10 Best Ps1 Fighting Games That You Should Know Update 04/2024

best ps1 fighting games

Starting in arcades, fighting games have been a part of video game history almost from the start. Then, fighting games moved to home consoles, like the first PlayStation. At the time, fighting games were very different from what they are now. The PS1 saw a lot of these games, which changed the genre at the time.

But which of the many PS1 fighting games were the best? Metacritic is a website that helps people find good movies and TV shows. For this list, we’ll be putting the movies and TV shows in order by how well they did. Let’s look at this!

Gundam: Battle Assault (61)

Gundam Battle Assault

2D fighting is an easy genre for a lot of well-known brands to make a game in because it has a lot of well-known tropes and rules. When your characters are huge mechs, it’s a little more difficult to pull off this kind of thing.

It’s not the best PS1 fighting game because of the big sprites and the fact that you’re playing as heavy mechs, but it has its charm for fans of the show.

Digimon: Rumble Arena (64)

Even though the PS1 sold more than its closest competitor, the N64, Sony’s console didn’t have some of the best first-party Nintendo games that gamers still love to this day. It would have to be Super Smash Bros. at the top of the list to be there. Digimon: Rumble Arena was a clone of that game for the PS1, but that may not have been known at the time.

Nintendo’s brawler is a lot like this game, but the controls are easier to learn and the number of moves each character can make is cut down. “Digivolve” is used in the game, though, and it had final smashes before Smash Bros. ever had them! If the game had more depth and could be played by four people like Smash Bros, it might have made the list.

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (68)

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2

People used to play sports games on the PS1 a lot more often than they used to try to make them look like they were real. While some people didn’t do well with this style, Midway’s Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 did very well.

Its gameplay is fast and easy to pick up by a gamer of any skill level and the game never takes itself too seriously like Nintendo’s Punch Out! series. This game, on the other hand, has some crazy secret characters. If you ever wanted to pay homage to Hilary Clinton’s fight with Michael Jackson, you can do so in this game.

Battle Arena Toshinden (69)

As part of the original North American Playstation launch library, Battle Arena Toshinden is one of the most important fighting games of all time. When it came out, it was the first 3D game where you could use weapons. Later, games like Soul Calibur would make this look like a waste of time.

For a PlayStation 1 game that came out in 1995, the graphics are great and the fighting, even though simple, is still very playable and responsive. In the PS1, there were more sequels, but the series didn’t last past the third game, so it came to an end

Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale (69)

Inuyasha A Feudal Fairy Tale

This isn’t the first time that Inuyasha has used the fighting game genre to try to reach gamers. This game came out near the end of the PS1’s life cycle in 2003. It’s a 2D fighter with a lot of flashy moves and great sprites.

For fans of the manga and TV show, it’s not as good as Street Fighter, but it’s still a good way to fight. Considering that there aren’t many games for fans of the series, this is a good one.

X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (72)

When you play X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, you can choose some of your favourite X-Men characters to fight each other. There was nothing new about how the game worked, but playing as our favourite characters was a real treat.

Fans loved the inclusion of more characters than its predecessor, as well as the improved graphics, but it’s difficult to pull off combos and slim pickings of modes hurt the game and made it lose points in its rating.

Capcom vs. SNK Pro (74)

Capcom vs. SNK Pro

After Capcom vs. SNK Pro, Marvel and Capcom went head-to-head in Capcom Vs. SNK Pro, which was a fight between Capcom and SNK that was mostly about characters from King of Fighters games, The fights were fun to watch for people who like arcade games like this one.

“Rating” was used in Capcom Vs. SNK Pro, and each fighter was ranked from 1 to 4. Players could build a team of 4 fighters to get the highest score. It led to some interesting team combinations and was a lot of fun for the players.

X-Men: Mutant Academy (75)

X-Men: Mutant Academy just edged out its sequel by a few points, but some fans thought the sequel was better than this one. X-Men: Mutant Academy and its sequel are almost the same in almost every way. This first game had a smaller group of fighters than the second one.

It was a strong fighting game on the PlayStation. It was praised for its gameplay, graphics, and enemy AI, but it was also criticised for being too similar to Street Fighter in terms of how you move.

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special

Real Bout Fatal Fury Special

At first glance, Real Bout Fatal Fury looks like a classic Fatal Fury game because it has 2D sprites on top of paintings. However, this game’s graphics have gotten better and the two-plane system has come back to life. It’s also possible to “destroy” a battlefield’s barrier to move the fight to a new area in Real Bout Fatal Fury Special.

Even though there isn’t a long story and the focus is on the “real fight,” Real Bout Fatal Fury Special is still a simple and fun game to play. Fatal Fury’s supernatural elements aren’t as outlandish as in some other fighting games. This makes this fighting game feel more “technical.”

Darkstalkers 3

The Darkstalkers series and its Gothic take on the fighting game genre is a fitting classic that should be played again and again. Darkstalkers 3 is one of the best games in the Darkstalkers series because it shows how far the series can go. This time, a Makai nobleman named Jedah Dohma has made Majigen, a pocket dimension where he wants to bring souls from other worlds to feed his new home world.

Unique to the game is the “Dark Force System,” which gives players a special gauge that lets them do powerful attacks when it’s full. In addition, there is a “Shadow” mode in which players can use the defeated fighter to move on to the next fight. This adds a new level of challenge for players.