9 Best Fighting Games of 2024
2024 was a monumental year for the FGC. Street Fighter 6 continued its genre-defining success while Maximillian Dood revived Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite with one of the most ambitious fan projects in community history.
In addition to enduring legacies and community-driven initiatives, 2024 saw some of the biggest releases in the modern FGC. From Tekken 8 bringing a brand new wave of influencers to the space to Rivals of Aether 2 uniting the platform fighter community, let's take a look back at the games that made 2024 one of the best years in modern fighting games.
1. Tekken 8
Tekken 8 was the new kid on the block in 2024 ending the year by winning "Best Fighting Game" at this year's Game Awards. However, that doesn't mean that Tekken 8's launch year was not met without controversy. The DLC model for Tekken 8 was also met with similar feedback. The backlash against Heihachi's DLC stage (it was not included in the Season Pass) was loud enough to get Bandai Namco to give away a stage for its next drop of post-launch content.
But with all that said, the game is great to play and serves as a return to the mountain top for the Tekken Team. Reina, one of the new characters in T8, has hit the ground running and quickly become one of the most popular fighters in the game. Coupled with Clive from Final Fantasy XVI serving as the game's first guest fighter, Tekken 8 is positioning itself to right some early missteps and end 2024 strong.
2. Street Fighter 6
In terms of stream numbers, concurrent players, and health of their pro circuit, few games are doing better that Street Fighter 6. In its second year on the market, SF6 is still going strong, with fans surely being pleased with a great sophomore year.
SF6's 2024 opened with Capcom Cup, where sponsorless Taiwanese salaryman UMA won the largest purse in Fighting Game history. Right after UMA became an instant millionaire, SF6's first DLC character, Ed, was released. After a slow spring, Akuma dropped and quickly shot to the top of the playtime charts. The Raging Demon and Ed were very well received, and both ended up seeing representation at the highest levels of play. Later in 2024, Terry Bogard, Street Fighter's first ever guest character, was released. And while he may not be as top tier as Akuma, his moves and stage are all a love letter to the Fatal Fury poster boy.
This year could have been one perilous one for the SF team. But instead, they've pushed through and made a fantastic community that continues to laud and play the game by the millions. There's still not enough costumes though.
3. Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection
The newest old game (or oldest new game?) on this list is one that most of the FGC would have never thought possible. The Marvel vs. Capcom collection serves as one of the biggest tips of the hat to the community and is loved for it.
Serving as a compilation of all of the Capcom "Vs." games (besides MVC3 and MVC Infinite), the MVC collection gives these games the much-needed infrastructural improvements to ensure people will continue to enjoy them for years to come. The Collection gives things like training modes and rollback netcode/online play to games that didn't have them on the original release. Each game is released as "arcade perfect" which means they are 1:1 recreations of the original arcade versions without any of the hardware limitations of ports in the past.
But most of all, this means that these games will all be easy to use for pro-level play. So do not be shocked if MvC2 ends up on the main stage at Evo in 2025.
4. Guilty Gear: Strive
Strive is still Striving along! Serving as one of the new "big three" of Evo, Guilty Gear: Strive is still one of the most played and lauded fighting games around, even at going on its fourth year.
Strive is still releasing massive balance patches and changes to the core mechanics that completely alter the meta. Also in 2024, Arc System Works released the "Team of 3" mode, which is absolute madness and something we've never seen in a non-Vs.-style game. Teammates can swap in and out, like in DBZ or MVC, but they can also use wild assist moves that have a myriad of effects on your opponents. It's a great party mode that adds a new layer of replay to Strive.
Lastly, Strive announced their first guest character ever, and it's a doozy. Instead of going for a character from another fighting game, Arc System Works went for "the rule of cool" as they always do and revealed that Lucy from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was coming to the game in Season 4.
5. Rivals of Aether 2
Rivals of Aether 2 is a testament to the love a community has for it's game. This platform fighter's first edition was one of the many indie darlings of the FGC/Smash community for years. But at the end of 2023, Aether Games was struggling to have the resources to release the game on time. But the community showed that they would step up.
Aether Games released a Kickstarter to hopefully raise around $200,000 to get the game released in 2024. In less than one month, fans of the game raised over $1,000,000 in 30 days. This show of crowdfunding meant that not only did Rivals of Aether 2 release in October, but it also would release its DLC characters totally free. Plenty of great games released in 2024, but few have illustrated the love and support as the Rivals of Aether community.
6. Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age
Every now and then there's a game that just tries a new spin on the genre and Diesel Legacy is that. This 2v2 (or a 4 player free for all), 2D fighter on its surface looks like a run of the mill indie game. But when you see it in motion you realize it's so much more.
Diesel Legacy is actually a 2.5D game, where fighting takes place across three lanes. While this means that avoiding attacks is easier, it also means that certain moves are specifically made to hit across lanes. Ruby's super calls a controllable delivery truck that hits everything in its path. Or how grappler, Saga, can snatch up players on both sides of her at once. Fatal Fury may have invented the lane mechanic back in the 90s, Diesel Legacy is building its entire fighting system around it. And that's refreshing. There are tons of really interesting things that Maximum Games is doing that could easily turn Diesel Legacy into a cult classic. Keep on the lookout for this one in 2025.
7. Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
Granblue is a game that has so much going for it. Like every other Arc System Works fighting game, it's still one of the most visually stunning fighters on the market. But even more than that, its competitive scene is very healthy, and with the release of its sister game, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, also released in 2024.
One of the big stories of GBVR this year was it's inclusion of 2B from Nier: Automata as one of it's DLC characters. 2B has become one of the most beloved characters in gaming and has appeared in a number of games. In fact, GBVS:R is her second appearance in a fighting game. Her first go round in the ring was way back in 2018 when she served as a guest in Bandai Namco's Soul Calibur VI.
8. UNI 2
And rounding everything out is the little anime fighter that could, UNI 2. Representing the more niche corners of the FGC, UNI is a series that's grown over the past couple of years into a cult favorite among fighting game heads. So much so that it outpaced old stalwarts like Mortal Kombat 1 and King of Fighters in terms of Evo entries in 2024.
UNI fans have been pleased with the new game, especially with new character Kaguya, who's become easily the most popular character in the game. So much so that for most of 2024, she's been #1 in play rate online.
Because of its smaller budget, only one DLC character, Uzuki, has been released. But that still doesn't detract from the fact that this kitschy game has taken root in the hearts of the FGC.
9. Mortal Kombat 11
No, that's not a typo. It's been a great year for MK11 simply because it's been a not-so-great year for MK1. The newest iteration of Mortal Kombat has been plagued with negative sentiment for much for 2024, forcing MK fans actually to return to the older game. So, while initial sales of MK1 were great, the surge has long tapered off to a point where now MK11 consistently surpasses MK1 in a number of players online and views on streaming sites.
Much of the bad press comes from MK1's monetization model. Generally fighting game season passes can fall anywhere between $15-$30. But for MK1, there were the season passes for DLC fighters at $30 on launch, but then there were additional Kameo fighters, which are a vital part of the battle system at roughly $8 a pop, plus expanded story content at $40. Easily pushing MK1 above the $150 mark if you want all the base game and all of the content. None of which included any costumes or cosmetic gear for your favorite fighters.
Coupling that with a fighting system that seemed overly complicated and meta-reliant, you have a perfect storm that drove fans back into the arms of MK11.
