Vssmonitoring.com and its partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links.

5 Best Arcade Fighting Games | Our Top Picks and Why We Like Them

Gaming has become diverse with so many awesome genres that are keeping most of the gamers up at night, trying to grind in for hours to climb the ranks and emerge as the player. From super immersive MMOs like Final Fantasy with millions of players grinding for ffxiv gold to the highly competitive battle royales, gaming has come a long way.

Apart from co-op games, one genre that has a huge fanbase of its own from the very early years of Sega gaming that to this day still remains a HUGE part of the gaming industry is none other than the Arcade fighting genre! However, a lot has changed over the years, which is why I think it’s time we took a deep dive into the top 5 BEST Arcade Fighting games of this generation!

1. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate

Mortal Kombat still remains to be one of the BEST arcade fighting game franchises of all time. And one of the reasons for that is the juicy hand-to-hand combat combined with some super sick special moves that literally blow the brains out of the characters.

The latest addition to the long-running series, Mortal Kombat 11 ultimate seems to offer everything from HUGE 37 characters roster to an insanely addictive offline campaign. But the best part about this game still remains to be a plethora of brutally insane finishers, you might still remember as “FATALITIES”.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate

2. Tekken 7

Tekken 7 is the latest and greatest entry to another highly popular arcade fighting game that still has deep claws in the gaming industry. With highly addictive gameplay and epic combat system, Tekken 7 offers a super immersive fighting experience like no other.

 With a plethora of old and new Tekken characters, each with their very special moves and tons of combos, Tekken 7 easily makes it to the list of BEST arcade fighting games that you should definitely play in 2023 and beyond. I have spent countless hours playing this game with my friends in offline mode but if you want to compete with other players from around the world, you can do so in online mode!
Tekken 7

3. Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition

Of course, how could we ever forget this genre-defining classic! Street Fighter is a name that is known to all arcade fighting lovers out there. This was the very first arcade fighting game that I played and got hooked for many years.

It’s just amazing to see how far Street Fighter has come and the latest entry to the series offers a ton of content to get hooked again. The one thing that I love the most about this game is that it remains true to its roots and still provides us with the classic arcade fighting experience that we crave so hard!

This game is probably one of the MOST BALANCED games when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting with a little touch of special powers. This makes it super easy to learn but hard to master for many players.

Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition

4. Guilty Gear Strive

For all the anime lovers out there, Guilty Gear Strive is nothing less than a paradise. With a fluid combat system and dazzling art style, this game provides one of the BEST arcade fighting experiences to both old and new players alike. Guilty Gear Strive is a fine combination of classic combat and fantastical powers.

Then there are these heroes with incredibly awesome outfits and weapons that are hard not to fall in love with. Guilty Gear’s early games might have been a bit on the face but this one makes it super fun to get your skills up with an easy learning curve. What makes it stand out from the rest of the fighting games is the fast-paced combat system and stunningly gorgeous visuals and VFX!

 Guilty Gear Strive

5. Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Last but definitely not the least, we have got a different kind of fighting game with cartoon-y visuals but don’t, for even a second think of it as a casual fighting game, because Skullgirl 2nd Encore is more of a combination with borrowed features from many popular genre-defining fighting games.

If you have ever played the classic MVC title, you would find this game to be pretty familiar with the same 3v3 fighting battles, where you get to fight against 3 characters from the enemy team with your own, one by one of course. Despite the casual look of the game, it sure provides us with some intense battles!

Skullgirls 2nd Encore

Conclusion

If you can’t make up your mind about what fighting game you should play and you are die-hard fan of BR games, buy yourself a Naraka Bladepoint account to experience arcade fighting in a Battle Royale setting! But if you want to get started with the Arcade Fighting Genre and you have never played fighting games before, I recommend you start with Street Fighter.

But if you want to experience arcade fighting with more gore-y details and a lot of side content, Mortal Kombat might be the best option for you.

About Dusan Stanar

I'm the founder of VSS Monitoring. I have been both writing and working in technology in a number of roles for dozens of years and wanted to bring my experience online to make it publicly available. Visit https://www.vssmonitoring.com/about-us/ to read more about myself and the rest of the team.