Fighting games are probably the hardest genre to get into. Where to even begin? So, you know Street Fighter, how many games does it have in total? If you said six, you’d be wrong, as it’s actually closer to 60 with spin-offs and updated versions considered. Luckily, we’ve compiled twenty whipper fighting games and series you should be trying out if you’re new to the genre. Don’t be cross that we’ll only include one game per series here.
Blazblue Cross Tag Battle
Arc System Works have made a name for themselves for their incredible anime fighters, with titles like Blazblue and Persona 4 Arena among others. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is possibly their best encapsulation of what those games have to offer, outside of another rock and roll focused series that we’ll be covering in a bit. But if you want anime brawling, this is your best bet.
Featuring characters from BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night and the anime series RWBY, with a 2.0 update that introduces even more characters, Cross Tag Battle’s approach to 2v2 tag fighting feels like a love letter to one of the genre’s biggest subsets. Plus, the simplified controls and tutorials make it the most accessible entry too. It’s a flashy and engaging fighter, and while it might be one of the more niche games we talk about today, it’s accessible enough for everyone to pick up and get some fun out of.
(All of the) Capcom Fighting Collections
Yes, we are cheating here. No, don’t tell our dad.
Look, sometimes it’s worth taking a bit of a history lesson to understand where fighting games come from. A lot of modern fighting games are excellent examples of the genre, but sometimes you aren’t beating the classics. Now, most of the classics are pretty difficult to get hold of these days, but Capcom are thankfully one of the better developers at ensuring new generations of fighting game players can still appreciate the old school games.
Capcom’s various Fighting Collections, whether it’s CFC 1 and 2, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection or Marvel Vs Capcom Collection, contain a who’s who of fighting game royalty that any self-respecting fighting game fan should be all over. From the unparalleled hype of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike to the creepy yet unforgettable vibes of Darkstalkers, Capcom’s old library of hits has something for absolutely everyone.
Capcom Vs SNK 2: Mark Of The Millenium 2001
Now, Capcom Vs SNK 2 might already be featured as part of the second Capcom Fighting Collection, but its impact on the world of fighting games and its effect as a celebration of the genre means it deserves a special mention. Arguably one of the biggest crossovers in fighting game history, Capcom Vs SNK 2 saw the two giants of the fighting game industry combine once again to create a fusion that played to the strengths of both developers. The end result was a now legendary fighting game series that people still want a third instalment of.
The Groove system in particular allowed you to play as Capcom and SNK characters in different ways. Ryu is able to utilise Samurai Shodown’s Rage system, or Kyo Kusanagi can pull off Third Strike-esque parries. The sprite work might be a little inconsistent, but as a celebration of fighting games and their history, CvS 2 is incredible.
Dead Or Alive 4
Dead Or Alive as a series is seen as the fighting game where the most notable thing about it is the –ahem– “generous” amounts of fan service. There’s bigger airbags in this series than in a crash test vehicle, and if you’ve played either Dead Or Alive 5 or 6, the post-launch DLC practices really leaned heavily on the jiggling as opposed to the juggling.
Whether the aesthetic choices are positive or negative in your opinion is irrelevant though, as the core fighting among the best 3D fighters ever made. Dead Or Alive 4 felt like the perfect encapsulation of the easy to pick-up, hard to master gameplay that made countering feel easy and allowed noob players to feel like defensive gods. Throw in some of the most elaborate 3D arenas with bonkers transitions, constant hazards and more and you’ve got a true cinematic fighting game experience. You can also unlock Spartans from Halo in it.
Def Jam: Fight For New York
While AKI are perhaps most known for their wrestling games like the iconic WWF No Mercy, and the Def Jam games are basically wrestling games themselves, Fight For New York seamlessly blends superlative wrestling gameplay with heavy hitting strikes and flashy combos. The results are now legendary.
With support to up to four players, Def Jam: Fight For New York offered answers to the playground question of “which rapper could beat who in a fight?” The game included a host of brilliant hip-hop artists, and a few rubbish ones to boot (like who the hell is Bless?!), but the real star of the show was the brutal fighting. After the less than stellar Def Jam: Icon, the series fell by the wayside, but we would love to see a return one day. It’d be our jam.
Divekick
Equal parts a celebration and lampooning of the fighting game community, Divekick boils the genre down to its two most pure tenants: attacking and mobility. One button is for jumping, or “diving”, and the other is for kicking. Apparently those inputs are all you need to create a balanced, enjoyable and, most importantly, viable fighting game, and the Addition Edition + adds even more new characters and content.
If you’re looking for something a bit silly, or for a game that’ll allow you to learn/practice the core principles of spacing, footsies and meter management independent of other, more complicated fighting game principles, this is your game. Plus, where else can you see Johnny Gat from Saints Row beat up a martial arts sensei with wellies on his hands? Some of the win quotes or references might fly over a casual player’s head, but the simple control scheme means everyone can get a piece of the action.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
If anyone was going to be able to do justice to the idea of a 2D Dragon Ball fighting game, it’d be Arc System Works. As you might’ve heard, they absolutely nailed it with Dragon Ball FighterZ. A 3v3 tag fighter, and certainly not the last one we’ll be talking about today, Dragon Ball FighterZ gathers characters from across the franchise’s extensive history to do battle.
With a mostly universal set of inputs across the board (and no motions more complicated than a quarter circle), learning a team of characters is easier than ever, and the fast-paced exciting action ensures a constant level of hype, whether you’re playing or watching. With multiple seasons of content under its belt, FighterZ has been getting better and better since launch, even if there’s like six million different versions of Goku.
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
It feels like Arc System Works are in their bag when they’re adapting someone else’s franchise. Sometimes you’ll know what that franchise is, like the previously mentioned Dragon Ball, their upcoming Marvel Tokon game or Persona 4 Arena. Sometimes though, they’ll adapt something that’ll make you wonder what worlds exist that you have no idea about. Granblue Fantasy Versus fits into the latter category.
Based on a Japanese mobile RPG, Granblue Fantasy Versus became enough of a success when it launched in 2020 to spawn an updated release, Rising, which launched in 2023. Like the various updated versions of Street Fighter 2, GFVR contains brand new characters, updated moves and whole new modes for players to enjoy. Couple that with a control system that supports one button specials for new players, yet rewards players who use motion inputs with shorter cooldowns, and you’ve got a game for both newcomers and oldheads.
Guilty Gear: Strive
A fighting game mainstay, Guilty Gear has been around since the late 90s, though since Guilty Gear Xrd Sign and its follow-ups, Revelator and Rev 2, the series has enjoyed a whole new level of success.. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t going to be that MOBA they launched in 2008 that led everyone to the light. That success has continued onto the most recent release, Guilty Gear Strive.
Continuing the series’ long running tradition of stellar visuals and kick-ass rock music, along with gameplay that’s deep and engrossing for new and veteran players alike, Guilty Gear Strive might just be the best the series has ever been. With an extensive tutorial mode to boot, it’s the perfect jumping on point for the series. Sure, you’ll still get blown up if you go online, but that’s to be expected.
Killer Instinct (2013)
Underrated isn’t the word to describe Killer Instinct (2013). Most of the people who play it consider it to be an absolutely brilliant fighting game. Perhaps underappreciated is a better term, or overlooked. Despite a loyal fanbase, Killer Instinct just never managed to cultivate enough groundswell to achieve the same level of mainstream success as the likes of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or Tekken.
It’s a shame as, mechanically, Killer Instinct’s most recent version could be considered one of the greatest 2.5D fighters of the 2010s. It’s a bold claim, but Killer Instinct more than lives up to the hype.
The combo breaker/counter breaker system allows for some of the best mind games the genre has to offer, while the roster and modes available round out one of the most complete fighting game packages on the market. The fact that the netcode for Killer Instinct is the best out there is just the icing on the cake.
The King Of Fighters XV
As sad as it might be to say, it feels like the King Of Fighters series has lived in the shadow of Street Fighter since Capcom launched SF 2 in 1991. SNK’s fighting games have been left fighting for the scraps left behind instead, and while they’ve crossed over multiple times, they’ve never been as popular. SNK have definitely leant into that though, as The King Of Fighters on the whole is a much more technical game than Street Fighter.
The most recent release, The King Of Fighters XV, might be the most technical game on this list, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t tools like Rush to help newcomers acclimatise to the completely different pace of KOF. For the casual players reading/watching/listening, this shouldn’t be your first port of call when it comes to picking up fighting games as a new genre. Dip your toe elsewhere first, then when you feel like you need a much bigger challenge, give The King Of Fighters XV a go.
Mortal Kombat XL
We imagine that trying to tell casual fighting game players that they should play Mortal Kombat is like telling someone who loves platforming games to play Super Mario. Or Jak and Daxter. Ooh do play that. Whether it’s due to the huge mainstream appeal that the series has cultivated, Mortal Kombat stands alongside Tekken and Street Fighter as the most immediately recognisable fighting game ever made.
As for which Mortal Kombat is the best for new players, Mortal Kombat XL offers the best mix of easy-to-learn controls, a wide range of characters to play as and modes that are actually worth playing. While MK 11 or the most recent, MK 1, are also decent, it feels like Mortal Kombat have been chasing the high of MKX for a decade at this point. Plus, it brought us this wonderful moment.
Samurai Shodown (2019)
Another legacy franchise that’s reached newfound strength with its most recent release, the 2019 iteration of Samurai Shodown didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel for what it means to be a Samurai Shodown game, and it didn’t really need to. Not when the formula is this good in the first place. If you ever wanted to experience the most high risk, high reward gameplay without actually engaging in traditional gambling, Samurai Shodown is the game for you.
A fighting game series where certain kinds of super moves can one hit kill you, SamSho 2019 continues the massive damage tradition that the series is known for, creating an experience that’s still distinctive within the fighting game genre. Despite the series being over 25 years old at this point, there’s no fighting game quite like Samurai Shodown. Plus, this entry introduced the brilliant Darli Dagger, which is reason enough to belong in this video.
Skullgirls: 2nd Encore
Any fans of 3v3 tag fighters will attest to the quality of Skullgirls, a game that looks and plays like the lovechild of Marvel vs Capcom and Cuphead. Okay, maybe that’s not the best comparison considering Skullgirls pre-dates Cuphead by a wide margin, but you get the point. Skullgirls has an “old-timey” graphical style that’s absolutely beautiful, and the characters on offer here are filled with personality and charm that’s infectious.
The unique animated style and vibrant cast of characters give Skullgirls an identity unlike any other, but Skullgirls is more than just pretty graphics. Other features like a Capcom vs SNK inspired team ratio system, where the less fighters you have, the more powerful they are, and the ability to set custom assists for your characters, prove that the appeal of Skullgirls is more than just skin deep. 2nd Encore included extra characters too, making it the definitive version.
Soulcalibur 2
When it comes to weapons based fighting games, the pinnacle is Soulcalibur. Of that, there is no question, and the best instalment of that series is undoubtedly Soulcalibur II. Seeking to exceed itself after the previous games, Soulcalibur II introduced new characters, tightened up the overall gameplay and flooded the game with an abundance of modes, including a bolstered Weapon Master Mode, to create one of the best fighting games ever made.
Famously though, Soulcalibur 2 has a couple of different versions thanks to some console exclusive characters. PS2 and Xbox had Heihachi and Spawn, while Gamecube beat them both with Link from Zelda. With Soulcalibur 2 actually available as part of Nintendo’s Gamecube emulator on the Switch, it’s now easier than ever to experience one of the best fighting games ever made. That being said, if you don’t have a Switch, Soulcalibur 6 is also pretty dang good.
Street Fighter 6
While we’ve gone alphabetically through this, Street Fighter 6 might just be the perfect starting point. Street Fighter has always been a perfect entry point into the fighting game genre, and this sixth mainline entry might finally be the one to appeal to absolutely everyone. Capcom have successfully lowered the barrier to entry for new players, while keeping enough mechanical depth to ensure veteran players don’t get bored after five minutes.
The choice between Classic controls, with regular motion-based inputs like quarter circles, or modern controls that utilise single button special moves, means everyone gets to pick a set of controls that works for them. Sure, some people might get salty about those who use modern controls, but both types are fully valid and worthwhile. Throw in an expansive World Tour mode that feels like the best active tutorial a new player could have, and you’ve got a fighting game that everyone needs to try. Zangief is the best character, by the way. Muscle power forever.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Purists might be upset to see that Melee isn’t given the nod here. While the work competitive players have done to manage a game without Nintendo’s help is astonishing, Melee today isn’t a casual game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is.
In practically every sense of the word, this is the “Ultimate” version of the series. Whether it’s the huge roster of characters that cover all corners of gaming, especially with the DLC line-up, the 100+ stages and nearly 1000 songs, the collection of modes like World of Light, or the fact you can make a stage that says “bum”, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate offers something for practically everyone.
Even the presentation changes, including displaying stocks when a life is lost in 1v1 fights, or zooming in on strong attacks/finishing blows, help make Smash Bros. Ultimate just as enjoyable whether you’re playing or spectating.
Tekken 8
The third entry in the golden trio of incredibly recognisable fighting games, Tekken is another series that feels like an obvious pick when recommending games for casual players. Chances are that if you’ve owned a PlayStation of any kind, or visited a friend who owns one, you’ve probably played a Tekken game. It’s probably Tekken 3, let’s be honest. Pretty much every Tekken game is worthy of recommendation thanks to easy controls and fast-paced gameplay, but we’re highlighting Tekken 8.
The newest entry, so the easiest to get hold of (re-release Tekken 3 and 5, cowards), Tekken 8 retains the fast-paced juggle combo heavy gameplay of the series. However, this new version adds more rage and heat mechanics designed to reward aggression and promote back and forth gameplay that makes Tekken 8 endlessly exciting. With a full suite of online modes, plenty of single player content and a deep well of knowledge to learn, Tekken 8 is unmissable. Basically every Tekken game has held up well though.
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
Marvel vs Capcom Infinite juuuust missed out here. While the most recent MvC game didn’t move the needle in the way other games in the series have…I actually got nothing. Anyway, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 took the 3v3 hyper fighting action the crossover series is known for and expanded upon it with a massive roster of characters.
With 48 characters (50 if you include DLC) and 3 assists per character, the amount of potential match-ups is huge. Sure, that might make Ultimate a bit unbalanced as a whole, but it also made for a brilliantly fun game. Just expect to get stomped if you decide to take the game online these days, as only demons reside on these servers. It isn’t any easier on MVC2 either.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.: World Stage
In a genre of 3D fighters, Virtua Fighter doesn’t seem to get the recognition it deserves. The one fighting game to truly pioneer 3D environments in a fighting game, Virtua Fighter pushed the boundaries of graphics while retaining a mostly grounded take of fighting game physics. There’s still juggle combos, but character weight and size affects things. There’s massive depth here, which is wild considering the game has a 3 button control scheme. Virtua Fighter does a lot with so little.
SEGA AM2 have crafted a complex and beautiful fighting game that’ll entertain you for years, because it’ll take you years to actually get proficient at the game. Or you can just mash buttons as Brad. The most recent version, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.: World Stage, is the definitive version of VF5, complete with new single player modes and best in class online netcode, making it worth checking out.
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