Best Fighting Games From The 90s

Fighting games have seen a resurgence in the past decade or so. Even if fans looked past the big three of Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Tekken 8, there are still plenty of options for them to dabble in. They could give King of Fighters 15 a go, or Skullgirls, or Guilty Gear Strive. The really keen could even seek out more underrated games like Under Night in Birth 2 Sys: Celes, Pocket Bravery, and Your Only Move is HUSTLE.

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The genre has been around ever since the mid-1970s, but fighting games didn’t come into their own until the 1990s. Older gamers may look back at Karate Champ, Way of the Exploding Fist, International Karate, and Yie-Ar Kung Fu fondly. However, when players think of the genre, they’re going to think of the best fighting games from each year of the 90s.

1 1990 – Pit-Fighter

GameFAQs Score: 2.62/5 Stars

There’s a reason fighting games took off in the 90s, and it didn’t arrive until 1991. So, 1990 was a rather anemic year by comparison with little to no fighters reaching arcades or consoles. So, Pit-Fighter gets the position of the year's best fighting game by default. It was a rough game to play, even back then. But it was a big seller for Atari at the time and got ported to the SNES, Genesis, and the ZX Spectrum, among other consoles.

It used the grungy, underground fighting tournament setting years before Mortal Kombat, but with an urban, action movie-like theme. While it lacked MK’s fatalities, players still had to watch out for weapon-wielding bosses and NPCs. If Atari were able to capitalize on its fame at the time, it might’ve outdone Midway’s future franchise and put them on the proverbial forklift above a mountain of cash. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

2 1991 – Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior

GameFAQs Score: 4.23/5 Stars

For some, Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior may as well have invented the genre, despite that big Arabic numeral in its title. In a way it did, as it raised the bar way higher than its predecessors. It was no longer enough to offer 1-3 characters to fight against each other and some CPU-only characters. Now they had 8 on offer, whose attacks could chain into each other if players timed them right, creating combos as a concept.

The cast became iconic in their own right too, offering diverse designs that let people know at a glance what they were about. The giant wrestler Zangief could be dangerous if he got up close, but the nimbler Chun-Li, the first playable woman in fighting games, could skip over him and jab him from a distance. As aged as it is now, SF2: TWW created the template every subsequent fighter would build from.

3 1992 – Mortal Kombat

GameFAQs Score: 3.7 Stars

SF2’s improvements came quickly, with SF2: Championship Edition making the 4 bosses playable, and SF2: Hyper Fighting speeding up the proceedings. Yet some fans wanted to see something new, and Mortal Kombat provided just that. It took Pit Fighter’s digitization and gave it a mystical kung fu spin, as mortals, monsters and gods fought each other to the death.

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While it’s more (in)famous for its gore, the game also offered tightly designed characters, where even the palette-swapped ninjas Sub-Zero and Scorpion became iconic as individuals. It’s this attention to detail that made it stand out over the host of imitators it would inspire. Bloodstorm, Time Killers, and even the solid Killer Instinct weren't enough to finish MK off, as it still stands today as gaming's bloodiest fighter.

4 1993 – Virtua Fighter

GameFAQs Score: 3.6/5 Stars

With fighting games established, the following years would only get more competitive. 1993 saw Super Street Fighter 2 boost the old classic with new moves and introduced fan-favorite characters like Cammy. Mortal Kombat 2 tightened up the controls, threw in more blood, and brought in the likes of Mileena, Kitana, and Jax. However, Virtua Fighter offered more than mere gameplay tweaks and character designs.

Its blocky protagonists and texture-less stages seem quaint today, but its impact went beyond fighting games. The game's realistic animations and 3D models would inspire Core Design and id Software to make Tomb Raider and Quake, respectively. Its success in the arcades would convince Sony to make their upcoming PlayStation console 3D-capable. It was a new path that led into a (literal) new dimension in gaming.

5 1994 – Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo

GameFAQs Score: 4.09/5 Stars

By 1994, Street Fighter 2 was looking long in the tooth. Capcom had alternatives, like X-Men: Children of the Atom and the first Darkstalkers game, but they were still releasing different versions of SF2. Fans were left wondering when they’d finally count beyond two and make Street Fighter 3. They would do that eventually (though not before making prequels in the Alpha games), but they had one more release in mind.

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo remains the definitive version of SF2. It provided the basis behind Capcom’s future SF2 tweaks, like its HD Remix and Ultra Street Fighter 2. It’s the game that introduced its uber-secret boss Akuma, one of the franchise's most iconic characters who's rarely missed a game since. It’s also still played in tournaments today 30+ years later, holding its own next to its souped-up successors.

6 1995 – Virtua Fighter 2

GameFAQs Score: 3.94/5 Stars

Virtua Fighter was so hot in Japan that Sega made it a launch game for the Sega Saturn. Unfortunately, while it was profitable, the initial Saturn VF1 port was buggy due to its rushed development. Luckily, if any Saturn owners had any buyer’s remorse, Virtua Fighter 2 would cure it almost instantly. Arriving in arcades and on the Saturn in 1995, the game became the best reason to own Sega’s console.

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It vastly improved on VF1 with its smooth graphics and smoother gameplay, alongside some lavish stages that used real landmarks like the Coliseum and the Great Wall of China. The characters gained more dynamic moves too, with new characters Shun Di and Lion being particularly fluid with their kung fu styles. Whether it’s the original arcade version or the stellar Saturn port, VF2 is a joy to play.

7 1996 – X-Men Vs Street Fighter

GameFAQs Score: 4.16/5 Stars

By 1996, things were picking up. Tekken 2 became one of many reasons to buy a PlayStation. King of Fighters ’96 gave the series a graphical and gameplay overhaul with its new sprites and short-hop tactics. Street Fighter EX even saw the classic series take its first step into 3D, though it wasn’t a patch on Dead or Alive or Virtua Fighter 3, which both hit the arcades this year.

So, what does X-Men Vs Street Fighter offer to beat that? It lets Marvel's famous line-up of mutants join forces with Capcom’s classic fighters, swapping in and out of combat to defeat their opponents and build bigger combos with even flashier moves than before. With these team-based tactics and controls that were easy to use but tricky to master, the game would lay the foundations for the future Marvel Vs Capcom series.

8 1997 – Tekken 3

Metascore: 96

Tekken, the biggest name in 3D fighting games today, was originally a Virtua Fighter clone made by most of the original VF1 team for Namco in 1994. Both it and its sequel had more flavor than its rivals at Sega, with more characters, extra modes, and more, but their gameplay wasn’t quite as quick or smooth as the likes of VF2 or VF3 in the arcades. This changed when Namco gave the series a soft reboot with Tekken 3.

It stepped out of VF’s shadow by catching up to the series in speed and animation, while having more intuitive controls thanks to its new sidestep functions. In addition to most of its old guard getting booted in favor of new, more exciting characters like Jin, Hwoarang, Xiaoyu, and Eddy, Tekken now had the meat to go with its flavoring. Its 1998 PS1 port just topped it off with more modes and characters to play with.

9 1998 – SoulCalibur

Metascore: 98

1998 was perhaps the busiest year for the genre, where nearly any game released that year was a hot contender for this spot. Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel Vs Capcom, King of Fighters ’98, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure are all solid choices for multiple reasons. But only one would become Metacritic’s best-rated fighting game of all time. SoulCalibur earned that accolade with some key improvements.

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Players could now run in eight directions to control the area, escaping danger or forcing the opponent into corners or pits. Its characters could use more fanciful weapons like chain-swords and the giant Soul Edge alongside the usual katanas, daggers, and staffs. Its Dreamcast port the following year would further improve the character models, and introduce extra modes that brought its historical fantasy settings to life.

10 1999 – Street Fighter 3: Third Strike

Metascore: 86

It’s tempting to go with a lesser-known fighter from 1999, like Power Stone or SNK Vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium. Even contenders like Dead or Alive 2 and Super Smash Bros are worth consideration. Yet it’s hard to argue their case against Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. Even if players put aside its gameplay, which drastically improved on its predecessors, they couldn’t deny its beautiful graphics and animations.

Or at least they can’t do so now. They couldn’t save it back on its 1999 release, where anything less than 3D was considered a backward step. Even fans at the time considered it to be the franchise’s tombstone. However, its gameplay gradually won over players, where masters could snatch victory from defeat with some deft parrying. It’s why, unlike its old 3D rivals, it still pops up at big-name tournaments like Evo today.

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