Best Fighting Games

Perhaps no other genre unites casual players and hardcore fans as much as fighting games. For everyday gamers, such titles are an excellent way to have fun with friends, while challenge lovers will immerse themselves for dozens or even hundreds of hours in ranked matches against other players. That’s why fighting games remain so popular and are released with enviable regularity. But which of them are the best? In this article, we’ve gathered the key representatives of the genre at the moment.

If you’re looking for the one main fighting game you can dive into for a long time, then Street Fighter 6 is the obvious choice. The game is available on all current platforms and regularly receives updates with no sign of support ending. From a mechanical perspective, it is rightfully called a prime example of how to properly combine accessibility and depth.

Beginners are provided with a very low entry threshold thanks to different control schemes and the World Tour mode, which gradually introduces players to the key gameplay elements. At the same time, veterans of the genre will appreciate the complex combat system that requires strategic thinking and the ability to plan moves ahead. Street Fighter 6 is often compared to chess for good reason.

An incredibly stylish and visually stunning fighting game that skillfully combines 3D and 2D to look like a high-budget anime. The impressive art style perfectly complements the dynamic gameplay of Guilty Gear Strive. Battles are fast, without overly long combos or complex inputs. It is also quite an innovative title, trying to fix some fundamental issues of the genre and previous entries in the series. For example, the ability to endlessly “lock” an opponent against the wall: in Guilty Gear Strive, in such cases, the stage breaks, and the fight continues in another part of the arena.

Just like Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive continues to receive updates. Recently, Lucy from the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was added to the game.

An extremely dynamic fighting game, especially by Tekken standards. In previous entries, players often had to rely on “turtle tactics” — sitting in block while waiting for the right moment to counterattack. But Tekken 8, on the contrary, motivates fighters to actively go on the offensive: under certain conditions, attacks restore part of your health, and once per round you can activate the Heat system for 10 seconds, making your character dramatically stronger.

As of today, more than 36 million copies of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate have been sold, making it the most popular fighting game of all time. How did it achieve such commercial success? Firstly, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate appeals to people of all ages: it is one of the best family games with intuitive and, most importantly, incredibly fun gameplay. Secondly, the project impresses with its scale — nearly 90 playable characters, countless modes, and even a built-in stage editor. You can play it for months on end.

The ninth entry in Mortal Kombat saved the series after a string of mediocre releases and at the same time rebooted the entire franchise. Fans appreciated the cinematic story mode, the roster chosen for “MK9,” and the fast-paced arcade gameplay. Since then, three more MK games have been released, but most fans agree that they don’t quite reach the golden standard of this early 2010s hit and lack the same wow factor.

The best entry in the Soulcalibur series, which recently got a second wind: now you can play it on Nintendo Switch 2 using the official GameCube emulator.

The game still looks solid, and most importantly, it’s still engaging to play. In Soulcalibur 2, you can move freely in all directions around the arena, allowing you to “dance” around your opponent. This enhances the feeling of being in a tense duel. That illusion is further reinforced by mechanics such as parrying strikes and the fact that characters use different types of weapons, each with significantly unique movesets.

A must-have collection that includes cult arcade fighting games from Capcom. The developers of Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics updated the netcode so that online play runs smoothly without lag, added a training mode, save-anywhere functionality, leaderboards, and additional options to make life easier for newcomers.

The centerpiece of the collection is Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. It remains one of the most chaotic fighting games of all time with a massive roster of over 50 characters. Players choose three heroes for their team, who then take part in the battle: you can switch between them during a match and use them as assists. Considering the total number of fighters and the different assists they offer, there’s practically an infinite number of team combinations you can create.

If fireballs and flashy superpowers are not to your liking and you prefer something more grounded, then you should check out Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.. This is one of the rare fighting games focused on realism and actual martial arts (karate, aikido, capoeira, jeet kune do). The game is not as chaotic as other representatives of the genre in this list but is instead methodical and surprisingly well-balanced.

On October 30, a new version of the project called Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage will be released for PC and current-gen consoles.

At first glance, Killer Instinct may seem overloaded with mechanics and systems, but in reality, mastering and then wisely using all the nuances of its combat is not that difficult. Moreover, you quickly begin to appreciate the complexity of the game. For example, Killer Instinct takes an unusual approach to the idea of combo moves, turning them into an entire mini-game. Additionally, the characters in this project differ from each other even more than in other fighting games: many fighters have their own unique resource system, while in most similar games, characters share the same energy bar.

A stylish fighting game in the spirit of classic arcade titles that also introduces some interesting new ideas. For example, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves features a unique “overheat” mechanic. Instead of the usual mana or energy, there is a so-called REV gauge. It allows you to power up attacks, link them into long combos, or activate defense, but if you overdo it, the system temporarily shuts down. Because of this, during battles, you constantly have to find the fine balance between aggression and caution.

And what about you? Which fighting games do you value the most? Share your thoughts in the comments.