The best fighting games you can play today remain widely enjoyed for a variety of reasons. It could be an eclectic roster of characters, a high skill ceiling to test the might of competitively minded players, or rock-solid online infrastructure for buttery smooth gameplay.
While a game in the fighting genre might be immediately recognizable at a glance, most are built very differently from one another. Some are strictly 1v1 contests. Others are team-based battles pitching two or even three fighters against each other. Gameplay mechanics, speed of play and button layouts will also differ from game to game. You might consider investing in one of the best fight sticks for an arcade-adjacent experience, too.
Most of the best fighting games on our list are available on a wide range of platforms. Whether you’re on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC or last-gen consoles, there’ll be something here for you to check out if you’re curious about getting into fighters for the first time, or someone looking for an entirely new experience to check out.
So in the run-up to Street Fighter 6’s release, what are the best fighting games you can play today? Read on to learn all about our picks.
- Play it on: PS4, PC (PS5 via backward compatibility)
Street Fighter 5 may have launched in a pretty bare bones state. But since the launch of Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition, and with updates to characters and gameplay mechanics since, Capcom has been able to transform the troubled fighter into something pretty exceptional.
The standout feature here has to be the game’s roster. Plucking iconic fighters from all across the series, stalwarts like Ryu, Guile and Chun-Li are joined by some choice picks like Street Fighter 3’s Gill and Urien, Rival Schools’ Akira, and Dan and Rose from the Alpha subseries. Newcomers like G and Menat are also wonderful additions.
Champion Edition features most of the content released for Street Fighter 5, including the first four seasons of characters (a fifth season can be bought separately), most DLC costumes and the post-release Story mode. Though I recommend giving that a miss as it’s genuinely awful.
All in all, if you’re looking for a fighting game with years of content at an affordable price, you can’t go wrong with Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition.
- Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC
If any game can sell you on presentation alone, it’s Guilty Gear Strive. The latest game in the long-running series is by far its most ambitious yet, combining richly detailed cel-shaded characters with clever camera techniques and an abundance of flashy effects to create something that feels like you’re playing a high-budget animated movie.
Strive isn’t all style, though. The game is much more accessible than its heavily technical predecessors, making it a great choice for fighting game newcomers. There’s a lot of mechanics to unpack, but they’re done so in a very approachable way thanks to Strive’s excellent suite of tutorials.
If you like what you hear so far, it gets better. Strive’s roster of fighters is absolutely bonkers. A 9-foot tall mad doctor with a bag on his head. A pirate girl who fights with dolphins and a giant anchor. How about a dude called Goldlewis Dickinson who carries around an enormous coffin with an alien inside it?
Topping off Strive’s appeal is its phenomenal soundtrack. Guilty Gear’s always been known for its legendary metal soundtracks, but Strive’s heavy focus on vocals make its OST sound more like a concept album, and it honestly rules.
Note: If you are planning on getting into Guilty Gear Strive for the first time, know that its online suites are currently experiencing issues that render it unplayable for many. Guilty Gear's official PR Twitter account has recognized the problem, and developer Arc System Works is working hard to fix the issues.
- Play it on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility)
In terms of gameplay, Tekken 7 is one of the most fun, most rewarding fighting games you can play today. But it’s certainly not a game for everyone. Bandai Namco’s seventh outing in its legendary fighting game series is its most technical yet, with a skill ceiling so high you might not ever see it.
If you’re willing to put the hours in, though, Tekken 7 is a blast. Ducking and dashing through the game’s 3D arenas, waiting for your moment to counter with the perfect jab or launcher that leads into a chunky combo string is always satisfying to pull off. Equally, it feels horrible when it happens to you.
Tekken 7 can be a stressful game, then, but its excellent roster makes that pill a little easier to swallow. It has pretty much all of the best Tekken characters you could ask for. Its choice of guest characters from other franchises is also inspired, including Fatal Fury’s Geese Howard, Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis and – for some reason – Negan from The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, the entire package with all DLC is incredibly expensive, so I’d recommend waiting for a steep sale if you want to get the full Tekken 7 experience.
What’s perhaps holding Tekken 7 back is its outdated netcode. Its online is spotty at best, with lag and dropouts often ruining the experience. Hopefully the upcoming Tekken 8 will be able to resolve this issue, just by virtue of it being a more up-to-date title with reliable rollback netcode. Still, playing Tekken 7 online is worth it just to see those end-of-round slow motion close-ups when both players lunge into their final attacks.
- Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Looking for something a little different than the standard 1v1 fare? The King of Fighters 15 has players choosing a team of three fighters instead of a single one. That effectively means you’ll have to learn how more than one character plays, but if what you’re after is a rewarding learning experience, KOF15 has your back.
And with a massive roster of fighters to try out without spending a penny on DLC, KOF15 is paradise for players who love to get stuck into Training mode to try out a huge variety of characters. With such a huge number of fighters, not to mention tons of unique mechanics, supers and defensive moves to get used to, there’s a lot to learn. But much like Tekken 7, that makes the game all the more rewarding when things start to click.
Unfortunately, KOF15’s online experience hasn’t been the smoothest of sailing. Matchmaking can be horrendous, often being unable to find games despite a sizable player count. And on PlayStation consoles, increased input delay leads to a less smooth experience than on Xbox and PC. SNK is working on improving this, but at present, it means your inputs may feel slightly off if you’re playing on PS5 especially.
Issues aside, KOF15 isn’t even a year old, but looks to have a bright future. The game is still being supported with updates, DLC (some of it even free) and extra modes. And when SNK is able to iron out the creases, it’ll certainly be one of the smoothest online fighting games out there thanks to its rollback netcode tech and upcoming cross-platform matchmaking.
- Play it on: Nintendo Switch
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the absolute pinnacle of the playground “who would win in a fight” argument settler. Its monolithic roster of 89 – yes, 89 – fighters might be primarily made up of Nintendo stalwarts, but there’s plenty of remarkable guest additions like Persona 5’s Joker, Final Fantasy 7’s Sephiroth, Minecraft Steve and Tekken’s Kazuya Mishima, to name just a few.
As a platform fighter with an emphasis on super-fast movement, huge floaty jumps and an abundance of optional items, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may not fit into your traditional definition of a fighting game. However, it excels at being a fun couch party game and an exhilarating competitive experience both.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also wins points for being a rare fighter with a ton of single player content. The World of Light campaign is a fun way to unlock the game’s base roster (even if it does drag a little towards the end). Each character has their own Classic mode route, and there’s bags of collectibles in the form of Spirits, images of characters that can be upgraded and sometimes evolved into new forms.
Ultimate’s biggest letdown, however, has to be its basic online suite. Connection quality isn’t ideal, either, and with the Nintendo Switch lacking an ethernet port, you’re stuck with spotty Wi-Fi. And given Nintendo Switch Online’s dreadful call quality, you’re better off using Discord if you’re playing with friends online.
- Play it on: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
Killer Instinct (2013) is an absolute must-play if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription. The Definitive Edition featured on the service includes all DLC characters (including several Xbox guests like Halo’s Arbiter, Gears’ General Raam and Rash from Battletoads) and all extra modes released for the game.
You’re getting the complete experience of this utterly brilliant fighting game that places a heavy emphasis on executing massive combos. But that doesn’t mean KI is a button-masher, as your combos need to include specific types of moves in sequence such as openers and linkers (read: special moves that bridge the gap between normal attacks). You’ll also need to pull off a finisher at the end of the combo to actually ‘cash out’ your damage. Otherwise, your combo won't amount to much.
Learning Killer Instinct can be a lot, then, and might not be suited to less dextrous players. But you’ll be spurred on by an eclectic roster of fighters, a belting soundtrack courtesy of Mick Gordon and Celldweller (ingeniously engineered to change based on the state of the current round) and one of the best online experiences in the business. Killer Instinct made rollback netcode an industry standard, and it's since been embraced wholesale by the broader fighting game community.
