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00:08Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're taking a look at the best fighting game of every year,
00:14starting from 1996 and ending in 2026.
00:26Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long.
00:29So be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays, and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.
00:361996, Dead or Alive.
00:38Though it tends to get a lot of crap for its usage of boob jiggle physics, we really should
00:44give Dead or Alive more respect.
00:46Not only was this the game that saved Tecmo, it was also the most graphically impressive
00:50fighting game at the time.
00:59Tekken and Virtua Fighter were super chunky in appearance with controls that weren't
01:03super fluid yet.
01:05Dead or Alive delivered something that was fast, smooth, and even boasted a mechanic to
01:10counter your opponent's moves, an opportunity so few fighting games ever offered.
01:14Compared to the other fighting games that were released in 1996, Dead or Alive was the
01:19most innovative and thrilling of the bunch.
01:271997, Tekken 3.
01:35To choose any other game as the best fighting game of 97 would be a crime.
01:40As many fans would point out, Tekken 3 was where the franchise truly began, as Namco had
01:45managed to refine controls, introduce a cast that was much more compelling, and provided
01:50a wide variety of playstyles based on real-world martial arts.
01:54The game only got better once it was released on the original PlayStation, as this version
01:59of the game included extra modes like Tekken Ball and Tekken Force.
02:03It also helped that the game played just as amazingly as the arcade version.
02:121998, Soul Calibur.
02:23Though the series had already debuted with Soul Edge in 1996, Soul Calibur was the sequel
02:29that pretty much made Namco the kings of the 3D fighting game space.
02:33With Project Soul getting help from some of the team behind Tekken, Soul Calibur wound
02:38up being the most graphically impressive fighting game of the decade, with its refined character
02:42models, detailed texture work, and fluid controls.
02:51It was also surprisingly deep in how buttons were dedicated to how characters blocked and
02:56used their weapons, but we hadn't seen anything yet, not for another few years at least.
03:061999, Super Smash Bros.
03:17Look, there were some real heavy hitters released in 1999 like Tekken Tag Tournament, Dead or
03:22Alive 2, and Power Stone, but it's hard giving this spot to any of those when this was the
03:27year a phenomenon was born.
03:29Super Smash Bros. struck a chord with not just Nintendo fans, but with just about everybody
03:35across the entire globe.
03:37Yes, the crossover between Nintendo characters did help sell the game, but the gameplay, the
03:43concept of beating your friends to a pulp so hard they fly off screen, that is what resonated
03:48with folks and made Super Smash Bros. the game to play at parties, sleepovers, and the like.
03:54You simply don't witness this level of cultural impact anymore.
04:032000, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, New Age of Heroes
04:17Once again, we did have strong contenders for this year like Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore and Project
04:23Justice.
04:24Alas, this is yet another case where cultural impact carries way more weight.
04:29It is also a case where our chosen game hasn't aged a second.
04:33Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is truly one of the greatest fighting games of all time, and not just for
04:39its absurdly meaty roster.
04:41Every character plays in such a unique way that you can come up with some insane combos
04:46with almost any combination.
04:48On top of that, you have a control scheme that's super easy to learn, and some smooth jazz lounge
04:54music that will remain in your head for decades.
04:58MVC2 really did take us for a ride, and we will hop back on without question for the rest
05:03of our lives.
05:142001, Super Smash Bros. Melee
05:24Look, it shouldn't be surprising to see Melee be named as the best fighting game of
05:282001.
05:30This is the game that supposed Smash fans can't ever seem to let go of, and sometimes, it
05:36isn't hard to understand why that is.
05:38Not only is the game way faster than its 1999 predecessor, Melee provides a wealth of fun
05:44modes to play, from adventure, to the special Melee modes, to event mode, and so much more.
05:50To this day, many of us are still trying to obtain every single trophy, and conquer every
05:55mode on every single difficulty.
06:022002, Soul Calibur 2
06:13When it comes to which Soul Calibur is the best in the series, there is no contest.
06:18Soul Calibur 2 was, and will forever be, the best in the series.
06:23Some will say that because Link and Spawn were guest characters for the GameCube and Xbox
06:28versions respectively.
06:30However, it also just perfectly showcased the technical power and visual fidelity that each
06:35console of the sixth generation wielded.
06:37In addition to even more refined controls and mechanics, there was an immensely fun campaign
06:42to play in Weapon Master mode.
06:45This game alone is worth the price for Switch 2's online membership.
06:56This game alone is worth the price for Switch 2's online membership.
06:572003, Def Jam Vendetta
07:08We're not gonna lie, 2003 was a rather weak year for fighting games.
07:12As much as I would love to talk about Sonic Battle to death, we just cannot ignore Def Jam Vendetta.
07:20The hip hop vibes, the wrestling moves, the licensed music, it all geared you up for the ass whoopin' of
07:25a lifetime.
07:26There was also just something super amusing about seeing Christina Million beat the snot out of Ludacris or Method Man
07:33tossing DMX around like a ragdoll.
07:35This game was nuts, and if you ever managed to get three friends to fight you in these streets, man,
07:41it was some of the most ridiculous fun you could ever have with a game like this.
07:45And it wouldn't be long until we got a significantly better sequel.
07:562004, Def Jam Fight for New York
08:08See? Told you it wouldn't have been long.
08:11It was a solid year for fighting games with the releases of Mortal Kombat, Deception, and Dead or Alive Ultimate.
08:16The thing is that Def Jam Fight for New York took the formula for Vendetta and vastly improved it.
08:23Fighting styles were much more diverse between characters, the inclusion of weapons and environmental hazards made fights way more brutal,
08:30and the way crowds can even participate in the fight in some ways made Def Jam way more chaotic than
08:36we had ever seen before.
08:37This was the game that has had people clamoring for a brand new Def Jam all these years later.
08:42Seriously, let's try to do a modern Def Jam.
08:47Where? What are we doing, guys?
08:552005, Dead or Alive 4
09:05Out of all of the classic Dead or Alive games, Dead or Alive 4 is the all-time greatest hands
09:11down.
09:12For starters, all of the character models, environments, and objects were rich with detail to the point where the game
09:18did look realistic, all absurdities considered.
09:22You also saw characters get more fleshed out with their play styles, while the AI refused to hold your hand.
09:28In some cases, the latter could have been a little more forgiving.
09:32Nevertheless, this was one of the many reasons why people jumped on an Xbox 360, and even today, it is
09:39well worth your time and money.
09:442006, Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection
09:57Some of us, such as yours truly, firmly believe that the original iteration of Tekken 5 was the best given
10:04how much there was in the game.
10:06But in all honesty, Dark Resurrection really was the better iteration of it.
10:11Not only did we get a couple of new characters on top of Tekken 5's flawless controls and story mode,
10:16we also got two returning extra modes in the form of Command Attack and, most importantly, Tekken Bowl.
10:23Whether you played the PSP version or the PS3 version that released the following year,
10:28Dark Resurrection featured what some might consider to be some good-ass Tekken.
10:422007, Virtua Fighter 5
10:54Look, we know that the game initially launched in Japanese arcades in 2006, but we are specifically talking about the
11:01PS3 and Xbox 360 versions that launched in 2007.
11:05Now, on one hand, we can understand why some folks may have been disappointed by Virtua Fighter 5's lean amount
11:11of single player support.
11:12Even so, the game helped show the potential of online functionality between console fighting games and their arcade counterparts.
11:22Now, you can compete with other players from the arcade and from the comfort of your couch, whichever you prefer.
11:28It also helped that the game was just overall visually stunning and incredibly fun to play.
11:412008, Street Fighter 4
11:51Speaking of visually stunning games, we had gone an unbelievably long time without a new Street Fighter by 2008.
11:58So, when Street Fighter 4 launched, it was almost hard to believe the dang thing existed.
12:04For the first time in what felt like forever, Ryu and company were back with some new faces, a new
12:09art style, and a whole new attitude to rival the likes of Tekken, Mortal Kombat, and others.
12:15And almost unsurprisingly, Capcom wound up re-releasing the game multiple times, just as they did with past Street Fighter
12:23games.
12:23Hey, at least every iteration was just as good as the previous one.
12:382009, BlazBlue Calamity Triggered.
12:48Going to be completely honest with everybody here, 2009 was not exactly a strong year for fighting games.
12:54The major fighting game IPs already launched their latest entries, which left a wide enough opening for Arc System Works
13:00to come in with perhaps one of the most demanding fighting games we've ever played.
13:04BlazBlue Calamity Triggered not only boasted an incredible art style, it also featured a handful of nuances in neutral game,
13:12wake-ups, and how you defend yourself.
13:15This was a game you had to play with extreme tact and purpose in order to come out on top.
13:20Either that, or you just dip in for the visual novel and dip out after that's done.
13:25Regardless, you cannot deny how surprisingly deep BlazBlue's mechanics can get.
13:402010, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ultimate All-Stars
13:53Just like 2009, 2010 was also a rather weak year for fighting games, unless you would rather we talk about
14:00Tournament of Legends or BlazBlue again.
14:03Even so, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was actually the most fun fighting game for the few of us that got to
14:09play it.
14:10Between the Tatsunoko lineup and the characters Capcom chose for their representatives, the roster was visually interesting and boasted a
14:17wide variety of play styles between zoners and heavy hitters among others.
14:22It was also just astonishing to see a Wii exclusive actually have a functional and smooth online component, something we
14:29wished Super Smash Bros. Brawl have.
14:402011, Mortal Kombat
14:49Though it was not the first fighting game to tell its story at this scale, Mortal Kombat, or MK9, innovated
14:56the way fighting games approached story mode.
14:58From the writing, to the structure, to the hype moments, MK9 managed to retell the story of the original three
15:04games while clarifying details and taking events in a slightly newer direction.
15:10Not only that, it also featured some incredibly fun modes like Test Your Luck, a tag mode, and the brutally
15:16difficult Challenge Tower.
15:17It's such a shame that the game has long been delisted, because, ooh, we can't have Freddy Krueger in the
15:23game for too long.
15:24Let's pull the license.
15:332012, Skullgirls
15:42Some smaller fighting games cropped up here and there over the years, but when Skullgirls launched in 2012, it kicked
15:49the door open for indie games and indie fighting games.
15:52While it had its trials and tribulations with publishers, and even within its very own development team, Skullgirls truly is
16:00an amazing fighting game with its expressive character animation, flexible structure, and creative aesthetic.
16:06Yes, the game wears its MVC2 inspirations on its sleeve, but with every tournament, every update, and every small addition
16:13made to it over the years, Skullgirls has cemented itself as an original, and as one of the greatest fighting
16:19games ever made.
16:312013, Killer Instinct
16:41There are some things to love about the original Killer Instinct, but between the three games, KI-13 is the
16:47best of them and the best fighting game of the year.
16:50With its simple control schemes and uniquely designed cast, just about anybody can pick up the controller and pull off
16:57some sick combos.
16:58The game only got better over the years as we saw new characters get added in, including guest characters like
17:04the Arbiter from Halo and Rash from Battletoads.
17:07We even got a fun single player mode in the form of Shadow Lords, which borrowed elements from roguelikes to
17:13create a mode with a ton of replay value.
17:15If only Xbox could get another KI out the door before the IP fades into obscurity. Again.
17:312014, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
17:45Atlus and its Persona games are not ones to shy away from taking the IP into totally unfamiliar territory.
17:52So in hindsight, a Persona fighting game sounds like an awesome idea.
17:57But the Ultimax version specifically is the version you want to play as it features additional story beats, more characters,
18:05balance adjustments, and the like.
18:07It's also the one that is commercially available, and the new additions are why this one is widely available, while
18:13the original iteration isn't.
18:15Besides, wouldn't you want to see Adachi be the bumbling detective he was born to be, again?
18:272015, Dead or Alive 5, Last Round
18:41Now if you want to talk about the best Dead or Alive game ever made, well you'd be hard pressed
18:46to make a case against Dead or Alive 5, Last Round.
18:49This is the absolute greatest game in the entire franchise on account of how crazy Team Ninja got with it.
18:56You had the biggest roster in the franchise, the most costumes in the franchise between the base game and the
19:01DLC, and the amount of crazy stunts you could pull off with stage hazards and tag moves made fights wild
19:07to experience.
19:09It was everything you could want from Dead or Alive, and then some.
19:202016, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
19:34Though it seems strange to put something like Xenoverse 2 on here, this is a fighting game with RPG mechanics
19:41at the end of the day.
19:42And honestly, it is too spectacular to leave it off of here.
19:46With years upon years of post-launch support, and a wide variety of customization options, Xenoverse 2 essentially gave us
19:53the very Dragon Ball fantasy we've been dreaming of since the 90s.
19:58Even though it had some low points, particularly with missions that didn't involve combat whatsoever, Xenoverse 2 was still an
20:05incredible package, and it's why so many of us are excited for the follow-up.
20:152017, Tekken 7
20:25Much like with Virtua Fighter 5, we are considering the home console version of the game, not the Japan-only
20:31arcade release that came out a year or two prior.
20:34Besides, this was where Tekken 7 truly shined.
20:37From 2017 onwards, Tekken 7 went nuts with brand new characters, some guest characters, new game modes, old game modes
20:46returning, like Tekken Bowl, and an entire story mode that finally brought the Mishima family feud to a close.
20:53Or, so we thought at the time.
20:56Sure, there were a few bumps where Akuma and Leroy nearly killed the game with their own busted kits, but
21:01we all recovered, and even with the hurdles Tekken faces now, we can still go back and enjoy this one.
21:142018, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
21:23Of course, Smash Bros. had to make one more appearance on this list, and yes we weren't going to choose
21:29anything else over Ultimate.
21:31Yes, Dragon Ball FighterZ also released in 2018, and was also great.
21:35But Smash Ultimate is the most video game ass video game to ever video game with video games.
21:42Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
21:44Every character plays differently and in incredibly fun ways, there are over 100 stages to choose from, and you've got
21:51all sorts of characters hailing from all sorts of different franchises, even Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
21:58Brother, you can even make custom game modes between tweaking rulesets, items, and character balancing.
22:05This is the fighting game to end all fighting games, what more could you want?
22:152019, Mortal Kombat 11
22:27Say what you will about the not entirely customizable custom moves, but between this, Dead or Alive 6, and Samurai
22:34Showdown, we gotta give this spot to MK11.
22:38MK11 featured some of the coolest set pieces, story beats, and finishers out of the NetherRealm Studios games,
22:44and it managed to bring everything to a proper close between the base game and the Aftermath expansion.
22:50Sure, the Crypt could have been a lot better at launch, and the Towers of Time mode was... a complete
22:56joke.
22:57Overall though, there are moments where we would like to boot up MK11 again, even if it's just for a
23:03little bit.
23:04Besides, Spawn's in it, and that's all the reason that I need.
23:152020, Street Fighter V, Champion Edition
23:26Yeah, we got to see thems fighting herds and Granblue Fantasy Versus make some waves in 2020,
23:32but Street Fighter V Champion Edition was somewhat impressive to witness.
23:37In addition to the general improvements made to Street Fighter V over the years, this iteration of the game included
23:42all of the DLC,
23:44with even more DLC characters on the way at the time, new stages, more music, more costumes, more color palettes.
23:51It finally made Street Fighter V the Street Fighter game it was supposed to be.
23:55And at a modest 20 bucks, all sins of the original 2016 iteration were forgiven.
24:00Whatever's here must be pretty important.
24:042021, Guilty Gear Strive
24:13Arc System Works really outdid themselves, and honestly, this might be the best game they've ever made.
24:20Guilty Gear Strive went all out on the gritty hardcore attitude the series has been known for.
24:26The music kicks ass, the character design kicks ass, the stage transitions kick ass, everything you could possibly want from
24:33a fighting game kicks ass here.
24:35And to sweeten the deal, we are still getting post-launch support with brand new characters, returning characters, and even
24:42guest characters five to six years later.
24:45If you really want to see how pulse pounding this game can get, go watch a tournament, go watch an
24:51EVO match.
24:52That was all enough for me to buy the game.
25:012022, Multiverses, the beta version.
25:12Oh, Multiverses, how I dreamed to play your original version again.
25:15It may be weird to call a beta the best fighting game of 2022, but it really was.
25:21And there was also just not a lot of competition at the time.
25:24But there was so much to love about Multiverses here.
25:26Every character had fun mechanics that made it fun to pair them up with each other for unique strategies.
25:32The game speed was at the perfect level where it played similarly to the best Smash Brothers games.
25:38And the new fighters that were getting added every other month showed promise in the game's future.
25:43Warner Brothers and Player First games had a really great thing going.
25:47So why they pulled the beta and relaunched with a worse version is beyond comprehension.
25:572023, Street Fighter VI.
26:04Is it still too early to say Street Fighter VI is the best game in the franchise since Street Fighter
26:10II?
26:11Eh, I don't know if that's really absurd to say anymore.
26:14Capcom started out on an insanely strong note at launch.
26:18Even with the absurd details in the characters and environments, the game looked and breathed like classic Street Fighter,
26:25while offering tons of replay value between the online mode, your traditional fighting game offerings, and the expansive world tour
26:32campaign.
26:33And at the time of this video, we still got more awesome characters getting added to the game, including Tifa
26:39from Final Fantasy VII.
26:41If you haven't played Street Fighter in a long, long time, this is the one to jump into.
26:552024, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, Arcade Classics.
27:10Normally, we don't include fighting game collections on lists like this, but Tekken 8 has been rough for a long
27:15time,
27:16while multiverses came and went like a fart in the wind.
27:19So yeah, 2024 was a weak year.
27:21But MVC Collection, on the other hand, was arguably the most valuable fighting game product we had seen in 2024,
27:29and it is still one of the most exceptional purchases that you can make right now.
27:34You get MVC 2 and all the games that came before it, you get their Japanese and their Western releases,
27:40you get access to the Punisher beat-em-up game, you get online functionality,
27:45and you get access to just about every bit of artwork made for the games back in the 1990s.
27:51This is how you preserve video game history.
27:54Take notes, everybody.
28:042025, Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection.
28:12Yeah, there wasn't really a heck of a lot going on for fighting games in 2025, but you know what?
28:17Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection is one of the coolest fighting game collections you can get.
28:21You've got nearly an entire decade of Mortal Kombat history crammed into this one package,
28:28and it includes every version of Mortal Kombat, MK2, MK3, UMK3, MK4,
28:35and even the spin-offs made for PS1 on top of a documentary that goes over this entire period of
28:41the franchise's history.
28:43There is so much in here that, even after a rough launch,
28:47we can confidently say that Mortal Kombat Legacy Collection was the best fighting game product released in 2025.
28:55Again, yes, the launch was rough, but easy fixes have been made, and the game's in a way better state
29:01these days.
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29:44We can acknowledge that the PC version of Marvel Tocan could have launched in a far better state.
29:50For those of us playing on PS5, this is among Arc System Works' best fighting games ever made.
29:56The 4v4 format works surprisingly well and allows players to experiment with all kinds of different teams and their assists.
30:04On top of that, there is a healthy offering of different game modes to test your skills or just take
30:09part in some casual fun.
30:11Plus, Marvel Tocan boasts some of the cleanest and most expressive character animation we have ever seen on this side
30:18of the industry.
30:19Really, this is a game that's fun to play and fun to watch others play.
30:32What's the best fighting game ever made in your opinion?
30:35Let us know down in the comments and don't forget to subscribe to MojoPlays.