest swordsmen of the Order had all incorporated Teras Kasi into their style.

** Karin's Kanzuki-style martial arts is apparently one of the most elite styles in the Street Fighter world. Karin's story mode states that the best techniques of the style are those which are rare even for the heads of the family ([[AuthorityEqualsAssKicking by design, its strongest member]]) to fully master. Amongst its abilities is the skill to defeat enemies with nothing but a Battle Aura, and ([[UnreliableNarrator according to Karin herself]]), the ability to levitate like Dhalsim. It's telling that, on Street Fighter V's stat chart, Karin is second only to Akuma in technical skill ranking.

* PlayedForLaughs in one ''Comicbook/{{Punisher}}'' story where a martial arts assassin is sent to take out the punisher. After commenting on how many styles the guy's mastered, Frank introduces him to one doesn't know: CarFu.

** Not played for laugh is Ansatsuken which is used by [[Shotoclone Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Gouken, and a few others]]. It is generally shown to be the deadliest martial art in the entire universe and the reason why Bison keeps coming after Ryu. It's also why Akuma wants him. The martial art, notably, also produces the Dark Hadou. Notably, Sakura and Dan both have a small amount of training in it, which is what makes them dangerous to World Warrior levels. Even if Dan shows a little bit of a good thing is a major bad one.

* In the ''Tough'' manga, the Nadashinkage is (repeatedly) shown to be the best of all, allowing feats like bullet dodging (from a ''minigun''). There are maybe four people who've mastered it, two of them heroes and the other two villains.

* The Hyuuga clan's [[FingerPokeOfDoom Gentle Fist style]] in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is, combined with [[SuperpowerfulGenetics the clan's]] [[MagicEye Byakugan]], which grants them 359-degree telescopic XRayVision, the best close quarter combat style in the setting. In a world where everyone's a KungFuWizard, the Hyuuga clan can shut down their opponents' [[{{Ki}} chakras]], and internal organs, rendering them powerless and dying with nothing more than [[TouchOfDeath a light touch.]] The clan's SecretArts also include a [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning maneuver]] that generates a nigh-impenetrable ForceField, giving them not only the best offense, but the best defense as well.

* In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', Juyo/Vaapad is considered the deadliest of the seven classical lightsaber combat forms, countering most defenses with its unpredictable and aggressive manner. In fact, only one Jedi, Mace Windu, is said to have ever truly mastered it, and he was considered the greatest lightsaber fighter of his time.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' has the Hiten-Mitsurugi-ryu, a legendary sword art used by Kenshin and his master, Hiko Seijuuro XIII. This art makes the two of them, combined, the {{Worlds Best Warrior}}s. The irony, however, is that this technique is actually NOT suited for someone of Kenshin's build (thus zig-zagging "TheGift" version of this trope).

[[folder:Light Novels]]
* ''LightNovel/{{Katanagatari}}'': Male protagonist Shichika gets scouted for the big artifact-sword-retrieval mission of the story after previous-attempt helpers had helped themselves to the swords they were supposed to recover. Shichika is a safe choice because his sword(s)manship-style has no need for swords, and he does prove himself capable to hold his own against the sword-wielders and more. [[spoiler:The latter fact would later prove to have been a {{Foreshadowing}}.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* ''Literature/TheDestroyer'' series. Sinanju is a CharlesAtlasSuperpower SecretArt, a [[SupernaturalMartialArts Supernatural Martial Art]] and a FantasticFightingStyle. It even grants NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. It's the "sun source" of all other martial arts - in other words, all other martial arts are based on it, and it is better than any of them.

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', Juyo/Vaapad is considered the deadliest of the seven classical lightsaber combat forms, countering most defenses with its unpredictable and aggressive manner. In fact, only one Jedi, Mace Windu, is said to have ever truly mastered it, and he was considered the greatest lightsaber fighter of his time.

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* In the ''Lucha Libre Hero'' supplement for TabletopGame/HeroSystem, all monsters take double damage from ''lucha libre'' maneuvers by default ... but that '''only''' applies to ''lucha libre'' maneuvers. A practitioner of karate, savate, muay thai, or any other martial art who finds himself in a Lucha Hero game will be less effective against monsters because that weakness won't apply to his attacks.

[[folder:Videogames]]
* In ''Videogame/VirtuaFighter'', Lau Chan's style of Koen-ken is considered a "total offensive package" with both speed and power. It's to learn the secrets of this technique that Lei-Fei betrayed his order of Monks, and later betrayed and tried to kill Lau himself. After this betrayal, Lau has basically accepted that this style is now doomed to die with him.
* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'': the gunblade is noted in universe to be hard-to-master weapons, and the only practitioners we see are 2 people: the hero Squall and his rival Seifer.
* ''Videogame/FireEmblemTellius'': The greatest style is the one used and taught by Greil, the leader of the Greil Mercenaries. Even past his prime, Greil was seen as having super human strength, and Ike as a rookie practitioner was able to become one of the strongest fighters on the continent within about one year.
* PlayedForLaughs by ''Franchise/StreetFighter''[='=]s [[Characters/StreetFighterAlpha Dan Hibiki]], who created his own martial art called as "Saikyo Style"[[note]]''Saikyo'' means [[MeaningfulName The Stronger One]] in Japanese[[/note]], which is all '''but''' powerful.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': It's called "Do", and is {{Discussed}} in [[http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php/original-timeline/361-tea-and-synergy Tea and Synergy]]:
--> ‘Do’. The ‘Sun Source’ Martial Art, of which all other schools are fragments, or pale reflections. ... Do would be perfectly flexible in its application and perfectly suitable to the dynamics of the human form. And Do wouldn’t be limited to hand to hand combat ... or even combat. Do would apply to EVERYTHING!
[[/folder]]

# The style [[MetaGame counters, or exploits a weakness, in the other predominant style(s) of the time.]] Since most people use these other styles, this one becomes "the best" only by a relative technicality. Outside of that context, however, the practitioner may fall under "CripplingOverspecialization".