You assume incorrectly. Soul Calibur 3 had horribly misbalanced characters. Which is a severe problem for fighting games. Soul Calibur 2 like Soul Calibur was a well balanced game. That is why fighting games that are released int he arcades are usually better. It is much easier to find too find balancing issues with beta testing and an arcade release. Hardcore fighting game players will often find things in the game that designers didn't consider or intend to be the case. The combo system in SF2 was the biggest example. It is part of the reason I think Marvel Vs. Capcom to is very overated. Out of the 56 characters in the game only a half dozen are high tier.

As for the topics question....

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and Capcom Vs. SNK 2.

The DoA games are really fun until you realize it's a glorified rock-paper-scissors game with girls. 

...and even then it's still kinda fun.

of the ones I played Soul Calibur II was my favorite one

Tekken 3 probably.

Closely infront of Killer Instinct.

DragonBall Z: Budokai 3
- I dunno, it's just that I LOVE DBZ and me and my friends addicted to this game about as much as a Microsoft fanboy with Halo.

Bloody Roar 3
- It's a generically fun game. And except for Xion and Uranus, there was good balance and combos. Plus, the concept of turning into humanoid aliens during combat is just kickass.

Soon:
Probably Soul Calibur IV and Dissidia.






... I've personally never played this game or any of the series, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned Mortal Kombat...

Mortal Kombat was really great when it first came out. MK2 was okay, but MK3 was... disappointing to a lot of people. The franchise never really came back as a strong contender IMO.

Killer Instinct also stole some of Mortal Combat's thunder.

No one has mentioned ClayFighter either...

BRAWL.

Street Fighter III (DC)

Project Justice (DC)

Soul Calibur (DC)

Ballz, lol.

(no real order)
Melee
Soul Calibur 1-2
Power Stone
Killer Instinct
Saturday Night Slammasters(from Capcom for SNES)