Close search results
SEARCH
DATABASE Search
:
Layout - grid Layout - list

Best Fighting Games

Fighting games involve close combat between characters. Usually, in some arena, the player uses attacks, and combinations of moves to overpower and outwit his opponent. Different playable characters and computer-controlled enemies have different abilities that offer a tactical challenge.

These games are often harder to learn and play, requiring fast reactions and memorisation of combinations of buttons. These pure fighting games sit alongside brawling and beat-em-up games where fights are simpler and against large numbers of enemies.

These games are Action focused, but mainly in respect of the fighting. This is sometimes expanded by games that combine the fighting with Adventure, Role-Playing, Narrative and other elements.

Other games include Fighting, but remove the player from direct control, focusing instead on the Strategy or Simulation of combat. This can be taken further away from the heat of battle in Turn-Based games.

DetailsGenre Details

Era: 1986 - 2024
Total Games: 714
Total Likes: 10,820
 

 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Release Date: 21/08/2021

Out Now: PC, PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an adventure about a young girl who travels to an abandoned village in the hope of finding a sacred mountain shrine. To get there she must find and grow a team of charming spirit companions called the Rot, enhancing their...

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Release Date: 15/01/2019, updated in 2019

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a fighting-adventure game set five years after Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and 14 years before Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Young Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis is hunted through the galaxy by the...

Planet of Lana

Release Date: 23/05/2023

Out Now: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Planet of Lana is an adventure where you play a young girl Lana and her loyal animal friend Mui, on a rescue mission. Set on a planet under siege by cold machines and unfamiliar creatures. Rather than the war, though, this is a game about the vibrant...

Elden Ring

Release Date: 25/02/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

Elden Ring is a role-play game set in a fictional world created by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, with a focus on combat similar to Demon's Souls and an open world with real time and weather like Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Skylanders (Series)

Release Date: 14/10/2016

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Skylanders uses toy figures to unlock characters and save progress. It is no longer manufactured but can be found second-hand quite cheaply and is a lot of fun for young players, particularly when played in cooperative two-player mode.

Dead Cells

Release Date: 10/05/2017, updated in 2023

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Dead Cells is a running, jumping and fighting game where you are escaping a prison. In a bright pixelated world you must accurately time attacks and dodges to defeat a wide range of enemies. It's intentionally hard, and you will die a lot. But each time...

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Release Date: 01/01/1999, updated in 2019

Out Now: Game Boy and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Hand-Made and Open World

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is an adventure-puzzle game in the Zelda series and universe. A remake of the 1993 Game Boy game of the same name, this one is set on Koholint Island and follows Link after he is stranded and must find a way back to...

Mario Strikers Battle League

Release Date: 10/06/2022

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Mario Strikers Battle League Football is a sports action game and the latest in the Mario Strikers series. Like the previous games, it offers a five-on-five battle sport that combines football and ice hockey with...

Sea of Stars

Release Date: 29/08/2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Open World and Pixels

Sea of Stars is an adventure role-play game about two children of the solstice. It combines turn-based combat, storytelling, exploration and interactions with the environment all in a pixel art style. Unusual for a role-play game, Sea of Stars also...

Hi-Fi Rush

Release Date: 23/01/2023

Out Now: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm fighting game where wannabe rockstar Chai uses the beat to fight an evil corporation. You play by exploring the world and fighting enemies. The twist is that everything moves to the beat, and you must attack in time to do the most...

Young Souls

Release Date: 16/08/2021, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

Young Souls is a side-on fighting game about two drop-out teenagers whose mentor disappears. Gameplay is divided into two distinct worlds: the modern human world and a dark, twisted world of goblins and monsters. You brawl and crunch your way through...

Thirsty Suitors

Release Date: 02/11/2023

Coming Soon: PC

Components: 3D Third-Person

Thirsty Suitors is a role play game where you play Jala, back in your home town of Timber Hills to confront mistakes, make up with exes and reconcile cultural differences with your parents. You talk to your family and old friends, take on turn-based...

Brok the Investigator

Release Date: 26/08/2022, updated in 2023

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Brok The Investigator is a point-and-click narrative adventure set in a cyberpunk future where animals have replaced humans. Play is an unusual combination of finding and combining items along with action fights and exploration. It stands out for the...

Crawl

Release Date: 11/04/2017, updated in 2017

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Crawl is a dungeon fighting game where your friends control the monsters and traps. The hero player moves around, break boxes and attack enemies while the ghost players try and stop him. Once the hero dies they become another ghost and the next player...

Earthblade

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Earthblade is a running, jumping and fighting game from the creators of Celeste and Towerfall where you explore a ruined earth and discover its hidden past. You gymnastically traverse through the levels, fighting...

Adore

Release Date: 18/02/2020, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

Adore is an action-adventure game where you play Lukha, who can summon and control creatures to fight by his side to offer simple yet satisfying combat. Each round you set out from the hub world, clearing out a region with the creatures you've chosen to...

En Garde

Release Date: 16/08/2023

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

En Garde is a swashbuckling fighting game where the focus is on the poise and grace of fencing. You use your foil to parry, riposte and lunge through a world of enemies. It stands out not only for the unusual sporting sword fights but for how you must...

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

Release Date: 10/11/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night and Open World

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is the twelfth game in the Assassins Creed Series, an open world action-adventure that takes place over several main story quests as well as many optional side missions.

Castle Crashers

Release Date: 08/09/2015, updated in 2019

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Castle Crashers is a cartoon looking fighting game, like Golden Axe, The Simpsons or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games, set in a medieval universe where a dark wizard steals a mystical gem and captures four princesses. Four knights are charged...

Eastward

Release Date: 16/09/2021

Out Now: PC, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Pixels

Eastward is an adventure game about a miner who meets a young girl in a secret facility. Together you explore the decaying cities and discover the truth about her origins and what’s behind the creatures who are destroying everything. The narrative is...

Minit

Release Date: 28/08/2018

Out Now: Android, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Minit is a retro puzzle game where you complete small tasks within a 60-second time frame. You must dodge or fight foes, cut through the undergrowth, explore your world and find keys and swords. You start from the same place for each of your 60-second...

Creature in the Well

Release Date: 06/09/2019, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Creature in the Well is a pinball-inspired fighting game that reimagines the ball-bouncing fun of Arkanoid. You play the last remaining robot who ventures deep into a desert mountain to restore power to an ancient facility and save the village that...

Nidhogg

Release Date: 12/09/2014, updated in 2014

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS Vita and PS4

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Nidhogg is a fast two-player duelling game whose simple visuals belie the skill required to defeat your opponent. The novelty is that upon death you reappear in the next screen. The player to advance through the most screens wins.

Bayonetta 3

Release Date: 28/10/2022

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Bayonetta 3 is the latest fighting game in the Bayonetta franchise, where you use fantastical guns and outlandish attacks to defeat monsters and hordes of enemies in fast-paced combat. As you move through the stages, you attack enemies with your wide...

Ape Out

Release Date: 28/02/2019

Out Now: PC, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Ape Out is a stylised fighting game where you control an ape trying to escape a facility. Although it's violent, the gameplay focuses on rhythm and style rather than just gore. As you move, grab and throw your attackers the soundtrack responds to create...

Dark Souls

Release Date: 22/09/2011, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Dark Souls is a fighting game with an emphasis on precise timing and extreme difficulty. You navigate through labyrinthine ruins and ancient kingdoms, defeating monsters with your weapons and magic. A spiritual successor to [link to game/Demons+Souls...

Street Fighter V (Series)

Release Date: 16/02/2016, updated in 2020

Out Now: PC and PS4

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Street Fighter V (Street Fighter 5) is a competitive fighting game. First introduced in 1987, this classic game from Japan has inspired a whole genre. You choose a champion fighter from around the world, each with unique abilities, then fight one-on-one...

Bayonetta

Release Date: 29/10/2009, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Bayonetta is a fighting game where you use fantastical guns and outlandish attacks to defeat hordes of enemies in bombastic combat. As you play, you attack enemies with oversized weapons and supernatural powers. It stands out for how outrageous outfits,...

Viewtiful Joe (Series)

Release Date: 07/10/2003

Out Now: DS, GameCube, PS Vita, PS2 and PSP

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Hand-Made

Viewtiful Joe is a side-on fighting game where you play a movie-lover whose girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped during a film starring your favourite superhero, Captain Blue. You enter the movie world, transformed into the tokusatsu-style persona "Viewtiful...

Acid Knife

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: Mac and PC

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Acid Knife is a running, jumping and fighting game where you carefully time attacks to defeat monsters in a dark, psychedelic world. All of your abilities, such as attacking and dodging, are tied to the items you hold which can be knocked from your hand...

Lethal League Blaze

Release Date: 12/06/2019

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Lethal League Blaze is a fighting sports game where you battle various characters by batting a high speed ball back and forth. It's unusual because the ball is the focus of combat, and the way you damage opponents. You need to use your abilities and the...

Resistance 204X

Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Resistance 204X is a fighting game with a focus on attrition rather than complex moves. You use precisely timed attacks to repeatedly knock down your opponent and reach their side of the stage. It's an unusual twist for fighting games that focuses not...

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

Release Date: 01/04/2019, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (known as TABS) is a fighting game where you choose different armies and troops to battle each other in an automatic simulation that models their offensive and defensive abilities. Once set up, the fight is largely...

BedWars (Roblox)

Release Date: 19/01/2017, updated in 2023

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

BedWars is a game played on Minecraft (since 2017) or Roblox servers (since 2021). It's a team game where you start on an island and must protect your bed and build bridges to attack other teams' beds. The trick is the ecosystem of items and crafting...

Bake 'n Switch

Release Date: 10/09/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Cartoon

Bake 'n Switch is a puzzle fighting game where 2-4 players are apprentice bakers fighting the "Mould" and taking on various Guardian bosses. It's ridiculously cute and a lot of silly fun, as you catch, merge and sacrifice the anthropomorphised dough...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Release Date: 21/01/1999, updated in 2018

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a light-hearted cartoon-style brawling game where multiple players choose well-known video game characters to fight. Play involves using your character's move-set to outwit and beat your opponents. You wear down their...

Smalland

Release Date: 29/03/2023

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Open World and Weather

Smalland: Survive the Wilds is a survival adventure where you are a tiny character in an overgrown wilderness. You work with other players to make your way in the living breathing world full of hazards and opportunities. It stands out for the openness...

Boomerang Fu

Release Date: 13/08/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Boomerang Fu is a fighting game where you control small food-like characters. Using your boomerang the aim is to slice the other players with ranged or melee attacks. You can use a large range of power-ups such as explosive boomerangs, disguises and...

Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed

Release Date: 16/10/2020

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is a fighting game where you battle mechanical dinosaurs based on the Zoid series. You need to learn the special moves and button combinations to pull off just the right attack at the right time. Each different Zoid and...

Choo-Choo Charles

Release Date: 09/12/2022

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Choo-Choo Charles is a survival shooting game that imagines Thomas the Tank Engine in a horror setting. You explore an island in an old upgradable train and hunt down Charles the evil spider train.

Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Subscribe
Carina Initiatives
PlayStation
HSBC
GameOpedia
Xbox
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Contact Us
About