Good Fighting Games That Aren't Combo-Centric?

I recently downloaded that Playstation Allstars game because it was free for PS+ members and, while I really like how it plays (big smash bros fan), I think the win condition of having to land a super absolutely ruins the game. Certain characters just obviously have easier to land supers, and I wish there was an option to have health bar instead.

Anyway, my disappointment with that is kind of making me want to get into a more traditional fighting game, despite not really having much experience with them. I would just play smash bros, but the only person I really have to play with right now is my gf and she refuses to play smash bros with me because I have years of experience at it that she doesn't have, which is a fair point. Any "real" fighting games on the PSN or XBLA store that the GB community can recommend that don't put too much emphasis on memorizing combos and are at least somewhat "pick up and play" friendly for a couple of non-fighting-game people? My favorite thing about smash bros is that it's all about positioning and timing and there are no combos to memorize (I'm one of those "crazy" people, as Jeff would say, who plays on final destination with no items 95% of the time), and while I realize every other fighting game in the world is not at all like smash, I know that some are more combo-heavy than others and I have no idea which are which.

I was thinking maybe one of the King of Fighters games as I played Mark of the Wolves a little bit as a kid and I love the look of all those SNK games, or maybe Samurai Showdown? I have no idea how combo-heavy either are though. I also vaguely remember liking Tekken as a kid, but I haven't played one since playstation one days so I have no idea how I'll feel about it now.

Thanks a bunch!

Sounds like DiveKick is the game you're looking for. It's all one hit kills, so no combos, timing and positioning is everything and is fairly pick up and play.

Definitely not King of Fighters, it's a very technical fighter and most guys online are diehard fighting veterans. Divekick is pretty fun actually, it's all about positioning and playing mindgames. When you're ready for a real fighter Street Fighter 4 is probably the way to go (Ultra SF4 being the most recent version).

Probably most of the Street Fighter games would be the right place to start. SF2 (Super Turbo version) would be the simplest place to start, but most people I know find SF4 the easiest to break into (although some characters tend to have a decent amount of combos; many however do not).

Probably wouldn't recommend SF3 if you dislike combos though, there were crazy combos there.

Also would definitely not recommend KoF, or Garou: MotW as they're both very combo-heavy. KOFXIII is exceptionally combo heavy. Samurai Shodown II is probably lighter on combos but I've barely played any of it.