Best Retro Fighting Games of All Time

The definitive PlayStation fighting game and one of the greatest 3D fighters ever made. Tekken 3 refined the series' formula to perfection with a massive roster, deep combat mechanics, side-stepping, and bonus modes that made it essential entertainment far beyond its arcade origins.

HAL Laboratory's fighting game experiment brought Nintendo's greatest icons together and reinvented the genre with platform-based fighting. Super Smash Bros. proved that a crossover fighting game built on knock-out mechanics rather than health bars could be simultaneously accessible and deeply competitive.

The definitive home version of the game that defined competitive fighting games. Street Fighter II Turbo brought arcade-quality fighting to the SNES with all four boss characters playable.

The SNES port of Midway's blood-soaked arcade sensation sparked a cultural firestorm and directly triggered the creation of the ESRB ratings system — Nintendo's decision to replace blood with sweat and alter fatalities made this version the censored alternative to the Genesis port, but the underlying fighting game is a tense, strategic one-on-one brawler with a roster of digitized fighters that remains iconic. The controversy only amplified public fascination, and the game became one of the best-selling SNES titles of its era.

Sega's fantasy beat-em-up classic. Three warriors seek revenge against Death Adder in a hack-and-slash adventure that launched the Genesis, featured three distinct characters with magic systems, and became an arcade legend.

The greatest beat-em-up ever made. Streets of Rage 2 combined technical brawling combat with a roster of distinct fighters, excellent level design, and Yuzo Koshiro's legendary techno soundtrack to produce a masterwork of the genre.

The beat-em-up that started it all. Double Dragon's blend of martial arts combat, weapon pickups, and mission-based brawling defined the belt-scrolling genre for years to come.