
What are the best PS5 fighting games to play in 2026? If you're looking for some challenging battles that'll really test your limits, fighting games take that to the extreme.
On this page, we’re compiling the cream of the crop, from hardcore brawlers with a humongous learning curve through to more casual affairs you can play with pals.
Below you’ll find the very best fighting games you can play on PS5 right now as rated by our readers, as well as some tailor-made suggestions selected by our esteemed editorial team.
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube170k
You can use the index below to jump directly to what you’re looking for, so plug in a controller and Push Start while we break everything down for you.
Last Updated: 10th April, 2026
Best PS5 Fighting Games Rated and Ranked
The following PS5 fighting games have been ranked and rated by you, so this is what our community considers the very cream of the crop.
If you want to contribute, use the search box below to find some fighting games, then rate them accordingly. Your ratings will directly influence this list, so make your voices heard!
10. SoulCalibur VI (PS4)
- Price
- $59.99/£54.99
- Players
- 2
- Why Play It
- An approachable yet deep return to form, SoulCalibur 6 delivers fast, flashy weapons-based fighting with robust single player modes and excellent character creation, making it both easy to pick up and rewarding to master.
9. Injustice 2 (PS4)
A visual tour-de-force, with a stunning cinematic campaign that actually felt worth a damn: Injustice 2 saw NetherRealm Studios on top form. With dynamically changing ladders introducing new challenges every hour and a neat loot system which added real replayability to the game, this fighter will go down in history as one of the biggest, most graphically stunning efforts ever to release on consoles at the time.
8. Mortal Kombat X (PS4)
Mortal Kombat X has become something of a fan favourite over the years — a typically gory and charmingly daft entry in the long-running series. On a mechanical level, X gets a lot right — it's like a melding of older Mortal Kombat titles, spruced up for modern times. Whatever your skill level happens to be, it's great bloody fun, capped off by a comprehensive character roster and loads of engaging game modes.
7. Mortal Kombat 11 (PS4)
Mortal Kombat 11’s spectacular presentation and crunching combat make it a headline entry in the long-running franchise. With an absolute mountain of single player content to get through, as well as an active competitive scene, this is one of the best fighters you can find on PS4.
6. Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (PS4)
It took a little time for Capcom to knock Street Fighter 5 into shape, but the Champion Edition is the most complete version of the brawler available, featuring many of its subsequent content packs and updates in one bundle. You’re getting the full game here alongside 40 fighters, 34 stages, and over 200 outfits. Street Fighter 6 is the better and more active option these days, but there’s still a ton of game to enjoy here.
5. Guilty Gear Strive (PS5)
The PS5's first native fighting game has set the bar very, very high. Guilty Gear Strive is a superb brawler, bolstered by jaw-dropping visuals and the best online netcode that we've ever experienced in a fighting game. A relatively small but brilliantly diverse character roster allows for a deep and hugely rewarding experience, while accessible gameplay mechanics on a base level pave the way for new players. A stunning beat-'em-up backed by an incredible heavy rock soundtrack.
4. Street Fighter 6 (PS5)
Street Fighter 6 puts the series back on the map. Following the comparably dismal launch of Street Fighter V, this iteration of Capcom's fighter is the most robust package yet, catering to both competitive and casual players brilliantly. New mechanics add more strategy to fights, different control schemes level the playing field for newcomers, and the online play is seriously smooth. Add to that the incredibly high-effort single-player World Tour mode, in-depth tutorials, a multitude of fun ways to fight, and a vibrant roster of familiar and new characters, and you have one of the best fighting games in recent memory.
3. Tekken 8 (PS5)
Arguably the most explosive Tekken game yet, Tekken 8 is a truly bombastic fighter. Fundamentally, it builds on the already fantastic foundations of Tekken 7, but the new Heat system brings so much aggression to the series' trademark 3D gameplay. Featuring a healthy list of modes — both online and offline — a rock solid character roster, and the promise of many memorable battles, Tekken 8 is probably the franchise at its peak.
2. Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4)
One of the greatest anime-based fighting games ever, Dragon Ball FighterZ is a masterclass in adapting an existing franchise. Bandai Namco wanted a Dragon Ball title that could stand on a tournament stage, and so it recruited the fighting game geniuses at Arc System Works. The result is a downright stunning, but also brilliantly deep team-based brawler. It has a few too many Gokus in its character roster, perhaps, but that's a minor criticism when the game's in full flow. A joyous, competitive celebration of Akira Toriyama's timeless creation.
1. Ultra Street Fighter IV (PS4)
Though it launched in a fairly rough state, Ultra Street Fighter IV's PS4 port eventually cleaned up its act, and now punches as hard as you'd want it to. The fighting game remains fun and stylish, and there's a simplicity to 2D fighters that makes this a go-to for local multiplayer sessions.
Best PS5 Fighting Games for Esports Athletes

If you’re a quarter-circle sensei, you may have dreamed of competing on the biggest stage. These are the best fighting games to play if you’re looking to build a career out of your arcade stick expertise.
- Street Fighter 6 (PS5, PS4): The crown jewel of the FGC and the most competitive fighting game on the market. Mastering Street Fighter 6’s massive roster will ensure you become the king of the scene.
- Tekken 8 (PS5): It's rarely the main event at multi-game tournaments, but Tekken 8 is a very strong warm-up act. Consider Tekken 8 if you prefer 3D fighters.
- Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (PS5, PS4): Not necessarily the most popular fighting game, but the one that’s currently paying the big bucks. Moral quandaries over Saudi Arabia’s investment aside, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ prize pools are life-changing in 2026.
Best PS5 Fighting Games for Single Player Gamers

Fighting games are deeply competitive and inherently social, but what if you just want to kick back and play in single player on your own? These are our recommendations for the titles with the best solo content in the genre.
- Street Fighter 6 (PS5, PS4): While it’s arguably the most competitive fighting game on the planet, Street Fighter 6 also has a full-scale single player mode named World Tour, where you can build your own fighter and interact with various characters from Capcom’s universe. This mode alone can take 30 hours to beat, and is a ton of fun if you’re looking for something to sink your teeth into.
- SoulCalibur 3 (PS5, PS4): Available emulated on the PS5 and PS4, this classic PS2 fighter is practically bursting with an unprecedented array of single player modes. The main arcade option, Tales of Souls, is presented like a book and delivers a deep narrative experience for each character. Meanwhile, Chronicles of the Sword integrates real-time strategy elements to make for a deeply unique experience.
- Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5): All of the modern Mortal Kombat games have cinematic campaigns for you to complete, with surprisingly high production values. You can’t go wrong with any of them, then. We’ve selected Mortal Kombat 1 here because we quite like the RPG-inspired board game mode Invasions which adds single player longevity long beyond the story mode.
Best PS5 Fighting Games for Newbies

We get it, fighting games can be intimidating. But in trying to grow the genre’s audience, devs are beginning to consider ways they can make their games more accessible. Here are some titles we’d recommend to newbies.
- Street Fighter 6 (PS5, PS4): While it’s undoubtedly the most hardcore fighting game on this list, Street Fighter 6 is also surprisingly accessible. That’s because its World Tour mode can be enjoyed for hours in single player, and its Modern controls will actually allow you to play with simple inputs. Moreover, the game has some really great tutorials which not only teach you how to get to grips with each character, but also when and why to use their various moves.
- 2XKO (PS5): Riot’s 2XKO may put competitive play front and centre, but it’s one of the most accessible fighting games you’ll find. The game’s built around a simple three-button system, consisting of Light, Medium, and Heavy attacks. Specials are assigned to two buttons on the controller, while automatic combos will help you to perform all of the flashy stuff without hours of practice.
- Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (PS5, PS4): An early pioneer of the simplistic controls approach, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising will let you perform its characters’ special moves using simple inputs. The game also features automatic combos, so you can perform some pretty impressive feats just by mashing the same buttons.
Best PS5 Fighting Games for Anime Fans

Fighting games and anime go hand-in-hand, and so if you’re a fan of the latter there’s probably a brawler or two you’d like. Here are our recommendations for anime enjoyers.
- Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS5, PS4): Anime fighting games just don’t get any better than Dragon Ball FighterZ, ArcSys’ superb tag-team brawler that pays homage to Akira Toriyama’s iconic manga. With tons of characters and a visual style that perfectly reflects the source material, this one is unmissable.
- Guilty Gear Strive (PS5, PS4): Guilty Gear Strive looks and plays like a shonen comic brought to life. With staggering character models and stages, some of the transitions between cinematics and gameplay here need to be seen to be believed.
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (PS5): Another Dragon Ball game, yes, but how could we not include this one in our list? Sparking Zero is the most recent entry in the Budokai Tenkaichi series, so it’s a different type of fighter to others on this list, adopting an arena-based format. Its sheer scale and spectacle make it a shoo-in here.
Best PS5 Fighting Games for Retro Gamers

Fighting games found popularity in the 90s, and so there have quite literally hundreds of titles from the past we’d recommend. Here we’re focusing on some particularly compelling collections, which bundle multiple fighters in one must-play client.
- Capcom Fighting Collection (PS4): An essential bundle featuring all of the excellent Darkstalkers games, including a couple only ever released in Japan. This wonderful package is rounded out by the definitive version of Street Fighter 2, Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition, alongside a couple of additional gems like Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo and Red Earth.
- Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (PS4): A bundle featuring many of the greatest tag-team fighters ever made, beginning with X-Men: Children of the Atom all the way through to the absolutely outstanding Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. All of the games here are outrageously good, and you even get 1993’s brilliant The Punisher beat-’em-up as a bonus.
- Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PS4): Not to get too repetitive, but these Capcom fighting collections really are that good. The headliners here are the two outrageously good Street Fighter vs SNK games, but you also get a bunch of 3D era titles, like the Power Stone games and Project Justice. The phenomenal Street Fighter 3 Alpha Upper, in its most definitive form, rounds out this wonderful bundle.
So, there you go — the best fighting games on PS5. As mentioned, our top ten is ranked by the Push Square community, so if you feel something is out of place, then you still have the opportunity to do something about it. You can either return to the top of this article and use the search box to submit your ratings, or hit the star next to any game name. And, if you think a release is missing from our PlayStation Games Database, then be sure to let us know.
With all that said, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the best PS5 fighting games. Do you agree with this list, and if not, why not? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below.





Comments 28
Having the ***** show that is Tekken 8 ahead of Street Fighter 6 is a joke. Added "hahas" for pitching Ultra SF4 at number one.
Simple answer: Soulcalibur 2, the greatest fighting game of all time with MKX being a close second.
Some of my thoughts.
In terms of an overall package I'd say Street Fighter 6 is the best right now.
For Mortal Kombat, 11 has the better story but MKX has the better gameplay. MK1 just felt like a side step. And invasion mode despite what the article says was universally hated.
Guilty Gear Strive is easier to get into compared to the Xrd series. It has a great roster now, though it's story mode is largely just a visual novel.
Tekken 8 has a better story mode and online compared to 7 but it's mechanics have really alienated a lot in the community.
Fatal Fury Cotw is a fun fighter and I like that buying the game gets you the first season of DLC for free.
2XKO is for the more hardcore fighting game fans so it lacks content for casuals.
Brawlhalla is your go to of the Smash clones unless your big fan of Nickelodeon characters.
And for something a bit left field I recommend Gigabash, especially if you love Godzilla type movies.
For retro options then you can't go wrong with Capcom's three fighting collections.
Tekken 3 is still great and if you want a lot of single player content then Soul Calibur 3 is the best option.
SFV above Strive, Tekken 8 above anything and USF4 being #1 is crazy lol
If you want a good pvp fighting game to play today your best options on current generation consoles are SF6 and GG Strive.
And dooming aside from company layoffs, 2XKO is damn fun.
@Tobimune What’s wrong with the best SF capcoms ever made being #1?
SF4 sh**s on 5 & 6, it’s not even close
@nomither6 It's a fantastic fighting game however I doubt there are still many people playing it online.
Anyone who wants to play online with a diverse pool of players definitely shouldn't buy SF4 in 2026.
If you're just playing against the cpu or offline versus with the homies sure but that's about it right now.
Guys let me know if there’s anything else you’d change to this format as I’m still experimenting a bit. What else would you find useful etc?
Remember the top ten is user rated so that’s yours to decide!
I know this is all subjective, but the community hates Tekken 8; it's laughable being ranked so high. Also, I know SFIV has its fans, but I would take 6 over it easily, as well as 3s, Alpha 2 and 3, etc. It definitely is an important game for the community, but I don't think it's a great SF game.
I'd probably have City of the Wolves and 2XKO on my list, but admittedly I don't play or like NetherRealm games. Both have some deficiencies as total packages but have solid gameplay.
@RudeAnimat0r im intrigued to know why dont you think sf4 is a great sf game?
no argument or anything, just want to hear your reason(s)
@get2sammyb Sorry to say Sammy but SF 6 should be no 1 on the list. Overall it's a much better game than USF IV.
From online match alone, SF 6 rollback netcode is farrrrr superior than USF IV delay based netcode. Don't make me start on how robust SF 6 tutorial and training mode compare to USF IV.
Also USF IV has atrocious input lag on PS4. It has 8 frame input lag while SF 6 on PS4/5 has 3-4 frame input lag. Recently i booted up USF IV again and just played combo trial and my gosh it feels like walking in the mud with how unresponsive the input is. I quickly goes back to SF 6 and it feels like heaven ☺️
@Tobimune @MrPeanutbutterz Completely agreed with both of you 🤝
I’ve been playing Fatal Fury COTW lately. The DLC characters is something to look forward to. I enjoyed playing Samurai Shodown (2019) and King of Fighters 15 as well.
@nomither6 I think the style is kind of ugly, it was over reliant on links at a higher level, I didn't think the Focus attack system was a great mechanic, it kind of homgenized things a bit, and it was the game that popularized a big revenge mechanic.
I don't think it's a bad game and I played a lot of it. It had some great characters, like Juri, Abel, Goken and others I'm forgetting. But I don't think I'd ever choose to boot it up unless I had others that wanted to play it. I don't have that same nostalgia for it that I do earlier games in the series. I can play 3s forever :shrug:
Maybe it's not the right fighting game category for this list but Sifu has the best melee/fighting combat in all of gaming in my opinion.
I know i loved injustice 2 the most such a complete package with so many characters.
This kind of list are often very personal.
IMHO, Sf6, ggst and granblue are my absolute favorites for different reasons.
Special mention to granblue who has some if the most explicit rules during character's interactions. You quickly understand why you lost, won, what happened and I love the art direction.
Also, Versusia ^^
Ggst is a generous game that feels like rock opera (as someone said once in yt).
Every moves seems to tell a story and move so many things on the character.
Nothing is just a "normal" attack, everything looks special and crafted with love.
Sf6, to me, is the definition of solid in every way.
I love the animations, the way characters move, balance their weights, seem to breath in and out in between attacks.
I also feel like they nailed the "street" part and love the overall design.
I'm also one of the few people it seems that enjoy the soundtrack a lot.
Plus all those 3 games, specially granblue and street, have contents for new comers, single players and people who just don't care about grinding'
Also, if anyone wants my PSN to fight and chat and laugh, just tell me
DOA5 Last Round is free if you've got PS Plus which is a good fighter also. There's a simple cheat that unlocks everything so it's a game you can dip in and out of without the need to grind for content.
Fatal fury COTW is better than a lot of these games on this list especially the NetherRealm games. Fatal Fury has hidden depths like most SNK fighters the more you play it the better it becomes also I don’t get what people dislike about Street Fighter 6 personally I think it’s excellent and it plays so well maybe it’s the way the game is structured but it’s so much better than USF4
I love fighting games, have a lot of them on ps4. Too bad we have to pay to play online so I'm stuck in single player content. Recently I saw some people still playing Third Strike Online Edition on ps3, that's impressive.
Having Tekken 8 that high on the list but not one mention of Virtua Fighter 5? That's egregious!
@Dadou Third strike is a fantastic game that’s another one with hidden depths it’s the reason I still have and use my Dreamcast to this day yes there are versions on modern platforms but there is something special about the DC version it’s awesome with the official arcade stick
@PuppetMaster I'm convinced that SF6's netcode is witchcraft. It's best-in-class by a wide margin (and another reason why T8 was such a letdown).
If I play wired with another person in Ireland it feels like they're on the couch next to me. I went into Battlehub one weekend hotspotting from my phone (as my broadband service provider suffered damage to external equipment during a storm), played someone in a set that turned into a first to 50 wins! (they won 50-48, but they certainly wouldn't have stuck about that long if my connection wasn't decently playable).
T8 also has the added issue of what felt like a lot of PC players running the game on ill-equipped hardware.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Great joke, but you are late for april's fools
@MrPeanutbutterz Capcom must give a huge raise for SF 6 netcode team. They did a spectacular job. Right now there's no current FG's that can stand side by side with SF 6 netcode.
I've played against wifi players from different countries like Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Australia who sometimes only had 3 bars and most matches worked quite flawless at 80-100 ms! And i believe around 95% of my wired matches was really smooth outside the weird disconnect from the server.
GG Strive probably the only game who have pretty solid netcode and comes a bit close to SF 6 netcode quality.
I'm not yet try Tekken 8 online though. But i owned Tekken 7 and the online was really bad 🤮
I hope Sega and KT nailed VF 6 and DOA 7 netcode. Now is their chance to steal a nice spotlight from Tekken 8.
@PuppetMaster Yeah even when the metrics are saying "this match is going to be a laggy mess" it rarely is! I'd say out of the thousands of matches I've played online, most of them have been top. Can count the ones I wanted to abandon because of lag on one hand.
I did get a chuckle at some dude in Battlehub who accused me of lag switching due to the connection... like bruh I'm wired, you're wireless, I'm in Europe on a European server while you're based in UAE 😆
I haven't played Strive in years! I might redownload it and have a look at the 2.0 update.
Yeah so the netcode for Tekken 8 is about as good as Tekken 7...
Naff netcode in a 2026 (and beyond) fighting game really isn't acceptable. I'd like to think Sega and KT are aware of this, but apparently Namco weren't.
@Gs69 Let me guess, you didn’t like SF4 either?
seems like the hate for the game is ramping up these days all of a sudden.
also will never understand the praise for third strike at all. it took three iterations for that half decent game to be acceptable , but sure. the game that nearly killed the franchise is fantastic
I like seeing Injustice 2 and Dragon Ball FighterZ still getting love. In fact, I'd have the latter on the Top 10 somewhere.
I know the newest entries in all these franchises are going to be favored, but I'd still take MK X over the newer Mortal Kombats, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 over Strive, and Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection over every Tekken that's come after.
And since I still like Street Fighter 4 better than 5 or 6, is it any surprise #1 works for me? X)
Personally I'll take a side scrolling brawler like Streets of Rage 4 over all of these overly complicated 1 vs 1 affairs
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...