Summary
- Anime fighters encompass both games with anime art styles and those based on actual anime, offering diverse options beyond popular titles.
- Classic anime fighters like Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament capture the intensity and epic battles of beloved series.
- Standout anime fighters, like Dragon Ball FighterZ, skillfully blend game mechanics with stunning visuals and robust character rosters.
When you think of fighting games, fighters like Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and Street Fighter are probably the first to come to your mind. While all of those games are great, there are plenty of other fighting games out there that are also amazing.
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PostsAnd some of those are anime fighters. What's an anime fighter? Well, they come in two types. One is a fighting game that has an anime art style to it. The other is a fighter based on an actual anime. Some games can even be classified as both! Whether you're a long-time fan of anime fighters or want to get into them, there are a bunch of awesome ones to choose from.
Updated on April 30, 2025, by Asad Kashif: Our list of the best anime fighting games already included many of the most popular shows that fans would want to see characters duking out of, including Naruto, Dragon Ball, My Hero Academia, and even Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. However, we thought that we didn't give enough love to some other legendary series, such as Eichiro Oda's One Piece. We've added Jump Force in to ensure Luffy doesn't miss out on the fun and gone through some other, more obscure picks, such as Touhou Hisoutensoku to give you the best list of anime fighting games for your combative needs.
28 Yu Yu Hakusho: Dark Tournament
Close- Platform: PS2
- Released: September 28, 2004
Yu Yu Hakusho is a classic anime from the '90s that has withstood the test of time. One of the most popular arcs in the anime is the Dark Tournament, where Yusuke and his team face increasingly powerful opponents in a high-stakes tournament. The fate of both the human and demon worlds rests on their victory, making every battle crucial and emotionally charged.
The video game adaptation of the Dark Tournament arc captures the anime's intensity, letting you fight through challenging levels that lead to an epic showdown with Younger Toguro. The game also includes two unlockable modes, Survival and Dark Tournament Plus, offering extended replayability long after completing the main story.
Dark Tournament has a fun minigame, where you use tokens to play a modified version of the War card game.
27 My Hero: One's Justice 2
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Like Follow FollowedMy Hero One's Justice 2
Fighting Systems 2.0/5 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 69/100 Critics Rec: 34% Released March 11, 2020 ESRB t Developer(s) BYKING Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment Engine Unreal Engine 4WHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALMy Hero Academia is one of the most popular anime. While its previous fighting game, One's Justice, is a commendable effort, its sequel knocks it out of the park in every category.
My Hero: One's Justice 2 takes what works from its predecessor and crams it with more content, including new characters like Pinky and Nejire Chan, as well as an extended story and mission mode. The addition of destructible environments and incredible Team Final Smashes make One's Justice 2 an absolute triumph.
26 Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3
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LikeDragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Fighting Systems Released November 16, 2004 ESRB e Developer(s) Dimps Publisher(s) Namco Bandai, Atari Engine game engine Multiplayer Local Multiplayer Franchise Dragon BallWHERE TO PLAY
PHYSICALBeing a fighting anime and one of, if not the most popular anime in the world, there have been a few attempts at making a great Dragon Ball Z fighting game. But none before the Budokai series were ever as successful at replicating the bombastic, high-flying fights of the anime. The stand-out entry for the series is Budokai 3.
The Budokai series is a 3D fighter game starring the heroes, villains, and even mooks of Dragon Ball Z. Fights take place in expansive arenas, both on the ground and in the air, where you can throw the series’ signature energy blasts at each other or close in for some melee fisticuffs.
You can edit your character's skills and buy new skills to customize your characters.
25 Melty Blood
Close- Platforms: Windows
- Released: December 30, 2002
There are probably few who know about the visual novel game Tsukihime, but there was a remake in 2021 for PS4 and Nintendo Switch. That lack of context might confuse you if you're a new player, but it doesn't stop Melty Blood from being one of the best anime fighting games. The Melty Blood series has more than 30 characters from Tsukihime and other visual novels from the Type-Moon series.
The game has vibrant 2D graphics, and the animations for each character's sprites run pretty smoothly. Melty Blood incorporates a variety of fighting game mechanics for cancels and chain combos. Every character has a distinct fighting style and Type Lumina includes new characters, routes, and endings.
24 Touhou Hisoutensoku
Close- Platforms: Windows
- Released: August 15, 2009
Touhou Hisoutensoku is perhaps one of the most obscure anime fighting games. Its weird name aside, Hisoutensoku is a sequel to another fighting game in the Touhou series, keeping many of the mechanics introduced in its predecessor and adding in new characters and abilities.
The game, much like its name, is very unorthodox in terms of fighting games. The main method of attacking relies on projectiles, there's plenty of aerial combat, and you have to create your own deck of cards that give you effects during your games. It's one of the more complicated fighting games out there, but one with more depth than many others as well.
Apart from the Cards you use to make your deck, Touhou Hisoutensoku also features different weathers that affect the characters and their game conditions. Each weather pattern can change what you should be doing, and knowing what weather comes next is integral to winning your matches.
23 Pokken Tournament DX
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LikePokkén Tournament
Fighting Action Systems Released September 22, 2017 ESRB e Engine Tekken game engine. Multiplayer Local Multiplayer Franchise Pokken TournamentWHERE TO PLAY
PHYSICALPokken Tournament DX may seem like a bit of a cheat since the Pokemon franchise has its roots in video games, but the anime series has gained a life of its own and is just as popular (if not even more so).
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PostsPokken Tournament DX is a curious experiment that takes the combat from the Pokemon series but shifts it into a fighting game that enhances the action and eliminates everything else. It's an exciting step forward for the series, and it's a fun way to put Pokemon in the spotlight without trainers getting in the way. Plus, that Magikarp track is a total banger.
22 Kill La Kill -IF
Close- Platforms: PS4, Nintendo Switch, Steam
- Released: July 25, 2019
It can be challenging to describe the kind of anime that Kill la Kill is in just a few words. The story follows Ryuko as she tries to find the truth behind her father's death - a truth that Satsuki Kiryuin, the student president of Honnouji Academy, seems to know. However, Kill la Kill-IF follows the anime through an alternate storyline that focuses on Satsuki Kiryuin instead.
The game is modeled directly after the anime's art style, with the same English and Japanese voice actors reprising their roles. The fighting is fast-paced, and there's a cheeky gameplay mechanic called Bloody Valor where you can mock and taunt your opponents to deal additional damage.
21 BlazBlue Entropy Effect
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Action Roguelike Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 84/100 Critics Rec: 100% Released February 14, 2024 ESRB t Developer(s) 91Act Publisher(s) 91Act Engine unity Franchise BlazblueWHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALBefore the chaos of Cross Tag Battle brought multiple franchises together, BlazBlue established itself as a distinctive anime fighter known for its high-energy combat and complex gameplay. The series, spanning three main games, showcases a diverse cast where nearly every fighting game archetype is explored and often redefined.
All of this is set in one of the most labyrinthine plots ever conceived in fiction, featuring multiple timelines, characters with multiple personalities, and nefarious plotting in every direction.
20 BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
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Like Follow FollowedBlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle
Fighting Systems OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 75/100 Critics Rec: 57% Released June 5, 2018 ESRB T For Teen // Violence, Suggestive Themes, Language Developer(s) Arc System Works Publisher(s) Arc System Works Multiplayer Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer Franchise BlazblueWHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALCreated by Arc System Works, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a wild crossover of several games. You can pick any two characters from seven different series and battle against opponents in two-on-two battles to collect fragments of a 'Keystone' that will send the characters back to their respective universes.
Each character is done in the BlazBlue art style and has their special moves turned into Astral Finishes. The game started with 20 characters, then ballooned to 54 after DLC. You'll find heroes and villains from BlazBlue, Under Night In-Birth, Persona 4 Arena, RWBY, Arcana Heart, Senran Kagura, and Akatsuki Blitzkampf/EN-Eins Perfektewelt.
19 Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
Close- Platforms: Arcade, PS4, PS3, PlayStation Vita
- Released: March 18, 2014
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a game developed by French Bread and Ecole Software. Published by Sega, this game is a crossover of light-novel series published by Dengeki Bunko. The roster of the base game includes 14 popular characters from Sword Art Online, Durarara!!, Valkyria Chronicles, Virtua Fighter, and more.
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PostsDengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax started life as a Japanese arcade game before it was ported to consoles eight months later.
You can pick your main fighter along with an assist character. Although the game's controls appeal to both casual and veteran players of fighting games, they allow for complex combos. And with Sega's licensing, you can enjoy battling on themed stages of your favorite Sega series, like Sonic the Hedgehog.
